USA > New York > Courts and lawyers of New York; a history, 1609-1925, Volume II > Part 44
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
945
SECOND DISTRICT-KINGS COUNTY
sion to practice in 1829 until his death in 1900, "was one of the foremost lawyers of his day"; Judge Benjamin F. Tracy, of the Court of Appeals, from 1881, and Secretary of the Navy under President Harrison; Judge John Winslow; Justice William J. Gaynor, of the Supreme Court and mayor of New York in 1910; Isaac S. Catlin, Mark D. Wilbur, Thomas G. Shearman, Thomas E. Pearsall, Samuel D. Morris, Edward M. Shepard, Horatio C. King, Mirabeau L. Towns, Martin W. Littleton, William C. DeWitt, Anthony Barrett, Foster L. Backus.
At the foot will be found the list of county judges of Kings County since 166511 also list of Surrogates from 1787;12 and district attorneys, from 1801.13 These will give the names of very many capable lawyers and eminent jurists.
The Second Judicial District was larger when it included the so-called "river counties" as well as those it still has ; but its business increased so rapidly that a division was advisable. The enlarged jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under the
II. County Judges, Kings County-Under the Duke's Laws considered at the Convention of 1665, and effective up to 1691, save for some changes in 1683 and 1686, a Court of Sessions administered justice, with status some- what like that of the Court of Common Pleas of 1691, and the County Court of 1846. Until 1683, Kings County was the west riding of Yorkshire, erected in 1665. The judges during that period, 1665-1683, were: John Manning, Richard Betts, Samuel Spicer, James Hubbard, Elbert Elbertson, Jacques Cortelyou, and Rulof Martin. Under Andros government, which ended in 1688, the local judges were Stephen van Cortlandt, Jacques Cortelyou, Geraldus Beeckman, William Morris, and Nicholas Stillwell. Under the Code of 1691, and continuations, Geraldus Beeckman was County Judge, reappointed in 1700. His successors have been : Jacobus van Cortlandt, 1702; Nicholas Stillwell, 1710; Cornelius Seabring, 1716; Cornelius Van Brunt, 1718; Peter Strycker, 1720; Daniel Polhemus, 1722; Peter Cortel- you, 1724; Samuel Garretson, 1729; Ryck Suydam, 1732; Christopher Codwise, 1738; Johannes Lott, 1742; Abraham Lott, 1745; Samuel Gerritse, 1749; Barnabas Ryder, 1749; Isaac Seabring, 1749; Charles de Bevoise, 1752 to 1761 ; Abraham Schenck, 1767; John Lefferts, Jeremiah Remsen and Philip Nagil, 1770-77; Engelbert Lott, Jeremiah Vanderbilt and Theodorus Polhemus, 1777-80. After the Revolution, until the Constitution of 1846, the judges were: Nicholas Cowenhoven, 1785; Johannes E. Lott, 1793; John Skillman, 1805; William Furman, 1808; Leffert Lefferts, 1823; Peter
C.&L .- 60
946
COURTS AND LAWYERS
Constitution of 1894 began another important epoch of its history, especially in the First and Second Judicial Districts, where the Superior and Common Pleas Courts of New York City and the City Court of Brooklyn were merged in the Su- preme Court, considerably enlarging the benches of the latter. The General Terms of the Supreme Court, 1870-95 drew some of the most capable jurists of the State to its benches ; and the same may be said of the Appellate Divisions, which in 1896 took the place of the General Terms. Joseph F. Bar- nard, who was presiding justice of the General Term of the Second Department from 1870 to 1893, is remembered, in anec- dote, by many of the old officials of the court. It is said that Justice Barnard refused to appoint a second stenographer, to relieve the very much overworked original court stenog- rapher, William G. Bishop, his reason for refusal being that "the department couldn't afford it."
