USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 46
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But it is significant that, even in the North, whenever the people at large resolve to destroy long-standing abuses or odious machines, as, at stated intervals, they always proceed to do, they turn instinctively, as of old, to the plain, simple, honest, busy, practicing lawyer. Among the lawyers elected to the high office of governor of our State the three gov- ernors whose homely, direct, straightforward methods have most capti- vated the imagination and impressed the conscience of the passing gen- eration are Tilden, Cleveland and Hughes, who simply brought to their duties the habits, the instincts, the training and the ideals of the old- fashioned country lawyer, whose first aim is always to protect the inter- ests committed to his charge without any thought as to the effect of his course upon his own interests, popularity or future. This training. this
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tradition, this character of the true lawyer still happily survives all changes in political methods or party management and still constitutes the highest security the people have for the faithful administration of their laws, wholly unswerved by selfish, ulterior or sinister purposes.
At the time, now forty years ago, to which my memory of the Orange County bar runs back, these honorable traditions were wholly maintained by a bar, the members of which still enjoyed a high place in the public esteem and exercised a profound influence upon public opinion, based upon the dignity and importance of their profession as well as upon their personal talents and character. The relations between the lawyers and the farmers were particularly close, confidential and agreeable. The soil was still largely occupied by men of character, education and intel- ligence who freely sought the counsel and society of their friends among the lawyers at whose offices and homes they were as cordially welcomed on a social or political call as upon a professional visit. The reason that the sons and successors of the lawyers of that day have, to some extent, lost touch with the interests of the soil is that the farmers of that day were not able to persuade their sons to become their successors, The saddest change that has overtaken Orange County in the last forty years is not in the character of its professional men, but in the character of its farming population.
Identified with the period included in the personal recollections here but partially preserved are several groups of fathers and sons who may for convenience be considered together ; especially as a sufficiently con- secutive view of the period has now been presented to admit. henceforth, of greater latitude in respect to time and order.
Joseph W. Gott, senior, died in 1869 after twenty-seven years' con- tinuous practice in Goshen, where he established the enviable reputation throughout the county of being one of the most honorable and high- minded men, as well as one of the most able and successful lawyers, known to his generation. His premature and deeply regretted death occurred before his only son could be admitted to practice.
Joseph W. Gott, Jr., was admitted in 1875 and since then, like his father, has practiced continuously in Goshen. No higher praise can be bestowed upon him than to say, that while he has, by his own vigorous intellect and independent character, won for himself prominence at the bar, he has never lost sight of the high ideals which animated his father.
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The general confidence in his supreme honor and integrity which he has always enjoyed corresponds most touchingly to the confidence and re- spect always inspired by his honored father. With him is now associated in practice his own son, Percy Van Duzer Gott. These two are men- tioned first in the group of fathers and sons because they are the only lawyers in Orange County, thus associated, who constitute and represent four generations of Orange County lawyers. For in them flows not only the blood of the elder Gott, but the blood of the Van Duzers and the Gedneys.
Isaac R. Van Duzer, who married in 1826 the older sister of Judge Gedney-their daughter, Charlotte, being married to Joseph W. Gott in 1847-was, undoubtedly, the most brilliant advocate, with the single ex- ception of Ogden Hoffman, who ever addressed an Orange County jury. All the accounts of contemporaries and all the traditions of the bar unite in this verdict. Often have I heard Judge Wilkin, who as a boy heard him in Goshen, expatiate upon his transcendent powers. He died pre- maturely in his fortieth year, but the opinion entertained by his genera- tion was that, had he lived, his name would have gone down to history with the foremost orators of his age. Of their distinguished ancestry at the bar of Orange County the Gotts may well be proud; for the junior member in the present firm is now the fourth in a line of lawyers whose practice and residence at Goshen have extended over a period of eighty- five years-from 1823 to the present time.
