USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume III, Pt. 1 > Part 25
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In 1896 he succeeded against James C. Carter in maintaining the un- constitutionality of the income tax law, in the first hearing before the United States Supreme Court securing exemption from taxation for corporate and vested interests, and in the second hearing obtaining the condemnation of the remaining features of the law. He has long been an active and influential leader of the Republican party, fre- quently being at the head of the element in protest against the scan- dals of machine domination. At different times, and notably in 1897, he was prominently named as Republican candidate for the United States Senate. He was President of the Constitutional Convention of 1894. In the fall of 1897 he took a prominent part in advocacy of the election of Seth Low, the citizens' candidate for Mayor of New York under the new charter. In January, 1899, he was appointed by Presi- dent McKinley and confirmed by the Senate as United States Min- ister to England. He has been President of the Union League Club and of the New England Society, and is also a member of the Metropolitan, Century, University, City, Riding, Harvard, New York Athletic, and other clubs and societies. He is a director of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, the German-American In- surance Company, and the Eagle Fire Company: He is of the same family as the famous Rufus Choate, a descendant of John Choate, who settled at Ipswich, Mass., some time prior to 1664, and was born in Salem, Mass., January 24, 1832. He was graduated from Harvard in 1852, from the Dane Law School in 1854, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1855, and to the New York bar in 1856, upon his removal to this city.
GERARD, JAMES WATSON, the first of three lawyers of three generations who have borne this name, two of whom are still engaged in legal practice in this city, was one of the leaders of the New York Bar in his day. He was born in this city in 1794, was graduated from Columbia College in 1811, joined the " Iron Greys " for defense of the city against the British in 1812, and was admitted to the bar in 1816. He retired from active practice in 1869, although his death did not ocem until February 7, 1874. Frederic R. Coudert has playfully re- ferred to " the polish and wit of his French ancestry, his inexhaustible bonhomie and good nature, his irresistible facility and felicity in win- ning juries over to the wrong side, on which he was most at home." And he adds: " . Never attack your adversary with a bludgeon,' the writer once heard him say, . run him through with a rapier.' He lived up to his own precept. He ran his adversary gracefully and thoronghi- ly through the vital parts, and when he was sure that his victim was thoroughly dead he held out his hand to help him to his feet." He served as School Trustee and Inspector. The uniforming of the police force was mainly his achievement. He was a chief founder of the first House of Refuge, the incorporation of which he secured in 1825. His
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father, William Gerard, son of Robert, was of a French Hugnenot stock which had taken root in Scotland, where he was born. Coming to New York prior to 1780 he engaged in business, and married here Christina Glass, who had emigrated from Scotland to New York with her widowed mother just before the Revolution. She was the dangh- ter of John Glass, of Tain, Scotland; sister of Alexander S. Glass, mer- chant of New York : niece of Dr. Alexander Monroe, one of the found- ers of the University of Edinburgh, and grandniece of Sir Thomas Hector Monroe, Governor of the East Indies. James Watson Gerard himself married Eliza, daughter of Hon. Increase Sumner, of Boston, . Governor and Chief Justice of Massachusetts. Her brother, General. William H. Sumner, was Aid-de-camp during the War of 1812 to Goy. ernor Strong. of Massachusetts.
GERARD, JAMES WATSON, well-known lawyer of New York City, is the son of the late eminent lawyer of the same name. He was born in this city, was graduated from Columbia College with vale- dictorian honors in 1843, and studied law, and long practiced in asso- ciation with his father, continning the business alone after his father's retirement in 1869. He is a recognized authority in real estate law, with which specialty he has long been identified, and is author of the standard legal work, " Titles to Real Estate in the State of New York." He is author of several historical studies, including " The Peace of Utrecht." He has been a member of the Board of Education of New York, and was a member of the State Senate in 1876 and 1877. He is a member of the Union, Tuxedo, and Players' clubs, the St. Nicholas Society, and the Colmbia Alumni Association. Through his mother he is descended from William Sumner, who became a freeman of Dor- chester, Mass., prior to 1637, having emigrated from Bicester, Oxford- shire, England. He married in 1866 Jenny, danghter of Hon. B. F. Angel, who was United States Minister to Sweden. Mrs. Gerard is a descendant of Elder Brewster of the Mayflower, and is Vice-President of the Society of Colonial Dames.
