USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 1
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
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ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01148 1519
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187
MEMORIAL HISTORY
OF
SYRACUSE, N. Y.
V.2
FROM ITS SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME
EDITED BY DWIGHT H. BRUCE
189
SYRACUSE, N. Y. 63168 H. P. SMITH & CO., PUBLISHERS 1891 .
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
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a law passed on the 9th of April, 1849, gave the custody of the accumulated library to the Court of Appeals in these terms : "The Library called the Chancellor's Library shall continue to be a public library under the name of The Library of the Court of Appeals." This act authorized the Judges of the Court of Appeals to divide the library and locate it in two suitable places west of the State capital. The Court appointed George F. Comstock and Samuel L. Selden a committee for that purpose, both of whom were afterwards Judges of that Court. The general basis of the division was that all " duplicate books, and such others as the Judges may think proper" should be taken for the new libraries. The act also provided that three- fourths of the fund of interest that had accumulated in the Court of Chan- cery, and known as the Chancellor's Library Fund, should be devoted first to the expenses of carrying out the provisions of the law, and then to the enlargement and improvement of the Library. The division was properly carried out and the books thus devoted to the Syracuse library were brought here and disposed in a large room on the first floor of the Court House, and the remainder were taken to Rochester and the other library established in that city.
With the completion of the addition to the Court House before de- scribed, in 1884, the library was removed to its present commodious and handsome room. Since the library was established here, many valuable additions have been made to it and it is constantly growing in importance and value. The librarians have been William H. Moseley, Richard Wool- worth, C. H. Sedgwick, and the present incumbent, T. L. R. Morgan, who assumed the position in 1885.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
LEROY MORGAN, born March 27, 1810, in the town of Pompey, Onon- daga county, N. Y. His parents were Lyman and Melissa Morgan. He died May 15, 18So, in Syracuse, N. Y. In 1830 he graduated from the Pompey Academy, an institution justly celebrated for its high standard of scholarship. He began the study of law in 1830 in the office of Hon. Dan- iel Gott, and taught school and continued his law studies in the office of Hon. Samuel L. Edwards, of Manlius, until his admission to practice in the Court of Common Pleas in 1833. The next year he became an Attorney and Counselor of the Supreme Court of the State. He continued the practice of law in the villages of Manlius and Baldwinsville until 1851 when he removed to Syracuse. From 1843 to 1848 he held the office of District Attorney of this county, receiving the appointment from Governor Silas Wright, and discharged the duties with marked ability and fidelity. In IS.49, he entered into partnership with David D. Hillis, one of the most elo- quent advocates of his day, and remained with him until the death of Mr.
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Hillis in 1859. In November of that year he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court after one of the most severe and bitter contests at a nomi- nating convention in the history of the State. So satisfactory to the bar and people was his administration of this high office, that on the expiration of his term he was re-elected for another eight years without opposition. He was Judge of the Court of Appeals, ex officio, from January 1, 1866, to 1867. Upon the expiration of his second term in 1875 he resumed the practice of his profession and was largely employed in references and as counsel up to the time of his death in ISSo.
The peculiar traits of Judge Morgan's character were his great industry as a lawyer and judge, and the independence and perfect fidelity which characterized the discharge of his professional and judicial duties. He was the leading counsel for the defence in the famous Jerry Rescue trials, and also in the celebrated murder trials of Carson, McGuire, and Fyler, held in this county in the 'so's. In private life he was as much beloved as he was . honored in public. He was always genial, approachable, and amiable, and the junior members of the bar remember with gratitude his unfailing pa- tience with them in their first efforts to practice in court. Resolutions :' commemorating his learning and ability as a judge and his worth as a citi- zen were passed at the meetings of the bar in the several counties of this Judicial District. The bar meeting in this county, presided over by the late Judge Pratt, was very largely attended and the eulogies delivered by the judges and lawyers evinced the respect and love of all who knew him. Judge Morgan left surviving, Elizabeth Slocum, his widow, T. L. R. Mor- gan, and F. J. Morgan, his sons, and Mrs. N. M. White, and Mrs. Ellen M. Leary, his daughters.