John W. Brown was admitted to practice in 1822, just one year before Mr. Van Duzer, to whom he was related, Judge Brown having married a Reeve, which was the family name of Mr. Van Duzer's mother. It is remarkable that if the practice of Judge Brown and of his own son, Charles F. Brown, had not been interrupted by extended terms of judi- cial service in the life of each-sixteen years in the life of the elder Brown and fourteen years in the life of the younger-the continuous practice of the two Browns would now cover a period of eighty-six years. As it is, their contributions in two generations to the jurisprudence of the State, at the bar and on the bench, cover a longer period than that embraced in the careers of any father and son associated with the legal annals of Orange County. I say still associated because, although Judge Charles F. Brown is now one of the two or three acknowledged leaders of the bar of the State, with his office in New York City, where his practice is
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largely in the Appellate Courts, he still retains his residence in Orange County and a nominal connection with the firm established in Newburgh by his former partner, Mr. Cassedy.
Ilis own career has already been sufficiently treated in its appropriate place in this commentary. It only remains to add that his life-long veneration for his father's memory and his consistent emulation of his father's example supply an element of interest to his career and of filial tenderness to his character not appreciated by the thousands of his admirers, among the judges and lawyers of the country, who know him only through the cold medium of his published judicial opinions.
Judge John W. Brown was undoubtedly a great man. Serving two terms in Congress from 1833 to 1837; a prominent member of the Constitutional Convention of 1846; elected in 1849 to the Supreme Court and again in 1857, his life was one of unceasing activity, influence and power. His greatness as a judge may be inferred from the remarkable circumstance that no decision made by him was ever reversed by the Court of Appeals, of which court he was himself a member, under the system then prevailing. during the last years of his successive terms as a judge of the Supreme Court.
It is not strange that one who was born to the heritage of such a name should have sought to add, as indeed he has added, to its luster in a suc- ceeding generation.
It was while Charles F. Brown was district attorney of Orange County that John W. Lyon became an official of the county through his appoint- ment to the office of assistant district attorney. The career of the Lyons, father and son. now covers a practice of sixty-one years in Port Jervis, the longest period of continuous practice at the bar carried over from father to son. in Orange County.
Thomas J. Lyon, or, as his friends affectionately preferred to call him, Tom Lyon. was a man of great native talent and marked originality. Beginning life as a Methodist preacher, but coming to prefer the more extended opportunities for usefulness afforded by the law, his fame in the fifties soon spread from the Delaware to the Hudson. Throwing himself with ardor into the exciting political contests which marked this period. he was in constant demand as a campaign speaker and his poli- tical services were recognized by a lucrative appointment under the administration of President Franklin Pierce. Twice elected to the As-
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sembly and once a candidate of his party for the Senate, his abilities always received the cordial recognition of the public with whom he kept constantly on good terms. The announcement that he was to speak at a political gathering was always sure to attract a large attendance of ad- herents of the opposite party for they knew they would be entertained by his sallies though they might not be seduced by his arguments.
His control over juries was due to a mingling of magnetism and humor. He could touch the chord of sentiment and the response was. immediate. He could cover his opponent with ridicule and the result was contagious and convulsive laughter. No weapon is more powerful at any time than gentle banter and no one knew better how to employ its arts to the discomfiture of an adversary than Thomas J. Lyon.
His son, John W., inherits his ability and much of his originality. He, too, has always taken a deep interest in politics and he has been heard on the platform in every campaign since 1872.
He was the pioneer of the bar in that branch of the practice which has since assumed such proportions, railway litigation. He was the first to carry to the Court of Appeals many important questions, relating to the liability of the master for injury to the employee, which were settled by that court in favor of the positions contended for by him.
A most interesting feature in the genealogy of the profession is the fact that the daughter of John W. Lyon, Frances D. Lyon, is also a lawyer duly admitted to practice, having supplemented her studies in her father's office by a course at the Cornell Law School from which she graduated with honor, subsequently passing her examinations before the State Board. She is now engaged in practice with her father, to whom her aid is invaluable in the office, while she has also shown marked ability in her appearances at court.
