Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 17

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374

USA > New York > Albany County > Landmarks of Albany County, New York > Part 17

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Ira Harris was born at Charleston, Montgomery county, N. Y., May 31, 1802, prepared for college at Homer Academy (the family having removed to Cortland county), and graduated from Union College in 1824. He studied law one year in Homer and then removed to Albany where he continued with the great jurist, Ambrose Spencer. In 1827 he was admitted to the bar and at once began practice, soon forming a partnership with Silas Dutcher, which continued until 1842. He was elected to the Assembly in 1844, was re-elected in 1845, and in 1846 was chosen delegate to the Constitutional Convention, in which body he occupied a conspicuous position. In the fall of 1846 he was elected a justice of the Supreme Court and resigned the former office. At the expiration of his four years' term as justice he was elected for another term, which had been extended to eight years. In this high position the great ability of Judge Harris was soon demonstrated. He exhib- ited profound knowledge of the law, excellent judicial qualifications and strict impartiality. His published opinions have received universal commendation. In 1861 he was elected to the United States Senate, in which body he was honored with appointments on important com- mittees and became a trusted friend of President Lincoln. He took active interest in raising troops for the army, especially of the regiment of cavalry which bore his name. At the close of his term he retired to private life, but was chosen a delegate to the Constitutional Conven- tion of 1867. Having been connected with the Albany Law School from its organization, he now accepted the professorship of equity ju- risprudence and practice, to which he devoted his time until his death, December 2, 1875. He was for many years president of the Board of Trustees of Union College, president of the Albany Medical College and

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of the trustees of Vassar College. At his death the bench and bar testified to their respect for his distinguished abilities. He was a brother of Hamilton Harris, of Albany.

Rufus W. Peckham, the distinguished lawyer and jurist, was born at Rensselaerville, Albany county, December 30, 1809. His boyhood was passed in Otsego county, whither his father removed, and after prep- aration entered Union College and was graduated in 1827. Having a brother in the medical profession in Utica, he went there to enter the legal arena, where he entered the office of Greene C. Bronson (before noticed) and Samuel Beardsley. The advantages of being tutored by those eminent lawyers left a permanent impression upon Mr. Peckham's career. Called to the bar in 1830, he soon afterward became a partner with his brother, George W. Peckham, of Albany. The firm was prosperous from the first and took a high position in the then brilliant bar of the city. In 1839 he was appointed district attorney of the county, and in 1845 was a candidate for attorney-general and was de- feated by John Van Buren by one vote. In 1852 he was elected to Crogress, in which body he distinguished himself by his ability and his independence of party ties where he thought the interests of the nation were at stake. In the fall of 1859 he was elected a justice of the Su- preme Court, served eight years and was unanimously re-elected. Before the close of his term he was elected a judge of the Court of Ap- peals. Few American judges possessed greater judicial accomplish- ments than he. On the 5th of November he and his wife sailed on the ill-fated Ville du Havre, which on the night of the 22d collided with another vessel and went to the bottom in the darkness, carrying them, with more than two hundred others to the bottom. At the moment of the greatest peril, he took his wife's hand and bravely uttered the words that were heralded over two continents: ""If we must go down, let us die bravely!" The profession throughout this State testified its high respect and sorrow for the eminent man.

Col. Lewis Benedict was born in Albany, September 17, 1817, and was graduated from Williams College in 1837. He then entered the law office of John C. Spencer, at Canandaigua, and in January, 1841, was licensed to practice. He settled in Albany and soon took a high position. In 1845 he was appointed city attorney and at the close of his term was reappointed. In 1847 he was appointed judge advocate-

