USA > New York > Columbia County > Hudson > History of the city of Hudson, New York : with biographical sketches of Henry Hudson and Robert Fulton > Part 12
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This office he relinquished in favor of Mr. Spencer, who then removed to this city.
Mr. Spencer pursued his legal studies with such en- thusiasm, that when he was admitted to the bar his abil- ity and acquirements were already recognized, and he was soon employed in cases of the gravest importance.
Offices of trust were showered upon him and he be- came in quick succession, Attorney General of the state, a Judge of the Supreme Court, and Chief Justice, from which office he retired in 1823.
Mr. Spencer's wife, with whom he had eloped soon after
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his 18th birthday, "was a woman of a lovely nature and a fine mind." She was the mother of six sons, all of whom were born in Hudson, and two daughters, who were born after their removal to Albany. Mr. Spencer was a potent factor in the policies of the day, and im- pressed everyone with the depth and sincerity of his con- victions. Strength seems to have been his most striking characteristic, strength mental, moral, and physical.
He was a man of deeply religious temperament, and became a member of the Episcopal church some years before his death, which occurred in 1848, in the eighty- third year of his age.
John Canfield Spencer, the eldest son of Judge Am- brose Spencer, also rose to high distinction, and was the recipient of a variety of honors, of which mention can be made, of only the most important.
John C. Spencer was born in Hudson in 1788, and after finishing his college course, studied law in Albany, and was admitted to the bar in 1809. He was appointed Secretary of State in 1839, was made Secretary of War in 1841 and Secretary of the Treasury in President Tyler's Cabinet, in 1843. Mr. Spencer formed an intimate friendship with M. de Tocqueville during his visit to this country in 1838 and annotated his great work on "The American Democracy." Mr. Spencer died in Albany in 1855.
Martin Van Buren was the only President of the United States that Columbia county has produced, if we except the Hon. Samuel J. Tilden. Every unprejudiced person, whatever his party affiliations may be, will now admit that Mr. Tilden was rightfully elected to the Presidency. He was prevented from taking his seat by measures familiar to all, but it is certain that old Columbia was entitled to the honor of having a second son in that dis- tinguished office.
Martin Van Buren was born in the Village of Kinder-
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hook in 1782, and was educated at the Kinderhook Aca- demy. At the age of fourteen he entered the office of Francis Silvester to pursue his legal studies, and in 1803, was admitted to the bar. Mr. Van Buren married Miss Harriet Hoes, who died in 1819, leaving four sons; he never remarried. Early in 1809 he removed to Hudson and formed a partnership with Cornelius Miller the father of the late Hon. Theodore Miller.
Mr. Van Buren's advancement was rapid. In 1812 he was elected a State Senator; in 1815, Attorney General of the state, and in 1828, upon the death of Governor De Witt Clinton, he succeeded him as Governor. This office Mr. Van Buren resigned soon after, to become Secretary of State in the Cabinet of President Andrew Jackson.
In 1831 Jackson appointed him Minister to England and while there he evinced great ability as a Statesman and diplomat, impressing everyone by his grace and charm of manner.
The Senate failed to confirm his appointment and on his return in 1832, Mr. Van Buren was elected Vice President on the ticket with President Jackson, by a large majority.
In 1836 he was elected President of the United States, and was the first person of Holland descent, to hold that office, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt being the second.
Mr. Van Buren was a candidate for re-election in 1840, and also in 1848, but was defeated.
In 1841, he purchased the Van Ness place in Kinder- hook, called Lindenwald, and to this he now retired, and, as he says in his will, "passed the last and the happiest years of my life as a Farmer in my native town."
Mr. Van Buren passed away in 1862, deeply lamented by all who knew him.
Washington Irving lived at Lindenwald for a time as tutor to the children of Peter Van Ness, and while there wrote some of his well known Sketches.
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John Van Buren, a son of Martin Van Buren, was born in Hudson, in the brick house, opposite the McKin- istry place, in 1810. He was graduated from Yale in 1828 and studied law with Benjamin F. Butler, his father's former partner.
After his admission to the bar in 1831, Mr. Van Buren accompanied his father as Secretary of Legation on his mission to England, and on his return six months later, he opened an office in Albany, for the practice of his profession.
