Francis Lynde

The Honorable Senator Sage-Brush Francis Lynde

Francis Lynde Stetson (April 23, 1846 - December 5, 1920) was an American lawyer. He was president of the New York City Bar Association from 1910 to 1911. He was born at Keeseville, New York, the son of Lemuel Stetson who served in the New York state assembly and as a representative in the 28th U. S. Congress. He was graduated from Williams College in 1867 and from Columbia Law School in 1869. He was admitted to the bar in 1869 and practiced in New York City. He devoted attention chiefly to corporation and railway law, becoming eminent in those lines. He became general counsel of the International Mercantile Marine Company, the Northern Pacific Railway, the Southern Railway, and the United States Rubber Company; also director in several railway companies and other corporations. In 1894, he formed the firm of Stetson, Jennings & Russell (a predecessor to the modern-day Davis Polk & Wardwell), which represented J. P. Morgan's United States Steel Corporation; he was also Morgan's personal attorney.