USA > New York > Onondaga County > Onondaga's centennial. Gleanings of a century, Vol. II > Part 43
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preme Court from the fifth judicial district of the State, and at the following election in November was elected by a handsome majority to succeed Judge Le Roy Morgan. He was chosen for a full term of fourteen years, but died January 6, 1881, when only a third of it had expired.
Judge Noxon was a faithful, hardworking, and conscientious jurist, and was highly esteemed for his affability of manner, his kind and generous sympathy, and his many excellent traits of character. He will always be remembered by those who knew him with kindness and respect.
WILLIAM C. RUGER.
HON. WILLIAM CRAWFORD RUGER, chief judge of the Court of Appeals from 1883 until his death in 1892, was born in Bridgewater, Oneida county, N. Y., January 30, 1824, his father being John Ruger, a prominent lawyer of that place, whence he removed in 1847 to Syracuse, where he continued the prac- tice of his profession and died in 1855. He received a classi- cal education at the Bridge- water Academy and began the study of law in his father's office, where he remained until July, 1845, when he was ad- mitted to the bar under the old Supreme Court at Utica. Ile practiced in his native vil- lage until 1853, when he fol- lowed his father to Syracuse and formed a partnership with him under the name of John & William C. Ruger. From the time of his father's death until his elevation to the bench he was in constant practice in this city, being at various periods a member of the firms of Ruger & Lester, Ruger & Jenney, Ruger, Wallace & Jen- WILLIAM C. RUGER. ney, Ruger, Jenney, Brooks & French, and Ruger, Jenney, Brooks & Marshall. He was a life-long Democrat, and held several positions of trust and responsibility. He was a delegate to the famous Hunker Convention of 1849, the first State Judicial Convention in 1870, the National Convention of 1872, and the State Convention of 1877. In 1863 and again in 1865 he was the candidate of his party for member of Congress in a Republican stronghold and in the face of cer-
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tain defeat. He was the first president of the Onondaga Bar Association in 1875 and held that office three years, when he was succeeded by Judge Daniel Pratt. He was also president of the first State Bar Association, held in Albany in 1876, and was re- elected to that position in 1882.
In the fall of 1882 he received the nomination of his party for the exalted office of chief judge of the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, his Republican opponent and eventually his successor being Hon. Charles Andrews. Judge Ruger was triumphantly elected, and ably discharged the duties of that post until his death on January 14, 1892. He officiated with great dignity, ability, and credit, and won the confidence and respect of not only his associates on the bench, but of the pro- fession and public everywhere. He was the third chief judge elected to the present Court of Appeals.
On the 2d of May, 1860, Judge Ruger was married to Miss Harriet, eldest daugh- ter of Hon. Erastus S. Prosser, of Buffalo, N. Y., and they had one son, Crawford Prosser Ruger, who was born November 8, 1861, and who adopted his distinguished father's profession.
GEORGE NELSON KENNEDY.
HON. GEORGE NELSON KENNEDY was born in Marcellus, Onondaga county, Sep- tember 11, 1822, and descends on his mother's side from the Puritan settlers of New England. His paternal grandfather, George Kennedy, sr., emigrated from Ireland to America in 1760 and with his maternal grandfather, Ebenezer Dibble, partici- pated in the Revolutionary war and in the battle of Saratoga, where his mother's grandfather was killed. His father, George Kennedy, jr., came from Saratoga county to Marcellus about 1816 and in 1831 removed with his family to Skaneateles, where he remained three years that his children might have the advantages of the academy there.
When eighteen George N. was thrown upon his own resources, and his fortune and honorable career have been achieved through his own unaided exertions. He read law with Edmund Aikin in Marcellus, and was admitted to practice in the Court of Common Pleas of Onondaga county in 1842 and in the Supreme Court in 1844. He followed his profession in Marcellus until 1854, when he removed to Syracuse, where he has ever since resided. Here he formed a copartnership with Charles B. Scdg- wick and Charles Andrews under the style of Sedgwick, Andrews & Kennedy, which became one of the strongest law firms in Central New York, and which conducted an extensive professional business until Mr. Andrews was elected to the Court of Appeals bench in 1870. In November, 1867, Mr. Kennedy was elected to the State Senate from the 22d (Onondaga and Cortland) district and served in that body by re-election during the sessions of 1868, 1869, 1870, and 1871, or two terms. He was chairman of the committee on Salt and on Privileges and Elections and a member of the committees on Municipal Affairs, Indian Affairs, Salt, the Erection and Divis- ion of Towns and Counties, and others, and served with rare credit and distinction. He inaugurated the idea of withholding all public moneys from private, parochial. and sectarian schools, and introduced a resolution to that effect, the main elements
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of which, after nearly twenty-five years, were embodied in the new State Constitui- tion of 1894. At the expiration of his last term as senator he resumed the practice of the law as a member of the firm of Sedgwick, Kennedy & Tracy, which subse- quently became Kennedy & Tracy. November 6, 1883, he was elected justice of the Supreme Court of the Fifth district of New York and served in that capacity from June, 1884, to January 1, 1893, when he retired on account of the age limit. Dur- ing most of the term Judge Kennedy was upon the bench he was the only Supreme Court judge doing nisi prius work located at Syracuse, where a considerable portion of the business of the district of that character centers, and it is but just to say that the same was disposed of by him in a manner satisfactory to the public as well as with credit to himself.
