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MEMORIAL 
 
 OP THE 
 
 City and Cofity Hall 
 
 OPENING CEREMONIES, 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
 Edited and Published by F. F. Fargo. 
 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y. : 
 
 THE COURIER COMPANY, PRINTERS. 
 
 18 7 6. 
 
 H^' 
 

 Entered according to act of Congi'ess, in the year 1876, by 
 
 FKANCIS F. FARGO, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
TO 
 
 JAMES M. SMITH, 
 PHILIP BECKER. 
 JAMES ADAMS, 
 ALLEN POTTER, 
 JOHN NICE, 
 
 GEORGE S. WARDWELL, 
 DENNIS BOWEN, 
 GEORGE W. HAYWARD, 
 ALBERT P. LANING, 
 JASPER B. YOUNGS, 
 
 BOAED OP C0MMISSI0NBH8 FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OP THE 
 
 CITY AND COUNTY HALL, 
 
 BUFFALO, N. T., 
 
 through whose good judgment, practical. knowledge, and economical 
 management, as well as by whose untiring effort and unselfish 
 devotion to the public interest, the people — ^as is confi- 
 dently believed — have secured a building at 
 less cost than has been expended for any 
 similar structure in this country, 
 this work is most respect- 
 fully inscribed by 
 
 The Publisheb. 
 
PREFATORY 
 
 Usage has sanctioned the well established custom of commemo- 
 rating important events, whether occurring in the life of individuals, 
 or the history of nations. The completion of the City and County 
 Hall of Buffalo, is no ordinary occurrence for the people of Erie 
 County. The object of this volume is to present to the public a 
 compilation, arranged in convenient form, for reference and preser- 
 vation, of such facts and papers as were developed on the occasion 
 of 'the completion of the building. They consist of an elaborate 
 description of the Hall, a history of its construction, an authentic 
 account of the ceremonies observed in its formal opening and 
 the valuable and highly interesting historical papers which were 
 suggested and prepared in connection with its dedication and oc- 
 cupancy, by distinguished citizens, and old residents of Buffalo. 
 The work also contains an impressive sermon by Eev. Dr. Heacock, 
 especially addressed to the legal profession. An appendix is added, 
 containing the civil list of the City of Buffalo, and the County of 
 Erie, from their organization to the present time, together with 
 other historical and statistical data of great value and interest to 
 all who are concerned in the local affairs of the "City and County. 
 A beautiful and truthful engraving of the Hall, covering two pages, 
 adds largely to the value of the work, and the diagrams of the 
 several stories convey a correct knowledge of the internal arrange- 
 ment of the structure. 
 
 Trusting that these pages will, in some measure, subserve the 
 purpose of their design, in placing within the reach of every resident 
 of the City and County, a record of an important local event in this 
 the Nation's Centennial Year, they are submitted to the judgment 
 of the public. * P. P. F, 
 
 Buffalo, April, 1876. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introductory : 
 
 Historical Sketch of Western New York and Founding of Buffalo, . 7 
 
 City and County Hall : 
 
 Its Inception — Tlie Commissioners — Estimated cost — The Architect — Pro- 
 gress of the work — Contracts for materials — Plan of the Hall — Diagrams 
 of the several floors — Laying the corner stone — Oration of Judge Clinton 
 — Description of the stone. — The contents of the box deposited — The stat- 
 ues — The tower clock — The total cost, 9 
 
 From the Old Buildings to the New Hall : 
 
 Action of the Council — Judge Clinton's proposition — Proceedings of Bar 
 Meetings — Historical Papers of Hon. George R. Babcock and Judges 
 Sheldon and Smith — Speech of Judge Clinton, ........ 40 
 
 Adieu to the Old Court House: 
 
 Opening of the New Hall — Further action of the Bar — Final abandon- 
 ment of the Old Court House — Formal occupation of the New Hall — 
 Addresses of Hon. Sherman S. Rogers, Hon. E. C. Sprague, Hon. A. P. 
 Nichols, and others, 64 
 
 The Common Council: 
 
 Formal Dedication of the New Council Chamber — Invocation of Dr. Lord 
 — Address of Mayor Becker — Response of President Bemis — Address of 
 Judge Clinton — Speeches of Aldermen Simons, Lothridge, Ferris, and 
 Ambrose, 72 
 
 Religious Ceremonies: 
 
 Sermon to Lawyers by Rev. Dr. Heacock — Early Reminiscences of the 
 Old Court House — Recollections of Distinguished members of the Bar — 
 The great Buffalo Bank suit — Lessons drawn from the theme, ... 86 
 
 Banquet op the Bar : 
 
 Social reunion of the Bar at the Tifft House — Two hundred lawyers 
 around the festive board — A flow of wine, wit and soul, and a fund of 
 reminiscence and anecdote — Speeches of Messrs. Sprague, Lord, Clinton, 
 Saunders, Putnam, Babcock, Cutting, Wadsworth, Marvin, Lewis, Box, 
 and others — Letters and telegrams, 91 
 
 A Clerical Banquet : 
 
 The County Clerk and his employees celebrate their entrance to the New 
 Ofiice — Meeting in the Old Office — Another meeting in the New one — A 
 Banquet at the Ocean House — Addresses, speeches, toasts, &c., &c., . 132 
 
 Appendix : 
 
 Civil list of the city of Buffalo from 1816 to 1876— History of the Superior 
 Court — Civil list of Erie county from 1808 to 1876 — Alphabetical list of 
 the Erie County Bar, &c., &c., 139 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 One hundred years ago, Western New York was an unbroken 
 wilderness. Dense forests grew, and ferocious wild beasts roamed 
 unmolested, where now are cultivated fields, thriving towns and 
 populous cities. The busy streets, broad avenues, and beautiful 
 parkways of to-day, were then but rugged Indian trails, leading 
 from the wigwams to the hunting-grounds, and fishing resorts of 
 the red man. 
 
 In 1773, one hundred and four years ago, the Provincial Assembly 
 of New York, organized the county of Tryon, which embraced all 
 that portion of the State lying west of the city and county of Albany. 
 In 1784, the name of the county was changed by legislative enact- 
 ment, from Tryon to Montgomery, but the boundaries remained 
 unaltered. Five years thereafter, or in 1789, Montgomery county 
 was divided, by creating the county of Ontario, which embraced 
 all that portion of the State lying west of Syracuse. Thirteen years 
 later, or in 1802, the county of Genesee was organized, embracing 
 all, or nearly all, the territory of the State west of Genesee river. 
 Another subdivision was made in 1808, when Niagara county was 
 formed and became the most westerly county of the State. 
 
 In 1821, the southern portion of Niagara county was set off and 
 organized as Erie county, with boundaries substantially as they 
 exist at present. Although Erie county had no legal existence until 
 1821, yet, practically, its history reaches back to 1808, at which time 
 Niagara county was created, with the village of Buffalo, as the 
 county seat. As a matter of course, oflBcial documents and records 
 affecting that portion of Niagara, embraced in the new county of 
 Erie, were left and still remain in the Buffalo office. 
 
 An association known as The Holland Land Company, being the 
 owners of a large portion of the territory of Western New York, 
 took the first step in 1801, towards founding a town on the present 
 site of Buffalo, in causing a survey to be made, and a plat to be 
 prepared, and gave to the proposed settlement the name of New 
 
Amsterdam. Canandaigua and Batavia were the two principal 
 settlements in Western New York at that time. Rochester was 
 unknown — even the "blazed trail" through the forest from Can- 
 andaigua to Batavia did not take the Flour City in its course. 
 
 About this time an unusual inclination to "Go West" was de- 
 veloped in New England. The tide of emigration spread over the 
 State, and Western New York was ultimately occupied by the 
 sturdy yeomanry from the Atlantic seaboard whose decendants now 
 constitute the intelligent population of a greater portion of the 
 Empire State. Buffalo gained its full share of the new comers from 
 eastern settlements, and grew apace. At the breaking out of the 
 war of 1812, its population was about 1,500. 
 
 Its prosperity was somewhat impeded by an untimely visit from 
 the British soldiery in December, 1813,who crossed the Niagara river 
 at Black Rock, and destroyed the entire town by fire, with the 
 exception of two dwellings. This check to the growth of the place 
 was only temporary. The village was soon rebuilt, its dimensions 
 enlarged, and its stability and future prosperity fully assured. The 
 raid and fire brands of the British reduced its population to less 
 than 1,000, but it soon retrieved its losses, and in 1820, numbered 
 over 2,000. In 1825, it counted over 5,000 residents, and, in 1830, 
 it boasted of nearly 8,000. 
 
 In 1813, New Amsterdam was incorporated by act of the legis- 
 lature as the " Village of Buffaloe." The trustees named in the act, 
 neglecting to organize, the law became void, and a new act was 
 passed for a similar purpose the following year. The same fate 
 attended this second effort to incorporate the village, and a third 
 act was passed in 1816, from which period dates the corporate 
 existence of the " Queen City of the Lakes." 
 
 In 1832, the place had grown to that importance which justified 
 further promotion, and it was incorporated as a city, with a mayor, 
 common council, and other necessary city offices. The charter has 
 frequently been amended to meet the demands of increasing popu- 
 lation and growing wealth, which have signally marked the his- 
 tory of the city. Its population has increased since its first incor- 
 poration- as follows : 1832, 10,000 ; 1835, 15,000; 1840, 18,000; 
 1845, 30,000; 1850, 42,000; 1855, 74,000; 1860, 81,000; 1865, 
 94,000; 1870,118,000; 1875,140,000; and in 1876, probably 150,000. 
 The same ratio of increase until the close of the present century, or 
 until 1901, the centennial of the founding of Buffalo, will give the 
 city a population of more than 500,000. 
 
THE 
 
 CITY AND COUNTY HALL. 
 
 A DETAILED STATEMENT OF ITS INCEPTION, CONSTRUCTION AND 
 COST, WITH A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE STRUCTURE. 
 
 ITS INCEPTION. 
 
 It cannot be trntbfully said that, hitherto, the city of Buflfalo 
 has been extravagant in its public buildings. With a population of 
 more than one hundred thousand, and a wealth equal to that of 
 most any city of its size, it has for several years continued in the 
 occupancy of indifferent structures, until a suitable building — one 
 commensurate not only with the present wants of the people, but 
 for many years in the future — could be provided. The question of 
 erecting such an edifice had often been discussed, and various plans 
 had been submitted to attain the object, yet nothing positive was 
 accomplished in the matter until the year 1870, when the project 
 took definite shape by the introduction in the Common Council, on 
 the twenty-first day of November, by Alderman John Pierce, of the 
 following resolution : 
 
 ^'Resolved, That the Mayor, Comptroller, City Clerk, Gibson T. 
 Williams, Esq., and James M. Smith, Esq., be and are hereby ap- 
 pointed a committee to take into consideration the project of build- 
 ing a new City Hall, and the expediency of including in the esti- 
 mates for the next year the sum of fifty thousand dollars, enabling 
 the city to commence the erection of the City Hall." 
 
 This resolution, on the motion of Aid. Evans, was referred to the 
 Committee on Finance. On the twelfth of December, 1870, the 
 Finance Committee reported in favor of its adoption, and it was 
 adopted without division. 
 2 
 
10 
 
 At a meeting of the Common Council, held on the twenty-fourth 
 of December, 1870, the Finance Committee submitted a report, 
 signed by all the members thereof, recommending the construction 
 of a building to accommodate city and county officers, and recom- 
 mending legislative action authorizing the appointment of a com- 
 mission to procure a site, and construct such building. This 
 report was also adopted by the Council without division. 
 
 THE COMMISSION. 
 
 On the twenty-first of April, 1871, the Legislature passed an act 
 entitled "An act in relation to the location and erection of public 
 buildings for the use of Erie county and the city of Buffalo." 
 Messrs. James M. Smith, Dennis Bowen, Albert P. Laning, Jasper 
 B. Youngs, and Allen Potter, were appointed by the governor a 
 Board of Commissioners to select a site for, and erect such build- 
 ings, and on the twenty-second of May, 1871, the commissioners 
 reported to the Common Council that they had selected Franklin 
 square, bounded by Franklin, Eagle, Delaware and Church streets, 
 as the site. On September 18, 1871, the Council adopted an ordi- 
 nance setting apart the square named. In May, 1872, the follow- 
 ing gentlemen were added to the Commission, in pursuance of an 
 act of the Legislature, viz. : James Adams, Philip Becker, John 
 Nice, and George S. Wardwell. 
 
 On the ninth of May, 1873, Mr. James M. Smith, Chairman of 
 the Board of Commissioners, sent in his resignation as a member 
 thereof, and Mr. George S. Wardwell was elected chairman in his 
 stead, Mr. Geo. W. Hay ward being elected commissioner in place of 
 Mr. Smith. 
 
 At a meeting of the Common Council, held October 16, 1871, the 
 Board of Commissioners, in compliance with a resolution previously 
 passed by the Common Council, submitted a communication esti- 
 mating the cost of the proposed public buildings at $772,000. 
 
 On the twenty-second of October, 1878, the commissioners sent a 
 communication to the Council, giving the "original estimate" in 
 detail, the amount footing up $799,734. To this was added an 
 " amended estimate," as follows : 
 
 Additional for granite in place of local stone $222,500 
 
 Additional for granite setting 26,000 
 
 Additional for hard wood floors in place of white pine. . . . 5,000 
 Additional for wainscoting of black walnut in place of 
 
 pine base 14,000 
 
11 
 
 Additional for veneered doors in place of solid $10,000 
 
 Additional for hard wood casings in place of pine 45,000 
 
 Additional for waslibasins in rooms 5,000 
 
 Additional for heating 25,000 
 
 Additional for finishing hard wood throughout 10,000 
 
 Additional for ancliors 5,000 
 
 Additional for laying and additional cost of brick 25,000 
 
 Additional for principal iron stair-case 3,000 
 
 Additional for gas hxtures 5,000 
 
 Additional for Superintendent's salary 7,000 
 
 Total $407,500 
 
 This would make the total cost, as finally agreed upon, 11,207,234. 
 Ou the twelfth of April, 1875, the legislature passed an act amend- 
 ing " An act in relation to the location and erection of public 
 buildings for the use of Erie county and the city of Buffalo," by 
 which it w^as provided that one-half the expense incurred in erect- 
 ing said Hall, and completing and furnishing the same ready for 
 use, should be borne and paid by the city of Buffalo, and the other 
 half by the county of Erie, and all expenses to be incurred after the 
 erection and completion thereof, for repairing, warming, lighting, 
 and care thereof, should be borne and paid by the city and county 
 in the same proportions. 
 
 This act also provided that the whole amount to be expended by 
 the commissioners should not exceed one million four hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars. Also, that the commissioners should com- 
 plete all the duties assigned them within six years from the time of 
 their first meeting. 
 
 THE ARCHITECT. 
 
 The Board of Commissioners met on the second of May, 1871, 
 and organized by electing James M. Smith, Esq., chairman. On 
 the nineteenth of June Mr. Bowen moved that a committee of two 
 be appointed to prepare and report plans, and procure the services 
 of a capable architect to assist them. Messrs. Bowen and Laning 
 were appointed such committee. 
 
 On the twenty-fifth of April, 1872, it was reported that Mr. A. J. 
 Warner, of Rochester, had been selected as architect, that his plan 
 had been accepted, and a contract entered into with him, which 
 contract had been signed by all the commissioners. By the terms 
 of the contract Mr. Warner was to receive $24,000 for furnishing 
 the plans, specifications, working-drawings, &c. 
 
12 
 
 MI8CELLA NEO US. 
 
 From a report made by the Building Commission, the following 
 general information is gleaned : 
 
 July 18, 1871. — The chairman was authorized to enter into a 
 contract with S. II. Fields, for his services as Superintendent of the 
 City and County Hall, at a salary not exceeding $2,500 per annum. 
 Notices were also directed to be published requesting samples of 
 stone to be furnished by the first of September, and inviting tenders 
 for stone for the foundation walls. 
 
 Proposals for foundation stone were received from Lewis F. Allen 
 and Nicholas Uebelhoer. The proposition of Mr. Uebelhoer was 
 accepted at 16.50 per cord, delivered. 
 
 A proposition was received from the Akron Cement Company, to 
 furnish cement at 11.00 per barrel, which was accepted. 
 
 August 17th. — The chairman was authorized to contract with 
 Mr. J. Gallagher to excavate and remove the earth for the> basement 
 and foundation walls, at a sum not exceeding twenty-seven cents 
 per cubic yard. 
 
 October 7th. — On motion of Mr. Laning, the superintendent 
 was authorized to contract for the quick lime for this season at 
 ninety cents per barrel. This contract price was afterwards reduced 
 to 88 cents. 
 
 October 18th. — On motion of Mr. Bowen, the chairman was 
 authorized to advertise for proposals for furnishing stone to be used 
 in the construction of 'tlie building. 
 
 November 17th. — The following propositions for stone accom- 
 panied with samples were received: 
 
 Clough Stone Company, North Amherst, Ohio, one dollar per 
 cubic foot, unwrought. 
 
 Worthington & Son, Amherst stone, ninety-five cents per cubic 
 foot, unwrought. 
 
 ConiefF & Dee, Onondaga gray marble, one dollar per cubic foot, 
 nnwrought; wrought, one dollar and fifty cents; wrought and set in 
 wall at one dollar and seventy-three cents ; wrought and set in wall 
 in gross for $250,000. They would also furnish the Oswego brown 
 stone, wrought and set in the walls in gross for $225,000. 
 
 Lyman Baker, Berea Stone Company, Ohio; Berea stone, wrought 
 and sot in wall in gross for $278,000. 
 
 Bodwell Granite Company, Hallowell, Maine ; unwrought granite, 
 $3.25 per cubic foot ; wrought and set in wall, $3.65; unwrought, 
 in gross, $149,500; wrought, in gross, $422,500; wrought and set 
 in the wall, in gross, $474,500. 
 
13 
 
 M. H. St. John and George Mark. Clark's Island granite, wrought, 
 $3.10 per cubic foot; unwrought, $1.00 per cubic foot; unwrought, 
 in gross, $130,000; wrought, in gross, $403,000. 
 
 Decembek 19, 1871. — On motion of Mr. Bowen, the chairman 
 was authorized to contract with J. S. & F. H. Youngs for quick 
 lime, at eighty-seven and one-half cents per barrel. Also that the 
 exterior of the City and County Hall be constructed of granite. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Laning, the chairman, Mr. Bowen, and the 
 architect were appointed a committee to contract with Messrs. 
 Mark and 8t. John, to furnish and deliver granite from their quarry 
 at Clark' Island, cut in accordance with the plans and specifications, 
 under the direction of the architect, upon the basis of 130,000 cubic 
 feet for $360,000, the price to be increased or diminished in propor- 
 tion to the quantity required. The chairman and Mr. Bowen wei'e 
 also authorized to contract with Brush Bros, for all the brick re- 
 quired, on such terms as to quantity and price as they might deem 
 expedient. 
 
 March 27, 1872. — The chairman reported that a contract had 
 been executed with Brush Bros, for all the brick required — 2,000,000 
 to be delivered at six dollars per thousand, and the balance at the 
 market price at the time of delivery, but the price not to exceed at 
 any time $7.25 per thousand. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Bowen, the chairman was authorized to con- 
 tract for the iron columns at a price not exceeding seven cents per 
 pound. 
 
 April 25, 1872. — The chairman also reported that' he had exe- 
 cuted a contract with Dunbar & Howell' for the iron columns — 
 those in the basement to be delivered at six cents per pound, and 
 those in the upper stories at six and one-half cents per pound. 
 
 October 11, 1872. — Mr. Cooley S. Chapin was appointed super- 
 intendent in place of S. H. Fields, and Addison P. Mason, clerk, in 
 place of Frederick Masten. 
 
 October 21st. — On motion of Mr. Adams, a committee consisting 
 of the chairman, and Messrs. Wardwell and Bowen was appointed 
 to procure models of the statues to be placed on the tower. 
 
 December 31,1872. — The chairman reported that a contract had 
 been executed with Mr. Berger, of New York, to furnish the models 
 for the statues. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Bowen, the chairman and Messrs. Becker and 
 Youngs were appointed a committee with authority to purchase or 
 contract for the purchase of the lumber required in the construction 
 of the Hall, and provide a place for storing it, and cause it to be 
 insured. 
 
14 
 
 Makch 12, 1873. — The chairman reported that a contract had 
 been executed with Scutcherd & Belton to furnish the lumber 
 required in the erection of the building. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Bowen.a committee consisting of the chairman 
 and Messrs. Wardwell and Laning was appointed, with authority to 
 contract for the construction of the statues to be placed on the 
 tower. An estimate of the cost of constructing these statues was 
 invited from Messrs. Batterson & Co., of Hartford, Conn. The 
 price fixed by them for executing them was 122,000. The commit- 
 tee executed a contract with Messrs. Mark & St. John, the contract- 
 ors, for furnishing the granite of the building. 
 
 April 8, 1873. — Mr. Adams offered a resolution that the plan of 
 the City and County Hall be so modified and changed that the ex- 
 terior surface of the stone above the first story, which, according to 
 the plan heretofore adopted should have a rock-finish, shall be 
 dressed in the style known as six-steel-cut work, provided the con- 
 tractors for furnishing such stone shall assent to such change, and 
 contract to furnish such stone in the last-mentioned style, at a rate 
 and price not to exceed two dollars per square foot on the surface, 
 for the additional cutting of the stones to be caused by such change, 
 and exclusive of openings. The resolution was adopted, and the 
 chairman was authorized to execute a contract with Mark & St. John 
 in accordance therewith. 
 
 September 2, 1873. — On motion of Mr. Bowen, a resolution was 
 adopted directing that the frames of the roof be constructed of the 
 best kind of pine timber, and that the chairman and superintendent 
 be authorized to purchase such timber at the best rate procurable. 
 
 The chairman and Messrs. Adams and Bowen were appointed a 
 committee to examine into and report upon the best manner of 
 heating and ventilating the building. 
 
 December 19th. — The chairman and Messrs. Bowen and Hay- 
 ward were appointed a committee to procure estimates of the cost of 
 doors, sash and stairs. 
 
 The following is a summary of the prices paid for materials: 
 
 Brick, $6@7 per thousand. 
 Cement, ll.OU per barrel. 
 
 Excavating foundation. 27 cents per cubic yard. 
 Foundation stone, $6.50 per cord. 
 Granite prepared for setting, $2.77 per cubic foot. 
 Granite, dressed surface for all above first story, and not included 
 in former contract, $2.00 per sup. foot, exclusive of openmgs. 
 Iron beams, 5 to 7^ cents per pound. 
 Iron columns, 6 to G-^ cents per pound. 
 
 Lumber, basswood plank, $18.00 to $20.00 per thousand feet. 
 Koof timber, Norway pine, $23.00 per thousand feet. 
 
15 
 
 Flooring, Georgia pine, 145.00 per thousand feet. 
 Black walnut lumber, $66.25 per thousand feet. 
 Quick lime, 87^ cents per barrel. 
 Sand and gravel, 11.50 per yard. . 
 
 Ground was first broken for the foundation of the building on 
 
 the twenty-first of August, 1871. 
 
 THE GENERAL PLAN 
 
 is in the form of a double Eoman cross, with the bases adjoining, 
 and extending longitudinally north and south; the body of the 
 cross covering a space of 114 x 255 feet ; the arms and heads having 
 each 20 feet projection and 52 feet front. The building thus has a 
 total length of 295 feet, and a total width of 158 feet. The princi- 
 pal facade is on Franklin street, and in the center of the same is 
 the clock and bell-tower, projecting 12 feet from the main building. 
 The tower is 40 feet square at the base, and ]"ises to a height of 268 
 feet. In the center of the Delaware street front is also a projection 
 of 5 feet in depth and 45 feet in length. 
 
 THE EXTERIOR. 
 
 The first or principal story is finished with rock-face or pointed 
 work, with heavy chamfers and tooled margins, and heavy project- 
 ing water-table. The second and third stories are finished with 
 pilasters between the openings, with molded or carved capitals, re- 
 ceiving the arches and lintels of the windows. The jambs of all 
 the windows have deep reveals, with heavy imposts and mullions. 
 The pilasters between the windows in the second and third stories. 
 in the pavilions at each end of the building, extend the full height 
 of both stories. At each external angle of the pavilions there is a 
 turret six feet square, with a pointed curved roof. 
 
 The cornice of the building is finished with plain modillions, and 
 surmounted with a parapet 74 feet above the ground. The roofs 
 are steep, covered with slate, and rise to a height of 105 feet from 
 the ground. There is a turret, eight feet square, at each of the 
 four corners of the large central tower, extending to a height of 
 166 feet from the ground, and surmounted with a pedestal. Upon 
 these turrets stand the statues. 
 
 The main cornice of the tower is on a line with the base of 
 the pedestals, and is finished with projecting parapets, sup- 
 ported by corbels. Next above the cornice, and between the statues, 
 are the pediments containing the clock faces, nine feet in diameter, 
 
16 
 
 one on eacli side of the tower. The clock section has a curved slate 
 roof, 27 feet in height, and next above is the lantern, or observatory, 
 200 feet above the ground. .Upon the observatory is a pointed, 
 curved roof of slate, similar to that on the turrets at the corners of 
 the pavilions. 
 
 The bell section of the tower is 120 feet above the ground, and 
 has three openings on each side, five feet wide and eighteen feet 
 high, finished with heavy molded louvres. 
 
 In the first story, in the center of the building, both on the Frank- 
 lin and Delaware street fronts, are the entrances, consisting of 
 double-arched openings, enriched by detached columns with carved 
 capitals. Each opening is nine feet wide and seventeen feet high. 
 In front of each entrance is a fine flight of stone steps, rising six 
 feet from the ground to the principal floor. The steps are flanked 
 on either side with abutments and pedestals for lamps, and at the 
 top of the steps, just outside of the building, is a stone platform 
 16 X 25 feet. 
 
 THE INTERIOR. 
 
 Entering the Franklin street front, the visitor is admitted to the 
 lobby, which consists of the first story of the tower, and is 28 x 30 
 feet, entirely of stone. From the lobby he passes, through sash 
 doors, to the. main corridor, 24 feet wide and 150 feet long, running 
 longitudinally in the building. The second and third stories also 
 each have a corridor of the same dimensions, extending in the 
 same direction ; and with these corridors all of the rooms and offices 
 communicate directly. 
 
 ** THE BASEMENT 
 
 of the building is intended chiefly for the storage of fuel and the 
 apparatus for ventilating and heating, the latter being done by 
 steam. There are rooms for the temporary detention of criminals 
 awaiting trial. The basement is eleven feet high, dry, and well lighted. 
 In the hall or entrance-way from Delaware street in the first story, is 
 the grand stairway, occupying a space 36 x 40 feet, starting on either 
 side, and passing two-thirds of the way up, towards the west, to a 
 landing 10 x 36 feet, and returning thence, in the center, towards 
 the main corridor. There are two intermediate landings in the 
 stairs, each nine feet high. The stairs continue to the third story 
 on the same plan, and are constructed of iron. 
 
17 
 
 FIRST FLOOR. 
 
 The offices with which the public have the most to do are located 
 on the first floor, as a matter of convenience. As will be seen by the 
 diagram on page 18, the county offices of Sheriff, Clerk, Treasurer 
 and Surrogate, are grouped in the northern end of the building on 
 this floor, while the City Treasurer, Comptroller, Clerk, Street and 
 Water Commissioners, occupy a corresponding position at the other 
 end. The number and designation of the offices are given upon the 
 tablet in the vestibule, or lobby, as follows: 
 
 No. 1. WatT Commissioners 19 x 38 
 
 " 2. City Treasurer 43 x 49 
 
 " 3. City Comptroller 43 x 63 
 
 " 4. City Clerk 43 x 49 
 
 " 5. Street Commissioner 19 x 38 
 
 " 6. Witnesses 19 x 38 
 
 " 7. Grand Jury 19x38 
 
 " 8. Sheriff 19 x 38 
 
 " 9. County Clerk 43 x 94 
 
 " 10. Surrogate 43 x 49 
 
 " 11. County Treasurer 88 x 38 
 
 SECOND FLOOR. 
 
 The second floor is chiefly given up to the courts and court 
 officers. There are no less than five large and commodious court 
 rooms, most elegantly furnished with all the modern improvements 
 and conveniences of halls of justice. Connecting with these are 
 private apartments for judges' chambers, while the Clerk of the 
 Superior Court, and the City and District Attorneys are con- 
 veniently by, as well as the necessary jury rooms and the Law 
 Library. The Mayor, City Assessors and City Engineer are also 
 upon this floor. 
 
 The diagram on page 19 will show the location of the several 
 offices on this floor, which are in size and numbered as follows : 
 
 No. 13. Mayor's Office 38 x 38 
 
 " 13. City Engineer 43 x 49 
 
 " 14. Superior Court 43 x 63 
 
 " 15. Assessors' Office 43 x 49 
 
 " 16. District Attorney 19 x 38 
 
 " 18. City Attorney 19 x 38 
 
 " 21. County Court 43 x 49 
 
 " 22. Supreme Court 43 x 49 
 
 " 23. Law Library 43 x 63 
 
 " 26. Superior Court 19x38 
 
 " 27. Clerk Superior Court 28x28 
 
18 
 
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 fa 
 o 
 
 < 
 
20 
 
21 
 
 THIRD FLOOR. 
 
 Upon the third floor are found the Common Council Chamber, 
 which for elegance, beauty and elaborate finish, is not excelled, if 
 equaled, by any similar room in the country, and the Board of Snper- 
 visors' Chamber, together with two large court rooms, and the office 
 of the Superintendent of Education, the Park Commissioners, and 
 Clerk of Board of Supervisors. The diagram on page 20 will show 
 their location. They are numbered as follows : 
 
 No. 28. Superintendent of Education 38 x 38 
 
 " 29. Common Council 43 x 145 
 
 " 30. Superintendent of Buildings 11 x 17 
 
 " 31. Park Commissioners 38 x 38 
 
 " 32. Superior Court, General Term 38 x 38 
 
 " 33. Supreme Court, " " 43 x 49 
 
 " 34. Superior Court, Civil Trial " 43 x 63 
 
 " 35. Supervisors.... 43 x 49 
 
 " 36. Supervisors' C'ommittees 38 x 38 
 
 " 37. Clerk of Board of Supervisors 28 x 28 
 
 COURT RECORD. 
 
 A fourth tablet on the wall in the vestibule gives the following 
 information for those having business with the several courts: 
 
 SUPREME COURT. 
 
 Circuit '. No. 22, second story. 
 
 Special Term " 82, tliird story. 
 
 General Term " 33, third story. 
 
 SUPERIOR COURT. 
 
 Judges' Chambers No. 26, second story. 
 
 Criminal Term " 14, " " 
 
 Civil Trial Term " 34, third story. 
 
 General Term " 32, " " 
 
 COUNTY COURT. 
 Court Room No. 21, second story. 
 
 SURROGATE. 
 Room No. 10, first story. 
 
22 
 
 THE BOARD. 
 
 A marble tablet similar to those in the vestibule is placed upon 
 the wall at the second intermediate landing of the grand stairway, 
 and bears the following inscription : 
 
 CITY AND COUNTY HALL. 
 Commenced, 1871 Completed, 1876. 
 
 BUILDING COMMISSIONEKS. 
 
 James M. Smith, Chairman (resigned). 
 
 George S. Ward well, Chairman. 
 
 James Adams, Philip Becker, 
 
 Dennis Bo wen, George W. Hayward, 
 
 A. P. Laning, John Nice, 
 
 Allen Potter, J. B. Youngs. 
 
 A. J. Warner, Architect. 
 
 S. H. Fields, Siiperintendent (resigned). 
 
 C. S. Chapin, Superintendent. 
 
 J. Druar, Assistant. Superintendent. 
 
 The floors of the corridors, and parts of rooms intended for pub- 
 lic use are paved with marble tiles. In the floor of the main corri- 
 dor, in the second and third stories, is an octagon well-hole, 20 feet 
 in diameter, in the center of the building, and one 8x36 feet on 
 each side of the same, affording light to the space below from large 
 sky-lights, placed above them in the roof. The first story is plas- 
 tered on the brick arches of the floor above, with plaster moldings 
 run on the trains. The second and third stories have plaster cor- 
 nices in all the rooms, with molded panels in the ceilings. 
 
 LAYING THE CORNER-STONE. 
 
 The corner-stone of the new building was laid on the afternoon 
 of June 24, 1872, with appropriate ceremonies, on which occasion 
 there was a grand turn-out. A procession, consisting of the Mili- 
 tary, Masonic lodges, the Building Commissioners, Judges of the 
 Courts, members of the Common Council and Board of Supervisors, 
 City and County oflBcials, &c., formed at three o'clock, and marched 
 along Franklin street to the Terrace, across the Terrace to Main, up 
 Main to Tupper, down Tupper to Delaware, and down Delaware to 
 the scene of the ceremonies. 
 
23 
 
 THE CORNER-STONE, 
 
 which is located in the south-east corner of the tower, is of granite, 
 two feet eight inches by five feet, and two feet deep. It bears the 
 following inscription : 
 
 A. L. ( MASONIC ) A. D. 
 
 5 87 2. ( EMBLEMS. ) 18 72, 
 
 June 24. 
 
 The ceremonies commenced with prayer by the Eev. Dr. Lord. 
 The band then played "Hail Columbia," after which came an 
 eloquent and appropriate oration by the Hon. Geo. W. Clinton. 
 
 ORATION BY THE HON. GEORGE W. CLINTON. 
 
 This mighty concourse of people of our city and county marks 
 an epoch in our history ; and the solemn ceremony which it is 
 about to witness will be long remembered with pride and pleasure. 
 The laying of this corner-stone and the completion of this Hall 
 ■can afford no aliment to vanity, and must redound but incidentally 
 to individual honor. The people of our county and city have 
 decreed the performance of this most necessary and creditable work, 
 and to them collectively are due the glory and the praise. The 
 voice of an indignant people, jealous of its reputation, and incensed 
 by long delay, has burst forth in command, and this great fabric is 
 founded and will soon attain its carefully prescribed perfection. 
 
 Excuse me for remarking that we mistranslate, irreverently, I 
 think, the Roman saying, Vox populi vox Dei. The Romans, like 
 all the heathen ancients, had their Dii majores and Dii minores, 
 their greater and their lesser gods. They did not know and worship 
 the one true God. They recognized and sacrificed to a host of 
 deities, both male and female, personifying the phenomena and 
 forces of nature, and her productions, and the genius of every 
 human avocation, and art and science. The voice of the people 
 was not to them the voice of God — of the Divinity, but that of a 
 divinity — majestic, solemn, fearful, full of portent and of power. 
 Its utterances, like the souls of their deities, might be swollen by 
 fury and by malice. Is there in the world's history a recorded cry 
 so fiendish as that one, priest-prompted, of the Jewish populace: 
 Release to iis Barrabas. Crucify him! Crucify him! What 
 utterance was ever so God-like as the exclamation of our Saviour in 
 his mortal agony : Father, forgive them, for they know not what 
 they do. The motive, the occasion, the soul that finds expression 
 in it, determine the quality of the voice. I am not, I never have 
 been, I believe, a flatterer of the people. Seldom have I recognized 
 the voice of a God in the voice of a people. By our compact, 
 
24 
 
 majorities govern, and their behests are entitled to obedience though 
 they fail to command respect. At the dread outset of those times 
 which, more thorouglily than those of the revolutionary war, did 
 try men's souls; when crafty rebellion, fully prepared, broke out. 
 into insulting war ; when treason threw off all disguise and ap- 
 peared, like Satan, vast and threatening — then the voice of the true 
 men and women of the North and East and West, unanimous for 
 war in defense of the Union and of liberty, had a tone and compass 
 and majesty, such as the Roman might imagine in the thunder of 
 his fabled Jove. But when that weary, cruel war Avas over, and the 
 last hope of traitorous ambition was blasted, and the foul rebellion 
 was crushed by our armed heel — when the joy of the crowning 
 triumph was tempered by pity, and, from the very soul of our 
 wounded, exhausted, suffering people, gushed forth the cry for am- 
 nesty — was not that magnanimous cry prompted by the spirit of 
 Christ himself ? Did not the still small voice within, inform us 
 that the voice of the people was indeed the voice of God ? 
 
 I cannot say, my friends, that you have done grandly, for you 
 have made no memorable sacrifice to attain this point of honor. 
 Your voice in this was worthy; but I pray that you may speak 
 further and in the same noble strain. Much, very much, remains 
 to be done to secure to Buffalo the- good and glory she should aspire 
 to. She looks not like a queen upon the lakes; but she has yet to 
 win the crown. With the most moderate exertion, wealth must 
 flow to her, and she is now very strong, and must grow stronger and 
 stronger. May she never use that strength tyrannously! May she 
 never confound money with wealth, nor rate anything higher than 
 true honor. Her true glory is to be sought in the happiness of her 
 citizens, and that happiness can be assured only by virtue and by 
 knowledge. The dangerous classes must not only be deterred by 
 swift condemnation and inexorable punishment, but must be led 
 from their evil courses by scholarly and priestly hands. How can 
 this rich, proud city deride and condemn the coarse pleasures of 
 the poor, while it does not freely extend to them purer, higher ones. 
 No duty is more exalted, none, in this city, is more urgent, than 
 the extension of pure pleasure and its free diffusion among all 
 classes. It may be mainly sensuous, and it may inform the intellect, 
 but, whatever its character, it tends to regulate the passions and to 
 chasten the heart. 
 
 OUR PARK IS A GRAND STEP 
 
 in this direction. But this generation, I am free to say, cannot 
 confidently claim that it has done its whole duty while Buffalo re- 
 mains so undistinguished in science, in learning, in taste. There 
 yet remains to be laid, in order to insure true glory, and, so far as 
 possible, internal order and peace and safety, to our dear city, more 
 corner stones than I can think of; free libraries, and churches, and 
 schools of learning, of art, of the fine arts, of science. The His- 
 torical Society should be made assuredly permanent and have a, 
 
25 
 
 building of its own. The Academy of Fine Arts should have a 
 building of its own, augment its examples of painting and sculp- 
 ture, secure copies of all the antique statues, and branch forth into 
 schools. The Society of Natural Sciences deserves to be sustained. 
 It can have no assurance of safety for its possessions, no security 
 for its own existence, while it lives at sufferance in the Young Men's 
 Association building. It has been said to me — it is a bitter shame, 
 if true — that the General Hospital languishes for want of an ade- 
 quate endowment. Speak out my friends, and declare that these 
 weak beginnings of good things shall, for the honor of our city, be 
 saved. And then why has not Buffalo an university? But I am 
 weak and weary with longings for the good of my people and the 
 honor of my city, and I can do nothing. Speak out then, my 
 people ! Be assured that the voice of the people is the voice of 
 Gt)d, of our God, only when it is Christian — and is most glorious 
 when it commands works and deeds of charity. 
 
 But I will dismiss these vain regrets and idle longings, and rejoice 
 with you, my people, in this auspicious beginning of a long series of 
 popular triumphs. Thank Heaven, we are at least relieved from a 
 most just reproach. When this building is completed, the great 
 county of Erie and our unfinished city will cease ^to be accused of 
 parsimony and meanness, and want of a proper pride, and of a 
 just sense of the magnitude and worth of their own public and cor- 
 porate affairs. A noble and commodious edifice will rise here, not 
 by .force of a wish, nor in a single night, like Aladdin's palace — but 
 by the persistent toil of swarms of skilled free laborers. Its propor- 
 tions seem just and beautiful. 
 
 IT V^riLL BE A TRUTHFUL BUILDING. 
 
 It will not present to the public eye a .splendid front, and hide 
 from it a shabby rear. Standing, as it will, in this ample space, it 
 will show on every side, a truthful face. From turret to founda- 
 tion stone it will be an honest building. Its construction gives no 
 opening to the plunderer of the public. No slave, no taslvmaster, 
 no enforced labor will disgrace this work; no unrewarded sweat 
 will temper its mortar or bedew its ponderous stones. It will bring 
 content aud happiness to many willing workmen; it will result in 
 well-won fame to the architect and his assistants; it will impose no 
 unnecessary or unfitting burden upon the tax-paying public; it will 
 confirm and heighten the respect and esteem in which our people 
 hold the Commissioners. 
 
 This is not a fit occasion for ma*ny Avords ; and if I err in recalling 
 briefly some facts in our history which seem to me fruitful of hope 
 and incentives to humble and energetic action, you must pardon me; 
 and you will please to i-emember that, in referring more particularly 
 to the city, I bear in mind the fact that the residue of the county has, 
 from the beginning, been so intimately connected with it, that they 
 have acted and re-acted upon each other, and have felt alike and to- 
 gether the changes of the times. 
 
26 
 
 Here was the western end of the long house of the Iroquois. Here 
 the Senecas kept the western door while the Mohawks guarded the 
 eastern. That house remained continuous and unbroken in 1776; 
 and, excepting only the villages of the Senecas, and the patches of 
 land rudely cultivated by the squaws, our country was nearly all 
 dense foi-est. A few armed explorers had passed through its outer 
 edge, a petty trading post had been planted near it, and few, if any, 
 white intruders liad built log huts within our bounds. The country 
 west of us was a wilderness, and our lakes were coasted only by in- 
 frequent canoes of the Indians, and by the batteaux of traders; they 
 were, indeed, but desert wastes of water. Councils were usually 
 held in the open air, though their fires, on some occasions, were 
 lighted in a wigwam. The matters of debate were few, and gave 
 but rare occasion for a rude eloquence scarcely worth recording. 
 Romance depicts the red man as noble, and his life as poetical and 
 happy. In truth his life is brutal, and his character far from heroic. 
 I have no tears to shed for him. Unless he becomes civilized, he is 
 not wor'Ji preserving, and, in the course of nature, must give way 
 to the wiser, stronger, more energetic white man. 
 
 In 1796 there wei'e four houses in BufEalo. In 1801 a small por- 
 tion of what is now Buifalo was surveyed into village lots, called 
 New Amsterdam, and offered for sale. In 1807 it contained about 
 twelve dwellings. In April, 1813, it was incorporated as the village 
 of Buffalo. Its charter as a city was enacted in 1832. Its popula- 
 tion, in 1830, was 8,868 ; in 1835, 15,561 ; in 1845, 29,973 ; and 
 now it exceeds 120,000 largely. In 1822 it was a petty village, and, 
 so far as we can Judge, would, at this time, be but little more, had 
 it not been for the 
 
 COMPLETION OF THE ERIE CANAL IN 1825. 
 
 The growth of half a century has been marvelous; a growth not 
 merely in population, but in everything that adorns and exalts iudi- 
 viduai life, and gives influence to a municipality. What, if it puts 
 its advantages to use, and exei'ts its enormous strength judiciously, 
 may we not reasonably hope from the next half century ? 
 
 But in all this progress, in the very hurry of it, and in the look- 
 ing forward to more favorable times, nothing creditable was done 
 in the way of providing buildings for municipal purposes. The 
 people were contented with disgraceful make-shifts, probably 
 because they looked upon them as mere temi^orary expedients, and 
 anticipated the coming of this good time. What a noisy, incon- 
 venient abomination the old Court House is ! Time has not made 
 it, cannot make it, venerable. And there is our jail — a thing to be 
 mentioned, but not discussed. A-nd what can be said of the so- 
 called new Court House, except that it is of brick, that it is said to 
 have been constructed with an eye to close economy, and that it 
 gave to the courts and county officers more room, and temporary 
 relief from an almost insufferable j)ressure. What honorable citizen 
 
27 
 
 of Erie County has been able, for many years, to look upon these 
 buildings without blushing ? 
 
 I do not know where our village fathers held their councils; but 
 very likely they held them, sometimes, in the old school-house, and 
 sometimes in some store or office. In 1836, the city offices and the 
 Council Chamber were upon the Terrace, in the wooden market, 
 which abutted on Main street, and which was, by the judgment of 
 a competent cimrt, abated as a public nuisance. It Avas a long and 
 indescribably ugly building. The basement was devoted to the sale 
 of vegetables and poultry, the next floor to butchers' stalls, and the 
 attic to our city fathers. Tiiis fragment of a mean market was our 
 City Hall, until the CDrporation acquired full title to this fine square, 
 and adapted the dwelling-hoases on the east side to its own proper 
 uses. The square was, in great part, a cemetery, and contained the 
 remains of many well-remembered dead, but of far more of whom 
 no name nor memory survived. All were reverently removed to 
 and interred in other places, and the city took full possession. 
 
 In 1848, when our population exceeded 3U,0U0, I, in my impa- 
 tience, wrote this paragraph : " Our city has no buildings for judi- 
 cial or civic purposes woi'thy of its position, or adequate to its 
 wants ; but the times seem fallyripe for planning and commencing 
 a City Hall commensurate with the present palmy condition, and 
 worthy of the assured destiny of Buffalo." The times were not 
 ripe for such an enterprise. It was necessary that, from that day 
 to the enactment of the law under which this building was com- 
 menced, 
 
 WE SHOULD GEOAN AND SUFFER AS WE HAVE 
 
 under almost intolerable inconvenience and unbounded shame. 
 We counseled and agitated, and devised itbortive schemes to secure 
 fit public buildings. But strongmen among us were wisely patient. 
 In the fulness of time they appealed to a people who scarcely 
 needed to be persuaded, and the result is the commencement and 
 assured rapid completion of a building worthy of the city and the 
 county. 
 
 We most needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground that 
 cannot be gathered up again. Our material works must follow us. 
 They must decay and perish. Flatter not yourselves then that you 
 are building for eternity. You may reasonably doubt whether you 
 are building for a remote posterity. In the early ages of the world 
 men thought to defy time in their works, and to cope with Heaven. 
 Hence the impious attempt at Babel; hence the massive pyramids. 
 Such vain ambition, such foolish hope, no longer stir the souls of 
 men. The great truth is now admitted that time {edax reruvi) will 
 eventually destroy all our material works, and that he who would 
 build for eternity must build with the spirit. Matter is earthly and 
 evanescent; the spiritual immortal. Prospero spoke truly in saying: 
 
28 
 
 "And like the baseless fabric of this vision, 
 The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces. 
 The soleum temples, the great globe itself, 
 Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve. 
 And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, 
 Leave not a rack behind." 
 
 True it is that the plan of this great huilding concurs with its 
 materials to resist decay; that it will combine, in an extraordinary 
 degree, architectnral beauty and massive strength. Bnilt, as it will 
 be, of brick, -of iron, and of granite, fire cannot consume it, and it 
 would seem that the tooth of time itself can hardly waste or weaken 
 it. Bnt, though the lightning may not rive, nor the earthquake 
 shatter it, and though the tornado fail to dislodge its topmost stone, 
 the ever-wasting hand of time must wear, disfigure and destroy it.. 
 The little lichens will eat into the solid rocks, however smooth; 
 mosses will rest upon and draw sapping moisture to it ; and wild 
 grasses will find place for their roots in its crevices and crannies. 
 And- then, too, no art can stay the invisible forces which war 
 against our works, and, sooner or later, drag them to the ground. 
 Varying moisture and unequal temperature, expanding here and 
 contracting there, the faces and parts of the' strongest building, 
 grind, loosen, disintegrate; and it is folly to believe that the wit 
 and strength of man can give birth to an edifice which will effectu- 
 ally resist those powers which are continually degrading the solid 
 hills and casting down the mountains, and which would make the 
 whole earth a plain were they not counteracted by the volcano and 
 the earthquake. But I anticipate the desolation or the abandon- 
 ment of this great building from no such causes. In fancy I rejoice 
 in the coldness, and perchance the scorn with which a near poster- 
 ity will regard what we look upon as a wonder — the engerness with 
 which they will demolish or surrender it to humbler uses. Pro- 
 gress, eternal progress in everything that ennobles and purifies, is the 
 law of every portion of our race where civilization rests upon 
 Christianity. No generation can make assured provision for the 
 needs and tastes of its successors. Were it otherwise there would 
 be stagnation, corruption, moral and intellectual death. 
 
 WE SHOULD THANK THE GOOD GOD 
 
 for the restless energy, the longing for the further and the higher 
 which He has implanted in our nature. No age ever has been, 
 none ever will be, able to declare to a coming one: " I have attained 
 the highest height, and you can go no higher — repose here and be 
 content." 
 
 We are Justly proud of our rural population, of their intelligence 
 and virtue, of their liberal thrift, of their ready skill, of the ad- 
 vances in their art and science, by which they make their lands 
 teem with plenty. But their children, and their children's children, 
 to the very end of time, will eschew old ways and old routine, strike 
 out new paths to agricultural success, and open new springs of 
 
29 
 
 happiness and wealth. We have great reason to be prond of our 
 young and vigorous city; but the very best of our achievements 
 will pale and fade into forgetfulness in the fresh splendors of our 
 posterity. The passing generation have deserved high commenda- 
 tion, and the coming one — thank Heaven ! — cannot, will not prove 
 a sensuous idler; it will far overpass our goal ; it will lay deep and 
 strong foundations which we have barely phmned; it will be wiser, 
 more virtuous and more liberal than we are, and will shed new 
 lustre on our dear city. 
 
 Is Buffalo and Erie county to be content for a century, for half 
 a century, with this noble building as the seat of city and county 
 authority and office ? Are they, after their prodigious growth, to 
 suddenly cease growing, and that, too, while the whole country is 
 advancing in prosperity and every city is expanding? What great 
 public bu'ilding in the United States of America has proved suffi- 
 cient for the requirements of three successive generations? The 
 City Hall of the city of New York when freshly built, was greeted 
 by its people with rapture as a triumph of architectui-e, and as suf- 
 ficient for the city's uses for many ages. What is the judgment of 
 the present generation, and what is the fate of that squat, dingy, 
 worn mass of marble? The Capitol of the nation, once deemed 
 ample and magnificent, has been almost oblitei'ated by addition and 
 superadded richness. Our own State Capitol, fraught with so many 
 great and precious memories, is doomed. One year ago this very 
 day the corner-stone of the new Capitol was laid, and in a few years 
 not one stone of the old Capitol will be left upon another. 
 
 Would that the great tower of this new City and County Hall 
 were completed, so that we could rise 
 
 TWO HUNDRED FEET ABOVE OUR PRESENT LEVEL 
 
 and stand in the observatory, and look around and ponder on the 
 scene. Let us attempt it in imagination! We barely glance at the 
 collossal statues of Justice, Industry, Commerce and Art, for we see 
 the very things themselves in the Heavens above us and in the land- 
 scape at our feet. Afar off in the south, blue hills end our extremest 
 view and border the rich expanse of plain, dotted with happy villages 
 and towns which curve eastward and far north. The whole coun- 
 try is alive with labor and with the rush of business and of pleas- 
 ure. The roads radiating from the city in all directions are 
 thronged with vehicles of every kind. On the west, and apparently 
 so near that we can chuck a biscuit into it, sleeps Lake Erie, the 
 first, if not the fairest of the great chain of mountain lakes — an 
 opening to a navigation of thousands of miles, a ready access to a 
 country almost as broad as Europe and richer far. It is whitened 
 by not unfrequent sails, and above its green waters float the frequent 
 trains of smoking propellers hurrying to and from our harbor. The 
 fair coast of Canada confronts us smilingly. The mighty Niagara 
 like molten silver gleams northward till its own curvings hide it, 
 but the stationary cloud beyond betrays its presence and marks the 
 
30 
 
 position of the great Cataract, and proclaims the fact that commerce 
 by water, beyond Buffalo, is barred by nature. On every hand, in 
 every direction upon the land, you see long trains of cars impelled 
 by locomotives toward and fi'om us. You notice, too, that com- 
 merce, impatient of the least delay, is bridg'iug, the wide, deep, 
 rushing river. The harbor, once so contracted, is now capacious, 
 and saucy little tugs are pulling leviathans hither and thither with 
 admirable dexterity and ease. And there, too, packed with long 
 lines of freighted boats, towed l-y slow-paced horses, is the Erie 
 canal, the populator and best friend of the great West — the author, 
 and so far as we know, the sure conservator of the fortunes of 
 Buffalo. 
 
