Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 233

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations > Part 233

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Ten years later, in 1840, the Schenectady Bar consisted of eighteen members, having increased but six in number during that time, as follows : Platt Potter, James M. Bouck, John Brotherson, Stephen A. Daggett, Henry Fuller, James Fuller, Alexander Gibson, Joshua D. Harmon, John Howes, S. H. Johnson, Samuel W. Jones, Alonzo C. Paige, John Sanders, D. C. Smith, Abraham Van Ingen, S. R. Van Ingen, James B. Van Voust, Giles F. Yates.

PRESIDING JUDGES OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF THE COUNTY AND OF THE COUNTY COURT. -Gerrit S. Vedder, appointed March 11, 1809; Gardner Cleveland, appointed May 25, 1812; Da- vid Boyd, appointed February 5, 1823; Samuel W. Jones, appointed January 31, 1835; Archibald L. Linn, appointed July 17, 1840; Samuel W. Jones, appointed February 10, 1845.

The following Judges were elected under the provisions of the Constitution of 1846: Samuel W. Jones, elected June, 1847; Stephen H. Johnson, elected November, 1851; John Sanders, elected November, 1855; Stephen H. Johnson, elected November, 1859; Judson S. Landon, elected Febru- ary 1, 1865 (Judge Johnson resigned and Judge Lan- don, now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, was appointed to fill his place; he served till the close of 1869, when Walter T. L. Sanders, elected November, 1869, took his place); Austin A Yates, elected November, 1873; David C. Beattie, elected November, 1879.

DISTRICT ATTORNEYS. *- John K. Paige, ap- pointed June 11, 1818; Alonzo C. Paige,

appointed September 3, 1823; Platt Potter, ap- pointed January 15, 1839 ; Benjamin F. Potter, elected June, 1847 ; Samuel L. Baker, elected November, 1850 ; James Fuller, appointed in place of Baker, resigned, August 22, 1851 ; John Van Santvoort, elected November, 1851 ; Samuel T. Freeman, appointed in place of Van Santvoort, resigned; Simeon Caulkins, ap- pointed January 7, 1856, in place of Freeman, re- signed; Judson S. Landon, elected November, 1856; John G. McChesney, elected November, 1862; John L. Hill, elected November, 1865; Austin A. Yates, elected November, 1868; Alonzo P. Strong, appointed December 24, 1873, in place of Yates, resigned; Daniel C. Beattie, elected No- vember, 1874; Charles E. Palmer, elected Novem- ber, 1877; J. Teller Schoolcraft, elected Novem- ber, 1880.

SURROGATES. - William J. Teller, appointed May 30, 1809 ; Robert Hudson, appointed April 6, 1813 ; William J. Teller, appointed March 3, 1815; John Yates, appointed February 12, 1816; Giles F. Yates, appointed February 21, 1821 ; John Sanders, appointed February 13, 1840 ; David Cady Smith, appointed February 13, 1844.

The County Judges whom we have named, elected under the provisions of 1846, have been Judges and Surrogates down to the present time.

COUNTY CLERKS. *- Peter F. Vedder, appointed March 11, 1809 ; Joseph Shurtleff, appointed February 26, 1810 ; Peter F. Vedder, appointed February 14, 1811 ; Jellis A. Fonda, appointed May 25, 1812 ; Joseph Shurtleff, appointed March 12, 1813 ; Jellis A. Fonda, appointed February 13, 1815 ; Jellis A. Fonda, elected November, 1 822; John S. Vrooman, appointed by the Governor 1834 ; Jonathan C. Burnham, elected November, 1834 ; Archibald Campbell, elected November, 1837 ; Silas H. Marsh, elected November, 1843 ; David P. Forrest, elected November, 1849 ; Mar- vin Strong, elected November, 1852 ; John W. Vedder, elected November, 1858 ; John M. Banker, appointed May 1, 1861, in place of Ved- der, resigned ; John McShea, Jr., appointed January 6, 1864, in place of Banker, resigned ; James G. Caw, elected November, 1864 ; J. Fonda Veile, elected November, 1876 ; Mr. Veile served by re-election till December 31, 1882 ; Thomas Yelverton, elected November, 1882.

