72 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



fluency more than of a knowledge of the law, — he was a 

 lawyer who prepared his briefs with great care, and who 

 could urge his arguments before a court or a jury with great 

 clearness and cogency. He was very systematic and labo- 

 rious in his business habits, and a gentleman of courteous 

 manners and a kindly and generous disposition. 



HON. WILLIAM WOODS. 



Hon. William Woods was one of the early and prominent 

 lawyers of Bath. He was a native of Washington County, 

 and studied law with Hon. Samuel Nelson, late justice of 

 the Supreme Court of the United States, who married his 

 niece. He did a very large legal business, and was one of 

 the most popular men of his time. He was a member of 

 the Legislature in 1823 and 1828, a member of Congress 



passage, and Mr. Rochester with a large number of pas- 

 sengers was drowned. 



HON. DAVID MCMASTER. 



Mr. McMaster was born in Unadilla, Otsego, N. Y.', on 

 the 21st of April, 1804. He is a graduate of Hamilton 

 College, in the class of 1826. He began the same year 

 the study of law at Norwich, Chenango Co., and in the 

 fall of that year came to Bath, and continued his legal 

 studies with Hon. William Woods, and was admitted in 

 1827. His first practice was in Bath, in 1827, in part- 

 nership with Hon. Henry W. Rogers, and, with the ex- 

 ception of one year in Clyde, Wayne Co. (1828-29), he 

 practiced continuously in this village till 1847, a portion 

 of the time in partnership with Ziba A. Leland and L. H. 

 Read, both since deceased. 



from 1823 to 1825, and surrogate of the county from 1827 

 to 1835. 



HON. WILLIAM B. ROCHESTER. 



This distinguished member of the early bench and bar 

 of this county was a native of Maryland. He read law in 

 the office of Gen. S. S. Haight, at Bath, where he practiced 

 some time, and at one time in partnership with Hon. Wil- 

 liam Woods. He was elected a member of the Eighteenth 

 Congress in 1822, was a representative on the part of the 

 United States in the Congress of the American States at 

 Panama, and in 1823 was appointed one of the circuit 

 judges of this State for the Eighth Judicial Circuit. He 

 subsequently removed to Buffalo, N. Y., where he was for 

 many years president of the Branch Bank of the United 

 States in that city. His health failing, he started to spend 

 a winter in Florida, for the benefit of that climate, on 

 board the steamer Pulashi. The vessel was wrecked on its 



Under the new constitution, in June, 1847, Mr. Mc- 

 Master was elected county judge and surrogate of Steuben 

 County, which offices he filled in a manner creditable to 

 himself and his constituents. In 1856 he was re-elected 

 to both offices for a term of four years, and discharged the 

 duties of the same with that care and fidelity characteristic 

 of him both as a lawyer and a judge. Few men, either in 

 their professional or official duties, have gained or retained 

 the esteem and confidence of their fellow-citizens in a higher 

 degree than has Judge McMaster. 



He was married, Feb. 13, 1828, to Miss Adeline A. 

 Humphreys, daughter of the late Guy Humphreys, of 

 Marcellus, N. Y., who died Oct. 7, 1841. By this mar- 

 riage he has two children living. 



On February 22, 1843, he married, for his second wife, 

 Mary, daughter of the late Hon. George C. Edwards, of 

 Bath. Of the children by this marriage six are living. 