 In the city at our feet, here and there, quick puffs of steam, and 
 great steady columns of smoke indicate the positions of our great 
 furnaces and forges, and workshops and factories of innumerous 
 kinds. And then the beauty of the city; but I will not dilate 
 on that. We rest content with stating that the main features of 
 this wondrous picture are the growth of less than fifty years, and 
 that no cause of that growth has ceased to act; that each and every 
 cause of it is now acting, and must act for ages with increasing 
 power. And then we may well remember that the business men 
 and capitalists of Buffalo have enlarged their views. Time was 
 when everyone seemed to believe that commerce — meaning thereby 
 the carrying trade — was all in all to Buffalo. Now the great truth 
 that our manufactures are a chief aliment of true commerce is con- 
 ceded, and they are justly regarded as of cardinal importance to 
 our city. Time was when our citizens seemed to valne the Erie 
 Canal rather than the commerce of which it is chief conduit. Now, 
 the beneficence of railroads as instruments of commerce is appre- 
 ciated, and we seek by them to add to our resources and extend our 
 trade. 
 
 I would not undervalue the past, but it seems clear to me that it 
 was not equal to the present powei', in energy, in judgment. ' AVe 
 have been blessed by Providence. Corn will soon be scattered, and 
 wine and oil be poured upon our selected corner-stone, as emblems 
 of His blessings. Our history seems to show that our material 
 prosperity is largely dependent upon the things themselves. At the 
 outset of her career, corn flowed through Buffalo westward to sus- 
 tain the crowds of emigrants; but, in a few years, the tide of cereals 
 was reversed, and Buffalo enriched by it. Of late years the wine 
 has become a favorite object of culture and covers our shores and 
 islands; and the wine that gladdens and refreshes the heart of man 
 must find here a central market. We must be content to rely upon 
 the Mediterranean for the oil of the olive; but Buffalo can draw t& 
 her that more precious and abundant oil which God stored for us, 
 in the beginning, in the depths of the rocks; and we must not 
 rest until this, too, is achieved. 
 
 I fear that I am detaining you too long; but T cannot close with- 
 out reminding you again that only the spiritual is immortal, and 
 that the house eternal in the heavens is not made with hands, but 
 
31 
 
 by the exercise of virtue. This building is now to be consecrated 
 to Justice, and to official fidelity and honor. It will be indirectly 
 devoted to God's worship, a temple for the illustration of these 
 virtues. If they be wanting. His favor will be withdrawn, and the 
 temple will be worse than vacant. May justice never be delayed or 
 bartered here ; may honor and honesty and unwearying vigilance 
 guard here onr people's rights and interests. The place is holy. 
 My soul is sick with the long delay of punishment, the probable 
 immunity of corrupt judges and plunderers of the public. I pray 
 that the people may watch over these buildings, and if sellers of 
 justice and public cheats should establish here their tables and their 
 trades, who could blame a justly indignant people for scourging 
 them out with knotted chords? May God grant that the corner- 
 stone which will now be proven square, level, and plumb, remain 
 so forever ; and that all the work which shall be done in this build- 
 ing may stand at the last day the tests of the unerring square, and 
 level, and plumb. 
 
 Then followed the Masonic ceremonies, Grand Master Chris- 
 topher G. Fox officiating. 
 
 INSCRIPTION ON THE PLATE. 
 
 The following is the inscription on the plate deposited under 
 the corner-stone : 
 
 The Corner-stone of this City and County Hall, erected by the 
 City of Buffalo and County of Erie, was laid in Masonic form by 
 the M. W. Christopher G. Fox, Grand Master of Masons in the 
 State of New York, on the day of the Festival of St. John the 
 Baptist, A. L. 5872, A. D. 1873. 
 
 His Excellency, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States. 
 
 His Excellency, John T. HoflFman, Governor of the State of 
 New York. 
 
 His Honor, Alexander Brush, Mayor of the City of Buffalo. 
 
 The Commissioners of the Building, James M. Smith, Chairman; 
 Dennis Bowen, Albert P. Laning, Allen Potter, Jasper B. Youngs, 
 James Adams, George S. Wardwell, John Nice and Philip Becker. 
 
 Architect — Andrew J. Warner. 
 
 Superintendent — Samuel H. Fields. 
 
 Clerk— Frederick Masten. * 
 
 DEPOSITED IN THE BOX. 
 
 The following is a list of the articles deposited in the box under 
 the corner-stone. 
 
 1. Gold, silver, nickel and copper coins of the United States, of 
 the latest coinage. 
 
32 
 
 2. DAILY NEWSPAPEKS. 
 
 Buffalo Commei'cial Advertiser, June 22d. 
 Evening Courier and RepiiMic, June 22d. 
 Buffalo Evening Post, June 22d. 
 Daily Bvffalo Demokrat, June 22d. 
 Daily Buffalo Volksfreund, June 22d. 
 Buff'alo Telegrajyh (Sunday edition), June 23d. 
 Buffalo Daily Courier, June 24th. 
 Buffalo Exjjress, June 24th. 
 
 3. BOUND VOLUMES. 
 
 The New York Civil List, 1871. 
 
 Manual for use of the Legislature of the State of New- 
 York, 1872. 
 
 Charter and Ordinances of the City of Buffalo (last edition), 1867. 
 Buffalo City Directory, 1871. 
 City Comptroller's Rej)ort, 1871. 
 
 4. PAMPHLETS. 
 
 Eeport of the Superintendent of Education of the City of 
 Buffalo, 1871. 
 
 Statistics of the Trade and Commerce of Buffalo, 1871. 
 
 Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of Erie County, 1871. 
 
 Eevised Charter of the City of Buffalo, 1872. 
 
 Third Annual Report of the Buffalo City Water Works, 1871. 
 
 Second Inaugural Message of Hon. Alexander Brush, Mayor of 
 Buffalo, 1872. 
 
 Annual Report of the Superintendent of the Fire Depart- 
 ment, 1871. 
 
 Thirty-sixth Annual Report of the Executive Committee of the 
 Young Men's Association, 1872. 
 
 Second Annual Report of the Buff'alo Park Commissioners, 1872. 
 
 5. MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 Sketch of the History of Buffalo, and of the Commission for the 
 erection of the City and County Hall, written in the German 
 language. 
 
 Sketch of the History of the City and County Hall, written on 
 parchment, in the English language. 
 
 Civil List of the City and County officers for the year 1872, writ- 
 ten on parchment. 
 
 BY THE MASONS. 
 
 6. The Constitution and the General Regulations of the M. W. 
 Grand Lodge of the Most Ancient and Honorable Fraternity of 
 Free and Accepted Masons of the State of New York. 
 
33 
 
 7. A Tableau of the Masonic bodies in the County of Erie, June 
 24, 1873. 
 
 8. A list of the officers of the Grand Lodge for the year 1872. 
 
 After the conclusion of the prescribed Masonic rites, came a 
 prayer by the Rev. L. J. Fletcher, an artillery salute, the playing of 
 ^'America" by the band, and the whole closed with the benediction 
 by the Rev. E. R. Bishop, Rector of St. Luke's church. 
 
 THE STATUES. 
 
 The four granite statues which adorn the tower were procured at 
 the cost of $32,000, as noted above. The first of these — "Justice " — 
 was raised to its place on the fifth day of July, 1875, and the others 
 within a few days after. The positions occupied by the several 
 figures are as follows : 
 
 ISTorth-east corner — "Justice." 
 North-west corner — "Mechanic Aets." 
 South-east corner — "Agricultuee." 
 South-west corner — " Commerce." 
 
 The statues are IG feet in height, they weigh 14 tons each, and 
 were cut from solid blocks of granite. 
 
 HEATING AND VENTILATION 
 
 The heating appar9.tus, furnished by the Walworth Manufactur- 
 ing Company, is very complete, and in the arrangement many miles 
 of pipes have been used. The details of the system are quite compli- 
 cated, and would scarcely be of interest, but a general idea may be 
 gained from the following : 
 
 The building is warmed throughout by steam, on the principle of 
 indirect and direct radiation. Indirectly by placing the radiating 
 surface in the basement, and connecting the same with underground 
 plenums, these being supplied with air taken in and forced through 
 by means of two ten-inch fans, operated by the engines, the capacity 
 being sufficient to send through the building 136,000 cubic feet of 
 air per minute. In summer these same fans take in cold air, and 
 force it through the pipes in all parts of the building. This pro- 
 duces a thorough ventilation in all the rooms, which are furnished 
 with registers for taking off the vitiated air into flues which termi- 
 
34 
 
 Date in the attic, from whence it is conducted out through the ven- 
 tilators on the roof. Kegisters are also placed in the rooms for the 
 purpose of letting off tlie air in case it should become overheated. 
 As an auxiliary to this method, direct radiators have been placed 
 under the windows in the different rooms, to be used only in ex- 
 treme cold weather. The air is taken through cloth screens, so as 
 to eliminate all particles of dirt and dust. The fans can be used so 
 that, if necessary, the air in all parts of the building can be changed 
 once in twenty minutes. The necessary pipes, &c., were put in by 
 Messrs. Hart, Ball & Hart, as agents for the Walworth Company. 
 
 THE METHOD OF LIGHTING 
 
 includes chandeliers from two lights up to thirty-six, and of a pat- 
 ent designed expressly for this building. There are also a requisite 
 number of desk-lights, side-lights, &c., in the different apartments. 
 The chandeliers are bronzed, with gold and black ornamentation, 
 and when lighted up they certainly look very handsome. These fix- 
 tures were furnished by Messrs. Mitchell, Vance & Co., for which 
 firm Messrs. Glenny & Co. are agents. There are two large and 
 graceful standards at each of the entrances, for exterior illumination. 
 These standards are each about sixteen feet in height, and are fur- 
 nished with five globe lights, each sixteen inches in diameter, the 
 whole finished in silvered bronze. 
 
 APPEARANCE OF THE INTERIOR. 
 
 The opinion is generally concurred in by those who have visited 
 the building:, that, it is one which does not "show for what it is 
 worth '-' on the outside. And now, that it is open to the public, 
 the prevailing sentiment will be that of astonishment both at the 
 magnitude and elegance of the interior. Unquestionably, a much 
 better idea of the extent of the structure can be obtained from the 
 main floor of the first story than from any outside view. The spa- 
 cious halls, the massive stairways and columns, the marble floors, 
 the finely adorned walls, the handsome black walnut wood-work, 
 must all be seen to be appreciated. One ornamental feature, which 
 may properly be mentioned in this connection, has a peculiarly fine 
 effect. Standing on the main floor and looking up, the spectator 
 will see that the openings under the sky-lights have been filled with 
 beautiful stained glass set in iron frames. This work was done by 
 Messrs. Booth & Reister, of Buffalo. 
 
35 
 
 IN THE FURNITURE 
 
 of the different offices, an admirable uniformity is preserved. All 
 the furniture — and the fixtures of every kind — being made accord- 
 ing to special plans, this general uniformity is the result. The 
 wood-work, including all the office-desks, chairs, &c., is of black 
 walnut, and what is not walnut — the railings, the finishings of the 
 stairs, &c. — is bronzed. The iron columns throughout are also 
 finished in bronze, and thus all the metal work shows as<one quality 
 of metal. In many of the offices are large glass partitions, and the 
 doors are also of glass. It is a gratifying fact that all this fine fur- 
 niture was made in Buffalo, by Messrs. Weller, Brown & Mesmer, 
 Joseph Churchyard, Clarke, Holland & Co., A. Cutler & Son, and A. 
 Raeker. The carpets upon the floors of the General Term Court 
 room and Mayor's office are of the finest quality of Wilton. In all 
 other rooms, the carpeting is of the kind known as American Brussels, 
 of simple pattern, and the colors harmonizing well with the wood- 
 work. 
 
 The name of each office or department is inscribed over its door 
 in large gilt letters, traced on the glass, and each office is numbered. 
 Four large tablets upon the walls near the Franklin street entrance 
 give the " directory " of the offices, also in gilt letters. The corridors 
 are all finished with marble wainscoting, that in the lobby being of 
 the Tennessee and Glens Falls varieties, and inlaid with a border of 
 encaustic tile. The floors in the corridor are marble, and in the 
 first story this extends into the difl'erent offices to the line of the 
 counters. The walls in the corridors and offices, and the ceilings 
 are beautifully tinted. 
 
 THE COMMON COUNCIL CHAMBER 
 
 has been fitted up in the most elegant manner. The central partis 
 exclusively for the members and heads of departments, the seats of 
 the aldermen being arranged in two semi-circles, facing the Presi- 
 dent's desk, which is raised, and looks considerably like a modern 
 pulpit. In front of this is the City Clerk's desk, and on either side 
 are smaller ones, to be used by newspaper reporters. Back of the 
 President's seat is an entablature, projecting fi'om the wall twelve 
 feet, and forming a lobby for the members' entrance. On either 
 side of the business portion of the Chamber is the space allotted to 
 spectators, provided with comfortable settees, and with sufficient 
 capacity for some six hundred persons. Three tastefully-orna- 
 
3(3 
 
 merited committee rooms are located at each end of the Chamber. 
 All tlie black walnut wood- work is elaborately carved, and orna- 
 mented with gold lines. Altogether, the city fathers are to be con- 
 gratuly ted upon the elegant and comfortable arrangement of their 
 new apartment. 
 
 In the General Term Court room are hung the portraits of 
 about twenty deceased eminent jurists and members of the bar in- 
 Buffalo an(J vicinity. There is also a full-length portrait of the 
 first Mayor of Buffalo, Dr. Ebenezer Johnson, in the Mayor's office. 
 
 THE TOWER-CLOCK AND ELECTRIC DIALS. 
 
 Among the many features of general interest which the building 
 possesses, not the least is the wonderful system of electric clocks, 
 running in direct connection with the great clock in the tower. 
 There are no less than twenty-eight of these time-pieces, or dials, as 
 they are called, connected with the tower-clock by three electric 
 circuits. By this arrangement absolute uniformity of time is in- 
 sured throughout the building. This system of electric clocks, is 
 believed to be the largest in the country, and since it has been put in 
 operation, has worked in the most satisfactory manner. The tower 
 clock and electric dials were furnished by Messrs. E. Howard & 
 Co., of Boston, and the work of putting them in was under the 
 supervision of Messrs. Joseph Vreeland and J. Hamblet, employees 
 of the firm. It is claimed by them that the tower-clock is the 
 heaviest and most substantial in the country. 
 
 ITS SUPERIORITY TO THE CLOCK 
 
 in the New York Tribune building consists in the fact that the lat- 
 ter does not strike the hours. The striking apparatus in the City 
 Hall is considered perfect. The hammer weighs one hundred 
 pounds, and the bell — cast by Jones, of Troy — four thousand seven 
 hundred pounds. It is a rather fatiguing experience to climb up 
 the narrow iron winding stairway of the tower to the lofty point 
 where the clock is located, but whoever does so is well repaid, on 
 examining the complicated mechanism. The dials, which look but 
 little larger than the full moon from the streets in the immediate 
 vicinity, are in reality nine feet in diameter. The reflectors by 
 which the light of the gas-jets is concentrated npon the dials, are 
 singularly shaped, with special reference to utilizing all the light. 
 The pendulum is of the kmd known as "compensating," and it has 
 
37 
 
 a two-second movement. It is hung upon very delicate steel 
 springs, and its movements are made with the utmost precision. 
 Instead of the old "dead-beat" escapement, a far more nicely- 
 adjusted combination is used, being the new gravity-escapement, 
 invented by Mr. Dennison, of London, and introduced in this 
 country by Mr, Howard. The gravity-escapement is connected 
 with the pendulum by simple yet delicate mechanism. By this es- 
 capement the motion is communicated to the pendulum. On each 
 side of the pendulum-rod is an iron arm suspended from one end 
 obliquely. As the escapement-wheel turns, small pins on its axes 
 raise the free end of one of these arms by means of levers. As the 
 pendulum reaches the termination of its path, the arm is released, 
 and its weight, pressing against the pendulum, drives it to the other 
 side, where the operation is repeated. The n)otion is carried to the 
 four dials above by a revolving iron rod. The arrangement for 
 illuminating the dials is very complete, and is regulated by the 
 clock itself. The valve through which the gas reaches the large 
 burners behind each dial is tui'ued by ingenious machinery. A small 
 jet is kept burning all the time, but the amount of gas consumed is 
 very trifling. Screws are so arranged as to turn on the gas at any 
 hour desired, A reverse arrangement automatically turns off the 
 gas at the proper time in the morning. 
 
 Since the clock was first set in motion by Major Becker, at four 
 o'clock on the afternoon of February 5th, everything has worked 
 satisfactorily. The clock, which has already become the standard 
 of Buffalo time, is warranted not to vary, and a gentleman con- 
 nected with the firm of Howard & Co. enthusiastically informed the 
 Mayor that it would run with invariable correctness for fifty 
 years, and then an expenditure of fifty dollars would put it in per- 
 fect order again. 
 
 FURNISHING MATERIAL. 
 
 The following is a complete list of the parties furnishing mate- 
 rial, &c., for the structure. 
 
 The granite for the building, including the statues, was furnished 
 by Mark & St. John, from Clark's Island, Maine. 
 
 The brick were furnished by Brush Brothers, of Buffalo. 
 
 The sand by Chandler J. Wt'lls, of Buffalo.. 
 
 The doors and sashes in the whole building were made by Weller, 
 Brown & Mesmer, of BuH'alo. 
 
 The wainscoting was furnished by Joseph Churchyard, of Buffalo. 
 
38 
 
 The furniture and most of the work in the first story was fur- 
 nished by Clarke, Holland & Co., of BuflFalo. They also furnished 
 the inside shutters. 
 
 In the second story by Joseph Churchyard. 
 
 In the third story by Weller, Brown & Mesmer. 
 
 The marble work has been furnished by John Crawford, of 
 Buffalo. 
 
 Mr. Backer, and A. Cutler & Son, of Buffalo, have also furnished 
 a portion of the furniture. 
 
 The lead i^ipe, paint and oil, by the Cornell Lead Company, of 
 Buffalo. 
 
 The carpets by Adam, Meldrum & Anderson, L. H, Chester & 
 Co., and Stewart Elder, of BuflFalo. 
 
 The gas fixtures by Mitchell, Vance & Co., of New York. 
 
 The bell by Octavius Jones, of Troy. 
 
 The clocks by E. Howard & Co., of New York and Boston. 
 
 The plumbing by Irlbacker & Davis, of Buffalo. 
 
 The gas-fitting by Hart, Ball & Hart, of Buffalo. 
 
 The stone walks by C. H. Kathbun, of Buffalo. 
 
 The chairs by Weller, Brown & Mesmer; Schlund & Doll, and 
 Mr. Bensler, of Buff\ilo. 
 
 The iron beams by the Union Iron Company, of Buffalo. 
 
 The iron columns by Robert Dunbar, of Buffalo. 
 
 The iron stairs, window grates and lamp posts by the Howard 
 Iron Works, of Buffalo. 
 
 The sales by Hall's Safe and Lock Company, of Cincinnati. 
 
 The plate glass by the Star Glass Company, of New Alba- 
 ny, Ind. 
 
 Tlie iron finish to the tower by the Niagara Bridge Works, of 
 Buflfalo. 
 
 The locks and door hinges by Valentine Brothers, of Buflfalo. 
 
 The Cement by the Akron Cement Company, of Buflfalo. - 
 
 The conductor pipes by L. P. Beyer & Co., of Buffalo. 
 
 The lime by Youngs Brothers, of Buflfalo. 
 
 The foundation stone by Nicholas Uebelhoer, of Buffalo. 
 
 The heating apparatus by the Walworth Manufacturing Com- 
 pany, of Boston. 
 
 The slating of the roof by John Gait, of Buffalo. 
 
 The slating of the tower by McSheffrey & Maxwell, of Buffalo. 
 
 The lettering of the glass over the doors by F. B. Scott, of 
 Buffalo. 
 
 The lettering of the tablets in the vestibule by J. C. Bother, of 
 Buffalo. 
 
 Jewett & Root, of Buffalo, furnished tin for roof. 
 
 W, H. H. Newman, of Buffalo, furnished copper for gutters as 
 valleys. 
 
 Hurley & Sty gall, of Buffalo, did the copper and tin work of gut- 
 ter and roof. 
 
39 
 
 Scatcherd & Belton, of Buflfalo, furnished the black walnut and 
 (reoi'gia pine lumber. 
 
 Laycock Brothers, of Buffalo, furnished the Norway pine roofing 
 timber. 
 
 Baker Brothers, of Buffalo, furnished the window weights. 
 
 E. Y. Kneeland, of Buffalo, furnished the special stair to the 
 tower. 
 
 Mr. James F. Eowley has superintended the painting and finish 
 of the inside work. 
 
 The foundation walls and a portion of the first story were laid 
 under the superintendence of Thomas F. Reynolds. 
 
 The remaining portion of the walls was laid, and the plastering 
 done under the superintendence of John Druar. 
 
 THE TOTAL COST. 
 
 The total amount of expenditures for the work up to the first of 
 March, 1876, according to the Secretary's books, was $1,328,675.78. 
 
 It is believed that the total cost, after removing the old city 
 buildings, improving and beautifying the grounds, and paying all 
 incidental expenses, will be considerably less than the authorized 
 appropriation by the Legislature of $1,450,000. This circum- 
 stance is so unusual that it deserves special mention, and reflects 
 ^reat credit upon the Building Commissioners. 
 
40 
 
 FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW. 
 
 CEREMONIES OBSERVED IN LEAVING THE OLD BUILDINGS AND 
 ENTERING THE NEVi^ HALL. 
 
 In view of the completion of the City and County Hall, the 
 Common Council, at its regular meeting held on the twenty-eighth 
 day of February, 1876, appointed a special committee, consisting 
 of President A. S. Bemis, and Aldermen A. L. Lothridge, Natlian 
 C. Simons, and Elijah Ambrose, and Clerk E. D. Ford, to make 
 suitable arrangements for a formal occupancy of the building. 
 
 ACTION OF THE BAR. 
 
 Soon after the above mentioned action of the Council, Hon. C 
 W. Clinton, Chief Judge of the Superior Court, believing -that 
 some public demonstration should be made on the part of the legal 
 profession in the matter, prepared and submitted to members of 
 the bar the following paper: 
 
 "It is announced that on Monday, the 13th inst. , the new City and County 
 Hall will be open for the reception of all our Courts of Record. It seems 
 to us impossible that the gentlemen of our benches and bar can bid fare- 
 well to the old Court House without a feeling of regret; and we venture 
 to suggest the propriety of their assembling therein at two o'clock P. M., of 
 Saturday next, for the purpose of a free interchange of memories and social 
 intercourse." 
 
 Buffalo, March 7, 1876. 
 
 To this document the names of a majority of the fraternity in 
 Buffalo were soon attached, and a meeting of the bar, to consider 
 the subject, Avas called, by notice in the daily papers, for Wednes- 
 day, the eighth of March, in the Clinton street Court House. 
 
41 
 
 THE FIRST MEETING. 
 
 In response to the published call a largely attended meeting of 
 members of the bar of the city and county was held for the purpose 
 of making some arrangements preliminary to a proper observance 
 of the abandonment of the venerable structures in which justice 
 has for so long a series of years been dispensed, and the occupation 
 of the splendid quarters provided for the courts in the new City 
 and County Hall. 
 
 The meeting was called to order shortly after four o'clock, and 
 Hon. James M. Humphrey elected chairman. Mr. George Gorham 
 was appointed secretary, 
 
 Hon. H. S. Cutting, after the object of the meeting had been 
 briefly explained by the chairman, moved that a committee of five 
 be appointed to prepare a programme of exercises to be observed, 
 and the motion was adopted. 
 
 Judge James M. Smith, referring to a paper which had been cir- 
 culated among the members of the bar, said the explanation was 
 due those who had not signed it, that it was drawn by Judge Clin- 
 ton, and was intended only for the purpose of ascertaining whether 
 the members were desirous of a public observance of the occasion 
 or not. It simply contemplated that some meeting should be held 
 for that purpose. After being quite generally circulated, the sig- 
 natures to the paper evidenced that a large number of the lawyers 
 favored the proposed celebration. The^paper had thus accom- 
 plished its purpose, and on its heels this meeting followed. 
 
 Josiah Cook, Esq., was in favor of instructing the committee to 
 have the proceedings wind up with a grand supper, at which the 
 entire bar of Buffalo might unite. 
 
 E. Carlton Sprague, Esq., warmly seconded the idea of a banquet. 
 Never had the members of the bar of Buffalo got together in a 
 social way, and he believed it time that a more social feeling, which 
 would be beneficial all around, was inaugurated. 
 
 Hon. J. M. Humphrey suggested that the committee of which the 
 
 appointment had been already ordered would have their hands full, 
 
 and he advised the appointment of a second committee to ascertain 
 
 if a supper were advisable, and, if so, to arrange for it. Mr. Cook 
 
 put this suggestion in the form of a motion, and it was carried. 
 
 Some discussion was entered into concerning the proposed banquet. 
 
 The project seemed to receive very general favor, and Monday night 
 
 was suggested as the proper time for it. 
 4 
 
42 
 
 Judge Smith read the paper, drawn by Judge Clinton, above re- 
 ferred to, and asked those present, wlio had not ah-eady signed, to 
 attach their signatures to it if its contents contained nothing ob- 
 jectionable to them. He further stated that it was to be deposited 
 with the Historical Society. 
 
 The paper was thereupon signed by those present who had not 
 already done so. 
 
 The chair announced as the Committee of Arrangements, Messrs. 
 H. S. Cutting, George Wadsworth, Spencer Clinton, W. C. Bryant 
 and David F. Day ; and as the Supper Committee, Messrs. E. C. 
 Sprague, Josiah Cook, Asher P. Nichols, B. H. Williams and Wm. 
 H. Gurney. 
 
 The meeting then adjourned to meet on Saturday, the eleventh 
 inst., at 3 o'clock p. m. 
 
 THE PROGRAMME. 
 
 The Committee of Arrangements appointed on the eighth inst., 
 subsequently published their report of the proposed programme, as 
 follows: 
 
 The undersigned committee appointed at a meeting of the bar, 
 held on the eighth instant, have arranged as follows, for taking 
 suitable notice of the occasion of transferring the business of the 
 courts from the old Court House to the new City and County Hall: 
 The members of the bar of the county are requested to meet at 
 the old Court House, on Washington street, on Saturday next, at 3 
 o'clock in the afternoon. 
 
 Hon. George R. Babcock has cor sen ted to preside,, and the fol- 
 lowing named gentlemen have been invited, and have consented to 
 address the meeting: Hon. George R. Babcock, Hon. James Shel- 
 don, Hon. George W. Clinton, Hon. John L. Talcott, and Hon. 
 James M. Smith. 
 
 It is recommended that at the close of the proceedings, the meet- 
 ing be adjourned to Monday morning next, at 10 o'clock, and that 
 the members of the bar then proceed in a body to the new City and 
 County Hall. 
 
 Buffalo, March 10, 1876. 
 
 Harmon S. Cutting, 
 George Wadsworth, 
 Spencer Clinton, 
 David F. Day, 
 William C. Bryant, 
 
 Committee. 
 
43 
 
 THE SECOND MEETING. 
 
 The adjourned meeting of Saturday, Marcli 11th, was largely 
 attended by members of the legal profession, and others interested 
 in the proposed transfer ceremonies. It was called to order by the 
 Hon. H. S. Cutting, who stated its object briefly, and what had been 
 done by the Committee of Arrangements, of which he was chairman. 
 He closed by nominating the Hon. George K. Babcock as chairman, 
 which was carried unanimously. Mr. Babcock then took the chair, 
 and Mr. George Gorham was chosen secretary. 
 
 Judge James Sheldon, of the Superior Court, having been re- 
 quested to prepare some historical statements with reference to the 
 early history of the county and the old Court House, submitted the 
 following paper : 
 
 ADDRESS OP HON. JAMES SHELDON. 
 
 The old county of Niagara, of which Buffalo was the county seat, 
 v/as organized by an act of the Legislature, passed March 11, 1808. 
 The present county of Erie was not organized until 1821. By the 
 act of 1808, the erection of a court house and jail in the village of 
 Buffalo, or New Amsterdam, was authorized, provided the Holland 
 Land Company should erect the same within three years and con- 
 vey the sites to the county. The same act provided that the first 
 Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions for Niagara county 
 should be held at the house of Joseph Landon, in the village of 
 New Amsterdam. In pursuance of the law, the 
 
 FIRST COURT HELD IN" BUFFALO 
 
 was held at Mr. Landon's public house in June, 1808. It was a well 
 known and established tavern-stand, built of wood and situated on 
 inner lot number one on the south side of Crow, now Exchange, 
 street, and a little east of Main street, where the easterly part of the 
 Mansion House now stands, and was destroyed by the British and 
 Indians at the time of the burning of the village in December, 1813. 
 Augustus Porter, of Niagara Falls, was the first judge, and Eras- 
 tus Granger, of Buffalo, and Zattu Cushing, James Brooks and 
 Martin Prendergast, of Chautauqua, were the puisne judges. Asa 
 Ransom was the first sheriff, and Louis Le Couteulx the first clerk 
 of the county. Buffalo, at that time, was a mere hamlet, with but 
 a few hundred inhabitants, and known only as a western frontier 
 settlement. No court had, before that, been held in Western New 
 York, except at Batavia, and the opening of the first term of court 
 at Buffalo was an event of interest and importance. 
 
44 
 
 In Turner's " History of the Holland Purchase," it is stated that 
 " the attorneys of Niagara county, at the time of its organization, 
 were Ebenezer Walden, Jonas Harrison, Truman Smith, John Eoot, 
 Heman B. Potter, Allen Sharpe, Bates Cook and Philo Andrews. 
 These are all that are recollected as practicing attorneys before the 
 war of 1812." Jonathan E. Chaplin was here in 1812, Albert H. 
 Tracy, James Sheldon and E. S. Stewart came in 1815, and Wil- 
 liam Hotchkiss, Thomas C. Love, Ebenezer F. Norton and William 
 A. Moseley soon after. 
 
 In pursuance of the act of 1808, the Holland Land Company 
 
 ERECTED A COURT HOUSE 
 
 building and jail in the year 1810. The jail was built of stone, 
 and was situated on inner lots 184 and 185, on the east side of 
 Washington street, between Clinton and Eagle streets, where the 
 Darrow block now stands. The British fired it when the village 
 was taken, but it suffered little damage, and was rebuilt after the 
 war. Our old citizens well remember it, fronting on Washington 
 street, and surrounded on three sides by tall, wooden pickets, sharp- 
 ened at the top and set firmly in the ground. It was demolished 
 about the year 1834, when Benjamin Kathbun erected the present 
 jail, of which he became, not long after, an occupant as a felon. 
 
 The Court House was a wooden structure, standing in front of the 
 present Court House. The deed was executed by Wilhelm Willink 
 and others, who composed the Holland Land Company, and who 
 are therein described as residing in the city of Amsterdam, in the 
 
 REPUBLIC OF BATAVIA. 
 
 It was dated November 21, 1810, and recorded December 8, 1810, 
 in Liber one of Deeds, at page 62, and conveys to the Supervisors of 
 Niagara County, the property described as follows: 
 
 " That certain piece or parcel of land situate, lying and being in 
 the village of New Amsterdam, being one-half of an acre on which 
 the Court House in said village has been erected by the Holland 
 Land Company and accepted by the judges of said county for the 
 Court House of said county, conformably to the fourth enacting 
 clause of an act of the Legislature of the State of New York passed 
 March 11, 1808; the said half an acre of land to be laid out in a 
 circle, the center of the Court House aforesaid to be the center of 
 the circle according to a plan on the margin " of the deed. On ref- 
 erence to the record, the circle is seen, and its center is the center 
 of North Onondaga street, now Washington street, directly in front 
 of the present edifice. This point was the highest elevation of 
 ground in the village of BuflFalo, the land descending from it in 
 every direction, and was undoubtedly chosen for a Court House site 
 on account of its conspicuous situation. 
 
45 
 
 JOSEPH ELLICOTT, 
 
 the agent of the Holland Land Company, chose to convey the 
 gronnd in the form of a circle, bnt no reason has ever been assigned 
 for such a curious proceeding. 
 
 The building was built of wood, plain in every respect, but 
 proper for the purposes designed. In addition to its use as a Court 
 House, it Avas the only place for public assemblages and was gen- 
 erally used for such purposes. The first church of any denomi- 
 nation organized in Buffalo, and which is the one now known as 
 the First Presbyterian Church, was organized in that court-room on 
 the twelfth of February, 1812, by the Rev. Thaddeus Osgood, an itin- 
 erant missionary. Judge Townsend, in his description of Buffalo 
 in 1811, mentions "the old stone jail on Washington street and an 
 unfinished wooden Court House;" and we find, by reference to the 
 proceedings of the Board of Supervisors of Niagara County, which 
 are on file in the archiv-t^s of the Historical Society, that on the fifth of 
 October, 1811, only a year after the buildings were accepted by the 
 judges, it was voted that $500 should be raised by tax for the pur- 
 pose of repairing them, and Nathaniel Sill, Jotham Bemis and 
 Samuel Hill, Jr., were appointed a committee to superintend the 
 work. This Court House continued to be used until its destruc- 
 tion by the British in December, 1813, when the 
 
 WHOLE VILLAGE WAS LAID IN ASHES. 
 
 In the spring of 1814, the people gradually returned to the village 
 and commenced the work of rebuilding with great ardor. Buffalo 
 was the headquarters of the army, and dwellings, stores and taverns 
 were erected in great haste for the transaction of business and the 
 accommodation of the public. A notice appears in the Buffalo 
 . Gazette of June 7, 1814, of which this is a' copy: 
 
 *• Niagara County Clerk's Office, ss : 
 
 Notice is hereby given that the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas of 
 said county have appointed the house of John Brunson in the village of 
 Buffalo to be the temporary Court House for said county. 
 
 May 23, 1814. Zenas Barker, Clerk." 
 
 The house referred to was the wood tavern then just erected where 
 the Academy of Music now stands on Main street, and subsequently 
 known as the Farmer's Hotel, kept for many years by Manning Case, 
 who was succeeded by Philip Uorsheimer. 
 
 On the seventh of April, 1815, an act was passed by the Legislature 
 authorizing the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas to order and 
 direct the place at which courts should be held until a Court House 
 was erected. In pursuance thereof on the twenty-ninth of April, 
 1815, the judges "ordered and directed that the courts should be 
 held at the house of Oilman Folsom, at present occupied by Moses 
 Baker & Co. in the village of Buffalo." This house was situate' as 
 nearly as can be ascertained, on the east side of Main street, be- 
 tween Mohawk and Genesee streets, and at that place all courts were 
 held until the present edifice 
 
46 
 
 WAS OCCUPIED IN 1817. 
 
 On the twenty-fonrth of March, 1815, the Legislature authorized 
 the supervisors of Niagara county to raise the sum of four thousand 
 dollars, by taxation, for the purpose of building a Court House, and 
 Samuel Tupper, then first judge, and Joseph Landon and Oziel 
 Smith, were appointed commissioners to contract for and superin- 
 tend its erection. No action was taken under that law, but another 
 act was passed on the seventeenth of April, 1816, by which the 
 State loaned to the county of Niagara the sum of $5,000, for the 
 purpose of building a Court House, and appointing Joseph Landon, 
 Samuel Tupper and Jonas Williams, Commissioners. 
 
 The vilhige authorities had resolved that Washington street should 
 be continued in a dii'ect line through the circle on which Mr. Elli- 
 cott had erected the Court House, which left a segment of the circle 
 on each side of the street. By some negotiation the county ac- 
 quired the title to that part of the block bounded westerly by 
 Washington street, northerly by Batavia street, and southerly by 
 Clinton street, which is now, in part, occupied by this Court House, 
 and the commissioners early in the spring commenced the work of 
 building what was then considered the largest and most beautiful 
 structure in Western New York. The remainder of the block 
 fronting on Ellicott street was subsequently acquired by the county 
 from Sheldon Thompson and others, for the purpose of erecting 
 the present jail. 
 
 In the Buffalo Gazette of September 24, 1816, the following an- 
 nouncement appeared: 
 
 " The walls of the Court House, which was commenced in the early part of 
 the season, are erected; we learn that the carpenter and joiner work of the 
 building are progressing. If the house is finished in the style it has com- 
 menced, it will be an ornament to the village; uniting elegance with durabil- 
 ity, and will be creditable to the judgment and taste of the commissioners." 
 
 Thus'was commenced the venerable edifice in which we meet for 
 the last time to-day. It was first occupied early in the year 1817, 
 and the event probably attracted as much attention and elicited as 
 much admiration as the occupation of the new City and County 
 Hall in this centennial year, 
 
 THE COURT ROOM 
 
 was the same as now, except there was a gallery across the east end 
 of the room for the use of spectators, which was removed in 1826. 
 The stairway led directly up into the room from the hall below, and 
 the jury rooms were finished olf in the basement. In 1826, a gen- 
 eral improvement of the buildi'ng was undertaken. The gallery 
 was removed, and the projection at tlie east end where the stairs 
 now are was built, which added very much to the public conveni- 
 ence. A platform extended the Avhole length of the front of the 
 building, nearly on a level with the main hall, and the steps were 
 at each end of the platform. The present arrangement for access 
 
47 
 
 is comparatively modern. As one entered the main hall, the first 
 door on the right hand opened into the connty clerk's office, beingthe 
 front part of the present sheriff's office. The second door to the right 
 opened into the room occupied as the grand jury room, and by the 
 board of supervisors at its annual meetings. On the left was the 
 sheriff's office, where the district attorney's^ office now is, and the 
 two small rooms were used for the deliberations of petit juries. On 
 entering the court room, the sheriff's box was located between the 
 doors, and the prisoner's dock was placed immediately adjoining ^le 
 area reserved for the bar. These were both removed at the time the 
 room was fitted up for the meeting of the old Court for the Correc- 
 tion of Errors about the year 1841, when Lieutenant-Grovernor 
 Luther Bradish presided. The original bench was not as large as 
 the present one, and was calculated only for three judges, and it is 
 believed that the one now here was built in 1847, to accommodate 
 the General Term of the Supreme Court, then composed of four 
 judges. In other respects, the arrangement of the court room is 
 about the same as originally constructed, excepting that the petit 
 jury box was of enclosed benches, in the same manner as the seats 
 in the rest of the room. 
 
 At the time the Court House was erected, it was the finest and 
 most imposing edifice in the village. Situated upon the highest 
 point ot land in the corporation limits, it was visible from every 
 direction, and from the cupola or tower, an extensive view was pre- 
 sented of the village and of Lake Erie and the surrounding country. 
 It must be remembered that for many years the adjacent buildings 
 were, with but few exceptions, only two stories in height, so that 
 they offered no obstruction to the view of the splendid scenery which 
 was spread before the observer. Indeed it was the custom of our 
 hospitable people to escort all visitors to tjie tower, in order to point 
 out for their admiration the 
 
 BROAD EXPANSE OF LAKE EEIE, 
 
 whitened by the sails of commerce, the beautiful river of Niagara 
 and the shores of Canada where the historic ruins of Fort Erie were 
 already growing gray with the decay of years. The Court House 
 bell, which some of us have heard from infancy, not only rang to 
 indicate the hours for the assembling of courts or religious or other 
 public meetings, but pealed forth many an alarm when conflagra- 
 tions threatened, and the villagers all hastened, carrying their 
 leathern buckets from their houses, to aid in preventing the de- 
 strnction of the homes and property of their neighbors. 
 
 This room, in which we are now assembled, has been the scene of 
 the deliberations of the people of Buffalo upon unnumbered occa- 
 sions of public interest. How many meetings have been held here 
 to take measures to counteract the ambitious designs of those who 
 would have made Black Kock the 
 
48 
 
 TEEMINUS OF THE EKIE CAI^AL 
 
 and the emporium of the West. Sheldon Smith spoke here very 
 eloquently, on the twenty-sixth day of October, 1825, when Buffalo 
 triumphed, and the Erie canal was opened to 'the world, and the vast 
 concourse of people who had assembled to witness the departure of 
 the first boats, moved in procession to the Court House to celebrate 
 the grand event. And since that day what anxious deliberations 
 haffe here taken place with reference to the enlargement of the canal 
 and the various harbor improvements and other matters deemed im- 
 portant to ensure the commercial supremacy of the city. 
 
 A record of the political meetings, large, enthusiastic and de- 
 termined, as if the welfare of the nation and the preservation of the 
 constitution depended upon the fiery eloquence and solemn re- 
 solves of the people assembled, would fill a volume. Clintonians 
 and Bucktails, Masons and Anti-Masons, Whigs, Democrats, 
 Loco-Focos, political Anti-slavery and Temperance men, Silver- 
 Grays, Woolly Heads, Republicans, Free Soilers and Hard Shells, 
 have each in turn, resolved and re-resolved, and the Republic yet 
 lives. Here, for more than half a century, were held those annual 
 
 COUNTY CONVENTIOISrS 
 
 of the several political parties where the rival claims of patriotic 
 men who were anxious to serve their country in offices of trust or 
 emolument, were determined by the majority vote of the delegates, 
 amid rejoicings and heart-burnings and animosities, the memories of 
 which we all hope have perished. 
 
 At the time of its erection and for many years afterwards, there 
 was no other large and commodious room in the village for public 
 exhibitions and entertainments. Here it was that West's world-re- 
 nowned picture of "Death on the Pale Horse," was shown to the 
 admiring people, and in later days Dunlap's grand historical paint- 
 ing of " The bearing of the Cross and the Calvary," or, as it was 
 commonly called, the " The Crucifixion," attracted the wandering 
 gaze of the untraveled villagers. The " Wandering Piper," celebrated 
 for the harmonies of the strains drawn forth from the Irish and Scotch 
 bag-pipes, as well as for the mystery surrounding his person, paraded 
 in this room in full Highland costume, and entertained the multitudes 
 with his uncouth music and original observations. Concerts of all 
 kinds, instrumental and vocal have here afforded more delicious 
 amusement to the lovers of melody and more gratification to the 
 public, than is now derived from the nocturnes and arias of the 
 modern classical school. 
 
 Different religious societies have here been organized, and at an 
 early day, before the construction of any churches, this was the only 
 place in which to assemble for 
 
 DIVINE VrOESHIP. 
 
 Many now living will remember the "meetings" and the Sunday- 
 schools of their youthful days held within these walls, but who shall 
 
49 
 
 tell of the good works wrought here, of the sweet influences that 
 have fallen upon the weary and heart-suffering ? How many a fevered 
 bosom has here first found consolation and been lifted up by the 
 the strong arms of Hope and Faith to endure with patience the sad 
 realities of life ? 
 
 The record would not be complete without allusion to those mel- 
 a,ncholy occasions in all these years, when the members of the bar 
 have been called upon to assemble here and pay their last public 
 tributes of respect to their departed 
 
 BEOTHERS AND ASSOCIATES. 
 
 Some were called when the measures of their years and honors 
 were full ; others were taken in the meridian of life and at times of 
 greatest usefulness, and many were cut down in the spring-time of 
 youth, when the beautiful future Avas just opening before them. 
 We need not recall the names of those who have gone before us and 
 been lamented here in sincere and truthful eulogiums; their memo- 
 ries are present with us this day, as we bid farewell to the scene of 
 their labors. But this we do know, that the recurrence of such 
 events, the saddening influences of the occasions, the contemplation 
 of the near presence of death as it must come to all, were more 
 than sermons to men who understand, and silently acknowledged 
 by them as warnings of the inevitable fate of all humanity. 
 
 The history of an edifice of this character might not be complete 
 without allusion to events of historical interest that have transpired 
 within its walls or within the shadow of the lofty columns of the 
 portico. In the year 1823, Ex-President 
 
 MILLARD FILLMORE 
 
 appeared here before the Court of Commo^n Pleas and was admitted 
 to practice as a member of the bar. Who then anticipated the 
 course of events which culminated in his elevation to the highest 
 position in the gift of his countrymen? In the summer of 1825 at 
 the term of the Supreme Court over which Circuit Judge Reuben 
 H. Walworth, afterward Chancellor of the State, presided, occurred 
 that remarkable trial of the three brothers by the name of Thayer, 
 who were here convicted and sentenced to be hung for the crime of 
 murder. When the affair of the Caroline occurred at Schlosser in 
 December, 1838, the body of Amos Durfee, who was murdered by 
 the British, was brought before the Court House and Henry K. 
 Smith, standing upon the portico, in presence of the excited multi- 
 tude, delivered that most extraordinary and eloquent funeral ora- 
 tion, which aroused the fury of the populace almost beyond the 
 restraints of authority. These columns witnessed the proceedings of 
 the people when 
 
 LAFAYETTE 
 
 was received as the nation's guest in the summer of 1825. Before 
 them and in the adjoining park, such Americans as Henry Clay and 
 Daniel Webster, " the old man eloquent," John Quincy Adams, 
 
50 
 
 Silas Wright, Martin Van Bnren and Sargent S. Prentiss, and 
 others of great fame, have expounded the political principles of 
 their parties, or acknowledged with eloquent words, the attentions 
 of their admiring fellow-citizens. They stand now, as tliey stood 
 at that time, Avhen the Free Soil Democrats of tlie Northern States 
 held that grand and imposing convention which nominated Martin 
 Van Bnren for president, in the summer of 1848, and enunciated 
 a platform of principles that led the people to reflect upon the 
 aggressions and barbarisms of slavery, and originated the crusade 
 resulting in the overthrow of that institution. 
 
 But time will not allow particular reference to the unnumbered 
 occasions of interest which this venerable edifice has witnessed. One 
 by one they will fade from the memory of living men, and like 
 this forum where our fathers gathered, and where we have now 
 assembled, will be remembered only upon the recorded page of 
 history. 
 
 And now, Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Bar, we are soon 
 to bid farewell to this honored edifice, and leave it, a silent witness 
 of the 
 
 DAYS THAT ARE NO MORE. 
 
 It was erected when this place was but a frontier hamlet of a few 
 hundred inhabitants, and now it stands, in the center of a city of 
 over 150,000 people, and surrounded with all the evidences of 
 wealth and modern civilization. For three score years it served the 
 purposes for which it was intended, but now the exigencies of soci- 
 ety demand a change and a new order of things. Like the gray- 
 haired and infirm old man, who once was erect and active in the 
 walks and business of life, but who now totters on the verge of the 
 tomb, it has outlived all usefulness. We do not yield it up without 
 emotion ; we cannot sever our particular relations to this place 
 without a thought of the days that are past, but we must say. fare- 
 well, and to all the clustering memovies, fa?' ew ell ! 
 
 At the conclusion of Judge Sheldon's address, Hon. George R. 
 Babcock, one of the oldest members of the Erie county Bar, read 
 an address, as follows : 
 
 A PAPER BY HON. GEORGE R. BABCOCK. 
 
 Gentlemen of tlie Bar : It is eminently fit that the occasion of 
 migrating from an edifice that for a period of nearly sixty years has 
 been the theater of administration of law for an extensive region, 
 should be commemorated by the Bar of Erie county. We go to 
 more elegant and commodious quarters, but memory will linger 
 with the associations of the past which here inhabit. Within these 
 walls have transpired events the most momentous that ever thrilled 
 human bosoms. Questions of life and death ; liberty or the felon's 
 cell; honor or shame ; competence or penury; bright hope or black 
 despair, have here been debated and settled for all time. Here learn- 
 
51 
 
 ing the most profound, research the most laborious, and eloquence- 
 the most moving have brought their varied tributes and laid them, 
 a fitting sacrifice, upon the altar of law — that shrine whose worship 
 constitutes the distinction between civilization and barbarism. The 
 proposal to leave the old temple and set up our altar on a new site 
 naturally brings retrospection — solemn if not painful. 
 
 You have rendered me an honor to which I am profoundly sen- 
 sible, in calling me to preside over your proceedings upon this 
 occasion. T assume that I am indebted to this distiction not to my 
 age, but to the fact that 
 
 I HOLD THE OLDEST LICENSES 
 
 as attorney and solicitor of any member of this Bar who has re- 
 tained connection with it. Mine are dated in May, 1829. So fiir 
 as I can learn, there are but four persons living who have, at any 
 period, belonged here, whose date of admission to practice in the 
 Supreme Court is earlier than 1829. One is the Rev. Dr. Lord, of 
 this city, who, after a successful practice of several years, renounced 
 the law for divinity, and is now a resident of this city, honored 
 alike for his talent and devotion to the cause of his Divine Master. 
 Another is Henry 0. Van Schaack, now or lately of Onondaga 
 county, who, as early as 1825, was practicing law in our then rural 
 village of Black Rock. He was esteemed a lawyer of fair ability 
 and exemplary character. He did not remain long after the Erie 
 canal was opened to Buffalo. The third is Henry E. Davis, late of 
 the Court of Appeals, and now enjoying a green old age and good 
 practice in the city of New York. He was the attorney of the vil- 
 lage and clerk of the Board of Trustees in 1828. Soon he removed 
 to New York, since which time he has occupied several official posi- 
 tions with credit. The remaining survivor is Evert Van Buren, 
 lately, if not now, a resident of Chicago. ' He was at this Bai' a few 
 years, in connection with the late Judge Masten, and achieved a 
 respectable position as a lawyer and advocate. 
 
 I have been requested by the committee in charge to give some 
 sketches of the lawyers who practiced here in the early days of this 
 edifice, and of the course of the administration of the law at that 
 time. Had I anticipated the difficulties which I have experienced 
 in the collection of facts in the short time allowed me, I should 
 have at once declined. I rely upon your indulgence for the very 
 imperfect manner in which I shall be able to discharge the duty 
 assigned me. I am compelled to rely largely upon memory and 
 tradition, for the greater portion of the records which ought to be 
 available for the data which I require, are inaccessible, if not lost 
 entirely. I shall be glad to have any errors of fact or opinion 
 corrected by my brethren. 
 
 My first acquaintance with the interior of this building was in 
 April, 1825, upon the trial of the three Thayers for the murder of 
 John Love, This trial excited a wider and more intense interest 
 than any ever held here. It has formed an epoch from which many 
 persons, now advanced in years, reckon time and events. The year 
 
52 
 
 1825 had other events of note, such as the execution of the three 
 brothers Thayer, upon one scaffold, erected at the west side of Niag- 
 ara square; the visit of General Lafayette to Buffalo early in June, 
 and the opening of the Erie canal on the twenty-sixth of October, 
 of that year. Of the actors upon this scene, prior to 1825, I can 
 give little but hearsay. Briefly as to 
 
 THE PRESIDING JUDGES. 
 
