On January 1, 1856, Lorenzo Burrows, a banker and an "American" or "Know Nothing," of Albion, became Comptroller. He had been a member of the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses. He later served as Regent of the University by appointment made February 17, 1858, and in November, 1858, was one of the candidates of the "American party" for Governor against E. D. Morgan. To the time of his death, many years afterward, he never failed to make at least one visit yearly to the Comptroller's office, and always maintained a lively interest in its affairs.
After one term of service Mr. Burrows was succeeded by Sanford E. Church, a lawyer and a Democrat, also of Albion. Mr. Church had been a Member of Assembly from Orleans county in 1842; District Attorney of the same county from 1846 to 1850; Lieutenant-Governor from 1850 to 1854. He ran for re-election as Comptroller in 1859 and was defeated, and again in 1863 and was also defeated. He was elected one of the Delegates-at-Large to the Constitutional Convention in 1867, and was Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals from May, 1870, to May 20, 1880, when he died. In all these various positions Mr. Church showed a broad, liberal spirit, and great mental force. His reports as Comptroller are valuable State papers, expressed in clear, strong and forcible language. It is sufficient to say of Judge Church, that, as Comptroller, he brought the same care, attention and strong mental grasp to his duties that afterward won for him eminence and fame as Chief Judge of our highest court.
Robert Denniston, a gentleman farmer and Republican, of Salisbury's Mills, became Comptroller January 1, 1860, having been elected at the November election of 1859 over Sanford E. Church. He had been Assemblyman from Orange county in 1845, and Senator from the second district in 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, 1846 and 1847, and had been an unsuccessful candidate against Mr. Church for the office of Comptroller in November, 1857. He was thus Comptroller in the first year of the war, at the inauguration of high taxes and the large expenditures of that period. His administration was wise and conservative.
On January 1, 1862, Lucius Robinson, an able lawyer of Elmira, assumed the duties of the office. Mr. Robinson was a Democrat, but at the breaking out of the war he was strongly for the Union cause, and it was on the Union ticket that he was elected Comptroller, and he was re-elected on the same ticket in 1863. At the close of the war, he resumed his place in the Democratic party, from which he had never been fully estranged. He ran as a Democrat against Thomas Hillhouse, in 1865, and was beaten. He had been District Attorney of Greene county from 1837 to 1839, and Member of Assembly from Chemung county in 1860 and 1861. He was re-elected Comptroller in November, 1863, and again in November, 1875. He was a member of the Constitutional Commission of 1872, Governor of this State for the years 1877, 1878 and 1879, and defeated for re-election in November, 1879, by Alonzo B. Cornell. He was Comptroller during the dark days of our Civil War. At no period, however, of its history was the work of the office more carefully managed. For the six years from 1860 to 1866, the canal and general fund debts were reduced $8,000,000. In the four years of the war, the State expenditures for arms, bounties, clothing, equipments and various military purposes were upwards of $20,000,000. To meet these large and abnormal expenses, required of the Comptroller resourceful ability. When specie was at a high premium in 1863 and 1864, Mr. Robinson earnestly recommended the payment of the State's bonded debt, both principal and interest, in specie. The Legislature, however, disregarded the recommendation. There was precedent in the office for such a course. Comptroller Flagg, upon the suspension of specie payment in 1837, made good the difference between the depreciated currency and coin. Comptroller Allen followed the lead of Mr. Robinson, and urged the payment of these debts in coin. This was not done, however, until 1870, when the State went into the open market and bought coin to pay the interest on its bonds, and continued this policy until the resumption of specie payment in 1879. This course, however, was not pursued with reference to the bounty debt. In 1865, against the advice and almost protest of the Comptroller, the Legislature assumed the bounty debt of the various counties of the State, and for that purpose it became necessary for the State to issue its bonds to the amount of $27,644,000. The act authorizing the creation of the debt provided for a sinking fund, and the managing of this fund and the issuing of the bonds was given to the Comptroller. This debt was extinguished year by year until it disappeared from the Comptroller's books in 1877. It was during Mr. Robinson's term, in 1863, that $66,000 were appropriated to purchase the lands adjoining the then Capitol, and bounded by State, Hawk and Congress streets. This was probably the first money expended on "That lofty pile where senates dictate laws."
In 1862, the Legislature placed an item in the appropriation bill which still remains law. It provides that the Comptroller shall not draw his warrant, except for salaries and regular expenses, until the person entitled to the money shall present a detailed account, verified by affidavit as to services; and if for traveling expenses, a detailed account specifying the distance and places from and to which, and receipted vouchers for all disbursements. By chapter 419 of the Laws of 1864, the officers of all hospitals, orphan asylums, benevolent associations, educational and charitable institutions were required to report to the Comptroller their financial condition, with their receipts and disbursements. The Comptroller was, by concurrent resolution of the Legislature, the same year appointed, with the Governor and the Secretary of State, to take action properly to receive the returning veterans, and for the health of the recruits. Mr. Robinson was a man of great executive force, strict honesty, and with the courage of his convictions.
He was succeeded by Thomas Hillhouse on the 1st of January, 1866, Mr. Hillhouse having been elected in November, 1865. He was a gentleman farmer and a Republican from Geneva, and had been Senator from the twenty-sixth district in 1860 and 1861, and Adjutant-General of the State from August 19, 1861, to January 1, 1863. He still survives as the honored president of the Metropolitan Trust Company, of New York. Thurlow Weed in his autobiography says: "For my direct responsibility in the selection of Bates Cook, John A. Collier, Millard Fillmore, Washington Hunt, Philo C. Fuller, James M. Cook, Robert Denniston and Thomas Hillhouse, I look back with pardonable pride, for in few ways could better service have been rendered to the State and people." Mr. Hillhouse certainly deserved the confidence reposed in him. He was careful, conservative and able.
On January 1, 1868, Mr. Hillhouse gave way to William F. Allen, a distinguished lawyer and a Democrat, of Oswego. Mr. Allen served as Member of Assembly from Oswego in 1843 and 1844, and was appointed United States District Attorney in 1845, and was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court in the fifth district in 1847, and elected to the same position in the fall election of 1855. He was re-elected Comptroller in November, 1869, but resigned June 14, 1870, to accept an appointment as Judge of the Court of Appeals. This latter place he held with great distinction until his death, in June, 1878. In 1864 he was the slated Democratic candidate for Governor. Horatio Seymour was then Governor, and Mr. Allen's friends at least understood that Mr. Seymour wished a renomination as a compliment, but would decline. To their consternation, however, Mr. Seymour came before the convention, thanked its members for the honor done him, and accepted. It was during Mr. Allen's administration that the Comptroller was authorized to appoint an agent to examine into the reports submitted to him by the various charitable institutions. By chapter 281 of the Laws of 1870, the Comptroller was made, ex-officio, a member of the State Commission of Public Charities. Judge Allen was distinguished by talents of the highest order, and his long public career was a useful one to the State.