In Berks, Montgomery, York and other counties of Eastern Pennsylvania, where the different branches of the family are found, "Wanner" has long been a prominent and an honored name. Rev. Aaron Wanner, D.D., spent the greater part of his half century's ministry in the Reformed church at York, Pennsylvania, in the latter county, and when in 1894 he was gathered to his reward, his eldest son, Nevin M. Wanner, had risen to the front rank in the legal profession, in which he has now been engaged for fifty years, as attorney-at-law, District Attorney, Judge and President-Judge. Another son, Professor Atreus Wanner, for the period of thirty-five years last past has filled the position of City Superintendent of Public Schools at York, Pennsylvania, with remarkable success and with the highest public commendation for his efficient and advanced system of education in the public schools.
The paternal ancestor of the Wanner family in Pennsylvania was Martin Wanner, who came from the Palatinate, Germany, landed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, August 17, 1733, and settled in Berks county, Pennsylvania. One of his descendants, Peter Wanner, of Skippack township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, was the father of Aaron Wanner, who was born there June 19, 1819. He was educated in the College and Theological Seminary of the Reformed church at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and was subsequently awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He died at York, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1894, leaving to survive him three sons—Nevin M., Atreus, and William S. Wanner; and two daughters, viz.: Mrs. Alice Wanner Leighty, wife of William H. Leighty, of Germantown, Ohio; and Myra Wanner Barnitz, wife of Samuel J. Barnitz, of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania.
Rebecca (Miller) Wanner, Judge Wanner's mother, was a granddaughter of Peter Miller, who was born in Frankfurt, Germany, November 7, 1843, and came to Pennsylvania in the latter part of the Eighteenth Century and settled in Franklin county, near Chambersburg, in 1805, where he became a large landowner and died April 10, 1828. Rebecca (Miller) Wanner, daughter of Solomon and Mary (Shearer) Miller, was born at the old Peter Miller homestead, April 6, 1823, and died at York, Pennsylvania, November 8, 1905. Nevin Miller Wanner was born May 14, 1850, at Washingtonville, Columbiana county, Ohio. His public school education began in the typical log school house of that period, and ended with his graduation from the high school at Germantown, Ohio. He then entered Heidelberg College at Tiffin, Ohio, at the early age of sixteen years. After two years spent there he entered Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1870 with the degree of А.В., and also took the "Franklin Oration," which was the second highest scholarship honor of his class. He next took a two years' course of lectures in the Law Department of the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His legal preceptors were General B.F. Fisher, of the Philadelphia Bar, and Erastus H. Weiser, Esq., of the York County Bar. Mr. Wanner was admitted to the bar at York, York county, Pennsylvania, on August 28, 1872, and later on was admitted to practice in the Supreme and Superior Courts of Pennsylvania, and in various other State, County and Federal courts in this and other States. In 1917 the degree of Doctor of Laws, (LL. D.) was conferred on Judge Wanner by his alma mater, Franklin and Marshall College.
Mr. Wanner was always a Democrat in politics, and in 1887 he was elected District Attorney of York county, Pennsylvania, by that party. After the expiration of his term of office his practice became extensive and important, and he attained a high reputation especially as a trial lawyer in civil cases. He was exceptionally successful in his practice in the appellate courts. For a number of years prior to his elevation to the bench, he was solicitor of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company and its affiliated companies in the counties of York, Adams and Cumberland, and was counsel for many other corporations, public and private, and for large individual interests, such as usually compose the clientele of counsel of acknowledged ability and integrity.
In 1905 Mr. Wanner was elected additional law judge of the Nineteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, although the county of York had been swept from its former Democratic moorings by the Republican victory of the previous year. His first judicial commission was for a period of ten years from the first Monday of January, 1906. Upon the retirement of President-Judge John W. Bittenger in 1911, Judge Wanner succeeded him as President-Judge of the Nineteenth Judicial District of Pennsylvania, and was duly commissioned as such for the remainder of his term.
Judge Wanner's conscientious, able, and non-partisan administration of the law during his first term was so highly commanded and so entirely satisfactory to all classes of the public, regardless of politics, that no one else was named or considered by either party as a candidate to succeed him. On May 31, 1914, the members of the bar of York county by public resolution unanimously urged him to become a candidate for reelection in November, 1915, and pledged their "hearty and enthusiastic support" in securing his reelection. The nominating petitions circulated throughout the county in his behalf were signed by more than fifty-one per cent, of the number of votes cast at the primary election. Under the non-partisan judiciary election law then in force, his was the only name placed on the judiciary ballot at the ensuing general election, and he was reelected President-Judge without opposition. His second term, which began in 1916, has confirmed the public expectation, and he has continued to be an able, just, and fearless judge at all times and under all circumstances. His written opinions in important cases are studied expositions of the law applicable thereto, and they have so very rarely been qualified or reversed by the appellate courts that in recent years but few appeals from his judgments have been taken. Many of his decisions are published in the State and County Court reports, and he is regarded by his contemporaries on the bench as one of their most able representatives. Judge Wanner has always stood for high ideals in the administration of the law, and insists on the maintenance of high standards of professional ethics in his court. For many years past he has taken special interest in the York County Law Library, and the large and exceptionally fine collection of books which it contains is largely the result of his personal care and attention in their selection and purchase.
Judge Wanner was married, November 1, 1882, to Miss Amelia Doudel Croll, eldest daughter of John S. and Mary (Doudel) Croll, of York, Pennsylvania. Her father was a leading merchant of York, and her maternal ancestors were prominent in local revolutionary history. Her education was begun in the local schools and finished at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York. The home of Judge and Mrs. Wanner has always been in York, Pennsylvania, since their marriage.
Frank M. Eastman. Courts and Lawyers of Pennsylvania: A History, 1623-1923. New York: American Historical Society, Inc. 1922, pp. 14-16.
Contributed by: Nancy.