Justice Barnard, it is said, used to walk from Fulton Ferry to the Court House. He ate no luncheon, but smoked two
Radcliffe, 1827; John Dikeman, 1830; Nathan B. Morse, 1833; John A. Lott, 1838; John Greenwood, 1843; John Vanderbilt, 1844. From the time of the Constitution of 1846, the County Judges have been : William Rock- well, who was awarded the certificate in June, 1847, but whose election was contested by Samuel E. Johnson, in whose favor the Circuit Court decided on October 28, 1848; Samuel E. Johnson, 1848-51; Henry A. Moore, 1851 ; Samuel D. Morris, 1855; Samuel Garrison, 1859; John Dikeman, 1863; James Troy, 1867; Henry A. Moore, 1871; Joseph Aspinal1, 1896; Norman S. Dike and L. L. Fawsett, 1907; Robert H. Roy, 1915; John F. Hylan, 1915; Mitchell May, 1915; J. Grattan MacMahon, 1918; Howard P. Nash, 1919; Charles J. McDermott, 1918; Reuben L. Haskell, 1919; William R. Bayes, appointed January, 1921; George W. Martin, appointed December, 1920; Alonzo G. McLaughlin, 1921; Franklyn Taylor, 1921; W. Bernard Vause, appointed November, 1923.
12. Surrogates of Kings County-Johannes E. Lott, 1787; James Lef- ferts, 1793; William Livingston, 1800; John C. Vanderveer, 1814; Jere- miah Lott, 1814; Richard Cornwall, 1832; Alden Spooner, 1841; Alonzo G. Hammond, 1845; Andrew B. Hodges, 1847; Jesse C. Smith, 1850; Rod- man B. Dawson, 1854; Roswell B. Brainard, 1858; William D. Veeder, 1866; Walter L. Livingston, 1876; Abram H. Dailey, 1877, appointed in place of Livingston, removed by order of Supreme Court; Jacob J. Bergen, 1882; Abraham Lott, appointed 1885, vice Bergen, deceased; elected in November, 1885, but died January 13, 1889; George B. Abbott, appointed
947
SECOND DISTRICT-KINGS COUNTY
strong cigars during the midday recess. He was taciturn, abrupt, terse, and disliked the frills of oratory. The "Brook- lyn Eagle" relates a story illustrating Judge Barnard's char- acteristic brevity. It appears that on one occasion he "called the calendar," and a young lawyer rose to gravely comment on Case No. II, which concerned the accidental death of a rail- way contractor. Addressing the court, the young lawyer began : "May it please the Court, the Court may remember the dreadful accident, the memory of which hangs like a pall over our beautiful island-" "Oh, the defendant is dead," inter- jected Justice Barnard. "Well, we won't sue him! Number Twelve !" called the judge. Judge Barnard was fond of open- ing his charge to the jury somewhat like this: "Gentlemen of the jury, what these two lawyers have been saying to you in their summing up has nothing to do with the case whatever."
Charles F. Brown was the last presiding justice of the General Term of Supreme Court, Second Department; and he was the first presiding justice of the Appellate Division for that department. Calvin O. Pratt was one of his associate justices who had served with him on the General Term bench. Edgar M. Cullen and Willard Bartlett, who were associates on the Appellate Division eventually went to the bench of the Court of Appeals, both becoming chief judges.10a
February 9, 1889, vice Lott, deceased; James C. Church, 1902; Herbert T. Ketcham, 1908; George A. Wingate, 1919.
13. District Attorneys, Kings County-Richard Ryker, 1801; Cadwal- lader D. Colden, 1810; Richard Ryker, 1811; Barent Gardinier, 1813; Thomas S. Lester, 1815; James B. Clark, 1819; Nathan B. Morse, 1830; William Rockwell, 1833; Nathan B. Morse, 1839; Harmanus B. Duryea, 1847; Richard C. Underhill, 1853; John G. Schumaker, 1856; John Wins- low, 1859; Samuel D. Morris, 1862; Winchester Britton, 1871; Thomas H. Rodman, 1874, appointed, vice Britton, removed; John Winslow, 1874; appointed, vice Rodman, resigned; Winchester Britton, elected 1874; Isaac S. Catlin, 1877; James W. Ridgway, 1883; Foster L. Backus, 1896; Josiah T. Marean, 1897; Hiram R. Steel, appointed 1898, vice Marean, resigned ; John F. Clarke, 1899; James C. Cropsey, 1911; Harry E. Lewis, 1916; Henry E. Ruston, appointed January, 1922; Charles J. Dodd, 1922.
