John Oliver Halstead Pitney

John Oliver Halstead Pitney (April 14, 1860 – October 6, 1928) was an American lawyer from New Jersey.[1]

John Oliver Halstead Pitney
Born(1860-04-14)April 14, 1860
Morristown, New Jersey
DiedOctober 6, 1928(1928-10-06) (aged 68)
Newark, New Jersey
Nationality United States
Occupationfounded Pitney Hardin

Early life and education

Born in Morristown, New Jersey to Henry Cooper and Sarah Louise (Halsted) Pitney,[2] Pitney was "a member of one of New Jersey's oldest families",[3] described by Kim Isaac Eisler as a New Jersey blue-blood.[1] His great-grandfather Henry Cooper Pitney served in the American Revolutionary War.[4] Pitney's father and his older brother Mahlon Pitney were also lawyers;[4] Mahlon eventually served on the United States Supreme Court.[1][5]

Pitney attended the Morris Academy, and received a B.A. from Princeton University in 1881 followed by an M.A. from the same institution in 1884.[6] He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[7] He read law under his father and gained admission to the bar in New Jersey at the June term of 1884 as an attorney, and three years later as a counselor.[2]

Career

Establishing himself in Newark, he partnered with Frederick H. Heese for the first ten years of his practice.[2] In 1902, he and John R. Hardin founded the law firm of Pitney & Hardin, later Pitney Hardin and Ward, in Newark;[8] his brother Mahlon also worked at the firm for a time, and has sometimes been incorrectly credited as a founder.[1] 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".[1]

Pitney was elected to the Board of the United Electric Company of New Jersey in March 1901[9] and also served at various times as a director of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company and the American Insurance Company and a Trustee of Princeton University.[2] He was described as "an earnest Republican" who refused official positions on grounds of lack of time;[2] 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.[2]

Pitney published a book about the history of his family in 1925.[5] The University of Chicago holds a letter to Pitney from William Howard Taft, accepting an invitation to attend a celebration of the birth of George Washington.[10]

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.[2]

Pitney died of a heart attack at his home in Newark at the age of 68,[3] following a period of poor health.[6]

References
  1. Kim Isaac Eisler (2003). The Last Liberal: Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. and the Decisions That Transformed America. Beard Books. pp. 32–35, 38, 52–53. ISBN 9781587982712. Archived from the original on 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2020-10-18. It is often reported that Pitney, Hardin & Ward, now located in Morristown, New Jersey, was founded by one Supreme Court justice and produced another. But it is not true. Mahlon Pitney had little to do with the firm. It was Mahlon's brother, John, who built up the law firm that later became known as Pitney, Hardin Ward & Brennan.
  2. John James Scannell, William Edgar Sackett, Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens and State Guide (1919), p. 365.
  3. "John O. H. Pitney Dies", Brooklyn Times Union (October 7, 1928), p. 57.
  4. "Pitney Family History". Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  5. "Pitney Farm History". New Jersey Hills. 2015-02-15. Archived from the original on 2020-10-22. Retrieved 2020-10-29. This limited edition volume published by John O.H. Pitney in 1925 as a family history was provided to us by Erik Sletteland, Duncan Pitney's stepson who moved to the farm in the early 1960s.
  6. "John Pitney dies of heart attack", The Daily Record (October 6, 1928), p. 1.
  7. "The Phi Beta Kappa Key, Vol. 7, No. 9 (October, 1930)" (PDF). The Phi Beta Kappa Society. October 1930. p. 606. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  8. William Starr Myers (2000) [1945]. "Prominent Families of New Jersey". Vol. 1. Baltimore: Clearfield. p. 1. ISBN 9780806350363. Archived from the original on 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2020-10-29.
  9. "United Electric Co. of New Jersey". The New York Times. Newark, New Jersey. 1901-03-30. p. 5. Archived from the original on 2020-10-29. Retrieved 2020-10-29. John O. H. Pitney was elected to fill a vacancy in the board.
  10. William Howard Taft (1914-12-24). "William Howard Taft". University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 2020-10-29. Detail from William Howard Taft to John O. H. Pitney, 24 December 1914, United States Supreme Court: Portraits and Autographs, D'Angelo Law Library Rare Book Room, University of Chicago Library.
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