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general on the governor's staff, and in 1848 was elected surrogate of the county. In 1852 and 1860 he was the candidate of his party (the Whig) for the city recordership and shared in the defeat of its nomi- nees. In 1854 he was appointed one of the commissioners to examine into the condition of the State prisons, the report of whom was made in 1856 in a large volume In 1860 he was elected to the Assembly by the Union element of his district; this was the last civil office held by him. On his admission to the bar he was fortunate in becoming the partner of Marcus T. Reynolds, which gave him at once a valuable prestige. From the time of his appointment as city attorney he was active and earnest in his political work and was often a delegate to the various conventions, where he wielded a large influence. As early as January, 1861, when Governer Morgan was endeavoring to impress the Legislature with the importance of placing the State upon a war foot- ing, Colonel Benedict saw the necessity for such action and compre- hended the oncoming conflict. He therefore co-operated with the governor in the matter. The passage of the act authorizing the embody- ing and equipment of the State militia was largely due to him, and after that Colonel Benedict gave all of his time to the Union cause. The New York Fire Department, while recruiting the 2d Fire Zouaves, conferred on him a lieutenancy and he was commissioned in June, 1861. The career of that body of soldiers is well known and cannot be de- tailed here. He was captured at Williamsburg and taken to the Salis- bury (N. C.) prison where several months later he was exchanged. Soon afterwards he was commissioned colonel of the 162d Regiment, and a month' later, October, 1862, went with his troops to New Orleans. In January, 1863, he was made acting brigadier-general and took part in the fighting at and around Port Hudson. In the bloody engagement of June 14, 1863, he was foremost. When it was determined to storm the fort Colonel Benedict was given command of the 2d battalion, which was to serve as the "forlorn hope." From that time he followed Banks through all his movements. His last command, that of the 3d Brigade of the 1st Division, 19th Corps, was composed of three New York and two Maine regiments, and a battery, and was noted for its gallant deeds. On the 9th of April, 1864, in the final struggle of the Red River campaign, Colonel Benedict led his brigade in a charge and fell pierced with several bullets. It was a heroic death to close a dis- tinguished military career. His remains were brought to Albany and buried with high honors.

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ALBANY COUNTY BAR.

