USA > New York > Saratoga County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Saratoga County, New York > Part 46
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1 William L. Stone's " Reminiscences of Saratoga."
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assisted by Nicholas Hill, a lawyer of great ability, and by his son, Sidney J. Cowen. Judge Cowen married a daughter of Sidney Berry in 1811, and their children were Susan Berry, Sidney Joseph and Pat- rick Henry. From every viewpoint Judge Cowen was a self-made man. It has been said of him :
As a writer he was plain, but accurate; as a judge, prompt, acute, learned and up- right. But it was as a jurist that he was best known. Of his opinions, which so eminently distinguish him as a jurist, it has been said that "in their depth and breadth of research, and their strength and reason of bearing, they are not excelled by those of any judge in England or America." His opulent mind, his love of re- search, caused him to trace every legal opinion to its fountain head. Like Lord Mansfield, to whom he has frequently been compared, he was accustomed, in the preparation of his opinions, to a liberal expenditure of mental capital-an excess of intellectual labor which renders them the triumph of a great genius, impelled by an unprecedented industry.
His two sons, Sidney J. and Patrick Cowen, became lawyers. Sid- ney was admitted prior to his father's decease, and was of great assistance to him in the preparation of his legal works. He was a young man of distinguished ability and had attained a recognized position in his profession at the time of his death, which occurred soon after the de- cease of his father. Patrick served in the war of the Rebellion, and at its close commenced the practice of his profession at Saratoga Springs, where he successfully continued until his death a few years ago.
John Willard was for many years a prominent member of the State judiciary. Born in Guilford, Conn., May 20, 1792, his paternal an- cestry dates back to the settlement of that town in 1659, coming from original Puritan stock. Being graduated in 1813 from Middle- bury college at Middlebury, Vt., he studied law, was admitted to practice in 1817, and locating at Salem, N. Y., soon became known as a sound lawyer. In 1833 he was appointed first judge of Washington county, and three years later was appointed circuit judge to succeed Judge Esek Cowen, who had been transferred to the Supreme Court, holding this office and that of vice-chancellor until it was abolished by the constitution of 1846. Upon receiving the latter appointment he removed to Saratoga Springs. In 1847 he was elected to the new office of justice of the Supreme Court for the fourth district, and upon the expiration of his term of six years retired from the bench. In 1856 President Pierce appointed him a member of the commission to examine into the validity of the Mexican land grants in California.
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This duty was performed in a most thorough and satisfactory man- ner, and the United States Supreme Court was guided by his findings in making its decisions on several important claims. In 1861 Judge Willard was elected to the State Senate, but before the completion of his term of office he died-on August 31, 1862. His life was a pure one, and well spent, and his integrity and great ability won for him universal esteem. He was the author of Willard's Equity Juris- prudence.
Augustus Bockes, who is still living at the age of eighty-one years, inherited from his father, Adam Bockes, jr., of Greenfield, and from his grandfather, Adam Bockes, a brilliant intellect, a sturdy determination and a high moral tone, all of which contributed to render him a man of sterling worth and capable of attaining the highest measure of success in whatever undertaking in life he might have decided upon. That undertaking happened, fortunately for his fellow-men, to be the pursuit of the legal profession, in which he rose to heights attained only by the great minority.
Judge Bockes was born in Greenfield, October 1, 1817, studied law with Judiah Ellsworth, Esek Cowen and William A. Beach, and was admitted to practice in 1843, entering upon his professional career in partnership with the late Stephen P. Nash. He became the first judge of Saratoga county under the constitution of 1847 and continued in this office until 1854. On January 1, 1855, Governor Myron H. Clark ap- pointed him a justice of the Supreme Court for the fourth judicial dis- trict. On the expiration of his term he was elected and continued in the office by re-elections until disqualified by reason of the consti- tutional limit as to age, on January 1, 1888, serving for several years on the General Term bench. Upon no judge of any court in any county has the judicial ermine rested with more spotless purity than upon the shoulders of Judge Bockes. He never stinted himself in the ex- penditure of mental labor in the preparation of his opinions, and was always noted for the plainness of his phraseology and, above all, the accuracy of his deductions. His indomitable energy and remarkable powers of endurance are other characteristics which contributed to his success, enabling him to turn out a large quantity of work. Judge Bockes is venerated to-day as a high-minded, pure and just judge, and his counsels are frequently sought by some of the most eminent legal lights in the State.
