The Cyclopædia of American Biography/Audenreid, Charles Young
AUDENREID, Charles Young, jurist, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., 9 Dec, 1863, son of John Thomas and Emma (Young) Audenreid. His father (1837-84) was an anthracite coal operator and shipper in the firms of Audenreid, Norton and Company and Audenreid and Company, and a public-spirited citizen of Philadelphia. He was also president of the Mackenzie Iron Company and a director of the Girard National Bank. The Audenreid family is of Swabian origin, but long resident in Basel, Switzerland, whence the earliest American representative, Louis Audenreid, emigrated to New York City in 1789. This ancestor later resided at McKeansburg, Pa. His wife was Anna Christina Musch, of Easton, Pa. Their son, William, father of John Thomas Audenreid, married Jane Wills, of Cumberland County. He was extensively engaged in lumbering and flour-milling in Schuylkill County, which he represented in the state legislature for many years, but subsequently located on a farm in Cumberland County, where he died in 1850. Charles Y. Audenreid was educated at Rugby Academy, Philadelphia, and at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated A.B. in 1883. On the occasion of his graduation he was awarded the H. La Barre Jayne prize for his Latin essay, “De Plebe Romana,” which was highly commended both for its pure classic diction and for the scholarly character of the treatment accorded the interesting and important topic. In the following autumn he entered upon the study of law in the law school of the university, and in the office of John G. Johnson, a prominent lawyer of Philadelphia. He was admitted to the bar in 1886, and entered at once upon the discharge of important professional duties, particularly those involved in the management of the extensive business interests of his father, who had died in 1884. Among other important and responsible offices, Mr. Audenreid became secretary and treasurer of the Macungie Iron Company, treasurer of the West Chester Gas Company, president of the Frankford and Bristol Turnpike Company, and a director in the Upper Delaware River Transportation Company, the State Line and Sullivan Railroad Company, and the National Bank of Northern Liberties. The discharge of the duties of these offices threw upon the young man an unusually heavy responsibility, which, however, he discharged with ability and efficiency, gaining thereby an experience in business and legal affairs that was superior to any mere study of principles and methods. As a consequence, he rose to prominence and influence at an early age. He was chosen to represent the eighth ward of the city in the common council in 1891, and served until 1894, being then elected to the select council, in which he served for two years more. On 9 Dec., 1896, at the age of thirty-three, he resigned his councilorship to accept an appointment from Governor Hastings to fill the vacancy on the bench of the Court of Common Pleas, No. 4, of Philadelphia, created by the resignation of Judge M. Russell Thayer. In the following year he was elected to a full term of ten years in this same office, to date from 5 Jan., 1898. At the expiration of this term, he was re-elected for another term, beginning in January, 1908, and expiring in December, 1917. During his incumbency on the bench, Judge Audenreid has been concerned with the trial and decision of many of the most important corporate and municipal cases that have arisen in Philadelphia within the last two decades. Some of these have involved serious and difficult points of law, and not a few are among recognized precedents on questions likely to arise under the conditions of modern commercial and municipal institutions. Notable among these cases may be mentioned that of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company vs. the City of Philadelphia; Bullitt vs. Philadelphia; Croasdill vs. City, etc. Judge Audenreid has published annotations to American editions of “Lindley on Partnership” and of “Lewis on Trusts.” He was a vice-provost of the Law Academy of Philadelphia for five years (1902-07); is a director of the Philadelphia Athenaeum; and is a member of the Pennsylvania Historical Society, of the State Bar Association, and of the Philadelphia Law Association. He is also a member of the Lawyers' Club, the Radnor Hunt Club, the Philadelphia Country Club. He owns a handsome suburban residence on Lancaster Road, Overbrook. Judge Audenreid has been twice married: first, to Mary, daughter of Warren H. Corning, of Cleveland, Ohio, who died 7 June, 1904; second, to Elizabeth, daughter of the late Stephen Benton, of Philadelphia.