John Oliver Halstead Pitney (April 14, 1860 – October 6, 1928) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

lawyer from

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Early life and education

Born in

Morristown, New Jersey Morristown () is a town and the county seat of Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

to Henry Cooper and Sarah Louise (Halsted) Pitney,John James Scannell, William Edgar Sackett, ''Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens and State Guide'' (1919), p. 365. Pitney was "a member of one of New Jersey's oldest families","John O. H. Pitney Dies", ''Brooklyn Times Union'' (October 7, 1928), p. 57. described by

Kim Isaac Eisler Kim Isaac Eisler is an American writer. He has been a columnist for ''Washingtonian Magazine ''Washingtonian'' is a monthly magazine distributed in the Washington, D.C. area. It was founded in 1965 by Laughlin Phillips and Robert J. Myers. The ...

as a New Jersey blue-blood. His great-grandfather Henry Cooper Pitney served in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. Pitney's father and his older brother

Mahlon Pitney Mahlon R. Pitney IV (February 5, 1858 – December 9, 1924) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for two terms from 1895 to 1899. He later served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Suprem ...

were also lawyers; Mahlon eventually served on the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. Pitney attended the Morris Academy, and received a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

in 1881 followed by an

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

from the same institution in 1884."John Pitney dies of heart attack", ''The Daily Record'' (October 6, 1928), p. 1. He was a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. He

read law Reading law was the method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship under the ...

under his father and gained

admission to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

in New Jersey at the June term of 1884 as an attorney, and three years later as a counselor.

Career

Establishing himself in

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

, he partnered with Frederick H. Heese for the first ten years of his practice. In 1902, he and John R. Hardin founded the law firm of Pitney & Hardin, later Pitney Hardin and Ward, in

; his brother Mahlon also worked at the firm for a time, and has sometimes been incorrectly credited as a founder. According to Eisler, the firm's clients included "some of the most notoriously antilabor corporations in the state", and because of its strike-breaking work it was known in the labor movement as "Pluck'em, Hook'em and Sink'em". Pitney was elected to the Board of the United Electric Company of New Jersey in March 1901 and also served at various times as a director of the

Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company was a life insurance company that was chartered in 1845 and based in Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The company was headed by Frederick Frelinghuysen (1848–1924). The company w ...

and the American Insurance Company and a Trustee of Princeton University. He was described as "an earnest

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

" who refused official positions on grounds of lack of time; beginning in August 1917, he served as Chairman of the District Board for the Second Division of New Jersey under the War Department's administration of the Selective Service Law. Pitney published a book about the history of his family in 1925. The

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

holds a letter to Pitney from

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

, accepting an invitation to attend a celebration of the birth of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

Personal life and death

On January 16, 1890, Pitney married Roberta A. Ballantine of Newark. They had two children, John B., born in 1892, and Robert H., born in 1907. Pitney died of a heart attack at his home in Newark at the age of 68, following a period of poor health.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitney, John Oliver Halstead 1860 births 1928 deaths People from Morristown, New Jersey People from Newark, New Jersey Princeton University alumni New Jersey lawyers