The bench and bar of Litchfield County, Connecticut, 1709-1909 : biographical sketches of members, history and catalogue of the Litchfield Law School, historical notes

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TAPPING REBVE.

5[lje Mmtif mh lar of Hitcljfielb

Cfnuntg. QJanngcticut

1709-1909

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MEMBERS

HISTORY AND CATALOGUE OF THE
LITCHFIELD LAW SCHOOL

HISTORICAL NOTES

BY
DWIGHT C. KILBOURN

Clerk of Superior Court, Member of the Connecticut Historical
Society, Member of the Kansas Historical Society, Vice-
President of the Litchfield Historical Society.

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PUBLISHED [ i 11/^

BY THE AUTHOR ' ' ' ^<-

LITCHFIELD, CONN. »^-.

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COPYRIGHT

BY DWIGHT C. KILBOURN

1909

Edition Limited to 500

No.-

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THE MATTATUCK PRESS

WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT

CONTENTS

¥ ¥

L,IST OF IllUSTKATIOXS XI.

Statk.alext of tiif Case xiii

Judge Church's Cextenxiae Address i.

First settlement of the towns. County organization. County Officers.
Character of the people. Iron Works. Rehgious matters. Colonial
and Revolutionary Wars. Newspapers. Merchants. Slitting Mills.
Xail rods. Scythes. Iron Mines. Paper Mills. Woolen Mills. Emi-
gration to Vermont and the Western Reserve. Education. Morris'
Academy. Miss Pierce's School, The Law School. First Law Re-
ports. Lawyers. Doctors., Authors. Foreign Missionary Society.
Mission School at Cornwall. Temperance Movement. Infidelity. The
future.

BoARDiuvx's Early Lights 39

Partridge Thatcher. Daniel Everett. Tapping Reeve. John Allen.

Barzillai Slosson. Samuel W. Southmayd. John Cotton Smith.

Nathaniel Smith. Noah B. Benedict. James Gould. Asa Bacon.

Elisha Sterling. Jabez W. Huntington. Phineas Miner. Leman
Church.

Sedgwick's Fifty Years at ti-ie Bar 68

Correspondence. Organization of the Courts. Chief Justice Hosmer.
Judge Peters. Judge Chapman. Judge Brai'nard. Judge Bristol.
Judge Daggett. "The Superior Court. The County Court. Judge Petti-
bone. Judge Strong. Judge Welch. Judges Burrall, Woodruff and
Boardman. Clerk Frederick Wolcott. Sheriff Seymour. 'Messenger
John Stone. Business of the County Court. Admission to the Bar.
Practice. Authorities in 1808. Judge Gould. Noah B. Benedict. Asa
Bacon. General Sterling. Judge Boardman. Phineas Miner. William
G. Williams. John Strong, Jr. William M. Burrall. Col, William
Cogswell. Seth P, Beers, Perrv Smith. Roger Mills. Michael F.
Mills. Charles B. Phelps. Matthew Minor. Holbrook Curtis. Isaac
Leavenworth. Royal R. Hmman. Joseph H. Bellamy. Theodore
North. Leman Church. William S. Holabird. George S, Boardman,
Reflections.

Judge W.vrx^er's Remixiscexces 100

Experiences in the General .\fsembly. History of the Act allowing
prisoners to testify. Story about Diwight Morris. Adonijah Strong.
Col. Joshua Porter. John G. Mitchell, Philander Wheeler. Aunt
Poliy. John H. Hubbard, Roger Averill, Norton J. Buell, John
Elmore. Leman Church, Miles Toby Granger, Col, Jacob B. Har-
denburg, George W. Peet, Michael P, Mills, William K, Peck. Jr,
William S, Holabird, Gideon Hall, Roland Hitchcock, Roger H,
Mills, Jared B. Foster, Nelson Brewster, George Wheaton, Julius
B. Harrison, Solon B, Johnson. Frederick Chittenden. John G. Reed.

x. coxtents

Historical Notes 1 18

The first Court Record. Early Attorneys. Present Attorneys. Gov-
ernors. Judges. State Attorneys. Clerks. Sheriffs. Court Houses.
Jury matters. Witnesses. Stenographers. Students. Libraries.
White Fund. Count>- Centennial. Judge Daggett's Letter. Ancient
Court Expenses. County Court.

NoTDD Tri.vls 144

The Sellick-Osborne case. Blasphemy. Wrong Verdict Stands. A
Funeral Order. Rabello. Robert Drakely. Bernice White. William
H. Green. James LeRoy. Burglars on a hand car. Liquor Prosecu-
tions. Masters vs. Warren ;Robbins vs. Coffin. Higgins' (Hadley)
escape. Michael Bion. Borgesson. Tax case. Mannering. Norman
Brooks' Will case. John T. Hayes. Haddock vs. Haddock.

COUXTV CORONUR, HEALTH OFFICER, ATTORXEY GEXERAL .... 165

First Law Reports i68

The preface. Fac-simih'e. Ephraim Kirby. His law books.

Ti-iE CouxTY Jail 176

The Litchfield Laav School 178

Chas. C. Moore's article from the Law Notes. Charles G. Loring's ad-
dress. A Students letter. Augustus Hand's letter. The Buildings.
The Catalogue.

Biographical Notes Alphabetic.vlly Arraxged . . .". 215

LiGANS 307

Ex-Governor and Ex^Chief Justice Andrews address. A demurrer de
Kickapoo Indians. Sound Advice of Albert Wadhams. The Annual
Banquets. President Huntington's address. Rev. A. N. Lewis' letter.
Hurlbutisms. Felicities. Poetry. Jokes. Judge's Evidence. Old
Grimes. Complimentary dinner to Judge O. S. Seymour at Bridgeport.
Watertown trial. NewMilford Power Company. Sermon at the Ex-
ecution of John Jacobs, 1768. Truman Smith. Jury Commissioners.
County Commissioners. Court Messengers. The Judgment File.

JxTDEx OF Naiies

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

« 4

Old Litchfield ii
Tearing down King George Statue 17

Old Writ 48

County Centennial 1851 34

Superior Court in Session 122

Court Houses 128

Judge Preston's Tombstone 143

First Law Report, fac-simile 168

County Jail 176

Law School Buildings 180

Reeve's Building 192

Gould's Building 194

May it please the Court 308

Kickapoo Indians 314

Banquet 316

Old Grimes 320

Judges Evidence, fac-similie 328

Title page of Old Sermon 340

PORTRAITS

Allen, Henry J. 164
Andrews, Charles B. 310, 220

Bacon, Asa (Group) 63

Francis 63

Epaphroditus C. 63

Baldwin, Birdseye 115

George H. 223

Barnes, Andrew G. 342

Beers, Seth P. 93

Beeman. Frederick D. 138

Ballamy, Joseph H. 78

Benedict, Noah B. 58

Botsford, Henry A. 229

Brinsmade, Daniel N. 231

Buel, Chauncey J. 336

Canfield, Judson 232

Col. Samuel 18

Case, Hubert B. 344

Catlin, Abijah 236

George 234

Church, Samuel
Coe, William G.
Cogswell, Leonard W.
Cothren, William
Dowd, Wheaton F,
Ellsworth, William W.
Ethen'dge, Frank W.,
Fenn, Augustus A.
Foster, Jared B.
Gould. James
Granger, Miles T.
Graves, Henry B.
Guernsey, Howard M.
Hall, Gideon
Harrison, George C.
Herman, Samuel A.
Hickox, George A.
Higgins, Richard T.
Hitchcock, Roland
Holcomb, Marcus H.
Hollister, Gideon H.
Home, Samuel B,
Hubbard, John H.
Huntington, James
Hurlbut, William F.
Karl, John J.
Kilbourn, Dwight C.
Kirby, Ephraim
McMahon, James H.
Middlebrooks. Chesterfield
Mills, Michael F.
Mosher, Lewis W.
Nellis, Edward A.
Nickerson, Leonard J.
Nettleton, Charles
Pierpont, John
Pettibone, Augustus
Phelps, Charles B.
Porter, Charles J.
Piatt, Orville H.

272,

I

78
132
ISO
144
242
166

154
116
184
156
152
344
113
342
250
250
165
114
167
253
254
106
256
142
344
119
170
136
266
78
33('
162

163
269

345

78

94

160

276

XII

IIXUSTRATIOXS

Ransom, William L.

124

Tuttle, Byron

342

Reeve, Tapping — Frontispiece

Warner, Arthur D.

167

Roraback, Alberto T.

133

Donald J.

TOO

Ryan, Thomas F.

277

Donald T.

126

Sanford, David C.

278

Welch, Gideon H.

141

Henry S.

280

Wessells, Col. L. W.

301

Sedgwick, Charles F.

71

Wheaton, George

IIS

Albert

281

Williams, Frederic M.

300

Seymour, Edward W,

130

Hubert

298

Origen S.

210

Wolcott, Frederick

81

Ozias

287

Gen. Oliver

173

Origen S., 2nd

287

Gov. Oliver

302

Morris W.

287

Woodruff, George C.

195

Moses, Jr.

285

George M.

200

Sherman, Roger

172

Lewis B.

206

Smith, John Cotton 28,

290

Morris, (Group)

306

Trmnan

96

James P.

306

Wellington B.

158

County Coroners

344

Willey T.

336

Messengers

344

Turkington, Frank H.

299

Jury Commissioners

343

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¥ ¥

The practice of the law in the Enghsh speaicing colonies of the
new world previous to the organization of Litchfield County is an
interesting study of various methods of procedure all founded upon
the practice of the mother country. Some were copied from the
common law courts, and some from the other courts and in hardly
any two colonies was there similarity of practice, while the old com-
mon law of England was a general guide to the interpretation of the
statute law, with such modifications in the Puritan colonies as the
mosaic law suggested to the religious teachers and pastors thereof.

About the time our county was organized, these different modes
of practice began to be crystaUized into a more established form.
There were practically no attorneys, as we now understand the
term, "men learned in the law." In many sections there was some
influential man who was generally known as "the Squire," and
whose opinions ruled the circle of his acquaintance. In this county
there were only five or six men who pretended to be lawyers.

Directly after the formation of the county and the establishment
of the county court, these men were admitted to practice as at-
torneys with slight examinations, and with little knowledge oif the
law, but they were strong-minded and of sterling character, oracles
in their own communities, and they very soon brought the decisions
of the county court of this county to the front rank of judicature.
It was in this opportune period that Tapping Reeve located at
Litchfield and unintentionally began that process which eventually
overthrew the common law of England, for a common law of our
own, and changed the old forms, rules and precedents which had so
long prevailed. The close of the Revolutionary War utterly de-
stroyed the doctrine that "the king could do no wrong" and swept
awav his prerogatives and common laws ; and while we now quote
the good contained in the "wisdom of ages," we decide questions
by Reeves, Swift and Gould, and modern "wise instances."

Ten years ago the compiler of this book conceived the idea of
collecting and preserving in a permanent form a mass of material
which was then available relating to the legal history and tradition
of his native county, and in the midst of his active duties as the
Clerk of its courts, has gathered these items and now presents them
for your consideration, believing his work to be a somewhat valuable
contribution to our earlier history.

XIV STATEMENT OE THE CASE

The reprint of Chief Justice Samuel Church's Address at the
Centennial Celebration of the organization of the county, in 1851,
gives a very concise and thorough analysis of the elements which
have conduced to give our county great influence in the religious,
social, political and legal affairs in both the state and nation. The
address, however, was made too early to include Henry Ward
Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe among the writers and speak-
ers who have done so much to uplift the world's ideas, and wonder-
fully advance its progress towards its present power and greatness.

The reprint of Hon. David S. Boardman's "Early Lights of the
Litchfield County Bar," being the reminiscences of a man nmety
years of age, of his colleagues and associates in the earlier years
of our county's history, will I am sure be of great interest to every
one, and it is worthy of permanent preservation. The original
pamphlet containing them has long been out of print, and is very
rare. I regret very much my inability to procure his portrait for
insertion in this work.

Li the re-publication oif Sedgwick's address, "Fifty Years of
the Litchfield County Bar," I am enabled to bring the biographies
of most of the prominent old lawyers down to modern times, pre-
pared by an associate and brother in the legal arena, while Judge
Warner's "Reminiscences" completes the chain of those living and
practicing at the Bar during his life. Charles B. Phelps published
obituaries of a number of his attorney friends in some of the
earlier volumes of Connecticut Reports, but as these are easily ac-
cessible I have referred to them without republishing.

In the Biographical Notes I have endeavored to include the name
of every member admitted to our Bar, or coming from elsewhere
to practice, excluding however, those who have been debarred for
cause. These notes are not intended to be genealogies or eulogies,.
but only the legal life briefly told, and they have nearly all been
prepared by mv.self. I deeply regret that there are so many whom
I have been unable to trace beyond the mere fact of their admission.

The section on the Law School contains the list of its students
alphaibetically arranged, with some other interesting- matter relating
thereto. So many reiferences are made throughout the volume to
Judges Reeve, Gould, Huntington, Bacon and others prominently
connected with its instruction and management, that I did not think
it wise to devote more space to the further history of the Law
School.

The Historical Notes include only a few of the many trials and
incidents which could be gathered from the Court Records, but in
very many cases the account of trials, especially those of a criminal
nature, might give pain to some friend or relative of the accused,
which I have tried to avoid doing.

STATEMlJK'f OF TIIU CASE XV

Probably no county in the state furnished the Supreme Court
in its earher days, more knotty problems to solve and adjudicate,
than Litchfield County, and a full history of its "Leading Cases"
would make an interesting volume of itself.

I have obtained all the subjects for illustration which I could
and the pictures have been made from originals, many of them from
old and faded paintings, as I desired to place in everlasting re-
membrance the faces of those gone before. In two or three in-
stances I have duplicated, taking another and different portrait for
the second picture, after the first one was already in print. If any-
one thinks it is easy to collect a hundred pictures of as many per-
sons who have long since deceased, a trial will dispel the illusion.

It is unavoidable that many errors will occur in such a work as
this. Great care has been given to make it as nearly accurate as
possible, and the compiler will be very glad to have his attention
called to any such error, so that in due time proper corrections can
be made.

To the very many friends who have aided me in this work, I
wish to return m\- heart-felt thanks for their assistance. I have
refrained from making any acknowledgment of quotations or ex-
tracts because I have thought that the matter itself would indicate
the source from which it was taken. In conclusion I wish to say
that I hope the perusal of this book will afford the reader as much
pleasure as it has the compiler to prepare it.

Litchfield, ]\Iay i, 1909.
D. C. K.

1851

LITCHFIELD COUNTY

HISTORICAL ADDRESS

DELIVERED AT LITCHFIELD, CONN.
ON THE OCCASION OF THE

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION, 1851

BY

SAMUEL CHURCH, LL. D.
CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE STATE

i^$m

iRi,,,

Hon. Samuul Church, C. J.

Judge Church's Address

Fellow Citizens : —

I have no leisure now to offer apologies for my unadvised con-
sent to appear before you, in this position, on the present occasion.
Declining years, and the constant pressure of other duties, should
have excused me.

My residence of sixty-six years from my nativity in this County,
and an acquaintance of half a century, of some intimacy, with the
events which have transpired, and with the men who have acted in
them here, and having been placed within traditional reach of our
early history, I suppose, has induced the call upon me to address
you. In doing this, I shall make no drafts upon the imagination,
but speak to you in the simple idiom of truthful narrative.

Among the most ancient and pleasant of New England usages,
has been the annual gathering of children and brethren around the
parental board on Thanksgiving day. The scene we now witness
reminds me of it. Litchfield County, — our venerable parent, now
waning into the age of an hundred years, has called us here, to
exchange our mutual greetings, to see that she still lives and thrives,
and hopes to live another century.

A little display of vanity on the part of such a parent, thus
surrounded by her children, may be expected ; but speaking by me,
her representative, it shall not be excessive. She must say some-
thing of herself — of her birth and parantage — of her early life
and progress, and of the scenes through which she has passed.
She may be indulged a little in speaking of the children she has
borne or reared, and how they have got along in the world. To tell
of such as she has lost, and over whose loss she has mourned ; and
in the indulgence of an honest parent's pride, she may boast some-
what of many who survive, and who have all through this wide
country made her name and her family respected.

We meet not alone in this relation, but we come together as
brethren, and many of us after long years of separation and absence,
to revive the memories and associations of former years.

Some of you come to visit the graves of parents and friends —
to look again into the mansions where the cradle of your infancy
was rocked, or upon the old foundations where they stood — to look

4 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

again upon the favorite tree, now full grown, which your young
arms clasped so often in the climbing, or upon the great rock upon
and around which many a young gambol was performed. You
come to enter again, perhaps, the consecrated temples at whose
altars the good man stood who sprinkled you with the waters of
baptism, and from whose lips you learned the lessons which have
guided your footsteps in all your after life.

These are but some of the pages in the history of early life,
which it is pleasant after the lapse of years to re-peruse. And now,
if the spirits of these dead can pierce the cloud which hides our
view of heaven, they look down with a smile of love upon your
errand here ; and when you shall leave us on the morrow, many
of you will feel in truth, as did the patriot Greek, "moriens rerii-
iniscitur Argos."

A stranger who looks upon the map of Connecticut, sees at its
north-west corner a darkly shaded section, extending over almost
the entire limits of the County, indicating as he believes, a region
of mountains and rocks — of bleak and frozen barrens. He turns
his eye from it, satisfied that this is one of the waste places of the
State — affording nothing pleasant for the residence of men. He
examines much more complacently the map of the coast and the
navagable streams. But let the stranger leave the map, and come
and see! He will find the mountains which he anticipated — but
he will find streams also. He will find the forests too, or the ver-
dant hill-sides where they have been; and he will see the cattle
on a thousand hills, and hear the bleating flocks in many a dale and
glen, and he will breath an atmosphere of health and bouyancy,
which the dwellers in the city and on the plain know little of.
Let him come, and we will show him that men live here, and
women too, over whom it would be ridiculous for the city popula-
tion to boast: a yoemanry well fitted to sustain the institutions of
a free country. We will show him living, moving men ; but more
than this, we will point out to him where, among these hills, were
born or reared, or now repose in the grave, many of the men of
whom he has read and heard, whose names have gone gloriously
into their country's history, or who are now almost every where
giving an honorable name to the County of Litchfield, and doing
service to our State or nation.

The extensive and fertile plains of the Western country may
yield richer harvests than we can reap; the slave population of
the South may relieve the planter from the toil experienced by a
Northern farmer ; and the golden regions of California may sooner
fill the pockets with the precious metals ;— and all this may stand
in strong contrast with what has been often called the rough and
barren region of Litchfield hills. But the distinguishing traits of a
New England country, which we love so well, are not there to give
sublimity to the landscape, fragrance and health to the mountain
atmosphere, and energy and enterprise to mind and character

church's centennial address 5

Not many years ago, I was descending the last hill in Norfolk
in a stage-coach, in company with a lady of the West, whose for-
mer residence had been in that town. As we came down upon
the valley of the Housatonic, with a full heart and suffused eyes,
she exclaimed, "Oh, how I love these hills and streams! How
much more pleasant they are to me than the dull prairies and the
sluggish and turbid waters of the Western country." It was an
eulogy, which if not often expressed, the truth of it has been a
thousand times felt before.

Our Indian predecessors found but few spots among the hills
of this Country, which invited their fixed residence. Here was
no place for the culture of maize and beans, the chief articles of
the Indian's vegetable food. Their settlements were chiefly con-
fined to the valley of the Housatonic, with small scattered clans
at Woodbury and Sharon. The Scaticoke tribe, at Kent, was
the last which remained among us. It was taken under the pro-
tection of the Colony and State; its lands secured for its sup-
port. _ These Indians have wasted down to a few individuals, who,
I believe, still remain near their fathers' sepulchers, and remind
us that a native tribe once existed there.

We now see but little to prove that the original American race
ever inhabited here. It left no monuments but a few arrow-heads,
which are even now occasionally discovered near its former homes
and upon its former hunting grounds, — and a sculptured female
figure made of stone, not many years ago was foiuid in this town,
and is now deposited at Yale College.

There are other monuments, to be sure, of a later race of In-
dians; but they are of the white man's workmariship, — the quit-
claim deeds of the Indians' title to their lands ! These are found
in several of the Towns in the County, and upon the public re-
cords, signed with marks imcouth, and names unspeakable, and
executed with all the solemn mockery of legal forms. — These are
still referred to, as evidence of fair purchase! Our laws have
sedulously protected the minor and the married woman from the
consequences of their best considered acts ; but a deed from an
Indian, who knew neither the value of the land he was required
to relinquish, nor the amount of the consideration he was to re-
ceive for it, nor the import or effect of the paper upon which he
scribbled his mark, has been called a fair purchase !

The hill-lands of this County were only traversed , by the In-
dians as the common hunting grounds of the tribes which inhab-
ited the valleys of the Tunxis and Connecticut rivers on the east-
ern, and the valley of the Housatonic on the western side.

The first settlers of this County did not meet the Indian here
in his unspoiled native character. The race was dispirited and
submissive — probably made up of fugitives from the aggressions
of the early English emigrants on the coast, — the successors of
more spirited tribes, which, to avoid contact with the whites, had

6 LlTCHPlUlvD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

migrated onward toward the setting sun. These Indjans_ were
like the ivy of the forest, which displays all its beauties in the
shade but droops and refuses to flourish in the open sunshine

Previous to the accession of James II. to the throne of Eng-
land and before our chartered rights were threatened by the ar-
rival of Sir Edmund Andros, the territory now comprising the
County of Litchfield was very little known to the Colonial Gov-
ernment at Hartford. The town of Woodbury, then large in ex-
tent, had been occupied some years earlier than this, by Rev.
Mr. Walker's congregation, from Stratford. The other parts of
the County were noticed only as a wilderness, and denominated
the Western Lands. Still it was supposed, that at some time they
might be, to some extent, inhabited and worth something. At
anv rate, they were believed to be worth the pains of keeping out
of' the way of the new government of Sir Edmund, which was
then apprehended to be near. To avoid his authority over these
lands, and to preserve them for a future and better time of dispo-
sal, they were granted, by the Assembly of the Colony, to the
towns of Hartford and Windsor, in 1686, — at least, so much of
them as lay east of the Housatonic river. I do not stop to exam-
ine the moral quality of this grant, which may be reasonably
doubted ; and it was soon after followed by the usual consequences
of grants, denominated by lawyers, constructively fraudulent — dis-
pute and contention.

Upon the accession of William and Mary, in 1688, and after
the Colony Charter had found its way back from the hollow oak
to the Secretary's office, the Colonial Assembly attempted to re-
sume this grant, and to reclaim the title of these lands for the
Colony. This was resisted by the towns of Hartford and Wind-
sor, which relied upon the inviolability of plighted faith and pub-
lic grants. The towns not only denied the right, but a.ctually
resisted the power of the Assembly, in the resumption of their
solemn deed. This produced riots and attempts to break the
jail in Hartford, in which several of the resisting inhabitants of
Hartford and Windsor were confined.

