1821-1898
Stephen P. Nash was born in Albany, New York, in 1821. He attended the French College in Chambly, Quebec, studied law under Esek Cowen, a Justice of the Supreme Court, in Saratoga Springs, and was admitted to the Bar in 1843. He briefly formed a partnership with Augustus Bockes, another Justice of the Supreme Court, before moving to Albany to serve as an assistant to New York State Reporter Nicholas Hill.
In 1845, Nash moved to New York City and practiced law in a series of partnerships, culminating in the law firm of S.P. & J. McLean Nash, which included his son. Nash became active in the Episcopal Church as a Vestryman and Senior Warden of Trinity Church, and as a Trustee of the New York Episcopal Diocese, which he represented for many years. Nash, a frequent advocate before the New York Court of Appeals, was a noted expert in equity law and remedies and ecclesiastical law and religious corporations.[1]
Nash was also a founding member of the New York City Bar Association and served as its second President (1880-1881) following the decade-long inaugural presidency of William M. Evarts. Nash assisted in the preparation of the organization’s first constitution and “personally drafted the address by which the organization was recommended to the profession at large.”[2] He also served as a trustee of Columbia College and took a very active interest in the early development of Columbia Law School.
Nash died on June 4, 1898.
[1] “Stephen P. Nash Dead,” New York Times, June 5, 1898.
[2] McAdam et al., History of the Bench and Bar of New York State Vol.1, New York Hist. Co., 1897, at 426.