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 50
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William James Wallace received his early education at the select schools of Syracuse. It had been planned that he should enter Dartmouth College, where his father had been graduated, but after being prepared for, he was disinclined to devote four years to a college course, and it was concluded that instead of this he should pursue a three years' term of studies especially selected to be of service to him as a lawyer, the pro- fession which he had chosen as his future vocation. Accordingly, for three years he took a course of general reading under the tutorage of Judge Thomas Bar- low. a scholarly lawyer of Madison county, who had retired from general practice. Thereafter he studied law, and upon graduating from the Law School of Hamilton College (of which the distin- guished Prof. Theodore W. Dwight was then preceptor) he was admitted to the bar. At his application for admission one of the examining committee was Roscoe Conkling, and the occasion was the origin of a friendship between the young lawyer and the eminent statesman which ripened into a very intimate one and lasted until the death of the Senator. Immediately upon his admission to the bar, in April, 1858, young Wallace commenced the practice of his profession at Syracuse, at first associated with the Hon. William Porter, a prominent lawyer and subse- quently with William C. Ruger, Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals.
From the beginning Wallace made a
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mark in his profession. Equipped with knowledge of the fundamentals, familiar with the precedents, skilled in the techni- calities of the law, and with courage in crossing swords with the veterans of the legal arena, he acquired prominence un- usual for his years; before he was thirty he ranked with the leading practitioners of central New York. Enlisting in the Re- publican party, he earnestly promoted it : weal by public appeals and personal bene- ficences-and the Union cause as well- with the promise of a brilliant political career opening before him. Indeed, in March, 1873, at the age of thirty-six years, he was elected mayor of his native city, and as such, by his honesty and intrepid- ity, gained popular distinction and favor in combatting and overthrowing a corrupt ring which had, for several years, ruled the city government by sinister means for its own profit.
Shortly succeeding, however, his retire- ment from the mayoralty there came the departure from political preferment, due to his appointment, April 7. 1874, at the hands of President Grant, as judge of the northern district of New York of the United States Court, and thenceforth his career was distinctly of a judicial char- acter, the change closely paralleling that of his legal contemporary and fellow citi- zen, the Hon. Charles Andrews.
The district comprised the greater part of the State, and its terms of court were held at Buffalo, Rochester, Utica, Albany and elsewhere. Besides holding these terms Judge Wallace was frequently as- signed by the circuit judge to hold courts at New York City and Brooklyn, and he performed a large part of his judicial duties at these cities. In 1882 Judge Sam- uel Blatchford, who was then a circuit judge, was appointed a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and Judge Wallace was commissioned, April 6, by
President Arthur, as his successor. The office of circuit judge was one of great re- sponsibility. The judge was the head of the federal tribunals of the States of New York, Connecticut and Vermont, and as the reviewing authority of their decisions and the presiding judge in the common law and equity branches of the courts, his decisions were final in much of the im- portant and complicated litigation that occupied these courts. Judge Wallace heard and decided between 1873 and 1892 many of the celebrated law suits of the day. Some of them involved enormous sums of money, and every variety of liti- gation was presented for his considera- tion.
In 1892 there was constituted, under recent legislation of Congress, for each of the judicial circuits of the United States, a new appellate tribunal whose decisions were to be final in various classes of cases, which had theretofore been reviewed by the United States Supreme Court, and Judge Wallace became the presiding judge for the Circuit Court of Appeals of the Second Judicial Circuit. The terms of this new court were held principally at the City of New York, and from its organ- ization until May, 1907, Judge Wallace continued to be the presiding judge. His duties in this court called him so con- stantly from home that he concluded to remove his place of residence from Syra- cuse to a more convenient location. Ac- cordingly in 1892 his home, which, for many years had been situated on James Street Hill in Syracuse, was transferred to Albany.