SHERIFFS. -- James V. S. Riley, appointed March II, 1809; John V. Van Ingen, James V. S. Riley, John Brown, Gideon Holliday, Isaac Riggs, Lewis Eaton, A. Van Slyck, elected under provision of Constitution of 1821, November, 1822; John F. D. Vedder, elected November, 1825; Gershom Van Voast, elected November, 1828; Isaac I. Yates, elected November, 1831; Matthew Putnam, elected November, 1834; Myndert M. R. Wemple, elected November, 1837; David F. Reese, elected Novem- ber, 1840; Anthony H. Van Slyck, elected Novem- ber, 1843; John G. Van Voast, elected November, 1847; John F. Clute, elected November, 1849; Nicholas Brooks, elected November, 1852; Philip

* The original appellation of this office was that of Assistant Attor- ney-General, created by the act of February 12, 1796. It embraced several counties. The office of District Attorney was created by the act of April 4, 18or, and the State was divided into thirteen districts, several counties in each District. Albany, Schenectady and Schoharie Counties formed the Twelfth District. By the act of 1818 each county was appointed a separate district for the office of District Attorney. These officers were appointed till the Constitution of 1846 went into effect, when they were elected.

* These officers were appointed by the Governor and Council of Appointment down to 1821, when, by the provisions of the Constitution adopted that year, they were elected by the people.

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.

Dederick, appointed vice Brooks, resigned, January 16, 1855; Obadiah L. De Forest, elected Novem- ber, 1855; Norman M. F. Clute, elected Novem- ber, 1858; Abraham Gillispie, elected Novem- ber, 1861; Samuel Wingate, elected November, 1864; Peter Miller, elected November, 1867; Clark V. Worden, appointed by the Governor, 1868; Jacob Vedder, elected November, 1869; James McMillen, Jr., elected November, 1872; Hiram J. Ingersoll, elected November, 1875; Charles H. Van Vranken, elected November, 1878; Jacob De Forest, elected November, 1881; S. L. Clute, elected November, 1885.

The legal history of Schenectady is best illus- trated by the lives and careers of men who have made its history by participating as leaders in the various matters of public and historic interest in the county. 'We shall, therefore, introduce biograph- ical sketches of those distinguished lawyers and judges of the county, without which, it may with truth be said, its history could not be written.

We shall begin with the biography of Joseph C. Yates, a name not only interwoven in the history of Schenectady, but in that of the State, and in a large degree with that of the nation.

"Among the early settlers of Schenectady, or 'Corlear ' as it was styled in the olden time, was Joseph Yates, an honest, industrious, intelligent and enterprising English yeoman. He was a native of Leeds, in Yorkshire, and emigrated to the Colony of New York at that fearful period in English his- tory when Charles the First was beheaded to ap- pease the fury of the men who established, under Cromwell, the Commonwealth of England.

"The descendants of Joseph Yates were numerous. Although they preserved the patronymic of their ancestors, they soon lost their nationality in a de- gree, by their frequent intermarriages with their Dutch and German neighbors."

No family was more conspicuous in the early annals of New York and the Revolution than the Yates fam- ily. They were strong and influential Whigs, entering ardently into the struggle of the Colonists for freedom, notwithstanding a large number (perhaps a majority) of the people by whom they were surrounded were Tories, and they were connected with some of the prominent loyalists by marriage. Nearly all the in- habitants of the valley of Mohawk and the intersecting valley of Schoharie were Tories. But the Germans and Dutch, with the exception of those families allied to the Johnsons or under their influence, were patriots, ready and willing to shed their blood for the freedom of their country.

The connection of the Yates family with the Bench and Bar is singularly instructive and inter- esting.

Robert Yates was one of the first Judges of the Su- preme Court of the State of New York, and subse- quently Chief Justice; Abraham Yates, Jr., an influ- ential citizen of Albany and afterward its Mayor; and Christopher Yates, father of Joseph C. Yates, whose life we are tracing, were cousins, and at an early day identified themselves with the great movement which terminated in the independence of the American Colonies.

Chief Justice Abraham Yates was a member of the Committee of Public Safety and of the Con- vention which adopted the Constitution of 1777. When his judicial appointment was tendered to him, his practice as a lawyer was extensive and lucrative. At the Albany bar, of which he was a member, and even at the bar of the city of New York, he was an acknowledged leader; learned, sa- gacious, eloquent and adroit. Such was his posi- tion long before the days of 1776, and when in 1777 he accepted the office of Chief Justice, he did so largely to the injury of his private interests. His judicial duties were peculiarly delicate and dan- gerous. He sat upon the bench, as a writer has expressed it, "with a halter about his neck, exposed to punishment as a rebel, had our efforts for liberty proved abortive. But no dangers could appall, no fears deter him from an honest performance of the functions of his office."

