1820-1889
Henry Lauren Clinton was born in Woodbridge, Connecticut, on February 21, 1820. He was educated in the common school and, at the age of eighteen, he was employed as a school teacher. At 21, he began his legal studies in the law office of David Graham, was admitted to the bar in 1846, and set up a practice specializing in criminal law. With Henry D. Lapaugh, he represented the Lemmons in the Lemmon Slave Case hearing before Judge Elijah Paine. He was also one of the counsel for the prosecution of the notorious Boss Tweed that led to the reform of Tammany Hall, and was one of the defense attorneys in the murder case against Richard Croker. Later, he specialized in Surrogate’s Court practice and was counsel in a number of important contested will cases, among them being the case of Alexander T. Stewart and Commodore Vanderbilt. Henry L. Clinton published two books — Extraordinary Cases (1896) and Celebrated Trials (1897), both dealing with legal contests in which he had been involved.
Henry Lauren Clinton died in New York City on June 7, 1899.
Source
James Grant Wilson, John Fiske. Appletons’ Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 7 (1901).