In 1845, Mr. Van Buren was elected Attorney General of the state, and assisted District Attorney Theodore Miller, in the prosecution of the Anti-rent leader, Smith A. Boughton, known as "Big Thunder."
The case came to trial in March, 1845, before Judge Amasa J. Parker, and resulted in the disagreement of the jury. The second trial in the following September, will be found at length in the sketch of Judge John W. Ed- monds.
Mr. Van Buren visited England and Ireland in the year 1838, on professional business, and was received with the most marked attentions. It was from dancing with the Princess Victoria during this visit, that he was called "Prince John."
Mr. Van Buren was a man of undoubted talent, and of unusually attractive personal appearance. He died on the Steamship Scotia, while returning from Europe in 1866.
William W. Van Ness was born in Claverack and com- menced his legal studies in the office of John Bay at the age of fourteen, which he completed in the office of Chancellor Livingston in New York.
Mr. Van Ness married the daughter of Mr. John Bay and after his marriage removed his office to Hudson. Governor Morgan Lewis, appointed him a Judge of the Supreme Court in 1807, and he remained upon the bench
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fifteen years, after which he opened an office in New York. He was an ornament to his profession and his judicial career was a most brilliant one.
He died in Charleston, South Carolina in 1823.
Benjamin F. Butler was born at Kinderhook Landing, now Stuyvesant, in the year 1795. After careful prepar- ation he entered the law office of Van Buren and Miller, in Hudson in 1811. He accompanied Mr. Van Buren to Albany and after his admission to the bar they formed a partnership which continued until Mr. Van Buren re- tired in 1828, leaving Mr. Butler with a very large and lucrative practice. He was appointed to the office of At- torney General in Jackson's and Van Buren's Cabinets, but he is especially noted as one of the Revisers of the Statutes, having been associated with John C. Spencer in this work in 1824. For this duty Mr. Butler was peculiarly fitted by his previous training and by his ability, enthusiasm and endurance.
Mr. Butler should not be confused with General Ben- jamin F. Butler of Massachusetts, who became notorious during the Civil War, and who was a man of entirely different, and inferior qualities.
In the year 1818, Mr. Butler married Miss Harriet Allen, a sister of Mrs. Nathan Chamberlain, well-known to the older residents of Hudson, and of Lieut. William H. Allen, whose tragic fate has been related in a former portion of this history.
Mr. Butler died in Paris, in 1858.
Among the famous lawyers of his time none was ac- corded a more prominent place, as an orator and publicist, than Elisha Williams. He was born in Pomfret, Conn., in 1773, and was of a noted family.
After a rather limited preparatory training he studied law with Ex-Chief Justice Tapping Reed of Litchfield, Conn. When not quite twenty years of age, he started out to seek his fortune, and opened an office in Spencer-
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town, Columbia county, then an important and promising village.
Two years later he married Miss Lucia Grosvenor, the daughter of his guardian, and in 1799, removed to Hud- son, where he spent the subsequent years of his life.
Like all great orators he was the idol of his immediate locality, but his great talent soon won for him a reputa- tion, and a practice not limited even to the state.
Mr. Williams is described as a man of imposing figure, with a countenance of manly beauty, beaming with intelli- gence, a voice of soul-subduing sweetness, and a brilliant wit.
As the leader of the Federal party many offices were pressed upon him, but he declined them all, except that of Member of Assembly, and of the Constitutional Con- vention of 1812.
Mr. Williams was President of the Bank of Columbia, in this city for some time and resided for many years on the place now owned by Richard Aitken.
Early records of the Presbyterian church mention Am- brose Spencer and Elisha Williams among the attendants at those services.
Elisha Williams died in New York, in 1833.
Closely associated with the name of Elisha Williams is that of his great rival Ambrose L. Jordan, who was born in the Town of Hillsdale, in this county in 1787. After his admission to the bar, he removed to Cooperstown, where he quickly rose to a high rank as a lawyer. In 1820, he came to Hudson and here continued the practice of his profession. Mr. Jordan is said to have been the perfection of intellectual and physical manhood. Tall, erect, of a commanding presence, with a most expressive face, and an eye which in moments of excitement flashed like an eagle's."
