USA > New York > Ulster County > History of Ulster County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers. Vol. I > Part 27
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During the session of the Legislature of 1878 very many important questions were referred to the attorney-general's office by the Legislature. The Que of most publie interest related to the new apportionneat of the Senate and Assem- bly districts of the State under the census of 1875. It was elaimed by some of the leaders of the Republican side in the Legislature (that body having neglected to make an apportionment in 1876, when it should have been made, and also in 1877) that it could not constitutionally make it at the session of 1878. The resolution on this subject reached the attorney-general between five and six o'clock in the afternoon, and called for a response within five days. Judge Schoonmaker attended a reception that evening at the Gov- ernor's, and did rot return to his hotel until eleven or twelve o'clock at night. Ile than prepared an opinion upon the subject, which was copied in the morning and transmitted to the Legislature by the time the session opened, holding that it was both constitutional for the Jeg- i-lature then to make an apportionment and that it was its duty to do so. The Legislature acquiesced in the view which was stated in the opinion.
Another question referred to the attorney general by the saine Legislature was whether that portion of the charter of New York City creating a board of estimate and appor- Hloument was constitutional. Ile reported that in his opin- ion it was constitutional, and in a case which subsequently trump in New York City, and was taken to the Court of Appeals, that conrt sustained the view.
One of the most important questions which arose in the at- torney-general's office was an application for a quo warranto against the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad of New York City and the Loan and Improvement Company, a corpora- riou auxiliary to the railroad corporation, to forfeit their
charters, for the ostensible purpose of breaking down the elevated roads. He gave a public hearing in New York to both parties upon this subject, and decided that it was not a case in which the attorney-general was called upon to interfere by quo warranty for the destruction of those corporations, but that any faults connected with their man- agement could be more appropriately corrected by the Leg- islature. Applications for official opinions were constantly received from all portions of the State upon questions of more or less importance, and in every case of publie inter- est a prompt response was made. A record of these opin- ions fills a large volume of several hundred pages in the attorney-general's office.
Among the subjects upon which Judge Schoonmaker was most frequently called upon to write was the matter of sav- ings-bank management. The superintendent of the banking department, Mr. Lamb, a faithful and vizilaut officer, found mary abuses existing in the management of savings-banks, and without the co-operation of the attorney-general he was comparatively powerless to redress most of them. Judge Schoonmaker determined to sustain his official action in attempting to bring about a better administration of those institutions, and uniformly held a rigid construction of the statutes relating to those banks and to the duties of their trustees. The result was that numberless abuses were cor- rected, many unfaithful trustees removed, expenses largely reduced, and a more faithful, judicious, and economical management secured. The banks appeared to have acted for years upon the erroneous assumption that whatever was not forbidden by statute could be done by trustees. This rnle was reversed, and the sounder one applied that trustces of corporations can only cxereise such powers as are ex- pressly grauted to them by law or are necessarily incidental to the granted powers.
During Judge Schoonmaker's terni bo attorneys or conn- sel outside of the office force were employed, as had been customary under his predecessors, and a saving of expense amounting to at least twenty thousand dollars a year was effected by that course.
HON. JACOB HARDENBERGII
was for several years the most conspicuous and popular citizen of Ulster County. And the distinction he enjoyed rested on no factitious grounds, but on the solid basis of superior ability and force of character. Ile acquired at an early period, and retained until his death, the confidence of the publie to an extent rarely equaled and never sur- passed.
Mr. Hardenbergh was descended from one of the oldest and best families of Ulster County. Ilis paternal grand- father was Jewis Hardenbergh, who resided at Swaartekill, uear Dashville Falls, in the town of Esopus. His father was Richard Hardenbergh, a gentleman of sterling qualities of head and heart, of high character, and universally es- teenred. His mother's maiden name was Crispell. Jacob was one of a numerous family, consisting of two sous,- Lewis and himself,-and seven daughters,-Eliza, Nelly, Asenath, Leah, Margaret, Cornelia, and Catharine.
