USA > New York > New York City > History of the Court of common pleas of the city and county of New York : with full reports of all important proceedings > Part 6
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Judge Hilton is, perhaps, most widely known from his relations to Alexander T. Stewart. Mrs. Hilton was the cousin of Mrs. Stewart, and through that rela- tionship the Judge wasearly brought into social intimacy with Mr. Stewart, and became his legal adviser before
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he was elected a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. After his retirement from the bench, in addition to his office in the firm of Hilton, Campbell & Bell, he also had an office in the mercantile house of Mr. Stewart, and continued in most intimate professional and per- sonal relations until hisdeath. Mr. Stewart, who died in April, 1876, left him a large legacy in his Will, and Mrs. Stewart, shortly after her husband's death, at the request of her husband, as she stated, transferred to Judge Hilton all interest in the mercantile business. Thereupon Judge Hilton wholly abandoned his profes- sion and devoted himself to mercantile pursuits. He is one of the very few who, after being trained to and passing many years in a profession, have been success- ful men of business. He continued in mercantile busi- ness until about 1883 when he was succeeded by his sons, and his son-in-law, who have since continued the business under the firm names of-Sylvester, Hilton & Co., and Hilton, Hughes & Co. His son, Col. Albert B. Hilton, is now the head of the firm.
Judge Hilton has a splendid country seat at Sara- toga, known as Woodlawn Park. It consists of about a thousand acres, and has something like fifteen miles of wooded drives which are thrown open to the public, greatly adding to the attractions of that famous resort.
Judge Hilton was always noted for his self-reliance, mental and physical energy, and great rapidity of thought and action. While somewhat active in politics he has never been an aspirant for political honors nor a seeker for popularity. He belongs to the Cen- tury, the Press and New York Clubs; and his re-
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ligious affiliations are with the Protestant Episcopal Church.
He has three sons living, Ed ward B., Henry G., and Albert B. Hilton; and two daughters, Cornelia, the wife of John M. Hughes, and Josephine H., the wife of Judge Horace Russell.
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THE HONORABLE ALBERT CARDOZO, LL.D.
Albert Cardozo, LL.D., ninth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in Philadelphia, December 2 Ist, 1828.
While yet a child he was brought to the City of New York. His parents being poor, he was obliged to leave school at an early age, and to depend on his own exer- tions. Determining upon the law as a profession, he was admitted to the bar soon after attaining his majority in 1849. He was successful in his practice, and in the Autumn of 1863, when less than thirty-five years of age, was elected to the Bench of the Common Pleas. He re- signed from the Court of Common Pleas in 1867, to take the nomination for the Supreme Court, to which he was elected, and took his seat on the first of January, 1868.
When a Judge of the Supreme Court, Judge Cardozo was accused of complicity with the Tweed ring, but the widely agitated investigation was dropped upon his resignation. Instead of leaving New York, as it was generally understood that he would do, he presently became active again, both at the bar and in politics.
In 1874 he formed a partnership with Richard S. Newcomb, and in 1878 was made a member of the General Committee of Tammany Hall, and shortly afterward was elected Sachem of Tammany Society.
Judge Cardozo died in the City of New York on November 8th, 1885.
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HOOPER C. VAN VORST, LL. D.
THE HONORABLE HOOPER C. VAN VORST, LL.D.
Hooper C. Van Vorst, LL. D., tenth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas was born in Schenectady, in the State of New York, on December 3d, 1817.
He was graduated at Union College in 1839, and immediately after graduation began the study of law in his native town. In 1841 he removed to Albany, was admitted to the bar and shortly afterwards appointed by the municipal board attorney and counsel to the city, which office he held for several years. Coming to the City of New York in 1853, he soon acquired a large practice. In 1868 he was appointed by Gov. Fenton Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and served on that bench for one year. In 1871 he was elected for a full term of fourteen years to the Bench of the Superior Court of the City of New York.
During a large part of his connection with the latter Court, however, acting under the appointment of the Governor of the State, Judge Van Vorst sat in the Supreme Court.
A strict Presbyterian, Judge Van Vorst, soon after he came to New York, united with the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, then under the pastorate of Dr. James W. Alexander, but now for many years under the charge of Rev. Dr. John Hall.
