USA > New York > Biographical sketches of the state officers and members of the legislature of the state of New York in 1862 and '63 > Part 11
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year was nominated as a candidate for the Assembly, to which he was elected by a sweeping majority.
As a legislator Mr. Gray is able, fearless and honest. He is a man of quick apprehension; and as an active business man at home, took naturally and easily to the business of legislation. His uprightness is a " coat of mail " that effectually baffled lobby agents, who could not, or dare not, therefore, approach him for an evil purpose. He was a Member of the Committee on the Militia and Public Defense, and aided materially in ma- turing bills adapted to the present crisis.
In his private relations Mr. Gray has always occupied a high position as a man of stern integrity, and as a kind and benevolent citizen and friend.
EDMUND GREEN.
MR. GREEN was born in the town of Redhook, Dutchess county, N. Y., and is forty-six years of age. His ancestors were residents of Massachusetts. He received a common school education, and was reared a farmer, which he has always since industriously pursued as his chief occupation.
Politically, he is strongly attached to the Republican faith, and was elected a member of the House by a compli- mentary majority, as the candidate of that party. Like most farmers, he is a man of plain and simple habits, and although not boisterously prominent, discharged his duties faithfully and to the best of his ability. The most distinguish- ing trait of character developed by him during the winter,
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was his intense hostility toward Speaker Raymond, voting against the customary resolutions complimenting him for his impartiality at the end of the session.
HENRY D. HALL.
DR. HALL is a native of Herkimer county, N. Y., and is about fifty years of age. His father, Jeremiah Hall, an old Revolutionary soldier, died some years ago, as did also his mother, whose maiden name was Esther Wright, and who was a cousin of the late Gov. Wright. His father was from Rhode Island, and his mother from Vermont.
Dr. Hall left home when quite young, and went to sea, which he followed some six years. After returning home he was educated as a physician, graduating in 1832, at the University of Vermont, at Burlington. He then traveled some six years, in the United States ; and after practising medicine some six years, at Clinton, Oneida county, removed to North Hempstead, Long Island, where he remained till 1854, when he went to Kansas. He passed through all the trying scenes of the territorial history of that country, and in 1858 returned to Jamaica, Long Island, where he has always since resided.
Dr. Hall has always been a staunch Democrat of the olden school. He held the offices of Justice of the Peace and District Attorney in Kansas, having been admitted to the bar as early as 1840, and was elected to the House by a large majority. The members of 1862 will long remem-
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ber him for his admirable reply to Mr. Burr on the subject of stuffing birds and preparing skins.
His wife, who is now dead, was a sister of Senator Hen- derson, from the First District.
WILLIAM A. HALSEY.
MR. HALSEY is a native of Blooming Grove, Orange county, N. Y., and is fifty-three years of age. Although quiet and unassuming, never taking any considerable part in the discussions of the House, he ranked high among its most useful members, and was always found straightforward and indefatigable in the discharge of his duties. He has long sustained the position of a leading man in Cayuga county, where he is successfully engaged in farming, and was one of the best representatives his District sent to Albany for many years. Like most Whigs of the Seward, or Woolly-head school, he is now a Republican of the strictest sect, and was elected to the Assembly by a majority of six hundred, and upwards, over a respectable Democratic opponent. Endowed by nature with social qualities of a high order, he makes friends wherever he goes, and was well liked by his legislative associates of all parties.
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NEWBERRY D. HALSTED.
MR. HALSTED is dead. During the latter part of the session his seat has been vacant and will know him no more forever. Almost in the very mid-day of his manhood - in the very midst of his usefulness, he has descended to his grave. Like the greatest of the Homeric heroes, whom Providence " doomed to early death," so, too, he was cut off in the very vigor of manhood. His sun of life has set forever. It fell from its meridian splendor. No twilight obscured its setting.
Mr. Halsted was born at Rye, Westchester county, N. Y., on the 26th of September, 1813. His grandfather, Ezekiel Halsted, who was a native of New Rochelle, in that county, removed to Rye, in 1746, of which place Philemon Halsted, the father of the subject of this sketch, was also a native. His mother, Deborah Daven- port, was born at New Rochelle, and died at Rye on the 1st of July, 1845, at the age of fifty-seven. His father died at the same place on the 16th of May, 1857, at the age of seventy-eight.