 Before the adoption of the constitution of 1821, Circuit Courts 
 and Courts of Oyer and Terminer were held by judges of the Su- 
 preme Court. I remember to have heard that those legal lumina- 
 ries, Spencer, Van Ness and Piatt, had respectively held them here — 
 also Judges Yates and Woodworth, after 1820. William B. Rochester 
 was the first Circuit Judge, under the new constitution, and was 
 succeeded by John Birdsall, in 1826, and the latter by Addison 
 Gardner, in 1829. Judges Rochester and Birdsall were each pos- 
 sessed of fair abilities, and probably had acquirements necessary for 
 a satisfactory discharge of the duties of the office had they been 
 blessed with good health. The business of the Courts in the Eighth 
 District did not proceed to the entire satisfaction of the Bar or 
 suitors under their administration. Judges from other districts 
 came in occasionally and held the courts. The services of Judges 
 Walworth and Betts, who each held terms in 1825, were warmly 
 appreciated by the profession. Judge Gardner held the office nearly 
 ten years, and in the discharge of its duties won fame and the appro- 
 bation of the profession, as well as that of the public at large. He 
 was, indeed, a model judge at 7iisi prius. Thoroughly versed in the 
 principles of the law, clear in perception, courteous and dignified in 
 manner, he carried on the business of his courts with ease and dis- 
 patch, while he maintained harmonious relations with opposing 
 counsel, which is often a feat of difficult achievement. Of the. first 
 judges of Niagara county, embracing the present county of Erie, 
 Samuel Tupper was appointed, in May, 1812; William Ilotchkiss, 
 in November, 1818; Samuel J. Wilkeson, in November, 1820; and 
 continued in Erie county until succeeded by Ebenezer Walden, in 
 February, 1823. Thomas C. Love held the office for less than a 
 year, and was succeeded by Philander Bennett, in 1829, who held the 
 office until 1837. How the duties of the office were discharged by 
 Judges Tupper and Hotchkiss, I have not even a traditionary 
 account. 
 
 JUDGE WILKESON" 
 
 was not a lawyer, but I remember to have heard a competent au- 
 thority assert that his keen perception and vigorous common sense 
 enabled him, in most cases, to form quite correct opinions of the 
 law from the discussions of counsel and the cases cited. Judges 
 Walden, Love and Bennett were well-trained lawyers, and their 
 decisions usually received the approbation of the profession. They 
 were deficient, according to the present standard, in restraining the 
 
53 
 
 personalities of counsel, and in holding them strictly to the dis- 
 charge of their proper duties in the trial and argument of causes 
 before them. It may be said in their justification that they merely 
 continued, but did not create, this order of things. The Court of 
 Common Pleas, before their day, seems to have been considered a, 
 legal arena in which exercises were allowed that were not tolerated 
 at the circuit. If a full history of these gladiatorial contests could 
 be written, it would prove interesting, if liot instructive. 
 
 The foremost actors, within my recollection, were Eoot, Sheldon, 
 Love, White, Sherwood, Tillinghast and Barker. They were ''cun- 
 ning of fence," and not to be despised as opponents in any field. 
 
 It must attract the attention of any who examines the reports, 
 beginning with the 14th of Johnson and ending with the 13th of 
 Wendell, that comparatively few decisions of the Circuit or Com- 
 mon Pleas of this county were overruled. In part this may be due 
 to the different mode from the present of transacting legal busi- 
 ness. There were but four terms of the Supreme Court in each- 
 year, and they were held at New York and Albany, until after 
 1823, when the August term was transferred to Utica. The facili- 
 ties for travel were decidedly inferior to the present, and our law- 
 yers Avere usually unwilling to attend General Term when they 
 could, at the best, have but few cases. This involved the expense 
 and inconvenience of employing foreign counsel, and doubtless 
 often led to an acquiescence in decisions with which the parties- 
 were not entirely satisfied. Another and perhaps better reason may 
 be assigned. Under the 
 
 SYSTEM OF PLEADI1S"G AND PEACTICE 
 
 then in use, trials were confined to distinct and well-defined issues 
 of fact; consequently, there was no opportunity for such a mass of 
 exceptions to an admission of evidence as characterizes the present 
 system. I forbear to enlarge on this topic lest I incur the oppro- 
 brium of many of my younger brothers,, now present, for whom I 
 have a sincere liking. 
 
 The office of district attorney was filled by John C. Spencer, 
 from February, 1815, to June, 1818; then by Charles G. Olmsted 
 for about six months ; then by Heman B. Potter for ten consecu- 
 tive years. Thomas C. Love filled the place from 1829, to Decem- 
 ber, 1831, when Henry White succeeded and held the office until 
 his death in August, 1832. George P. Barker was then appointed 
 and held the office until December, 1836. It is enough to say here 
 that the important duties of this office were well discharged by 
 those very competent gentlemen. No county in the State, except 
 New York, had so large a share of criminal business as this — a fact 
 due to its frontier position, rapid growth in population, and the 
 demoralization incident of the war of 1812. The lawyers who were 
 in Buffalo, in 1820, as nearly as I can ascertain, were John Root, 
 Ebenezer Walden, Jonas Harrison, Heman B. Potter, Albert H. 
 Trac}', Thomas C. Love, Ebenezer F. Norton, Josej)h W. Moulton, 
 
54 
 
 Jonathan E. Chaplin, James Sheldon, Stephen G. Austin, and 
 William A. Moseley. Harrison went to Louisiana, Mouiton to 
 New York, and Chaplin to Northern Ohio, where he became a 
 somewhat distinguished Methodise preacher. In May, 18:^5, the 
 ■remaining nine were in Bnffalo, and the list was re-enforced by the 
 names of Horatio Shumway, Henry White, Thomas T. Sherwood, 
 Harry Slade, Joseph Clary, Sheldon Smith, Philander Bennett, 
 Eoswell Chapin and Major A. Andrews. To these may be added, 
 as belonging to the Bar of the county, Absalom Bull, David Lock- 
 wood and Henry C. Van Schaack. of Black Rock, Belden Slosson, 
 of Amherst, Ezra St. John, of Clarence, and Millard Fillmore, of 
 Aurora — the latter belonging to the Common Pleas only. Of these 
 twenty-seven persons, Van Schaack is the only survivor, if, indeed, 
 be does survive. Daring the next ten years, which is the limit of 
 my retrospect, there were added many names to the list, making the 
 Bar to consist of fifty-three members, exclnding those who were 
 admitted to the Common Pleas alone. Of these, twelve survive, 
 viz.: Gl'O. R. Babcock, Elijah Ford, James McKay, John T. Bush, 
 Seth C. Hawley, L. G. Marvin. John T. Hudson, John L. Talcott, 
 Theodotus Burwell, Orsamus H. Marshall, Evert Van Buren and 
 George W. Johnson. Six of the survivors 2"eside in this city. 
 Surely, the great reaper has gathered a rich harvest. 
 
 The practice of riding the circuit, borrowed from England, pre- 
 vailed in these early days. Eminent lawyers, especially those who 
 had reputation with juries, accompanied the judges from county to 
 county, upon the circuit, to assist on the trial of civil causes and 
 the defense of pei-sons charged with crime. In some cases they 
 were retained beforehand; in others, I think most frequently, they 
 were employed during the sitting of the circuit. They had to rely 
 much upon the preparation wliich had been made for the trial by 
 the attorney who employed them. 
 
 SOME OF THE MOST EMINENT LAWYERS 
 
 of the State have tried causes, of greater or less importance, in this 
 room. I may name Elisha Williams, Thomas J. Oakley, John C. 
 Spencer, Dudley Marvin, Vincent Matthews, Ebenezer Griffin, 
 George Hosmer, Joshua A. Spencer, Henry B. Storrs and, I think, 
 Samuel A. Talcott. 
 
 The practice, as regards this county, ceased about 1830. If for- 
 eign counsel came after that year, it was upon a previous retainer. 
 Our own counselors before 1835, notably Fillmore, Barker, White, 
 Sherwood, Tillinghast and Talcott, attended nearly all the Circuit 
 Courts in the Eighth District. Before 1825, Koot, Potter, Love, 
 Tracy, Sheldon, and Sheldon Smith usually attended all the Courts 
 in the adjoining counties of Chautauqua, Genesee and Niagara to 
 try their own causes and such others as might be confided to them. 
 The compensation which able lawers received at this pei'iod will 
 seem meager, if not mean, to those who are familiar only with legal 
 charges at the present day. In cases of considerable importance, 
 
55 
 
 when the preparation for trial had been made by an attorney, able 
 counsel charged 120 to 125 for the trial, and where several days were 
 employed in the preparation and trial, $50 to llOO was the highest 
 charge for the services, including often a "summing up" more elo- 
 quent than Westmiuster Hall could produce once in five years. 
 When the diiference in expense of living is considered the discrep- 
 ancy lessens. There were comparatively few books to buy; no 
 expensive clerks; no higii office rents, and $1 per diem was the 
 highest charge at taverns, as good in all essential particulars as the 
 best at the present day. Although many of them, as at the present 
 time, realize 
 
 DAKIEL WEBSTER'S DESCRIPTION 
 
 of a lawyer's fate, "to work hard, live well and die poor," some of 
 our predecessors failed in each of the particulars, as, doubtless, many 
 of our cotemporaries will persist in doing. 
 
 The manners of counsel in trying and arguing causes have changed 
 considerably since my observations began, and, in some respects, 
 improved. The present familiar, colloquial style has succeeded one 
 more formal and stately. Personalities between counsel are less 
 common than they were a generation since. Then it was not un- 
 common for counsel to keep up a running commentary upon the 
 case or the evidence, during the examination of a witness, and to 
 be in the brisk discharge and receipt of retorts and repartee with 
 his adversary, while the judge was taking down the testimony. Ar- 
 bitrations were frequent but references rare. Suits in equity were 
 not frequent, and many members of the bar did not take admission 
 to the Court of Chancery at all, or, at least, not until after 1830. 
 There was but little busiuess in the Federal Courts. Such as there 
 was arose chiefly from infractions of the revenue laws. But brief 
 mention of some of the lawyers who played their part on this stage 
 between the years 1825 and 1835, and are now no more, is all that 
 is permitted under the limits which I have imposed upon myself. 
 In respect to many, full biographical sketches exist in the archives 
 of the Historical Society, or otherwise, but for want of time, I have 
 not availed myself of their records. John C. Spencer has often 
 been here. He impressed me as the embodiment of intellectual 
 force; with a knowledge of the law which secured intuition and a 
 logic as inexorable as fate, he went directly at the head of judge and 
 jury, without apparently seeking to excite imagination or awaken 
 sentiment. He was truly a great lawyer. Dudley Marvin came 
 regularly to the Circuit, and was often engaged in civil and criminal 
 cases. He had a grand presence, an imperturable temper, great 
 knowledge of human nature and a commanding eloquence. His 
 ability in examining a witness, especially an unwilling one, was un- 
 rivalled, and his arrangement of the evidence in his address to 
 juries masterly. He made little use of authorities either with court 
 or jury, but his skill in transferring such legal weapons from his 
 adversary's arsenal to his own was the subject of mirthful comment 
 
' 56 
 
 in professional circles. Ebenezer Griffin visited us with great regu- 
 larity and was much employed. He had a majestic appearance,, 
 musical voice and pleasing way of presenting himself to courts and 
 juries which, upon occasion, would rise to eloquence. He held 
 high rank as a lawyer and advocate. One of the most exciting trials 
 of this period took place in this room in 1828. 
 
 It involved the question of the proper location of Commercial 
 and Water streets, and consequently the title to lands lying between 
 these streets, as now used, and the Little and Big Buffalo creeks. 
 The whole village took an interest in the controversy, and the 
 village election of that year turned wholly upon it. The trustees, 
 represented by Davies, City Attorney, and Henry R. Storrs, were 
 plaintiffs, and Johnson and Wilkeson, represented by Love, Marvin 
 and Spencer, were defendants. A more unpromising subject for 
 the display of eloquence could not well be imagined, and it is 
 difficult to analyze the grounds of the opinion that prevailed with- 
 in and without the ranks of the profession, that a more brilliant 
 exhibition of classical oratory and logical argument had never been 
 made within these walls than that aflForded by 
 
 ME. store's address TO THE JURY. 
 
 I was present, but, really, I was so bewildered that I can tell you noth- 
 ing about the speech. This, I believe, was the only effort made by Mr. 
 S. at this bar. Some years after I heard him argue a demurrer, with 
 Dudley Marvin on the opposite side, in the Superior Court of New 
 York, and it was a subject of remark that both had more eloquence 
 than knowledge of Chitty's Pleadings. Joshua R. Giddiugs of Ohio 
 tried a cause here about 1830, growing out of the loss of a cargo of 
 goods by shipwreck near Ashtabula. He then displayed the bold, in- 
 trepid and effective oratory which, in after years, upon a wider theater 
 and with larger interests involved, made his name famous. Heman B. 
 Potter, after leaving college, entered the office of Elisha Williams at 
 Hudson, where he was well trained in the principles and practice of 
 the law. He came to Buffalo in October, 1810, and almost simul- 
 taneously established a law office, organized a Washington Benevo- 
 lent Society, a Federal Club, and joined, if he did not organize,_ a 
 Masonic Lodge. He little thought that the two acts of his earlier 
 life last named would, as they did, form an insuperable bar to 
 political promotion to the end of his days. His appointment as 
 district attorney constituted the only taste of office that he ever en- 
 joyed. He had the kindliest of dispositions, unimpeachable integ- 
 rity, great industry, united to order and system in all transactions. 
 He soon acquired, what was then considered, a large legal business. 
 He tried and argued his own cases with good success. His addresses 
 to courts and juries were pleasing in manner; his statements of law 
 and fact clear and well arranged, and although he did not often 
 rise to the heights of eloquence, his forensic efforts could not fail to 
 satisfy a moderate ambition. His administration of the office ol 
 
57 
 
 district attorney, for ten years, was all that could be desired. In one 
 case only had he the assistance of counsel, and that was in the 
 summing up of 
 
 THE TEIAL OF THE THREE THAYERS. 
 
 The case was one to be made out by circumstantial evidence 
 alone. It was prepared by Mr. Potter, and in after years Chancel- 
 lor Walworth said that he had never known one so well prepared 
 and tried as this. Thomas C. Love entered into a good business as 
 the partner of Albert H. Tracy. The ill-health of the latter, and 
 his devotion to political life, soon lef b the law office in Mr. Love's 
 hands. He had great force of character, a strong intellect, cour- 
 ageous temperament, and an industry that shunned no labor. Into 
 whatever he undertook his whole soul was thrown, and, as may well 
 be supposed, he was largely successful. His addresses to courts and 
 juries made up in clearness and earnest force whatever was wanting 
 in taste and elegance. He was regarded as a safe and faithful 
 connselor. 
 
 Sheldon Smith had, I think, no marked standing as a lawyer. 
 As an advocate he held high rank. Before a jury he was fluent and 
 graceful — presenting his case with moderation and clearness — in 
 language extremely well chosen and effective. Gibbon was his 
 model for style, and he was a fond reader of the great historian, as 
 much for his ornate rhetoric as for his facts. Smith was better in 
 getting verdicts than in holding them. I remember a case he 
 tried three times, with a verdict in his' favor on each trial. I do 
 not know whether his client's adversary was wearied out, or whether 
 so much competent evidence was produced on the third trial that 
 a fourth could not be obtained, but Smith was triumphant. 
 
 James Sheldon is probably little known 'to most of my hearers, 
 and yet he made a prominent figure in this hall for many years. 
 He was the law-partner of Albert H. Tracy, and afterwards of 
 Charles Gr. Olmsted. Olmsted was here but a short time when he 
 removed to Tennessee. He had the reputation of possessing supe- 
 rior abilities. Sheldon continued his law practice until about 1833. 
 He had a powerful, well-compacted body, an acute intellect, an 
 ardent temper, and an audacity equal to any occasion. He was 
 exceedingly well prepared for his profession, and a thorough-going 
 practitioner. He had a large business in criminal cases and a fair 
 share of civil practice. His speeches to courts and juries were 
 models of conciseness, expressed in terse, forcible words, and in a 
 manner that seemed defiant of contradiction. In the legal frays of 
 justices' courts and the Common Pleas he was foremost — never 
 avoiding an encounter of any description, and seldom coming off 
 without his spurs. He remembered with impartiality his friends and 
 — enemies. Henry White was, in many respects, a remarkable man. 
 He had a subtle and ingenious mind, great industry, and entire devo- 
 tion to his profession. He read much and thought more of his law 
 books. His entire faculties were devoted to any cause that he 
 5 
 
58 
 
 undertook, and he was pertinacious to the last degree of any point 
 or proposition that he raised. His temper was perfectly under com- 
 mand, and he always kept it at home if his adversary lost his own. 
 In the begining of a trial he seemed to seek by inuendo, suggestion 
 and comment upon the testimony being taken down, to irritate 
 and perplex opposing counsel, in which he was often successful, 
 and thereafter White remained "cool as a cucumber." If, as some- 
 times happened, he failed, no one could better assume the 7'ole of 
 indignation for the wrongs of his client or " tear a passion to tat- 
 ters" than he. His reputation as a nisi prius lawyer had reached 
 a high point and Avas growing when he was suddenly cut ofE in 
 August, 1832. Stephen G. Austin had a large share of legal business, 
 and I believe that his learning and ability as a lawyer are not fully 
 appreciated by the present members of the bar. He was well read 
 in his books, and at least down to the time of forming a law con- 
 nection with Barker, tried and argued his own causes, with a fair 
 measure of success. He was fond of that lost art — special pleading 
 — and delighted to take a case through all its stages, from Narr to 
 Surrebutter before bringing it into this room. Dyre Tillinghast 
 came here in 1826, and at once secured a very respectable standing 
 and business. He was an excellent practitioner, and had great 
 clerical ability. He was a ready, handy man. Whatever he could 
 do at all he could do at once. His first cause here Avas tried one 
 hot afternoon in August, and he somewhat surprised our lawyers 
 by drawing up a bill of exceptions on the spot and having it settled 
 and signed before the judge took his supper. He was at home in 
 all forums. A justice's court, a board of town officers, an ecclesi- 
 astical convocation, a court martial, a trial at the Sessions or Cir- 
 cuit, a case in Chancery or in Admiralty, were equally his delight, 
 and in each he acquitted himself with a fair portion of credit. His 
 reading of law seemed to be without method, although hQ read 
 much. He had a facility for quoting cases by the book, and some- 
 times page, that had relation to the subject under discussion, al- 
 though he did not always hit upon the point or principle decided 
 by them. William A. Moseley was fourteen years at this bar — hav- 
 ing entered in 1820, and retired on his election to the Assembly in 
 1834. He possessed fine ability and acquirements, including a fair 
 knowledge of laAv and its practice. He tried and argued his own 
 causes, which were most thoroughly prepared, and had good success 
 with them. In the "heavy fights" in the Common Pleas he bore 
 himself well, having the ready wit and biting sarcasm so useful in 
 such encounters. It was thought to be a phenomenon that with 
 such abilities as he possessed he should have been four years in the 
 Senate and four years in Congress without making a speech in 
 either, and four years in the Court for the Correction of Errors 
 without delivering an opinion. It did not arise from inattention 
 to the ordinary duties of the positions, for no one excelled him in 
 punctuality of attendance and knowledge of what transpired in 
 the bodies of which he was a member. 
 
59 
 
 A marked change in the constitution of this bar and in the char- 
 acter of the business began in 1835, and here my way, on this occa- 
 sion ends. Here began the accession to its numbers whose achieve- 
 ments form 
 
 A NEW EEA. 
 
 H. K. Smith, Haven, Hall, E. Cook, E. Norton, Stow, Sill, 
 Hasten, B. H. Austin, Seymour, Stanley, H. S. Love, Ganson and 
 Verplanck among the dead, and Clinton, Rogers, VanBuren, W. H. 
 Greene, J. M. Smith, Nichols, Putnam, Spaulding and S. C. Hawley 
 among the living, comprise a list whose various talents and acquire- 
 ments would do honor to any bar in the land. I leave this formid- 
 able company of new-comers to other and more competent hands 
 than mine. 
 
 To bring this paper at all within reasonable limits, and because 
 other pens have paid them tribute, I omit notices of Root, Tracy, 
 Fillmore, Barker, Sherwood, Shumway and Slade. They are all so 
 well known to the bar, and such justice has been rendered their 
 memories by others, that this emission will not, I trust, be deemed 
 & defect in this paper. I have discharged the dnty imposed upon 
 me as well as the time allowed me, and the data at my command 
 would permit, and I cast myself upon your indulgence in the hope 
 that other hands will supplement my deficiencies, and glean a rich 
 harvest from the unreaped fields that remain. 
 
 • REMARKS OF JUDGE CLINTON. 
 
 When Mr. Babcock had finished his address, he called upon Judge 
 Clinton to make some remarks. As the Judge rose, he was greeted 
 with hearty applause. He spoke extempore, and said : That he 
 very reluctantly declared that he was not going to make a speech 
 upon this occasion, as the previous speakers had stolen all his thun- 
 der. They had not only reaped the harvest, but actually gleaned 
 the field. His feelings were of so deep and varied a nature, that he 
 did not know in what order to place them, or how to express him- 
 self. He was glad, and yet he was sorry; full of joy, and yet 
 mournful. We stand between tears and merriment. As for this 
 Court-house building, it belongs to the dark ages. It never looked 
 so bare as now, and never was it better graced. It has long been a 
 reproach to the city and county, and its appearance was that of un- 
 mitigated ugliness. But when he thought of the memories con- 
 nected with the old building, his heart was stirred, and he was 
 ready to say, '"Burn it to the ground, but don't allow it to be dese- 
 crated, and put to common or vulgar uses I" 
 
 What contests of wit had enlivened this old building, and where 
 were the men who participated in them ? Their sayings, if the 
 speaker should undertake to repeat them, would be as dull and 
 vapid as some things he had seen in magazines, called " Congres- 
 sional Humor," or something of that sort. The old building had 
 
60 
 
 served its day; it was worn out, and effete, and even like the speak- 
 er's old hat, which he held in his hand. [Laughter.] And when 
 the time came for him to part with his ancient friend, the old hat, 
 he should do so joyously. Yet the memory of what it was to him 
 would dwell in his heart. So with this building. How many 
 sacred memories were connected with it, which could never be 
 effaced. Here George P. Barker, and the beloved Ganson first felt 
 the grasp of death. Here the speaker's brethren had often assembled 
 to pay feeling tributes to those who had gone before. The memo- 
 ries of those occasions would always be sacred. 
 
 In concluding. Judge Clinton said that he believed from his heart 
 of hearts that the Bar of Erie county had never stood higher than 
 now. For the good of the profession, which yielded only in im- 
 portance to the clerical profession, he would ask, whether it would 
 not be well to draw closer the ties which bound the Bar together 
 socially ? He believed it Avould be well to form an Association of 
 members of the Bar. 
 
 Hon. James M. Smith, one of the Judges of the Superior Court,, 
 delivered the concluding address of the day, and spoke as follows -.. 
 
 ADDRESS OF JUDGE SMITH. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Bar : Your committee has 
 done me the honor to request that I should address you on this 
 interesting occasion, and as I rise to comply with their request, the 
 thronging memories of almost forty years — of all the years of my 
 manhood — crowd my mind with the most varied emotions. As I 
 recall the forms and faces, once so familiar to this place, of the men 
 who elevated the Bar of this city to an equal rank with the ablest 
 of the Sttite, and who here illustrated by their genius, their learn- 
 ing, their eloquence, the highest walks of our profession, and achfeved 
 its best rewards, I feel a thrill of pride and pleasure in the recollec- 
 tion of my association with them, that I witnessed their labors and 
 their triumphs, that I rejoiced in the honors which they won, and 
 that I am permitted here to-day to recall their names and to unroll 
 the record which they made. I am indeed sadly reminded that as 
 to almost all of them it must be said the places which have known 
 them know them no more, but their names and memory are cher- 
 ished by us who survive, and those who succeed us at the Bar and 
 upon the bench, will long remember their achievements and emulate 
 their fame. 
 
 " The dead are like tlie stars by day, 
 
 Withdrawn from mortal eye ; ' 
 
 But not extinct, they hold their way. 
 In glory through the sky." 
 
 I first entered these memorable walls early in the winter of 1838. 
 This city had then a population of about seventeen thousand, and. 
 
61 
 
 though laboring under the terrible reverses in business which fol- 
 lowed the financial ci;ash of 1837, yet its people were full of elastic 
 'life and vigorous enterprise; and none more truly so than the mem- 
 bers of our profession. The very extensive modifications and 
 ■changes of the law and its modes of practice which were made by 
 the Revised Statutes, had jusfbecome fully understood, adapted to 
 use, and brought into full working order. It may not be without 
 interest to glance at the judicial system of that day, and consider 
 briefly some of its peculiar features, so different from those with 
 which we are familiar now. 
 
 THE HIGHEST COURT OF THE STATE 
 
 was the Court for the Correction of Errors, composed of the Lieu- 
 tenant-Grovernor (or the President of the Senate) who was its pre- 
 siding judge, the Chancellor, the Justices of the Supreme Court, 
 .and the members of the Senate, thirty-two in number. Its jurisdic- 
 tion was to review the decrees of the Chancellor and the judgments 
 ■of the Supreme Court. The terms of this court were usually held, 
 in the city of New York or Albany, but in the summer of 1846, 
 Si session of the court was held in this room, which was specially 
 fitted up for the purpose. Notwithstanding the peculiar character 
 of the court, the large number composing it, and that many of them 
 were not lawyers, its judgments uniformly commanded the respect 
 and confidence of the Bar and the people. ^ 
 
 As the Senate always contained some of the most distinguished 
 lawyers of the State, the voice of the professional members of the 
 'Court had a controlling influence, and there are no moi'e learned, 
 well reasoned and elegantly written opinions upon the pages of our 
 reports than some of those pronounced in that court. Among 
 the most distinguished and most frequently quoted are those 
 written by 
 
 THE LATE ALBERT H. TRACY, 
 
 when a member of this Bar and a Senator from this district. 
 
 The Supreme Court was composed of three justices, held four 
 'General Terms each year — two at Albany, one in New York and one 
 in Utica — besides eight Special Terms each year at Albany. Its 
 -clerks were four, having their offices respectively at Albany, New 
 York, Utica and Geneva, to one of which all process, pleadings and 
 •other papers in that court, requiring to be filed must be sent for 
 that purpose, and where all judgments were docketed, and thus be- 
 came a lien throughout the State. The State was divided into eight 
 • Judicial Districts, with a judge in each to hold Circuit Courts and 
 Courts of Oyer and Terminer. The counties of Erie, Niagara, Or- 
 leans, Monroe, Genesee and Chautauqua composed the eighth district, 
 and in each county two Circuit Courts and Courts of Oyer and Ter- 
 miner were holden each year. Addison Gardiner, who had been Cir- 
 cuit Judge for this district for several years, having resigned in Jan- 
 uary, 1838, John B. Skinner, an able and accomplished lawyer, a 
 
62 
 
 pure-minded and truly good man, whose name should ever be men- 
 tioned with reverence and honor, and Avho was then a citizen of 
 Genesee county, but afterward and for several years a resident and 
 member of the Bar of this city, was appointed to succeed Judge 
 Gardiner. But he declined the appointment by reason of impaired 
 health, and Nathan Dayton was appointed, and honorably discharged 
 the duties of the otfice until the constitution of 1846 went into opera- 
 tion. Tlie Court of Chancery was composed of Chancellor and Vice- 
 Chan cellor for the First Judicial District, and except in that district,, 
 each of the Circuit Judges was, ex-officio, Vice-Chancellor for his 
 Judicial District. 
 
 In each county was a Court of Common Pleas, and a Court of 
 General Sessions of the Peace, consisting of a first judge and four 
 associate judges. It needs but little reflection to perceive how far 
 the State has outgrown such a judicial system, and how wholly in- 
 adequate it would be to the exigencies of" the present day. 
 
 At the time I have referred to, when I became a member of this 
 bar, James Stryker was the first jndge of this county, and Frederick 
 P. Stevens, Jonathan Hoyt, Joseph Freeman and Isaac Humphrey 
 were associate judges. Samuel Caldwell was surrogate, Henry W. 
 Eogers, district attorney, Elijah Ford, Horatio Seymour, Jr., Peter 
 M. Vosburgh and Charles H. Bramhall, Masters in Chancery, Dyre 
 Tillinghast, Supreme Court Commissioner. There were then in 
 active practice here, as leading members of the bar, and whose 
 learned and eloquent efforts these venerable walls have so often wit- 
 nessed, Millard Filmore, Heman B. Potter, Stephen G. Austin, 
 Geo. P. Barker, Henry K. Smith, Nathan K. Hall, Horatio J. Stow, 
 Thos. T. Sherwood, Solomon G. Haven, Benj. H. Austin, Horatio- 
 Shumway, Seth E. Sill, Eli Cook, Joseph G. Masten, and Dyre 
 Tillinghast, and in later years as the veterans retired from the field, 
 or yielded to the arch enemy Death, their places were filled by such 
 men as James Mullett, Benjamin F. Greene, Chauncey Tucker, 
 Albert Sawin, James G. Hoyt, Isaac A. Verplanck and John Ganson. 
 I can but recount the names upon this illustrious roll. 
 
 I cannot here speak of the individual characteristics of these men 
 or their varied gifts and acquirements, or of the steps by which they 
 took high rank in our profession and in the community of which 
 they were members. These are a part of 
 
 THE HISTOKY OF THIS BAR 
 
 and of this city. They elevated and made more widely and better 
 known the character of both. Many of them were called by their 
 fellow-citizens to fill the places of honor and trust, upon the bench 
 in the halls of legislation, and in various departments of the gov- 
 ernment. And they carried with them into public life the same 
 marked integrity, energy and industry, as well as the same varied 
 learning, and the same wide range of intellectual gifts which had 
 distinguished them in their professional life. Thus they not only 
 reflected credit upon this bar, and upon the city of their residence. 
 
63 
 
 bat the fame of some of them has gone forth over all the land, 
 and the nation has risen up to do them honor. But this was the 
 special scene of their professional achievements. They, and their 
 predecessors, the fathers of the bar, of whom honored mention has 
 been made to-day by those who preceded me^, have made this build- 
 ing historical, and in spite of its defective architecture and primi- 
 tive accessories, it has become in our eyes a venerable pile, and this 
 room like holy ground. 
 
 I have purposely refrained from the mention of any whose names 
 have not been made sacred by death. I speak not of the living, for 
 I speak to the living. You, Mr. Chairman, and a scanty band of 
 your compeers, alone remain of the eminent men who distinguished 
 this bar when it was tirst known to me, and who in later days have 
 added luster to its history. Your brethren of to-day, sir, recognize 
 in you 
 
 THE LAWYERS OF THE OLD REGIME, 
 
 trained in the hardier schools of the past — worthy exemplars of an 
 honored profession. Fortunate as you have been in tlie associations 
 of the past, and as you are in the rewards of the present, I know 
 that I express the heartfelt wish of your younger brethren, that the 
 years of you who yet survive may be prolonged beyond the common 
 lot, and that as the shadows lengthen with life's declining day, you 
 may repose from care and labor in the consciousness of a well-spent 
 life, and with the blessed assurance that when the night falls, the 
 coming dawn shall break with the splendors of an eternal morn. 
 
 At the conclasion of Judge Smith's address, on motion of H. S. 
 Cutting, the meeting adjourned until ten o'clock Monday A. m., the 
 thirteenth inst., for the purpose of taking final leave of the old 
 Court House, and proceeding in a body to the new City and County 
 Hall. 
 
64 
 
 ADIEU TO THE OLD COURT HOUSE. 
 
 OPENING OF THE CITY AND COUNTY HALL. 
 
 On Monday morning, March 13, 1876, the City and County Hall 
 was thrown open to the public. Most of the officers had taken pos- 
 session on Saturday previous, and were ready to transact business 
 in their new quarters. There were no formal ceremonies in con- 
 nection with this branch of the opening of the building. 
 
 The Special Term of the Superior Court was opened by Judge G. 
 W. Clinton, and the Civil Trial Term of the same court was held 
 by Judge James Sheldon. The County Court, Judge Albert Haight 
 presiding, also convened. But little business was transacted in 
 cither court, and they soon adjourned to participate in the 
 
 FURTHER ACTION OF THE BAR. 
 
 In accordance with the further plans of the Committee of Arrange- 
 ments, a very large number of the members of the legal profession 
 assembled at the Old Court House, pursuant to adjournment, at ten 
 o'clock A. M., Monday, March 13, 1876. The meeting was called to 
 order by Hon George R. Babcock, upon whose motion Gen. Gusta- 
 vus A. Scroggs was chosen Grand Marshal to conduct the fraternity 
 to the City and County Hall. A procession was then formed, 
 headed by Judges Sheldon, Smith and Haight, followed by the 
 members of the Bar admitted previous to the year 1840, and then 
 the balance of the fraternity in order of seniority. In this manner 
 the procession marched to the new City and County Hall, where the 
 Bar were received by Building Commissioners Becker, Wardwell, 
 Laning, Bowen, Hayward, Potter, Youngs and Adams, who escorted 
 them to the Civil Trial Term room of the Superior Court, at the 
 north end of the third floor. 
 
65 
 
 A few minutes after eleven o'clock the meeting was called to 
 order by Hon. Mr. Babcock, who congratulated the members of the 
 Bar that they had come from their old temple of justice to an edifice 
 of which the interior, so far as his observation Avent, was second to 
 but one in the land; the capitol at Washington was the only build- 
 ing which could compare with it. Mr. Babcock suggested that the 
 proceedings should be opened with an invocation of the Divme 
 blessing, and asked Rev. Dr. Hotchkiss to offer prayer. 
 
 Eev. Dr. Hotchkiss offered a prayer appropriate to the occasion. 
 
 On motion of Hon. H. S. Cutting, Hon. Sherman S. Rogers was 
 elected Chairman, and' Mr. James A. Allen was appointed 
 Secretary. 
 
 Upon taking the chair Senator Rogers addressed the meeting, and 
 said : 
 
 ADDRESS OP HON. S. S. ROGERS. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Bar: It is with but meagre ceremony that 
 the Bench and Bar of Erie county take possession of this goodly 
 temple, and dedicate it to Justice. Here is no imposing pageant; 
 no unwonted display of the glories or the terrors of Authority. No 
 Lord Mayor in gilded coach has lent to our procession the eclat of 
 municipal sanction. The eye searches in vain for the awful shire- 
 reeve, with his bailiffs burly and his tip-staves tall ; and where are 
 the judges in their robes of office, and the lawyers in wigs and 
 gowiis? And yet the Lord High Chancellor is here, in all but robe 
 and title, and my Lord Chief Justice, too ; and perhaps among 
 these ungovvned gentlemen are more than one whom future genera- 
 tions may deem not unworthy to be named with the great bar- 
 risters who have made the history of the English and American 
 bars illustrious. Certainly there are many as truly self-consecrate 
 to the higher duties and obligations of our profession, to truth, to 
 justice, to that loyal recognition of rightful authority which is the 
 
 SUPPORT AND SAFE-GUARD OF THE STATE, 
 
 as the titled barristers whose escutcheons adorn the walls of the 
 Inns of Court, or any of those untitled, but not less noble worthies, 
 whose unrecorded fame is still the pride of our own bar. 
 
 To-day, gentlemen, inaugurates an era in the history, not merely 
 of our fair city, but in some sort also of our own fraternity. I 
 would fain believe that it will also mark the commencement of a 
 higher and worthier professional life. 
 
 Not that I expect a material change in our mental or moral 
 characteristics because henceforth we pursue our labors in these 
 elegant and well-appointed rooms instead of the old ones, one of 
 which was always contemptible (I speak, of course, of that in the 
 "New Court-house, so called), while the other had, indeed, become 
 
66 
 
 like Judge Clinton's old hat, useful indeed, though never elegant, and 
 tolerable only because for so many years it had been the home of 
 so much good thought. 
 
 No ; the man is not much changed by the doffing of an old coat 
 or the putting on of a new one; and yet he may be a little more 
 courtly, nay, possibly even more manly in the new than in the old, 
 especially if the coat be supplemented by a good new hat and by 
 nether integuments which are irreproachable both in style and ma- 
 terial. Therefore, let us not underrate the probable good effect of 
 these spacious and richly-furnished apartrpents. 
 
 Who shall dare to dull the edge of his pen-knife on these "Cen- 
 tennial chairs," and who among us, with the broad daylight staring 
 at him through these beautiful windows, will not be put a little 
 more upon his good behavior than when he trod the dusty matting 
 and thumped the rickety rail which separated the jury from the 
 bar, under the benign protection of the dear old shabbiness to which 
 we have just said farewell. 
 
 But to speak more seriously. Is it too much to expect from the 
 memories of that solemn bat delightful meeting which it was our 
 privilege to attend on Saturday last, some enduring and beneficent 
 results ? Who among us did not feel his soul kindled and elevated 
 as he listened to the eloquent words of the seniors, as they recited 
 the annals of our local bar ? Who was not glad that he, too, was a 
 lawyer? Who of us would not be happy, to think that in some 
 future year, when the Bar of Buffalo shall be gathered on some 
 auspicious occasion, perhaps with a son or grandson to listen, his 
 own name should be found worthy of special mention among the 
 good and great lawyers who have adorned the grand profession of 
 the law in this city of our pride ? 
 
 The present rarely seems heroic, and Poetry ever turns her beau- 
 tiful eyes to the past, or, scorning the dull and prosaic present, 
 strains her eager vision towards the future. The dawn and the 
 sunset are her delight. But patience, brethren of the busy, eager, 
 contending, ambitious bar of to-day ! We shall all be of the past be- 
 fore long — many of us. indeed, of the forgotten past ; but we shall 
 every one contribute something to the character and the reputation 
 of our brotherhood. The mean and ignoble will be more unworthy 
 because of the unworthiness of any of his associates. 
 
 THE GOOD AND THE ILLUSTRIOUS 
 
 will shine with a purer and brighter glory by the light reflected 
 from the purity of their less successful, though not less worthy 
 brethren. 
 
 I congratulate you, gentlemen of the Bar, upon your presence 
 here to-day, and I will not add a word to what I have said to lend a 
 graver tinge to the pleasant and even joyful thoughts which are 
 appropriate to the occasion. Let us enjoy them to the full. Let 
 us with serious but confident anticipation dedicate this noble struct- 
 ure, as we should be dedicate ourselves, to a pure and impartial jus- 
 
67 
 
 tice. May all the years of the future witness here the presence of 
 judges, learned, dignified, incorruptible, who fear God alone ; of a 
 Bar, able, eloquent, courageous and npright, who shall administer 
 the duties and exercise the privileges of their high vocation as those 
 who know that they stand in the presence of the Judge of all the 
 Earth, of Him by whom princes rule and magistrates execute judg- 
 ment, and that to Him they must render their final account. 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. A. P. NICHOLS. 
 
 Mr. Chairman : This is, surely, an occasion of uncommon inter- 
 est. That cannot be called common which never, or rarely, happens 
 but once in a lifetime. 
 
 The taking down of our altars and household gods in the old 
 temple, and removing and setting them up in the new ; this going- 
 back for that last, last look, and bidding good-bye to scenes and asso- 
 ciations which have grown dearer and dearer, year by year, since the 
 hour we first buckled on spurs for professional conflict, cannot but 
 be full of sadness, even though the star of hope in the future beams 
 ever so brightly upon the transition to our new home. As the sol- 
 dier looks upon his trusty blade, be it ever so hacked and battered, 
 and, remembering that it never failed him, that its haft never gave 
 way in the su])remest crisis ; as he looks at his old friend, tried and 
 true — I say, in the presence of a weapon, may be of comelier shape, 
 and glittering in all the glory of strength and undimmed beauty, 
 how his heart instinctively clings to his first love, and if he at last 
 consents to the exchange, it is with a sigh. 
 
 "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." Ah, those 
 words are but the language of the heart. There is not one among 
 us, Mr. Chairman, I care not how scarr<id and callous his heart 
 may have become in his long strifes at the Bar, whose pulses do 
 not beat stronger and his breath come quicker as he regretfully 
 bids good-bye to the old camp. There he felt that his foot was 
 on his native heath — how will it be on an untried field? There he 
 felt the first flush of triumph; there he experienced his first defeat; 
 he can never forget them! But here we come, Mr. Chairman, to 
 our new home, to this goodly pile, with its superb architectural 
 effects, its spacious apartments, its complete appointments, rich in 
 all that art and taste and generous expenditure can give, which the 
 generosity of our city and county have furnished, as a temple of 
 Justice, and for the convenience of State, County and Municipal 
 administration. It is, indeed, a noble bounty, worthy of the objects 
 for wiiich it is proposed, worthy of the civilization that prompted it. 
 
 I trust that we and all who may be called upon to do honorable 
 service here, in any of the varied departments, may not be unmind- 
 ful of the scope and meaning of this new phase of life, or of the 
 obligations which grow out of it. You know, Mr. Chairman, that it 
 was said by a Roman poet, in a time that has become immortal, that 
 they who cross the sea change only their external surroundings, not 
 
68 
 
 themselves. In coining here, Mr. Chairman, we have changed our 
 forum, but not ourselves. We are no better lawyers, by the simple 
 fact of change ; but we may thereby be better, if we prize the 
 opportunity. That depends upon ourselves. We must remember 
 that the Court House is made illustrious by the Bar, not the Bar 
 by the Court House. 
 
 As we take possession, then, at this point of a new departure in our 
 professional life, let us, Mr. Chairman, as the noblest i-ecognition 
 of our obligations as a Bar, under which this munificent liberality 
 of our citizens has placed us, and which we so cheerfully acknowl- 
 edge, as the highest honor we can pay to our noble profession, vow 
 and promise to and with each other that we will not be unmindful 
 of our obligations, for this larger theater and opportunity for use- 
 fulness ; that, profiting by them, we will strive to be better lawyers 
 and better men; that nothing base or unworthy of the true lawyer 
 shall ever through us wound or sully tliese noble halls ; that, ever 
 striving to mount higher and higher in the walks of our profession, 
 we will insist, day by day, upon a nobler code of ethics and a higher 
 professional tone, and leave this seat of Justice to our successors, 
 honored, not shamed, by onr presence. Beneath this dome, what 
 noble ambitions shall have play! How shall the eager aspirants 
 wrestle for the mastery! What momentous issues of life and death, 
 of fame and fortune, shall here be discussed! 
 
 And what incitements arc here for these efforts! No Bar in the 
 State has surpassed this in the past; shall any surpass it in the 
 future ? Think of the line of illustrious names that illuminate it, 
 from its birth to this hour! I will not — I have not the heart — try 
 to enumerate them. We know them, and their names are dear to us 
 all. From its ranks men have been called to spheres of wider influ- 
 ence and usefulness, not only at the Bar and on the Bench, but in 
 civil administration. In the discipline of these Halls, in the high 
 debate and lofty struggles between the Bench and Bar, in our 
 sharp, earnest, but manly, encounters with each other, as in a col- 
 lision of flint and steel, we shall fit and equip others who may be 
 able, worthily to keep up this line of succession in high places. 
 
 In a word, Mr. Chairman, let us but be true to our profession 
 and to ourselves, and we shall not only repay the rich honors and 
 advantages which the public authorities have here confided to our 
 keeping, but have a noble opportunity of showing to our fellow- 
 men how manifold are the benefits which flow to society from a 
 conscientious, learned and upright Bar. 
 
 Mr. Henry W. Box moved that Hon. E. Carlton Sprague be 
 chosen to preside at the proposed banquet of the bar of Erie county 
 at the Tifft House to-morrow evening. The resolution having been 
 adopted, Mr. Sprague was called for, and addressed the meeting as 
 follows: 
 
69 
 
 ADDRESS OF E. C. SPRAGUE. 
 
 I beg leave to thank the meeting for this expression of its respect. 
 I do so most gratefully, for there are, indeed, few things in tliis life 
 that I value more than the regard of my professional brethren. 
 And now that I am upon my feet, although I had not expected to 
 say a woi'd upon this occasion, I find it difficult to repress alto- 
 gether the recollections that are crowding upon my memory, some 
 of which may be interesting, particularly to the students here pres- 
 ent. I entered upon the study of the law, in Bulfalo, in the sum- 
 mer of 1843, in the office of Fillmore & Haven, then perhaps the 
 leading office in the State, Avest of Albany. The life of law stu- 
 dents then differed in many ways from the same life now. We took 
 turns in the morning sweeping out the office and making the fires. 
 I well remember Mr. Fillmoi'e coming to the office one morning, 
 and finding some dust around the leg of a table unswept (by the 
 negligence of the clerk that morning, who he was I will not say),, 
 and exclaiming, that he feared that so negligent a clerk 
 
 WOULD NEVER MAKE A LAWYER. 
 
 The office hours were from eight A. M. to one p. m., from two to 
 six p. M., and from seven to ten p. M. The pay was nothing the 
 first two years, and two dollars a week the third. Much time was 
 given in those days to chat with country clients and to politics. 
 in the back room was a long high desk upon Which the principal 
 newspapers of the State were kept in files, and it was the custom of 
 the press to come to the lawyer's office for counsel and direction as 
 to the political policy to be pursued, and the candidates who should 
 be nominated. And I assure you that our political affairs were 
 not the less purely or ably conducted by .reason of the counsel of 
 the profession in those days. 
 
 I cannot omit a word in memory of the gentlemen with whom I 
 studied my profession. As a statesman, Mr. Fillmore's name is 
 known as widely as civilization itself; but to the younger men in 
 the profession I wish to bear testimony to his great learning, his 
 profound investigations, his excellent sense, and his unwearied 
 industry as a lawyer. T have not known his superior, upon tlie 
 "whole, as a professional man. I wish also to express my admira- 
 tion for that strict conscientiousness which I may say that I know 
 governed the most trifling as well as the important actions of 
 his life. Differing from him as I and many of us did in re- 
 gard to his policy while President of the United States, I have 
 never had the slightest doubt, that he was governed in all that he 
 did by the highest sense of duty, and that lie most conscientiously 
 believed that the measures he sustained were calculated to promote 
 the welfare of the country. 
 
 I cannot describe to those who did not know him the wonderful 
 tact and humor, the genial conversational power, the unflagging 
 industry, the professional skill, and the peculiar 
 
70 
 
 ELOQUENCE OF SOLOMOIST G. HAVEN". 
 
 He was the prince of jui'y lawyers, and it is no disparage- 
 ment to others to say that in my judgment I have never seen 
 his eqnal in this department of the profession at this or at any 
 other bar. To him, too, more than to any other man, I think, 
 we owe the courtesy and good temper with which the contests in 
 our courts liave been conducted by the profession since I have 
 known it. He set a most praiseworthy example in this respect, and 
 it had a marked influence. And in closing let me say that it seems 
 to me that now is a fitting time to congratulate ourselves upon this 
 fact so far as we are deserving of praise, and to resolve that the 
 future shall be an improvement upon the past. As one, I can truly 
 say, after a practice of nearly thirty years in my profession, that I 
 do not carry in my memory a single unkind or uncourteous word 
 expressed to or about me by any member of the profession, during 
 either the trial or the argument of a cause. And I am sure that 
 all will join me in the resolve, that, entering as we are now upon 
 
 A NEW CHAPTER OF OUR LIVES 
 
 as lawyers, all unkind recollections of the past, if any such there 
 be, shall be cast out from our memories and trodden under foot. 
 As my brother Locke well said the other day, in summing up a 
 cause in which we were the opposing counsel, let us endeavor 
 more and more to bear in mind that success in a law-suit, the 
 reputation of lawyers, the parties to litigation, are of little conse- 
 quence compared with the maintenance of the laws of the land, 
 and that the highest function of the lawyer is to aid in the pure 
 and intelligent administration of justice. 
 
 Hon. A. P. Laning, being loudly called for, said he could only 
 unite his congratulations with those present upon the occupation of 
 their new quarters. How well the Commissioners had fulfilled their 
 obligations he should leave to those present and to a generous public 
 to judge. 
 
 Hon. L. L. Lewis was also called upon and responded briefly, 
 reciting some of his experiences in reading law, and in his struggles 
 and difficulties in his early practice. He entered a law-office the 
 same year that Mr. Sprague did, 1843. During his five years of 
 study he received no more no less than one dollar. If law students 
 of to-day think they are inadequately compensated, they may con- 
 gratulate themselves that they are quite as well paid as he was. He 
 congratulated the Bar, both old and young members, upon the 
 completion of the elegant court rooms in the new Hall, and hoped 
 that their occupancy would inspire the profession to renewed efforts 
 to raise it to a higher plane, both socially and professionally. 
 
71 
 
 Appropriate remarks were also made on behalf of the younger 
 members of the profession by Messrs. C. W. Goodyear and H. E. 
 Squire, after which Mr. George Gorham offered the following 
 resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Bar of Erie County, that at the sessions 
 of the General Terms of the Supreme and Superior Courts, the Judges should 
 enter in a body ; that the Crier of the Court should announce their coming 
 and that the members of the Bar should rise and remain standing until the 
 Judges have taken their seats. 
 
 Mr. Gorham supported his resolution with some well-put argu- 
 ments, citing similar usage in other courts and places to justify the 
 adoption of the proposed practice here. He was followed by 
 Messrs. George Wadsworth, John Norris, General Scroggs, George 
 W. Cothran and M. A. Whitney, in support of the resolution, and 
 by Messrs. L. L. Lewis and J. C. Strong, who thought the matter 
 had better be deferred and referred to the proposed Bar Association, 
 when formed, or to a meeting of the Bar called for the purpose of 
 considering the question. 
 
 The resolution was finally adopted by a very decided majority, 
 and the meeting adjourned sine die. 
 
72 
 
 THE COMMON COUNCIL. 
 
 DEDICATION OF THE NEW CHAMBER. 
 
 The first regular weekly meeting of the Common Council in the: 
 magnificent Chamber of the City and County Hall, was held on 
 Monday, March 13, 1876, at 2 o'clock p. m. It was deemed emi- 
 nently fitting and proper on such an occasion to observe some 
 formalities other than the usual routine of business, which should 
 commemorate an event of no little importance and long to be 
 remembered by the present generation in Buffalo. Accordingly, 
 the programme arranged by the committee was carried out in good 
 order, in the presence of as large a company of ladies and gentlemen 
 as the spacious room would accommodate. Only those to whom 
 tickets had been issued were admitted, as otherwise the crowd who 
 would have sought admission would have been quite too large.. 
 Extra seats for the visitors were provided in the lobbies, and also 
 within the railings. The Germania Band, numbering forty pieces 
 and in full uniform, was ranged in front of the platform occupied 
 by the City Clerk and reporters. 
 
 Shortly after two o'clock the meeting was called to order by the 
 president. Alderman A. S. Bemis. All the members were present. 
 
 His Honor Mayor Becker, the Rev. Drs. J. C. Lord, Wm. Shelton, 
 and A. T. Chester, ex-Mayors Hiram Barton and Chandler J. Wells^ 
 and Hon. G. W. Clinton occupied seats upon the dais with the 
 presiding officer. 
 
 Dr. Lord opened the special exercises in pronouncing the following 
 prayer : 
 
 O, Lord God, our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that we are permitted 
 to come into this noble edifice and look upon this great work. We thank Thee 
 that in Thy holy and eternal providence Thou hast suffered it thus to be 
 brought to completion ; that no fires have devoured it; that no raging whirl- 
 wind has torn it apart, and that no trembling of the earth has torn it 
 asunder, and that we have it fully and complete here to-day. We give 
 thanks to God for all His mercies, and implore His divine benediction 
 upon this structure in the years to come, that it may be spared to the city 
 
73 
 
 that it may be preserved in Thy providence, that it may remain in future gen- 
 erations as a monument of those of tlie present age. 0, we pray Thee, that 
 the legislators who may assemble in this place from time to time, and year to 
 year, may be guided by Thy good spirit. May they have that spirit of wisdom 
 and understanding which alone can come by Thy divine love. May the coun- 
 sels of this body be just; may they ever be free from corruption ; may they 
 ever seek the good of the great city. 0, Lord, we ask Thee to bless them in 
 their incoming and outgoing. Lord, guide and bless and sanctify them. May 
 this fair city grow until no man can count the number of its population ; and 
 may it spread like its sister cities in power and commerce. 0, Lord, grant that 
 Thy divine work come, and may the people grow wiser, and may they improve, 
 and may they receive the Gospel of the blessed God, and that this land may be 
 known as a Christian land, and under Christian influence and guided by 
 Christian influence. Now, 0, Lord, hear our prayer, as we commend this 
 body to Thee. Be Thou. 0, Lord, their guide, their protector and their friend; 
 and do for them bountifully beyond what they are able to ask, or even to think. 
 Amen. 
 
