Landmarks of Orleans County, New York, Part 12

Author: Signor, Isaac S., ed
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1084

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D. S. Copeland.

Clarendon

PERSONAL SKETCHES.

There were few lawyers, and certainly none of great prominence, in what is now Orleans county, at or before the date of the formation of the county. Lawyers naturally gravitate towards a county seat, and this fact alone would have kept the villages of Orleans county nearly destitute of them when the county seat was at a distant point. But with the erection of the new county, attorneys began to locate therein and especially at Albion and Medina. The bar of this county has al- ways been a reputable one, numbering among its members many attorneys of widely- recognized ability and honor, while a few reached the highest positions in the judiciary of the State.

At the head of the roll of honor of the attorneys of this county must be placed the name of Sanford E. Church. A son of O. S. Church, he was born at Milford, Otsego county, April 18, 1815, came to Monroe county with his parents when young and there was educated. At the age of twenty-one they removed to Albion. He had made the most of his educational opportunities, and had also taught a number of terms. At Albion his professional and political career began. He served as deputy in the county clerk's office in Orleans county three years, then began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar at the

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age of twenty-five. A year later he was elected as Democratic mem- ber of Assembly from Orleans county, being the youngest member of that body, which included the names of John A. Dix, Horatio Seymour and other distinguished men. At the close of his legislative term he resumed his law practice at Albion, and in 1844 formed a partnership with Noah Davis, jr., later the distinguished Judge Davis of New York. This firm continued for thirteen years, when Mr. Davis was appointed to the supreme bench. In 1850 Mr. Church was elected lieutenant- governor on the Democratic ticket by a majority of 8,000. In 1852 he was re-elected, with Horatio Seymour as governor, and in the fall of 1857 Mr. Church was elected comptroller of the State. In 1867 he was elected chief justice of the Court of Appeals by 90,000 majority, which position he held until his death, in 1880. In 1868 he was pre- sented for the presidential nomination by the State delegation in the National Democratic Convention. Judge Church was of impressive appearance, broad and deep in his knowledge of law, earnest in man- ner, and cogent in his reasoning, added to which he was an eloquent orator. He married Ann Wild of New Hampshire, a descendant of one of the oldest families of New York. They had two children, Hon. George B. Church, of whom an extended notice is given on a subse- quent page of this volume, and Helen A., the wife of Dr. S. R. Coch- rane of Albion.

Noah Davis came to Albion in his childhood and found employment in early life in copying under Judge Church in the clerk's office. His parents were poor and unable to give him good opportunities to secure an education, but he was an industrious student, walking to Gaines to attend the Academy and copying in his spare hours. He studied law in Lewiston, and after his admission to the bar began practice in Buffalo. Not meeting with his anticipated success he returned to Albion, by an arrangement with his friend, Judge Church, and the result was the formation of the successful firm before mentioned. Though of opposing politics, the two men were sincere friends and continued so. Judge Davis rose to distinction at the bar and in the judiciary ; was elected to Congress in 1869, resigned in 1870, removed to New York City and practiced with Judge Davies. There he gained further honors at the bar, was appointed U. S. district attorney by Presi-

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dent Grant and was elected judge of the Supreme Court. He was also a candidate for the United States Senate against Roscoe Conkling and nearly reached election. He is now engaged in practicing law in New York City.

Gideon Hard located in Albion in 1826, when he was twenty- nine years of age and began the practice of his profession. He was elected school commissioner of Barre in 1827, and in the autumn of that year was appointed county treasurer, which office he held six years. He was elected to Congress in 1832, as a Whig, and re-elected in 1834. In the spring of 1837 he returned to Albion and to his practice. In 1841 he was elected State senator, which body then comprised the Court for the Correction of Errors, of which court Mr. Hard became a member. He was re-elected in 1845, and in 1848 was appointed canal appraiser, holding the office two years. In 1850 he again returned to Albion and continued in practice until 1856, when he was elected county judge, serving as such four years. After the expiration of his term Mr. Hard lived a life of retirement until his death. He was an able lawyer, an active and incorruptible legislator, and an upright judge.

