Coffin, the present surrogate of Westchester County, were the only representatives of the legal profession. After four or five years he returned to Peekskill, and later removed to Tarrytown, where he died in 1864. He was unmarried. Mr. Yerks was one of the most systematic and painstaking of men. He was not quick nor brilliant, and was not considered as more than a fair orator, but he was a reliable adviser. He was economical and accumulated property to the amount of twenty or thirty thousand dollars.

Alexander H. Wells was born at Cambridge, Washington County, N. Y., to which place his father, Daniel Wells, emigrated from Hebron, Conn. He was a graduate of Cambridge Academy, and studied law while filling the office of surrogate, to which, owing to his political influence, he was appointed by Governor William H. Seward in 1840, and which he held until 1844. He was made warden of Sing Sing Prison in 1848. Mr. Wells was a political writer and edited the Haversfmw Weekly Times four years, the Hudson River Chronicle three years and the Troy Dnihj Times three years. He wrote with force and facility, but his impetuous nature led him often into mistakes which a more prudent journalist might have avoided. He died in Sing Sing in 1857.

Frederick J. Coffin, who succeeded A. H. Wells as surrogate in 1844, was born at Nantucket in 1783. His parents removed to Hudson, N. Y., when he was a mere child. He was admitted to the bar in 1806 and almost immediately thereafter came to Westchester County. He settled in Somers, and married Charlotte Green. He was a master in Chancery for many years, and at one time a justice of the peace in Somers. He also held for a period the office of postmaster of that town.