His oratory was of the highest order of forensic elo- quence, his voice soft and musical as a flute, and our
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family annals glow with the brightness of his wit. Mr. Jordan's quickness at repartee and also the amenities of the bar in those days, are illustrated by the well known anecdote, of his verbal encounter with Elisha Williams. In the course of an exciting trial, in which they were the opposing counsel, Mr. Williams took occasion to remark- "You, sir, have brass enough to make a brass kettle," "and you, sir," quickly retorted Jordan, "have sap enough to fill it."
In 1824, Mr. Jordan purchased the Columbia Republican, changed its politics from Democratic to Republican, and with his brother, Allen Jordan, and later one or two others, published it successfully until 1834.
Many important offices were proffered Mr. Jordan, but he seems to have preferred the professional to the official life, although after his removal to New York in 1838, he became a member of the constitutional convention from this county, and succeeded John Van Buren as At- torney General of the State of New York.
Mr. Jordan was a man of untiring industry and his con- scientious devotion to the interests of his clients, coupled with his great ability, procured him an immense practice.
He was employed as counsel for the Anti-rent leaders, whose trial will be a part of the succeeding sketch. Dur- ing Mr. Jordan's residence in New York, his professional business became so large, that he associated with him his son-in-law, Edward Clark, and among their clients was Singer, the inventor of the sewing machine that bears his name, who had become involved in expensive litiga- tion to protect his patents.
Through the sound advice, and sagacity of his lawyers, he was extricated from his difficulties, and enabled to exploit his invention successfully.
After Mr. Jordan's retirement from practice, Edward Clark purchased an interest in the Singer Company, the stock of which became immensely valuable.
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Mr. Jordan's death occurred in 1865, and he is buried on the brow of the hill, in our beautiful cemetery, near the flower-bordered grave of Alfred Corning Clark, whose widow became the wife of Bishop Henry C. Potter, lately deceased.
In this "City of the Dead," a crowd of well-remembered forms, and dear familiar faces, throng the halls of mem- ory, and so instinct with life were they, it would seem that,
"E'en in their ashes live their wonted fires."
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CHAPTER XIX.
The Hudson Bar-Continued-Anti-rent War.
At the close of the Revolutionary War a young com- missioned officer named Samuel Edmonds, who had left college in Rhode Island, when a mere lad to join the patriot army, found himself on his discharge, with only his horse and equipments and a small amount of continen- tal money as his sole possessions.
He came to Claverack Landing and was given employ- ment by Colonel John Van Alen, with whom he remained until his death. Young Edmonds then started in busi- ness for himself, in which he was successful, and became one of the most prominent citizens of the new City of Hudson. He married Lydia, daughter of Thomas Worth, a son of Shubael Worth, one of the original proprietors, and an uncle of the renowned General William J. Worth.
John W. Edmonds, the son of Samuel and Lydia, was born in Hudson March 13, 1799, was prepared for college at the Hudson Academy, and was graduated from Union College in 1816.
He entered the office of Van Buren and Miller, and after his admission to the bar commenced the practice of law in this city.
In 1824, the Hudson Gazette was purchased by Oliver Wiswall and some other leading Democrats, and young Edmonds was engaged as editor at a salary of three dol- lars a week.
Mr. Edmonds removed to New York in 1837 and was soon immersed in an extensive and lucrative practice. He attained a high position among the legal lights of the day, and in 1845, after holding various offices, was ap- pointed a Judge of the First Circuit Court, and in Sep-
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tember of the same year presided at the second trial of the Anti-rent leader Smith A. Boughton, known as "Big Thunder."
The Anti-rent war as it was called, grew out of the wide-spread discontent of the tenants of manorial leases, by the terms of which they bound themselves to perform certain services, and deliver annually certain products of the soil to the landlord, in payment for the use of the land.
These leases were dependent on a life or lives, at the close of which the land reverted to the landlord, and the tenant was compelled to seek a home in some other lo- cality. Naturally this destroyed any spirit of enterprise, or desire for improvements, and houses and farms plainly showed the result. In sections where tenants had been allowed to purchase their farms, the buildings were of the most approved pattern and the land was cultivated with care, showing thrift and prosperity. Emissaries from these more favored localities came to stir up the discon- tented tenants, and fan their irritation into open resist- ance.
Bands of armed men, masked and disguised as Indians, paraded through the towns and speeches of the most in- flammatory character were made, especially inculcating their war cry "down with the rent." Some years earlier the grandfather of Judge Henry Hogeboom, Cornelius Hogeboom had been killed by the rioters, while dis- charging his duty as sheriff, and his wife had passed away soon after from grief and shock.