In May, 1907, Judge Wallace resigned from the bench after a term of thirty- three years of continuous service. The event was commemorated by a compli- mentary dinner tendered to him by the bar of the State, at which were present judges and lawyers from more than half
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of the States of the Union. It was a notable affair in its large array of highly distinguished members of the bar, as well as of the judiciary and in the quality of the speeches and letters of regret it elic- ited. In all of these were emphatic trib- utes to his standing as a jurist and through all ran a vein of personal affec- tion rarely tendered upon a similar occa- sion. Thus Justice Lurton, of the United States Supreme Court, upon Judge Wal- lace's national repute :
It has not been my fortune to have had any great degree of personal acquaintance with Judge Wallace, but I have known him long and well through a long line of opinions that have en- riched for all time the judicial literature of his country. For thirty years he has sat in judg- ment without reproach and with increasing fame, until it has come about that his name is known throughout the land no less for his splendid balance and his unsullied integrity than for his accurate expoundings of the law.
Thus Judge Colt, of the first circuit, now United States Senator from Rhode Island, upon him as a judicial authority :
Judge Wallace's high standing on the Federal Bench, his learning, ability and attainments, have long been recognized in the First Circuit; his decisions have been respected and followed and his character held in the highest esteem. We have recognized in those decisions rare legal in- sight, a mastery of legal principles, close and cogent reasoning and the power of terse and luminous expression. He has been a sound lawyer, a just and upright judge, an ornament to the Federal Bench.
Thus his colleague, Judge Lacombe, from intimate knowledge of the habit of Judge Wallace's in the conduct and de- termination of cases :
Whether writing his own opinions or discus- sing a subject with his associates, the trend of his mind was always logical; no looming up of some "hard case" would swerve it from following the argument to its conclusion. But at the same time a marvelous facility of resource in detecting
all phases of a question (sometimes most ob- scure ones) would develop some wholly different mode of approach which would leave the "hard case" far off to leeward. To all this is to be added the circumstance that he always came to the consultation room with absolutely no pride of opinion; that while clear and forceful in express- ing his own views, he was always quick as a flash to appreciate another's and ready to treat both with equal consideration.
Judge Wallace's own address, in pecu- liarly felicitous diction, embraced exalted eulogy of the judiciary with which he was so long identified, earnest appeal for the safeguarding of its integrity against malicious demagogues and frenzied mal- contents, pleasant reminiscences of his tenure and graceful acknowledgment of courtesies extended him by the profes- sion, with these words of valediction and intention :
And now, brothers of the New York Bar, who have so long made my life among you a happy and contented one, I must say the final word. It is not "good bye" because I look forward, so long as my health and strength last, to a life which will give me constant opportunities of meet- ing you in the future, as it has been my privilege to do in the past and, indeed, I feel that if it were to be otherwise, life would hardly be worth the living. But it is a farewell as a judge, and I am glad, glad with an exceeding joy, to leave the bench and join you, without the judicial robe, as comrade and companion.
After resigning from the bench Judge Wallace resumed, as indicated, for three years the practice of the law at New York City, as the head of an historic firm, under the title of Wallace, Butler & Brown. During this time he was retained in many notable litigations and enjoyed a lucra- tive practice. Since retiring from prac- tice he has divided his leisure between his winter home at Winter Park in Florida and his summer home at Cazenovia, New York, occasionally occupying his resi- dence at Albany. He was the candidate of the Republican party in 1897 for the
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Chief Judgeship of the New York Court of Appeals, but, in the general defeat of the party in that year throughout the State, failed of an election, although he received nearly 16,000 votes more than the party ticket. He was laureated by Hamilton College with the degree of Doc- tor of Laws in 1876, and later received a similar degree from Syracuse University. He was the first president of the Century Club of Syracuse, and his interest in club life may be inferred from his membership for many years in other clubs, including the Century, the Metropolitan, and the Union League, all of New York City, as well as the New York Yacht Club and the Fort Orange Club of Albany. Judge Wallace's first wife was Josephine Rob- bins, of Brooklyn, who died in 1874. In 1878 he married Alice Heyward Wheel- wright, of New York, who died in 1911. None of the children of either marriage survives.
At the time of the preparation of this sketch Judge Wallace enjoys vigorous health, which he largely attributes to his activities as a sportsman, fisherman and lover of the horse. He enjoys good din- ners, good wines, good cigars, good books, and more than either the society of good friends, with as much zest as in his earlier years.
