USA > New York > Schenectady County > Schenectady County, New York : its history to the close of the nineteenth century > Part 39
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COUNTY CLERKS-Peter F. Vedder, appointed March 11, 1809 ; Joseph Shurtleff, February 26, 1810; P. F. Vedder, February 14, 1811 ; Jellis A. Fonda, May 25, 1812; Joseph Shurtleff, March 12, 1813; Jellis A. Fonda, February 13, 1815, Jellis A. Fonda, elected Novem- ber, 1822; John S. Vrooman, appointed by Governor in 1834 ; Jona- than C. Burnham, elected in November, 1834 ; Archibald Campbell, November, 1837; Silas H. Marsh, November, 1843; David P. Forrest, November, 1849; Marvin Strong, November, 1852; John W. Vedder, November, 1858; John M. Banker, appointed May. I, 1861, in place of Vedder, resigned ; James G. Caw, elected Novem- ber, 1864 ; J. Fonda Veile, November, 1876, served by re-election until December 31, 1882; Thomas Yelverton, November, 1882 ; Elmer Milmine, appointed to fill vacancy caused by death of Yelver- ton, 1888 ; James B. Alexander, elected 1889-1901.
During its earlier history the Bar of Schenectady County was graced by some men of great ability. Some of them also adorned the Bench and achieved permanent distinction. To-day the personnel of its members will compare favorably with that of the legal frater- nity of any other county in the state, while some have achieved a distinction that will entitle them to an honored place in the annals of the Bench and Bar of their county, which shall be written for some future generation. For obvious reasons only the great deceased are mentioned in this chapter.
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
WILLIAM KENDALL FULLER, popularly known in his day as General Fuller, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., November 24, 1792. He was educated in the schools of his native place and was gradu- ated at Union College in 1810. He studied law in the office of Henry and John B. Yates, then considered the most prominent practitioners in Schenectady County, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the State in 1814. Soon after his admis- sion to the bar he entered into partnership with Hon. John B. Yates, after which they inoved to Utica, Oneida County, where they opened an office and practiced law until the spring of 1816, when they removed to Chittenango, Madison County.
The public seems to have entertained the mnost perfect confidence in the integrity and abilities of Mr. Fuller. Soon after his settle- ment at Chittenango, offices came to him unsolicited, and, after hold- ing many minor positions, in the year 1823 he was appointed by Governor Yates to the position of Adjutant-General of the State of New York. This position he held through the regime of Governor Yates and for several months of the succeeding terin of Governor Clinton.
After leaving the office of Adjutant-General he returned to Chitte- mango and interested himself in the management of valuable real estate there. He was a commissioner under legislative acts to drain- the Canasagara Marsh, and was one of the directors and secretary and treasurer of the " Side-cut " from Chittenango to the Erie Canal. He died in Schenectady, March 3, 1837.
CHARLES FULLER, brother of William Kendall Fuller, born April 1, 1809, was also a lawyer, who resided and practiced in the city of Schenectady. Another brother, Henry F., born February 2, 1811, practiced law in Schenectady for several years before removing to New York City, where he continued his profession throughout his life.
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THE BENCH AND BAR.
ROBERT YATES was one of the first Judges of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, and subsequently Chief Justice. Abraham Yates, Jr., Mayor of Albany, and Christopher Yates, father of Joseph C. Yates, were cousins, and were identified with the great movement which terminated in the independence of the American colonies. Chief Justice Abraham Yates was a member of the convention which adopted the Constitution of 1777. He represented New York in the Philadelphia Convention in 1787, and was a member of the State Convention called to ratify the Federal Constitution.
JOSEPH C. YATES was born in Schenectady, November 9, 1768, and studied under the Reverend Dr. Romain and his son, Theodoric Frelinghuysen Romain. He then returned to Schenectady where he completed his education under the instruction of Rev. Alexander Miller and John Honeywood. Afterward he entered the office of Peter W. Yates, a lawyer of distinction and a leading anti-Federalist, of the city of Albany. In 1792 Mr. Yates was called to the Bar, and soon afterwards opened an office in Schenectady. He was very influential in founding Union College, and was one of the trustees named in the charter granted by the Regents of the University in 1790. He remained a member of the Board of Trustees until the day of his death, and it may well be said that the earlier history of Union College is largely blended with that of Joseph C. Yates. In 1806 and 'o7 he was a member of the State Senate from the Eastern District. In 1808 Mr. Yates was again elected froin the Eastern District to the State. Senate. Soon after his election he was appointed Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, which position he occupied until January 20, 1823, a period of fifteen years. In November, 1822, lie was elected Governor of the State. He resigned his office as Justice of the Supreme Court, and on the first of January, 1823, he was inaugurated Governor of the State. Governor Yates' term of office expired January 1, 1825, and in 1828 he was elected President of the Electoral College. Governor Yates was married three different times. His first wife was Mrs. Ann Ellice, of Schen-
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ectady. His second wife was Maria Kane, of Albany. They had one .
daughter, who married Jolin Keyes Paige, Mayor of Albany. His third wife was Ann Elizabeth DeLancy. They had two daughters. Mr. Yates died in Schenectady March 19, 1837, at the age of sixty- nine years.
