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John Test (1781 - 1849)

Judge John Test (1781 - Oct 9, 1849) was born and raised near Salem, in Salem County, New Jersey. After moving to Indiana and receiving his license to practice law, he was elected by the legislature in 1816 to serve as judge of the 3rd Indiana Circuit Court.

In 1822 he was elected to Congress in the newly created Indiana 3rd district serving three terms in the House of Representatives in the 18th, 19th, and 21st Congresses. He was a Whig also known as a Democratic-Republican who supported a strong central government, a national bank, national currency, tariffs to protect domestic industry and a policy of public works such as road building, canals, and railroads.

He was about five feet ten and a half inches in height a well made but not portly nor large but of good ordinary size. Was easy in his manners. Wore a cue or (queue). Was rather precise in his dress and in his personal appearance. He was a fair talker, though you couldn’t consider him eloquent. A manner that impressed a jury that he was fair and honest.

Birth and Family Background in New Jersey

John Test's father, Francis Test Jr., was a Quaker until he was disowned in 1765 when he married Mary Morgan out of meeting. He spent the rest of his life, without success, trying to regain his membership with the Quakers. John Test was the sixth child out of seven born to this couple. For more genealogical data see wikitree.com.

For over 70 years various accounts misidentify Judge Test confusing him with one Quaker cousin or another each named 'John Test'. This confusion arises because prior to about 1848 New Jersey did not collect vital records. The Quakers and other religious organizations kept good records of member's births, marriages and deaths. Consequently, several editions of the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress have confused Judge Test with two of his cousins because their births are recorded in the Quaker records. Since 1949 Judge Test has been given the birthday of his cousin John Test who was born on 12 Nov 1771.

We may deduce the actual year of his birth from two reliable sources. His daughter wrote that her father was 19 or 20 when he married Lydia Dungan. We know the marriage was on 28 Nov 1801. This puts date of birth somewhere between 28 Nov 1780 and 28 Nov 1782. We also know by the advertisement for him as a runaway servant that he was 14 years old on 16 September 1795. This places his date of birth between 16 Sept 1780 and 16 Sept 1781. The intersection of these two ranges is between 28 Nov and 1780 to 16 Sept 1781. That gives us about a 85% probability that he was born in 1781.

It has been claimed that he was raised in Philadelphia when his parents moved there. But this is not true. We know he was raised in Salem County New Jersey and that his family remained in that county by these three items in the records:

1. In 1790, when John Test was 8 or 9 years of age, his father signed a petition concerning road repair in Salem County.
2. In 1793 when John Test was 11 or 12 years old, his father is listed in the Salem County, Upper Alloways Creek Tax List.
3. As a young man in New Jersey, Test was apprenticed to Josiah Miller. In September of 1795, Miller placed a notice in the Philadelphia newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette offering an eight dollar reward for help in the arrest of "an indented servant lad, named John Test, about 14 years of age, slim made and tall, with black hair; had on, and took with him, two hats, part worn, and a thick coat, with sundry other cloths."

In addition we have the account of his daughter Helen Maria Test Arion who writes, that "his childhood was passed in New Jersey. Having lost his mother a step-mother was brought into the house which was not agreeable to him."

Nor is it true that he was educated in the "common schools." There is no evidence of any public schools being established in Salem or in New Jersey until much later. If he was enrolled in any school it would have been a church school or subscription school although he may have been privately tutored, tutored by his parents or by his older siblings.

1801 Married Lydia Dungan of Philadelphia

We have two accounts of John Test's life: one written by his son Judge Charles H. Test and a longer narrative by his daughter Helen Maria Test Arion. Neither of these two mention that he had been a runaway indentured servant and that he arrived in Philadelphia as a fugitive. Nor do they mention how he managed to support himself in Philadelphia. His daughter tells us that he started reading for a law license and that his study was interrupted when he married Lydia Dungan in December of 1801. The couple apparently moved to Wilmington, Delaware. Their first two children, Charles H Test and Mary Hall Test were born there in 1802 and 1803 respectively.

1804 or 1805 Migrated to Pennsylvania

As a result of financial setbacks, his daughter Helen Maria writes, "owing in all probability to his youth and inexperience" the family moved in 1804 or 1805 to western Pennsylvania where he invested in and ran an iron smelter located near Brownsville in Fayette County Pennsylvania. The Fayette Chance Furnace or Fairchance, sitting at the foot of the Laurel Hill Mountains provided a good living for the young family. Three of their children were born there: Esther French, John and Helen Maria Test.

About 1807 he sold his shares in the furnace at a good profit and the family moved to the Cheet River in Western Virginia where John Test took over an old furnace and tried to make it profitable. He gave up after a couple of years, sold his shares and, according to his son Charles, built a flat boat to carry the family and house-hold goods down the Cheet River to the Ohio River and then down to the small village of Cincinnati, Ohio. This move was in 1809. Some sort of infectious disease was affecting the population and because most of the family was suffering from this inflammatory illness, they decided to push on to Indiana.

1810 Brookville, Indiana

In 1810 the family settled near what is now Brookville, Indiana in what would become in 1811 Franklin County (about 90 miles northwest of Cincinnati). John Test and Chilon Foster built a water mill in section 3, township 11, range 23 located about a mile west of the village on the White Water River just opposite the mouth of Yellow Bank Creek at the mouth of Snail creek. About 5,000 people were already living in the county at this time. In addition to grinding wheat and corn, Test installed a carding machine -- a machine powered by flowing water that processes wool by brushing the fibers to evenly align them for spinning. He served in that capacity from 1817 until 1851. In its treatment of the common law, the eight-volume Blackford's Reports is considered a model of style, accuracy and quality. His nickname was the "Indiana Blackstone".

According to Charles H. Test, Blackford told an amusing story about how he and John Test got their law licenses:

Blackford and my father finally concluded to go and get [their] license[s] to practice law. Indiana was then with the exception of Vincennes and a few military posts an unbroken wilderness. The Judge of the Court lived at Vincennes, but they dug out a canoe and concluded they would go down Whitewater River to the Ohio and then paddle up the Wabash. They fixed up their arrangement all nicely for the trip. When they got about nine miles below Brookville the canoe turned them out into the river and they lost all their provisions. They walked from there to Vincennes. This was about 1813 I think. I know we were then in the midst of our Indian troubles. It was a long trip but they walked it.

Blackford used to tell the story himself and laughed about the trip. Blackford was a little conceited and making some mistake in his examination the judge told him he was mistaken in his answer on that subject. Blackford got a little huffy and disputed his word and began finally to question the judge as if he had no confidence in his knowledge of law. The judge told him he was examining him and he didn't choose to answer his questions. They had a few words and finally the Judge told Blackford he was no gentleman and he wouldn't give him a license. He licensed my father however.

My father was an easy man to get along with. Father stayed there hating to go away without Blackford getting a license. He saw some of the citizens and they prevailed on the Judge to give Blackford a re-examination and this time he got his license and they started home. ...They both settled [in Brookville]; father relinguished the mill and commenced to practice law. ...Blackford didn't stay there long.

How much of the story is true is unknown. Even if a bit embellished, the story offers a glimpse into the period and the characters of the men involved.