It would be found difficult for the Jurists of the present day,
educated in the principles of Constitutional Law, to justify the
Assembly in the recision of its own grant, and it can not but ex-
cite a little surprise, that the politicians of that day, who had not
yet ceased to complain of the mother country for its attempts, by
writs of quo warranto, to seize our charter, should so soon be en-
gaged, and without the forms of law, too, in attempts of a kindred
character against their own grantees. No wonder that resistance
followed, and it was more than half successful, as it resulted in
a compromise, which confirmed to the claimants under the towns
the lands in the town of Litchfield and a part of the town of New
Milford. The other portions of the territory were intended to
be equally divided between the Colony and the claiming towns.

CHURCH S CENTENNIAI, ADDRESS 7

Thus Torrington, Barkhamsted, Colebrook, and a part of Har-
winton, were appropriated to Windsor ; Hartland, Winchester,
New Hartford, and the other part of Harwinton, were rehnquish-
ed to Hartford ; and the remaining lands in dispute, now consti-
tuting the towns of Norfolk, Goshen, Canaan, Kent, Sharon and
Salisbury, were retained by the Colony. These claims having
at length been adjusted, the western lands began to be explored,
and their facilities for cultivation to be known.

Woodbury, as I have before suggested, by several years our el-
der sister in this new family of towns, began its settlement in 1674.
The Church at Stratford had been in contention, and the Rev. Mr.
Walker, with a portion of that Church and people, removed to the
fertile region of Pomperauge, soon distinguished by the name of
Woodbury, and then including, beside the present town, also the
region composing the towns of Southbury, Bethlem and Roxbury.

Pomperauge is said to have felt some of the effects of Philip's
war — enough, at least, to add another to the many thrilling scenes
of Indian depredation, so well drawn by the author of Mount Hope.

New Milford next followed in the course of settlement. This
commenced in 1707. Its increase of population was slow until
1716, when Rev. Daniel Boardman, from Wethersfield, was or-
dained as the first minister. This gentleman was the ancestor of
the several distinguished families and individuals of the same
name, who have since been and now are residents of that town.
His influence over the Indian tribe and its Sachem in that vicinity,
was powerful and restraining, and so much confidence had this
good man and his family in the fidelity of his Indian friends, it is
said, that when his lady was earnestly warned to fly from a threaten-
ed savage attack, she coolly replied, that she would go as soon as
she had put things to rights about her house, and had knit round
to her seam needle ! The original white inhabitants were emigrants
from Milford, from which it derives its name.

Emigrants from the Manor of Livingston, in the New York
Colony, made Indian purchases and began a settlement at Wea-
togue, in Salisbury, as early as 1720. After the sale of the town-
ship in 1737, the population increased rapidly, — coming in from the
towns of Lebanon, Litchfield, and many other places, so that it was
duly organized in 1741, and settled its minister. Rev. Jonothan
Lee, in 1744.

The first inhabitants of Litchfield came under the Hartford and
Windsor title, in 1721, and chiefly from Hartford, Windsor and
Lebanon. This territory, and a large lake in its south-west sec-
lion, was known as Bantam. Whether it was so called by the In-
dians, has been doubted, and is not well settled.

The settlement of the other towns commenced soon after, and
piogressed .'•teadily, xet slowly. The town of Colebrook was the
last enrolled in this jraternity, and settled its first minister. Rev.
Jonathan Edwards, in 1795. Rev. Rufus Babcock, a Baptist min-

8 LITCHFIEI/D COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

ister, had, lor some time before this, resided and officiated in the
town.

One general characteristic marked the whole population; it was
gathered chiefly from the towns already settled in the Colony, and
with but few emigrants from Massachusetts. Our immediate an-
cestors were religious men, and religion was the ruling element;
but it would be a mistake to suppose that it absorbed all others.

I shall not detain you with an eulogium on Puritan character.
This may be found stereotyped every where — not only in books and
speeches, but much more accurately in its influence and effects, not
in New England alone, but throughout this nation. Our American
ancestors were Englishmen, descendants of the same men, and in-
heritors of the same principles, by which Magna Charta was estab-
lished at Runny-mede. — They were Anglo-Saxons, inspired with
the same spirit of independence which has marked them every where,
and especially through the long period of well defined linghsh his-
tory, and which is destined in its further developments to give tone
and impress to the political and religious institutions of Christen-
dom. So much has been said and written of the Puritans, I have
sometimes thought that some believe that they were a distinct race,
and perhaps of a different complexion and language from their
other countrymen ; whereas, they were only Englishmen, generally
of the Plebian caste, and with more of the energies and many of the
frailties and imperfections common to humanity. If our first settlers
here cherished more firmlythe religious elements of their character
than any other., the spirit of independence to which I have alluded
developed another — the love of money, and an ingenuity in grat-
ifying it.

Since the extent and resources of this County have been better
known, the wonder is often expressed, how such an unpromising
region as this County could have invited a population at first; but
herein we misconceive the condition of our fathers. Here, as they
supposed, was the last land to be explored and occupied in their
day. They had no where else to go, and the growing population
of the east, as well as the barren soil of the coast, impelled them
westward. Of the north, beyond the Massachusetts Colony, noth-
ing was known ; only Canada and the frozen regions of Nova Scotia
had been heard of. On the west was another Colony, but a dif-
ferent people ; and still ,beyond, was an unknown realm, possessed
by savage men, of whom New England had seen enough; and not
much behind this, according to the geography of that day, was the
Western Ocean, referred to in the Charter. A visible hand of
Providence seems to have guided our fathers' goings. Had the
valley of the Susquehanna been known to them then, they would
but the sooner have furnished the history of the massacre of
Wyoming.

If there were here the extensive and almost impenatrable ever-
glade of the Green-Woods, the high hills of Goshen, Litchfield

church's centenxial address 9

and Cornwall, and heavy forests every where — these were trifles
then in the way of a New England man's calculation, and had been
ever since the people of the May Flower and the Arabella and their
descendants had been crowding their way back among the forests.
These, and a thousand other obstacles, were surmounted, with hard-
ly a suspicion that they were obstacles at all, and every township
began ere long to exhibit a well ordered, organized society.

This was no missionary field, after the manner of modern new
settlements. Every little Colony, as it became organized and ex-
tended from town to town, either took its minister along with it, or
called him soon after. He became one with his people, wedded
to them almost by sacramental bonds, indissoluble. A Primus
inter pares, he settled on his owji domain, appropriated to his use by
the proprietors of every town, and he cultivated with his own hands
his own soil, and at his death was laid down among his parishoners
and neighbors in the common cemetery, with little of monumental ex-
travagance to distinguish his resting place. The meeting-house was
soon seen at the central point of each town, modestly elevated above
surrounding buildings, and by its side the school-house, as its
nursling child or younger sister, and the minister and the master
were the oracles of each community. The development of the
Christian man, spiritual, intellectual and physical, was the necessary
result of such an organization of society as this.

The original settlers of this County were removed two or three
generations from the first emigrants from England, and some of
the more harsh pecularities of that race may well be supposed, ere
this time, to have become modified, or to have subsided entirely.
If a little erf the spirit of Arch-Bishop Laud, transgressing the
boundaries of Realm and Church, had found its way over the ocean,
and was developed under a new condition of society here, it is not
to be wondered at; it was the spirit of the age, though none the
better for that, and none the more excusable, whether seen in Laud
or Mather — in a Royal Parliament, or a Colonial Assembly.

Less of these peculiarities appeared in Connecticut than in Mass-
achusetts ; and at the late period when this County was settled, the
sense of oppression inflicted by the mother country, whether real
or fancied, was a little forgotten, and of course neither Quakers,
Prayer Books nor Christmas were the object of penal legislation.
A more tolerant, and of course a better spirit, came with our fathers
into this County, than had before existed elsewhere in the Colony,
and, if I mistake not, it has ever since been producing here its legiti-
mate effects, and in some degree has distinguished the char-
acter and the action of Litchfield County throughout its entire his-
tory, as many facts could be made to prove.

Before the year 175 1, this territory had been attached to dif-
ferent Counties — most of it to the County of Hartford; the towns
of Sharon and Salisbury to the County of New Haven ; and many
of the early titles and of probate proceedings of several of the

lO LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

towns, before their organization or incorporation, may be found on
the records of more early settled towns. The first settlements of
estates in Canaan are recorded in Woodbury, and many early deeds
are on record in the office of the Secretary in Hartford.

In 1 75 1, the condition of the population of these towns was such
as to demand the organization of a new County, and the subject
was extensively discussed at the town meetings. As is always
true, on such occasions, a diversity of opinions as well as the or-
dinary amount of excited feeling existed, regarding the location
of the shire town. Cornwall and Canaan made their claims and had
their advocates — but the chief contest was between Litchfield and
Goshen. The latter town was supposed to occupy the geographical
center, and many persons had settled there in expectation that
that would become the fixed seat of justice, and, among others,
Oliver Wolcott, afterward Governor of the State. But at the
October session of the General Court in 175 1, the new County was
established with Litchfield as the County Town, under the name
of Litchfield County.

Litchfield County, associated with the thought of one hundred
years ago ! A brief space in a nation's history ; but such an
hundred years ! — more eventful than any other since the intro-
duction of our Holy Religion into the world. This name speaks
to us of home and all the hallowed memories of youth and years
beyond our reach, — of our truant frolics, our school boy trials, our
youthful aspirations and hopes ; and, perhaps, of more teiider and
romantic sympathies ; and many will recall the misgivings, and 3'et
the stern resolves, with which they commenced the various avoca-
tions of life in which they have since been engaged. A-nd from this
point, too, we look back to ties which once bound us to parents,
brothers, companions, friends — then strong — now sundered ! and
which have been breaking and breaking, until many of us find our-
selves standing, almost alone, amidst what a few years ago was an
unborn generation.

Litchfield County ! Go where you will through this broad
country, and speak aloud this name, and you will hear a response,
"That is my own, my native land." It will come from some whom
you will find in the halls of Legislation, in the Pulpit, on the Bench,
at the Bar, by the sick man's couch, in the marts of Trade, by the
Plow, or as wandering spirits in some of the tried or untried ex-
periments of life. And sure I am, that there is not to be found a
son of this County, be his residence ever so remote, who would not
feel humbled to learn that this name was to be no longer heard
among the civil divisions of his native State.

The usual officers, made necessary by the erection of the new
County, were immediately appointed by the General Court. William
Preston, Esq., of Woodbury, was the first Chief Justice of the
County, and his Associates were John Williams, Esq., of Sharon,
Samuel Canfield, of Xew Milford, and Ebenezer Marsh, of Litch-

CHURCH'S CENTENNIAL ADDRESS II

field. Isaac Baldwin, Esq., was the first Clerk, and the first Sheriflf
was Oliver Wolcott, of whom I shall speak again. The County
Court, at its first session in December of the same year, appointed
Samuel Pettibone, Esq., of Goshen, to be King's Attorney, who
was, within a few years, succeeded by Reynold Marvin, Esq., of
this village, and these two gentlemen were all in this County, in
this capacity, who ever represented the King's majesty in that ad-
ministration of criminal justice.

The tenure of official place in the early days of the Common-
wealth, was more permanent than since party subserviency has in
some degree taken the place of better qualifications. The changes
upon the bench of the County Court were not frequent. The office
of Chief Judge, from the time of Judge Preston to the time of his
successors, who are now alive, have been John Williams, of Sharon.
Oliver Wolcott, Daniel Sherman, of Woodbury, Joshua Porter, of
Salisbury, Aaron Austin, of New 'Hartford, also a member of the
Council, and Augustus Pettibone, of Norfolk. I can not at this
time present a catalogue of Associate Judges. It has been com-
posed of the most worthy and competent citizens of the County —
gentlemen of high influence and respect in the several towns of their
residence.

In the office of Sheriff, Governor Wolcott was succeeded by
Lynde Lord, David Smith, John R. Eandon, Moses Seymour, Jr.,
and Ozias Seymour, of this village, and the successors of these
gentlemen are still surviving.

Mr. Marvin was succeeded in the office of State's Attorney, by
Andrew Adams. Tapping Reeve. Uriah Thacy, Nathaniel Smith.
John Allen, Uriel Holmes, and Elisha Sterling, whose successors,
with a single exception, still survive.

Hon. Frederick Wolcott succeeded Mr. Baldwin in the office
of Clerk, and this place he held, undisturbed by party influences,
for forty years, and until nearly the time of his death in 1836.

The common Prison first erected was a small wooden building,
near the late dwelling house of Roger Cook, Esq., on the north
side of East street. This stood but few years, and in its place a
more commodious one was built, nearly on the same foundation.
The present Prison was built in 1812, and essentially improved
within a few years. The first Court House stood on the open
grounds a little easterly from the West Park, and may still be seen
in the rear of the buildings on the south side of West street. It
was a small building, but in it were often witnessed some of the
most able efforts of American eloquence. In this humble Temple
of Justice, Hon. S. W. Johnston of Stratford, Edwards of New
Haven, Reeve, Tracy, Allen, and the Smiths of this County, ex-
hibited some of the best essays of forensic power. The present
Court House was erected in 1798.

The early progress of the County presents but a few incidents
of sufficient note to retain a place in its traditionary history. The

12 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BIJNCI-I AND BAR

apprehension of savage incursions had passed away, and the people
were left undisturbed to carry out, to their necessary results, what
might have been expected from the spirit and enterprise which
brought them hither. The old French War, as it has smce been
called disturbed them but little. Some of the towns in the County,
moved by a loyal impulse, and a legitimate hatred of France, as
well as hostility to Indians in its service, furnished men and officers
in aid of some of the expeditions to the northern frontier.

The pioneers here were agriculturists. They came with no
knowledge or care for anv other pursuit, and looked for no greater
results than the enjoyment of religious privileges, the increase of
their estates bv removing the heavy forest and adding other acres
to their original purchases, and with the hope, perhaps, of sending
an active bov to the College. Of manufactures, they knew nothing.
The grist-mill and saw-mill, the blacksmith and clothier's shops, —
all as indispensable as the plow and the axe,— they provided for as
among the necessaries of a farmer's life.

Thus they toiled on, till the hill-sides and the valleys every
where showed the fenced field and the comfortable dwelling. The
spinning wheel was in every house, and the loom in every neigh-
borhood, and almost every article of- clothing was the product of
female domestic industry. Intercourse with each other was diffi-
cult. The hills were steep, and the valleys miry, and the means
of conveyance confined to the single horse with saddle and pillion,
with no other carriage than the ox-cart in summer and the sled in
the winter. The deep winter snows often obstructed even the use
of the sled, and then resort was had to snow-shoes. These were
made of a light rim of wood bent into the form of an ox-bow,
though smaller, perforated and woven into a net work with thongs
of raw-hide, leather or deer skin, and when attached to the com-
mon shoe enabled the walker to travel upon the surface of the
snow. Four-wheeled carriages were not introduced into general
use until after the Revolution. Ladies, old and young, thought no
more of fatigue in performing long journeys over the rough roads
of the County, on horseback, than the ladies of our times in mak-
ing trips by easy stages, in coaches or cars.

The County Town constituted a common center, where the
leading men of the County met during the terms of the Courts,
and they saw but little of each other at other times. The course
of their business was in different directions. The north-west towns
found their markets on the Hudson River — the southern towns at
Derby and New Haven — and the eastern ones at Hartford. In
the mean while, and before the breaking out of the war of the
Revolution, nearly every town had its settled Pastor, and the schools
were every where spead over the territory.

No manufacturing interest was prevalent in the County at first.
The policy and laws of the mother country had discouraged this.
But the rich iron mine which had been early discovered in Salis-

CHURCH S ClJNTBNNIAL ADDRESS I3

bury, and the iron ore found in Kent, could not lie neglected. Iron
was indispensable, and its transportation from the coast almost
impracticable. The ore bed in Salisbury had been granted by the
Colonial Assembly to Daniel Bissell of Windsor, as early as 1731,
and produces a better quality of iron than any imported from abroad
or found elsewhere at home.

The manufacture of bloomed iron in the region of the ore, com-
menced before the organization of the County. Thomas L,amb
erected a forge at Lime Rock, in Sahsbury, as early as 1734, —
probably the first in the Colony. This experiment was soon ex-
tensively followed in Salisbury, Canaan, Cornwall and Kent, and
there were forges erected also in Norfolk, Colebrook and Litch-
field. The ore was often transported from the ore beds to the
forge in leathern sacks, upon horses. Bar iron became here a sort
of circulating medium, and promissory notes were more frequent-
ly made payable in iron than in money.

The first Furnace in the Colony was built at Lakeville, in Salis-
bury, in 1762, by John Hazelton and Ethan Allen of Salisbury,
and Samuel Forbes oi Canaan. This property fell into the hands
of Richard Smith, an English gentleman, a little before the war
of the Revolution. Upon this event he returned to England, and
the State took possession of the furnace, and it was employed, un-
der the agency of Col. Joshua Porter, in the manufacture of can-
non, shells and shot, for the use of the army and navy of the
country, and sometimes under the supervision of Governeur Mor-
ris and John Jay, agents of the Continental Congress ; and after
the war, the navy of the United States received, to a considerable
extent, the guns for its heaviest ships, from the same establishment.

It will not be any part of my purpose to become the Ecclesiasti-
cal historian of the County. This duty will be better performed
by other pens. And yet* the true character and condition of a
people can not be well understood without some study of their re-
ligious state.

I have already suggested, that there was here a more tolerant
and better spirit than existed among the first emigrants to Ply-
mouth and Massachusetts. The churches were insulated, and in
a manner shut out from the disturbing causes which had agitated
other portions of the Colony. I do not learn from that full and
faithful chropicler of religious dissensions. Dr. Trumbull, that there
was in this Coimty so much of the metaphysical and subtle in the-
ology, as had produced such bitter efifects at an earlier time, in the
churches at Hartford, New Haven. Stratford ard Wallingford.
The Pastors were men of peace, who had sought th( retired parishes
over here in the hills and valleys, without much p/ide of learning,
and without ambitious views. The influence of the Pastor here
was oaternal ; the eloquence of his example was more potent than
the eloquence of the pulpit. It might be expected, that by such a
Clergy, a deep and broad foundation of future good would be laid, —

14 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BDNCH AND BAR

a fixed Protestant sentiment and its legitimate consequence, in-
dependent opinion and energetic action.

There was here, also, very early, another element which modi-
fied and liberalized the temper of the fathers, who had smarted,
as they supposed, under the persecutions of an EngHsh home and
English laws. A little alloy was intermixed in the religious
crucible, which, if it did not, in the opinion of all, render the mass
more precious, at least made it more malleable, and better fitted
for practical use. There was not in this Country an universal
dislike of the Chuch of England. We were removed farther back
in point of time, as I have said, from the original causes of hostility.
We were Englishmen, boasting of English Common Law as our
birthright and our inheritance, and into this was interwoven many
of the principles and usages of English Ecclesiastical polity.
This respect for the institutions of the mother country, though
long felt by some, was first developed in the College, and extended
sooner and more widely in this County than any where else; so
that congregations worshiping with the Liturgy of the English
Church were soon found in Woodbury, Watertown, Plymouth,
Harwinton, Litchfield, Kent, Sharon and Salisbury, and were com-
posed of men of equal intelligence and purity of character with
their neighbors of the Congregational Churches. And yet, enough
of traditional prejudice still remained, uncorrected by time or im-
partial examinations, often to subject the friends and members of
the Church of England to insult and injustice. Some of it remains
still but too little to irritate or disturb a Christian spirit.

The spirit of emigration, that same Anglo-Saxon temperament
which brought our ancestors into the County, and which constantly
pushes forward to the trial of unknown fortune, began its mani-
festitations before the Revolution, and sought its gratification first
in Vermont. Vermont is the child of this County. We gave to
her her first Governor, and three Governors besides ; as many as
three Senators in Congress, and also many of her most efficient
founders and early distinguished citizens, — Chittendens, Aliens, Ga-
lushas, Chipmans, Skinner and others. The attitude assumed by
Vermont in the early stages of the Revolutionary War, in respect
to Canada on the north and the threatening States of New York
and New Hampshire on either side, was peculiar and delicate, and
demanded the most adroit policy to secure her purp.ose of inde-
pendence. In her dilemma, her most sagacious men resorted to
the counsels of their old friends of Litchfield County, and it is said
that her final course was shaped, and her designs accomplished,
by the advice of a confidential council, assembled at the house of
Governor Wolcott in this village.

Perhaps no community ever existed, with fewer causes of dis-
turbance or discontent than were felt here, before the complaints
of British exaction were heard from Boston. But the first mur-
murings from the East excited our quiet population to action, and in

CHURCH S CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 1 5

nearly every town in the County, meetings of sympathy were holden,
and strong resolves adopted, responsive to the Boston complainings.
The tax oh tea and the stamp duty were trifles. The people of
this County knew nothing of them, and probably cared no more.
The principle of the movement was deeper — more fundamental;
the love of self government — "the glorious privilege of being in-
dependent!" The excitement was general throughout the Country.
Individuals opposed it, and from different, though equally pure mo-
tives. Some supposed resistance to the laws to be hopeless at that
time, and advised to wait for more strength and resources ; others
were influenced by religious considerations, just as pure and as
potent as had influenced their fathers aforetime ; others had a deeper
seated sense of loyalty, and the obligations of sworn allegiance.
But the County was nearly unanimous in its resistance to Britisli
claims, and saw in them the commencement of a Colonial servitude,
degrading, and threatening the future progress of the country, in
its destined path to wealth and glory. I believe no individual of
distinction in the County took arms against the cause of the country.

Our remote position from the scenes of strife and the march of
armies, will not permit me to speak to you of battle-fields, of vic-
tories won or villages sacked any where in our sight. We were
only in the pathway between the different wings of the American
army. I have no means of determining the amount of force in men
or money furnished by this County in aid of the war. From the
tone of the votes and resolves passed at the various town-meetings,
and from the many officers and men. Continental and militia, who
joined the army, I may venture the assertion, that no county in New
England, of no greater population than this, gave more efficient
aid in various ways, or manifested by its acts, more devoted pa-
triotism.

Sheldon's was, I believe, the first regiment of cavalry which
joined the army. It was raised in this County chiefly, and com-
manded by Col. Elisha Sheldon of Salisbury. The services of
this regiment have been favorably noticed by the writers of that
day, and on various occasions called forth the public thanks of
the Commander-in-Chief. Among other officers attached to it, was
Major Benjamin Tallmadge, afterwards and for many years a dis-
tinguished merchant and gentleman of this village, and, for several
sessions, a valuable member of Congress in the Connecticut dele-
gation. Major Tallmadge distinguished himself by a brilliant ex-
t>loit against the enemy on Long Island, for which he received the
public approbation of General Washington; and through the whole
struggle, this officer proved himself a favorite with the army and
the officers under whom he served. Besides these, several other
officers of elevated as well as subordinate rank, were attached to
the Continental army, from this County. Among them were Col.
Heman Swift of Cornwall, Major Samuel Elmore of Sharon, Col.
Seth Warner of Woodbury, Major Moses Seymour of Litchfield,

l6 LITCHFIBLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Major John Webb of Canaan, Capt. John Sedgwick and Edward
Rogers of Cornwall, Col. Blagden and Major Luther Stoddard of
Salisbury, and many others not now recollected.

