Law Studies - the mentors
As Jonathan Jasper Wright was reading the law, he needed professional lawyers to work under. Fortunately he had the support of two prominent mentors - in Montrose and Wilkes-Barre. His legal study coincided with his teaching in each location - 1862-1864 in Montrose and 1864-1865 in Wilkes-Barre.
In Montrose Jonathan studied with the firm of Bentley and Fitch. The patriarch of the firm, Benjamin S. Bentley, mentored a dozen lawyers admitted to the Susquehanna County bar between 1843 and 1866. A leader in the community, Mr. Bentley served on many boards, including those for the local bank and the Susquehanna Academy. In the latter institution he served alongside another local attorney, Farris B. Streeter, who later was to become the President Judge of Susquehanna and Bradford Counties (an important fact to keep in file for later).
The other partner in the firm, Lafayette Fitch, besides being Mr. Bentley’s brother-in-law, also served as Susquehanna County’s state senator from 1872 to 1874.
Judge Oristus Collins served as Jonathan’s legal mentor in Wilkes-Barre while Jonathan taught school there. Judge Collins, became a lawyer in Wilkes-Barre in 1817, then in 1836 was appointed by Governor Joseph Ritner as the President Judge of Lancaster County - in the south central part of the state, 120 miles or so from Wilkes'-Barre. Judge Collins’ term was intended to be ten years - but he was expelled from office early due to the failure of a maneuver by him and the governor to extend his term. (There’s more here if you want to dig in - it’s complicated.) After which he returned to Wilkes-Barre where he continued to practice for many years.
Judge Collins was lawyer and friend to the notable abolitionist William Gildersleeve, and became involved in the controversy around the pursuit of an escaped slave by U.S. Marshals in Wilkes-Barre, recounted in another note.
Besides Jonathan Jasper Wright’s innate intelligence, considerable work ethic, and ambition, his talent to attract the support and assistance of influential citizens must be considered one the most significant factors in his rise from farmer’s son to Supreme Court justice.
Biographical information on Bentley and Fitch via History of Susquehanna County Pennsylvania by Emily C. Blackman. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger, 1873.
Biographical information on Oristus Collins via the Lancaster Law Review, vol, 30, 1913.