Nathan Landon, founder of the Landon family in America, was born in Herefordshire, England, near the border of Wales, in 1664. He sailed from Liverpool for America in the year 1675, and settled in the vicinity of Boston, later removing to Long Island, New York, where he settled at Southold and made that his permanent residence. He married Hannah ————, who died January 26, 1701, aged thirty years. The Southold town records have her name Mary, but the Landon Bible and other authorities call her Hannah. Nathan Landon died March 9, 1718, and is buried at Southold, where his tombstone can be found. Children: Elizabeth, Nathan (2), James (see forward) and Samuel.
(II) James, third child of Nathan and Hannah Landon, was born in Southold, Long Island, New York, 1685, died September 19, 1738. He married (first) in May, 1707, Nancy Vaile, of the same town, who died August 20, 1722; he married (second) a widow, Mrs. Mary Wilmot. Children of first wife: Joseph, James (see forward), Daniel, David, John, Mary, Rachel and Lydia. His will mentions six sons and four daughters.
(III) Captain James (2), second child of James (1) and Nancy (Vaile) Landon, was born in Southold, New York, about 1712. Here his boyhood and early manhood were passed. Later, with his brothers, David and John, he removed to Litchfield, Connecticut, where the descendants of Daniel are numerous. In 1742 James and John removed to Salisbury, where John settled on "Sugar Hill" and married a granddaughter of William White, the first settler. Captain James Landon settled in the southern part of the town, near the small pond called by the Indians "Noncook." He soon took a prominent position in town affairs. He was one of the first magistrates and represented Salisbury in the colonial legislature in 1758-59-63-64-65-70-72-73-74. He was captain of militia previous to the revolution. As early as 1756 the town of Salisbury supported two well organized infantry companies from which enlistments and impressments were made from time to time, and the captains were ordered to hold their men in readiness for service at all times. The original written orders still exist, issued by Colonel Marsh, of Litchfield, to Captain James Landon, ordering men to be sent to the northern frontier for service against the French and Indians. When the war of the revolution broke out Captain Landon remained true to the mother country, and suffered the loss of his lands in consequence. His residence on an eminence in the town was and is still called "Tory Hill." He was a devout churchman and a member (as his ancestors had always been) of the Episcopal church. He married Mary Reed, a great-granddaughter of John Reed (1633-1730), who came from England to Boston in 1660. Children: James, Erastus, John, Joel, David, Nathan, Ashbell, see forward, and a daughter, Mrs. ———— Fitch, of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. James settled in Genesee county, New York; John and Nathan in Medina, Ohio; Erastus and Joel in Dutchess county, New York; David remained in Salisbury.
(IV) Ashbel, youngest son of Captain James (2) and Mary (Reed) Landon, was born on "Tory Hill," Salisbury, Connecticut, 1763. He was prominent in town affairs, holding many public offices. He was a warden of the Episcopal church. He married, 1783, Loraine Chapman, of Salisbury, daughter of Reuben and Sarah (Lay) Chapman, and sixth in descent from Robert Chapman (1616-1687), who came from Hull, England, to Boston, 1635, and settled in Saybrook, Connecticut, from which town he was representative or assistant in the general court from 1654 to 1682. Children:
- Elizabeth, married James Johnston and settled at Ashtabula, Ohio.
- Letitia, married James Paige and removed to Pennsylvania.
- Edmund, met an accidental death when a young man.
- William, see forward.
- Horace, was an iron founder and manufactured the celebrated "Salisbury iron."
- James, was a farmer and extensive land owner and representative in the general court, succeeding his grandfather by just one hundred years.
(V) William, second son of Ashbel and Loraine (Chapman) Landon, was born in the "Tory Hill" homestead in Salisbury, Connecticut, 1795. He was a farmer and a merchant. His farm was about five miles from the home farm owned by his brother James. Fond of books, he was a student and a great reader. He married, 1827, Phoebe, daughter of Dr. Cyrus Berry, of Clinton, Dutchess county, New York, and one of the pioneers of the town of Warren, Connecticut. The wife of Dr. Berry was Sibyl, daughter of Abraham and Anna (Gray) Mudge, of Sharon, Connecticut, and fifth in descent from Jarvis Mudge, who came from England to Boston in 1638. Abraham Mudge was an iron manufacturer of Sharon, owning, in company with his father and brothers, a large tract of land on Indian Mountain, from which they obtained their iron ore. During the revolution he was a member of the committee of safety, and two of his sons (brothers of Sibyl — Mrs. Dr. Berry) were soldiers in the Patriot army. He was a deacon in the Presbyterian church, and a leading citizen of Sharon. Dr. Cyrus Berry was a son of Joseph and Lois (Pratt) Berry, of Tolland, Connecticut, and grandson of Captain Nathaniel Berry, who in 1720 married Rebecca Hatch, born in Falmouth, Massachusetts, 1700. Captain Nathaniel Berry was one of the original grantees of the town of Kent, and, according to the grand list of 1745, the largest proprietor. He was representative in the colonial legislature in 1783-84-93. He was one of the organizers of the First Church in Kent, organized in 1741. William and Phoebe (Berry) Landon were the parents of four sons:
- James, a farmer of Salisbury.
- William H., removed to Menominee, Wisconsin.
- Judson S., see forward.
- Charles B., educated in New York schools, studied law with D. J. Warner, of Salisbury, admitted to the bar in 1862, enlisted as chaplain in the Twenty-eighth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers, returned from the army in 1863, resumed practice of the law in Columbia county, New York. In 1867 entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, continuing until his retirement, due to advanced years.