HON. SAMUEL L. EDWARDS, one of the early and conspicuous mem- bers of the Onondaga County bar, was born in the town of Old Fairfield, Conn., February 14th, 1789. He lived there until 1812, in which year he graduated at Yale College, receiving the degree of A. B. On the 30th of August, 1834, he received the degree of A. M. from the same institution. Soon after his graduation he removed to Manlius and began the study of law with Randall & Wattles. After he was admitted to the bar he pur- chased Mr. Wattles's interest in the firm and continued as the partner of Mr. Randall a number of years. He was admitted to practice as attorney in the Supreme Court in 1815 and as counselor in the same in 1821 ; also to practice as solicitor in chancery in 1821 and as counselor in 1823. In all of these courts lie acquired a high reputation and an excellent measure of suc- cess. He held several town offices and in 1823 was elected to the Assembly, where he continued two or three sessions. He was appointed First Judge of the Court of Common P'leas for Onondaga county in 1831, and in 1833 was elected to the Senate, where he served eight years. He then retired
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from public office and practiced his profession until a short time before his death. It was said of Judge Edwards that " as a lawyer he was studious, careful and painstaking, and being a man of good abilities, was always ready for the trial of the cases entrusted to his charge, and was rewarded with a full share of the success which never fails to attend careful preparation and studious and persevering industry." Judge Edwards died at his home in Manlius on the 7th of April, 1877.
DAVID DUNCAN HILLIS-Died in Syracuse, N. Y., February 20, 1859. He studied law with James R. Lawrence, at Camillus, was admitted in 1832 and practiced there until he removed to Syracuse in 1837. Judge Pratt studied in Mr. Hillis's office, entering as a student in the spring of 1834, and after the removal to Syracuse, Hillis & Pratt formed a partner- ship which continued until 1843. In February, 1844, Hillis was made Sur- rogate of this county, and he afterwards formed a partnership with Mr. Sessions which continued until 1850, when the firm of Hillis & Morgan was formed and it continued until the death of the former. During his twenty years of active practice, Mr. H. took a leading position as a lawyer, with such men as Noxon, Lawrence, Ruger, and others, and he equalled any member of the bar of those days as an advocate. He was associated with Judge Morgan in the defence of the celebrated Jerry Rescue trials, which were prosecuted by James R. Lawrence, then District Attorney of the Northern District of New York, and also in the defence of the murderers, Fyler, Carson, and McGuire, tried at the Onondaga Oyer and Terminer.
Mr. Hillis was the most social and kindly of men. He was a communi- cant of the Episcopal church and upon his decease the entire county bar attended a meeting to commemorate his virtues. Judge Pratt presided and Judge Ruger was secretary. Resolutions prepared by Hon. T. T. Davis were adopted. Of Mr. Hillis's associates, Lawrence, Pratt, Davis, Mor- gan, Sabine, Shelden, and Gen. Nye are dead.
JAMES ROBBINS LAWRENCE was born in Norfolk, Litchfield county, Conn., on the 11th of Sept., 1790. When he was five years old his father removed to Oneida county and there died suddenly, leaving a large family of small children. James R. attended the common schools and with the aid of a small patrimony of about $500 was able to attend the Hamilton Academy, from which he graduated in 1810. He then began the study of law with Medad Curtis, the pioneer attorney at Onondaga Hill. In the old Court House there some of the best talent in the State often met, and in the close study which he devoted to his profession and the practice in those early courts, Mr. Lawrence laid the basis of his subsequent success at the · bar. Soon after his admission to the bar he removed to Camillus and with his brother, Grove Lawrence, built up a very large and lucrative practice for that period. In the year 1840 he came to Syracuse and remained in active
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practice about forty years. It has been written of him that "no man at the bar had uniformly better success than he in the conduct of his cases. Able as a legist, he shone as an advocate ; with a commanding presence, a persuasive eloquence, and withal quick at repartee and abounding in humor, he was almost resistless before juries." He was made the first County Judge under the new constitution, and served from 1847 to 1850 with great ac- ceptability. In September, 1850 he was appointed by President Fillmore United States Attorney for the District of Northern New York. Judge Lawrence was repeatedly elected to the Assembly in the exciting period between 1830 and 1840, in which body he distinguished himself as a de- bater and in the great fund of general information of which he showed himself.the master. He continued to take an active part in politics through- out his life, connecting himself with the Republican party when it came into existence, and giving his best efforts to the government in its trying war period and afterwards. It has been written of Judge Lawrence by one who knew him well that "as a lawyer he was erudite, accomplished and persuasive ; as a politician, patriotic and influential ; as a citizen, enlight- ened and judicious ; as a husband and father, affectionate and indulgent. About seven years before his death Judge Lawrence became totally blind, but he bore the great affliction with patience and equanimity. He died on the 21st of March, 1874.