WILLIAMS, Sherman,
Educator, Historian.
Sherman Williams, prominent in the educational field and as an historian, was born November 21, 1846, on a farm near Cooperstown, the son of Justin Clark and Mary (Sherman) Williams. He is of Welsh descent, the founder of the family in America being Captain Robert Wil- liams, who migrated in 1638 and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay. Sev- eral of Sherman Williams's forebears
served in the French and Indian wars and in the Revolution. His paternal grandfather was for three terms a repre- sentative in Congress.
Dr. Williams received his preliminary education in the common schools of his native town, and, as a youth of promise worked on the farm summers and taught school winters. Determined upon teach- ing as his profession in life, he entered the Albany Normal School (now college) and, was graduated therefrom in 1871. He received from the college the degree of Doctor of Pedagogy in 1894. His re- pute as a teacher was achieved early and he was appointed, in 1872, superintendent of schools at Flushing, Long Island, in which capacity he served until 1882, hav- ing married, August 12, 1874, Margaret H. Wilber, of Pine Plains. In 1882 he became superintendent at Glens Falls, re- maining as such until 1899.
As superintendent in both places he made a decided mark. His first work of note was at Flushing. There he taught science and was one of the first to make considerable use of home-made and im- provised apparatus. With his pupils he performed nearly all the experiments mentioned by Faraday in his holiday lec- tures and many others. A water lantern was made that showed on the screen the diffusion of liquids and the formation and breaking up of crystals and other phe- nomena. At Flushing also he began the direction of the reading of pupils for the purpose of creating a love of good litera- ture, of which he made much more at Glens Falls, and in this field-too much neglected in our common school system, it may be remarked en passim-he has been a constant inspiration and assiduous laborer. In Glens Falls he organized a summer school for teachers, which he supervised for thirteen years. The ablest instructors were employed and students
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from all sections of the land and from all classes of teachers were enrolled therein. One year nearly seven hundred teachers were present, representing thirty-eight States and territories, Mexico, Canada and the West Indies. He was for years a member of the committee appointed by the State Council of Superintendents to secure the enactment of a compulsory education law, taking an active part in its investigations and deliberations and mak- ing valuable suggestions which subse- quently received legislative sanction. He was also largely instrumental in securing the act providing for the establishment of kindergarten schools.
In 1899, he was appointed a conductor of teachers' institutes, and, for the ensu- ing decade, was thus engaged. As a con- ductor he was eminently successful. With competent teachers and instructive lecturers scheduled upon his programs, himself indulged in little theorizing, in his periods, but drew for his points mainly upon his experience as a teacher, dealing with reading and the creating of a taste for good reading, arithmetic and the development of the habit of accuracy ; English and the ability to speak briefly, logically and forcefully ; history and how it should be taught and for what pur- pose ; and school management. It may be added pertinently that his stately pres- ence and authoritative mien were not without influence in the conduct and con- trol of his audiences. Since January I, 1912, Dr. Williams has been chief of the Division of School Libraries, an impor- tant position, congenial to his taste. Dr. Williams's favorite study, as already inti- mated, has been that of history-particu- larly that of his own State-and in this line he has published a number of books, primarily intended for supplementary reading in the schools, but, precise in in- formation and couched in a perspicuous and pleasing style, they have attracted
the attention of students and readers gen- erally and have wide and remunerative circulation. Among these are "Selections for Memorizing," with L. C. Foster (1890) and "Choice Literature" (1906), both in- telligent compilations; and he is the author of "Some Successful Americans" (1904), "Stories from Early New York History" (Colonial, 1912), and "New York's Part in History" (1915), his most ambitious production. Dr. Williams is a charter member of the New York State Historical Society, and to him its remark- able growth and abundant activities are largely due. He has been a trustee from the start; was for a number of years a vice-president and is now (1916) serving his second term as president efficiently and acceptably.
