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 pre?minent in their own and many other states. V.6 > Part 49
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of the University of the State of New York, in the Senate Chamber, Albany; Historical address at semi-centennial of the City of Rochester, 1884; Five lectures on "Journalism," before students of Cornell University, 1885; "A Layman's View of the Medical Profession," before graduating class of Medical College, Syracuse University, June II, 1885; "Journalism as a Profession," Rutgers Col- lege commencement, June, 1886, and repeated at Haverford College, March, 1890; "The Christian School," at Keble School commencement, June, 1889; "The Value of Exact Knowledge," Foun- ders' Day, Lehigh University, 1891; Memorial address on George William Curtis, before the Regents of the University of the State of New York, Senate Chamber, Albany, 1892; "Higher Education and the State," University Convoca- tion, Albany, July, 1893; Historical address at Centennial of Onondaga County, Syracuse, 1894; Historical address at semi-centennial of City of Syracuse, 1897; "Patriotism in Education," before State Teachers' Association, Rochester, 1898; Historical address at semi-centennial of Genesee county, Batavia, 1902; "Regents' Ex- aminations," at University Convocation, Albany, 1902; Memorial address on Carroll E. Smith, before Onondaga County Historical Association, Syracuse, 1903; "Susan B. Anthony and Hu- man Liberty," before Syracuse Political Equality Club, April 20, 1906; also many unpublished lyceum lectures and papers read before the Fort- nightly and Browning clubs of Rochester, and elsewhere, and which were all burned in the Albany Capitol fire in February, 1911-a most serious loss to the memorabilia of the State. These included "Gerrit Smith," "Thomas Chat- terton," "The Law of Libel," "John Milton as a Politician," "Robert Burns," "Arnold of Brescia," "Henry Clay in 1850," "The Intercontinental Rail- way," "The Puritan and the Dutchman," "Prussia and 'Stein," "A Forgotten Author-Fitz Hugh Ludlow," "Drawn Toward the Orient,-Lafcadio Hearn," and a lecture on Abraham Lincoln, which he delivered a hundred times.
Mr. Fitch has been a contributor at various times to "Harper's Weekly," the New York "Tribune," the New York "Times," the Troy "Times," and the Syra- cuse "Herald," and was associate editor of the Rochester "Post-Express" (1896- 98). He is author of the article on "The Press," in Peck's "History of Rochester ;"
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"The Public School History of Common School Education in New York from 1813 to 1904," published by the Department of Public Instruction, 1904; "Secretary's Report at Fiftieth Anniversary of the Class of 1855," 1905; "History of Brown- ing Club, Rochester," 1910; Mr. Fitch also edited "Political New York from Cleve- land to Hughes," (1913) ; and was super- vising editor and writer of many brilliant biographical sketches of the "Memorial Cyclopedia of New York." He received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Syracuse University, 1875; was a trustee of the Mechanics' Savings Bank of Rochester, 1878-99 ; one of the founders of the Fortnightly Literary Club of Roches- ter, 1882, resigning therefrom in 1898; elected member of Williams Chapter, Phi Deta Kappa, 1883; president of Roches- ter Historical Society, 1892-93 ; one of the founders of Sigma Phi chapter at Lehigh University, 1887, and at Cornell Univer- sity, 1890; received honorary degree of L. H. D. from Hamilton College, 1895; has been member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, American Geographical So- ciety, American Historical Society, Syra- cuse Club (predecessor of the Century), the Rochester and Rochester Whist clubs, president of the Williams College Asso- ciation of Western New York, and of the Sigma Phi Association of Central and Western New York.
Dr. Fitch married, July 21, 1870, Louise Lawrence, daughter of Thomas A. Smith (sometime editor of the Syracuse "Stand- ard") and Charlotte Elizabeth (Lawrence) Smith, and own cousin of the Hon. Car- roll E. Smith. His children are: Law- rence Bradford (B. A., Williams, 1892), a civil engineer of Rochester ; and Elizabeth Le Baron, wife of Rev. Wallace Hubbard Watts, chaplain, United States army.
FENWICK Y. HEDLEY, Managing Editor.
FASSETT, Jacob Sloat,
Lawyer, Legislator, Capitalist.
Jacob Sloat Fassett was born in El- mira, New York, November 13, 1853, son of Newton Pomeroy and Martha Ellen (Sloat) Fassett, grandson of Jacob Sloat, of Sloatsburg, the builder of the first cot- ton-twine factory in the United States, and a descendant on the paternal side of ancestors who came to New York from Vermont by the way of Pennsylvania.
Jacob Sloat Fassett attended the public schools of his native city, and became a student of the academy at Elmira, and in the fall of 1871 matriculated at the Uni- versity of Rochester, from which institu- tion he was graduated in 1875, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, having especi- ally distinguished himself in belles lettres and oratory, with high prizes to his credit. He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, and has for many years been a trustee of his alma mater. After gradu- ation he determined upon the law as his profession and accordingly studied in the office of Smith, Robertson & Fassett (his father), at Elmira. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney in 1878 and as a counselor, at Albany, in 1879. Within half an hour after his admission as coun- selor he was handed a commission from Governor Robinson as district attorney for the county of Chemung. He held this position for one year, -a signal recognition of his talents by a political opponent, but a fellow citizen. During the years 1880 and 1881 with the view of per- fecting himself in his profession, he stud- ied law and political economy in the Uni- versity of Heidelberg; then returned to the United States. In 1878, after his ad- mission as attorney, he opened an office for the practice of his profession in El- mira and has continued therein to the present (1916) ; although at times with-
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drawn from its activities by political pref- erment and business interests.
