USA > New York > Livingston County > The annual address: The judges and lawyers of Livingston County and their relation to the history of western New York > Part 2
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MILLARD FILLMORE.
To begin with these, let me refer briefly to one name who. though not a member of our bar, yet whose history was In a measure connected with our county. Fifty years ago there stood in the western woods of the valley of the Canaseraga, a few miles below Dansville, a small wool carding and cloth dressing shop. At thistime, within this humble bullding, there was engaged a young man, not yet quite of age, who had traveled on foot from his father's home in Cayuga county, a distance of seventy-five miles, to this then secluded valley, for the purpose of learning the business conducted in that shop. Here he engaged In ardnous daily labor. Here he ate his dally bread, earned by the sweat of his brow. He had nothing to rely
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upon save his own brave heart and strong arm, and those beneficent institutions which foster and protect the rich and the poor. In this obscurity he exhibited that idomltable and nntiring energy which so strongly marked bis subsequent career. He fe't, too, the Promethean flame, and took an appeal to the future for the con- summation of those hopes, and the realization of that ambition, which stimulated all his energies. He was assiduou- in his efforts to acquire knowledge; indeed, his thirst for it was intense. His friendless condition, his sharp necessities, his con- stant struggle with poverty. his unyielding determination to rise above the condl- tion in which he was born, all tended to develop in him a sturdy independence of thought and action, giving him in this respect a great endowment, better than wealth-ability to labor. Well it has been said that resolution to work and ability to work are substitutes for everything except genins, and that they often become the rival of genlus itself. Time went on ; the magnificent future of the great Re- public was being developed, and so was the career of the humble youth. In his hours of rest from his daily labor-in the silence of the night, by the light of a can- die purchased with his scanty means-he unrolled the ample page of knowledge and of science. Books were almost the foundation of his life ; he had no pleasure, noamusement but in them. Through them he visited past ages; with them he summoned around him philosophers, sages, poets, heroes, brave warriors, inhaling intellectual vigor from statesmen, orators, jurists and legislators of the past, until, like Michael Angelo, in whose hands marble was flexible, he turned hard fortune into success. He entered with zeal and success that noblest and grandest profes- sion, the teacher's; he became a student at law, and then a lawyer, then a legislator. and minister of state. "Allied by his antecedents to the sons of toil, he never failed to recognize their rights and was ever ready to defend their wrongs. He was of the people and for the people, and therefore they loved to honor him. This they did in no scanty measure. Bearing their standard, he was elevated by them from one post of honor to another, always large-hearted, and imbued with a deep human sympathy, born with his early adversity." He became " Primus inter Pares" the Chief Magistrate of our great Republic. This was Millard Fillmore Young man, whoever you are, learn from his history that the institutions which made him what he was will make you what you endeavor to make yourself. But to return to the history of the Livingston county bar.
MARK H. SIBLEY.
Mark H. Sibley was one of the first lawyers who signed the roll of attorney's in Livingston county. His is truly a historic name; for years he was one of the chief' contestants at the Livingston bar, and Monroe bar, when Selah Mathews and other distinguished lawyers were in the zenith of their profession. "The severe and intellectual structure of Mathews, was far removed from the Attic elegance of Sibley." As a lawyer the former was remarkable for the clearness and closeness of his reasoning and the unadorned simplicity of his style and manner, earnest, calm and deliberate. He never soared into regions too elevated for ordinary comprehen- sion, never sank into dullness. His arguments were solid, massive, effective, dry but beautiful in their structure and In their good sense. He was the Brougham of the Western New York bar. Sibley's great strength lay in his almost unequalled eloquence, and in his bright piercing wit. The beautiful lines dedicated to Bushe will apply, in a happy manner, to him :
"Sedate at first, at length his passion warms, And every word and every gesture charms."