GERARD, JAMES WATSON, is the son of the present James Wat- son Gerard and his wife, daughter of the late Hon. B. F. Angel, United States Minister to Sweden, and is the grandson of the late James Watson Gerard and his wife, daughter of Hon. Increase Sumner, Chief Justice of Massachusetts as well as Governor of that State. The third in three consecutive generations to bear his name, like his father and his grandfather, he was born in this city, was graduated from Columbia College, and has embraced the law as a profession. He is associated with his father in practice, making a specialty of real estate law. He is a member of the Country, Fencers', and New York Athletic clubs, the Sons of the American Revolution, the City Bar Association. the Society of Medical Jurisprudence, and the Columbia Alumni Association.
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WHITNEY, WILLIAM COLLINS, Secretary of the Navy during the first term of President Cleveland, while descended from distin- guished ancestry and enjoying high social position, is widely known for his energy, vigorous administrative qualities, reform spirit, and tact and generalship withal. After graduating from Yale College in 1863 and spending a year at the Harvard Law School, he began the practice of law in New York City. In 1871 he was one of the founders of the Young Men's Democratie Club, and in 1872 one. of the organizers of the County Democracy, receiving an appoint- ment as Inspector of Schools. In 1875 he was appointed Corpo- ration Counsel of New York City, and distinguished himself in that office. " The field of duty upon which he thus entered was a difficult and arduous one, on ac- count of neglect of duty by his predecessors and gen- eral lack of administrative capacity and straightfor- ward method in the con- duct of affairs under pre- ceding conditions. He found no less than three thousand eight hundred suits pending, a weight of responsibility which he hastened to sweep away. He at once reorganized the department with four bureaus of administration, introduced reforms and economies wherever possi- ble, and so rapidly disposed of the pending suits that in WILLIAM COLLINS WHITNEY. two years he had handled them all and as many more which had arisen. Despite the great accu- mulation of work thus disposed of, he considerably reduced the ex- penses of the office, and became distinguished for his spirit of reform. He resigned the position in 1882, having, during the seven years of his incumbency, gained various notable legal triumphs, and won a high reputation for legal skill and executive capacity." He warmly sup- ported Cleveland for President in 1884, and was called into his Cabi- net as Secretary of the Navy the following spring. Although a small nucleus for the " new navy " had been obtained during the preceding administration, he must be credited with having made the country independent in the matter. During his term there were completed or under construction five double-turreted monitors, two coast-defense vessels, armorelads, three armored and five unarmored steel and
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iron cruisers, four gunboats, and a dynamite cruiser. But greater by far was his achievement in securing the establishment of works in this country for producing armor plating and forgings for guns, which had previously been imported. For example, he induced the Beth- lehem Steel Works to erect a new plant. As a result, whereas at that time we sent abroad for our materials, foreign nations are now having warships and large guns made in this country. In 1892 he skillfully led the Cleveland forces in the Democratic National Convention, but refused to return to public life.
Similar energy in private life has made him a prominent figure in the financial world. He is largely interested in Metropolitan Trac- tion securities, and is a director of the Second Avenue Railroad and the Christopher and Tenth Street Railroad. He is a director of the Guarantee Trust Company, the Fifth Avenue Trust Company, the National Union Bank, the Plaza Bank, the New York Loan and In- vestment Company, the Manufacturing Investment Company, the Mergenthaler Linotype Company, the Metropolitan Opera and Real Estate Company, the National Horse Show Association, and the So- ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. He is likewise trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York and trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 1888 Yale University conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. Born in Conway, Mass., July 5, 1841, he is the son of the late Brigadier-General James S. Whitney, Super- intendent of the Springfield Arsenal in 1864, and Collector of the Port of Boston in 1860, and is descended from Brigadier-General Josiah Whitney, of the Revolution, and from John Whitney, a leading settler of Watertown, Mass., in 1635.