It can readily be seen that the office of sheriff of this county, was neither safe or desirable at that particular time, but Henry C. Miller, the father of Stephen B. Miller, author of Historical Sketches of Hudson, was not a man who would flinch in the performance of his duty. In attempting to serve some writs on December 12, 1844, he had been overpowered by the Anti-renters, who with
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loaded pistols had taken them from him and burned them. On December 18, during one of their lawless meetings at Smoky Hollow, now Hollowville, a young man named W. H. Rifenburgh was shot and killed.
Sheriff Miller now determined upon the capture of the ring leaders and accompanied by Joseph D. Monell drove at once to the village, which is about six miles out. The crowd had largely dispersed before their arrival, being doubtless somewhat frightened at the tragic result of the meeting, and they found the leader, Smith A. Boughton, alias "Big Thunder," and his principal accomplice Mor- timer C. Belding, known as "Little Thunder," sitting quiet- ly in a back room of the tavern, divested of masks and firearms.
The Anti-renters made but slight resistance and were speedily placed under arrest.
Their followers around the door put up a fierce fight to rescue them, but with the assistance of his aids, the sheriff hustled them into a carriage and soon had them safely lodged in the Hudson jail.
The city was wild with excitement. Rumors of a res- cue and threats to burn the jail were rife.
Armed patrols of twenty citizens in each ward were established; and the Hudson Light Guard, Captain E. P. Cowles, was ordered to be in readiness at a moment's notice. A large number volunteered their aid from Cats- kill and a smaller force came from Athens.
The whole county was aroused in behalf of the pris- oners who after a preliminary examination had been re- manded for trial at the spring term of court.
Meetings were held at which the most violent speeches were made, and men and money were freely offered for their release.
A proclamation was issued by the Mayor, Cyrus Curtiss, calling for the enrollment of five hundred minute men, and a company of one hundred were enlisted for thirty
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days, under Captain Henry Whiting, late of the United States Army, and stationed at the Court House with four pieces of artillery. An attempted rescue was frustrated by this precautionary measure. These bodies of citizen troops were placed under the command of Colonel Charles Darling, and were ordered to "rendezvous at Davis's City Hall in case of alarm."
"Arrangements were made by which the approach of a hostile force would be known and reported long before its arrival, and notice given the citizens by ringing the bell of the Presbyterian Church."
At the request of the Common Council the Albany Burgesses Corp, under Major Franklin Townsend, came down, but the unrest increasing rather than diminishing, Governor Bouck was finally appealed to, and four com- panies of infantry from Albany, and one of cavalry from New York, were ordered here.
These were quartered at the various hotels and upon the boats then wintering at the wharves.
"Hudson presented the appearance of an armed en- campment. Sentinels walked their lonely round night and day, and the streets resounded with martial music, and the tramp of soldiery." After the first apprehension of danger had passed, the bright uniforms lent an aspect of gayety to the city, and an additional attraction to the dancing Assemblies.
Bands of disguised men continued to fire upon officers of the law and destroy their papers, but with the pro- tection of small detachments of soldiers many arrests were made, and comparative quiet was restored. Aside from these excursions the stay of the Military here was a lengthened holiday, the monotony of which the grateful Hudsonians did all in their power to relieve.
The officers of the various companies were lavishly en- tertained by the Mayor and other prominent citizens, and
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the Light Guard gave a ball at the Hudson House in their honor.
Their ranks were not thinned by the enemy they came to meet, and the only hair breadth escape recorded was the firing on a sentry of the Emmet Guards stationed at the Hudson House, (The Worth) "by a solitary horse- man at the midnight hour." One of the columns on the front portico received the bullet, the mark of which is still plainly visible. Not the slightest clue to the in- dividual who fired it, was ever obtained.
The Anti-rent leaders were captured on the 18th of December, 1844, and it was not until the end of January, that the troops were gradually withdrawn, having been here over a month.
A grand review of the whole force, including Light Guard, Home Guard, and Volunteers, was held by the Mayor, followed by a parade furnishing a military dis- play, probably never since equalled in Hudson.
As has been stated the case of Boughton was tried at the March term, 1845, before Judge Amasa J. Parker, and resulted in a disagreement of the jury, this was owing to the difficulty of obtaining witnesses for the prosecution.