Contributions in support of the war were not confined to the
payment of heavy taxes, but voluntary aid came from associations
and individuals in every town. The ^aggregate can not be com-
puted,— if it could, it would show an amount, which, rich as we
now are, I think could not be demanded of our citizens for any
cause of patriotism or philanthropy without murmurs, and perhaps,
resistance.

Nor was the Patriot spirit confined to men and soldiers, — it
warmed the bosoms of wives, mothers and sisters, in every town.
An equestrian statue of the King, of gilded lead, before the war,
had stood upon the Bowling Green in New York. As soon as
the news of the signing of the Declaration of Independence reach-
ed New York, this was missing. Ere long it was found at the
dwelling-house of Hon. Oliver Wolcott, in this village, and in
time of need was melted down into the more appropriate shape of
forty thousand bullets, by the daughters of that gentleman and
other ladies, and forwarded to the soldiery in the field. Other la-
dies still, and in other towns, were much employed in making
blankets and garments for the suffering troops.

I have no means of determining the number of killed and
wounded soldiers belonging to this County.

Mr. Matthews, the Mayor of the city of New York, was for
some time detained in this village, a prisoner of war, and it is said
that his traveling trunk, and some parts of his pleasure carriage,
still remain in possession of the Seymour family. Governor
Eranklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey, and a son of Dr.
Benjamin Franklin, was confined as a prisoner of war in our jail
which was often used to detain English prisoners as well as Tories.

Although the treaty of peace brought peace to other parts of
the State, it did not bring it to the whole of this County. One
town was left, — not to the continued and merciless inroads of
British soldiers and savage Indians, as before, but to the unjust
oppressions of Pennsylvania, — Westmoreland, better known to the
readers of Indian tragedy by the name of Wyoming. Its history
is one of melancholy interest. This territory is in the valley and
region of the Susquehanna River, and included the present flourish-
ing village of Wilkesbarre. Its extent was as broad as this State.
It was supposed to be embraced within our chartered limits, and such
was the opinion of the most eminent counsel in England and in
the Colony. Under this claim, a company associated about the
year 171^4, by the name of the Susquhanna Company, and purchased
the Indian title to the country, for two thousand pounds. New York
currency. This was a voluntary movement, — a people's enterprise,
unsanctioned by any direct Legislative act, but unforbidden, and
probably encouraged. Within a few years, a settlement was ef-

lEABINa SOWX. SI^ATUI OF OE'DBSS III.

CHURCH S CUXTRNXIAL ADDRESS 1/

fected upon the choice > lands of the Susquehanna, chiefly by emi-
grants from the counties of Windham and New London, with sev-
eral from this County, among whom was John Franklin of Canaan,
the brother of the late Silas Franklin, Esq., of that town, a gentle-
man whose fortune and history were closely interwoven with the
fortunes of that colony. The Authorities of Pennsylvania, though
claiming under a later Charter, opposed this settlement, and kept
up a continual annoyance until the breaking out of the war with
England, and even then sympathized but Httle with our people
there, under the dreadful afflictions which that event brought upon
them.

Sad indeed was the condition of the colonists of Wyoming ! —
persecuted by their Pennsylvania neighbors, and left defenceless
to the ravages of British troops and their savage allies ! The
Legislature of this Colony recognized this interesting band of its
own children, and incorporated them into a township, by the name
of Westmoreland, in 1774, and annexed it to the County of Litch-
field. They would have been protected from the aggressions of
Pennsylvania, if the war of the Revolution had not prevented, and
the good Friends of that Commonwealth would have been compelled
to dofif the Quaker a while, or quietly to have left our fellow-citizens
in peace. Under the protection of their parent power, this little col-
ony now looked for security. They were a town of the Connecticut
Colony, organized with Selectmen and other ordinary Town Of-
ficers, and semi-annually sent their Deputies to the General Court
at Hartford and New Haven ; chose their Jurors to attend the
Courts of this County, and their Justices of the Peace were mag-
istrates of the County of Litchfield, and all writs and process,
served there, were returnable to the Courts of this County, and
remain now upon our records. But their security was transient ;
the war of the Revolution brought down upon them a combined
force of British Provincials and Tories, from Pennsylvania, New
Jersey and New York, and a large body of Indians, commanded
iby Brant, a celebrated chief. This whole force was directed by
Col. John Butler, of infamous memory.

I have no leisure to describe, in its details, the progress of the
tragedy of the Wyoming massacre. Cols. John Franklin and

Zebulon Butler were conspicious in their efforts to avert the sad
destiny of the citizens. It was in vain. The battle opened on
the 3d day of July, 1778, and it closed with the entire destruc-
tion "of the settlepient. Men, women and children, whether in
arms or defenceless, were devoted to the bayonet and scalping knife,
and such as were so fortunate as to escape, were driven away,
houseless and homeless, many of them to be dragged from their
hiding places to the slaughter, and others to escape after many
perils by the way. That massacre was without a likeness in modern
warfare, and a stain upon the English character, for which English
hi,storians have found no apology.

l8 LlTCHPlBLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

"Accursed Brant ! he left of all my tribe
Nor man, nor child, nor any thing of living birth ;
No, — not the dog that watch'd my household hearth
Escaped that night, upon our plains, — ^all perished !"

Men, maidens, widowed mothers and helpless infants, flying-
from this scene of death, are remembered by many still living,
passing on foot and on horseback through this County, back to
their friends here and to the eastern towns. Such was the fate
of a portion of the citizens of our own County. Nine years Wy-
oming had been a part of us, and after the war was over, Penn-
sylvania renewed her claims and her oppressions. Our Pilgrim
fathers could recount no such afflictions ! Our jurisdiction ceased
in 1782, after a decision by a Board of Commissioners ; but a great
portion of those who had survived the conflict with the Indians,
gathered again around the ruins of their former habitations, and
still refused submission to the claims of Pennsylvania. Col. Frank-
lin was the master spirit of resistance, and upon him fell the weight
of vengance. He was arrested, imprisoned, and condemed to death
as a traitor. After a long confinement in jail, he was at length
released, and survived many years, and was a respectable and in-
fluential member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, from
the County of Luzerne.

The result of the compromise of our claim to the town of West-
moreland, was the acknowledgment, by Congress, of the claim of
Connecticut to the Western Reserve, from which has been derived
the School Fund of the State.

The war of the Revolution had ceased, and left us an exhausted
people. The extravagant hopes of many were disappointed: they
felt the present pressure, but anticipated none of the future prosper-
ity and glory in reserve. This disappointment, in a neighboring
State, had produced open resistence to the laws, — rebellion ! It
was a contagious spirit, and such as municipal lines could not con-
fine. Much was feared from it here. A spark from that flame
in Berkshire county had flown over into Sharon. One Dr. Hurl-
but, an emissary of Shay's, visited that town, in the spring of 1787,
to enlist men in his cause. He made some impression. The
General Assembly was then in session, and took efficient measures
to prevent the spread of the treasonable contagion. Col. Samuel
Canfield, of New Milford, and Uriah Tracy, of this village, were
sent to suppress it. Several individuals were, arrested and im-
prisoned in the jail of this County; but, as the disturbance in the
sister State subsided, the advocates of resistance to the laws were
disheartened, the prosecutions were finally abandoned, and these
disciples of the treasonable doctrine of resistance were permitted to
go at large, punished enough by the contempt which followed them.

Although the resources of our citizens had been consumed by
a wasting war and a bankrupt government, the elasticity of our

Col. Samuel Canfibld.

CHURCH S CEXTEXNIAT, ADDRESS I9

former enterprise was not relaxed. Released, now, from Colonial
dependence, and free to act without foreign restrictions, the ener-
gies of our citizens soon recovered all ■ they had lost. A Consti-
tution of Government, uniting the former Colonies info a great
nation, was proposed to the State for adoption; and, in January,
1787, a convention of deligates from the several towns met at
Hartford to consider it. The votes of the deligates from this
County, upon this great question, stood, twenty-two in the affirm-
ative, and nine in the negative. The negative votes were from
Cornwall, Norfolk, and Sharon. Harwinton, New Hartford, and
Torrington were divided.

No portion of the country sooner revived under the new im-
pulse, given by the establishment of a National Constitutional
Government, than this County. Our resources were varied. Our
soil was every where strong on the hills and by the streams. Var-
ious sections possessed their peculiarities of production. Wheat
was a staple of the western towns. Dairy products were yielded
in abundance in the northern and central regions; and, in almost
every location, every species of grass, fruit, and grain, indigenous
to any northern latitude, by reasonable culture, was found to flourish.
We were rich in the most useful mineral in the world, and our
streams of purest water afforded privileges every where for con-
verting our ores into iron and our forests into building materials.
But we had more — that, without which, all these were worthless ;
we had an industrious, and what was better, an economical and an
intelligent yeomanry. We had a few slaves, to be sure ; not enough
of these, nor enough of a degraded foreign population to render
the toil of our own hands, in the fields, or of our wives or daughters,
in the kitchen or the dairy, dishonored or disgraceful. Our peoole
were Native Americans ! And here is the secret of our prosperity
and progress.

In 1784 the first newspaper press was established in this County
by Thomas Collier, and was continued under his superintendence
for more than twenty years. It was called the "Weeklv Monitor."
It was a well conducted sheet, and it is refreshing now, after the
lapse of many years, to look through its columns, as through a
glass, and see the men of other days, as they have spoken and acted
on the same ground on which we stand. Mr. Collier was an able
writer, and his editorial efforts would have done honor to any
journal. It is a Litchfield monitor now, and whoever shall look
over its files will see, at a glance, the great changes which have been
introduced, in later days, into all the departments of business and of
social and political life.

Then, the intercourse between the several towns in this County
and the market towns was slow and difficult. The Country mer-
chants were the great brokers, and stood between the farmer and
the markets. Thev received all his produce and supplied all he
wished to buy. The thrifty farmer, on settlement, received his

20 LITCHFIBI^D COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

annual balance from the merchant. This enabled him to increase
his acres. He did not invest it in stocks ; of these he knew nothing,
except such as he had seen attached as instruments of punishment, to
the whipping post in every town.

The merchants, thus employed, almost all became wealthy.
A broken merchant in the County was seldom heard of. Among
the most successful and respectable of these gentlemen, whom I
now recollect, were Julius Deming and Benjamin Tallmadge, of
this town; Tallmadge, of Warren; Bacon, of Woodbury; Lea-
vitts', of Bethlem and Washington; Starr, Norton, and Lymans',
of Goshen ; Battel, of Norfolk ; King, of Sharon ; Holley, of Salis-
bury, and Elijah Boardman, of New Milford, afterwards a highly
respectable Senator in the Congress of the United States. At
that time, Derby was the chief market town for many of the mer-
chants in the southern towns of the County.

The age of Turnpike Roads commenced about the year 1800,
and no portion of the country was more improved by them than
this County. Before this, a journey through the Green Woods
was spoken of as an exploit, — a region now accommodated by the
most pleasant road in the County. The roads constructed, about
the same time, from New Haven to Canaan, from Sharon to Goshen,
and from Litchfield to Hartford, changed very much the aspect of
the County and its current of business, and if they have not been
profitable to stockholders, they have been invaluable to the people.

The spur given to agriculture by the wars following the French
Revolution was felt in every thing. If our farmers have failed
in any thing, it has been in a proper appreciation of their own calling.
They have yielded a preference to other employments, to which they
are not entitled. If we are to have an Aristocracy in this country,
I say, let the farmers and business men, and not our idlers, be our
Princes ! — not such as are ashamed of their employments and with-
draw their sons from the field and their daughters from domestic
labor. I would have no such to rule over me. But, in spite of
some such false notions, agriculture has kept pace even with other
branches of industry in the County, as the appearance of our farms
and the thrift of our farmers attest. Much of this may be attributed
to an Agricultural Society, which was formed here several years
ago, and has been well sustained until this time.

I have alluded to the condition of manufactures as it was before
the Revolution — limited to iron and confined to the furnace in Salis-
bury and a few forges in that vicinity : to which may be added, the
manufacture of maple sugar, to some extent by the farmers in some
of the towns.

Even a few years ago, this County was not believed to be destined
to become a manufacturing community. During the Revolutionary
War, Samuel Eorbes, Esq., commenced a most important experi-'
ment in Canaan — the manufacture of nail rods. Before this, nails
were hammered out from the bar iron — a slow and expensive process.

CHURCH S CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 21

There was a slitting-mill in New Jersey, in which nail rods were
made, but the machinery was kept hidden from pubHc inspection.
Forbes wished to obtain a knowledge of it, and for this purpose
employed an ingenious mechanic and millwright, Isaac Benton, of
Salisbury. Benton, disguised as a traveling mendicant, obtained
admission to the mill, and so critically, and without suspicion,
marked the machinery and its operation, as to be able immediately
to make such a model of it as to construct a mill, of the same sort,
for Forbes. This was the foundation of his great fortune in after
life. He afterwards erected another slitting-mill in Washington,
(now Woodville.) By these he was able to supply the great de-
mand for this article. This was a great improvement upon the
former mode of nail-making, but was itself superseded, some years
afterwards, by the introduction of cut nail machinery. Esquire
Forbes, as he was afterwards familiarly called by every body, may
justly be deemed the pioneer of the manufacturing interests in this
County. His efforts were confined, generally, to the working of
iron. His forge he extended, and accommodated to the manufactur-
ing of anchors, screws, and mill irons. He introduced this branch
of the iron business into this County, if not into the State. It was
not long after followed by those enterprising manufacturers, Russell
Hunt & Brothers, at South Canaan, by whom the largest anchors
for the largest ships of the American Navy were made.

The manufacture of scythes by water-power, was commenced
in this County first at Winsted, by Jenkins & Boyd, in 1794. These
enterprising gentlemen, with the brothers Rockwell, soon extensive-
ly engaged in various branches of the manufacture of iron and steel
in Winsted and that vicinity, from which originated, and has grown
up to its present condition, one of the most flourishing manufactur-
ing villages in the State.

The furnace, in Salisbury, continued for many years in most
successful operation under its active proprietors, and especially
its last owners, Messrs. Holley & Coffing, by whose energy and
success, the iron interest, in Salisbury, has been most essentially
promoted; and it has extended into the towns of Canaan, Corn-
wall. Sharon, and Kent. Ames' works, at Falls Village, are not
equalled by any other in the State.

In speaking of the iron interest, I cannot but allude agam to
the Salisbury iron ore, which is found in various localities m that
town It stands superior to any other for the tenacity of the iron
which it produces, with which the armories of Springfield and
Harper's Ferry are supplied, and from which the chain cables and
best anchors for the Navy are made. And I am confident, if the
machinery of the steam vessels and railroad cars were made ex-
clusively from this iron, and not from a cheaper and mferior ma-
terial, we should know less of broken shafts and loss of life in our
public conveyances. , 1^ „ r .t

Paper was first made in this County, at the great Falls of the

22 I^ITCHPIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Housatonic, in Salisbury, by Adam & Church, as early as 1787,
and soon after in Litchfield. The first carding-machine erected,
I think, in this State, was built at the great falls in Canaan, about
1802. Previous to this time, wool was carded only by females, at
their own firesides.

A general manufacturing policy was suggested by the measures
of government, and not long after a more extensive experiment
was made in the manufacture of woolen cloths by the late Gov.
Wolcott, and his brother Hon. Frederick Wolcott of this place,
than had been made in this County before ; and although the trial
was disastrous to its projectors, it was the parent of the subse-
quent and present prosperity of the village of Wolcottville.

The same policy has spread into almost every town in the
County, and has not only extended the manufacture of iron, from
a mouse trap to a ship's anchor, but has introduced, and is intro-
ducing, all the various branches of manufactures pursued in thii=
country ; and of late, the elegant manufacture of the Papier Mache.
Plymouth, New Hartford, Norfolk, Woodbury, as well as the
towns before mentioned, have felt extensively the beneficial effects
of this modern industrial progress, so that our County may now
be set down as one of the first manufacturing Counties in the
State ; and this confirms what I have said, that here are all the
varied facilities of profitable employment, which can be found in
any section or region o fthis country. Our young men need no
longer seek adventure and fortune elsewhere ! Neither the desire
of wealth, nor the preservation of health and life, should suggest
emigration.

As soon as the war was over, and the Indians subdued into
peace, our people rushed again to Vermont, and to the Whites-
town and Genesee countries, as they were called ; so that, in a few
years, let a Litchfield County man go where he would, between the
top of the Green Mountains and Lake Champlain, or between Utica
and the Lakes, and every day he would greet an acquaintance or
citizen from his own County.

And then followed the sale and occupation of the Connecticut
Western Reserve, Many of its original proprietors were our citi-
zens : and among them, Messrs. Boardman, of New Milford ; Holmes,
Tallmadge, and Wadsworth, of Litchfield ; Starr and Norton, of
Goshen ; Canfield, of Sharon ; Johnston, Church, and Waterman,
of Salisbury. For a time it seemed as if depopulation was to fol-
low. The towns of Boardman, Canfield, Tallmadge, Johnson, Hud-
son, and several others on the reserve, were soon filling up with
the best blood and spirit of our County ; and since then, we have
been increasing the population of other parts of the States of New
York and Ohio, as well as of Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana, so
that now there is not one of us who remain, who has not a parent,
a brother, or a child, in New York, Vermont, or the States of the
West. And we believe that these children of our own raising, have

CHURCH S CICNTEXXIAL ADDRESS 23

transmitted the impress and image of Litchfield County, to the gen-
eral condition of societ}' where the}- have gone, and that they have
fixed there a moral likeness which proves its parentage. This em-
igrating propensity has characterized the Saxon race in all times
of its history ; and it is still at work, scattering us into every corner
and climate, and away to dig for gold and graves in the barrens of
California ! Notwithstanding this exhausting process of emigration,
our population which, in the year 1800, was 41,671, has increased
to the number of 46,171.

I do not know that before the Revolution there was a pubHc
Grammar School in the County. The preparatory studies of young
men, intended for collegiate course, were prosecuted with private
instructors — generally, the Clergy; and this course was pursued
still later.

Among the clergymen of the County most distinguished as in-
structors, and in fitting young men for college, as it was called,
were Rev. Daniel Farrand, of Canaan, Ammi R. Robbins, of Nor-
folk, Judah Champion, of Litchfield, and Azel Backus, D. D., of
Bethlem. This last named gentleman was afterwards President
of Hamilton College.

Soon after the war, Academies were instituted, and among the
first and best of them was the Morris Academy in the parish of
South Farms, in this town, which was commenced in 1790, by
James Morris, Esq. Esquire Morris was no ordinary man. He
was a distinguished graduate of Yale College, and an active officer
in the Revolutionary Army. His learning was varied and practical,
and under his direction the Morris Academy became the most noted
public school of the County, and so continued for many years.
An Academy at Sharon, not long after, acquired a deserved repu-
tation, under such instructors as John T. Peters, Elisha Sterling,
and Barzillai Slosson. Many years afterwards an Academy was
conducted in Ellsworth Society, in the same town, under the super-
intendence of Rev. Daniel Parker, which soon attained a high
reputation.

Our relative position in the State, and the controlHng influence
of the cities, have left us without College, Asylum, or Retreats ;
but our district schools have been doing their proper work, so that
Judge Reeve remarked while alive, that he had never seen but one
witness in Court, born in this County, who could not read. And
these schools have not only made scholars, but school-masters, and
these have been among the best of our indigenous productions, and
have found a good market every where. When Congress sat in
Philadelphia, a Litchfield County man was seen driving a drove
of mules through the streets. A North Carolina member congratu-
lated the late Mr. Tracy upon seeing so many of his constituents that
morning, and enquired where they were going, to which he facetious-
ly replied, that they were going to North Carolina to keep school.

24 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

A new tone to female education was given by the establish-
ment of a Female Seminary, for the instruction of females in
this village, by Miss Sarah Pierce, in 1792. This was an un-
tried experiment. Hitherto the education of young ladies, with
few exceptions, had been neglected. The district school had limit-
ed their course of studies. Miss Pierce saw and regretted this,
and devoted herself and all of her active life to the mental_ and
moral culture of her sex. The experiment succeeded entirely.
This Acedemy soon became the resort of young ladies from all
portions of the country — from the cities and the towns. Then,
the country was preferred, as most suitable for female improve-
ment, away from the frivolities and dissipation of fashionable life.
Now, a different, not a better practice, prevails. Many of the
grandmothers and mothers of the present generation were educated
as well for gentel as for useful life, in this school, and its influence
upon female character and accomplishments was great and extensive.
It continued for more than forty years, and its venerable Principal
and her sister assistant now live among us, the honored and honor-
able of their sex.

Before this, and as early as 1784, a Law School was instituted
in this village. Tapping Reeve, then a young lawyer from Long
Island, who had commenced the practice of his profession here,
was its projector. It is not known whether in this country, or any
where, except at the Inns of Court at Westminster, a school for
the training of lawyers had been attempted. No Professorships
of Law had been introduced into American Colleges ; nor was the
Law treated as a liberal science.

Before this, the law student served a short clerkship in an at-
torney's office, — studied some forms and little substance, and had
within his reach but few volumes beyond Coke's & Wood's Insti-
tutes, Blackstone's Commentaries, Bacon's Abridgment, and Jacob's
Law Dictionary, and, when admitted to the Bar, was better instruct-
ed in pleas in abatement, than in the weightier matters of the Law.
Before this, too, the Common Law, as a system, was imperfectly
understood here and in our sister States. Few lawyers had master-
ed it. The reputation of this institution soon became as extensive
as the country, and young men from Maine to Georgia sought to
finish their law studies here.

Judge Reeve conducted this school alone, from its commence-
ment until 1798, when, having been appointed to the Bench of the
Superior Court, he associated with him, as an instructor, James
Gould, Esq. These gentlemen conducted the school together for
several years, until the advanced age of Judge Reeve admonished
him to retire ; after which, Judge Gould continued the school alone
until a few years before his death. It may be said of Judge Reeve,
that he first gave the Law a place among liberal studies in this
country, — that "he found it a skeleton, and clothed it with life,
color, and complexion." This school gave a new impulse to legal

church's centennial address 25

learning and it was felt in the Jurisprudence as well as in the
Legislation of all the States.

A new subject of study, not known in any other country, had
been presented to the legal student here,— the Constitution of the
United States and the Legislation of Congress. Uniformity of in-
terpretation was indispensable.

At this institution students from every State drank from the
same fountain, were taught the same principles of the Common
and Constitutional Law ; and these principles, with the same modes
of legal thinking and feeling and of administration were dissemin-
ated throughout the entire country. More than one thousand
lawyers of the United States were educated here, and many of
them afterwards among the most eminent Jurists and Legislators.
Even after Judge Gould's connection with the school, an inspection
of the catalogue will show, that from it have gone out among the
States df this Union, a Vice President Of the United States, two
Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, forty Judges
of the highest State Courts, thirteen Senators, and forty-six Repre-
sentatives in Congress, besides several Cabinet and Foreign Min-
isters.