ALONZO C. PAIGE, LL. D., was born in Schaghticoke, Rennselaer County, N. Y., in 1797. His father was Rev. Dr. Winslow Paige, a Presbyterian clergyman. He entered Williams College at an early age and graduated before he had attained his sixteenth birthday. He studied law in the city of Schenectady and was admitted to the Bar in 1818, and opened an office in Schenectady in 1819. In 1824 he was appointed District Attorney, which office he held for fifteen years. In 1826 he was elected Member of Assembly and was re-elected in 1827, '28 and '29. In 1830 Chancellor Walworth appointed him Reporter of his court, which position he held until 1846. In 1838 Judge Paige was elected Trustee of Union College, which place he held for thirty years, and until his death. Before the adoption of the Constitution of 1846 Judge Paige was twice elected to the Senate of the State, and was made a member of the Court for the Correction of Errors. At the first election under the Constitution of 1846 he was elected a Justice of the Supreme Court. He was for" two years a member of the Court of Appeals. In 1857 he received the degree of LL. D. 'The last public position occupied by Judge Paige was that of a meinber of the Constitutional Convention of 1867,-'68. He died in March, 1868.
PLATT POTTER was born at Galway, Saratoga County, N. Y., April 6, 1800. His father, Restcome Potter, was a native of Massa- chusetts. During his boyhood Judge Potter attended the common, schools and the Academy at Schenectady, from which he was gradu- ated in 1824. He studied law under Hon. Alonzo C. Paige. He was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court in 1828, opened an office in Minaville, Montgomery County, N. Y., and continued there until
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THE BENCH AND BAR.
1833, when he moved to Schenectady and entered into partnership with Mr. Paige, his former preceptor. They dissolved partnership after a period of thirteen years. In 1830 Mr. Potter was elected Member of Assembly from Montgomery County. In1 1836 he married Antoinette, daughter of Hon. Winslow Paige, D. D. From 1839 to 1847 he held the office of District Attorney for Schenectady County, and was at the same time Master and Examiner in Chancery, having been appointed in 1828. In 1857 he was elected Justice of the Supreme Court of New York. During this time he also served as a Judge of the Court of Appeals. He was re-elected in 1865 to the Supreme Bench of the state. In the same year Judge Potter was elected Trustee of Union College, which institution conferred on him, in 1867, the degree of LL. D.
Judge Potter was not only an eminent jurist, but a wise and able statesinan, and both of these qualities were evinced by him in a marked degree in the celebrated case of " High Breach of Privilege of the Honorable, the Assembly of the State of New York in the matter of the Honorable Henry Ray, Member of Assembly from Ontario." On January 20, 1870, a subpoena was issued requiring Ray to appear as a witness in criminal proceedings before the Grand Jury of Saratoga County and this subpoena was issued by order of the Court of which Hon. Platt Potter was the presiding Justice. Ray refused to obey the subpoena and was arrested. The Assembly took up the matter and passed a resolution requiring Judge Potter to appear at the Bar of the House to be publicly censured by the Speaker for his high breach of the privilege of the House. Judge Potter obeyed the requisition, but delivered so masterly a speech on the case, that the House, instead of censuring him, passed a resolu- tion exonerating him from all blame.
He was also a legal writer of note, and among his works should be mentioned Potter's Dwarris, which is an interpretation of Ameri- can Statutes and Constitutions, and is built upon the principles laid down by the English writer, Dwarris. This work was published in 1870. In 1875 he published Potter's Edition of John Willard's Equity Jurisprudence, which he had greatly enlarged. In 1870 he
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
published an original work in two volumes, entitled : " Potter on Corporations." All of these works are recognized as standards.
ALEXANDER J. THOMSON was born in the town of Niskayuna, Schenectady County, N. Y., in 1823, and, on his mother's side, was descended from the celebrated Yates family. He graduated from Union College in this class of 1848, and, having studied law during his college course, completed his reading in the office of Hon. A. L. Linn, and we aduntted to practice in May, 1849. For two years he practiced .. New York City, after which he located permanently in Schenectady. From 1851 to 1856 he was associated with Judge Linn and from 1850 to 1858 with Judge Landon. From 1858 to 1864 he and Hon. Samuel Jackson were partners. In 1881 he associated James A. Van Voast with him, and this partnership con- tinned until 1887, after which he practiced alone until the time of his death, in 1901.
