By Matthew Urtz
Madison County historian
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Madison County Courthouse featured a number of courthouse paintings of prominent judges and attorneys that practiced in the county. During a renovation of the present courthouse in the 1960s, the portraits were removed from public view and memory. Recovered portraits are being repaired as possible for permanent display after the future courthouse renovations are complete. However, all will be displayed as part of our 2016 Archives Day this fall.
Delos Cameron was a prominent attorney in Madison County who held a number of offices. He was born in Peterboro in January 1832 and attended schools in Morrisville and Peterboro before studying law under the tutelage of Judge Sidney Holmes. Cameron began practicing law in the office of William E. Lansing of Chittenango in 1856 before moving to his own office in Cazenovia in 1858.
Cameron was elected district attorney in 1862 serving three years in the office prosecuting a number of cases including one case dealing with the Loomis Gang. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868 voting for Ulysses S. Grant, and in 1870 he was appointed the Collector of Internal Revenue for the 22nd district of New York. He was appointed for a second year in 1871.
Around this time, Cameron was appointed the Referee in Bankruptcy for the county, a position he held until his death. After his time as district attorney, he formed a partnership with Judge Michael H. Kiley, who would later become a New York State Supreme Court Judge.
Cameron was a Trustee of Cazenovia seminary, a member of the Cazenovia Fire Department, served on a committee for the Home for Destitute Children and was a charter member of the Board of Trustees for Union School.
Cameron died after a long illness in June 1905. His portrait was presented to the county by his wife Ellen after his death, and was based on a photo taken from the late 1880s.
Archives Day 2016 will be on October 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Madison County Office Building no. 4. Besides the portraits, court cases, notes and other items from the men in the paintings will be on display.
For more information about Madison County history, contact me via phone at 366-2453 or email [email protected].
Don’t forget to like Madison County, NY History on Facebook and visit our website madisoncounty.ny.gov/historian/home.
Works Cited: Delos W. Cameron, Obituary, The Cazenovia Republican, 22 June, 1905. Tompkins, Brownell Fitch. 1806-1906 Biographical Sketches of the Madison County Bench and Bar. Madison County Historical Society. 1911.