He represented New York in the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, and was a member of the State Convention called to ratify the Federal Con- stitution.

Christopher Yates was one of the leading men of Schenectady for many years prior to the Revolu- tion. During the French and Indian War he held a captain's commission in the provincial troops. He took part in the unsuccessful attempt made in 1758 to dislodge Montcalm from his position at Ti- conderoga; while bravely leading his men to the as- sault he was desperately wounded. In the following year he accompanied the army under Gen. Prideaux and Sir William Johnson in the expedition against Fort Niagara, and was present at the capture of that important work. The war over, he returned to his duties and occupation as a citizen. He was immediately elected to the Colonial Legislature, and for many years was a prominent member of that body. When the stirring questions began to be agitated that terminated in the Revolution, he espoused the cause of freedom. When the first alarm of war was raised he gave his services to his country. He accepted a commission in the New York troops, and was very soon promoted to the rank of colonel, in which capacity he served through the war, participating in many of its bat- tles.

He married Jane Bradt, a lady whose many ex- cellent qualities caused her memory to be affec- tionately cherished by her posterity. She was de- scended from an old and respectable Dutch family who emigrated to the colony of New York and settled in the lower valley of the Mohawk at a very early period. She was the mother of several children, sons and daughters. Of the former was Joseph C., whose name stands at the head of this sketch.

Henry Yates, a brother, represented the Eastern Senatorial District in 1811 to 1814, 1818 to 1821. He was also a delegate from the county of Sche- nectady to the Constitutional Convention of 1821. John B. Yates was for a long time an honored and respected citizen of Madison County, and Andrew, "the conscientious, punctual and kind-hearted " -to use the language of Dr. Potter-was an emi-

CITY OF SCHENECTADY .- BENCH AND BAR.

nent clergyman, a Professor in Union College, a Trustee of Hamilton College, and Principal of the Polytechny of Chittenango. It will thus be seen how intimately connected with every part of Sche- nectady County-legal, judicial, civil and military -has been the name of Yates.

But to proceed with the life of the distinguished subject of this sketch, JOSEPH C. YATES.

He was born at Schenectady on November 9, 1768. Robust and energetic, physically and mentally, exhibiting an unusual fondness for study and a persevering love of knowledge, he early indi- cated that he was destined to enter that career of life demanding intellectual endowments, strong executive powers, strengthened and sustained by those moral and religious sentiments which gave strength and dignity to his character. Many of these high qualities of the future Judge and Chief Magistrate of the State were exhibited in his early years. Inheriting many of the traits of his mater- nal ancestors, he early adopted the favorite maxim of their nation, "Een-dracht maakt macht." As has well been said, this motto, like the magic word in the Arabian tale, removed many an ob- stacle which obstructed his path, and served oft- times to serve and encourage him.

As the means of his father were ample, he enjoyed every advantage for obtaining a finished education, and he zealously availed himself of them.

His education was begun under the tuition of Jacob Wilkie, an accomplished scholar, a tutor in his family. After receiving the instruction of this gentleman for several years he was sent to Caugh- nawaja, where he continued his studies under the instruction of Rev. Dr. Romain and his scholarly son, Theodoric Frelinghuysen Romain. He re- mained here until the incursions of Brandt, Sir Guy and Sir John Johnson rendered his residence at Caughnawaja unsafe, and he returned to Sche- nectady, where he completed his education under the instruction of Rev. Alexander Miller and that distinguished scholar, John Honeywood.

Early in life he decided to enter the legal pro- fession. In conformity with this resolution, he entered the office of Peter W. Yates, a cousin of his father, a lawyer of distinction, and a leading Anti-Federalist, in the city of Albany. Young Yates pursued his legal studies, as he did his classi- cal, with a determination to master it as one of the greatest of sciences, which embodies in it, as has well been said, the perfection of all human reason- ing. At that day digests, compends and elemen- tary treatises on law were not as abundant as at the present time, and the legal student was compelled to work out his education in the exercise of unre- mitting diligence in tracing the intellectual sub- tlety of the legal writers of that period. But this labor and research tended to strengthen and enlarge the mind, give it profundity and flexibility.

In 1792 Yates was called to the Bar. Robert Yates was then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. He, too, as we have seen, was a native of Schenectady, a man fitted by education, by high mental qualities, thorough and

exhaustive legal training, for the elevated positions in life which he was called upon to occupy.

