Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 38

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 38

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On March 30, 1841, Mr. Wheaton was ap- pointed District Attorney of Albany County. He made a useful and exceedingly able public prosecu- tor. It was an unfailing custom in those days to

*Since the death of Professor Dean, his great work, upon which he spent so many years, has been published in seven octavo vol- umes.

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appoint none but the most eminent and successful advocates to the office of District Attorney. It was justly regarded as a most important and re- sponsible position-the people's advocate, com- pelled, in the discharge of his duties, to oppose the strongest and most gifted of the profession. In the year 1855 the management of a large estate in the City of New York compelled him to take up his residence there. The care of this property and some unfortunate turns it took greatly impaired his health, rendering him despondent.

On August 26, 1865, Mr. Wheaton, in attempt- ing to cross the railroad track near Yorkville, caught one of his feet in what is known as a frog, and was thrown to the ground. Before he could extricate himself an approaching train passed over him, instantly killing him.

NICHOLAS HILL.

It is said in the Bench and Bar of New York that Nicholas Hill, in some of his characteristics, resembled John C. Spencer; they were both men of strong intellectual powers, active, restless men of vast research, vigorous logic, unwearied industry and capable of immense mental labor. Both were wanting in imagination; both were learned, close, critical polemical lawyers. But here the analogy ends; for much of the power which impelled Spencer to action was political ambition; this led him into a career which in a measure subordinated his professional zeal to politics, to divide his great talents and learning between the Bar and the polit- ical arena, between the duties of the legislator and the Minister of Statc.

Mr. Hill, on the contrary, concentrated all his mental powers upon his profession; this gave him a mastery at the bar which few men are capable of attaining. He disliked politics, and there was nothing in official position that could attract him from the sphere to which he had devoted himself. He was ambitious, but his ambition was confined to his profession; all his study and reading was subservient to that ambition; therefore his knowl- edge of the law, his power of applying it to prac- tical use, of wielding its subtleties with facility, and separating truth from error in a manner which ren- dered him unqualed at the bar of the State, and we may say of the nation.

His life was unvaried by those events which excite the ambition of the politician and the statesman. It was spent over books, in the contests of the forum, before learned and venerable judges, whose deliberations were aided and enlightened by his learned and powerful arguments.

Nicholas Hill was born in the County of Mont- gomery, New York, October 16, 1806. His father was a revolutionary soldier, who, on leav- ing the army, became a useful preacher of the gospel.

Young Hill carly exhibited a love of books, a quick comprehension of their contents, an unusual tenacity of memory. An indomitable energy and perseverance enabled him, with the aid of his father-who was an accomplished scholar-to acquire a very excellent classical education.

Choosing the legal profession for his avocation in life, he began the study of law with Daniel Cady, of Johnstown, with whom he prepared for the Bar. After obtaining his degree as an Attorney at Law, he commenced practice at Amsterdam, New York, meeting with but little success, his practice being largely confined to the justices' court. At length he removed to Saratoga, New York, where he made the acquaintance of that illustrious judge, Esek Cowen, " whose life and career seemed to offer that example of singleness of purpose, devotion to his profession and unwearied industry upon which he molded his career." Judge Cowen soon discovered in Hill those mental qualities which constitute a successful lawyer, and he gave him his influence and advanced his professional interests in many ways. At length he formed a copart- nership with Sidney Cowen, Esq., a son of Judge Cowen. Associated with Mr. Cowen, he prepared that great work known to the legal profession throughout the nation and in England as Cowen & Hill's Notes to Phillips on Evidence, which re- mains a lasting monument to the ability, energy, industry and learning of its authors-a work which may be considered a law library by itself.

The unassuming manner and native modesty of Mr. Hill tended at first to retard his progress at the Bar. Though a close and powerful reasoner, he did not possess those showy elocutionary qual- ities which dazzle the multitude and bring a lawyer rapidly into notice.

Though he loved the forum and delighted in its contests, yet there were many of the attributes of the retiring scholar in his nature, and hence he derived the most sincere pleasure in the silence and retirement of his study.

