USA > New York > Madison County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York > Part 48
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The record of schools in the town of Eaton is traceable back to about the beginning of the century, when a Miss Osmond taught on the site of Eaton village, in 1804. That was the first school at that point. The house stood upon the Cemetery grounds and was burned about 1806. The next school was kept in a private house a mile below the village by a Mr. Roberts. It is remembered that one of the early pupils in that school was Charles Finney, who became a noted ministerial revivalist and president of Oberlin College, Ohio. The early school house that was burned was succeeded by a two story brick building, which was the first brick structure in the town. The ground on which it stood was do- nated by Esquire Eldred and it was believed by some, who objected to the proximity of the school to their property, that if it could be removed elsewhere the site would be turned into a public square. During a num- ber of years various pretexts were advanced for the removal of the school and finally the building was taken down, about 1835. The ground did not revert to the village for public purposes and the folly of removing the school was soon generally acknowledged. After the demolition of the brick school house a frame structure was erected, in 1836, which
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EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.
building was in use forty years later as a blacksmith shop by W. L. Clark. Among the teachers in this school building were Ralph Thompson and Henry I. Sherrill. The building at present in use by the school was erected in 1852 at a cost of $1,800. In early years there was a good select school taught in this village and later, in 1836, Ellis Morse established a private academy. This institution continued ten years with a fair degree of prosperity and employed among its teachers Dr. James Eels, after- wards of Lane Theological Seminary; Rev. Dr. Kendall, subsequently of New York city; Rev. Henry Nelson, D. D., and Benjamin F. Taylor, the well known poet.
The village of West Eaton in this town comprises the district No. 3. This was organized asa Union free school under the general law and an attractive and convenient building erected at a cost of $3,600. The building committee were Ira B. Tayntor, J. J. Darrow, and Joshua Wells. The first school house in this district was built probably as early as 1810 and the first teacher was Thomas Hubbard.
The Yates Polytechnic Institute, town of Sullivan, Chittenango vil- lage, was, many years ago, a somewhat noted institution, which was founded in 1824 by Hon. John B. Yates, who purchased for its accom- modation a large and handsome building erected in 1814-15 by a stock company for a tavern. Under the presidency of his brother, Rev. An- drew Yates, and at great pecuniary loss, John B. Yates sustained the school during eight years with a corps of six teachers. It was then closed for want of adequate support. In 1837 and 1838 the building was again used as a hotel. On the death of Mr. Yates, in 1836, the building became the property of Henry Yates, who deeded it to trustees for educational purposes and changed the name from its original style, " The Polytechny" to the Yates Polytechnic Institute. In 1837 an acedemic school was opened in the building by Rev. George W. Thomp- son, who continued it five years. William Velasko, now of Syracuse, succeeded as principal in 1843 and successfully directed the institution until 1861. During the succeeding ten years the school was continued with gradually diminishing success under four different principals and in 1877 was merged in the Union free school of Chittenango.
The Yates Union Free School District No. 2 of Sullivan was organ- ized August 14, 1871, by a union of districts Nos. 2 and 17, in accord- ance with a vote of 101 to 8 in favor of the measure. On the 18th of August, 1871, the following nine trustees were elected members of a Board of Education: Robert Kennedy, P. J. Flaherty, C. V. Har-
30
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
bottle, James S. Atwell, J. Hobart, H. French, Charles Kellogg, Ly- man Gay, J. J. L. Baker and Albert H. Downer. This board was authorized to adopt the Yates Polytechnic Institute as the academic department of the union school, which they did August 25, 1871. On the 21st of August, 1871, Charles Kellogg was elected president of the board and J. J. L. Baker, clerk; they were re-elected in the fall of the following year. The old institute was formally delivered to the Board of Education on September 2, 1871. On the 12th of that month dis- trict No. 6 and part of district No. 15 were annexed to the union school district. On September 21, 1871, the Board of Education was author- ized to sell the school house sites and buildings thereon in former dis- tricts to 6 and 17, and the old Polytechnic building was adopted for union school purposes. The sum of $6,000, was voted for the purpose of repairing and fitting the structure for the reception of the school and on November 22 the further sum of $3,000 was added to complete the repairs. The building was accepted as finished February 27, 1872. On October 11, 1871, Prof. Milton J. Griffin was chosen principal; Mrs. Annie Jones, preceptress; Mrs. Helen C. Loomis, second assistant. On October 24, 1871, Miss Minnie L. Barnes was chosen teacher of the primary department. On November 9, 1871, Miss Ella Carroll was added to the corps of teachers to give instruction in French, German, Latin and higher mathematics.
