Background
He was born on June 22, 1811 at Albany, New York, United States, the son of David and Hybertje (Lansing) Pruyn, and a descendant of Francis Pruyn, called Frans Jansen, who settled in Albany as early as 1665.
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher.
https://www.amazon.com/Catalogue-books-relating-literature-law/dp/B00APSX6FS?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00APSX6FS
He was born on June 22, 1811 at Albany, New York, United States, the son of David and Hybertje (Lansing) Pruyn, and a descendant of Francis Pruyn, called Frans Jansen, who settled in Albany as early as 1665.
Educated in private schools and graduated from the Albany Academy in 1826, he studied law in the office of James King.
He was admitted to the bar in 1831, appointed an examiner in chancery in 1833, and a master in 1836. For the next ten years his practice of law was principally in the court of chancery, and it is said that Chancellor Reuben H. Walworth never overruled any of his reports.
In 1848 he was admitted to practice as an attorney and counselor in the United States Supreme Court. From 1835 to 1838 and from 1843 to 1845 he was a director of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad Company; in 1843 he was appointed attorney and counsel. He was also connected with other railroads. When in 1853 ten companies united to form a new corporation called the New York Central Railroad, Pruyn drew up the consolidation agreement, which was considered a remarkable instrument, and withdrew from the practice of the law to become secretary, treasurer, and general counsel of the company.
He was counsel for the Hudson River Bridge Company, and in its behalf made the final argument before the United States Supreme Court of a case decided (1864) in its favor, which ended long controversies in different parts of the country as to the right to bridge navigable streams. He was a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company from its foundation and a director in the Union Trust Company of New York.
In 1861 he was elected a state senator, accepting the nomination on condition that no money should be used for the election (1862 - 63). He represented the Albany district in Congress from December 7, 1863, to March 3, 1865, and from March 4, 1867, to March 3, 1869. Pruyn was one of the tellers of the House of Representatives and made suggestions as to laws that would remedy the difficulties then existing in counting the presidential vote, but the House refused to entertain them.
In May 1844 Pruyn was appointed a regent of the University of the State of New York, and in 1862 he was elected chancellor. This office he held until his death. He was a member of the executive committee of the state normal school in Albany, and was president of the board of trustees of St. Stephen's College, Annandale, New York, a training school of the Protestant Episcopal church. At one time he was a regent of the Smithsonian Institution.
Pruyn's death occurred at Clifton Springs, New York.
John Van Schaick Lansing Pruyn was well-known as he served as New York state senator and when his term was terminated, he distributed his salary among the poor of Albany. In the Thirty-eighth Congress he presented the resolution of censure of the executive authority for closing the offices and suspending publication of the New York World and Journal of Commerce. Upon the recommendation of Pruyn the New York state commission of charities was established and he was its president. Directly or indirectly Pruyn was connected with many of the leading financial and railroad enterprises in the United States.
(This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)
He was always actively interested in church affairs and was a vestryman of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church, Albany.
He was a member of many historical and scientific societies, a member of the Association for the Codification of the Law of Nations.
On October 22, 1840, he married Harriet Corning, daughter of Thomas and Mary Ruggles (Weld) Turner; she died on March 22, 1859, and on September 7, 1865, he married Anna Fenn, daughter of Hon. Amasa Junius and Harriet Langdon (Roberts) Parker of Albany.