(VI) Judson Stuart, third son of William and Phoebe (Berry) Landon, was born in Salisbury, Connecticut, December 16, 1832, died in Schenectady, New York, September 7, 1905. He was born in that part of the town known as "Lime Rock," and while an infant was removed to the homestead on "Tory Hill," where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had lived, and where he passed his early life, attending the little old schoolhouse that stands on the slope of the hill. He was educated in the Amenia Seminary, Dutchess county, New York, and New York Conference Seminary, and in 1853 was a teacher of Latin and mathematics in Princetown Academy, south of Schenectady. He spent a year attending Yale Law School in 1854, was principal of Princetown Academy in 1855, and in 1856 was admitted to the bar and began the practice of his profession in Schenectady, where he subsequently resided. In 1855 Union College conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts, and Rutgers College, LL.D., in 1885. He was a supporter of Republican principles, and in 1856 was elected district attorney of Schenectady county, and re-elected in 1859. In 1865 he was appointed county judge, and in the same year was elected for a term of four years, which he served; in the meantime was elected a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1867 in the fifteenth senatorial district. His public-spirited liberality as a citizen brought his influence to bear in favor of every popular advance. The improvement of the water and sewer service of his city owed much to his support, as did also its hospital and public school systems. In 1872-73 he was city attorney, and in the latter year was elected justice of the supreme court of the state of New York, for the fourth district, and on the expiration of his term of fourteen years in 1887, was unanimously and without opposition nominated and re-elected for a second term of fourteen years, which expired in 1901. From 1884 he served as one of the justices of the general term of the third department, designated by Governors Cleveland and Hill, until designated by the latter to act as associate judge in the second division of the court of appeals in 1891, where he served during the existence of that division, when he returned to the supreme court, where he was assigned to the appellate division of the third department of the supreme court by Governor Morton in 1895. In 1889 he was designated an associate judge of the court of appeals by Governor Roosevelt, where he served until the expiration of the term for which he was elected. In 1902 Governor Odell appointed him a member of a committee of fifteen to report to the next legislature concerning the condition of the statutes and laws of the state, and in 1904 he was appointed by the legislature a member of the board of statutory consolidation. Among other public services undertaken by him were efforts to arouse the world to secure universal peace and international arbitration. His judicial career was marked by fairness and industry. As a criminal judge, his conscientious, painstaking and conspicuous fairness, combined with a sympathy for the accused which tempered justice with mercy, as judicial discretion allowed, won the approval and admiration of the people, the bar and the bench. When his second term of office expired, his counsel and advice were sought in important and interesting business and litigation, chiefly in the court of appeals. He early took an active and efficient interest in public affairs and in politics. He attended the Chicago convention of 1860 that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president, and was firm and unwavering in his support of the government during the rebellion. Judge Landon gave twenty-seven years' service on the board of trustees of Union College and four years of that period was president ad interim administering the college, advising and leading the faculty, giving lectures to the senior classes, and doing all this gratuitously and continuously for four years. His lectures to the senior class on the constitution of the United States and his lectures before the Albany Law School were valuable contributions to public education. As an author he produced a widely celebrated work entitled The Constitutional History and Government of the United States, the fruitage of long and patient study of the principles underlying American political institutions. He was deeply interested in local history, collected many original documents and prepared addresses and monographs such as his "The Burning of Schenectady in 1690." For Historic Cities of America he prepared the chapter on the old Dutch town of Schenectady. He prepared, delivered and printed many addresses and lectures, and was ever ready to serve the call of the people for instruction or entertainment. It was said of him that he had a faculty for friendship.
He married, April 26, 1856, Emily Augusta Pierce. (See Pierce IX.) They had a residence in Schenectady for forty-nine years. Children:
- Kate, married Lewis Cass, attorney, of Albany, New York.
- Robert Judson, see forward.
- William P., a prominent lawyer of Rochelle, Illinois.
- Mary, a graduate of Smith College.
- Grace, married Walter J. Rickey, manager Singer Manufacturing Company, South Bend, Indiana; she is also graduate of Smith College.
(VII) Robert Judson, son of Judson Stuart and Emily A. (Pierce) Landon, was born in Schenectady, New York, August 1, 1859. His primary and academic education were obtained in the public schools of Schenectady, after which he entered Union College, from which he was graduated Bachelor of Arts, class of 1880. He embraced the profession of law and was graduated from Albany Law School, LL.B., class of 1883. He at once began and has since been engaged in the general practice of law in his native town, where he has a lucrative practice and is regarded as a strong man, particularly successful in litigation. He was associated with his father after his retirement from the bench from 1902 to 1905. He is an active Republican, and served on the board of education for six years and on the board of health for twenty-two years under both Republican and Democratic administrations until it passed out of existence by legal enactment. He was chairman of the Republican county committee, delegate to numerous state, county and city conventions until his retirement from active political life some fifteen years ago. He is a member of Schenectady Board of Trade, Mohawk and Golf clubs, and of the Greek Letter fraternity, Delta Upsilon. He married, November 12, 1885, at Schenectady, Mary T., daughter of James and Mary J. (Veeder) Gilmour. James Gilmour was born in Paisley, Scotland, December 18, 1822, died December 18, 1885. He was an instructor of note in Princetown Academy, and at Fulton, Oswego county, New York. Mary J. Veeder was born in 1838, died in 1909. The children of Robert Judson and Mary T. (Gilmour) Landon are:
- Judson Stuart, born January 30, 1888, a senior at Yale University, 1910.
- Eleanor Veeder, November 15, 1893.
- Katherine Gilmour, December 14, 1904.