Henry R. Curtis was born in Rensselaer county, N. Y., in 1800, studied law in Skaneateles and Elbridge, N. Y., and settled in Albion in the fall of 1824. He formed a partnership with Alexis Ward, who had previously been admitted to the Supreme Court. In 1831 he was appointed district attorney, in which office he continued by successive appointments (excepting 1832) until June, 1847, when he was elected county judge and surrogate-the first judge chosen under the constitu- tion of 1846. He was re elected in 1850 and died before the expiration of his second term Before his election as judge he had held the office of examiner and master in chancery, and many civil town and village offices. For twenty- five years he was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church. As a counselor he was a peacemaker, judicious, cautious and sound. He died September 20, 1855.

Alexis Ward was born in Addison, Vt., May 18, 1802. He studied law with Judge Wilson, of Auburn, N. Y., was admitted to the bar in 1823, and the next year settled in Albion, where he was soon afterward appointed a justice of the peace. On the retirement of Judge Elijah Foot, the first judge of Orleans county, Mr. Ward was appointed to the

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office, February, 1830, and held the position by re-appointment until January, 1840. In 1834-5 he was instrumental in procuring the charter of the Bank of Orleans, the first bank in the county, and in 1836 was chosen its president, which position he held until his death, November 28, 1854. Mr. Ward was active in public affairs; aided in founding the Phipps Seminary and Albion Academy ; was conspicuous in pro- moting the Rochester, Niagara Falls and Lockport Railroad; projected the plank roads of the county, and with Roswell and Freeman Clarke built the stone flouring mill in Albion. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and an exemplary Christian. In November, 1854, he was elected to the Assembly, but his death prevented his taking the seat.

Judge Arad Thomas was born at Woodstock, Vt., in 1807. He re- mained at home and labored with his father till he was seventeen years of age, and in 1830 graduated at Union College. He was deputy secretary of state for Vermont in 1831, and in 1832 removed to Gaines, where he studied law with Hon. W. W. Ruggles. He was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court, and in 1836 removed to Albion. He was elected a justice of the peace in 1843 and held the office during eight consecutive years. He was elected county judge and surrogate, and held the office from 1860 to 1864. He was an active member of the Orleans County Pioneer Association, and the success of that society was largely promoted by his intelligent labors. At the urgent solicita- tion of his fellow members he prepared and published, in 1871, at a pecuniary sacrifice, his excellent Pioneer History of Orleans county. He died several years since.

William Penniman was born in Hillsborough county, N. H., August 5, 1793, and died near Albion. After his school days he removed to Ontario county, N. Y., in September, 1816, and thence came to Albion ; two years later he settled on a farm near Eagle Harbor. He was not a lawyer by profession, but in 1825 was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas and was one of the first bench of judges of the county. He held the office five years and in 1831 was elected justice of the peace at Barre and served until his removal to Eagle Harbor. He taught school many years in this county and was very successful in that vocation. He was school commissioner and inspector of schools

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during the eight years he lived in Shelby, and was town superintendent of schools three years in Barre. It has been written of him that " as a judge he was firm, upright and impartial, and in all his official and social relations sustained a character marked for sound views of men and things, honest, faithful, and true."

Edwin Ruthvin Reynolds was born in Fort Ann, Washington county, February 16, 1816, and was the oldest of four children of Li- nus J. and Alice (Baker) Reynolds. The father was a minister of the Baptist church and also a practical printer and editor. The son learned the printing trade while young, in his father's office of the Northern Spectator, at East Poultney, Vt., at the same time with the late Hor- ace Greeley. Mr. Greeley and young Reynolds were firm friends in youth, and their acquaintance was maintained until the death of the great journalist. Mr. Reynolds prepared for college and entered Brown University in the class of '39, afterward receiving the degree of A. M. While still engaged in his college studies, and at the age of twenty-one, he came to Albion, as principal of the old Albion Academy. His in- cumbency of that position continued from January, 1838, to December, 1846, and the institution under his charge was in every way successful and prosperous. In 1840, while teaching, he began a course of law studies under the direction of A. H. & D. H. Cole, and was admit- ted to practice in 1843. He was the first county superintendent of schools in Orleans county, in 1842-43, and then established the first normal school in the State. In 1846 he began practice in Albion, and has since been a prominent member of the county bar. Among his law partners was the late George H. Stone, and during twelve years, beginning in 1867, Albert W. Crandall. Mr. Reynolds was for five years a justice of the peace of the town of Barre, and clerk of the board of supervisors three years. He was elected to Congress and served in 1860 and 1861, and was one of the war committee of Orleans county, from 1860 to 1865. While in Congress he was the friend and supporter of President Lincoln, and this and his early acquaintance and life-long friendship with Horace Greeley are among the most valued of his past associations. His term of service was at the outbreak of the secession movement and the beginning of the war of the rebellion. While there he had the honor and pleasure of standing near Abraham Lincoln when