John Risley Putnam (born at "Putnam Place," the old family home-
Atlantic Publishing & Engraving CONY
John & Putnam
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stead, Saratoga Springs, N. Y.) is the son of Benjamin Risley Putnam and Eunice Morgan, and is lineally descended from John Putnam, an English Puritan who settled in Danvers, Mass., in 1634. Judge Put- nam's grandfather, Gideon Putnam, the son of Rufus and Mary Put- nam of Sutton, Mass., a cousin of General Israel Putnam, is described as a man of strong nerve, comprehensive powers of invention, an in- domitable will, the virtual creator and originator of the beautiful village of Saratoga Springs. He was born in Sutton, Mass., in 1764; married Doanda, daughter of Hon. Benjamin Risley of Hartford, Conn., and in 1789 settled in Saratoga Springs. In 1791 and subsequently, he bought large tracts of land at the Springs and began to develop the village, discovering and tubing the celebrated Congress spring in 1809, and erecting Union Hall and Congress Hall. While engaged in the con- struction of the last named hotel, he died December 1, 1812. Although he closed his labors at the early age of forty-nine, he had already ac- complished a great work. The impetus he gave to the village was last- ing and his liberal public gifts of lands for religious and educational purposes were productive of great good in the community. His wife, a woman of rare personal excellence, died February 10, 1835.
Benjamin Risley Putnam was the oldest son of Gideon, and was born in Rutland, Vt., where his parents were residing temporarily at the time. This gentleman was a well known and prominent figure in Sara- toga Springs, where he passed his life, and followed the footsteps of his father in his activity in connection with the village of Saratoga Springs. He married Eunice, daughter of Daniel Morgan of Saratoga, a cousin of the hero of Cowpens.
John Risley Putnam was their youngest son. He received an academical education in Saratoga Springs and studied law with Hon. Charles S. Lester and Hon. John C. Hulbert, was admitted the bar, and afterwards, in 1855, commenced the practice of his profession. He was industrious and painstaking in the work of his profession, and soon acquired a large and lucrative practice, and thereafter was engaged in many of the important litigations arising in the county.
In the year 1875 Judge Putnam entered into a partnership with Will- iam H. Eustis, now the candidate of the Republican party of Minne- sota for governor, the business being conducted for about eight years under the name of Putnam & Eustis. Judge Putnam afterwards asso- ciated with himself John L. Henning, the partnership being conducted under the name of Putnam & Henning.
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Soon after his admission to the bar, he served one term of four years as justice of the peace, and also acted for a period as one of the trustees of the village of Saratoga Springs.
In the autumn of 1887 Judge Putnam received a nomination for jus- tice of the Supreme Court of the Fourth Judicial District by both the Republican and Democratic judicial conventions, and was thereafter elected without opposition, his term commencing January 1, 1888, on the termination of that of Hon. Augustus Bockes. For about four years after his term of office commenced, Judge Putnam was engaged in presiding at Circuit Courts and Courts of Oyer and Terminer and Special Terms within his district. In 1891 he was appointed by Gov- ernor Hill to the General Term of the Third Department, and contin- ued in that position until the adoption of the late constitution, when he was designated by Governor Morton as one of the justices of the Appel- late Division for the Third Department.
The opinions written by Judge Putnam as an appellate judge may be found in the last thirty volumes of Hun's Supreme Court reports and the twenty-nine volumes of the reports of the Appellate Division.
Judge Putnam was married in 1867 to Mary Steiner, daughter of R. M. Shoemaker, one of the most prominent of railroad magnates of Ohio. They have three sons.
John Thompson, first judge of the first Court of Common Pleas, was born in Litchfield, Conn., March 20, 1749, and was a member of the Litchfield colony which emigrated to Stillwater in 1763. Upon the erection of the county of Saratoga in 1791 Governor Clinton, upon the recommendation of General Philip Schuyler, appointed him first judge. In 1798 he was elected a Representative in Congress; in 1801 he served as a member of the constitutional revision convention; was re-elected to Congress in 1806 and 1808, and retired from the judgeship, by reason of having reached the limit of age, in 1819. He died in 1823. Judge James Thompson of Milton was his son.