 Hon. Philip Becker, Mayor of Buffalo, and one of the Building 
 Commissioners, then spoke as follows : 
 
 ADDRESS OF MAYOR BECKER. 
 
 Mr. President and Members of the Common Council : 
 
 We have assembled here to-day to celebrate the opening of the 
 new City and County Hall, and the duty has devolved upon me as 
 chief executive of the city to welcome you, and through your pre- 
 siding officer to 'entrust to your care and custody this beautiful 
 Council Chamber. You have reason to be proud, called as you are 
 by the voice of the people to occupy seats in this room and in this 
 magnificent structure, which is deservedly the pride and ornament 
 of our city. 
 
 From a small village, with but few houses, Buffalo has grown to 
 be a beautiful, prosperous and enterprising city, and has attained 
 the name of Queen City of the Lakes, from her position, beauty and 
 importance. The rapid progress, wealth and enterprise of her 
 citiiens required, notwithstanding the financial depression of the 
 time, a public building for the accommodation of the different 
 departments of the city government. Immediately upon the ap- 
 pointment of the Board of Commissioners, the matter was promptly 
 taken in hand, and the result of their labors is demonstrated to-day, 
 in the completion of this superb edifice. 
 
 Permit me, gentlemen, to say that when you convene in this 
 Chamber, to attend to your official duties, you should lay aside all 
 partisan and personal; considerations, and guard the honor and 
 pledge yourselves to be loyal to 
 
 THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE CITY. 
 
 Eesponsibilities and duties always important, at times onerous 
 and delicate, rest upon you. Let your actions be animated by a 
 spirit of harmony, and you will not only receive the plaudits, but 
 6 
 
74 
 
 the gratitude of your constituency. You are the first corporate 
 body to hold its meeting and deliberations in this Chamber, and as 
 it happens to be in the centennial year, an event that will not easily 
 be obliterated from our memory, let all your actions be in conformity 
 with the interests of the taxpayers. You are the 
 
 LEGISLATIVE BODY OF THIS CITY. 
 
 and to your hands is entrusted the interest of the entire community. 
 Aim toward economy, reduction of taxes and the general improve- 
 ment and prosperity of the city, and you will have the respect and 
 confidence of every well-minded citizen. I hope and trust that no 
 act or actions of the Common Council will ever disgrace or dishonor 
 this Chamber. It is my most sincere wish that all your proceedings 
 hereafter may be of such a nature as to merit the approval of the 
 executive branch of the municipal government and the citizens at 
 large. 
 
 In reply to Mayor Becker, President Bemis said : 
 
 ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT BEMIS. 
 
 Mr. Mayor: On behalf of the Common Council of the city of 
 Buffalo, and of the people we here represent, I thank you, sir, and 
 the Board of Commissioners, of which you are a member, for the 
 generous and substantial manner in which these spacious accommo- 
 dations have been provided for this Council, and 4n accepting the 
 same, I have to ask, that you will please convey to the Board of 
 Commissioners, the unqualified approbation of this body, in all 
 things pertaining to their acts, in regard to the interests of this 
 city in the trust reposed in them. 
 
 The Council will undoubtedly take such action in the premises 
 as will give fitting expression to its views upon this subject,' to be 
 entered upon the minutes of this Board. 
 
 Addressing the Council and those present, President Bemis IJien 
 spoke as follows : 
 
 Gentlemeyi of the Cormnon Council: This Board assembles to-day, 
 under an agreeable change of circumstances, especially in regard to 
 its place of meeting, and it would seem eminently proper that some 
 fitting recognition of the change that has been wrought should be 
 manifested by this Council, at this, its first meeting here. And as 
 this occasion calls to my mind reminiscences concerning the early 
 history of this Franklin square, which, taken in connection with 
 the history of this building, it may not be deemed inappropriate to 
 relate at this time. I am, therefore, led to ask your indulgence in 
 a few brief remarks applicable to the occasion. 
 
 Gentlemen, as I stand here to-day, and view the vast proportions 
 and elegant style of this spacious and commodious Hall that has 
 
75 
 
 been provided and set apart for the use of this Council, and con- 
 trast the scene of to-day with the sorrowful scenes of long ago that 
 have been witnessed upon the ground whereon this grand structure 
 has been erected, I confess that I feel almost over-awed at the 
 change which the transition from the solemnities of the past to the 
 grandeur of the present has produced. 
 
 MEMORY CARRIES ME BACK OVER HALF A CENTURY 
 
 to the days of my childhood and early youth, when the land upon 
 which this building now stands, was the* common and only burial- 
 place for the dead of the then village of Buffalo, forwhich purpose it 
 had been dedicated by the Holland Land Company, when laying out 
 the village. My aged mother, who is still living in Buffalo, informs 
 me that her father, Gamaliel St. John and Elias Ransom, organized a 
 " chopping bee," and cleared this ground of its original timber- 
 growth, and laid it out aa s place for the reception of the dead. Mr. 
 St. John had buried his second son here, soon after coming to Buf- 
 falo, and he and his eldest son were subsequently buried here in 
 1813, both having been drowned together in the Niagara river, by 
 the upsetting of the boat in which they and a party of men were 
 crossing from Black Rock to the Canada shore, in the interests of 
 the American army, and in the endeavor to open up and establish 
 communication with a portion of the American forces, then holding 
 possession of Fort Erie and other posts in the vicinity. And here, 
 almost beneath the place where I now stand, the remains of my 
 father reposed for nearly thirty years?, having been buried here in 
 1823. Others of my kindred, also, 
 
 SLUMBERED IN" THIS SACRED PLAT OF GROUND 
 
 for many years; and it is a somewhat singular coincidence, that the 
 kindly acts of my grandfather, St. John, in giving a respectable and 
 sightly appearance to this village burial-ground in its earliest use, 
 became coupled with the fact, that members of his own family were 
 about the first — and the very last that found sepulture in it, his 
 daughter, the wife of the late Judge Samuel Wilkeson, being the 
 last. Judge Wilkeson was the Mayor of this city at the time of his 
 wife's death in 1836, and the Common Council granted him a special 
 permit to bury her here, long after interment in this ground had 
 been prohibited. Many of the early settlers in Buffalo, whose names 
 are now only remembered by a very few of the living of to-day, 
 rested here from their labors, as did also some of their children and 
 their children's children after them. And here also, in this old 
 graveyard, the children of fifty years ago were wont to wander 
 from their sports upon the adjacent green. The village school- 
 house was near by, and this was their favorite place of retreat when 
 let loose from school. Thus, the children of my time became curi- 
 ous lookers-on at many a scene of sorrow and sadness, at times when 
 their sports were interrupted by the lamentations of those bereaved. 
 
76 
 
 who brought hither to this once hallowed and holy spot their loved 
 ones to be returned to their parent dust. And such were the scenes 
 here of the long ago, that come up before nie to-day in co7itrast 
 with the present. And what a change ! But death, the great har- 
 vester of all earthly and human hopes is also a most constant gleaner; 
 and the hand of ambition is seldom if ever stayed, and pays but poor 
 respect at times to the dead or the living. 
 
 Buffalo had grown to an incorporated city in 1832, with Ebenezer 
 Johnson for its first Mayor, a portrait of whom has recently been 
 presented by his daughter, Mrs. Dr. Lord, to'behung upon the walls 
 of the Mayor's office in this building. 
 
 THE FIKST VISIT OF THE ASIATIC CHOLEEA 
 
 to the shores of America in 1833, brought a most unwelcome guest 
 to this young and growing city; and the consequences were direful 
 indeed. The capacity of this common burial-place was taxed to its 
 uttermost, and interments in it were therefore soon prohibited. 
 Meanwhile other cemeteries were established, and many of the dead 
 removed thither from this ground, by the voluntary acts of surviv- 
 ing friends; and finally in 1852, the remains of all were removed by 
 order of the Common Council, and at the public expense, to a lot 
 in Forest Lawn, procured for the purpose. The remains of about 
 two thousand bodies were so removed, and with few exceptions 
 were without recognition by surviving friends, and without tomb- 
 stones or tablets were promiscously interred, where they now sleep 
 unnumbered and unknown, awaiting identification at the final res- 
 urrection. The city erected a fitting monument to the memory of 
 a few distinguished officers of the war of 1812, whose remains were 
 among those removed to Forest Lawn, and thus ended the ''grave- 
 yard scenes" in this time-honored and historic ground. The city 
 having acquired absolute title to this land before the removal of the 
 dead, a new era soon dawned upon the visions of men in regard to 
 its future use. Some agitated the project of a public square or 
 park. The city authorities had also been required by decisions 
 to vacate the Terrace between Main and Pearl streets, then occupied 
 by what was known as the Terrace Market building — the upper 
 story of which was devoted to the use of the Common Council and 
 city offices. Hon. Hiram Barton was then Mayor; and to his fore- 
 sight and energy, was due the plan of purchasing the Franklin 
 street front of this public ground, and the fitting up of the build- 
 ings thereon for city purposes, and with a view also to its ultimate use 
 as a site for a City Hall, when a new one should be required. This 
 project Avas carried into eflFect in pursuance of an enabling act of 
 the legislature. The land was purchased and merged with the old 
 burial-ground, and the whole was dedicated as Franklin Square, 
 reserving in the center thereof, a site for a City Hall. 
 
 I had the honor of being a member of this body at the time this 
 was done, and voted for the measure; and I have been spared and 
 favored to be here to-day, at the consummation of the plans of 
 
77 
 
 nearly a quarter of a century ago, and permitted to take part with 
 you in these ceremonies. The good people of this city, and the 
 county of Erie have most nobly seconded these early eft'orts that 
 were made. Nay, we might almost say, they have been extrav- 
 agant and lavish, in these times of financial embarrassment through- 
 out the land, in erecting such a grand and costly structure as this 
 City and County Hall proves to be. But when we consider that 
 the wants and 
 
 KEQUIEEMENTS OF OUE LOCAL GOVERNMENT, 
 
 for all time to come, as well as for the present, have formed a chief 
 part of the study of the Commissioners who have been entrusted 
 with the construction of this building, we cannot but say. that their 
 labors have been arduous indeed, and exceedingly well performed; 
 and that the accommodations and conveniences provided for the 
 several branches of the city and county governments, as well as for 
 the judiciary, are all that could be desired, and will prove adequate 
 therefor, while these granite walls shall stand. The various depart- 
 ments of the city government have been transferred to this mag- 
 nificent edifice;' and it remains for the Common Council to 
 inaugurate herein the legislative branch thereof. The session of 
 to-day will, therefore, form a note-worthy event in the history of 
 this city in connection with the dedication of this building in this 
 centennial. year; and the record of this day's proceedings will long 
 outlive the members whose names are recorded at this first roll-call 
 of the Common Council in this elegant and spacious HaM. 
 
 G-entlemen of the Common Council, we are here assembled, with 
 our fellow-citizens in. attendance, 
 
 TO SOLEMNLY DEDICATE THIS CHAMBER 
 
 to the uses for which it has been set apart ; and it were well, indeed, 
 if we, the members of this body, should likewise here dedicate our- 
 selves to the welfare and prosperity of this city, and to its people 
 as well, who have entrusted us with the powers we here possess; 
 vouchsafing to them, if it were possible for us so- to do, that the 
 local legislation of this city shall from this day forward, have a 
 new departure, that shall be commendable in their sight, and that 
 shall prove worthy of imitation, by all who shall come after us, to 
 occupy these seats. 
 
 At the conclusion of the address of the presiding officer, Hon. 
 George W. Clinton, Chief Judge of the Superior Court, was intro- 
 duced, and spoke as follows: 
 
78 
 
 ADDRESS OP HON. G. W. CLINTON. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen : I feel most deeply the honor 
 you have done me. But I cannot — I know I cannot — adequately 
 express my sense of it, nor my respect for you. Old recollections 
 of the day of little things, when I was Mayor of our then infant 
 city, and of'the men, now dead, whose virtues and exertions con- 
 tributed to confirm its safety and exalt its honor, crowd into my 
 mind and almost overwhelm me. But neither recollections of the 
 past nor exultation in the greatness and goodness of our dear city 
 can make me eloquent. The contrast is too great, the grief too 
 deep. It seems to me, removed as I have been for many years from 
 active public life, that I belong to the puny past rather tlian to the 
 glorious present. The unwonted magnificence of this noble Council 
 Chamber confounds me, and the solemnity of this audience disturbs 
 me. Were it not for the fact that in. you I recognize my own dear 
 friends and neighbors, I might well imagine myself standing in the 
 Koman Senate, this Chamber is so perfect and so grand. Ebenezer 
 Johnson, the first Mayor of Buffalo, went to his reward many weary 
 years ago. But when his son-in-law, the Reverend Dr. Lord, in- 
 voked the blessing of Almighty God upon our city and ourselves, 
 the majestic form of that worthy man and faithful citizen rose up 
 before me. My old college friend and room-mate must excuse me. 
 I must say that his presence gives me profound pleasure, and that 1, 
 in common, I doubt not, with all who hear me, venerate his well 
 spent life find reciprocate his prayers. 
 
 Rightly understood, there is wondrous and solemn truth in the 
 oft-quoted lines : 
 
 " How fares tlie land, to hastening ills a prey. 
 Where wealth accumulates and men decay ! 
 Princes or lords may flourish or may fade ; 
 A breath can make them, as a breath has made ; 
 But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, 
 When once destroyed can never be supplied." 
 
 Here where the majority forms the government and controls its 
 policy, if the virtues of the masses be sapped, unbounded and irre- 
 sponsible ruin must be the consequence. 
 
 Thank heaven, the people whom we serve are intelligent and un- 
 corrupt. The people of Erie county, and of every part of it, are 
 kind, and liberal, and noble. We office-holders are its servants ; 
 and we, in this great City and County Hall, if we are wicked and 
 slothful servants, can never say to it, " Lord, we know thee that 
 thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gath- 
 ering where thou hastnot strewed." This massive building, famous 
 for all time, with its rich, chaste ornamentation, its admirable ap- 
 pointments for health and comfort, and its perfect adaptations and 
 conveniences for the discharge of all county and city official duties, 
 is, and will remain forever, a witness of the just pride and generous 
 
79 
 
 spirit that animates our people, and, we trust, an admonition and 
 incentive to fidelity and honor. Too high praise can hardly be 
 awarded to the Commissioners who have so thoroughly and wisely 
 given effect to the popular will. But to the people of our city and 
 county we and all posterity must attribute the glory of this marvel- 
 ous acliievement. 
 
 What, my friends, is the acceptance of office, but a contract ? 
 No nobly-minded man seeks any office except for the honor to do 
 some service to the public. He will not take a paid sinecure. He 
 desires, perhaps needs, the emoluments of office, but he feels that 
 his contract binds him to fidelity to the interests and the honor of 
 his master, and is determined to earn them. 
 
 THE FAITHFUL OFFICER HAS HIS REWARD 
 
 in the respect, perhaps in the affection of the public, and goes down 
 to an honored grave; but the betrayer of a public trust withers un- 
 der public scorn and private detestation, sinks into a shameful 
 grave, and leaves to his descendants the odious inheritance of his 
 tainted name. Of the infamy that follows the plunderer of the 
 public, we have, alas ! a recent example in the late Secretary Bel- 
 knap. We have another sad example in our city. Better far to die 
 any honest death, though it be to be torn asunder by horses, to be 
 hung, drawn and quartered, to be impaled, than to survive with the 
 unutterable shame that dogs the heels and the intolerable remorse 
 that gnaws, or ought to gnaw, the soul of the perjured thief, of the 
 money entrusted to him by the people. 
 
 0, my friends ! true and loyal representatives of the generous 
 people that you are — intrusted as you are with the conservation and 
 promotion of their interests, and with the maintenance of the fair 
 fame of our city, you will, we are confiden,t, be always- vigilant and 
 faithful, and persistently tenacious of integrity and honor. It is an 
 honor beyond all price to be trusted as you are by the people of 
 Buffalo. This is an epoch in our history — an era worthy of all 
 manner of commemoration. The name of our worthy Mayor ought, 
 with your names, to be engraven, as the first occupants of this 
 Chamber, here on eternal granite, in golden letters; and, some- 
 where — perhaps in the center of the first floor — a column of granite 
 ought to bear, in detached blocks, the name of any and every offi- 
 cer who now is, or in the far future shall be, basely traitorous to 
 our city. 
 
 How strong and beautiful is our great city ! How nobly she sits 
 above and looks out upon the lake ! How magnanimous she is, 
 and how rich is the reward to those whom she says : "Well done, 
 thou good and faithful servant." May the Almighty inspire me, 
 and you, and all her servants, with a fixed longing for that reward, 
 and give us grace to win it. 
 
80 
 
 CONOR A TULA TI0N8 A ND TEA NK8. 
 
 When Judge Clinton had concluded his feeling address, Alder- 
 man N. C. Simons offered the following resolutions, and moved 
 their adoption : 
 
 Resolved, That the congratulations of this Council be and the same are 
 hereby extended to the citizens of the city of Buffalo and of the county of Erie 
 upon "the successful completion of this magnificent edifice, in which we to-day 
 meet for the first time, which building is the noblest architectural ornament 
 of our fair city, and may be regarded as the just pride of every citizen of Erie 
 county. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this Council be, and the same are hereby ten- 
 dered, to the Building Commissioners of this City and County Hall, for the 
 commodious and elegant quarters assigned to this body in said building. 
 
 Speaking upon the resolutions. Alderman Simons said : 
 
 ADDRESS OF ALDERMAN SIMONS. 
 
 Mr. Presidetit : It is with feelings of the liveliest satisfaction 
 and pride that I rise to speak to the resolutions now pending. The 
 record of this day will long be marked as a red letter page in our 
 history, and in making it a day of jubilee and mutual congratula- 
 tion, we are but giving expression to the feelings which animate the 
 breasts of all classes of our fellow citizens. It has been well said, 
 Mr. President, that in union there is strength, and the truth of that 
 ancient saying has been strikingly verified in the erection of this 
 magnificent structure, whose towering spire pierces the upjier air, a 
 lofty testimony of what such strength may accomplish. 
 
 Some years ago it had become manifest that our prosperous and 
 expanding city had outgrown its public buildings, and a bold stand 
 was taken for a City and County Hall which should meet our grow- 
 ing wants, and be an ornament alike to the County of Erie and the 
 Queen City of the Lakes, and instead of dividing the interests of 
 city and county, the wiser plan was adopted, and with the city's co- 
 operation the noble towns comprising the county of Erie came for- 
 ward with boldness and energy to join i)i the noble work, the result 
 of which unity we view with just pride in the building in which we 
 this day meet for the first time, and which we to-day dedicate to 
 the use and occupancy of this and coming generations. 
 
 The choosing of the site on which to erect the structure became 
 a matter of great moment, and after much thought and investiga- 
 tion, Franklin park was selected, and although to many it is not 
 Zion, 
 
 "BEAUTIFUL FOR SITUATION"," 
 
 yet I boldly assert that its contiguity to the various railroad depots, 
 from which come vast throngs of people having business with the 
 
81 
 
 •County Clerk and Treasurer, the Surrogate and the various Courts, 
 its proximity to the offices of the legal fraternity, and its convenient 
 access to all classes of our citizens, makes the location the most 
 convenient to the greatest number ; and when in a few years we 
 shall be able to sweep away the intervening buildings between this 
 and Main street, and when the City and County Hall Park shall 
 bloom in all its loveliness, our chronic croakers will be compelled to 
 admit the wisdom of the choice. 
 
 Mr. President, the spot on which we stand is consecrated ground, 
 for the soil beneath our feet was once the resting-place of the re- 
 mains of many of this county's illustrious dead, but as must always 
 be the case in this live and busy, progressive world, the dead have 
 been crowded out to make room for the living. It is a suggestive 
 fact, the venerable divine who to-day opened with prayer the dedi- 
 catory service, officiated at the last rights of him whose mortal re- 
 mains were last deposited within these grounds. Now they repose 
 beneath the quiet shades of beautiful Forest Lawn, where (almost 
 reverently do I say), peace be to their ashes, while here upon the 
 soil thus" made sacred has risen this massive granite pile, with 
 heavenward pointing spire, to stand as an enduring monument to 
 their energetic work while living, and their resting-place when 
 dead. 
 
 Mr. President, we must congratulate ourselves upon the most 
 fortunate selection of the Building Commissioners, for among them 
 were men of large understanding and strict integrity, and thorough 
 business capacity, and under their most careful attention — with 
 closely scrutinized contracts and competitive bids for labor and ma- 
 terial—the whole work has been done for the lowest possible pay, 
 and while many who have taken contracts have gone away wounded 
 and limpiug, but few have gone away with a chuckle that they had 
 taken away many more dollars than they had put down; while all 
 who have had jobs for labor or material have worked chiefly without 
 further profit than that derived from the advertisement of their 
 goods, wares and merchandise, for which this building has afforded 
 a most excellent opportunity. 
 
 Among such advertisers may be found representatives not only of 
 our city, but of New York, Boston, New Albany and Hartford, 
 and all have left work here of which they may well be proud. 
 
 The materials have been purchased, as far as possible, of our own 
 tradesmen and manufacturers. The various industries of our city 
 and county have been patronized, and the labor in construction has 
 been by our own people ; and I here, in the presence of this audi- 
 ence, assert that this City and County Hall 
 
 IS THE BEST BUILDI:N"G FOR THE MONET 
 
 it cost, that stands on the western continent, for it has been erected 
 without the rings and accompanying stealings that usually prevail 
 in jobs of such magnitude. 
 
82 
 
 Of the Building Commissioners, all of whom have labored so faith- 
 fully and well, I am sure the other members will forgive me if I 
 only make mention of one name, and his is inseparably connected 
 with this building, for he has styled it his " baby," and having 
 watched it from its infancy up to full stature, I hope and pray that 
 he will not be led to exclaim, like Simeon of old, " mine eyes have 
 seen thy glory, and now let thy servant depart in peace." It is scarcely 
 necessary to say that the name I allude to is that of Dennis Bowen. 
 
 Mr. President, it is altogether probable that some of those who 
 for the first time visit the several apartments exclaim, this is ex- 
 travagance. This smacks too strong of dollars and cents in many 
 of its details. This chandelier with its colossal proportions, for 
 example, may be thought too large, costly, gorgeous. Yet a glance 
 at the general architectural design of the chamber reveals the fact 
 that it is only in equal and exact proportions. Let it be remem- 
 bered that this magnificent structure was not built for a day, but 
 for time ; and when yonder clock, whose pendulum tells by pairs 
 the fleeting seconds, and whose electric life may be noted by the 
 jumping minutes on twenty-eight dials of which this is one, shall 
 have faithfully'marked the cumulative years, and when on the mid- 
 night air shall peal forth from that deep-toned bell the second cen- 
 tennial year of America's independence, this granite pile will be 
 found intact from base to dome. 
 
 Now, Mr. President and. fellow-members of this Common Coun- 
 cil, I come to the second resolution, and I may observe that this is 
 where the laugh comes in. The Building Commissioners have be- 
 stowed upon us, tiirough our worthy Mayor, this roomy, well-ven- 
 tilated chamber, having with a lavish hand fitted out and adorned 
 it so magnificently that we find ourselves to-day occupying the most 
 elegant Council Chamber in these United States, and most ungrate- 
 ful would we be if we did not all most cheerfully and heartily en- 
 (^rse the resolution. 
 
 Finally, as we are out of the old house into the new, let us begin 
 our work here with the high resolve so to discharge our duties that 
 when we have been gathered to the land of our fathers, and when 
 the heads of wisdom which now grace and adorn this chamber shall 
 have passed away, and these halls shall echo to the tread of other 
 foot-falls, and when our children shall gather here, it may be said 
 of the Council of the first centennial year of the republic — the first 
 to occupy this chamber — that its record was without spot or stain. 
 
 In seconding the motion for the adoption of the resolutions, Aid. 
 A. L. Lothridge said : 
 
 REMARKS OF ALDERMAN LOTHRIDGE. 
 
 Mr. President and Members of the Council: I heartily second 
 the motion of the alderman of the Ninth. Surrounded by our 
 fellow-citizens, whose faces are an index of the mingled admira- 
 tion and wonder that possessed them on entering this magnificent 
 
83 
 
 building, we can well afford to give toneful expression to their silent 
 congratulations ; and we should be derehct in our duties as municipal 
 legislators did we not also convey to those gentlemen, on Avhom the 
 burden rested, our heartfelt appreciation of the success which has 
 crowned their efforts in presenting at last to the admiration of every 
 beholder one of the noblest temples of justice and law in these United 
 States. 
 
 It certainly is a good omen — and one we hope may prove propi- 
 tious — that this epoch in our municipal history is glorified in the 
 recurrence of the hundredth anniversary of our JSTational Independ- 
 ence. Who will gainsay that to-day's event may not mark the 
 beginning of a renewed life in city government; the ending of 
 strife and party hostility which, unhappily, but too often was man- 
 ifested in the time-worn structure we have just deserted. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Council : Ours the pride denied our predecCvS- 
 sors! Ours the glory they fain would covet! In like manner let 
 ours be the task of revivifying the purity of government and integ- 
 rity of purpose that animated the men who first made the walls- of 
 the old Council re-echo with 
 
 THE HONEST PLEA OF THE TAXPAYER. 
 
 Let us bring into this new temple an ambition to excel only in an 
 unselfish regard of duty and a jealous care for the weal of those 
 who have proclaimed us their representatives. Let the mistakes of 
 the past be buried in the destruction of yonder building, which 
 soon will be among the things of the past. 
 
 The time, the scene, the occasion, all these, gentlemen of the 
 Council, I know animate us with a feeling of good-fellowship for 
 one another, and for just and* unselfish legislation. If, in the pros- 
 ecution of our manifold duties, we are actuated by patriotism, and 
 that patriotism is the outgrowth of love of justice, and that jus- 
 tice the parent of honesty, and that honesty the essence of virtue 
 that springs from the fountain of all truth, no man can point at us 
 the finger of derision ; no future will blast our reputation ! A 
 hundred years hence posterity may not have forgotten the first 
 meeting in this new Hall, and the Council of 1976 may meet and 
 feel as we meet and feel to-day. 
 
 The resolutions offered by Aid. Simons were adopted unanimously. 
 
 DEDICA TION A ND DETER MINA TION. 
 
 Aid. Elijah Ambrose then offered the following resolution: 
 
 That in the name of the citizens of Buffalo, whose representatives we are, 
 we dedicate this legislative hall to the exclusive use of the Common Council. 
 As the construction of this splendid edifice marks a new era in the growth 
 and progress of our beautiful city, illustrating a higher order of architectural 
 taste, so may the future action of this Council give evidence of greater de- 
 votion to the public interest, of stronger determination to secure a pure and 
 economical municipal government, and more careful and constant endeavor to 
 protect and promote the welfare of our citizens. 
 
84 
 In moving the adoption of his resohition, Aid. Ambrose said: 
 
 REMARKS OF ALDERMAN AMBROSE. 
 
 The resohition just read speaks for itself, and it is a very easy 
 matter for this Council to carry out its instructions. In the first 
 place let each alderman before he enters into this noble building 
 shake the dust from his garments, and at the same time not forget 
 but also shake the politics from his mind, and let no personal favor- 
 itism be shown where it is to the injury of ochers; and this same 
 advice I would also give to the heads of all the departments in pur 
 city government, including the judiciary. Let us not strive to gain 
 party advantage over each other, but let us legislate for the greatest 
 good to the greatest number; by so doing we will unite in a common 
 cause, and look to the interest of our taxpayers and to the prosper- 
 ity of our beautiful city. 
 
 Aid. Ferris, in seconding the motion for the adoption of the res- 
 olution offered by Aid. Ambrose, addressed the Council and those 
 present as follows : 
 
 SPEECH OF ALDERMAN FERRIS. 
 
 M7'. President: It is not very often that so distinguished an audi- 
 ence and so well assorted with the fair sex, and those whom we love 
 and honor, listen to tiie deliberations of the Common Council, and 
 inasmuch as our friend Ambrose proposed to pledge that this Council 
 in the future shall be free, so that when thepublic shall read in the 
 newspapers the record of its doings thkt it shall be with satisfaction 
 that every taxpayer shall be satisfied with its proceedings, it seems 
 proper to reply to this resolution. Not in opposition to its senti- 
 ment, for I honor the member from the Fifth Ward in his .senti- 
 ment, but let us pledge before this audience our honest endeavor to 
 do what we believe to be right. I know that at times the taxpayers 
 of the City of Buffalo will have occasion to make complaint. I 
 know that they have had occasion to make complaint at the action 
 of the Common Council in the past. I see before me many men 
 who have occupied the position before me, and I see but few, if any, 
 who have left it with their honor tainted or the maledictions of the 
 public resting upon them. I enter into the sentiments that have 
 been expressed in these resolutions in this Council Chamber with 
 feelings of pride — pride that I have been so long a time a citizen of 
 so proud a city. I can say with a citizen of old, 
 
 "I AM A CITIZEN OF NO MEAN CITY," 
 
 but a city of honor, whose name has ever been and ever will be a 
 name of honor among her sister cities. 
 
 I am pleased that so large a number of our fellow-citizens have 
 attended with us also at this opening, and I have to thank them, 
 
85 
 
 and say we are glad to be recognized by you, and in the future, if 
 you have occasion to find fault with the action of this Council, bear 
 with great consideration with the present, and with the future 
 members of it, for we are of the people. We are not born into any 
 line of nobility by which we acquire any position in this place, but 
 acquire them because of the choice and selection of the people 
 whom we represent, and as we come from them, it seems to me, 
 that when I see the honorable men who sit upon the platform with 
 you, and surround us here, and who so seldom make their appear- 
 ance at the Council Chamber, unless it is for some personal or pri- 
 vate reason — it seems to me that this is an appropriate occasion for 
 every member of the Common Council to make a determination 
 set forth in this resolution, that, so help him God, he will strive to 
 do what is right and honest and just before all men. [G-reat ap- 
 plause.] 
 
 The resolution was then unanimously adopted, and the Council 
 took a recess for mutual congratulations with their constituents 
 present, and to permit a more informal inspection of their spacious 
 Chamber and its rich and beautiful appointments. 
 
86 
 
 RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES. 
 
 A MEMORIAL SERMON— AN INTERESTING DISCOURSE BY 
 DR. HEACOCK. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Grosvekor W. Heacock commemorated the event of 
 the completion of the new Hall in the delivery of a historical dis- 
 course appropriate to th6 occasion. The Doctor was born in Buffalo, 
 and, although he is not as old as the venerable Court House, he has, 
 nevertheless, for nearly a third of a century officiated as pastor of 
 the Lafayette Street Presbyterian Church, that has a frontage upon 
 Court House Park in the immediate vicinity of the old and now- 
 deserted temple of justice. The Sermon was delivered Sunday even- 
 ing, March 12, and was especially addressed to the legal profession, 
 a goodly number of whom being present. 
 
 The reverend speaker said : 
 
 Dear Friends and Brethren : You will excuse my taking notice of 
 an event of so much interest to me, to the county, and to you, as 
 the abandonment of the old Court House, the seat of justice and of 
 judgment among you so many years. You may wonder, indeed, 
 how such an event should hnd an appropriate place and notice here 
 in a Christian pulpit on the Sabbath day. I hope you may find 
 reason to justify this act before I have done. 
 
 IT HAS been our NEIGHBOR 
 
 for nearly thirty-one years. My recollections of the old and vener- 
 able structure, which can be said no longer to grace our streets and 
 park, runs back as far, probably further, than that of most of you. 
 And singular enough, and appropriate to this day and occasion, my 
 first recollections of that old interior are more connected Avith the 
 gospel than the law. For in the winters of 1831 and 1832, the old 
 Court House was occupied for religious services, and then your 
 speaker — then a lad of eleven years of age — believes that he first 
 
87 
 
 began to realize the verities and to feel tlie power of a religious 
 life. It would be impertinent to dwell at any length upon an ex- 
 perience so personal, but this I may say, that I believe then and 
 there, as far as a boy might realize, I realized the hopes and fears, 
 the anxieties and joys, which attend the beginning of a religious 
 life. The next incident that occurs to my mind, as connected with 
 tliat old Court House, carries us by a great leap over many years, and 
 was the celebrated 
 
 TRIAL OF THE BUFFALO BANK. 
 
 G-eorge P. Barker, then Attorney-G-eneral of the State, and at the 
 height of his fame, was in attendance as prosecutor for the govern- 
 ment. The case had awakened a very general and great interest, 
 especially in this community. Hiram Pratt, the president of the 
 bank, was dead. The Court House was crowded to its utmost ca- 
 pacity. I do not remember any of the details of the case. I 'have 
 heard my genial friend, J. Hyatt Smith, tell of his coming on 
 from Albany to be a fitness in the case, in the rude baggage car, 
 where he was compelled to stay to keep guard over a trunk of bank 
 bills he had brought on for testimony in the trial. In the same 
 rude car with him was a plain man, in rough working garb, who 
 had a few express packages with him, which he was personally de- 
 livering from station to station. These two took turns with each 
 other. Smith watching his friend's packages when he went out of 
 the car, and the friend his trunk when he wished to go out. They 
 called the man " Fargo," and this was the beginning of that grand 
 enterprize of business energy and skill which has belted the conti- 
 nent with the lines of "Fargo's Express." I have said the bank 
 case had excited a great interest in the community. The intensity 
 of the excitement was too great for Mr. Barker's strength. He was 
 in a community where he had long lived, and it was, I think, his 
 first and last official visit. When he rose to speak at one point of 
 the case, I noticed clearly that he had lost control of his nervous 
 energy — his hand trembled perceptibly as he endeavored to carry a 
 glass of water to his lips, so violently as to make the agitation visi- 
 ble to all. I learned from that simple incident one secret of the 
 true orator's power. There is no doubt that Mr. Barker was an 
 orator, but then, to my mind, he had lost hold for the moment of 
 one of its grandest secrets. He who would control others must be 
 able to control himself. He must not tremble and shrink beneath 
 the cloud, no matter how charged with electricity it may be; he 
 must leap upon the cloud, and turn its thunders upon those whom 
 he would crush or overwhelm. I felt such a pity for him — he could 
 never have aroused within me a nobler sentiment of indignation. 
 An almost perfect contrast to this was another scene I witnessed 
 later in the old court room, and that was the first plea of the late 
 
88 
 
 JUDGE JAMES MULLET 
 
 before a jury. Mr. Mullet's fame as a jury lawyer had preceded him 
 here, and many of his friends were gathered to hear his first plea 
 to a Buffiilo jury. The venei-able ex-President, Mr. Fillmore, so 
 lately deceased among us, was opposing counsel in the trial. I need 
 not allude to the nature of the case. Mr. Fillmore had not risen 
 then to the great distinction he afterwards attained, but was even 
 then a very prominent jjersonage in the political world. He had 
 just returned from Congress where he held the important post 
 of Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in the 
 House of Representatives. His plea was marked by that strong 
 sound sense and clear discrimination, which was the characteristic 
 of the man in his profession. When he had closed, Mr. Mullet 
 rose. You could see he was laboring under great excitement, 
 but he perfectly mastered it — it never for a moment mastered 
 him. Folding his arms across his breast as a measure of self- 
 control, as I thought, he began: "May it please the Court 
 and Gentlemen of the Jury" — and then he went on. I think 
 I could almost give the passage ; suffice it to say, that, beginning 
 with a slow and measured movement, the sentence as it went on 
 gathered volume and power — the sighing of the rising tempest, the 
 roll of the approaching thunder was in it — till finally it closed 
 with a burst of indignation and appeal like the crash of thunder 
 over the very heads of the whole audience and jury. There were 
 explanations to be made after that to justify his points, but it 
 seemed to me as if from the close of that first sentence the case 
 was already won. 
 
 You may well ask, gentlemen, what have such incidents as these 
 to do with such a time and place as this, and I will tell you. When 
 I think and when you think what 
 
 A BRILLIANT ARRAY OF ELOQUENT NAMES, 
 
 of matchless arguments and successful pleadings where vice and 
 crime have been overthrown and convicted, and virtue defended 
 and honored; when you think of what a glorious history of all 
 these incidents and names, the memories of that old court room 
 bring back to you, are we not more impressed than ever with the 
 glory, and yet the vanity of men's forensic victories and triumphs. 
 Where are these great names now ? Where the memory of their 
 great efforts ? 
 
 Like smoke which the tempests in fury have riven, 
 
 Like foam which the waves in their blindness have driven; 
 
 They were, but they are not, their triumphs are o'er, 
 
 And the place that once knew them shall know them no more. 
 
 The conscientious pleader in the cause of truth and justice bears 
 with him, indeed, through life, the dear memory, more priceless than 
 jewels, of noble efforts well and worthily made, of noble triumphs 
 
89 
 
 well and worthily won. While he who has lent legal skill and study 
 and eloquence to defend the wrong and prevent and defeat justice, 
 memory consumes for him an apple of Sodom, fair to the seeming 
 but ashes and bitterness at the core. This is a lesson for which, 
 God's altars are none too sacred a spot, to learn. 
 
 Gentlemen, I was not educated for the profession to which you 
 belong, and it is with the greatest diffidence that I venture to detain 
 you for a single moment longer, to present one single truth which 
 your studies have prepared you more profoi^ndly to realize than 
 even a theologian can. 
 
 In turning over the pages of a late autobiography of a distin- 
 guished preacher whose ministry was largely effective in your pro- 
 fession, I came across a single statement of one of the topics on 
 which in a course of sermons to lawyers this preacher had addressed 
 them. The topic was this, "That admitting that God was infin- 
 itely benevolent, we could not infer from that, on principles of law as 
 administered now in good governments, that sin could be forgiven, 
 but must infer from it on the contrary that incorrigible sinners 
 could not be forgiven." None of the details of the arguments are 
 given — not any of the proofs by which it was made out — yet the 
 statement rested with such power upon my mind, and during this 
 week even my own little legal reading brought up to my mind 
 and memory a course of thought and illustration which seemed to 
 me very conclusive on the point, which I will briefly present to 
 you, only premising if this be the truth that the presumptions 
 under a good and wise human government are 
 
 AGAINST PARDOK ; 
 
 they are Increased under an infinitely good and wise government, 
 and if the scheme of forgiveness presented in the Bible is not true, 
 we are shut out of all rational hope of any such thing as the for- 
 giveness of real sin or wrong under and against God's government, 
 i. e., if the Bible is not true. Let us look a moment at this case. 
 The civil governments under which we live are and may be re- 
 garded as generally benevolent, and yet on what principle are the 
 provisions for pardon based in these governriients ? Why, mani- 
 festly and largely upon the imperfections of human jurisprudence, 
 the native and inevitable imperfections of our procedures for the 
 ascertainment of guilt; that you know is largely and generally the 
 principle. If a man has clearly committed a crime, in a clearly 
 responsible state of mind, has been fairly tried, and his guilt fairly 
 and unmistakably ascertained, why, he goes to his punishment. 
 Suppose you apply to the governor for pardon in such cases. He 
 says to you: Gentlemen, I will hear what you have to say in this 
 case; was this man of sound mind and condition? Did he know 
 clearly what he was doing? Was he fairly tried and fairly con- 
 demned? Then how can I interfere ? There the case ends — crime 
 and punishment! 
 7 
 
90 
 
 The speaker dwelt at some length upon excessive punishment, and 
 argued that it ought to be fairly adjusted to the nature of the crime, 
 and that the pardoning power in a good government is based largely, 
 if not exclusively, upon the apprehended imperfection of human law. 
 He said the hope of pardon for real sin — sin against God's supreme 
 authority clearly and fully recognized it, was a very feeble one with- 
 out the Bible. And yet, who has not sinned ? In conclusion the 
 speaker expressed the sentiment that the gentlemen ought to have 
 no trouble in accepting the grand truth of the Bible — of a great 
 day, of general and final assize and judgment. These things must 
 be in human governments to remove certainly and securely away the 
 evil and dangerous members of society. The public and open admin- 
 istration of justice is needful for its influence on society, the good 
 and the bad. Such a day will come in the history of the universe. 
 It is the judgment of the great day, and man is moving surely and 
 irresistibly toward that day. 
 
91 
 
 THE BANQUET. 
 
 A PLEASANT REUNION OF THE ERIE COUNTY BAR. 
 
 The concluding ceremonies in connection with the completion 
 and occupancy of the City and County Hall were observed in a 
 grand banquet or social re-union of the legal profession, at the 
 Tifft House, Messrs. Tuthill Bros., proprietors, on Tuesday evening, 
 March 14, 1876. 
 
 The members of the Bar and invited guests, to the number of 
 about one hundred and fifty persons, assembled in the parloj'S at 8, 
 p. M., and were soon escorted into the bauquet hall, where two ele- 
 gant and bountifully spread tables extended the entire length of the 
 hall, with one at right angles and uniting the tables at the upper 
 end of the room, and forming the head, or post of honor. 
 
 The windows and doors were hung and festooned with bunting 
 and the stars and stripes ; fresh and fragrant flowers in abun- 
 dance lent a charm to the interesting scene ; and Wahle's Band 
 supplied its choicest music for the occasion. 
 
 The company entered the hall under the direction of the Com- 
 mittee of Arrangements, Hon. E. Carlton Sprague, Chairman of 
 the evening, and the Rev. Dr. J. C. Lord in advance, who took their 
 positions at the center of the transverse table at the head of the 
 room. Then came, and were seated upon their right. His Honor 
 Mayor Philip Becker, Hon. G. W. Clinton, Hon. James 0. Putnam, 
 Gen. L. W. Thayer, Hon. Geo. R. Babcock, Judge Albert Haight, 
 W. H. Greene, 0. H. Marshall, Geo. Wadsworth; and upon their 
 left, Hon. Richard P. Marvin, Judge James M. Smith, Judge James 
 Sheldon, Hon. E. G. Spaulding, Hon. L, L. Lewis, Hon. H. S. 
 Cutting, and Thos. J. Sizer, with other distinguished legal gentle- 
 men, still farther down ; while Gen. G. A. Scroggs and Col. J. M. 
 Willett served as Vice-Chairmen at the other ends of the tables. 
 At the right and left extremities of the Chairman's table were sta- 
 
92 
 
 tioned District Attorney D. N. Lockwood and City Attorney John B. 
 Greene. When all were in their places, Dr. Lord invoked a blessing 
 upon the occasion. 
 
 The company then seated themselves, and gave eai'nest attention 
 to the bill of fare, which was of the usual " comprehensive" char- 
 acter. Each legal gentleman present proved himself a good judge, 
 so far as this one was concerned, and hence it follows that full and 
 complete justice was done to the substantial and delicacies which 
 it included. At intervals during the hour in which all this was 
 going on, fine music was furnished by the band. 
 
 Finally, the bill of fare having been thoroughly ''discussed," 
 Chairman Sprague arose and rapped for order, having secured 
 which, he addressed the assembly as follows : 
 
 REMARKS OF MR. SPRAGUE. 
 
 May it please your Honors, the Judges of the Superior Court, 
 and your Honor, the Judge of the County Court, Brethren of the 
 Bar of Erie county, and Gentlemen : I congratulate you upon the 
 auspicious circumstances which have brought us together this eve- 
 ning. I congratulate our Judges and the elder members of our 
 Bar, upon the possession of constitutions which have enabled them 
 to survive the poisonous atmosphere of the old Court House, and 
 particularly of the dens contained in what has been well called the 
 new Court House, since doubtless it is a perfect novelty in the his- 
 tory of architecture, unprecedented in its ugliness, unparallelled in 
 its inconvenience, and unique in its capacity for the gradual extinc- 
 tion of human life. We can leave them both without regret, for, 
 thank God, our natures are so constituted that we can carry with 
 us all tht-ir precious memories while we leave their miseries behind. 
 I congratulate the younger members of our fraternity that the pos- 
 sibility is now afforded them of prolonging their lives through the 
 ordinary term of human existence. I congratulate the Commis- 
 sioners who have had in their charge the erection of the new City 
 and County Hall, upon its beauty and the convenience of its inter- 
 nal arrangements. Nothing seems to have been left undone by them 
 which could in any way serve the use or comfort of the Bar, and I 
 assure them that their labors in its behalf are fully appreciated and 
 will be always gratefully remembered. Finally, I congratulate all 
 here present upon the fact, that, after more than sixty years of 
 patient waiting, the 
 
 BAR OF ERIE COUNTY 
 
 has finally succeeded in getting its legs together under the same — I 
 will not say mahogany, for it is our centennial, and I am reminded 
 of the father of our country and cannot tell a lie — but I will say, 
 
93 
 
 speaking centennially and patriotically, under the shade of the 
 noble aboriginal, and national tree, the American black walnut. 
 
 Why we have waited so long to do so pleasant a thing is one of 
 the topics that I hope to hear discussed this evening. It is not cer- 
 tainly from want of intelligence. The Bar that has produced a 
 President of the United States, a member of its Cabinet, a Lieu- 
 tenant Governor, cannot admit any intellectual inability either to 
 get up a dinner or get it down. And as to the morality of this 
 Bar, we all know how inadequate the English language is to depict 
 its virtues. But it is a mortifying fact that in the matter of eating 
 and drinking, this Bar as a body, whatever may be said of its indi- 
 vidual members, has been sadly degenerate, and that its conduct in 
 this respect calls loudly for reform. This is the more lamentable 
 when we reflect that Bar dinners are one of the time-honored insti- 
 tutions of the profession. Shakespeare tells one of his characters in 
 the "Taming of the Shrew" to do as "adversaries do in law, strive 
 mightily, but eat and drink as friends." Now Shakespeare may not 
 live as long in the memory of mankind as the compiler of " Bar- 
 bour's Supreme Court Reports," who has lately demonstrated his 
 immortality by the issue of his sixty-sixth volume. But even we 
 lawyers must coincide that Shakespeare was something of an ob- 
 server, and that when he took pains he handled the English language 
 in a way that will bear comparison with some of the addresses to which 
 the Jnry of Erie county have been accustomed to listen with such 
 unqualified delight. Now we have his authority for saying that 
 eating and drinking as friends constituted one of the important and 
 well known functions of the legal profession of his .time. So all of 
 us who are at all familiar with the biographies of the ancient law- 
 yers and judges of England, of those old leviathans who were 
 accustomed to swim and. spout amidst the deepest waters of the 
 common law, will remember how faithful they were to this practice 
 of their tribe. Who does not know that the judges and the Bar of 
 England have always been accustomed to dine together at the 
 assizes; and so in staid New England? My father tells me that 
 when he was a boy he was a page in the courts of New Hampshire, 
 in which Daniel and Ezekiel Webster were wont to strive mightily 
 with Ichabod Bartlett and Jeremiah Mason, but never suflFered a 
 term to pass without 
 
 BURYING ALL THEIR CONTESTS 
 
 and giving to each other the hand of fellowship at the festive 
 board. How it has been generally in New York I do not know; 
 but with a blush I acknowledge the revolting truth that no such 
 flagrant memories make sweet the annals of the Erie County Bar. 
 In view of such a disgraceful record it is not surprising that the 
 moment the message came to our ears, "Awake! Arise! or be for- 
 ever fallen!" our consciences were stirred to their profoundest 
 depths, that the pangs of remorse became unendurable, and that this 
 festival was inaugurated as a token of our penitence for past un- 
 
94 
 
 faithfulness, and onr resolution to lead, in this respect, at least, 
 lives more worthy of our vocation and its traditions. 
 
 Gentlemen, since I have been a member of the bar, now nearly 
 thirty years, it has been honorably free from petty jealousies and 
 personal hostilities, and its controversies have been conducted with 
 a fair degree of courtesy and mutual respect. But apart from our 
 professional intercourse we hav^seen little of each other. We do 
 not fully appreciate each other's gifts and virtues. We do not 
 sympathize as we ought with each other's joys and sorrows. We do 
 not aid as we ought those of our brethren who are in trouble, either 
 from unavoidable misfortune, or in consequence of their own weak- 
 ness or faults. It will be indeed a happy result of our meeting 
 here to-night, if it shall inspire in us a deeper sense of the nearness 
 of our relationship, and of our mutual obligations, and a resolution 
 that in the future our social and other christian duties to each 
 other shall be more faithfully performed. And now, gentlemen, 
 having delivered what I presume will be much the longest and 
 dullest address of the evening, let me say that we will assume that 
 the usual toasts to the 
 
 PKESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 the judiciary, the press, and the other dignitaries of the land have 
 been duly offered and drank with all the honors, and in pursuance 
 of the plan of the Committee of Arrangement, let us indulge in 
 personal reminiscences of the history of our Bar, and the other 
 genial table-talk, which shall spring naturally from the occa- 
 sion, and the enjoyment of which is the principal object of this 
 assemblage. 
 
 The chairman then proposed the health of Rev. Dr. Lord, which 
 was drank standing, and with three cheers. As the venerable 
 clergyman rose he was greeted with loud applause. 
 
 REMARKS OF DR. LORD. 
 
 The reverend and venerable divine commenced by expressing 
 thanks for the kind reception which had been accorded him. 
 His acquaintance with the city was of fifty years' standing, and he 
 had mixed in its affairs, public and private, legal and ministerial. 
 He had ever loved the legal profession, and never had joined with 
 those who had slandered it. Human law was but the offshoot of 
 the divine. The speaker hardly knew where to begin, his recollec- 
 tions were so varied. He might tell stories of John Root by the 
 hour. George P. Barker was a most extraordinary and popular 
 man. The speaker well remembered how affecting it was, at Mr. 
 Barker's funeral services in the North Church, then just erected, to 
 see the poor people, who loved him, crowding into the church to 
 pay their last tribute of respect. The speaker also recollected many 
 
95 
 
 things about Thomas T. Sherwood, an irrepressible man, who never 
 stopped talking. Another singular man was Mr. Andrews, the second 
 mayor of the city. On one occasion Mr. Andrews was being cross- 
 examined by Mr. White, and the whole village was aroused on the 
 subject, and the Court House was filled to hear the remarkable duet 
 between the two men. 
 
 Mr. George R. Babcock and the speaker began the study of the 
 law at the same time. He afterwards became a partner of Judge 
 ]jove. The name of Clinton was familiar in BufPalo at that early 
 day, aud it was the effort of the people of this village to keep De 
 Witt Clinton in the governor's chair. When Judge Clinton came 
 here, the people received him with great favor. Long may he live 
 to wear the judicial ermine. Dr. Lord then closed by telling some 
 very laughable stories of John Root, and, in taking his leave, said 
 he desired most heartily the welfare of each and all whom he saw 
 before him, and fervently hoped that beyond the storms of this life 
 thev would reach tliat eternal rest which remaineth to the people of 
 God. 
 
 The Chairman said : 
 
 Gentlemen of the Erie County Bar : There is one man present 
 who, above all others, probably, we desire to hear from on this occa- 
 sion, and with your permission I will call upon our venerable and 
 distinguished friend, who is justly entitled to be called "The Old 
 Man Eloquent." May his life be kept as fresh and as fragrant as 
 the bright flowers that he loves so well to gather in the spring-time. 
 Gentlemen, I propose the health of Hon. George W. Clinton, and 
 let us all rise. 
 
