History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 61

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112

USA > New York > Chemung County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 61
USA > New York > Schuyler County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 61
USA > New York > Tioga County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 61
USA > New York > Tompkins County > History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York > Part 61

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In politics Judge Thurston has ever been independent, though his affiliation was with the Democrats until the organization of the Republican party, in 1856. In the previous year he ran for the office of State Treasurer on the same ticket with Samuel J. Tilden, nominated for the office of Attorney-General. Both were beaten. In 1857 he again was put in nomination for the office of Canal Commissioner, but was defeated with the rest of the ticket by the Know-Nothings.

Judge Thurston is not a favorite of machine-politicians, his vote being governed more by considerations of the fit- less and capacity of candidates than by considerations of party fidelity. In 1859 he received at the hands of Gov- ernor Morgan, a "Republican, the appointment of State Assessor for three years; and in 1876 he received from Governor Robinson, a Democrat, an appointment as one of the managers of the State Reformatory, which office he now holds, officiating as its treasurer and secretary. In 1861 he was associated with Judge Gray on the commis- sion to build the Chemung County court-house, and with his colleague has the satisfaction of knowing that, casualties excepted, this building will long stand as a monument of

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HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

good taste and an ornament to the city. There was saved from the appropriation some hundreds of dollars, the result of judicious and honest management.

In 1872 the judge made a European tour, taking in his way Great Britain, and the continent as far east as Naples, and northward into Russia, which it is needless to say was thoroughly appreciated by him. He is now enjoying a serene old age in the midst of his children and grand- children, in the city which has expanded before his eyes from an inconsiderable hamlet to a commercial centre of 25,000 inhabitants. The judge's interest in the history of the Chemung Valley is intense, and he has cheerfully given much valuable information to the compilers of this work.

HORACE BOARDMAN SMITH succeeded Judge North, in October, 1859, by appointment, and was elected in No- vember for a full term, but resigned in May, 1860. Judge Smith was born in Whitingham, Vermont, August 18, 1826. ITis father was Dr. Nathaniel Smith, of Benning- ton, and his mother was of the Connecticut Boardman family. He was a graduate of Williams College, Massa- chusetts, of the class of 1847, began his legal studies with Governor Robinson, in Bennington, and completed them with Judge Aaron Koukle, in Elmira, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. In 1861 the present firm of Smith, Robertson & Fassett was formed, Judge Smith being the senior meurber, and has remained intact to the present time, and has an extended and various practice in the State and Federal courts.

In 1872 Judge Smith was elected to represent the Twenty-eighth Congressional Distriet of New York in the Forty-third Congress, and was re-elected for a second term in 1874, and served till March, 1877. During his first terin he was a member of the Committees on Claims, Private Land Claims, and the New Orleans investigation, and during his second term he was chairman of the Com- mittee on Elcctions. His majority in 1872 was over 3000, and increased in 1874. He is Republican in politics, and cast his first vote for Van Buren and Adams, in 1848.

ELIJAH P. BROOKS* was a son of Dr. Theseus Brooks, a native of Berkshire Co., Mass., and a prominent physi- cian of Chemung County. The son was educated in El- mira, was a student of Messrs. Gregg & Dunn, and was admitted to the bar of the Common Pleas in 1838, and later in the Supreme Court. He was elected county judge in 1860, and served a single term of four years, and pre- sided as such with impartiality and ability. He was all able lawyer, sagacious in financial matters, his aim being success. He was a successful collection lawyer, and had an extensive practice in that line.

THOMAS S. SPALDING was born in Summer Hill, Cayuga Co., N. Y., and moved into Groton, Tompkins Co., with his father, when a boy of two or three years of age. He was educated at the Homer Academy, and began his legal studies with Messrs. Love & Freer, attorneys in Ithaca. He completed them in Elmira with Gray & Hathaway, and was admitted to the bar in 1851, in the Supreme Court at Delhi. He commenced the practice of the legal profession

in Elmira immediately thercafter, and has been in active practice ever since. He was elected to the office of county judge in 1868, for a term of four years, and in 1872 was re-elected for a term of six years. Judge Spalding is a Democrat in politics, and has good cause to congratulate himself on his popularity, for in 1872, General Grant, the Republican candidate for President, received over 600 ma- jority, while the judge, the only candidate on the Demo- cratic ticket elected, received nearly 300 majority. Judge Spalding has been closely identified with the city of Elmira in official positions for many years. For twelve years he has held the office of justice of the peace, for two terms of two years each has been a member of the Board of Educa- tion, the last year of his office being the president of the board.

