A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York, Part 30

Author: Minard, John Stearns, 1834-1920; Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Alfred, N.Y., W. A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1102

USA > New York > Allegany County > A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York > Part 30

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. M. Carton

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intricate questions which challenge the abilities of the most learned judges, as instanced in his decision in the notable Miner will case, which, under the advice of some of our most able lawyers and ex-judges, was carried to the Court of Appeals, which sustained Judge Norton's decision. In the fall of 1895 he presided for Judge Nash at Geneseo during the protracted and fiercely-contested Father Flaherty case, winning many expressions of ap- proval and admiration for his judicial capacity and acquirements. Judge Norton is a pleasant, forcible and entertaining speaker, and is in great de- mand to address societies of various kinds, for Fourth of July and Decora- tion Day efforts, etc. In November, 1895, he was re-elected county judge.

DISTRICT ATTORNEYS .- The office of district attorney was erected by act of April 4, 1801, and the state was divided into seven districts. What is now Allegany was in the seventh district. On the 21st of April, 1818, a law was passed making each county a separate district. Under the law and ap- portionment of 1801, William Stuart, 1802, Daniel W. Lewis, 1810, Vincent Matthews, 1813, and Daniel Cruger, 1815, appeared as district attorneys in the courts in this county. It would also seem from the record that these offices had power to appoint a substitute as a " Mr. Clark " appeared as that officer at the June term, 1809, and, at the January term, 1813, of General Sessions of the Peace, " Mr. Clark appeared in behalf of Mr. Stuart, district attorney." It seems also that the court had the power to appoint a district attorney in certain cases, as, at the October term, 1818, "T. H. Porter was appointed by the court " and in February, 1819, Henry Wells " for the time being was the district attorney." Under the law of 1818, and up to the adop- tion of the constitution of 1846, these persons were appointed to this office: James Cochran April 17, 1820, Samuel S. Haight November 13, 1820, John Cook 1827, George Miles 1836, Alexander S. Diven, 1841, though by the records he appears to have acted in that capacity as early as June, 1837, Wilkes Angel, 1843, Marshall B. Champlain, 1845. Since the office became elective the succession has been: Lucien P. Wetherby elected in June, 1847; Augustus L. Davison elected in November, 1850; William A. Stewart 1853; Hamilton Ward 1856; Milo H. Wygant 1859; Hamilton Ward 1862; James S. Green 1868; Rufus Scott 1871; C. N. Flenagin 1874; O. A. Fuller 1883; C. H. Brown (present incumbent) 1889.

THE CIRCUIT AND SUPREME COURT JUDGES who have from time to time held court in this country, form a list of names of which any state, nation, or government might well be proud. In general they have been men of great legal acquirements, possessing minds of a superior order, as well as of great integrity of character and wisdom of judgment, and so have adorned the bench by their ability and added luster to the judicial urmine by their decisions. In some instances they have been promoted to higher po- sitions by the franchises of their fellow citizens.

Judge Joseph C. Yates appears by the record of the Oyer and Terminer to have been the first holding court at Angelica, the session being opened

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June 13, 1815. Associated with him in constituting this court were Moses Van Campen and Thomas Dale. It was the only court at which Judge Yates presided in this county. He was born in Schenectady in 1768 and died there in 1837. He gained great eminence as a lawyer, and was a judge of the supreme court from 1803 till 1822. He helped to found Union College in 1795; was mayor of Schenectady in 1798; state senator in 1806-7, and gover- nor of the state in 1823-24, then retired to private life.

From 1815 to 1819 the records do not show any courts of oyer and terminer or circuit courts to have been held. In June of the latter year Hon. John Woodworth presided at oyer and terminer, associated with Philip Church, Moses Van Campen and Clark Crandall. Judge Woodworth was a leading Albany lawyer and was appointed supreme court justice in 1819. L. B. Proctor, in his "Lives of Eminent Lawyers of New York", says of him, that "distinguished for his profundity of learning and judicial ac- complishments he was one of those who gave to the old supreme court that eminence which commanded the respect of the nation."

