Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/266

 VANN

VAN NESS

worth. N.H. He became a lecturer on art sub- jects, and was elected an associate of the National Acaileuiy of Design in 1900. His canvases in- clu.le: Kaiiiij Day, Cmial Street, N.Y. (1893); Wet Divj, Westchester, Pa. (1897); Bron,rville Meailows (1899); Mewlow Near Chadd's Ford (IW2): Ccmuectient Hillside (1902).

VANN, Irving Goodwin, jurist, was born in Ulysses. N. Y., Jan. 3. 1842; son of Samuel R. and Catherine H. (Goodwin) Vann; grandson of Samuel (1772-1878) and Mary (Bond) Vann, and of Joseph (a soldier in the war of 1812) and Kutli (Stout) Goodwin: great-grandson of Lieut. Samuel Vann of New Jersey, a Revolutionary officer, and greats-grandson of Richard Goodwin, a native of New England, who removed to Penn- sylvania, and whose son, Richard, located early in the 19th century at Goodwin's Point on Cayuga Lake, N.Y, Irving G. Vann attended Trumanshurg (N.Y.) academy; was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1863, and from the Albany law school. Union university, LL.B., 1865, meanwhile serving as principal of the high school in Pleas- ant Valley, Ky., 1863. He practised law in Syr- acuse, N.Y"., 1866-82, where he was married, Oct. 11, 1870, to Florence, daughter of Henry Augus- tus and Sarah Jane (Birdsall) Dillaye, He was Republican mayor of Syracuse, 1879; justice of the supreme court. 1882-88 and 1892-96, serving meanwiiile as a judge of the court of appeals, to which latter office he was again appointed in January, 1896, and in November, 1896, was elected to the same for a term of fourteen years. In ad- dition to his official duties, he was a non-resident lecturer in the law schools of Cornell, Syracuse and Albany. The honorary degree of A.M. wascon- ferred ujwn him by Yale, 1870, and that of LL.D. by Hamilton, 1882, Syracuse, 1897, and Yale, 1898. Judge Vann was a founder of the State Bar asso- ciation; a founder and president of the Onondaga Bar association; organized and was sole president of theWoodlawn cemetery, and was actively con- nected with various philanthropic and other societies.

VAN NESS, Cornelius Peter, governor of Ver- mont, was born in Kinderhook, N.Y''., Jan. 26, 17*^2; son of John Peter and Marcia (Burns) Van Ness. He was admitted to the bar in 1804; practised law in Kinderhook, 1804-06; in St. All^ans, Vt., 1806-09. and in Burlington, Vt., 1809- 18. He was U.S. district attorney for Vermont, 1810^-13; collector of customs at Burlington, 1813- 1">. and at the close of the war of 1812 he was ap- pointed one of the commissioners under the treaty of Ghent, to settle the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1818-20, chief-justice of the supreme court of Vermont, 1821-22, and was elected governor of the state in

1823, serving by re-elections, 1824-26. During his governorship, he received General Lafayette, upon the latter's visit to America. In 1826 he was candidate for U.S. senator against Horatio Seymour, and after an exciting canvass was de- feated in the legislature. He was U.S. minister to Spain, 1830—10. and after attempting to carry Vermont for Van Buren, removed to New York city. He was appointed by President Tyler, col- lector of the port of New Y"ork in 1844, bnt in 1846. upon the death of his brother, John Peter Van Ness (1772-1846), former maj'or of Washing- ton, D.C., he resigned his office to assume the care of the latter's estate in Washington. He was twice married; first, March 5. 1804, to Rhoda, daughter of James Savage of Chatham, N.J.; and secondly to a Spanish lady. Of his children, Cornelius and George became prominent in the politics of Texas, and his daugliter Cornelia mar- ried Judge J. J. Roosevelt, of the New Y"ork su- preme court. Governor Van Ness died in Phila- delpnia. Pa., Dec. l.-j. 1852.

VAN NESS, William Peter, jurist, was born in Ghent, Columbia county, N.Y"., in 1778; son of John Peter and Marcia (Burns) Van Ness. He was graduated from Columbia college in 1797, and subsequently studied and practised law in New Y"ork city. He was a delegate to the con- stitutional convention of 1801, and as an inti- mate friend of Aaron Burr was second in the duel with Alexander Hamilton. He was ap- pointed by President Madison judge of the U.S. district court for the southern district of New Y''ork in 1812, which office he held until his death. He is the author of: Examination of Charges against Aaron Burr (1803); The Laics of Netu York, icith Notes, with John Wood worth (2 vols. 1813); Rejwrts of Two Cases in the Prize Court for Neiv. York District (1814), and Concise Nar- rative of Gen. Jackson's First Invasion of Florida (1826). He died in New York city, Sept. 6, 1826.

VAN NESS, Abraham Rynier, clergyman, was born in New York city, Feb. 1, 1823; son of Abraham Rynier Van Nest, and a descendant of Peter Van Nest, who emigrated from Holland in 1047 and settled in New Amsterdam. He was graduated from Rutgers college. A.B., 1841, A.M., 1844; from the Seminary of the Reformed Dutch Church in America at New Brunswick in 1847, and was pastor in New York city, 1848-62; had charge of the American chapel in Paris, France, 1863-64; in Rome, Italy, 1864-65; of the Amer- can Union church at Florence, Italy, 1866-75, and was pastor in Philadelphia, Pa., 1878-86. He was president of the evangelization committee of the Free church of Italy in 1875; of the General Synod in 1879, and organized the Reformed Dutch church in Geneva, Switzerland. The hon- orary degree of D.D. was conferred on him by