Retiring from the bench he formed a copartnership with William G. Tracy, A. M. Mills, and Charles F. Ayling, as Kennedy, Tracy, Mills & Ayling, and thus contin- ued his professional business until May 1, 1895, when he withdrew from the firm and retired from active practice of the profession.
Judge Kennedy cast his first presidential vote for James K. Polk in 1844; in 1848 he was a member of the Buffalo Convention, which nominated Van Buren and Adams as the Free Soil candidates; afterwards he acted with the Democrats until 1854, when he joined with others who opposed the extension of slavery into the territories in organizing the Republican party, with which he has ever since affili- ated. In 1856 he went as a delegate to the National convention which nominated John C. Fremont for president. From 1858 to 1868 he was the Republican leader in Onondaga county and officiated as chairman of the county committee during most of that period.
As a lawyer Judge Kennedy conducted many important cases in the courts of On- ondaga and adjoining counties, and won an enduring reputation as an able, conscien- tious, and brilliant advocate and counselor. As a jurist his opinions and decisions were characteristically just, dignified, and clear. On the bench and in the office, before a court, or in private life, he has always sustained a courteons demeanor, and enjoys the confidence and respect of not only his associates and clients, but of all classes of citizens irrespective of party affiliations.
IRVING G. VANN.
HON. IRVING GOODWIN VANN, judge of the Court of Appeals, was born in the town of Ulysses, Tompkins county, N. Y., on the west shore of Cayuga Lake, January 3, 1842. His great-grandfather, Samuel Vann, was a native of New Jersey and a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war, and his grandfather, also named Samuel Vann, died in 1878, aged 106 years. His father, Samuel R., who was born in New Jersey, was a well-to-do farmer and spent most of his life in Ulysses, where he died in 1872. On his mother's side he descends from Richard Goodwin, his great-grandfather, who was born in New England, and whose son Richard, a native of Pennsylvania, settled early in the present century at Goodwin's Point, near Taughannock Falls, on Cayuga Lake. Joseph Goodwin, son of Richard, jr., served in the war of 1812, and
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was the father of Catherine H. Goodwin, who married Samuel R. Vann, the subject of this sketch being their only child.
Judge Vann spent his boyhood and youth upon his father's farm, engaged alter- nately at work and study. He received careful instruction from his mother, and pre- pared for college at Trumansburg and Ithaca Academies. In September, 1859, he entered the freshman class of Yale College and was graduated from that institution in 1863. During the next year he was principal of the Pleasant Valley High School near Owensboro, Ky., and although successful and urged to continue he resigned to begin the study of law, upon which he had determined as a profession. He entered the law office of Boardman & Finch, of Ithaca, and in the spring of 1865 was graduated from the Albany Law School. After spending a few months as clerk in the Treasury Department at Wash- ington he resigned and in Octo- ber, 1865, came to Syracuse, where he has ever since resided. Here he first became a clerk in the law office of Raynor & Butler, and in March, 1866, began to prac- tice his profession. Later he be- came at different periods a mem- ber of the firms of Vann & Fiske, Raynor & Vann, Fuller & Vann, and Vann, McLennan & Dillaye. He acquired an extensive client- age, and won the reputation of being one or the ablest lawyers in Central New York. He was one of the founders of the Onon- IRVING G. VANN. daga Bar Association, became successively its second and first vice-president and finally its president, and was also one of the founders ef the New York State Bar Association.
