USA > New York > Onondaga County > Onondaga's centennial. Gleanings of a century, Vol. II > Part 42
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Mr. Belden taught school in Fabius and in 1841 married Rozelia Jackson, of Delphi; in 1854 moved to Geddes and in 1870 to Syracuse.
Mr. Belden's first contract in the constrection of public works was a portion of the Binghamton Railroad. Later he became a member of the firm of Denison, Belden & Co. and during a period of twenty years, had large contracts in the United States and Canada.
Mr. Belden was president of the Syracuse Solar Salt Company, president of the Cape Cod Salt Company and was director in the Syracuse Water Company until the plant was sold to the city. He built and was for years general manager of the Syracuse Northern Railroad and also of the Chenango Valley Road. He was vice- president of, and with his brother, James J. Belden, founded the Robert Gere Bank. Mr. Belden was president of the board of trustees of the First Presbyterian church for many years, and at the time of his death, March 19, 1896. He held many posi- tions of trust and was identified with the progress and welfare of Syracuse, where he had large investments in real estate. He was in all respects an excellent citizen, exceedingly kind-hearted, persistent in occupation, and faithful to his neighbor and to every trust. He was withal an excellent adviser, for long practical experience in the world's affairs and excellent judgment fitted him to be. Few lives are more busy, more productive of benefits to the world, or more successful than was his.
Mr. Belden is survived by his wife and three sons: Alvin Jackson, James Mead, and Charles Gilbert, all residents of Syracuse.
T `HE following biographical sketches and engravings represent every citizen of the county of Onondaga who has held judicial honors above the county courts, and for the first time in the history of this county have been collected and preserved, by the publishers of these volumes at considerable expense and labor. These subjects, all former or
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present residents of Onondaga, have distinguished themselves upon the benches of the District or Circuit Courts, the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals of the State of New York, or the United States Supreme Court, and their memories and lives brilliantly grace the pages of local annals. The originals from which at least two of the plates were made are very rare and valuable, only one of each of Judge Moseley and Judge Jewett being known to be in existence-the former a large engraving in the county clerk's office, the latter a daguerreotype in the possession of Mrs. William Marvin, of Skaneateles. This collection is here presented in permanent form as a tribute, not only to the legal profession, but to the citizens of the entire county, whose esteem for these deceased and living jurists lends a fitting charm to their eminent careers.
DANIEL MOSELEY.
HON. DANIEL MOSELEY, judge of the Circuit Court from 1829 to 1844, was a son of Pliny Moseley, and came from Westfield, Mass., to Onondaga Valley on horseback at a very early day. He read law with Forman & Sabine, and in 1809 began the practice of his profession at the Hill, where he lived in the large dwelling house now occupied by John Q. Fellows. He was niade master in chancery March 21, 1811, and admit- ted as counselor in the Su- preme Court October 27, 1820. February 14, 1821, he was ap- pointed clerk of Onondaga county and in November, 1822, was elected to that office, which he held until the end of the year 1825. He was admit- ted to the District Court of Northern New York January 29, 1822, and as solicitor and counselor in the Equity Court for the Seventh Circuit in February, 1826. In 1827 he represented his district in On- ondaga county in the State Legislature.
DANIEL MOSELEY.
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Judge Moseley distinguished himself in these various positions by his strict ap- plication to duty and his profound knowledge of the law. Hle discharged every trust with a thoroughness which won for him a warm place in the esteem and affec- tions of his constituents. His legal attainments had attracted the attention of the chief officers of the commonwealth, and on January 16, 1829, Gov. Martin Van Buren appointed him judge of the Seventh Circuit of the State of New York in place of Hon. Enos T. Throop, resigned. Judge Moseley ably and conscientiously filled this position until April 7, 1844, when he was succeeded by Hon. Bowen Whiting. He died October 3, 1851, aged sixty-five years. His son, William T. Moseley, for some time a merchant at the Hill, died February 11, 1876, at the age of sixty. Another son, Charles, was a farmer two miles south of the village. Two granddaughters are living: Lucy A., wife of Dr. F. O. Donohue, of Syracuse, and Miss Alice L. Moseley, of Skaneateles.
FREEBORN G. JEWETT.
