The Court, Bench, And Bar Of Delaware County.

The following is a complete list of deputy attorneys-general and district attorneys from the erection of the county to the present time:

February session, 1790. - William Bradford, Jr., attorney-general in person.
July session, 1790. - Thomas Ross, under William Bradford, Jr.
August session, 1790. - Joseph Thomas, under William Bradford, Jr.
October session, 1791. - Joseph Thomas, under Jared Ingersoll.
October session, 1795. - William Sergeant, under Jared Ingersoll.
January session, 1796. - Thomas Ross, under Jared Ingersoll.
October session, 1797. - William Sergeant, under Jared Ingersoll.
January session, 1799. - Thomas Ross, under Jared Ingersoll.
April session, 1809. - Richard Bache, Jr., under Walter Franklin.
January session, 1811 - John Edwards, under Joseph Reed.
January session, 1812. - Edward Ingersoll, under Jared Ingersoll.
January session, 1813. - Benjamin Tilghman, under Jared Ingersoll.
April session, 1813. - Edward Ingersoll, under Jared Ingersoll.
January session, 1814. - John Edwards, under Jared Ingersoll.
April session, 1814 - Edward Ingersoll, under Jared Ingersoll.
January session, 1815. - Robert H. Smith, under Jared Ingersoll.
April session, 1815. - William H. Dillingham, under Jared Ingersoll.
January session, 1817. - Henry G. Freeman, under Amos Ellmaker.
October session, 1818. - Samuel Rush, under Thomas Sergeant.
January session, 1821. - Archibald T. Dick, under Thomas Elder.
April session, 1824. - Edward Darlington, under Frederick Smith.
April session, 1830. - John Zeilin, Under Samuel Douglass.
August session, 1833. - Robert E. Hannum, under Ellis Lewis.
March session, 1836. - John P. Griffith, under William B. Reed.
February session, 1839. - P. Frazer Smith, under Ovid F. Johnston.
February session, 1845. - Robert Frazer, under John K. Kane.
November session, 1845. - Joseph J. Lewis, under John K. Kane.
November session, 1848. - John M. Broomall,¹ under James Cooper.
February session, 1850. - Charles D. Manley, by appointment of court.
May session, 1850. - Thomas H. Speakman, under Cornelius Darragh.

By act of Assembly May 1,1850, the office of deputy attorney-general in the several counties was abolished, and district attorneys were directed to be elected, of persons learned in the law, at the ensuing election in October, to serve for a period of three years.

At the October election in 1850, Thomas H. Speakman was chosen by the popular vote, and at the November court he presented his certificate asking to be qualified. A petition was also presented to the court, signed by a number of citizens (sworn to by Charles D. Manley and Joseph Weaver, Jr.), stating that Speakman was not a resident of Delaware County, and not eligible for that reason to the office. It also set forth that Robert McCay, Jr., was elected, inasmuch as the votes cast for Speakman were illegal. The matter was continued under advisement, and at the May court, 1851, it was decided that "in consequence of the inability of Thomas H. Speakman, Esq., to serve the office of District Attorney, Robert McCay, Jr., Esq., be appointed to discharge the duties of the office for the remainder of the year."

1851. - Robert McCay.
Nov. 24, 1861. - Edward Darlington.
1854. - Jesse Bishop²
1857. - Edward A. Price.
1860. - John Hibbard.
1863. - Francis M. Brooke.³
1866. - Charles D. M. Broomhall.
1869. - George E. Darlington.
1872. - David M. Johnson.
1876. - Vincent Gilpin Robinson.
1879. - Vincent Gilpin Robinson.
1882. - Jesse M. Baker.

³ Francis M. Brooke resigned, and the court appointed C. D. M. Broomhall to fill the unexpired term, and the latter was elected at the ensuing election.

The early records are confused respecting attorneys, for in many cases where that word is used it refers to attorneys-in-fact and not attorneys-at-law, while in many of the cases persons not learned in the law appeared on behalf of the parties litigant. As early as 1683, John White and Abraham Mann, known to be attorneys-at-law, appeared on the court records. At the court held first Third day of first week, Seventh month, 1690, in the case of Thomas Holmes vs. Charles Aston, Charles Pickering and Patrick Robinson appeared as attorneys for plaintiff, and John White and Caleb Pusey for the defendant. The jury finding in favor of the defendant, the attorneys for the plaintiff "craved an appeal to ye next Provinciall Court in law," and his attorneys, Charles Pickering and Robert Longshore, became surety in one hundred pounds that the plaintiff would prosecute "ye appeal now Granted to ye next provinciall Court in Law against a judgment now obtained & to pay all costs and damage if ye appellant be again cast." All the persons herein mentioned as attorneys were laymen, excepting John White.

In 1698, John Moore and David Lloyd were practicing attorneys.

That there were but four lawyers in the province as late as 1709 we learn from two petitions presented to the Provincial Council. The first was that of James Heaton, read April 2, 1708, in which he set forth that he had been sued in an action of trover and conversion, in Bucks County, by Joseph Growden, and that he had obtained a writ of error to the Supreme Provincial Court, that in the mean while the plaintiff had arrested him on the same cause of action by process of the court in Philadelphia; that the cases were likely to be heard nearly at the same time, and that the plaintiff was a judge of the Provincial Court, "and further, that he has retained all the lawyers in the county (that have leave to plead) against him." The petitioner then asked that an impartial judge should be appointed to hear the case, assign him counsel, or "set the day for trial," so that, "if he be at