The subject of organizing a Union school district in Georgetown vil- lage was discussed in the fall of 1897, and through the advice of C. J. Coleman, then school commissioner, district No. 1, including the village territory, voted to establish such a school. At a special meeting held shortly afterward it was decided to expend about $1,500 in raising the school building and fitting it for an academic department. The school is now under the Regents and the first examinations were held in Jan- uary, 1898. The first Board of Education consisted of B. Fred Saun- ders, president; J. F. Stoddard, secretary ; E. M. Perry, Eugene Turner, Dr. E. F. Lamb.
The Union school in Perryville was incorporated in 1897 and consol- idated districts in the towns of Fenner, Lenox and Sullivan into district No. 1. The old Episcopal church was given to the Board of Education for the new school and was extensively improved and refitted for the purpose. The first and present Board of Education is as follows: Henry Hakes, Frank Blakeslee, Henry Stafford, John Hill, Edward Ransom, John Armstrong, Charles Cooper, Jefferson Howard, and Willis J. Huyck.
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THE JUDICIARY AND BAR.
In the town of Stockbridge, at the village of Munnsville, a Union school was organized in 1894, and the present handsome school build- ing erected in the same year. The school opened with Frank M. Wig- gins, principal, a position which he efficiently fills at the present time; he has three assistants. In March, 1896, the school passed under care of the Regents. There was an old academy in Stockbridge, founded in 1829 by Asa Munn and Thaddeus Muzzy, which was successfully conducted a short time. With its decline the building was demolished.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE JUDICIARY AND BAR OF MADISON COUNTY.
In the earliest years of the Dutch and English settlements in Amer- ica, the constituted authorities were invested with broad powers; but these could be exercised only within the restrictions of the laws of the mother country. By the terms of its charter the West India Company was supreme in the territory now included in this State, and all power was vested in the Director-General and Council, who were to be gov- erned by the Dutch (Roman) law, the imperial statutes of Charles V, and the edicts, resolutions and customs of the United Netherlands, in all cases not otherwise provided for. The Dutch at home were gov- erned by a league of commercial guilds, represented in the States- General, that the organized interests of each class of people might be protected. The principle of conserving the ancient and vested rights of all the people as against any portion thereof, even a majority, and as against a government itself, was the foundation principle of the Dutch provincial authority on this side of the water, as well as in the mother country, and distinguished it from any of the English colonies.
It was not until 1624, a year before the accession of Charles I and the beginning of the second period of the Thirty Years war, that govern- ment was actually established in New Netherland. In 1629 the man- orial system was introduced, under which Patroons were invested with the powers and privileges of feudal barons, but no political or judicial changes could be introduced without consent of the home government. In Massachusetts the Puritans were then just beginning to organize a
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
government having in view as a principal object "the propagation of the Gospel." This was the parent colony of New England. The colo- nists on the Connecticut River were first governed by commissioners appointed by the General Court of Massachusetts. In 1637 delegates from the three towns of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield were asso- ciated with the commissioners, and in 1639 a written constitution was adopted under which all freemen of the three towns were made equal before the law. In June, 1639, the government of the colony of New Haven was organized, the Bible was declared to be the constitution and none but church members were admitted to citizenship, the government being vested in seven men called Pillars.
In 1638 and 1640 the privileges of the Patroons (before mentioned) were considerably abridged, while those of the free settlers were cor- respondingly extended. Wherever the people settled in sufficient num- bers the West India Company was bound to give them a local govern- ment, the officers to be appointed by the Director-General and Council, as in the Netherlands.