Mr. Sibley's language was always pure, always elegant; "the best words dropped easily from his lips into the best places with finency and ease; but the faculty in which few surpassed him, was his wit, a wit so genial that it relieved the weary, calmed the resentful and animated the drowsy ; it drew smiles from such as were the objects of it, it scattered flowers over a desert, and gave spirit and vivacity to the duflest and least Interesting case. Not that his accomplishments as a lawyer consisted of eloquent language and volubility of speech or the liveliness of raillery. He was endued with an intellect sedate, yet penetrating, clear, profound, subtle, yet strong." Mr. Sibley was a resident of Canandaigua, but was identified with aud a member of our bar. His practice extended into almost every county in Western New York. He commenced his practice at the Ontario bar in 1819. John C. Spencer, the most learned and able lawyer of his times, was then a lawyer of Canandaigua. He was illustrious as reviser of the statutes of the state of New York-those pandicts that through all innovations and popular agitations stand unaltered and firm, like the pyramids, still lifting the same point upward amid the sands and whirlwinds of the desert. With such an intellect as Spencer's Mark H. Sibley measured himself at the beginning of his practice Few men possessed so much calm self-po session under sudden and unexpected emergencies as Mr. Sibley. As was said of James T. Brady, he could bridge a non-suit with surprising facility and ingenuity. He could withstand the frowns of the bench with singular composure, and the satire of an opponent glanced harmlessly from his invulnera- ble armor. Mr. Sibley represented his county in the Legislature of 1835 and in 1836. In 1840 he was State Senator. From 1837 to 1839 he was a Representative in Congress, In all of these bodies he distinguished himself as an able and distinguished legis- lator.
JOHN B. SKINNER.
John B. Skinner, as a forensic orator, had no equal at the bar, particularly in cases where imagination and pathos could enter. He was also strong in cases where severe logic and dry detail were used. His powers of invective were strong, and his sarcasm withering, though he frequently used his sarcasm in a manner that resembled the grave severity with which a judge silences contempt, rather than the attack or defense of an advocate. Mr. Skinner, in his practice, evinced
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Annual Address by L. B. Proctor.
the power and effect of integrity and candor. These qualities gave such influence with courts and juries, that opposing counsel often complained that it was his in- fluence, not the justice of the case, that rendered him so successful. On one occa- sion the jury retired after listening to Skinner's summing up. During their delib- eration, one of the jurors quoted his language. "That is not evidence, that is only what Skinner said," was the reply of another juror. " I don't care if it is, I be- lieve every word of It, for nobody ever knew him to lie," was the answer. " All lawyers lie, for the sake of their clients," was the rejoinder. "I know that, but Mr Skinner don't, and I am going to take what he said for evidence," returned the other juror. Mr. Skinner began his practice at Wyoming, in 1820, then in the County of Genesee, now in Wyoming County. Here he continued to practice until 1855, when he retired from the bar and soon removed to Buffalo, where he died in 1873. Notwithstanding his great fame as a lawyer, he never had any political anı- bition, never made a stump-speech. The only offices be ever held were entirely unsought by him-they were tendered to him by the united voice of the people. almost without distinction of party. In 1827 and 1828, he represented Genesee County in the assembly. In the month of May, 1846, he was appointed first Judge of Wy ming County Common Pleas, by Governor Young. Under the provisions of the constitution of that year, the Court of Common Pleas was abolished and Judge Skinner, after holding his office one year retired to private life, leaving a judicial record as bright as was bis professional fame. In February 1828, he was appointed by Martin VanBuren, then Governor of the state, a Circuit-Judge and Vice-Chancellor of the eighth circuit, through the influence of Hon Henry R. Sel- den and others. When Judge Selden was advised ot Mr. Skinner's appointment, fearing that his native modesty and dislike of official position would prompt him to decline the position, he made a journey from Rochester to Wyoming, for the pur- pose of inducing Mr. Skinner to accept the office. " We started," said Judge Sel- den, " in the afternoon of a cold winter's day, and reached Mr. Skinner's residence about 3 o'clock the next morning. Calling up the newly-appointed Judge, we stated to him the object of our visit. Mr. Skinner listened with attention, but sig- nitied to us what we greatly feared, his intention to decline the judgeship. We renewed our entreaties, using all our persuasive powers to prevent him from so doing. But all the encouragement he would give us was : 'Well, I'll think of it." He did think of it," continued the Judge, " and in a day or two after our return to Rochester we had the pleasure of seeing a letter from him in a newspaper declin- ing the office we had taken so much pains to obtain for him." Mr. Skinner was for many years a member of the Presbyterian church, yet he ever recognized a sphere of Christian activity outside his own church, his own denomination; was always the friend of the great cause of Christian benevolence, judged always by himself as to their utility. He disliked all display of religious sensibility, yet when its manifestations were genuine and appropriate, no heart more warmly responded to it than his own. Finally, without fear of contradiction, I can say that John B. Skinner was a model character as a lawyer and a man. He proved this not only in life, but in his death, vindicating the saying of antiquity, " Call no man fortunate until you see how he dies."