He was always active in politics, although not notable as an office holder. He was Treasurer of the City of Schenectady in 1846 and '47, and was Supervisor several times. He was Police Justice from 1868 to 1872, and received the nomination of the Democratic Party both for Member of Assembly and for Congress. In 1872 he was the nominee of his party for County Judge. From 1855 to 1858 he con- ducted a Democratic paper in Schenectady.
From 1856 to 1863 he was Law Lecturer in Union College and in 1883 gave a course of lectures on the " History of Political Parties Since the Foundation of the Country."
Mr. Thomson joined the Presbyterian Church in 1847, helped to establish the East Avenue Presbyterian Church, and was trustee, deacon and elder in that church.
HON. JOHN SANDERS was born in Glenville, N. Y., in 1802. He graduated from Union College in 1822, was admitted to the Bar in 1825 and practiced for a year in Albany, and afterwards in North
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THE BENCH AND BAR.
Hampton, Catskill and Clermont, N. Y. In 1836 he settled in Schenectady, and was appointed Surrogate in 1840 by Governor Seward, which office he held until 1844. He was County Judge from 1855 until 1860, and was the author of a history of Schen- ectady.
HON. WALTER T. L. SANDERS, son of Hon. John Sanders, was born in Catskill, N. Y., September 7, 1831, and was admitted to the practice of law in Schenectady in 1858. He was elected Clerk of the Board of Supervisors in 1860, County Judge in 1870, and Member of Assembly in 1876. He died in March, 1901.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE MEDICAL SOCIETY.
The first medical society of the county of Schenectady was organized in the city of Schenectady June 11, 1810.
The society was formed under an act passed by the legislature of New York, April 4, 1806, entitled " An Act to Incorporate Medical Societies for the Purpose of Regulating the Practice of Physic and Surgery." The physicians and surgeons of each county of the state being thus empowered to join themselves into societies, those of this county met on the day first above given and enacted their by-laws and regulations. Under such, the society was to consist of a " President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, and not less than three nor more than five Censors, to be chosen by ballot, annually, at the anniversary meeting of the society." The President was "to preside at all meetings, preserve order, put all questions, declare the decisions of the society, and in case of an equal decision, shall have the casting vote ; he shall also appoint all committees, unless the society choose to appoint them by special resolution."
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Article V provided that the "Censors shall meet whenever notified * * * to examine all students in Anatomy, Physiology, Surgery, Midwifery, Materia Medica, Pharmacy, Theory and Practice of Physic and Chemistry." Not less than three Censors to forin such examining board.
By Article VI, the stated meetings of the society were "to be held on the second Tuesday in June, September, December and March," at 10 o'clock A. M. Special meetings could be held, though, at any time "when the President, at the request of two of the members, shall order the Secretary to send to each member a notification " of the intention of such meeting. Not less than five inembers constituted a quorum. A student, successful in his examinations before the Censors, received upon the payment of two dollars, and signing the declaration prescribed by the State Medical Society, his diploma. It cost one dollar to become a member, and the annual dues were two dollars, payable quarterly, and for non-attendance at the stated meetings a fine of one dollar was levied.
To these by-laws and regulations the following names are signed : Thos. Dunlap, Daniel J. Toll, Alex. G. Fonda, Cornl Vrooman, Robt. M. G. Walmsley, Abraham D'Lamater, John Wood, Daniel McDougall, P. B. Noxon (?), J. J. Berkley, E. B. Sprague, J. W. Conklin, Stephen Remington, John B. Judson, Arch'd W. Adams, David Low, Joseph Koon, J. C. Magoffin, John S. L. Tonelier, Benjamin F. Joslin, Edward H. Wheeler, Abram W. Van Woert, Edgar Fonda, A. J. Prime, Andrew Truax, L. Sprague, James Chandler, Orasmus Squire (living 1885), A. M. Vedder, Benjamin Weeks, John S. Crawford, N. Marselis, J. Stackpole, Edwin A. Young.