I have said that this school gave a new impulse to legal learn-
ing in this country. Soon after its establishment, and not before,
reports of judicial decisions appeared. Ephraim Kirby, Esq an
able lawyer of this village, published the first volume of Reports
of Adjudged Cases, in this country, — a volume which deserved
and received the approbation of the profession here and elsewhere.
This was soon followed by Reports in Massachusetts and New York.

Standing at this point of time, and looking back over the events
of an hundred years, we would recall, not only the scenes which
have transpired, but revive our recollections of the men who have
acted in them. Memory cannot raise the dead to life again; yet
it may bring back something of their presence, — shaded and dim,
but almost real ; — and through the records of their times we may
hear them speak again. To some of these I have made allusion. T
would speak of others.

The allusion to the Law School of the County suggests to me
a brief notice, also, of the legal profession here, and of its most
distinguished members, as well as a further allusion to others of
the sons of Litchfield County, distinguished in other professions
and employments of life. In speaking of these I must confine
myself, to the memorv of the dead. And here. I feel that I am
under a restraint, which, on any other occasion. I would resist. I
feel this chain which binds me the more as I look around on this
gathering and see some here, and am reminded of others — so many,
who have contributed by splendid talents and moral worth, to make
our name a praise in the land. As the representative of the County,
I would most gladlv do them livin? homage before you all. I re-
gret that I have had so brief an opportunity to make this notice

26 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

as perfect as it should be,— a favorite theme, if I could but do it
justice.

I have not been able to learn much of the Lawyers who practiced
in this territory before the organization of the County in 1751.
Samuel Pettibone, Esq., of Goshen, and Reynold Marvin, Esq., of
Litchfield, (a native of Lyme^) are all of whom I can speak.

Mr. Pettibone lived to a great age and died in reduced circum-
stances, in 1787. Mr. Marvin was respectable in his profession,
and was King's Attorney at the time of the Revolution. His resi-
dence was at the dwelHng of Dr. William Buel, in this village.

Among the Lawyers of the new County who appeared in its
Courts, were Mr. Thatcher, of New Milford, Hezekiah Thompson
and Edward Htnman, of Woodbury, Mr. Humphrey, of Norfolk,
John Canfield, of Sharon, Andrew Adams, of Litchfield, Mr. Catlin,
of Harwinton, and Joshua Whitney, of Canaan. Of these, Messrs.
Canfield and Adams became distinguished at the Bar and in public
life. Mr. Canfield was the son of Samuel Canfield, of New Mil-
ford, one of the Associate Judges of the County. He was appoint-
ed a member of Congress under the Confederation, but died before
he took his seat. We can appreciate his character when informed
that he was the chosen colleague of Johnson, Ellsworth, and Ti^um-
buU. Mr. Adams succeeded Mr. Marvin as State's Attorney. He
was esteemed an eloquent advocate, and his reputation at the Bar
was distinguished. He was well versed in theological studies, and
in the absence of his minister, often officiated in the pulpit. He
was a member of the Continental Congress, and after the Revolu-
tion, became an Associate, and then Chief Justice of the Superior
Court.

Before the Revolution there were but. few eminent lawyers in
the County, and professional gentlemen from abroad attended our
courts and were employed in the most important causes. Among
these were Thomas Seymour, Esq., of Hartford, and Hon. Samuel
W. Johnson, of Stratford, then standing at the head of the Con-
necticut Bar. A colonial condition was, as it ever will be, im-
favorable to the development of forensic talent.

The change in the state of this Bar, after the War, and especi-
ally after the settlement of the government, was sudden and great;
and, within a few years after this event, no County in the State
and but few in other States, could boast of a Bar more distinguished
for legal talent and high profession and moral excellence, than this.
Reeve, Tracy, Allen, Kirby, Strong of Salisbury, Smith of Wood-
bury. Smith and Canfield, of Sharon, are names which revive proud
recollections among the old men of the County. And while these
gentlemen stood before our courts there ca,me to their company a
youneer band, destined, with them, to perpetuate the high stand-
ing of the profession here ; — Gould. Sterling, of Salisbury ; Benedict,
Ruggles, Boardman, Smith, of Litchfield; Slosson, Southmayd,

CHURCH S CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 2.-J

Swan, Pettibone, and afterward, Miner, Williams, Bacon, and
others.

Tapping Reeve was a native of Long Island, and a distinguished
gradute of Nassau Hall, New Jersey, and a tutor in that college.
He commenced practice here in 1783, and was one of the most
learned lawyers of the day in which he lived. He loved the law
as a science, and studied it philosophically. He considered it as
the practical application of religious principle to the business afifairs
of life. He wished to reduce it to a certain, symmetrical system
of moral truth. He did not trust to the inspiration of genius for
eminence, but to the results of profound and constant study, and
was never allured by political ambition. I seem, even now, to see
his calm and placid countenance shining through his abundant
locks, as he sat, ppring over his notes in the lecture room, and to
hear his shrill whisper, as he stood when giving his charge to the
jury. He was elevated to the Bench of the Superior Court in 1798,
and to the office of Chief Justice in 1804, and retired from public
life at the age of seventy years and died in 1827. He published a
valuable treatise on Domestic Relations, and another on the Law
of Descents.

Gen. Uriah Tracy was a native of Norwich, and one of the
first of the pupils of Judge Reeve. As a jury advocate he obtained
a high distinction. ' His wit was pungent and his powers of oratory
uncommon. He was a politician, often a member of our own Legis-
lature ; for several years a member of Congress, and he died in 1807,
while a member of the Senate of the United States, in which body
he was eminently distinguished.

Col. Adonijah Strong, the father of the late Hon. Martin
Strong, was unique in genius and manner, of large professional
business, sound practical sense, and many anecdotes of his say-
ings and doings are still remembered and repeated in the County.

Hon. Nathaniel Smith, of Woodbury, a native of Washington,
commenced life under discouraging circumstances. He had neither
fortune nor the prospect of any, nor early education, to stimulate
him. Like many other New England boys, he fought his way to
eminence ; and eminent he was ; and I cannot tell by what process
he became so. He, too, was one of the early members of the Law
School here. He was not a man of many books. He seemed to
understand the law, as did Mansfield and Marshall, by intuition,
and to have acquired the power of language by insoiration. His was
a native eloquence yet chaste, and "when unadorned, adorned the
most," I think he was one of the most orofound lawyers and judges
of this country. He was a member of the Council a member of
Congress, and was elevated to the Bench of the Superior Court in
1806..

Hon. Xathan Smith was a younger brother of Nathaniel Smith, ,
and though born and reared in this County, his professional and

c8 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR.

public life was passed in New Haven County, but he often appeared
at this Bar. He was less profound than his brother, more ardent,
and perhaps more effective as a jury lawyer. He died, while a
Senator in Congress, in 1835.

Hon. John Allen was a native of Massachusetts and instructed
by Mr. Reeve, and for several years held a commanding position
at this Bar.

Hon. John Cotton Smith, of Sharon, was the son of Rev. Cotton
Mather Smith, of that town. A graduate of Yale College and of
the Litchfield Law School, he soon took a prominent place by the
side of Tracy and Nathaniel Smith at the Bar of the County. He
was known as a fluent speaker, and of easy and graceful address;
he became a popular advocate. For several sessions of the Legis-
lature of the State he was speaker of the House of Representatives.
In Congress he sustained an enviable reputation as a presiding offi-
cer. Upon retiring from Congress he was soon placed upon the
Bench of the Superior Court, from which he was promoted to the
office of Governor of the "State. From this he retired, and from
public life, in 1817. The remainder of his life was spent in doing
good, either as President of the American Bible Society, or in dis-
charging the duties of a virtuous citizen in his native town, until
his death in 1845.

Hon. James Gould was a native of Branford, a graduate and
a tutor of Yale College. He pursued his professional studies with
Judge Reeve, and, soon after coming to the Bar of this County,
he became associated with him as an instructor of the Law School.
Judge Gould was a critical scholar, and alwavs read with his pen
in his hand, whether Law book or books of fiction or fancy, for
which he indulged a passion. In the more abstruse subjects of the
law, he was more learned than Judge Reeve, and, as a lecturer, more
lucid and methodical. The Common Law he had searched to the
bottom, and he knew it all — its principles, and the reasons from
which they were drawn. As an advocate, he was not a man of
impassioned eloquence, but clear and logical, employing language
elegant and chaste. He indulged in no wit, and seldom excited a
laugh, but was very sure to carry a listener along with him to his
conclusions. With his brethren, his intercourse was always courte-
ous, and with his younger ones, kind and afifectionate. He never
gave offense. In his arguments, he resorted to no artifice, but met
the difficulties in his way fully in the face, and if he could not over-
come them he yielded without irritation. He was appointed an
Associate Judge of the Superior Court in 1816, and retired from the
Bench to private life soon after. Judge Gould published an able
treatise on the Law of Pleading, in which he was governed by the
truth of Lord Coke's saying, "he knoweth not the law. who
knoweth not the reason thereof." His volume has received flat-
tering aoproval from the most learned Jurists in this countrv and
England. Judge Gould died in 1838.

^ 'vv 'ftm'n \-v

Joiix CoTTox Smith.
From Crayon Sketch, 1800.

CHURCH S CENTEXXIAL ADDRESS 29

Noah B. Benedict was the son of Rev. Noah Benedict, of
Woodbury, a gentleman of no precocity of intellect or genius, and
his first appearance at the Bar did not promise the eminence which
he afterwards acquired. He studied, and the Law was the chief
subject of his study. He aspired to no higher place than distinc-
tion in his profession. He engaged in none of the ordinary busi-
ness transactions of society, and, as he once told me, he never gave
a promissory note in his life. With such an undivided attention
to his professional calHng, it was not strange that he should reach
a high place at the Bar. And he did reach it, and, at the time of
his death, no man here stood before him. His example should be
a choice model for young lawyers.

Gen. Elisha Sterling, of Salisbury, was a native of Lyme. No
one in our profession was more assiduous in its practice than this
gentleman. His causes were never neglected in their prepara-
tion. The controlling points of every case he discovered quick,
and pressed both, in preparation and argument, with zeal. He
neglected the study of method and system in his arguments, but,
when concluded, nothing had been omitted.

Passing by, on this hurried occasion, a more particular notice
of the galaxy of Lawyers, to whom I have alluded, I may be in-
dulged in paving an affectionate tribute to one or two, whose familiar
voices still .seem sounding in our Court House.

Hon. Tabez W. Huntington earned his high orofessional char-
acter here, where he commenced and continued his practice for
several vears. He engaged in public life, and returned to his na-
tive town of Norwich. He was elected to Congress ; afterwards
he was elevated to the Bench of the Superior Court, which olace
he retnined until he was appointed a Senator in Congress, in which
positi-^n he died in 1847. Having been associated with Judge
Huntington at the Bar and on the Bench, I can bear true testimony
to his superior abilities- in both places.

Of my late brother, Leman Church Esq., the proorieties of my
connection will not permit me to speak. The deep sensation pro-
duced at this Bar, and the grief which tore the hearts of his num-
erous friends, when he died, is the only eulogy upon his life and
character to which I may refer.

I had a young friend, uoon^ whose opening prospects I looked
with anxiety and hope. He was of generous heart and liberal
hand and stimulated by an honorable ambition, which seemed
nearlv at the point of eratification. when death came for its vic-
tim. This friend was Francis Bacon. Esq.. who died in 1849. at
the age of .^o years.

Hon. Oliver Wolcott, the younger, late Governor of this State,
was also a member of this Bar, and though he engaged in oublic
life soon after his admission, we are entitled to retain his name
on our catalogue. I shall not speak now of his life and erninent
services. They make a prominent part of the country's history,

30 LlTCHFlfiLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

and have been, within a few years, faithfully written by his near
relative. He died in 1833, and I regret to say that his remains
lie in our grave-yard, without a monument to mark his resting
place. His bust has been presented, on this occasion, to the Bar
of this County.

I make the same claim to retain among the names of our de-
parted brethren, that of Hon. Frederick Wolcott, a son of the
elder Gov. Wolcott, of this village. He became a member of this
Bar in early life, and with high prospects of professional distinc-
tion; but he accepted the proffered office of Clerk of the Courts
and Judge of Probate for this district, in 1793, and soon relinquish-
ed professional duties. For several years he was a prominent mem-
ber of the Council, under the Charter administration. An intimate
connexion with this gentleman, both public and private, justifies
the high opinion I have ever entertained of his purity of life and
character, his public spirit, and his frank and open bearing. I never
pass by the venerable mansion of the Wolcott family, in my daily
walks about this village, without recalling the stately form and
ever honorable deportment of Frederick Wolcott. The duties of
his official stations were discharged with the entire approbation of
the community for many years, and until a short time before his
death, and amidst the conflicts and overturnings in the political
revolutions of the times.

Roger and Richard Skinner, were sons of Gen. Timothy Skin-
ner of this town, and members of this bar. Roger commenced
business in this village, and gave assurance, by his early talents,
of his future standing; but he was here in the most bitter state of
Connecticut politics, and, as he believed, was compelled to escape
from unmerited opposition. He removed to the State of New
York ; soon attained a deserved eminence in his profession and
was appointed a Judge of the United States Court, in the North-
ern District of that State. Richard Skinner removed to Ver-
mont and afterwards became an eminent Judge of the Superior
Court, and ultimately Governor of that State.

In the clerical profession, I have remarked before, that there
was early manifested a disposition rather to be good than great.
The clergy of this County were nearly all educated men ; and many
of them rioe scholars and profound divines, and if there were not
as manv here as in some other regions, whose names have been
transmitted to us as among the great ones of New England, it has
been because the severer calls of parochial duty, and stinted means,
and Christian graces, restrained their aspirations after fame. Di-
vinity has furnished the most comr^on theme and employed the most
pens. We are all theolgians in New England.

Rev. Joseph Bellamy, D. D.. of Bethlem, was probably the
first and most eminent of our writers on this subject. He was
eloquent and impressive as a preacher, as well as learned and pro-
found as a scholar and writer. He published several theological

church's cen'Tijnnial address 31

works upon practical and controversial subjects, besides occasional
sermons, which are found in the libraries of Divines, and have
been held in high repute, not only among the disciples of his own
peculiar opinions, but among others, as well in Europe as in this
country; and a modern edition of them has been recently pub-
lished. Dr. Bellamy was the grandfather of the late Joseph H.
Bellamy, Esq., of Bethlem, a gentleman of great moral and pro-
fessional worth.

Rev. Jna. Edwards was a pupil of Dr. Bellamy in his theolog-
ical studies, and, although not a native of this County, he resided
among us for several years, as the first settled minister of Cole-
brook, and until he was called to the presidency of Union Col-
lege, in 1799. He was the author of several volumes of great
merit; and among them, a treatise upon the salvation of all men,
in reply to Dr. Chauncey ; also, a dissertation on the liberty of
the will in reply to West, and observations on the language of the
Stockbridge Indians.

Rev. Chauncey Lee, D. D., who succeeded Dr. Edwards, as
minister in Colebrook, was a' native of Salisbury, and a son of
Rev. Jonathan Lee, of that town. He was educated for the bar,
and commenced nractice in his native town. This he soon relin-
quished for the clerical calling. Very early he published a Deci-
mal Arithmetic and afterwards a volume of Sermons on various
subjects. But his most elaborate work, and the one most
esteemed by himself, was a poem, entitled "The Trial of Virtue,"
being a paraphrase of the book of Job. Dr. Lee was a gentle-
man of some eccentricities, but a very learned divine and impres-
sive preacher.

Rev. Samuel J. Mills, a native of Torrington, and son of the
venerable pastor of one of the societies there, is entitled to a more
extended notice than I am prepared on this occasion to repeat.
Xot because he was the author of books, but the author and
originator of liberal and extensive benevolent effort. The noble
cause of Foreign Missions in this country, is deeply indebted to
him as one of its most zealous and active projectors and friends.
Another of the most splendid charities of any age or country —
the Colonization Society, — owes its existence to the efforts of this
g°ntleman ; and his name will be cherished by the philanthropists
of the world, along with those of Howard and Wilberforce.

Rev. Horace Holley. D. D.. of Salisbury, was son of Mr.
Luther HoHev. and one of a highly distinofuished and worthy
family of brothers. Dr. Holley was first ordined pastor of a
Church and Society at Greenfield, in Eairfield County, and was
one of the successors of the late Dr. Dwight,^ in that parish. He
subsequently removed to Boston, and became one of the most
eloquent puloit orators among the eminent divines of that metrop-
olis. He afterwards became President of Transylvania _ Univer-
sity in Kentucky, and died, while yet a young man on ship-board.

32 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

when on his return from New Orleans to New England. I am not
informed that he left any published works behind him, except
sermons delivered on special occasions. He was my class-mate
in College^ and I knew him well.

The Rev. Dr. Backus of Bethlem, Rev. Mr. Hooker of Goshen,
and Rev. Dr. Porter of Washington, are remembered as among
the most learned Divines of the County.

Of the Medical Profession and the Medical Professors here,
my opportunities of information have not been extensive. And
yet I have known enough of them to persuade me that a more
learned and useful faculty, has not been found elsewhere in the
State. Empiricism has always existed, and will exist ; and the
credulity of some good men will give it countenance. We depend
upon a learned medical influence, more than any thing else, to
save us from its death-dealing results.

As early as January, 1767, a Medical association was formed
in thi^ County, composed of the most eminent physicians then in
practice here. Its object was to eSitablish rules of practice and
intercourse ; — promote medical science by providing for annual
consultations and dissertations, and to protect the reputation of
the profession and the health of the community, from the inroads
of ignorant pretenders to medical science. Among the names of
the gentlemen composing this body, I see those of Joshua Porter,
Lemuel Wheeler, Joseph Perry, Seth Bird, William Abernethy,
Samuel Catlin, Simeon Smith, Cyrus Marsh. Ephraim Gitteaii,
John Calhoun, &c. One of the earliest physicians of the Countv
was Oliver Wolcott. He was the son of Hon. Roger Wolcott.
of Windsor, a former Governor of the Colony. He had served
as an officer in the French war, and settled himself in Goshen
before the organization of the County, in the practice of his pro-
fession. Whether he continued in practice as a physician after
his removal to this town is not known; probably, however, his
official duties as Sheriff prevented it. He was subsequently
honored with almost every official place which a good man would
covet. — he was a member of the House of Representatives, of the
Council, a Judge of Probate, a Judge of the Countv Court, a
Reoresentative in Congress, a signer pf the Declaration of Tn-
dcDendence. Lieutenant Governor, and Governor of his native
State, and more than all, the father of an excellent family. He
IS said to have been a man of uncommon diffidence, and dis-
trustful of his own ability. His nublic communications displav
sound judgment, and his more confidential correspondence a
warm affection and a pure purpose.

Dr. Seth Bird, of Litchfield, probably held the first place
among the early physicians of the County. His reputation was
wide-spread. For acuteness of discrimination and soundness of
judgment he was not excelled.

CHURCH S CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 33

Dr. Joseph Perry, of Woodbury, was not only eminent in his
profession, but, what was unusual in his day, he excelled as a
belles-lettre scholar and was a gentleman well read in various
branches of science. Later generations produced their eminent
and accomplished physicians. Dr. Nathaniel Perry, son of the
gentleman jvist named ; Dr. Daniel Sheldon, of this town ; Drs.
Fowler of Washington, Rockwell of Sharon, Welch of Norfolk
Ticknor of Salisbury.

Dr. Samuel Woodward, of Torrington, was not only a physi-
cian of high repute himself, but he was almost literally a father
of the faculty. Dr. Samuel B. Woodword, late of Worcester,
^Massachusetts, Dr. Henry Woodward, late of Middletown, and
Dr. Charles Woodward, of the same place, were his sons, — ^born
and educated in this County. Few men in any community have
attained a more eminent and useful position than Dr. Samuel B.
Woodward. Under his superintendance the Insane Hosoital, at
Worcester, was established and for many years conducted and
now sustains a reoutation equal with any of the noble charities
of this country. The Annual Reports of Dr. Woodward and his
other professional writings, and the success of his efforts in the
cause of humanity, have earned for him a reputation which will
long survive.

Among the Surgeons of note, in earlier times, was Dr. Samuel
Catlin, of Litchfield, and at a later period. Dr. Samuel R. Gager,
of Sharon.

The medical profession in this County has produced some
writers of respectability. Dr. Elisha North was for several years
a physician of extensive practice in Goshen, and he afterwards
removed to New London. He published an approved treatise on
spotted fever, which extensively prevailed in Goshen and its vicin-
ity, while he resided there.

Dr. Caleb Ticknor of Salisbury, was brother of the late ex-
cellent Dr. Luther Ticknor, of that town, and of Dr. Benajah
Ticknor, for many years a surgeon in the navy of the United
States; and although a young man when he removed to New
York City, about the year 1832, he rose rapidly to a high place
in his profession. He published several medical works, the most
ponular of which was, the Philosoohv of Livmg, which consti-
tutes one of the volumes of Harpers' Family Library.

The Chipman family, a numerous brotherhood., removed from
Salisbury to Vermont immediately after the Revolutionary War;
it produced eminent men. Nathaniel was an officer of the Rev-
olution. He became Chief Justice of Vermont, and_ a Senator
in Congress. He published a small volume of Judicial K^'^orts
and a larger treatise upon the Principles of Government. Daniel
Chioman. a vounger brother of this gentleman, was a very prom-
inent member of the Vermont Bar. He was the author of a very

34 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

creditable essay "On the Law of Contracts" ; and besides a vol-
ume of Law Reports, he published the life of his brother Nathaniel,
and also the life of Gov. Thomas Chittenden.

Hon. Ambrose Spencer, late Chief Justice of the State of
New York, was born in Salisbury, the son of PhiHp Spencer,
Esq, He was prepared for his collegiate course under the in-
struction of Rev. Daniel Farrand, of Canaan ; studied the law, I
believe, with Hon. John Canfield, of Sharon, whose daughter he
married.

Hon. Josiah S. Johnston, late an eminent member of the Sen-
ate of the United States, from Louisania, was a native of the same
town. He was the son of Dr. John Johnston, who removed
early to Kentucky. His academical studies were pursued here.

Samuel Moore, of Salisbury, was a profound mathmatician
and engaged much in the instruction of young men in what was
called the surveyor's art. He published a treatise on surveying,
with a table of logarithms. It- was the earliest work on that
branch of mathematical science published in this country. It
Introduced the method of computing contents by calculation en-
tirely, without measuring triangles by scale and dividers. It
was a valuable treatise, but was nearly superseded by a more
finished one by Rev. Abel Flint, in which he borrowed much from
Moore.

Ethan Allen is deserving of notice only for his revolutionary
services, which are matters of public history. He published a
narrative of his cantivity as a prisoner of war, and a volume of
Infield Theology. He was a native of this county ; the town of
his nativity has been a matter of dispute, but is not a question
worth solving.

We have had Poets, too, besides such as I have mentioned,
who deserve a remembrance on this occasion.

