Representative Dorrance Kirtland

Dorrance Kirtland (July 28, 1770 – May 23, 1840) was a U.S. Representative from New York, a long-serving county surrogate, and a jurist and legal author whose career was closely associated with Greene County, New York. He was born in Coxsackie, New York, then part of Albany County, on July 28, 1770. Little is recorded about his family background or early youth, but he came of age in the post-Revolutionary period in the Hudson River Valley, a region experiencing rapid political and legal development in the early years of the new republic.

Kirtland pursued higher education at Yale College, where he graduated in 1789. His Yale education placed him among the relatively small number of formally trained professionals in the early United States and provided the classical and legal grounding that would shape his subsequent career. After completing his studies, he read law, following the common practice of legal apprenticeship of the era, and, upon admission to the bar, commenced the practice of law in his native Coxsackie. Establishing himself as an attorney in his home community, he became part of the emerging legal and civic leadership of the newly formed Greene County after its creation in 1800.

Kirtland’s legal career advanced steadily in county judicial offices. In 1808 he was appointed Surrogate Judge of Greene County, an office he would hold for three decades, serving from 1808 to 1838. As surrogate, he presided over matters relating to probate, estates, and the administration of decedents’ property, a critical area of law in a period of expanding settlement and property transfers. His long tenure reflected both professional competence and the confidence of the local legal and political community in his judgment and integrity.

In addition to his surrogate duties, Kirtland entered national public life as a member of Congress. He was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fifteenth Congress and served a single term from March 4, 1817, to March 3, 1819, representing New York. His service in the House of Representatives occurred during the presidency of James Monroe and the period often described as the “Era of Good Feelings,” when the Democratic-Republican Party dominated national politics. Although detailed records of his individual legislative initiatives are limited, his election as a Democratic-Republican placed him within the dominant political coalition of his time, and he returned after his term to his legal and judicial responsibilities in Greene County.

Kirtland continued to expand his judicial role at the county level in the later stages of his career. In 1828 he became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County, serving in that capacity until 1838. The Court of Common Pleas handled a broad range of civil matters, and his service there, concurrent with his surrogate judgeship for much of that period, made him one of the principal judicial officers in the county. His dual roles underscored his prominence in the local legal system and his influence over the administration of justice in Greene County for many years.

In addition to his judicial and legislative work, Kirtland contributed to the development of New York’s legal literature. In 1830 he published A Treatise on the Practice in Surrogates’ Courts in the State of New York, a work on surrogate court laws and procedure. This treatise reflected his extensive practical experience and was intended to guide lawyers, judges, and administrators in the proper handling of probate and related matters. By codifying and explaining surrogate practice, he helped professionalize and standardize an important branch of the state’s judicial system.

Dorrance Kirtland remained closely tied to Coxsackie throughout his life and career. After retiring from his long service as surrogate and as a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1838, he continued to reside in his hometown. He died in Coxsackie on May 23, 1840. Kirtland was interred in Old Coxsackie Cemetery, where his burial marked the close of a life spent in public service as a lawyer, judge, legislator, and legal author in early nineteenth-century New York.