Craft Masonry in Oneida County, New York - Onondaga and ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._Ruger
William Crawford Ruger (b. 30 Jan 1824, Bridgewater, Oneida, NY; d. 14 Jan 1892, Syracuse,
Onondaga, NY) was an American lawyer and politician. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of
Appeals from 1883 until his death. He was the son of Sophia (Brown) Ruger and John Ruger (d. 1855),
an attorney who practiced at Bridgewater, but removed to Syracuse,
N.Y., in 1847. William C. Ruger was educated at Bridgewater
Academy, then studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar in
1845, and commenced practice in Bridgewater. In 1853, he removed
to Syracuse, N.Y., formed a partnership with his father. On May 2,
1860, he married Harriet Prosser (daughter of State Senator Erastus
S. Prosser from Buffalo, NY), and their son was C. Prosser Ruger.
He was a delegate to the 1872 Democatic National Convention. In November 1882, he was
elected on the Democratic ticket Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, and died in office in 1892.
He was the first president of the original Onondaga Club (1866 - now the Century Club – the
former residence of Major Moses Dewitt Burnet) and had as his guests during the inaugural year
of the club President Andrew Johnson, General Ulysses S. Grant, Admiral David Farragut,
General George A. Cluster and Secretary of State William Seward of Auburn. He was also the first
President of the Onondaga County Bar Association (1872).
“Year Book,” by Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 1893. page 88-91.
http://books.google.com/books?id=vvk8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA88&dq=%22William+Crawford+Ruger%22#PPA88,M1
MEMORIAL OF WILLIAM C. RUGER.
William Crawford Ruger was born in Bridgewater, Oneida County, State of New York, on the thirtieth day of January, in the year
one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four. His parents were plain people, of no other estate than that resulting from constant
industry, the exercise of which was also imposed upon him at a very early age.
His father, John Ruger, is said to have had a strong constitution, much power of work, and singular physical endurance, an
impressive personal appearance, a phlegmatic temperament—to have been of plain and reserved manners, not noted for geniality
in his social relations—an outspoken, self-asserting man, and of such intellectual force as enabled him to exercise considerable