B. DAVIS NOXON was born in Poughkeepsie in the year 17SS, and was the son of a physician. He received an academic education and studied law with Philo Ruggles. In the latter part of the year ISog, he went to Marcellus and began practice, and a few years later removed to Onondaga Hill, and, there his professional life really began. The litigation connected with the military lands engaged his early attention and among the then powerful lawyers of the State, Mr. Noxon soon won a foremost position. It has been written of him that " In knowledge of this branch of the law, in careful preparation, in the acumen necessary to mark every nice dis- tinction, in the skill requisite to detect and expose fraud and perjury ; in boldness, tact, pertinacity ; in his hard logic for the court and his skillful appeals to juries, he was in the front rank of his profession. Experience in the trial of such causes made him a complete and thorough lawyer, and he stood almost without a peer or rival in real estate law throughout his
professional life. * * Mr. Noxon studied the cases which shaped and settled the law of the State as they arose. In all his career he was distin- guished for his accurate knowledge of the adjudged cases, their reasons, their distinctions and their limitations ; and no man had a better memory to retain or nicer skill to use this knowledge." Mr. Noxon was not only a distinguished real estate lawyer ; his mind was versatile and he was equally ready, or nearly so, in other branches of the profession. He was quick-
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witted and ready, as well as strong in the trial of causes. He was a master of invective, always honest, if perhaps sometimes carried to excess. Mr. Noxon removed to Syracuse with the transfer of the courts in 1829, and with the late E. W. Leavenworth formed the firm of Noxon & Leaven- worth. For several years this was the leading law firm of the village. Ile was seldom a candidate for office, yet he held political views of a clear and decided character, upon which he never hesitated to express himself upon all proper occasions. Upon the death of Mr. Noxon on the 13th of May, 1869, the bar of Onondaga county met and paid the highest eulogies to the deceased, in addresses and resolutions.
JOHN WILKINSON was born in Troy, N. Y., September 30, 1798. In the next year his father removed to the town of Skaneateles, making the journey on foot and leading a cow. The family rode on a sled drawn by oxen. When twelve years old John Wilkinson was sent to Onondaga Academy, which was then the nearest classical school to his home. His studious habits attracted the attention of Joshua Forman and after gradu- ation he was taken into the law office of Forman & Sabine as clerk and stu- dent. He was admitted to the bar in September, 1819, and settled in Syra- cuse as the first lawyer. In the same year he, in company with Owen Forman, surveyed and laid out into village and farm lots the Walton Tract, under instructions from Judge Forman. When the survey was finished, Mr. Wilkinson built a small office on the Globe Hotel site, and was ridiculed for locating so far out in the fields. In 1820, Mr. Wilkinson was appointed postmaster and held the office until 1840. In 1825, he was elected the first clerk of the village. In the same year he was chosen one of the directors of the Onondaga County Bank at its organization and held the office until the institution closed its affairs. He was president of the Bank of Syracuse, organized by himself and the late Horace White, and continued in that office until his death. During a later period he became prominently connected with carly railroads. He was president of the Syracuse and Utica railroad, was elected Member of Assembly in 1834 and 1835, and occupied a fore- most position in that body. After the organization of the New York Cen- tral Railroad Company he was appointed its counsel. He was director of the Hudson River railroad, the Buffalo and State Line railroad, the Oswego and Syracuse railroad and the Rochester and Syracuse railroad, the last two having been projected by him and built by Construction Committees of which he was chairman. Later he was president of the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana railroad, and was connected with other lines. After the death of Oliver Teall, Mr. Wilkinson was made president of the Water Company.
