Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York, Part 52

Author: Smith, John E., 1843- ed
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: [Boston, Mass.] : Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 960

USA > New York > Madison County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York > Part 52

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Perry G. Childs was one of Cazenovia's most distinguished early law- yers. He was a graduate of Williams College, married Catharine Led- yard in 1807, in which year he settled in the village; was admitted to the bar in 1813, and continued in active practice until his death, March 27, 1835. He was appointed a member of the Council of Appoint- ment January 10, 1822, and was elected to the State Senate in 1819. He served on the staff of General Hurd in the war of 1812, and on January 9, 1830, he was appointed bank commissioner, which office he held ten years. He was father of five children. He died in 1835.

Justin Dwinelle was another prominent lawyer of Cazenovia, who graduated at Yale in 1805 and settled in the village before 1815, and continued until his death, September 15, 1850, aged sixty-six years. He was in the Assembly in 1821-22; was appointed county judge February 7, 1823; served in Congress in 1823-25, and was appointed district at- torney in 1837.

Charles Stebbins was born in Williamstown, Mass., in May, 1789. He graduated at Williams College in 1808, at the age of nineteen, and

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in 1810 removed to Cazenovia. He was admitted in 1813. He died here March 23, 1873. He served in the war of 1812 as aide-de-camp to General Hurd. He was elected State senator in opposition to Gerrit Smith in 1825, and served four years. January 9, 1830, he was ap- pointed bank commissioner, and held that office till 1840. In 1819 he he married Eunice, daughter of Josiah Masters, of Schaghticoke, N.Y., who was born in 1794, and died in Cazenovia, May 5, 1871. They had five children.

Jonathan Denise Ledyard, son of Benjamin, was born at Middletown Point, N. J., June 10, 1793, and died in Cazenovia, January 7, 1874. His father served with credit as an officer in the Revolutionary army and in 1794 settled at Aurora, now in Cayuga county. His mother was sister to Gen. Jonathan Forman and to Maj. Samuel S. Forman, who accompanied Col. John Lincklaen in the settlement of Cazenovia in 1793. After the death of his mother in 1798, Jonathan D. Ledyard was adopted by his sister Helen, wife of Col. John Lincklaen, and given ex- ception educational opportunities, which he fully employed, and gradu- ated from Union College in 1812. He read law in the office of Childs & Stebbins in Cazenovia, and in Utica and was admitted to the bar in 1815. Soon after attaining his majority he entered the land office of Colonel Lincklaen, whom he succeeded in the management of the Hol- land Land Company's business in this vicinity, and in 1822 he pur- chased the remaining lands. These affairs prevented him from engag- ing to any important extent in the practice of law. Throughout his life he was a broad-minded and public spirited citizen.

The first regular attorney in the town of De Ruyter was Abraham Payne, son of Elisha Payne, of Hamilton, whence he removed about 1824. After practicing about ten years he removed to Seneca Falls, where he extensively engaged in the milling business. Martin P. Sweet, of Onondaga county, settled in De Ruyter in 1832 and practiced about four years, when he removed to the vicinity of Auburn. In his office as a student was Lorenzo Sherwood, of Hoosick, N. Y., who com- pleted his studies and practiced in De Ruyter from 1834 to about 1839, when he went to Hamilton, taking with him James W. Nye, then a student in his office. With Mr. Sherwood, while in De Ruyter, was his brother, Luman, then recently admitted, who practiced with him until 1839, went he went to Auburn.

Zadock T. Bentley was a son of Jonathan Bentley, a pioneer of De Ruyter, and was born in Washington county, August 8, 1807. After

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graduating from the Hamilton Academy he began the study of law at Berlin, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar in Madison county in 1833. In that year he formed a partnership with Martin P. Sweet which con- tinued three years, when Mr. Sweet left the town. Mr. Bentley con- tinued in practice until 1844, when he removed to Morrisville to assume the office of county clerk to which he had been elected. He remained at the county seat after his term expired, practicing until about 1862 when he removed to Oneida and died there July 4, 1870. George W. Stone, a young lawyer from Cortland county, formed a partnership with Mr. Bentley about 1836, which continued until 1839, when ill health compelled Mr. Stone to go south. He died in Homer. Artemas V. Bentley was a brother of Zadock T. and read law with him. He was admitted in 1841, began practice in De Ruyter which he continued un- til 1861, when he was appointed postmaster, an office which he held many years.