GEORGE HOSMER.
One of the most accomplished members of the Livingston bar was George Hosmer. He was for many years its acknowledged leader and justly regarded as one of the most eminent of his profession in Western New York. To his many shining and attractive qualities, I may justly add that he was a ready, ingenions, and, at times. impressive speaker, possessing a strong, rich, clear and sonorous voice. At the bar, and in social Intercourse, he was polished, easy and famillar. His person was slightly below the medium height. but well formed. If, however, anything occurred to irritate him, he was ira cible, basty and harsh. He had sarcasm at his command, ready for instant use when occasion required. In his hands it was a keen, piercing, flashing weapon, worn with ease, and subordinate to judgment, discretion and a strong sense of right and justice. Meanness, treach- ery, fraud and deceit, when touched by It, shrunk and withered into their natural deformity, or fled before it like guilty things. Few men possessed a more thor.
ough practical knowledge of law than George Hosmer. He seemed to be thor- oughiy imbued with the spirit of that great legal commentator who said, " Law is the science which inculcates the difference between right and wrong, which ena- bles us to assert the one and to prevent, punish or redress the other." He was also a finished classical scholar, accomplished in the study of belles lettres. Through his long career at the bar he relieved his professional labors by extensive literary and scientific reading. He was a close student of England's great poets-the hon- est manliness, keen wit and pleasing humor of Pope; the dignified and solemn utterances of Young; that noblest, monument of human genius, Paradise Lost ; the intuitive sagacity, keen appreciation of life and vivid picture of the passions, which appear on the pages of Shakespeare; the freshness, vigor and beauty of rural life which the powerful pen of Thompson describes. With works like these. he refreshed his intellect-refined his views of life, keeping unquenched the enthil- siasm that warmed the springtime of his life. George Hosmer was born at Farm- ington, Conn., August 30th, 1781. His father was Dr. Timothy Hosmier, a man of tine education, rare talents, and a nicely balanced sense of honor. When Oliver Phelps removed to Canandaigua Dr. Hosmer and his family accompanied him. In the year 1798 Ontario county was formed, and Mr. Phelps was appointed presiding Judge of its Court of Common Pleas. But as his extended duties as a land-holder prevented his discharging the duties of a Judge, he resigned and Tim- othy Hosmer was appointed in his place, and he presided at the first jury trial that ever occurred in a court of record in Ontario county. Although Judge Hosmer
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was not bred to the bar, but a physician and surgeon by occupation, he was really one of the ablest judicial officials. of his day, holding the scales of justice with a firm and steady hand. His great sagacity, his firmness, his plaln, outspoken hon- esty, his keen sense of justice and the stralghtforward manner in which head- ministered it, rendered him very popular with the bar and the public. It was a favorite maxim of his that justice and common sense go hand In hand, that com- mon sense is the foundation of law, that lawyers, with their quirks, quiddities and sharp points are always trying to see how far apart they can get law and common sense. "But for my part," he would say, "I mean to keep them together, not- withstanding the lawyers." After finishing his classical education, George Hos- mer entered the office of Hon. N. W. Howell of Canandaigua, a distinguished pio- neer lawyer, whose life and professional career adorned the bar for many years. After his admission to the bar young Hosmer practiced a short time at Canandai- gua. His first case after his admission to the bar was tried at a term of the Onta- rio Common Pleas, and his father, Judge Timothy Hosmer, presided. The old Judge did not fully appreciate the new dignity his son had a quired as a counsel- lor at law, and fully sensible of his own dignity and importance, proposed to assert them before the " boy," as he called his son. When the young lawyer was arguing a question involving the admissibility of certain evidence that had been objected to by opposing counsel, the Judge interrupted him, saying with some severity : "George, yon are wrong." " I think not. I believe I understand myself and I wish you to look at the point in this light," and the young man proceeded to explain the question in that light. "That won't do, George," said the Judge, interrupting him, "you don't comprehend the question at all." " I think that is precisely the trouble with the Court," said George. "Sit down, sir!" thundered the Judge. He was obeyed; but true to the instincts of his