A second trial was set down for the following Sep- tember, and in the intervening months District Attorney Theodore Miller, labored assiduously to procure testi- mony. The county was filled with those who sympathized with the tenants-whose grievances were unmistakable, un- American and indefensible, a struggling remnant of feudal- ism in a free country. But nevertheless they must be taught that a resort to violence and bloodshed, would not be tolerated, and that the sanctity of the law must be uphold.
The case came on at the time set, Judge John W. Ed- monds presiding. As in the previous trial Attorney Gen- eral John Van Buren assisted District Attorney Theodore
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Miller, and Ambrose L. Jordan and James Storm were employed for the defense.
The trial lasted over four weeks and attracted the widest attention. It ended in the conviction of Smith A. Boughton and a sentence of imprisonment for life, but he was pardoned by Governor Young, after serving only a short time.
The ends of justice however were attained, the con- viction of the leader put an end to Anti-rentism in this county forever. His accomplice Mortimer Belding was allowed to go free.
The Landlords became dissatisfied with the returns from their investments, and the sale of the lands to the tenants, solved the whole difficulty, and farms and build- ings took on a different aspect.
During the heated debate of the second trial, the learned counsel, John Van Buren and Ambrose L. Jordan, became involved in a personal encounter. Judge Edmonds after administering a calm and dignified rebuke, committed them both to jail for twenty-four hours, for contempt of court. The imprisonment was not very severe, the par- lor and office of the sheriff being assigned to them re- spectively, and both within the limits of the Court House. Profuse apologies were made on the following morning, and the case proceeded as though nothing had happened.
Judge Edmonds was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court in 1847, which office he resigned six years later.
After the death of his wife in 1850, he became a stanch believer in Spiritualism, and until his death in 1874, was active in the advocacy of that doctrine.
Judge Edmonds left minute directions for his funeral and interment in the grave with his wife. The bar of New York had erected a handsome monument to the
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memory of Mrs. Edmonds in the Hudson cemetery, and on a space left for the purpose is engraved: John Worth Edmonds Born in Hudson March 13th 1799 Died in New York April 5th 1874 Death joins the ties that death destroys.
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CHAPTER XX.
The Hudson Bar-Continued.
Hon. Theodore Miller, who as District Attorney was largely instrumental in procuring the conviction of the Anti-rent leader, was born in the City of Hudson in 1816.
He was the son of Cornelius Miller, whose brilliant career was terminated by his early death, and of Beulah, a daughter of John Hathaway, one of the early settlers of Hudson.
Mr. Miller was educated at the Hudson Academy, and pursued his legal studies in the office of Campbell Bush- nell, at that time one of the leading lawyers of the city. After his admission to the bar, he threw himself at once into the politics of the day, and was soon known as a forcible and eloquent speaker. In 1843, Mr. Miller was appointed District Attorney for Columbia county and the following year the Anti-rent troubles broke out, and his admirable discharge of the arduous duties of the office, paved the way to the higher rewards of his profession. Mr. Miller was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court in 1861, and at the expiration of his term was re-elected without opposition.
This was followed in 1874, by his election as an Asso- ciate Judge of the Court of Appeals.
Mr. Miller's many years of practice at the bar, and his wide experience both at Circuit and General Term, together with his habits of industry and research, enabled him to achieve distinguished success as a jurist. On May 16, 1886, having reached the age of seventy years, Judge Miller was retired under the limitation as to age.
After his retirement he passed most of his time at
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his old home in Hudson, surrounded by his friends and family, until August 18, 1895, when the end came.
The kindliness and sincerity of Judge Miller's nature endeared him to a wide circle of friends, and his brave and cheerful endurance of the sad affliction of the loss of his sight, evoked the deepest sympathy from them all. "He endured as seeing the invisible."
The name of Joseph D. Monell stands out prominently in the annals of Hudson during the Anti-rent period. He was born in Claverack in 1781, and was educated at the school of Andrew Carshore, a teacher of wide re- pute in that day.
Mr. Monell practiced law in Cherry Valley and in Claverack, removing to Hudson in 1806, after it became the County Seat.
He held various positions of trust in both City and County, and was most highly esteemed for his strict in- tegrity and excellent abilities.
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