Matthew Hale (New York)

Matthew Hale (June 20, 1829 Chelsea, Orange County, Vermont – March 25, 1897 Albany, New York) was an American lawyer and politician from New York.

He graduated from the University of Vermont in 1851. Then he studied law with his brother Robert S. Hale (1822–1881) and Orlando Kellogg in Elizabethtown, New York, was admitted to the bar in 1853, and commenced practice in Poughkeepsie. In 1856, he married Ellen S. Hand (c.1835–1867).

In 1859, he moved to New York City. In 1863, he returned to Elizabethtown, and practiced law in partnership with his father-in-law Augustus C. Hand (1803–1878). Hale was Supervisor of the Town of Elizabethtown in 1864 and 1865; a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1867–68; and a member of the New York State Senate (16th D.) in 1868 and 1869.

Afterwards he remained in Albany, and practiced law there with his brother-in-law Samuel Hand (1833–1886), and Charles S. Fairchild. In 1877, Hale married Mary Lee, and they had five children. In 1883, the University of Vermont conferred on him an honorary degree of LL.D.. In 1886, he was appointed by Governor David B. Hill to a three-member State commission to find a more humane alternative to hanging. Two years later they recommended electrocution.

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