He had many qualities which constitute the successful jury lawyer, and gradually attained a high position as an advocate. Marcus T. Reynolds and Samuel Stevens, for several years his great rivals in the profession, had been distinguished at the Bar of the Supreme Court in banc and in the Court for the Correction of Errors a long time be- fore Mr. Hill was known in either of those tri- bunals.

But from his first appearance there he created a very favorable impression on the minds of all the members of the Court. In the case of Tilden vs. Gardiner, which was one of the earliest argued by him before the General Term, his argument was listened to with profound attention by both the Bench and the Bar. "We shall hear from that man very often hereafter, " said Chief-Justice Nelson to Judge Bronson, as he was folding the papers in the case, after the conclusion of Mr. Hill's remarks. Doubtless the reputation which the Notes to Phillips on Evidence had given aided him in gaining the confidence of the judges, and in obtaining the ap- pointment of State Law Reporter in 1841. The manner in which he prepared these reports greatly enhanced his reputation. They are characterized by the same methodical and expansive mind which is conspicuous in all his works.

He was one of the most accomplished and accu- rate pleaders in the State, and few exceeded him

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in the faculty of analyzing a complicated question or clinching a contested conclusion. These quali- fications greatly aided him in the labors of report- ing the adjudicated cases of the State Courts, en- abling him to adjust them so that the student or the practitioner could determine at a glance the real points decided in them. Soon after receiving this appointment, he removed to Albany, where he resided the remainder of his life.

He occupied the position of State Reporter five years, when his increasing legal business compelled him to resign. Soon after his resignation he formed a copartnership with Peter Cagger and John K. Porter, constituting a firm which com- bined every variety of legal talent-a firm which was distinguished for its capacity and for the vast amount of legal business which it controlled. Each of its members possessed attainments which gave them superiority at the Bar, or in whatever in- tellectual field they chose to enter.

Mr. Hill devoted himself to the General Term and the Court of Appeals; at length his business at the latter Court increased to such extent that he was compelled to confine himself almost exclusively to that tribunal.

Mr. Hill's manner at the Bar was calm, dig- nified, natural and unassuming. The vivacity and strength of his mind, his prodigious quickness of conception, his plain but ready language, rendered him an effectual speaker in the forum. He gained the attention of the jurors by the natural force of reason; his language was never above or beyond them; it went direct to their understanding. He considered the case at bar with them, viewed it from their stand-point, and he "dexterously ac- commodated himself to what he detected to be the passing mood of each of the twelve," leading them instead of driving them to their conclusions.

One of the most powerful weapons which an ad- vocate can use is candor. This was possessed by Mr. Hill, and it was, indeed, formidable in his hands. Without any parade of learning, he con- vinced the judges that he had examined every phase of the question he was arguing, and was, therefore, capable of enlightening their minds and aiding them in their deliberations; hence he was strong at Nisi Prius, still stronger before the Court in banc.

His habits of life were regular and frugal, the only excess in which he indulged being his in- tense, never-ceasing application to his books, the study of his cases and his briefs.

At length the physical powers of Mr. Hill, which were never strong, began to yield to constant and unrelaxed labors ; with the flight of each week this became more and more apparent, until finally his friends persuaded him to suspend his professional toils. He yielded to their advice, and they soon had the satisfaction of seeing his bodily strength and vigor return and his energies revive ; thus he con- tinucd for several weeks, until he believed himself able to resume his usual duties. But, alas ! Even at the moment when hope was highest, with the prospect of returning healtlı, he suddenly fell be- fore the destroyer, and Nicholas Hill was numbered

with the dead. This sad event occurred on the first day of May, 1859. He was then in the fifty- fourth year of his age-at that period when he yet had years of activity, labor and usefulness before him.

The intelligence of his death produced the most profound sorrow throughout the State, particularly among the members of the legal profession. When it was announced in the Court of Appeals, in that arena where he had so long been a prominent con- testant, where he had occupied a place since the organization of the court, a scene of sorrow un- equaled on such occasions and in such places followed.

