USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York, from the earliest historic times to the beginning of 1907 > Part 59
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"While you hold this ruddy glow of snuset, we recall that this day terminates twenty-five years of service to the people, to the state, and to the nation, as district attorney, as member of con- gress, and as a justice of the supreme court. Twenty-five years is a long period for personal character and influence to be woven with the his- tory of a populous, a prosperons and a growing community. You hogan your judicial service in the old courthouse, you end it in the new; you tried, if we recall aright, the last case tried by jury in that old courtroom, where the benignant faces of the pioneers looked down upon you from the framed portraits, and you end it today. when a generation of younger lawyers look up to you and feel the impress and the inspiration of thet integrity and uprightuess which is held by the standards of tradition of an honorable and noble profession. Is it strange that memory shall come among us and opeu her box of brilliant colors of mellow recollection, and, placing them upon the tinted palette. take her brush and sketch upon the walls of this new temple of justice those in- visible but yet imperishable forms and features who were your contemporaries when you first came to the bench? Of that brilliant company of justices of the supreme court. vou. with one exception. are the only survivor. Judge Bradley. heloved, retired like yon by reason of the limita- tion prescribed by the constitution, age. Macotut- ber, Rams. v. Adams, have passed away. and Dwight. too, to that Higher Life, to study with the great Lawgiver face to face and receive in- spiration from that fountain where absolute jus- tice and right eternal prevail ..
"Of the company of the bar who welcomed you to the bench you miss today. as you recall those personages. Angle and Bacon, Cogswell and Dan- forth, Stull and Van Voorhis and Yeoman, who prepared the way for the junior profession of the bar with their intelligence und pointed the way to the higher attainments and to the wise counsel
of the exalted profession. This is neither time por place to attempt an eulogy or an analysis of your judicial work. The records of this court, the records of this county and of the counties in this judicial distriet have recorded your labora, and the official reports of cases have printed the opin- ions which you have rendered and the weight with which they have been judged by higher tribunals of the state.
"But we would bring yon today the rose-garland of gracious memory and of friendly appreciation. You leave the judicial ermine without spot or wrinkle, with no soil of meanness or touch of criticism upon it. Your courtesy, your kindness, your affubility, your approachability, were amnon .. those thoughtful but beneficent offices which bind bar and bench together, and that come to us with the fragrance of the wind blown over sweet- scented flowers. You have held high the stand- ards, the ethics and the tuorals of the profession. To you, the younger, as well as the older, mein- bers of the bar may look for an example of the just and the upright judge, with resolution and courage, yet withal tempered with the gentleness of sympathy and the kindliness of mercy. We bid you joy and wish you many years of happy and of prosperous activity. While we wish yon 'an uge serene and bright, and lovely as a Lap- . land night,' yet we welcome you to a life of ae- tive service at the har.
"Age has its opportunity no less than youth. Though in another dress, And when the twilight fades away
The sky is filled with stars, unseen by day.
"And here, as we make our closing word and bid you adien as you leave the bench, it is not 'Hail and farewell,' but the bar opens its ranks, and, as you retire from the bench, present arms, give salutation, and say .Hail and welcome.'"
"To which Justice Davy made the following re- ply: "Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Mon- Hoe County Bar: I greatly appreciate the mani- festation of kindly ferling towards me personally and the exalted office of justice of the supreme court, which I have held for seventeen years. It is very embarrassing to listen to one's own com- mendation- and it is more embarrassing to reply to them. When I entered upon my judicial career the members of the supreme court of the seventh judicial district were Justices Smith and Adams of Canandaigua, Macomber of Rochester, Dwight of Auburn, Rumsey of Bath, and Bradley of Corn- ing, all of whom were men of great learning and ability, who graced the beach und were a credit and honor to the judiciary of the state. They have all gone to their final resting place except Bradley, who, at the age of four score years, is
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living a quiet and happy life in the city of Corn- ing, surrounded by hosts of friends, and is honored and respected throughout the state. I am reminded also that that able and distinguished jurist, Judge Danforth, whom we all honored and esteemed so highly, has died since I went upon the bench. During that period the Monroe county bar has lost some of its ablest lawyers: Ycoman, Bacon, Stull, Danforth, Cogswell and Van Voorhis were great lawyers and stood high in the legal pro- fession. No man can lay aside his judicial robes and the trust which he has held in the hearts of a gracious and confiding people for many years and feel that at all times he has met in the best possible way the requirements of that high judi- cial office.
