USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume III, Pt. 1 > Part 28
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SMITH, JOHN SABINE, during the three years, from 1889 to 1892. was Vice-President of the Republican Club of the City of New York.
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and in 1893 was its President. He has been President of the Society of Medical Jurisprudence, and for several years was President of the New York Alumni Association of Trinity College. He has been for many years an active member of the Republican County Committee of New York, was its President in 1893, and at the present time is its Treasurer. In 1894 he was one of the most active members of the Com. mittee of Thirty appointed to reorganize the Republican party in New York County, and as counsel of this committee secured its recognition as the regular Republican organization in New York County. He has served a munber of years on The Republican State Committee, being also a member of its Executive Committee. He is Vice-President of the Institute of Civies; is a member of Grace Church; was one of the founders of the East Side Honse, an institution on the " University Settlement " plan, and is its Treasurer; was one of the founders of the Church Club, was active in seent- ing its incorporation, and has since been one of its energetic members; is a trustee of Trinity College; is a director of the Society for Promot- ing Church Schools and Colleges; is counsel of St. Mark's Hospital: is a member of Chancellor Wal- worth Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons; is one of the three trustees of the property in New York City of the Scottish Rite, and is a thirty- second degree Mason, and a Knight Templar. In addition to the organ- izations already named. he is a member of the University, Law- vers', and Quill clubs, the New England Society, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Phi Beta Kappa JOHN SABINE SMITH. Alumni Society, the Bar Associa- tion of the City of New York, the New York State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. In 1898 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws.
As the Republican candidate for Surrogate of New York County in 1892 he received a larger vote than had ever before been received by a Republican in New York City on a " straight " party ticket. In the Republican State Convention of 1893 he received the support of the delegation from New York County for the nomination as Judge of the Court of Appeals. He was active in the creation of the Republican League of the United States. As a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State League in 18SS, and Chairman of its sub-Exeen- tive Committee, he directed its energies in the campaign resulting in the
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election of President Harrison. In 1890 he was Chairman of the Re- publican Club's Committee on Municipal Elections, which advocated a " straight " Republican municipal ticket, and brought William L. Strong to public attention as a suitable candidate for Mayor. He was Chairman of the Republican Club's Campaign Committee of Fifty in the gubernatorial contest of 1891, presiding at the five great mass- meetings in New York City under its auspices. In recognition of his services in the presidential campaign of 1892, a dinner was given in his honor by the Republican Club in December of that year. In the presidential campaign of 1896, as well as in the municipal campaign of 1897, he was Chairman of the Committee on Speakers of the Repub; lican County Committee.
The Constitutional Amendment, increasing the membership of the New York Senate to fifty and that of the Assembly to one hundred and fifty, was originated by Mr. Smith in a Committee of the Republi- can Club. He advocated it before the Constitutional Convention of 1894, and it was adopted. Before the Committee on Cities of the Con- stitutional Convention he also defeated the proposition to give mayors of cities an unlimited veto of State legislation affecting their respec- tive eities. He was one of three Commissioners appointed by the Ap- pellate Division of the Supreme Court in 1897 to take testimony and report recommendations respecting the construction by the City of New York, at a cost of $35,000,000, of a system of rapid transit. The Commissioners recommended that such a road be built and put in operation. The general plan of the primary law enacted in 1898 originated with Mr. Smith, while he made the first draught. He also prepared a compendium of it, while he is engaged at the present time in its revision.
Born in Randolph, Vt., April 24, 1843, he is the son of Dr. John Spooner Smith and Catharine, daughter of Rev. James Sabine. The lat- fer was an Episcopal clergyman, who was a rector in London, England, Boston, Mass., and Bethel, Vt .; while his wife was the daughter of Isaac Danford, a distinguished English barrister. Mr. Smith's father was a physician at Randolph, Vt., for more than fifty years, being the leader of his profession throughout that region. He was, in turn, the son of Samuel Smith and his wife, Lney Woods, whose father was an officer in the Revolution. Captain Steele Smith, father of Samuel and great- grandfather of John Sabine Smith, was the founder of Windsor, Vt., he having led a band of pioneers to that plac - from Farmington, Conn. Mr. Smith also descends from Captain James Parker, of Groton, Mass., commander of the garrison at that place in 1676.