 Judge Clinton responded as follows ; 
 
 ADDRESS OF JUDGE CLINTON. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Bar of Erie County: I 
 cannot, my friends, begin as did my friend Dr. Lord, following 
 the chairman and addressing the judge of this court and of that 
 court, but as to the honor, merit and distinction of the Bar of Erie 
 County — our own Bar — I desire to say that I respect them all ; and 
 above all I love the jolly, good-hearted fellows who are gathered 
 around this festive board and are now about to hear the little I have 
 to say. But I confess, gentlemen, that I am a little, a great deal 
 surprised. I'have made a false estimate, I fear, of your wisdom and 
 your sense. Why, it seems to me, that you are only distinguished 
 *for commercial good sense. Why, we have all read, and we all know, 
 that while speech is silver, silence is golden, and you prefer the sil- 
 ver to the gold ; but, gentlemen, paper is said to be better than 
 silver. In our financial statements they tell us that it is no matter 
 at all — that the nation is able to resume specie payment in silver, 
 
96 
 
 and that it is not so desirable as paper. Noav, I have not got paper 
 — I have nothing but this poor silver. Why, gentlemen, if I could 
 make a speech — but, really, I have talked out all the little talk that 
 I had in me. If I flattered myself that I could on any occasion 
 make a speech, you have taken that wind out of my sails by that 
 meeting of the Bar when tliey dedicated the City Hall. I, vei-y 
 unfortunately, was prevented from going; and when I came to read 
 the newspapers, I thought that I had sustained a great and almost 
 irreparable loss. I have .read those speeches with great interest; 
 they seem to be warm, and come right from the heart. And I was 
 particularly struck with the speech made by 
 
 OUR ILLUSTRIOUS SENATOR. 
 
 It was a capital speech; it was so fortunate in its allusions. If I 
 had been there I should have been perfectly overwhelmed, and I 
 should have rushed up to him and said, Brother Rogers, I am con- 
 quered ; Brother Rogers,- here, take my hat. [Applause.] Thank 
 Heaven, I have not had time to call o« the senator, and as he has 
 gone, too, my good old hat is safe yet. [Applause.] 
 
 I cannot tell you, my friends, how happy this makes me. I am 
 thankful to our Committee for a great many things. I am thankful 
 to our host for the bountiful repast which has been spread before 
 us. Everything seems to have been provided, as it ought to have 
 been provided. I am thankful to the Committee of Arrangements 
 for the manner in which they have conducted this banquet. I am 
 duly grateful and sorry that they should have called on me for an 
 address. I am thankful to be permitted to meet them and to meet 
 all those here; it gives me a gratification that I am thankful for. 
 Why, I thought that I should never see such a scene, as I now 
 witness, this side of the grave; to see the Bar of Erie County all 
 together here; men whom I love with all the strong emotions of 
 my heart, and to whom I cannot express the affection with which I 
 hold them. 
 
 Now, my friends, I will say that, in respect to this Bar, we are 
 divided into three classes. There are the really old men of the Bar, 
 that are going, and probably their greatest triumphs have been 
 achieved, I will say no more of them; and there are the men of 
 middle age; the men who are in the meridian of their mental 
 vigor, and in their bodily strength also, and who have been winning 
 and who are winning triumphs fi'om day to day, and as to that body 
 of men, I assert it, unblushingly, as 
 
 MY STEADFAST AND HONEST OPINION, , 
 
 that there is no Bar in this State or body of men superior to them, 
 and I doubt if there is anywhere one that is equal to them. And' 
 the third class is a class of promise; it is the younger men that are 
 now entering and are about to enter upon the profession, and from 
 the indications which they give here, they are men who have a just 
 
97 
 
 appreciation of the obligations of their profession, and will at any 
 rate carry the banner as high as it now stands, and I hope that it 
 may be still liigher when their time comes. 
 
 Now these classes are all together, for God's sake keep them to- 
 gether, let not this be the last occasion upon which the whole Bar of 
 Erie County shall be brought together, to enjoy themselves at the 
 festive board. This is a Bar to be proud of, but see to it, that its 
 reputation is maintained; form your Bar Association, if you please, 
 or let it go, but do see to the young men, encourage them, that 
 they may maintain the character of the Bar fully up to its present 
 standard. The old Bar is strong, and, as the old men are passing 
 away, see to it that they will have worthy successors. 
 
 Now, as to the young men, let me say, there was a man, but I am 
 ashamed to say it, and I believe he was a lawyer too, who said that 
 "A lawyer is one whose trade is to admit nothing, question every- 
 thing, and talk by the hour." Surely, my young friends, you will 
 follow in the footsteps "of those who have preceded you, and you 
 will give the lie to that definition of a lawyer. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, I am sensible that I have detained you too long, 
 and I will conclude only by saying this, in regard to the remark 
 made by our reverend friend who has just left us. (Dr. Lord.) He 
 stated of me that I came here in 1836, and was received with warmth 
 by the city of Buffalo. Gentlemen, that is not entirely true; I came 
 here, indeed, that year; I was received by a few, and by a few. only. 
 I was unknown; I had done nothing that had made me known; I 
 was known to a very few, and I had to work my way. I have to 
 say this, tliat although my father's name has been, in some respects, 
 a benefit and an advantage to me, as I have always felt it to be an 
 honor, yet I will say that it has often been to me, in my humble 
 judgment, the greatest impediment that I have had to contend with 
 in my life. Why it should be so I cannot'say. I can only say that 
 the bearing of that name, instead of its being a help to the gratifi- 
 cation of any ambitious wishes, it has rather been an obstacle, but 
 still I am proud to bear it. And this I will say, and I hold that, 
 what sustained me is that from the outset here I met a few friends 
 in the business portion of the community, and a few friends among 
 the Bar of Erie County, and if there has been anything that has 
 kept me on the course of honor, which has kept my heart pure 
 and my affections pure, it has been the 
 
 AFFECTION" OF MY BROTHER LAWYERS; 
 
 and I say to them, God bless them ; and I do hope that you will 
 treasure among yourselves a love for every member of the profes- 
 sion. It is the most, honorable, except, of course, the clerical pro- 
 fession, and it is in fact the most influential calling in our nation. 
 The lawyers wield more influence than any other body of men in 
 the country. 
 
 I say to you frankly, I love this city — I love Buffalo; I shall be 
 proud of it as long as I live. I trust that I shall see you showing a 
 
98 
 
 social and friendly spirit towards each other, and noioving together 
 in all the interests affecting the honor of our city; moving together 
 as one man for its future glory and advancement. 
 
 Mr. Sprague, the Chairman, then said : Gentlemen, we have heard 
 two men that have risen to the summit of their respective profes- 
 sions. We would now like to hear from some of the young men — 
 those who have begun to climb the hill of fame and distinction. I 
 give you, gentlemen, "The rising Bar of Erie County," and I ask 
 my friend, Mr. Philip D. K. Saunders to reply. 
 
 MR. SAUNDERS' ADDRESS. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the Bar of Erie County: This 
 is indeed a felicitous occasion to the younger members of our pro- 
 fession, and I think it an honor and a privilege to respond to the 
 toast that has Just been given by our %|teemed brother. We con- 
 gratulate ourselves. that for the first time in the history of the Erie 
 County Bar, the old membeus of the profession and the young, meet 
 beneath the same roof, and sit around the same festive table, not 
 only for the discussion of the bountiful repast that has been pro- 
 vided here for us, but for a generous interchange of pleasant thought 
 and sentiment. It is but a few years, yet it seems a long while, 
 since the younger members of the profession in this city were gath- 
 ered beneath the hospitable roof of one who is no longer among us. 
 He has passed from our midst. That noble form of manhood we 
 shall never see again. We shall never again be entertained beneath 
 his hospitable roof. I mention the honored and revered name of 
 the late Jolm Ganson. We were gcithered there on the occasion of 
 the admission of one of the members of the Erie County Bar who 
 is now present among us — Mr. Edward R. Bacon. We appreciated 
 the honor that was conferred upon us by the invitation. We were 
 very young then in njatters of law, and younger still in the 
 
 SUBJECT-MATTER OF DINNER PARTIES. 
 
 To be invited to sit at the board of John Ganson was indeed an 
 honor. We had misgivings as to how we should go there, and how 
 we should comport ourselves when there, but we resolved to go, and 
 we went. I well remember the preparations that I made to go to 
 that party. It was the first dinner party that I had ever been in- 
 vited to attend. I was comparatively without the pale of society, 
 and consequently without a dress coat. And, Mr. Chairman and 
 gentlemen of the Bar, I studied up on the subject of dinner parties 
 for the occasion. I read somewhere that a pair of lavender pants 
 Avas the thing to wear at a dinner party, and I forthwith ordered a 
 pair of lavender pants. I also ascertained that a dress coat was the 
 only thing that could be tolerated in such a mansion as John Gan- 
 son's, and therefore a dress coat was ordered. But a vest suitable 
 
99 
 
 for such an occasion defied research, and was something that 
 occasioned me more anxiety and trouble than all the rest of my 
 outfit. I finally ordered a very low white vest, and a pair of patent 
 leather shoes, and thns arrayed I went, feeling as Solomon did in 
 all his glory. I was escorted to the dinner by my friend, Mr. 
 Lyman K. i3ass. I can well remember the expression of John 
 Ganson's face, and the merry twinkle of his eye, as he took in at a 
 glance my whole make-up. But there was no embarrassment there. 
 We had a noble host, and a most noble hostess. Everyone was made 
 to feel at home, which, let me add, was the very height of enter- 
 tainment. We had an enjoyable dinner, and we went lorthfrom the 
 mansion of John Ganson with a little old sherry in our heads, peace 
 and good will towards all men in our hearts, and especially toward 
 John Ganson, and thought what a glorious thing it was, after all, 
 
 TO BE A LAWYEE. 
 
 I think that is the only occasion, it is indeed the only occasion 
 that I have been able to find, when any portion of the Bar of Erie 
 County have met together in social intercourse. 
 
 Concerningthe erection of the new Court House, and leave-taking 
 of the old one, I have few words to say. A great many tears have 
 been shed by the older members of the profession upon leaving the 
 venerable pile of bricks across the way. We have no such tears to 
 shed. We have no endearing recollections of that faded pile of 
 bricks. No thronging memories choke our utterances when we 
 speak of that old Court House, but we do remember that on some 
 occasions we have had our utterances choked inside of those old 
 walls, when we have been endeavoring to convince a court or Jury 
 that we were right and everybody else wrong, in the struggle up the 
 rugged hill of our profession. It has beeji the scene not only of the 
 struggles, but the triumphs of the older members of the. profession, 
 who now are basking in the sunshine of professional eminence 
 earned within its walls. Well may they mourn as they turn away 
 from the venerable structure. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, we consider that this new Court House has been 
 given to us by the older members of the profession ; it has been 
 built for our occupancy in years to come, when the great gath- 
 erer shall have taken to himself a great many of the old members of 
 the profession wHb are present at this dinner. We appreciate your 
 kindness to us, and the tender solicitude that you exhibit for the 
 wellfare and comfort of the younger members of the profession, but 
 above all other things we congratulate you tliat you have 
 
 STAVED OFF THE DAY OF PAYMENT r - ] 
 
 for this beautiful and noble structure, until such time in the dim 
 vista of the future, when an increase of clientage and a lucrative 
 practice, will enable us to pay for the same easily and with pleasure. 
 Mr. Chairman, we appreciate the responsibility that rests upon 
 us. We must maintain the honor, the dignity, and the character of 
 
100 
 
 the profession in the fiitnre, as it has been sustained in the past. 
 We have received a noble inheritance from the illustrious dead, and 
 we have the living example of the older members of the profession 
 to instruct us in the manner in which we shall practice law in order 
 to merit that respect and confidence of the community which has 
 been so generonsly bestowed upon them. With these precedents we 
 cannot fail, if we do but follow them. 
 
 And now, in conclusion, my friends, the younger members of the 
 profession, pledge that we will maintain the honor and the dignity 
 of the profession of the Erie County Bar. 
 
 LETTERS AND TELEGRAMS. 
 
 The Chairman announced the receipt of several letters and tele- 
 grams of a congratulatory character. The first one presented was 
 from 
 
 SENATOR SHERMAN S. ROGERS. 
 
 Buffalo, March 13, 1876. 
 Gentlemen : It is with very great regret that I am compelled to say that I 
 cannot be present at the Bar banquet to-morrow evening. It will undoubtedly 
 be an occasion of such genuine good feeling, and of such hearty festivity, that 
 it will be remembered many years by the fortunate participants. 
 
 I beg to offer the following sentiment and to call on my friend Putnam to 
 respond to it, at the same time desiring that it be distinctly understood that the 
 toast includes none of us hoys. 
 
 Yours respectfully, 
 
 Sherman S. Rogers. 
 
 The sentiment of Mr. Kogers was — "The Gray-Heads of the 
 Bar," and Mr. James 0. Putnam being called upon by the Chair- 
 man said : 
 
 ADDRESS OF HON. JAMES 0. PUTNAM. 
 
 I thank you, Mr. Chairman, and the other members of the com- 
 mittee for the grace which has afforded me the pleasure of this hour. 
 I have been so long withdrawn from the active duties of the pro- 
 fession, that your thoughtfulness is doubly kind. You say truly 
 that my early retirement was not a voluntary one, find if I had the 
 strength for its labors, I should regard no future so happy as that 
 which should recall me to its activities. 
 
 Tills is the Centennial year, and I suppose my friend Rogers 
 deemed it necessary to call upon a gentleman of the 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD 
 
 to respond to this gray-haired toast. Well, sir, I realize, as I look 
 around this table of two hundred guests, and recognize not a half- 
 score who were in the profession when I entered it, that I belong to 
 a past generation. Nearly all the men who thirty years ago gave 
 
101 
 
 renown to the Buffalo Bar are dead. And what a splendid galaxy 
 of names now come thronging to memory! Tracy, Love, Potter, 
 Fillmore, Hall, Haven, Barker, Sill, Smith, Mullet*", Sherwood, 
 Tillinghast, Savvin, Verplanck, Hasten, Stow, Austin, Cook, Hoyt, 
 and of a still younger generation, Greene, Norton, Welch. These 
 are but a part of the many nar^ies which have made illustrious the 
 Buffalo Bar. 
 
 1 know it is of the living you expect me to speak, but I am sure 
 you will pardon this brief reference to a past sacred to us all. 
 
 As I look around on this assembly my eye rests upon a venerable 
 form full of years and of honor, whose presence among us imparts 
 the highest interest to this occasion. 
 
 THE REV. DR. LORD 
 
 began his career in Buffalo, as a lawyer, nearly half a century ago 
 But while in the vigor of young manhood, and in the full tide of 
 professional success, he consecrated his splendid genius, his rare 
 talent, his varied learning, indeed all the wealth of his nature, to 
 another profession akin to ours, yet of more exalted dignity. I say 
 akin to ours, for if religion descended from God to men, or if it 
 sprang from that moral consciousness which is a spark struck out 
 of the divinity, is it not true that Law, as good old Hooker declared, 
 " hath its seat in the bosom of God, and its voice is the harmony 
 of the world ?" I rejoice in his honored presence among ns to-night. 
 It is one of the delightful recollections of my life that it was my 
 pleasure for many years to have intimate relations with him, and 
 that nothing has ever lessened the mutual feeling of kindness which 
 has been, and still is, precious to me. 
 
 I see present another representative of the advanced generation, 
 who very appropriately led the commemorative services of the Bar 
 on Saturday. A man who might easily be taken for a Roman Sen- 
 ator in the best days of Rome, when none were for a party, and all 
 were for the State. It was my privilege to be associated with Mr. 
 Babcock when in 1842 I began my professional life in Buffalo. 
 
 May the time be a long way in the future before can be fully ut- 
 tered our appreciation of that constellation of qualities of head and 
 heart which have made the ripe lawyer, the pure and able statesman, 
 the man without guile, and the friend that sticketh closer than a 
 brother. 
 
 By my side sits another representative of the earlier time. A man 
 who has added personal renown to ancestral honor — Judge Clinton. 
 He is our universal educatoi\ Not to speak of his eminent profes- 
 sional career, he has taught us the sweet humanities and that 
 iTnbought ^race of life, which are the highest and purest social 
 charm. 
 
 nature's owk child, 
 
 he has unfolded to us her mysteries as she has revealed them to 
 him from tree, and shrub and flower, and her myriad schools of life; 
 
102 
 
 for to him Nature unveils her face, and fills his ear with her music, 
 and his soul with her all-pervading beauty. I never think of our ven- 
 erable friend, and realize the part he is of all we most value among 
 us, that I do not fervently utter the Horatian prayer for Augustus: 
 
 Serus in coelum redeas, diuque 
 Laetus intersis in populo Buffalonis. 
 
 Let me ask here if it be not about time that Buffalo remembered 
 her indebtedness to the father of our friend ? It was his sagacity and 
 energy that transformed the frontier village into the city which 
 now sits in conscious strength at the feet of these seas. I know 
 Buffalo is De Witt Clinton's monument, but we owe it to ourselves 
 to erect a commemorative work of art to the statesman who saw 
 our possibilities and enabled us to realize them. 
 
 I see here my brother Greene who, when I came to Buffalo, had 
 been for two or three years at the Bar. He was my first friend on 
 the most important occasion of my mature life. And when I re- 
 member that he was then living in the melancholy condition of a 
 bachelor, and now see around this table his sons who have already 
 won distinction and honor in their father's profession, I realize that 
 my own shadow lengthens and my day declines. 
 
 THE HON. E. G. SPAULDING, 
 
 who sits at your left, Mr. Chairman, comes under the head of my 
 friend Rogers' toast. He read his profession with my father, and 
 more than forty years ago brought here his learning and his energy 
 to lay the basis and build the superstructure of his distinguished 
 career. 
 
 The '' gray head" of Mr. T. J. Sizer reveals another of the early 
 men, and recalls our obligation to him for his public and instruc- 
 tive discussion of almost every subject of general local interest. 
 
 Near Mr. Sizer I see a '' Silver Gray" of the revolutionary epoch ; 
 a man without whose life this occasion might never have been. He 
 is the incarnation of that "Aurora" which has so long and so re- 
 splendently shone upon our fair city. 
 
 After making the fortune of many another man, he has in his 
 last days set out to make the fortune of Buffalo. 
 
 Who created our new park ? We shake our gory locks at Dennis 
 Bowen, and say, " thou did'st it!" Who urged and supervised the 
 construction of our new City and County Hall which has so opened 
 the flood gates of Buff;ilo eloquence, and turned the whole city into 
 daily and nightly pilgrimages to this new temple? Who with his 
 own hand let loose from their marble prison those four,interesting 
 females Avho stand perpetual sentinels at the clock tower, hence- 
 forth, 1 suppose, the guardian divinities of the city? If any one 
 man is either to be hung or canonized for all this, Dennis Bowen 
 cannot hope to escape. 
 
103 
 
 Mr. 0. H. Marshall-, whose useful studies and trusts so constantly 
 associate him with Buffalo institutions, is of the few remaining 
 lawyers of the earlier times. 
 
 Judge Smith, whose successful professional career has had its 
 natural and fitting close by his transfer to the Judiciary, and Judge 
 Talcott with the same experience, and Mr. Ford, whom I do not 
 see, and whose ill health I fear has deprived us all of a pleasure, 
 and our brother Stevens who, I presume, is absent rebuking Noah 
 for the introduction of slavery into the United States, almost, if 
 not quite, complete the list. 
 
 And here I am sure I may be pardoned a word of reference to 
 one who was long a leader of the Bar, but whom considerations of 
 health have transferred to another State. Henry W. Eogers is still 
 too intimately connected with our institutions of art and charity, 
 and still dwells in too many Buffalo hearts to be regarded as not of 
 us. We rejoice that his closing years are happy, and that he has 
 not forgotten his Buffalo love. 
 
 You warned me, Mr. Chairman, off the ground of your decade. 
 I see a goodly number of friends who are rapidly moving 
 
 UP TO THE THKEE SCORE LINE, 
 
 men who are now doing the hard work of the profession and reaping 
 its honors and rewards. And I see around me a little army of young 
 men whose future is all before them, bright to their teeming fancies 
 as a lover's dream. 
 
 It would be easy to be sentimental here, but I obey your warning, 
 and close by returning my thanks for the kindness which has per- 
 mitted me to bid you — " Hail!" 
 
 OLD BACHELOR LAWYERS. 
 
 In calling upon the next speaker, the Chairman said that the 
 true philosophy of language is to go from the gay to the solemn 
 and severe. We have heard this evening, the good things that 
 have dropped from the lips of the honorable judge, and now I want 
 to call your attention to the doings of our brother Clark. I mean, 
 Delavan F. Clark. He has taken a new departure, although late in 
 life, but still it is better to do a good thing late than not at all. I 
 think brother Clark gave his bachelor brother members a pretty 
 sly slip when he left their ranks and joined ours. I believe that 
 there is but one man left of his class, and he stands now, very much 
 like a hard-hearted oak in the midst of a very large stock of maples. 
 I wish to know from him, from my brother Cutting, what sort of 
 an opinion he has of the practice of the law. And I would like to 
 
104 
 
 know something about his affections. It seems to me, if he would 
 explain himself, we might oflfer him some timely consolation. 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. HARMON S. CUTTING. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : Under the most favorable circum- 
 stances it would be no easy task to vindicate, before an assemblage 
 like this, the forlorn brotherhood of bachelors. As it is, the wine, 
 for the moment, has vanished from before me ; my glass is empty 
 and my throat is as arid as are supposed to be the hearts of the I'ra- 
 ternity which I am called on to I'epresent. Doubly difficult, then, 
 is the discharge of the duty wliich you, Mr. Chairman, have so un- 
 feelingly imposed upon me. In the suddenness of the shock con- 
 tained in your request, I can make but a lame attempt to defend 
 what is generally regarded as so bad a cause. Indeed, I shall not 
 essay it at all, but will seek to escape from a difficult position by 
 ^ alluding to the deserter whose name you have mentioned, and by 
 calling to your contemplation that still marching procession, mar- 
 shaled and commanded by this deserter who, up to the very moment 
 of his treason, had seemed to be loyal to our cause. He is gone ! 
 He has "squared" his accounts for the loss of a decade, and from 
 the bud of unsophisticated celibacy has suddenly and unexpectedly 
 blossomed into a full-flowered " Benedick." 
 
 You, the younger members of the Bar, may read in this startling 
 occurrence such a lesson as the state of your affections shall happen 
 to suggest. As for me, it has added to my importance by bringing 
 me one step nearer to the honors of solitary survivorship ; one step 
 nearer to being the officer, standard-bearer and all the rank and file 
 of that great company who, one by one, have disappeared amidst 
 showers of orange flowers and the flutter of white veils. I chal- 
 lenge your congratulations or condolences, whichever you please, 
 for having so stoutly maintained a position that has given measort 
 of paramount right to address you on so momentous a topic. 
 
 EXAMPLES IN MATRIMONIAL AFFAIRS 
 
 are of small consequence. But however you might be affected by 
 such things, I must disclaim all responsibility for any possible effect 
 of my conduct as a precedent. Let me explain. 
 
 A gentleman not remarkable for his uniform devotion to the 
 principles of Father Mathew, was upbraided by a friend for his 
 folly, and especially for setting so evil an example to the generation 
 which was coming after him. He promptly repelled this imputation 
 of evil and insisted that the value and propriety of his conduct was 
 not understood. Said he : *' I seek not to teach by so trite a thing 
 as an example. You must not regard me in that light at all. I am 
 a warning! I show what is to be avoided, not what is to be 
 embraced." 
 
 Young gentlemen, you see how unnecessary I am, whether for 
 good or ill, as an example, and particularly as an example of what 
 
105 
 
 is to be emhraced. If tliere is anything in this mnch maligned 
 bachelorism to be shunned ; if half of a pair of scissors is better 
 than a blade however Avell-tempered ; if husbands only are for 
 heaven, then regard me as a warning and not as an example — a warn- 
 ing of what it might be well for you to avoid; a startling image 
 who with figuratively stretched forefinger points away from the 
 solitary paths which he has trodden. 
 
 But I give no cognovit. I make no confession 
 
 TO THE YOUNGER BACHELORS 
 
 about me — I mean those not already mortgaged to some fair lady — 
 their condition, I venture to say, is not wholly unbearable ; and even 
 when older, it may not be one of unmitigated misery. What my 
 own experience might show, I will not intimate. These wearers of 
 swallow-tail coats and immaculate neck-ties are not those from 
 among whom I shall select my confessor. When I think of this, 
 I can't say that I am particularly proud of being a bachelor. Yet 
 what can one do but make the best of it? In those comfortable 
 old slippers, and with my cigar and book and cheerful fire, it is not 
 so very bad after all. In my solitary apartment, I can pretend to 
 be at home, and keep up the illusion of domesticity by the fre- 
 quent contemplation of what a pater familias I might have been. 
 And as for wooing; why, I can woo the Law. What an opportu- 
 nity here for the gushing of romantic affection! What ringlets 
 of parchment ; what wreaths of red tape ; what perfumes of an- 
 tique mouldiness! But, seriously, though our noble profession may 
 not present the attractions of a bevy of beauty, nor speak in the 
 language of sentiment or song, it is worthy of our most earnest 
 and unremitting devotion ; and whether "Benedick" or bachelor, 
 whether blessed or not blessed with a wife or a sweetheart, let us 
 not fail in our affection for our mistress, the Law. 
 
 LETTER FROM^JUDGE WALLACE. 
 
 The Chairman presented the following letter from Hon. Wm. J. 
 Wallace, Judge of the U. S. Court, Northern District, N. Y.: 
 
 Syracuse, March 13, 1876. 
 
 Gentlemen : I regret exceedingly that my engagements preclude my accept- 
 ance of your kind invitation to be present at the dinner of the Erie County 
 Bar. 
 
 I hold it to be one of the paramount duties of every conscientious lawyer to 
 partake of good dinners whenever he can. When dinners are given under the 
 public auspices of the members of the Bar, the lawyer whose seat is vacant 
 should be sent supperless to bed. These occasions, I have observed, are al- 
 ways elevating in their tendencies, and certainly, esthetically considered, im- 
 prove and educate the taste. 
 
 It is a matter for congratulation that these social reunions are becoming 
 more frequent. They cement good-fellowship, soften the asperities of profes- 
 sional intercourse, and promote that esprit du corps which is one of the 
 charms and at the same time one of the inspirations of the legal profession. 
 
106 
 
 The pleasure I have derived from my oflBcial intercourse with the members 
 of the Bar of Erie County enhances my disappointment at being unable to meet 
 them socially to-morrow evening. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Wm. J. Wallace. 
 
 Mr. J. D. Husbands, of the Eochester Bar, was requested to speak 
 to the letter of Judge Wallace. He said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I came here to the Erie County 
 Bar twenty years ago, sick, as the result of that affliction of the 
 race, chronic rheumatism, but your winters sent me back to my old 
 city — a city that I love on many accounts. I remember your vernal 
 sweetness and your summer pleasures. Buffalo has but two seasons 
 — summer and winter, and to come here is to go where you cannot 
 have four seasons in the year. 
 
 I remember, sir, all those old members of the Bar, already referred 
 to. The Buffalo Bar has been extremely fortunate in its 
 
 GKEAT ANCESTORS. 
 
 Let me say to you that you must not rely upon your ancestors, for 
 every young man must rely upon himself. Having practiced for 
 some sixteen or eighteen years in this city, I can say with truth 
 and equal pleasure, that I never saw a Bar that showed a greater 
 measure of talent, or more dignity and respect for human rights, 
 than I have seen here. 
 
 Gentlemen, we started sometime ago what we called Bar Parties; 
 we thought them a signal success, and an old friend of mine, a 
 member of the profession, was about to die but he knew it not, he 
 wanted me by his side, and he said to me the last Sunday of his 
 life : I have been thinking a good deal of the want of social life in 
 the profession. We do not visit the families of our brethren of 
 the Bar as we ought to do ; he said : As soon as I get well I will go 
 and see the families of the members of the Bar. I wanted to say 
 to you, gentlemen, in the commencement of my remarks to the 
 members of the Bar, I wanted to address you as ladies and gentle- 
 men, because the presence of ladies is really here to-night; you 
 cannot have such a meeting without seeing the influence of wife, 
 of mother, of sister and of sweetheart. 
 
 Let this not be the last of your social meetings when you shall 
 get into the new Court House. Go there with a new and nobler 
 purpose, if you can; go there for a nobler future. Do not think 
 that you have nothing to do for the better, but honor the profession 
 that has been honored before you. 
 
 I remember that when in Massachusetts, a lawyer put his name 
 in my hat for the purpose of taking it off; there is no such thing in 
 the Buffalo Bar, or in the Erie County Bar, and there is not in the 
 Eochester Bar either. In our city and its surrounding country we 
 sometimes meet with the Buffalo Bar, and we are glad to meet with 
 them, and to see the honest rivalry that exists between the two 
 
107 
 
 cities. Let there be no hostility between them. Let there be noth- 
 ing but generous rivalry of honest hearts, worthily cultivating a 
 purer and a nobler future. 
 
 LETTER FROM JUDGE NOAH DAVIS. 
 
 The Chairman then announced that he had a letter from Hon. 
 
 Noah Davis, of the city of New York, formerly a member of this 
 
 Bar, and who all the older members of the profession and of his 
 
 age, remember with respect and kindness. Mr. Sprague then read 
 
 the letter as follows: 
 
 New Yoke, March 13, 1876. 
 Hon. E. C. Sprague, Asher P. Nichols and others, Committee: 
 
 Gentlemen: I have just received your kind note of invitation to attend a 
 dinner to be given by the Bar of Erie County, at Buffalo, on the 14th instant. 
 I regret that my engagements at the General Term, now sitting, prevent my 
 attendance. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be present on 
 that occasion, to meet once more a body of gentlemen with whom I have in 
 t the past enjoyed for many years the most friendly professional and ofBcial 
 relations. A long separation has in no degree impaired my respect for the 
 Bar of Erie County. I recognize in that Bar many of the ablest and worthiest 
 lawyers of the State. 
 
 After a somewhat larger and different experience in professional and judi- 
 cial life, I recur with greater pleasure than ever to my long service on the 
 bench of the Eighth District, and especially in the courts of Erie county, 
 where the larger share of that service was rendered; and I speak in no dis- 
 paragement of any other Bar when 1 say that in ability, courtesy, and in all 
 kindly personal and social relations, I have found no Bar superior to yours. 
 
 I should be glad to greet in person every member of it, but as I cannot do 
 that, I beg you will convey to them the feelings of warm regard which I shall 
 never cease to bear. I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Noah DAyis. 
 
 Mr. Sprague said that all wanted to hear one of the oldest members 
 of the profession in response to this letter, and no gentleman is 
 better able to do justice to the occasion than my worthy friend, 
 Hon. E. P. Marvin, of Chautauqua county. 
 
 ADDRESS OF JUDGE MARVIN. 
 
 Mr. Chairman :. TJaough not a member of the Erie County Bar, 
 I am a member of the profession. I claim to be a brother of the 
 members of the Bar of Erie County; they are my brothers and I 
 claim a recognition from them as they are brothers. I am here 
 upon invitation as your honored guest, and my first acknowledg- 
 ment should be to the chairman of the committee, and to the mem- 
 bers of the Erie County Bar for the compliment and honor be- 
 stowed upon me, in inviting me to be here this evening, as a guest. 
 I thought at one time of putting pen to paper and excusing myself. 
 But I said, no, I desire to go and meet the Bar of Erie County per- 
 sonally, and to recognize among them the familiar faces which I 
 have known for so many years. 
 
108 
 
 Brethren, fellow-laborers and soldiers in a good cause, I shall in 
 the feAV moments allowed me by your Chairman, endeavor to impress 
 upon the younger members of the Bar two or three ideas. If I can 
 daguerreotype them upon your own minds as they have presented 
 themselves to me a thousand times I shall have 
 
 ACCOMPLISHED MY PUEPOSE. 
 
 Gentlemen, mention has been made of the older members of the 
 Bar; I am now among the oldest; I think I rank my friend Bab- 
 cock, I know I do in age; I think we came into the profession at 
 the same hour, having been admitted in the same class; I say al- 
 lusion has been made to the past, and sometimes apprehension has 
 been expressed, whether the coming generation and other genera- 
 tions to come, whether they will fulfill their duties as the gentle- 
 men who have gone before have fulfilled theirs; upon that subject 
 I have no desire to speak. I shall dismiss that subject without a 
 single fear. The generation that has gone before ns has fulfilled its 
 destiny. They have run their career and performed their duties 
 and offices well. Let me say of them, that their career and their* 
 style of doing business was quite different from that which now 
 exists. Well do I remember when I first entered the profession and 
 before that, of listening to the great men, whose names we have 
 heard to-night, and others that I remember, but their style was dif- 
 ferent from what it is now. I have often been asked the question 
 from the gentlemen of the present day, whether they were equal 
 in talent and equal in ability to those of the past forty or fifty 
 years; and have invariably answered, yes, but the style of doing 
 business has changed, and the men who made great reputations 
 theij as advocates would hardly be able to make a living now in this 
 age of lightning and railroads. These men required not an hour 
 only to sum up a case, but it took them a half an hour to pronounce 
 their exordium, and then they went into their narration; then, stating 
 the case briefly, they went into their argument, and then the pero- 
 ration must be well considered. Not so now. I believe that if 
 some of our ancestors, whose reputations were as wide as the State, 
 were to return to the city of Buffalo, they could not get a living in 
 the profession. It took time for them to get started, and to make a 
 great speech they wanted from three to five hours. You sum xiip a 
 case in an hour. In that case that was tried out here in Genesee, 
 the Grays, that was in my time, John Griffin, made a speech of five 
 hours on Saturday, and run down within five minutes of Sunday 
 morning, and then the judge stopped him and said: " I regret that 
 this speech is not ended, but this case must go to the jury before 
 Sunday, and I regret that I have 
 
 NOT TIME TO CHARGE THE JURY." 
 
 And John Griffin got up, and said, " I greatly regret that I have not 
 a couple of hours more in which to finish my speech." Upon this 
 episode the case went to the Court of Appeals. 
 
109 
 
 I liave said enongli on that subject ; I want to say a word in re- 
 gard to the changes. Has it been better ? Has it been a desirable 
 change? I answer, yes, it has been a valuable change. You now 
 come at once to the point that is to be decided by the jury. You 
 come directly to it, and you discuss the evidence and the judge sits 
 and listens, and the lawyers are not allowed to take as wide a range 
 as anywhere between the heavens and the earth. You come at 
 once to the matter in the case. This is an age of business. We 
 have not time to throw away that may be used trying causes. Has 
 the change been beneficial? I say, yes. I have been asked a hun- 
 dred times in my own courts whether the cases are as well tried 
 now as when the old lawyers used to try them. I say that they are. 
 I will not say why. You will discover the reason why the cases are 
 better tried now than they were then. We come right to the point 
 and the judge comes to the question, and the jury renders a prompt 
 verdict. 
 
 Gentlemen, I am nearly through; I want to present another idea: 
 your calling and your profession is the most exalted one that you 
 can have in this land, except perhaps that of the ministry, which 
 teaches us the way of salvation. There is no class of men that are 
 more honorable and honest than the legal profession. You should 
 strive to maintain this reputation, and to exalt yourselves in 
 your high profession to which your duties call you. Among your 
 duties is that of educating the courts. It is that of educating the 
 judges. It is the duty of the Bar to educate the judges. You all 
 know what I mean. It is your duty, you are called upon to ad- 
 dress the judge, to inform him, and he in return informs the Bar, 
 and it is in this respect that the reciprocal relations go on. Gen- 
 tlemen, you are called upon to take an interest in all the affairs 
 of society; everything comes under the observation, to a cer- 
 tain extent, of the legal profession. Yoil are called upon to per- 
 form tliese high duties; you cannot do it with intelligence, without 
 humility. Your profession is one of great labor. 
 
 THE LAW IS A SCIEifCE ; 
 
 it must be wooed and won; the law will not come and surrender 
 itself and place itself in the possession of any man unless he wishes 
 it, unless he is to maintain the structure and promises his proper 
 vigils, in order to invite the law, that the law may come and take 
 up its abode with him. You must make it worthy of your cease- 
 less industry, for unless you do the law will play you some slippery 
 tricks and leave you floundering. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Bar of Erie County, I have occupied just 
 double the time that I intended. I thank you for the invitation 
 that has been extended to me and the pleasure which I have enjoyed 
 in meeting you all. 
 
110 
 
 FROM MR. BASS. 
 
 The next in order was a telegram from Hon. Lyman K. Bass, 
 Member of Congress from Erie county, which the chairman read as 
 follows : 
 
 Washington, March 14. 
 E. C. Sprague, and others of the Committee : 
 
 I send my hearty congratulations to my brethren of the Bar that a new 
 Court House is an accomplished fact, and that the inhalation of the poisoned 
 air of the old ones is of the past. I regret that I cannot be with you this 
 evening. 
 
 Lyman K. Bass. 
 
 Mr. Sprague deemed it fitting to call upon District Attorney D. 
 N. Lockwood, Esq., to respond to this message, and Mr. Lockwood 
 did so as follows : 
 
 ADDRESS OF D. N. LOCKWOOD, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Bar of Erie County : I 
 rise with no little embarrassment to respond to the toast proposed 
 by our distinguished chairman. I suppose that I am called upon to 
 reply to the toast of Hon. Lyman K. Bass, mainly for the reason 
 that I hold the office of district attorney, so long and ably tilled by 
 him ; and, Mr. Chairman, I know that 1 am but expressing the wish 
 of every gentleman present, when 1 say, long life and continued 
 prosperity and honor to Mr. Bass. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, every subject and thought connected with the 
 change from the old Court House to the new City and County Hall, 
 has already received its full share of praise and eloquence from the 
 honorable gentlemen who have preceded me. It is but little more 
 than ten years since I commenced the study of the law. My expe- 
 rience, if related, would be but the same old story — much work and 
 little pay. I remember, how greatly annoyed I used to be by the 
 remark so often made, how much better off the world would be 
 if there were no lawyers, and 1 have thought to-night how quickly 
 those same persons would change their minds if they could witness 
 this banquet, see all these happy faces, and know, as we know, that 
 a true lawyer ever stands as an impassable barrier between right and 
 wrong, ever the defender and protector of the innocent, and the pi-os- 
 ecutor and irreproachable judge of the guilty. 
 
 Yes, gentlemen, one of the world's most distinguished historians 
 has written that the reason Rome was great was because her law- 
 givers were great men, and what more fitting answer, when the 
 people from every quarter of the earth, shall come, as they will in 
 this our Centennial year, to our favored land, and shall ask, as they 
 behold our national greatness and prosperity, what is the cause that 
 has made this young nation so great and powerful, and why does it 
 have so vast an influence among the older nations of the earth 
 
Ill 
 
 — the answer will be, her lawyers have been and are great men, men 
 who have guarded and defended liberty, and the nation's honor 
 as sacredly as the honor of their own firesides. 
 
 And in conclusion, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I feel that, as 
 one of the younger members of the Bar of this county, I am war- 
 ranted in saying for them, that they have pledged themselves anew 
 to maintain the high standing, the honor and dignity, which has 
 ever been maintained by you and your predecessors, and that they 
 will ever maintain and defend the sacred principles of liberty and 
 justice, which have made this nation a land where manhood reigns 
 alone and every citizen is king. 
 
 ANOTHER TELEGRAM. 
 
 The next message by telegraph was from Hon. Henry W. Eogers, 
 of Ann Arbor, Michigan, formerly of Buffalo, and ran thus: 
 
 Ann Arbok, Mich., March 13. 
 E. C. Spragtje : 
 
 I regret that I cannot go to the supper, but my heart and thoughts will be 
 there, reverently recalling tlae memory of the dead who have graced a Bar 
 which for forty years has had few equals and no superior iu any city of the 
 State. Henry W. Rogers. 
 
 Hon. Geo. R. Babcock was requested to make response, and, spoke 
 for the older members of the profession, giving many reminiscences, 
 and reciting several anecdotes of the early practice of law in Buffalo. 
 
 FROM JUDGE BARKER. 
 
 Hon. Geo. Barker, Judge of the Supreme Court, sent this dis- 
 patch: 
 
 BAtAviA, N. Y., March 14. 
 To E. C. Sprague, Chairman, etc., TiiEt House : 
 
 Until this moment 1 intended to be present and participate in the pleasures 
 and festivities that the banquet oflFers. The train that I was to take is re- 
 ported late, so I must be content with presenting my respects to the BuflFalo 
 Bar, distinguished for its learning, eloquence and integrity. 
 
 George Barker. 
 
 The Chairman said there was a desire to hear from some of the 
 younger members of the profession. He therefore called upon Mr. 
 T. F. Welch, President of the Buffalo Law Society, to respond on 
 behalf of the Association he represented, Mr. Welch did so in a 
 very amusing and felicitous manner as will be seen: 
 
 SPEECH OF T. F. WELCH. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Brethren of the Bar : The Buffalo Law Soci- 
 ety is so well known to you all, its fame is so wide-spread, that I 
 
112 
 
 need take but little time in speaking of it. Organized nine years 
 ago, immediately after the delivery of a law lecture to young men, 
 by His Honor, Judge Clinton, it has continued in vigorous and 
 flourishing life to the present, and though it may not have as great 
 an antiquity as that already historic old bat of the judge's, yet it is , 
 now looked upon as, what we would all like that hat and its wearer 
 to be, one of the permanent institutions of our city. 
 
 It lias well accomplished the object set forth in its constitution, 
 the promotion of mutual acquaintance among its members and their 
 mutual improvement in legal debate and literary discussion, and it 
 has been to younger members of the Bar and law students in many 
 respects, what the proposed Bar Association will be to the profession 
 at large. 
 
 The law student, Mr. Chairman, must needs be 
 
 FULL OF NOBLE AMBITION, 
 
 when, regardless of the many difficulties before him, he places him- 
 self among those who are 
 
 " Mastering the cpdeless science of our law. 
 That endless myriad of precedent, 
 That wilderness of single instances, 
 Through which a few by wit or fortune led. 
 May beat a pathway out to wealth and fame." 
 
 But every one is confident that he will be among that successful 
 few. Immediately on entering an office, however, he finds diffi- 
 culty. Expecting to give himself up chiefly to the study of the 
 books, the theory of the law, he is astonished to find that he is re- 
 quired to devote himself mainly to the practice of penmanship, and 
 the manufacture of copies. Thinking he will receive instruction, 
 and have difficulties carefully explained to him, he is simply told 
 to keep his eyes open and he will soon leai-n. He does soon learn 
 one thing, that he must always know what to do and how to do it, 
 without asking any questions. He learns, too, just how little benefit 
 is derived from making thirteen copies of a complaint, or spending 
 three whole days in copying some long account which is as closely 
 connected with the science of the law as Egyptian hieroglyphics. 
 To such as he the Buffalo Law Society offers great advantages. 
 
 In the free intercourse and discussion with his fellow-students 
 which he there obtains, his doubts are removed, his difficulties ex- 
 plained. He gains self-confidence, has an opportunity to use his 
 powers, a chance to expand. Indeed, he sometimes expands so fast 
 that he soon knows more law than old lawyers of long standing at 
 the Bar. 
 
 The Bufi'alo Law Society, Mr. Chairman, 
 
 HAS MUCH TO BE PKOUD OF 
 
 in its history. The old Law Library, where its meetings have been 
 held has often been the scene of impassioned and eloquent debate, 
 
113 
 
 of close and powerful argument. Though the words of "learned- 
 length and thundering sound" with which its walls have often re- 
 sounded, may sometimes have been striking only for the length or 
 the sound, yet there have been displayed there by its members 
 such powers of reasoning, such command of logic and analysis, such 
 mastery of wit and humor, as would have reflected honor upon 
 their possessors in any higher field of action. There, too, have been 
 shown, not only such ability, but such constant courtesy and high 
 sense of honor, as to warrant the conclusion that its members will 
 always be honored and respected members of this Bar. 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, the Buffalo Law Society has already pro- 
 duced results which show that it is a power in the land. Not only 
 has it definitely and authoritatively settled many questions of im- 
 portance in politics aud literature, but the decisions of its Moot 
 Court have fixed the law in many points before unsettled, and they 
 have been followed in many cases by the higher courts in this aud 
 other States. 
 
 " To prove this let facts be submitted to a candid world." 
 The case of Judd v. Seekins, involving an important question in 
 real estate law, tried at the Cattaraugus Circuit, was, pending its 
 appeal, submitted to the 
 
 MOOT COURT OF BUFFALO, 
 
 and promptly reversed. The General Term soon after acquiesced 
 in this decision. 
 
 On the authority of its decision in the great case of Morton v. 
 James, the Court of Appeals soon after decided that a complete note 
 altered by filling up blanks left by the maker, was not valid in the 
 hands of a bona fide holder. 
 
 So the Supreme Court of Massachusetts/followed its decision in 
 anottier case soon after its rendition. As its latest achievement it 
 has recently reversed a decision of the General Term of the Su- 
 perior Court of Buffalo, and held that sleeping car companies are 
 subject to the liabilities of innkeepers. The decision of the Court 
 of Appeals in the same case, which is soon to be delivered, will 
 follow this, and be but a matter of form. These facts, Mr. Chair- 
 man, are full of import. 
 
 They as conclusively establish the great authority of the Moot 
 Court of Buffalo, as the strange words "chops and tomato sauce," 
 under the skillful handling of onr brother. Sergeant Buzfuz, es- 
 tablished the villainy of Mr. Pickwick. 
 
 I might show that yon, Mr. Chairman, and many of the gray- 
 heads here present, are honored honorary members of the Buffalo 
 Law Society, and how most of the younger lawyers of this Bar owe 
 all their success to the training they received in this Society, but I 
 will not trespass further upon your time. 
 
114 
 
 LETTER FROM JUDGE DANIELS. 
 
 Hon. Charles Daniels, Judge of the Supreme Court, sent this 
 
 letter to the Committee: 
 
 New York, March 13. 
 
 Messrs. E. C. Sprague, Josiah Cook, Asher P. Nichols, Benj. H. Williams 
 
 and Wm. H. Gurney: 
 
 Gents: 1 have just received your invitation to the dinner to be given to- 
 morrow evening at the Tifft House by the Bar of Erie County. I can give 
 you no adequate idea of the pleasure it would afford me to be able to comply 
 with this kind invitation. The most agreeable memories I cherish relate to 
 my associations with the members of the Erie County Bar. They are em- 
 phatically the associations of a life-time, rendering the place of my home the 
 most hallowed of all localities, and to which I always return, when liberated 
 from the constraints of enforced absence, with the greatest possible pleasure. 
 The Bar of Erie County is second to none other in the State. 1 do not doubt 
 but the approaching entertainment will prove to be highly agreeable, and 
 pleasantly remembered by those whose good fortune may allow them to par- 
 ticipate in it. I am, liowever, so situated that it will be impossible for me to 
 make one of the number. The business of the court now in session in this 
 city, of which I am a member, excludes me from participation in your festivi- 
 ties. I regret my inability to be present, but can do nothing less than to sub- 
 .mit to its necessities. Truly yours, 
 
 Chas. Daniels. 
 
 John Hubbell, Esq., was asked to reply, and did so in a few brief 
 remarks, excusing himself from making a speech, and congratulated 
 himself on his return to the fold of the Buffalo Bar after an ab- 
 sence of years. 
 
 LETTER FROM LIEUT.-GOV. DORSHEIMER. 
 
 » 
 Albany, March 13, 1876. 
 Gentlemen : Your invitation to attend the dinner of the Erie County Bar 
 did not reach me until this morning, too late to dispose of my engagements 
 here. 
 
 All of us have tender associations with the old Court House, and no one 
 will see it taken away without regret. I never attended a meeting of the Bar 
 except on the occasion of the death of some honored brother. It would give 
 me great pleasure to join in your farewell to the scene of so many struggles, 
 and to listen to the reminiscences, both pleasant and sad, which the occasion 
 will elicit. 
 
 I beg you will receive my sincere regrets that I cannot accept your courte- 
 ous invitation, and believe me 
 
 Very truly your servant, 
 
 William Dorsheimek. 
 To E. C. Sprague, Esq., Hon. A. P. Nichols, Josiah Cook, and others. 
 
 The Chairman said that Mr. Dorsheimer had forsaken the law for 
 political honors. He preferred to stick to the practice of the law. 
 
 The Chairman thought Mr. L. L. Lewis well qualified to discuss 
 this question, and called upon him to do so. 
 
115 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. LEWIS. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and fellow Lawyers : Our Chairman seems to 
 think my experience in public life and at the Bar entitles me to be 
 heard as to the propriety of forsaking the law for political life. He 
 says he always thought it best to stick to the law. He can't get up 
 any controversy with me on that point. If you have acquired in 
 the practice of the law, even a fair reputation for honesty, and have 
 any desire to maintain it, keep at your profession, and let politics 
 alone, so far as office-holding is concerned. For no matter how 
 honestly you may perform the duties of the office, you will stand nine 
 chances in ten of leaving the office, if it chance to be of a political 
 character, with the reputation of a rogue, and while I think every 
 American citizen ought to take an interest in politics, let some other 
 man hold the office. 
 
 But enough on this point. I want to talk about lawyers, and as 
 we grow old we ought to be pardoned for talking about our early 
 experience and observation. I was admitted and came on here in 
 1848, with an idea of making my home somewhere in the West; 
 but a view up this long lake chilled my ardor, and I stopped here, 
 and went into the office of my brother, Dio Lewis. I did not 
 know anything about law, nor much about anything else, for that 
 matter, but after revolving this subject in my mind, concluded I 
 must have a sign painted, and ordered it. When it was finished I 
 attended to the putting of it up ; it read, "L. L. Lewis, Laio Office." 
 I took a good look at it after it was hung, and then went into my 
 office, taking an eligible position so that I could see the door, and 
 waited for business, and I don't think it was to exceed one half-hour 
 before the door opened, a young man walked in and inquired if 
 Lawyer Lewis was in. I replied, ''That is my name." He was 
 from Canada, and said his father, a resident of this State, had died, 
 leaving some property here, and he wished to know his rights as 
 one of his heirs. I thought it necessary that I should answer at 
 once, if not he might get the impression I Was not positive, so I 
 opened my mouth and talked ; he listened, or appeared to, for a 
 time, and then looked at me, and asked me, in apparently a confused 
 state of mind, what my charges were. 
 
 I PROMPTLY REPLIED, "ONE DOLLAR," 
 
 which he paid. With all the composure I could master, I placed 
 the dollar in my wallet, and, after he retired, I turned my eyes again 
 to the office door, wondering who my next customer might be. I 
 never exactly agreed with my brother, for he insisted that it was 
 precisely six months before another client came in. It was, however, 
 a long time. 
 
 The following summer we were visited here with the cholera, and I 
 divided my time between sitting at my office window watching the 
 funeral processions, and in the old Court House, witnessing the 
 
116 
 
 struggles of the giants of the Bar. The lawyer whose style and 
 manner of trying causes filled my heart and soul completely full, 
 my beau ideal of a successful jury lawyer, was Solomon Gr. Haven. 
 
 He was unpretending and simple in his manners. In addressing 
 a Jury he did not talk over, but between and into their heads; there 
 was an apparent familiarity with the jury, talking to one and then 
 another, till he had convinced them all. His illustrations always 
 came from the farm, the workshop, or their homes, scarcely ever 
 from objects higher than their heads. He convinced the jury that 
 he was in earnest, and believed thoroughly in his client's cause. 
 
 He never appeared to make an attempt at oratory, and still he 
 possessed the elements of the true orator, for he swayed and in- 
 fluenced those he addressed, and that, I take it, is the true test of 
 oratory. 
 
 There was another man who tried many causes, perhaps more 
 even than Mr. Haven ; he was in his demeanor a perfect specimen 
 of a gentleman ; he was one of the handsomest men I ever saw, and 
 wonderfully gifted as an orator. I refer to Eli Cook ; he was one of 
 the great powers in this county. 
 