Mr. Halsted received an academical education, and was always successfully engaged in farming. He was politically, an old-fashioned Democrat of the Jackson school, but never cared to abandon the quiet pursuits of the farm for the more exciting scenes of a political life. With the exception, therefore, of the office of Supervisor, which he filled during the years 1851, '52 and '53, he never held any prominent public position until his election to the seat he occupied in the House
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at the time of his death. In the discharge of his pub- lic duties, he was always found faithful and conscientious; and the innumerable social gifts and virtues with which he was blessed, will always impress his memory indeli- bly upon the minds of those who knew him in private life. As a husband, father and friend, he never will be forgotten. "His virtue is treasured in our hearts ; his death in our despair."
ALVIN C. HAUSE.
MR. HAUSE has proven himself one of the most useful and reliable men that Schuyler county has sent to the Legislature since its formation as a county. He is descended from a long line of English ancestry on his paternal side, and has inherited just enough of German blood on his maternal side, to make him one of the most quiet and substantial men in the House. He is a native of the town of Wayne, Steuben county, N. Y., where he was born on the 15th of December, 1814, and like most men reared in a new country has lived the life of a frugal, industrious and successful man. His father, Joseph Hause, who was a native of Orange county, died in 1838, at the age of fifty-one, and his mother, who was a Miss Rogers from Putnam county, died in 1847, at the age of sixty-three.
Mr. Hause received a common school education, and was bred a farmer, which has always been his chief
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occupation. He held the office of Supervisor in 1852, before the organization of Schuyler county, and has occupied the same position, during the past two years, in the town where he resides. Unlike most public men he has never sought office, and has never met with any opposition when once a candidate. He has always been a firm and unyielding Democrat of the Douglas school, and was chosen to his present position by a combination of the friends of the Union belonging to all parties.
Mr. Hause was married on the 28th of October, 1841, to Miss Perces F. Noble, who is a native of Enfield, Conn. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and is a gentleman of high standing in the community where he resides.
GEORGE W. HAZLETON.
MR. HAZLETON was born in the town of Fowler, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., on the 8th of December, 1816, and is now forty six years of age. His father was a native of Vermont, and his mother was born in Ireland. They emigrated to St. Lawrence county in 1813, and settled upon a farm which Mr. Hazleton cultivated, in connection with a saw-mill and brick-yard, to which he soon thereafter added a store.
The boyhood of the subject of this sketch was spent at labor, in the various occupations which engaged his father's attention, while, at intervals, he attended the district school,
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and, at a later day, the Academy. These advantages, with his reading at home, enabled him to procure a substantial education, and to engage in the task of teaching.
In 1835, then in his nineteenth year, young Hazleton was appointed paymaster of the 24th Regiment, N. Y. S. M., and in the course of a few years he was successively elevated to the positions of Quartermaster, Adjutant, and Lieut .- Colonel. In 1838 he engaged as an agent of the Mis- sissippi Land Company, for the purpose of exploring lands on the Mississippi river, and to report thercon. He tra- versed the country from Green Bay, a distance of five hundred miles, most of the way in a bark canoe, and passed two hundred miles beyond any white settlement. After an absence of seven months he returned, having fully accom- plished the purpose of his mission.
In the fall of 1845 Mr. Hazleton removed to Black River, Jefferson county. The following spring he was elected Justice of the Peace by the Democratic party. He also held the office of Supervisor and Postmaster several years. At the breaking out of the rebellion he joined the Union movement, and in the fall of 1861 was nominated and elected Member of the Assembly, by a majority of seven hundred and fifty, against a Democratic competitor. His legislative course was not marked with brilliancy, but was stamped with usefulness. He is a man of sound judgment, and of great business capacity.
Mr. Hazleton was married in 1839 to Miss Almira Cole, of Fowler, St. Lawrence county. He attends the Univer- salist church.
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DANIEL R. HUDSON.