DAY, HENRY, for forty-five years a member of the notable New York law firm of Lord, Day & Lord, son-in-law of Daniel Lord, its senior partner from the organization of the firm in 1849 until his death in 1868, aud himself its senior partner from the latter date until his own death in 1893. was one of the most eminent corporation lawyers of the city during the well-nigh half century of his profes- sional career. He had charge of the legal affairs of many large es- tates, including those of the Astors, Edward Morgan, and Professor S. F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph. He was prominent in the organization of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, and was a di- rector. and its attorney. Ile was a director of the Consolidated Gas Company. the Mercantile Trust Company, and the Lawyers' Title and Guarantee Company. He was a prominent Presbyterian, active in connection with benevolent institutions. and a director of the Union Theological Seminary. He published " The Lawyer Abroad." and " From the Pyrenees to the Pillars of Hercules." The son of Pliny Day and Deborah Butts, he was born in South Hadley, Mass., in 1820, was graduated from Yale in 1845. taught school at Fairfield. Conn.,
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was graduated from Harvard Law School, and came to New York City. Hle married Phebe Lucretia, daughter of Daniel Lord. Mr. Day was lineally descended from Robert Day, who was made a freeman of Cambridge, Mass .. in 1635, and was one of the company of Dr. Thomas Hooker, who founded Hartford, Conn., in 1639.
DAY, GEORGE LORD, member of the famous law firm of Lord, Day & Lord, is the son of the late Henry Day, one of the founders of that firm and its head at the time of his death in 1893, and is the grandson of the late Daniel Lord, another of the founders, and the senior partner until his death in 1868. He is a member of the Union, University, Racquet. Manhattan, Princeton, Lawyers', New York Yacht, New York Athletic, and Meadow Brook Hunt clubs; the Downtown Association, and the Bar Association of the city. A severe accident, received in 1894 while following the hounds. forced him to retire from active professional life. He married in England. in 1896, Adele Mittant.
ABBOTT, AUSTIN, won renown as one of the counsel of Henry Ward Beecher in the suit brought against the famous preacher by Theodore Tilton, and was one of the counsel for the Federal Govern- ment in the trial of Guitean, the assassin of President Garfield. But he has won lasting fame as a legal author, having compiled numer- ous standard textbooks for law students and reference books for practitioners at the bar. He is the principal author of " Abbott's New York Digest " and " Abbott's Forms," while his works which have become standard authorities include " Trial Evidence" ( 1880), "Brief for the Trial of Civil Issues before a Jury " (1883), " Brief for the Trial of Criminal Cases " (1889), " Modes of Proving the Facts in Either Class of Trials," and " Brief on Questions Arising on the Pleadings in Civil Actions" (1891). He also published " New Practice and Forms," " Reports of Practice Cases," and " Reports of New Cases." He was Dean of the Law School of the University of the City of New York from 1891 until his death, April 19, 1896. In 1889 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from this university. ITe was born in Boston, Mass., December 18, 1831. the son of Jacob Ab- bott, the popular author. He was the brother of Dr. Lyman Abbott and of Benjamin Vanghan Abbott, both of whom were his law partners in this city at one time. He received his early education from his parents, who in 1843 removed to New York City. He was graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1851, and the following year was admitted to the bar.
EATON. DORMAN BRIDGMAN, is eminent as a lawyer, a legal au- thor, and a political reformer. He has been identified with the his- tory of civil-service reform in this country. Having spent the years
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1870-73 in the study of European civil-service systems, upon his re- turn he was appointed by President Grant to succeed George W. Cur- tis on the Civil-service Commission, and was made its Chairman. With the approval of President Hayes he went abroad, in 1877, for a further study of the system of Great Britain. He drafted the Civil- service Law of 1883, providing for the National Civil-service Commis- sion, and was the first Commissioner under it appointed by Presi- dent Arthur. His essays on this subject include: " Civil-service Re- form in Great Britain -- 1880; " " Spoils System and Civil-service Re- form in the New York Custom House and Postoffice; " " Term and Tenure of Office;" " Secret Sessions, United States Senate," and " The Independent Movement in New York-1880." He was instrumental in securing and shaping the law creating a paid Fire Department for this city in 1865. In 1866 he drafted the law creating the Metropolitan Board of Health, and the following year formulated its sanitary code. He drafted the law under which the police courts were organized prior to the adoption of the constitutional amendments of 1894. At the request of Congress he drafted a code for the government of the District of Columbia. Ile assisted Judge William Kent in editing an edition of the famous " Kent's Commentaries; " prepared an edition of " Chipman on Contraets Payable in Specific Article," in 1852, and contributed many articles on administrative reform and kindred sub- jects to Lalor's " Cyclopedia of Political Science." He was born in Hardwick, Vt., June 27, 1823, the son of Hon. Nathaniel Eaton and Ruth Bridgman. He was graduated in 1848 from the University of Vermont, from which he subsequently received the degree of LL.D., and from the Harvard Law School in 1850. For many years he was in active and successful practice in this city, following his admis- sion to the bar in 1851.