IOa. Edgar Montgomery Cullen was born in Brooklyn on December 4, 1843, the second son of Dr. Henry J. and Elizabeth M. (McCue) Cullen.
948
COURTS AND LAWYERS
City Court Judges Nathaniel H. Clement, Augustus van Wyck and William J. Osborne became Supreme Court justices of the Second Judicial District in 1896, when the City Court was abolished. Their associates at that time were Justices William J. Gaynor, who was elected as a result of the McKane scandal of 1893, Joseph F. Barnard and Jackson O. Dykman. Martin J. Keogh, Wilmot M. Smith and William D. Dickey also became Supreme Court justices in 1896. A year later Garret J. Garretson, Michael J. Hirschberg and Samuel T. Maddox were elected to the bench, and two years later Almet T. Jenks became a justice. He was designated to the Appel- late Division in 1900, and became its presiding justice in 191I, serving as such until 1921. Josiah T. Marean was elected to the Supreme Court bench at the same time as Justice Jenks ; in 1903 William J. Kelly was elected, and in 1904 Joseph A. Burr. The former became presiding justice of the Appellate Division in 1923, and Burr was designated to that division in 1908 and redesignated in 1913.
The Franklin Trust Company's Building stands on the former site of the Cullen home. Edgar M. Cullen graduated from Columbia College in 1860; served in the Civil War, latterly as colonel of Ninety-sixth New York Vol- unteers; was admitted to bar in 1867; became Assistant District Attorney of Kings County in 1872, and a Justice of the Supreme Court in 1880. He served as such for twenty years, and in 1900 became an Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals. From 1904 until he retired, in 1913, he was Chief Judge. He died in 1922 at his Brooklyn home, regretted by hosts of friends who esteemed him for his personal qualities and his eminent record as a jurist.
Willard Bartlett, who succeeded him as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, was his old associate on the Appellate bench of the Supreme Court. Bartlett was born in Uxbridge, Mass., October 14, 1846. He gradu- ated from Columbia in 1869, and practiced law, in association with Elihu Root, from that year until 1883. In November, 1883, he was elected to the bench of the Supreme Court, Second Judicial District. He was a Supreme Court Justice for twenty-two years, was designated to the General Term of First Department, 1887-90, and in 1896 was designated to the Appellate Division of Second Department, and served as such until 1906, when he was promoted to the Court of Appeals. He was an Associate Judge from 1906 to 1914, and Chief Judge 1914-16. In the latter year he reached the age limit, and Frank H. Hiscock succeeded him as Chief Judge of the State's highest court. He died in Brooklyn, January 16, 1925, universally respected and mourned by all who knew him.
949
SECOND DISTRICT-KINGS COUNTY
The largest single increase in the Supreme Court bench in the Second Judicial District came in 1907, when seven new justices were elected, and Walter H. Jaycox was appointed in the place of Wilmot M. Smith, deceased. Of the new justices Joseph Aspinwall and Frederick E. Crane were promoted from the County Court bench, the former having served as such for about eleven years and the latter for about five years. The others elected at that time were Edward B. Thomas, who re- signed from the Federal Court for the purpose; Townsend Scudder, Lester W. Clark, William J. Carr and George B. Abbott. The death of Justice Abbott, the resignation of Justice Gaynor to become mayor of New York, the elevation of Willard Bartlett to the Court of Appeals, and the retirement of William D. Dickey during the next few years brought Abel E. Blackmar, Luke D. Stapleton, Harrington Putnam and Isaac M. Kapper to the Supreme Court Bench, which by this time numbered seventeen justices. In 1911, the bench was in- creased to twenty, Charles H. Kelby, Russell Benedict and
Augustus van Wyck was one of the old Kings County families. He was born in New York, October 14, 1849. He practiced law in Richmond, Virginia, before being admitted to the Kings County Bar in 1871. He was Judge of the City Court, 1884-96, and Justice of the Supreme Court, Second District, 1896-98. His brother, Robert Anderson van Wyck, also a lawyer, was the first mayor of Greater New York, and was the founder of the Hol- land Society of New York, of which society Augustus van Wyck was presi- dent in 1898, succeeding his brother, the first president. He died June 8, 1922.