MR. HUDSON is a descendant, in a straight line, of the distinguished navigator who first sailed up the noble river which bears his name. He was born in Blooming Grove, Orange county, N. Y., on the 20th of February, 1825. His paternal ancestors were natives of Long Island. The family of his mother, Sarah Reeve, came from New Jersey. His father, Jonathan Hudson, died in 1857, at the age of sixty-three, and his mother in 1833, at the age of thirty-seven.
Mr. Hudson received a fair common school education, and commenced life as a farmer, which avocation he followed until a few years since, when he united to his agricultural pursuits that of a merchant. He followed the latter two years in Sussex county, New Jersey, where he held the office of Postmaster. He has held several minor offices in his native town.
Mr. Hudson commenced political life as a Democrat. When the question of slavery divided that party, he sided with the Freesoil wing, and on the organization of the Republican party, his strong anti-slavery senti- ments naturally led him to join it. He was elected to the Assembly on a Union ticket, by a handsome ma- jority. He is not an office-seeker, and is much more of a business man than a politician. He has a full, round, well-developed frame, indicative of good health and a cheerful disposition.
Mr. Hudson was married in 1853 to Elizabeth J. Davis, and is a member of the Independent Congrega- tion of Blooming Grove.
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CALVIN T. HULBURD.
The lower branch of the Legislature of 1862, is allowed to have been the ablest body of legislators, taken in the aggregate, that has assembled in the Capitol since the days of Bradish, Granger, Fillmore, Hoffman, and others, who shone as stars in the political firmament. Conspicuous in this body was Mr. Hulburd, who, by his ability and power as a debater, exercised a potent influence over its deliberations. He is a man of high intellectual attainments, strong common sense and excel- lent judgment. His opinions had great weight in the House, and he was looked upon by his fellow-members as one whose suggestions, on matters of moment, could generally be adopted with safety. As we have said, this Legislature was of marked character and ability ; and if, associated with such men as Raymond, Stetson, Pierce, Alvord, Ogden, Phelps, and Coddington, he could attract a good degree of public notice, it was because of his eminent ability, statesmanlike views, and honest devotion to the public good.
Mr. Hulburd was born in 1809, in Stockholm, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., and is now in the fifty-fourth year of his age. His parents were natives of the State of Vermont. His father, Ebenezer Hulburd, died in 1857; and his mother, Lucy Hulburd, in 1850. After pursuing a regular course of academical studies, he en- tered Middlebury College, Vermont, and graduated with honor. Having determined upon the profession of law for his future occupation, he entered the office of Hon. Abraham Van Vechten, of Albany, where he remained
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one year. He also read law one year with Isaac McConihie, Esq., of Troy, and finished his preparatory course at the Law School of Yale College. Instead, however, of engaging in the practical duties of the pro- fession for which he had so studiously prepared himself, he suddenly changed his purpose and engaged in mer- cantile pursuits. This business, however, did not exact- ly suit him, and, after a brief experience, he relinquished it for the more genial occupation of farming, which has since engaged his attention.
In politics Mr. Hulburd was a Democrat, and he adhered to the Democratic party until the slavery, or free soil, ques- tion divided it into two sections-the Hunker and Barn- burner. With the distinguished statesman of his own county, the late lamented Hon. Silas Wright, he took sides with the latter, and continued steadfastly in its support until it was merged, partially, at least, in the Republican move- ment of 1854. Since that time he has been an active and ardent Republican; was a strenuous supporter of Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency; and earnestly sustains the Na- tional Administration in its war policy.
Mr. Hulburd was a member of the Assembly in the years 1842, '43, and '44. Taking a deep interest in the subject of education, he advocated the establishment of the State Normal School, and was delegated by the Legislature to visit Massachusetts, and examine the system adopted in that State. His report on the subject was a very able document, and its effect on the Legislature was apparent in the passage of the State Normal School bill, in both branches, without a dissenting vote. He was associated in the Assembly of 1842 with such men as Gov. Seymour, John A. Dix, Michael
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Hoffman, and George R. Davis, among whom he occupied a prominent position.
In the fall of 1861 he was elected a member of the Assembly on the Union ticket; and here, again, as we have said, he greatly distinguished himself. His speech on the proposed issue, by the U. S. Government, of legal ten- der notes, was a powerful effort, and stamped his character as a statesman of no ordinary merit. His speech on the defense of the northern frontier was also a masterly produc- tion.
