Alfred Conkling Coxe Sr.

Born on May 20, 1847, in Auburn, New York, Coxe read law in 1868. He entered private practice in Utica, New York from 1868 to 1882. He was manager of the Utica State Hospital from 1880 to 1882.[1]

Coxe was nominated by President Chester A. Arthur on April 24, 1882, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York vacated by Judge William J. Wallace. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 4, 1882, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on June 14, 1902, due to his elevation to the Second Circuit.[1]

Coxe was nominated by President Theodore Roosevelt on May 29, 1902, to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the United States Circuit Courts for the Second Circuit, to a new joint seat authorized by 32 Stat. 106. He was confirmed by the Senate on June 3, 1902, and received his commission the same day. On December 31, 1911, the Circuit Courts were abolished and he thereafter served only on the Court of Appeals. His service terminated on July 31, 1917, due to his retirement.[1]

Coxe died on April 15, 1923, in Hartford, Connecticut.[1]

Coxe was the grandson of Alfred Conkling, who served as a United States Representative from upstate New York and a judge in the Northern District, and nephew of Roscoe Conkling, who was a Congressman and Senator from New York and boss of the state's Republican political machine. He was also the nephew of Arthur Cleveland Coxe, the Episcopal bishop of Western New York, and grandson of abolitionist minister Samuel Hanson Cox. Coxe's son, Alfred Conkling Coxe Jr., also became a federal judge, serving on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1929 to 1957. Another son, Howard Coxe, was a newspaperman and novelist, and his grandson Louis O. Coxe was a poet and playwright best known for writing the Broadway version of Billy Budd.

• Alfred Conkling Coxe Sr. at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Alfred Conkling Coxe Sr. at Find a Grave