While the magnitude of the railroad and other interests in which Mr. Wilkinson was engaged drew his attention in a large degree away from his
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profession, he still held an eminent position in the county bar, and en- joyed the fullest respect and confidence not only of his associates in the legal profession, but of all his acquaintances-a fact that is amply substan- tiated by the large number of estates entrusted to his care. No trust placed in him was betrayed or neglected in any respect. He died in 1862.
NEHEMIAH H. EARLL was born October 5, 1787, in Whitehall, N. Y., and came to Onondaga county about 1793, with his father, Gen. Robert Earll. The family lived at Onondaga Valley about nine months and then removed to Skaneateles, where they lived until 1804. In that year the son entered Fairfield Academy and left it two years later equipped with a good education. He began the study of law in the office of Daniel Kellogg, at Skaneateles, and afterwards studied in the office of Thaddeus M. Wood and George Hall. He was admitted to practice in the Court of Common Pleas in 1809, shortly after which he removed to Salina and entered into partner- ship with Judge Daniel Moseley and John P. Sherwood. In 1812, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court. He then joined the army and was stationed at Oswego, holding the office of Adjutant. In 1814, he re- sumed practice at Onondaga Hill where he rapidly gained reputation and business. In 1816, he was appointed post master and in the same year was elected Justice of the Peace, filling that position until 1820. In 1823, he was appointed First Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which office he held until 1831, when he resigned and was appointed Superintendent of the Salt Springs. This position he filled until 1836, when he resigned and en- gaged in milling business with his brother Hezekiah, at Jordan. Two years later he removed to Syracuse. In 1838, he was elected by the Democrats to the 26th Congress and was renominated and defeated in 1840. He lived as a private citizen from that time until 1860, when he removed to Mott- ville and died there in 1872. He was greatly respected for his well known integrity, his excellent business judgment, and his wise and judicious ad- ministration as judge.
THOMAS T. DAVIS was born in Middlebury, Vt., August 22d, 1810. About seven years later his father was called to the presidency of Hamilton College and removed thither. The son graduated from that institution in 1831, with high honors. He then began the study of law in Syracuse in the office of his brother, Heury Davis, and after his admission to the bar forined a partnership with him, which continued until 1844 and was termi- nated by the brother's death. He soon afterward formed the partnership with James S. Leach, which continued to the end of his professional life. In 1862 he was nominated for Congress by the Republicans, was elected and re-elected ; in that body he gained a high position on important com- mittees. It has been written of Mr. Davis that " He was distinguished at
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the bar for his deep, extensive and critical knowledge of the law, and the court listened with great respect to his clear exposition of legal principles. He possessed great business sagacity, and was gifted with a facile and grace- ful pen and was often called upon in tines of great popular feeling to clothe in his vigorous and well chosen words and eloquent sentences, the emotions which filled the popular heart." Mr. Davis died on the 2d of May, 1872.
DANIEL PRATT was born in Greenwich, Washington Co., N. Y., in 1806. He graduated from Union College in 1833 and in the same year came to Onondaga county and studied law in the office of David D. Hillis, of Ca- millus. In February, 1843, he was appointed First Judge of Onondaga county and four years later was elected Judge of the Supreme Court; in 1851 he was re-elected to the same office. At the close of this term he re- tired from the bench, in the enjoyment of the fullest confidence of his com- peers in his judicial ability and his unswerving integrity. During his services as Judge he was honored with the degree of L.L. D., by both Hamilton and Union Colleges. On January 1, 1860, Judge I'ratt resumed law practice in partnership with the late D. J. Mitchell, and two years later Wilber M. Brown was admitted to the firm. During the succeeding fifteen years this firm was in the front rank of the profession in Syracuse. Judge Pratt was appointed one of the Commissioners for revising the State Constitution and in 1873 was elected Attorney-General. While Judge Pratt was not brilliant and powerful as a speaker, his mind was most admirably disciplined and stored with great wealth of legal knowledge, which was always at command, and gave him strength in the trial of important causes demanding ability of that character. He died July 23, 1864.
