HISTOET  OF  THE  BKSCH  AND  BAE  OF NEW YOEK             353

lALDWIN, JOHN (born at Lebanon, Connecticnt; died at
Almond, New Yorls, iu 1843), was one of the most prominent
western New Yorlt practitioners of his time. He received a
good education and inherited a comfortable fortune from hia
father's estate. Desiring to flt himself for the law, he entered the
ofBce of Samuel Miles Hopkins, at Moscow, LiTingston county, New
Yorls:. Upon his admission to the bar he commenced practice at
Moscow. Soon afterward, through the business failure of a brother
whose paper he had endorsed, his entire property was swept away.
Devoting himself energetically to his profession, he rapidly made a
reputation which yielded him very substantial rewards. Removing to
Dansville, his practice gradually extended through the counties of
Allegany, Livingston and Steuben. In 1835 he formed a copartnership
with Honorable Waiiam M. Hawley at Hornellsville. This association
was dissolved in a few years, and afterward Mr. Baldwin practiced
alone. He was noted for wit and cleverness in repartee, and also for
personal peculiarities which sometimes had rather eccentric mani¬
festations.'
 

|ANGS, FEANCIS NEHEMIAH (born in New York City,
February 28, 1828 ; died in Ocala, Florida, November 30,
ISS*)), was descended from a puritan ancestry. His father
was Reverend Nathan Bangs, a distinguished clergyman of
the Methodist denomination and writer on religious subjects. Francis
N. Bangs attended the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Connecti¬
cut, and the University of the City of New York, graduating in 1845.
He studied law at Yale, and in 1850 was admitted to the bar in New
York. His first legal copartnership was with John Sedgwick, after¬
ward chief-Justice of the Superior Court. Among the other prominent
members of the New York bar with whom he was associated at various
times were Gfeorge Buckham, Joshua M. Van Cott, Thomas M. North,
C. W. Bangs aud Francis L. Stetson. His firm at the time of his
death, Bangs & Stetson, was universally known as one of the foremost
law firms of the country.

Mr. Bangs quickly attained an eminent position in his profession,
applying himself especially to bankruptcy law and railway and cor¬
poration business. As attorney and counsel for the assignee of
Ketchum, Son & Co., a flrm which had conducted a most extensive
business in stocks and securities, he performed his duties with such
fidelity and ability that ever afterward his services were in constant
request in litigations involving great interests. Among the cases in
which he was counsel were the Cesnola and Havemeyer estate suits,
and those resulting from the Grant & Ward failure. He was an in¬
defatigable worker, frequently devoting flfteen hours a day, for days

■ For an eatertaining siietcli of Mr. Eaidwin, see Proctor's " Bench and Ear of Wew Tori:."