At the fall election in 1862 he was elected a member of congress, from the Seventeenth Congressional District.
Mr. Hulburd is a tall, commanding figure, dark piercing eyes, black hair intermixed with gray, and has a pleasant, intellectual countenance. He was married in 1842 to Miss Jane Isabella Butterfield, of Sackett's Harbor, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
WILLARD JOHNSON.
MR. JOHNSON is a native of the town of Volney, Oswego county, N. Y., where he was born on the 16th of May, 1820. His parents, Lovwell Johnson and Mary Johnson Rawson, both died in Oswego county, where he still resides. He received a limited English educa- tion, and has passed most of his life as a contractor and shipping merchant. In 1851 he went into copartnership with William Baldwin, who was a member of the As-
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sembly in 1858, under the firm name of Baldwin & Johnson, and has since then been extensively engaged in fulfilling contracts on the canals and for the General Government. He is strictly a thorough-going business man, never having held any public office, with the exception of that of Supervisor, until his election to the House, and was one of the most kind, clever, agreeable and popular men in the Legislature.
Mr. Johnson has always been a Democrat of the most conservative character. As a candidate for the Assem- bly, however, he exercised a strong influence outside of his own party, and was elected by a handsome majority in what was previously a strong Republican district. Neither was his influence as a member of the House circumscribed by party lines, but the weight of his personal strength seldom failed to break down all mere party considerations. Like all truly good and reliable men, he was always too modest to attempt what he could not accomplish, and has never failed to succeed in whatever he has seriously undertaken.
EDWARD JONES.
MR. JONES is a brother of Jay Jarvis Jones who was one of the most popular and pleasant young men in the House of 1861. He is a native of Roxbury, Massachu- setts, and is thirty-seven years of age. He is descended from pure Anglo-Saxon stock, his parents, who are still
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living, tracing their ancestry as far back as the third generation in this country. Some of his ancestors were quite prominent in the war of the Revolution ; and his father, Edmund Jones, who was a private in the war of 1812, was held as a prisoner on three different British frigates, and was confined in prison some eight months in England.
Mr. Jones received a good business education, and has been one of the most active and successful business young men in the city of New York, where he resides. His perseverance and industry, coupled with an abun- dance of social qualities of the highest order, qualifies him well for success in anything he may undertake, and are doubtless destined, with proper care and attention, to render him a man of great usefulness and distinction in life. Although never having held any prominent official place before his election to the House, he is well adapted for a representative position, and has been dili- gent and faithful in the discharge of every duty devolv- ing upon him. His politics have always been of the pure, unadulterated Democratic stamp, and he is one of the most faithful and consistent workers in his party in the Metropolitan City. He regards the war as one vast humbug, gotten up by broken-down politicians, and insane fanatics, and looks upon the country as hopeless- ly lost unless the conservative men speedily rise up in their might and rescue it from its peril.
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WM. J. C. KENNY.
MR. KENNY was born of Irish parentage, in the city of New York, and is put down at twenty-six years of age. HIe was educated in the State of Maryland, and graduated with becoming honors. After leaving college he studied medicine under Prof. Whittaker, but declining in health, soon sought more active employment, and was, by the influence of strong political friends, attached to the New York post-office, under Isaac V. Fowler. He was a mem- ber of the Assembly in 1861, and deported himself in such a manner that he was unanimously renominated and elected by a plurality of nearly two hundred, although several strong candidates had entered the field against him.
In his social relations Mr. Kenny is gentlemanly and urbane, and never wounds the sensibilities of any one by any unguarded expressions. He was a very active mem- ber of the House, and represents the interests of his consti- tuents with a diligence and faithfulness deserving of all commendation. He is still single, and belongs to the Catholic Church, though he never interferes with the secta- rian principles of others, possessing a liberal and an enlight- ened mind, and being truly a rising young man.
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RICHARD J. LALOR.