HON. FREEBORN G. JEWETT, one of the first four judges of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, and the first man from Onondaga county to hold a position on the bench of that tribunal, was born in Sharon, Conn., in 1791, began the study of law with Henry Swift, of Dutchess coun- ty, and finished in the office of Colonel Young, of Ballston, N. Y. He was admitted as attor- ney in 1814 and counselor in 1817, and commenced the prac- tice of his profession in Skan- eateles, Onondaga county, with Hon. James Porter. In 1815 he was appointed master in chancery by Governor Tomp- kins and in 1817 became a jus- tice of the peace for the then town of Marcellus, a position he held for about six years. In 1822 he was appointed exam- iner in chancery by Governor Clinton and reappointed by both Governors Yates and Throop. In February, 1824, he was appointed by De Witt Clin- ton surrogate of Onondaga FREEBORN G. JEWETT. county and in 1827 was reap- pointed by Governor Yates, holding the office until 1831. In 1825 he was elected to the Assembly, leading his ticket in the county, and in 1828, being elected presiden- tial elector, cast his vote for Andrew Jackson for president. In 1831 he was
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elected to the XXIId Congress and two years later declined a renomination, pre- ferring to devote his attention to the practice of law. In 1832 he was admitted as attorney and counselor in the U. S. Supreme Court, and in 1836 was appointed by Governor Marcey a Supreme Court commissioner for the county of Onondaga, being reappointed to the same office in 1838, in which year he was appointed one of the inspectors of the State Prison at Auburn. In 1839 he was appointed district attorney of Onondaga county and filled that office for about six months.
Judge Jewett was appointed in March, 1845, by Governor Wright, one of the jus- tices of the old Supreme Court in place of Hon. Greene C. Bronson, deceased, and upon the organization of the Court of Appeals in 1847, under the State Constitution of 1846, he was elected one of the first four judges of that exalted tribunal. He was re-elected to the same office in November, 1849, and served on the bench until June, 1853, when he was obliged to resign on account of ill health. He died in Skaneateles in January, 1858.
Judge Jewett was a man of great executive ability, honorable, reliable, judicious, sound of judgment, and discriminating. A thorough scholar of rare mental attain- ments he was profoundly versed in the science of the law, and as a jurist won the esteem, confidence, and respect of not only his associates on the bench, but of the members of the bar and the public at large. His opinions were characterized by that conciseness of thought and clearness of expression which command universal attention and the utmost respect. On the bench he was dignified, while in private and public he was kind, sympathetic, genial, and benevolent. He took a just pride in the growth and prosperity of the village of Skaneateles, where he resided during his active career, and whose development from a mere hamlet to a thrifty corporation he witnessed with a keen interest and great satisfaction. He was prominently identi- fied, either officially or otherwise, with many of its leading institutions, and always contributed to every project which promised benefit and advancement th e com- munity. There his deeds are treasured, his memory revered, and his name and in- dividuality are stamped upon the pages of history. He was a self-made man, and rose gradually from the humblest sphere in life to the loftiest place in the jurispru- dence of the State, where he left a brilliant record.
He built the present handsome brick residence of Hon. William Marvin in Skan- eateles, and had but little more than completed and moved into it when he was re- moved by death. A rare daguerreotype of him, from which the accompanying plate was made for this work, is in the possession of Mrs. Marvin. Judge Jewett's only son, William H. Jewett, was born in Skaneateles in 1816, was educated at Yale Col- loge, adopted his father's profession, served several years as a justice of the peace, and died in his native village, much respected and esteemed, on August 29, 1859.
DANIEL PRATT.
HON. DANIEL PRATT, justice of the Supreme Court from 1847 to December, 31, 1859, was born in Greenwich, Washington county, N. Y., August 22, 1806, and was a son of William Pratt, a native of Massachusetts, who died February 10, 1829. He was graduated from Union College in 1835, and the same year came to Camillus, Onon- daga county, and read law with David D. Hillis. In 1836 he settled in Syracuse,
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and was admitted to the bar in July, 1837, along with Hon. George F. Comstock and Charles B. Sedgwick. He commenced the practice of his profession with his old preceptor. February 23, 1843, he was appointed by Governor Bouck first judge of Onondaga county, which position he held until June, 1847, when he was elected a justice of the Supreme Court, being one of the four justices elected on the 7th of that month for the fifth judicial district under the new State Constitution of 1846. November 4,'1851, he was re-elected for a full term of eight years. He retired from the bench enjoying the unreserved confidence of the people he had so long served, both as to his unquestioned integrity and his judicial ability. While serving in this
capacity Hamilton and Union Colleges each conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D.