ISRAEL SELDEN SPENCER died in Syracuse on the 12th of March, 1885, while seated in his office chair. Judge Spencer was born in Camden, Oneida county in 1815. He studied his profession in Canastota and was admitted to the bar before he attained his majority. In 1845, he settled in Syracuse, and soon afterward formed a partnership with a Mr. North under the style of Spencer & North. In 1850, the firm was dissolved and Mr. Spencer was elected County Judge and served as such until 1854. To the duties of this position Judge Spencer gave that degree of careful attention that characterized all of his professional work. After his retirement from the bench, Judge Spencer gave his undivided attention to his practice, de- voting most of his time and energy to matters pertaining to land convey- ances, the settlement of estates and kindred work. In this department of legal practice Judge Spencer was an acknowledged authority and his services were sought in many important cases. About the year 1870, Judge Spencer traveled extensively in Egypt and Palestine, and on his return prepared a very interesting lecture on his travels on the Nile, which he delivered in Syracuse and elsewhere. He was a great lover of books and possessed
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nearly complete and very valuable files of local newspapers, which have been donated to the Central Library.
JOHNSON HALL, came to Syracuse from Lafayette in 1838, where he had been postmaster many years. His connection with the Judiciary of the county came through his appointment as Associate Judge, with the late Hon. Grove Lawrence and Oliver R. Strong. In this capacity Judge Hall's sterling integrity, accurate judgment, and innate sense of justice gave him an honorable position. Judge Hall represented Onondaga county in the State Legislature in 1830; was elected Sheriff in November, 1831. During the first ten years of his life in Syracuse he was connected. with the hardware firm of Rhoades & Sherman. Judge Hall was a staunch Democrat in politics. His death occurred October 27th, 1870.
OLIVER R. STRONG, the Onondaga pioneer, was born August 5th, 1781, in Lebanon, Windham county, Conn. In 1802, when he was twenty-one years old, he followed the growing tide of emigration westward, and made his stopping place at Onondaga Hill, where he found the family of Ellis's, who were his relatives. He was soon employed to teach the first school at that place, his salary being five dollars a month and board. The school throve, however, and his pay was soon doubled. In 1803, he was appointed under sheriff of the county, by the then sheriff, Elijah Phillips, and contin- ued in the position under the next sheriff Robert Earll. In ISos, he was appointed County Treasurer and held that office nearly twenty-five years. In 1812, he began mercantile business at the Hill and was a little later asso- ciated with his brother Hezekiah. In 1830, he was associated with John Wilkinson in the establishment of the " Onondaga County Bank," of which he was president fourteen years. In 1834, he was elected to the Assembly, serving one term, refusing a re-election, and in 1838 was appointed Associ- ate Judge of Common Pleas and held the office many years. In 1810, Judge Strong was married to Margaret McLaren, of Manlius. She died in 1827, leaving three sons and three daughters. About the year 1850 he retired almost entirely from the active business of life, bearing the esteem and con- fidence of the entire community. He died at the residence of his son, Col. John M. Strong, in this city on the 3d of October, 1872.
JOSEPH MULLEN was born near Dromon, County Down, Ireland, Au- gust 6th, 1811. He came to America with his parents when he was nine years old, and settled at Brownsville, Jefferson county, N. Y., but soon afterward removed to Watertown, which was his place of residence until his death. He learned the printer's trade and for a time studied at the Union Academy at Belleville. In 1831 he entered Union College and graduated in 1833. From that time until 1836 he acted as principal of Belleville Academy and in 1837 was admitted to the bar. He practiced in Water-
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town until 1841 when he was appointed Examiner in Chancery and held that position two years. He also held the office of District Attorney and Commissioner in Bankruptcy. In 1847, he was elected to Congress. In 1857, he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court in the Fifth Judicial District and was twice re-elected without opposition, holding the office until the close of 1881. When the General Term departments were organ- ized in 1870, Judge Mullen was appointed Presiding Justice of the Fourth Department, embracing the Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth Judicial Districts. He continued in this position until disqualified by age. He was retired January 1, 1881, and was succeeded by Judge Irving G. Vann. The degree of LL.D., was conferred upon Judge Mullen by both Hamilton and Union Colleges. Judge Mullen was held in the highest esteem as a jurist and his opinions always carried great weight. His legal knowledge was broad and comprehensive and his judgment singularly clear and correct.
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