Andrew Scott Sloan, born in Morrisville, son of Judge Andrew S. Sloan, before mentioned, studied law in that village and in 1844 settled in De Ruyter, where he continued in practice ten years and removed to Beaver Dam, Wis. His younger brother, Ithamar C. Sloan, studied with him in De Ruyter, was admitted about 1846, and practiced till 1854, when he removed to Janesville Wis.

Among the leading lawyers of Madison county for many years, was Harris Coats Miner, who was born in Pharsalia, N. Y., August 31, 1817. In 1838 he went to De Ruyter to attend school. Being offered a position as head clerk in a store there, he took it and remained in the business several years. On January 1, 1844, he removed to Morrisville to accept the office of deputy county clerk, to which he was appointed by Zadock T. Bentley. During his three years of service in this posi- tion he devoted his energies and spare hours to the study of law, and his strength of intellect and perseverance enabled him to so master the subject that he was admitted in December, 1849. Forming a partner- ship with Andrew S. Sloan, they practiced together until Mr. Sloan re- moved west, after which Mr. Miner was associated with his brother, R. L. Miner, and with Lambert B. Kern.

Lambert B. Kern was born in Eaton, Madison county, November 28, 1833. He obtained an academical education and studied law in the of- fice of Sidney T. Holmes in Morrisville, and was admitted to the bar in 1858. In 1865 he was elected district attorney and served one term. In 1878 he was elected to the Assembly. Daniel Q. Mitchell, a brother of

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David J. Mitchell, before mentioned, was born in De Ruyter September 16, 1823, and was admitted to the bar in 1860, from which time he practiced successfully in De Ruyter many years.

The town and village of Madison had an early and reputable attor- ney in the person of Phineas L. Tracy, who was born before the close of the last century in Norwich, Conn., graduated from Yale in 1806 and engaged in practice in 1811. His brother, Albert, born June 17, 1793, came to Madison county at the same time. He had studied med- icine with his father, took up the legal profession and was admitted in 1815 Their practice in Madison continued only a few years, when Phineas removed to Batavia and Albert H. to Buffalo.

Edward Rogers, a graduate of Yale College and a man of superior mental qualifications, was born in Cornwall, Conn., May 30, 1787, re- moved to Madison about the close of the war of 1812 and continued prominent in his profession during about thirty years. He was a mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention in 1821 and represented the 23d District in Congress in 1839-41. He also served several years as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. David Woods and his son Jonathan were contemporary practitioners with Judge Rogers, coming originally from Vermont. They did not long remain in this county.

Thomas J. Yaw practiced law in Brookfield (Clarkville) from about 1830 until his death in 1863. In that village also Pardon Davis was in practice in the 30's. George W. Gray settled there about 1845 and practiced a few years. Henry M. Aylesworth, who afterwards removed to Leonardsville, practiced in Clarkville a part of the year 1867. Sam- uel D. White, who removed to Hamilton, was in practice in Clarkville from 1857 to 1866. George M. Havens also practiced there about a year before his removal to New York about 1845. Sherman Daboll, who came into Brookfield with his parents when young, studied law at New Berlin, practiced in Clarkville several years, and removed to Mich- igan. Barna J. Stimson practiced there from 1867 to 1874, and removed to Hamilton. Frederick Clarke, a native of the town of Brookfield, studied law with Sherman Daboll, began practice about 1876 and soon afterward removed to Cazenovia. In Leonardsville, in this town, Anson Harder, from Little Falls, settled about 1853, practiced about three years and removed to Jefferson county.

The first lawyer in Earlville, town of Lebanon, was probably Joseph Whitmore, who removed there from Rome in 1843, and continued in practice five or six years, when he removed to Michigan. Alfred

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Nichols settled there in 1851 and practiced until 1859, when he re- moved to Sherburne.

The pioneer attorney in the town of Lenox was George Ager, but it is not known in just what year he settled there. The next one was Ichabod S. Spencer, who moved from Massachusetts to the town of Madison in 1802. He began law practice in 1808 and attained unusual success. He was the first postmaster in Canastota, in 1829. Judge Thomas Barlow was a son of Thomas and was born in Duanesburgh, Schenectady county, March 14, 1807. After receiving an academical education he studied law in Little Falls, Rochester and Herkimer, and at the July term of the Supreme Court in 1831 was admitted as an at- torney; at the July term in 1834 he was admitted as counselor of that court, and in January, 1835, was admitted solicitor and counselor of the Court of Chancery. He settled in Canastota in the fall of 1831, and in the fall of 1842 was appointed superintendent of schools in Madison county. He gained a large practice in his profession and a high repu- tation throughout the county. In February, 1843, he was elected first judge of the Court of Conmon Pleas and served acceptably in that office until January, 1848. In 1844 he was elected to the State Senate and served faithfully and ably four years. Judge Barlow indulged his natural taste for historical research and writing, and in May, 1841, was made a corresponding member of the New York Historical Society. In 1853 he was elected a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 1854 he was elected corresponding mem- ber of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and in the same year was made corresponding member of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences. He made a fine collection of natural history specimens that was particularly rich in insects. As a scientific lecturer Judge Barlow was popular. He died in Canastota.