After his call to the bar, young Yates opened an office in Schenectady and began the practice of his profession under the most advantageous circum- stances. As was said by one of the distinguished citizens of the city at the time, "Schenectady need- ed a lawyer with the useful qualities which Mr. Yates possessed." He was prudent and sagacious as a counselor, able and skillful as an advocate, familiar with the rules which control real property and with the doctrines which govern the creation and devolution of estates. In the interpretation of devises and the construction of the settlement of deeds, grants, and the operation of trusts and powers, he was peculiarly qualified for the practice which, at that time, largely occupied the attention of lawyers.

Mr. Yates was not only active and useful in his profession, but he identified himself with every public improvement which tended to the advance- ment of Schenectady.

He was particularly active and useful in pro- moting the educational interests of the country. With other members of his family-with the Glens, the Fondas, the Van Ingens, the Oothouts, the Veeders and the Duanes-he was very influential in founding Union College. He was one of those to whom the funds raised by subscription were required to be paid, and one of the trustees named in the charter granted by the Regents of the University in 1790. The prosperity of Union College was to him a matter of deep interest. He remained a member of the Board of Trustees until the day of his death, and it may well be said that the history of Union College is largely blended with that of Joseph C. Yates.

In March, 1798, Schenectady was incorporated as a city. Previous to this the corporate property was held under letters patent granted in 1684 by Sir Edmund Andross, then Governor-General of the province of New York. We have said that Mr. Yates was particularly interested in the pro- motion and prosperity of Schenectady. His efforts and abilities were warmly appreciated by his fellow citizens, who, in return, bestowed upon him the most flattering proofs of their confidence and re- gard.

For over fifteen years he devoted himself with untiring assiduity to his constantly increasing and highly remunerative legal business, which brought him to the front rank of his profession.

The political arena had the same attractions for him that it has for most lawyers, and he entered it to reap the highest honors in the gift of the people of the State of New York. From this position he rose rapidly from one office of honor and trust to another.

In 1806-7 he was a member of the State Senate from the Eastern District. On the 3d of April, 1807, he was appointed by the Legislature of the State on a commission, consisting of Ezra L'Hon- medieu, Samuel Jones, Egbert Benson and Simeon De Witt, to meet and confer in behalf of the State with commissioners appointed by New Jersey, rel-

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF SCHENECTADY.

ative to certain claims of jurisdiction and territory made by the latter as to the extension of its eastern boundary. The able manner in which this commission performed its duty has passed into history. In 1808, Mr. Yates was again elected from the Eastern District to the State Senate. Soon after his election, that illustrious jurist, Brockholst Livingston, then a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, was promoted to the Bench of the United States Supreme Court, and Joseph C. Yates, to the great gratification of the Bench, the Bar and the public, was appointed to occupy the place on the State bench made vacant by Judge Livingston's promotion. He occupied this position with great ability until January 20, 1823, a period of fifteen years, when he was, as we shall more fully see hereafter, elevated to the chief magistracy of the State.

On the 28th of February, 1812, he was chosen a Regent of the University. We should have said that Mr. Yates very early allied himself to the Democratic-Republican party, afterward known as the Democratic party.

In November, 1822, he was elected Governor of the State over Solomon Southwick, his opponent. He resigned his office as Justice of the Supreme Court, and, on the first of January, 1823, was in- augurated Governor of the State. Until Governor Yates assumed the Executive chair, the State Gov- ernors, at the opening of each annual legislative session, appeared before the Senate and the Assem- bly, and delivered the Annual Message orally. He changed this custom by sending a written message to the Legislature, and the precedent he established has been adopted by all his successors.

In his first message he recommended laws for carrying the new Constitution-the Constitution of 1821-into effect; for the encouragement of domes- tic manufactories and economy in the public ex- penditures; and a liberal prosecution of the works of internal improvements then in progress. His message was a plain, unassuming, but very prac- tical document.

One of the questions that largely occupied the public mind in the State of New York, pending the canvass for President in 1820, which resulted in the re-election of James Monroe, was that of allow- ing the people the choice of Presidential Electors, instead of the Legislature. This question entered largely into the gubernatorial canvass of 1823, but was left undecided.

In his message to the Legislature, January 6, 1824, he called its attention to the fact that he de- sired a change in the mode of choosing Presidential Electors, expressing an opinion that it should be general throughout the country, looking to Con- gress for the remedy, and that in the meantime the interference of the Legislature, or the surrender of their right to choose the Electors, was not advisa- ble. He again recommended encouragement of domestic manufactures by duties on foreign im- ported goods. One of the most significant and important measures recommended by Gov. Yates in this message was the revision of the Statutes of the State.

Early in the legislative session of 1824, a heated and angry discussion took place in both branches of the Legislature on the introduction of bills au- thorizing the people to choose the Electors by gen- eral ticket. Previous to this, as we have seen, they were chosen by the Legislature.

A bill favorable to the change in the electoral laws passed the Assembly, but by a majority, in- stead of a plurality. The object of this bill was intended to effect the vote of New York in the Presidential election, which was to take place that year. In this election Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson and William H. Crawford were candidates for President.

The change was insisted upon by the friends of Mr. Crawford, by which means they believed it would give him the State. His opponents, how- ever, in the Senate defeated the measure by post- poning a further consideration of it until the first Monday in the following November, which, in effect, defeated the bill.

Such was the excitement on the question, that Gov. Yates called an extra session of the Legisla- ture for August 2, 1824. A bill providing for the choice of electors by the people, under the present form, passed the Legislature in 1826.

Gov. Yates' term of office expired January I, 1825, and he was succeeded by De Witt Clinton. In 1828 he was elected President of the Electoral College, the State giving its vote for Andrew Jack- son for President.

At the expiration of his term of office he re- sumed his residence at Schenectady, where he was greatly beloved and honored by its citizens. He remained attached to the Democratic party. He supported the administration of President Jackson and of Mr. Van Buren, though he did so with moderation and courteous deference to the opinion of others.

Gov. Yates was married three different times. His first wife was Mrs. Ann Ellice, of Schenectady, by whom he had no issue. For his second wife he married Miss Maria Kane, of Albany; she bore him one daughter, who became the wife of John Keyes Paige, for many years a clerk of the Supreme Court, and afterward Mayor of Albany. His third wife was Ann Elizabeth De Lancy, by whom he had two daughters; one of them married Mr. J. D. Watkins, of Georgia; the other, Mr. Samuel Neal, of New York City.

In person Gov. Yates was rather above the me- dium size and height. His appearance was digni- fied and his manner was easy, courteous and un- assuming. If he did not possess a brilliant mind, it was vigorous, well balanced and well disciplined by education and by his relations with the world. In all his private relations he was in every way es- timable. He died at Schenectady, on March 19, 1837, having attained the age of sixty-nine years.

HON. ALONZO C. PAIGE, LL. D .- Few names are more distinguished in the legal history of the State of New York than that of Alonzo C. Paige. It is an ornament to the bar, where he was dis- tinguished as a wise, eloquent and faithful counsel- or. While at the bar, he devoted himself with

CITY OF SCHENECTADY .- BENCH AND BAR.

untiring industry to his profession. To him, ju- risprudence was a science which delighted his pol- emical mind, and he studied it with avidity and pleasure; but the student was never lost in the practicing lawyer. His deep reading was exhibited in his legal arguments, in his written opinions, and they rendered his briefs and all his legal pro- ductions beautiful specimens of legal logic and learning. Like most lawyers, Mr. Paige, in his earlier life, entered somewhat largely into politics, but never to the neglect of his professional duties. He was never what may be called a practiced pol- itician, and, when placed in comparison with those simulars of patriotism-politicians of policy and intrigue-approaching the people with artifice, and addressing them in the ambiguous language of a trimmer, his character shone with peculiar lustre, and it is no exaggeration to say that it did so in all the varied duties of his life.

We cannot better place the character and career of Judge Paige before our readers than in adopting the beautiful memorial of him found in 52 Barbor's N. Y. Supreme Court Reports.

Judge Paige was the son of the Rev. Dr. Winslow Paige, a Presbyterian clergyman, who was afterward called to the then Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. Judge Paige was born in Schagh- ticoke, Rensselaer County, in 1797. Blessed with a pious parentage and with the advantage of every possible care bestowed in the cultivation of his mind and advancement in education, he entered Williams College at an unusually early age, and graduated from that institution before he had arrived at the age of sixteen. In 1857 he received from his Alma Mater the degree of LL.D. After leaving Williams College, his father, designing to educate him for the ministry, sent him to be in- structed under the care of the Rev. Dr. Banks, a learned Scotch clergyman, then living in a neighbor- ing parish. After a year or more thus spent, his father, learning of his absence, upon inquiry, found him in a law office, in the city of Schenectady, laboriously studying a profession then most agreeable to his own wishes. He completed his legal term of study with the approbation of his parent, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1818, and opened an office in the city of Schenectady in 1819. He then adopted that city as his residence, where he lived to the time of his death.

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Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 233

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452