Abram J. Dittenhoefer

Abram Jesse Dittenhoefer (March 17, 1836 – February 23, 1919) was a Jewish-American lawyer and judge from New York.

Early life and education

Dittenhoefer was born on March 17, 1836, in Charleston, South Carolina, the son of German immigrants Isaac Dittenhoefer and Babette Englehart. In 1840, he moved with his parents to New York City, New York, where his father worked as a merchant.

Dittenhoefer attended local public schools the Columbia Grammar School and graduated from Columbia College in 1855. While there, he was distinguished for his proficiency in Latin and Greek, with Latin Professor Charles Anthon called him "Ultima Thule."

Career

After graduating he entered the law office of Benedict & Boardman, which John E. Parsons was the managing clerk of at the time. He was admitted to the bar when he was twenty-one. A year later, he was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for Justice of the Marine Court (later known as the City Court). Although his friends and family urged him to become a Democrat, he became a Republican due to his strong anti-slavery convictions. He served as chairman of the German Republican Central Committee of New York for twelve consecutive years. During the New York City draft riots, the rioters asked him to leave, although he refused to do so. He was a New York presidential elector in the 1864 presidential election for Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln offered to nominate him a judge of the District Court of South Carolina, but he declined to continue his New York City law practice. He was a delegate the 1876 Republican National Convention, and for eight weeks stumped without compensation for Republican presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes for president in Ohio and Indiana. In 1862, Governor Reuben Fenton appointed him Judge of the City Court to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Judge Florence McCarthy. He donated his salary from the position to McCarthy's widow. He served as Judge on the City Court until 1864. In 1916, he wrote How We Elected Lincoln: Personal Recollections of Lincoln and Men of his Time.