The leadership of the bar of Chemung of the olden days, when there were giants in the profession, has been unan- imously and heartily awarded to

GENERAL VINCENT MATHEWS, From "Sketches of Rochester," compiled by Henry O'Reilly and published in 1838, we clip the following: "This veteran left Orange County for Newtown, in Tioga (then Montgomery), about 1789, where he located for awhile. He was admitted in 1790 to the Supreme Court of the State, and in the fol- lowing year to the bars of Montgomeryt and Ontario,- Oliver Phelps presiding at the time in the court of the latter county. Then there was no road but an Indian path betweeu Newtown and Geneva; between Geneva and Can- andaigua a road was 'cut,' but it was almost impassable. . . . He was for several years a commissioner associated with the late Judge Ernot and Chancellor Lansing for settling disputes growing out of the frauds of persons who sold patents for land in the Military Tract rather oftener than law and honesty allowed. In 1795 he was elected to the Assembly from Tioga County, and in 1796 he was chosen a Senator from the Western District, which included all that portion of the State west of Scho- harie, Montgomery, and Otsego Counties. (He served eight years.) In 1809 he was chosen to represent his dis- trict (14th) in Congress, and was in the special session when Erskine's treaty was rejected, during the first year of Madison's presidency. In 1821 he settled at Rochester, where he has filled several offices, such as assemblyman, district attorney, etc."

As a tribute of respect and esteem, the bar of Rochester with great unanimity joined in placing a steel portrait of General Mathews in the work above quoted. The junior members of the bar, some years previously, had procured a portrait in oil of the great jurist and placed it in the court- house at Rochester. General Mathews was the first resi- dent attorney in what is now Chemung and Tioga Counties. Among his earliest practice was the defense of the German rioters on the Pulteney estate iu 1793-94. They resisted the efforts of the agent of the English association, Charles Williamson, for the improvement of their moral condition, and became riotous to such a degree the Governor ordered in the militia to suppress the disorder. They were arrested,

t Tioga County is probably meant, as he was admitted in that county at the first session of the Common Pleas that year.

# Deceased.

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AND SCHUYLER COUNTIES, NEW YORK.

tried and convicted, and pardoned,-and what is better, re- formed their ways. General Mathews was an ardent Fed- eralist, and a power in his party. He was eleeted as such in 1796, and again, in 1800, to the State Senate, where his abilities as a partisan Icader were acknowledged and his counsels followed. He was elected to Congress in 1808, also as a Federalist, but the district in 1810 was Demo- cratie or Republican, as the opposition to the Federal party was called. He died several years ago, at an advanced age.

WILLIAM H. WISNER was another eminent lawyer of Chemung. He too was from Orange County, from whence he came with his father, Henry Wisner. He was a stu- dent of General Mathews, and was admitted to the bar in 1806. He was said to have been the most promising young lawyer ever reared in Chemung County, being unsurpassed as an advocate. He was a compeer, for a time, of Mathews, Dana, Avery, and Platt, and gave indications of becoming one of the most distinguished lawyers of the State, power- ful as an advocate and persuasive and eloquent as a speaker. At this stage in his life he experienced a change in his tastes and inclinations, and, after studying theology for a year, began to preach. He remained in Elmira for a time, then accepted a call from Ithaca, where he remained for many years; then went West, but subsequently returned to Ithaea, and for years was a remarkably successful pastor. He resigned his pastorate in 1855.

GEORGE C. EDWARDS, one of the old lawyers, appears on the records of the courts of this county about the year 1810 for the first time. He was from New England, and a scion of the Pierpont-Edwards family, and a man of fine education and a sound lawyer. He was a partner of Mathews, and when the latter removed from the county he continued liis practice for a time, and removed to Bath, where he be- came the first judge of Steuben County, and died about 1838. He was esteemed a sound and able jurist, but lacked power as an advocate, and rarely, if ever, attempted to plead in court.

SAMUEL S. HAIGHT was also from Orange County, his wife being a sister of General Mathews. He was first ad_ mitted to the Tioga courts in 1804, and was a partner of General Mathews for a time. He was an active, energetic, nervous man, a rapid talker, but not deeply versed in legal lore. He removed to Bath, and died at Angelica some years ago, over eighty years of age. His son, Fletcher M. Haight, was educated at Bath, admitted to the bar of Tioga in 1823, and was regarded eminent as a lawyer; on his removal to San Francisco he attained to the front rank in his profession. His son was the late Governor of Cali- fornia.