In politics Judge Vann has always been a liberal Republican. He has been active in several political campaigns, making speeches throughout the county, and in February, 1879, was unanimously nominated mayor by the Republicans and elected by nearly 1,000 plurality. His administration was characterized by the lowest taxes the city had known in many years and the lowest it has ever known since. He retired from office with every debt contracted during his term fully paid, and de- clined a renomination. In 1881 he was unanimously nominated by his party and elected a justice of the Supreme Court for the Fifth Judicial District. Ile ably and creditably discharged the duties of that office from January 1, 1882, until January, 1888, when he became, by the designation of the governor, a judge of the Court of Appeals, second division, which position he filled during the existence of that X
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tribunal. In November, 1895, he was re-elected to the Supreme Court bench, but subsequently resigned to accept the appointment on January 6, 1896, of judge of the Court of Appeals in place of Rufus R. Peckham, who was elevated to the United States Supreme Court.
Judge Vann organized Woodlawn Cemetery and has continuously served as its president. He was one of the founders and for several years has been president of the Century Club, and has served as president of the Onondaga Red Cross Society since its inception. In 1882 Hamilton College conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. He has a choice library of several thousand volumes, is fond of fishing and outdoor sports, and spends much of his leisure in the Adriondacks.
In 1870 Judge Vann married Florence, only daughter of the late Henry A. Dillaye, an old resident of Syracuse. They have two children: Florence Dillaye, born July 31, 1871, and Irving Dillaye, born September 17, 1875.
PETER B. McLENNAN.
HON. PETER B. McLENNAN, justice of the Supreme Court since 1893, was born in the town of Lyndon, Cattaraugus County, N. Y., December 3, 1850, and is a son of Collin and Ann (Frazer) McLen- nan, who came from Strathpef- fer, Rosshire, Scotland, in 1846, and settled on the homestead farm in Lyndon, where they have since resided. He is the second of six children, four of whom are sons following profes- sional careers in Syracuse. He remained on the farm and at- tended district school until the age of sixteen, when he entered the academic department of Alfred University in Allegany county, from which he passed to the regular college course and was graduated in 1873. This collegiate training was the result of his tireless energy of mind and body, and was obtain- ed by teaching school in winter and working on the farm in summer, using the money thus earned to defray the expenses PETER B. MCLENNAN. of the autumn and spring terms that he attended.
He early decided upon a professional career, and accordingly in September, 1873, came to Syracuse to read law in the office of Bookstaver & Kingsley, but after two
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months taught school in Geddes for a term of four months, when he resumed his law studies in the office of Fuller & Vann, with whom he remained until his admission to the bar at Rochester on October 6, 1876. Ile began the practice of bis profession in Syracuse alone, but three months later formed a partnership with Major E. O. Farrar, which continued one year. He was then a member of the law firm of Vann, McLennan & Dillaye until the election of its senior partner, Hon. Irving G. Vann, to the Supreme Court bench in 1881, when he organized the firm of Waters, Mc- Lennan & Dillaye, which continued until 1882.
Judge McLennan had now attained a wide reputation as an able lawyer, an in- passioned speaker, and a skillful examiner of witnesses. In all parts of the State he had an extensive practice in the trial of important cases and earned a measure of success of which he may well be proud. In 1882 he was appointed general counsel for the New York, West Shore & Buffalo Railroad Company, with headquarters in New York city, and continued in that capacity until the West Shore lines were con- solidated with the management of the New York Central. He then returned to Syr- acuse and practiced alone until Judge Forbes was elevated to the bench, when he became a member of the firm of Tracy, McLennan & Ayling, which continued until January, 1893.
In November, 1892, Judge McLennan was elected a justice of the Supreme Court from the Fifth Judicial District and has filled that exalted office with ability and dignity since January 1, 1893.
Judge McLennan has always been a staunch Republican. In 1888 he was ap- pointed by Mayor W. B. Kirk one of the special commissioners to report upon the best source of water supply for the city, and in 1889 he was continued as one of the regular board of commissioners to acquire the plant of the old water company and to construct and establish the present Skaneateles Lake system. Ile has also been counsel for the New York, Ontario & Western, the Syracuse, Ontario & New York, and the Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburgh Railroad Companies.
In December, 1881, Judge McLennan was married to Miss Belle Barron, of Addi- son, Steuben County, N. Y. They have one son and three daughters.
FRANK H. HISCOCK.