BUCKINGHAM, CHARLES LUMAN, who has been engaged in the practice of law in New York City since 1880, has established a rep- utation as one of the leading practitioners in notable patent cases in the United States, standing at the head of the profession in the espe- cially difficult department of electrical cases. He has been counsel of the Western Union Telegraph Company since 1880, and is counsel of the General Electric Company, of the Schuyler Electric Light Com- pany, and of the Delaware & Atlantic Telephone & Telegraph Com- pany. ITe is a member of the University Club, the Ohio Society, and the University of Michigan Alumni Association, as well as of the Metro- politan and Union clubs, of Washington, D. C. He is an active mem- ber of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, as he is of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Ameri- can Academy of Political and Social Science. An article from his pen on " Electricity in Daily Life " appeared in Scribner's Magasine in a series on technical subjects contributed to that periodical in 1889-90
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by leading authorities. The series was also published by the Serib- ners in book form. In his law practice Mr. Buckingham has con- ducted a notable line of cases, involving immense interests, with almost uniform snecess. The patent rights at issue in these cases in- cluded those in connection with the quadruplex apparatus, the electric stock printers, the ore separator, electric overhead traction, the Tesla patents on the multiphase alternating motors, designed to transmit electrical power from Niagara Falls to great distances, and others of like importance in connection with the telephone, electric lighting, and electric railways. Many of these litigations were in process of trial for three or four years, the evidence of experts and the briefs sometimes occupying eight or ten printed volumes, royal octavo, in a single case. In his cases Mr. Buck- ingham has won victories from David Dudley Field, Roscoe Conk- ling, Edward N. Dickerson, Gen- eral Duncan, Edmund Wetmore, Frederick H. Betts, C. E. Mitchell, G. P. Lowrey, Dyer & Seely, Kerr & Curtis, and others. He lineally -- descends from Thomas Bucking- ham, one of the founders of Mil- ford. Conn., in 1639, and was hin- self born in Berlin Heights, O., October 14, 1852. He was grad- CHARLES LUMAN BUCKINGHAM. uated from the University of Mich- igan in 1875, for several years was an examiner in the United States Patent Office, at the same time attending the Columbian Law School at Washington, D. C., and was admitted to the bar in the District of Columbia and in New York City.
MILLER. GEORGE MCCULLOCH, corporation lawyer and head of the well-known law firm of Miller, Peckham & Dixon, is also prom- inent as a financier. At the present time he is President of the Housatonic Railroad, trustee of the Central Trust Company and the Bank for Savings, and a director of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, the Harlem River and Port Chester Rail- road, the Shepaug Railroad Company, the Providence and Stoning- ton Steamship Company, and Greenwood Cemetery. He was elected President of the Newport and Wickford Railroad and Steamship Company in 1871, a director of the New York, Providence and Boston Railroad (of which he subsequently became Vice-President) in 1873.
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and from 1879 to 1889 was President of the Providence and Stoning- ton Steamship Company, resigning from the latter in favor of his brother. He was President of the Denver, Utah and Pacific Railroad Company from 1881 to 1886, when the road was consolidated with another and profitably sold. He is a member of the Metropolitan, Union League. Century, City, Lawyers', and Church chibs; is Junior Warden of St. Thomas's Church; from 1869 to 1890 was Secretary of St. Luke's Hospital, and since 1800 has been its President; has been President of the Hospital Saturday and Sunday Association of New York since its organization in 1879, and, since the inception of the en- terprise in 1873. a Charter Trustee and Secretary of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Born in Morristown, N. J .. in 1832, he is the son of the late Jacob W. Miller, United States Senator from 1841 to 1853. He was graduated from Burlington College at 18, studied law with his father, and at Harvard, and was admitted to the bars of New Jersey and New York in 1853. He has resided in this city since 1854.