Jacob was born at the village of New Paltz on the Sth day of May, 1823, where his father then resided. In 1830
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his father settled upon the farm still occupied by the family, in the present town of Gardiner. After attending the dis- triet schools, Jacob commenced his academic course at the New Paltz Academy, and finished it at Amenia, Dutchess Co. He then entered Rutgers College, at New Brunswick, N. J., and graduated from that institution in 1844 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. After some time spent as classical instructor in the academical school at Fonda, Montgomery Co., N. Y., he entered upon the study of the law in the office of Hon. James C. Forsyth, at Kingston. As a law student he mastered his studies and became thoroughly grounded in the elementary principles of the law. Ilis wonderfully retentive memory preserved the ac- quisitions of his student years, which were always at his command during his subsequent career. Ile was admitted to the bar in July, 1847, and located at once in Kingston, and with justifiable confidence in his own capacity and resources began the practice of his profession on his own account. As most young lawyers have found in their ex- perience, business did not come to him rapidly at first ; but the cases which came to him he thoroughly mastered, aud presented them to the courts with such caruestness, clear- ness, and foree that he soon established a reputation as a profound, able, aud successful lawyer. Clients who in- trusted their business to him adhered to him, and became his devoted friends. In 1849 he was nominated for the office of district attorney of the county upon the Whig ticket, but the Democratic party being in the majority, his competitor, Robert F. Macauley, was elected. In politics he identified himself with the conservative portion of the Wilig party, and became their leader in the county. In 1852 he was chosen delegate to the Whig national conven- tion at Baltimore by the friends of Mr. Fillmore, the other or Seward wing of the party sending Geu. Joseph S. Smith as a contesting delegate. Both were admitted to seats in the convention, each to have half a vote. Gen. Scott was nominated, and was defeated in the election. His defent was followed by the disruption of the Whig party, and Mr. Hardeubergh, like many others of his party asso- ciates of strong conservative views, declined to follow Mr. Seward in the new organization called the Republican party, but allied Himself t: the Democratic party, and continued ever afterwards a prominent and leading member of that organization.
In 1853, Mr. Hardenbergh became attorney for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, and by the superior ability and tact he brought to his professional engagements was remarkably successful with the business placed in his charge.
One of the most interesting and important cases in which he was engaged at this period of his life (1855) was the trial of Joseph R. Johnson, a Baptist clergy man, located at Saugerties, who was indicted for the murder of his wife and child by drowning in the Esopus Creek. A strong prejudice existed against the accused. Mr. Hardenberghi was employed to defend the prisoner. The late Ambrose L. Jordan and Horace F. Clark were associated with the district attorney, John Lyon, for the prosecution. Lyman Tremain was associated with Mr. Hardenbergh. Judge Amasa J. Parker presided at the trial. Mr. Hardenbergh
summed up the cause for the prisoner with such remarka- ble power, pathos, and impressiveness that his client was acquitted and his reputation as an advocate established.
Another of his most important causes was the contro- versy between the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company and the Pennsylvania Coal Company, relating to tolls to be charged the boats of the latter company upon the canal of the former, in which many of the foremost lawyers of the State were engaged. The trial of the cause before a referee occupied about six years, and resulted in favor of his client, which was sustained at general term, but in the Court of Appeals, where it was argued after his death by other counsel, the decision was reversed.
A very important eanse in which he was engaged later in life was the Fox will case, tried before the surrogate of New York, in which he maintained and established the principle that a devise of real estate by a citizen of this State to the government of the United States was void, and the property descended to the heirs-at-law, which was af- firmed by the courts of this State and the Supreme Court of the United States.
In the trial and argument of causes Mr. Hardenbergh intuitively grasped the strong and controlling points of his case, paying little attention to collateral or secondary mat- ters, and possessed the art of fastening the attention of the jury or the court upon those points, which he elucidated with masterly clearness and conciseness. In his contests in the courts he rarely made prominent the personality of his client or of the opposite party, but made bis contention for some principle of which his client was only the repre- sentative, and which, with rare judgment and skill, was shown to be of paramount importance. By this mode he could try a cause and defeat his adversary without giving personal offense. His success appeared a triumph of prin- ciple, and not a personal victory or defeat.
