USA > New York > Encyclopedia of biography of New York, a life record of men and women whose sterling character and energy and industry have made them preeminent in their own and many other states, Vol. 3 > Part 43
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He married, January 12, 1870, Amanda Friedman, daughter of Arnold Friedman, a retired merchant of this city, and de- scendant of a family which occupied a
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position of prominence in the same sec- tion of Bavaria from which came Mr. Lauterbach's ancestors. For generations they were wealthy and respected mer- chants, and Mrs. Lauterbach's great- great-grandfather, Aaron Friedman, born 1740, died 1824, was owner of the baronial castle of Kunds, at Burgkund- stadt, from which fortress the village took its name. Samuel Friedman, grand- son of Aaron Friedman, born 1796, died 1880, married Sarah Gries, born 1800, died 1872. Both were noted for their philan- thropy and benevolence, having endowed the school of the district in which they lived, and at her death Mrs. Friedman bequeathed all her personal fortune to the poor of her city. Arnold Friedman married Wilhelmina Straubel, daughter of Frederick Straubel, of Green Bay, Wis- consin, whose wife belonged to a titled Saxon family. Mr. and Mrs. Lauterbach have four children: I. Alfred, born May 20, 1871, since deceased; graduated at Columbia, Bachelor of Arts, 1890, and at the New York Law School, Bachelor of Laws, 1892; was assistant district attor- ney of the county of New York, 1896 to 1899. 2. Edith McDevitt. 3. Florence Hirschfield, graduate of the Law School of the University of the City of New York, 1897. 4. Alice, born 1886.
L'AMOREAUX, Jesse Seymour, Attorney, Jurist.
Jesse Seymour L'Amoreaux is de- scended from Huguenot ancestors, who came to America after 1700 and settled in Dutchess county, New York. His father, Jesse L'Amoreaux, was born 1790, in Peekskill, and lived in the town of Wilton, Saratoga county, New York, where he was a farmer. He died in 1879. His wife, Charity (Esmond) L'Amo- reaux, born 1796, in Pittstown, New York, died 1895.
Jesse Seymour L'Amoreaux was born
December 11, 1837, in Wilton, where he grew to manhood. He pursued the full course at Fort Edward Collegiate Insti- tute, and after graduation taught school, first in his native town, and later in Schuylerville, New York. While residing in the latter place, in 1856, he began the study of law in the office of Lewis & Wells, and located, December 1, 1858, at Ballston Spa, where he began practice in the following year with C. C. Hill, under the firm name of Hill & L'Amoreaux. This continued until February, 1861, when he joined the Hon. George Chap- man in practice, and this association con- tinued a little over two years. After some years of independent practice, he formed an association with A. C. Dake. This firm was later joined by Seth Whalen, and the firm became L'Amo- reaux, Dake & Whalan. This was dis- solved by mutual agreement in 1885. In 1882, Mr. L'Amoreaux was candidate on the Republican ticket for the office of county judge of Saratoga county, and his popularity is evidenced by the fact that no candidate was opposed to him by any party. He was unanimously elected, and after six years of service on the bench re- sumed his practice, becoming the counsel for various large corporations, whose business took him into other States, as far west as the Mississippi Valley. In 1887, Judge L'Amoreaux was a candidate before his party convention for the office of justice of the Supreme Court, and missed the nomination by the bare margin of one vote. At the State Con- vention later the same year he was a nominee of his party for State Comp- troller, but the entire ticket was that year defeated. Upon the organization of the First National Bank at Ballston Spa, in 1865, Mr. L'Amoreaux became its attor- ney, and shortly after a director. He was elected vice-president of the bank, and later served several years as its presi- dent. He is a trustee and elder of the
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Presbyterian church of Ballston Spa, and director and trustee in various religious and educational societies. He is a mem- ber and moderator of the judiciary com- mission of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church, and also a member of the board of trustees of the Church Erection Fund of that body. He is a member of Franklin Lodge, No. 90, Free and Accepted Masons, of Ballston, a past high priest of Warren Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and a member of Wash- ington Commandery, Knights Templar, of Saratoga, New York. Early in life he was a supporter of the Democratic party, but left it in 1860, and has since been one of the most steadfast and faithful sup- porters of the Republican party. In 1887 Judge L'Amoreaux began practice in the city of New York, and is now a member of the law firm of Graham & L'Amoreaux, with offices at No. 42 Broadway. This firm makes a specialty of corporation law, and acts as counsel for large and import- ant interests. Judge L'Amoreaux's long and successful career has been based upon the solid foundation of thorough preparation, judicial ability and indus- trious application to the interests of his clients. He is widely known throughout the Empire State, and enjoys the friend- ship of multitudes of people in and out of the legal profession. He is the author of an article on the history of Saratoga county, New York, and of various articles relating to legal and financial subjects. His connection with the First National Bank of Ballston has been of notable value to that institution. He is a member of the Saratoga County Bar Association, New York County Lawyers Association, State Bar Association of New York, and American Bar Association. He married, at Ballston Spa, June 8, 1865, Ellen S. Holbrook, of Northbridge, Worcester county, Massachusetts, who died in 1914.