Other comparatively early attorneys of Canastota were Curtis C. Baldwin, Israel S. Spencer, Hiram Bennett, William H. Kinney and I. N. Messenger. Stephen Chapman settled in Clockville, town of Lenox, about 1820 as the first attorney in that place. B. F. Chapman was also in practice there many years, to 1880, when he removed to Oneida and was succeeded by George W. Chapman. Joshua A. Spencer, brother of Ichabod S., was an early practitioner in this town and subsequently attained eminence in the profession.

Hon. Timothy Jenkins, although he resided in Oneida county, was still a well known and honored practitioner at the Madison county bar

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and was thoroughly well known in this county where he had many interests. He was a native of New England, a descendant from the hardy, conscientious, devout first settlers of that seminal part of our country. He was born in the town of Barre, Mass., January 29, 1799, of parents whose genealogy showed them to be allied to the early Puritans of Plymouth. They were farmers and intended for their son no other occupation in life. It was their wish that he and his only brother should own and till the same farm which had been bequeathed to them by their father. Ere he had attained his sixteenth year his father had been removed by death. From that day he was left to maintain himself and mark out and pursue his own plan of life. He soon determined to seek a higher intellectual culture, to penetrate some of the regions of science and learning of which he had, in his element- ary studies, caught some glimpses. At the age of eighteen Mr. Jenk- ins removed to Washington county, this State; there he resided two years attending the academies at Salem and White Creek. During that time he devoted himself assiduously to the attainment of classical and scientific learning. He then entered upon and pursued for three years the honorable employment of school teacher, in the prosecution of which he was continually extending and perfecting his acquaintance with several sciences and classical literature. At that time he com- menced the study of the law, the practice of which he had determined should be his profession in life. Afterwards having prosecuted his studies the required term under two distinguished lawyers in Utica, Mr. Jenkins was admitted to the bar in 1825. Soon after he opened an office in the adjoining village of Vernon, and in 1832 removed and set- tled at Oneida Castle. From that time until his death, which occurred December 24, 1859, he was constantly engaged in an ever increasing legal business extending into adjacent counties and often into more distant parts of the State.

In 1840 Mr. Jenkins was appointed the prosecuting attorney of Oneida county, and held that responsible office five years. During his term of service the criminal business of the county was unusually large, but his onerous duties were discharged with signal ability, and to the entire satisfaction of his legal brethren and to the people generally. For ten years, under the appointing power of the State, Mr. Jenkins held the office of attorney to the Oneida Indians, and to this remnant of a once noble tribe of aborigines of our country he faithfully extended the benefits of his talents and influence. In 1844 he was elected a rep-

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resentative to the Congress of the United States; also in 1846, and again in 1850. During those six years in that exalted station, Mr. Jenkins served his constituents, his State, the Republic, and the cause of humanity with a fidelity to principle and independence of party that gained for him universal respect and made him a still greater favorite of the people. He is believed to have been one of those who devised the "Wilmot Proviso." If he did not originate the measure he was early in the counsel of those who did. He supported it with great earnestness, although he knew it was displeasing to many of his own party. Mr. Jenkins was from early life a Democrat in his political belief ; he nevertheless opposed the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854, which repealed the Missouri Compromise. In 1856 he joined the Fremont movement, and ever afterward acted with the Republicans. In fact he was a delegate at large to the convention which met in Phila- delphia in 1856 to form the Republican party.

Mr. Jenkins was a man positive in intellect, disposition, and in heart. He commenced life under disadvantageous circumstances, but there was no man who enjoyed more entirely the confidence and respect of the whole community. He was highly distinguished for his learning and industry in his profession, his great personal resolution and perse- verance, and he maintained a position in the very first rank at the bar. Although not an orator as the term is generally understood, his speeches were always sound, logical, and to the point, and in the prep- aration of his cases he had no superior. In his religious convictions he was earnest and decided, and took a prominent part in the formation of a Unitarian Society in Vernon and the erection of an edifice. To those who knew him slightly he appeared distant and very dignified, but a better acqaintance proved him genial and communicative, with a heart full of love and kindness to all.