Mr. Hill's death was announced in the Court of Appeals, by Hon. John H. Reynolds, in a eulo- gium which will never be forgotten. He was emi- nently qualified for that delicate and responsible duty.

Mr. Reynolds was one of the ablest members of the Albany Bar; a man of rare argumentative powers, enlarged and liberalized by scholarly train- ing and set off by literary accomplishments. He had been the law partner of Mr. Hill, and knew him, perhaps, better than any other man, and was tenderly attached to him.

Mr. Reynolds' professional endowments, his pure and elevated character, endeared him to his brethren of his profession ; in a word, he was one of those whose names adorn the history of the Albany Bar.

PETER CAGGER.

Few members of the Albany Bar left a brighter or more lasting record, not only as a lawyer, but in all that makes up an esteemed and useful citizen, than Peter Cagger.

He was born at Albany, July 6, 1812. His parents were natives of Ireland, where his father was extensively engaged in business. Before the birth of Mr. Cagger, his father removed his family to the United States, and for a brief period were residents of the City of New York, but they soon removed to Albany, where they spent the remainder of their lives.

We cannot describe the career and character of Mr. Cagger in more fitting language than the fol- lowing, written by a distinguished journalist of Albany :

" The record of Mr. Cagger's life exhibits a series of happy antitheses. A Democrat of the Demo- crats, the bold, sagacious and widely known par- tisan, almost upon all occasions the sole daring manager of the interests of a great party, and the absolute controller of its fortunes and destiny- local, State and national ; he was so happily con- stituted as to attract, without effort, in seasons of fierce political excitement, the most potential among those of antagonistic sentiment, and to number among his friends his most bitter political oppo- nents. A Catholic of the Catholics, his very name a tradition and a household word among the people of his faith ; largely identified with the early history of the old church in Albany ; an intelligent, consci- entious and faithful believer, he was, at the same time, the chosen confident, the familiar friend, the

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trusted, most honored and reliable adviser of many whose peculiar religious bias might have suggested other counsel and far different associa- tions. To the young, to the middle-aged, his co- temporaries, and to the old there was something so genial, so magnetic and so inspiring about Peter Cagger that the abrupt intelligence of his sudden and unlooked-for death will be clothed with addi- tional pain. We might detail, if we chose, un- numbered instances of his kindness, his noble charities, the beautiful traits and Christian influ- ences which accompanied him through the years which Providence has bestowed, and which will live before Heaven, and before men, perhaps, when the record of the lawyer has faded, and the mem- ory of the politician is extinct. The poor, the widow, the orphan, the unprotected, never appealed to him in vain ; the tears of his own fatherless and bereaved family will mingle, as it were, with a tide of grief from hidden sources, and the hearts his own kind heart made happy, and the homes his liberality blessed, will keep his memory bright when even the marble has crumbled upon his grave."

Michael Cagger, the elder brother, was a young man of great promise, of thoughtful, philosophic mind, and attracted the attention of distinguished men, who discovered in him unmistakable elements of future greatness. He died in the very prime of life. William Cagger, another brother, was for a time engaged in business in Albany, and afterward in the New York Custom House, in which position he died. Mr. Cagger married Maria Maher, daughter of James Maher, well known for a con- siderable period as State Librarian, and in the War of 1812 as the gallant Captain of the "Irish Greens," a military company originating in Albany and which bore a prominent part in the famous con- flict at Sackett's Harbor. A daughter, the sole remaining issue of this marriage, survives him. ·

At an early period of life he was placed in the then celebrated law office of Reynolds & Woodruff. Even as a clerk his remarkable administrative capacity began to manifest itself, and the efficiency of his labors was occasionally recognized in the most handsome manner by the distinguished princi- pals of that powerful firm.

Mr. Cagger afterward associated himself with Mr. Samuel Stevens, and the firm name of Stevens & Cagger became speedily potential in legal circles. After a successful practice of some years, Mr. Stevens, a very able man and the peer of renowned lawyers in the legal arena, yielded to excessive labor ; and shortly after his decease a new legal firm, that of Hill, Cagger & Porter, was established, which will go down to posterity as one of the most remarkable combinations of ability and fitness for the several departments of a great law office ever known in the annals of the State.