In each community, in which he has re- sided-notably in Glens Falls, his long- est habitation-he has been a public- spirited citizen, identified with its social, literary and religious life, its institutions and its well-being. He has been, among other things, trustee of the Crandall estate, and of the Crandall Free Library, and he organized the Building and Loan Association, being a director thereof so long as he remained in Glens Falls. In religion he is of the Methodist Episcopal communion. In politics he has ever been an earnest Republican, not hesitating, however, to combat all wrong-doing which has been perpetrated in its name, and independent in his action when in- dependence was demanded, candid in his speech and bold, even severe, in his criti- cism of evil policies and corrupt leader- ship. He now resides at 290 West Law- rence street, Albany.
SYMONDS, Charles S., Banker.
Charles Stanley Symonds, prominent as financier, State and city official and littera-
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teur, was born in Watertown, Jefferson county, New York, the eldest son of Charles Fitch, manufacturer, and Sarah Louise (Grannis) Symonds. In the pa- ternal line he is in descent from the Rev. James Fitch, closely identified with the work of the "Apostle," John Eliot, and the principal founder of Norwich, Con- necticut.
Charles Stanley Symonds was educated at the grammar schools and Jefferson County Institute of his native city, and at Charles Bartlett's High School at Poughkeepsie, a famous institution in its day. Although prepared for, he did not enter college, but read law, for a time, in the office of Brown & Beach, but did not complete his legal studies. He found employment in Wooster Sher- man's Bank and the Watertown Bank, thus beginning the business in which he has been engaged continuously for over fifty years. Removing to Utica, he en- tered the Bank of Central New York as a clerk, and later the Utica City, which was subsequently made the Utica City National Bank, of which, rising through various grades, he became cashier March 6, 1868, and president April 17, 1885, the position lie still retains. He married, Jan- uary 18, 1876, Mary Ella, second dauglı- ter of Thomas Brockway and Ursula Ann (Elliott) Fitch, of Syracuse-an espe- cially happy union, sadly ended by her death on her thirty-fifth birthday, May 23, 1885, two sons, Charles Fitch and Harold Wilson Symonds, both now busi- ness men in Utica, surviving. Mr. Symonds has not again married.
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He is, to-day, among the oldest, as well as one of the most prominent and suc- cessful, bankers in the State, outside of the metropolis. The soul of integrity, sagacious in thought and conservative in his administration, courteous in address and helpful in all his ways, he has brought
the bank of which he has so long been the head, to a high standard of efficiency and usefulness, with abundant resources, a splendid building, hosts of depositors and the entire confidence of the community-a marked trust also in him personally, as evidenced in the large number of estates committed to his charge either as execu- tor or administrator. He has also been engaged in many business activities, in- dependent of the bank, and an officer in many corporations. He is a director in the International Heater Company of Utica ; the Utica Gas and Electric Com- pany ; the Consolidated Water Company and the Robert Wicks Company. He is secretary, treasurer and director in the Utica, Clinton & Binghamton Railroad Company ; director and treasurer in the Utica Canning Company and director and vice-president of the Utica Trust and De- posit Company; trustee of the Savings Bank of Utica; has been director in the Northern New York Trust Company and Binghamton Trust Company ; was a trus- tee for many years of the Utica Ceme- tery Association, also of the Utica Art Association. He has also been identi- fied notably with city and State philan- thropics. In religion he is of the Protes- tant Episcopal communion and vestry- man of Grace Church and trustee of the House of the Good Shepherd. He was trustee of the Young Men's Christian As- sociation (1887-89). He was appointed manager of the State Lunatic Asylum by Governor Hill, April 13, 1890, and of the Utica State Hospital by Governor Flower, November 30, 1894, reappointed by Gov- ernor Morton, May 16, 1895, to fill a vacancy and again by Morton, December 2, 1896, for the term of five years to Janu- ary I, 1902 ; and to the board of visitation by Governor Odell-these successive des- ignations by executives of the two great parties showing that Mr. Symonds' pref-
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erment was quite independent of any political considerations.