profession, he was on his feet again in a moment. "What do you mean, sir ? do you think you can trifle with this Court ?" roared the Judge, who was now rapidly losing his temper. " No, sir, I do not intend to trifle with this Court, but I am determined to try this cause and make you understand that I am George Hosmer, Esq., Attorney and Counsellor at Law, and that you are nothing but a Judge!" The astonishinent of the Judge knew no bounds; for a moment he looked upon his son, incapable of uttering a word, in fact he seemed utterly confounded. Finally he recovered bim- self and said: "Go on, sir; you have two excellent qualities for a lawyer Yon have all the impudence of your forefathers, and brass enough to carry it out." Atter this judicial skirmish the young lawyer proceeded with his case without in- terruption. In the year 1808 Mr. Hosmer removed to Avon, N. Y., where he soon took a leading position as a lawyer, his retainers extending into all the adjoining counties. In the year 1821, when Livingston county was founded, he was appoint- ed its first District Attorney, Moses Hayden was appointed for first Judge, James Ganson County Clerk, Gideon T. Jinkins Sheriff, and James Rosbrough Surrogate. Mr. Hosmer discharged the duties of his office until 1824, when he was succeeded by that able, accomplished, learned lawyer and pure citizen, Orlando Hastings, who was then in practice at Geneseo, and subsequently an eminent member of the Monroe bar. Though a District Attorney occupies a place where he Is against the bar and the bar against him-a sort of official Ishmaelite-Mr. Hosmer was peculiarly qualified for the place he occupied. He brought to it much vigor of mind and grasp of thought. He drew that most difficult and technical document known to law-an indictment-with surprising strength and correctness. Often his case would be apparently shattered nuder ponderous blows of some able jaw- yer for the defense, but, he would gather it up, condense and correct it, and proceed in most cases with success. One day when Hosmer had made a powerful and eloquent address to the jury in a criminal case of great importance, he was accost- ed while on his way to the hotel by a farmer living in the town of York, who said, " Mr. Hosmer, I would like to speak a word with you." " Proceed," was the reply. " I have a boy, 'Squire, whom I want you to take and make a lawyer of." How old is he?" asked Hosmer. " About eighteen, stout and rugged ; he's got a pair of lungs like a blacksmith's bellows and he can talk forever," said the man, . That
is very well as far as it goes. Has he any other qualsfication ?" asked the lawyer. "Yes, sir, I guess he has got the greatest qualification in the world for a tip-top lawyer," was the reply. "What is that?" asked Hosmer. "Why, heavens and earth ! he's the confoundedest liar in the who'e town of York. Nobody pretends to believe what he says. Now if that ain't a big qualification for a lawyer I am no judge. I thought when I heard you in the court house just now that it wouldn't take my son a great while to come up to you, Mr. Hosmer." Hosmer assured the man that his qualifications might soon bring him to the bar in a way that might not be so pleasing to him, and passed on. The political arena never had any at- tractions for Mr. Hosmer, but in the autumn of 1823 he was elected Member of Assembly from Livingston county. He entered upon his legislative duties Janu- ary 6th, 1824. He was honored with the position of Chairman of the Judiciary Committee-a position which he adorned by his rare qualifications. His legislat- ive career terminated with the close of the year 1824. In May, 1824, Orlando Has- tings relinquished his duties as District Attorney, and Mr. Hosmer was immedi- ately re-appointed in his place. He discharged the duties of the office twelve suc- cessive years -- down to January 20th, 1836, when he was succeeded by George Has- tings. When, in 1826, William Morgan was abducted, and was alleged murdered by the Masons for his dastardty revelation of the secrets of the order, the courts in Western New York were, for several years, burdened with prosecutions brought against his alleged murderers. In this exciting field of litigation-a field that summoned to it the ablest lawyers in the state-the legal abilities and forensic eloquence of George Hosmer shone out with pecullar splendor. He continued to practice at the bar actively until old age fell upon him. Always honored, always held in high esteem by the bench and the bar, and when finally he left that arena where he had so long and successfully-may I not say brilliantly contended ?- he
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was regarded as a legal gladiator, resting beneath his panoply. Mr. Hosmer died in the 80th year of his age, March, 1861, at Chicago, while on a visit to his daugh- ter, Mrs. Wells, of that city.
DUDLEY MARVIN.