Hon. John Trumbull, late one of the Judges of the Superior
Court of the State, was born in Watertown, in this County, in
which his father was a minister. The Progress of Dulness, and
McFingal, the most admired of his Poems, were written in early
life. The\- are satyrical oroductions, and for genuine wit have
not been excelled by any modern effort. Judge Trumbull's ac-
tive life was passed chiefly in Hartford.

William Ray was a Salisbury man, born in 1771, and while a
lad developed a taste for Doetry. but earlv destitution and mis-
fortunes pressed upon him drove him into the Navy of the United
States. He was for some time a caotive in Tripoli, and in 1808
he published the Horrors of Slavery, and in i8?i a volume of
Poems.

Ebenezer P. Mason was a native of Washington. Very few
men gave more early promise of ' literary and scientific distinc-
tion than young Mason. His life and writings were published
in 1842, by Professor Olmsted, of Yale College

f-^4.

fj^

*, i i 'is '""^ «^»

^ .1 M A^. ■

CHURCH S CBNTIINNIAI, ADDRESS 35

Washington has been a nursery of eminent men, of whom I
cannot now speak without violating my purpose of speaking of the
dead, and not of the living.

Mrs. Laura M. Thurston, of Norfolk, permitted to be pub-
lished by her friends, several poetical pieces of uncommon sweet-
ness and excellence, — the Paths of Life, the Green Hills of my
Father Land, and others.

There are but few occasions, and these extreme ones, which
call out the qualifications for military life.

Gen. Peter B. Porter was the youngest son of Col. Joshua
Porter, of Salisbury, of whom I have spoken before. He was
a graduate of Yale College and pursued the study of the law
where so many of the noted men of the country have — at the
Litchfield Law School. He was among the early emigrtants
from this County to the Gensee country. He was soon called
to occupy places of trust and power in the State of his adoption.
He was a member of Congress when the project of the Erie Can-
al was first suggested, and was one who, with De Witt Clinton,
originated that important national work, and is entitled to equal
honor with him for its projection. He urged it, when in Con-
:gress, as a national work, in a speech of great strength, and asked
for the aid of the nation. As a member of the House of Repre-
sentatives, he was associated with Henry Clay on a Committee to
consider the causes of complaint against Great Britain, and drew
up the report of that Committee, recommending the declaration
of the war of 1812. He thus early ardently espoused the cause
of his country, and stood by the side of Tompkins and other
patriots, in their efforts to prosecute that war to an honorable
result.

He was then a civilian only ; but, impatient and mortified at
the ill success of our arms upon the northern frontier — his own
house pieced by the enemy's shot, on the banks of the Niagara
River — he threw off the civil and assumed the military attitude.
He raised a regiment of ardent volunteer troops, and at their
head, soon contributed to turn the tide of success. His services
at Fort Erie and the battles at the Falls, have been repeatedly
told by the writers of the country's history. I will not repeat
them. So highly were they esteemed by the general Government
' ' • and the State, that thanks and medals were presented, and before
the close of the war he was offered the chief command of the
army, bv the President. Under the administration of the younger
Adams he was ofifered, and accepted, the place of Secretary of
War.

Mv time confines me to the notice of the most conspicuous of
our sons, native and adopted; but there were others, in every
town, perhaps of equal merit but with fewer opportunities of
display. The list of our members of Assembly, and of men by
whose efforts the foundations of society were laid here, and by

30 LITCHFIIiLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

whom this County has been brought from a repulsive region of
mountains and rocks to its present condition of fertility and wealth,
would show an aggregate of moral and intellectual worth which
no region, equal in extent, has surpassed.

And by whom were all these eminent and excellent men reared
and prepared for the stations which they have occupied in society?
By fathers, whose own hands have toiled — by mothers, who were
the spinsters of the days in which they lived, and who knew and
practised the duties of the kitchen as well as the parlor, and to
whom the music of the spinning-wheel and the loom was more
necessary than that of the piano ahd the harpsichord.

The spirit of strict economy has marked our progress from the
beginning, and by no other could our fathers have left to us this
heritage of good ! Removed from the profusion, and from what
is esteemed the higher liberality of city habits, our County has not
fallen behind other kindred communities in encouraging the benev-
olent operations of these latter days.

A Missionary Society, auxiliary to the Board of Commissioners-
of Foreign Missions, was established in this County, in the year
1813, and has been in active operation since. This noble charity,
since its organization, has received and paid over, as near as I can
ascertain, the sum of about $125,000. The benevolent offerings
of other denominations — the Episcopalians, Methodists, and Bap-
tists, to the purposes of their respective religious operations, I have
no present means of knowing; that they have been equally liberal
in proportion to their means, with their Congregational brethren,
I have no reason to doubt.

In the year 1817, the Foreign Mission School was established
in Cornwall, with the special object of spreading Christian truth
and the means of civilization among the heathen.. The origin of this
effort, if not accidental, was gradual in its conception and develop-
ment. Two young natives of the Sandwich Islands were, by the
directing, and almost visible hand of Providence, thrown among us
and fell under the notice of Mr. Elias Cornelius, in 1815, then a
student in Yale College, and since distinguished as a Divine and
Philanthropist. The names of these young heathen, as known
among us, -^vere Henry Obookaih and William Tenoe. These young
men were carefully instructed by Mr. Cornelius, Samuel J. Mills, and
Edwin Dwight, with a chief object of preparing them to become
Christian Missionaries among their countrymen. They were soon
after placed under the care of Rev. Joel Harvey, then a Congrega-
tional minister in Goshen ; at bis suggestion, the North Consociation
of Litchfield County, became their patrons. They were, not long
after, joined by Thomas Hopoo, their countryman, and all were
placed under proper instruction for the great object designed. But
a more liberal and enlarged project was conceived; a Seminarv in
a Christian land, for the instruction of the heathen joined with the
purpose of . preparing young men here for missionary service in

church's centennial address 37

heathen lands. It was a splendid thought, and the American Board
attempted its consummation.

Rev. Timothy Dwight, Hon. John Treadwell, James Morris,
Esq., Rev. Drs. Beecher and Chapin, with Messrs. Harvey and
Prentice, were authorized to devise and put in operation such a
Seminary, and the result was, the Foreign Mission School at Corn-
wall. Young natives of the Sandwich Islands, and from China,
Australasia, and from the Indian nations on this Continent, as well
as American youths, were instructed there. The school continued
successfully until 1827. The establishment of the Sandwich Island
Mission, was one of the important results of this school.

Many \ears before the modern movement in a temperance re-
formation was suggested, such a project was conceived in this town
and encouraged by the most prominent men here. A Temperance
Pledge was signed in May, 1789, repudiating the use of distilled
liquors, by 36 gentlemen ; and among the names annexed to it, were
those of Julius Deming, Benjamin Tallmadge, Uriah Tracy, Eph-
raim Kirby, Moses Seymour, Daniel Sheldon, Tapping Reeve,
Frederick Wolcott, and John Welch — names well known and well
remembered here. I believe the first temperance association of
modern date, in the County, was formed among the iron operatives
at Mount Riga, in Salisbury. The results of this grand effort
have been as successful here as elsewhere. If any special cause has
operated to retard the final success of this charity, it has been the
strangling, death-ensuing embrace of party politicians — the scathing
curse of many a good thing. As long ago as 1816, there were dis-
tilleries in every town in the County ; and in New Milford, as many
as 26, and in the whole County, i^ ! and, besides these, there were
188 retailers of spirits, who paid licenses under the excise laws of
the United States, to the amount of $3,760. Whether there be a
distillery in the County now, I am not informed ; I believe but very
few.

I have not attempted to trace the modifications of society here
— its progressive changes in modes of opinion and consequent action.
It would lead me too far from my object, which has been only to
speak of events, and the men who have been engaged in them.

Before the Revolution there was little to excite. There was a
common routine of thinking, which had been followed for years--
somewhat disturljed, to be sure, by what were called "neiv lights '
in religion. But the results of our emancipation from the mother
country turned everything into a different channel, opmions and
all. A new impulse broke in upon the general stagnation of mind
which had been, and made every body speculators in morals, religi6n,
politics, and everv thing else. My own memory runs back to ^a
dividing point of time, when I could see something of the old world
and new. Infidel opinions came in like a flood. Mr. Paine s Age
of Reason," the works of Voltaire, and other Deistical books, were
broad cast, and young men suddenly became, as the>' thought, wiser

38 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

than their fathers; and even men in high places, among us here,
were suspected of infidel opinions. At the sanie time came the
ardent preachers of Mr. Wesley's divinity, who were engaged in
doing battle with Infidelity on the one hand, and Calvinistic theology
on the other. Here were antagonistic forces and influences, which
introduced essential changes, and both have been operating ever
since, And it would afford an interesting subject of investigation,
to trace these influences to their results. The Methodist preachers
first visited this County about the year 1787, and organized their
first classes in Salisbury and Canaan. This was their first appear-
ance in the State, and, I believe, in New England. In this County
they were received with courtesy, and found many to encourage
them among those who did not well understand the old divinity.

I might detain you in speaking of the prevalence and effects of
party spirit here ; but as this, as well as denominational controversy,
is unpleasant to me, I forbear. There was a time, about the year
1806, when the spirit was rife here, and led to prosecutions, fines
and imprisonment, and a disturbance of social relations, which has
never since re-appeared to the same extent.

I need not say any thing of the present condition of the County.
This you see and know. Its Railroads, penetrating regions not long
since supposed to be impenetrable; villiages rising up in the deep
valleys, whose foundations have been hidden for nearly a century;
and fertility and thrift, where a few years ago were uncultivated
forests and wasting water-falls.

Of what shall we complain? Is it that we do not, all of us,
make haste to be rich ? Ah ! is it so, my brethren ? Is there noth-
ing but wealth which can satisfy a rational mind and an immortal
spirit ?

Of the future we may indulge proud hopes, while we doubt and
fear. Progress is the word of modern theorists, but of doubtful
import. Innovation is not always progress towards useful results.
Of this we, who are old, believe we have seen too much, within a
few years, and fear much more to come. Our County is but a
small part of a State and Nation, and so our fate stands not alone.
We can but look to our political institutions as our ultimate pro-
tectors, and I urge upon you all, my brethren, their unwavering
support. Our Constitution requires no innovating process to im-
prove it. It demands of us more than a mere political respect and
preference — almost a religious reverence. Love for it, in all its
parts, in every word and sentence which compose it, should be
interwoven into all our notions of thinking, speaking and acting.
Disturb but one stone in this great arch — but one compromise in
this holy covenant — and the whole must tumble into ruin !

^atlg Iitgljt0

SKETCHES

OF THE

EARLY LIGHTS

OF THE

LITCHFIELD BAR

BY

HON. DAVID S. BOARDMAN

1860

boapdman's sketches 41

PATRIDGE THATCHER.

Patndge Thatcher was the first man who practiced the legal pro-
fession in New Milford. He was not educated to the profession, but
took up the trade, because there were none of the craft hereabout,
when this county was organized, which was after he came to middle
age. He was a native, I have been told, of Lebanon in this state, and
came to New Milford, I know not how long ago. He was, how-
ever, a married man at the time. He had no children ; but a large
number of negroes, whom he treated with kindness enough to put
to shame the reproaches of all the abolitionists in New England.
He was a man of strong mind, of rigid morality, and religious to the
letter according to the strictest sect of orthodox episcopacy. He
adored Charles I. as a martyr and he hated Oliver Cromwell worse
than he did the evil one. Loyalty, unconditional loyalty, was the
prime element of his political creed. Of course, his name was not
found in any list of the wicked Whigs of the Revolution, and had he
lived in these days, he would most thoroughly have eschewed democ-
racy and abolitionism. On the breaking out of the Revolutionary
war, his loyalty necessarily silenced his voice in court, and he died
soon after its conclusion. Lawyer Thatcher, as he was always
called, was undoubtedly, a very odd, a very honest and a very good
man. I wish there were many such men now, both on account of
the good example they would set, and the harmless, amusement they
would afford.

DANIEL EVERITT.

Daniel Everitt was a native of Bethlem and settled in New Mil-
ford as a lawyer, some time during the early part of the Revolu-
tionary war, probably as early as '76 or 'y/, possibly earlier, as from
a record I have access to I see he was married to a daughter of the
Rev. Nathaniel Taylor on the first of January, 1778, and I remember
that he lived here some time before that event. He had not a colle-
giate education, but was a man of good education and received an
honorar}' degree. He read law with Judge Adams of Litchfield, and
I remember to have heard him say, that he occasionaly officiated in
Mr. Adams' place as state's attorney, when he, (Adams) was absent
in Congress, which he often was, during the war of the Revolution.
Mr. Everitt was a man of much wit, boundless extravagance of ex-
pression, quick conception, and in command of language and fluency
of utterance, unsurpassed, but not a man of much depth of mind nor
had he much legal learning: his library extended little beyond
Blackstone' and Jacobs' Law Dictionary. He had, I believe, a very
good run of practice, when the Court really opened to do civil busi-
ness, after the conclusion of the war. His success in this respect
was, however, of rather short duration; a number of younger law-

42 , LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

yers having about that time commenced practice here, and other cir-
cumstances conspired to carry business away from him, and he never
recovered it. While studying law I heard him argue a case or two,
keeping the Court house in a roar by his wit and sarcasm, but by the
time I was admitted, viz. in '95, he had about given up attending
Courts at Litchfield, though he was not fifty years of age — and indeed
he was, I think, but fifty-seven when he died in 1805. I met him,
however, a few times, before Arbitrators and Justices, and had
enough to do to parry his home thrusts of good natured wit. Before
him I often went, as he tried almost all the Justice cases, which he
always did with entire integrity and usually came to a correct con-
clusion. He represented this town, I think three times in the general
assembly, and as a member of the convention which ratified the Con-
stitution of the United States. He was a man of strict honesty, en-
tire moral rectitude of conduct, and a professor of religion. He was,
however, much given to sociality, and to that conviviality which some
time borders on a kindred indulgence. Mr. Everitt succeeded the
late Col. Samuel Canfield as Judge of Probate in this district in
1790, and held that office till 'his death at the time above mentioned.

TAPPING REEVE.

I saw much of Judge Reeve's practice at the bar for nearly
five years, during which time he was engaged in almost every case of
importance tried in the Superior Court at Litchfield, and never failed
to argue every one in which he was engaged, if argued at all. In the
County Court, after I became acquainted with him, he did not prac-
tice. His school had become numerous, and he gave up his practice
in that Court because (I suppose,) it too much interrupted his course
of daily lectures, and knowing as he did that he should have a part
in every cause expected to be tried in the Superior Court. And, by
the way, trials were then managed and got through with in a reason-
able time, and not suffered to be dragged out to the abominable and
shameful length which they now are, to the disgrace of the Pro-
fession for indulging in it, and of the Courts for permitting it.

I joined Judge Reeve's school in the fall of 1793, and he was not
placed on the bench till the spring of 1796, so that I saw him at the
Bar during nine sessions of the Superior Court, and never failed to
listen to him, if I could avoid it, with unqualified love and admiration
through every speech he made, to its conclusion. I say with love, for
no instructor was ever more generally beloved by his pupils, and in-
deed entirely so except it was by those whose love would have been
a reproach to the object of it. As a reasoner, he had no superior
within the compass of my observation of forensic performances. I
mean true, forcible and honest reasoning. In sophistry, he was too

boardman's sketches 43

honest to indulge, and too discerning to suffer it to escape detection
in the argument of an adversary.

As a speaker he was usually exceedingly ardent, and the ardor
he displayed appeared to be prompted by a conviction of the justice
of the cause he was advocating. His ideas seemed often, and indeed,
usually, to flow in upon him faster than he could give utterance to
them, and sometimes seemed to force him to leave a sentence unfinish-
ed, to begin another, — and in his huddle of ideas, if I may so express
it, he was careless of grammatical accuracy, and though a thorough
scholar, often made bad grammar in public speaking. Careless as
he was of his diction and thoughtless as he was of ornament in ordi-
nary cases, yet some elegant expressions and fine sentences would
seem, as if by accident, to escape him in almost every speech. But in
such cases as afforded the proper field for the display of eloquence,
such as actions of slander, malicious prosecutions, etc., and in that
part of such cases as usually prompt to exertions of the kind, his hur-
ried enunciation and grammatical inaccuracies, all forsook him, and
then he never failed to electrify and astonish his audience. Many of
these used to be recited to me by those who had often heard him and
it fell to my lot to witness one such occasion. In an action for mali-
cious prosecution, in closing the argument, on entering upon the sub-
ject of daniages, he burst forth into such a strain of dignified and
soul-thrilling eloquence, as neither before nor since, has ever met my
ear. The first sentence he uttered thrilled through every nerve of my
entire frame to the very ends of my fingers, and every succeeding
sentence seemed to increase in overwhelming effect. I was perfectly
entranced durjng its delivery, and for an hour afterwards I trembled
so that I could not speak plain. His manner was as much changed
as his language, and to me he looked a foot taller than before. The
next day I went to him and asked him to commit to writing the con-
cluding part of his speech, to which request he said in the simplicity
of his nature, "Why, if I should do that, perhaps I should make it
better than it really was, and that would not be fair." We told him
(Mr. Bacon was with me,) there was no danger of that, for we knew
it could not be bettered. Well, he said he would try, but he did not
know whether he could recall it to memory, for there was not a word
of it written before hand. A day or two after he saw me in Court,
behind his seat, and beckoned me to him and said he had tried to
comply with my request, but it was so gone from him that he could
make nothing of it.

I believe I have said enough in regard to Judge Reeve as an
advocate, and that is the extent of your enquiry. As a Judge, you
are acquainted with his reputation, historically, though you probably
never saw him on the bench, as he left it nearly thirty-nine years ago,
to wit, in May, 1816, to the regret of all admirers of legal learning
and lovers of impartial justice.

As I loved and admired Judge Reeve while living, and mourned
him when dead, I love to think and talk of him now that I have at'

44 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

tained to a greater age than he did, though he reached some eighty-
four years, and I feel tempted to obtrude upon you some such leading
incidents of his life as I am in memory possessed of, and which can-
not be much longer retained.

Judge Reeve was the son of a Presbyterian clergyman and was
born on the south side of Long Island. He was educated at Prince-
ton College, where he graduated in 1763 at seventeen years of age
as I have heard him say. He was immediately appointed tutor of
the grammar school connected with the college, and in that station
and as a tutor in the college itself, he remained seven years. He
then came to Connecticut to study law, which he prosecuted in the
office of Judge Root, then a practicing lawyer in Hartford, and as
soon as he was admitted to the bar he settled in the practice at Litch-
field. This I suppose to have been in 1772. He had previously
married Sally Burr, the eldest child and only daughter of President
Burr of Princeton College, and the sister of the celebrated Aaron
Burr, who was a pupil of Judge Reeve in the grammar school. The
Revolutionary war having commenced within a short time after he
came to the bar, there was but little civil business done in the Courts
until its conclusion, or nearly so. He therefore early betook himself
to giving instruction to young gentlemen who looked forward to the
legal profession for support and advancement in life, when the cir-
cumstances of the country would allow of its exercise. This employ-
ment tended greatly to systematize and improve what stock of legal
science he already had acquired, and aided by his uncommonly fine
talents and native eloquence early secured to him, the deserved rep-
utation of an able lawyer. About the close, I believe, of the Revolu-
tionary war, either through an acquaintance with the late Judge
Sedgwick or otherwise he was introduced to some practice in Berk-
shire County, and in the celebrated crim. con. case of Winchell vs.
Goodrich, gave such a display of his oratorical powers as astonished
the natives, and that, together with the conspicuous part he took with
Judge Sedgwick in the great case of General Ashley's negroes, which
put an end forever to slavery in Massachusetts, he established a rep-
utation which ensured him business there as long as his avocations at
home allowed him to attend to it. This however, I believe, was not
very long. The delicate health of his wife, and his great professional
business at home induced him to forego any business which called
him abroad, and to utterly decline any sort of public appointment
whatsoever, during her life. She died to the deep grief of as devoted
a husband as ever lived, a few months before it became necessary to
fill two vacancies in the Superior Court, occasioned by the death of
Chief Justice Adams and the final extinction of mental capacity in
Judge Huntington — and to one of those vacancies Judge Reeve was
appointed.

I must draw this long letter to a close. It is enough to say,
that no act of Judge Reeve's life ever, in the least degree, lessened
the admiration and respect entertained for his capacity, integrity and

boardman's sketches 45

learning, or even diminished the esteem and affection cherished for
the spotless purity of his moral deportment through a long life, nor
the reverence extorted from all for the deep religious impression
which adorned his old age and perfected his character. He was, I
presume, in youth extremely handsome.

JOHN ALLEN

John Allen was born in Great Barrington, Mass., sometime, I
believe, in 1762, of respectable parents, though not distinguished in
society, as I remember to have heard him say that he was the son of
a joiner. There were but two children in the family, a son and a
daughter, both much distinguished in life for many good qualities,
and especially for dignity of manner and deportment, but the winning
and amiable accomplishments all fell to the lot of the female, gaining
her many admirers and among others, an husband worthy of her, in
that excellent man, Elizur Goodrich of New Haven. Their father
died during the minority of both children. Mr. Allen, having an
excellent common school education, though not a classic education,
became a teacher, and being impelled by a spirit of adventure, some-
what romantic as he was thought in those days, went suddenly, and
without the knowledge of his friends, and while yet a minor, to Ger-
mantown near Philadelphia, where he obtained a place as instructor
of the young classes of an academic establishment of some note at
the time. How long he remained in the above mentioned establish-
ment I do not know, but soon after leaving the place, and I believe
almost immediately, he came to New Milford, and taught a school for
some six months, and from here went immediately into Mr. Reeve's
law school, and after the accustomed period of study was admitted
to the bar, and immediately settled in practice in Litchfield, where
he spent his life. He confined himself almost entirely to the practice
of Litchfield County, though occasionally when called, in consequence
of the eminence to which he soon attained in the profession, he prac-
ticed in other counties, in some cases of importance, and especially in
the Federal Circuit Court, in which, for a few years after the forma-
tion of the present Constitution of the United States, some consider-
able business was done. Mr. Allen, however never went abroad in
quest of business, thinking that the very great share of Attorney busi-
ness which he acquired in being always found in his office, equal,
at least in point of profit, to what counsellor business he might obtain
by attending Courts in other counties, considering that all the coun-
sellor business flowing from the attorney business which he did, he
was sure to be engaged in. From the time I entered the law school
in the fall of 1793, I occupied a room in his office, and had free ac-
cess to his ample library and boarded at the same house with him.
During all that time, and all the remaining years of his prosperous

46 LITCHFIBLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

practice, which indeed lasted till the apparent commencement of his
rapid decline, soon followed by death, he was engaged in almost every
case of any importance in the Superior and County Court. He was
certainly, a very successful and powerful advocate, equally with the
Jury as with the Court, a thoroughly read lawyer, equal in point of
legal science to any one at our bar during the fore part of the time I
am speaking of, except Tapping Reeve, who had no rival, and in the
latter part of the period, James Gould, of whom I need say nothing
as you knew him in his meridian light. Mr. Allen always made dili-
gent and faithful preparation of all cases committed to his care, and
made himself fully acquainted with every point of law and every ac-
cessible point of evidence which could arise in the case, and was
therefore usually successful when the case deserved success.