Mr. Symonds has always been an earn- est Republican and has received much consideration from his party, such offices, however, as he has held, in all instances have been without emolument, voluntary service on his part, although he has been repeatedly pressed to become a candidate for legislative and executive positions. The only elective office he has filled, and that without fees attaching to it, is that of school commissioner for seven years. He was commissioned by Governor Mor- gan first lieutenant in the Forty-fifth Regiment, Twenty-first Brigade, Sixth Division New York State Militia, August 3, 1861. He was elected a member of the Republican Congressional Committee of his district in 1886, serving thirty years, twenty of which he was chairman. He was a member of the Republican State Committee for six years. He had the honor of nominating James S. Sherman for Representative in Congress each time he ran, save twice. The relations, per- sonal, political and business, between Mr. Symonds and Mr. Sherman were of the most intimate character; and the last office which Mr. Symonds performed for his friend was as chairman of the Citi- zens' Reception Committee on both occa- sions when the latter was notified of his nomination for Vice-President of the United States.
Mr. Symonds is a lover of music, versed in its literature and practiced in its art, especially skilled as a player upon the piano. He was president of the Utica Mendelssohn Club for ten years, of the St. Cecilia Musical Club for a long period, is a member of the Maennerchor Club and is also honorary president of the Utica Philharmonic Society. He is a man of scholarly tastes, a lover of books,
a linguistic student, versed in German literature and singularly well informed on the German drama. He possesses a splendid library, intelligently selected and his house is adorned with many works of art. He was elected a member of the Oneida Historical Society, 1886, made a life member, January 9, 1900, and served two terms-1902 until 1904-as its presi- dent. He was a member of the literary club, distinctively known as "The Club," for many years, composed of the leading professional and lettered men of the city, before which he read a number of scholarly papers, among them, "Henry Clay," "John C. Calhoun," "Mohammed and the Koran," "Music," "Gotthold Eph- raim Lessing," "Usury," "The Drama from Athens to the Press Writers of Eng- land," "Daniel Webster" and "Eduard Leopold Van Bismarck." He also pre- sided, October 5, 1903, at the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of Jon- athan Edwards in the Munson-Williams building of Utica and delivered an ad- dress upon his life and work. Other ad- dresses might be cited, but sufficient has been given to reveal the scope of his thought and the felicity of his utterance. He is a member of the societies of Colo- nial Governors, Colonial Wars, May- flower Descendants, Sons of the Amer- ican Revolution and Sons of Oneida.
He is passing his declining years among his books, and his children-a grandfather now-in his elegant residence on Genesee street, and at his bank, still vigorous in his faculties and receiving the fullest measure of public esteem, with intervals of travel, and the enjoyments of the Maganassippi Fish and Game Club, Can- ada; the Yohnundasis Golf Club of Utica. He is a member also of the Fort Schuyler Club of Utica, the Rome Club and the local Republican Club.
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WEBSTER, Roy C., Lawyer.
Honored is the name of Webster wher- ever Americans are found, not only in New England, where John Webster, the founder, first settled on coming from Eng- land in the earliest Colonial days, but wherever the English language is spoken, the names of the lexicographer, Noah Webster, and the statesman, Daniel Web- ster, are spoken with the deepest respect and admiration. In Rochester, where a descendant of John Webster, the founder, settled about the middle of the nineteenth century, the name is an equally honored one, borne by Edward Webster, a gradu- ate of Dartmouth College, editor and lawyer, and his son, Roy C. Webster, who since 1880 has been a member of the Rochester bar. The founder of this branch of the descendants of John Web- ster in the State of New York was Uri Webster, a second cousin of Noah Web- ster, the lexicographer, who like his cous- in was born in Litchfield, Connecticut. Uri Webster came to West Bloomfield, New York, about one hundred years ago, and conducted his own woolen mill at Factory Hollow for several years.
There his son, Edward Webster, was born, who after a brilliant career died at his home in Rochester, May 27, 1900, leaving a son, Roy C. Webster, to con- tinue the law business the father had founded and both had aided in upbuild- ing. Edward Webster aspired to higher educational attainment, and after com- pleting the public school courses in West Bloomfield schools he entered Dartmouth College. His means were limited, but by economy and industry he made the money he had with what he earned finance his college course to graduation. He had bountiful capital, however, but it consisted of courage, energy and deter- mination, these overcoming the lack of
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