THEODORE NORTH, the elder, came from Connecticut in 1823. His father was a Revolutionary soldier. He was highly educated and a sound lawyer, a fine writer, and pro- found in his legal research. He and Judge Gray were partners for some years, and afterwards Judge James Dunn was associated with him in practice; the latter was a brother-in-law, the two marrying sisters.

A story is told of a case once tried before Esquire North which illustrates the sense of justice possessed by the pio- neers, regardless of the technicalities of the law. A case was brought for the collection of a bar bill. The statute

prohibited the collection of more than twenty shillings for such a score, and the demand was for a considerably larger amount. A jury was impaneled on which one John Win- ters, a reputed grand-uncle of President Lincoln, was a juror. The court called the attention of the attorney for the plaintiff to the law prohibiting the collection of a larger sum than twenty shillings for his score, when the attorney innocently suggested that the law was repealed, and asked the court if he had the law, well knowing the published laws were not in the court. The magistrate admitted that he had not the law in his office, but, as he understood, twenty shillings only could be collected on a bar account. Whereupon Winters arose, and delivered himself thusly : " Judge North, ef you hev any statoot that does away with equity and justice, or that lets a man go through life with- out paying his quota, you must produce it, for, by the gods ! we won't take no man's word for it."

Mr. North died in 1842, aged sixty-two years.

Photo. by Larkin.

M. Maxwell

HON. WILLIAM MAXWELL was a son of Guy Maxwell (see early history of Elmira for Maxwells). After several years devoted to practice, he left the profession and became a cashier of the Chemung Canal Bank, where he continued for ten years. At that time the bank became somewhat ( m- barrassed during the money pressure of 1837, which lasted to 1842,-a misfortune which extended to all the banks of the State,-when it became necessary to suspend specie payments. A change of officers and directors took place.

He was then in easy circumstances, and the amount of private business demanded much of his time. He also added to the care of his real estate that of the agency of the Lawrence traet of wild land situated in Southport. About this time he became greatly interested in the projeet of the first Erie Railway, which was designed to be built on piles. He was one of the original directors. This fell

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HISTORY OF TIOGA, CHEMUNG, TOMPKINS,

through, and he sustained some loss; but he afterwards lived to see the project fully completed. He was the very pattern of kind-heartedness and generosity. He never re- fused a kindness to a friend, and by indorsements sustained quite serious pecuniary losses. He was a member of As- sembly twice, and also served in the Constitutional Conven- tion of 1846, and was the first member elected to the Assembly after its adoption. He was elected as a member of the old Hunker party, by Whig votes, against the Barn- burner split. There was a time when he was the most popular man in the county. He died of paralysis, in 1858.

STEPHEN SEDGWICK was one of the old attorneys, having eome to the county in 1808. He was the father of the Syracuse Sedgwicks and an uncle to the distinguished general of that name. He practiced but a short time here, but was regarded as one of the keenest intellects, and in the trial of causes was a match for Mathews. His intellectual powers were brilliant and faseinating, and he was gigantic in form. He died early, the victim of intemperance.

ANDREW K. GREGG, SR., was admitted to the practice of the law in the Common Pleas of Tioga in 1822, and sub- sequently as an attorney and counselor in the Supreme Court and of the United States Courts. He was of Irish parentage, his father, John Gregg, for many years a resi- dent of Elmira, being a native of Enniskillen, Ireland. He and his father, Andrew, came first to Northumberland Co., Pa., in 1775, and twenty years later to Elmira. The grandfather of Andrew, also named Andrew, was sixty- three years old when the family came to Elmira, where he died at an advanced age. Mr. Gregg was a student of Mathews & Edwards, and completed his studies with Judge Gray. He was district attorney of Tioga County two terms, from 1835 to 1841, and followed the praetiee of his profession forty-six ycars. He removed to Chippewa Falls, Wis., in 1857, where he built up a large and re- munerative practice, and where he died, April 5, 1868, at the age of about sixty-nine years.

COLONEL SAMUEL GILBERT HATHAWAY, JR., was one of the eminent attorneys of Chemung County, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1835. He was a son of General Sam- uel G. Hathaway, an active and prominent Democratic politician, who was a State Senator and subsequently a member of Congress (1833-35) from the Twenty-second District, residing at the time in Cortland County. He was the oldest living major-general of militia in the State at the time of his death. Colonel Hathaway was born in Free- town, Cortland Co., Jan. 18, 1810, and was the oldest of six sons in a family of cleven children.