"The great intellect of Hill shone in the court of last resort, where his genius coruscated, and in which his profound learning, and the unbending integrity of his character, secured reverence even of the Bench ; the commanding eloquence, the penetrating mind, the admirable sagacity of Porter took easy precedence of all others at Nist Prius;

and the extraordinary administrative talent of Cag- ger, ready at once and at a moment's beck for abstruse pleadings, for the minutiæe of petty liti- gation, with its inexhaustible fund of device and ingenuity ; instinctively prepared for all combina- tions, of finance, of politics, and at home in im- portant business negotiations-all these things com- bined to make this famous trio so constituted as if every requisite and possible demand had been fore- seen and provided for."

In the midst of his successful career as a lawyer and politician Mr. Cagger was suddenly summoned from earth. On the 6th of July, 1868, while riding with a friend in the City of New York, he was thrown from his carriage and instantly killed.

This distressing event cast a gloom over his native city, whither his remains were tenderly car- ried.

At the time of his death Mr. Cagger was fifty-six years of age.

IRA HARRIS,

Distinguished as a lawyer, judge, and Senator in Congress, was born at Charleston, Montgomery County, N. Y., May 31, 1802. His father was Frederick Waterman Harris; his mother's maiden name was Lucy Hamilton. When he was six years old his parents removed from Charleston and be- came residents of Preble, N. Y. Here his father be- came one of the extensive landowners in the County of Cortland. Ira prepared for college at the Homer Academy, and in September, 1822, became a member of the Junior class in Union College, from whence he was graduated in 1824. He im- mediately entered the office of Augustus Donnelly, a highly respectable counselor at law, of Homer, N. Y., where he remained one year, and then went to Albany, N. Y., where he continued his legal studies under that great jurist, Ambrose Spencer. He continued with Judge Spencer until his call to the Bar in 1827. Opening an office in Albany, he began his practice under favorable circum- stances. At the end of six months he formed a co- partnership with Salem Dutcher, Esq., one of his associates in college, which proved to be a very successful relation. It continued until 1842, when it was dissolved by the removal of Mr. Dutcher to New York. His next law partner was Julius Rhoades, Esq. His knowledge of law, his rare professional accomplishments, brought him rapidly before the public. As an equity lawyer he stood pre-eminent.

In the autumn of 1844 he was elected to repre- sent Albany County in the Assembly. In 1845 he was re-elected, and in the spring of 1846 was chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Conven- tion which assembled in June that year. In this body, as in the Legislature, Mr. Harris took a very conspicuous position. In the fall of 1846 he was elected to the State Senate, but after serving one session he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court, and resigned his seat in the Senate for one on the Bench. At the expiration of his term, then four years in duration, he was elected for the full term, which had been extended to eight years. To

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use the language of another, "It was not until his elevation to the Bench that the abilities of Judge Harris were fully displayed. He exhibited profound knowledge of the law, much judicial capacity and severe, though courteous, impartiality."

His charges to juries were models of excellence in the clearness with which the facts proven and the law bearing upon them were presented. The pub- lished opinions of Judge Harris during the twelve years he sat upon the Bench evince extensive learn- ing and strength of reasoning.

Upon leaving the Bench he spent a year in Europe. On his return home he was, in 1861, elected to the Senate of the United States. His op- ponents for this distinguished position were Horace Greeley and Wm. M. Evarts. In the Senate his abilities were recognized; he was placed upon the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Judiciary, and the Select Joint Committee on the Southern States. He soon became the intimate and trusted friend of President Lincoln. In the darkest hours of his administration Mr. Lincoln always found light in the co-operation of Senator Harris, and in his moments of despondency sympathy and sup- port. During the civil war Senator Harris was most efficient in raising a regiment of cavalry for the Union, which was called after his name, as was also a regiment of infantry.

In 1868 the Senatorial term of Mr. Harris ex- pired and he returned to private life, having won the distinction of a wise, useful American statesman. Hardly had he become accustomed to his home life when he was again summoned by his fellow citizens into public service. He was again elected to a seat in a constitutional convention -- the con- vention of 1867. In this body he especially dis- tinguished himself in his famous speech on "Government of Cities." When this convention adjourned Judge Harris had been in public life over twenty-three years.