ALBANY .- John J. Acker, George Addington, Daniel Adler, William A. Allen, A. L. Andrews, Buel C. Andrews, Austin Archer, John M. Bailey, Frederic Baker, George C. Baker, Isaac B. Barrett, R. O. Bassett, Edwin A. Bedell, James W. Bentley, Will- iam F. Beutler, Lyman H. Bevans, John J. Brady, John J. Bradley, Richard W. Brass, Edward J. Brennan, Charles F. Bridge, Walter M. Brown, Joseph H. Brooks, Charles J. Buchanan, Hiram Buck, Alpheus T. Bulkley, Eugene Burlingame, Henry D. Burlingame, F. W. Cameron, Lewis E. Carr, Raymond W. Carr, Lewis Cass, Ed- gar T. Chapman, jr., Norton Chase, Alden Chester, William K. Clute, Jacob H. Clute, Mark Cohn, Herbut G. Cone, Andrew J! Colvin, Martin D. Conway, Joseph A. Con- way, John T. Cook, J. Fenimore Cooper, Joseph P. Coughlin, Edwin Countryman, Charles E. Countryman, James H. Coyle, C. J. Crummey, Walter S. Cutler, Frank- lin M. Danaher, S. J. Daring, Richard W. Darling, Edwin G. Day, Frank B. Dele- hanty, John A. Delehanty, Peter A. Delaney, Abraham V. De Witt, Herman J. Diekman, J. Murray Downs, Andrew S. Draper, C. J. Droogan, P. E. Du Bois, Daniel J. Dugan, Patrick C. Dugan, William S. Dyer, Zeb A. Dyer, James W. Eaton, Jerome W. Ecker, William S. Elmendorf, John F. Farrell, James J. Far- ren, J. Newton Fiero, David C. Fitz Gerald, E. D. Flanigan, James H. Foote, Cor- nelius E. Franklin, Charles M. Friend, J. S. Frost, Worthington Frothingham, W. D. Frothingham, John E. Gallup W. S. Gibbons, Scott D'M. Goodwin, Edward J. Graham, Clifford D. Gregory, J. Wendell Griffing, Stephen B. Griswold, John Guttman, Alfred A. Guthrie, William S. Hackett, Edgar M. Haines, Matthew Hale, Charles R. Hall, Fred C. Ham, Andrew Hamilton, R. W. Hardie, William B. Harris, Hamilton Harris, Fred Harris, Julius F. Harris, Thomas H. Ham, S. S. Hatt, William A. Hendrickson, Howard Hendrickson, Isban Hess, Albert Hess- berg, D. Cady Herrick, Winfield S. Hevenor, Barnwell R. Heyward, Horace L. Hicks, George D. Hill, David B. Hill, William J. Hillis, Galen R. Hitt, Henry T. Holmes, Harold C. Hooker, Lansing Hotaling, William F. Hourigan, Eugene E. Howe, Samuel T. Hull, Marcus T. Hun, Sidney A. Hungerford, G. De W. Hurlbut, Julius Illch, William Isenburgh, Charles M. Jenkins, James B. Jermain, James C. Johnson, Russell M. Johnston, Frank Kampfer, Jacob A. Kapps, George T. Kelley, Barrington King, Dwight King, J. Howard King, Leonard Kip, Francis Kimball, George C. Kimball, Edmund C. Knickerbocker, Charles Krank, Leopold C. G. Kshinka, John R. Langan, Abraham Lansing, J. T. Lansing, William Lansing, Joseph M. Lawson, Isaac Lawson, Joseph A. Lawson, George Lawyer, William L. Learned, Randall J. Le Boeuf, William Loucks, Gaylord Logan, James J. Mahoney, George H. Mallory, J. F. Manson, Joseph F. Macy, S. S. Marvin, James C. Matthews, John W. Mattice, Peter F. Mattimore, Henry S. McCall, Archibald McClure, R. H. McCormic, jr., William C. McHarg, John McElroy, James A. Mckown, John W. McNamara, Daniel T. McNamara, John T. McDonough, Charles W. Mead, Edward J. Meegan, Thomas A. Meegan, Peyton F. Miller, Charles H. Mills, John F. Montignani, J. H. Morrey, jr., Edgar A. Morling, Thomas A. Murray, David Muhlfelder, Max Myers, Martin T. Nachtmann, J. F. Nash, Henry C. Nevitt, Stewart C. Newton, Munson C. G. Nichols, Nathaniel Niles, David J. Norton, Myer Nussbaum, Edward W. Nugent, John J. Olcott, Smith O'Brien, John J. O'Neil, Howard Paddock, Stephen Paddock, Horace F. Palmer, Amasa J. Parker, Amasa J. Parker, jr., Lewis R. Parker, Rufus W. Peck-

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ham, Henry A. Peckham, J. De Witt Peltz, Aaron B. Pratt, Louis W. Pratt, John V. L. Pruyn, Edward W. Rankin, Albert Rathbone, William F. Rathbone, Edward T. Reed, Hugh Reilly, Louis J. Rezzemini, Ernest W. Rieck, James A. Robinson, Edward D. Ronan, Simon W. Rosendale, Edgar H. Rosenstock, Jacob G. Runkle, William P. Rudd, James M. Ruso, Joseph W. Russell, Bleecker Sanders, Henry T. Sanford, Roscoe C. Sanford, Edwin W. Sanford, John H. Sand, David S. Saxe, Thomas Sayre, Robert G. Scherer, Jacob C. E. Scott, William M. Scott, A. G. Seelman, Ste- phen O. Shepard, Osgood H. Shepard, Louis Silberman, A. Page Smith, Fred E. Smith, Nathaniel Spaulding, Stuart G. Speir, David Stanwix, John D. Stantial, George L. Stedman, George W. Stedman, Henry E. Stern, A. R. Stevens, George H. Stevens, Thomas W. Stevens, John A. Stephens, Peter A. Stephens, Kate, Stoneman, Barent W. Stryker, J. B. Sturtevant, Charles B. Templeton, George V. Thatcher, David A. Thompson, Newton W. Thompson, C. H. Tomlinson, James F. Tracey, George M. True, Lucien Tuffs, jr., Thomas J. Van Alstyne, William B. Van Rensselaer, Lansing Van Wie, Andrew Vanderzee, Newton B. Vanderzee, Alonzo B. Voorhees, Frederick E. Wadhams, Richard B. Wagoner, John W. Walsh, Joseph H. Walsh, Walter E. Ward, Luther C. Warner, Hiram L. Washburn, jr., Robert H. Wells, Thomas F. Wilkinson, Horace G. Wood, Francis H. Woods.