"Seventeen years ago I received the high honor of having the unanimous nomination of the re- publican and democratie parties, and was elected without opposition. I went upon the bench un- tranuneled, and with a firm determination to honestly do my duty, and when fourteen years had rolled around it was more than gratifying to me to again receive the unanimous endorsement of both parties. It is very pleasing to receive this public acknowledgment from the members of the bar of the city of Rochester. In receiving your approbation on this occasion it is appropriate that I shall also make my acknowledgments to yon for I can say that if I have given satisfaction it has been largely owing to the learning and assistance of the bar. The character, ability and standing of the judiciary must in the future, as in the past, depend largely upon the character and influence of the members of the bar from which the judges are selected, and the best evi- dence of that ability will always be found in the respect with which the lawyers receive the legal conclusions of the judges. I think I voice the sentiment of the members of the bar when I say that the judges of the supreme court of this great state, with few exceptions, have been men of un- stained reputation for personal integrity, and men of strict impartiality, who have always enjoyed the implicit confidence and respect of the com- munity. Society cannot be maintained without tribunals to hear and determine controversies arising between individuals. The importance, therefore, of a capable and upright judiciary can- not be overestimated. The judicial tribunals are indispensable to the safety and well being of the people, which fact is attested by the extensive powers which are entrusted to them, and as long as judges are capable, conscientious and inde- pendent in the discharge of their official duties, they will command respect and their decisions be upheld. Judges take a solemn obligation to ad- minister equal and exact justice alike to the rich and the poor, and however able and rich in learn-
ing they may be, they will fail in the discharge of this high duty if not endowed with honesty, cour- age and a sense of right. It avails nothing if a judge is calm, patient and able to see the right, if he is moved by popular clamor or prejudice.
"It has been frequently said that owing to the iuflexibility of the law, courta are sometimes pre- vented from adıministering justice between liti- gants. So far as my experience extends, rarely is this the case. If with capable counsel to aid the court injustice triumpha over right, the judge and not the law should bear the reproach. While we recognize the binding force of the rules of law which have stood the test of reason and experience, both in this and other countries, there is a grow- ing disposition on the part of our judges against sacrificing justice to technical rules of law, and with advancing intelligence we need have no fear that the judges coming after us will be less in- clined to see substantial justice administered in the trial of causes.
"There are many who denounce our system of trial by jury. During my judicial experiences the instances are few where I have had reason to be dissatisfied with their verdicts. I regard the jury system an essential branch and part of the free institutions of our country. It is a cherished tra- dition, its roots strike down deep into the ex- perience, the life and the heart of the people. In criminal cases there is no substitute for the jury that would be acceptable to the profession and the people. If judges would do their duty jurors would do theirs. Brief, pointed instructions, call- ing attention to the points at issne, will generally, so far as I have observed, be followed by satis- factory verdicts.