Ex-Postmaster-General James at a meeting of the Oneida County Society in New York held in that city March 15, 1897, said : "As the name of Timothy Jenkins comes to my recollection I see a tall, digni- fied, impressive man, the very type of a lawyer and statesman, a man whom in my younger days I was led to regard as one of the ablest men I had ever met, and I was gratified years after to learn that Hannibal Hamlin, vice-president of the United States, one who had served in Congress with him, declared that to be his opinion."

In 1822 Mr. Jenkins was united in marriage with Miss Florilla Tuttle of Vernon, which marriage was terminated by the death of the wife

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about a year afterwards. In 1829 Mr. Jenkins married Miss Harriet Tuttle, a sister of his deceased wife. Their children were : Charles M., born Sept. 1, 1830, died Dec. 20, 1856; Hiram T., born April 8, 1833, died July 29, 1868; Florilla, widow of W. J. Hickox, only surviving child; Albert Timothy, born April 10, 1845, died April 29, 1846.

James B. Jenkins has practiced law in this vicinity nearly fifty years. He was born in Onondaga county, N. Y., a son of Josiah and Harriet A. (Fay) Jenkins, a daughter of Major Joseph Fay, aide to General Wilkinson in the War of 1812. Josiah Jenkins was a graduate of Yale College and a man of scholarly attainments. With his brother, Timo- thy, he removed from Massachusetts to Albany where for several years they were engaged in perfecting astronomical apparatus; both were teachers and lecturers on astronomy. Josiah Jenkins was for some years and at the time of his death, superintendent of the State Salt Works, living at Syracuse. He had proceeded to Montezuma to inspect the State Salt Works there, and while there contracted a fever from the effects of which he died. Timothy Jenkins was a man of national rep- utation ; he was frequently mentioned at one time for the gubernatorial nomination, which he declined. He represented his district in Congress several terms. The subject of this notice was prepared for college at the old Oneida Castle Academy, and entered Hamilton. In 1847 he began the study of law in the office of his uncle, Timothy Jenkins, taking charge of the latter's legal business in his absence at Washing- ton. He was admitted to the bar in 1850 and began practice in Oneida Castle. For several years he was associated with Hiram T. Jenkins, who was district attorney of Oneida county for nine years, during most of which period Mr. Jenkins acted as his assistant, and for about eight- een months as acting district attorney. He remained in Oneida Castle until 1862, and in that year located in Oneida where he has since prac- ticed. For nine years, and during the Civil War, he was associated with the late I. Newton Messinger, and both gave material aid to the Union cause by raising troops in this locality. He next associated with T. A. Devereaux, esq., under the firm name of Jenkins & Devereaux, which continued twenty years; they formed a partnership with Joseph I. Sayles of Rome, and as Sayles, Jenkins & Devereaux conducted two offices, one in Rome and one in Oneida for nearly three years. Mr. Devereaux withdrew from the firm of Jenkins & Devereaux in the spring 1897, and Mr. Jenkins has since practiced alone. From time to time he has been engaged on many cases of unusual interest and prominence,

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including Elkins vs. Kilburn, and Others, which was fought vigorously for some years and carried to the Court of Appeals where Mr. Jenkins argued against Senator Kernan of Utica, and obtained a judgment of $17,000. His famous case of the Six Nations of New York Indians against the United States Government has taken a large portion of his time. Under the treaty of Buffalo Creek in 1838 the New York Indians ceded or traded to the United States a large tract of land in Wiscon- sin, and were to receive in return 1,834,000 acres in Indian Territory and $423,000 in money. During the Kansas Border war and the struggle to make Kansas a free State many people squatted on these lands, and later obtained deeds from the Government which intended to pay the New York Indians, an intention which was never realized. Mr. Jenkins commenced the prosecution of the claim of the Indians in the fall of 1859, and it was fought before the different departments of Government until 1884, when he secured a bill from Congress sending it to the Court of Claims. Here the case was tried and argued, result- ing in a decision for the Indians of a little less than $2,000,000. It was reopened and fought several years until in 1897 Mr. Jenkins appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States where he argued the case twice, and on November 14, 1898, a judgment was obtained for $1, 999,- 210.85. Mr. Jenkins was for many years an ardent advocate of the cause of temperence, and prominent in temperance work. He is one of the oldest and best known practitioners of the Madison bar. He married, June 28, 1876, Carrie A. Lockwood, a daughter of Hon. S. M. . Lockwood of New Caanan, Conn. Of this union is one son, Harry M. Jenkins.