Besides being identified with the local church, he was
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a Commissioner for the Presbytery of New York to the General Assembly in May, 1883, at Saratoga, and was for many years a member of the Board of Foreign Mis- sions and a Trustee of the Children's Aid Society of the Presbyterian Church. He was also one of the founders of the Holland Society and was its president for several years.
Judge Van Vorst was noted for his sincerity, for his simplicity of manners, for his warm and constant friend- ships, and for his active sympathy with charitable and religious concerns. His judicial course was character- ized by learning, impartiality and inflexible adherence to the law.
The degree of LL.D., was conferred upon Judge Van Vorst by Union College.
He was twice married and left surviving him a widow and several children. His son Frederick B. Van Vorst is now engaged in the practice of law in New York City.
Judge Van Vorst died in New York City on October 26th, 1889.
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GEORGE C. BARRETT.
THE HONORABLE GEORGE C. BARRETT.
Though yet in the prime of life, considerably under sixty years of age, Judge Barrett has already passed nearly thirty years of his active life upon the bench. Elected Civil Justice at the age of twenty-five, identi- fied for nearly two years with the Court of Common Pleas, he is now (1896) serving the eleventh year of his second term as Justice of the Supreme Court.
George Carter Barrett, eleventh Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in Ireland, July 28, 1838 .. His father was the Rev. Gilbert Carter Barrett, a clergyman of the Church of England who, soon after the birth of his son became a missionary to the Indian tribes of Canada. His grandfather, Lieut. John Carter Barrett, was an officer in the English army during the Napoleonic wars and was awarded a medal for bravery on the field of Waterloo.
Judge Barrett began his education in London, West Canada, afterwards attending the Columbia Grammar School in New York City from whence he entered Columbia College. He left college at the end of fresh- man year and began the study of law. At this period he in large part supported himself by engaging in various literary ventures, writing serials, short stories, and novels and contributing to newspapers articles on topics of current interest.
After his admission to the bar he practiced for sev-
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eral years with success, but in 1863 was elected Justice of the Sixth Judicial District and from that year, excepting for a short intermission, 1871-72, has been continuously identified with our judiciary.
During this period, 1871-72, Judge Barrett became strongly identified with state and national politics. He was president of the Young Men's Municipal Reform Association in its memorable contest against the Tweed ring. He was a member of the Committee of Seventy of that time, and in association with Messrs. A. R. Lawrence, Francis C. Barlow, and Wheeler H. Peck- ham, acted as its counsel. He was also counsel for John Foley in his celebrated injunction suit against the ring.
Judge Barrett was married on November 30, 1865, to Miss Gertrude Fairfield, a daughter of Sumner Lincoln Fairfield, the poet and literateur.
Elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1869, after a service of nearly two years, more accurately, one year and nine months, he resigned with the inten- tion of resuming the active practice of the profession. In 1871, however, he was elected Judge of the Supreme Court for the term of fourteen years, and was again in 1885, re-elected for another full term of fourteen years.
Identified for nearly a quarter of a century with the Supreme Court, although at all times possessed of unusual political power yet unsullied in reputation either as man, lawyer, or judge, it is not an unfitting tribute that Judge Barrett should be one of the original seven members of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the First Judicial District of the State of New York.
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FREDERICK W. LOEW.
THE HONORABLE FREDERICK W. LOEW.
Frederick William Loew, twelfth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in Alsace, December 20, 1834, and when about three years of age was brought by his parents to the United States.
His ancestry on both sides sprang from old Alsatian stock residing in Strasburg in Alsace. Many of them occupied high social and political positions in their ancestral city and other parts of France.
When about sixteen years old he lost his father, Frederick J. Loew, and was left with his mother and four younger brothers. He was educated in English, French, and German schools of New York City.
Having artistic tastes of a high order he determined to adopt engraving as a profession, and accordingly studied under one of the most talented engravers in the city. He applied himself so industriously to his art and attained such proficiency, that before he was twenty years old he received two silver medals and a handsome edition of Webster's dictionary for works of his exhibited at the American Institute and other expo- sitions. The dies for medallions, etc., exhibited at the American Institute, was announced as having been cut and exposed by him expressly for the competition and he carried off the highest prize for the same as against the works of some of the most celebrated engravers of the country.