CUNNINGHAM, Benjamin B., Corporation Counsel.
In elevating Mr. Cunningham to the office of corporation counsel of the city of Rochester, the law department of the city retains the services of a man trained in the work of the city attorney's office dur- ing a continuous period of eighteen years, and in the most practical way recognizes the value of that service to the city. Admitted to the bar in 1895, Mr. Cunning- ham became an assistant to the corpor- ation counsel three years later, beginning his service under Corporation Counsel John F. Kinney, then head of the depart- ment of law, whose opponent he later became in the famous "Damaged Goods" controversy. He was retained as assist- ant under Corporation Counsel Porter M. French, and his successor, William W. Webb, succeeding the latter as chief of the law department of the city upon the elevation of Mr. Webb to the office of judge of the Court of Claims of the State of New York.
In conferring the office upon Mr. Cun- ningham, Mayor Edgerton eulogized his jservice in the subordinate positions he had filled in the city law department, and in so doing rendered honor where honor was due. He is a native son of Roches- ter, educated in the city schools, there acquired his professional education, and at the Monroe county bar began his legal career, and in the service of the city's law department has won his fame as a careful, conscientious official and able lawyer. He is a man of ambitious nature, performing each duty with such zeal and earnestness that the logic of events points him out for greater responsibilities.
Benjamin B. Cunningham was born in Rochester, New York, April 1, 1874, son of Michael and Mary (Hanly) Cunning- ham, his parents then residing in the
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Twelfth Ward. He was educated in public and high schools of Rochester. Deciding upon the profession of law, he pursued an extended course of study under the direction of William Butler Crittenden and in 1895, being just of legal age, was admitted to the Monroe county bar. He began and continued private practice in Rochester for three years, quickly taking leading position among the young men of the profession, and demonstrated the quality which led Cor- poration Counsel John F. Kinney to select him as a member of his staff. On June 1, 1898, he was appointed assistant to the corporation counsel and for eighteen years has continued in constant service, advancing from the lowest assist- ant to chief of the legal forces of his native city. The fact that it is his native city is most gratifying to the recipient of the honor, for those by whom the appoint- ment was conferred have known him from boyhood, have watched his course at the bar and in subordinate position, their act testifying that the young man has been tried and found not wanting either in ability or integrity. He was appointed corporation counsel by Mayor Hiram B. Edgerton, March 15, 1916. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Rochester Bar As- sociation and stands high in the regard of his professional brethren. He is a member of the Genesee Valley Club and Knights of Columbus.
Mr. Cunningham married, in 19II, Elonore MacKearnin, of Buffalo. Two children : Benjamin B., Jr., and Elonore J.
THACHER, Thomas, Attorney.
