68 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



Albany. The conviction was set aside, and a new trial 

 granted the prisoner. This case is reported in the 4th of 

 Cowen. In due time the new trial took place, and the 

 prisoner was convicted and executed. 



Judse Welles continued to discharge the duties of dis- 

 trict attorney until the year 1829, when his increasing civil 

 business compelled him to resign. Hon. Edward Howell 

 was appointed in his place. Mr. Welles continued to prac- 

 tice at Bath ten years, when he removed to Penn Yan, 

 where he continued to practice with success and distinction 

 until elected a justice of the Supreme Court. 



As a lawyer he was not one of those 



" Who pit the brains against the hearty 

 Grloss misdeeds and trifle with great truths." 



At the bar he gained the attention of the court and jury 

 by the calm, candid manner in which he presented his case. 

 Though not a rapid thinker, and sometimes slow in coming 

 to conclusions, yet such was the perfect preparation which 

 he gave his cases that he was always formidable as an antag- 

 onist. He was hke a heavy piece of artillery, not easily 

 changed about, but always well and effectually aimed. His 

 manner is well illustrated by the following anecdote : He 

 was once engaged in the trial of an important cause, at 

 Waterloo, in which the counsel opposed to him made an 

 exhibition of his eloquence, and, in his conceit, a sarcastic 

 allusion to the plain speaking of his opponent. In his 

 reply Mr. Welles simply remarked that he never attempted 

 the flights of oratory which the counsel opposed to him 

 did ; and he could only say of him, as Junius did of the 

 king, " The feathers that adorn him support his flight ; 

 strip him of his plumage and you fix him to the earth," 

 and that he should endeavor in a quiet way to take some 

 of the gentleman's plumage from him, — just enough, he 

 trusted, to keep his good friend out of the clouds; and 

 he succeeded to the admiration of all present. 



In July, 1847, the first judicial election under the con- 

 stitution took place. In the Seventh Judicial District, 

 Thomas A. Johnson, of Corning, Henry Welles, of Penn 

 Yan, Samuel L. Seldon, of Rochester, and John Maynard, 

 of Auburn, were elected justices of the Supreme Court. 

 These gentlemen were lawyers of the highest and purest 

 professional character. As they had adorned the bar with 

 their learning and talents, so also they added lustre to the 

 bench, which since the adoption of the first constitution 

 had been the admiration of the nation. For over thirty 

 years the judges of the Seventh District have upheld the 

 learning, dignity, and purity of the Supreme Court of the 

 State of New York. 



Judge Welles discharged the duties of a justice of the 

 Supreme Court nearly twenty-one years. The legal reports 

 of the State bear ample testimony to his abihty and 

 research. It is said, " He entered upon the discharge of 

 his duties with great industry and directness of purpose, 

 and the student of the earlier volumes of ' Barbour's and 

 Howard's Reports' will find the traces of his judicial labor 

 to be quite as numerous and quite as valuable as those of 

 any other member of the court." 



Judge Welles died at Penn Yan, March 7, 1868, in the 

 seventy-fourth year of his age. 



HON. THOMAS A. JOHNSON. 



Hon. Thomas A. Johnson was born in Blanford, Hamp- 

 den Co., Mass., May 15, 1804. His paternal ancestry was 

 English, and his maternal Irish. His father was a small 

 farmer, and his advantages for education were such only as 

 the common schools afforded. In his early boyhood his 

 parents removed to Colesville, Broome Co., N. Y. As soon 

 as he was old enough, he spent his winters in teaching 

 district school and in reading and study. He studied law 

 with Hon. Robert Monell, at Greene, Chenango Co., N. Y., 

 and soon after admission to the bar he removed to Centre- 

 ville, in the present town of Corning, which was then head- 

 quarters for business in this region. As business moved 

 eastward, he removed to Knoxville, and in 1839 became 

 one of the first residents of the village of Corning, build- 

 ing one of the best houses in the place at its commence- 

 ment, in which he resided till the time of his death. He 

 always took an active interest in building up and fostering 

 the various business and social interests of the village. 



In 1841 he was appointed land commissioner for the 

 Erie Railroad Company. With Simeon Hammond, now 

 of Nunda, Livingston Co., N. Y., under the firm-name of 

 Hammond & Johnson, he was half-owner of the water- 

 power and mill property just east of Corning, and was in- 

 terested in the same at the time of his death, as one of the 

 firm of Johnson, Brough & Bostwick. Until his elevation 

 to the bench he was in the active and constant practice of 

 his profession. 



" He was a Whig, of Free-Soil proclivities, and afterwards 

 a Republican throughout his life. He was one of the first 

 trustees of the school district in the village of Corning, 

 and during his life an earnest promoter of education. He 

 was, from its opening till his death, one of the trustees of 

 the Elmira Female College. The town of Corning being 

 Whig, he was chosen to a full share of the town ofiices. 

 The county, senatorial, and Congressional districts were 

 largely Democratic, yet he had the courage to accept at 

 various times a nomination by his party for the Senate and 

 Congress, and stumped the district with great ability, al- 

 though without success in securing his election. 



In 1847 he was elected by the Whigs to the office of 

 justice of the Supreme Court for the Seventh Judicial Dis- 

 trict under the then new constitution. This county wa.s 

 included in the district by the active efforts of three men, 

 who admired Mr. Johnson for his staunch advocacy of 

 Whig principles, and were determined that Steuben County 

 should be placed in a strong Whig district, so that he could 

 be elected justice of the Supreme Court. These three were 

 Hon. William Divin, member of Assembly (a resident of 

 Reading, then in Steuben County) ; Hon. Francis H. Rug- 

 gles, a senator from Chautauqua County (subsequently a 

 resident of Corning) ; and Hon. Ira Harris, senator from 

 Albany. Mr. Johnson's personal friend, Mr. Divin, with- 

 out his knowledge, enlisted the two senators in the project, 

 which was carried through without regard to geographical 

 fitness, as the county of Steuben jutted southward to the 

 Pennsylvania line. 



Judge Johnson was re-elected when his term expired, 

 and twice afterwards, and thus held the office for twenty- 



