USA > New York > Albany County > Landmarks of Albany County, New York > Part 76
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orous prosecution of the war on the part of the government, and freely contributed his own money and time to the raising of men and means for that purpose.
But while he did that he protested earnestly against what he deemed the gross abuse of power practiced for merely partisan purposes, by high Federal officials, in the making of unnecessary arbitrary arrests of northern men, whose only offense was an honest and independent difference of opinions and a free expression of it on subjects of mere party differences, in no way involved in the prosecution of the war to put down the Rebellion. This tyranical exercise of power and gross violations of the right af personal liberty he stoutly resisted and not only denounced it on the stump, at the hazard of his own personal liberty, but he freely gave his own profes- sional services to obtain' redress for such wrongs.
A notable instance of this character occurred in the case of Patrie vs. Murray, tried at the Greene Circuit in June, 1864, by Judge Parker as counsel for plaintiff, in which a jury, composed of men of both political parties, gave to the plaintiff for such an arrest and false imprisonment a verdict of $9,000 damages. An attempt was made to remove this case, after verdict and judgment, for retrial into the United States Circuit Court, under an act of Congress that had been conveniently passed for the purpose of defeating such recoveries. Judge Parker insisted that the act was unconstitutional, being in violation of the seventh article of the amendments of the United States Constitution, and under his advice the State authorities refused to make a return to the writ of error. Application was then made to the United States Circuit Court to compel the return, and on demurrer peremptory mandamus was adjudged. To review that judgment a writ of error was brought by Judge Parker and the case was removed into the United States Supreme Court, held at Washington. It was first argued in that court in February, 1869, by Judge Parker for the plaintiff in error, and Mr. Evarts, then attorney-general of the United States, for the defendant in error. The judges were divided upon the question and ordered a reargument, which took place in February, 1870, Attorney-General Hoar then ap- pearing for the defendant in error. The judgment of the United States Circuit Court was then reversed and the unconstitutionality of the act of Congress was established. The case is reported in 9 Wallace, U. S. Rep., 274.
During a long life of professional labor Judge Parker never lost the tastes ac- quired early in life for classical study and literary pursuits, and he was in the habit of setting apart a stated portion of his time for such purposes. He enjoyed an oc- casional return to the reading of the Greek and Roman authors and those, with the attention given to the-current literature of the day, and a mingling in the duties of social life, afforded him an agreeable relaxation from the severer studies and a healthful change to the mind. These tastes brought him into connection with the educational institutions of the State, in several of which he served for many years as a trustee.
Among other duties of that character he was for many years president of the board of trustees of the Albany Female Academy, president of the board of trustees of the Albany Medical College, a trustee of Cornell University and one of the gov- ernors of Union University.
Judge Parker married, in 1834, Miss Harriet Langdon Roberts, of Portsmouth, N. H., and of a large family of children-Mrs. John V. L. Pruyn, Amasa J. Parker,
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jr., Mrs. Erastus Corning and Mrs. Selden E. Marvin, all residents of Albany, still survive.
When a member of the assembly in 1834 Mr. Parker, as chairman of a select com- mittee, made an elaborate report urging the establishment of a State hospital for the insane, which led to a more full consideration of the subject by the people, though it was not until several years afterwards that the first State hospital for the insane was established. Doubtless it was owing to the interest Mr. Parker had taken in the subject that he was afterward appointed by Governor Fenton in 1867 one of the managers of the Hudson River State Hospital for the Insane at Pough- keepsie, a trust which he held till 1881, when he resigned, and Governor Cornell ap- pointed his son, Amasa J. Parker, jr., in his place, who served until January 1, 1897, and he was then succeeded by his second son, Lewis R. Parker.
AMASA J. PARKER.
AMASA J. PARKER, the only surviving son of the late Judge Amasa J. Parker and Harriet Langdon Parker, was born in Delhi, Delaware county, N. Y., on May 6, 1843. In the following year, Judge Parker having been appointed Circuit Judge and Vice Chancellor of the Third Circuit, moved to Albany, where the son has ever since resided.
His early education was pursued in the schools of Miss Margaret Cassidy and Messrs. Wrightson, and later at the Albany Academy, and in the fall of 1860 he en- tered the sophomore class at Union College, graduating in July, 1863. Mr. Parker began the study of the law at the end of his junior year at college and in September, 1863, he entered, as a student, the law office of Cagger, Porter & Hand at Albany, with whom he remained for nearly two years.