If I knew that you ever saw Mr. Allen, I would omit any attempt
to describe his personal appearance, for I am sure any one who ever
saw his colossal form and imposing visage, would never need to have
him described in order to recall his appearance. He was six feet four
or five inches high, very erect and with an attitude and walk well
calculated to set off his full stature, and though quite lean, weighed
full 230 pounds. His countenance was strongly marked and truly
formidable, his eyes and eye brows dark', his hair dark, what little he
had for he was quite bald, far back, even before middle age, and in-
deed his whole appearance was calculated to inspire dread, rather
than affection. His manner and conversation were, however, such
as to inspire confidence and respect, though little calculated to invite
familiarity, except with his intimates, of whom he had a few, and
those, knowing the generous and hearty friendship of which he was
capable, were usually, much attached to him and ready to overlook
all his harsh sallies, imputing them to the "rough humor which his
mother gave him." His feelings were not refined, but ardent, gener-
ous and hearty. His friendships were strong and his aversions equal-
ly so — and as I used to say of him, speaking to others,' "his feelings
were all of the great sort." He neither enjoyed nor suffered any
thing from many of those little incidents which so often affect, either
pleasingly or painfully, minds of a more refined texture. As he had
no taste for such things, nor, as it would seem, any faculty of per-
ceiving, so he knew no language appropriate to their description, but
in respect to those things and principles which he thought worthy of
his regard, he lacked no power of language to make himself fully
and forcibly understood.. For neutral ground, either in morals or
politics, he had no taste, and but little less than absolute abhorrence.
As a specimen of his feelings and language, better than I can des-
cribe, I will give you the laconic answer to an enquiry of him, why
he took the Aurora the leading democratic paper in the county, then
under the guidance of that arch democrat, Duane ; he replied it was
because he zvanted to know what they zvere about in the infernal
regions. And after giving this specimen I need make no futher at-
tempt to give you an idea of his humor, manners and language.

boardman's sketches 47

After Mr. Allen was married, which was not till he was towards
forty years old, and went to house keeping, I boarded at his house at
his express solicitation for many years while attending Court ; though
he took no other one, nor ever named to me any price, nor would he
count the money I handed to him when leaving for home, seeming to
receive it only because I refused to stay on any other terms. I there-
fore saw much of him in his family, where his conduct was always
dignified, proper and kind. He was proud, very proud, and justly
so, of his wife, who was a woman of much personal beauty, polished
manners, and great and even singular discretion, and for whom he
entertained, I believe, an ardent affection.

Before his marriage and at the age of thirty-five Mr. Allen was
elected a member of the fifth Congress, where he distinguished him-
self at a time when Connecticut was never more ably represented in
the House of Representatives, and would undoubtedly have been cho-
sen for as long a period as he would have desired to be a member ol
that body, but he declined a further election. He was elected an
Assistant in 1800, and was re-elected for the five succeeding years,
and as such was one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Errors.
For several years, previous to his election to Congress, he had repre-
sented the town of Litchfield in the General Assembly. His wife was
a grand daughter of the first Governor Griswold. His only son, the
Hon. John Wm. Allen of Cleveland, Ohio, has been a member of
Congress from that State and is now a very distinguished man there.
His only surviving daughter resides also in Cleveland, and is the
wife of her brother's immediate successor in Congress, Mrs. Allen,
after a rather brief widowhood, accepted the hand of a Mr. Perkins
of Oxford in the State of New York, a man of respectability and
wealth.

BARZILLAI SLOSSON.

The request, which is the subject of yours of the 4th inst., is too
alluring in its nature to be long unattended to. So nearly am I alone
in the world that an invitation to hold converse about those of my
age and standing in life, and who have now slumbered in the grave
for more than forty years, and especially those who were so much
beloved and esteemed as were those of whom you solicit my at-
tention, is quite irresistible.

In speaking of Mr. Slosson, I must first observe that I had form-
ed a tolerably correct notion of him before I ever saw him. When I
was a boy his father was often at my father's house, intimately ac-
quainted there, and I believe, scarcely ever passed that way without
calling and holding a pretty long chat, for he was never in a hurry,
and his peculiar turn of mind, abundance of common sense, and great
fund of wit, joined to his singularly slow, emphatic and sententious

48 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

mode of talking, was such as to secure the attention of any one, and
especially a boy. He used, occasionally to speak of his children, and
especially of his oldest son Barzillai^of whom he was manifestly very
proud, representing him to be always at the head of the school when
small, and afterwards used to speak with high gratification of his in-
dustry and tact at acquiring the higher branches of knowledge with-
out the aid of an instructor, and more particularly the knowledge of
the dead languages, of which he knew nothing himself. And this
account given by the old gentleman, from intimate intercourse and
frequent conversation with his son, when I afterwards became ac-
quainted with him, I found was by no means exaggerated. And to
his excellent and accurate common school education, he owed much,
very much of his character for exact accuracy and correctness in all
that he said and did through life. He was about the best reader I
ever heard, wrote a fair, handsome and legible hand, and in the un-
failing correctness of his orthography and use of terms, no lexico-
grapher excelled him, and in everything pertaining to mere English,
home and common school education, no one appeared to be more
thoroughly proficient. And in Greek and Latin I never saw his su-
perior, except old President Stiles, nor with that exception perhaps,
his equal, unless it was old Parson Farrand of Canaan, and in the
other branches of collegiate education he was, to say the least, above
mediocraty. As he entered college not until the senior year, and, I
believe, did not even attend during the whole of that year, he
could not, of course, expect to shine and did not shine in the college
honors depending upon the faculty, but he availed himself of the right
to become a candidate for the honors of Dean Scholar, and obtained
the first premium for excellence in Greek and Latin, in a class of
unusually high reputation. This, I suppose, he did merely, out of
a laudable pride, for he did not avail himself of the pecuniary re-
ward which would have required him to reside in New Haven ; for
he went, immediately after his graduation with one of his class-
mates (Mr. afterwards the Rev. Dr. Smith,) to reside in Sharon,
as one of the instructors in the Sharon Academy, ' then in full and
successful operation. He soon after became a student at law, under
Gov. Smith's instruction, and the first County Court which sat after
his two year's clerkship had expired, being in Fairfield County,
he went, there for examination and admission to the Bar. This
was I believe at the November Term, 1793. It was not until he
began to attend Court at Litchfield, and while I was in the law school
there, that I first became personally acquainted with Mr. Slosson
though I had barely seen him once or twice before. After my admis- ■
sion to the Bar, being located in adjoining towns, we often met each
other before Justices, and consequently before the upper courts.
From our frequent meetings and intercourse at Litchfield and else-
where, I became greatly attached to him, and finally, for a number of
years he and L with Southmayd for our constant companion, always
occupied the same room at Catlin's Hotel during every court until his

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boardman's sketches 49

death and there was the last time I ever saw him in life. Soon after
the Court adjourned, hearing of his rapid decline, I set out to visit
him, and on the way, heard that he had died the night before. I how-
ever went on and stayed with the family until I assisted in burying
him. This was in January, 1813, and in that grave I felt that I had
buried a sincere, and I am sure, a much loved friend ; on whose char-
acter and conduct in life I could reflect with melancholy satisfaction,
unmarred by a singk reproachful recollection or one which I could
wish to have forgotten.

Mr. Slosson had been out of health for a very considerable time,
and fears were apprehended on his account, in which he fully and
rationally participated. So gradual, however, was the operation of
his disorder, that he continued his attention to business until some
three or four weeks before his death. He attended court at Litch-
field, the first and I think the second week of the December term,
the month before his decease.

Mr. Slosson's great fondness for ancient literature, rendered him
scarcely just in his comparative estimate of that with modern im-
provements. As a lawyer he was highly respectable in theory and
remarkably accurate in practice; as a pleader, I do not remember
that he ever had occasion to ask for an amendment, or to alter a title
of what he had written. As an advocate he was clear, deliberate,
methodical and logical in his deductions. He spoke in much of the
peculiarly emphatic manner of his father, above mentioned, though
not with his unusual slowness. He was always cool and self-pos-
sessed, rarely warming into any high degree of animation, or aiming
at effect to appear eloquent, but he never failed to secure a respect-
ful and satisfied attention. Though not one of the most leading
advocates of which there are always some three or four at any Bar,
he might, at least be estimated an equal to any of the second class
of the Litchfield Bar which was then, certainly, a highly respectable
one.

Though not an aspirant after public preferment, and from his
habitually modest and retiring habits, not calculated to push his way
where opportunities offered, he was yet, at the time of his decease, in
a fair way of promotion. He was early and often elected to the
legislature from his native town, and indeed their usual representa-
tive until the October session, 1812, when he was elected Clerk,
which in those days was a sure stepping stone to further advance-
ment, and having myself been a witness of the manner in which he
performed the duties of that office, for which no man was better
qualified, I am sure he established a reputation,^ which, had Provi-
dence permitted, promised a solid and lasting existence.

Mr. Slosson's political opinions were of the genuine Washingto-
nian, political school. None of your heady, rash, and merely parti-
zan notions found favor with him. He was a constant and honest
adherent to the political views then nrevalent in this State. He
left a widow and two sons— the oldest John William, has been and I

50 I^ITCHFIELD COUNTY BICNCH AND BAR

believe now is a merchant in Kent. The second son, Nathaniel, a
very promising boy, was, I believe soon after his father's death, taken
under the care of his uncle, WilHam Slosson, a distinguished lawyer
of New York, and was by him educated at Union College and for
the Bar, and died soon after his admission.

The foregoing sketch of the leading incidents in Mr. Slosson's
life, may be a sufficient indication from which to deduct his true
character, but I must indulge myself in adding, that I never knew
or heard of a single act of his life, either in youth or mature years,
that left even a shade upon his reputation. Cool and deliberate in
his temperament, never hurried away by enthusiasm, for enthusiasm
never manifested itself in his nature, except in his passion for ancient
literature, he was sure to think and act with propriety. He was
nevertheless warm and faithful in his attachments, biit not so far as
to warp his conscientious regard for integrity. He was perfectly
just and generous in his intercourse with the world, honest in his
predilections and imcompromising in his love of virtue and detesta-
tion of vice. In morality his principles were without a taint and his
practice through life in conscientious conformity 'with them. In re-
ligion he was a firm and steadfast believer in the great doctrines of
the gospel, though not a public professor. His principles were those
of true rational Calvanism, unswayed by vindictive zeal or hysteri-
cal weakness.

You observed in your letter that you never saw Mr. Slosson. He
was a small man, not much, if any, under medium height, but of slen-
der frame and countenance. Though not dark complexioned his
countenance was rather dusky, his skin not clear, his features though
far from handsome bespoke intelligence and were therefore not dis-
agreeable. His general appearance was more like that of the late
Leman Church than any other member of the Bar I can think of,
though he was somewhat larger and more erect.

SAMUEL W. SOUTHMAYD.

In the life, conduct and character of Samuel W. Southmayd there
were some peculiarities, such as render it a matter of difficulty to des-
cribe him in such a manner, as to make them intelligible to one who
did not personally know him.

L never saw, or heard of him until I became a member of the law
school in the fall of the year 1793, of which he had then been a mem-
ber about one year, I believe, and of which he continued a constant
attendant during the eighteen months which I spent there. He was
admitted to the Bar the next term after I was, to wit : September
Term, 1795, and passed as good an examination as I ever heard
there, or elsewhere, he having been for the full period of three years
toder Judge Reeve's tuition. He was a native of Watertown, where

BOARDMAN S SKETCHES SI

he settled in practice, and where he spent his Hfe. Like Mr. Slosson,
he had an excellent common school education. Beyond that, his ac-
quirements did not extend far in an academic course — enough, how-
ever, I believe, to enable him to understand the homely law-latin used
in our books. Few have entered upon the practice of law, with a
better store of legal learning than Mr. Southmayd, but the place in
which he settled was not calculated from its location and the habits
of the people, by no means litiguous, to furnish much practice, and
he was too honest to promote litigation ; and furthermore, he had no
legal adversary there except an old gentlemen who never had any
more legal learning than was necessary for a Church Warden, and
whose ignorance made him the victim of Southmayd's merry witch-
ery and innocent cunning, of both of which he had a superabundance,
though he never indulged in malicious, or even very serious mischief,
and indeed in none except such as would do to relate for the purpose
of making fun in merry company. Anecdotes of that description
used to be related in great numbers. As a pleader, Mr. Southmayd
was always sure to have all in his drafts which was requisite and per-
tinent to the object in view, and in all his declarations, afifording
room for coloring circumstances to be inserted, there was pretty sure
to be found, slyly slipped in, some ingenious slang whang, or South-
maydism, as we used to call it. He was not ambitious of arguing
cases in Court, but when he did, he always displayed much ingenuity,
and attracted respectful attention from the audience as well as from
the triers. And before arbitrators, referees and committees a more
formidable opponent could hardly be found. And although his prac-
tice was not large, and as was observed of Mr. Slosson he was not
among the leading practitioners at the Litchfield Bar, he was certain-
ly a very resf)ectable lawyer, up>on a par with the foremost of the sec-
ond class, and much beloved and respected by all whose good
opinions are desirable.

As was observed in the outset, there were peculiarities in Mr.
Southmayd's private character and deportment, which it is difficult
to describe or reconcile. Though of a benevolent disposition and full
of good nature and kind feelings, there was yet in him a vein of ad-
venture after intellectual amusement, which, from its very nature,
could not be gratified but at the expense of others, and often to such
an extent as to render them ridiculous in the view of third persons
to whom the results of the adventure was related. I have many
times joined most heartily in the laugh at the relation of the result
of many such seemingly innocent pieces of roguery, though I could
not help condemning the mischief, while participating in its fruits.
In all such indulgences, Southmayd never entertained the least ma-
lice, for his heart was a stranger to it, but his intense love of fun, and
enjoyment of the ridiculous often impelled him to go beyond the line
of honest propriety. I used often to reproach him with it, but my
admonitions were not well calculated to take effect, when given at
the close of a hearty laugh.

52 i<itchfie;i,d county bbxch axd bar

From what I have been saying of Mr. Southmayd you would, I
presume, be ready to conchide that he was one of the most cheerly
and happy of men. But the case was directly the reverse, and during
a considerable period of his life, and that too, the most valuable part
of it, he was a very unhappy man, indeed, and I have no doubt he had
recourse to much of the indulgence of that peculiar propensity I have
attempted to describe for the purpose of dispelling a mental malady
which for a long time oppressed and preyed upon his heart. He was
for many years the victim of the strongest species of hypochondria
that ever mortal man was. It never showed itself in long fits of set-
tled melancholy or monomania, but in sudden fits and starts. After
hours 6i cheerful conversation, and while in entire health, he would
suddenly complain of great distress, and exhibit unmistakable evi-
dence of great terror and apprehensions of immediate dissolution.
One very extraordinary instance I will relate. He and I had been
alone many hours, conversing and reading together, and he, not in
the least complaining, when he at once sprung from his seat, and with
a scream as would have alarmed me,_had it been any other person,
and pressing both hands upon his breast he exclaimed that he was
going to die immediately. I stepped to him and gently and calmly
said to him, "don't be alarmed, you are not going to die" — for we
never treated him as if he thought his distress imaginary, — and put
my hand gently upon him to lead him to the bed, when he raised che
hand from his breast and thrusting his finger against the side of his
head, declared, with another outcry that something was passing
through his head. I persuaded him to lie down, telling him the feel-
ing would pass off in a few minutes, but he continued to groan for
some time. I, knowing what would cure him, took up and began to
read to him one of Burke's finest essays which lay by me, and turning
to a passage of extraordinary eloquence read it ; on which he sprung
up on end in the bed, and exclaimed "was ever anything finer than
that !" I continued on reading, and in the course of half an hour he
was well and cheerful as ever. This was the most extraordinary in-
stance I ever saw in him, but those in a degree like it were frequent.
He always went to bed an hour or two before Slosson and I did, he
saying that he never was able to get sleep until he had gone through
a great deal of such feelings as he never would attempt to describe-.

Mr. Southmayd was greatly esteemed in his native town, by, I
believe, almost every one, both old and young. He was early in life
sent to the legislature, and that often, and was so, T know, the last
year of his hfe. He died of lung fever in March, 1813, about two
months after the death of his friend Slosson. At the December
Term, 181 2, the three who had so long occupied the same room in
perfect harmony, were, for the last time there together. At the Feb-
ruary Term of the Supreme Court, Southmayd arid I occupied it, but
felt that we were in solitude, and in the next term it seemed to me,
most emphatically, a solitude, and more like a family vault than like
an abode for living men, and I believe I have never-been into it since.

boardman's sketches 53

Mr. Southmayd was undoubtedly an honest and honorable man,
of uncommon pleasing manners and much beloved, and I never heard
that he had an enemy. Indeed the amenity of his manner and the
gentleness of his temper almost forbade it.

The family to which Mr. Southmayd belonged was of the Con-
gregational order, and two of his sisters married Congregational
clergymen. He, however, joined himself to the Episcopal church of
which he was a member after he settled in life, and of which, I be-
lieve he was a communicant, but am not sure. He died unmarried,
and I believe in the 39th or 40th year of his age.

JOHN COTTON SMITH.

At your request, I now inform you, that the Hon. John Cotton
Smith, only son of the Rev. Cotton Mather Smith of Sharon, was
born there on the 12th day of February, 1765. It is said that for the
first six years of his life his instruction and training was almost
wholly conducted by his excellent mother, and to her government
and precepts he is said to have attributed much of his extraordinary
success in life. His common school education, as exhibited in after
life, must have been of the most exactly accurate kind. His class-
ical instruction preparatory to entering college, was commenced at
home, and completed under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. Brinsmade
of Washington. He entered Yale College in September, 1779, when
between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and though yotmg, main-
tained a high standing in his class, as appeared by the share he had in
the exercises of the commencement at his graduation, the appointees
being less than one-fourth of the entire class. Immediately after his
graduation in September, 1783, he entered as a law student in the
office of the Hon. John Canfield in his native town, and there con-
tinued until he could be by law admitted to the Bar, which was in the
March Term, 1786, a month after coming to t-wenty-one years of
age : and Mr. Canfield, his legal preceptor, having died a few months
after his admission to the Bar, a large portion of business for a long
time habitually flowing for management to Mr. Canfield's office, he
having for many years been one of the ablest lawyers of the County,
Mr. Smith's commencement in business was thereby attended by for-
tunate circumstances, and he improved them with becoming industry,
and from the very first found himself in a lucrative practice, which
continued to increase until called into absorbing public business.
He was first elected to the legislature in 1793 and frequently after-
wards ; indeed, from 1796 to October, 1800 he was constantly a mem-
ber, and during the two sessions of 1800 was speaker of the house,
and while occupying that station in the October session he was in-
formed by the Goveror that he was elected a member of Congress
to fill a vacancy which had occurred for the then approaching last

54 LITCHFIELD COUXTY BKNCH AND BAR

session of the Sixth Congress, and also for the full term of the
Seventh Congress; soon after which information, he resigned the
chair in the house, and returned home to prepare for assuming his
newly assigned duties. It so happened that the extra session to
which he had been chosen was that, which, by law, was to be holden
at the new City of Washington, whither he repaired and served
through that term, and the Seventh Congress ; was re-elected to the
Eighth and again to the Ninth Congress, at the expiration of the
Ninth Congress he declined any further elections to that honorable
body. During his congressional career he did not participate much
in debate, but his fine talent at presiding was early discovered, and
caused him frequently to be called to the chair when the House was
in committee of the whole, and he thus presided during some of the
most memorable debates which distinguished those days. He was
during all but the first session, a member of the committee of claims
while in Congress, and during the Eighth and Ninth Congress at
the head of that committee, though in the minority. In May, 1809,
Mr. Smith was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court, which he
resigned in May, 181 1, on being elected Lieutenant-Governor; in
May, i8i3,he was elected Governor, and re-elected to that office until
1818, when, a political revolution having taken place, he retired
finally from public life. His administration of the gubernatorial
office embraced the greater part of the war of 1812 and 1815, and
his duties in all respects were performed with dignity, propriety
and grace.

After his retirement to private life much of his time was devoted
to religious studies, and his eminent Christian and literary accom-
plishments being extensively known and appreciated he was selected
as the first president of the Connecticut Bible Society on its estab-
lishment. In 1826 he was chosen president of the American Board
of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and in 1831 president of the
American Bible Society. In 181 5 he received the degree of LL. D.
As old- age pressed upon him his hearing became impaired, and he
never would suffer himself to hold public stations when he could not
perform all their duties with becoming grace, he resigned all his
posts of honor, and on the 7th day of December he died in the 8ist
year of his age.

In an eulogy delivered before the Connecticut Historical Society
by the Rev. W. H. Andrews, then of Kent, soon after the decease of
Mr. Smith, giving a concise but eloquent historical sketch of his life
and character, stating that he was admitted to the Bar in Litchfield
County, and observing that at the time there was no bar in the state
which presented a more splendid array of legal forensic talents than
this, proceeds to state the standing which he at maturity acquired, in
the following words quoted, as he says, from the communication of a
well informed competent judg?, long acquainted with Mr. Smith at
the bar: — "He was esteemed, and justly so, an accurate pleader, and
a well read and learned lawyer, and though some of those alluded to

BOARDMAN'S SKETCHES 55

exceeded him in force and popularity as an advocate, none of tliem
surpassed, and in m_v judgment, none of them equalled him in grace
of manner and elegance of diction and utterance."

Early in life Gov. Smith married Miss Margaret Everson of.
Amenia, N. Y., a young lady of many accomplishments, who lived
tc old age. The issue of this marriage was only one child, WiUiam
M. Smith, Esq., of Sharon, a gentleman much esteemed for his
many virtues and eminent piety. A grandson bearing his name is
now the Minister resident of the United States to the court of
Bolivia, South America.

NATHAJSriEL SMITH.

{Prom Hollisfer's History of Connecticut.)

"I received a line from my friend. General Sedgwick, stating
that is was your desire that he would ask of me, in your behalf, to
furnish you with some facts in relation to the late Nathaniel Smith,
and my views of his character, which might be of use to you in the
preparation of the work you have in hand.

"I am of course aware that this application is owing to the ac-
cidental circumstance that I am the oldest^ if not the only member of
the profession now living, who had much personal acquaintance with
that truly able and excellent man, or saw much of him in the exercise
of his forensic or judicial talents. Judge Smith was indeed one of
nature's nobles, and considering the limited range of his early educa-
tion, he had few equals and perhaps no superior in the profession
which he chose, and which he eminently adorned. You are doubtless
aware that Judge Smith had only such an education in childhood and
youth, as the common schools of the country afforded at the time. It
was such, however, as a boy of unusual capacity and industrious
habits would acquire from such a source, and such as, under the
guidance of uncommon discretion through hfe, rarely permitted its
defects to be disclosed.