BERNE .- Z. B. Dyer.

COEYMANS .- C. M. Barlow, W. Scott Coffin, Lindsey Green, Charles M. Tomp- kins.

COHOES .- David Askworth, Israel Belanger, James H. Berns, Daniel J. Cosgro, James F. Crawford, Charles F. Doyle, Isaiah Fellows, jr., George H. Fitts, jr., Law- rence B. Finn, Rosin J. House, Daniel C. McElwain, John E. McLean, E. B. Nichols, Peter D. Niver, Smith Niver, John Scanlon, James R. Stevens, Henry A. Strong, James Wallace, Walter H. Wertime.

GUILDERLAND .- James R. Main.

ALTAMONT .- Hiram Griggs, John D. White.

NEW SCOTLAND .- Alexander H. Crounse.

RENSSELAERVILLE .- Norman W. Faulk, Preston Hollow; William R. Tanner, Me- dusa.

WESTERLO .-- Alonzo Spaulding.

WEST TROY .- James W. Boyle, James B. Egan, John H. Gleason, William Hol- lands, Joseph H. Hollands, C. D. Hudson, John W. Kenny, Eugene McLean, Vol- kert J. Oothout, Peter A. Rogers ..

GREEN ISLAND .- William F. Hickey.

Court Buildings .- In early years the courts of this county were held in the Old Stadt Huys, which was also occupied as a city hall, a State House and a prison. Conventions and other public gatherings also assembled within its venerable walls. It stood on the northeast corner of Broadway and Hudson avenue, just inside the stockades of the city, and was built about 1635, principally for the use of the courts, while the jail was in the lower story, which was of stone. It was a substantial brick structure, nearly square, and three stories high, with a cupola and belfry. Soon after its erection a bell was brought from Holland

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and hung in the belfry, and it was rung on all public occasions for nearly 160 years and when the old building was demolished, the bell was hung in the cupola of the new Capitol. When it had at last outlived its usefulness there it was taken down and is said to now hang in the tower of a Ballston church. In the Old Stadt Huys were held, be- sides the courts, the meetings of the Common Council after its organ- ization under the Dongan charter of July, 1686. In front of the build- ing the Declaration of Independence was read to the people for the first time. A commercial building now stands on the site of the old structure, and in it a memorial slab has been placed, appropriately in- scribed.

In December, 1895, the Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution authorizing the county to issue bonds to the amount of $100,000, the proceeds of which were to be used for the purchase of the Albany Savings Bank building, corner of State and Chapel streets. The bank had a lease of the building extending two years. In the sum- mer of 1896, Judges Clifford D. Gregory and Alden D. Chester oc- cupied rooms in the building, as also did the clerk of the appellate division of the Supreme Court. Judge Gregory was appointed custo- dian of the building and under his supervision the structure was con- siderably improved and adapted for its new purposes above the first floor; the latter is still occupied by the bank. After the removal of the bank the district attorney and county treasurer will move into this building, which will be known as the County Court House.

City Halls .- The first city hall, a structure in which the courts were held, stood on the site of the present city hall, and was erected in 1829-32. The site was purchased of St. Peter's church corporation for $10,259.95. On August 31, 1830, the corner stone was laid by Mayor John Townsend with Masonic ceremonies. The building was finished in 1832 at a total cost of about $92,000. It was constructed of white marble, with a large porch supported by four Doric columns, and a large gilded dome surmounting the roof. The style of architecture was plain in the extreme. This building was used for nearly fifty years until on the 10th of February, 1880, when it was destroyed by fire, the cause of which has remained a mystery. Most of the valuable records and documents in the building were saved.