He married, February 13, 1879, Jennie L., daughter of Judge E. B. Crocker, of Sacramento, California, a lady of large fortune, fine culture and charming man- ners, an efficient helpmeet to him through- out his eminent career. In the fall of 1883 he was, as a Republican, elected to the State Senate from the Twenty-sev- enth District (Allegany, Chemung, Steu- ben) and, by successive reëlections, re- mained therein for the ensuing eight years, exercising marked influence in its deliberations and gaining celebrity as committeeman, speaker and parliamen- tarian. He served as chairman of the committee on commerce and navigation and that on insurance, and member of the committee on finance, on cities and others. In 1889, upon the death of Sena- tor Low, he was elected temporary presi- dent of the Senate by a unanimous vote, and was reelected in 1890 and 1891.
As a legislator, high minded, acute and accomplished, his name is connected with many important measures and he was in- strumental in securing the passage of many excellent laws, among them being the one making employees the first pre- ferred creditors in all assignments. He also conducted the aqueduct investiga- tion, and the investigation into the mu- nicipal departments of the city of New York, which resulted in considerable benefit to that city. As a debater he was ready, clear, incisive and cogent-at times supremely eloquent ; and, as a presiding officer, thoroughly informed in rules and precedents and quick-witted in applying them while firm and courteous in bear- ing. He retired from the Senate with a brilliant record in all respects, unex- celled and rarely equaled in the legisla- tive annals of recent years.
Meanwhile, he became, and is still recognized, as the leader of his party in
his section of the State, utilizing its re- sources, directing its policies and mar- shaling its forces. Sagacious, unsullied and ardent he has held almost uniformly his senatorial and congressional districts in his keeping and materially changed the political complexion of his own county (Chemung) which long, under the skill- ful management of Governor Hill, had been in the habit of rolling up large Democratic majorities, Fassett's mag- netic personality supplementing his ex- ecutive ability ; for many men have loved, as well as admired, him. He was from 1879 until 1896 editor and proprietor of the Elmira "Advertiser," of which his college classmate, Edward L. Adams, now United States consul at Dublin, was, for years, the able managing editor, but to which Fassett himself contributed many leading articles. He was a delegate in 1880 to the Republican National Conven- tion at Chicago, and was secretary of the Republican National Committee from 1888 until 1892. In 1891 he was nominated enthusiastically and unanimously by the Republican State Convention at Roches- ter. for Governor, in accepting which he delivered one of the most feeling, telling and eloquent addresses that it has been the privilege of a political convention to hear, following it with a whirlwind can- vass; but the die was cast against him; and for reasons not essential here to reca- pitulate and which involved no reflections upon him, the Democratic ticket, with Governor Flower at its head, was elected. In 1892, he was chairman of the Republi- can National Convention at Minneapolis, sounding in his speech the keynote of the campaign. He was also chairman of the Republican State Convention of 1904. He was a representative in Congress for three terms (1905-1I) maintaining therein the same high standard of speech and ac- tion that he had attained in the Senate.
Since his retirement from Congress,
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while still retaining his interest in poli- tics, he has neither sought nor seemed to desire public preferment, devoting him- self mainly to his large business enter- prises. He is or has been manager and vice-president of the Second National Bank of Elmira; vice-president of the Commercial State Bank of Sioux City, Iowa; manager of the little mining town of Banner, Idaho; of a ranch and cattle company which conducts an extensive business in New Mexico; and is under- stood to hold various concessions in Ko- rea. He holds a controlling influence in the development of the hardwood re- sources of the Philippine Islands, and the introduction therefrom in this country of what is commercially known as Philip- pine mahogany; controls heavy lumber interests in North Carolina and Canada ; and is deeply engaged in the manufacture of the Corona Typewriter, and of glass bottles. He is a member of the Order of Free Masons, having received the thirty- second degree of the Scottish Rite; of the Order of United Workmen ; Improved Order of Red Men; the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and of the honorary college fraternity of Phi Beta Kappa. He is also a member of the Uni- versity, Bankers' and Metropolitan clubs of New York City. In 1901 Colgate Uni- versity laureated him with the degree of Doctor of Laws. He lives happily and hospitably in the elegant homestead in Elmira. He is still (1916) but sixty-three years of age ; and it is not improbable, as it is to be hoped, that further political honors may attend his declining days.
WALLACE, William James, Lawyer and Jurist.
William James Wallace was born in Syracuse, April 14, 1837, the son of E. Fuller and Lydia Wheelwright Wallace,
who removed from Massachusetts to Syracuse shortly after the opening of the Erie Canal and resided there the rest of their lives. The father was liberally edu- cated and a lawyer by profession, but did not engaged in practice after leaving Mas- sachusetts. From 1861 until 1870 he was United States Consul at Santiago de Cuba.
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, duc 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.
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.
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 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 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 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.
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