He had been connected with the Albany Law School from its organization in 1850, and lectured to the students whenever his official duties permit- ted. He now accepted the appointment of Profes- sor of Equity Jurisprudence and Practice, devoting himself wholly to the school down to the time of his death, which took place December 2, 1875. The lectures of Judge Harris proved eminently popular and useful. He was for many years Presi- dent of the Board of Trustees of Union College; he was President of the Albany Medical College, and of the Board of Trustees of Vassar College; he was one of the founders of the Rochester University -its first and only Chancellor.

Among the public addresses of Judge Harris was an oration delivered on the occasion of a jubilee anniversary of the old academy at Homer, a lecture delivered at Albany upon the life and character of Roger Williams. For many years he held the office of deacon in the Emanuel Church in Albany, and was also President of the American Baptist Missionary Union.

In 1869 he conferred the degrees upon the stu- dents at the commencement exercises of Union College. On the 2d of December, 1875, Judge

Harris was summoned from the scenes of earth "to that better land." His death caused great sorrow at Albany and throughout the State ; his funeral was one of the largest that ever took place in the city. The Bench and the Bar testified their respect for his memory, and for his brilliant career as a lawyer, judge and citizen, in eloquent and ap- propriate eulogies. All classes of citizens united in honoring the departed jurist, statesman and esteemed citizen.

Judge Harris was a brother of Hon. Hamilton Harris. He left a widow, two sons and four daughters. Col. William Hamilton Harris, the eldest son, served thirteen years in the U. S. Army, and afterward, at his own request, was honorably discharged. Capt. Ira Harris, his other son, served ten years in the U. S. Navy. Resigning his commission, he became an extensive iron manufac- turer at Kansas City, Missouri.

RUFUS W. PECKHAM

was a learned, distinguished lawyer and jurist.

His early training was favorable to the develop- ment of his strong mental powers, and the scenes of his professional activity were propitious for their exercise.

He was called to the Bar at a brilliant period in its history. He studied his profession under the instructions of illustrious jurists, and among his companions were those whose names are bright on the historic page.

He was born at Rensselaerville, in the County of Albany, December 30, 1809. In his early boyhood his father removed to Otsego County, near Cooperstown, where young Peckham grew into manhood. Like most boys at that period, he was sent to the common district school-that time- honored and still valuable institution -to attain a primary education. When he was thirteen years of age he became a student in Hartwick Seminary, under the management of Rev. Dr. Hazelius. In this institution he prepared for college. In 1825, when in his sixteenth year, he entered Union Col- lege, taking an advanced standing, which enabled him to join the graduating class of 1827.

"While in college he displayed a degree of natural quickness and talent which enabled him easily to maintain a high rank in a class distin- guished for scholarship. He early manifested a taste for military pursuits, and while in college de- voted a portion of his time to the study of military tactics, his proficiency in which secured for him the rank of captain in the celebrated battalion of Union College Cadets, one of the most highly creditable organizations in point of soldierly bear- ing and discipline in the entire State. Throughout life he exhibited the bearing and many of the characteristics of the trained soldier, and was pos- sessed in an eminent degree of the qualities of moral and physical courage which remained dis- tinguishing traits down to the last moment of his life."

Having a brother, who was a distinguished physician, living in Utica, he went to that city for the purpose of preparing to enter the legal profes-

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sion. At this time Greene C. Bronson and Samuel Beardsley -- whose names are indissolubly connect- ed with the learning and dignity of the old Supreme Court, and with the honors and erudition of its Bench-were practicing lawers, as a legal firm, which ranked first in the State of New York.

It was in the office of these gentlemen that young Peckham studied his profession. It is a singular coincidence that these eminent lawyers and their student should each in after life attain high judicial honors, and pronounce the law from high appellate courts of the State, the student from the court of dernier ressort, leaving a record over which the practitioner and the legal student love to linger.

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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 38

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