First Judge Salmon Child of Greenfield, Judge John Thompson's successor, was born in Connecticut in 1762; joined Washington's army in 1781, and after the erection of Saratoga county served in nearly every office within the county's gift. He served two terms in the State Assembly, was a member of the constitutional convention in 1821, and in the electoral college of 1828 cast his vote for John Quincy Adams. He died in Wisconsin in 1856.
First Judge James Thompson was the son of First Judge John
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Thompson, and was born November 20, 1775. In 1799 he was ad- mitted to the bar, soon after married a daughter of Abel Whalen of Milton, and opened an office in his residence in Milton, now owned by Miss Rhoda Thompson. He became first judge in 1818, and was re- appointed for two successive terms. February 7, 1822, he was chosen Regent of the University, holding that office until his death December 19, 1845. George Thompson, John W. Thompson, for many years president of the Ballston Spa National bank, and James Thompson, all of Ballston Spa; and Edward D. Thompson of Lawrence, Kansas, were his sons. Samuel Thompson, Frank Thompson and the late George L. Thompson of Ballston Spa, sons of John W. Thompson, are his grand- sons. Prof. Taylor Lewis esteemed him as "the father of the Sara- toga county bar."
Colonel Samuel Young was born at Lenox, Mass., in 1779, and at about the close of the Revolution he came with his parents to that part of Saratoga, then Albany county, now included in the town of Clifton Park. After gaining an elementary education in the district schools, he began the study of the law with Levi H. Palmer, at Ballston. After being admitted to the bar he opened an office at Academy Hill, in the town of Ballston, soon gaining an extensive and lucrative practice. He served as justice of the peace and several terms as supervisor; in 1813 was elected to the Assembly on the Democratic ticket; became an aide on the staff of Governor Tompkins, and in the session of 1815, having been re-elected to that body, was chosen its speaker. In the fall of that year he was again a candidate for the Assembly, but was defeated by Esek Cowen. In 1816 he began a term of twenty years' service as canal commissioner. In 1819 he was chosen senator from the eastern district. In 1821, with John Cramer, Salmon Child and Jeremy Rock- well, he was elected a delegate to represent Saratoga county in the constitutional revision commission, in which distinguished body he stood among the foremost. In April, 1824, Colonel Young was nomi- nated for the governorship by the Democratic legislative caucus, but was defeated by De Witt Clinton, who ran on an irregular ticket. The following year Colonel Young was returned to the Assembly and again chosen its speaker, in 1826. In 1830 the Democrats of Saratoga county nominated him for Congress, but he was defeated by a small majority by John W. Taylor. In 1833 he was appointed first judge of the county courts, his term expiring in 1838, when he declined a reappointment. He served two terms as senator, from 1834 to 1840, and as secretary
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of state from 1842 to 1845. Again he was a State senator from 1845 to 1847, and while serving as such, in 1846, without his knowledge the Democrats of Chemung county nominated him to represent them in the constitutional convention held that year, but was defeated. His retire- ment from the Senate in 1847 terminated his official career, and he re- tired to his residence in Ballston, where he died suddenly of heart disease November 3, 1850, in the seventy-third year of his age. One of his biog- raphers has said of him :
His integrity was never questioned, and above most men it was his delight to war against and expose both political and official corruption in whichever party it existed. When exposing corruption in the Senate of the United States he was styled by Gen- eral Jackson, "the Cato of the New York Senate." He was gentle, affable, loving, fond of some amusements, society of the young, the cultivation of his garden, the beauties of the natural scenery around it. He was so free from political jealousies. and so unmindful of the contests in which he had been defeated, as often not to recol- lect the names of his successful opponents. He retained the vigor and serenity of his mind to the last, and after passing the age of sixty commenced the study of sev- eral of the modern languages.