Ilaving prepared for college at the Orange County (Vt.) Grammar School, Mr. Smith entered Trinity College at the age of sixteen, and was graduated at the head of his class four years later, although he had been obliged to partially support himself by teaching. He had charge of a select school at Troy. N. Y., during the next four years,
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while during this time he also studied law with Judge George Gould and Judge Gardiner Stowe. He next taught for one year in Harring- ton's famous school at Throgg's Neck, Westchester County; after which (in 1868) he was admitted to the New York bar, and engaged in practice in the City of New York. He attracted attention by his sue- cess in a number of important and difficult cases, and has since en- joyed a large practice.
He has distinguished himself as Referee in a mimber of intricate and very important cases during the last few years.
ROOT, ELIHU, prominent lawyer of New York, was graduated from Hamilton College in 1864, studied law there and at the Uni- versity Law School, and since 1867 has been engaged in practice in New York City. He was counsel for Judge Hilton in the A. T. Stew- art will cases, and was counsel in the Broadway surface railroad case, the Sugar Trust contest, the Bedell forgery suits, and the acqueduct litigation. He proceeded before Mayor Grant for the removal of Mat- thews and Post, Dock Commissioners of New York City. He defended Robert Ray Hamilton in the suit of Eva Mann. In 1879 he was un- successful Republican candidate for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. By appointment of President Arthur he was United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1883 to 1885, and in this capacity prosecuted James D. Fish, president of the Marine Bank, for his connection with the Grant and Ward frands. In 1886 he was Chairman of the Republican County Committee of New York, having for several years been a member of its executive com- mittee. He was one of the leaders of the Committee of Thirty which revolted against the Republican machine in New York County in 1893-94, and effected a reorganization. He was a delegate-at-large to the Constitutional Convention of 1894, and was Chairman of its Judi- ciary Committee. He has been president of the Republican Club of the City of New York, and of the New England Society, and Vice- President of the Union League Club. He is also a member of the Metropolitan, Century, University, and Players' clubs. Born in Clin- ton, Oneida County, N. Y., February 15, 1845, he is the son of Oren Root, who, for thirty-six years, was professor of mathematics in Ham- ilton College. His paternal ancestors were long seated in New Eng- land.
ERVING, JOHN. has been engaged in the active practice of law in this city for more than forty years. He is a member of the Bar Association of the city and the Union League. City. and Harvard clubs. He married Cornelia. daughter of William Van Rensselaer and Sarah Rogers, of Albany, and has several daughters and two sons -- John Langdon Erving, of New York City, and William Van Rensselaer Erving, of Albany. Mr. Erving was born in 1833. and was
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graduated from Harvard in 1853. He is the son of the late Colonel John Erving, United States Army, and Emily S., daughter of Hon. John Langdon, who, in addition to many other distinguished honors, was Governor of New Hampshire for nine years, and United States Senator for twelve years. He is also descended from John Win- throp, Thomas Dudley, and General William Shirley. all of whom were Governors of Massachusetts, and thus traces his line from sev- eral English kings, and from Henry I. of France and his wife, Anne of Russia, daughter of the Grand Duke Jaroslaus.
NICOLL, DE LANCEY, was born in Bayside, L. I., in 1834, in 1874 was graduated from Princeton with high honors, in 1876 was grad- uated from Columbia College Law School, and successfully practiced law in this city for many years. In 1885 he became Assistant District Attorney under District Attorney Randolph B. Martine. The inde- pendent and Republican candidate for District Attorney in 1887, he was defeated by the Tammany candidate, the late John R. Fellows. In the fall of 1890 he was elected to this office on the Tammany ticket. At the conclusion of the term of three years he resumed the practice of law. He was a meniber of the Constitutional Convention of 1894. He married Maud Churchill. He is a member of the Union, Metro- politan, Tuxedo, Raequet, Riding, University, Manhattan, Princeton, Rockaway Hunting, Democratic, and Lawyers' clubs, and the Down- town Association. He is the son of Solomon Townsend Nicoll, a suc- cessful merchant of this city who married his cousin, Charlotte Ann Nicoll; is grandson of Benjamin Nicoll and Mary M., daughter of Ed- ward Holland, and is descended from William Nicoll, who married Anna, daughter of Patroon Jeremias Van Rensselaer and Maria Van Cortlandt, and from William Nicoll's father, Matthias Nicoll, who in 1664 accompanied to this country his uncle, the conqueror and Gov- ernor of New York, Sir Richard Nicoll, and himself became the first English Secretary of the Colony of New York, and was Governor's Councilor, Mayor of this city. Speaker of the Assembly, and Judge of the Court of Over and Terminer.