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His close application however, and the habit of con- stantly stooping over his artistic work, had seriously impaired his health, and by advice' of his physician he undertook a journey South.
Being a passenger on board the ill-fated steamer "Cres- cent City," he was shipwrecked on the Bahama banks on December 7, 1855, and after two nights and days of privation was finally taken from the wreck by a wreck- ing schooner to the island of Nassau. He sailed from thence to Havana, and later to New Orleans, where for some time he was seriously ill. The excitement and hardship, however, had called out all the latent energy of his system, and thus what was at first supposed would prove fatal tended to his recovery.
Returning home, he was obliged to choose a more active profession than art and entered upon the law. After holding a position as a law clerk in the sheriff's office for a time, devoting his leisure to professional study, he was admitted to the bar in 1860. From the start his practice was attended with success; his specialty was the examination of titles to real estate and conveyancing.
In the fall of 1863, he was elected by a large majority for a term of six years, Justice of the Fifth Judicial District Court of New York City, comprising the Sev- enth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Wards. Under his able and faithful management the business of the Court increased steadily from year to year, as is shown by the official records.
In the spring of 1867 he was chosen by the electors of the Twelfth Assembly District as a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1867-68, in the work of
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which body he took an active part. In November, 1869, he was appointed by Governor Hoffman Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, to fill the unexpired term of Hon. George C. Barrett, resigned, and at the gen- eral election in the same month was chosen by a large popular vote for a full term of six years, commencing January 1, 1870.
As Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Judge Loew made good his highly creditable record in former offices, and tried many notable and difficult cases with marked ability and impartiality. His decisions were very seldom reversed by the Court of Appeals. In October, 1875, he was appointed by Governor Tilden to hold a special term for the trial of jury causes in the Supreme Court.
In 1875, he was renominated by the Democracy for Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the term of fourteen years, but owing to the sweeping victory of the combination of Republicans and Independent Democrats which had been made, he was unsuccessful, although he led the entire ticket by several thousand votes, and he therefore returned to active practice at the bar.
In 1877, after repeated refusals, he was finally per- suaded to accept the Democratic nomination for Regis- ter of New York City and County, and notwithstanding a similar combination to that of 1875 had been entered into between the Republicans and Independent Demo- crats, he was, after a very excited and closely contested canvass, elected by several thousand majority, serving through the years 1878-79-80.
Some time after the expiration of his term of office
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his health, never robust, at last gave way and he was obliged to discontinue active practice and seek relief in travel. He has since resided mostly in Paris, making occasional visits to New York or traveling throughout Europe and the Orient.
Judge Loew was careful and conscientious. His motto, " Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well," found ample expression in his judicial life. The unqualified, painstaking, and intense devotion to details which won him distinction in his first calling, charac- terized the whole of his public life.
He was married in New York City, December 19, 1867, to Julia Augusta, daughter of the late Jacob Van- derpoel, formerly Dock Commissioner, and a descend- ant of an old Holland Dutch family which settled in New Amsterdam in the earliest days of the colony.
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THE HONORABLE CHARLES H. VAN BRUNT.
Charles H. Van Brunt, thirteenth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in 1836, at Bay Ridge, now a part of Brooklyn, in a house erected by one of his ancestors and which was until recently in Judge Van Brunt's possession.
Prepared for college in Brooklyn he was graduated at the University of the City of New York in the class of 1856. After studying law with the firm of Leonard & Hoffman, the head of which was formerly Commis- sioner of Appeals and a Judge of the Supreme Court; the other partner being Hon. John T. Hoffman, after- wards Governor of New York, he was admitted to the bar in 1860.
Judge Van Brunt continued in the office of Leonard & Hoffman for some years as confidential clerk and eventually became a partner in the firm, remaining in the practice of his profession until 1869, when he was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas to fill a vacancy caused by the election of Judge Brady to the Supreme Court. While at the bar he had an active practice, serving at one time as counsel to the City Chamberlain. Judge Van Brunt, in 1870, was elected for the full term of fourteen years and served on the bench of the Com- mon Pleas until 1883, when he was elected to the Supreme Court. Judge Van Brunt, despite the dis- crepancy in their years, was an intimate friend of the
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elder Judge Ingraham, and has served on the bench with both of the Judges Ingraham-father and son.
