Samuel Latham Mitchill Barlow I was an American lawyer who was admitted to the bar after spending seven years as an apprentice in a New York law practice. Afterwards, he formed several notable legal partnerships, such as Bowdoin, Larocque & Barlow and Shipman, Barlow, Larocque. Barlow was also a major stakeholder in The New York World newspaper.
Barlow began working for a law firm, Melett & Gregg in either 1840 or 1842. He spent seven at that practice as an apprentice and office assistant before being admitted to the bar. He was later made manager of Melett & Gregg. In 1852, Barlow established a partnership with George R.J. Bowdoin and Jeremiah Laroque, to form the firm Bowdoin, Larocque and Barlow. Barlow worked in numerous high-profile and rewarding cases. At 23, he was paid $250,000 to settle claims after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Mexico. He successfully acted as a conciliator to Cornelius Vanderbilt and William Henry Aspinwall, ending their bitter feud. At the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Barlow settled a dispute concerning a $1,600,000 contract to send arms to France. The arms were sent three months later. Among Barlow's most notable victories, he successfully removed Jay Gould from power over the Erie Railroad, and returned it to the railroad's stakeholders. The suit ended with a $9,000,000 settlement. Barlow was made a director and counsel of the railroad after the suit. Upon the death of his two partners in Bowdoin, Larocque and Barlow, Barlow formed a new partnership, Shipman, Barlow Larocque & Choate. The new firm became one of the most prominent practices in New York. In politics, Barlow was a staunch Democrat, though he was never elected to any office. He was a major stakeholder in the newspaper The New York World, where he oversaw the paper's operations until 1869. Barlow was also a member of the high-class Manhattan and Union clubs, the former of which he helped found.
Personal life
Barlow enjoyed collecting fine art, and possessed an expansive library. He was married Alice Cornell Townsend, with whom he had one son and daughter:
Through his daughter Alice, he was the grandfather of two girls, Alice Townsend Olin, who married Tracy Dows, and Julia Lynch Olin, who married J. Philip Benkard in 1902. They divorced in 1920 and she married Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler, the former Lt. Gov. of New York in 1921. Through his son Peter, he was the grandfather of two boys, Edward Matthews Barlow, who died at the age of thirteen, and Samuel L. M. Barlow II, a Harvard educated pianist and composer.