BRISTED, CHARLES ASTOR, lawyer, of this city, was born here in 1869, and is the son of the late distinguished Charles Astor Bristed by his second wife, Grace Ashburner, daughter of Charles Sedgwick of Lenox, Mass., and granddaughter of Hon. Theodore Sedgwick, Member of Congress, United States Senator, and Judge of the Massa- chusetts Supreme Court. Rev. John Bristed, his grandfather, was born in England and died in Rhode Island, while his wife, grand- mother of Mr. Bristed, was a daughter of the first John Jacob Astor of this city. He is also eighth in descent from Major-General Robert Sedgwick, who came to Massachusetts in 1635, and from John Dwight, who came over in 1634. Mr. Bristed was graduated from Trinity Col-
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lege, Cambridge, England, in 1893; studied law, and was admitted to practice in this city, and has followed his profession. He is a member of the Knickerbocker and Catholic clubs. In 1894, he married Mary Rosa, daughter of Edward C. Donnelly, of Grove Mount, Man- battanville, and has two daughters.
BACKUS, J. BAYARD, long engaged in the practice of law in New York City, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., September 20, 1853, and is a graduate of Union College. He was one of the founders of the University Athletic Club of New York, and was one of the seven incorporators of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, being now a member of its Board of Assistants. He is also a member of the Union College Alumni, the New England Society, and the Society of Colonial Wars. IIe married, in 1877, Cornelia N., daughter of Joshua C. Price, of Rockingham County, Virginia, and has a daugh- ter. Mr. Backus's interesting ancestry is set forth in Browning's " Americans of Royal Descent." He is the son of the late Dr. Jona- than Trumbull Backus and Ann E., daughter of the late Chancellor Walworth. His father was graduated from Columbia College, was a trustee of Union, and was Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly at Philadelphia in 1870, being one of the most eminent Presbyterian divines in the United States.
TRUAX, CHARLES HENRY, was a Justice of the Superior Court of this city for the term of fourteen years from 1880 to 1894. and in the fall of 1895 was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court for the term of fourteen years, beginning January 1. 1896. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1894. He either has been or is a trustee of the Mott Memorial Library, a trustee of the Holland Society, and a Governor of the Manhattan Club. For seven years he was a trustee of the Church of the Puritans. He owns one of the notable private libraries of the city, containing 10,000 carefully se- lected volumes, and gave a library of 1.250 volumes to Hamilton Col- lege. In addition to the organizations named, he is a member of the Democratic. New York Athletic, and Harlem clubs, and the St. Nicholas and Dunlap societies. Born in Durhamville, N. Y .. Oc- tober 31, 1846. he is the son of Henry Philip Truax and Sarah Ann, danghter of Gilbert Shaffer, and sister of the late Chauncey Shaffer, the well-known lawyer of this city. While he left Hamilton College in his junior year, Judge Truax subsequently received the degrees of A.M. and LL.D. . He taught school in Oneida County from 1862 to 1868. and. entering the law office of Chauncey Shaffer in New York City, at the end of a year was admitted to the bar, and engaged in practice. He is eighth in lineal descent from Philippe Du Trieux, one of the Walloons, who came over in 1623, and was Court Marshal of New Amsterdam under Peter Minnet in 1638. On February 9, 1871,
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he was married to Nannie C., daughter of Thomas Stone. She died, March 30. 1886, leaving two sons and two daughters.