Mr. Parker graduated from the Albany Law School in 1864 and in the latter part of the same year was admitted to the bar, and became the law partner of his father on the first day of May, 1865, which continued until the death of Judge Parker on May 13, 1890, in all a period of over twenty-five years. From 1876 until 1888, ex-Judge Edwin Countryman of Cooperstown, N. Y., who had moved to Albany for that pur- pose, was associated with them under the firm name of Parker & Countryman.
In 1891 Mr. J. Newton Fiero of Kingston, N. Y., came to Albany and became the partner of Mr. Parker, continuing as such until 1895. Since that time he has had associated with him his two sons, Amasa J. Parker, jr., and Lewis R. Parker, though no partnership exists between them.
Mr. Parker has been very active in the practice of his profession for over thirty years, practicing in both the State and Federal Courts and taking part in numerous important and well known cases, such as Jackson vs. Lake Shore and Michigan South- ern Railroad Company, Hooghkirk vs. the D. & H., Laning vs. the New York Cen- tral, Conway vs. Gale, Dunlop vs. Dunlop and McChesney vs. the Panama Railroad Company.
Mr. Parker was one of the organizers of the famous Union College Zouaves, at Schenectady in April, 1861, and served in same. After graduating from college he was enrolled in the National Guard at Albany and in 1866 was commissioned aide-
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de-camp, with the rank of major on the staff of Gen. John Taylor Cooper, the com- mandant of the Third Division.
In 1875 he was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Tenth Regiment and two years later was unanimously elected its colonel. He was in command of that regiment during the railroad riots of July, 1877, and the regiment under him reached a strength of eight hundred and fifty men.
Mr. Parker served as president of the National Guard Association of this State, upon its re-organization, from 1878 to 1880 and is the only officer who has filled the posi- tion for more than one year. On the re-organization of the National Guard in Au- gust, 1886, he was elected brigadier-general of the Third Brigade N. G. S. N. Y., with headquarters at Albany, and served in that capacity until the end of December, 1890, when he resigned. During the period of his command the Third Brigade took part in the Washington Centennial celebration in New York City, April 29, 1889, and in that great parade of nearly fifty thousand troops, the Third Brigade was awarded the highest credit mark for its appearance and discipline by the U. S. Army Board sent to New York by the Federal Government. The brigade on this occasion num- bered nearly two thousand eight hundred men.
Mr. Parker was elected to the Assembly in 1882, receiving a majority larger than the number of votes cast for his opponent, and in 1886 and 1887 served in the State Senate, and has since then been twice re-elected to that body, serving in the sessions of that body continuously from 1892 to 1895 inclusive, and subsequently declined a renomination. When he entered the Senate in January, 1886, he instituted public hearings in the City Hall, Albany, on all local measures in the Legislature before the Senator and four Assemblymen from Albany county. This plan enabled every citizen to attend and learn all about the measures affecting Albany county or any portion of the same and to discuss their merits or demerits.
Naturally, Mr. Parker, during his legislative services of seven years in Assembly and Senate had much to do with military and local matters, as well as with general legislation.
In the Assembly of 1882 he was chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs, and with the aid of the principal National Guard officers of the State revised and greatly simplified and strengthened the Military Code.
The same year he took a prominent part in the obtaining of appropriations, build- ing of State Armories, the adoption of the State service uniform and the establish- ment of the State Camp at Peekskill. Later on in the Senate, during his six years of service there, he did much for the National Guard in the way of general appro- priations, equipment, building and repairing of State Armories, and rifle ranges, im- proving the Military Code and in strengthening the military force in many ways.
He was, in 1887, the originator and principal projector of the new State Armory, at Albany, obtaining an official condemnation and sale of the old State Arsenal, procuring the first appropriation from the State for the building as well as a most liberal sum from the county of Albany for the site for said Armory, and on his return to the Senate in 1892, during that and the three subsequent years, he obtained further large State appropriations for its extension, completion and equipment.
In regard to local legislation for his district, Mr. Parker was always active, and during his service in the Legislature, never failed to give these matters his best efforts.