"Now let me say a word or two to the younger members of the bar, for whom I have always had the warmest and kindest affection. Let no young man choosing the law for a calling yield to the popular belief that fidelity and honesty are not compatible with the practice of law. My advice to the young man choosing the law for a calling is, to be honest at all events. If you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Personal character is one of the elements which go to determine the just rank of any member of the legal profession. You must not be only honest, but you must be industrious; labor and honesty are absolutely essential to suc- cess in the legal profession. I am one of those who do not believe that there is any decline in professional integrity or in the loyalty of the at- torney to his client. I believe that the lawyer's influence is widening rather than lessening, and that never before since the legal profession became a distinct avocation has that influence upon the affairs of daily life been more direct and far reach- ing than at the present time. The lawyer has
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come to be the silent partner in the great mer- self-sacrifice of the brave soldiers in whose honor cantile establishments and manufacturing indus- he spoke. tries of the country; he monlds and shapes the management of our great corporations; his influ- ence is felt in every avenue of business and legis- lative life; he cannot, if he would, escape these large responsibilities which pertain to the legal profession. We are living iu a period of intense activity and social disorder. The great over- whelming problems of capital and labor, the rela- tious of the corporate interests of the country to the people, these are problems of vital moment to every thonghtful man in every calling, and none more so than the legal profession, and especially the younger members of the bar. They are ques- tions, not of the day, but for all time, and upon their wise solution depends in a large degree the future stability and safety of the republic. When 1 turn to the great judges whose naines are woven into the warp and woof of the common law, and read the story of Coke and Hale and Kent and Story, or when I recall the great advocates whose geniuses have forever enriched the traditions of our profession, Erskine and Brougham in the mother country, our own Webster, Choate, Car- penter, Benjamin, O'Connor and Evaris, I am con- tent that the record may be made up and the balance struck between the profession of the law and other avocations and I dare say for the pro- fession, not only here, but everywhere, that it may safely challenge comparison in its methods with all other professions in the world. I feel justly proud of the members of the Monroe county bar ; it is an intelligent and accomplished bar and stands high all over the state; a large majority of its members are in the prime of life, and their future is full of hope and promise. They look to the rising sun. As for me, my work of life is nearly finished. 1 most now retire from judicial service and be content with the glory of the setting sun and the evening shadows, but during the remainder of my days I shall cherish with the warmest affection the memories of the lawyers of the Monroe county bar.
"With renewed thanks for the honors I have received at your hands and with a happy New Year greeting to each and every one of you, as justice of the supreme court I now bid you fare- well."
Judge Davy has been called upon to address the publie on many momentous occasions. At the time of the dedication of the soldiers' monument at Gettysburg on the 4th and 5th of September, 1888, to the memory of those of the One Hundred and Eighth Regiment of New York Volunteers who offered up their lives on the altar of our country, Judge Davy was chosen as orator. His address has been preserved in substantial form and is an eloquent tribute to the noble deeds and
Judge and Mrs. Davy reside at No. 20 Buck- ingham street, Rochester, and his residence in the city dates from 1860, Mrs. Davy was the daugh- ter of James Hodges, a wealthy farmer of the town of Henrietta, Monroe county, where she was reared. She bore the maiden name of Elizabeth S. Hodges and on the 224 of September, 1869, gave her hand in marriage to John M. Davy. They have three sous. Cassius C., who succeeded his father as attorney for the East Side Savings Bank, married Miss Hattie Mertie, of Oneida. who died several years ago. Burton II., who wed- ded Miss Minuie Aikenhead. of Rochester, by whom he has two children, Elizabeth S. and James, was elected sheriff of Monroe county when only twenty-six years of age, being the youngest to fill that position in the county. He is now secretary and treasurer of the East Side Savings Bank of Rochester. James R. Davy, the youngest son, is now practicing law with his father, for upon his retirement from the bench Judge Davy resumed the netive work of the profession.
He and his wife are members of the Central Presbyterian church, in which he is serving as an elder. He is also a Knight Templar and thirty- second-degree Mason and belongs to Powers post. G. A. R., and to the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. He is likewise a member of the Genesee Valley Club. No man was ever more respected and no man ever more fully enjoyed the confidence of the people or more richly deserved the esteem in which he was held than does Judge Davy. The people of the state, recognizing his merit, have re- joiced in his advancement and in the honors to which he has attained. A gracious presence, a charming personality, profound legal wisdom, purity of public and private life and the quiet dignity of an ideal follower of his calling, combine to make him one of the most distinguished and honored residents of the Empire state.