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he delivered his first inaugural address. He also had the satisfaction of casting several votes of which he has always been proud : I. Vot- ing for the admission of " bleeding Kansas " as a free State. 2. Voting with Roscoe Conkling, Burlingame, Washburn, Lovejoy, Wade and the others of " the old guard " of 65 members who stood out against every project for extending slavery to the Pacific on the line of 36 degrees, 30 minutes, or on any other line whatever. 3. Voting for the Morrill tariff bill, which furnished the sinews of war to enable the country to go safely through the conflict with the slave-holding confederacy. He also introduced and advocated a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Co- lumbia, at that time as unpopular a measure as a public man could pro- ject. In 1863 Mr. Reynolds was elected county judge and surrogate, and served one term of four years. During thirteen years he was chairman of the Republican county committee, and also served on the State committee, and was one of the three members of the executive committee in 1858. In 1868 he was an elector on the Grant ticket, and in 1872, was a Greeley elector, and has been a delegate to the State convention four times. In 1858 and 1859 he owned and published the Orleans American, and has written much for that and other journals, besides several pamphlets, speeches and addresses. He was married, in November, 1847, to Elizabeth Ann Gale, and they had two children, one of whom is living-Grace, wife of John M. Phillips, of Hulberton, N. Y.

Benjamin L Bessac was a native of New Baltimore, Greene county, born March 12, 1807, and was the son of Lewis Bessac. In early life his father was a blacksmith, but later became a farmer in Chenango county where he took up a farm of 160 acres. However, previous to this time, he had started for Ohio with the intention to settle, but be- came snow-bound at Tonawanda Creek, and it was there he began to work as a blacksmith. At a later date he returned to Chenango county. When Benjamin was twelve days old his mother died, and he was brought up in the family of an aunt in Greene county. After re- ceiving a common school education he taught for a time, then attended the Greenville Academy. He prepared for college, intending to enter the sophomore class at Union, but went to New York where he was employed in a store for a time. Later on he went to Alabama where

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his wife founded the Mobile Female Seminary, and where he worked as clerk in the United States Bank. In March, 1832, Mr. Bessac returned north, and after traveling for a time began a course of law study at Cairo, Greene county, with Amasa Mattoon, and later was with Judge Hiram Gardiner, at Lockport. In 1835 he was admitted to practice, and in June of that year became a resident of Albion. Mr. Bessac is remembered as having been one of the leading lawyers cf his time. At the Orleans county bar he was associated in business with some of the best lawyers of the county, among whom may be mentioned the names of the late Daniel H. Cole, George Stone and Judge Church. The lat- ter read law in Mr. Bessac's office and afterward became his business partner. His last law partner was George Bullard, Esq. Mr. Bessac was master in chancery for many years and was appointed first judge of the county, receiving his appointment from Governor Bouck, in 1844. In 1853 he was elected district attorney and served one term. His law library was one of the best and most extensive in Western New York, and naturally his office was the resort of many of his legal asso- ciates and law students. Mr. Bessac died December 23, 1871, his wife surviving him and dying July 7, 1890. He was brought up in the Reformed Dutch church, having united with the society at the age of

fourteen. In Albion he was a member of the Presbyterian church af- ter 1842. His wife was Deborah, daughter of Rev. Simeon Dixinson, of East Haddam, Conn. They were married April 11, 1830. De- borah Bessac died suddenly in December, 1831, and on June 18, 1835, Mr. Bessac married Caroline G. Baker. The children of this marriage were : Benjamin L., who died an infant; Addison G., who died at the age of thirty eight; Sanford C., of Albion, and Cornelia, wife of F. E. French, of Albion.