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In 1899, in the Assembly, he introduced the first bill for the construction of the Hawk street viaduct. He introduced later in the Senate the bill for the construction of the Northern Boulevard and with others succeeded in passing the bill, and later the amended Northern Boulevard law, which obviated the objections of several elements, which had been hostile to this great project.
The Albany Basin bill and many other bills affecting the health and welfare of Albany county and the cities of Albany and Cohoes, received Mr. Parker's close attention and became laws.
Mr. Parker is president of the Board of Trustees of the Albany Law School and as such one of the governors of Union University ; a trustee of the Albany Medical Col- lege and also of St. Agnes School; a trustee of the Union Trust Company of New York and a director of the Albany City National Bank .. He succeeded his father, who had served since 1867 as a manager and was made president of the Board of Managers of the Hudson River State Hospital (for the insane) at Poughkeepsie in 1881, and remained such until January, 1897, when he insisted upon retiring.
Mr. Parker has been prominently connected with the Young Men's Association for many years, and is a member of the Board of Life Trustees and was one of the most active Albanians in projecting the plan and in procuring funds to build Harmanus Bleeker Hall, and is the chairman of the Hall Committee of that Board of Trustees.
Mr. Parker married in 1838, Cornelia Kane Strong, of New Orleans, La., who died December 17, 1883, leaving surviving six children, two sons and four daughters, of whom a son and daughter are married.
ALBERT VANDER VEER, M. D.
THE subject of this sketch, Dr. Albert Vander Veer, has attained a prominence in his profession which places him far along in the ranks of its recognized leaders. He was born in the village of Leatherville, town of Root, Montgomery county, N. Y., July 10. 1841. His father was an energetic and successful business man, whose tan- neries gave the name to the place.
Dr. Vander Veer's early education was received at the public schools of Canajo- harie and Palatine, and at the Canajoharie Academy. When eighteen years of age he began the study of medicine with the late Dr. Simeon Snow, of Currytown, N. Y. After a year's work on the rudiments he came to Albany and entered the office of the late Dr. John Swinburne. During the years 1861 and 1862 he attended the lectures of the Albany Medical College, from which so many physicians of prominence have been graduated. In the spring of 1862 he became one of the original .. one hundred." was commissioned as a United States Medical Cadet, and ordered to report for duty at Columbia College Hospital, Washington, D. C. While at this post he attended a course of lectures at the National Medical College, from which institution he received the degree of doctor of medicine in December, 1862, afterward receiving the same degree from the Albany Medical College. After graduation Dr. Vander Veer was commissioned assistant surgeon of the Sixty sixth Regiment, New York State Vol- unteers, and joined his regiment at Falmouth, Va., just after the first battle of Fred-
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ericksburg. During and after the battle of Chancellorsville, he was detailed as one of the surgeons in charge of an operating table at the 1st Division, Second Army Corps Hospital, having as his assistants men much older than himself, but who were not accustomed to surgical work. In June, 1864, Dr. Vander Veer was promoted surgeon with the rank of major. He served with his regiment until the close of the war and was mustered out September, 1865. Undoubtedly the extensive practice in surgery he obtained during this period largely influenced him to make that his life work.
Upon returning to New York he attended a full course of lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and in the spring of 1866 established himself in Albany as a general practitioner. In July, 1869, he was called to the chair of general and special anatomy in the Albany Medical College, and was also appointed attending surgeon Albany Hospital. At this time he became attending surgeon to St. Peter's Hospital. Several of our leading literary institutions now gracefully recognized his intellectual qualities by the bestowment of their honors. In 1882 Williams College gave him the degree of A. M., and in 1883 Hamilton and Union Colleges that of Ph. D.
In January, 1882, he was appointed professor of surgery in the Albany Medical College and at the present time is professor of Didactic, Abdominal and Clinical Surgery. He has given much time and study to the advancement of this institution, in which he has a keen interest. On the death of Dr. Thomas Hun, in 1896, Dr. Vander Veer was appointed Dean of the Faculty of the Albany Medical College, an honor worthily bestowed.