Judge Pratt resumed the prac- tice of law in Syracuse on Jan- uary 1, 1860, in partnership with David J. Mitchell, and in 1862 Wilber M. Brown was admitted to the firm, which for fifteen years ranked among the foremost in the State. In 1872 he was ap- pointed by Governor Hoffman one of the commissioners from the fifth judicial district to revise the Constitution of the State, and in November, 1873, he was elected attorney-general, a position he filled with honor for two years. He died July 23. 1884.
July 5, 1838, Judge Pratt mar- ried Miss Sara Maria Rowe, of Camillus, who died September DANIEL PRATT. 11, 1872, aged sixty six. Their children were William (drowned while young), George Comstock (died young), Charles, and Daniel. In December, 1881, he married, second, Mrs. Augusta M. Hurd, who survives him.
GEORGE F. COMSTOCK.
HON. GEORGE FRANKLIN COMSTOCK, judge of the Court of Appeals from 1855 to 1861, was born in Williamstown, Oswego county, N. Y., August 24, 1811, and died in Syracuse on September 27, 1892. His father, Serajah Comstock, a native of Con- necticut, enlisted in the Revolutionary army when a youth and served until the last enemy surrendered in his presence at Yorktown. Soon afterward he removed to Williamstown, where he died in the boyhood of his son.
Judge Comstock received in early life a public school education and engaged in
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teaching, and in 1834 was graduated with high honor from Union College. He then taught ancient languages for a time in a classical school in Utica, and while there also began the study of law. In 1835 he became a law student in the office of B. Davis Noxon and Elias W. Leavenworth, of Syracuse, and in 1837 was admitted to the bar. He commenced and for several years continued the practice of his profes- sion in this city, becoming one of the foremost lawyers of his time. In 1846 he was appointed by Governor Young reporter of the Court of Appeals, and the first four volumes of New York Reports were the result of his three years' work in that ca- pacity. In 1849 he aided in organizing the Syracuse Savings Bank, and was one of its incorporators. In 1852 President Fillmore called him to the office of the solicitor of the Treasury of the United States, where he served during the remainder of that presidential term.
In 1855 Judge Comstock was elected judge of the old Court of Appeals in place of Hon. Charles H. Ruggles, resigned, and ably filled that exalted position until the ex- piration of the term in 1861, when he was renominated by the Democrats, but suffered defeat along with the rest of their ticket. He had now attained a recognized repu- tation throughout the State as second to no lawyer in practice. His judicial de- cisions had given him wide distinction, and his aid was sought in cases involving the most important prin- ciples and the largest inter- ests. At the solicitation of the heirs of the chancellor he edited Kent's Commen- taries, and in 1868 was a member of the Constitu- tional Convention for the State at large. In this lat- ter capacity he and ex- Chief Judge Folger are credited with the chief for- mation of the new judicia- ry article which was adopt- ed by that body and passed by a vote of the people.
Judge Comstock took an active interest in founding and supporting educational GEORGE F. COMSTOCK. and benevolent institu- tions, and in 1869 initiated the movement which located Syracuse University in this city, donating one-half of the $100,000 necessary for the purpose. He was one of its trustees from the time of its organization in 1870 until his death and forseveral years served as
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vice-president of the board. He was virtually one of the founders of the present St. John's School for Boys at Manlius and presented it with $60,000 to effect some necessary changes. He was one of the incorporators and an original director of the Syracuse, Chenango & New York Railroad in 1868, a trustee of the New York State Asylum for Feeble Minded children at Syracuse, the originator and president of the American Dairy Salt Company, treasurer of the Union and Western Coarse Salt Companies, a director in the Syracuse Gas Light and Water Companies, and officially connected with various other manufacturing and commercial corporations. He took a keen interest in the prosperity and growth of Syracuse, and co-operated in public movements to the benefit of the entire community. He was enterprising, energetic, and benevolent, kind-hearted, sympathetic, and progressive, a true gentle- man, and a friend of humanity.
He was married in 1839 to Miss Cornelia Noxon, daughter of B. Davis Noxon, one of his old law preceptors, of Syracuse.
LE ROY MORGAN.