DE WITT, GEORGE GOSMAN, head of the law firm of De Witt, Lockman & De Witt, is an officer in a number of important corpora- tions. He is a trustee of the Greenwich Savings Bank and the Real Estate Trust Company, and is a director of the Eagle Fire Insurance Company, the Lawyers' Surety Company, the New York and East River Gas Company, and the East River Gas Company of Long Island City. He either is or has been a governor of the Union Club, a governor of the New York Hospital, and Vice-President of the Columbia Alumni Association, and one of its Committee on Athletic Grounds. He was also Grand Marshal of the latter at the installation of Seth Low as President of Columbia College. He is Secretary of the St. Nicholas Society, a trustee of the Holland So- ciety, and in addition to those already mentioned, a member of the Metropolitan, Union League, University, and other clubs. Born in Callicoon, N. Y., April 9, 1815, he is a grandson of the late Peter De Witt, an eminent lawyer in this city from 1804 to 1851, and founder of the firm of which his grandson is now head. and is lineally descended from Tjerek Claessen De Witt, who arrived in New Amster- dam in 1656, and the next year settled at Wiltwyck. now Kingston, N. Y. Mr. De Witt was graduated from Columbia College in 1867, and from the Columbia College Law School in 1869, when he entered the law office of his uneles, C. J. & E. De Witt. The death of Edward De Witt in 1872, and of Cornelius J. De Witt in 1878, followed by the retirement of Goelet Kip, who was also a member of the firm, placed Mr. De Witt at its head. He has long had a notable practice in the administration of estates and wills, and was counsel in the Hamersley, Strecker, Roosevelt, Welton, and Marx cases.
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PARSONS, JOHN EDWARD, one of the most eminent lawyers of New York City, where he has been engaged in practice since 1852, is also President of the Knickerbocker Real Estate Company, a trus- tee of the Metropolitan Trust Company and the Bank for Savings, and a director of the American Sugar Refining Company, the Third Avenne Railroad, and the Forty-second Street, Manhattanville and St. Nicholas Avenue Railroad. He is President of the Woman's Hos- pital of the State of New York. Ile was formerly President of the New York Cancer Hospital, having also been one of its founders. He was formerly President of the New York Bible Society, and is a member of the Board of the American Bible Society. He has been . a member of the Council of the University of New York since 1865, and was associated with the late Peter Cooper, Edward Cooper, and Abram S. Hewitt on the original Board of Trustees of Cooper Union. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the American Tract Society, as he is also of the New York City Mission and Tract Society, and of the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and of the Board of Elders of the Brick Presbyterian Church. For twenty years he was at the head of a large mission school in New York City. He maintains at his own expense a fresh-air home at Curtisville, near Lenox, Mass., where one hundred children at a time are accommodated during the summer months. While he maintains a summer residence at Rye, N. Y., his principal summer home is " Stonover," at Lenox, Mass., and he is a vestryman of the Episcopal Church at Lenox and a governor of the Lenox Club. He is President of the City Club, of New York, and a member of the Metropolitan, Century, University, Riding, Players', and Turf and Field clubs. He was born in New York City, October 24, 1829, the son of Edward Lamb Parsons and Matilda C., daughter of Ebenezer Clark, of Wallingford, Conn. He was graduated from the New York University in 1848, at the age of eighteen, and studied law with James W. Gerard, being admitted to the bar in 1852. He practiced alone until January 1, 1854, and then formed a partner- ship with Lorenzo B. Shepard. Mr. Shepard being appointed Dis- trict Attorney in July of the same year, Mr. Parsons served as his assistant until the close of the year. After the death of Mr. Shepard, in 1856, he formed a partnership with the late Albon P. Man, under the style of Man & Parsons, which continued until 1884. Ile was counsel in the Merrill, Burr, Hamersley, Tracy and Fayerweather will eases, and the Jacob Sharp case. He was prominent in the overthrow of the Tweed ring. He was counsel of the New York Sen- ate Committee which declared Tweed's seat in that body vacant; was counsel of the Assembly Committee which investigated the election frauds in Kings County, and proscented Hemy W. Genet before an Assembly Committee. He was also counsel in the impeachment pro- ceedings against Judges Barnard, McCum, and Cardoza. He was
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