Almeron Hyde Cole was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., April 20, 1798. He prepared for college at Auburn and entered the sophomore class of Union College in 1815. Two years later he left school in con- sequence of the death of his mother, and in the fall of 1817 entered the law office of Judge Joseph L. Richardson, of Cayuga county, as a stu- dent. He was admitted attorney in the Supreme Court in his twenty- first year, formed a partnership with Judge Richardson, which was dis- solved a few months later, and then made a new business connection

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with George W. Fleming, at Seneca Falls. In the spring of 1825 both came to Albion and practiced together until 1832, meeting with de- served success. After leaving Mr. Fleming, he was for a time partner with his brother, Hon. Dan H. Cole. He served seventeen years as justice of the peace of Barre, and in November, 1847, was elected State senator, served one term and declined a re-election. He resumed prac- tice in Albion, but a large amount of business connected with the set- tlement of an estate in Cayuga county, of which he was executor, he gave up his time to those duties and the management of a large farm in Gaines. Judge Thomas says of Mr. Cole : " Although a good ad- vocate and a strong and logical reasoner at the bar, Mr. Cole was not so fluent and polished a speaker as his partner, Mr. Fleming. In their earlier years of practice together, Mr. Cole furnished his quota of brains to the firm, while Mr. Fleming furnished the tongue." Mr. Cole was never married. Coming to the county when it was first organized, he was prominent in public affairs and well known to the people of the county. He died October 14, 1859.

William J. Babbitt was a native of Providence, R. I., born in Septem- ber, 1786. He learned the blacksmith's trade and worked at it until he settled in Gaines, where in 1812 he took up the farm where he ever afterwards lived, and moved his family thereto in 1813. No profes- sional lawyer lived in the county for several years after that and Mr. Babbitt being a fluent talker, was frequently called on to try the occa- sional law suits of the people in justice's court. He improved in this practice and became the most noted pettifogger north of the Tona- wanda swamp He was prominent in the measures for erecting the town of Gaines in 1816 and and on the Ist of July of that year, applied for and secured a post-office at Gaines and was made postmaster. He held the office five years. In 1831-2 he represented the county in the Assembly ; was appointed justice of the peace in 1815 and held the of- fice in all twenty- three years ; was several times supervisor of the town and held other town offices. He acquired a character for uncompro- mising fidelity in business matters, and by a life of industry and econ- omy, accumulated much property. His wife was Eunice Losey. He died July 20, 1863.

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Ben Field, born at Dorset, Vt., in 1816, removed with his parents to Albion in 1828. He was educated at Albion, Brockport, in the schools of those villages and at Burr Seminary, Vt. He worked in his father's marble shop till he was about seventeen years of age, read law with Alexis Ward and was admitted to the bar, but never practiced. He was for a while engaged in constructing on railroad work with Tousley, Lee & Company. In company with a Mr. Ferry, of Syracuse, he put sleeping cars on the Michigan Central Railroad and the Northwestern Railroad and continued in this business till 1860, when, in company with George M. Pullman, he was interested in putting sleepers on the St. Louis and Alton Railroad, continuing with Mr. Pullman until December, 1865, during which time many valuable patents were obtained. Mr. Pullman purchased his interest and he retired from the business. Mr. Field was for many years one of the foremost men in State politics, and had a very extensive acquaintance. He was State Senator in 1854-55, member of the commission to settle the Connecticut boundary in 1856, and for many years secretary of the Republican State Committee. He was a pleasing conversationalist and a man of a large amount of general information and was especial authority on State and National politics. He died at Albion in 1879.

William W. Ruggles was born in Hardwick, Mass., January 1, 1800. He began the study of law when eighteen years old in Salem, N. Y., finishing in Albany. When admitted to the bar he settled in Albion and formed a partnership with Judge Moody. In 1824 he removed to Gaines and began practice. He aided in founding the Gaines Academy and the bank at that place. He held the offices of master in chancery, Supreme Court commissioner, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, just- ice of the peace and various town offices, and was several times candi- date for the State Legislature, but was defeated with his party. He died in Gaines, April 22, 1850.