A. COLE CHENEY.
A. Cole Cheney, living retired in Rochester, is a native of Vermont, and on coming to the Em- pire state settled in Fulton, Oswego county. He was at that the seven years of age. He began practicing telegraphy when only a little lad of ten years and worked on, as opportunity offered, un- til he gained a proficiency that secured for him the position of telegraph operator in Fulton. He con- tinued in the business there for a few years and afterward was transferred to Buffalo, where he re- mained in 1850 and 1851. In 1852 he came to Rochester, where he engaged in telegraphung for
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thirty years, during which time he remained in one room of the Arcade building. He became an expert operator. his ability being widely revog- nized by the fact of his long retention in the serv- ice in one position. He possessed the deftness of tonch, the alertness and the accuracy which al- ways characterizes the proficient operator and he had the entire trust and approval of the com- pany which he served. He retired from the busi- ness in 1882 and since that time has given his supervision to grape-raising interests on Canan- daigua lake, which he has supervised for eight years and from which he derives a gratifying in- come.
Mr. Cheney was married in 1856 to Miss Fan- nie H. Inshands, a daughter of the Hon. J. D. Husbands, a prominent attorney of Rochester, who died in this city in 1892. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cheney have been born two daughters and a son : Mrs. Carrie Fowler and Mrs. George M. EH- wood. both of whom are residents of Rochester : and George H., who is with the Westinghouse Electric Company at Pittsburg. Pennsylvania. They now have a great-grandchild. On the 16th of November, 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Cheney cele- brated their golden wedding, on which occasion they received over three hundred ellers. They were also the recipients of many beautiful gifts and more than two hundred letters from their friends and well wishers who could not be in attendance on that interesting occasion. They had traveled life's journey happily together as man and wife for a half century, sharing with each other in the joys and sorrows, the adversity and prosperity which checker the careers of all, their inntual love and confidence increasing as the years went by. Mr. Cheney is a republican in politics and feels the interest of the public- spirited citizen in matters relating to the general welfare. His life has been one of continuons activity and his rest is well merited. He is now pleasantly situated at No. 18 Avenue B, Vick Park, after a residence of fifty-five years in this city
FREEMAN CLARKE.
Freeman Clarke, whose activities were of such extent and importance as to leave the impress of his individuality upon the history of the state, was during his life time numbered among the most prominent and honored residents of Roch- ester and since his death his memory has been cherished as one of the founders of the city's greatness, bis lalors contributing also in substan- tial measure to the development of the state. With wonderful foresight he seemed to recognize
the value of a business situation or possibility and he wrought along lines of great good, but it was not alone in the firkl of business and finance that his name became known, He was recognized as one of the political leaders of the state and did much toward molding public thought and action in the middle of the nineteenth century. At all times he was actuated by high ideals of citizenship and of patriotism and his worth was recognized by the most distinguished politienl leaders of the land.
It was on the 22d of March. 1809, that Free- men Clarke entered upon his life record in Troy. New York. his parents being Isane and Eliza- beth Clarke. He was a descendant of some of the earliest Puritan settlers of New England. One member of the family. John Clark, of Iwwwich, Massachusetts, was a founder of Norwich, Con- uertient, where he removed in 1694. John Clark bad six children. One of these, Isaac Clark, mar- ried Miriam Tracy, a granddaughter of Lieuten- ont Thomas Tracy, of Selem, 1637. and through him is of Roval des ent. Isaac Clark's second son, Oliver, horn in 1714, married Elizabeth Free- man. a descendant of John Freeman, proprietor of Sudbury. Massachusetts, 1635, and moved to what was then the wilderness of western Massa- chusetts settling near Westfield. Of his chil- dren, Zephaniah, born in 1752. married Zulima Cooley, a descendant of Benjamin Cooley, who settled in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1644. Zephaniah Clark removed with his family from Westfield to Williamstown. Massachusetts, and later to Poestenkill, New York, where he died, leaving a numerous family, the oldest of whom. Isaac Clarke, born in 1779, married Elizabeth Brown. and was the father of Freeman Clarke, horn March 22, 1809. In 1827. when about nine- teen years of age. Freeman Clarke beenme a resi- dent of Albion, Orleans county. New York. where he engaged in mercantile and manufacturing pur- suits. Even in early manhood he displayed re- markable prescience that enabled him to deter- mine with accuracy the value of a business situa- tion and to utilize his opportunities to the best ad- vantage, so that whatever he undertook proved successful. He began operating in the field of finance in 1837, when elected cashier of the Bank of Orleans.
