Joseph R. Horigan, who has the reputation of being the busiest lawyer in Utica, where he has practiced continuously during the past fifteen years, is widely recognized as a capable, shrewd and successful representative of the legal profession. A scion of one of the old and honored families of the Mohawk valley, he was born at West Winfield, Herkimer county, New York, on the 26th of August, 1881, his parents being Patrick and Bridget Horigan of that place. The father and mother are both deceased.
In the acquirement of an education Joseph R. Horigan attended the public schools of his native town, passing through consecutive grades to his graduation from the high school. He then obtained a clerkship in the law offices of W. and N. E. Kernan of Utica, who are still engaged in practice here under the firm style of Kernan & Kernan and with whom he read law from 1900 until 1903. In the latter year he became a student in the New York Law School of New York city, from which institution he received the degree of LL.B. at his graduation on the 7th of January, 1906, and on the same day he was admitted to the bar. Returning to Utica, Mr. Horigan associated himself with the eminent attorney, Charles A. Talcott, with whom he continued until November, 1907, when he took up the practice of his chosen profession in New York city, where he maintained offices at No. 170 Broadway and No. 32 Nassua street. In November, 1908, he left the eastern metropolis for Cooperstown, Otsego county, where he devoted his attention to law practice for a year and then again returned to Utica, which city has remained the scene of his professional activities. He has concentrated his time and energies upon the practice of law to the exclusion of other interests and is accorded an extensive clientage that fully attests his ability in the work of the courts.
On the 27th of September, 1922, Mr. Horigan was united in marriage to Reba Clark Tallman, daughter of Chauncey E. Tallman of Utica. Mr. Horigan gives his political allegiance to the democratic party but has declined to fill public office, as the demands made upon him for professional service occupy all of his time. He is a member of Delta Chi fraternity.