Upon the breaking out of the Indian war in 1641 Director Kieft was seriously alarmed and invited all masters and heads of families residing in New Amsterdam and its vicinity to assemble in the fort on August 28th. That was the first official recognition of the existence of "the people " in New Netherland. The freemen assembled and obtained something of the rights enjoyed by other colonists around them. They expressed themselves on the questions submitted to them and then ap- pointed Twelve Men to represent them. These were as follows :
David Pietersen de Vries, president; Jacques Bentyn, Jan Jansen Dam, Hendrick Jansen, Maryn Andriaensen, Abram Pietersen (the miller), Frederick Lubbersten, Jochim Pietersen Kuyter, Gerrit Dirck- sen, George Rapalje, Abram Planck, Jacob Stoffelsen, Jan Evertsen Bout, Jacob Walingen.1
They complained to Kieft of the arbitrary constitution of the gov- ernment and asked that such reforms be introduced as should prevent taxation of the country in the absence of the Twelve; also that four men be chosen from the Twelve each year who should have access to the council. Thus they sought representation by the people. Kieft promised these reforms, and then reminded them that they were called together simply to consider how to escape the vengeance of the In- dians.
1 The fourteen names found in the records include, doubtless, appointees after the first Twelve,
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THE JUDICIARY AND BAR.
The issue thus raised was a natural one. These men were asking only for the Dutch system, which had been perfectly satisfactory to them at home. When, in 1643, the Indian troubles and complications with the English had reached ominous proportions, Kieft again called the freemen together and requested them "to elect five or six persons from among themselves" to consider propositions to be made by the Director and Council; a representative body for the enactment of laws was thus instituted. The people preferred to leave the selection of the representatives to the director, asking only the right to reject an unde- sirable nomination. The eight men were then elected. The certificate of the election is on record signed by twenty-eight freemen. The eight men were as follows:
Cornelis Melyn, president; Jochim Pietersen Kuyter, Jan Jansen Dam, Barent Dircksen, Abram Pietersen (the miller), Isaac Allerton, Thomas Hall, Gerrit Wolphertson (van Couwenhoven), Jan Evertsen Bout, 1643, Jacob Stoffelsen, John Underhill, Francis Douty, George Baxter, Richard Smith, Gysbert Opdyck, Jan Evertsen Bout, Oloff Stevensen van Cortlandt, 1645.
This body of men assembled September 15 and passed upon im- portant questions of war and performed other legislative acts. Com- plaints from the colonists continued and were finally referred to the home Chamber of Accounts, which reported in March, 1645, sustaining the complainants, and approving the organization of villages after the manner of the English.
The Patroon's charter of 1629, extended in 1640, authorized the colony to appoint deputies to inform the Director and Council of their condi- tion when necessary. It was now suggested that these deputies should, at the summons of the Director-General, hold an assembly every six months for the general welfare and to deliberate on important affairs. Kieft was recalled in December, 1644. The Commissioners of the As- sembly of the XIX of the General Privileged West India Company acted on the report alluded to in their instructions to the Director and Council of July 7, 1645. The council was to consist of "the Director and president, his vice-president and the Fiscal." In cases in which the advocate-fiscal appeared as attorney-general, civil or criminal, the military commandant was to sit in his stead. If the charge was crim- inal, three persons were to be associated from the commonalty of the district where the crime was committed. The Supreme Council was the sole body " by whom all occurring affairs relating to police, justice,
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
militia, the dignity and just rights of the Company " were to be de- cided; it was an executive, administrative, and also a judicial body.
When Petrus Stuyvesant arrived (May 27, 1647), he set about restor- ing the disordered government with vigor. Besides inaugurating new and stringent regulations in many directions, he ordered an election of eighteen men from whom he selected Nine as "Interlocutors and Trustees of the Commonalty," or "Tribunes " of the people. These Nine Men were to hold Courts of Arbitration weekly and to give ad- vice to the Director and Council. They were appointed September 23, 1647, and were as follows:
1647, Augustine Heerman, Arnoldus van Hardenburgh, Govert Loockermans, merchants; Jan Jansen Dam, Hendrick Hindricksen Kip, Jacob Wolphertsen Van Couwenhoven, burghers; Michael Jansen, Jan Evertsen Bout, Thomas Hall, farmers.