In 1865, Mr. Hardenbergh was the Democratic candi- date for justice of the Supreme Court for the third judicial district against Henry Hogeboom, the Republican candi- date, and owing to some disaffection in one county, result- ing from disappointment on the part of another gentleman in procuring the nomination for himself, Mr. Hardenborgh was defeated by a small majority.
In 1866 there was a general furore for bonding towns in aid of railroad cuterprises, and laws were passed authorizing such projects in Ulster County. Mr. Hardeubergh had the sagacity to perecive the errors and dangers of such a policy, and the courage to oppose it earnestly. Almost alone he labored through the press and otherwise to dissuade his fellow - citizens against these projects, urging their un- constitutionality, their injustice, and probably disastrous consequences. But his remonstrances were overborne. Subsequent events, however, fully vindicated his far-seeing and prudent counsels.
In 1867 he was elected as one of the delegates at large to the convention to ameud aud revise the constitution of the State, and served in that body until its labors were closed. He took high rank among the distinguished met- bers of that convention, and it furnished him a fine field for the display of his high abilities and good judgment. He gave special attention to the judiciary article, which was the only
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portion of the proposed constitution adopted by the people, and made a vigorous fight for a provision prohibiting bond- ing of towns for railroad purposes. This was the begin- ning of a struggle ou that subject which resulted in an amendment to the effect urged by Mr. Hardenbergh, adopted by the people in 1874. No man left that con- vention with more personal friends or a better reputation than Mr. Hardenbergh. Mr. Hardenbergh was twice a delegate from this State to Democratie national conven- tious,-in 1864, at Chicago, when Gen. Mcclellan was nominated, and in 1868, at New York, when Horatio Sey- mour was nominated.
In 1869 he was elected to the State Senate, by a com- manding majority, from the district embracing Ulster and Greene Counties. In that body he was made chairman of the committee on canals, and was also a member of the judiciary committee.
As chairman of the committee on canals Me. Haiden- bergh inaugurated an entirely new policy for the State, which has ever since been maintained. He matured and carried through measures abrogating the vicious system of the contracting board, and relieving the State from the contracts made by that board; others fixing and defining the jurisdiction of the board of canal appraisers; and others, still more important, establishing the policy of low tolls. These and other measures with which he was identified gave him a reputation as a statesman extending beyond the limits of the State. , Only a man of the ability, breadth of view, high personal character, and forensic powers of Mr. Hardenbergh could have carried through successfully his canal reforin measures against the opposition they encoun- tered.
The Governor of the State at that time was Hou. John T. Hoffman, and no man possessed or deserved his confi- dence in a higher degree than Senator Hardenbergh. At the close of his first senatorial term he was renominated and re-elected. Before he could take his seat in the new Senate he became afflicted with a painful rheumatic affec- tion, which prevented him from taking an active part in legislative duties. Soon after going to Albany, in January, 1872, he became too ill to leave bis rooms, and, after suffer- ing great pain, he died at Congress Hall, in Albany, on the 29th day of April, 1872, at the age of about forty-bine. His remains were brought to his home at Kingston for in- terment, and his funeral services, hell in the First Reformed church, were attended by Governor Hoffinan and his stad, many senators and members of Assembly, and distinguished friends from other localities, and a very large concourse of citizens, who mourned his loss.
Mr. Hardenbergh married, April 3, 1850, Miss Anna Elizabeth Holmes, of Kingston, who was his faithful com- panion through life, and who survives him. They had bo children. In 1856 he formed a law partnership with Augustus Schoonmaker, which continued until his death, - a period of more than sixteen years.
Mr. Hardenbergh was a man of engaging social qualities, of cultivated literary tastes, of great kindness of heart, always generous to persons in need, very considerate and helpful to the young, aud ardent iu his attachment to his relatives and friends.
For a few years preceding his death he was, perhaps, the most popular man in the State, and had his life been pro- longed and his health spared, there was no position within the gift of his fellow-citizens to which he might not have reasonably looked forward, aud which they would not have been pleased to bestow.