Benjamin D. Silliman was born in Newport, R. I., September 14, 1805, of an old Connecticut family. At Yale, one of his classmates was Richard Falley Cleveland, whose son, Grover Cleveland, was to become President of the United States. Mr. Silliman studied law in the office of Chancellor Kent, and his son, William Kent. He was admitted to the bar in 1829. His profes- sional life was largely governed by the principles he expressed in an address delivered to the graduates of Columbia College in 1867; he said: "No man can consistently, with personal honor or professional reputation, misstate a fact or principle to the court or jury. The man who would cheat a court or jury would cheat anybody else. Measured by the lowest standard, that of expediency, no lawyer can afford to act meanly, or speak untruly." This was his frank statement of opinion at a time when the bar of New York was slipping to a low standard. Fortunately, the Association of the Bar, of which he was one of the founders a few years later, exercised a strong influ- ence upon the lawyers of the city, and discredited those who had fallen into
950
COURTS AND LAWYERS
James C. van Siclen being elected. David F. Manning was elected in 1912, James C. Cropsey in 1915; and several were reëlected in the next few years. The complete list of Supreme Court justices is given in Footnote No. I. The bench still has a strength of twenty, the last justice to be elected being Ed- ward Riegelmann in 1924. He had been borough president since 1917.
On the walls of the various courtrooms of Brooklyn hang many oil paintings of deceased jurists of the district. Among the portraits of Supreme Court justices are those of John W. Brown, 1850-65; Joseph F. Barnard, 1864-93; James Emot, 1856-63; Calvin E. Pratt, 1870-96; Abraham B. Tappen, 1868- 75; Jasper W. Gilbert, 1866-1882; Wilmot M. Smith, 1896- 1906; Selah B. Strong, 1847-49 and 1851-60. There are others of later presentation. One of the portraits is of Erastus Cooke, who was appointed by Governor Cornell for one year, 1880, to the Supreme Court; another is of William D. Dickey, 1896-1909. George H. Reynolds, who was City Court judge
the ways of a corrupt municipal group. For seventy years Dr. Silliman, who lived in Brooklyn, was a lawyer. He died in 1900.
Benjamin F. Tracy, who was one of the candidates for election as the first mayor of Greater New York, in 1897, was then almost at the end of a distinguished career. He was born in Owego, Tioga County, N. Y., April 16, 1830, was educated in Owego Academy, and studied law in the office of Nathaniel W. Davis, of that place. At Owego he was admitted to the bar in 1851. Two years later he became District Attorney of Tioga County. In 1861 he was elected to the State Assembly. The Governor gave him a mili- tary commission, and he raised two regiments of volunteers. He was appointed colonel of the 109th, and eventually reached the front. He dis- tinguished himself at the Battle of the Wilderness, and was eventually brevetted Brigadier General, "for bravery in the field." In 1866 he became United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, succeeding Benjamin D. Silliman. From 1873 to 1881 he was in private practice in Brooklyn. In 1881 he became an Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals. He accepted appointment as Secretary of the Navy, in 1889, under President Harrison. At the end of his term he returned to New York and began to practice again. He died August 6, 1915.