Thus we have in the Lyons the only family in Orange County, except the Gott family, in which there have been three successive generations of lawyers bearing the same name.
Eugene A. Brewster and George R. Brewster cover a period of sixty years' continuous practice, the elder Brewster having been admitted in 1848. The judgment of his associates, placing Eugene A. Brewster in the front rank of the lawyers of his time, has already been expressed. Upon his death his son, George R., succeeded to his practice in the same office to which for so many years the friends of his father were accus-
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tomed to bend their steps and where they never received any but the most wise and judicious counsel. George R. Brewster inherits the sound judgment and conservative instincts of his father and well maintains the dignity and responsibility of his honorable name and lineage. Ilis public spirit and devotion to every worthy cause are among the most conspicuous of his traits of character. Possessed of ample means and under no spur of necessity he gives freely to the public all the time he can spare from a practice which has been attended with great success, one of the most no- table of his recent legal victories having been gained in restraining the building of a railroad across his client's property.
His sense of civic duty has been strikingly exemplified in the consci- entious performance of his duties as supervisor, though his acceptance of the office involved great inconvenience and sacrifice. His labors in be- half of St. Luke's Hospital have been of inestimable value to that noble benefaction.
In a community as conservative as Newburgh, where one minister is still acceptably serving his congregation for the fifty-second year and another for the thirty-fifth, it counts for something, and very properly so, that a man should be the son and successor of an honored, respected father. When Mr. Brewster died his son was made a director of the Newburgh Bank in his father's place and when Abram S. Cassedy died the same course was taken in the Quassaick Bank in respect to his son, William F. Cassedy.
The Cassedys, father and son, cover a period of fifty-one years' con- tinnous practice, the elder Cassedy having been admitted in 1857. The high place gained by him in the esteem of the bar and in the confidence of the public has already been set forth at length. This confidence has been transferred to his son, William F. Cassedy, to a degree almost un- precedented in the career of a young practitioner but in every sense justi- fied by his high character and brilliant talents. Mr. Cassedy has during the last few years managed and represented estates of as great magnitude as the estates represented by all the other lawyers of Orange County combined. He has a special talent for this important branch of the prac- tice, but, like his father, can drop his papers and go to court with his case well prepared for trial. The ability with which he uniformly presents it to a jury is well reënforced by the same winning manner and pleasing personality which has endeared him to so many friends.
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When Judge Charles F. Brown was in 1883 elevated to the bench of the Supreme Court, the firm of Cassedy & Brown, of which Abram S. Cassedy was then the senior member, was, of course, dissolved. When Judge Brown retired from the bench in 1897, Mr. Cassedy having mean- time died, the names became transposed, the firm of Brown & Cassedy then formed, and still continuing, being composed of Judge Brown and William F. Cassedy. That this association of his name with that of his old partner's son should be pleasing to Judge Brown is a distinguished mark of that great jurist's confidence, esteem and affection which in- deed, are shared by all. bar and public alike, who come to know the pure and lofty character of William F. Cassedy.
William B. Royce who with his son, Herbert B. Royce, is engaged in practice in Middletown, was admitted forty years ago, but being per- suaded, while in the full tide of active practice, to accept the position of president of the First National Bank in 1875, his career as a lawyer was interrupted for seventeen years. Resigning this position, however, at the end of this period, he soon recovered his scattered practice and upon the admission to the bar of his son the firm of William B. and Herbert B. Royce was formed. This continued until the autumn of 1906 when, John C. R. Taylor, having been elected to the Senate, the firm of Taylor, Royce & Royce was formed.