This society held regular meetings in 1810, 1811 and 1812, but from 1812 to 1825 all records are lost, although it is presumable that the society was maintained during those blank years. From 1827 until 1833 there appears to be no record of any meetings of the society. Of course, during these apparent interegnums, the Censors must have met regularly, as it was their duty to examine students for medical diplomas. Regular meetings were held from 1833 until 1836, but at the meeting in the last named year there was no quorum present, and interest in the society seemed to be on the wane. The
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regular anniversary meetings were held from 1838 to 1841. At the meeting in 1841 a resolution was passed to the effect that it was proper to charge the sum of one dollar, and not less than fifty cents, for visits and medicine in ordinary cases. At that meeting, also, a committee was appointed for the purpose of regulating the charges of physicians, and the President was directed to deliver an annual address or pay a fine of one dollar. No business of any importance seems to have been done in the year 1841. The officers of that year were directed to hold over another year, but internal dissensions had- destroyed the efficiency of the society, as such, and it soon ceased to have an existence.
. In the Daily Union of January 16, 1869, there appeared a call for a meeting of physicians and surgeons to organize a medical society, and in furtherance of this design a meeting was held January 19, at the Cady House. The following medical gentlemen were present : A. M. Vedder, L. Ellwood, J. D. Jones, Charles Hammer, N. S. Cheeseman, B. A. Mynderse, G. W. Van Voast, Robert Fuller, and William N. Duane; and the society formed by the election of A. M. Vedder, President ; J. D. Jones, Vice ; L. Ellwood, Secretary ; N. S. Cheeseman, Treasurer and G. W. Van Voast, B. A. Mynderse and A. M. Vedder, Censors.
The membership fee was fixed at two dollars, and in order to become a member it was decided that it would be necessary for the applicant to submit his diploma to the Censors for examination.
The title of the society, as shown by its by-laws, adopted January 11, 1870, is " The Schenectady County Medical Society." Annual meetings are held the second Tuesday of every January, and semi-annual meetings, the second Tuesday in June. From the time of organization up to the present the society has been in a healthy condition.
The enormous strides which have been made, both in surgery and medicine, during the last third of a century, have naturally tended to produce increased activity in medical societies all over the country, and the Schenectady County Medical Society has kept fully abreast of the times by an interchange of views and experiences among its active and enlightened members.
PART II.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
THE SPITZER FAMILY.
Members of this family were once prominent in Schenectady, where the name is still honored, and where interest in the family has recently been revived by the erection of a handsome monument in Schenectady by General Ceilan M. Spitzer and Adelbert L. Spitzer, to the memory of the founder of the family in America, Dr. Ernestus de Spitzer.
Although the older members of the family have been long dead, and the younger representatives are to-day identified with a neighbor- ing state, Schenectady was the first permanent home of the family in America, and not only the family name, but this city, is held in high regard by the living representatives of the family, as has been indicated by the erection of the monument referred to. The first of the Spitzers in this country was
DR. ERNESTUS DE SPITZER, surgeon-general, who was born in Heilbronn, in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, April 6, 1709. He descended from the ancient Von Spitzers, a family of noble knights, who flourished in a town of the same name in lower Steiermarke, a German province, where they were enrolled among the nobility in the early part of the fourteenthi century, having been allied to royalty itself. Tlie family controlled the city government of Heilbronn from 1602 to 1682. His grandfather, Dr. Jolın Von Spitzer, who was also an LL. D., was burgomaster of the city of Heilbronn for over forty years. Ernestus de Spitzer, the first of the family to come to America, sailed from Rotterdam, Holland, on the ship " Two Brothers," Thomas Arnott, captain ; and on the ship's list he wrote his name with a "De," the Latin for " Von." He landed in Philadelphia, October 13, 1747, and later settled in
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
Schenectady, N. Y., where he practiced medicine and surgery for many years with success. Dr. Spitzer was a very important per- sonage in that city, being one of the first practicing physicians, and is mentioned in both Pearson's and Saunders' early history of that part of New York State. He served with distinction in the French and Indian War as surgeon, at the garrison at Os- wego, N. Y., from October 28, 1753, to May 22, 1755, and later received an appointment as sur- geon-general of the Provincial forces. Dr. de Spitzer was mar- ried to Barbara Wilfelin, of Dutch ancestry, by whom he had three sons and one daughter, Garret, Aaron, Ernestus Jr., and Elizabeth. Garret and Aaron served in the Revolutionary War. Their descendants mar- ried into the Schermerhorn and Astor families. After the French and Indian War he returned to Schenectady and practiced his profession until his death, which occurred October 8, 1789. His remains were buried in the old Dutch cemetery in Schenectady. In 1901 his monument was restored by his descendants, and the names of his sons, Garret and Aaron, who served in the War of the Revolution, were placed upon it.
