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208 BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA

by beauty of language, but could not be adequately reported. But few of his efforts have been preserved, and those only in fragmentary form; hence he is no exception to Duponceau's remark, that “lawyers leave nothing behind but the echo of a name.” But while the remains of his legal learning and splendid eloquence are few, yet the echo of his name will never die in the courts where he practiced, while his life is a part of the history of his country that may be read with profit and for inspiration by all who seek to be useful or prominent at the bar. At once an honor and an ornament to the bar, George Marshall Reade was equaled by few as a representative of his profession.
    Mathiot Reade, son of George M. and Casandra (Mathiot) Reade, was born March 28, 1858. His mother was a daughter of Col. Jacob D. Mathiot, who served as a member of the legislature in 1833-34, and was extensively engaged in the manufacture of iron at Ross furnace. Col. Mathiot was a son of George and Ruth (Davies) Mathiot and a grandson of Jean and Catherine Margaret (Bernard) Bathiot, who came from France in 1754. Col. Mathiot's father served in the Revolutionary war, and his brother, Hon. Joshua D., was a distinguished lawyer at Newark, Ohio, who represented his district in Congress in 1841-42, but declined re-election. The Mathiots are of French descent, and trace their ancestry back to a French officer, who held a high military position, and obeyed the voice of conscience rather than command of the king at St. Bartholomew.
    At a meeting of the members of Cambria county bar, on the 8th day of August, 1892, the following memorial was adopted in respect to the memory of George M. Reade:
"IN MEMORIAM

    “The Bar of this County is called upon again to mourn the loss of one of its able and successful members, George M. Reade, Esq., having departed this life on June 22, 1892.”
    “Mr. Reade was admitted to the Cambria County Bar on 8th October, 1851. At the time of his admission the way of the young lawyer was a hard one, for he had to combat such able men as Judge Thomas White, John G. Miles, Henry D. Foster, William Banks, Robert L. Johnston and others, some of whom were in the zenith of their power and practice as lawyers at this Bar, and others, who by an adherence to the principles of the profession, won a place in the legal history of our Courts. He entered the field with an indomitable will, a fixedness of purpose and a resolution to fight the battle. He was a close student all the days of his professional career, and was seldom confronted in the trial of a cause with a legal proposition which he was unable to answer and support by authorities. His practice was a large and varied one, and his industry, ability and zeal in behalf of his clients secured him a lucrative one. He possessed one of the largest and finest law libraries in western Pennsylvania, and it was his delight to sit among his books and gain pleasure and profit from their contents. His great legal contests were not confined to the courts of the County alone; he was well known in the Supreme Court of the State, and in the United States Courts. He was for many years the Honored President of our Bar Association, and, at the time of his death, Chairman of the Examining Committee. His death was sudden, though not unexpected, and now we mourn the loss of a professional brother and friend, the community one of its most valued citizens, and above all the family an affectionate father and brother.”
    “Resolved, That a copy of this memorial be presented to the Court of Common Pleas of this County, with the request that the same be spread upon the records, and that a copy be suitably engrossed and transmitted to his family.”


JOHN MANNION, one of the most successful farmers and business men of northern Cambria county, is a son of Martin and Mary


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