A special meeting of the Board of Supervisors was called for Febru- ary 16, 1880, to consider what should be done to provide for a new city hall. In the course of the proceedings the following resolution

ANTHONY N. BRADY.

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was read, which had been previously adopted on the 11th at a meeting of the Albany bar :

Resolved, That the site of the City Hall, recently destroyed by fire, is the most appropriate and convenient for a building for the County Court and Court Officers, and the members of the Albany County Bar hereby unanimously urge the Board of Supervisors to take immediate steps toward the erection of said building or an- other upon the City Hall site for the use of the County Courts and officers.

The board had been urged to purchase what was known as the Mar- tin Hall as a substitute for the former City Hall, which in some meas- ure led to the above expression from the bar. The Board of Super- visors adopted prompt measures to ascertain the wishes of the county, outside of the city, in the site of the new building, which duty was as- signed to R. W. Peckham, and made provision for the copying of all records that were damaged in the fire. An act of the Legislature was procured creating a City Hall Commission consisting of the mayor, Michael N. Nolan, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Edward A. Maher, with Erastus Corning, Robert C. Pruyn, C. P. Easton, Leonard G. Hun, Albertus W. Becker, and William Gould. Under the general direction of this commission the present imposing City Hall was built on the site of the former one during the years 1881-83. It is is constructed of Long Meadow brown stone; is four stories in height, with a tower 202 feet high. The cost including the furnishing was $325,000, of which sum $290,000 was raised on bonds of the city, The cost was equally divided between the city and the county.

Jails .- The first Albany county jail, in the basement of the Old Stadt Huys, was in such bad condition early in the last century that a protest was entered by the high sheriff to the Court of Sessions in 1718, as follows :

I urge upon your worships that care may be taken to have ye same Jail sufficiently repaired to keep such bad prisoners as I may take for debt, &c., safely from escap- ing, as is now often ye case.

The court in response at once requested leave of the General Assem- bly to expend £140 in repairing the jail, and it is presumed that the request was granted. Prior to this date there had been one or more attempts to erect a separate jail. An application for this purpose, made to the Board of Supervisors in February, 1701, was refused. At a Court of Sessions held in Albany October 7, 1719, the following order was entered in the records:

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Pursuant to an act of the General Assembly of the Colony of New York, entitled an Act to Authorize ye Justices of the Peace to Build and Repair Jails and Court- houses in the Several Counties of the Province, whereby ye Justices in each County are Impowered (upon their own view) on any Inefficiency or Inconveniency of their County Jail orPrison, or ye Inconveniency of their Court House, to Conclude and agree upon such sum or sums of money, as, upon examination of sufficient and able workmen, shall be thought necessary for building, Finishing and Repairing a Public Jail, etc.

It is therefore Resolved, that any five or more of His Majestie's Justices shall make a computation with sufficient and able workmen, what a sufficient Jail, etc., for ye Citty and County of Albany may cost, and bring a report thereof at the next meeting of this Court and the Justices thereof.

This led to much discussion between two factions, one of which fa- vored a new building, and the other the repair of the old one. The re- sult was the repair and enlargement of the old building under the fol- lowing resolution :

It is Resolved that the City Hall shall be repaired and an addition be made of fif- teen foot in length to the south'd, and in breadth to the Court Hall, and joyned in the roof of the same, made up with boards without as the present old house, with a sufficient stone seller under ye same, the north end thereof partitioned off with oak boards. To have one window with cross-iron bars therein, one cross window to the south'ard, one to the eastward and one to the westward in the first room.