Reuben Bryant was born in Worcester county, Mass., July 13, 1792, and graduated from Brown University about 1815. After spending some time teaching he removed to Livingston county, N. Y., and there studied law. After being admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court, he settled for practice in Holley about 1823, where he was the pioneer lawyer. In the fall of 1849 he removed to Albion, where he practiced

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until 1855; in that year he removed to Buffalo to aid his son William C. Bryant, now a veteran of the Buffalo bar. He was appointed mas- ter in chancery by Silas Wright, and held the office until it was abol- ished in 1846. He was a thorough scholar, well learned in Greek and Latin, and as a lawyer had a clear perception of the facts and the law in their bearing upon cases; but too exact, cautious, and diffident to be a successful advocate. He died in Buffalo in January, 1863.

Hiram S Goff was a native of Winfield, Herkimer county, N. Y., born in 1802 and settled in Albion in 1831, in which year he had been admitted to the bar. He began practice with Gideon Hard, and the firm continued until 1839. After practicing for a time alone he was associated with several other partners, among them John H. White, who was with him from 1863 to 1869. Mr. Goff held the office of mas- ter in chancery, and was a careful, able and conscientious lawyer. He died in 1893.

Edwin Porter located in Albion in 1856, having been admitted to practice at the General Term held in Albion in the fall of that year ; he was then twenty-nine years old. He formed a partnership with S. S. Spencer, which continued three years, and then practiced with I. M. Thompson, of Albion, until the beginning of the war, when Mr. Thompson enlisted. Mr. Porter practiced alone until 1876, when he formed a partnership with Calvin J. Church. In 1854 Mr. Porter was elected school commissioner and served two years. During the John- son administration he was appointed internal revenue assessor, and held the office about three years ; he was also president of the village one year. Mr. Porter's legal education was secured under severe difficulties, his law studies being intermitted with teaching school to defray his expenses.

Robert H. Brown studied law with Judge Bessac and was admitted to the bar of Orleans county in 1851. He practiced with Hon. W. K. McAllister and subsequently removed to Detroit, where he remained in practice a few years and held a judicial office. In 1868 he removed to Atlanta, Ga., and practiced for some years. He held the office of attorney-general for that State and was one of a committee to revise the State code. He afterwards returned to Albion but did not resume practice.

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John Hull White was born in Stanford, Dutchess county, N. Y., Feb- ruary 29, 1820, and is the third of seven children of Walter and Mary (Avery) White. His father was a farmer and the son lived on the farm during his youth, and later was employed as clerk in a store in New York. Three years later he returned home, the family having in the mean time moved to Mendon, Monroe county, N. Y. He attended school at the Macedon and Waterloo Academies, read law with Denton G. Shuart, of Honeoye Falls, A. P. Kimball, of Penfield, and finished his course with Houghton & Sprague, in Buffalo. Mr. White was ad- mitted to practice July 2, 1848, and soon after located in Albion, where he has since remained. He has generally practiced without a partner, but was associated for a time with Reuben Bryant, and later with Hiram S. Goff. While his practice has been of a general character, he is especially prominent as a trial lawyer and has been connected with many important cases in this region, particularly in railroad litigation. In politics Mr. White is a conservative Democrat and has been the candidate of his party for the offices of district attorney, county judge, and representative in Congress; and while the majority in the county and district has always been largely against his party, the vote he has received has been a source of gratification to himself and his friends. Mr. White has been president of the village, and president of the Board of Education thirteen years and a member sixteen years. Mr. White has been many years conspicuously identified with Odd Fellow- ship, his membership in the order beginning in 1848. He has advanced through all the various lodge and encampment degrees to the position of grand master of the State, and in 1887 was elevated to the high position of grand sire of the order-the greatest honor that the order can confer. He has also been a member of the Sovereign Grand Lodge since 1865. He is the author of a valuable digest pertaining to Odd Fellowship, a work that has attracted much attention in the order throughout the country. He has also been a contributor to other works on the same subject. Mr. White was married on January 19, 1850, to Temperance, daughter of Matthias B. Miller, of Dutchess county. After the death of his wife Mr. White married Mrs. Mary A. Miller, widow of Capt. John B. Miller. She died in 1891, and in June, 1892, he married Frances M. Noble, of Albion.

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Landmarks of Orleans County, New York, Part 12

Author: Signor, Isaac S., ed Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Syracuse : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1084

Author: Signor, Isaac S., ed
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Syracuse : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1084