HOWLAND, HENRY ELIAS, has been engaged in the practice of law in New York City since 1857. as partner for twenty-one years of John Sherwood. and subsequently with the late Henry H. Anderson, under the style of Anderson. Howland & Murray, of which well- known firm he is now the head. In 1873 Governor Dix appointed him to the Marine Court bench of this city, now the City Court. He was the unsnecessful Republican candidate for this bench the same year. In 1875 and 1876 he was an Alder- man of New York City. In 1881 he was President of the Department of Taxes. He was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1884. and for Judge of the Supreme Court in 1SS7. He is now President of the Board of Managers of the Manhattan State Hospital. He is also President of the Society for the Relief of Destitute Blind, Pres- ident of the Jekyl Island Club, President of the Meadow Club of Southampton, L. I .: is Governor- General of the Society of May- flower Descendants, is First Vice- President of the New England So- ciety, is a member of the Executive Committee of the Union League Club, is Secretary of the Century Chib, has been a member of the HENRY ELIAS HOWLAND. Council of the University Club since its organization, is also a member of the Metropolitan. Players. Republican. Shinnecock Hills Golf. and Adirondack League clubs. and the Downtown Association; is a mein- ber of the Corporation of Yale University. is a trustee of the New York Free Circulating Library, as he is also of the Marion Street Maternity Hospital: for many years has been connected with the State Charities Aid Association. is a Vestryman of the Church of the Ascension. Fifth Avenue. and is a member of the Bar Association of the City of New York. He was born in Walpole. N. H .. Jne 30. 1835. the son of Aaron P. Howland and Huldah Burke. He descends from Governor Silas Wright. of New York, and from John Howland. who came over on the first voyage of the Mayflower. He was edu- cated in the common schools of New Hampshire. prepared for college
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at Kimball's Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., and, entering Yale Col- lege at the age of fifteen, was graduated in 1854. subsequently re- ceiving the degree of Master of Arts. . He studied law with Judge Frederick Vose, and in 1857 was graduated from Harvard Law School. Judge Howland is a director of the Lawyers' Title Insurance Com- pany, the Lawyers' Mortgage Insurance Company, the Maritime Canal Company, of Nicaragua; the Continental Filter Company, and the Brearley School.
JAMES, EDWARD CHRISTOPHER, at twenty years of age inter- rupted his law studies to go to the front as Adjutant of the Fiftieth New York Volunteers, in April, 1861, and served until Angust, 1863, when he was honorably discharged on account of disability. He had risen to the rank of Colonel of the One Hundred and Sixth New York Volunteers, and at times had been in command of his brigade. Re- suming his legal studies at Ogdensburgh, N. Y., he was admitted to the bar in 1863, and in January of the following year began practice in partnership with llon. Stillman Foote. This association was con- tinued for ten years, after which Colonel James practiced alone at. Ogdensburgh for seven years. In 1881 he formed a partnership with his managing clerk, Alric R. Herriman, and leaving the Ogdensburgh business in his hands, removed to New York City, where he has since practiced. He is head of the law firm of James, Schell, Elkus& McGuire. In the case of People rs. New York Central and Hudson River Railway Company he established the right of the State to compel the operation of railways. He has defended many suits for the Manhattan Elevated Railway Company. He recovered from the New York Life Insurance Company a fifth interest in the Plaza Hotel as counsel for Mrs. Apple- ton, daughter of the late John Anderson, the wealthy tobacconist. Joseph H. Choate and William B. Hornblower were the opposing counsel. He has been counsel of Russell Sage in the suits of Laidlaw rs. Sage, connected with the Norcross bomb explosion, Mr. Choate being opposing counsel. He obtained a verdict of $37,500 for Mrs. Ellen Pollack in her suit against her father-in-law for alienating her husband's affections. He was conusel for the minority bond- holders in the reorganization proceedings of the East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia Railway Company. After a year's litigation he secured the withdrawal of the complaint in the suit of the bond- holders of the Kansas Pacific Railway Company to recover $11.000,000 from Russell Sage and the executors of the Jay Gould estate. He successfully defended Police Captain William S. Devery and Police In- spector Me Laughlin from charges growing out of the investigation by the Lexow Senate Committee, and seenred the reinstatement of the latter client. He is counsel for the widow's estate and the next of kin in the Faverweather will case now pending. He married, in 1864, Sarah Welles, daughter of Edward H. Perkins, of Athens, Pa., and
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has two daughters-Mrs. Grant C. Madill, of Ogdensburgh, and Mrs. Paulding Farnham. Mrs. James died in 1879. Colonel James was born in Ogdensburgh, May 1, 1841, and is the son of the late Hon. Amaziah Bailey James, who was a Justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1853 to 1877, and a member of Congress from 1877 until his death in 1883. He descends from Dr. Thomas James, who emigrated from Wales to Rhode Island with Roger Williams. His grandfather, Samuel B. James, was a lawyer, while his great-grandfather, Amos James, was also a lawyer, and was a commissioned cavalry officer during the Revolution. Colonel James's mother was the daughter of Captain Christopher Ripley, of the War of 1812; was the sister of. General Roswell S. Ripley, historian of the Mexican War, and was a niece of General James W. Ripley, who distinguished himself in the War of 1812 and in the Civil War. Through her Colonel James descends from Rev. John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers in Leyden, Holland, and from William Bradford, Sr., and William Brad- ford, Jr., Governors of Plymouth Colony.