"When I first went to the Law School in lyitchfield, which was
in the fall of 1793, Mr. Smith though not over thirty years old, was
in full practice, aiid engaged in almost every cause of any importance.
Indeed, he was said to halve established a high reputation for talents
in the first cause he argued in the higher courts. It was upon a trial
for manslaughter, which arose in his native town, and in which he
appeared as junior counsel, and astonished the court, the bar, and all
who heard him. Not long afterwards, in the celebrated case of Jed-
ediah Strong and wife, before the General Assembly, (she having ap-
plied for a divorce), he greatly distinguished himself again, and thus
■ bfecame known throughout the state as a young lawyer of the first
promise; and the reputation thus early acquired was never suffered

56 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

to falter, but on the other hand, steadily increased in strength until
his elevation to the bench.

"During my stay in Litchfield, and after my admission to the
bar, I of course saw Mr. Smith, and heard him in almost all the im-
portant cases there; and as I was located in the south-west corner
town in the county, adjoining Fairfield, I almost immediately obtain-
ed some business which, though small, was such as during nearly all
my professional life caused me to attend the courts in that county,
where I found Mr. Smith as fully engaged and as highly esteemed as
in his own county. In New Haven I also knew he had a very con-
siderable practice.

"It is worthy also to be observed, in forming an estimate of Mr.
Smith's professional talent and character, that there never at any
period was an abler bar in Connecticut, than during his practice. In
Litchfield county, were Judge Reeve, Judge Adams, General Tracy,
John Allen, Judge Gould, N. B. Benedict, and others ; at the Fairfield
county bar, were Pierpont Edwards, Judge Ingersoll, and Judge
Daggett, constantly from New Haven, Judge Edmonds, S. B. Sher-
wood, R. M. Sherman, Judge Chapman, and Governor Bissell ; and
in New Haven, besides the three above named, were James Hillhouse,
Judge Baldwin, and others.

"As I suppose it not probable that you ever saw Judge Smith,
as he ceased to attend courts in 1819, and died when you was very
young, I will observe, what you have doubtless heard, that he was a
large and fine appearing man, much of the same complexion of the
Hon. Truman Smith, his nephew, with whom you are all so well ac-
quainted ; less tall than he, but of rather fuller habit. His face was
not only the index of high capacity and solid judgment, but uncom-
monly handsome; his hair was dark and thin, though not to baldness,
except on the fore part of the head, and was very slightly sprinkled
with gray. His fine, dark eyes, were remarkably pleasing and gentle
in ordinary intercourse, but very variable, always kindling when high-
ly excited in debate, they became almost oppressive. " His voice was
excellent, being both powerful and harmonious, and never broke un-
der any exertion of its capacity. His manner was very ardent and
the seeming dictate of a strong conviction of the justice of his cause ;
and his gestures were the natural expression of such a conviction.
Mr. Smith's style was pure and genuine Saxon, with no attempt at
classic ornament or allusion. His train of reasoning was lucid and
direct, and evincive of the fact that the whole of it was like a map
spread out in his mind's eye from the beginning. His integrity was
always felt and dreaded by his opponent. He spK>ke with much
fluency, but with no undue rapidity ; he never hesitated for or hag-
gled at a word, nor did he ever tire his audience with undue prolixity,
or omit to do full justice to his case for fear of tiring them ; and in-
deed there was little danger of it. Though certainly a very fine
speaker, he never achieved or aspired to those strains of almost

boardman's sketches 57

superhuman eloquence with which his old master Reeve, sometimes
electrified and astonished his audience, and yet, in ordinary cases,
he was the most correct speaker of the two — though Judge Reeve
was, and he was not, a scholar. Mr. Smith, though quite unassum-
ing, and often receding in common intercourse and conversation, was,
when heated in argument, it must be confessed, often overbearing to
the adverse party, and, not only them, but to their counsel. Upon
all other occasions, he appeared to be, and I believe was, a very kind
hearted, agreeable and pleasant man. To me, he always so appeared,
and I have been much in his company.

"Mr. Smith came early into public life, and was frequently elect-
ed to the General Assembly from Woodbury. In 1795, he was elect-
ed a member of the fourth Congress ; and in 1797, he was chosen to
the fifth Congress ; but declined further election. In May, 1799, he
was made an assistant, and was re-elected for the five following
years, when he resigned his sea? at that board in consequence of the
passage of the act in 1803, prohibiting the members of the then Su-
preme Court of Errors from practicing before the Court. He re-
mained in full practice at the bar until October, 1806, when he was
elected a judge of the Superior Court, and continued to fill that office
until May, 1819, when the judiciary establishment of that year went
into operation; from which time he remained in private life until
his death.

"In every public station in which Mr. Smith was placed, he dis-
tinguished himself. He did so in Congress, at a time when our rep-
resentation was as able, perhaps, as it ever has been, and when the
character of the house to which he belonged was far higher than it
now is. In the Superior Court he was certainly very greatly respect-
ed and admired, as an able and perfectly upright judge.

"In private life his name was free from reproach. A strictl}^
honest and pure life, free from any of those little blemishes which
often mar the fame of distinguished men, may, I think, be fairly
claimed by his biographer to be his due. As a husband, a parent, a
friend, a neighbor, a moralist and a christian, I believe few have left
a more faultless name."

NOAH BENNET BENEDICT.

In further compliance with your late request, I now place at jQuv
disposal some account of the life, character and standing of another
highly esteemed member of the Litchfield County Bar.

The Hon. Noah Bennet Benedict was a native of Woodbury, in
which he resided during his whole life. He was the son of the Rev.
Noah Benedict, long the pastor of the First Congregational Church
in that town. - Mr. Benedict's early school education must have been

58 LITCH]?IELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

correct and good, as its fruits invariably showed itself in after life.
He graduated at Yale College in September, 1788, when a little short
of eighteen years of age. His legal studies commenced soon after his
graduation, which were, 1 believe, pursued principally, if not wholly,
in the office of his brother-in-law, Nathaniel Smith, afterwards so
highly distinguished as a jurist, which was near the residence of Mr.
Benedict's father. As soon as he arrived to lawful age Mr. Benedict
came to the Bar, and for the remainder of his life, to wit: abou^
thirty-nine years, it is believed he never failed to attend every regular-
session of the Courts holden at Litchfield ; and though he never habit-
ually attended Courts in other counties, he occasionally did so for the
purpose^ of arguing a particular case. During the long course of his
practice Mr. Benedict had an ample share of business, and for the
latter half of that period, he \yas, especially in the Superior Court, the
leading advocate, on one side or. the pther, in most of the trials either
to the cpurt or to the jury. His management of a trial was discreet,
his argutnent sound, sensible, and being aided by the well known and
generally esteemed integrity of his character, had their due effect.
He never; attempted to play the orator or to attract attefttion by fine
turned periods, but contented himself with plain reasoning, of which
he was no indifferent master.

At a very early period Mr. Benedict was a member of the legisla-
ture. But the political majority of the. voters in Woodbury becom-
ing about this time and for long afterwards decidedly democratic,
proved an effectual bar to his political promotion, as far as depended
upon that town, but by the vote of the State at large he was elected
in 1813 one of the twelve assistants, (as they were then styled, who
composed the Upper House of the assembly) , and was re-elected the
two following years; but in the year 18 18 an entire political revolu-
tion took place in Connecticut, and Mr. Benedict shared the fate of
almost every one who held any post of dignity or profit depending
upon the public suffrage at large in the State. He was subsequently
many years later elected once more to the Lower House. He was
also for several years Judge of Probate for the District of Woodbury,
an appointment then depending upon the legislature. Mr. Benedict
was twice married, but left no living issue. He died in June or July
1 83 1, at the age of sixty, or in his sixtieth year.

In private life Mr. Benedict was entirely unassuming, and a very
pleasing companion to all who could relish purity of moral character
and conduct, which his whole life was an eminent example : his feel-
ings were peculiarly sensitive and delicate ; a loose or profane expres-
sion never escaped his lips, and indeed so fastidious was he in respect
to the former, that it used to be a matter of amusement with his less
scrupulous associates in jocose conversation, to tease his feminine
delicacy upon such subjects. Though when alone and unoccupied
he had a propensity to indulge in somewhat gloomy reflections, yet
he was not averse to participate in facetious conversation when due

Noah Bh;nnet Benedict
From an old Painting.

boardman's sketches 59

delicacy was observed. He had a profound respect for religion and
was in all respects a good, a very good man.

Mr. Benedict was of somewhat less than midling size, of a medi-
um complexion, but his eyes and hair rather dark.

JAMES GOULD.

In compliance, in part, with a request recently received from you,
I now send you a brief and imperfect sketch of the literary and pro-
fessional character, standing and reputation of the Hon. James Gould,
who for a very considerable period of time contributed much to the
fame of the County and State for legal science, by his talents as an
advocate and especially as an instructor and as a judge of the Supe-
rior Court ; with some account of his person and family. Mr. Gould
the son of Dr. William Gould, an eminent physician, was born at
Branford in this State in the year 1770. The goodness of his com-
mon school education is inferable from the perfect accuracy of it,
which showed itself in all he did or said in after life. He graduated
when a little over twenty-one, at Yale College, in September, 1791,
with distinguished honor in a class distinguished for talents.

The year next following his collegiate course he spent in Balti-
more as a teacher. He then returned to New Haven and commenced
the study of law with Judge Chauncey ; and in September of that
year he was chosen a tutor in Yale College, in which office he contin-
ued two years. He then joined the Law School of Mr. Reeve at
Litchfield and was soon after admitted to the Bar. Immediately af-
ter his admission to the Bar he opened an office for practice in that
town, where he resided during the remainder of his life.

On his first appearance as an advocate he evinced such an ap-
parent maturity of intellect, such a self-possession, such command of
his thoughts and of the language appropriate to their expression, that
he was marked out as a successful aspirant for forensic eminence.
His progress in the acquisition of professional business was steady
and rapid.

Fortunate circumstances concurring a few years before his choice
of Litchfield as a field of his professional labors, in the removal by
promotion of two very distinguished practitioners at the Bar, opened
the way to such a choice, and by like good fortune a similar event re-
moved one of the two only remaining obstructions in that town to his
full share in the best business as an advocate, the only business to
which he aspired. As a reasoner Mr. Gould was forcible, lucid and
logical : as a speaker his voice was very pleasant and his language
pure, clear and always appropriate. He never aspired to high strains
of impassioned eloquence, and rarely, if ^ver, addressed himself to the
passions of the Court and Jury, but to their understanding only, and

6o LITCHB'IEI.D COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

was a very able, pleasing and successful advocate. His argument was
a fair map of the case, and one sometimes engaged against him, but
feeling his superiority, observed, that he had rather have Gould
against him in a case, than any other of any where equal powers,
because he could perfectly understand his argument, and if suscepti-
ble of an answer could know how to apply it In his practice at the
Bar he was always perfectly fair and honorable. Within some two or
three years after Mr. Gould commenced practice, Mr. Reeve, the
founder and until that time the sole instructor of the Litchfield Law
School, accepted a seat upon the bench of the Superior Court. This
Court made it necessary for him to give up the school, or to associate
some one with him in its management, and to deliver lectures in his
absence upon the circuits. The Judge selected Mr. Gould as that
associate; and for a number of years they jointly conducted and re-
ceived the pupils of the School : and on the final retiring of Judge
Reeve from any participation in the instruction of the School, Mr.
Gould became its sole instructor and so continued until elevated to
the bench of the Superior Court in the spring of 1816, when he in
turn had to have recourse to temporary aid for the short time he re-
mained on the bench. But a thorough political Revolution having
taken place in this State, and a new constitution formed which entire-
ly new modeled the courts of law, Mr. Gould took no further share
in public employments : and his health being greatly impaired; he
never resumed practice at the Bar, but confined himself wholly to his
School during the remainder of his life, as far as severe infirmities
would permit. He died, as appears by the College catalogue, in
1838.

In person Mr. 'Gould was very handsome. Of about medium
heighth, or perhaps 'a little over; but rather less in body and limbs
than mediurii' size. 'His complexion fair, with fine dark eyes and
beautiful brown hair ; all his features good and in connection indica-
tive of much intelligence and good nature, and his form for symmetry
and gracefulness could hardly have been mended ; and in all respects,
in body, mind and education, he may be fairly styled a finished man.
In private and social intercourse he was highly pleasing", facetious
and witty.

Soon after his settlement in Litchfield he married the eldest
daughter of the Hon. Uriah Tracy, so well known for his long and
distinguished service in the councils of the state and nation.

Mrs. Gould in person and mind was a fit wife for such a husband,
and partook with him in the happiness of raising a very numerous
and promising family of children.

Judge Gould wrote and published a volume of Pleadings, which
together with his fame as an instructor, gave him a distinguished
rlame among the eminent jurists of the country.

boardman's sketches 6i

ASA BACON

Again in compliance with your later request for further sketches
of the lives and profesional standing of the former members of the
Litchfield County Bar I transmit you a name which, though not dec-
orated by the civic honors annexed to some of them, I think highly
worthy of a place in the series.

Asa Bacon, the son of a very respectable and somewhat opulent
farmer of Canterbury in this State, was born there on the 8th day of
February, 1771. His early school and classical education was had
in that and neighboring towns in Windham County so far as was
necessary to a preparation for entering Yale College, which he did
in September, 1789 ; and during his collegiate course, sustained a very
prominent standing in his class ; and by his instructor and class-mates
was marked out as one who would make a distinguished figure in the
profession in which his talents and turn of mind plainly indicated
would be his choice. Immediately after his graduation in September,
1793, he entered the office of Gen. Cleaveland in his native town as a
Law-student, and there .remained about six months and then joined
the Law school at Litchfield, at that time, and for long before, under
the sole instruction of Tapping Reeve, Esq., afterwards Judge Reeve,
in which he remained until admitted to the Bar in September, 1795,
Soon after which, without consulting anybody or taking a single let-
ter of which he might for asking obtained any quantity of the best
sort, with characteristic boldness and love of adventure in youth, he
left Connecticut for Virginia with a determination of establishing
himself in the practice of law in the latter state : an attempt, it is be-
lieved never before made by any one from Connecticut. In order to
the accomplishment of which object, he found on arrival in Virginia
that he had got to obtain a license from a majority of the Judges of
the Supreme Court in that state, and that too by visiting them at their
respective residences : for they were not in the practice of examining
and licensing candidates during the session of the court. This sub-
jected him to the trouble and expense of traveling over a great part
of the state ; and this being accomplished, he determined to fix him-
self at Leesburg, the capital of Loudon county, and he accordingly
opened an office for practice there ; and being aided by a fine and
imposing personal appearance and promptness in manners, he suc-
ceeded in obtaining a fair and encouraging portion of the business,
and there remained for nearly three years, when, on returning to
Connecticut to visit his relations, he found the prospects of profes-
sional business in his native county to be such as, in connection with
a natural preference for Connecticut society to that of Virginia, to
induce him to renounce his connection with his new formed estab-
lishment and open an office in his native town, and this he did not
only with such success as speedily to secure him a fair professional
business, but also to induce four young gentlemen to enter his office

62 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

for legal instruction, upon a plan which he adopted ; three of whom
were from Massachusetts, and one a member of Congress from the
state of New York.

After a prosperous practice of over seven years in Windham
County, he received an invitation from the Hon. John Allen, then at
the head of practice in the larger county of Litchfield, to remove
there and become his partner in business. This he accepted, and
was probably in a measure induced so to do from the prospect that
Mr. Allen would, on account of declining health, wholly retire from
the Bar at no very distant period ; and this in fact happened at a
time earlier than was desirable. By means of his connection with
Mr. Allen, and of a peculiar faculty of his own, Mr. Bacon soon
obtained an ample and satisfactory share of the business done at the
Litchfield County Bar, and by his faithfulness and zeal in the man-
agement of it he retained it for many years to his great satisfaction,
for he was very fond of his profession. No man more thoroughly
identified himself with the interests of his client, insomuch that he
could hardly bring himself to doubt of the justice of his cause, how-
ever he might of the legal means of obtaining it; hence his utmost
exertions were sure to be put forth for the attainment of it. In un-
tiring industry in the preparation of a cause for trial no man ex-
celled him. He was an able, and when the nature of the case al-
lowed of it, an eloquent advocate. Until some sixty years old he
was in full practice, almost never being in any degree diverted from
it by political aspirations. But repeated pneumoniae attacks of a
threatening nature in the autumn of the year 1,832 admonished him
of the danger of much public speaking, and induced him to retire
from the Bar as soon as it could conveniently be done. While in
practice, his untiring diligence in the preparation of his causes for
trial, the learning, wit and force of reasoning- was so satisfactory
to his numerous clients, that it was not remembered that any one
who once employed him ever forsook him when in after time he had
occasion for legal advice.

After the close of his practice of law, and indeed long before
that event, Mr. Bacon paid much attention to pecuniary affairs, and
his skill and judgment in the management, led to his appoinment
as president of the branch of the Phoenix Bank located at Litchfield,
which he held for a number of years. But his cautious policy in the
management of it proved unsatisfactory to some of the stockholders,
but more particularly with the managers at head quarters.

As a man, a mere private individual, Mr. Bacon will be agreed
by all who ever knew him to have been a very peculiar man, both in
appearance and in manner. He was full six feet two inches high;
well formed for appearance ; neither too fleshy nor too spare ; and
his inexhaustible fund of pleasant wit, judiciously used, made him
an agreeable companion to both sexes and all ages : and having in
himself an vmcommon elasticity of spirits he was fitted to enjoy life

boardjVian's sketches 63

and to impart to others its enjoyment in an eminent degree. On
many accounts, and indeed on most accounts, Mr. Bacon may be
said to be a fortunate man, but on others, had it not been for his
peculiar buoyancy of spirits, a very unfortunate man.

In March, 1807, he married Miss Lucretia Champion the only
daughter of the Hon. Epaphroditus Champion, of East Haddam, who
still survives him ; and never was a man through a long married life
of half a century, more happy in the conjugal connection. This mar-
riage was blessed by the birth of three sons of uncommon promise,
but all of them were cut down in early manhood : not, however, until
■each had given decided proof of natural and acquired capacity.
Three daughters were also the fruit of that mariage, but all died in
early infancy.

Quite a number of years since, Mr. Bacon disposed of his proper-
ty in Litchfield and removed to New Haven, where he spent the re-
mainder of his long and useful life, and died in the full possession of
his mental faculties when but two days short of eighty-six years of
age. No one ever questioned his integrity. He was a professor
of religion, and is believed to have lived in accordance with his pro-
fession. He died in the possession of an ample estate, in a great
degree the fruit of his discreet management, 'and out of which, it is
but justice to his memory to state, he made a donation to Yale Col-
lege of ten thousand dollars.

ELISHA STERLING.

Gen. Elisha Sterling of Salisbury, who was for a long time a
very respectable member of the Eitchfield Count}- Bar, was a native
of Lyme in this State, where he received his training and early edu-
cation, until he became a member of Yale College, of the class which
graduated in September, 1787 ; and that he sustained a good stand-
ing in it is evinced by his having an honorary share in its commence-
ment exercises. Immediately after his graduation he assumed the
charge of an academy, then recently established in Sharon; and
during the two years while it was under his management and tu-
ition, it became very thoroughly established and very .extensively
and popularly known. While at the head of the academy he pursued
the study of Law, and was admitted to the Bar in 1789 or 1790, and
immediately opened an office for the practice of his profession in
Salisburv, where he continued to reside during the remainder of his
life. He was very fortunate in his place of settlement, and soon
found himself engaged in lucrative practice, which he pursued with
much industry for a long time; and it is believed that very few
lawyers have by the mere practice of their profession in Connecti-
cut acquired a larger property than he did. He was at an early

64 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

period by the County Court appointed Attorney for the State in that
County, and by them (to whom alone the right of that appointment
then pertained,) annually reappointed for many years, and until a
political change in a majority of that Court led to a change in the
attorneyship. The propriety of his management as a public prose-
cutor was never questioned even by his political opponents. As a
mere advocate he did not stand at the head of such practice, but
did a respectable share of it, and stood high in the secondary rank;
and in the entire amount of business, in point of profit, few equaled,
and perhaps none surpassed him. In addition to the office of State's
Attorney, he for a long time held the office of Judge of Probate for
the district of Sharon — an office then depending upon the annual
appointment of the legislature, and tintil, for a like cause above
mentioned, he was required to give place to another, of different
political principles from his own ; and the latter office he held two
or three years after he ceased to be, of the then, healthy political
faith. He was very often a representative to the General Assembly
from Salisbury when the political standing of the town would allow
of such a choice, and was a major-general of the militia. At a
somewhat earlier period he married a daughter of the Hon. John
Canfield, deceased, of Sharon, who for a long time was a distin-
guished member of the Bar of L/itchfield County in former times;
and by that marriage he became the father of a somewhat numerous
family, nearly all of whom were sons. They were all young men of
promise, and on entering into business were well endowed by their
father, and it is believed were respectable and prosperous in their
several vocations. Gen. Sterling somewhat late in life married the
widow of the Rev. Dr. John Elliott, who survived him. Through
life Gen. Sterling enjoyed a good state of health, and died when
over seventy years of age, in the year 1836, of a sudden illness oc-
casioned by a slight wound in the leg, too much neglected. He was
above medium size, of a light complexion and good personal ap-
pearance, and his moral and religious habits unimpeachable.

JABEZ W. HUNTINGTON.

In compliance with former requests and of a recent intimation
of my own, I now transmit you a brief sketch of the life and char-
acter of the Hon. Jabez W. Huntington, son of the late Gen.
Zachariah Huntington of Norwich, and grandson of the Hon. Jabez
Huntington of that place, the assistant and associate of the first Gov.
Trumbull, who was born in Norwich in the year 1787 or 1788. He
received his early training and instruction in his native town, which
after times evinced to be accurate and good. He became a member
of Yale College in September, 1802 and graduated in September,

boardman's sketches 6s

1806, with the reputation of a good scholar. Soon after his gradua-
tion he became a teacher in an academic school under the govern-
ment of its founder, Esquire Morris of Litchfield South Farms, as
then called, now the town of Morris, named after the founder of
said school. After about a year thus employed, Mr. Huntington
entered Judge Reeve's Law School, in which he continued a diligent
student until admitted to the Bar in Litchfield County, of which he
soon showed himself to be a worthy member, and in due time a
distinguished one ; he having commenced the practice of his pro-
fession in Litchfield, and there continued it, until its final termina-
tion by an office conferred upon him incompatible with its further
pursuit. In practice, his whole aim and ambition was to become
an advocate, and had no desire to obtain any share of collecting
business, though in many hands not less lucrative ; and as he was
always ready to aid the less ambitious of speaking, he early acquired
a very considerable share of the portion of practice of which he was
ambitious and which was improving to him. His forte as an advo-
cate was in detecting error in declarations and other parts of plead-
ings, and in a lucid manner of pointing them out. Upon the whole
he was as an advocate clear and accurate, rather than peculiar for
the gracefulness of manner or refinement of diction, though his
manner was by no means disgusting, and his language entirely free
from any approach to Vulgarity. His manners were pleasing and
popular, and he repeatedly represented Litchfield in the General
Assembly and distinguished himself there. He was elected to the
2 1 St Congress, and re-elected to the 22d and 23d Congress ; and near
the expiration of the last of his Congressional career he was chosen
a Judge of the Superior Court, and held that office until 1840,
when being chosen a senator of the United States he resigned the
Judgeship and accepted the latter appointment, and continued to
hold it by virtue of a second appointment until his death in 1847.
In all which stations he performed the duties thereof with honor to
himself and to the entire satisfaction of the pubHc. His moral char-
acter was irreproachable ; a professor of religion and an observer of
its precepts. Late in life he was married, but it is believed left no
issue. Soon after election to Congress he removed to his native
town and died there.