Thomas Thacher, a prominent prac- ticing attorney of New York City, is a native of New Haven, Connecticut, a scion of one of the most ancient and
conspicuous of New England families. His ancestor, Rev. Peter Thacher, was a distinguished minister, a man of great talents, of liberal and independent mind, residing at Sarum, England. He was appointed minister of St. Edmunds, in the city of New Sarum, Wiltshire, in 1622. Because of his dissension from the usages of the Established English church, he was much harassed by the spiritual courts, and decided to emigrate to New England, where he might enjoy greater religious freedom. The death of his wife about this time altered his determination, and he did not remove. He was born in 1588, and died February 1I, 1640. A letter written by him to the bishop of the diocese has been preserved. In this he begged that he might be excused from reading certain directions of the vicar- general, which he said were against his conscience. He further stated: "I never neglected the order aforesaid out of con- tempt of ecclesiastical discipline and jurisdiction, as has been affirmed." On his tombstone is engraved the following epitaph: "Here lyeth the bodye of Mr. Peter Thacher, who was a laborious minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in ye parish of St. Edmund for ye space of XIX yeares. He departed this lyfe the Lord's Day at three of the clock ye XI of February, 1640. Let no man move his bones." His eldest son, Rev. Thomas Thacher, born May 1, 1620, received a grammar school education, and it was the intention of his father to send him to Oxford or Cambridge, but the son was disgusted with the prevailing ecclesias- tical tyranny, and decided to remove to America. To this his parents consented, and when fifteen years old he embarked in company with his uncle, Anthony Thacher, and arrived in New England, June 4, 1635. He lived in the family of President Chauncey, who was afterward president of Harvard College, and under
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the tuition of that eminent scholar pre- pared for the ministry. He was ordained, January 2, 1645, as pastor of the church at Weymouth, Massachusetts, where he continued a most faithful and affectionate minister several years. We are told that he possessed a peculiar spirit of prayer, and was remarkable for the copious, fluent and fervid manner of performing the sacred service. Having acquired a knowledge of medicine he was physician as well as pastor to his flock. He removed to Boston, and there became eminent as a physician. When the Third or "Old South" Church was founded in Boston he was chosen pastor, installed February 16, 1670, and continued in charge of that church until his death, October 15, 1678. While attending a patient he became infected with fever, which caused his death. He has been credited as the best Arabic scholar in the country, and accord- ing to Cotton Mather was a great logician, well versed in mechanics, both in theory and practice. In 1677 he pub- lished the first medical work in America, "Brief Guide in the Small Pox and Measles." He was remarkable as a scribe and wrote in many languages, with singular exactness, much of his work being still in existence, including Syriac and other oriental characters. His first wife, Eliza, youngest daughter of Rev. Ralph Partridge, first minister of Dux- bury, Massachusetts, died June 2, 1664. Their second son, Rev. Ralph Thacher, was constable at Duxbury in 1673 and clerk of the town for several years fol- lowing 1686. Subsequently he settled in Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, where he engaged in the work of the ministry for many years. He married, January I, 1670, Ruth, daughter of George Part- ridge, of Duxbury, where he made his home several years. His youngest son, Rev. Peter Thacher, was born August 17, 1686, in Chilmark, and settled at Lebanon,
Connecticut, where he died in February, 1766. He married, in 1713, Abigail Hibbard, of Windham, who died in Leba- non, July 9, 1778, aged eighty years. She was but fifteen years of age at the time of the marriage, and is described as a woman of remarkable beauty, as was also her mother, Abigail (Linden) Hibbard, of Rhode Island. Her second son was John Thacher, born February 22, 1739, in Lebanon, a soldier of the Revolution in 1775, in Captain John Durkee's company. About 1787 he moved to Lempster, New Hampshire, where he died October 7, 1805. He married Abigail Swift, of Leba- non, and they were the parents of Peter Thacher, who was their second son. He settled in Hartford, Connecticut, and had sons : Thomas Anthony; Rev. George, president of Iowa University; Sheldon P., who resided in Hartford.
Professor Thomas Anthony Thacher, eldest son of Peter Thacher, of Hartford, was born there January 1I, 1815, and graduated at Yale College at the age of twenty years. From 1842 until his death, in 1886, he was Professor of Latin in that institution. He married Elizabeth Day, born December 24, 1820, in New Haven, daughter of Jeremiah Day, who was president of Yale College from 1817 to 1846.
