Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/758

STRONG. Jedediah. politician, b. in LitchfieltL Conn.. 7 Nov., 1738: d. there, 21 Aug.. 1802. His father. Supply Strong, was one of the first settlers of Litchfield in 1723, and is said to have owned one eighth of the township. The son was gradu- ated at Tale, and began the study of divinity, but abandoned it for law. He was admitted to the bar. but devoted himself to politics, in which he long wielded great influence. He was elected to the legislature in 1771. and sat in that body for thirty regular sessions thereafter, during several of which he was clerk of the house. In 1774 he was chosen to the Continental congress, and declined, but he served in that body in 1782-'4, and in 1780-'91 he was a judge of the county court. In 1774-'5 he was a member of the committee of inspection, and in 1775 he was made a commissary of supplies in the army. In April. 1775. the legislature sent him to Albany to secure all "the arms belonging to this colony left there during the French war." In 178."? he was a member of the state convention that ratified the IT. S. constitution. He became dissi- pated, and died in poverty and obscurity.

STRONG. John, pioneer, b. in Coventry. Conn., 16 Aug.. 1738: d. in Addison, Vt.. 16 June. 1816. He removed in 1765 to the eastern side of Lake Champlain. where he built the first house that was erected by an English settler north of Massachu- setts. He was driven from his home by Burgoyne's invasion in 1777. and separated from his family, but accidentally found them in Dorset. Vt., where he resided several years, representing the town in the legislature in 1779 '82. and serving as assistant judge of Bennington county in 1781-"2. He re- turned to his old home in Addison. Vt., in 1783, sat again in the legislature in 1784-'6. was first judge of the county court in 1785-1801. and judge of probate in 1786-1801. In 1791 he sat in the ! convention that ratified the U. S. constitution. He was known as Gen. John Strong. His son, Saninel. soldier, b. in Salisbury. Conn., 17 July, 1762; d. in Vergennes. Vt.. 5 Dee., 1832, became a large landholder at Vergennes. During the war of 1812 he raised of his own accord a body of soldiers, and hastened to the relief of the garrison at Plattsbnrg, X. T. He received for his services , the formal thanks of the legislatures of Vermont and New York, and a gold sword from the latter. John's brother, ADOXIJAH. b. in Coventry. Conn.. ' 5 July. 1743 ; d. in Salisbury. Conn.. 12 Fe'b.. 1813, was a lawyer, and served in the Revolutionary army as commissary-general. Adonijah's grand- son. Theron Rutld. jurist, b. in Salisbury. Conn., 7 i Nov., 1802; d. in New York city. 15 May.' 1873. was the son of Martin Strong, who was for many years a county judge, and member of both houses of the Connecticut legislature. The son studied law with his father, at Litchfield, and in Salem. N. Y., and on his admission to the bar in 1826 opened an office in Palmyra. N. Y. He was district attorney for Wayne county in 1834-"9. sat in congress in 1839-'41, having been elected as a Democrat, and in 1842 was chosen to the legislature. Fro: till 1860 he was a judge of the New York supreme court, and during one year of that time he was a member of the court of appeals. More opinions written by Judge Strong were published while he was on the bench of the latter court than by any other member except Hiram Denio. On his retire- ment from the bench, he resumed busir Rochester. N. Y.. where he had removed i: but in 1867 he went to New York city. He had a large practice, and his services were also frequent- ly in demand as a referee. Another grandson of Adonijah, William, jurist, b. in Somers, Conn., 6 May. 1803 : d. at Lake Minnewasca. N. Y., 19 Aug., 1895. He was a son of Rev. William L. Stro: . graduated at Yale, and engaged in the study of law, teaching at the same time, at one period in Bur- lington. N. J.. where his legal preceptor was Garret D. Wall. He finished his legal studies by a six months' course in Yale law - school. Deciding to prac- tise in Pennsylva- nia, he was admit- ted to the bar in that state in 1832, | and. settling at Reading, mastered the German lan-

guage, then much

j spoken in that re- gion, and soon ranked high as a lawyer. In 1846 he was a candidate for congress, and was twice elected on the Democratic ticket,

serving from 1 - - "

till 1851. In his second term he was appointed chairman of the committee on elections. He de- clined a third nomination, and retired from active politics, but when the civil war began, though then occupying a high judicial post, he gave all his support and influence in aid of the government. In 1857 he was elected a justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and he served eleven years, attaining a high reputation as a jurist. His opin- ions, in volumes 30^-60 of the state reports, exhibit great care in preparation, clearness of statement, precision and vigor of style, and accurate knowl- edge of law. In 1868 he resigned his seat on the bench, and opened an oflSce~in Philadelphia, at once obtaining a large and lucrative practice. In February. 1870, he was appointed a justice of the supreme court of the United States, and served until December, 1880. when he resigned. His great knowledge of law. keen discrimination, and sound judgment made him an invaluable associate in consultation, and his clear and masterly opinions helped largely to sustain the dignity and authority of the court. Of his opinions, those in the legal- tender cases, the state freight-tax cases, and the civil-rights cases, including Tennessee ra. Davis, exhibit in an eminent degree his great power of analysis and rigorous logic. Justice Strong was a member of the electoral commission in February, 1877. and in his opinions contended that congress has no power to canvass a state election for dential electors (which was the ffreat question at issue), and that in the cases that he specially re- viewed (those of Florida and Oregon) the c of the state author-in - - ir and d. Besides his official and professional labors. Justice Strong had long taken an active part in the sels of the Presbyterian church, of which h a member. He had for years been president of the American tract society and of the American Sun- day-school union, and had taken part in other benevolent enterprises. He had delivered many public addresses and lectures, and had frequently contributed to magazines and reviews. II livered in l v "~ the Philadelphia bar and .erican philosophical - ' which he was a member, a:. and Char- acter of Horace Binney." and in 1879 an address before the law department of the University of Pennsvlvania on the ' Growth and Modifications