Willard Walker Cutler

NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

Biographical and Genealogical History of Morris County New Jersey. Illustrated. Vol. I., Lewis Publishing Company, New York and Chicago, 1899

Of Morristown, was born in the city which is still his home, November 3, 1856, and attended the Morristown Academy and high school, after which he pursed a two-years course of study in Rutgers College. Determining to make the practice of law his life work, he pursed a course of reading under the direction of his father, and at the November term of the court in 1878 was admitted to the bar as an attorney, and in 1881 as a counselor. Later he became special master in chancery and a supreme-court commissioner. He has always resided in his native town, and in his early manhood became prominent in public affairs. In December 1882, he was appointed by Governor LUDLOW to the position of prosecutor of pleas in Morris county, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of George W. FORSYTH, and in January, 1883, he was appointed-the appointment confirmed by the senate-for a term of five years. In 1887 he was re-appointed, by Governor GREEN, and in 1893 by Governor WERTS, but in the spring of the latter year he resigned in order to accept the position of lay judge of Morris County, to which he was appointed by Governor WERTS for a five-year term.

During his term as prosecutor of pleas Judge CUTLER was connected with many important cases of more local interest, including the murder of James TREGLOWE. He was for many years counsel for Morris township, and is one of the most able lawyers that the county has produced. He is remarkable among lawyers for the wide research and provident care with which he prepares his cases. In no instance has his reading ever been confined to the limitations of the questions at issue; it has gone beyond and compassed every contingency and provided not alone for the expected, but for the unexpected, which happens in the courts quite as frequently as out of them. His logical grasp of facts and principles and of the law applicable to them has been another potent element in his success and a remarkable clearness of expression, an adequate and precise diction, which enables him to make others understand not only the salient points of his argument, but his every fine gradation of meaning, may be accounted one of his most conspicuous gifts and accomplishments.

Judge CUTLER is also a successful men of affairs. He was one of the organizers and has always been the vice-president of the Morristown Trust Company and the Morris County Mortgage and Realty Company. Nor does he neglect the holier duties of life, being to-day the honored and efficient president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Morristown, while the South Street Presbyterian church numbers him among its faithful members. He was married in December 1879, to Miss Mary B., daughter of John J.HINCHMAN, of Brooklyn, New York, and they have four daughters and two sons. Enjoying the hospitality of the best homes of Morristown and the friendship of many of her best people, Judge CUTLER and his family occupy a very enviable position in social circles.

Transcribed by Ida King