He has spent several months, at various times, in earnest study abroad, visiting the great centres of medical instruction, where he watched with absorbing interest the brilliant operations of renowned surgeons and specialists. During his last sojourn in Europe he was accompanied by his wife, formerly Miss Margaret E. Snow, daugh- ter of his old preceptor, and his eldest son Edgar. While in England he was enter tained by Mr. Lawson Tait, whose fame as a surgical specialist is known all over the world. During this trip he also read a paper before the International Medical Con- gress at Copenhagen.
In addition to being a very active working member, and ex-president of both the County and State Medical Societies, Dr. Vander Veer is also a member of the Boston Gynecological Society, the British Medical Association, the Southern Surgical and Gynecological Association, an active member of the American Association of Obstet- ricians and Gynecologists, an ex-president, one of the executive officers of the Pan- American Medical Congress, having attended the recent meeting in Mexico and presented a paper. He is also vice-president of the Holland Society of New York, Albany Branch, and has had conferred upon him the order of "Oranje-Nassau" by the Queen of Holland. Dr. Vander Veer is also a member of the Military Order of the Legion of the United States. He has recently been appointed a delegate to the Loyal British Medical Association at Montreal.
As the power to grant certificates to physicians and surgeons educated in New York State is entirely in the hands of the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York, the medical profession were naturally interested in having a proper representative of their profession in the board; therefore, the election of Dr. Van- der Veer as a Regent of the University in 1895 was hailed with great pleasure by his many friends, not only in this locality but in the neighboring counties. Since his
DR. CHARLES E. JONES.
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election he has still continued to be, as he was previously, an earnest advocate of higher education in each and every profession.
To all of these duties he gives some portion of his time systematically divided. In addition he is busily at work every possible moment upon his college lectures or gathering in writing the results of his varied surgical experiences for the benefit of his professional brethren.
Among the subjects upon which Dr. Vander Veer has lectured or written are the following, most prominent and recent :- " Some Personal Observations on the Work of Lawson Tait," " The Use of the Curette in Uterine Surgery," " Uterine Hemor- rhage, Puerperal and Non-Puerperal," " Managementof Cancer in the Uterus, Com- plicated with Pregnancy, with Report of a Case," ". Hystero-Epilepsy, with Report of Cases,"" Retro-Peritoneal Tumors; Their Anatomical Relations, Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment," "Tubercular Peritonitis," " Report of Cases of Cho- lecystotomy with Special Reference to the Treatment of Calculus Lodging in the Common Duet," " The Relation of the Board of Health to the Public," " Appendi- citis, the Relation of the Physician and Surgeon in the Care of Cases," " Comparison Between Perineal and Suprapubic Cystotomy," " The Medico-Legal Aspect of Ab- dominal Section," " Extra-Uterine Pregnancy," " Fifty Years in the History of the Albany Medical College," "Concealed Pregnancy, Its Relations to Abdominal Sur-
gery." " The Relation of the Abdominal Surgeon to the Obstetrician and Gynecolo- gist." " Intestinal Obstruction," " Report of Cases of Coeliotomy Performed at the Albany Hospital from July 15, 1893, to November 1, 1895," " Report in Abdominal Surgery, Being an Analysis of 145 Operations not Previously Reported, Done Upon the Ovaries, and Uterine Appendages, with Special Remarks as to Preparation of Patient, Place of Operation, Use of Drainage, Treatment and Results," " Report of Seven Cases of Abdominal Surgery in which the Murphy Button was Applied," " Tuberculosis of the Female Genital Organs (Including Tuberculosis of the Kidney), "' " Uterine Fibroids Complicated with Pregnancy," etc., etc.
The pressure of increasing professional duties does not prevent Dr. Vander Veer from taking an active interest in municipal affairs, and the value of his services as a member of the Board of Health, the Historical and Art Society, etc., is fully recog- nized. He is also an elder in the First Presbyterian Church.
Whatever of eminence Dr. Vander Veer has attained has been secured by close application, unremitting labor, and a determined following of those inclinations which in his youth led him to choose for his own the responsibilities of the silent profession.
Honored by his associates, beloved and respected by his patients, Dr. Vander Veer's career may well be emulated by all young men who are ambitious to secure for them- selves the approval of their fellows and the emoluments which come, of necessity, to the leaders in any profession.
CHARLES EDMUND JONES, A. M., M. D.