In 1845 Mr. Clarke arrived in Rochester and from that time until his death figured prominently in financial circles here. He organized and be- came president of the Rochester Bank, was chosen trustee and treasurer of the Monroe County Sav- ings Bank and in 1857 was instrumental in or- ganizing the Monroe County Bank, of which he became president and which at a later date was converted into the Clarke National Bank. His judgment was so sound, his enterprise so marked, that bis co-operation was songht for the develop-
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ment and furtherance of various financial and other business interests. He became not unknown in connection with railroad operation and was one of the first directors of the Rochester, Lock- port & Niagara Railroad, now the Niagara Falls branch of the New York Central. At different times he was president and director of the Genesee Valley Railroad, was treasurer and director of the House Telegraph Company and a director of the Western Union Telegraph Company. As his op- erations extended he became recognized in New York city as one whose labors would prove a valued element in financial circles and he was chosen a trustee and subsequently the vice presi- dent of the Union Trust Company of New York, also one of the first directors of the Fourth Na- tional Bank of New York and one of the organ- izers and a director of the Metropolitan Trust Company of New York.
On the 28th of May, 1833, Freeman Clarke was married to Henrietta J. Ward, who was the youngest daughter of Dr. Levi Ward. She was born at Burgen, New York, October 2, 1814, and died at Rochester. October 30, 1890, while the death of Mr. Clarke occurred in Rochester, June 24, 1887. They became the parents of ten chil- dren. as follows: Levi Ward, who was born Aug- ust 10, 1834, at Albion, New York, and died July 28. 1894, at Rochester: Elizabeth Jane, who was born at Albion. September 6, 1836. and died April 5, 1854, at Canandaigua. New York ; Free- man De Witt, born in Albion, December 19, 1838, and died May 27. 1889, nt Rochester : Henry Ros- well, born June 1. 1841, at Albion, and died in Rochester. April 29, 1848: George Hunt, who was born March 15, 1843, in Albion : Francis K., who was born in Rochester, May 11, 1846. and passed away there on the 30th of April, 1848; Minnie Henrietta, who was born in Rochester, July 11, 1848: Caroline Susan, who was born in Rochester, December 5. 1850: Edward Smith, who was born December 25. 1853. in Rochester ; and Isaac Sher- man, who was likewise horn in Rochester, January 21, 1856.
For more than a half century the parents trav- eled life's journey together. In the interim were many years of intense and well directed activity and particularly was Mr. Clarke known in con- nection with the latter days of the whig party and the earlier years of the republican party. In 1850 he was vice president of the whig state con- vention and acted as its chief presiding officer. In 1852 he was a delegate to the whig nationa! convention and two years later was chosen vice president of the first republican convention of the state of New York. In 1862 he was elected a representative from New York to the thirty-eighth congress, serving on the committees on manufac- tures and pensions. In 1865 he received from President Lincoln appointment to the position of
comptroller of currency and during his incum- beney some of the most important financial legis- lation of war times was enacted, including the organization of the national banks. In 1867 he was a member of the constitutional convention and in 1870 was elected a representative to the forty-second congress, where he did much import- ant constructive work in committee rooms. He served as a member of the committee on foreign affairs and was ever a close and discriminating student of the political situation and its possi- bilities, bringing to bear in his public service the same spirit of insight and of mastery that char- acterized him in his business life. He served on the commission that had the Central Railroad tracks elevated in Rochester and he was a trustee of the University of Rochester. Local advance- ment and national progress were both causes dear to his heart and he had no sympathy with that spirit which sees in a public office opportunity for self-advancement or aggrandizement. He held to high ideals of citizenship and regarded a public office as a public trust. He was a statesman in his broad knowledge of affairs and a patriot in his devotion to the general good. Living in Roches- ter for more than forty years during the middle of the nineteenth century, which hy reason of the war constituted a formative period in every state in the Union because of the new questions which came up for settlement, he stood among the lead- ers who looked beyond the exigencies of the mo- ment to the needs and the possibilities of the fu- ture and labored not alone for the present genera- tion. His business life, too, was one of intense and unwearied industry, bringing him into close touch with financial leaders of the Empire state, who recognized him as a peer.
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