Samuel Blatchford

{{About||the university president and grandfather of Samuel Blatchford|Samuel Blatchford (university president)|the American soldier and civil engineer|Samuel Nathan Blatchford}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Samuel Blatchford

| image = Samuel_Blatchford,_US_Supreme_Court_Justice.png

| office = Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

| nominator = Chester Arthur

| term_start = April 3, 1882

| term_end = July 7, 1893{{cite web| url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members_text.aspx| title= Justices 1789 to Present| publisher=Supreme Court of the United States| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 15, 2022}}

| predecessor = Ward Hunt

| successor = Edward White

| office1 = Judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Second Circuit

| nominator1 = Rutherford Hayes

| term_start1 = March 4, 1878

| term_end1 = March 22, 1882

| predecessor1 = Alexander Johnson

| successor1 = William Wallace

| office2 = Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

| nominator2 = Andrew Johnson

| term_start2 = May 3, 1867

| term_end2 = March 4, 1878

| predecessor2 = Samuel Betts

| successor2 = William Choate

| birth_date = {{birth date|1820|3|9}}

| birth_place = Auburn, New York, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1893|7|7|1820|3|9}}

| death_place = Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.

| party = Republican

| spouse = Caroline Appleton (m. 1844)

| education = Columbia College (BA)

| signature = Samuel Blatchford signature.svg

| caption = Blatchford circa 1893

}}

Samuel M. Blatchford (March 9, 1820 – July 7, 1893) was an American attorney and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from April 3, 1882, until his death in 1893.

Early life and career

File:Coat of Arms of Samuel Blatchford.svg

Blatchford was born in Auburn, New York on March 9, 1820. He was the eldest of five children born to Julia Ann (née Mumford) Blatchford and Richard Milford Blatchford (1798–1875). U.S. Army Major General Richard M. Blatchford (1859–1934) was his cousin.{{cite book |last=Blatchford |first=Eliphalet Wilkes |date=1912 |title=Blatchford Memorial II: A Genealogical Record of the Family of Rev. Samuel Blatchford, D.D. |url=https://archive.org/stream/blatchfordmemori00blat#page/85/mode/1up |location=Chicago, IL |publisher=E. W. Blatchford |pages=67–69, 85 }}

Blatchford studied law under Seward and then entered into the private practice of law with his father and uncle.{{cite book |last1=Bancroft |first1=Frederic |author-link1=Frederic Bancroft |date=1900 |title=The Life of William H. Seward |volume=I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8gnhc7Uo8OwC&pg=RA4-PA182 |location=New York, NY |publisher=Harper & Brothers |page=182 |via=Google Books |access-date=February 12, 2021 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108235427/https://books.google.com/books?id=8gnhc7Uo8OwC&pg=RA4-PA182 |url-status=live }} In 1854, he moved to New York City and started a law firm, Blatchford, Seward & Griswold, now known as Cravath, Swaine & Moore.{{cite book |date=1893 |title=In Memoriam: Samuel Blatchford |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g1cwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA19 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=United States Supreme Court |page=19 |via=Google Books |access-date=February 12, 2021 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108235428/https://books.google.com/books?id=g1cwAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA19 |url-status=live }} He became well known for preparing summaries of United States circuit court cases, serving for a time as reporter of decisions for the Circuit Court in New York, and developed a lucrative practice in admiralty law.

On May 3, 1867, Blatchford received a recess appointment from President Andrew Johnson to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Samuel Betts.{{FJC Bio|192|nid=1377926|name=Samuel M. Blatchford}} Formally nominated on July 13, 1867, Blatchford was confirmed by the United States Senate three days later, receiving his commission the same day.

On February 15, 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes promoted Blatchford to serve as Circuit Judge of the Second U.S. Judicial Circuit to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Alexander Smith Johnson. Blatchford was confirmed by the Senate, and received his commission, on March 4, 1878.

Supreme Court of the United States

File:Blatchford Nomination.JPG

On March 13, 1882, Blatchford was nominated as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, by President Chester A. Arthur, to a seat vacated by Ward Hunt, after two other candidates, Senator George F. Edmunds and former Senator Roscoe Conkling, declined. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 22, 1882,{{cite report| last=McMillion| first=Barry J.| date= January 28, 2022| title=Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2020: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President| url=https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RL33225.pdf| publisher=Congressional Research Service| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 14, 2022}} and was sworn into office on April 3, 1882. Blatchford thus became the first person to serve at all three levels of the federal judiciary—as a District Judge, a Circuit Judge, and a Supreme Court Justice. When he was nominated for the Supreme Court, it was estimated that his personal wealth exceeded $3 million (over $77 million in 2018), mostly held in real estate.