CHARLES EDMUND JONES, A. M., M. D., is a son of the late Dr. E. Darwin Jones, and was born in Albany on February 15, 1849. After graduating from the Albany
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Academy in 1866 he entered Hope College at Holland City, Mich., and was graduated from that institution in 1870 and also took the degree of M. A. in course in 1873, when he delivered the master's oration. He read medicine with his father, was graduated from the Albany Medical College with the degree of M. D. in December. 1872, and subsequently attended one course of lectures at the New York Homeo- pathic Medical College, graduating therefrom in March, 1873. He went abroad in the summer of 1875 and remained one year. spending the greater part of that time in attendance at the Vienna General Hospital, where he pursued special courses of study. He visited Europe again in 1878, being absent six months, attending the World's Exposition at Paris, and acting as special correspondent of the New York Evening Express.
For many years Dr. Jones has been a greater part of the time officially or semi- officially connected with various positions of public trust and responsibility, the duties of which he has uniformly discharged with fidelity, zeal, and marked effective- ness. He became a member of the Albany County Homeopathic Medical Society in 1873, was elected its secretary in 1874, and served as its president in 1885, 1888, and 1889. He was elected a delegate from the county society to the New York State Homeopathic Medical Society in 1874, 1875, 1876, and 1877. Prior to his last visit to Europe he was delegated by special resolution to represent the Albany County Homeopathic Medical Society at the World's Homeopathic Congress held in Paris in August, 1878, and also to meetings of other homeopathic medical societies which he might have opportunity to attend. Since beginning the practice of his profession in Albany in 1873 Dr. Jones has taken an active interest in the City Dispensary and Homeopathic Hospital, and has devoted to its work and service a large share of his time, money, and influence. He has ably assisted in its management, has supported all measures designed to promote its financial prosperity, and has been a member of its medical staff since 1873, and a member of its executive and supervising committee since 1884. Since November, 1876, he has had charge of the department of diseases of the throat and respiratory organs.
Dr. Jones has been a permanent member of the Homeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York since 1878, and was elected its president in February, 1895. Ile has been for several years chairman of its bureau on throat and lung diseases, and has presented reports embodying a vast amount of important data gathered as a result of months of original investigation and painstaking research. He became a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy in 1874 and of the Albany In- stitute in 1876. He was elected a member of the City Board of School Commission- ers for a term of three years, and during this service secured the appointment of a permanent committee on hygiene, which became a very influential branch of the ex- ecutive department of public instruction. He was a foundation member of the Fort Orange Club, and for a number of years has been a member of its Board of Trus- tees. In 1886 he was appointed a member of the Bi-Centennial Committee of Albany, which was required to perfect and conduct arrangements for celebrat- ing the 200th anniversary of the incorporation of the city. Following this he was appointed a member of the committee having in charge the preparation, loca- tion, and permanent preservation of more than twenty bronze tablets designed to identify and describe the history of certain localities and important events. These tablets were placed on various buildings, and perpetuate those historic names and
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incidents which mark the growth of Albany as a burgh and city. In 1880 Dr. Jones was made a member of the citizens committee appointed to commemorate the open- ing of the new capitol building, and in 1893 he was appointed by the Civil Service Commission a member of a Homeopathie Examining Board to examine and deter- mine the fitness of candidates for the position of assistant physicians at homeopathic hospitals for the insane. He was appointed by Governor Flower in June, 1894, a member of the first board of managers of the Craig Colony for Epileptics and reap- pointed by Governor Morton in 1895. He has been a member of Masters Lodge No. 5. F. & A. M., since 1872, and is also a member of Capital City Chapter No. 242. R. A. M., and an Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite mason, 32d degree.
Among the many notable papers and essays which Dr. Jones has contributed to the medical literature of his time, the following titles are selected as showing the breadth of scope, research, and versatility of his work: " Pathology and Treatment of Diabetes," to which the McNaughton prize of $100 was awarded by the faculty of the Albany Medical College; "The Throat in Song and Speech," illustrated by photographic slides; "The Differential Diagnosis of Diphtheria and Membranous Croup;" "Tubercular Laryngitis and Cancer of the Throat;" "The Climatic Treatment of Pulmonary Consumption and Chronic Bronchitis:" "The Treatment of Laryngeal Tuberculosis:" and " New York's Leadership in Medical Education," the latter being delivered by him as the president's annual address before the New York State Homeopathic Medical Society in 1896.
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