Background
Stevenson Archer was born on October 11, 1786 at Medical Hall near Churchville, Maryland, United States. He was the son of Major John Archer and Catherine (Harris) Archer.
Stevenson Archer was born on October 11, 1786 at Medical Hall near Churchville, Maryland, United States. He was the son of Major John Archer and Catherine (Harris) Archer.
He attended school in Baltimore, entered the sophomore class of Princeton College, graduated in 1805, and studied law first in the office of John Montgomery at Belair and later with Chancellor Johnson at Annapolis.
Soon after coming to the bar he was elected to the legislature as an Independent, 1809, and the next year was reëlected as a Democrat.
Archer was elected to Congress in 1811, and was twice reeected to succeed himself. In these war years he was a reliance of the administration, and in 1817, declining a fourth term, was appointed, by President Madison, judge of Mississippi Territory. He held court at St. Stephens on the Alabama River, and also exercised gubernatorial powers of a broad character. Though he had ordered a flatboat built at Wheeling to bring his family and effects down, he concluded in less than a year to return to Harford, whence in 1819 he was again sent to Congress.
His law practise had widened to embrace Harford, Cecil, and Kent Counties when, in 1824, he was appointed chief judge of the 6th judicial district, embracing Baltimore and Harford Counties. This appointment made him associate justice of the Maryland court of appeals, of which, on the death of Judge Buchanan in 1844, Gov. Pratt appointed him chief judge.
He presided in courts on both the western and eastern shores, and during a summer session at Easton, in the flat country, contracted a fever of which, after a few days' illness, he died at his home in Harford.
He was a tall man, of strong frame, and his portraits show a kindly, thoughtful countenance. During his twenty-five years on the bench he was deliberate and painstaking in judgment and considerate in manner. It is said of him that his amenity won the universal respect of the bar.
He married in 1811 Pamelia Barney Hays, whose father owned the adjoining farm. They had three children.
Pamelia was a capable woman, who in her husband's absence on court business took active control over hundreds of acres.