June 12, 1820, "Hon. Ambrose Spencer Chief Justice, with Philip Church, Moses Van Campen, Thomas Dole and Clark Crandall, Judges" (quoted from the record) held a court of oyer and terminer. At this court the celebrated case of The People ve. Medad Mckay was tried. Daniel Cruger was ap- pointed district attorney, but some how the case was brought on "on motion of John A. Collier, Esq., who prosecuted for the people. A protracted trial followed during which 23 witnesses for the people and 4 for the prisoner were sworn. In the usual order of things the jury " returned into court and say they find the prisoner guilty." Mckay was charged with murder, pois- oning his wife. Immediately after this trial which ended with sentence "to be hanged " being pronounced by the court, it was discovered that the venire which the officer used in summoning the jury was minus the seal of the court. Stay of execution was secured, the matter was carried to a higher court, to which meantime Judge Spencer had been appointed, and that court, by its opinion given by Judge Spencer in which all concurred, ordered a new trial which washad at the June term, 1821, Wm. W. VanNess being the circuit judge, Philip Church first judge and Moses Van Campen and Thomas Dole judges. "* On this trial, which was also quite protracted, the jury re- turned a verdict of "not guilty."

Judge Ambrose Spencer was born in Salisbury, Conn., December 13, 1765, and died at Lyons, N. Y., March 13, 1848. He was a graduate of Har- vard. studied law and commenced practice in Hudson, N. Y. In 1793 he was a member of the state assembly and from 1795 for seven years was a state senator. In 1802 he was appointed attorney general, in 1804 made a justice of the supreme court and in 1819 chief justice. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1821. Resigning the office of chief justice he re-

* This was the only court Judge Van Ness held in this county.

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sumed his law practice at Albany in 1823. He was mayor of Albany for some years, and represented the Albany district in congress.

Of Judge Wm. W. VanNess the writer has been able to learn but little. He was a contemporary of Daniel Cady, Thomas Addis Emmett and D. C. Colden, all eminent judges and lawyers, and his name used in connection with them by Mr. Proctor is a good guarantee of his ability and prominence.

The next judge to hold circuit or oyer and terminer court at Angelica was Wm. B. Rochester, who presided at the July term, 1823. Judge Rochester had lately taken up his residence at Angelica. He presided at all the circuits and oyer and terminer terms held at Angelica in 1823, 1824 and 1825, and presided at the February term 1824, with John Griffin, Thomas Dole, Clark Crandall, Vial Thomas and Sylvanus Merriman as associates. At this term occurred the trial of David D. How for murder.

Judge Wm. B. Rochester was born at Hagerstown, Md., January 29, 1789, the eldest child of Col. Nathaniel Rochester, the founder of the city of Rochester. In 1808 he with his father's family located at Dansville, Livings- ton county. He was graduated at Charlotte Hall, Md., and studied law with his uncle Judge Adam Beatty in Marysville. Ky., and with Henry Clay at Lexington, Ky. In 1818 he was elected to the legislature from Steuben county, was presidential elector for James Monroe in 1821, and a member of the XVII. congress. In 1823, possibly in 1822, he made his home in Angelica, and in 1823 was appointed judge of the 8th circuit. He made the welcoming speech at Rochester on the occasion of La Fayette's visit in 1825. In 1826 he was the " Bucktail " candidate for governor, but was defeated by DeWitt Clinton, the vote standing Clinton 99,785, Rochester 96,135. Pres. John Adams appointed him secretary of legation to the congress of the North and South American States proposed to be held at Panama, and in 1827 was appointed charge' d'affaires to the Federation of Central America. In 1828 a branch of the Bank of the United States was established at Buffalo, and Judge Rochester was appointed its president and held the position until the bank was abolished. In 1837 he went to Pensacola, Fla., where he became president of the Bank of Pensacola, and director of the Alabama. Georgia and Florida railroad. In June, 1838, he embarked on the steamer Pulaski to return north. When off the North Carolina coast one of her boilers exploded and the vessel was lost. The boat in which Judge Rochester sought the shore was capsized and he was drowned only a few rods from land.

At the January term, 1826, Judge John Birdsall made his first appear- ance as presiding judge, the other judges being Anson Hinman. Vial Thomas and Sylvanus Merriman. From this time until, and including the May term, 1828, no other circuit judge held court in the country. The writer has been able to get but little information of Judge Birdsall but concludes, from the fact that one of our towns is named after him, that he was fully up to the average, in popularity with the people at least.

Addison Gardiner was the next circuit judge who visited Allegany to hold court, appearing first at the October term 1829, and holding all the courts

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with one exception till and including the March term, 1836. At his first term S. S. Haight and Anson Hinman were the associates. Judge Gardi- ner began law practice in Rochester in 1822, and was the first justice of the peace there. He was twice elected lieutenant governor, was district attor- ney for Monroe county, and ex-officio vice chancellor. On the organization of the court of appeals in 1847 he was elected one of the judges, served one term of eight years and declined a re-nomination. He died in Rochester in 1883. He was regarded as an able and impartial judge who was greatly re- spected by bar and clientage, and the older members of the bar remember with what delight the lawyers, who were old when they were young, spoke his name and recalled his memory.