HON. LE ROY MORGAN, justice of the Supreme Court from 1859 to 1875, was born in Pompey, Onondaga county, March 27, 1810, being the eldest son of Lyman Morgan, one of the pioneer farmers in the settlement of that town. He was graduated from Pompey Acad- emy in 1830, and for two winters preceding that and one following it he taught school in Volney, Oswego county, and in Pompey, where in 1830 he began the study of law in the office of Hon. Daniel Gott, having A. H. Jerome, after- ward surrogate, and H. J. Sedg- wiek as his fellow students. In 1831 he moved to Manlius village and finished his studies with Hon. Samuel L. Edwards. He was admitted to practice in the court of Common Pleas in 1833 and became an attorney and coun- selor in the Supreme Court of the State in 1834. He remained in Manlius practicing his profession until 1839, when he removed to Baldwinsville, where he success- fully continued until 1851. While there he was appointed by the LE ROY MORGAN. governor district attorney of On- ondaga county, serving from 1843 to 1848 with marked ability and fidelity. In 1851
W
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he came to Syracuse and formed a copartnership with David D. Hillis, with whom he continued till the latter's death in 1859.
Judge Morgan, in early life, had been a Democrat, but upon the organization of the Republican party he became one of its ardent supporters. He strenuously re- sisted encroachments of the slave power, earnestly advocated the election of Fremont for president, and was one of the leading counsel for the rescuers in the famous Jerry Rescue trials. In the fall of 1859 he was elected by the Republicans as justice of the Supreme Court for the Fifth Judicial District of the State, for the then term of eight years, and so satisfactory to the bar and the people was his administration of this high office that he was re-elected for another eight years, without opposition, the Democrats giving him their support. When this term expired in 1876 he re- sumed the practice of his profession in Syracuse, where he continued until his death on May 15, 1880.
Judge Morgan won the esteem and respect of not only his associates on the bench and his brethren of the bar, but of every one, high and low, with whom he came in contact. He was uniformly courteous, dignified, sympathetic, kind, and benevolent. He was an able, conscientious lawyer, a safe counselor, and an honorable gentle- man, and as a jurist his opinions are models of his good sense and enduring evi- dences of his great industry and learning.
In 1832 he married Miss Elizabeth C., daughter of Matthew B. Slocum, of Pompey, and sister of the late Major-Gen. Henry W. Slocum, of Syracuse and afterward of Brooklyn, N. Y. Their children were Theodore Le Roy, librarian of the Court of Appeals Library of Syracuse; Frederick C., also of Syracuse; Mrs. N. M. White, of Baldwinsville; Mrs. Leary, wife of Lieutenant Leary, U. S. A. ; and Col. Charles H., U. S. A., who gained renown in the Civil war and died in San Francisco, Cal.
CHARLES ANDREWS.
HON. CHARLES ANDREWS, chief judge of the Court of Appeals since 1892, was born in New York Mills, Whitestown, Oneida county, N. Y., May 27, 1827, and received his preliminary education in the common schools and at Cazenovia Seminary. At an early age he decided upon the law as a profession and accordingly pursued his legal studies in the office of Sedgwick & Outwater, of Syracuse. He was admitted to the bar in January, 1849, and immediately began practice in the then young and growing city of Syracuse, where many distinguished lawyers were entering upon their careers or had already attained prominence in the forensic arena. In 1851 he formed a copartnership with Charles B. Sedgwick under the firm name of Sedgwick & Andrews, which continued until 1855, when Hon. George N. Kennedy was ad- mitted. The firm of Sedgwick, Andrews & Kennedy continued in successful practice and enjoyed a wide prestige until the elevation of Mr. Andrews to the bench of the Court of Appeals in 1870.
In 1853 Judge Andrews was elected district attorney of Onondaga county for a period of three years. He was mayor of Syracuse in 1861, 1862, and 1868, and took an active part in securing the location of Syracuse University, of which he has ever since been a valued trustee, being one of the original five representing this city. In
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1867 he was elected a delegate at large to the State Constitutional Convention which assembled at Albany in 1868. In these various capacities he won a high reputation for ability, fidelity, and integrity.
May 17, 1870, he was elected associate judge of the reorganized Court of Appeals and began his term on July Ist of that year. When Chief Judge Charles J. Folger
retired to accept the secre- taryship of the Treasury in November, 1881, he was appointed his successor by Governor Cornell, and in the fall of 1882 was a can- didate for this exalted office on the Republican ticket, but was defeated by the late William C. Ruger, of Syracuse. November 4, 1884, he was re-elected as- sociate judge for a second term of fourteen years, having been nominated with the late Judge Charles A. Rapallo by both political parties. In the fall of 1892 he was elected to his pres- ent position as chief judge of the Court of Appeals in place of Judge Ruger, de- ceased. Meanwhile Ham- ilton and Columbia Col- leges had conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. As a jurist Judge Andrews hasofficiated with CHARLES ANDREWS. great dignity, ability, and justice, and has won the confidence and esteem of not only his associates on the bench but the respect of both the members of the bar and the public. His opinions are models of judicial logic and reasoning, and command wide attention. Endowed with qualifications of a rare order, and possessing a profound knowledge of the law, he ranks high in the jurisprudence of the State, and occupies a foremost position in the bar.