 There was Henry K. Smith ; he did not meet with the success of 
 these other men, and still he was a wonderful man. He was one of 
 those terrible men, who did not stop to convince his hearers. He 
 stormed them ; 
 
 HE RUSHED LIKE AJf AVALANCHE, 
 
 and it was hard to withstand his attacks. There was T. T. Sher- 
 wood; he was trying a large number of cases; I never could under- 
 stand him. His manners were strange, just the opposite of Haven 
 and Cook; he seemed to be in a chronic state of madness, in a con- 
 stant wrangle with the court, and not on good terms with the jury. 
 He would not make one objection, but fifty, and wanted to discuss 
 them one by one, and he acted just as though he believed each ob- 
 jection was fatal to his adversary's case. He was a corpulent gentle- 
 man, with a very red .face, and, if I may be allowed the expression, 
 he went lummoxing along in the trial of his cases. There were many 
 other men of mark and power practicing here at that time, of whom 
 I cannot detain you to speak. Well, I watched and wondered at 
 the power of these men, and wondered if I could ever attain such 
 a position. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Bar, I am glad to be here with you to-night, 
 and hope that this pleasant meeting will prove the beginning of 
 many such gatherings, that we may know each other more inti- 
 mately in social, friendly intercourse. Our profession is an important 
 and influential one, and it behooves ns to hold high its standard of 
 morals and influence. 
 
 I have some little acquaintance with the Bar of other cities, and 
 I think I can truthfully say that I know of none so distinguished 
 for friendly and good feeling as ours. Let ns all strive to improve 
 
117 
 
 this good fellowship and feeling, and may we all live here many 
 years in the practice of our profession. 
 
 FROM HON. A. P. LANING. 
 
 Buffalo, March 14, 1876. 
 Gentlemen : I am in receipt of your invitation to attend a meeting of the 
 Bar of Erie County this evening at tlie TifEt House. Nothing would afford me 
 greater pleasure than to comply with your request and participate with you 
 in the festivities of the occasion, but a pressing prior engagement will prevent 
 my acceptance of your invitation. 
 
 Be pleased to present my sincere regrets at my inability to meet my profes- 
 sional brethren. I cordially approve the objects of your meeting, and trust 
 that it may tend to greater fraternal intercourse, and result in the formation 
 of an Association of the Bar of this city, which shall add to its proper influ- 
 ence in the State, and promote the interests of our profession. 
 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 A. P. Laning. 
 E. C. Sprague, Esq. , and others of the Committee. 
 
 Gen. L. \V. Thayer, of Warsaw, Wyoming county, was called 
 upon to speak as hailing from a section of the country near where 
 Mr. Laning came from. The General complied and spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 ADDRESS OF GEN. L. W. THAYER. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Bar of Erie County : Al- 
 though highly appreciating your invitation to join you upon this 
 festive occasion, I was at a loss to imagine any cause to which I 
 could attribute it. I had never been a member of your Bar, or 
 held any judicial position that could in any way entitle me to any 
 such distinction. In this dilemma it occilVred to me as barely pos- 
 sible that in view of the fact that my name had been mentioned in 
 connection with a judicial position in which you were interested, 
 that with your usual foresight and precaution, you thought prudent 
 at least, in view of my possible appointment, in that way to remind 
 me of your friendship and confidence. If so, I beg to assure you 
 there is not the slightest danger of your being placed in any posi- 
 tion where my official action can be of the least importance. Besides 
 I am already under too many obligations to the Bar of Buffalo, which 
 I can never discharge, to require any further manifestations of your 
 friendship and confidence. 
 
 I remember, and shall never forget, that nearly twenty years ago 
 when a candidate for a high judicial office, of receiving in this 
 county the enormous majority of six thousand votes over an oppo- 
 nent who afterwards became 
 
 ONE OF THE MOST EMINENT JURISTS 
 
 in the State. I attributed that gratifying result in no small degree 
 to the influence of the Bar of this city. Four years ago, upon the 
 
118 
 
 recommendation of two distinguished members of your Bar (one, 
 alas, now no more) and the eminent jurist alluded to, and wholly 
 unbeknown to me, my name was sent to the Senate, to fill a vacancy 
 in the highest court of the State. But what I chiefly wish to refer 
 to is the active efforts that were made by both the Bar and press of 
 both parties to procure my confirmation, being a Democrat, by a 
 Senate largely Repiiblican. To those efforts on the part of Repub- 
 lican judges and lawyers as well as the Republican press of this 
 city, my worthy friend, Mr. Lewis, then Senator, and to whom I 
 am deeply indebted for his own efforts, can fully testify. 
 
 Your friendship and confidence has again and but recently been 
 equally manifested in relation to the judicial vacancy now existing 
 in the district, and with the same disregard of party. Indeed, I 
 am inclined to think that the large support I have received from 
 my Republican friends, not only in this city, but throughout the 
 district, may be one cause of my unpopularity in another quarter, 
 but I assure you that I value it none the less on that account. 
 
 Now, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I have availed myself of this 
 occasion, and probably the only one I may ever have, to refer to 
 these many evidences I have received of the friendship of your Bar, 
 in order to assure you how fully I appreciate them, and to say from 
 the depths of my heart how sincerely I thank you. 
 
 Mr. Chairman : Having lived all my life in an adjoining county 
 I have not been an indifferent observer, either of the rise and emi- 
 nence of the Bar, or the growth and prosperity of your beautiful 
 city. I have watched the advancement of both nearly half a cen- 
 tury with the deepest interest. But I am compelled to admit that 
 there is one event, and but one, in your history that I have never 
 enjoyed. Although 
 
 IT OCCURKED OVER FIFTY YEARS AGO, 
 
 its history has been told and repeated with short intervals ever 
 since. It has been celebrated in prose and immortalized in poetry. 
 The more I have read, even the poetry, as beautiful as it is, the less 
 I have enjoyed it. And yet I can hardly tell why, unless it be in the 
 name. Whether I was in any way interested in that event, I have 
 never deemed it profitable to inquire. Indeed, in view of that 
 event, I have adopted the advice of the poet Saxe, and have never 
 sought to trace my family line for fear it might 
 
 " End in a loop of stronger twine, 
 To plague some worthy relation." 
 
 I have contented myself by denying any relation to any of the name 
 in this county, and consoled myself with the reflection that if three 
 of the same name were hung, that three of the same name came 
 over (as is always the case) in the Mayflower, or some other vessel. 
 I need hardly say I allude to that great and memorable event in 
 your history, the conviction and 
 
119 
 
 EXECUTION OF THE "THREE THATERS. 
 
 Now, I have never wondered tluit yonr city should cherish thafc 
 great event as an epoch in its history. When it occurred you were 
 a mere vilhige without a history, and an event of that importance 
 could not be forgotten. But now as it seems to me, having become 
 a great and prosperous city, with a history made up of events of 
 far more value, and to mc at least far more interesting, I should not 
 wonder if you would continue to prosper and advance, even if you 
 should let the " Three Thayers" sleep quietly in their graves for, 
 say, the next half century. 
 
 In conclusion, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I desire to express 
 my fullest concurrence in the high encomiums that have been pro- 
 nounced to-night upon those distinguished members of the profes- 
 sion of this county, who have done so much by their learning, 
 integrity, ability and liberality to give to your Bar the high and 
 enviable position it has attained. I knew nearly all of those dis- 
 tinguished gentlemen personally as well as professionally, and tes- 
 tify from my own knowledge of them. 
 
 To the younger members of this Bar I wish to say that upon 
 you will soon devolve the honor and responsibility of maintaining 
 that high reputation of your Bar which will be intrusted to your 
 keeping. That you can and will do it, I have seen ample proofs 
 here to-night. You can hardly hope to raise it higher. If you 
 transmit it unimpaired to your successors in the profession, it ought 
 to satisfy your most laudable ambition, and with that result you 
 may well be satisfied. 
 
 LA W STUDENTS. 
 
 The chairman said he was glad to recognize several law students 
 present, young men that were preparing to enter the profession 
 that had been so highly eulogized this evening. He called upon 
 Mr. James Fraser Gluck, to speak in behalf of the students of the 
 Bar of Buffalo. Mr. Gluck responded and said: 
 
 • 
 
 SPEECH OP J. F. GLUCK. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlem.en of the Bar of Erie County: In 
 rising 1 thank you most sincerely for the honor you have conferred, 
 not upon me, but upon the law students of this city by this public 
 recognition of them, on this, the first social gathering of the Bar 
 of Erie County. 
 
 The world has indeed moved forward since the time when many 
 of those here present were treated, by those in whose offices they 
 studied, as copying hacks and message boys. It moves further for- 
 
120 
 
 ward to-day when this public recognition is taken of law students 
 in your presence, and the presence of their honors, the judges of 
 this State and county. 
 
 But, sir, I hail this, not as an innovation in that most conservative 
 of professions, the law, but rather as a return to its best usages, in 
 its palmiest days, in that nation, distinguished above all others for 
 legal learning and acumen. For, daily, in the streets of Rome, the 
 Imperial City, the great jures-consult might be seen accompanied 
 by their students— by them considered their rarest ornament — en- 
 gaged in the intervals between cases, in answering their questions 
 and in imparting to them that knowledge of legal principles which 
 books alone could never, can never give. 
 
 And, to-night, sir, I forget not the kindnesses which personally 
 it has been my good fortune to experience, when I venture to ex- 
 press the hope that this public recognition is but an earnest of what 
 will in the future be done elsewhere. I would not insult you, sir, 
 nor the learned and dignified assembly here present, by filling up 
 the short time I wish to speak, with glittering generalities or empty 
 platitudes. I have no such desire. I have a purpose in speaking. 
 I have a plea to make, and I stand here to-night and plead, as a 
 student for students, not for better pay, not for more books, not for 
 ampler digests, but for that personal fellowship on the part of mem- 
 bers of the Bar, that kindly interest, that willingness to commu- 
 nicate to students that knowledge which reading alone does not 
 afford, which experience alone has given to you all. 
 
 No lawyer here present would be willing to admit that he would 
 receive into his Office those he deemed unworthy of the profession; 
 knowing them worthy, it is in his power to render them, it is his 
 duty to endeavor to make them ornaments to the profession. It is 
 a mere truism, though seldom fully realized, that the profession is 
 just what its members choose to make it; as they honor the bench, 
 the world will honor it; as they respect themselves, the world will 
 respect them. And the lawyer who honors the bench and respects 
 liimself does well ; but he, better, who, while carrying with honor 
 the torch of justice, as he runs his own brief race, looks well to it, 
 that he to whom he knows that torch must be handed when he is 
 gone, is tiot unworthy of that noble task. Surely, if it be man's 
 primal duty to.endeavor to leave the world better than he found it, 
 he does much to elevate his profession, and through it, the world, 
 who, by generous sympathy, does all he can to stimulate and en- 
 courage those who will one day constitute that profession. 
 
 But the first advance should come from the superior. There is 
 thereby no loss of dignity. He indeed honors himself more than 
 him whom he serves, who descends from his own clear and sunny 
 perceptions of the law to the student, lost in the fog-land of text- 
 books and the confusion worse confounded of our early law. 
 
 But enough of this. Let me speak on a more pleasant theme. 
 Let me assure yon, sir, that this kindness in inviting us and ac- 
 cording us recognition to-night as students will not be without its 
 
121 
 
 effect upon us. To-night we have had recalled to our minds by the 
 venerable men who have spoken, those who are our ancestors — the 
 great and good men of the past ; our ancestors, I say, for there is a 
 lineage of mind that is truer than that of blood; we have listened 
 to the record of their noble deeds, we are roused to emulate the 
 glory of their characters ; and we dedicate here to-night, our energy, 
 our enthusiasm, our loftiest ambition to the upbuilding of a noble 
 profession, a purer and grander republic. 
 
 The ancient Lombard kings, as they placed upon their heads the 
 iron crown of their kingdom, were wont to say, " God has given it 
 me ; let him beware who would take it from me.*' And so each of 
 us to-night, resisting the insane thirst for wealth, and the insidious 
 whisperings .of a corrupt and time-serving ambition, place upon 
 our heads the ideal crown of a pure professional life; and exclaim 
 like the kings of old, " God has given it me ; not all the world shall 
 take it from me!" 
 
 In response to repeated calls, Mr. Geo. Wadsworth said : 
 
 ADDKESS OF GEO. WADSWORTH, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Brethren : I think that the orange has been 
 squeezed, and the juice and pulp distributed, and that calling me 
 up, at two o'clock in the morning for a speech, is like asking me to 
 make some delectable beverage from the rejected and despised rind 
 of the fruit. 
 
 The praises of our new Court House have been sung here this 
 evening, but little or nothing has been said about the old otie; this 
 is natural, the dead are soon forgotten, we smooth down their rest- 
 ing places, and go our way, and they soon pass from our memories, 
 and so it seems as if 
 
 OUR VENERABLE OLD COURT HOUSE 
 
 were forgotten already; we have been to its funeral; allow me to 
 say a few words about it. 
 
 When I came to Buffalo, in 1852, the old Court House was stand- 
 ing in almost precisely the same condition it is now, the so-called 
 new Court House, on the corner of Clinton and Ellicott streets was 
 nearly new in fact, as well as in name. 
 
 Small, narrow, contracted and insufficient for the business of to- 
 day as the old Court House is, and especially as it seems to us wlien 
 contrasted with the superb Hall, into which we have removed, yet 
 when erected, it was more than sufficient for its designed purposes. 
 
 I am told by James D. Sheppard, Esq., the pioneer in the pro- 
 fession and business of music here, that in the year 1827, he could 
 not find a suitable place in the village of Buffalo in which to open 
 his music store, and that John G. Camp, then sheriff of Erie county, 
 leased to him the north-east corner room on the ground floor of the 
 old Court House for that purpose, and that he carried on his busi- 
 9 
 
122 
 
 ness of a music dealer there for some time; whether his music had 
 charms to soothe the savage breasts of the counsel and litigants who 
 thronged the other rooms of the old building we are not told, but 
 it may have had its share in bringing about that amelioration of the 
 manners of the Bar, which has been spoken of. 
 
 You will remember that the chairman of our meeting on Satur- 
 day mentioned many of the lawyers who flourished here in the in- 
 fancy of Buffalo; among them he named Hon. Henry E. Davies, 
 late Judge of the Court of Appeals, who was City Attorney and 
 clerk at the time of the great controversy concerning the location of 
 Commercial and Water streets, which Mr. Babcock also mentioned; 
 that controversy left a long legacy of litigation to the city; even so 
 late as the year 1860 or 1861, when I was City Attorney, I argued 
 in the Court of Appeals, a case which was originally brought in the 
 year 1844 by the city against Jonathan Sidway, and which grew out 
 of the Commercial and Water street matter, and when the facts were 
 stated at the opening of the argument, 
 
 JUDGE DAVIES AEOSE AND LEFT THE BENCH, 
 
 saying that he could not sit in the case, as he had been attorney for 
 the city in those matters. 
 
 I have thought that a brief mention of the changes which have 
 taken place in the Bar might interest you. The list of attorneys in 
 Buffalo in 1856, comprises one hundred and seventy names; of these 
 fifty-one are dead, thirty-four have removed to other localities, three 
 remain with us, but are not in practice, and of ten others I have no 
 knowledge, leaving but seventy-two who are still connected with the 
 profession, either on the bench or at the Bar. Our present roll of 
 attorneys includes over two hundred names. Thus it appears that 
 Dearly two-thirds of the lawyers of this city have commenced their 
 professional lives within the last twenty years, and that, while our 
 city has doubled in wealth and population, the number of mem- 
 bers of our profession has not increased in anything like the same 
 proportion. , • 
 
 And now that "Ichabod" is written upon the portals of the 
 old Court House, now that its glory has departed, and we bid fare- 
 well to it, and to all the memories and associations which cluster so 
 thickly around it, let it be our aim to maintain and if possible ele- 
 vate still higher the honorable position which the Bar of Erie 
 County has always sustained, and see to it that the dignity and 
 honor of our profession suffer no detriment at our hands, in the 
 elegant surroundings of our new Temple of Justice, to which we 
 go with mingled feelings of sorrow for the past and gladness and 
 hope for the present and the future. 
 
123 
 
 Mr. Box was called for, and spoke as follows : 
 
 SPEECH OF H. W. BOX, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. (Jlmirman and Brethren of the Bar : At a banquet where so 
 much has been appropriately and eloquently said, I confess I am em- 
 barrassed in attempting to add a single word. 
 
 I am profoundly grateful to the movers of this re-union of the 
 Bar of Erie County. 
 
 We have been made to feel to-night that ours is a glorious pro- 
 fession, and to rank well with its best members is no ordinary priv- 
 ilege. Surely, a little self-glorification on such an occasion as this 
 is pardonable; besides, self-praise has one great element of advantage 
 over all other kinds of praise, it is always convenient; and if we 
 do not take it in sufficient doses, the fault is our own. 
 
 I am sorry the world has not always held so high an estimate of 
 our profession as we place upon it ourselves to-night. 
 
 Cromwell's barebones parliament 
 
 cherished no such exalted notions concerning our profession, and 
 regarded the whole fraternity with suspicion. 
 
 But, gentlemen, whatever may have been the prejudices against 
 lawyers in the early days of our civilization, it is certain none exist 
 to-day. 'No pursuit in life appears more captivating to the aspirant 
 for fame than the profession of the law' as it is f9llowed and rewarded 
 in our American courts. 
 
 It is the great avenue to political preferment and reputation; its 
 honors are among the most splendid which can be attained in a 
 free country, and its emoluments and pT;ivileges are prizes to be con- 
 tested for by all its members. The rolls of our own County Bar 
 celebrate many individuals who have risen from the humblest ranks 
 by patient labor to wealth and station. 
 
 If the younger members of this Bar imagine they perceive in the 
 elevation of these men much due to fortuitous circumstances, they 
 are sadly deceived. These men are the architects of their own 
 respective fortunes. Let us submit ourselves to the same tests, the 
 same unremitting toil ; if we do not attain their greatness, we can 
 acquire distinction. The dream of indolence must be dissipated; 
 we must awaken to the truth that there is no excellence without 
 great labor. 
 
 The young men here to-night will soon be called to take the 
 places of the sages of the Bench and Bar whose splendid achieve- 
 ments they now daily witness with admiration and surprise. In 
 remembrance of the past, who would dare venture a prediction as 
 t6 who present will occupy the future places of honor, trust and 
 emolument! The genius at the college, think you? The young 
 gentleman who answered every question asked by the examining 
 committee for admission ? The young man of high family position ? 
 
124 
 
 The child of wealthy parents? The history of the past furnishes 
 no affirmative answer. 
 
 We have seen the genius sink and perish in poverty, obscurity and 
 wretchedness, while on the other hand we have observed the 
 mediocre plodding his slow but sure way up the hill of life, gaining 
 steadfast, footing every step, and mounting, at length, to eminence 
 and distinction, an ornament to his family, a blessing to his country. 
 
 SIR JOSHUA EEYNOLDS SAID: 
 
 "If a man has great talents industry will improve them; if he has 
 but moderate abilities industry will supply their deficiency." The 
 Spartan youth who complained to his mother that his sword was 
 too short, was told to add a step to it ; and so must our scant ca- 
 pacity be increased by diligence, and a more earnest determination. 
 If it be not literally true that " nothing is denied to well directed 
 labor," it is certain that "nothing is to be obtained without it." 
 
 To those of my young professional brethren who have just en- 
 tered upon the practice of the law, and who scarcely know where 
 the next installment for board is to be obtained, take courage from 
 the success of your seniors who have triumphed over similar obsta- 
 cles and reached the highest positions in our profession. They ap- 
 preciate your embarrassments and annoyances, they sympathize with 
 you, and in their heart of hearts bid you God's speed. 
 
 Learn to labor and to wait, and you shall verify the truth in your 
 own lives of the declaration of the great dramatist: 
 
 " Sweet are the uses of adversity. 
 Which like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
 Wears yet a precious jewel in its head." 
 
 Mr. E. C. Pattison was called upon, and his address was as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 ADDRESS OP E. C. PATTISON, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. Chairriian and Gentlemen: As we have left the old Court 
 House, and, professionally speaking, left it forever, it seems to me 
 that the occasion requires and is entitled to a poet; and, although 
 I've not been published as one whom the Muse has looked upon 
 with favor, still I cannot let the opportunity pass without contribut- 
 ing my verse. But I trust, gentlemen, you will not lay aside your 
 Shakespeare, Milton, Byron and Burns, to welcome 
 
 A POET FROM THE BUFFALO BAR. 
 
 I say the occasion demands a song, celebrating it, as we do around 
 this festive board, and those venerable old buildings should by right 
 be embalmed in verse, for, be it known, they must be embalmed in 
 something to keep them together, although I fear my verse won't 
 preserve those old benches and bars from the decay that will visit 
 them from henceforth. 
 
125 
 
 We've had many a happy time there, sometimes feeling keenly 
 sensitive of our defects, at other times reveling in our triumphs. 
 Justice has been meted out there, I hope, at all times with an- even 
 hand, and, as occasion required, it has been tempered with mercy, 
 by those who have graced our Bench, as shining lights in the legal 
 firmament, but who have now gone down the tide of returnless 
 years; others have filled their places, and our Bench is now the 
 pride and glory of the Bar, and one which we may Justly feel proud 
 of. But, sir, on this joyous occasion, celebrating our possession of 
 the new City and County Hall, we can look back at the old Court 
 House and say: 
 
 Farewell to the rooms, where Justice held sway, 
 Farewell to walls, that begin to decay, 
 Farewell to its Bench, farewell to its Bar, 
 Welcome, thrice welcome, our new " Temple Bar." 
 
 We've left the old Court House, entered the new, 
 And look back over mem'ries bright as the dew. 
 To where battles hard have been fought and won. 
 And others been lost, to all and eacH one. 
 
 There scenes were acted we ne'er can forget, 
 And hopes were blasted, •bright suns were set ; 
 There young legal lights have made their first plea, 
 Proud of their triumphs, as gems from the sea. 
 
 There the Judge, Lawyer, Sheriff and Clerk, 
 Met to solve problems that puzzled old Quirk ; 
 Old Gammon and Snap have taken a hand 
 In troubles of those who belong to our band. 
 
 The Fillmores and Havens, Gansons and Halls, 
 Have wrestled for justice within those walls; 
 Verplanck and Masten, Mullett and Grover, 
 Have graced the old Bench, now left forever. 
 
 We left the old Court House, left it in pairs. 
 And thought of the fun we've often had there; 
 Ah ! what's that glistens'? a tear in the eye — 
 Farewell, old homestead ! we bid you good-bye. 
 
 Another call was made for the younger members of the Bar, and 
 Mr. H. B. Greene answered for them, and made one of the best 
 speeches of the evening. It was original^ thoughtful, and instruct- 
 ive. His address was sufficiently interlarded with anecdote to make 
 it amusing and relishable, and it was listened to with the deepest 
 interest. 
 
 Mr. G-reene was followed by Mr. J. C Milburn, another young, 
 promising and rising member of the profession, who acquitted 
 himself nobly in a manly and thoughtful address, that evinced 
 extensive reading, and a well-stored mind. 
 
126 
 
 Mr. Perry G. Parker was loudly called for, and gave the follow- 
 ing address : 
 
 ADDRESS OF P. G. PARKER, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Brother Lawyers: I have never delivered a 
 Fourth of July oration in my life; never have read an essay or an 
 address before an agricultural society, although the son of a farmer 
 and brought up at farmers' work. 
 
 This is my native county, and this city has been my home during 
 all my legal labors, and will be until those labors are ended. In 
 September, 1841, I entered the oflSce of Fillmore and Haven as a 
 student-at-law, and remained there until I was admitted to practice 
 in November, 1844, at the October terra of that year held at 
 Eochester, N. Y. Lucien Hawley, Isaiah T. Williams, James M. 
 Haven and E. Carlton Sprague were associate clerks and students 
 in the same office. Of Mr. Sprague I need not speak; he has done 
 that for himself. Mr. Haven, a younger brother of S. G. Haven, 
 died in April, 1844 ; he di(inot live long enough to be admitted to 
 practice in his chosen profession. He was talented, kind-hearted, 
 and amiable as a young woman. Hawley and Williams, were ad- 
 mitted to the Bar at the same time 1 was, in 1844. Of Hawley, 
 let me say he is a good lawyer, the incorruptible government offi- 
 cial, an honest' man — a valued friend. Williams was bound to 
 succeed, and he has accomplished success, • 
 
 STANDING IN THE FRONT EANK 
 
 of the profession in the city of New York, and has few superiors as 
 an advocate. The friendships formed in our student life have 
 existed ever since. The life of the student then was not what it is 
 now. It was very rare that the student was allowed, like my 
 brother Lewis to pettifog before he was admitted. 
 
 The lawyer has a profession which is second to none other; and 
 in its ranks are to be found the ablest and the best in every com- 
 munity of this enlightened country. 
 
 In 1842, Reuben Hyde Walworth, was Chancellor of the State; 
 Samuel Nelson, was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court; Nathan 
 Dayton, Circuit Judge; Nathan K. Hall, First Judge of Erie 
 County; Horatio J. Stow, Recorder of the City of Buffalo; Henry 
 W. Rogers, District Attorney of Erie County. Among the old law 
 firms of Buffalo I remember at that time, were Fillmore, Hall & 
 Haven; Barker, Hawley & Sill; Potter, Babcock & Spaulding; 
 Austin, Love & Vedder. This union of strength was desirable be- 
 cause it permitted a division of labor, as every variety of business 
 was done in each law office, — civil and criminal in law, equity and 
 admiralty, through all the different stages of litigation. 
 
 I tried my first case in a Court of Record in December, 1845, 
 before H. K. Smith, Recorder and a jury. Judge Daniels was my 
 opponent. I was in excellent health and perfectly sober, and yet I 
 
127 
 
 remember that it was with great difficulty that I could stand upon 
 my feet when addressing the court or Jury; there was a weak- 
 ness in my knees, and a general feeling of feebleness. I was de- 
 feated by a decision of the court upon a question of law; but on 
 appeal to the Supreme Court I reversed the Eecorder and succeeded 
 in the case. 
 
 ALL MY ASSOCIATIONS 
 
 with the Bar of Erie County have been pleasing and enjoyable. I 
 have received the greatest kindness from Bench and Bar. In many 
 a warm contest honorable blows have been taken and given; and 
 self-respect and friendship maintained. I think this Bar is noted 
 for its liberal practice; and I commend this to its younger mem- 
 bers as more profitable and agreeable in the long run than technical 
 or sharp practice. 
 
 The code and rules furnish a general guide in the practice; but 
 there are constantly springing up matters for which there is no 
 written rule and you must rely upon the word of promise of your 
 adversary; see to it that your promise be kept. In all things in- 
 volving the merits of your case, consult your client's interest; in 
 matters of practice consult your own convenience and pleasure. 
 
 Before me, on my right, is a small band of my brothers, with 
 gray hairs. I am hastening on and will soon Join them. I see 
 the crowd coming up the hill on the other side; I say to you, 
 welcome ; but hasten slowly ; do not turn us away. Be kind to us; 
 we would linger yet awhile about the scenes with which we have 
 been so long familiar. This social gathering marks an era in the 
 Bar of Erie County. The movement to form a Bar Association 
 meets with my hearty approval. Let it embrace all ; and its object 
 be to elevate and improve us all, not to push down any. From the 
 social feeling Avhich begins here to-nigiit the best of results will 
 flow, if properly cultivated. Therefore, cherish this and organize. 
 I thank you for the attention you iiave given me, and bid you all 
 good- night. 
 
 Mr. Gurney, being called upon, said : 
 
 ADDRESS OF W. H. GURNEY, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Erie ■ County Bar : I did 
 not expect to be called upon to speak to you to-night, indeed, in 
 all this talk about the "old members" and the "young mem- 
 bers" of the Bar, I hardly know where I belong. Until the last 
 few days I supposed I ranked with the young members — among the 
 boys — but when we took leave of the old Court House, and were 
 formed by Gen. Scroggs in Military order, or in Masonic order, the 
 boys in front and the old men in the rear, I was, to my surprise, 
 nearer the rear than the front; there were more boys in front of me 
 than old men behind me. 
 
128 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I was admitted in the class of 1860, a class en- 
 titled to some recognition at your hands, and I believe, sir, I am the 
 only representative of that distinguished class present this evening, 
 and I propose to say something in its defense. We have heard to- 
 night of those admitted prior to 1850, and of the young members 
 — but of the class of '60, we have, until now, heard nothing. 
 
 For the last four days we have been constantly reminded of the 
 old members — of how those old men practiced law. Why, Mr. Pres- 
 ident, those old fellows undoubtedly, did nobly in their day and 
 generation — we do nobly in ours. When they point us to their 
 eloquent Barker, we can show them a dozen eloquent Barkers. 
 When they point to their Dudley Marvins, we can point to a score 
 of Marvins. When they point to lawyers who won verdicts from 
 juries by the mere force of their eloquence, we can show a dozen 
 who do that every day. When they show you a lawyer who could 
 get verdicts and could not keep them, we can show his counterpart 
 to-day. When they point with pride to the honest and able judges, 
 with an equal degree of pride we can direct attention to our accom- 
 plished, honest and able judges. 
 
 Practicing law in those days and to-day is a different matter; as 
 an illustration, in those days when they desired to follow their causes 
 to the Court of Last Resort — then the Court for the Correction of 
 Errors — it took them a week, by the then most expeditious mode 
 of traveling, the stage-coach or the packet-boat, to reach Albany. 
 Now we go to bed in Buffalo in the evening, and are in Albany the 
 next morning, ready to argue our causes. There has been a change 
 in mode and manner of practicing law. Those old men so noble 
 and efficient in their age and day of the world, would be as much 
 out of place in this, as would the stage-coach and packet-boat as 
 a mode for speedy travel. 
 
 It seems proper for the class of '60 occupying the prominent mid- 
 dle position that they do, to say this. We can say, to the old men 
 of our day that we do not think you have passed the days of your 
 usefulness, but that your opinions are not as vigorous as they were 
 formerly. We can say to the boys — but in view of the able speeches 
 we have had from them to-night, it would be a bold man that 
 would say anything to them, except to congratulate them — to the 
 student we say, it is to the class of '60 that they must look for the 
 redress of those unpleasant things which surround the life of the 
 student; the members of that class have not forgotten the days 
 when they were students. Many of the obstacles that the class of '60 
 encountered exist no more — the life of a student now, is compara- 
 tively pleasant, when contrasted with the time when the class of 
 '60 were students. But evils still exist, and it shall be the special 
 mission of the class of '60 to see them removed. 
 
129 
 
 Mr. Josiah Cook, after being excused two or three times, finally 
 yielded to the call for a speech, and spoke thus : 
 
 ADDRESS OF JOSIAH COOK, ESQ. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Brethren of the Bar : I thank you for the 
 compliment you have been pleased to pay me in calling upon me 
 to address you. I do, indeed, appreciate the compliment, when I 
 look about me and see the vast number of learned gentlemen I 
 am addressing. 
 
 Brethren, I have met the members of the Erie County Bar on 
 more than twenty different occasions, called together to exchange 
 condolences upon the death of some brother, and to walk in pro- 
 cession to the depositing of the remains of those deceased brethren 
 in their last resting-place. I remember the last meeting for that 
 purpose was to pay 'the last tribute of respect to that bright spirit, 
 the lamented Folsom. 
 
 And when we gathered at the " Old Court House" for the pur- 
 pose of marching from there to the new Temple of Justice, was 
 there one in that vast assemblage who did not heave the sigh of 
 bereavement as they took the last look at the old structure? JSTot 
 one. And it occurred to me that, as every occasion upon which the 
 Erie County Bar had met in a body, had been one of sorrow, it was 
 about time that we met for the purpose of having a social time. 
 It was these reflections which prompted me to offer the resolution 
 that we meet at this banquet table. We are here, and I have been 
 pleased by the general good-feeling which has prevailed, and again 
 to see the large attendance here to-night. This is a meeting of the 
 Erie County Bar, which will not soon be forgotten; it is the first 
 of the kind, and, I hope, not the last. I am pleased at the very 
 lapge attendance here, of what may be. termed, the young members 
 of the Bar, and, while listening to the speeches of several of them 
 here this evening, it occurred to me that Erie county might well 
 be proud of the young men who are coming up to associate with 
 and take the places of the older members, when they should be 
 called to their fathers. In conclusion, allow me to suggest to the 
 younger members who have been talking much about Roman law 
 and lawyers, that they had better give their attention to Buffalo law 
 and lawyers, for, after they have practiced at the Buffalo Bar for 
 twenty years, as I have, they will find that the Buffalo lawyers will 
 keep them so busy, that they will have little time to devote to 
 Justinian etal. 
 
 Gentlemen, I bid you good-night. 
 
130 
 
 The chairman referred to the law firm of Fillmore, Hall & Haven 
 and to Thomas J. Sizer as having been a student with them and 
 having for a time the charge of their law business, and asked to 
 hear something from him. Mr. Sizer in response said: 
 
 ADDRESS OF T. J. SIZER. 
 
 The chairman's allusion to my former connection with the dis- 
 tinguished law firm requires me to say something. I had not 
 thought but that many others present, as Mr. Sprague, Mr. Parker, 
 and others, were students with that firm, but, thinking of it, there 
 is only Dennis Bowen present whom I remember as a student with 
 me. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore was one of the best of lawyers. It seemed so to me 
 then; and I know it better as I have had better opportunities for 
 observation and comparison. It has, by many, been supposed that 
 he was chiefly a statesman. I think him more pre-eminent as a 
 lawyer — one of the best, if not the best, whom I have ever person- 
 ally known. His method was admirable. He seemed rather slow 
 and cautious, but in reality progressed through his examination of 
 a case with dispatch, and came to his conclusion with remarkable 
 certainty and confidence, because his system was so good and 
 thorough. He noted, but laid aside, each irrelevant question, and, 
 following the principle of the case, knew, with confidence, the 
 true conclusion when it was reached. I know this from my own 
 good opportunities for observing. He was always a student, always 
 a learner, always acquiring. 
 
 Judge Hall had remarkable qualities. His instinctive knowl- 
 edge of law was wonderful; and his off-hand opinion on any point 
 almost invariably accurate. He wrote a beautiful hand, and more 
 rapidly than any one I ever knew, and could transact business with 
 wonderful dispatch and correctness. If cornered, or pressed for 
 time, he could do more in an hour, and do it well, than many a 
 one could do in a whole day. 
 
 In my opinion, as a judge, he erred in elaborating his decisions, 
 and in the conscientiousness with which he investigated authorities. 
 I think he would have been entirely safe in relying more on the ex- 
 cellence of his own intuitive perceptions and knowledge, and that 
 his great abilities would have been better appreciated, and his 
 health preserved. 
 
 Mr. Haven was perhaps more known as a lawyer than either of 
 his partners by those here present, and he has already been well 
 and truly described. His pleasant manner in all his professional 
 work most agreeably impressed everybody, and undoubtedly had a 
 most excellent effect on this Bar. But Mr. Haven was a remarka- 
 ble worker. He seemed to love work for its own sake; and I think 
 he erred in making it too constant and continuous. He would 
 to the very last, spend long evenings in his office in the work of 
 copying papers. 
 
131 
 
 I have felt very much interested here to-night in the appeals of 
 the students and younger members of the Bar for sympathy and 
 encouragement. It is not always easy to'find satisfactory methods 
 by which to express these. The young must not suppose that they 
 alone are subject to embarrassment, and that they alone experience 
 these wants. 
 
 Since the Banquet, the chairman has received a letter from Hon. 
 Henry E. Davies, formerly a Buffalonian, but now of New York. 
 The older residents of Buffalo will remember Mr. Davies as a prom- 
 ising young lawyer, who began his professional career a half a cen- 
 tury ago, and who held the office of clerk and attorney of the village 
 corporation of Buffalo in 1826, or fifty years ago. Judge Davies 
 has since then become eminent as a lawyer and jurist, and has been 
 a member of the Court of Appeals. It is to Judge Davies that Mr. 
 Geo. Wadsworth referred in his address at the Banquet, as having 
 left his seat on the Bench, when a Buffalo case was called, in which 
 he had been counsel many years before. Judge Davies is now full 
 of years and is crowned with well-earned laurels, won in the pro- 
 fession, and on the Bench. His letter to Mr. Sprague here follows: 
 
 LETTER OP HON. HENRY E. DAVIES.. 
 
 New Yoek, March 27, 1876. 
 Hon. E. C. Sprague, Buffalo, N. Y.: 
 
 My Dear Sir : On the afternoon of the fourteenth of March, instant, I had 
 the honor to receive from the committee of the, Bar of Erie County an invi- 
 tation to a dinner, to be given that evening at the Tifft House. For this 
 remembrance of the Bar of Erie County, permit me to express my grateful 
 acknowledgments, and the regret I have deeply felt that it was not in my 
 power to be present on this interesting occasion. 
 
 I have read with great interest the proceedings of the meeting of the Bar of 
 Erie County, held at the old Court House, in Buffalo, on Saturday the eleventh 
 day of March, inst. It would have been peculiarly gratifying to my feelings 
 to have been present on that occasion. The scene calls back to my memory 
 the fact, that fifty years since I made my first professional speech in that 
 room, before the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County, and the subsequent 
 events of my professional life have never effaced the interest of that, to me, 
 memorable occasion. 
 
 You will permit me to express to the Bar of Erie County, through you, and 
 to the chairman of the meeting referred to, my grateful acknowledgments for 
 the notice taken of my connection with the Bar of your county. I shall 
 hope, at no distant day, personally to interchange congratulations with you 
 upon your removal from the old to the new Court House, where I hope you 
 will all achieve great professional honors and be rewarded with the approving 
 voice of a grateful and faithfully served community. I have the honor to 
 be, with great respect, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Henry E. Davies. 
 
132 
 
 ANOTHER BANQUET, 
 
 THE ATTACHES OF THE COUNTY CLERK'S OFFICE CELEBRATE 
 THEIR REMOVAL. 
 
 The gentlemen connected with the County Clerk's office cele- 
 brated the transition from the old to the new, in a somewhat select 
 and private social reunion. The affair was confined to the clerk, 
 his deputies and employees, the ex-county clerks," and former 
 attaches of the office, with a few invited guests, and came off 
 Thursday evening, March 16. 
 
 The party assembled in the old clerk's office at half-past seven 
 o'clock and organized, by the appointment of George L. Eemington, 
 Esq., the County Clerk, as chairman. On taking the chair, Mr. 
 Eemington said that in leaving the old quarters he had no regrets 
 to offer. There was nothing about it to claim endearment except 
 the recollections and associations formed there. In leaving this 
 old building for the more noble structure, he said: Let us deter- 
 mine to so shape our lives' that in the end we go to buildings more 
 spacious, to palaces more grand and which shall remain eternal. 
 
 Mr. Noah P. Sprague was appointed vice-president and made 
 brief remarks. In connection with the old building he had recol- 
 lections both pleasant and sad. He came to Buffalo in 1824. In 
 1831 he became County Clerk, which office he held for three years, 
 and, beginning with 1840, he held it for a second terra. The first 
 clerk of the county was Louis Le Couteulx, a polished gentleman 
 of the old school, one of the French nobility, courteous and digni- 
 fied, a very genial, excellent old man. When Mr. Sprague came 
 to Buffalo it was a village of about two thousand inhabitants. He 
 remembered talking with Gen. Joseph Clary, Mr. Barker, and David 
 Burt, regretting the shabby appearance of the square in front of 
 the Court House. Mr. Barker, then County Clerk, proposed that 
 
133 
 
 they should get some trees to plant there; the next day they went 
 out to the chestnut ridge and procured some trees which they 
 planted in the square, some ten or twelve of which the speaker 
 could recognize to-day. He^thought it due to the Clerks of Erie 
 county to say that they had been a line of honorable men, and he 
 hoped that in the future the same integrity and capacity might be 
 shown. 
 
 Mr. S. Gary Adams was chosen secretary, and in assuming the 
 duties of the station, he said: 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. ADAMS. 
 
 Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : I thank you for the honor of 
 this appointment. For months I have been anxiously waiting and 
 hoping to see the change take place, from the old to the new, as to 
 all departments of public business, but as to none of them, with as 
 much eagerness, as I have with respect to this office. As an out- 
 sider during several years, I have witnessed the crowded condi- 
 tion of affairs within these walls, and have felt that the records and 
 files were being ruined for the want of proper accommodation. I 
 remember well but a few years ago when the commissioners turned 
 this then new building over to its uses as a Court House and Clerk's 
 office. I felt then, as now, that it was a monstrosity, and wholly 
 unfitted as a place in which to store public records. 
 
 My connection with this office began in January, 1859, and ended 
 January, 1865. It was with me, as it is, and has been with all who 
 are, and have been connected with it, 
 
 A TIME OF STEADY HARD WOEK. 
 
 I found as you who are connected with it now find, that it is not a 
 matter of pastime, but " that eternal vigilance is the price of 
 safety," that the public interests require constant, continuous 
 watchfulness so that no mistakes shall be allowed to creep into 
 the records; that nothing shall be lost, and that all, so far as 
 possible, may be kept as good as new. 
 
 It was my experience during my entire continuance in this office 
 to find a public, willing to give all due credit for all honest 
 endeavors to fairly discharge the duties of the position. Particu- 
 larly was this the case with the gentlemen of the legal profession 
 with whom I was brought in daily contact. These are the bright 
 points in my memory connected with this building to which we 
 are now about to bid farewell. These are the redeeming features 
 connected with it. Robbed of these its memory would be hateful. 
 As with myself, so no doubt it is with the rest of you. 
 
134 
 
 But these memories, these recollections we shall take with us, 
 and always cherish them. And as the new rooms to which we go 
 are the more bright and the more beautiful, so also shall be these 
 memories and these recollections. 
 
 Mr. Marcus Bartlett, the affable and obliging deputy clerk, was 
 called upon to address the meeting in behalf of the employees of 
 the office, and said : 
 
 ADDRESS OF MR. BARTLETT. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen : I thank you for your courtesy in 
 calling on me to make a few remarks on this occasion, and as I 
 have not much to say I hope not to tire your patience. It may 
 perhaps be thought by some that we are rather, late in formally 
 leaving our old place of business and taking possession of the new. 
 But did they know the amount of labor that was necessary to be 
 performed to remove the things that belong to this office to their 
 new position, did they know that the County Clerk's office was kept 
 open for business and transacted all that came promptly up to five 
 o'clock Saturday evening, its usual hour of closing, and that it was 
 open at the new building and everything in place and ready for 
 business at the usual opening hour nine o'clock on Monday morn- 
 ing, they would know that work had to be done, and when 
 informed that there were eighty-three wagon loads of records and 
 documents, they will discover just cause for this delay, and 
 acknowledge that the work was performed quickly and quietly 
 without even delaying any act of official business for a moment. 
 And for this, great praise is due not only to the officials and 
 employees, but to many of our outside friends whose business had 
 made them familiar with the office, and who, taking an interest in 
 its affairs, promptly tendered assistance and rendered efficient aid. 
 And now we are ready to unite with our friends in taking a formal 
 leave of our old quarters, and a formal possession of the new. 
 
 And here I beg leave to read a few lines of verse that I have 
 hastily jotted down for the occasion: 
 
 Years ago I am told when our city was new, 
 When our county was young and its records were few, 
 Good men of the age, quite discerning and wise. 
 In the light of the past saw the future arise. 
 
 With a keen sense of need and an honest good will, 
 And perhaps of those times with an architect's skill, 
 They planned and erected, by diligent work, 
 This building, for Court House and office of Clerk. 
 
 'Twaa a safe, noble structure, no doubt for its time; 
 No doubt its projectors e'en thought it sublime, 
 As a place for the records of mortgage and deed. 
 The Clerk's office sure must be all they would need. 
 
135 
 
 But Time, the great teacher that many despise. 
 
 Gives knowledge and wisdom ofttimes to the wise, 
 
 And happy the man, and the people, indeed, 
 
 When truth comes so plain that though running they read. 
 
 This awkard, contracted, unhealthy, dark place. 
 To both county and city became a disgrace, 
 When those who kept pace with the marches of time, 
 « Planned and reared its successor, a model sublime. 
 
 And therefore we leave this old castle alone, 
 With a joy in our hearts we are willing to own; 
 Though memory whispers of many things here, 
 Which time and our friendships have made doubly dear. 
 
 But ere we depart let us briefly review 
 Those deeds of the past, we here learned to do, 
 And see if perchance while the watchman has slept, 
 Naught bad was engrossed where the records are kept. 
 
 Through dockets of judgments and libers of deeds. 
 Through mortgage foreclosures and intricate leads. 
 We have searched for the titles of houses and lands, 
 To help those in trouble and strengthen their hands. 
 
 Faithful scribes we have been, at least tried to be. 
 And to leave the best page where others could see, 
 On the books of this office we oft would compete. 
 But that does not prove all our records complete. 
 
 For the unwritten page to our minds may reveal 
 Certain deeds which displayed less of wisdom than zeal. 
 And the thought of them often our feelings have stirred. 
 But we never were human unless we had erred. 
 
 If we often did wrong, we as oft would deplore, 
 . And like other transgressors the same things do o'er. 
 So with good and with bad we have jostled along. 
 Ever striving for right but at times doing wrong. 
 
 May our good deeds stand forth in the strength of their might, 
 And our bad ones be buried in Oblivion's night; 
 And as we go forth from these walls with a sigh. 
 Drop a tear of regret with our parting good-bye. 
 
 Messrs. Thomas B. Wright and Amos B. Tanner were then 
 appointed marshals, and the employees and their guests, having 
 been formed in procession, marched to the office in the new build- 
 ing, where the meeting was re-organized, and the exercises opened 
 with prayer invoked by Rev. James Remington, of Lancaster, father 
 of the County Clerk. 
 
 Hon. Albert Haight, County Judge, then made some pleasant 
 remarks, in the course of which he spoke of the City and County 
 Hall as surpassing any other building in the country constructed 
 for similar purposes. Heretofore the people of Buffalo had referred 
 
136 
 
 to the public buildings with mortification, but now they were 
 possessed of a structure of which they might well be proud. He 
 congratulated the County Clerk and his employees upon the beautiful 
 office to which they had been removed, 
 
 Alonzo Tanner, Esq., considered the new City and County Hall 
 an honor to the citizens of Erie county and of Buffalo. There Vas 
 no building that he knew of, unless it might be the Capitol at 
 Washington, that could compare with its magnificence. Mr. Tan- 
 ner spoke of his familiarity with the County Clerk's Office, and of 
 the great increase of the business of the county since 1850. He 
 agreed with what had been said, that there should not be a great 
 amount of murmuring upon leaving the old quarters. 
 
 Mr. Bartlett, the deputy clerk, was again called upon and spoke 
 as fojlows : 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen : Again I thank you for this 
 mark of favor, and again, as I said before, I will endeavor to be 
 brief, but it is well for me and perhaps better for you who are here 
 assembled, that I am not a man of words ; that I am not an orator. 
 For were I thus gifted I should endeavor at this time, in this place 
 and on this occasion, surrounded as we are by all this grandeur and 
 magnificence, to attempt in words to do justice to this building, its 
 equipments, its architects, its projectors, its builders, and to all to 
 whom we are indebted for its usefulness and beauty. But words 
 as well as ideas fail me. We have here a safe receptacle for the most 
 important documents of all the people of our county, the titles to 
 their very homes; and I am proud to live in a county where its 
 leading men conceived and carried out so successfully such a worthy 
 and laudable undertaking. I am proud to be a tax-payer in Erie 
 county in this one hundreth anniversary of our nation's independ- 
 ence that I may assist in' the erection of so noble a structure. 
 
 I will again conclude what I have to say in verse : 
 
 We have passed from the old, we have entered the new, 
 And behold what a change, what a sight meets the view ! 
 And the truth stands before us in splendor sublime 
 That mind has kept pace with the marches of time. 
 
 A temple where wisdom should sit on the throne, 
 A temple where fraud should be always unknown ! 
 A temple where justice should never be dumb ; • 
 And a place for our records for long years to come. 
 
 Words fail on my tongue half its beauties to tell, 
 Of its firm granite walls from the basement to bell. 
 Of its spacious apartments where neatness appears, 
 Of its glittering columns and grand chandeliers. 
 
137 
 
 From the tip of the turret to foundation stone 
 Each part in itself is a model alone ; 
 All forming combined (and which none should destroy) 
 A grand thing of beauty, forever a joy. 
 
 These things in our hearts should awaken anew 
 
 A faith in our kind, a resolve to be true. 
 
 We are men with a title to honor and fame, 
 
 Let our life records prove we are worthy the name. 
 
 What is wealth without wisdom and that from above ? 
 What is man without honor and life without love ? 
 For the joy of well doing will never depart 
 From the thankful in spirit, the grateful in heart. 
 
 We will thank all the builders that none feel aggrieved, 
 From the hand that performed to the head that conceived; 
 Especially those through whose wisdom and will 
 We are blest with this model of architect skill. 
 
 How they guarded the funds as they reared the strong wall, 
 
 Is an honor to them and a blessing to all. 
 
 And they each should be proud every fact to reveal 
 
 In these days of lax morals when honest (?) men steal. 
 
 But of earthly rewards nothing richer is gained 
 Than to know that their fingers have never been stained; 
 Then like just men and true we'll resolve here to-night — 
 God giving us strength — we will always do right. 
 
 If we seek for the favors of bounteous Heaven, 
 Our bad deeds repented will all be forgiven ; 
 Then like mortgages paid or outlawed judgment rolls, 
 We shall feel they're no longer a lien on our souls. 
 
 And the good, when the bad to otlivion have passed, 
 
 Will all be recorded for ever to last, 
 
 In letters of gold in those Libers of love, 
 
 Kept only by Angels in mansions above. 
 
 When the last page is reached and the last line is laid. 
 The world will be blest by the records we've made. 
 And with naught to upbraid, and no sorrow to feel. 
 We will pass from this earth to the land of the leal. 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Bartlett's address, a procession was again 
 formed, and leaving the stately building the company pursued their 
 way to 
 
 THE OCEAN HOUSE, 
 
 where the scene was exchanged for a banquet room in which a most 
 inviting table was spread. The bill of fare was excellent, and the 
 guests were in good condition for doing justice to it. After appe- 
 tites were satisfied, a " feast of reason " was declared in order, and 
 regular toasts were proposed and responded to, as follows : 
 10 
 
138 
 
 " The County of Erie," responded to by Judge Albert Haiglit. 
 ''The Building Commissioners," G-eorge S. Wardwell, Esq. 
 " The Old Settlers of Erie County," Rev. James Remington. 
 " The Superior Court," John C. Graves, Esq. 
 " The District Attorney's Office," District Attorney D. N. Lock- 
 wood. 
 
 " The Sheriff's Department," Under Sheriff E. R. Chase. 
 " The Surrogate's Office," C. W. Goodyear, Esq. 
 " The County Treasurer's Department," R. C. Titus, Esq. 
 " The Board of Supervisors," A. B. Tanner, Esq. 
 
 Impromptu toasts and a general interchange of sentiment were 
 then in order, and the late hours of the evening were passed in the 
 most pleasant manner. 
 
139 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 CIVIL LIST OF THE VILLAGE AND CITY OF BUFFALO 
 
 FOR SIXTY YEARS. 
 
 The following is a list of tlie names of persons who have filled the princi- 
 pal offices under the charters of the village and city of Buffalo, for a period 
 of sixty years, or from 1816 to 1876, inclusive : 
 
 1816. 
 
 Clerk — Jonathan E. Chaplin. 
 
 Treasurer— 5 o's,v&\i Trowbridge. 
 