William J. Gaynor, who became mayor of New York in 1910, was born at Whitestown, Oneida County, New York, in 1851. He was educated in Whitestown and in Boston, and in 1873 came to Brooklyn to study law, meanwhile working on Brooklyn and New York newspapers. In 1875 he
Thomas 9. Thearray
95I
SECOND DISTRICT-KINGS COUNTY
from 1861 to 1886, and again from 1873 to 1886, is honored in this way. Other portraits are of City Court Judges Alexander McCue and George Thompson. Joseph Neilson, who presided in City Court during the most notable trial of Brooklyn his- tory-the Beecher case in 187414-is among those whose memory is preserved. Nathaniel H. Clement, who went from the City Court to the Supreme Court bench in 1896, and was an esteemed jurist, is also among those portrayed. A unique distinction was that conferred upon Grenville T. Jenks, father of Justice Almet F. Jenks ; in the courtrooms were hung only portraits of eminent judges, but an exception was made in the case of Mr. Jenks, who was one of the most capable lawyers of his day. Another portrait is that of John A. Lott, who was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas 1838-43, a Supreme Court justice from 1858 to 1862, and an associate judge of the Court of Appeals from 1869 to 1875. He was a man of def- inite convictions ; was ultra-conservative, and viewed all inno- vations as of little value. He was very much opposed to the
was admitted to the bar, and soon came into notice, in important cases, and as a writer on legal subjects. He also came into notice, nationally, for his work in breaking up rings within the Democratic party, and by his action in securing the conviction of John Y. McKane for election frauds. In 1893 he became a Justice of the Supreme Court, being elected for a full term of fourteen years. In 1907 he was reëlected, for another full term, but resigned in 1909 to become mayor of New York. Twice he declined nomination for Governor, and also for Judge of the Court of Appeals. Once he narrowly escaped assassination while mayor. He died September 10, 1913.
Isaac Swartwood Catlin, born in Oswego, New York, July 8, 1835; educated in Oswego and Geneva; removed to New York City in 1856 and studied law with Joshua Coit, and was admitted to bar in 1857. Returned to Oswego and became a law partner of Benjamin F. Tracy. Was mayor of Oswego in 1860, and on April 17, 1861, enrolled a company for war serv- ice, said to have been the first company enrolled. Certainly it was one of the first. He took it into battle at Big Bethel. In 1862 he assisted Colonel Tracy in organizing the two New York regiments. Catlin was several times wounded during the years of war, and lost his right leg. When mus- tered out in July, 1865, he had the rank of Brevet Major-General. He resumed professional association with General Tracy, in Brooklyn. He was District Attorney of Kings County for two terms, and declined nom- ination as surrogate, and he persistently declined political preferment.
Thomas G. Shearman, an Englishman, came to New York when nine years old. In 1859 he became a lawyer, admitted then to the bar of
952
COURTS AND LAWYERS
new Code of Procedure, as the unfortunate lawyer who first drew his attention to the code discovered. "Do you mean to say that that is the law, sir?" interrupted Justice Lott testily. "I do, your Honor," replied the lawyer, with assurance, add- ing : "it is right here in the code." "I don't care," retorted Justice Lott, "It has no business in the code; 'tain't law."
The municipal courts of Brooklyn have had interesting his- tory, and many of the judges of the city court are listed among Kings County's most capable jurists. The municipal Court of the village of Brooklyn was retained in the city organized by the Act of April 3, 1827. Until 1850 the corporation of Brook- lyn continued under these laws, but under the charter of 1846 the Legislature defined the boundaries and civil divisions of the city, established the municipal form of government. This included provision for the establishment of civil and criminal courts. The city court of Brooklyn became a court of record, and a city judge was elected in May, 1850, for a term of six years. After 1870 the City Court had three judges. Its
Kings County. While still a law student, however, he had given good promise, for, with John L. Tillinghast, he had written a treatise on "Prac- tice." It was known as "Tillinghast's and Shearman's Practice," Mr. Shear- man writing the whole of the second volume. In 1859 he collaborated with A. A. Redfield in a treatise on the "Law of Negligence." During Civil War years he was very busy in law practice, and in 1868 became a partner of David Dudley Field. In 1873 the firm of Shearman and Sterling was formed; they became the attorneys of record in the Tilton-Beecher case, Mr. Shearman defending Henry Ward Beecher. Mr. Shearman was attor- ney for Jay Gould in the years following the Panic of 1873, and was able to extricate the great financier from innumerable cases arising out of that collapse. He died September 29, 1900.