Mr. Royce has greater capacity for public business than any lawyer who ever practiced at the bar in Orange County. His mind grasps readily, his tastes run naturally to, every phase and variety of town, county and municipal relations, improvements and enterprises, with all the important questions involved in them in respect to the proper dis- tribution of public burdens. He is an authority upon corporation law in respect both to the organization and management of corporations. His power of clear statement, in respect to any involved or intricate situation, is very great.
There is one characteristic of Mr. Royce which is fully appreciated only by those who have been in a position to see its frequent effective exercise. He loves to settle disputes among neighbors and litigants. He has genuine talent for making each party see how it would benefit him to make some concession and even greater tact in pointing out how certain concessions necessary to the settlement will still leave the pride and dignity of the parties uncompromised. He absolutely has never
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failed in bringing about an agreement which he started out to compass. Sometimes, indeed, the perverseness of the parties has seemed to make the difficulties insuperable, but this has only spurred him on to renewed exertions. Those who know how unprofitable and unwise for both parties is any litigation which can possibly be avoided and, especially, any litigation representing only an honest difference of opinion, will realize the indebtedness of the public to Mr. Royce for those unselfish exer- tion- and that salutary influence which, throughout his entire profes sional career, have been steadily, consistently and successfully directed to the promotion of peace and the soothing of angry controversy.
His son, Herbert B. Royce, who enjoyed the advantages of both the classical and law course at Cornell University, was launched from the first into the activities of a busy office. Having been elected special county judge he has enjoyed an opportunity, in presiding over the trial terms of the County Court, to impress his abilities upon the bar and the public to a degree and in a manner never before enjoyed by a special county judge in the entire history of the county. Before Judge Beattie's time the county judges were never very considerate to the special county judge -. They regarded them as officers provided merely for the con- venience of the bar in signing orders and they affected to think that there might be some serious question of jurisdiction involved in their trying and sentencing criminals. Even Judge Hirschberg and Judge Beattie were never invited, as special county judges, to hold a term of court, but the judges, when they could not act themselves, always brought in a county judge of a neighboring county. Judge Beattie acted more generously to his official coadjutor and when it became necessary for him to surrender two terms of court, Judge Royce was requested to holl them. This service was performed by him with such marked ability. an l so greatly to the satisfaction of the entire bar and public, that Judge Seeger, who succeeded Judge Beattie in 1907. and who was disqualifie 1 from sitting in any cases in which he, as district attorney, had procured the indictments, again summoned Judge Royce to the bench. when again. he was enabled to give a public demonstration of his judicial fitness and capacity and to prove that it will never be necessary to call in a judge from a neighboring county as long as Judge Royce remains special county judge.
Finn & Finn is the name of the firm of which Daniel Finn was the
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senior member until it was ruthlessly dissolved by the untimely hand of death, which overtook him without warning in the very midst of an unusually active and prosperous career. Admitted to the bar in 1870 he began and, for thirty-five years continued his practice in Middletown, becoming one of the most respected and influential of its citizens as well as one of the ablest and most trusted of its bar. He was especially versed in the law of wills. Nothing appealed more strongly to his in- terest than the ambiguous provisions of a will and the difficult questions raised as to their proper construction. His opinions upon these were often submitted to the court with the result that his judgment was in- variably sustained.
He was the most imperturbable of men. Nothing agitated or even ruffled him. He could lay down his pen to engage in an interview with some irascible client and, after it was over, calmly resume work upon his thoughtful brief at the very point at which it had been interrupted. This faculty, the result of training as well as of temperament, enabled him to accomplish a great deal of work. The day was never spoiled for him by some untoward incident, unpleasant letter or peevish client. Each day marked distinct progress in some appointed task.