The sobriquet of colonel attached to him while a mem- ber of his father's staff, when but eighteen years of age, but he sealed his right to wear it by his blood at the elose of his career. He was a graduate of Union College soon after his majority, and entered the law-office of Hon. Jona- than L. Woods, in Cortland, where he remained one ycar pursuing his legal studies. In 1833 he entered the office of Judge Gray, in Elmira, where he completed his elerk- ship of three years, and was admitted to practice in Albany, in the Supreme Court. In 1836 he formed a law connec- tion with Judge Dunn, which continued for a year, and then he formed a partnership with Judge Gray, which con-

tinued until the judge's appointment to the circuit judge- ship, in 1846. Then the well-known firm of Diven, Hathaway & Woods was created, and became the oldest and most celebrated law firm in the Southern Tier. After fifteen years of prosperity, General Diven, the senior part- ner, withdrew in 1861, Mr. Hathaway and Mr. Woods continuing associated until the death of the former severed the connection.

As a lawyer Colonel Hathaway was deservedly cminent, and graced the profession. His mental abilities were of a high order and remarkably fitted for his chosen profession. He, however, shone less brilliantly at a law term of the court than before a jury, before whom he was irresistible. His eloquence frequently supplemented his case so admirably that his client was the gainer by more than strict justice. He was, however, honorable in his practiee, and preferred defeat to unfair advantage and dishonor. His form was manly and majestic, his diction elegant and concise, his gesticulation easy and graceful, his manner dignified and commanding. He was witty and sarcastie, plaintively pa- thetic, and bitter in invective, as occasion required.

In politics he was termed the " Democratic War-Horse of the Chemung Valley," and was invariably chosen leader of the Democratic party when the issue was at all doubtful. He was not disheartencd by defeat, and on the stump he was peerless, his fund of wit, humor, and anecdote having full play.

In the summer of 1862 he was persuaded to enter the military service as colonel of the 141st New York Volun- teers, being urged thereto that his name would rapidly fill the ranks of the regiment. On his announcement that he would go, eighteen companies were at once recruited, each one anxious and striving to be of the ten who should march to battle with him as their leader. The history of the regi- ment and Colonel Hathaway's service will be found recorded elsewhere. During his service as acting brigadier-general hic contraeted disease of the heart, and his illness progressed to that degree of danger that in March, 1863, he was compelled to leave the field and return to Elmira. But no medical skill availed to arrest his malady, and he continued to fail until April 16, 1864, when he died, at his father's house.

We herewith append a list of the attorneys who have resided in the territory now comprised within the limits of Chemung County, and the dates of their admission to the Common Pleas Courts of Tioga or Chemung, or their first appearance before the courts in the prosecution of causes. It has been revised by the oldest practieing attorney in the county, and it is hoped it will be found substantially correct. The dates after 1846 may vary some from the true date of admission to the bar of the courts of the county, but it is believed they will not materially.

1791, Vincent Mathews.# David Powers.# 1792. Peter Loop .*

1804. Samuel S. Haight.# 1806. William H. Wisner .** 1808, Aaron Konkle .* Stephen Sedgwick.#

1810. James Robinson.# George C. Edwards.# J. T. Haight.#

1814. Grant B. Baldwin .* 1815. William Maxwell .** 1817. M. B. Canfield.#

1822. Andrew K. Gregg.#

* Dead.

JUDGE JAMES DUNN was the youngest son of William Dunn, one of the earliest settlers of the valley, coming here about the beginning of the present century.

The elder Dunn, in company with Judge Payne, built the first grist-mill at this place, and was also interested in a country store. He (William Dunn) came here from Bath, where several of the family were born, among the number being Charles Dunn, now a respected and venerable resident of tho State of Indiana. Charles recently came east on a visit to his relatives here, and participated in a banquet given in his honor at Bath as the first white child born in that village. Charles was the eldest, and the other boys were Thomas and William. Lyman Covell's wife (Susan) was a daughter of the elder Dunn, and another (Alice) is the mother of J. Davis Baldwin. Of the immediate family, with the death of the judge, there now survive only Charles and Mrs. Isaac Baldwin.

Judge Dunn's early education was attained at the primitive schools of that early period.