Thomas Thacher, son of Professor Thomas Anthony and Elizabeth (Day) Thacher, was born May 3, 1850, in New Haven, Connecticut, where he grew to manhood and received his education. In boyhood he was a student at the Webster public school in New Haven, and the Hopkins grammar school, and entered Yale College in 1867, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1871. For a year following this he was a teacher in the Hopkins grammar school and sub- sequently pursued graduate courses for a year. From 1873 to 1875 he was a student at the Columbia Law School,
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under Professor Dwight, and in May of the latter year was admitted to the bar. From Yale he received the degree of Master of Arts in 1874, and Doctor of Laws in 1903. From Columbia Law School he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and during the summer follow- ing he aided Hon. Ashbel Green in pre- paring for publication Green's "Brice's Ultra Vires," a work on corporation law. In the fall of 1875 young Thacher became a clerk in the law office of Alexander & Green, and in June, 1876, was made attorney of the Equitable Trust Company, which conducted an extensive business in real estate, loans in Western States, with principal office in New York City. At the same time he engaged in general law practice, and has been successively a member of the law firms of Simpson, Thacher & Barnum; Reed, Simpson, Thacher & Barnum; Simpson, Thacher, Barnum & Bartlett. The present style of the firm is Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett, and makes a specialty of matters relating to corporations. For many years Mr. Thacher has been a lecturer on corpor- ation law in the Yale Law School. For some years he was secretary and a mem- ber of the executive committee of Yale Alumni Association of New York City, and from 1895 to 1897 was its president. When the Yale Club of New York City was organized, in 1897, he became its president, and continued in that position until 1902. He has been a member of the board of directors of the Alumni Univer- sity Fund Association since its organiza- tion, and from the outset represented the Yale Club of New York City on the Alumni Advisory Council, organized by the Yale Corporation. At the Yale Bi- Centennial Celebration, in 1901, he de- livered an address, "Yale in Relation to the Law," and two years later received from the corporation the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Mr. Thacher has
been an occasional contributor to legal publications. From 1907 to 1909 he was vice-president of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He is a member of the Law Institute, New York State Bar Association, American Bar As- sociation, and several clubs, including the University, Century, Yale, Midday clubs. He was vice-president of the University Club in the City of New York, 1910-1913, and president from 1913 to the present time. At this writing (1915) he is presi- dent of the University Club of New York. Politically he is accustomed to sustain Republican principles and policies. In religion he is liberal, and is not asso- ciated with any organization.
Mr. Thacher married, December I, 1880, Sarah McCulloh Green, born April, 1859, in New York City, daughter of Ashbel and Louise B. (Walker) Green. Their home is in Tenafly, New Jersey, and they have children: Thomas D., Louise Green, Sarah and Elizabeth. In his career, Mr. Thacher has fully justified the promise of his worthy ancestors, and to-day occupies an enjoyable position in literary, legal and social circles of New York.
KINNEY, John F., L Lawyer, Jurist.
Admitted to the Monroe county bar in 1881, Mr. Kinney nine years later was elected special county judge, winning not only the office by a respectable majority, but also the distinction of being the first Democrat elected to a county office in Monroe county in eight years, 1882-1890. From his admission to the bar until the present time he has been continuously engaged in private law practice in Rochester, save during the four years spent upon the county bench. He has won high reputation as a lawyer of sterling worth, has ever taken a promi-
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nent part in public affairs, and is one of the strong men of the Democratic party, potent in council, a trusted leader and popular campaign orator. He is a son of William D. and Julia (Howe) Kinney, his parents coming from the Emerald Isle in childhood, meeting in Monroe county, New York, where their marriage was solemnized. William D. Kinney was a merchant at Spencerport for several years, and prominent in community affairs. He was clerk of the village, weigh master on the Erie canal at Roches- ter in 1878 and 1879. He was an ardent Democrat and an untiring, capable worker for party success.
John F. Kinney was born in the town of Ogden, Monroe county, New York, June 20, 1860, and since 1881 has been a resident of Rochester. After completing the courses of the Union School at Spen- cerport, he attended St. Joseph's College at Buffalo, New York, there completing his classical study. Choosing law as his profession, he entered Albany Law School, Albany, New York, whence he was graduated Bachelor of Laws, class of 1881, In June of the same year he was admitted to the Monroe county bar, and so continues, having practiced in Roches- ter for thirty-five years. He won his position at the bar through merit, and so highly was he recommended to Gov- ernor David B. Hill that the Governor on January 1, 1890, appointed him to fill a vacancy on the county bench as special judge. He received the nomination of his party as the regular candidate for that office, and in November, 1890, was chosen special county judge for a term of three years. He was elected to the office by a majority of about eight hundred votes over his Republican opponent, and that in face of the fact that Monroe county had not chosen a Democrat for a county office in eight years. He served his term with credit and acceptability, then re-
turned to private practice, his service on the bench leaving him the better equipped for practice through viewing cases purely from their legal aspect, uninfluenced by the natural bias of a retained counsel. In 1898 he was appointed by the Common Council corporation counsel for the city of Rochester, and served in that position until January I, 1904, since which date his practice has been in private capacity. He is a member of the Rochester Bar Association, of which he was one of the incorporators, November 28, 1892; also belongs to the State Bar Association, and to organizations social and fraternal. A Democrat in politics, bred in the faith and instructed in party management by his honored father, Mr. Kinney in addi- tion to the offices mentioned of a legal nature has been of value to his party as a manager and leader of campaigns and as a trusted adviser. In 1904 he was chair- man of the executive committee of the county central committee, and in many ways has aided the party cause.