Mr. Finn, who drew the will of Mrs. Thrall, was deeply interested in the noble institutions founded by her-the hospital and the library in addition to the park-and it was largely through his influence that her thoughts were directed to these beneficent objects. It was also through his careful prevision that her testamentary wishes in respect to an addi- tional endowment for the hospital were not defeated by statutory pre- cautions. Mr. Finn foresaw that she might die within the two months set apart, arbitrarily and without respect to testamentary capacity, by the inscrutable wisdom of the legislature as the fluctuating hiatus, that may or may not turn out to be the vitiated period, within which testa- mentary benevolence must be suspended; within which all tardy attempts of the passing soul to make its peace with God or restitution to man- kind must be overruled and nullified in favor of worthless or distant relatives ; but still within the last day of which the cunning physician seeking to cheat death of its prey and rapacity of its spoils, might so galvanize into convulsive life the dissolving frame, might so fan into flickering flame the vital spark that, in the race between greedy kindred and melting charity, rapacity will lose by a single hour. In the case of
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Mrs. Thrall there was no such dramatic suspense. She died twenty days after the execution of her will; so that the bequests in her will and codicil of twenty thousand dollars to Thrall Hospital, already founded by her, were declared void. But Mr. Finn also advised her to give to her executors, Isaac R. Clements and Nathan M. Hallock, in- dividually, absolutely and outright all legacies which might for any rea- son be declared void or ineffectual, and this provision was incorporated in her codicil. After this provision had withstood in the courts the at- tacks of relatives who claimed that it represented a secret trust, equally as abhorrent to legislative solicitude for relatives as a direct charitable bequest, Mr. Clements and Mr. Hallock, in honorable recognition of Mrs. Thrall's wishes, as expressed in her defeated bequests, but under no legal compulsion so to do, turned over to Thrall Hospital the twenty thousand dollars which came to them absolutely under this alternative provision. Thus were Mr. Finn's wisdom and foresight, not only in respect to his client's provision for the hospital but in respect to her bequest to the city of Middletown for its library, amply justified by the event. The be- quest of $30,000, for the library was sustained by the courts. These noble foundations-the library and the hospital-constitute an en luring monument to the generosity of S. Maretta Thrall but are no less a monu- ment to the learning, skill and prescience of Daniel Finn. The people of Middletown, though they have always recognized his virtues and his abilities, but imperfectly understand the full measure and extent of their indebtedness to his guiding han'l and public spirit. It is simple justice to his memory that the incidents of his professional career bear- ing upon the public welfare should be embraced in any work professing to be history.
Mr. Finn's intense affection for and loyalty to his alma mater, Hamil- ton College, was a very pronounced and interesting trait of his character. His only son, Frank H. Finn, also graduated from this classic institution of learning which numbers among its alumni that most intellectual of all living American statesmen. Elihu Root.
Frank H. Finn, upon being admitted to practice, entered into partner- ship with his father under the firm name of Finn & Finn-the name under which, notwithstanding his father's death, he and his present partner. Ar- thur H. Payne, himself also a graduate of Hamilton. College. conduct their business. Every writ and process issued by the present firm runs in
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the name of Finn & Finn, thus perpetuating the potent influence, the fine example and the gentle memory of one of the purest and ablest of Orange County lawyers. It is unusual among lawyers to preserve the name, in a firm, of a deceased partner. The only instance I recall is that of James C. Carter, whose surviving partner, Lewis Cass Ledyard, has always, with a tenderness and delicacy of sentiment so in consonance with his own noble nature and chivalric character, kept Mr. Carter's name at the head of his firm, through all ensuing changes. The filial reverence shown by Frank H. Finn for his father's memory, his unwillingness to let his father's name disappear at once beneath the cold waters of swift forgetfulness, illumi- nates his own strong and sterling character. Called upon suddenly to as- sume charge of many intricate and involved cases pending in the office at the time of his father's death he accepted and discharged the painful re- sponsibility with a dignity, firmness, manliness, courage and ability which commanded the admiration and won the affection of the community. Though he owes much indeed to his noble father, he has given abundant evidence of his capacity to stand alone. He and his brilliant partner, Mr. Payne, will bring no reproach upon the honored name still in their pious keeping.
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