HON. FRANK H. HISCOCK, justice of the Supreme Court of the Fifth Judicial Dis- trict, was born in the town of Tully, Onondaga county. April 16, 1856, and moved to Syracuse with his parents when he was two years of age. After attending the pub- lic schools of this city he entered Cornell University when only fifteen years old, and was graduated therefrom with the class of 1875, taking one of the six commencement honors. In the following autumn he began the study of law with his uncle, Hon. Frank Hiscock, and was admitted to the bar as attorney in 1878 and as counselor in 1879. He commenced practice as a member of the firm of Hiscock, Gifford & Doheny, which upon the retirement of William H. Gifford became Hiscock, Doheny & Hiscock, consisting of Hon. Frank Hiscock, George Doheny, and the subject of this sketch. Judge Hiscock conducted a large part of the firm's heavy business, and as attorney for the creditors succeeded in setting aside the general assignment and
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other transfers of the former banking firm of Wilkinson & Co. In many other cases he also demonstrated his ability as a lawyer, and won the confidence and respect of both clients and opponents, as well as the esteem of the public.
Judge Hiscock is an unswerv- ing Republican, and has for many years taken an active in- terest in politics, being for a time until his appointment as judge a member of the Republican State Committee from this district. He was ap- pointed by Governor Morton justice of the Supreme Court of the Fifth district of the State of New York in January, 1896, for the remainder of that year, in place of Hon. Irving G. Vann, who was elevated to the Court of Appeals. In all probability Judge Hiscock will be nominated and elected to his present judicial position under the State Constitution of 1894 for a full term of fourteen years from January 1, 1897. He was an alumni trustee of Cornell University for five years from FRANK H. HISCOCK. 1889, and is a trustee of the State Bank of Syracuse and the Trust and Deposit Company of Onondaga, and a director in the Straight Line Engine and Whitman & Barnes Manufacturing Companies.
Judge Hiscock was married in 1879 to Miss Barnes, only daughter of the late George Barnes, of Syracuse.
N closing the Biographical Department of these volumes it seems appropriate to add brief sketches of the various journalists of Onon- daga county, whose fluent pens and business talent are guiding the political, moral, and social affairs in their respective communities at the close of the first century of the county's history. This collection in no wise represents the entire field of journalism; it preserves, however, a fairly complete account of the leading editors and publishers of the several daily and weekly newspapers which popularly mirror public opinion and events, and which reflect from day to day and from week
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to week the trend of contemporaneous thought, sentiment, manners, customs, and literature. Efforts were made to present with each sketch an engraving of the subject, but unfortunately in a few instances snit- able photographs for this purpose could not be readily obtained. The whole, however, is tendered at no little expense and labor as a fitting tribute to a profession whose members are necessarily endowed with rare talent, tact, energy, perseverance, discrimination, and adaptability.
LEWIS HI REDFIELD.
LEWIS HAMILTON REDFIELD, the pioneer printer and publisher of Onondaga Valley and one of the leading journalists of early Onondaga, was born in Farmington, Conn., November 26, 1792, and moved with his father, Peleg, to Suffield about 1794. Peleg Redfield was a soldier in Washington's army during the Revolutionary war, and in 1799 came with his family to near Clif- ton Springs, Ontario county, N. Y., which then consisted of a solitary log cabin. There they suffered all the vicissitudes in- cident to frontier life.
Lewis H. Redfield, during his youth, shared in the labors on the farm, and attended such transient schools as were opened in the neighborhood, but he was his own chief instructor and read every book within his reach. He was apprenticed by his parents as a printer to James D. Bemis, publisher of the Ontario Reposi- tory at Canandaigua, and at the end of a period of six years had thoroughly mastered the trade and acquired a large fund of general information. He then LEWIS H. REDFIELD. sought a place for a business opening and finally decided upon Onondaga Valley, or Hollow, as it was then called. This village and that on the Hill were then among the chief business cen- ters in the county, and contained many eminent men and residents, who gave the young printer every encouragement. With their support and with the aid of his former employer, Mr. Bemis, he began the publication of the Onondaga Reg- ister on September 17, 1814, the printing office being purchased of or through Mr. Bemis for $1,400. The Register was an exponent of Jeffersonian Democracy, and
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being successful in supplying news of the war it reached what was then a large cir- culation. Mr. Redfield practiced strict economy, and by his industry, perseverance, and ability soon won a wide prestige, and at the end of the first year the office was free from debt. After the war closed he found a still more interesting topic for dis- cussion in his columns in the projected canal from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Judge Joshua Forman, then living at the Valley and one of the most powerful advo- cates of the enterprise, wrote a series of articles for the Register in its favor, and at the same time Mr. Redfield's pen was eloquent and untiring in its behalf. In view of these stirring events it is not too much to say that the Register was for sev- eral years nearly or quite at the head of the country newspapers of the State in char- acter and influence.
