by Matthew Urtz
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Madison County Courthouse featured a number of courthouse paintings of prominent judges and attorneys that practiced in the county.
During a renovation of the present courthouse in the 1960s the portraits were removed from public view and memory. Recovered portraits are being repaired when possible for permanent display after the future courthouse renovations are completed.
However, all will be displayed as part of our 2016 Archives Day on this fall. Over the course of the next few months we will feature articles on each of the judges whose images will be displayed. Today we will speak about Judge Philo Gridley.
Philo Gridley was born Sept. 16, 1796, in the Town of Paris, Oneida County. He attended local schools before entering Hamilton College in 1812 and Gridley was part of the first full class to graduate from the college in 1816. He married Susan Williams in 1826, together they had five daughters. Throughout his life he maintained a relationship with Hamilton College. In 1848 the college conferred to him an LL.D (Doctorate of Law), and near the end of his life served as a trustee for the college.
After graduation he studied law with Thaddeus Wood of Onondaga and Othniel Williams of Waterville.
He was admitted to the bar in 1820, practicing initially in Waterville. He moved to Hamilton around 825 and set up a law office in the village. In 1829 he was appointed Madison County District Attorney, a position he held until 1836. In 1838 he was appointed a Justice for the 5th Circuit Court, he moved to Utica after the appointment. When the new state constitution was adopted in 1847 he was elected as a Supreme Court Justice, a position he held for six years.
Gridley oversaw a number of cases but is most prominently remembered for the trial of Alexander McLeod. McLeod, a British subject living in Canada, was indicted for the murder of Amos Durfee near Niagara Falls. Fearing a guilty verdict (with possible execution) could lead to a war, then-U.S. Secretary of State Daniel Webster called for his release but Governor William Marcy declined the request.
The trial was moved, due to the strong feelings involved, to Oneida County in 1841. Gridley told the jury that if the evidence warranted a conviction to “light up the land with the flame of war,” and not worry about the consequences. The trial was followed closely throughout the US and Britain. Attorney Joshua Spencer (formerly of Canastota) was hired by the defendant and some reports say Great Britain paid close to $10,000 (more than $275,000 today) for his defense. McLeod was acquitted of the charges.
After Gridley completed his term as a Supreme Court Justice he resumed his law practice for a time in Utica before dying Aug. 16, 1864.
Archives Day 2016 will be on Oct. 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Madison County Office Building #4. Besides the portraits, court cases, notes and other items from the men in the paintings will be on display.
For more information about Madison County history, contact me via phone is 315-366-2453 or email matthew.urtz@madisoncounty.ny.gov. Don’t forget to like Madison County, NY History on Facebook and visit our website www.madisoncounty.ny.gov/historian/home. Matthew Urtz is the Madison County Historian.
Works Cited
- “Death of Ms. Gridley.” The Observer.” 7 November 1904.
- “Death of Mrs. Susan Gridley.” The Observer. 16 May 1881.
- Durant, Samuel W. History of Oneida County, NY. Everts & Farris, Philadelphia. 1878.
- Smith, John E. Madison County: Our County and its People. The Boston History Company, Publishers. 1890
- “Obituary: Philo Gridley.” The New York Times. 19 August 1864.
- Tompkins, Brownell Fitch. 1806-1906 Biographical Sketches of the Madison County Bench and Bar. Madison County Historical Society. 1911.
- Walsh, John T. Vignettes of Old Utica. 1982.