From the October term, 1831, to the March term, 1833, there appears no record of courts of oyer terminer, which must be taken as evidence either of a paucity of crime highly creditable to our people, or of carelessness on the part of the county clerk. Hon. Charles H. Ruggles presided at the September term, 1836. Of him the writer has been unable to inform him- self. It was his only appearance as a judge in Allegany county.

Hon. Daniel Mosely presided at the September term 1836. The local judges were Andrew C. Hull, John Collins and Calvin T. Chamberlain. The writer has not learned anything about Judge Mosely only that he was ap- pointed a special prosecuting officer in the case of the abduction of Morgan in 1826, and held the position until 1829, when he was promoted to be circuit judge. He presided at only one term in Allegany.

The next in order comes Robert Monell, who held the July term, 1837. The local or county judges at this term were Andrew C. Hull, John Collins and Josiah Utter. Judge Monell held all the courts (circuit and oyer and terminer) down to 1844. He was a Chenango county man, for a part of his life at least having represented that county in the state legislature, was a man of great legal attainments, distinguished for fairness of judgment and impartial decisions, also a man of high social qualities, enjoying immensely a good story or a joke on occasions of relaxation from business. The circuit court records say that Bowen Whiting held the October, 1844, circuit court, and Monell appears by the records to have presided at the oyer and termi- ner at the same term. This is the only appearance of Judge Whiting in Allegany courts as justice.

Philo Gridley was the next circuit judge who appeared, holding a term October, 1845, and also presiding at the oyer and terminer. At the June, 1846, Judge Hiram Gray appeared, presided at oyer and terminer, with S. C. Wilson, William Hicks, Jazaniah Emerson and George B. Jones, associates. He held courts through 1846-7. He was an Elmira man, but more than this the writer has not learned.

Hon. Richard P. Marvin appeared at the January term, 1848, being the first of the circuit judges elected under the new constitution to hold court here. Up to this time the judges had all been appointed by the governor and senate. From this time down to the November term, 1870, Judge Mar-

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vin frequently held courts here. At the oyer and terminer in 1848 his associates were Wm. G. Angel. Wolcott Hatch, Robert H. Renwick. and during the long time in which he administered justice in Allegany he became quite familiar with our people. He was born in Fairfield, Herkimer county, December 23, 1803. He worked on a farm until he was 19 years old. he taught a district school to obtain the means to complete his legal studies, which he for a while pursued under the renowned Mark H. Sibley, was ad- mitted to the bar of the supreme court in 1829, and ten years later, on mo- tion of Daniel Webster, was admitted as attorney and counsellor in the su- preme court of the United States. He was one of the early promoters of the Erie railroad, addressing in 1831 the first public meeting held in its be half. In 1835 he was elected to the legislature, and in 1836 to congress and re-elected in 1838. He was a warm friend and supporter of Henry Clay in 1844. In 1846 was a member of the constitutional convention, and in 1847 was the first one nominated at the judicial convention at Buffalo for justice of the supreme court. for the Eighth Judicial District, under the new order. Horace Greeley who was opposed to the elective system for judges said, "It was no wonder that the Eighth District favored it. when it had such pure and able judges as Marvin, and his associates," and "that the Eighth Judicial District had the ablest judges in the state." Mr. Marvin held the position 24 years, and was regarded by the public and by suitors at law as one of the ablest and best equipped of judges in a district especially noted for the high character of its judiciary. He died January 11, 1892.

Hon. James Mullett's first appearance to hold court in Allegany was in August, 1848. At the oyer and terminer Wm. G. Angel as county judge and John Wheeler and W. H. King as justices of sessions were associated with him. Judge Mullett continued for five years to visit Allegany as a circuit judge. He had few advantages of schools, and late in life began to study law. But his industry and ability were more than an offset for his lack of early opportunity. By persistent study he acquired the power of express- ing himself in strong, original and well-chosen language. He was also celebrated for his great fund of wit, and his skill at repartee. He was re- garded as one of the soundest judges of the Eighth Judicial District. He removed to Buffalo in 1843. He represented Chautauqua county in the assembly,1823-4, and was appointed district attorney of that county in 1826.

