ner he obtained sufhcient education to enable him to teach a common school at a very early age. He pursued this occupation until he commenced the study of the law in the office of the Hon. William Nelson, then a prominent lawyer at Peekskill, Westchester County, who manifested a lively interest in his advancement, and gave him generous aid. After his admission to the bar, he settled in Cold Spring, Putiuini County, where he was shortly after elected school commissioner, and subsequently district attorney of the county.

In the spring of 18()6 he removed to White Plains, in Westchester County, where he has since resided. In the fall of 18G8 he was elected, by a very handsome majority, district attorney of Westchester County, then a very responsible positiou, which he tilled to the entire satisfaction of the people. He particularly distinguished himself by the energy, skill and success with which he prosecuted the famous Buckhout murder trial, one of the celebrated cases in the history of the county.

In the fall of 1875 he was elected to the high office of justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the Second Judicial District by a union of both political parties. He was nominated and su])- ported as the regular candidate of the Kepublican party and elected by the people by a majority exceeding ten thousand.

That nomination, made by a party with which he had never acted, was a splendid tribute to his ability, integrity and impartiality, and the result has shown that the confidence of the people was not misplaced. In the iierfornumce of his judicial duties, Judge Dykman is ever patient, affable and courteous. He is kind and obliging to the members of the bar, and especially so to the younger lawyers. He has been a member of the general term of the Supreme Court from the time he took his seat on the bench, and his oi)ini()ns in that court, in the numerous cases on apj)eal, evince laborious research, sound judgment and discretion and absolute fairness and impartiality, and demonstrate the propriety of his elevation to the high judicial position he occui)ies.