HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



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In 1809, Mr. Matthews was elected to the Eleventh Con- 

 gress from the then Fourteenth Congressional District, which 

 consisted of Cayuga, Seneca, Steuben, and Tioga Counties. 

 He served one year in Congress, and returned to the practice 

 of his profession. In 1812 he was elected district attorney 

 for several of the western counties, and representing a large 

 sphere of official and professional labor. After holding the 

 office a little over two years, his increasing professional busi- 

 ness compelled him to resign, and his place was filled by 

 Gen. Daniel Cruger, of Bath. In 1816, at the solicitation 

 of numerous friends in Steuben County, Gen. Matthews 

 removed to Bath. Here his popularity continued to increase, 

 and he soon became one of the most distinguished lawyers 

 in Western New York. In 1821 he removed to Rochester, 

 where his reputation as a lawyer had gone before him, and 

 where he entered upon a large and lucrative practice, which 

 he continued for the remainder of his active life. 



Gen. Matthews served in the Legislature, from Monroe 

 County, in 1826, in the Senate in 1839, and was ap- 

 pointed district attorney for that county in 1831. He was 

 a sagacious, philosophical, and profound man, and an able 

 lawyer, though never an active politician. He died on the 

 26th of September, 1846, in the eightieth year of his age, 

 having practiced his profession fifty-five years without 

 interruption excepting his official terms. 



GEN. DANIEL CRUGER. 



Daniel Cruger, whose ancestors were Huguenots, was a 

 native of Sunbury, Pa. He was born on the 22d of 

 December, 1780. He learned the printer's trade in his 

 boyhood of a Mr. Webster, one of the earliest printers in 

 Albany, and afterwards started a paper at Owego, called the 

 Owego Democrat^ which he edited and published for a 

 short time, when he sold his interest and came to Bath, his 

 father having previously removed here. For a while he 

 pursued his occupation in Bath, but it proving injurious to 

 his health, he entered the law-office of GenI S. S. Haight 

 as a student, with whom he continued till he was admitted 

 to the bar in 1805, when he became a partner with Gen 

 Haight. 



About this time he was married to Miss Hannah 

 Clement, a niece of Henry A. Townsend, Esq., a lady of 

 great refinement, intellectual culture, and graceful accom- 

 plishments, who subsequently was as much admired in the 

 polished and refined circles of Washington and Albany, as 

 her husband was esteemed and honored among the gifted 

 statesmen and lawyers with whom he associated in those 

 cities. His ability as a lawyer soon exhibited itself, and he 

 became, within a few years after the commencement of his 

 practice, one of the leading lawyers at the Steuben bar. 



Mr. Cruger served with the rank of major during the 

 war of 1812, and did gallant service with Gomk McClure's 

 brigade in Canada. In the fall of 1813 he was elected to 

 the Assembly. In 1814 he was re-elected, and also in 

 1815, and during this latter session was chosen Speaker 

 of the House. It was a memorable contest between the 

 Republican and Federal factions. Jacob R. Van Rensselaer 

 was the Federal candidate. So nearly divided were the 

 factions in the House, that Mr. Cruger was elected by a 

 majority of only one vote. He was a most efficient presid- 

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ing officer. It has been said, '' Perhaps few men ever 

 presided over a legislative body with more dignity and 

 ability. He was a man of extensive and profound informa- 

 tion, thoroughly conversant with parliamentary rules, quick 

 of apprehension, and he perfectly understood the rules of 

 debate; without any apparent reflection he could apply 

 them to existing circumstances with perfect facility. His 

 courtesy and urbanity in the chair were proverbial, and, 

 notwithstanding the bitter animosity which governed the 

 partisan strife of that day, he was exceedingly popular as a 

 presiding officer." 



In 1815, Mr. Cruger formed a partnership with Hon. 

 William B. Rochester, of Bath, subsequently one of the 

 circuit judges of the State, an eminent and distinguished 

 politician, a lawyer of fine legal attainments, a judge of 

 superior abilities, a gentleman by birth, intuition, and prac- 

 tice, a scholar, ripe and thorough, and an ornament to the 

 bench, the bar, and the political arena. It is needless, 

 perhaps, to add that the combination of such talents in this 

 legal firm rendered it one of the most powerful and influen- 

 tial in Western New York. 



On the 7th of April, 1815, Gen. Cruger was appointed 

 district attorney for the Seventh District, consisting of the 

 counties of Steuben, Allegany, and Tioga. The office of 

 district attorney was at that time second only in importance 

 to that of attorney-general, and it was while in the dis- 

 charge of the duties of this office that Gen. Cruger attained 

 his highest professional reputation. Through a series of 

 years he wielded an influence in the counties of Allegany 

 and Steuben almost unbounded. 



In the fall of 1816 he was elected to Congress from the 

 then Twentieth Congressional District. Here his talents 

 were not less conspicuous than they had before been in the 

 State Legislature. He served in the House of Representa- 

 tives as a member of the committee on the judiciary, and 

 made several speeches, which attracted more than ordinary 

 attention and won for him a high degree of respect. 



When De Witt Clinton was removed from the office of 

 canal commissioner, meetings were held throughout the 

 State, denouncing the act in the strongest and most em- 

 phatic manner. When the intelligence reached Steuben 

 County a large meeting convened at Bath. It was the 

 largest meeting which, up to that time, had ever assembled 

 in this part of the State. Gen. Cruger was called to pre- 

 side. On taking the chair he made one of his character- 

 istic speeches, — a speech of great power and eff'ectiveness, 

 although entirely destitute of any attempt at oratorical 

 display. It was the calm and dignified expression of his 

 own deep feelings, rendering his plain words penetrating 

 and enduring. Among other things he said : '' Private 

 citizens have rights as well as duties. The Legislature is 

 but a co-ordinate branch of government, instituted for one 

 and a single end, the duty of making laws. When it is 

 perverted to other objects, to purposes of ambition or party 

 spirit, we are authorized, we are bound to make such oppo- 

 sition as shall call it back to a discharge of its proper duties, 

 to endeavor to render it as pure as the imperfections of our 

 nature will admit. Fellow-citizens, that the Legislature, 

 in the removal of Mr. Clinton, has perverted its powers to 

 party spirit, party rancor and hate, will be admitted by all 



