History of Sag Harbor, (Suffolk County) New York United States of America

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Charles Patrick Daly, jurist, was born in New York city, Oct. 31, 1816; the son of a master carpenter who emigrated from Omagh in the county of Tyrone, Ireland, in 1814 and settled in New York city. He was educated in a parish school and upon the death of his father he went to Savannah, Ga., where he served as a clerk. Becoming discontented by reason of ill treatment he shipped before the mast and followed the sea for three years. Upon returning to New York he was apprenticed to a quill manufacturer, and while serving his time devoted his evenings to study. His connection with a debating society led him to form the acquaintance of William Soule, a well-known lawyer, who induced him to take up the study of law, offering him a clerkship in his office and a salary of $150 the first year. Within three years he passed a successful examination and the seven-year rule being suspended by the court, he was admitted to practice in 1839. He formed a partnership with Thomas L. McElrath, afterward a partner with Horace Greeley in the rounding of the New York Tribune. In 1843 he was elected to the state assembly and declined a nomination as representative in the 29th congress in 1844. The same year he was appointed judge of the court of common pleas, and was successively reappointed as his own successor until 1846 when the position was made elective and the voters continued him on the bench. In 1857 he was elected first judge and in 1871, when the term was lengthened to fourteen years, all parties placed his name on their respective tickets and he was unanimously elected, being obliged to retire in 1885 under the law of age limit. He served as chief justice of the court during the last twenty-eight years of his service. The bench and bar of New York made the occasion of his retirement a public ovation and presented him with appropriate resolutions and the gavel he had so long wielded encased in gold and duly inscribed. Upon retiring front the bench he established himself in chambers and had a large and lucrative practice. He was a friend and advisor of the administration during the civil war and was consulted on important legal state matters, including the rendition of Mason and Slidell, the Confederate commissioners. He was lecturer on law in Columbia college, 1860-75, president of the American geographical society from 1866, an honorary member of the Royal geographical society of London, England, of the Berlin geographical society and of the Imperial geographical society of Russia, and did much to promote exploration and polar research. He was also a member of the New York state constitutional convention of 1867; of the New York historical society; of the Philosophical society of Pennsylvania; of the Century association, and of St. Patrick's society, of which he was president for many years. In 1895 he was chosen to respond on behalf of the delegates to the address of welcome to them by the president, the Duke of York, at the opening of the World's geographical congress at London, England. In 1860 Columbia college conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.D. He published: Historical Sketch of the Judicial Tribunals of New York from 1623 to 1846 (1855); History of Naturalization and of Its Laws in Different Countries (1860); Are Southern Privateersmen Pirates? (1862); Original History of Institutions for the Promotion of Useful Arts by Industrial Exhibitions (1864); When was the Drama Introduced in America (1864); Reports of Cases in the Court of Common Pleas, City and County of New York (13 vols., 1868-87); First Settlement of the Jews in North America (1875, revised 1893); What We Know of Maps and Map making before the time of Mercator (1879); The History of Physical Geography; and The Common Law; Its Origin, Sources, Nature and Development, and What the State has done to Improve Upon It (1894). He died at Sag Harbor, N.Y., Aug. 19, 1899.

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

History of Sag Harbor, (Suffolk County) New York

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