John Cramer of Waterford was one of the really remarkable products of Saratoga county. He was a son of Conrad Cramer, and was born in the town of Saratoga, May 14, 1779. In 1800 he began the practice of the law in Waterford, where he spent the remainder of his life. Early in his career he took an interest in politics, and as presidential elector in 1804 cast his ballot for Thomas Jefferson. He served in the State Assembly in 1806, 1811, and again in 1842. In 1821 he was a delegate to the constitutional convention; in 1823 represented the old fourth district in the State Senate. In 1832 he defeated John W. Taylor for Congress, though the latter was generally considered invincible, and was re-elected in 1834. In 1840 he was again a candidate, but was defeated. Up to within a few years before his death in 1870, he re- mained very influential in politics. He was a natural leader, and for over half a century he exercised a controlling influence in political matters.
William La Fayette Warren, born February 4, 1793, at Troy, N. Y., and graduated from Union College in 1814, in the latter year located at Saratoga Springs and entered the law office of Judge Esek Cowen as a student. From 1817 to 1824 these two legal geniuses practiced in part- nership. Mr. Warren became district attorney of Saratoga county in 1819 and retained that office until 1836, when he was succeeded by Nich- olas Hill, who also had been a student in Judge Cowen's office. He
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assisted in the preparation of Cowen and Hill's Notes on Phillips' Evi- dence, preparing the fourth and last volume of the series himself. After the elevation of Judge Cowen to the bench, Mr. Warren formed a part- nership with his nephew, William A. Beach.
After holding various town offices Mr. Warren, in 1824, was appointed master in chancery, holding this responsible office until 1848, when it was abolished by the constitution. He also held the office of "justice of the peace, performing judicial duties." From 1823 to 1831 he served as judge advocate of the 15th Division of New York Infantry. From 1845 to 1848 he was judge of the Court of Common Pleas. His wife was Eliza White, only daughter of Epenetus White of Ballston. Judge Warren was one of the originators of the Saratoga and Whitehall rail- road, the Schenectady Bank and the Bank of Saratoga Springs. But he never relinquished the practice of his profession. He knew the his- tory of all important law suits in the county for a period of more than half a century, and was a high authority in estates and titles. In social life he was noted for his hospitality and abounding good nature. His death occurred at his home in Saratoga Springs May 23, 1875, when he was passing through his eighty.third year.
Nicholas Hill unquestionably was one of the most talented, versatile and erudite lawyers New York State ever produced. He was of Irish descent and was born in Florida, Montgomery county, N. Y., in 1805. His father fought in the Revolution. In 1829 Mr. Hill was admitted to the practice of his profession in Montgomery county, and soon after formed a partnership with Deodatus Wright at Amsterdam. Subse- quently he removed to Saratoga Springs, and while engaged in practice there assisted in the compilation of Cowen's Notes on Phillips' Evi- dence. After a brief, but eminently successful career in Saratoga, he removed to Albany, in 1840, where, the following year, he became re- porter for the Supreme Court, serving for three years. Seven volumes of reports were compiled and edited by him. While in practice in Al- bany he was associated, at various times, with Deodatus Wright, Stephen P. Nash, Peter Cagger and John K. Porter. He died May 1, 1859, after a career in the law which was equalled by few men of his day.
Henry Walton, born in New York in 1768 and educated in England, began the study of law with Aaron Burr. In 1790 he removed to the town of Ballston and built a home on the farm now owned by Captain Guy Ellis Baker. From 1794 to 1808 he was surrogate of the county.
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Subsequently he resided in Albany and New York, but in 1816 located at Saratoga Springs, where he built a splendid country seat-" Wood- lawn." He owned all the northern part of the present site of Saratoga Springs, and excavated and tubed many mineral springs in that village. He enjoyed a lucrative legal practice for many years, and died in New York city in 1844.