Blatchford was an expert in admiralty law and patent law, and authored Blatchford and Howland's Admiralty Cases, which was considered the most complete work of its kind. During his eleven-year tenure on the High Court, he wrote 430 opinions and two dissents. His most noteworthy opinions, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co. v. Minnesota, and Budd v. People of New York, were roundly criticized for their apparently contradictory conclusions about due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.{{cite news |title=Memorial of Judge Blatchford |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/10/14/109711931.pdf |access-date=31 May 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=14 October 1893 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108235427/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/10/14/109711931.pdf |url-status=live }}

Personal life

File:Samuel Blatchford.jpg

Blatchford's father was a well known attorney and friend of Daniel Webster who served as a New York State Assemblyman in 1855, U.S. Minister to the Papal States, and New York City Park Commissioner in 1872. After his mother's death in 1857, his father remarried to Angelica Hamilton, the daughter of James Alexander Hamilton and granddaughter of Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury Secretary.{{cite encyclopedia |first=Caryn |last=Hannan |date=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pd_ETIlgTxgC |title=Richard Milford Blatchford |encyclopedia=Connecticut Biographical Dictionary |pages=124–125 |isbn=978-1-878592-59-0 |ref={{sfnRef|Hannan}}}} Angelica died in 1868, and Blatchford married for the third time, to Katherine Hone.{{sfn|Hannan|pages=124–125}}

His grandfather, also named Samuel Blatchford, was born in England and was the first president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The younger Samuel Blatchford was educated at Columbia College, where he joined the Philolexian Society and graduated when he was 17 years old. In 1840, he served as the private secretary to Governor William H. Seward. From 1842 to 1845, he served as the Military Secretary of New York.{{Cite web |title=Blatchford, Samuel M. {{!}} Federal Judicial Center |url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/blatchford-samuel-m |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=www.fjc.gov}} In 1844, Blatchford was married to Caroline Frances Appleton (1817–1901) in Boston. Caroline was the daughter of Eben Appleton and Sarah (née Patterson) Appleton. Together, they had one son:{{cite book |last1=Swaine |first1=Robert T. |title=The Cravath Firm and Its Predecessors, 1819-1947 |date=2007 |publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. |isbn=9781584777137 |page=235 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8jmmSwD9KEC&pg=PA235 |access-date=31 May 2019 |language=en |archive-date=July 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729070743/https://books.google.com/books?id=p8jmmSwD9KEC |url-status=live }} Samuel Appleton Blatchford (1845–1905), also a lawyer who married Wilhelmina Bogart Conger (1848–1944), daughter of Hon. Abraham B. Conger, the namesake of Congers, New York.

On what he thought was inside information, Blatchford sold all his shares of stock on the eve of the Battle of Fort Sumter and the decline in stock prices that took place at the onset of the American Civil War, thus preserving his personal fortune.{{cite book |last=Nevins |first=Allan |date=1959 |title=The War for the Union |volume=I, The Improvised War, 1861-1862 |url=https://archive.org/stream/warfortheunionvo010749mbp#page/n85/mode/2up |location=New York, NY |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |page=66 |author-link=Allan Nevins }}

Blatchford served as a trustee of Columbia College.

In June 1893, he was stricken with paralysis at his home in Newport, Rhode Island on Greenough Place.{{cite news |title=JUSTICE BLATCHFORD STRICKEN.; Attacked with Paralysis at Newport -- His Death Expected. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/06/20/109701182.pdf |access-date=31 May 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=20 June 1893 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108235428/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/06/20/109701182.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=QUAINT CLUB IN NEWPORT.; Entertained at the Ocean House -- Justice Blatchford's Condition. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/06/26/109702912.pdf |access-date=31 May 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=26 June 1893 |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205033423/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/06/26/109702912.pdf |url-status=live }} Blatchford died at his home in Newport at age 73 on July 7, 1893. After a funeral service at the All Saints' Chapel in Newport conducted by Bishop Henry C. Potter (his brother-in-law Edward Tuckerman Potter's brother),{{cite news |title=WILL REST TO-DAY IN GREENWOOD.; Justice Blatchford's Body Transported Last Night from Newport. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/07/12/109263635.pdf |access-date=31 May 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=12 July 1893 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108235428/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/07/12/109263635.pdf |url-status=live }} his body was transported by train to New York City where he was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.{{cite news |title=JUSTICE BLATCHFORD BURIED.; His Body Rests Beside the Deceased & Members of His Family in Greenwood. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/07/13/109263888.pdf |access-date=31 May 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=13 July 1893 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108235429/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/07/13/109263888.pdf |url-status=live }}

In his will, which was drawn on June 15, 1876, he left $100,000 to Rachel Bliss Beckwith and $20,000 to Cordelia F. Green. To his widow, he left the furniture and artwork in his Newport home and the income from half of his estate. His son received the other half of the income and split the realty with his mother. Upon his wife's death, one-third of her share of the realty went to Rachel Beckwith, a third to Julia Maria Potter, and the remaining third to his unmarried sister, Sophia Ethelinda Blatchford.{{cite news |title=JUSTICE BLATCHFORD'S WILL.; It Disposes of Personal Property and Real Estate Valued at $460,000. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/08/18/109729344.pdf |access-date=31 May 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=18 August 1893 |archive-date=November 8, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108235428/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/08/18/109729344.pdf |url-status=live }}

References

{{Reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite news |title=Justice Blatchford Dead: Passes Peacefully Away at His Home in Newport |date=July 8, 1893 |page=1 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16422381/the_new_york_times/ |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=January 10, 2018 |archive-date=January 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180111054252/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16422381/the_new_york_times/ |url-status=live }}

{{cite web |title=Richard Milford Blatchford (1798–1875) |website=The Political Graveyard |url=http://politicalgraveyard.com:80/bio/blandford-blaz.html#481.41.80 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160708050539/http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/blandford-blaz.html#481.41.80 |archive-date=2016-07-08 }}

{{cite web |title=Richard Milford Blatchford |publisher=Bureau of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of State |website=Office of the Historian: Department History |url=http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/blatchford-richard-milford |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313121836/http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/blatchford-richard-milford |archive-date=2013-03-13 }}

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