History of Canaan, (Columbia County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Daniel Cady, jurist, was born in Canaan, Columbia county, N. Y. April 29, 1773; son of Eleazer Cady, a farmer. He was educated at the town school and academy, was admitted to the bar in 1795, and began practising law at Florida, Montgomery county, but soon removed to Johnstown, Fulton county. In politics he was a Federalist. He was elected to the New York state assembly in 1809 and was re-elected a number of times. In 1814 he was elected a representative to the 14th Congress. He was in active practice for over fifty-five years. He was elected a judge of the New York supreme court in 1847, was re-elected in 1849, and during that year was ex-officio a judge of the court of appeals. He resigned from the bench in 1855, being eighty-two years old. The degree of LL. D. was conferred on him by Hamilton college in 1834. On July 8, 1801, he married Margaret Chinn, daughter of Colonel James Livingston, an officer in the revolutionary army. They had a large family of children, the most distinguished being Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the reformer. A sketch of Daniel Cady as a lawyer, by his son-in-law, Henry B. Stanton, will be found in Barbour's New York supreme court reports, vol. xviii., p. 662. He died in Johnstown. N. Y., Oct. 81, 1859.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Benjamin Pierce Johnson, agriculturist, was born in Canaan, N.Y., Nov. 30, 1793. He was graduated at Union college in 1813, studied law in Hudson, N.Y., and practised in Rome, N.Y. He was a member of the New York assembly, 1827-30; president of the New York State Agricultural society in 1845, its corresponding secretary, 1847-69; and a commissioner to the World's fairs in London in 1851 and 1862. He was editor of the New York Farmer, 1842-44; the Transactions of the New York Agricultural society, 1846-54, and the Journal of the New York Agricultural society, 1850-52. He is the author of: The Dairy (1857) and numerous reports, papers and essays on agricultural subjects. He died in Albany, N.Y., April 12, 1869.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Elias Warner Leavenworth, representative, was born in Canaan, N.Y., Dec. 20, 1803; son of David and Lucinda (Mather) Leavenworth; grandson of Asa and Submit (Scott) Leavenworth and of Zachariah and Lucy (Gaylord) Mather, and a descendant of Thomas and Grace Leavenworth, of England, who settled at Wood bury, Conn., where Thomas died, Aug. 3, 1688. His parents removed to Great Barrington, Mass., in 1806, and he was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1824, A.M., 1827. He studied law at the Litchfield Law school, 1825-27; settled in practice at Syracuse, N.Y., in November, 1827; and retired from the profession in 1850. He was married, June 21, 1833, to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua and Margaret P. (Alexander) Forman, of Onondaga, N.Y. He was commander of the 7th brigade of artillery, N.Y.S.M., and resigned the commission in 1841. He was a member of the state assembly in 1850 and 1857; secretary of the state of New York, 1854-55; a member of the quarantine commission in 1860, and a commissioner for the United States, under the convention with New Grenada, at Washington, D.C., 1861-62. He was a member of the Republican state convention, 1860; of the state constitutional convention of 1872; a Republican representative from the twenty-fifth New York district in the 44th congress, 1875-77, and a commissioner with Henry R. Pierson and Chauncey M. Depew to establish and define the boundaries between New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, 1879-87. He was a regent of the University of the State of New York, 1861-87, and a trustee of the state asylum for idiots, 1865-87. He is the author of: Genealogy of the Leavenworth Family (1873). He died in Syracuse, N.Y., Nov. 25, 1887.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor