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Courts of the Western Frontier
David O. Boehm[1] In 1638, the Dutch called all of New York west of Albany, "Terra Incognita." When the English took possession, they named it Albany, County, after the Duke of York and Albany (later James II). In 1772, Tryon County was set off from Albany County. After the Revolutionary War, Tryon County was re-named Montgomery County for the popular general who was killed in the assault on Quebec. With Charlotte County, Tryon contained all of the land west of colonial New York, and it was in Tryon County that the last session of the Crown Court was held on December 17, 1775. When the Constitution was finally adopted at Kingston on April 20, 1777, temporary appointments were made to the Supreme Court; Robert R. Livingston was appointed Chancellor, John Jay, Chief Justice, Robert Yates and John Schloss Hobart, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. They were to hold office during good behavior, or until they should reach the age of 60 years. The Supreme Court was not at that time regarded as newly created, but as merely reconstituted and continued. The minutes of the first term of the court at Kingston in September, 1777, were entered in the same volume that had been used by the Crown Court in pre-Revolution days. The only change of any consequence was in the title and docket of the first case, People of the State of New York being substituted for that of Dominus Rex. In April, 1786, legislation required that one or more of the Supreme Court Justices hold court in each of the counties of the state for the trial of cases triable there. What this imposed upon the three Supreme Court Justices may be imagined from Justice John Schloss Hobart's journey from New York by boat, canoe and on horseback to western New York. First Term of Court In the Albany Law Journal, Volume LVI, pages 349-54, an article written by L. B. Proctor describes the "First Term of Supreme Court in Western New York." It tells of how Justice Hobart left his home in New York City in early June, 1795 and "traveled westward through distant forests, crossing lakes, journeying along the shores of rivers, over the warpaths of the Indians, to the country of the Genesee" to hold the first term of the Supreme Court ever to be held west of Cayuga Lake, at the Village of Geneva. After being ferried over Cayuga Lake, Justice Hobart rode on horseback through "primitive forest." His horse cast a shoe, and the judge finally reached a hut in the forest where he asked to be directed to the nearest blacksmith. The settler, who was the only white inhabitant for miles around, himself shod the horse. The judge finally reached Geneva and sittings began on September 20, 1795. Justice Hobart was given quarters in the Patterson Tavern "a place |
 constructed of hewn logs, one story high, but roomy and comfortable." A large log building had been erected for the courthouse. The bench was of rough-hewn logs as was the judge's seat and the jury box. One can only wonder what must have passed through the good judge's mind as he presided in this frontier courtroom. He had been an associate of Justice John Jay and was described "in scholarly attainments, legal learning and judicial ability... the equal, if not the superior, of Jay." But perhaps the experience was eased somewhat by the respectful treatment he received from the settlers. In the morning, at the sound of a horn, the judge was escorted to the courthouse by the sheriff and the lawyers who had gathered. He took his seat on the bench "with the ease and grace with which he sat on the bench in the metropolis of the State, surrounded by a brilliant bar and all that renders a temple of justice impressive." At least one of the members of the bar matched the dignity and learning of the judge. He was Aaron Burr, then a United States Senator, and present on behalf of a client. Justice Hobart gave an eloquent and prophetic charge to this frontier Grand Jury, a portion of which follows: Humble as are your surroundings, they rise into the degree of grandeur, not so much from the importance of the work you are to perform here as from the thought that you are the first Grand Inquest ever impanelled in Western New York, a region which time will embellish with cultivation, by intelligent people, institutions of learning, art, science and all that adorns and elevates society. We are here to lay the cornerstone of jurisprudence not only for the present but for the future of this magnificent wilderness, and to set the grand machinery of the law in motion for all time. One of the first settlers in the Town of Shelby in Orleans County, Alexander Coon, described what the primitive frontier was like at that time: "My father and his family came into two miles west of Shelby Village in 1810. The whole family, with a hired man, left the Lewiston road at Walsworth, and arriving upon our land, four crotches were inserted in the ground, sticks laid across, and the bark of an elm tree used for roof and sides. The hut was only intended for a sleeping place; the cooking was done in the open air. So much accomplished, my father and mother went out to Walsworth's for a few nights to get lodging, the hired man and boys lodging in the hut. A log house was the next thing in order. A very comfortable one was built in five days and that too, without the use of boards, nails or shingles. Our cattle were carried through the first winter entirely on browse; the next winter we had a little corn fodder to mix with it." |
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Footnote 1:Justice, Supreme Court of the State of New York, Seventh Judicial District.
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 The Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York | |