1649, Adriaen van der Donch, president; Augustine Heerman, Ar- noldus van Hardenburgh, Govert Loockermans, Elbert Elbertsen (Stooyof), Jacob Wolphertsen van Couwenhoven.
1650, Cloff Stevensen van Cortland, president; Augustine Heerman, Jacob van Couwenhoven, Elbert Elbertsen, Hendrick Hendricksen Kip, Michael Jansen, Thomas Hall, Govert Loockermans, J. Evertsen Bout.
1652, David Provost, William Beeckman, Jacobus van Curler, Allard Anthony, Isaac de Forest, Arent van Hattem, Jochim Pietersen Kuy- ter, Paulus Leenderman van der Grist, Peter Cornelissen, miller.
Three of the Nine in each year were taken from merchants, three from the burghers, and three from the farmers, thus continuing the old Netherland system.
The colony now became the scene of a prolonged contest and numer- ous lengthy petitions went from the colonists to the States-General for a burgher government and other changes. The burgher government was finally granted in 1653. Burgomasters had been in power in Hol- land since the fourteenth century, and it was contemplated by the States-General that they should be elected by the burghers in New Amsterdam. But the Director and Council assumed the right to ap- point them and exercised it until 1658, when a double number was nominated, from whom the Director and Council selected the members for the ensuing year.
Local officers or inferior courts, with limited jurisdiction, were au- thorized in various villages from time to time. The Patroons of the great manors were invested with power to administer civil and criminal
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THE JUDICIARY AND BAR.
justice in person or by deputy; to appoint local officers and magis- trates; to erect courts and take cognizance of all crimes committed within their separate domains; to keep a gallows,1 if required, for the execution of criminals. One of the lesser degrees of punishment was " banishment from the colonie;" another was corporal punishment. In civil cases of all kinds between the Patroon and his tenants, these courts had jurisdiction, and from their judgments in matters affecting life and limb and in suits where more than £20 was involved, appeal could be taken to the Director-General and Council.
The government itself was invested in a General Court which exer- cised executive, legislative, or municipal and judicial functions, and which was composed of two commissaries and two councilors, who were a colonial secretary, a sheriff (schout-fiscal), and a court messenger or constable. Each of these received a small salary. The magistrates of the colony held office one year, the court appointing their successors or continuing those already in office.
The most important of these officials was the schout-fiscal, who was bound by instructions received from the Patroon. No man in the colony was subject to loss of life or property unless under sentence of a court composed of five persons, and all persons accused were entitled to a speedy trial. The public prosecutor was especially warned not to receive presents or bribes, nor to be interested in trade or commerce, directly or indirectly. He was paid a fixed salary, with a dwelling free, and given all fines up to ten guilders and a third of all forfeitures over that sum.
Governor Dongan, in his report to the Committee on Trade, dated February 22, 1687, gave the following information regarding the early courts of New York and Albany:
There is likewise in New York and Albany a Court of Mayor and Aldermen held once in every fortnight, from whence their can bee noe appeal unless the cause of action bee above the value of Twenty Pounds, who have likewise priviledges to make bylaws for ye regulation of their own affairs as they think fitt soe as the same be ap- proved of by ye Gov'r and Council.
The mayor, recorder and aldermen of the city of Albany, or any three of them, were, in 1686, ex-officio members of the old Court of Common Pleas, acting when there was no judge present. The colonial
1 There was a curious restriction connected with the gallows, to the effect that if it fell pend- ing an execution, a new one could not be built, except for hanging another criminal.
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
Court of Common Pleas held regular terms until 1776, when it was dis- solved under the influence of the animating spirit of independence.
With the accession of the English a new order of judicial administra- tion came into existence. There was the Court of Assizes, which was established under the Duke's Laws at Hempstead, L. I., in 1665. This court was composed of the governor, members of the council, high sheriff, and such justices of the peace as might attend. It sat in New York and only once a year, but special terms could be called. Its ju- risdiction extended over all criminal matters, and in civil cases where the value of £20 or more was involved. This court was abolished in 1683.
