CHAMBERS, "JUDGE" JAMES C., one of the most esteemed and honored residents of Amwell township, ranks among its first citizens. His grandfather, James Chambers, emigrated from the shores of "Green Erin" to America in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and in 1797 located in Amwell township, Washington Co., Penn., on Bane's fork of Ten Mile creek. He and his wife died on the old farm the parents of six children. James Chambers, son of this brave old pioneer, at the age of eleven years emigrated from Ireland to Amwell township with his parents, and two brothers who came with him died on the farm where J. W. now lives. James learned and followed the trade of carpenter in Washington borough, and was here united in marriage with Mary, daughter of John Dodd, who settled on a farm now owned by D. T. Morgan, and owned a house where the Citizens' Bank now stands in Washington. In 1803 he (Mr. Dodd) went on a voyage down the Mississippi, and on his return was shot by Indians. When he fell his horse ran with the saddle bags and papers, by which means he was identified as John Dodd. Mrs. Chambers died in November, 1814, and Mr. Chambers afterward married Sarah Hastings, who died in 1867. Mr. Chambers was called from earth in February 1862. He was a major in the militia, and more of a military man than a politician. "Judge" James C. Chambers was born January 11, 1812, in Washington, Washington Co., Penn., on a lot south of where the David hardware store now stands, and afterward lived on East Maiden street. He grew to manhood on the old farm, and remained there until thirty years of age. His school privileges were of a very limited character, and in his case (to quote his own words) "proficiency in the 'three R's' was the synonym for a 'full-fledged graduate' " On November 10, 1835, he was married to Miss Mary Hughes, and their union was blessed with nine children, as follows: Mary A. (married to T. J. Nichol), residing in Washington county; John (married to Martha Moninger); Margaret, deceased wife of John F. Terrel; Warren (deceased at the age of nine years); Ellen, married to Richard Fitzwilliam, of Washington county; Sarah, married to Joshua Dickerson, of Franklin township, this county; James C. (deceased in his ninth year); Clarinda (married to Samuel C. McLean, and living in Franklin township), and William (who died in his twenty-first year). In 1839 Judge Chambers removed to Morris township, where he remained fourteen years. In February, 1854, he came to his present home in Amwell township, where his wife died February 27, 1891, at the age of seventy-three years. In politics Judge Chambers was for many years one of the most active men in the county, originally as an uncompromising Whig, afterward as a member of the American party, and he was one of the "Committee of Ten" appointed to sit in convention for the purpose of organizing the Republican party in Washington county. This convention was held in the "Fulton House," Washington, March 18, 1856, the platform being occupied by Whigs, Americans, and kindred others whose leanings were toward the Republican phase of politics. The president on this occasion was James G. Hart, the vice-presidents being J. Clark Chambers, John Hayes, John Johnson, Francis Fitzwilliams, David Walker, T. J. Odenbaugh, Joshua Wright, W. H. McNary and Samuel J. Crothers; the secretaries were: Craig Ritchie, E. L. Christman, Joseph Welsh and Thomas Miller. Of late years the "Judge" has practically retired from political life, but he never fails to assert his rights as an American citizen at the polls. In 1866 he was elected associate judge for Washington county, his official term coming to a close at the end of five years. On same date (1866) Judge Acheson was elected presiding judge, and our subject is the only elected associate judge now living in Washington county. So highly satisfactory, and with such a degree of integrity and strict impartiality, had he discharged the duties of his responsible position, that at a meeting of the members of the bar and officers of the court, held in the court-room November 17, 1871, resolutions were passed bearing testimony to the high regard in which the retiring judge was held. The proceedings were presented in open court, and Judge Acheson directed them to be filed and entered on record, as so requested in one of the resolutions. On the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of Judge Chambers' birth, about sixty of his friends gathered at his home, and as a token of the high regard he commands in the community, and substantial evidence of the unbounded respect in which he is held, he was made the recipient of several valuable presents. The Judge, in 1835, was commissioned a captain in the cavalry. He has been a member of the Disciple Church fifty years, and has served as elder in the same four decades. He is in the enjoyment of good health, and now, as his life draws near the close, he has the friendship and esteem of all who have associated with him in his earlier years of vigorous action, as well as of those who have but recently met this honored hero of so many conflicts in which he has won the laurel wreath of victory. [Many of these facts have been taken from the records, and are known to be authentic.]

Text taken from page 196 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed March 1997 by Karen Souhrada of Pittsford, NY as part of the Beers Project. Published March 1997 on the Washington County, PA pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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