John K. Porter, who was one of the counsel engaged by Shearman in the Beecher case, was one of the most distinguished lawyers of his time. He was born at Waterford, New York, January 13, 1819, and died in that place April II, 1892. He graduated from Union College in 1837 and studied law in Waterford. An address he delivered at the Whig National Convention at Baltimore in 1844 "awakened much enthusiasm," and the young lawyer might have gone far in political life; but he preferred the paths of legal practice, and he trod them for the greater part of his life. He was a dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention in 1846; practiced in Albany for many years from 1848, when he formed law partnership with Deodatus Wright. He distinguished himself in the Parish will case before the Court of Appeals in 1862, and in a legal-tender case in the next year. In 1864 he was
953
SECOND DISTRICT-KINGS COUNTY
last three judges, Van Wyck, Osborne and Clement were transferred to the Supreme Court in 1896, as above stated. Chief City Judge George W. Reynolds was succeeded in 1866 by Judge George Thompson, but six years later was again on the City Court bench, this time elected for a term of four- teen years. The City Court at that time was composed of Joseph Neilson, chief judge; George G. Reynolds and Alex- ander McCue, judges. Upon the retirement of Judge Neilson, for age, Nathaniel H. Clement was elected; and when Judge McCue's term expired in 1884, Augustus van Wyck took his place. The City Court of Brooklyn was to Brooklyn what the historic Court of Common Pleas and the Superior Court were to New York City ; the story of the City Court is to all intents a history of the Kings County Bar of its time, for before it came, to plead important causes, the most brilliant lawyers of the metropolitan area, the most famous advocates of New York and Brooklyn. Among them, naming only a few, were Philip S. Crooke, John C. de Witt, Abraham H.
appointed by Governor Fenton to the bench of the Court of Appeals to succeed Judge Selden, and was later elected for a full term. However, in 1868, he resigned, and resumed private practice, removing at that time to New York City. Besides the Tilton-Beecher case, he took leading part in the case of the United States vs. Guiteau, for the murder of President Garfield.
Joseph Nielson, who was Chief Judge of the Brooklyn City Court and presided at the Tilton-Beecher trial, was born at Argyle, New York, April 15, 1815. He was a forceful writer. "His charge to the jury in the Beecher trial was remarkable for its logic and clearness, and from the fact that not one exception to it was taken by counsel on either side."
Martin Jerome Keogh, who served on the benches of the Supreme Court in both the Second and Ninth Judicial Districts, was born in Ireland in 1855, graduated in law at New York University in 1875, was admitted to the bar in New York in that year, and practiced in the metropolitan district from then until 1895, when he was elected to the Supreme Court bench, Sec- ond District. He took his seat on January 1, 1907, in the Ninth Judicial District, and was reelected in 1909 for a further term. He retired from the bench December 31, 1922. Justice Keogh was a Presidential elector in 1886.
William Donaldson Dickey was born in Newburgh, New York, January II, 1845. He took the law course at the Albany Law School. He served in army during Civil War, rising to colonel, and for "gallant and meritorious services" was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He practiced law until 1896, when he became a Justice of the Supreme Court, Second
954
COURTS AND LAWYERS
Dailey, Nathaniel F. Waring, Thomas E. Pearsall, Elihu Root, Benjamin F. Tracy, General Isaac S. Catlin, Samuel D. Morris, William M. Evarts. The first clerk of the City Court was Stephen J. Colahan; the last was John P. Hudson.
If legislation passed in the 1924-25 session should be ap- proved by the people in November, 1925, a City Court will again function in Brooklyn, taking over the civil jurisdiction of the Kings County Court. The subject is referred to in Chapter XLI, First Judicial District. In that chapter also is further information regarding the inferior local courts of Greater New York.
The Surrogate's Court of Kings County has interesting history. The first Surrogate, Johannes E. Lott, spread upon Book I of Wills, page I, in his own handwriting the record of the first will presented. It was that of Joost W. Wyckoff, of the town of Flatlands. It was dated May 16, 1787, on which date it was admitted to probate before Surrogate Lott, at his Flatbush office. Surrogates no longer record wills in
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.