From History of Butler County Pennsylvania - 1883

Hipple-Mitchell-Hipple was a grandson of Nancy (Leonard, daughter of Daniel & Lucretia) and George Hipple. His parents were John Hipple and Jemima Mitchell (another one of those cousins-marrying-cousins arrangements). He turned up in the recently-acquired Mitchell Papers.

What caught my eye was a note at the bottom of the page that said, in scribbled hand-writing, that “John Mitchell Hipple changed his name to John Hipple Mitchell – he became a US Senator – Oregon – 1890s.” Great, I thought, a famous family member! What I found, via WikiPedia and other sources, was something much closer to an infamous family member. To wit:

John Mitchel Hipple, aka John Hipple Mitchell (1835-1905), was born in Washington County, PA. and moved with his parents to Butler County at the age of 2. He attended both public and private schools and became a teacher in his youth. As such, he seduced and impregnated a 15-year-old student (Sarah Hoon), whom he married and with whom he fathered several more children.

In the four years John and Sarah lived together, Mitchell-Hipple beat and mistreated her to such an extent that he was indicted by a grand jury and brought to trial. The couple settled their differences before the jury could reach a verdict, however, and Mitchell-Hipple promptly abandoned his family, moved to California and changed his name to Hipple-Mitchell.

Once in California, the impetuous Mr. Hipple-Mitchell married one Maria J. Brinker, whom he abandoned two years later when he decided to move to Oregon. Third state, third wife, right? Mr. Hipple-Mitchell took his third wife in Oregon, without divorcing either of the first two. Did I mention that Mr. Hipple-Mitchell was also a lawyer? Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

As a newly-married bigamist lawyer, Mr. Hipple-Mitchell quickly became a major player with political and, more importantly, railroad connections. He was elected to the State Senate two years later and the US Senate six years after that.

His political opponents tried to block his swearing-in (sound familiar?), charging him with bigamy, desertion, and living under an assumed name. The Senate committee hearing the matter decided that while the charges were inescapably true, they were also irrelevant. Senator Mitchell-Hipple took his seat, and subsequent bribes, with impunity.

John Mitchell-Hipple, or Hipple-Mitchell, depending on what state you’re in… was voted in and out of office in six separate elections between 1872-1905. His shoddy legal work resulted in the famous Supreme Court decision of Pennoyer v. Neff and his blatant political favoritism won him the honor of being one of only five US Senators to be indicted and convicted of corruption while still in office. The Oregon Land Fraud Scandal won him plenty of noteriety. He appealed his conviction and died before he could be sentenced.

While it is unlikely that Mr. Mitchell-Hipple-Mitchell ever traced his family tree, if he had, he would’ve discovered that his great-great-grandfather Jotham Burt on his father’s side was also his g-g-g-grandfather Jotham Burt on his mother’s side. So the moral of the story is… well, really convoluted.

So how ’bout you? Got any black sheep stories?

I think yer gonna like this one… courtesy of Cousin Polly.

If you’re familiar with the history of George Washington and/or The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794, bear with me just a minute while I bring everyone else up to speed….

Back in the day, before there were taxes and teetotallers and telephones and such, our brand-new Congress of the United States of America was trying, as been the case almost ever since, to erase some national debt. The Revolutionary War had put quite a dent in the colonial budget.

Unaware of the growing crisis, Washington County farmers, among others, had simultaneously figured out that it was easier and cheaper to ship whiskey over the Cumberland Pass to the east coast than it was to ship the grain used to make it. The practice became so widespread in Western Pennsylvania that whiskey actually became the preferred currency over government-printed money. You see where this is going, doncha?

Ol’ Uncle Sam decided to impose the country’s first “sin tax” on western Pennsylvania distillers. It only amounted to a few shillings per gallon, but there were a couple of problems with that. 1) No one had any actual cash… just whiskey and 2) the farmers couldn’t see where the federal government had done them any recent favors.

Long story shortened wa-a-a-a-y down, the farmers refused to pay, went so far as to tar and feather some tax collectors and generally thumb their noses at President George Milhouse Washington. He got miffed, donned his General’s outfit again and led 13,000 US troops into western Washington. The rebels eventually backed down or escaped down the Ohio River, but not before a bunch of farmers were rounded up as suspects and/or witnesses.

President George not only became the first and only US President to lead troops against his own people, he also became the first president to grant amnesty to some insurgent evil-doers. (They really did call them “insurgents.”)

And HERE’S the point of this story… Caleb Leonard, Jr., Isaac Leonard, and one of the William Leonards were among the farmers who signed an Amnesty Pledge… according to the Washington County Historical Society. They appeared in court before Caleb’s neighbor Sheshbazzar Bentley, namesake of Bentleyville.

It’s not real clear whether the Leonards were witnesses or participants, but it’s a great story, doncha think? My g-g-grandfather used to speak of his grandfather’s “log book” and now I have to wonder if “the log book” was the equivalent of today’s checkbook? And wouldn’t THAT be a great find?

There’s lots more good reading out there on the Whiskey Rebellion, and you may find out George Washington’s middle name was NOT “Milhouse,” but the best reference for names, according to the WCHS, is Elizabeth J. Wall’s book, Men of the Whiskey Insurrection in Southwestern Pennsylvania, 1988, Library of Congress # 88-90121.

And many huzzahs to Polly for digging up the Leonard Connection.