But the canal favored neither the Valley nor Salina by passing through one of those points, as Judge Forman at different times advocated, and in submission to the wonderful changes produced by its construction through the then village of Syr- acuse, which sprung into existence and in 1825 was incorporated, and the subsequent (1829) removal of the county seat from the Hill to that place. Mr. Redfield trans- ferred his newspaper to Syracuse and consolidated it with the Syracuse Gazette (be- gun by John Durnford in 1823) under the name of the Onondaga Register and Syra- cuse Gazette. For its accommodation he erected a four-story building on the site of the present Onondaga County Savings Bank, where he also conducted a book store. In 1832, owing to impaired health, he disposed of his newspaper property to Sherman & Clark, who changed the name to the Syracuse Argus and about two years later suspended publication. Mr. Redfield continued the book business twelve years longer, when he retired with a competency. At intervals thereafter he devoted his attention to various enterprises and profitable real estate operations.
Mr. Redfield in many ways exerted a wholesome influence upon the growing vil- lage, and was enthusiastic in its adornment and improvement. He was elected its president in 1834, and was instrumental in the securing and establishment of Forman Park. He seldom permitted his name to be used for public office, but in 1872, at the age of eighty years, he was complimented by the Democratic vote of the State for presidential elector. He was for thirty years a director in the old Bank of Salina and later held a similar position in the Salt Springs National Bank.
He never ceased to take pride in the fact that he was a practical printer, and in the printing offices of the village and city he was always welcome. As a journalist he left a lasting imprint of his remarkable individuality upon the local profession, which time will render more brilliant and enduring. An ardent lover of nature he continuously held to the faith that there were few fairer spots than the beautiful valley wherein he passed most of his life. He died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. James L. Bagg, in Syracuse, July 14, 1882, aged nearly ninety years, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery beneath a shaft bearing this inscription, prepared by himself: "Lewis H. Redfield, printer-a worn and battered form gone to be recast more beautiful and perfect."
Mr. Redfield was married February 7, 1820, to Miss Ann Maria, daughter of Na- thaniel H. Tredwell, of Plattsburg, N. Y., and they were the parents of four daugh- ters and three sons: Mrs. Cornelius T. Longstreet, Mrs. James L. Bagg, Mrs. Will- iam H. H. Smith, Jane K., George Davis, Lewis H., jr., and Charles T.
Mrs. Redfield was born in the village of L'Original, Upper Canada, January 17,
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1800, and died in Syracuse on June 15, 1888. She was educated under Miss Emma Willard and took a post-graduate course at Clinton, N. Y., and was preceptress of the Onondaga Academy for a time. She was the author of a popular work, " Zoolog- ical Science, or Nature in Living Forms," a book commended by Professor Agassiz as one that "would do credit to a majority of college professors." She was one of the best known women in Central New York, and for more than sixty-five years watched with interest the growth and development of Onondaga and Syracuse.
VIVUS W. SMITH.
HON. VIVUS W. SMITH, one of the foremost of early Syracuse journalists, was born in Lanesboro, Berkshire county, Mass., January 27, 1804. His grandfather, Jared Smith, was a Revolutionary soldier; his father, Silas, who died about 1824, came from a family whose history is prominently connected with that of New England, and whose descendants have wielded a potent influence in the civil and political life of their respective communities. Vivus W. was one of seven sons and two daughters, and spent his youth upon the parental farm, obtaining such education as the schools of the time afforded. During the last year of his minority he read law in the office of George N. Briggs, of Lanesboro, and after a short experience on a newspaper 111 Westfield, Mass., he came to Onondaga Hill and purchased of Cephas S. McConnell the Onondaga Journal, which had been established in 1816 by Evander Morse as the Onondaga Gazette. Upon the removal of the county seat to Syracuse in 1829 Mr. Smith moved the paper to this then thriving village, and with John F. Wyman as a partner, consolidated it with the Syracuse Advertiser under the name of the Onon- daga Standard. Mr. Smith continued as editor until 1832, when Mr. Wyman retired, aad soon afterward he withdrew. March 20, 1887, he started the Western State Journal, a Whig paper, his partner being his brother, Silas F. This paper subse- quently became the Syracuse Journal, and has almost continuously remained wholly or partly in the family down to the present time.
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