STRONG, John, pioneer, born in Coventry, Connecticut, 16 August, 1738; died in Addison, Vermont, 16 June, 1816. He removed in 1765 to the eastern side of Lake Champlain, where he built the first house that was erected by an English settler north of Massachusetts. He was driven from his home by Burgoyne's invasion in 1777, and separated from his family, but accidentally found them in Dorset, Vermont, where he resided several years, representing the town in the legislature in 1779-'82, and serving as assistant judge of Bennington county in 1781-'2. He returned to his old home in Addison, Vermont, in 1783, sat again in the legislature in 1784-'6, was first judge of the county court in 1785-1801, and judge of probate in 1786-1801. In 1791 he sat in the convention that ratified the United States constitution. He was known as Gem John Strong. -His son, Samuel, soldier, born in Salisbury, Connecticut, 17 July, 1762; died in Vergennes, Vermont, 5 December, 1832, became a large landholder at Vergennes. During the war of 1812. he raised of his own accord a body of soldiers, and hastened to the relief of the garrison at Plattsburg, New York He received for his services the formal thanks of the legislatures of Vermont and New York, and a gold sword from the latter. --John's brother, ADONIJAH, born in Coventry, Connecticut, 5 July, 1743; died in Salisbury, Connecticut, 12 February, 1813, was a lawyer, and served in the Revolutionary army as commissary-general.--Adonijah's grandson, Theron Rudd, jurist, born in Salisbury, Connecticut, 7 November, 1802 ; died in New York city, 15 Nay, 1873, was the son of Martin Strong, who was fSr many years a county judge, and member of both houses of the Connecticut legislature. The son studied law with his father, at Litchfield, and in Salem, New York, and on his admission to the bar in 1826 opened an office in Palmyra, New York He was district attorney for Wayne county in 1834-'9, sat in congress in 1839-'41, having been elected as a Democrat, and in 1842 was chosen to the legislature. From 1852 till 1860 he was a judge of the New York supreme court, and during one year of that time he was a member of the court of appeals. More opinions written by Judge Strong were published while he was on the bench of the latter court than by any other member except Hiram Denio. On his retirement from the bench, he resumed business in Rochester, New York, where he had removed in 1853, but in 1867 he went to New York city. He had a large practice, and his services were also frequently in demand as a referee.--Another grandson of Adonijah, William, jurist, born in Somers, Connecticut, 6 May, 1808, was the eldest of eleven children of Reverend William L. Strong. The son was graduated at Yale in 1828, and engaged in the study of law, teaching at the same time, at one period in Burlington, New Jersey, where his legal preceptor was Garret D. Wall. H e finished his legal studies by a six months' course in Yale law school Deciding to practise in Pennsylvania, he was admitted to the bar in that state in 1832, and, settling at Reading, mastered the German language, then much spoken in that region, and soon ranked high as a lawyer. In 1846 he was a candidate for congress, and was twice elected on the Democratic ticket, serving from 1847 till 1851. In his second term he was appointed chairman of the committee on elections. He declined a third nomination, and retired from active politics, but when the civil war began, though then occupying a high judicial post, he gave all his support and influence in aid of the government. In 1857 he was elected a justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and he served eleven years, attaining a high reputation as a jurist. His opinions, in volumes 30-60 of the state reports, exhibit great care in preparation, clearness of statement, precision and vigor of style, and accurate knowledge of law. In 1868 he resigned his seat on the bench, and opened an office in Philadelphia, at once obtaining a large and lucrative practice. In February, 1870, he was appointed a justice of the supreme court of the United States, and served until December, 1880, when he resigned, His great knowledge of law, keen discrimination, and sound judgment made him an invaluable associate in consultation, and his clear and masterly opinions helped largely to sustain the dignity and authority of the court. Of his opinions, those in the legal-tender cases, the state freight-tax cases, and the civil-rights cases, including Tennessee vs. Davis, exhibit in an eminent degree his great power of analysis and rigorous logic. Justice Strong was a member of the electoral commission in February, 1877, and in his opinions contended that congress has no power to canvass a state election for presidential electors (.which was the great question at issue), and that in the cases that he specially reviewed (those of Florida and Oregon) the canvass of the state authorities was clear and decisive. Besides his official and professional labors, Justice Strong has long taken an active part in the counsels of the Presbyterian church, of which he is a member. He has for years been president of the American tract society: and of the American Sun-day-school union, and has taken part in other benevolent enterprises. He has delivered many public addresses and lectures, and has frequently contributed to magazines and reviews. He delivered in 1875, before the Philadelphia bar and the American philosophical society, of which he was a member, an address on the "Life and Character of Horace Binney," and in 1879 an address before the law department of the University of Pennsylvania on the "Growth and Modifications of Private Civil Law." He has also delivered a course of lectures to the professors and students of the Union theological seminary of New York, and for several years lectures to the law department of Columbian university, Washington. Lafayette gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1867, and Yale and Princeton in 1870. The portrait of Justice Strong is copied from an engraving that appeared in the " Democratic Review" in 1850.