Husband Hon. William Lucas Corbett 1 2 3
Born: 12 Feb 1826 - near Clarion, Clarion Co, PA 2 3
Christened:
Died: 5 Feb 1895 3
Buried:
Father: Isaac Corbett (1783-1842) 4
Mother: Margaret Lucas ( - ) 3
Marriage:
Wife Rosa Jones 5
AKA: Rose Jones 6
Born: 1832 - Myrtherlidville, Wales 5
Christened:
Died: 1905 5
Buried:
Father: Henry Jones ( - ) 6
Mother: Ann [Unk] ( - ) 6
Children
1 M Don Carlos Corbett 7
Born: 5 Dec 1861 - Clarion, Clarion Co, PA 5
Christened:
Died:
Buried:
Spouse: Ida M. Rugh (1869- ) 8
Marr: 10 Jul 1892 - Salem, Clarion Co, PA 9
General Notes: Husband - Hon. William Lucas Corbett
He was but a boy when his father died, and his early life was spent on the farm and in acquiring an education. He first attended the public schools, but when Clarion Academy was opened he entered that institution, continuing until he was eighteen years of age. Although his mother possessed land in abundance, money in those days was not plentiful and the academic education was obtained by self-denial and sacrifice. He improved his opportunities and laid the foundation broad and deep on which his later successful career was built. During his boyhood Clarion county was erected (1840) and Clarion made the county seat. While attending the academy he became interested in the legal controversies at the court house, and was thus inspired with a taste for the legal profession. After leaving the academy he registered as a law student with D. W. Foster, a lawyer of Clarion. He threw his whole soul into his study, and an office associate remarked, "his mind ran so strong in the direction of legal study that it was not long before he knew more than his preceptor." So rapid was his progress that by a special ruling of the court he was admitted to the Clarion county bar while yet a minor, on February 2, 1847, ten days before attaining his majority. After being admitted to the bar he did not cease study, but until he was forty years of age scarcely relaxed, and was to be found night after night closely following the thought of standard legal writers and analyzing decisions of the higher courts, thus richly storing his mind with fact and precedent. The question of books was a serious one for the young man, and in his early career he frequently made trips on the Clarion river flatboats to obtain money for a needed volume.
In 1849, after having been in practice but two years, he was appointed deputy district attorney for Clarion County, serving two years. From then onward his rise was rapid and he became a most commanding figure at the Clarion bar. His fame was local, but having been admitted to the supreme and superior courts of Pennsylvania and to the federal courts of his district, he was often seen and heard in these higher tribunals. The phrase "commanding figure" in his case has a double meaning, and also refers to his physical presence-massive in figure, rugged and robust in appearance, deliberate and sonorous in speech; once seen or heard, he was never forgotten. It was in the preparation of his cases that more than all else contributed to his success as a trial lawyer. Every case committed to him was made the subject of careful study and all points likely to be brought out in the trial were carefully examined and authorities consulted to establish or rebut. He neglected nothing that would add to the strength of his position, nor did he allow aught to interfere with his loved profession, the law being to him a jealous mistress, and he never wavered in his devotion. Before judge and jury he was most effective. Thoroughly fortified with authority and precedent he was most forcible in argument, and his antagonist's armor must of needs be well tried to withstand his hammerlike blows. Yet with all, he was of a most kindly lovable nature-not a child in the town ever missed his cheery greeting, while the horses at the hitching post nor the dogs on the street but received a friendly pat or kindly word. Forty years he stood as the leading trial lawyer of Clarion and adjoining counties, every term of court finding him representing many important cases to be tried.
In January, 1885, the death of Judge James G. Knox, presiding judge of the eighteenth judicial district, composed of the counties of Clarion and Jefferson, caused a vacancy. Mr. Corbett was appointed to the vacancy by Governor Robert L. Pattison, and filled that high office from January 3, 1885, to the first Monday of February, 1886. As a jurist he was most painstaking and deliberate in his decision, carefully weighing the facts presented and deciding solely from his opinions thus formed. One of the most important cases tried before him was the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company (Pennsylvania Reports, 114-340). This was an action by the state to escheeat the lands of the defendant company. Eminent counsel appeared for both sides. After hearing the argument, Judge Corbett took the case from the jury; an appeal was taken to the supreme court who reversed Judge Corbett's ruling. Two years later, in the case of the Commonwealth vs. the New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company et al (132 Pennsylvania Reports, 591), the same question came before the supreme court, and after argument that court reversed its former decision. The supreme court then ordered a reargumentation of the first decision, and sustained the opinion of Judge Corbett.
Judge Corbett was uniformly cordial and on terms of greatest amity with his brethren of the bar and particularly to the younger members was he helpful, advising and clearing up for them knotty points involved in their cases. His standing as a lawyer and an advocate is best expressed in the following quotation, a part of the resolutions of respect passed by the Jefferson County bar, "That of him we can truthfully say that he was an honest man; a law abiding Man; that he proved himself to be in the several courts an attorney of sound learning and ability, faithful alike to the court and his client; that he used no falsehood, and never retarded the administration of justice for either lucre, malice or to obtain unfair advantage."
In early life he was a Whig, but in 1854 he joined the Democratic party, in which he rose to eminence. He did yeoman service as a campaign orator, and on several occasions "stumped" the state. He was elected a delegate to the state and national conventions of his party many times. In 1868 he was a delegate-at-large to the convention that nominated Horatio Seymour, of New York, for president, and in 1872 was elected a member of the Pennsylvania constitutional convention that framed the constitution of 1874. He was a member of the judiciary committee of that convention, and largely responsible for the present system of courts and procedures. In this work he met and won the respect and friendship of leading lawyers from all parts of the state, many of these friendships, then made, existing until death. In 1876 he was the candidate of his party for state senator and was elected the following November, serving two years. He received instant recognition and was assigned to important committees. Two measures of state wide interest were before the senate at this session-the Pipe Line bill and the Anti-Discrimination bill. Both of these were measures that he was expected to support. He gave to the Pipe Line bill his active support, but declined to support the Anti-Discrimination bill, believing it to be unconstitutional. Subsequent history of this legislation in our national congress has proved the correctness of his position. But his refusal to act against his honest convictions proved the deathblow to his political ambition, and his services in the senate were limited to one term.
He was a member of the Masonic order, and served as master of Clarion Lodge. He was a member of the various legal societies of the county and state, and active in their proceedings. Though reared in the Presbyterian faith and an attendant of that church, he was never a member, but was a thorough Christian, shaping his life by the laws laid down in sacred writ. He stood six feet two inches in height, with massive head and features, splendidly proportioned, a goodly sight for the eye. The manner of his death was most dramatic: On January 22, 1895, he tried a case in the Clarion court of common pleas, making a long, exhaustive and forcible presentation of his case. He retired in good spirits, slept well, but about dawn of the following morning was stricken with paralysis. For fifteen days he lay, often conscious, but at other times in a spirit of delirium fought over again his battles at the bar, asking court and jury in the name of justice to remember the favorable points of his case and to overlook wherein he had failed, pleading, as he was wont to do, for the supremacy of mercy, justice and truth. Thus, with the "ruling passion strong in death," he passed before the Great Tribunal to the presence of the All-Wise Judge, February 5, 1895.
General Notes: Wife - Rosa Jones
Her parents, both born in Wales, came to the United States when she was three years of age and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where both died.