The record says that in December, 1848, a " General term of supreme court, and special term of supreme court and supreme court in equity," was held at the court house in Angelica by Samuel L. Selden, one of the justices of the supreme court. A court of oyer and terminer was also then held, Wolcott Hatch and John Wheeler being the justices of sessions. at which John Allen was tried for stealing horses from the Seneca Indians on their reservation near Buffalo. Allen was sent to state prison for four years, and thus was broken up a confederacy of horse thieves and gamblers which had for some years infested northwestern Allegany. It was a nota-

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ble trial, Lucien P. Wetherby was the district attorney, and M. B. Champ- lain and Martin Grover defended Allen. This was the only time Judge Selden held court here. He was a remarkable man, "his own architect." He ,resided in Rochester, was elected first judge of the court of common pleas of Monroe county in 1831, was clerk of the Eighth Chancery Circuit, elected justice of the supreme court in 1847, and in 1856 of the court of appeals. It is said of him "that he was elected to both of the latter offices before he had appeared at the bar of either courts."

Hon. Moses Taggart of Batavia was the next in order of appearance, at the January term, 1849. The record omits stating who were associated with him as justices of sessions. Mr. Taggart, though perhaps not as brilliant as some of the other judges, was a man of good knowledge of law, and his decisions were sound and very seldom disturbed by appeals.

Hon. Seth E. Sill came next to Angelica, holding the September, 1849, term. He was born in Saratoga county in 1809, finished his legal education in the office of Thomas T. Sherwood, Buffalo, and was admitted in 1836. He was one of the many judges elected in 1847, and died in 1851. He was known and esteemed throughout the state as a learned and able jurist, and distin- guished for his unblemished and unbending integrity.

The December term, 1850, was held by Hon. James G. Hoyt. At the oyer and terminer Wm. G. Angel county judge and Henry Stevens and A. A. Norton justices of sessions, were associated with him. Judge Hoyt was in every sense a self-made man, winning his way step by step from one position to another with great professional learning and eminent ability. He was particularly distinguished for his uniform courtesy, his purity of life, and entire conscientiousness in the discharge of official duties. He died in Buffalo in 1863.

Hon. Levi F. Bowen presided at the December term, 1853. Wm. H. King and Hiram Boorn were associated in the oyer and terminer. Bowen held courts here until 1856.

At the March term, 1854, Hon. Richard F. Green presided, Wm. H. King and Levi Foster being the justices of sessions. This and the July term, 1854, were the only courts at which he presided in the county.

Hon. Benjamin F. Green presided at the July term of 1855. Reuben Weed and Chas. W. Woodworth were his associates in the oyer and termi- ner. Mr. Green held courts here until and including the July term, 1858. He lived at Fredonia, was elected justice of the supreme court in 1853, and died in 1860. He was a man of eminent ability as a lawyer, and a high order of excellence as a judge.

Hon. Noah Davis first appeared at the Allegany courts at the March term, 1858. E. E. Harding and J. W. Deuel were his associates in the oyer and terminer. His last appearance was at the September term, 1867. He was one of the ablest judges who ever held court in Allegany, and for that matter in the state. He later removed to New York City and his abilities as a judge have been properly recognized in the American metropolis.