William Augustus Beach was a native of Ballston Spa, and a son of Miles Beach, who had come from Connecticut in 1786. Miles Beach, on the maternal side, was of the same family as Judge Smith Thomp- son, who became associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1807 Miles Beach married Cynthia Warren, a sister of Judge William L. F. Warren, and two years later removed to Saratoga Springs. After attending school at Saratoga Springs academy and Captain Part- ridge's military school at Middletown, Vt., William A. Beach began the study of law with his uncle, Judge Warren, and in 1833 was ad- mitted to the bar. He formed partnerships successively with Nicholas Hill, Sidney J. Cowen, Daniel Shepherd and Augustus Bockes. In 1843 he became district attorney of Saratoga county, serving until 1847. Four years later he removed to Troy, where he soon became known as one of the most successful lawyers, as well as one of the most widely known, in the United States. During his career there, and in New York city, to which place he subsequently removed, he was engaged in many of the most celebrated cases ever tried before any courts in the United States. In an address delivered by Roswell A. Parmenter of Troy, on the occasion of the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the naming of the city of Troy, held in January, 1889, that distin- guished lawyer said:
In his professional career William A. Beach survived three epochs. While, com- paratively. speaking, a young practitioner, he attained the leadership of the Saratoga bar. In his mature years and a more perfected judgment he selected the city of Troy as the theater of his local practice of the law, where, by common consent, he became the trusted oracle of the Troy bar. Subsequently he removed to the city of New York, then, as now, the commercial metropolis of the western hemisphere. There, also, in the midst of giants of the profession, he again took a front rank and main- tained it with undimmed lustre for fifteenyears, when he retired from the arena of professional contest with colors still flying at masthead, but with a clear forecast of his own early demise. Whatever fame now belongs or shall be hereafter awarded to William A. Beach was acquired by him in his professional capacity, and in the ordinary practice of his professional life, while engaged in establishing and defend- ing the legal rights of others and not of himself. He demonstrated the great truth that man at times makes the circumstances under which he acquires distinction
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among his fellow-men. He possessed in a large degree quick perception, sound judgment, critical discrimination, and an analytical mind. He never lagged behind when duty called him to the front. That characteristic was eminently displayed by him in the celebrated trial of Theodore Tilton against Henry Ward Beecher. On either side the array of eminent counsel was formidable, but their strength and cour- age had become exhausted, so great had been the labor, strain and responsibility imposed upon them. One of them, however, faced the closing ordeal with unparal- leled heroism and undaunted resolution. That man was William A. Beach. . . Not unmindful of the responsibility here assumed, nor of the criticism it may invoke, I shall in this presence firmly contend, as I do sincerely believe, that as an orator in the judicial forum William A. Beach was the peer of Demosthenes or Cicero, or both combined.
Gideon Hawley, jr., one of the early lawyers of the county, was dis- tinguished, not so much as a practitioner of the law, but by reason of his efforts in the cause of education. His father, Gideon Hawley, came from Connecticut and settled in Charlton soon after the Revolution. Gideon Hawley, jr., was a graduate of Union college, and had become a lawyer of high standing when, in 1813, he was appointed as the first superintendent of public schools of the State of New York. He re- moved to Albany after his appointment and resided there until his death. He served in this office until 1821, when it was abolished. Deputy Superintendent S. S. Randall, in his "Digest of the Common School System," published in 1844, said of Mr. Hawley :
To no individual in the State are the friends of common school education more deeply indebted for the impetus giving to the cause of elementary instruction in its infancy than to Gideon Hawley. From a state of anarchy and confusion, and complete disorganization, within a period of less than eight years arose a beau- tiful and stately fabric, based upon the most impregnable foundations, sustained by an enlightened public sentiment, fortified by the best and most enduring affections of the people, and cherished as the safeguard of the State, the true palladium of its greatness and prosperity. The foundations of a permanent and noble system of pop- ular education were strongly and securely laid by him.
Samuel G. Huntington was the son of Rev. Enoch Huntington and was born at Middletown, Conn., May 21, 1782. He was also a nephew and namesake of Samuel Huntington, one of the signers of the Decla- ration of Independence, president of the Colonial Congress, and after- ward governor of Connecticut. He was graduated from Yale College at the age of eighteen years, and a few years later was admitted to the bar in Middlesex county, Conn. In 1806 he removed to Waterford, Saratoga county, where he practiced his profession until 1825. During his career in Waterford he rose to a distinguished position in the ranks
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of his profession. Upon his removal to Troy in 1825 he became recog- 'nized as an authority on real estate law, and his counsels were largely sought by his contemporaries. During the term of office of Governor Clinton he was made judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Rensse- laer county. He died July 5, 1854.
Francis Norton Mann was a native of the town of Milton, where he was born July 19, 1802, the son of Jeremiah Mann and Lydia Norton. He was graduated from Union College in 1825, was admitted to the bar three years later and opened an office in Troy, where he became a lawyer of prominence.
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