 CoWecto;'— Moses Baker. 
 
 7VMc<!<««s— Oliver Forward, Charles Towns- 
 end, Heman B. Potter, Ebenezer Walden, 
 Jonas Harrison, Samuel Wilkeson. 
 
 1817. 
 
 Clerk — Jonathan E. Chaplin. 
 
 Treasurer — Josiah Trowbridge. 
 
 (7oW«ctor^Moses Baker. 
 
 Trustees — Ebenezer Walden, Jonas Har- 
 rison, John G. Camp, Samuel Wilkeson, Elias 
 Ransom. • 
 
 1818. 
 
 CT«?'ft— Stephen K. Grosvenor. 
 
 Treasurei — Elijah D. Efner. 
 
 Collector — Moses Baker. 
 
 Trustees— So%^\i\\. Stocking, Charles Towns- 
 end, Hemaa B. Pottei', Oliver Forward, 
 Abraham Larzelere. 
 
 1819. 
 
 Clerk — Stephen K. Grosvenor. 
 
 Trtas^urer— Elijah D. Efner. 
 
 Collector — Leonard P. Crary. 
 
 Trustees— G\\-A.v\^^ Townsend, Samuel Wil- 
 keson, Joseph Stocking, Heman B. Potter, 
 Joseph Landon. 
 
 1820. 
 
 Clerk — Stephen K. Grosvenor. 
 
 TwasMrer— Elijah D. Efner. 
 
 Collector — Moses Baker. 
 
 Trw^tees— Charles Townsend, Cyrenius Cha- 
 pin, Samuel Wilkeson, Joseph Stocking, Wm. 
 T. Miller. 
 
 1831. 
 
 Clerk— S. K. Grosvenor. 
 
 Treasurer — E. D. Efner. 
 
 Collector— 'E. F. Gilbert. 
 
 T7'ustees— Charles Townsend, Samuel Wil- 
 keson, Joseph Stocking, Cyrenius Chapin, 
 Heman B. Potter. 
 
 1832. 
 
 Clerk — Gorham Chapin. 
 
 Treasurer — Henry R. Seymour. 
 
 Collector — Moses Baker. 
 
 Trustees — Ebenezer Johnson, Oliver For- 
 ward, John B. Hicks, John Scott, Henry M. 
 Campbell. 
 
 1823. 
 
 Clerk— Joseph Clary. 
 Treasurer— Henr^^U. Seymour. 
 Collector — James Higa;ins. 
 TrMS<«es— Oliver Forward, Chas. Townsend, 
 David Burt, Abner Bryant, Benjamin Caryl. 
 
 1834. 
 
 Clerk — Joseph Clary. 
 
 T7'easurer—Renry R. Seymour. 
 
 Collector — Ijorin Pierce. 
 
 Trustees— Heman B. Potter, David Burt, 
 Joseph Stocking, Nathaniel Vosburgh, Oliver 
 Forward. 
 
 1825. 
 
 Clerk — Joseph Clary. 
 
 Treaswer— Henry R. Seymour. 
 
 Collector — James Higgins. 
 
 Truslees—Ohver Forward, David Burt, 
 Heman B. Potter, Ebenezer Johnson, Na- 
 thaniel Vosburgh. 
 
140 
 
 1826. 
 
 Clerk— Henry E. Davies. 
 
 Treasurer— Jlenry R. Seymour. 
 
 Collector — Jaraes Higgins. 
 
 Trustees — Oliver Forward, Benjamin Rath- 
 bun, William Hollister, Joseph D. Hoyt, Major 
 A. Andrews. 
 
 1827. 
 
 Clerk— Tlenry E. Davies. 
 
 Tieasure?'— Henry R. Seymour. 
 
 Collector — Leonard P. Crary. 
 
 Trustees — Benjamin Rathbiin, Joseph D. 
 Hoyt, William Hollister, Oliver Forward, 
 Major A. Andrews. 
 
 1828. 
 Clerk— George P. Barker. 
 Treasurer— Renry R. Seymour. 
 Collector — James Higgins. 
 Trustees— Be[i^ D. Cbe, Anthony Beers, Jos. 
 Clary, Hiram i'ratt, Moses Baker. 
 
 1829. 
 Cle7'k— George P. Barker. 
 Treaswe7-— Henry R. Seymour. 
 Collector— 'Da\\i\ E. Merrill. 
 Trustees — Joseph Clai-y, Hiram Pratt, Belu 
 D. Coe, Moses Baker, Anthony Beers. 
 
 1830. 
 C?«r^— George P. Barker. 
 Treasurer — Henry R. Seymour. 
 Collector— T>-a,\\A E Merrill. 
 Trustees — Moses Baker, Theodore Coburn, 
 John W. Clark, Jos. Clary, William Ketchum. 
 
 1831. 
 C7«?'A;— Elijah Ford. 
 Treasurer — Henry R. Seymour. 
 Collector— \)A\\A E. Merrill. 
 Trustees— 'ReVA. D. Coe, Moses Baker, John 
 W. Clark, James Sheldon, Theodore Coburn. 
 
 1832 ' 
 
 CTer;fc— Elijah Ford. 
 
 Treasurer — Henry R. Seymour. 
 
 Collector— QWmwn Smith. 
 
 Trustees — John VV. Clark, Wm. 8. Waters, 
 Cyrus Athearn, John D. Harty, Jos. Sheldon. 
 
 Note. — The village of Buffalo was incorpo- 
 rated as a city by an Act of the Legislature of 
 1832, which divided the city into five wards, 
 and authorized the election of two Aldermen 
 in each ward, who, with the Mayor as the pre- 
 siding officer, constituted theCommonCouncil. 
 The Council elected the Mayor, Clerk, Treas- 
 urer, Attorney, Street Commissioner, Survey- 
 or, and other corporation officers. The first 
 election under the charter was held on the 
 twenty-sixth of May, 1832. when the following 
 board of officers was elected and superseded 
 the village officers, above named, for the re- 
 mainder of the year. 
 
 1832. 
 Mayor — Ebenezer Johnson. 
 Clerk— Hyre Tillinghast. 
 Treasurer— Henry R. Seymour. 
 Attorney — George P. Barker. 
 Surveyor— J. J. Baldwin. 
 Street Comtnissiotter — Edward Baldwin. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— Isnac S. Smith, Joseph W. Brown. 
 Second— John G. Camp, Henry Root. 
 T/nrd—T>nvid M. Day, Ira A. Blossom. 
 I'ourth— Henry White, Major A. Andrews. 
 i^i/</t— Ebenezer Walden, Thomas C. Love. 
 
 1833. 
 Mayo7'— 'Major A. Andrews. 
 C/«?'A;— Elijah J. Roberts. 
 l'reasure?-—Henry R. Seymour. 
 Attorney — William A. Mosely. 
 Surveyor— James J. Baldwin. 
 Street Commissioner— Edwdrd Baldwin. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 i^irsi!— Stephen Clark, Jos. W. Brown. 
 Second — John G. Camp, James Durick. 
 Third— Geo. B. Webster, Darius Burton. 
 J?bMr)!A— Philander Bennett, Moses Baker. 
 i?'4/(A— Sheldon Smith, Sylvester Matthe-s^s. 
 
 1834. 
 iifayor— Ebenezer Johnson. 
 Cfer^"— Elijah J. Roberts. 
 Treasurer— Or\a,ndo Allen. 
 Attorney— 'Wm. A. Mosely. 
 Surveyor — James J. Balilwin. 
 Street commissioner— Edward Baldwin. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — Isaac S. Smith. Stephen Clark. 
 Second — Squier S. Case, Henry Root. 
 7Vw?'rf— Birdsey Wilcox, John T. Hudson. 
 Fourth— 'Moses Baker, Elijah Ford. 
 i?'i/"i;A— Sylvester Matthews, James MiUer. 
 
 1835. 
 
 i/ayor— Hiram Pratt. 
 
 f.^rA— Theodotus Burwell. 
 
 Treasurer — Henry Root. 
 
 Attorney— l>!:ilhan'\e\ K. Hall. 
 
 Surveyor— Wm. B. Gilbert. 
 
 Street Commissionei — Sylvester Matthews, 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — Jno. W. Clark, Jno. Prince. 
 Second — Squire S. Case, Orlando Allen. 
 Third— Ir^ A. Blossom, Wm. F. P. Taylor. 
 Fourth— EUjiih Ford, Noyes Darrow. 
 i^i/i!A— Manly Colton, Nathaniel Vosburgh. 
 
 1836. 
 
 Jfayor— Samuel Wilkeson. 
 
 CT«r/fc— Elbridge G. Spaulding. 
 
 Treasurer— a'. J. Doughis. 
 
 Attorney — John L. Talcott. 
 
 Surveyor— Wi\\ia,m B. Gilbert. 
 
 Street Commissidher-Alanson Webster. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— John Prince, Aaron Goodrich. 
 Second— James Durick, M. L. Faulkner. 
 Third— S. K. Grosvenor, Silas Sawin. 
 J?'omWA— Nathaniel Wilgus, Harlow French. 
 Fifth— D. F. Kimball, Jeremiah Staats. 
 
 1837. 
 
 J!fayor— Josiah Trowbridge. 
 Clerk— Theo. C. Peters. 
 Treasu7'er— Hamlet D. Scranton. 
 Attorney— Theodore C. Peters. 
 Stirveyor—'WiWum B. Gilbert. 
 Sti-eet Commissione7-—'Wm. K. Scott. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— 'Wm. Valleau, Wm. J. Mack. 
 Second— Jacoh A. Bai-ker. Geo. E Hayes. 
 T/ti/rf —Walter Joy, Edward L. Stevenson. 
 i?'OMHA— Nathaniel Wilgus, Moses Baker. 
 jTi/^A— Pierre A. Barker, Nathaniel K. Hall. 
 
141 
 
 1838. 
 
 Mayor— Ehenezer Walden. 
 
 Clerk— T. C. Peters. 
 
 Tieiisu)-er—lla.m\et D. Scranton. 
 
 Attorney— Vheodotns Burvvell. 
 
 Sm-veyor—W . K. Scott. 
 
 Street Comiyiistiioner — W. K. Scott. 
 
 * Superintendent of Sc/ioo/s—0. G. Steele. 
 
 Police Justice— J'dtaei L. Barton. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First—T). F. Kimball, C.S. Pierce. 
 Second— S. S. Case, Lucius Storrs. 
 Third— W'm. F. P. Taylor, James McKay. 
 Foartli — Nathaniel Wilgus, Moses Baker. 
 J^X/'^/t— Charles Winne, Alonzo Raynor. 
 
 1839. 
 
 J/ayor— Hiram Pratt. 
 Clerk— T:. C. Peters. 
 Treasurer — Wm. Moore. 
 Attorney— B-Ai-Xow S. Love. 
 Surveyor — VV. K. Scott. 
 Street Commissioner— '^m. K. Scott. 
 Superintendent of Schools — O. G. Steele. 
 Police Justice — James L. Barton. 
 
 •WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 Mrst—F. W. Atkins, Henry Lamb. 
 Second— iMnvLS Storrs, Thos. R. Stocking. 
 Thi7-d—W. Hollister, Jr., Ed. L. Stevenson. 
 Fourth— M. L. Faulkner, F. Dellenbaugh. 
 Mfth— Peter Curtiss, Augustine Kimball. 
 
 1840. 
 
 +J/a2/or— Sheldon Thompson. 
 
 Clerk — Squier S. Case. 
 
 TYeasiire?-- John R. Lee. 
 
 Attorney— Harlow S. Love. 
 
 Surveyor— \M . K. Scott. 
 
 Street Commissioner — Wm. K. Scott. 
 
 Superintendent of 5c/ioofe— Daniel Bowen. 
 
 Police Justice — Horace Clark. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — Henry Lamb, C. A. Comstock. 
 Second — N. H. Gardner, Wm. Evans. 
 Third— Wm. Williams. Honitio Shumway. 
 i'bur^A— Philander Bennett, F. Dellenbaugh. 
 Fifih-Peiev Curtiss, I. R. Harrington. 
 
 1841. 
 .3/ayor— Isaac R. Harrington. 
 Clerk — John T. Lacy. 
 Treasurer— W iWvAm. Williams. 
 Attorney— Ge:orgB W. Houghton. 
 Street Commissioner— Henvy Lovejoy. 
 Superintendent of Schools — Silas Kingsley. 
 Police Justice— tioi-dce Clark. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— Henry Lamb, E. S. Havens. 
 Second— EdwHvA Root. N. H. Gardner. 
 Third— U\chsird Sears, E. G. Spaulding. 
 i^OMrd/i— Philander Bennett, O. G. Steele. 
 Fifth — John R. Lee, Henry Roop. 
 
 *By Act of Legislature in 1837, the offices of 
 Superintendent of Schools and Police Justice 
 were created, and the Cbuucil authorized to 
 fill the same. 
 
 t By an amendment of the charter the Mayor 
 was elected by the people, and Mr. Thompson 
 was the first Mayor so chosen. 
 
 1843, 
 ilfayor— George W. Clinton. 
 Clerk — John T. Lacy. 
 7 reasurei-— John R. Lee. 
 Attorney — Samuel Wilkeson, Jr. 
 Surveyor — Henry Lovejoy. 
 Street Commissioner — Abram Hempstreet. 
 Superintendent of 6'cAoofe— Samuel Caldwell. 
 Police Justice — Horace Clark. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— 'E.. S. Havens, B. D. Robinson. 
 Second— l!i. H. Gardner, L. H. Pratt. 
 Third— John Wilkeson, O. H. Marshall. 
 Fourth— O. G. Steele, Nelson Randall. 
 Fifth— R. W. Pierce, Asahel Camp. 
 
 1843. ^ 
 
 Maym — Joseph G. Masten. 
 Clerk— John T. Lacy. 
 Treasurer — George C. White. 
 Attorney — A. P. Nichols. 
 Surveyor— S.enry Lovejoy. 
 Street Conmiission er— Charles S. Pierce. 
 SujKrintendent of Schools — Samuel Caldwell. 
 Police Justice — Horace Clark. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 Fii'st — John Cummings, Patrick Smith. . 
 Second— ¥. S. Ellas, Alex. McCulloch, Jr. 
 Third— K. M. Grosvenor, Manuel Tatt'. 
 Fourth — W. R. Andrews, Thompson Hersee. 
 Fifth— R. W. Pierce, Elbridge FarweU. 
 
 1844. 
 Mayor — William Ketchum. 
 Clerk— John T. Lacy. 
 Treasurer — Robert Pomeroy. 
 Attorney— QeWx E. Sill. 
 Surveyot — Henry Lovejoy. 
 Street Commissioner— Is-da.c T. Hathaway. 
 Superintendent of Schools— Mi&s S. Hawley. 
 Police Justice— E. A. Maynard. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— John Cummings, Patrick Smith. 
 &co«c^— Samuel F. Pratt, F. S. Ellas. 
 Third— Daniel Bowen, Hiram Barton. 
 Fourth— James DeLong, Thompson Hersee.- 
 Fifth— L. L. Hodges, S. G. Walker. 
 
 1845. 
 Mayor — Joseph G. Masten. 
 Clerk — John Stringham. 
 Treasurer — William Lovering. 
 Attoi'ney— Eli Cook. 
 Surveyor — Henry Lovejoy. 
 Street Commissioner — Abram Hempstreet. 
 Supenntendent of Schools— O. G. Steele. 
 Police Justice— E. A. Maynard. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— W. W. Stanard, Patrick Smith. 
 Second— Orlando Allen, S. S. Jewett. 
 Third— Daniel Bowen, Chas. A. Van Slyke. 
 Fourth— Thompson Hersee. Chas. Esslinger. 
 Fifth— William Williams, Robert Russell. 
 
 1846. 
 ifayor— Solomon G. Haven. 
 Clei'k — M. Cadwallader. 
 Treasurer^Sames Crocker. 
 Attorney— James Mullett. 
 Sui'veyoi-— Henry Lovejoy. 
 Street Commissionei-Samnel G. Walker. 
 Superintendent ^ Schools — Daniel Bowen. 
 Police Justice— ¥. A. Child. 
 
142 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— FsiMck Smith, J. W. Banta. 
 Seconds. S. Jewett, S. T. Atwater. 
 Third—George R. Babcock, Lester Brace. 
 Fom-th— 'Nelson Randall, Harlow French. 
 Mfth—B. Thompson, Samuel Haines. 
 
 1847. 
 
 Mat/or— Elbridge G. Spauldlng. 
 Clerk— M. Cailwallader. 
 TVeasurer—John R. Lee. 
 Attorney — James Sheldon, Jr. 
 Surveyor — Henry Lovejoy. 
 Street Commissionei — Samuel G. Walker. 
 Superintendent of Schools— 'E. S. Hawley. 
 Police Justice— v. A. Child. 
 
 W*RDS. 
 
 ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— 3. W. Banta, Patrick Smith. 
 Seccmd — Orlando Allen; L. A. Burrows. 
 Third— G&Xym Bishop, Hiram Barton. 
 Foxirth-K. S. Merrill, O. G. Steele. 
 Fifth— h. K. Plimpton, Watkins Williams. 
 
 1848. 
 
 Mayor — Orlando Allen. 
 
 Clerk — Jesse Walker. 
 
 * Comptroller— Vi . Cadwallader. 
 
 Treasurer— 3 . R. Lee. 
 
 Attwney — J. F. Brown. 
 
 Surveyor — Henry Lovejoy. 
 
 Street Commissioner— ^-ArnxLeX G. Walker. 
 
 Superintendent of Schools — E. S. Hawley. 
 
 Police Justice — P. A. Child. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— W. W. Stanard, J. M. Smith. 
 Second — Daniel Bowen, D. M. Vanderpoel. 
 Third— l,e\i Allen, Paul Roberts. 
 Fourth— A. S. Merrill, H. H. Matteson. 
 Fifth— L. K. Plimpton, Watkins WiUiams. 
 
 1849. 
 
 Mayor— Hira.m Barton. 
 
 Clerk — Jesse Walker. 
 
 Comptroller— yi. Cadwallader. 
 
 TYeasur e7'-^John R. Lee. 
 
 Attorney— Charles D. Norton. 
 
 Surveyor — Henry Lovejoy. 
 
 Street Commissioner— Samuel G. Walker. 
 
 Superintendent of Schools — Daniel Bowen. 
 
 Police Justice— P. A. Child. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— W. Lampman, H. Thomas. 
 Seconds. S. Jewett, M. P. Bush. 
 Thirds. A. Bigelow, C. F. Miller. 
 Fourth— A. S. Merrill, Harrison Park. 
 Fifth— W. K. Scott, L. F. Tiflfany. 
 
 1850. 
 .3fayor— Henry K. Smith. 
 Clerk — Horatio Seymour. 
 Comptroller— M. Cadwallader. 
 Treasurer — Daniel T. Marcy. 
 Attorney— James Wadsworth. 
 Surveyor — Henry Lovejoy. 
 Street Commissioner — Albert S. Merrill. 
 Superintendent of Schools — Henry K. Viele. 
 Police Justice— P. A. Child. 
 
 * Council was authorized in 1843 to appoint 
 Comptroller, but none was chosen until 1848. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— J. W. Bauta, John Walsh. 
 Second— M. P. Bush, M. W. Hill. 
 Third— Paul Roberts, Miles Perry. 
 i^bwriA— Harrison Park, A. S. Swartz. 
 Fifth-h. F. Tiflany, G. L. Hubbard. 
 
 1851. 
 Jfayo/"— James Wadsworth, 
 Clerk— W. G. L. Smith, 
 ComptroUei — M. Cadwallader. 
 Treasurer— Cyrenms C. Bristol. 
 Attorney— 'Eli Cook. 
 SurveT/or — Henry Lovejoy. 
 Street Commissioner — Abram Hempstreet. 
 Superintendent of Schools— O. G. Steele. 
 Police Justice— P. A. Child. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— C. S. Pierce, John Walsh. 
 Second— M. W. Hill, M. P. Bush. 
 7%i/'(;?— Alexander McKay, Paul Roberts. • 
 Fourth— A. S. Swartz, Harrison Parks. 
 Fifth— h. F. Tiflany, G. L. Hubbard. 
 
 1852. 
 Mayor^Hiram Barton. 
 Clerk — R. L. Burrows. 
 Comptroller — M. Cadwallader. 
 Treasurer — George R. Kibbe. 
 Attorney — Cyrus O. Poole. 
 Surveyor — Henry Lovejoy. 
 Street Commissioner — James Howell. 
 Superintendent of Schools — Victor M. Rice. 
 Police Justice — Charles R. Gold. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 i^i?-«i;— John Walsh, C. S. Pierce. 
 Second— J. R. Evans, M. W. Hill. 
 Third— A. S. Bemis, Alexander McKay. 
 Fourth — J. C. Harrison, A. S. Swartz. 
 Fifth— A. L. Baker, L. P. Tiffany. 
 
 1853. 
 Mayor— Eli Cook. 
 Clerk— U. L. Burrows. 
 Comptroller — M. Cadwallader. 
 Treasurer — George R. Kibbe. 
 Attorney— Cyrus O. Poole. 
 Surveyor— Kenry Lovejoy. 
 Street Commissioner— 3 -Ames Howell. 
 Superintendent of Schools— YicXor M. Rice. 
 Police Justice— Charles R. Gold. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — C. S. Pierce, John Walsh. 
 Second— C. J. Wells, J. R. Evans, 
 r^iy'ii— Alexander McKay, A. S. Bemis. 
 Fourth — Dan. Devening. Jr., J. C. Harrison. 
 Fifth— R. S. Chamberlain, A. L. Baker. 
 
 1854. 
 
 * Mayor— Eli Cook. 
 C(9?M;;<ro^/er— William Chard. 
 Treasurer — John R. Evans. 
 Attorney — John Hubbell. 
 Surveyor—George Cole. 
 
 Street Commissions — Jacob L. Barnes. 
 Superintendent of Schools— E^hraim P.Cook. 
 Police Justice — 6eorge Drullard. 
 
 * By an amendment of the charter in 1853, 
 the city limits were extended so as to include 
 the town of Black Rock, and the territory as 
 enlarged was divided into thirteen wards. 
 The term of city oflSces was made two years, 
 and elective by the people 
 
143 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 Mrsf.—J. H.Bidwell, C. S. Pierce. 
 Second— D. D. Bidwell, C. J. Wells. 
 Third— Geors:e W. Barker, Samuel Slade, 
 Fourth— B.iram Chambers, J. J. Weber. 
 Mfth— 'Edward Bennett, Henry Lamb. 
 Sixth— Rarry Miller, Solomon Sclieu. 
 Seventh— A. "S. Plumley, Edwin Thayer. 
 Eighth— Z. Bonney, B. Logan. 
 Ninth— A. S. Bemis, C. F. MiUer. 
 Tew </i— Michael Clor, Watkins Williams. 
 Eleventh— V . A. Alberger, James Haggart. 
 Twelfth—^. W. Howeli, Faj-ette Rumsey. 
 Thirteenths. A. Bridge, Sam. Twitchell, 
 Junior. 
 * President— QiexihBTx W. Howell. 
 Clerk— S.. L. Burrows. 
 
 tl855. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 Firsts. H. Bidwell, C. S. Pierce. 
 Second— I.. J. W.aters, C. J. Wells. 
 Third— ^-AmwfA Slade, Geo. W. Barker. 
 ii^OMr^A— Hiram Chambers, J. J. Weber. 
 Fifth— V. Dellenbaugh, Edward Bennett. 
 /S'ea-'i'/i— Solomon Scheu, Harry Miller. 
 Seventh— A. J. McNett, A. S. Plumley. 
 Eighth— Geo. J. Rehm, Z. Bonn&y. 
 Ninth— J. F. Lockwood, C. F. Miller. 
 Tenth — Dennis Bowen, Watkins Williams. 
 Eleventh — F. P. Stevens, James Haggart. 
 Twelfth— L. P. Dayton, Fayette Rumsey. 
 Thirteenth— W. C. Prescott, J. A. Bridge. 
 President — Charles S. Pierce. 
 Clerk— "R. L. Burrows. 
 
 1856. 
 J/ayo;-— Frederick P. Stevens. 
 Comptroller— Cha.r\es S. Pierce. 
 Treasurer— 'Wm.. L. G. Smith. 
 Attorney— A. J. McNett. 
 Sui-veyor-Qfiors^B Cole. 
 Street Commissioner — Patrick Smith. 
 Superintendent of Schools— E. F. Cook. 
 Police Justice— George DruUard. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— J. H. Bidwell, Jarvis Davis. 
 Second— L. J. Waters. C. J. Wells. 
 Third — N. H.agerman, James O'Brian. 
 Fourth— K. Chambers, H. P. Thayer. 
 i^i/Y^—F. Dellenbaugh, Edward Bennett. 
 Sixth— horenzo Gillig, P. Rechtenwalt. 
 Seventh— A. S. Plumley, Wm. Hellriegel. 
 Eighth— G. J. Rehm, Thomas Merrigan. 
 Ninth— J. F. Lockwood, H. T. Chamberlain. 
 J'eni/i— Dennis Bowen, Miles Jones. 
 Eleve7ith—E. S. Dann, H. P. Clinton. 
 Twelfth— h. P. Dayton, John Ambrose. 
 Thirteenth— W . C. Prescott, J. A. Bridge. 
 President— hewis P. Dayton. 
 Clerk— W. H. Albro. 
 
 1857. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — Michael Hagan, J. H. Bidwell. 
 Second— C. J. Wells, James B. Dubois. 
 Third— James O'Brian* Joshua Barnes. 
 Foupih—R. P. Thayer, Stephen Bettinger. 
 Fifth— Edward Bennett, Edwin Thayer. 
 Sixth— P. Rechtenwalt, C. Rodenbach. 
 Seventh— Wm. Hellriegel, H. A. Goodrich. 
 
 *By a charter amendment the Council was 
 authorized to elect a presiding officer from 
 their own number. 
 
 t City officers same as 1854. 
 
 Eighth— ThoB. Merrigan, Thos. O'Grady. 
 Ninth— "R. S. Chamberlain, S. W. Carpenter. 
 Tenth— MWes Jones, Henry Martin. 
 Eleventh— R. P. Clinton, E. S. Dann. 
 Twelfth — John Ambrose, L. P. Dayton. 
 Thirteenth — J. A. Bridge, Benj. Dole. 
 President.— L. P. Dayton. 
 Clerk— W. H. Albro. 
 
 1858. 
 i!/aj/or— Timothy T. Lockwood. 
 Comptroller— G\vi.r\e^ S. Pierce.. 
 Treasurer— C. A. W. Sherman. 
 Attorney — Edwin Thayer. 
 Surveyor — Gustavus G. Berger. 
 Street Commissioner— Levi J . Waters. 
 Superintendent of Schools— J ose^ih Warren. 
 Police Justice — Geo. Drullard. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— J. H. Bidwell, Michael Hagan. 
 Second— Jas. B. Dubois, C. J. Wells. 
 Third — Joshua Barnes, Jas. O'Brian. 
 Fourths. Bettinger, Harry Hersee. 
 Fifth— B. R. Colegrove, D. Devening, Jr. 
 Sixth— C. Rodenbach, Harry Miller. 
 Seventh— A. S. Plumley, Geo. F. Pfeifer. 
 Eighth— ThoB. O'Grady, Thos. Truman. 
 Ninth— S. W. Carpenter, H. S. Chamberlain. 
 Tenth — Henry Martin, Alonzo Tanner. 
 Eleventh— E. S. Dann, H. P. Clinton. 
 Tioelfth—lj. P. Dayton, John Ambrose. 
 Thirteenth— Ben]. Dole, Geo. Moore. 
 President — Daniel Devening, Jr. 
 Clerk— W. H. Albro. 
 
 1859. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 i^'irsi— Michael Hagan, Patrick Walsh. 
 Second— C. J. Wells, J. B. Dubois. 
 Third-Jas. O'Brian, J. G. Turner. 
 Fourth— Rarry Hersee, Jacob Beyer. 
 Fifth— D. Devening, Jr., J. A. M. Meyer. 
 Sixth — Harry Miller, William Messing. 
 Seventh— Geo. P. Pfeifer, F. M Pratt. 
 Eighth — Thos. Truman, P. F. Barton. 
 Ninth — H. S. Chamberlain, F. A. Alberger. 
 Tenth — Alonzo Tanner, A. S. Bemis. 
 Eleventh — H. P. Clinton, A. A. Howard. 
 Twelfth— io\ya. Ambrose, S. H. Howell. 
 Thirteenth— Geo. Moore, Lewis L. Wilgus. 
 President — Alonzo Tanner. 
 Cfer^— Charles S. Macomber. 
 
 1860. 
 Jfayor— Franklin A. Alberger. 
 Comptroller — Alonzo Tanner. 
 Treasurer — John S. Trowbridge. 
 Attorney — Geo. Wadsworth. 
 Surveyor — Peter Emslie. 
 Street Com.fnissioner — Levi J. Waters. 
 Superintendent ofSc/iools-SantordB. Hunt. 
 Police Justice— I). D. Bidwell. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — John Hanavan, Patrick Walsh. 
 Second — Nathaniel Jones, J. B. Dubois. 
 Third— Z. G. Allen, J. G. Turner. 
 Fmirth — Everard Palmer, Jacob Beyer. 
 Fifth— Cha,s. Beckwith, J. A. M. Meyer. 
 Sixth — Paul Goembel, Wm. Messing. 
 Seventh— J. F. Swartz, F. M. Pratt. 
 Eighth— Hob. Mills, P. F. Barton. 
 Ninth — Jas. Adams, J. L. Barnes. « 
 
 Tenth — Geo. R. Yaw, A. S. Bemis. 
 Eleventh — Jacob Crowder. A. A. Howard. 
 Twelfth— Wash. Russell, S. W. Howell. 
 Thirteenth— Thos. Savage, L. L. Wilgus. 
 President — Asaph S. Bemis. 
 Clerk— Chas. S. Macomber. 
 
144 
 
 1861. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— John Hanavan, Patrick Walsh. 
 Secoiid—'Nath. Jones. Joel Wheeler. 
 Third— Z. G. Allen. Nathaniel Brush. 
 Fourth— Ever ard Palmer, Edward Storck. 
 Mfth-Ch&rles Beckwith, Andrew Grass. 
 Sixth— Pm\\ Goembel, Jacob Scheu. 
 Seventh— J. F. Schwartz, F. M. Pratt. 
 Eighth— Robevt Mills, C. E. Felton. 
 Mnth— James Adams, E. P. Dorr. 
 Tenth— G. R. Yaw, A. S. Bemis. 
 Eleventh— J. Crowder. A. A. Howard. 
 Twelfth— W. Russell, S. W. Howell. 
 Thirteenth- Thos. Savage, Thos. Rutter, 
 President— Asd\:ih S. Bemis. 
 Clerk— Otis. F. Preshrey. 
 
 1862. 
 
 Mayor— WiUia,vii G. Fargo. 
 Comptroller— Peter M. Vosburgh. 
 Treasurer— Soseph K. Tyler. 
 Attorney— Harmon S. Cutting. 
 Snrveyoi — Francis F. Curry. 
 Street Commissioner— James O'Brian. 
 Superintendent of Schools— John B. Sackett. 
 Police Justice— Alonzo Tanner. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— P. Walsh, J. Hanavan. 
 Seeond—J. B. Dubois, Joel Wheeler. 
 Third— J D. Colie, Alex, Brush. 
 Fourilir—0. C. Hoyt, Edward Storck. 
 Fifth— C Beckwith, Andrew Grass. 
 Sixth— Pawl Goembel, Jacob Scheu. 
 Sevenih-Y.B&ngasser, W. A. Sutton. 
 Eighth— C. E. Felton, Robert Mills. 
 Ninth— &. S. Warren, E. P. Dorr. 
 Tcntli^Geo. R. Yaw, A. S. Bemis. 
 Eleventh— J. Crowder, N. K. Hopkins. 
 Twelft/t^h. P. Dayton, Peter Burgard. 
 Thirteenth— U. M. Taylor, Thos. Rutter. 
 President— Charles Beckwith, 
 (7ier/fc— Charles S. Macomber. 
 
 Police Justice- 
 
 1863. 
 -W. H. Albro. 
 
 ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— P. Walsh, J. Hanavan. 
 Second— G. B. Gates, J. B. Dubois. 
 Third— W. P. Moores, S. D. Colie. 
 Fourth— Hichard Flach, O. C. Hoyt. 
 Fifth— F,\i}ah Ambrose, C. Beckwith. 
 Sixth— J. Scheu, Paul Goembel. 
 Seventh— y^m. A. Suttou, F. Bangasser. 
 Eighth— H. C. Persch, Robert Mills. 
 Mnth-W. J. Mills. E. S. Warren. 
 Tenth— Seth Clark, Geo. R. Yaw. 
 Eleventh—'!^. K, Hopkins, J. Crowder. 
 Twelfth— 1.. P. Dayton, Peter Burgard. 
 Thirteenth— ChrXstian Klink, R. M. Taylor. 
 President — Charles Beckwith. 
 <7/erA— Charles S. Macomber. 
 
 1864. 
 
 Mayoi — Wm. G. Fargo. 
 Comptroller— ^a\ph Courter. 
 Treasurer — John Hanavan. 
 Att>irney—Chas. Beckwith. 
 Surveyor— F. F. Curry. 
 Street Commissioner— James O'Brian. 
 Superintendent of Shools—B.. D. Garvin. 
 Police Justice— yf. H. Albro. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— B. Fitzgerald, P. Walsh. 
 Secnnd—P. S. Marsh, G. B. Gates. 
 Third— A\ex. Brush, Wm. P. Moores. 
 Fourth— Geo. Fisher, Richard Flach. 
 Fifth— "Henry Nauert, E. Ambrose. 
 Sixth — P. Goembel, .1. Scheu. 
 Seventh — J. L. Uaberstro, Thos. Clark, 
 Eighth— Geo. Bamler, H. C. Persch. 
 Nmth—J. D. Sawyer, W. I. Mills. 
 Tenth— Geo. R. Yaw, Seth Clark. 
 Eleventh — Jno. Aiichinvole, N. K. Hopkins. 
 Twelfth— Peter Burgard, L. P. Dayton. 
 Thirteenth— Angus McPherson, C. Klink. 
 President — Lewis P. Dayton, 
 Clerk— Chas. S. Macomber. 
 
 1805. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — D. Fitzgerald, James Ryan. 
 Second— P. S. Marsh, Jonathan S. Buell. 
 Third— Ales.. Bi-ush, V\'m. P. Moores. 
 Fourth— Geo. Fisher, Richard Flach. 
 Fifth— Henry Nauert, E. Ambrose.* 
 Sixth-PavJ Goembel, J. H. Pfolil. 
 Seventh— J. L. Haberstro, Thomas Clark. t 
 Eighth — Geo. J. Bamler, Juo. P O'Brian. 
 Ninth-J. D. Sawver, W. I. Mills. % 
 Tenth— G. R. Yaw, W. C. Bryant. 
 Eleventh— J"hn Auchinvole, N.K.Hopkins. 
 Twelfth— P. Burgard, H. A. Schwartz. 
 Thirteenth — A. McPhi rson, John Kelly. 
 President— Nelson K. Hopkins. 
 Clerk— Charles S. Macomber. 
 
 1866. 
 
 Mayor — Chandler J. Wells. 
 Comptroller— "Wm. F. Rogers. 
 Treasurer— Joseph Churchyard. 
 Attorney— Geo. S. Wardwell. 
 Surveyor — John A. Ditto. 
 Street Cotntnissioner— Jeremiah Mahony. 
 Superintendent of Schools — John S. Fosdick. 
 Police Justice— W. H. Albro. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — James Ryan, Thomas Whalen. 
 Second— J. S. Buell. § P. S. Marsh. 1| 
 37t<rrf— Wm. P. Moores, Alex. Brush. 
 Fourth— B.. Flach, Jacob Beyer. 
 Fiflh—J. H. Shepard. August Hagar. 
 Sixth — J. H. Phohl. Solomon Sclieu. 
 Seventh— Geo. J. Buchheit, J. L. Haberstro. 
 Eighth— J. P. O'Brian, G. J. Bamler. 
 Ninth— ^. S. Gnlhiie, Henry Morse. 
 Tenth— W. C. Bryant. Geo. R. Yaw.t 
 Eleventh— N. K. Hopkins,** J. Auchinvole. 
 Twelfth — H. A. Schwartz. John Glassar. 
 Thirteenth — John Kelly, Jr., A. McPherson. 
 President — Joseph L. Haberstro. 
 (7to'A;— Charles S. Macomber. 
 
 ♦Resigned, Oct. 2.3d. 
 
 t Resigned, Oct. 23d, and Geo. J. Buchheit 
 elected lo fill the vacancy. 
 
 t Resigned Oct.»16th, and S. S. Guthrie 
 elected to fill the vacancy. • 
 
 § Resigned, April 23d. to assume the duties 
 of Police Commissioner. 
 
 II Resigned, Oct. 1st, and Joel Wheeler 
 elected to the vacancy. 
 
 1 Resigned, Sept. 24th, and John Walls 
 elected t;o the vacancy. 
 
 ** Resigned, Oct. 16. 
 
 These are the first vacancies that were ever 
 caused in the council. 
 
145 
 
 1867. 
 Police Justice— Ismic Vanderpoel. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 Fimt — Thomas Wlialen, James Ryan.* 
 Second — Joel Wheeler, John Pierce. 
 Third— A\ex. Brush, J. A. B. Campbell. 
 Fourth — Jacob Beyer, A. Stettenbenz. 
 Fifth— A\\?;\\Bt ILigur, J H. Shepard. 
 (Siaj^A— Solomon Scheu, Felix Bieger. 
 Seventh — J. L. Haberstro, G. J. Buchheit. 
 Eighth— 0:. J. Bumler, Edward Madden. 
 /ViMi!/i— Henry Morse, S. S. Guthrie. 
 Tenth— io\\\\ Walls, W. C. Bryant. 
 Kleventli—3i\o. Auchinvole, N. B. Hoyt. 
 Tivelfth—Swo. Glassar, J. W. Parsons. 
 Thirteenth— K. McPherson, J. Kelly, Jr. 
 Pr «««;««<— William C. Bryant. 
 Cleric— 3. D. H. Chamberlain. 
 
 1868. 
 Mayor — William F. Rogers. 
 Comptrollei — R. D. Ford. 
 Treasurer — Joseph L. Haberstro. 
 Attorney— 'DxviA F. Day. 
 Surviyor — George Vom Berge. 
 Street Commissioner — Alexander Brush. 
 Superintendent of Schools — Samuel Slade. 
 Police Justice— tsA&c Vanderpoel. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 i^jrs^— Edward Byrnes, George Chambers. 
 Second — W. B. Smith, John Pierce, 
 Third— Z. G. Allen, J. A. B. Campbell. 
 Fourth — Frank Colligon, A. Stettenbenz. 
 Fifth -F. Rechtenwalt,t J. H. Shepard. 
 Sixth— Fiinl Goembel, Felix Bieger. 
 Seventh— John Gisel, G. J. Buchheit. 
 Flghth — John Sheehan, Edward Madden. 
 Ninth — Henry Morse, S. S. Guthrie. 
 Tenth— ^. C. Beard, W. C. Bryant. 
 Eleventh— John Auchinvole, N. B. Hoyt. 
 Twelfth— John Ambrose, J . W. Parsons. 
 Thirteenth— A. McPherson, J. Kelly, Jr. 
 President — Paul Goembel. 
 Cleric — Charles S. Macomber. 
 
 1869. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — Edwd. Byrnes, George Chambers. 
 Second — W. B. Smith, John Pierce. 
 Third— Z. G. Allen, G. G. Newman. 
 Fourth— F. Colligon, P. P. Miller. 
 Fifth — Charles Sauer. John Dietzer. 
 Sixth— P. Goembel, Henry Dilcher. 
 Seventh— John Gisel, Donald Bidn. 
 Eighth — John Sheehan, Michael Keenan. 
 Ninth — Henry Morse, James Van Buren. 
 Tenth — D. C. Beard, Robert Carmichael. 
 Eleventh— John Auchinvole, E. S. Hawley. 
 Twelfth— John Ambrose, Elisha Safford. 
 Thirteenth— A. McPherson, George Orr. 
 President— John Auchinvole. 
 Clerk — George S. Wardwell. 
 
 1870. • 
 
 ifayor— Alexander Brush. 
 Comptrollei — R. D. Ford. 
 Treasurer — J. L. Haberstro. 
 Attoi'ney-Benjamm H. Williams. 
 Surveyor— John A. Ditto. 
 Street Commissioner— George W. Gillespie. 
 Superintendent of Schools— Thoa. Lothrop. 
 Police Justice— iWdiic Vanderpoel. 
 
 ♦Resigned, Oct. 21, and George Chambers 
 elected to the vacancy. 
 
 tDied September 22, and this was the first 
 vacancy in the Council by death. 
 
 11 
 
 WAEDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— George Chambers, Wm. B. Smith. 
 Second— John Pierce, John Booth. 
 Third— Xieorge G. Newman, S. G. Peters. 
 Fourth— P. P. Miller, Edward Storck. 
 Fifth— John Dietzer, Charles Groben. 
 Sixth — Henry Dilcher, Michael Lang. 
 Seventh— Donald Bain, John Werrick. 
 Eighth — John Sheehan, M. Keenan. 
 Ninth — Henry Morse, Frank A. Sears. 
 Tenth— D. C. Beard, Lewis M. Evans. 
 Eleventh-John Auchinvole, Jacob Scheu. 
 Twelfth— John Ambrose, I. L Van Allen. 
 Thirteenth- A. McPherson, A. T. Patchin. 
 President— John Pierce. 
 CTerA— George S. Wardwell. 
 
 1871. 
 Police Justice— 0\i\er J. Eggert. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— W. B. Smith, Patrick Walsh. 
 Second — John Booth, John Pierce. 
 Third— S. G. Peters, John Kelly, Jr. 
 Fourth— B. Storck, W. S. Ovens. 
 Fifth— Churles, Groben, Joseph Bork. 
 Sixth — M. Lang, J. H. Fischer. 
 Seventh— John Werrick, George Rochevot.. 
 Eighth-John Sheehan, DanierCruice. 
 Ninth — Frank A. Sears, James Van Buren, 
 Tenth— L. M. Evans, R. Carmichael. 
 Eleventh— J. Scheu, George W. Zink. 
 Twelfth— I. I. Van Allen,, C. L. Dayton. 
 Thirteenth— A. T. Patchin, William Dawes, 
 President — John Sheehan. 
 CVerA;— Thomas R. Clinton. 
 
 1872. 
 Mayor — Alexander Brush. 
 Comptroller — Lewis M. Evans. 
 Treasurer— J o^e^h Bork. 
 Attorney— Priixik. R. Perkins. 
 Surveyor — John A. Ditto. 
 Street Commissioner— James Franklin. 
 Superintendent of <Sc/ioote— Josephus N. 
 Larned. 
 Police Justice— H. D. Nash. 
 
 WARDS. ' ALDERMEN. 
 
 Fi7'st—John Doyle, Patrick Walsh. 
 Second — Benj. Dickey, John Pierce. 
 TJii7'd — J. A. Seymour, John Kelly, Jr. 
 Fourth— E. Storck, L. P. Reichert. 
 Fifth— Vr&n^ Sipp, Joseph Bork. 
 Sixth— J-Aooh Bott, J. H. Fischer. 
 Seventh — J. P. Einsfeld, George Rochevot. 
 Eighth — M. Keenan, Daniel Cruice. 
 Ninth — F. A. Sears, James Van Buren. 
 Tenth — Joseph Churchyard, R. Carmichael. 
 Eleventh — Wm. Baynes, George W. Zink. 
 Tiveif th— John Prank, C. L. Dayton. 
 Thirteenth — A. B. Angus, A. Prenatt. 
 President— 'EAy^'&r A Storck. 
 CT«r*— Walter C. Winship. 
 
 1873. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— John Doyle, Timothy Cotter. 
 Second— Ben'}. Dickey, Ellis Webster. 
 Third — J. A. Seymour, J. W. Dennis. 
 Fourth — Louis Herman, L. P. Reichert. 
 Fifth— Vr&n)s. Sipp, Willi.am flenrich. 
 /Six;!/t— Jacob Bott, J. H. Fischer. 
 Seventh— J. P. Einsfeld, Geo. Reinheimer. 
 Eighth— M. Keenan, Charles Jessamin. 
 Ninth— F. A. Sears, James Van Buren. 
 Tenth— J, Churchyard, R. Carmichael. 
 
146 
 
 Eleventh — Wm. Baynes, Ai'chibald McLeish. 
 Twelfth— John Frank, Christopher Laible. 
 Thiiteenth—3 . J. Weber, A. Prenatt. 
 PreHdent — Fi-ank A. Sears. 
 <7fe>'/fc— Walter C. Winship. 
 
 1874. 
 
 MayO' — Lewis P. Dayton. 
 Comptroller— 'Vham^'s, R. Clinton. 
 Treasurer — Joseph Bork. 
 Attorney— Yx'AW^ R. Perkins. 
 Surveyor — George E. Mann. 
 Street Commtssioner — A. Stettenbenz. 
 Superintendent of Sc/ioofe— WiUiani S. Rice. 
 Police Justice — D. D. Nash. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First— Tunoihy Cotter, John Doyle. 
 /Sfecorerf— Ellis Webster, Benjamin Dickey. 
 Third— 3. W. Dennis, J. N. Mileham. 
 Fourth— 1.. P. Keichert, G. F. Zeller. 
 iV*!^— William Henrich, C. P. Drescher. 
 Sixth — J. H. Fischer, Joseph Jerge. 
 Seventh — Geo. Reinheimer, J. P. Einsfeld. 
 Eighth— C\\'d,r\B?, Jessamin, Joseph Galley. 
 iVira^A— James Van Buren, N. C. Simons. 
 Tenth— ^. Carmichael, P. J. Ferris. 
 Eleventh — A. McLeish, George W. Zink. 
 Twelfth— Chv'\&i\An Laible, 1. I. Van Allen. 
 Thirteenth—^. Prenatt. N. H. Lee. 
 President— BeniMmn Dickey. 
 CZerA— Walter C. Winship. 
 
 1875. 
 Police Jwsttcfi— Thomas S. King. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First — John Doyle, John Hanavan. 
 .%con.d— Benjamin Dickey, Wm. V. Woods. 
 Third — J. N. Mileham, Michael Danahy. 
 Fourth — G. F. Zeller, Charles Persons. 
 Fifth— C. P. Drescher, E. Ambrose. 
 Sixt'i — Joseph Jerge, Jacob Heimenz. 
 Seventh— 3. P. Einsfeld, J. C. Weber. 
 Eighth— 3 ose\)\\ Galley, Michael Keenan. 
 Ninth — N. C. Simons, C. D, Simpson. 
 Tenth— V. J. Ferris, M. Nichols. 
 Eleventh— Geo. W. Zink, John Auchinvole. 
 Twelfth— 1. 1. Van Allen, William Farmer. 
 Thirteenth— 'H. H. Lee, Charles Dickman. 
 President— 'KWydh. Ambrose. 
 Clerk— B.. D. Ford. 
 
 1876. 
 
 Mayor — Philip Becker. 
 
 Comptroller— Lewis M. Evans. 
 
 Treaszirer—Kem-y D. Keller. 
 
 Attorney — John B. Gi-eene. 
 
 Engineer — George E. Mann. 
 
 Street Cmnmissioner — Charles Jessemin. 
 
 Aasessors-OWver G. Steele, Jr.,* John Zoll, 
 John •'. Sheehan, 
 
 Superintendent of Education— Wxn. S. Rice. 
 
 Overseer of the Poor — John C. Level. 
 
 Police /m«Wc«— Thomas S. King. 
 
 Justifies of the Peace— Geo. G. Newman, W. 
 H. Albro, Frederick Rickert, John O'Brian. 
 
 WARDS. ALDERMEN. 
 
 First —John Hanavan, John White. 
 Second— Wm. V. Woods, A. L. Lothridge. 
 TAird— Michael Danahy, Alfred H. Neal. 
 Fourth — Charles Person, Asaph S. Bemis. 
 Fifth— Eliiah Ambrose, Jacob Benzinger. 
 Sixth— 3dCoh Hiemenz, Henry J. Baker. 
 Seventh— 3ohn C. Weber, Donald Bain. 
 
 Eighth— MichAel Keenan, John Pfeil. 
 
 iVi/!«A— Clarence D. Simpson, N. C Simons. 
 
 TiSTi^A— Merritt Nichols, Peter J. Ferris. 
 
 Eleventh — John Auchinvole, Chris. Smith. 
 
 Twelfth— Wm. Farmer, Isaac I. Van Allen. 
 
 Thirteenth — Chas. Dickman, M. Shannon. 
 
 President — Asaph S. Bemis. 
 
 ^Z«r A— Rensselaer D. Ford. 
 
 Deputy CTerA— Timothy W. Crowley. 
 
 Messenger — George Frederick Bender. 
 
 Sergeant-at-Arms^3o\\vi Long. 
 
 Commissioner of Public Buildings — Wm. 
 Henrich. 
 
 Auditor — Robert HolUster. 
 
 Superintendent of Fire — Thomas B. French. 
 Louis Hermann, 1st Assistant ; George W. 
 Hibsch, 2d Assistant. 
 
 Clerk of the Markets — John Mahony. 
 
 Sealers of Weights and Measures — George 
 N. Brown, William Ferris, Peter Funk. 
 
 Harbor J/as<ers— Samuel Eldridge, Hawley 
 Klein, John Connell. 
 
 Pound Keeper — Anthony Canfield ; Henry 
 P. Gale, Assistant. 
 
 Park Keepers— Vh\\\^ 3. Murphy, Court 
 House Park ; Andrew Mahony, Johnson Park; 
 Jacob Fisher, Heacock Park : John Batch, B. 
 G.. North Street. 
 
 Porters of 3/ari«fc— Edward Toum.ey, Elk 
 Street ; John Gibson, Assistant. Henry Stew- 
 art, Washington Street ; John Wander, As 
 sistant. Anthony Brosso, Clinton Street. 
 
 Inspector of Oils — John Codling. 
 
 Inspector <f Dredges— Wm. T. McCormick. 
 
 Bridge Tenders— Michigan Street— William 
 Ring, Martin Bahen, Patrick Doyle, Dennis 
 O'Brian. Ohio Street— Patrick Mahony, Pat- 
 rick Kennedy. 
 
 Jubilee Water Commissioners— VhiXvp Fre- 
 denburg, P. J. Meyer, Matthias Soomers. 
 
 Sexton — Francis J. Kraft. 
 
 Scavenger — John Peters. 
 
 Board of Health — Asaph S. Bemis, Presi- 
 dent Common Council ; Lewis M. Evans, 
 Comptroller ; George E. Mann, Engineer. 
 
 Health Physician— E. C. W. O'Brien, M. D. 
 
 DIST. DISTRICT HEALTH PHYSICIANS. 
 
 ii^irs^- Stephen S. Green, M. D. 
 
 Second— EAwatA N. Brush, M. D. 
 
 TAtVd— Bernard Bartow, M. D. ' 
 
 Fourths. G. Dorr, M. D. 
 
 Fifth— Friinc\s A. Burghart, M. D. 
 
 Sixth— 3. C. Elliott, M. D. 
 
 Seventh— W. C. Earl, M. D. 
 
 Eighth— WiUium H. Slacer, M. D. 
 
