Daniel Cady

Life

Cady was born in that part of Canaan, Columbia County, New York which was later split off to form Chatham, New York. He was a son of Eleazer Cady (1745–1819) and Tryphena (née Beebe) Cady (1749–1839). His siblings included Typhema Cady (b. 1768), Zilpha Cady Halsey (1770–1858), Eleazer Cady (1775–1856), Ruth Cady (b. 1777), Sally Cady Eaton (1780–1816).

Through his elder brother Eleazer, he was uncle to John Watts Cady (1790–1854), also a U.S. Representative from New York.

Career

He learned the shoemaker's trade, but accidentally injured an eye and lost the sight of it at age 18. He then studied law, first in Canaan with Judge Whiting, then in Troy with John Woodworth at the Albany Law School. Cady was admitted to the bar in 1795, and commenced practice in Florida, Montgomery County.

After a year in Florida, he moved to Johnstown, then the county seat. As a young lawyer, he worked with such notables as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, and toward the end of his career, he served on a case with Abraham Lincoln, where they each represented clients in a land dispute associated with Beloit College.

Public office

Cady was elected as a member of the New York State Assembly in 1808, serving three consecutive terms in the 32nd, 33rd and 34th New York State Legislatures beginning on July 1, 1808 and continuing until June 30, 1811. From February to April 1813, Cady again served in the Assembly, this time the 36th New York State Legislature, while he was also the District Attorney of the Fifth District, which comprised Albany, Saratoga, Montgomery, Schoharie and Schenectady counties.

Cady was elected as a Federalist to the 14th United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1815, to March 3, 1817. He was not a candidate for renomination and after serving in the U.S. Congress, returned to the practice of law.

From June 7, 1847 to January 1, 1855, Cady was a justice of the New York Supreme Court (4th D.) until he retired and resigned. Cady also served as an ex officio judge of the New York Court of Appeals in 1849 and 1853.

In 1856, Cady was a presidential elector on the Republican John C. Fremont ticket. Cady presided over the New York electoral college, which cast 35 votes for Fremont who lost the election to Democrat James Buchanan.

Legacy

He is considered by some the father of Fulton County, virtually engineering the county's creation in 1838 after the Montgomery county seat was moved from Johnstown to Fonda, New York. The newly established county was named after Robert Fulton, a cousin of Cady's wife.

Personal life

On July 8, 1801, Cady was married to Margaret Livingston (1785–1871), the daughter of Col. James Livingston, an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolution who fought at Saratoga and Quebec, and assisted in the capture of Major John Andre at West Point. Five of their children died in early childhood or infancy. A sixth child, a son named Eleazar, died at age 20 just before his graduation from Union College in Schenectady, New York. Only five daughters lived well into adulthood and old age. Their surviving children included:

His wife was an unusually tall woman for her time, had a commanding presence, whom their daughter Elizabeth described as "queenly." Margaret was said to have been emotionally devastated by the loss of so many children and fell into a depression, which prevented her from being fully involved in the lives of her surviving children.

Cady died in Johnstown on October 31, 1859. He was buried at Johnstown Cemetery.

Descendants

His wife's sister, Elizabeth Livingston who married Peter Gerrit Smith, was the mother of Gerrit Smith, the prominent abolitionist who was married to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh. Smith was a candidate for President of the United States in 1848, 1856, and 1860.

Through his daughter, Elizabeth, he was the grandfather of Daniel Cady Stanton (1842–1891), Henry Brewster Stanton, Jr. (1844–1903), Gerrit Smith Stanton (1845–1927), Theodore Weld Stanton (1851–1925), a prominent journalist, Margaret Livingston Stanton Lawrence (1852–1930), Harriot Eaton Stanton Blatch (1856–1940), also a suffragist, and Robert Livingston Stanton (1859–1920).

Through his daughter, Harriet, he was the grandfather of Daniel Cady Eaton (1834-1895), professed botany at Yale College in the 1860s.