Il Grover

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Hon. Martin Grover was the next in order, holding his first term in December, 1858. He continued to hold courts in Allegany until about 1870. He was born in Hartwick, Otsego county, in 1811. His father was a farmer of limited means, but possessed of great energy of character and a man of the strictest integrity. traits which the son inherited in a marked degree. He had advantage only of an academic course of study, not having the means required to take a college course. He had however qualities which greatly compensated for his lack of scholastic acquirements, and forcibly illustrated the saying of Gibbon, that a liberal education was but little avail, except to him who did not need it. While engaged in teaching he pursued the study of law with the Hon. Wm. G. Angel, and he accompanied him to Hammonds- port, there completed his studies and was admitted to the bar. Locating in Angelica, he soon induced Mr. Angel to come thither and the well-remem- bered law firm of Angel & Grover was established. Mr. Grover's rare qualities of mind, his wonderful perceptive faculties, blended with a marvel- lous memory and untiring industry, soon gave him a commanding position at the bar of Western New York. As a public speaker he was earnest, im- pressive, singularly apt in his presentation, and strong in his statements of facts or propositions. His language was plain, it might be said blunt, and his peculiar voice, tuned to a high key, which once heard was never forgot- ten, penetrated to the remotest parts of his audience on occasions of political meetings, and, combined with rare ingenuity, was sure to make an abiding impression on a jury. His careless habits of dress, which it has been said was more from lack of means over and above his expenses and the sum he felt constrained to put into books than from slovenly propensities, gained for him in the early years of his practice the sobriquet of " the ragged law- yer," or " the ragged lawyer from Allegany," and it has also been claimed that this appellation actually contributed to his fame as a lawyer, as an ad- vocate and as a political speaker. Mr. Grover was a Democrat until 1848, when he took part in the famous Buffalo convention. He was elected to con- gress in 1844, and took an active part in discussing the questions relating to slavery extension, supporting Hon. David Wilmot in his advocacy of the " Wilmot proviso." In 1852 he supported Franklin Pierce for the presi- dency, was found in the Republican party upon its formation in 1854, where he continued until about 1863, when he allied himself again with the Demo- crats, and remained with them thereafter. In 1857 a vacancy occurring on the bench of the supreme court, occasioned by the death of Judge Sill, he was appointed to the place, and, in 1859, was elected to the same office. In 1870 he was elected one of the justices of the court of appeals, and was con- tinued in that position until his death in 1875. He was one of the ablest jurists of the court, and discharged the duties of the position with dignity, dispatch, fidelity and honor. In 1845 he married Miss Emily Whitmore. a niece of Hon. Wm. G. Angel, who survived him eighteen years. They had no children.

In this connection we introduce the following from Hon. Wm. F. Jones:

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" When I came to Allegany in 1852 I think the lawyers who frequented the bar at Angelica were perhaps the ablest, taken as a whole, of any in its his- tory. Martin Grover was then in his prime, and it was before he went upon the bench. A. P. Laning and Marshall B. Champlain were among the younger, but shining lights, and then the circuits were regularly attended by Luther C. Peck of Nunda, William Barnes of Bath, and Diven, Hathaway and Woods of Elmira; a strong array for untried aspirants like Hamilton Ward and myself to meet. By the way I was a delegate to the judicial con- vention held at Buffalo which gave Martin Grover his nomination for supreme court judge, and we had a lively time of it. The Erie county dele- gation was solid against him, objecting to his want of dignity in demeanor and careless habits of dress, and made some hot speeches on the subject, saying that Grover's 'slouch hat, calf boots and homespun pants ' were not compatible with judicial dignity. I had to talk for Allegany. I said that the plain people up our way cared more about the quality of a man's brains than they did about the style of his hat or cut of his pants, and if they would give us Martin Grover for judge, we should all know that we had one man with a judicial capacity and we would take the risk of dress reform, and even if reform did not follow, whenever they saw the judge enter the Erie county court house under his old slouch hat they might console themselves with the comforting reflection that it covered more brains than any 'shining silk ' in Buffalo. Grover was nominated and my prediction was, I think, fully verified."

In the order of first appearance Hon. Henry Wells was next, holding the October term, 1862. Wolcott Hatch county judge, and Freeman Atwood and John F. Olney were the associates in the oyer and terminer. Judge Henry Wells was born at Kinderhook, October 13, 1794. He studied law with Gen. Vincent Matthews at Bath, and was admitted to the bar in the same class with the late Hon. John B. Skinner. In October, 1824, he was appointed district attorney for Steuben county, in 1847 was elected justice of the supreme court for the Seventh District, the duties of which he discharged for nearly 21 years. His decisions were distinguished by clearness, steadi- ness, justice and right, deriving their strength from that fairness, rectitude and simplicity which entered so largely into his personality. He died at Penn Yan, March 7, 1868.

Hon. Charles Daniels. In answer to a request for a sketch, or data for one, Judge Daniels wrote a long and exceedingly interesting letter, which will be placed in the archives of the Allegany County Historical Society. From this letter the following sketch is drawn, which covers his occupation of the bench of the supreme court. He was first elected in November, 1863, and Governor Seymour appointed him to fill out the term of the Hon. James G. Hoyt, deceased. The last year of his first term he was in the court of appeals. In 1869 he was elected for another term of eight years, and then he was elected without a contestant for a term of fourteen years. During the last year of this term the objection was made that his age would not per-

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A Centennial Memorial History of Allegany county, New York, Part 30

Author: Minard, John Stearns, 1834-1920; Merrill, Georgia Drew Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Alfred, N.Y., W. A. Fergusson & co. Number of Pages: 1102

Author: Minard, John Stearns, 1834-1920; Merrill, Georgia Drew
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Alfred, N.Y., W. A. Fergusson & co.
Number of Pages: 1102