GARRET DE SPITZER, physician and soldier, was born in Schenec- tady, N. Y., June 20, 1758, oldest son of Dr. Ernestus and Barbara (Wilfelin) de Spitzer. He was known as a great Indian fighter, and served in the War of the Revolution, after which he returned to Schenectady. A few years later, with his family, he removed to Wastina, now Rotterdam, N. Y., where he was one of the first practicing physicians. He was married to Annatje, daughter of
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Nicholas and Susannah Sixbury, and had eight children, six sous and two daughters, Aaron, Nich- olas, Jeremiah, Peter, John1, Joseph, Susannah and Barbara. Dr. Spitzer died in Rotterdam, N. Y., June 2, 1801, and was buried in the old Dutch cemetery, Schenectady, N. Y.
NICHOLAS SPITZER, physician and stock farmer, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., November 26, 1783, second son of Dr. Garret and Annatje (Sixbury) de Spitzer. He practiced medicine in Schen- ectady until he was fifty-two years of age, when, on account of poor health, he gave up his
Nicholas Spitzer
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Gant T Stato
profession, and, with his family, removed to Medina, Ohio, where le engaged in agricultural pur- suits and stock farming. His health was not improved by the change, and in a few years he retired from business, his oldest son, Garret, taking charge of his affairs until the close of his life. When he went to Ohio he left off the prefix "De " to his name, which was frequently done in the early years of the republic. His health was greatly improved without business cares, and he lived to be an old man. He was married to Nancy, daughter of
3I
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SCHENECTADY COUNTY: ITS HISTORY.
Jacob and Maria (Schermerhorn) Bovee, and had four sons and five daughters, Garret, Aaron, Matthew, Jacob, Maria, Susan, Sallie, Sarah and Mary. Dr. Spitzer died at Medina, Ohio, December 6, 1868.
AARON BOVEE SPITZER, banker and business man, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., October 8, 1823, second son of Nicholas and Nancy (Bovee) Spitzer. He was a general business man, and con- sidered a good judge of credit and values, and was engaged in the banking business for several years with his oldest son, Ceilan Milo Spitzer, and Ludwig Wideman. He was a lover of horses, owned a stock farm near Medina, and bred somne very fine specimens. Mr. Spitzer retired fromn active business in 1886. He was married to Laura Maria, daughter of Joseph and Harriet (Draper) Perkins, and had one son, Ceilan M. Spitzer. He vas married the second time to Anna Maria Collins, and by this marriage had three sons, Frank P., Garret E., and Sidney Spitzer. He was a life-long Republican, and at the time of his death a inember and deacon of the Con- gregational Church. He died in Medina, Ohio, May 13, 1892.
GENERAL CEILAN MILO SPITZER, banker, was born at Batavia, N. Y., November 2, 1849, eldest son of Aaron Bovee and Laura Maria (Perkins) Spitzer, and a great-great grandson of Dr. Ernestus de Spitzer. Through his mother he is descended from James Draper, of Roxbury, Mass., and Quartermaster John Perkins, of Ipswich, Mass., the first of their families in America. His great grandfather, Nathaniel Perkins, before he was of age, was aid-de-camp to General George Washington. Mr. Spitzer's great-great-great-great grand- father, Hendricks Cornelius Van Buren, was a soldier in the Indian
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
war of 1663, being stationed at Fort Cralo, in Papshire, and was an ancestor of President Martin Van Buren. He is also a descendant on the maternal side (being the great-great-great grandson) of Jacob Janse Schermerhorn, founder of the family bearing his name in America, who came from Waterland, Holland, in 1636, and settled in Beverswyck, in the New Netherlands, where he became a man of wealth and prominence until his death in Schenectady in 1688. Ceilan Milo Spitzer was educated in the schools of Medina, Ohio, whither his family had removed in 1851, and at Oberlin College. He entered upon his active business career in 1869 by purchasing a half interest in a drug store at . Seville, Ohio, which he sold out two years later, and, with his father, opened the Seville Ex- change Bank, under the style of C. M. Spitzer & Co., a banking house which obtained immediate standing and reputation in tlie financial world. In 1877 a branch bank was opened at Medina, Ohio, and in 1878 the German-American Bank of Cleveland, Ohio, was organized, the last enterprise growing in such immediate favor that Mr. Spitzer purchased the interest of Ludwig Wideman, who had become partner, in 1873, and during the next two years conducted a general banking and invest- ment business. In January, 1880, owing to financial depression, the bank failed, and soon after settled with its creditors on a forty per cent. basis. Ten years later, however, quite without legal or moral necessity, Mr. Spitzer paid all the bank's debts in full, an act which has deservedly given him a high reputation in the business world. With Ludwig and Jerome P. Wideman, he opened the bank of Fremont, at Fremont, Ohio, in 1880, but he sold it the following year, and formed the firmn of Spitzer, Wideman & Co., bankers, at
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