He has been twice married, has several children, and is now one of the original seven members of the Appel- late Division of the Supreme Court for the First Judi- cial District of New York. He is also one of the coun- cil of the University of the City of New York. He is a member of the Manhattan and Lotus Clubs, New York Yacht Club, and of the St. Nicholas Society. His only son, Arthur H. Van Brunt, is a practicing lawyer. Judge Van Brunt has been conspicuous for promptitude, energy, industry, and extraordinary facility in dispatch- ing business with rapidity.
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JOSEPH F. DALY, LL.D.
THE HONORABLE JOSEPH F. DALY, LL.D.
Joseph F. Daly, fourteenth Judge and last Chief Jus- tice of the Court of Common Pleas, was born December 3, 1840, at Plymouth, North Carolina. His father was Captain Denis Daly, of Limerick, Ireland, who having been in early life appointed purser's clerk in the British navy, resigned to engage in the merchant service, built and sailed his own vessels, and finally settled in Plymouth as wharfinger, shipowner and merchant, and died in
I84I. His maternal grandfather was Lieut. John Duffey of the IoIst Regiment, stationed in Montego Bay, Jamaica, W. I., where the Judge's mother was born. The family removed to New York in 1849, and he com- menced as law clerk with S. W. & R. B. Roosevelt in 1855, and studied law with them until 1862, when he was admitted to the bar. On the retirement of the firm from business in 1865 he succeeded to their prac- tice. In 1867, he formed a co-partnership with George F. Noyes, and after the latter's death established the well-known firm of Daly, Henry & Olin. He was counsel for the Citizen's Association, an organization for municipal reform, from 1864 to 1870, and was attorney for the Chemical Bank and other prominent clients.
He became prominent as a legal adviser and an advocate of important measures of municipal reform. Among his prominent cases were the prosecutions of
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public officials before the Governor in 1865 (reported in 19 Abbott's Practice Reps., 376); injunctions against waste by municipal officers, he having instituted the first action of the kind, with John Hecker as plaintiff, in 1865 (18 Abbott's Practice Reps., 369). His pri- vate practice included important questions, among them the constitutionality of legislative appropriation of private wharf property for the canal district without compensation to owners (Roosevelt v. Goddard, 52 Bar- bour's Reps., 534). His practice from 1862 to 1870 covered all branches of the law. The State Constitu- tion of 1869 increased the number of Judges of the Court of Common Pleas from three to six, and one of the nominations of the Democratic party was tendered to and accepted by Mr. Daly. His associates on the ticket were Hamilton W. Robinson and Richard L. Larremore, who were all elected on May 17, 1870, together with Charles H. Van Brunt, who was chosen to fill a vacancy.
Thus, at the age of twenty-nine he began a judicial career, which at the present writing ( 1896) has exceeded a quarter of a century. At the expiration of his term in 1884, Judge Daly was again elected and by a highly complimentary vote, inasmuch as he and Judge Larremore, his associate on the bench, were the only successful candidates on the ticket on which they ran. In 1890, he was chosen by his associates Chief Judge of the Court. Judge Daly is a man of force, industry, integrity, and learning, noted for his love of literature, and his interest in the drama, with which his brother, Augustin Daly, is connected; for his exquisite tastes, and especially for his collection of rare prints,
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books and pictures. As a Judge he is noted for his amiable temper-and has ever preserved an un- varying dignity of demeanor, always mingled with great courtesy and consideration, especially toward the younger members of the bar. He is a lucid reasoner, and one of the most thoroughly equipped lawyers on the New York bench.
Judge Daly's idea of the duties of both bench and bar. was laconically expressed by himself on the closing of the Court over which he presided in what must here- after be accepted as a legal aphorism-" A courageous bar makes an incorruptible judiciary."
It is very remarkable that while Judge Charles P. Daly sat on the Common Pleas Bench for over forty years, Judge Joseph F. Daly has held the next longest term of the twenty-three Judges identified with the later history of the Court. He received the degree of LL.D. from St. John's College at Fordham in 1883; was one of the founders and incorporators of the Play- ers' Club, with Edwin Booth and others; is the Presi- dent of the Catholic Club; a member of the Geographi. cal Society, the Southern Club, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick; a member of the New York Law Institute; honorary member of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York; manager of the Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum; member of the Advisory Board of St. Vincent's Hospital; member of the Democratic Club, and other social and literary organizations. By the Constitution of 1894, Judge Daly was transferred to the Supreme Court, and, together with Judge McAdam, late of the Superior Court, and Judge Bischoff, of the
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Common Pleas, forms the Appellate Term, which reviews the decisions of the lower Courts.