Ile was also a man of fine personal presence, about six feet in height, symmetrically formed, strong, and muscular. In early life he excelled in horsemanship and manly sports, and always had a fondness for riding, driving, and hunting. Ile had blue eyes, sandy hair and beard, and classically- moulded features. His appearance correctly indicated intellectual and physical power. He was emphatically a solid man.
HON. THEODORIC R. WESTBROOK.
The ancestors of Hon. Theodorie Romeyn Westbrook, the subject of this sketch, belonged to Holland, English, and French nationalities. Wilhelmus Beckman, the mater- nal ancestor, came to New York from Holland in 1746, his family becoming a powerful one, their name being per- petuated in the street which still bears it in New York City. The paternal grandfather was Gen. Frederick West- brook, of English stock. Both he and Capt. Tjerck Beck- man, the grandfather on the mother's side, were Revolu- tionary soldiers. The wife of the former was Sarah Depuy, the wife of the latter Rachel Dumond, both of Huguenot ancestry. Mrs. Beekman died in 1856, at the age of ninety-three. She was one of the notable persons of Kingston in her day, -- keen, vivacious, shrewd in observa- tion, quick at repartee, of simple tastes yet with courtly manner at command; she retained her mental faculties, with a large share of physical activity, up to the brief illness which terminated her life. Of two daughters, the elder, Gertrude, married the late Judge Charles II. Ruggles, of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, and died carly. The other, Sarah, became the second wife of Rev. Cornelius D. Westbrook, D.D. She was the mother of seven children, Theodoric being the second, who was born at Fishkill, Dutchess Co., N. Y., Nov. 20, 1822.
This mother was a woman of remarkable character and endowments. To a comprehensive and vigorous intellect, she joined great capacity for directing affairs, great energy in carrying out her purposes, with high principle and con- scientiouness in fulfilling to the utmost every requirement of duty. Her devotion to the welfare of her family was incessant aud unwearying. " She looked well to the ways of her household, never eating the bread of idleness ;" and taught her children to prize the sweetness of a Christian home, where the most sacred attachments are drawn out and centred. She loved education, and strove to have her children prize it and receive it as the truest means of pro- moting their respectability and usefulness in life, as well as their personal happiness. Her own discernment and ex- perience as an educator of others confirmed her desire in regard to her own family, and her solicitnde was rewarded by seeing three of her four sons enjoy the advantages of a college education. These inspired words describe her aptly, " Noc slothful in business; fervent in spirit ; serving the Lord." Her long life was a constant benefaction to those
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around her, and its benign influence will prove as lasting as its pleasant memories.
Young Westbrook entered Rutgers College at the age of eleven years. Notwithstanding his extreme youth he stood high in his class, was chosen one of the four junior orators from his society, and pronounced one of the orations at the commencement exercises of the following year. Shortly thereafter he began the study of the law in the office of A. Bruyn Hasbrouck and Marius Schoonmaker, in Kingston, when but little past his fifteenth year. At sixteen he began to try causes in the Justices' Courts, no small number of such being entrusted to his management and successfully prosecuted before he was formally admitted to the bar.
At this early period, too, he entered with ardor upon political campaigns, making speeches in varions places in support of Democratic principles, with which he fel him- self in eordial sympathy. Iu the Presidential canvass of 1840 the expectant advocate was a warin supporter of Martin Van Buren. In the campaign of 1844 the lawyer, then just licensed, supported James K. Polk, addressing public meetings frequently during the progress of the cx- citing contest. In 1848 he supported Lewis Cass, as the regular Democratic nominee for the Presidency, against the Free-soil defection that advocated the re-election of Mr. Van Buren. Mr. Westbrook was admitted to the bar in 1843. His reputation as an intelligent and well-equipped advocate insured him at once a promising pretice in the eourts. This continued to increase steadily, till within a few years his office ranked among the best patronized in the county, and he found himself ocenpying a foremost position as a sagacious, painstaking, reliable, and success- ful advocate, being engaged in the trial of almost every enuse of any importance in the county.
