Jurist; born in
Kinderhook, N. Y., March, 1747; was educated at King's College (now Columbia University), and had the reputation of being an accomplished classical scholar.
While in college he married
Elizabeth Cruger; and, choosing the law as a profession, entered the office of
Mr. Sylvester, in
Albany, concluding his studies with
William Smith, Sr., in New York.
Soon rising to eminence in his profession, he was appointed, at the age
[
29]
of twenty-six years, sole reviser of the colonial statutes.
When the
Revolutionary War broke out he was one of the New York committee of correspondence; but when the question, Shall the
American colonies take up arms against
Great Britain?
had to be answered by every American citizen, his voice was in the negative, and during the war he was a conscientious loyalist, but maintained an attitude of strict neutrality.
He did not escape persecution, for suspicion was everywhere keen-scented.
The committee on conspiracies at
Albany summoned him before them (June, 1777), and required him to take the oath of allegiance to the Continental Congress.
He refused, and was ordered to
Boston within ten days. From that time he was constantly restrained; and when he asked the privilege of taking his wife, who was dying with consumption, to New York, it was refused.
She died, and he was banished from his native country in October, 1778, when he went to
England, and remained there until the summer of 1785, when he returned home, and was received with open arms by men of all parties.
While in
England he had associated with the most distinguished men of the realm, who regarded him as one of the brightest
Americans among them, for his scholarship, legal attainments, and rare social qualities were remarkable.
These made his mansion at
Kinderhook the resort of some of the most eminent men of the land, and his society was sought continually.
He died in
Kinderhook, N. Y., Sept. 17, 1832.