Judge Daly has been twice married: first in 1873 to Miss Emma Robinson Barker, a stepdaughter of Judge Hamilton W. Robinson. She died in 1886, leaving three children. Second, in 1890, to Miss Mary Louise Smith, daughter of Edgar M. Smith, of New York.
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WILLIAMSON 5.96
HAMILTON W. ROBINSON.
THE HONORABLE HAMILTON W. ROBINSON.
Hamilton W. Robinson, fifteenth Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, was born in Albany, N. Y., Novem- ber 25, 1814, son of James W. Robinson, a prominent and well-known business man of that city.
He was educated at the Albany Academy and Union College, being graduated A.B. in the class of 1832. Among his classmates were Alexander W. Bradford, afterwards Surrogate of New York County; Gilbert M. Speir, late Judge of the Superior Court, and Lieuten- ant-Governor David R. Floyd-Jones. After gradua- tion he began the study of law in the office of Mccown & Van Buren, in Albany, and upon his admission to the bar, became a partner of Mr. Van Buren, who, having been made Attorney-General, appointed him his deputy. The firm continued prominent at the bar of Albany until their removal in 1848 to New York City, where for the next ten years they were most active and successful.
Judge Robinson's experience as deputy and assistant to the Attorney-General gave him a practical knowledge of the law of corporations and municipalities which thereafter became his specialty in practice.
Among their first clients in New York was Edwin Forrest, whom they represented as attorneys in his famous twenty-year divorce suit.
After the termination of their partnership, Judge
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Robinson carried on his practice alone for several years. In that time he acted as referee in numerous important cases and achieved a well-deserved popu- larity in that capacity. George Law and John Kerr, the railroad magnates, were his clients, and in connec- tion with Charles O'Conor, he played an important part in the famous railroad cases which resulted in the notable decision in People v. Kerr, by which the Sev- enth Avenue, Broadway, and Dry Dock Railroads were enabled to construct their lines. He was counsel for these companies and others, and continued as referee in a vast number of important cases, which were referred to him by consent of parties, until his elevation to the bench.
In 1863, Mr. Robinson formed a co-partnership with Mr. John M. Scribner under the style of Robinson & Scribner, which was continued for seven years.
Mr. Robinson declined the Democratic nomination to the Judgeship of the Court of Appeals in 1870 in favor of his friend, Charles A. Rapallo, who was consequently elected; but, in the following May, accepted the nomi- nation to the bench of the Court of Common Pleas, to which he was elected for a term of fourteen years and six months, beginning July 1, 1870.
As a practitioner, Judge Robinson was noted for his painstaking application to the details of a case, never going to trial with any cause until he had mastered every intricacy and provided against all contingencies and difficulties. He also made a thorough study of his clients' interests, and was thus enabled to advise them and provide for their particular needs and wishes as would a family physician for a patient. In his judicial
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capacity he showed deep legal scholarship, and the fairness and accuracy of his decisions were unques- tioned so exhaustive and studied were they in every particular. He was particularly noted for his patience and urbanity and courtesy to all who approached him.
On the occasion of his death the bench and bar com- bined in sincere expression of their loss and in tributes to his memory at a special meeting called for that pur- pose on April 24, 1879. (See proceedings reported in 7 Daly Reports.) A commemorative tablet in his honor has been recently erected in the General Term room of the Court of Common Pleas, in the County Court House, New York, of which special mention will be found in another place. His portrait has hung on the walls in the same room since shortly after his death.
Judge Robinson was twice married, first to Emma Whitney, of Albany, N. Y., who died in 1865 at his country seat in Worcester, Otsego Co., N. Y .; and sec- ond to Mrs. Catherine D. Barker, of Albany, who sur- vived him.
Judge Robinson died in New York City, April 7, 1879, leaving two sons and two daughters. One of his sons, Mr. Henry A. Robinson, is a practicing lawyer, and is the attorney for the Metropolitan Traction Company.
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