These repairs did not accomplish their purpose as far as the jail was concerned, and within two years complaints again came from the sheriff that his prisoners escaped with little difficulty. Another effort was made at repairing the structure in a far more substantial manner, and it was used with some changes until about 1803, when it was demol- ished. In 1791 the Legislature passed an act authorizing the city authorities to raise £2,000 towards the completion of the court house and jail. Difficulties arose between the city and the county authori- ties, which delayed the project, and it was not until 1803-04 that the new jail was finished. The land on which it stood extended about eighty feet on State street ; eighty-four feet on Maiden Lane; and 116 feet on Eagle street. It was sold at auction August 11, 1832, in the inter- est of the trustees of the Albany Academy. Previous to this date, on November 1, 1831, the grand jurors visited the jail and found it in such condition that they recommended that the Board of Supervisors erect a new jail, "inasmuch as this building, which had stood twenty-two years, was fast decaying, very illy constructed, and too small in order to [secure] health, comfort and convenience, and situated in too thickly settled a locality." The statement that the building had stood twenty-

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two years is probably an error. The next and third jail, inclusive of the one in the Old Stadt Huys, stood on the corner of Eagle and How- ard streets, and was completed in the latter part of 1834. This was used until the spring of 1854, when the jail on Maiden Lane was erected and the old jail was fitted up for a hospital and opened August 8, 1854. That jail served its purpose without public complaint until 1868, when Henry Smith, then district attorney, sent a communication to the Board of Supervisors, in which he said:

In the main apartment you will find sixty male prisoners, including some children, confined in one common room, where those youthful in years, and those who have committed their first criminal error, perhaps those who are entirely innocent, are ex- posed to the influences, and often to the physical tortures, of the most depraved of men.

In another room, of about fifteen by eighteen, you will find some twenty-two females of various ages, even to extreme old age; some reasonably tidy and others repulsively filthy; some apparently well and others suffering from loathsome dis- eases, crowded together in a space where there is scarcely room for all to lie down at once. In short, you will find a state of things that would shame a semi-civilized community, and would not be tolerated by the people of this county for one hour if they could for a moment look in upon the appalling horrors of that fearful den, kept under their authority, for the detention of persons accused of crime. This state of affairs, Mr. Smith continues, is no fault of the Sheriff or Jailer, but results from want of suitable rooms.

This created a sensation and resulted in an immediate change. The superintendent of the Capital Police was directed to send his prisoners under sentence to the penitentiary, instead of leaving them in the jail, while plans for improvement were made and carried out at an expen- diture of $2,500.

THE ALBANY LAW SCHOOL. 1

This school is among the oldest institutions of the kind in the country.

In 1851 the Legislature incorporated the University of Albany, giv- ing to it the authority to organize a Literary department, a Law de- partment, a Scientific department, and providing that the Albany Medical College, already existing, might, if so disposed, unite with the departments to be formed.

The department of law was immediately organized as the Albany Law School, and has maintained a prosperous existence to the present

1 Prepared by W. R. Davidson, secretary of the school.

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time, having graduated over two thousand students, and having had an attendance of over three thousand.

At the time of its organization there were three other law schools -Harvard, Yale and Cincinnati (now Columbia); there are now up- wards of eighty.

The first Board of Trustees was organized as follows: Greene C. Bronson, president; Thomas W. Olcott, vice president : Orlando Meads, secretary; Luther Tucker, treasurer.

The first Faculty was constituted as follows: Chancellor Reuben H. Walworth, president, but taking no part in the instruction; Hon. Ira Harris, LL.D., lecturer on practice, pleading and evidence; Hon. Amasa J. Parker, LL.D., lecturer on real estate, wills, domestic re- lations, personal rights, and criminal law; Amos Dean, LL.D., lec- turer on contracts, personal property and commercial law.

December 16, 1851, the first class was organized, with an enrollment of twenty-three students, in the Exchange building, corner Broadway and State street, the site of the present. U. S. Government building, and continued sixteen weeks. The next two years the school was held in the Cooper building, on the corner of State and Green streets, the courses being sixteen weeks each. Of the students in the first class, seven were graduated in the spring of 1852, viz. : Edwin E. Bronk, Charles A. Fowler, Willard P. Gambell, John C. McClure, Worthing- ton Frothingham, Edward Wade and George Woolford.

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Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 17

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1374

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374