Few members of the Livingston bar, or the bar of Western New York have won a more vivid remembrance than Dudley Marvin. Like Mr. Sibley Marvin was a member of the Ontario county bar, but when the Livingston bar was formed he signed its roll and became one of its members. He was in every sense of the word a jury lawyer, possessing, in a surprising degree, the power to sway the emotions, not only of the jury but the popular assembly ; he was also one of the wits of the bar. As was said of Canning, " He gained more triumphs and incurred more enmity by the use of his wit than any other manner at the bar. ' He was generally dignified and courteous, though, when ruffled or displeased he was un- civil, coarse and rough. His extreme subtlety of observation, and knowledge of human nature, rendered him powerful and searching in the examination of wit- nesses. He was often an opponent of John C. Spencer at the bar. The latter, it is known, was stern, severe and sometimes cynical in his bearing toward his oppo- nents-too dignified and impressive to indulge in any humor or pleasantry. In many things he was more than a match for Marvin. But he always dreaded the bright, piercing satire of the latter-a weapon which he never failed to use when Spencer, as he often did, impaled him on some sharp legal spike. On one occa- sion, during a fierce legal contest. in which Spencer was fast gaining the advan- lage, Marvin asserted a proposition which he said could not be doubted. "I doubt it," said Spencer, with an expressive shake of the head, " I doubt it, sir." " It can not be possible," said Marvin. "I doubt it, I say, did you not understand
me, sir ?" " Yes, sir, I understand you to say you doubt my law," said Marvin. "I said so, sir," answered Spencer sharply. "Well, then, your fate is inevitable, it is sealed," said Marvin. " What do you mean, sir ?" asked Spencer in some sur- prise. " Why, those who doubt shall be damned," was the quiet reply. The deep flush that mounted the cheek of Spencer told that the shaft had taken effect. Marvin was one of those lawyers who had little faith in trials by juries. In vindi- cation of his views he was in the habit of retating instances of the want of sagacity and penetration in jurors, one of which was the following: "I once" said he, " undertook the defense of a physician charged with assault and battery upon a woman in trancy who went sailing around the exhibition room singing, in a slumber from which no one could awaken her. The Doctor thought he could do it, and quickly applied some Cayenne pepper to her nostrils. She awoke, and was wide awake, and being a very strong and powerful woman. she proceeded to give the good Doctor a tremendous thrashing, and then brought an action against him for burning her with pepper. The jury retired and were out the greater part of the night. They all agreed upon a verdict of six cents for the plaintiff, except one man. He would neither agree, nor give any reason why he would not agree. At. last one of the jurors asked him to tell him confidentially why he retused to join in the verdict. 'I will tell you,' said he. 'Did you see that Doctor all through the trial have in his hand a gold headed cane, with which he was knocking his chair?' 'I did,' said his fellow juror. 'Now,' said the obstinate one, ' I will never give a verdict for a man who comes into court, especially a Doctor, with a gold headed cane, more especially if he keeps knocking it against his chair, as that Doctor did, and I'll give a large verdict against him.' . Well,' said the other juror, ' that is my sentiment, exactly ; but suppose, instead of the cane's having a gold head, it should turn out to be only brass, what would you say then?' 'Oh, I would agree upon a verdict of six cents, at once.' 'Well,' said the other juror, 'I am a brass founder, and did not like the ostentatious display of the gold headed cane, and meant to beat him on that account, but, during the trial, I had a chance to examine the cane, and its head is brass and no mistake.' It is needless to add," said Marvin, " that the intelligent july immediately agreed upon a verdict in the Doctor's favor." Mr. Marvin was a representative in Congress in 1824, 25, 27, 29, 47 and 49. He closed his professional career in the city of New York. He died in June, 1856.
JARED WILSON.
Jared Wilson was another eminent member of the bar. He was a lawyer in the severest acceptation of the term, making no pretension to eloquence, yet in the true sense of the word, truly eloquent, for he was convincing. He was per- haps the ablest legal debater at the bar of Western New York. He possessed that knowledge of law, that acquaintance with precedent, and all rules of evidence- that ready use of all his faculties that enabled him to meet every question where he found it, to gravple with an antagonist at a moment's warning and to avail himself of every advantage which springs from a perfect command of all his pow- ers and resources. Mr. Wilson was also a resident of Canandaigua, and was in full practice when the Livingston bar was organized, and was one of the earliest, sign- ers of its roll, Hon. E. G. Lapham, our distinguished and honored Member of Congress, now standing at the head of the bar of Western New York, completed liis legal education in the office of Mr. Wilson.
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