 Street and health Inspectors— Michael Shin- 
 zius, 1st Ward, Badge No. 1 ; William Tag- 
 gert, 2d Ward, Badge No. 2 ; Hugh Mooney, 3d 
 and 13th Wards, Badge No. 3 ; Carl Hornung, 
 4th Ward. Badge No. 4; John Quattlander, 
 5th Ward, Badge No. 5 ; Philip D. Baetz, 6th 
 Ward, Badge No. 6 ; Jacob Croesmen,7th and 
 12th Wards, Badge No. 7 ; John O'Connell, 
 8th Ward, Badge No. 8 ; Job King, 9th and 
 10th Wards, Badge No. 9 ; Henry Lickert, 
 11th and 12th Wards, Badge No. 10. 
 
 Board of Water Commissioners - George B. 
 Gates, George Truscott, Edwin Hurlbert. 
 
147 
 
 Board of Police Commimoners — Philip 
 Becker, Mayor, ex officio ; John Pierce, Jacob 
 Beyer. 
 
 SupeHntendent— John Byrne. 
 
 Surgeon— Byroa H. Daggett, M. D. 
 
 City and County Hall Commissioners— Geo. 
 S. Wardwell, Chairman; James Adams, Den- 
 nis Bo wen, Philip Becker, Albert P. Laning, 
 John Nice. Allen Potter, George W. Hayward, 
 Jasper B. Youngs. Clerk, A. P. Mason. 
 
 Commissioners for Care of City and County 
 Hall— His Honor the Mayor, the Comptroller, 
 the Chairman of Board of Supervisors. 
 
 Park Commissioners — His Honor the Mayor, 
 Pascal P. Pratt, Edward Bennett, Britton 
 Holmes, Cooley S. Chapin, Edwin T. Evans. 
 Patrick Smith, Joseph L. Fairchild, Dennis 
 Bowen, Joseph Bork, Sherman S. Jewett, 
 Michael Mesmer, DeWitt C. Weed, Joseph 
 Warren, Daniel D. Harnett, Augustus Fuchs. 
 
 President— Pa.sca.1 P. Pratt. 
 Secretary and Treasurer — Wm. P. Rogers. 
 Consulting Landscape Architect — Frederic 
 Law Olmsted. 
 General Superintendent— WiWiaxa McMillan. 
 
 SUPERIOR COURT. 
 
 By an Act of tlie Legislature passed in 1839 a Recorder's Court was created 
 for the city of Buffalo, and the appointment o:^ the Recorder was vested in 
 the Governor. The term of office was four years, and it was held by Horatio 
 J. Stow from 1840 to 1844 ; Henry K. Smith from 1844 to 1848. 
 
 By the Constitution adopted in 1846, the office was made elective by the 
 people, under which it was held by Joseph G. Hasten from 1848 to 1853 ; 
 George W. Houghton from 1852 to 1854. 
 
 An act was passed in 1854 by which the Court was reorganized and merged 
 into the present Superior Court with three judges, whose .term of office was 
 fixed at six years. Provision was also made that the incumbent of the office 
 of Recorder at the time of the reorganization, should serve as one of the 
 Judges of the Superior Court for the remaining portion of the term for which 
 he had been elected. Rec6rder Houghton was therefore under this arrange- 
 ment entitled to serve two years as judge of the new court. 
 
 At the first election under the new law George' W. Clinton and Isaac A.Ver- 
 planck were chosen as the other judges, and upon casting lots for the long and 
 short terms, Judge Clinton secured the full term of sis years, and Judge Ver- 
 planck that of four years. The judges of the reorganized court have been: 
 
 George W. Houghton 1854 to 1856 i George W. Clinton 1866 to 1872 
 
 1. A. Verplanck 1854 " 1858 
 
 George W. Clinton 1854 " 1860 
 
 Joseph G. Masten 1856 " 1862 
 
 I. A. Verplanck 1858 " 1864 
 
 George W. Clinton 1860 " 1866 
 
 Joseph G. Masten 1862 " 1868 
 
 I. A. Verplanck 1864 " 1870 
 
 Joseph G. Masten 1868 " 
 
 James M. Humphrey 1871 
 
 James Sb eldon 1872 
 
 I. A. Verplanck 1870 
 
 James M. Smith 1873 
 
 James M. Smith 1874 
 
 George W. Clinton 1872 
 
 1871 
 1872 
 
 1873 
 1874 
 
 Judge Masten died in the spring of 1871, after serving two terms and a half, 
 or fifteen years, and James M. Humphrey was appointed by Gov. Hoffman to 
 fill the vacancy. At the succeeding election in November, 1871, James Shel- 
 don was elected as the successor of Mr. Humphrey. 
 
 Judge Verplanck died in the spring of 1873, after serving two full terms 
 and two fractional terms, or a little more than eighteen years, and James M. 
 Smith was appointed to the vacancy by Gov. Dix. At the succeeding election 
 in November, 1873, Judge Smith was chosen his own successor. 
 
148 
 
 By the constitutional amendments of 1870 the term of office was extended 
 to fourteen years, and it is also provided that the judges shall be elected for 
 the full term of fourteen years, whether chosen to fill a vacancy or other- 
 wise. Instead, therefore, of Judges Sheldon and Smith being now serving 
 out the unexpired terms of Judges Hasten and Verplanck, they will hold for 
 the full term of fourteen years from the date of their election. The present 
 terms of Judges Clinton and Sheldon will expire December 31, 1886, and that 
 of Judge Smith December 31, 1888. 
 
 The clerks of the Court have been : 
 
 M. Cadwallader 1839 to 1844 
 
 Nelson Ford 1844 " 1846 
 
 C. M. Cooper 1846 " 1848 
 
 William Davis 1848 " 1851 
 
 Jared S. Torrauce 1851 " 1856 
 
 Dyre Tillinghast 1856 to 1862 
 
 Thomas M. Foote 1862 " 1863 
 
 Amos A. Blanchard 1863 '■ 1875 
 
 John C. Graves 1875 
 
 CIVIL LLST OF ERIE COUNTY. 
 
 Buffalo was the county seat of Niagara county from its organization in 1808 
 to 1821, when Erie county was created from portions of the former county. 
 Below will be found a list of the names of persons who have held the princi- 
 pal offices in the original county of Niagara and the county of Erie, since its 
 organization : 
 
 1808. 
 Judffe—Angnstus Porter. 
 Sheriff— A.sa. Riinsom. 
 Clerk — Louis Le Couteulx. 
 Attorney — Wm. Stuart. 
 Surrogate — Archibald S. Clarke. 
 
 1809. 
 
 Judge — Augustus Porter. 
 Sheriff^Asa, Ransom. 
 ClerK— Louis Le Couteulx. 
 Attorney — Wm. Stuart. 
 Surrogate— A. S. Clarke. 
 
 1810. 
 
 Judge — Augustus Porter. 
 Sheriff— %a,m\xe.\ Pratt, Jr. 
 Clerk — Juba Storrs. 
 Attorney — Daniel W. Lewis. 
 Surrogate — A. S. Clarke. 
 
 1811. 
 
 .Judge — Augustus Porter.] 
 Sheriff — Asa Ransom. 
 WerA— Louis Le Couteulx. 
 Attorney — Wm. Stuart. 
 Surrogate — A. S. Clarke. 
 
 1812. 
 
 Judge — Samuel Tupper. 
 Sheriff— Asa Ransom. 
 Clerk — Louis Le Couteulx. 
 Attorney — Wm. Stuart. 
 Surrogate — Otis R. Hopkins. 
 
 1813. 
 
 Judge — Samuel Tupper. 
 
 Sheriffs — Nathaniel Sill, Cyrenius Chapin. 
 
 Clerk — Zenas Barker. 
 
 Attorney — Vincent Matthews. 
 
 Surrogate— kxD.os Callender. 
 
 1814. 
 
 Judge — Samuel Tupper. 
 Sheriff— Asa Ransom. 
 Clerk— Zenns Barker. 
 Attorney — Vincent Mattliews. 
 Surrogate — Amos Callender. 
 
 1815. 
 
 Judge— Ssimuel Tupper. 
 Sheriff^Asa. Ransom. 
 Clerk— A. J. Clarke. 
 Attorney — Daniel Cruger. 
 Surrogate — Ebenezer Johnson. 
 
 1816. 
 
 Jwcfp'e— Samuel Tupper. 
 Sheriff— Ash Ransom. 
 Clerk— ¥red. E. Merrill. 
 Attorney — J. C. Spencer. 
 Surrogate — Ebenezer Johnson. 
 
 1817. 
 
 Judge— Sa,mMe\ Tupper. 
 Sheriff^Asa. Ransom. 
 C/erk—F. E. Merrill. 
 Attorney — J. C. Spencer. 
 Surrogate — E. Johnson. 
 
149 
 
 1818. 
 
 Judffe—WiWia.m Hotchkiss. 
 Sheriff— -J nmes Cronk. 
 Clei'k—F. E. Merrill. 
 Attorney — Chas. G. Olmstead. 
 Surrogate — E. Johnson. * 
 
 1819. 
 
 Judge— V^^ra. Hotchkiss. 
 S/ierifi'— James Cronk. 
 Clerk—John E. Marshall. 
 Attorney — Heman B. Potter. 
 Surrogate— E. Johnson. 
 
 1820. 
 
 Judge — Samuel Wilkeson. 
 Skeriff'—Jnme!^ Cronk. 
 Clcrk—J. B. Jlarshall. 
 Attorney — Heman B. Potter. 
 Surrogate— E. Johnson. 
 
 1821. 
 
 Judge — Samuel Will^eson. 
 
 Sherif—A\mom\ H. Millard. 
 
 Clerks — Jas. L. Barton, Oliver Grace. 
 
 Attorney — Heraan B.'Potter. 
 
 Surrogates — Koswell Chapin and Rufus 
 Spaulding. 
 
 The foregoing were officers of Niagara 
 county before its division and the formation 
 of Erie. 
 
 1823. 
 Judge — Samuel Wilkeson. 
 iS/teri^— John G. Camp. 
 Clerk — James L. Barton. 
 Attorneij—U. B. Potter. 
 Surrogate — Roswell Chapin. 
 
 1823. 
 
 Judge — Ebenezer Walden. 
 Sheriff— W ray S. Littlefleld. 
 Clerk— Jacob A. Barker. 
 Attorney — H. B. Potter. 
 Surrogate — Roswell Chapin. 
 
 1824. 
 
 Judge— Ehenezer Walden. 
 Sheriff— Wray S. Littlefleld. 
 Clerk— Jacob A. Biirker. 
 Attorney — H. B. Potter. 
 Surrogate — Roswell Chapin. 
 
 1825. 
 Judge— E. Walden. 
 Sheriff— Wray S. Littlefleld. 
 Clerk — Jacob A. Barker. 
 Attorney— li. B. Potter. 
 Surrogate — Roswell Chapin. 
 
 1826. 
 ' Judge— E. Walden. 
 Sheriff— John G. Camp. 
 Clerk— Jacob A. Barker. 
 Attorni'y—H.. B. Potter. 
 Surrogate — Roswell Chapin. 
 
 1827. 
 Judge — E. Walden. 
 Sheriff— John G. Camp. 
 Clerk — Jacob A. Barker. 
 Attorney — H. B. Potter. 
 Surrogate — Roswell Chapin. 
 
 1828. 
 
 Judge — Thomas C. Love. 
 S/ierif-John G. Camp. 
 Clerk — J. A. Barker. 
 Attorney— Heman B. Potter. 
 Surrogate — Ebenezer Johnson. 
 
 1839. 
 
 Judge — Philander Bennett. 
 Sheriff— Ij. Wasson. 
 WerA;— Elijah Leech. 
 Attorney — Thos. C. Love. 
 Surrogate — Ebenezer Johnson. 
 
 1830. 
 
 Jwc?9'«— Philander Bennett. 
 Sheriff— h. Wasson. 
 Clerk— E. Leech. 
 Attorney — T. C. Love. 
 Surrogate— E. Johnson. 
 
 1831. 
 
 Judge — Philander Bennett. 
 Sheriff— li. Wasson. 
 Clerk— E. Leech. 
 Attorney — T. C. Love. 
 Surrogate — E. Johnson. 
 
 1832. 
 
 Judge — Philander Bennett. 
 SheriffSte'phen Osborne. 
 Clet^k—'N. P. Sprague. 
 Attorney — Henry White. 
 Surrogate — Martin Chittenden. 
 
 1833. 
 
 Judge — Philander Bennett. 
 Sheriff— Stephen Osborne. 
 Clerk— 1^. P. Sprague. 
 Attorney— Geo. P. Barker. 
 S^irrogate — Israel T. Hatch. 
 
 1834. 
 
 Judge— Philander Bennett. 
 /SAer-i^— Stephen Osborne. 
 Clerk— 'N. P. Sprague. 
 Attorney — Geo. P. Barker. 
 Surrogate— I. T. Hatch. 
 
 1835. 
 
 Judge— Philander Bennett . 
 Sheriff— hester Brace. 
 Clei k — Horace Clark. 
 Attorney — Geo. P. Barker. 
 Su rrogate — I. T. Hatch. 
 
 1836. 
 
 Judge — Philander Bennett. 
 Sheriff — Lester Brace. 
 Clerk — Horace Clark. 
 Attorney — Geo. P. Barker. 
 Surrogate— Samuel Caldwell. 
 
 1837. 
 
 Judge — James Stryker. 
 Sheriff— Le&ter Brace. 
 Clerk — Horace Clark. 
 Attorney— H. K. Smith. 
 Surrogate— Samuel Caldwell. 
 
150 
 
 1838. 
 
 Judge— James Stryker. 
 Sheriff— Chus. P. Persons. 
 Cler^— Cyrus K. Anderson. 
 Attorney— U. K. Smith. 
 Surrogate— Samuel Caldwell. 
 
 1839. 
 
 Judge — James Stryker. 
 Sher-iff-C. P. Persons. 
 Clerk — C. K. Anderson. 
 Attorney— H. K. Smith. 
 Surrogate— Samuel Caldwell. 
 
 1840. 
 
 Judge— James Stryker. 
 Sheriff— Chas. P. Persons. 
 Clerk — C. K. Anderson. 
 Attorney— H. K. Smith. 
 Surrogate— Samuel Caldwell. 
 
 1841. 
 
 Judge— i^. K. Hall. 
 Sheriff— horenzo Brown. 
 Clerk— 'N. P. Sprague. 
 Attorney — H. W. Rogers. 
 Surrogate — Thos. C. Love. 
 
 1842. 
 
 Judge— ¥i. K. Hall. 
 Sheriff— h. Brown. 
 Clerk— ^. P. Sprague. 
 Attorney — H. W. Rogers. 
 Surrogate— Thomas C. Love. 
 
 1843. 
 
 Judge— 1^. K. Hall. 
 Sheriff—!,. Brown. 
 Clerk— T^. P. Sprague. 
 Attorney — H. VV. Rogers. 
 8un'0gat6—Tl\QS. C. Love. 
 
 1844. 
 Judge— Ji. K. Hall. 
 Sheriff— linlph Plumb. 
 CTer^— Manly Colton. 
 Attorney— S. G. Haven. 
 Surrogate— Thomas C. Love. 
 
 1845. 
 
 Judge— FreA. P. Stevens. 
 Sheriff-Tialph Plumb. 
 Clerk— Manly Coltou. 
 Attorney— S. G. Haven. 
 Surrogate— "Peier M. Vosburgh. 
 
 1846. 
 
 • Judge — Fred. P. Stevens. 
 Sheriff— Ual^h. Plumb. 
 Cleric— Manly Colton. 
 Attorney— G. P. Barker. 
 Surrogatt-Feiet M. Vosburgh. 
 
 1847. 
 
 Judge— P. P. Stevens. 
 Sheriff— T. A. Hopkins. 
 Clerk— Moses Bristol. 
 Att'irney— Geo. P. Barker. 
 Surrogate — Peter M. Vosburgh. 
 
 1848. 
 
 Judge — F. P. Stevens. 
 Sheriff— T. A. Hopkins. 
 Clerk — Moses Bristol, 
 Attnrney — B. H. Austin. 
 Wr«a««re?'— Christian Metz. 
 Surrogate— Petev M. Vosburgh. 
 
 1849. 
 Judge— 'P. P. Stevens. 
 Sheriff— T. A. Hopkins. 
 Clerk— Moses Bristol. 
 Attorney — B. H. Austin. 
 Treasiirer — C. Metz. 
 Surrogate— Peter M. Vosburgh. 
 
 1850. 
 Judge— Y. P. Stevens. 
 Sheriff— "Levoy Farnham. 
 CT^r^— Wells Brooks. 
 Attorney— B. H. Austin. 
 Treasurer — C. Metz. 
 Surrogate— Peter M. Vosburgh. 
 
 1851. 
 Judge— ¥. P. Stevens. 
 Sheriff— h. Farnham.* 
 Clerk— ''N ells Brooks. 
 Attorney— Q. H. S. Williams. 
 Treasurer — C. Metz, Jr. 
 Surrogate— P . M. Vosburgh. 
 
 1852. 
 Judge — Jesse Walker. 
 Sheriff— Leroy Farnham. 
 Cle7'k— Wells Brooks. 
 Ati07-ney—C. H S. Williams. 
 Treasurer— C. Metz, Jr. 
 Surrogate— Charles D. Norton. 
 
 1853. 
 Judge — James Sheldon. 
 Sheriff— J osexih Candee. 
 Clerk — William Andre. 
 Atlorney — John L. Talcott. 
 Treasure-) — Christian Metz, Jr. 
 Surrogate— Charles D. Norton. 
 
 1854. 
 Judge — James Sheldon. 
 Sheriff— J osex>h Candee. 
 Clerk — William Andre. 
 Attorney— Albert Sawin. 
 Treasurei — James D. Warren. 
 (S'MTTO^'ate— Charles D. Norton. 
 
 1855. 
 Judge — James Sheldon. 
 /SA«ri;f— Joseph Candee. 
 Clerk— WMlV.xm Andre. 
 Attorney — Albert Sawin. 
 Treasurer — J-imes D. Warren. 
 Surrogate— Charles D. Norton. 
 
 1856. 
 Judge— James Sheldon. 
 /S'/ie?'i^— Orrin Lockwood. 
 Clerk— P. M. Vosburgh. 
 Attorney — Albert Sawin. 
 Treasurer J. D. Warren. 
 Surrogate— Ahram Thorn. 
 
 * Hitherto County Treasurers were ap- 
 pointed by the Board of Supervisors. 
 
151 
 
 1857. 
 
 Judge — James Sheldon. 
 Shenf—Orrin Lockwood. 
 Clerk— P. M. Voshurgh. 
 Attoramj—S. M. Humphrey. 
 Treasurer— i . D. Warren. 
 Surrogate- AXtYAxn. Thorn. 
 
 1858. 
 
 Judge — James Slieldon. 
 Sheriff— Oi-rin Lockwood. 
 Clerk— V. M. Vosbnrgh. 
 Attorn.ey—i . M. Humphrey. 
 Treasurer— \j. B. Smith. 
 Surrogate— hyix^m. Thorn. 
 
 1859. 
 
 Jwdg'e— James Sheldon. 
 Sheriff— Q. A. Scroggs. 
 Clerk— O. J. Greene. 
 Attorney— 3. M. Humphrey. 
 Treasurer— Ij. B. Smith. 
 Surrogate— MiVAm. Thorn. 
 
 1860. 
 
 Judge — James Sheldon. 
 Sheriff— G. A. Scroggs. 
 Clerk— O. J. Greene. 
 Attorn£y—F. J. Fithian. 
 Treasurer — L. B. Smith. 
 /S'w?rog'afe— Charles C. Severance. 
 
 1861. 
 
 Judge— Ja,mes Sheldon. 
 Sheriff— G. A. Scroggs. 
 Clerk— O. J. Greene. 
 Attorney— P. J. Fithian. 
 Treasurer — Norman B. McNeal. 
 Surrogate— 0. C. Severance. 
 
 1862. 
 
 Judge— James Sheldon. 
 Sheriff— Ti. H. Best. 
 Clerk— C. R. Durkee. 
 Attorney— ¥ . J. Fitliian. 
 Treasurer — N. B. McNeal. 
 e — C. C. Severance. 
 
 1863. 
 
 Judge — James Sheldon. 
 Sheriff— R. H. Best. 
 Clerk— C. R. Durkee. 
 Attorney— C. C. Torrance. 
 Treasurer — N. B. McNeal. 
 Surrogate— C. C. Severance. 
 
 1864. 
 
 Judge — James Sheldon. 
 Sheriff— U. H. Best. 
 Clerk— C. R. Durkee. 
 Attorney— C C. Torrance. 
 Treasurer — Francis C. Brunck. 
 Surrogate— 3 owiih-in Hascall. 
 
 1865. 
 
 ./i/fifl'fi— Stephen Lockwood. 
 Sheriff— O. J. Eggert. 
 Clerk— h. P. Dayton. 
 Altorney—C C. Torrance. 
 Treas'urer-Vrs.nv.is C. Brunck. 
 Surrogate— 3ono.ihATx Hascall. 
 
 1866. 
 
 jM(?(/e— Stephen Lockwood. 
 Sheriff— O. J. Eggert. 
 Clerk— h. P. Dayton. 
 Aitorney—L. K. Bass. 
 rr«a«wre?'— Francis C^ Brunck. 
 SuD'ogate — Jonathan Hascall. 
 
 1867. 
 
 t7M(?(7«— Stephen Lockwood, 
 Sheriff— O. J. Eggert. 
 Clerk— L. P. Dayton. 
 Attorney — L. K. Bass. 
 Treasurer — C. R. Durkee. 
 Swrrogate — Jonathan Hascall. 
 
 1868. 
 
 /Md;<7e— Stephen Lockwood. 
 Sheriff— C\i&v\es Darcy. 
 Clerk — John H. Andrus. 
 Attorney — Ljman K. Bass. 
 Treasurer— C. R. Durkee. 
 /S^Mr-rop'a^e— Horatio Seymour. 
 
 1869. 
 Judge— 'R. L. Bun-ows. 
 (Syjen^f— Charles Dai'cy. 
 Clerk — John H. Andrus. 
 Attorney — L. K. Bass. 
 Treasure} — C. R. Durkee. 
 ;S'M»'wg'ai!e— Horatio Seymour. 
 
 1870. 
 
 Judge— R. L. Burrows. 
 Sheriff— Charles Darcy. 
 Clerk— John H. Andrus. 
 Attorney — L. K. Bass. 
 Treasurer— Willium B. Sirret. 
 Surrogate — Horatio Seymour. 
 
 1871. 
 
 Judge— U. L. Burrows. 
 Sheriff— Grover Cleveland. 
 Clerk— J. H. Fisher. 
 Attorney— L. K. Bass. 
 Treasurer — W. B. Sirret. 
 Su7'rogate—Jioriit,io Seymous. 
 
 1873. 
 
 Judge — R. L. Burrows. 
 Sheriff— GroYer Cleveland. 
 Clerk— Jiimes H. Fisher. 
 Attorney— BenyAmin H. Williams. 
 Treasurer— W . B. Sirret. 
 Surrogate— Z. Ferris. 
 
 1873. 
 
 Judge — Albert Haight. 
 (SAmjf— Grover Cleveland. 
 Clerk— J. H. Fisher. 
 Attorney— V>. H. Williams. 
 Treasurer— Vf . B. Sirret. 
 Surrogate— Z. Ferris. 
 
 1874. 
 
 Judge— Albert Haight. 
 Sheriff— John B. Weber. 
 CT«r^'— George L. Remington. 
 Attorney— B. H. Willlnms. 
 Treasurer — W. B. Sirret. 
 Surrogate— Z. Ferris. 
 
152 
 
 Judge- 
 
 1875. 
 
 -Albert Haiarht. 
 
 —John B. \Veber. 
 Cleric— G. L. Remington. 
 Attorney—DdiXviA N.' Lockwood. 
 Treasurer — W. B. Sin-et. 
 Surrogate — Z. Ferris. 
 
 1876. 
 
 Judge — Albert Haight. 
 
 Session Justices— George W. Nichols, Fred- 
 erick Gundlacli. 
 
 Sheriff— Soh-a B. Weber. 
 
 Clerlc~G. L. Remington. 
 
 Attorney— T). N. Lockwood. 
 
 Treasurer — VV. B. Sirret. 
 
 Surrogate— Z . Ferris. 
 
 Coroners — J. C. Alraendinger, Epenetus H. 
 Davis, William Bacon, Watson H. Curtis. 
 
 School Commissioners — 1st Dist., A. McCul- 
 len Ball; 2d Dist., George W. Holmes; 3d 
 Dist., Mark Whiting. 
 
 SUPERVISORS. 
 
 WARDS. THE CITY. 
 
 First— Sames Manaher, John Norris. 
 Second— Sohn M. Comstock, E. R. Saxtou. 
 Third-^. W. Evans, W. W. Buftum. 
 Fourth— C. F. Mensch, Eng. Bertrand, Jr. 
 Fifth— Peter F. Lawson, Louis Fritz. 
 Sixth — Michael Loebig, Sebastian Elser. 
 Seventh — J. P. Braner, George Baer. 
 Mghth— Timothy Lyons, James Nunan. 
 Ninth— Frederick Busch, Earl D. Berry. 
 Tenth— Amos B. Tanner, Louis P Beyer. 
 Eleventh— J). Gazlay, Thomas Prowett. 
 Twelfth— Peter Glor, Jr., Leonard Eley. 
 Thirteenth— F,Ayfz.YA. Corriston. 
 
 THE TOWNS. 
 
 Alden—'L. W. Cornwell. 
 Amherst — John Schoelles. 
 Aurora— Lyman Cornwell. 
 Brant — W. W. Hammond. 
 Boston— K. K. Woodward. 
 Clarence— 3o\m Krauss. 
 Collins — William A. Johnson. 
 Cheektowaga-P . Winspear. 
 CoZc?6«— Richard E. Bowen. 
 Coracorrf— Henry Bhickmer. 
 Evans— I)9.\i(\ C. Oatman. 
 Eden— J. H. Lord. 
 Ehna-WiiiiAm Winspear. 
 East Hamburgh— Frank M. Thorn. 
 Grand Island— C. Spohr. 
 Hamburgh— H. W. M'hite. 
 Holland — Homer Morey. 
 Lancaster— N. B. Gatchell. 
 i/an/ta— Russel D. Smith. 
 North Collins — James Matthews. 
 Newstead—W. T. Magoffin. 
 Sardinia— Aildiaon Wheelock. 
 West Seneca— Yictor Irr. 
 Tonatvanda-Phiiip Wendell. 
 Wales— Charles N. Brayton. 
 
 ERIE COUNTY PENITENTIARY. 
 
 Commissioners — W. Harrington, Henry At- 
 wood, Frederick Miller. 
 Superintendent — Willi am Weston . 
 Deputy Superintendeni^-Bavid Huff. 
 Physician — H. L. Atwood, M. D. 
 
 Keeper of County Almshouse — Charles A. 
 Loeberick. 
 Physician— J. J. Walsh, M. D. 
 
 • EIGHTY YEARS IN CONGRESS. 
 
 The following table will show the representation of Western New York 
 and Erie county from the Fifth to the Forty-fourth Congress, inclusive. In the 
 Firs!, Second, Third and Fourth Congresses, the county was in a District which 
 was not numbered, but embraced the region then known as Albany, Herkimer, 
 Montgomery, Onondaga, Ontario, Otsego, and Tioga counties. In 1797 the 
 counties of Cayuga, Onondaga, Ontario, Steuben and Tioga, were constituted . 
 the Tenth Congressional District of New York, and from that time the repre- 
 sentatives were : 
 
 1797-9. Hezekiah L. Hosmer, 5th Congress. 
 
 1799-1801. Wm. Cooper, 6th Congress. 
 
 1801-3. Thomas Morris, 7th Congress. 
 
 In 1803 Cayuga, Genesee, Ontario and 
 Steuben counties were constituted 
 the 16th Congressional District, and 
 the representatives were : 
 
 1803-5. Oliver Phelps, 8th Congress. 
 
 1805-7. Silas Halsey, 9th Congress. 
 
 1807-9. John Harris, 10th Congress. 
 
 In 1808 Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chau- 
 tauqua, Geliesee, Niagara and Onta- 
 rio were constituted the 15th Con- 
 gressional District, and was repre- 
 sented by: 
 
 1809-11. Gen. Peter B. Porter, 11th Congress. 
 
153 
 
 1811-13. Gen. Peter B. Porter, 12tli Congress. 
 In 1812 the territory which now em- 
 braces Allegany, Chautauqua, Cat- 
 taraugus, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, 
 Monroe, Niagara and Ontario coun- 
 ties was made the 21st Congres- 
 sional District, with two represen- 
 tives, and they were : 
 
 1813-15. Samuel M. Hopkins, Nathaniel How- 
 ell, 13th Congress. 
 
 1815-17. Micah Brooks, Peter B. Porter, 14th 
 Congress. 
 Gen. Porter resigned in 1816 and Arch- 
 ibald S. Clarke was elected to fill 
 vacancy. 
 
 1817-19. Benjamin Ellicott, John C. Spencer, 
 15th Congress. 
 
 1819-21. Nathaniel Allen, Albert H. Tracy, 
 16th Congress. 
 
 1821-23. Wm. B. Rochester, Albert H. Tracy, 
 17th * ongress. 
 Erie county was erected in 1S21, and 
 in 1822 Chautauqua, Erie and Niag- 
 ara were constituted the 30th Con- 
 gressional District, with one repre- 
 sentative, and the members have 
 been: 
 
 1823-25. Albert H. Tracy, 18th Congress. 
 
 1835-27. Daniel G. Garnsey, 19th Congress. 
 
 1827-29. Daniel G. Garnsey, 20th Congress. 
 
 1829-31, 
 1831-33. 
 
 1833-35, 
 1835-37 
 1837-39 
 1839-41 
 1841-43, 
 1843-45, 
 1845-47 
 1847-49, 
 1849-51 
 1851-53, 
 1853-.55 
 1855-57 
 1857-59 
 1859-61 
 1861-63 
 
 1863-65 
 1865-67 
 1867-69 
 1869-71 
 1871-73 
 1873-75 
 
 1875-77 
 
 Ebenezer P. Norton, 21st Congress. 
 
 Bates Cook, 22d Congress. 
 In 1832 Erie county was made the 32d 
 Congressional District, and has been 
 represented by: 
 
 Millard Pilhnore, 23d Congress. 
 
 Thomas C. Love, 24th Congress. 
 
 Millard Fillmore, 25th Congress. 
 
 Millard Fillmore, 26th Congress. 
 
 Millard Fillmore, 27th Congress. 
 
 Wm. A. Moseley, 28th Congress. 
 
 Wm. A. Moseley, 29th Congress. 
 
 Nathan K. Hall, 30th Congress. 
 
 E. G. Spaulding, 31st Congress. 
 
 Solomon G. Haven, .32d Congress. 
 
 Solomon G. Haven, :33d Congress. 
 
 Solomon 6. Haven, 34th Congress. 
 
 Israel T. Hatch, 35th Congress. 
 
 E. G. Spaulding, 36th Congress. 
 
 E. G. Spaulding, 37th Congress. 
 In 1862 Erie county was made the 30th 
 District. 
 
 John Ganson, 38th Congress. 
 , James M. Humphrey, 39th Congress. 
 
 James M. Humphrey, 40th Congress. 
 
 David S. Bennett, 41st Congress. 
 
 William Williams, 42d Congress. 
 
 Lyman K. Bass, 43d Congress. 
 In 1873 it was made the 32d District. 
 
 Lyman K. Bass, 44th Congress. 
 
 THE SENATE. 
 
 Until tlie adoption of the Constitution of 1821 the State was divided into 
 the Eastern, Middle, Southern and Western Senatorial Districts, with a num- 
 ber of senators in each, there being ten allotted to the Western District. The 
 first senator hailing from what may be called the western part of the State, 
 was Vincent Matthews, of Elmira, then in Tioga county, who was one of the 
 ten from the Western District, and a member from 1791 to 1803. Then fol- 
 lowed Lemuel Chipman from Wayne county, 1803 to 1805 ; Alexander Eea, 
 Genesee county, 1808 to 1811 ; Archibald S. Clarke, Cattaraugus, 1813 to 1816; 
 Jediah Prendergrast, Chautauqua, 1815 to 1818 ; Isaac Wilson, 1818 to 1821. 
 Oliver Forward was the first and only senator from Buffalo under the old 
 Constitution, and he served but the fraction of a term during 1821-22. 
 
 Under the Constitution of 1821 the State was divided into eight Senatorial 
 Districts, each of which was entitled to four senators, one being elected each 
 year ; term of office four years. The Eighth District embraced the counties 
 of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, 
 Niagara and Steuben, and the senators were : 
 
 1823. 
 
 1824. 
 
 1825. 
 1826. 
 1827. 
 1828. 
 1829. 
 
 1830. 
 1831. 
 
 Timothy H. Porter, David Eason, He- 
 man J. Redfield, Joseph Spencer. 
 
 John Bowman (vice Spencer deceased), 
 James McCall. 
 
 Samuel Wilkeson. 
 
 Ethan B. Allen. 
 
 Charles H. Carroll. 
 
 Timothy H. Porter. 
 
 George H. Boughton (vice Carroll re- 
 signed), Moses Hayden. 
 
 Albert H. Tracy. 
 
 Philo C. Puller (vice Hayden deceased), 
 Trumbull Gary. 
 
 1832. John Birdsall. 
 
 1833. John Griffin. 
 
 1834. A. H. Trary. 
 
 1835. Chancey J. Fox (vice Birdsall resigned), 
 
 Isaac Lacy. 
 
 1836. Chancey J. Pox. 
 
 1837. Samuel Works. 
 
 1838. William A. Mosely. 
 
 1839. Henry Hawkins. 
 
 1840. Abram Dixon. 
 
 1841. Samuel Works. 
 
 1842. Gideon Hard. 
 
 1843. Harvey Putnam. 
 
154 
 
 1844. Fred. F. Backus. 
 
 1845. Carlos Emmons. 
 
 1846. Gideon Hard. 
 
 1847. Francis H. Ruggles. 
 
 Under the Constitution of 1846 the 
 State was divided into thirty-two 
 districts, each of which being enti- 
 tled to one senator, and all were 
 elected biennially, each odd year. 
 The county of Erie constituted the 
 Thirty-first District, and has been 
 represented by: 
 
 1848-9. John T. Bush. 
 
 1850-1. George R. Babcock. 
 
 1852-3. George R. Babcock. 
 
 1854-5. 
 
 1856-7. 
 
 1858. 
 
 1859. 
 
 1860-1. 
 
 1862-3. 
 
 1864-5. 
 
 1866-7. 
 
 1868-9. 
 
 1870-1. 
 
 1872-3. 
 
 1874. 
 
 1875. 
 
 1876. 
 
 James O. Putnam. 
 James Wadsworth. 
 James Wadsworth. 
 Erastus S. Prosser. 
 E. S. Prosser. 
 John Ganson. 
 James M. Humphrey. 
 David S. Bennett. 
 Asher P. Nichols. 
 Loran L. Lewis. 
 Loran h. Lewis. 
 John Ganson. 
 A. P. Laning. 
 Sherman S. Rogers. 
 
 THE ASSEMBLY. 
 
 Under the first Constitution the Assembly Districts were large, each em- 
 bracing several counties, and the counties composed of large sections of the 
 sparsely populated portions of the State. Several members w^ere chosen from 
 each district, and all on a general ticket. Erie county had no immediate rep- 
 resentation until the formation of Niagara county in 1808, of which Erie 
 formed a part. Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua constituted a district, 
 and the representatives thereafter were : 
 
 1809. 
 1810. 
 1811. 
 1812. 
 1813. 
 1814. 
 1815. 
 
 1816. 
 1817. 
 1818. 
 1819. 
 1820. 
 1821. 
 1822. 
 
 1823. 
 1824. 
 1825. 
 1826. 
 
 1827. 
 1828. 
 1829. 
 1830. 
 1831. 
 1832. 
 1833. 
 1834. 
 1835. 
 1836. 
 
 Archibald S. Clarke. 
 
 Archibald S. Clarke. 
 
 Archibald S. Clarke. 
 
 Ebenezer Walden. 
 
 Jonas Williams. 
 
 Jonas Williams. 
 
 Joseph McClure. 
 
 In 1815 the district was allowed two 
 members thereafter. 
 
 Daniel McCleary, Elias Osborne. 
 
 Jediah Prendergast, Richard Smith. 
 
 Robert Fleming, Isaac Phelps. 
 
 Isaac Phelps, Philo Orton. 
 
 Elial T. Foot, Oliver Forward. 
 
 Wm. Hotchkiss, Jediah Prendergast. 
 
 Thos. B. Campbell, David Eason. 
 
 The Constitution of 1821 fixed the 
 number of Assemblymen at 128, 
 permanently. Erie county was cre- 
 ated the same year fi-om a portion 
 of Niagara and made a separate dis- 
 trict, with one member, and the 
 representatives have been: 
 
 Ebenezer P. Norton. 
 
 Samuel Wilkesou. 
 
 Calvin Fillmore. 
 
 Reuben B. Heacock. 
 
 In 1826 the district was allotted an 
 additional member thereafter. 
 
 David Burt, Oziel Smith. 
 
 David Burt, Peler B. Porter. 
 
 David Burt, Millard Fillmore. 
 
 Millard Fillmore, Edmund Hull. 
 
 Millard Fillmore, Nathaniel Knight. 
 
 Horace Clark, Wm. Mills. 
 
 Horace Clark, Wm. Mills. 
 
 Joseph Clary, Carlos Emmons. 
 
 Wm. A. Mosely, Ralph Plumb. 
 
 George P. Barker, Wells Brooks. 
 
 Hereafter another member is appor- 
 tioned to Erie county. 
 
 18-37. Benjamin A. Bivins, S. S. Case, David 
 Sheldon. 
 
 1838. Lewis F. Allen, Asa Warren, Cyrenus 
 
 Wilbur. 
 
 1839. J. A. Barker, Truman Cary, Henry 
 
 Johnson. 
 
 1840. S. C. Hawley, Stephen Osborn, Aaron 
 
 Salisbury. 
 
 1841. C. Emmons, S. C. Hawley, S. Osborn. 
 
 1842. Wm. A. Bird, B. H. Colgrove, S. S. Case. 
 
 1843. George R. Babcock, Wells Brooks, J. M. 
 
 Ketchum. 
 
 1844. Daniel Lee, Elisha Smith, Amos Wright. 
 
 1845. J. T. Bush, Truman Dewey, Daniel Lee. 
 
 1846. J. T. Bush, N. K. Hall. James Wood. 
 
 Henceforth Erie is given a fourth 
 member. 
 
 1847. O. J. Green, John D. Howe, Horatio 
 
 Shumway, Wm. H. Pratt. 
 
 1848. E. G. Spaulding, Henry Slade, I. E. Irish, 
 
 C. C. Severance. 
 
 1849. Benoni Thompson, Aug. Raynor, Marcus 
 
 McNeal, Luther Buxton. 
 
 1850. Orlando Allen, Elijah Ford, Ira E. Irish, 
 
 Joseph Candee. 
 
 1851. Orlando Allen, William A. Bird, Henry 
 
 Atwood. C. C. Severance. 
 
 1852. I. T. Hatch, Jasper B. Youngs, Aaron 
 
 Riley, Joseph Bennett. ' 
 
 1853. A. M. Clapp, Wm. T. Bush, Israel N. 
 
 Ely, Nelson Welch. 
 
 1854. W. W. Weed, Rolland Germain, Chas. 
 
 A. Sill. E. N. Hatch. 
 
 1855. W. W. Weed, Daniel Devening, Jr., L. 
 
 D. Corey, S. VV. Goddard. 
 
 1856. John G. Deshler, D. Devening, Jr, Jno. 
 
 Clark, Benjamin Maltby. 
 
 1857. A. J. Tiff'any, G. D. W. Clinton, Horace 
 
 Boies, S. C. Adams. 
 
 1858. A. P. Laning, A. J. McNett, John T. 
 
 Wheelock, Amos Avery. 
 
155 
 
 1859. Daniel Bowen, H. B. Miller, John S. 
 
 King, Wihson Rogers. 
 
 1860. O. A.Il«n. H. B. Miller, Hiram Newell, 
 
 J. H. Plumb. 
 
 1861. S.V. R. Watson,V. M. Rice, B. H. Long, 
 
 Z. Ferris. 
 
 1862. J. W. Murphy, H. Seymour. E. P. Goslin, 
 
 J A Case 
 
 1863. J. W. Mur'pliy, H. Seymour, T. A. Hop- 
 
 kins, A. G. Conger. 
 
 1864. W. W. Stajiurd, F. P. Stevens, T. A. 
 
 Hopkins, Seth Penner. 
 
 1865. W. W. Stanard. Harmon S. Cutting, J. 
 
 G. L ingner, B. W. Godfrey. 
 
 1865. Wra. Williams, J. J. L. C. Jewett, John 
 G. Langner, Levi Potter. 
 After this period Brie county is al- 
 lowed five members. 
 
 1867. C. W. Ilinson, Wm. Williams, R. L. Bur- 
 rows, Alpheus Prince, J. H. Plumb. 
 
 1S68. G. J. Bamler, Richard Flach, L. P. Day- 
 ton, A. Prince, James Rider. 
 
 1869. G. J. Bamler, P. H. Bender, J. A. Case, 
 
 0. B. Rich, A. C. Calkins. 
 
 1870. G. J. Bamler, Jas. Franklin, A. H. Blos- 
 
 som, H. B. Ransom, Lyman Oatman. 
 
 1871. Geo. Chambers, J. Howell, P. A. Alber- 
 
 ger, H B. Ransom, .1. M. Wiley. 
 
 1872. Geo. Chambers, G. Bultz, Franklin A. 
 
 Alberger, Whitford Harrington, J. M. 
 Wiley. 
 
 1873. John O' Brian, Geo. Baltz, F. A. Alber- 
 
 ger, John Nice, R. B. Foot. 
 
 1874. Pat. Hanrahan, Joseph W. Smith, F. A. 
 
 Alberger, John Nice, R. B. Foot. 
 
 1875. Pat. H mrahan, W. W. Lawson, E. Gal- 
 
 lagher, H. B. Ransom, W.A.Johnson. 
 
 1876. Daniel Cruice. W. W. Lawson, B. Gal- 
 
 lagher, B. Chafifee, C. F. Tabor. 
 
 ERIE COUNTY BAR. 
 
 Adams, S. Carey. 
 Allen, Jas. A. 
 Austin, B. H. 
 Avery, T. G. 
 Babcock, Geo. R. 
 Bacon, E. R. 
 Baker, Lyman M. 
 Ball, B. t. 
 Barton, Hiram. 
 Barton, O. F. 
 Bartholomew, A. 
 Bass, Lyman K. 
 Bath, Thos. B. 
 Beckwith, Chas. 
 Beecher, J. O. 
 Benedict, Willis J. 
 Bissrll, W. S. 
 Blanchard, A. A. 
 Bowen, Dennis. 
 Box. Henry W. 
 Bradley, Chester B. 
 Brunck, S. U. 
 Bryant, Wm. C. 
 Burrows, R. L. 
 Butler, Jay S. 
 Carman, L. 
 Clark, D. P. 
 Cleveland, G. 
 Clinton, Geo. W. 
 Clinton, Geo. 
 Clinton, Spencer. 
 Coe, S. C. 
 Cook, Josiah. 
 Copeland, D S. 
 Copeland, J. D. 
 Corlette, Thos. 
 Uothran, Geo. W. 
 Cottle, O. O. 
 Craiidall, De Forest. 
 Cutting, H. S. 
 Cutting, Thos. 
 Cntler, W. II. 
 Cutter. Ammi. 
 Daniels, Charles. 
 Davis, Thaddeus C. 
 Day, David F. 
 
 CITY. 
 
 Day, Hiram C. 
 De Witt, O. C. 
 Donihee, W. B. 
 Dorsheimer, Wm. 
 Douglass, S. J. 
 Douw, P. J. 
 Eeles, J. H. 
 Fairchild, J. L. 
 Farrington, B. L. 
 Fillmore, M. P. 
 Finkenstaedt, F. L.. 
 Fischer, Geo. W. 
 Fisher, James H. 
 Fitch, Wm. C. 
 Fitzgerald, H. D. 
 Polsom, Benj. 
 Ford, Elijah. 
 Ford, Jus. E. 
 Fullerton, Jas. C. 
 Gardner, John T. 
 Germain, C. B. 
 Gibbs, Jas. S. 
 Goodyear, C. W. 
 Gould, S. O. 
 Graves, John C. 
 Greene, H. B. 
 Greene, John B. 
 Greene, Wm. H. 
 Griswold. E, A. 
 Gurney, W. H. 
 Haight, Alb'ert. 
 Hamlin, C. W. 
 Hawkins, O. F. 
 Hawkins, Wm. M. 
 Hawks, B. C. 
 Hennig, Herman. 
 Henry, Louis. 
 Hibbard, Geo. B. 
 Hickman. A. W. 
 Hinson, C. W. 
 Holmes, Thos. C. 
 Hopkins, Nelson K. 
 Hopkins, R. W. 
 Houghton, A. A. 
 Howard, A. A. 
 Hudson, J. T. 
 
 Huetter, Carl. 
 Humphrey, J. M. 
 Humphreys, Geo. 
 Hubbell, P. H. 
 Hubbell, John. 
 Hubbell, M. S. 
 Ingelhart, P. M. 
 Jackson, D. J. 
 Johnson, U. S. 
 Jones, Wm. L. 
 Kennedy, J. H. 
 Kingston, Geo. L. 
 Lang, Joseph. 
 Laning, A. P. 
 Lansing, Livingston. 
 Lewis, L. L. 
 Locke, P. D. 
 Luckwood, D. N. 
 Lockwood, S. 
 Loomis, P. M. 
 Lyman, C. M. 
 Lyon, Wm. W. 
 McMillan, D. H. 
 McNeal, N. B. 
 March, P. R. 
 Marshall, C. D. 
 Marshall, O. H. 
 Marvin, Geo. L. 
 Marvin, Le Giand. 
 Matteson. P. A. 
 Michael, Edward. 
 Millburn. J. G. 
 Miller, Warren P. 
 Miller, Wm. P. 
 Moore, M. B. 
 Moray, Norris. 
 Morse, P. R. 
 Muldoon, J. G. 
 Nash, Daniel D. 
 Nichols, A. P. 
 Norris, John. 
 Palmer, E. W. 
 Park. C. H. 
 Parker, Llewellyn. 
 Parker, P. G. 
 Parker, W. T. 
 
156 
 
 Pattison, A. E. 
 Pattison, E. C. 
 Perkins, E. B. 
 Perkins, P. K. 
 Perkins, L. P. 
 Phelps, Geo. E. 
 Plumley, E. J. 
 Porter, S. B. 
 Potter, Geo. S. 
 Putnam, -las. O. 
 Quimby, Geo. T. 
 Kead, A. L. 
 Rice, A. G. 
 Bobbins, E. C. 
 Eogers, S. S. 
 Ronier, J. L. 
 Rowley, W. W. 
 Saunders, P. D. K. 
 Saunders, R. 
 Schelling, R. P. 
 Scroggs, G. A. 
 Seaver, J. V. 
 Shearer, J. H. 
 
 Sheehan, M. H. 
 Sheldon, James. 
 Shepard, C. C. 
 Sherman, R. F. 
 Sibley, J. C. 
 Siciird, G. J. 
 Sidway, Jonathan. 
 Sizer, Thos. J. 
 Slosson, F. N. 
 Smith, Jas. M. 
 Smith, Lyman B. 
 Smith, W. G. L. 
 Spaulding, E. G. 
 Sprague, E. Carlton. 
 Squier, H. R. 
 Stevens, Robt. H. 
 Strong, Geo. A. 
 Strong, Jas. C. 
 Strong, John C. 
 Tabor. C. F. 
 Talcott, J. L. 
 Tanner, .Monzo. 
 Thayer, Edwin. 
 
 Thomas, C. J. 
 Titus, B. C. 
 Tyler, John. 
 Vedder, E. B. 
 yeile, Sheldon T. 
 Wadsworth, Geo. 
 Walker, J. L. 
 Wardwell, Geo. S. 
 Warren, Wm. T. 
 Welch, S. M., Jr. 
 Welch, T. F. . 
 Wenz, James. 
 Wheeler, C. B. 
 White, Truman C. 
 Whitney, M. A. 
 W^ierling, W. J. 
 Willett, Jas. M. 
 Williams, B. H. 
 Wilson, R. P. 
 Wing, Geo. 
 Winship, James. 
 Woodworth, W. N. 
 
 TOWNS. 
 
 Akron— Tabor, Russ. C. 
 
 Alden—EweW, Joseph E. 
 
 ^;<;'Ora— Johnson, W. C, Shearer, Joseph. 
 
 I'armt/n—Ha.mmoncl, W. W. 
 
 Gowanda—AWen, H. F., Torrance, C. C. 
 
 Samburgh—Cidkms, A. C, Thome, Abram. 
 
 Lancaster— Romer, J. L., Tabor, C. F. 
 
 Spri7igville— Severance, C. C, Stanbro, A. M.' 
 
 Tonaivanda-Benedict, Willis J., Bush, W. T., 
 Young, B. T. 
 
 WUliamsville—^ggert, A. W. 
 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 List of the Principals of the Normal, Central and District Schools of the 
 city of Buffalo : 
 
 Normal— H. B. Buckham, A. M. 
 Central— Rny T. Spencer, A. M. 
 
 DISTRICT SCHOOLS. 
 
 No. 1 — A. Z. Barrows. 
 
 No. 2— W. L. French. 
 
 No. 3— D. W. Blanchard. 
 
 No. 4— J. W. Barker. 
 
 No. 5 — E. L. Chamberlayne. 
 
 No. 6— Byron F. Pratt. 
 
 No. 7— F. D. Love. 
 
 No. 8— Samuel Slade. 
 
 No. 9— Mrs. S. C. Claraluna. 
 
 No. 10— E. E. Fish. 
 
 No. 11— Mrs. H. F. Fullertou. 
 
 No. 12— W. C. Pomeroy. 
 
 No. 13— W. H. Meads. 
 
 No. 14— Jacob Berry. 
 
 No. 15— William C. Feagles. 
 
 No. 16— Henry F. Fullerton. 
 
 No. 17- 
 No. 18- 
 No. 19- 
 No. 20- 
 No. 21- 
 , No. 22- 
 No. 23- 
 No. 24- 
 No. 2.5- 
 No. 26- 
 No. 27- 
 No. 28- 
 No. 29- 
 No. 30- 
 No. 31- 
 No. Si- 
 No. 33- 
 No. 34- 
 No. 35- 
 No. 36- 
 
 -Emily J. Hawkins. 
 -Charles W. Colyer. 
 -George H. Stowits. 
 -James A. Roberts. 
 -Mary H. Caughey. 
 -Ezra Welch. 
 -Mrs. Anna H. Pollard. 
 -O. G. Nichols. 
 -Frank S. Fosdick. 
 -J. C. Bump. 
 -David Earns worth. 
 -Kate Wilson. 
 -Mrs. M. L. Sage. 
 -Mrs. Jennie W. Dyson. 
 -James l<\ Crooker. 
 -N. G. Benedict. 
 O. S. Throop. 
 -E. F. Cook. 
 H. H. Rogers, 
 ■A. B. Ellsworth. 
 
 The prevailing style of the school buildings belonging to the department 
 is shown by the illustrations on the four following pages. 
 
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13^RNES, B^4.]SrCKOFT & CO 
 
 IMPORTERS, JOBBERS AND RETAILERS 
 
 EtY GOODS, NOTIONS, CARPETS, ETC 
 
 S60, 262, 264 J^NID S66 IVLJ^IN ST., BXJKITALO, IsT. Y. 
 

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