Depew, born in Peekskill in 1834, began the practice of law in his native village in 1859, and in 1801 was elected member of the assembly on the Union Republican ticket from the 3d assembly district. He was re-elected in 1802, and in 1803 was elected secretary of state. In 1807 he was appointed county clerk of Westchester County to fill a vacancy, but declined the office. His career since then has been one of great prominence and usefulness in varied connections; and probably no other American of our times has become more widely known or enjoys a higher or more distinguished popularity. Mr. Husted (born in Bedford, October 31, 1833) was a classmate of Mr. Depew's at college, studied law with Edward Wells at Peekskill, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. Although elected school commissioner of the 3d district of Westchester County in 1859, it was not until eleven years later that he began his phenomenal

HISTORY

WESTCHESTER

COUNTY

career in the assembly. Meantime, however, he held important appointive positions under the State government. " He was first elected a member of the assembly in 1869, to represent the 3d assembly district of this county, and he continued being elected and re-elected to the latter office up to and including the year of his death [1892]; serving from 1869 to 1878 from this county, 1879-80 from Rockland County, and again in 1881 and 1883 to 1892 from this county. He

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was speaker of the assembly in the years 1874, '76, '78, '86, '87, and '90. lie had a longer legislative experience than any other man in the history of theState -- twenty-two years; he also had the distinction of having been speaker more times than any other man."1 He was only once defeated as a candidate for the assembly -- in 1882, by John Hoag.