But how are their decisions to be known?

Edwin Bedell, born in Albany on October 9, 1853, was raised by his grandfather after his parents’ death when he was a young child. He attended Albany Academy and was graduated from Hope College, Michigan, in 1873 with honors. After graduation, he studied law at Albany Law School and in the office of Peckham & Tremain, being admitted to the bar in 1874. He served as assistant to the Attorney General for five years starting in 1884, leaving this position in 1889 to join the Reporter’s office as Assistant State Reporter. Bedell continued in this position for 12 years, during the tenures of Reporters Hiram E. Sickels and Edmund H. Smith. Succeeding to the position of State Reporter in June 1900, he served in this capacity until his death, publishing 29 volumes of the New York Reports. Bedell was an expert in copyright law and an accomplished musician. A member of the Madison Avenue Reformed Church and its organist for 32 years, he prepared “The Church Hymnary” in 1891. In 1883, he married Caroline E. Sickels, daughter of the then State Reporter. Bedell died on March 16, 1908. (Photograph courtesy of New York Red Book, Albany, N.Y.)
Alvah Newcomb was born in Prattsville on December 8, 1851. His family, who traced their ancestors back 700 years, were descendants of Francis Newcomb, who settled in Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1635. After receiving his education at the common schools and with a private tutor, Newcomb attended Kingston Academy and spent two years at Union College, ultimately graduating from Dartmouth College with the class of 1878. He studied law in Poughkeepsie and was admitted to the bar in 1879, practicing in the firm of Fowler and Newcomb until 1881. Thereafter, Newcomb and his father ran the family paper business until the elder Newcomb’s death. From 1887 to 1889, Newcomb clerked in the county surrogate’s office. Forming the partnership of Brinnier and Newcomb in 1889, he later worked in the firm of Newcomb and Metzger. Active in the Republican party in Ulster County, he served as secretary and chief manager of Benjamin Harrison’s presidential campaign in 1888. He was appointed Deputy State Reporter in 1900. Since Newcomb was free to continue his law practice in addition to his work in the Reporter’s office, he moved to Albany and opened a private practice. He lectured on international law at Albany Law School from 1902 to 1903. Assuming the position of Interim State Reporter from 1908 to 1909 on the death of Edwin A. Bedell, he published two volumes of the New York Reports. Even though a lifelong Republican, Newcomb took an active role in the presidential campaign of Democratic Judge Alton B. Parker in 1904. He was married to Elsie Hendricks Conklin. Newcomb died in Kingston on February 2, 1928. (Photograph courtesy of Dartmouth College Library)
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