Judge Andrews was married in 1855 to a daughter of the late Judge William H. Shankland, of Cortland, N. Y., and has two sons: Charles W. and William S., both prominent lawyers of Syracuse.
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WILLIAM J. WALLACE.
HON. WILLIAM JAMES WALLACE, judge of the United States Circuit Court for the second judicial district since April, 1882, is a son of E. Fuller and Lydia (Wheelwright) Wallace, early settlers of Syracuse, and was born in this city April 14, 1838. He was prepared for college with the view of entering Dartmouth, from which his father was graduated, but having decided upon the law as his profession he pursued a course of preparatory studies under Hon. Thomas Barlow, of Canastota, which oc- cupied a period of three years, when he began the study of law. After reading law one year he entered the law department of Ham- ilton College, of which Prof. Theodore W. Dwight was then the pre- ceptor, and was gradu- ated and took his degree from that institution in 1858. He was then ex amined and recommend- ed for admission to the bar by a committee con sisting of Hon. Roscoe Conkling, Hon. Ward Hunt, and Hon. J. Wy- man Jones, and on this occasion made the ac- quaintance of Senator Conkling, which ripened into an intimate friend- ship that lasted until the death of that eminent statesman.
WILLIAM J. WALLACE.
On the day he became twenty-one years of age, Judge Wallace com- menced the practice of his profession in Syra- cuse in co-partnership with Hon. William Por- ter. Later he was asso- ciated withLevi W. Hall,
Hon. William C. Ruger, and Edwin S. Jenney. In 1873 he was elected mayor of the city on the Republican ticket, running against the late Hon. Elizur Clark, the Democratic nominee. In March, 1874, President Grant appointed him a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York to succeed Hon. Nathaniel K. Hall, of Buffalo, but a native of Skaneateles, who received the appoint- ment to the place while Postmaster-General in the cabinet of President Fillmore. In April, 1882, Judge Wallace was appointed by President Chester A. Arthur judge
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of the United States Circuit Court for the second judicial district, comprising the States of New York, Vermont, and Connecticut, which exalted office he still holds. He succeeded Hon. Samuel Blatchford, who was elevated to the bench of associate justice of the U. S. Supreme Court.
Judge Wallace has exercised the duties of his judicial positions with great dignity, honor, and credit, and has won not only the respect, confidence, and esteem of his associates on the bench, but of both the bar and the public. He is one of the most illustrious sons of Onondaga, which will ever honor him as one of her conspicuous and distinguished citizens. In 1876 Hamilton College conferred upon him the de- gree of LL. D. and in 1883 Syracuse University presented him with a similar honor.
Judge Wallace married for his first wife Miss Josephine Robbins, of Brooklyn, N. Y. She died in 1874, and in 1878 he married, second, Alice Heyward Wheelwright, of New York city. Judge Wallace and his family have resided in Albany since 1882.
JAMES NOXON.
HON. JAMES NOXON, justice of the Supreme Court from 1875 to 1881, was a son of B. Davis Noxon, a prominent member of the bar of Central New York, and was born at Onondaga Hill in 1817. He was educated at Pomeroy Academy, spent two years in Hamilton College, and was graduated from Union College in 1838. He read law in Sy- racuse in his father's office, and after his admission to the bar entered the firm of Noxon, Comstock & Leavenworth. Later he became connected with the firm of Noxon & Put- nam, and in 1843 formed a copartnership with his brother, B. Davis Noxon, jr. Subse- quently he was associated in practice with Sidney T. Fair- child, of Cazenovia, and with George D. Cowles. He became prominent as an able, con- scientious lawyer, a safe coun- JAMES NOXON. selor, and a thoroughly honor- able gentleman. He was elected State Senator from Onondaga county in 1856, and re-elected to that office in 1858.
In September, 1875, Judge Noxon was nominated for office of justice of the Su-
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