In 1683 an act was passed "to settle Courts of Justice," which or- dered the holding of a Court of Oyer and Terminer in the respective counties of the province, composed of one judge, assisted by four jus- tices of the peace in each county. In New York city and the city of Albany, the mayor, recorder and four aldermen were associated with the judge. The court had jurisdiction over all capital causes, and ap- pellate jurisdiction where £5 or more was involved. The authority for holding the court was derived from the governor; the court was abol- ished in 1691. Courts of Sessions and Justices' Courts were also con- tinued and a Court of Chancery established. The Court of Sessions was ordered to be held in New York four times, in Albany three times and in the other ten counties then in existence, twice in each year. All cases civil and criminal were determined by it, with a jury.
The Court of Chancery was founded, with the governor or his ap- pointee as chancellor, assisted by the council. This court expired by limitation in 1698, but was revived by ordinance August 28, 1701; it was suspended June 13, 1703, and finally re-established November 7, 1704. It ceased its existence in July, 1847, under the new constitution. It was an equity court and by the second constitution equity powers were vested in the circuit judge, subject to the appellate jurisdiction of the chancellor.
The Court of Admiralty, which was a civil law court, extended through most of the colonial régime and for a short time under the State government. Under the Dutch, the Governor and Council acted as judges of this court. Under the 'Duke of York commissions were issued by the governor to determine cases, until 1678, when authority was given to appoint judges and other officers of the courts which was at first established by warrant, but later came from the Lords of the Admiralty in England. In November, 1775, Congress recommended
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THE JUDICIARY AND BAR.
the colonies to establish courts to adjudicate matters relative to cap- tures on the sea in the war. Accordingly the High Court of Admiralty of the State of New York was authorized. Pursuant to an act of Con- gress passed October 13, 1777, appeals could be had from the court to a committee of congressmen. Under the Articles of Confederation an act was passed establishing a court to hear such appeals. The United States constitution vested admiralty jurisdiction exclusively in the Fed- eral courts, and consequently the State court ceased in 1789, and its powers were vested in the U. S. District Court.
The third judicial system was organized in 1691 and continued through the colonial period. In that year the Court for the Correction of Errors and Appeals was founded, consisting of the Governor and Council. Appeals lay to this court from any judgment exceeding in value £100, which amount was increased in 1753 to £300.
It is a fact that reflects credit upon the early colonists of New York that they invariably evinced respect for the law and upheld measures for the protection and honor of their judiciary. For example, in the year that Governor De Lancey died (1760) George III ascended the English throne. De Lancey was a lawyer of ability and labored assid- uously in the development of the civil polity of the province. Upon the accession of George III a new conflict arose. All commissions term- inated upon the death of a sovereign, and the differences which had theretofore existed as to scope of judicial powers became a prominent issue. The Assembly proposed to pass an act establishing Courts of Judicature by law, instead of by prerogative, as before. Judges were to be removed by the governor on appeal from the Assembly, or by ad- vice of at least seven members of the council. Thereupon Cadwallader Colden, the obsequious lieutenant-governor, suggested that the king also be empowered to remove, which would thus preserve the preroga- tive of the crown. An active discussion ensued among the lawyers and others. An act was now passed that judges should hold office during good behavior, instead of during the pleasure of the governor. The Lords of Trade, on November 21, 1761, held that this action was " sub- versive of that policy by which those colonies can be kept in a just de- pendence upon the government of the mother country," and that "it is difficult to conceive a state of government more dangerous to the rights and liberties of the subject, aggravated as the evil would be by making the judges' commissions during good behavior, without render- ing them at the same time independent of the factious will and caprice
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of an Assembly," by providing permanently for their support. In accordance with this position instructions were issued to the governors on the 2d of December, " that you do not upon any pretense whatever, upon the pain of being removed from your government, give your assent to any act by which the tenure of the commissions to be granted to the chief judge or other justices of the several courts of judicature shall be regulated or ascertained in any manner whatever, and you are to take particular care in all commissions to be by you granted that they be during pleasure only, agreeable to ancient practice." That was the British view of the situation. The records of the General Assembly on nearly every page, express the high regard of the colonists for the law, and the lawyers of the province were a unit in their construction of the law. Bench and bar stood united in defense of the liberties of the peo- ple in this respect.
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