Hiram L. Rockwell, son of Thomas B. and Lucy (Lindley) Rock- well, was born in the town of Stockbridge, this county, February 21, 1833. His father was engaged extensively in farming and was at one time captain of a company of N. Y. State artillery; his grandfather, Thomas Rockwell, came from Connecticut and was among the earliest settlers of the present town of Stockbridge. Mr. Rockwell was edu- cated in the district schools, and at the Albany Normal school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1855. For one year he taught a Union school in the town of Dryden, Tompkins county, N. Y., and the following year held a position as instructor in the Brooklyn Poly- technic Institute. In 1857 he entered the Albany Law School where he was graduated LL. B. in 1859. In the same year he was admitted to the bar and took up his residence in the village of Munnsville,

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where he continued in active practice until 1867. For a period of five years following he was engaged in the raising of grapes and other fruits in the town of Vernon, Oneida county, and in 1872 came to Oneida where he has since resided. Mr. Rockwell has of late confined his at- tention chiefly to insurance and real estate business. He has been prominent in the support of many worthy public enterprises and at dif- ferent periods has been honored with positions of public trust. He served six years as school commissioner of the second district of Mad- ison county, embracing the townships of Stockbridge, Smithfield, Fen- ner, Sullivan and Lenox; as justice of the peace in the town of Stock- bridge six years; in 1877 as supervisor of the town of Lenox; for six years as a member of the Oneida Board of Education; one term as village trustee; and was a member of the first sewer commission for four years, a position to which he has lately been reappointed. For a number of years he has been a member and served as trustee of the First Presbyterian Church. Mr. Rockwell married in 1861, Esther A. Hait, and four children have been born to them: Adaline Benson, Mrs. George Schubert, Grace H. (deceased December 11, 1888), and Charles W. Rockwell.

C. Carscadden, who has practiced law in Oneida since 1858, was born in Black Rock, Erie county, in 1834. He was educated in Oneida Creek common school, Oneida Castle Academy, Clinton Liberal Insti- tute, and Hamilton College. He studied law at Hamilton College Law School and in the office of Shoecraft & Snow in Oneida; was admitted to the bar, and as above stated has practiced in Oneida since 1858, a period of forty-one years. Mr. Carscadden was appointed register in bankruptcy in 1874, and held that office until the bankruptcy law was repealed.

Edwin J. Brown, son of Edwin C. and Mary Jane (Wells) Brown, was born in Verona, Oneida county, November 30, 1842. Alpheus Brown, his parental great-grandfather, came from Pawtucket, R. I., to Brookfield, this county, among the earliest settlers. On the maternal side he is descended from William Wells who came from England in 1630. Mr. Brown's father was in business in Oneida Castle for several years as a harness maker and dealer and later in Oneida until 1864. He was a musician of no mean ability and while a resident of Oneida formed the first band organized in the village called the Oneida Sax- horn band. A man of active enterprise and considerable business ability, he was among the first to go to the Pennsylvania oil fields where

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he established an extensive stage route with headquarters at Titusville, in which place he also conducted large livery stables, a driving park, etc. He became a prominent member of the oil exchange, and died at Titusville in 1881, almost in the prime of life. Edwin J. Brown was educated in the Morrisville Union School; a private school in Oneida; Onondaga Academy; Oneida Seminary, and Hamilton College where he was graduated with the class of 1867. Immediately after taking his degree he began the study of law in the office of Shoecraft & Snow with whom he remained until his admission to the bar in May, 1868. In the same year he began practice in Oneida where he has since con- tinued, a period of over thirty years. In politics Mr. Brown has been a life-long and active Democrat; he frequently serves as a delegate to party conventions, both county and state, and has never missed a pri- mary caucus. He has served for a long term as justice of the peace and frequently as village attorney. Mr. Brown was appointed by Gov- ernor David B. Hill to prosecute charges of exacting extortionate fees against Sheriff Leander Burroughs of Madison county, and was suc- cessful in his case, which as the first of this kind in the state attracted widespread attention. During the first year of his practice he was as- sociated with M. J. Shoecraft, but has since formed no partnerships. He is a member of Oneida Lodge, No. 70, F. and A. M .; Doric Chap- ter, No. 193, R. A. M., and Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. In 1869 he married Kate A., daughter of Col. John Barstow of Bridgeport, Conn., and one child, a daughter, Mary Irene, was born to them, who died in 1895.

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Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York, Part 52

Author: Smith, John E., 1843- ed Publication date: 1899 Publisher: [Boston, Mass.] : Boston History Company Number of Pages: 960

Author: Smith, John E., 1843- ed
Publication date: 1899
Publisher: [Boston, Mass.] : Boston History Company
Number of Pages: 960