He first entered the law office of Aaron Konkle, and was admitted to the bar about 1824-25; was subsequently in partnership with Mr. Konkle, and was also a member of the law firms of North & Dunn, Dunn & Hathaway, and Dunn & Patterson.

Ho attained a foremost position at the bar of the county, was re- garded as one of the ahlest of the carly advocates, and had a large practice.

He was the second First Judge of the county of Chemung, the first judge being Joseph L. Durling, who was succeeded by Mr. Dunn, who served from 1844 to 1846. He was also the second surro- gate of the county of Chemung.

In his primo he was looked upon as possessing a strong legal mind, and numbered among the ablest members of his profession, and was a man of powerful ability. Ho was able to cope with the best of his profession, and his triumphs as an advocate wero many and brilliant.

Early in life Judge Dunn imbibed an interest in politics. In 1840 he was the candidate of the Whig party in this district for Repre- sentativo in Congress, but the district being strongly Democratie ho was defeated. But for a long series of years he was the acknowl- edged and unquestionod loador of his party in this county, and had for his trusted friends such men as Seward, Weed, Greeley, Charles Cook, John C. Clark, and Andrew B. Dickinson.

In 1848, Judge Dunn "bolted " and joined the Free-Soil wing of the Democratic party in support of his old-time antagonist, Martin Van Buren.

He became a supporter of General Scott in 1852, and was an origi- nal, earnest, and active Republican ; was extremely radical in his views on the slavery question, and during the war was urgent at all times for the boldest measures. During the days of reconstruction ho drifted into the Democratic party, but never afterwards took an active part in politics. For the last three years previous to his decease he probably voted the Ropublican ticket, and was inteusely

interested for the success of Governor Hayes, for whom he cast his last vote.

Judge Dunn's domestic relations were of the most pleasant nature. He was married April 28, 1827, to Miss Eliza Thompson, of Goshen, Conn., who survives him. Their golden wedding was only three days prior to his decease, May 1, 1877. There are three sons and two daughters living,-D. Thompson and Henry, now residents of Georgia ; Isaac ; Mrs. Frank H. Atkinson, of Elmira; and Mrs. Thomas Root, of Philadelphia.

Quotations from the remarks of Hon. Ariel S. Thurston, delivered at a meeting of the bar of the county of Chemung, held May 3, 1877, will express moro fully the esteem of the profession for the memory of oue of their number :

" At the time of his death, Judge Dunn was, with one exception, the oldest member of the bar within the limits of the old county of Tioga; and he, Judge Gray, and myself were then the only members of the bar, originally residents of Elmira, admitted to practice before tho division of the county of Tioga by the act of the Legislature of 1835-36. He was, too, as I believe, with one exception, the oldest native-born citizen of the city of Elmira residing within its limits. . . .

"I carly became acquainted with Judge Dunn. He was most genial and companionable in his manners; somewhat sarcastic ; a man of broad humor and quick repartee; always immensely enjoying a joke, and, with his friend, James Robinson, Esq., their 'flashes of merriment' were often 'wont to set tho table in a roar.'

"In the argument of a legal proposition, or questions under the old system of practice in the trial of a cause, he was by no means an antagonist to be trifled with ..

"Judge Dunn was strong in his attachments, but as he did not always discriminate as to men, his confidence sometimes was mis- placed. As a politician he was devoted to the old Whig party. Scarce auy man could withstand him in a political argument. . . .

" Although possessing but limited educational advantages in carly life, Judgo Dunn was a highly educated man,-he educated himself. With much reading and a retentive memory, he was familiar with all the prominent events of the world's history. The history of the campaigns of Napoleon he had almost by heart, and it has been told me that ho would read and re-read Abbott's 'Life of Napoleon' as though it were the most fascinating tale of fiction. It was with such productions as Allison's ' Europo,' Hallam's ' Middle Ages,' or Gib- bon's ' Rome' with which he stored his mind, rather than with the trashy effusions with which the press of to-day teems. . . .

" As I have said, Judge Gray and myself are the only survivors of the old bar of Tioga, and, in the common course of events, the next called will be one of us. But it may not be. It may be one of you ; and, impressed with the uncertainty of tho time the summons may come, let us so live that when it does we may cach

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History of Tioga, Chemung, Tompkins and Schuyler counties, New York, Part 61

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign Number of Pages: 1112

Author: Peirce, H. B. (Henry B.) cn; Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Ensign
Number of Pages: 1112