ALLEN, ETHAN, soon after his graduation from Brown Univer- sity with honors in 1860, was admitted to the New York Bar, and during the war period was Deputy United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York. With William M. Evarts and others he represented the Government in the prosecution of the officers and crew of the Savannah for piracy, and was prominent in other notable cases. He was also commissioned Colonel in the recruit- ing service by Governor E. D. Morgan, and recruited the Blair Brig- ade. He was connsel in the famous Commodore Vanderbilt will con- test. In 1872 he was Chairman of the National Committee of the Liberal Republicans who nominated Horace Greeley for President. He is a member of the Union Leagne and other clubs, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Brown University Alumni Associa- tion. He was born in Mommonth County, New Jersey, the son of Samuel Fleming Allen, a soldier in the War of 1812, and grandson of Captain Samuel Allen, a Revolutionary officer. He married, in 1861, Eliza. daughter of Darius Clagett and Providence Brice, of distin- guished Maryland families.
AGAR, JOHN GIRAUD, head of the law firm of Agar, Ely & Fulton, has been prominently identified with the movement for reform in local government of the People's Municipal League of this city. In the Stare clection of 1891 he was Chairman of its Campaign Com- mittee, and through his activity the State candidates pledged them- selves to support the Australian system of voting by blanket ballot. Ile also early advocated the creation of a State naval militia, and September 2. 1891, was appointed by Governor Hill Lieutenant of
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the First Battalion, Naval Reserve Artillery of the State of New York. Although a Democrat, in June, 1881, he was appointed by President Garfield Assistant United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York. At the end of a year he resigned to organize his present law firm. He is a trustee of St. Patrick's Cathedral, a director of the Mathieson Alkali Works, and the National Starch Manufacturing Company, a member of the Union, Metropolitan, and other clubs, and has received the degrees of M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Georgetown. He was born in New Orleans, June 3, 1856, the son of William Agar, a native of County Carlow, Ireland, who became a prominent New Orleans merchant, and Theresa Price, of Louisville, Ky. He was graduated from the University of George- town, D. C., in 1876; in 1878 completed a course in biology and moral and mental science in the Roman Catholic University of Kensington, London, and in 1880 was graduated from the Columbia College Law School.
CONSTANT, SAMUEL VICTOR, has been engaged in the practice of law in New York City since 1882, and is solicitor in the United States of the Mercantile Marine Service Association of Great Britain. He has engaged in literary work along both scientific and historical lines, and is a member of the American Academy of Sciences, the American Oriental Society, the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Brit- ain, the American Historical Association, and the historical societies of New York and Virginia. He was the first to conceive and one of the organizers of the Society of Colonial Wars. After the death of Martha J. Lamb he carried on for a while the publication of the Magazine of American History as editor and proprietor. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation, and a member of its International Committee. He is a mem- ber of the Building Committee of Columbia University, and has been School Inspector in the Thirteenth District of the city. He is a - member of the Lawyers'. Psi Upsilon, and Baptist clubs; the Sons of the Revolution, the Founders and Defenders of America. the New York State Society of the Founders and Patriots of America. and the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. In 1876 he joined the Seventh Regiment, and is a member of the Seventh Regiment Veteran Association. He was born in this city. attended the Charlier Insti- tute and Dr. Anton's School, was graduated from Columbia College in 1880, and from Columbia College Law School in 1882. He is the son of the late Samuel S. Constant, a prominent manufacturer of this city, and traces his descent from many illustrious ancestors.
DAVIDSON. GEORGE TRIMBLE, has been engaged in the prac- tice of law in New York City since 1885, and has been prominent in the arrangement of a number of high social affairs. He was one of
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