In 1852 he was elected to Congress by a flattering major- ity from the counties of Ulster and Greene, and at the age of thirty took his seat in the House at a time when the overshadowing slavery question was profoundly moving the heart of the country. He voted with his party on the Kansas. Nebraska resolution introduced by Stephen A. Douglas into the Senate, and which passed that body by a vote of thirty-seven to fourteen. Coming down to the House it aroused a protracted and stormy discussion, but at length pissed, May 22, 1854, by a vote of one hundred and thirteen to one hundred. Afterwards sharing the aların of Senator Douglas at the designs and encroachments of the slave power, Mr. Westbrook heartily seconded the efforts of Mr. Douglas, whe staunchly resisted the growing demands of the South, and who led the opposition in the Senate to the Lecompton Constitution, whose aim was to make Kansas a slave State. Thereafter Mr. Westbrook was found steadfastly and unreservedly on the side of freedom against slavery extension, sustaining his chivalrous leader in the hard blows he was dealing to the rampant advocates of " The Institution," and standing firmly by that leader when, in 1860, he was mirle a can lidate for the Presidency. So, also, in all the critical period just preceding secession and though the momentous years of the actual conflict, Mr. Westbrook gave himself with all his influence to the cause of the imperiled government and union ; entering ardently into
the work, laboring to ronse the public mind and hearts, to raise and forward troops, addressing Union gatherings with stirring words, and strengthening the hands of the brave men who were struggling in the field to maintain the national unity. The principle which animated him all along is shown in his address at Saugerties, Dec. 15, 1862, on reeciving a flag for the 20th Regiment, preseuted to it by the citizens of that patriotic community. " This un- flinching courage, this dauntless heroism points only in one direction. Its unerring finger is ever turned to the old flay floating as gayly in Charleston as in New York, and to one nation and one country stretching from Maine to the Gulf, its unity unbroken and its constitution still free!" The stalwart Union sentiment of this and the neighboring counties, as influencing the efficient prosecution of the war and its successful issue, was in no small measure owing to Mr. Westbrook's eloquent advocacy of the country's cause and his tireless efforts to promote it. His voting for Mr. Lincoln in 1864, whose re-election was interwoven with the propitious progress and ending of the bitter struggle, proved how the country's honor and weal rose in his regards immeasurably above party considerations.
While in the full tide of a successful practice Mr. West- brook was elected in the fall of 1873 a judge of the Supreme Court, to succeed the late Judge Henry logeboom. Ile entered on his duties in this position on the 1st of Janu- ary, 1874. His character and previous training well fitted him for the phee. His experience as an advocate, his legal learning, his familiarity with the practice of the courts, the reputation of a sagacious as well as " honorable coun- selor," acquired by upwards of thirty years' laborious prosc- cution of a profession whose highest honors are well-nigh inseparable from severe and steadfast industry, pointed to him as one who would not diseredit the ermine. He did not disappoint the expectations formed of him, but took a high position on the bench from the start. He exhibited qualities there which his friends knew that he possessed, and which attracted ready appreciation front persons who had been less familiar with his mental and moral habitudes. Among these qualities were a ready and quick perception of the true merits of a question ; a facility at disentangling a complex ense from its plansible or mystifying surround- ings, and presenting it clearly and without illusion, the faculty of lucid, direet statement serving to make a legal principle or point of law or evidence intelligible to the plain, practical men of whom our juries are mainly composed. Add to this an indefatigable industry, and shrinking from no amount of labor, and mastering every case in whole and detail, rapidity in disposing of cases on the calendar with as little sacrifice of suitors' interests as of time, a high sense of re- sponsibility and fearlessness in meeting it, with a courteous bearing toward the bar and genial demeanor toward all in personal intercourse, and the cause is apparent of the popularity which has attended and attends his administra- tion of justice.
Many important cases have come before him for adjudi- cation. It would extend this notice too far to speak of even the most important of them in detail. It may be fitting to refer merely to two or three, as illustrating the judge's mode of dealing with criminals, and his nice discernment in in-
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