Mr. Kinney married, October 23, 1883, Elizabeth J. Hanlon, of Albany, New York. They are the parents of: Wil- liam E., graduate of the University of Rochester, class of 1907, now a member of the constructing firm of William E. Kinney & Company ; Helen R .; John J., an inspector ; Dorothy E., an instructor. The family home is No. 64 Lorimer street ; Mr. Kinney's law office No. 406 Livingston Building.
PIERCE, Charles L., V
Lawyer.
A graduate Bachelor of Arts, Univer- sity of Rochester, class of 1902, and a year later admitted to the Monroe county bar, Mr. Pierce has in the thirteen years that have now intervened pursued the practice of law in the city of Rochester. Most of those years he served the city in
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official legal capacity, special counsel, tax assistant and deputy corporation counsel. He is a native son of New York, his father, John Davis Pierce, a farmer of Oneida county, a man of local promi- nence, filling several offices including that of justice of the peace.
Charles L. Pierce was born in the town of Bridgewater, Oneida county, New York, April 22, 1877. He spent his youth at the home farm. He completed the public school courses of the district, pre- pared for college at Marion Collegiate Institute, completing the prescribed course and graduating with the class of 1898. He entered the University of Rochester with the freshman class in that year, taking a classical course, and in 1902 received his degree Bachelor of Arts. During his university course he read law and after graduation spent a year in special study in the law offices of Suther- land & Otis, Rochester, New York. On July 9, 1903, he was duly admitted to practice at the New York bar, but until January 1, 1904, he remained with Sutherland & Otis as managing clerk. He then opened private offices and has practiced independently until February I, 1907, when he became a member of the law firm of Carnahan, Adams, Jameson & Pierce, with offices in the Wilder Building. During the years 1904 and 1905 he was special counsel in the office of the corporation counsel, and in 1916 was appointed to the office he now holds, deputy corporation counsel, his long con- nection with the city law department in the tax bureau calling for extended knowledge of the law governing the assessment and collection of taxes. He is a member of the Rochester, New York State and American Bar associations, highly regarded by all who have come within his sphere of influence. A man of genial, social nature, he has many friends and in fraternity and in lodge is a popular
member. He was formerly secretary- treasurer of the Rochester Chapter, Delta Upsilon Club, and a member of that fraternity. He is a member of the Uni- versity Club, Rochester Athletic Club, Rochester Tennis Club, also of the Ma- sonic order, belonging to Genesee Falls Lodge, and Hamilton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons.
Mr. Pierce married, August 30, 1904, Grace, daughter of Oliver S. Adams, editor of the Rochester "Democrat and Chronicle."
BERNHARD, John A.,
Lawyer.
Admitted to the Monroe county bar in 1882 Mr. Bernhard, during the thirty-five years which have since intervened, has made continuous progress in his profes- sion and has long occupied a position of distinction in the ranks of the legal fra- ternity of his native city, Rochester. The reputation he has won is a tribute to his learning and ability, but had he not pos- sessed the qualities of perseverance and industry to make them operative, they would have availed him little. His is a practical example of the value of labor in the development of all that is best in man's intellectual strength and to the per- sistent care he gives to the preparation of his cases Mr. Bernhard owes his success as much as to the learning and ability which inspires the strong, logical man- ner in which he presents them to court and jury.
He is a son of Adam and Phillipine (Young) Bernhard, born in Germany, who came to Rochester in 1848. Adam Bernhard was a man of wonderful physi- cal power and business ability, who for sixty years was a merchant of Rochester. He continued in business until past eighty and did not surrender the burden of man- agement until his last illness. His mantle
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