Joseph Charles Hugh Flynn (January 22, 1892 – June 26, 1941) was a lawyer, politician, and judge from New York.
Life
Flynn was born on January 22, 1892, in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
the son of Hugh Flynn and Mary Curley. His cousin was Archbishop
Michael Joseph Curley
Michael Joseph Curley (October 12, 1879 – May 16, 1947) was an Irish-born prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the first archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington (1939–1947). He served as the tenth archbishop of the Archdioc ...
.
Flynn attended Brooklyn public schools and graduated from the
Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Aca ...
. He spent several years working as a reporter for the ''
Brooklyn Citizen
The ''Brooklyn Citizen'' was a newspaper serving Brooklyn in New York City from 1887 to 1947. It became influential under editor Andrew McLean (1848-1922), a Scottish immigrant from Renton, West Dunbartonshire. Its offices were located at Fulton a ...
'', followed by the ''
New-York Tribune''. His brother Frank also worked as a reporter for both the ''Brooklyn Citizen'' and the ''
New York Daily Mirror''. He then studied at
St. John's College and
Fordham Law School
Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. In 2013, 91% of the law school's first-time test tak ...
.
He graduated from the latter school in 1915, and in 1916 he was admitted to the bar. He was a secretary to New York Supreme Court Justice Leander B. Faber, although he resigned from the position in 1917
to serve as head of the Army Intelligence Bureau at
Governors Island during
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
with the rank of sergeant.
In 1923, Flynn was elected to the
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Assem ...
as a
Republican, representing the Kings County 5th District. He served in the Assembly in
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...
.
While in the Assembly, he was responsible for considerable labor legislation.
In 1924, he ran for the
New York State Senate
The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate.
Partisan com ...
as a
Republican in
New York's 7th State Senate district
New York's 7th State Senate district is one of 63 districts in the New York State Senate. It has been represented by Republican Jack Martins since 2023, following his defeat of incumbent Democrat Anna Kaplan.
Geography
District 7 covers northwest ...
. He lost the election to Democratic candidate
John A. Hastings. In January 1925,
New York Attorney General Albert Ottinger
Albert E. Ottinger (September 10, 1878 – January 13, 1938) was an American lawyer and politician.
Life and career
Ottinger was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Moses Ottinger and Amelia Gottlieb Ottinger. He graduated from New Yor ...
appointed him Deputy Attorney General.
In 1929, Flynn was elected president of the Kings County Republican Club. In 1931, he was unanimously elected Republican leader of the 5th Assembly District, succeeding
Charles C. Lockwood (who served as district leader for the previous sixteen years). He was a delegate to the
1932 Republican National Convention
The 1932 Republican National Convention was held at Chicago Stadium in Chicago, Illinois, from June 14 to June 16, 1932. It nominated President Herbert Hoover and Vice President Charles Curtis for reelection.
Hoover was virtually unopposed for ...
. In January 1939, Mayor
Fiorello La Guardia
Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City fro ...
appointed and inducted him magistrate to fill an unexpired term. He was appointed to a full ten year term in April 1941. As magistrate, he was active in boys' welfare work and was a strong supporter of the Brooklyn Adolescents Court.
Flynn was attorney for the
Catholic University of America
The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...
and the
Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He was a member of the
Knights of Columbus and the
American Legion
The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...
.
He was also active with the Catholic Club of New York, the Catholic Lawyers Guild, the Brooklyn Bar Association, and the
American Bar Association
The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...
. In 1925, he married Hope Virginia Boyle, niece of Charles C. Lockwood. Their only son was Joseph Hugh.
Flynn died from a heart attack at the
Park Central Hotel, where he was having dinner with his father-in-law Dr. P. J. York, on June 26, 1941.
Over a thousand people attended his funeral at the Holy Rosary Roman Catholic Church, with a large crowd and a detachment of uniformed policemen standing outside of the church. The honorary pallbearers included
New York Court of Appeals
The New York Court of Appeals is the highest court in the Unified Court System of the State of New York. The Court of Appeals consists of seven judges: the Chief Judge and six Associate Judges who are appointed by the Governor and confirmed by t ...
Associate Judge
Albert Conway
Albert Conway (April 3, 1889 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York – May 18, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York City) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1955 to 1959.
Life
H ...
,
Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court
The Appellate Divisions of the Supreme Court of the State of New York are the intermediate appellate courts in New York State.
There are four Appellate Divisions, one in each of the state's four Judicial Departments (e.g., the full title of the ...
Justice
John B. Johnston, New York Supreme Court Justices Charles C. Lockwood,
John MacCrate
John MacCrate (March 29, 1885 in Dumbarton, Scotland – June 9, 1976 in Brooklyn, New York (state), New York) was a lawyer, a politician, serving as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative from New York (state), New York, ...
, Peter P. Smith, Thomas J. Cuff, and Benedict Dineem, Chief Magistrate Henry Curran and other magistrates, Republican leader John R. Crews, Assemblyman
Robert J. Crews, and a delegation from the Republican Club of the Fifth Assembly District (which Flynn was a leader of). A police radio patrol car escorted the funeral cortege to the burial at
Holy Cross Cemetery Holy Cross Cemetery may refer to:
United States
California
*Holy Cross Cemetery (Colma, California)
*Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California
* Holy Cross Cemetery (Menlo Park, California)
* Holy Cross Cemetery (Pomona, California)
*Holy C ...
.
References
External links
*
The Political Graveyard'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flynn, Joseph C. H.
1892 births
1941 deaths
Lawyers from Brooklyn
Politicians from Brooklyn
Erasmus Hall High School alumni
American newspaper reporters and correspondents
St. John's University (New York City) alumni
20th-century American lawyers
United States Army personnel of World War I
20th-century American politicians
Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly
20th-century American judges
New York (state) state court judges
Catholics from New York (state)
Burials at Holy Cross Cemetery, Brooklyn
Military personnel from Brooklyn
United States Army non-commissioned officers