William Horace Hotchkiss
William Horace Hotchkiss was an author of legal textbooks on bankruptcy law and Superintendent of Insurance for the State of New York.Biography
William was born in Whitehall, New York, on September 7, 1864, the son of Mason King Hotchkiss and Rachel Amanda Merriam Hotchkiss. He attended schools in Albany and graduated from Hamilton College in 1886. Upon leaving college he read law with the Hon. John D. Teller of Auburn, New York, and acted as Clerk of the Surrogate's Court of Cayuga County, New York from 1887 to 1889. In 1888 he was admitted to the New York State Bar Association.
In 1891 he went to Buffalo, New York and engaged there in the practice of the law. In 1895 he married Miss Katherine Tremain Bush, of Ithaca, New York. They had two surviving daughters, Katherine and Emily.
He was appointed Referee in Bankruptcy in 1898 and was reappointed in
1900 and served in that capacity up to the time of his appointment as
Superintendent of Insurance. He was regarded as an authority on bankruptcy laws
and was president of the National Association of Referees in Bankruptcy. He is a lecturer on bankruptcy laws in law schools of
Buffalo and New York, and in Cornell University.
In 1907 Charles Evans Hughes appointed him a Commissioner for the Promotion of Uniformity of Legislation in the United States.
With other Buffalo Republicans he made an inquiry regarding the operation
of the primary election law of the State of New York and a report was drawn up
which led to the introduction of a bill in the Legislature concerning the
subject. In 1899 in association with Elihu Root and Paul D. Cravath of New
York, Hotchkiss prepared the Primary Election Law of 1899.
He was President of the American Automobile Association, the New York State Automobile
Association and of the Buffalo Automobile Club. He prepared the automobile law
of the State.
William died June 6, 1950, and is buried in Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, Westchester County, New York.
