Sanford E. Church
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and Democratic politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He served as chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
for a decade.
Life
His parents, of English and Scotch descent, removed from Otsego to Monroe County, New YorkMonroe County, New York
Monroe County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 744,344. It is named after James Monroe, fifth President of the United States of America. Its county seat is the city of Rochester....
when he was still a child, and his education was obtained entirely in the common schools of that county and at the Monroe Academy. From 1835 on he resided in Albion, N.Y., with the exception of a brief residence in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
.
He studied law with Benjamin L. Bessac, who subsequently was his law partner until 1843. Then he associated himself with Noah Davis
Noah Davis
Noah Davis was an American lawyer and politician from New York-Life:...
. This firm continued for a period of thirteen years. On its dissolution the firm of Church & Sawyer was established at Albion. About 1862, he took Judge Selden's place in the firm of Selden, Munger & Thompson, at Rochester; in 1865 the firm became Church, Munger & Cooke, and so continued until Church's elevation to the bench of the New York Court of Appeals
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the U.S. state of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six associate judges who are appointed by the Governor to 14-year terms...
.
He was a member from Orleans County of the New York State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
in 1842. Three years later he was appointed District Attorney of Orleans County, and after the New York State Constitution of 1846 became effective, was elected by the people to the same office, serving until the end of 1850.
In 1850 he was nominated by the Democrats for lieutenant governor with Horatio Seymour
Horatio Seymour
Horatio Seymour was an American politician. He was the 18th Governor of New York from 1853 to 1854 and from 1863 to 1864. He was the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States in the presidential election of 1868, but lost the election to Republican and former Union General of...
for governor. Seymour was defeated by Washington Hunt
Washington Hunt
Washington Hunt was an American lawyer and politician.-Life:He moved to Lockport, New York in 1828 to study law, was admitted to the bar in 1834, and opened a law office on Market Street in 1835...
, the Whig candidate, by about two hundred majority, but Church ran ahead of his ticket and was elected. In 1852 he was re-elected to the same office, and Seymour this time was elected governor.
In 1857 he was elected New York State Comptroller
New York State Comptroller
The New York State Comptroller is a state cabinet officer of the U.S. state of New York. The duties of the comptroller include auditing government operations and operating the state's retirement system.-History:...
, but was defeated in 1859 and 1863 when a candidate for re-election. In 1867 he was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention, and was chairman of its finance committee. During the Civil War, Church "vilified the Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
administration for seeking to 'absorb, centralize and consolidate the rights and powers of the loyal States in the general government.
He was a delegate to the 1844
1844 Democratic National Convention
In 1844, the Democratic Party held their National Convention in Baltimore. At first, the Democrats were split; the three nominees for the Presidential candidate were:* Martin van Buren, a former president and leader of the dominant Jacksonian faction...
, 1860
1860 Democratic National Convention
The 1860 Democratic National Convention was one of the crucial events in the lead-up to the American Civil War. Following a fragmented official Democratic National Convention that was adjourned in deadlock, two more presidential nominating conventions took place: a resumed official convention,...
, 1864
1864 Democratic National Convention
The 1864 Democratic National Convention was held at The Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois. The Convention nominated General George B. McClellan for the Presidency, and Representative George H. Pendleton for the Vice-Presidency. McClellan, age 37 at the time of the convention and Pendleton, age 39,...
and 1868 Democratic National Convention
1868 Democratic National Convention
The 1868 Democratic National Convention was held at Tammany Hall in New York City. Although former Governor from New York Horatio Seymour was nominated as the unanimous candidate for President, he stood virtually no chance of defeating the hero of the Civil War, Republican candidate Ulysses S. Grant...
s, and in 1860 advocated the nomination of Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas was an American politician from the western state of Illinois, and was the Northern Democratic Party nominee for President in 1860. He lost to the Republican Party's candidate, Abraham Lincoln, whom he had defeated two years earlier in a Senate contest following a famed...
. At the Democratic National Convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...
, held in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in July 1868, Church was named by the delegation from New York State as its choice for the nomination for the presidency, and his name was presented to the convention by Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel J. Tilden
Samuel Jones Tilden was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. presidency in the disputed election of 1876, one of the most controversial American elections of the 19th century. He was the 25th Governor of New York...
, the chairman of the delegation, who cast the vote of the State for him for the first seven ballots. New York then switched to Thomas A. Hendricks
Thomas A. Hendricks
Thomas Andrews Hendricks was an American politician who served as a Representative and a Senator from Indiana, the 16th Governor of Indiana , and the 21st Vice President of the United States...
from the eighth to the twenty-second ballots until a break was made by other states to Horatio Seymour
Horatio Seymour
Horatio Seymour was an American politician. He was the 18th Governor of New York from 1853 to 1854 and from 1863 to 1864. He was the Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States in the presidential election of 1868, but lost the election to Republican and former Union General of...
, the chairman of the convention, who was then nominated.
In the spring of 1870, Church was nominated by the Democratic convention for chief judge of the Court of Appeals. The opposing candidate in the convention was George F. Comstock
George F. Comstock
George Franklin Comstock was an American lawyer and politician. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1860 to 1861.-Life:He graduated from Union College in 1834...
, and the opposing candidate in the election was Henry R. Selden
Henry R. Selden
Henry Rogers Selden was an American lawyer and politician. He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1857 to 1858. He defended Susan B. Anthony in her 1873 trial for unlawfully voting as a woman.-Life:He was the son of Calvin Selden and Phebe Selden...
. Church was elected by nearly ninety thousand majority.
He died in office, very suddenly and unexpectedly, without any previous sickness, at his residence at Albion, where he had gone to spend a three-week vacation. He is buried at the Mt. Albion Cemetery
Mt. Albion Cemetery
Mount Albion Cemetery is located on New York State Route 31 in the Town of Albion, New York, United States, east of the village of Albion, which owns and operates it. It is a rural cemetery established in the 1840s on a glacial drumlin....
in Albion.
External links
- http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/church.html#RO90LP9SW Political Graveyard
- http://courts.state.ny.us/history/elecbook/chadbourne_coa/pg3.htm NY Court History
- Google Book The New York Civil List compiled by Franklin Benjamin Hough (pages 32, 34, 265 and 378; Weed, Parsons and Co., 1858)