MR. LALOR is a native of the "Emerald Isle," having first seen the light in Cascade, Kilkenny county, Ireland, about thirty-four years ago. He is a well-educated gentleman, has figured a good deal as an Editor, and is a strong and polished writer. He was, in reality, the chief editor of the Irish News, of which Thomas Francis Meagher was the ostensible Editor and Proprietor. Like many of his coun- trymen, he feels a deep interest in the success of our free insti- tutions, and sympathises with the Government in its efforts to sustain them against the assaults of rebels in arms. He is now attached to the Irish Brigade, as its Sutler.
Mr. Lalor was a quiet, but industrious member, and well represented his constituents in the. Assembly. He did not participate in debate, but he effected more substantial good by his energy and activity in advancing the business of legislation, than he could have done by making speeches, had he possessed the disposition, or ability, to indulge in so fruitless a pastime. He was a man of work, and went along with his duties in the House in a business-like man- ner, leaving nothing undone that tended to promote the interests of his immediate constituents, or benefit the peo- ple of the State.
He was a member from the second district of Kings county, was elected as a Union Democrat over three Demo- cratic opponents, and resides in Brooklyn. Of his family, and habits, no data has been furnished, and consequently nothing can be said. The good people of Brooklyn, how- ever, had full confidence in his honesty and integrity, and thence the inference may be drawn that he was every way worthy of the station to which they elected him.
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WILLIAM LAMONT.
The personal appearance of DR. LAMONT is fine and pleasing. He is rather above the average size ; is well proportioned in build; has full, round, rosy, genial face, and dark hair and whiskers, with a sufficient sprink- ling of gray to give to his appearance an air of dignity and venerableness.
Dr. Lamont is a native of Charlotteville, Schoharie county, N. Y., in which place he was born in the year 1812. He is of French and Irish extraction, on his father's side, and English on his mother's. His father, William Lamont, born in Columbia county, N. Y., was an officer in the Revolutionary war, and two of his brothers held military commissions and served in the war of 1812. He was educated at an Academy in Jef- ferson, Schoharie county. After a course of study he entered upon the practice of physic and surgery, in which he achieved marked success.
Dr. Lamont is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, for the interest of which he has been a faithful laborer. He was one of the founders of the New York Conference Seminary and Collegiate Institute at Char- lotteville, and much of the success of that flourishing school is owing to his persistent and well-directed efforts in its behalf. Indeed, he has had much of the oversight and management of that institution since its organiza- tion. In all matters which he makes a specialty he occupies the front rank - at least, in his own locality. He stands high as a physician, and in 1862 was Presi- dent of the Medical Society of Schoharie county.
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Dr. Lamont, ever since he has been in political life, has been a firm and consistent member of the Demo- cratic party. He has been several times a member of the Board of Supervisors of his county, and during two terms was chairman of that body. He was married in 1833 to Miss Anna Vrooman.
BENJAMIN L. LUDINGTON.
MR. LUDINGTON is of Welch and Irish extraction on his father's side, and German on his mother's. He is one of eight brothers, seven of whom are living, the offspring of Harley R. and Mary Ludington, and was born in Fallsburgh, Sullivan county, N. Y., in 1835. His father is a lawyer and farmer, and was Sergeant-at-Arms in the Assembly in 1838. He is still living, as is also his mother.
Mr. Ludington was educated in the common school room, and Academy; and after completing his course, worked on the farm in the summer season, and taught school in the winter. He commenced the study of law with his brother, Clinton V. R. Ludington, at Monticello, Sullivan county ; pursued the course with Hon. Lyman Tremain, late Attor- ney-General of the State, and finished at the University at Albany, under Professors Harris, Dean and Parker. On being admitted to practice, he opened an office in Monticello, where he still resides.
Mr. Ludington was formerly a Whig, in which party he remained until circumstances induced the organization of
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the Republican party. On the consummation of that event, he joined the Republicans, and is an indefatigable and active member of that party. He had never held office until he was elected to the Assembly, on the Union ticket.
Mr. Ludington is a young man of excellent ability, with a good deal of energy and enterprise. He is an active and intelligent member, and has the reputation of being indus- trious and persevering, and will undoubtedly make his mark. He has many characteristics of a good legislator, and is of a disposition not to rust out. He is not a married man, but at his age, twenty-eight, there is time enough yet. In religious matters he is an attendant upon the Presby- terian Church.
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