1786-1878
William T. McCoun served in 1851. Born in Oyster Bay, Long Island, on Sep. 8, 1786. Named vice-chancellor of the First Circuit on the office’s creation in 1831 and continued until the office was abolished by the constitution of 1846 (See Edwards’ Chancery Reports of Cases decided by Vice-Chancellor McCoun). Elected to state supreme court, second district, 1847. One of the founders of the New York Law Institute Library, in 1828. Died in Oyster Bay, Jul. 18, 1878. See 1 McAdam, History of the Bench and Bar of New York, New York History Co. (1897), p. 400; Obituary, The New York Times, Jul. 21, 1878. With thanks to Nassau County Historian Edward J. Smits.
This biography appears in The Judges of the New York Court of Appeals: A Biographical History, ed. Hon. Albert M. Rosenblatt (New York: Fordham University Press, 2007). It has not been updated since publication.