PHINEAS MINER.

Phineas Miner, a very respectable and somewhat eminent mem-
ber of the Litchfield County Bar, was a native of Winchester in that
county, and there, and in that region, as far as by the writer hereof
known, received his entire training and education m all respects. At
an early period in life he commenced the practice of law m the place

66 LITCH]?IELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

of his birth, in the society of Winsted, as is believed, a place of a
great deal of active manufacturing busines's and furnishing an ample
share of employment for gentlemen of the legal profession, of which
Mr. Miner soon acquired an ample share, and at no distant period,
an engrossing one, with which he appeared in court from term to
term until he felt warranted in the expectation of drawing after him
an engagement in all the disputable cases from that fruitful quarter,-
when he removed to Ivitchfield and was much employed as an advo-
cate for a number of years, and until his health rather prematurely
failed, and he became the victim of great mental and bodily suffer-
ing, until relieved by death before reaching the ordinary period at
which old age begins to make its effects much perceptible in the hu-
man frame. As an advocate Mr. Miner was ■ ardent, impassioned
and fluent, but in his apparent great ambition to be eloquent he
often made use of figures of speech which a more chastened and
correct training in youth would have taught hirn to avoid, and less
wounding to an ear of taste, but the fault apparent to all, was the
extreme prolixity of his arguments; but these faults notwithstand-
ing, Mr. Miner was a respectable and able advocate.

Before his removal to Litchfield Mr. Miner was an early and
frequent member of the legislature from his native town and after
his removal there, a member of the state senate for the fifteenth
district, and was also elected to fill a vacancy in the second session
of the twenty-third Congress.

Mr. Miner was twice married, but it Is believed, left no issue,
but of this the writer is uncertain. He led a strictly moral life and
was justly esteemed a good maii.

- i,b;man church.

One more attempt to comply with your repeated requests. Le-
man. Church,. a late member of the Litchfield County Bar, was a na-
tive of Salisbury in this county, a son of an opulent farmer of that
town, . and in it, it is supposed, he received his education, both
scholastic and professional ; the latter in the office of his half-
brother, Samuel Church, afterwards a Judge of the Superior Court,
and finally Chief Justice of thg same, and after his admission to the
bar he opened an office in North Canaan, where he resided during
the remainder of his life. Mr. Church was successful in acquiring
at an early period a promising share of professional business, which
steadily increased, until by the middle of professional life he occu-
pied a stand among the leading advocates at the bar ; and towards
the close of life there was scarce a cause, especially in the higher
Courts, of considerable importance discussed, in which he was not
engaged.

boardman's sketches 67

In September, 1833, Mr. Church was appointed by the Court,
State's Attorney, as successor to his brother Samuel, on the latter's
ekvation to the bench of the Superior Court, and held that office by
annual re-appointments until September term, 1838, when by a politi-
cal change in the court he was required to yield the place to another ;
it is believed, however, that he afterwards for a time, re-occupied
that place, but not positively recollected.

As a speaker he was cool, unimpassioned and ingenious ; he never
attempted to affect the passions of those he addressed, and being
destitute of passion himself, was consequently incapable of moving
the passions of others; he never attempted to be eloquent or made
use of a merely ornate expression, his object in speaking was effect,
and that wholly directed to his cause and not to himself ; in the man-
agement of a case he was always cool and self-possessed ; no sud-
, den and unexpected turn in the progress of a trial disconcerted
him, or appeared to be unexpected by him; no collision at the bar
ever appeared to affect his temper in the least. With such a tem-
perament it is obvious that the legal profession, was of all the pro-
fessions, the one for hini, and that in which he was calculated to
excel.

Mr. Church was always entirely regardless of personal appear-
ance and dress ; he was. very small, meager and ill formed, his fea-
tures quite ordinary, but all this very indifferent appearance was res-
cued from inattention by a most remarkably attractive and intelli-
gent eye.

Mr. Church was frequently a representative to the Legislature
from Canaan, and never failed to make an impression upon that
body; and to his sagacious management is attributable the preseva-
tion of the Housatonic Railroad from ruin, as a commissioner there-
on appointed by the Legislature, with power, together with his as-
sociate in office, Mr. Pond, to sell and consequently to destroy the
road which seemed to be a favorite object with them for a time.

Mr. Church died in the midst of life as a professional man, July
1849. I ^"T "nable to state the particulars of his family.

§B&guiirk*0 Sfifta l^ata

FIFTY YEARS

AT THE

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BAR

A LECTURE

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BAR

BY

CHARLES F. SEDGWICK, ESQ.

1870.

CHAS. P. SEDGWICK

SEDGWICK'S ADDRESS.

Litchfield, Feb. 9, 1870.
Gen. Sedgwick:

My Dear Sir — At a bar meeting held this noon the following
resolution was offered by E. W. Seymour and unanimously adopted :

Whereas, at the next term of this Court Gen. C. F. Sedgwick
will have completed a fifty years connection with this bar as a re-
spected member thereof,

Resolved, That he be invited to deliver an address in the Court
Room at such time next term as may be convenient to him upon some
subject connected with his long professional career.

Resolved, That a committee of three be appointed to extend this
invitation to the General and to make arrangements that may be
necessary in case the invitation be accepted,

O. S. Seymour, J. H. Hubbard and Abijah Catlin were appointed
a committee for this purpose.

It gives the committee great pleasure to communicate the fore-
going proceedings to you and we hope you will gratify us by accept-
ing the invitation. We will at any time confer with you upon the
subject of what arrangements should be made.

Yours truly, O. S. Seymour^

For the Committee.

The committee of the Litchfield County Bar have received the
annexed letter from General Sedgwick and have agreed upon Wed-
nesday evening, the 13th of April, for hearing the commemoration
discourse at the Court Room. Members of the Bar of other Courts
and the public generally are invited to attend.

J. H. Hubbard,
O. S. Seymour,
Abijah Catlin,

Committee.

Litchfield, March 14, 1870.

SwHARON, March 12, 1870.

Judge Seymour :

Dear Sir — I received, in due time, yours, written in behalf of
the committee of the Bar, and owe you an apology for not giving
it an earlier answer. The truth is that I have hesitated to give an
affirmative response from a feeling of incompetency to get up any
thing which would be of any interest to my kind friends of the Bar

72 LITCHFDJLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

whose polite proceedings you communicate. But the respect which
I feel for them combined with a feeling of gratitude for the past
kindnesses as well as the urgency of many individuals of the profes-
sion here as well as in other counties have persuaded me to make
the attempt to comply with their wishes, and I will try to get up a
commemoration discourse to be read to the Bar at the next term of
the Court. As Good Friday will come during the first week of Court
I will suggest Wednesday evening of that week for the hearing
instead of Thursday, but in this I will conform to the wishes of the
committee. If they should fix on any other evening please notify
me.

Yours, respectfully,

C. F. Sedgwick.
ADDRESS.

The statement that I have been for fifty years a member of the
bar of this county, admonishes me of a rapid journey across the stage
of life, from its morning to its evening. Those years have sped
away, and they have embraced a large portion of the time usually
alloted to man as the period of his existence here.
"Large space are they

Of man's brief life, those fifty years; they join

Its ruddy morning with the paler light

Of its declining hours."
They have swept oflf in their current nearly every one who was
active in the proceedings of the courts of chis county, at the com-
mencement of that period. It did not then occur to me to consider
the question whether I should outlive nearly all my associates at the
bar, but of the forty-four members who were then in active practice
here, all save three, and they are not now in practice, have preceded
me on their journey to the grave. Some have laid their bones in
distant parts of the country, but with the exception above named,
all have gone to their last account.

I suppose it to be the wish of the bar, as it has been intimated
to me, that I should say something of those who were active in con-
ducting the judicial proceedings in this County, fifty years ago.
This will imply a notice of the judges, clerks and officers of the court,
as well as the legal profession. A wide field is open before me,
and I fear the exploration which I shall give it will be of very little
interest to my brethren, but such impressions of the men of those
times as remain with me, I will endeavor to lay before them.

RE-ORGANIZATION Ol? THE COURTS.

The Courts had then just been organized under the present Con-
stitution of the State. Under the old government, the Supi^eme

Sedgwick's address 73

Court consisted of nine judges, and they were elected annually by the
legislature. Under the Constitution, the number was reduced to
five, and they held their office during good behaviour, or until they
reached the age of seventy years. In like manner, the judges of the
County Courts were reduced from five to three. Formerly these
judges held the Superior Courts, but under the Constitution, they
were holden by one judge. The old Court has embodied as high an
order of judicial talent as any other Court in any of the States, and
when the appointment of the judges under the new organization was
in contemplation, much anxiety was felt among the members of the
legal profession lest the character of the Court should deteriorate.
Chief Justice Swift was very popular with all classes, and it was
thought that his high character as a jurist, and his spotless charac-
ter as a man, would render it pretty certain that he be retained at
the head of the new Court. But the, party then in power, known in
our-political-history as the Toleration party, determined to make an
almost entire change in the material of the Court, and to man the
bench with new incumbents. For the new Chief Justice, they select-
ed the Hon. Stephen Titus Hosmer, of Middletown, who had been
a member of the old Court some three or four years, and who, it was
clairried, had voted the ticket of the party at the next preceding
election. It was laid to his charge*' that he had done so with the
intent of thereby obtaining the position which he was afterwards
called to fill. The other judges were John T. Peters, Asa Chapman,
Jeremiah Gates Brainard, and William Bristol. Judge Brainard
was of the old Court, and it was the intention of the ruling party to
put James Lanman in the place ; but some of the tolerationists of
New London County did not believe him qualified to fill it, and
refused to vote for him. Judge Brainard was of the same county,
and the federalists naturally rallied upon him in opposition to Lan-
man, and with the aid of dissentient tolerationists, Brainard was
elected.- He was the only old federalist on the bench, till Daggett
came on, in 1826.

CHIEF JUSTICE HOSMER.

Stephen Titus Hosmer was a lawyer of eminence in his peculiar
way. He had no very high standing as an advocate, but as a lawyer,
learned in elementary principles his position was a very good one.
A gentleman who had heard him, told me that his manner was hard
and dry, and his elocution very defective, but in some branches of
legal science he had few superiors. He seemed to delight in ex-
ploring ancient paths in search of legal principles, and in getting
up old legal tracts and dissertations. In the first volume of Day's
Reports, there is a note of forty pages of fine print, containing an
opinion of Lord Camden, of the English Court of Common Pleas,

74 LITCHFlEIvD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

which has hardly a rival in judicial learning or eloquence. Mr. Day
informed me that this was presented him in manuscript by Mr. Hos-
mer, there being then no printed copy of it on this side of the At-
lantic. He was appointed a Judge of the old Court in 1815, but be-
ing one of the younger judges, it never fell to his lot to preside on
the trial of a case, until his accession to the Chief Justiceship. His
career, on the whole, was very successful, both at nisi prius, and on
the bench of the Supreme Court. His apprehension of the points
involved in the case before him, was very quick, and the first inti-
mation he gave on incidental matters occurring in the course of the
trial, was a sure indication of what the result would be ; and al-
though he would take special pains to say to the counsel that he
had formed no opinion, the party against whom he leaned knew
that his fate was sealed. His labors in his official duties, must have
been immense. It fell to his lot to give the opinion of the Court
in nearl}' all the cases tried in the Supreme Court for several years
after his appointment, and nearly all the material of the third, fourth
and fifth large volumes of the Connecticut Reports are the result
of his study of the cases before the Court, and some of them are
very learned and labored. His illustrations in the case of Mitchell
vs. Warner, in the 2d of Connecticut Reports, of the extent of the
obligations incurred in the covenants of a deed, explained the sub-
ject to me, when I was young, better than anything I had before
read on the subject.

It seemed to be his object to render himself as agreeable as pos-
sible to the members of the bar, sometimes employing his leisure
moments on the bench in furnishing prescriptions for human ail-
ments, such as corns on the toes, and handing them -over to such
members as stood in need of them. Then he would hand over a
formula for making, as he said, the best kind of lic[uid blacking for
our boots. In fact, every thing which he had prescribed, he always
designated as the very best. At one term of the Court, Phineas
Miner, Esq., who had lived a widower for several years, was about
being married, which fact was intimated to the Judge. While he
sat waiting on the bench for the preparation of some business, he
spoke out suddenly, "Gentlemen! Is there a vacant cell in your jail?
Won't it be necessary for me to commit Mr. Miner to prevent his do-
ing some rash act?" The laugh was thoroughly turned upon poor
Miner, and the whole scene was very enjoyable. He employed all
his leisure hours in obtaining all the relaxation which was within
his reach. He played on the piano and violin, and sang with great
power and effect.

There was no perceptible waning of his powers, physical or men-
tal, during the time of his service on the Court. He retired from
the bench at the age of 70 years, in February, 1833, and died, after
a short illness, in less than two years thereafter.

S15DGWICK S ADDRESS 75

JUDGE PETERS.

John Thompson Peters was the senior Associate Judge of the
Court, and he held his first circuit in this County. He was a native
of Hebron, and a lawyer of respectable standing. His fellow-citi-
zens had often honored him with a seat in the Legislature, and thus
he had become tolerably well known in the State. When the United
States direct tax was laid in 1813, he was appointed Cbllector for
the first district, removed to Hartford, and held that office when
he was appointed Judge. He had been one of the leaders of the
Democratic party from its formation; and, as an Episcopalian, had
opposed the claims of the "Standing Order" to ecclesiastical prior-
ity, and some apprehensions were felt lest his well known views on
these subjects might temper his opinions on those questions inci-
dentally involving them. Many fears were entertained as to the
stability of ecclesiastical funds which existed in almost every Con-
gregational parish, and those who desired to break them down look-
ed to Judge Peters and his influence with the Court to aid them.
But those who entertained such hopes were destined to an early dis-
appointment, as their first experience of his administration on such
questions showed him to be disposed to stand firmly on the old
paths. He used to tell an amusing anecdote relating to his first
trial of such a case in one of the Eastern Counties of the State,
where he was appealed to, very strongly, to decide that a promise
to pay money in aid of such funds was without consideration. But
he told the parties that the law on that subject was well settled, and,
in his opinion, founded on correct principles ; and that if he had
the power, he had not the disposition to change it. It had been the
practice of the Congregational pastor of the village, to open the
proceedings in Court with prayer, but considering Peters to be a
heretic, (I use the Judge's own language,) he had never invited
Divine favor for him, but after that decision, every prayer was
charged with invocations of blessings upon "thy sarvcnt, the judge."

He was verv severe in meting out the punishments of the law to
convicted criminals, generally inflicting the severest sentence that
the law would allow. One case was tried before him which excited
much remark and some reprehension. A man had been convicted
before Judge Lanman of a State prison offence, had been sentenced
to four years' imprisonment and had served a partof a year, when
he obtained a new trial. He was tried again before Judge Peters,
and again convicted. When the time came to pass sentence on the
last conviction, his counsel asked for some mitigation on account
of the imprisonment already suffered. Said the Judge "He must
settle that account with Judge Lanman. He owes me five years'
imprisonment in State prison"— and such was the sentence. One
prisoner who had received a severe sentence at his hands, after the
expiration of his confinement, burned the Judge's barn, and he

76 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

petitioned the Legislature of the State to pay for it, in 1813, but
they dechned to make the compensation.

For a few years, the services of Judge Peters on the bench were
very acceptable. His decisions were prompt, and generally found-
ed on a sensible view of the matter before him, without any affect-
tation of learning or display of oratory. His entire candor and fair-
ness were never called in question, and the decay of his powers,
which was very apparent towards the close of his career, was
observed by the bar with sorrow and regret. I witnessed an af-
fecting scene connected with his experience on the bench, which
excited a deep feeling of sympathy. He had a favorite son, Hugh
Peters, Esq., whom he had educated at Yale College, and in whom
all his hopes seemed to centre. This young man, in connection
with George D. Prentice, the noted Editor, had-much to do in con-
ducting the New England fF^^fe/y Review, a paper just estabHshed
in Hartford, and which was the organ of the party which elected
William W. Ellsworth, Jabez W. Huntington, and William L.
Storrs to Congress. He had acquired a wide reputation as a writer
.of brilliant promise, and after a while went to Cincinnati to go into
business as a lawyer. On his way across Long Island Sound, he
wrote a Farewell to New England in poetry, which was published
with great commendation, in most of the newspapers in the country.
Soon after his arrival at Cincinnati, his dead body was found float-
ing in the Ohio, several miles below the city, and circumstances were
such as to create the belief in some minds that it was a case of suicide.
The intelligence of this sad event was brought to Litchfield while
the Court of Errors was in session in June, 183 1. It was first com-
municated to Judge Williams, who s^-t next to Judge Peters ; and he,
with all possible tenderness, informed the htter. The Reporter, Mr.
Day, in giving the report of the case on trial, closing it by saying:
"Peters, Judge, having received, during the argument of this case,
intelligence of the death of his son, Hugh Peters, Esq., of Cincinnati,
left the Court House, 'multa gemens casuque animum concessus,'
and gave no opinion." I witnessed the mournful scene, and I well
remember the loud and plaintive groans of the afflicted old man as he
passed out of the Court room and down the stairway to his lodg-
ings.

When Chief Justice Hosmer retired from the bench, the Legisla-
ture, by a very strong vote, elected Judge Peters' junior. Judge Dag-
gett, Chief Justice. He felt the slight, but did not retire, and held
his place till his death in August, 1834. A few weeks longer, and
he would have reached the age of seventy years.

JUDGE CHAPMAN.

The next Judge in seniority was Asa Chapman, of Newtown, in
Fairfield County. For several years before he received the appoint-

Sedgwick's address 'j'j

ment, he practiced to some extent in this County, and was, of course,
well known here. He was the father of the late Charles Chapman of
Hartford. He was somewhat taller than the son, and with his bald
head, white locks, thin face, and grey eyes, he resembled him not a
little in personal appearance, but he had none of that bitterness of
manner or spirit which characterized the eflforts of the younger Chap-
man. He was an Episcopalian in religious faith, and he had very
naturally fallen into the ranks of the new party, and being well quali-
fied for the place in point of legal ability, he made a very acceptable
and popular Judge. He was a man of good humor, genial temper,
and great colloquial powers, which he exercised very freely on the
trial of cases. If a lawyer undertook to argue a case before him,
he soon found himself engaged in a friendly, familiar conversation
with the Judge the evident intent of the latter being to draw out
the truth and justice of the case. His adminstration was very
popular, and his early death was greatly deplored. He died of con-
■ sumption in 1826, at the age of fifty-six years.

JUDGE BRAINARD.

Jeremiah Gates Brainard, of New London, the father of the poet
Brainard, was next in seniority on the bench. He had been a mem-
ber of the old Court from 1807 and he was elected to the new Court,
under the circumstances which I have mentioned. He was a man of
no showy pretensions, very plain and simple in his manners, and
very familiar in his intercourse with the Bar. He affected very
little dignity on the bench, and yet he was regarded as an ex-
cellent Judge. He dispatched business with great facility, and im-
plicit confidence was placed in his sound judgment and integritx.
He resigned his place on the bench in 1829, his health not being
equal to the duties of the office, having served as judge for twenty-
two years.

JUDGE BRISTOL.

Of all the judges on the bench, William Bristol of New Haven
was the youngest in years as well as in . rank. He had not been
much known as a lawyer, out of the County of New Haven, and, of
course his coming here was looked for with considerable interest.
He evidently had a high sense of judicial dignity, his manners on
the bench being very taciturn, approaching severeness, very seldom
speaking, except to announce his decisions in the fewest possible
words, and I doubt if any one ever saw him smile in Court. His
decisions were sound and well considered and, upon the whole, his
administration was respectable, although he could not be said to
have had much personal popularity at the bar.

78 IJTCHFIELD COUNTY BBNCH AND BAR

JUDGE DAGGETT.

The decease of Judge Chapman and the resignation of Judge
Bristol in 1826, created two vacancies in the Court which were to
be filled at the session of the Legislature of that year. The same
party which had effected the change in the government of the state,
and in the constitution of the Court, was still in power, but nearly
all the eminent lawyers in the State adhered to the federal party.
Probably the most obnoxious man in the state to the dominant party
was David Daggett, not so much from personal dislike as from his
prominence in the ranks of his party. His talents, integrity and
high legal abilitties were conceeded by everyone, but when the legis-
lature assembled, there was probably not a man in the state who
looked. to his election as a judge.

There were a few men in the state belonging to the toleration
party who felt deeply the importance of having a reputable court,
and who, on this question, were willing to forego all party considera-
tion. Morris Woodruff, of Litchfield County, Thaddeus Betts and
Charles Hawley, of Fairfield County, Walter Booth, of New Haven
County, and Charles J. McCurdy, of New London County, were
men of that stamp; and it was through the influence of these men,
and of others of less prominence, that David Daggett was elected a
Judge of the Supreme Court. The same influence, exerted by the
same men, secured the election of Judges Williams and Bissell, three
years later.

After the election of Judge Daggett was effected, no one seemed
to care who the other judge might be, as with Chief Justice Hos-
mer at the head of the court, and Judge Daggett as an associate, it
was felt that it could have a highly respectable character. The
Hon. James Lanman received the appointment, but after a short
term of service, resigned.

An elaborate sketch of Judge Daggett is given in the twentieth
volume of our reports.

THE SUPERIOR COURT, FIFTY YEARS SINCE.

There were sessions of the Superior Court in each year, holden
on the third Tuesdays of August and February, and the terms rare-
ly extended beyond two weeks. If they reached to the third week
they were deemed to be of extraordinary length. The Superior
Cburt had no original jurisdiction, except as a court of equity.
All its actions at law came up by appeal from the County Court,
and generally important cases were carried up without trial in the
court below. The party wishing to appeal his case would demun,
either to the declaration or plea, as the case might be, suffer a
judgment to be entered against him, and appeal from it and then

AUGUSTUS PETTILOXE

MICHAEL F. MILLS

JOSEPH F. BALLAMY

WM. G. COE

Sedgwick's address 79

change his plea in the Superior Court as the exigencies of his case '
may require. The making of copies in the case appealed was a '
very profitable item in the business of the clerk. All cases at law
wherein the matter in demand exceeded seventy dollars were ap-
pealable, and all matters in equity in which the sum involved ex-
ceeded three hundred dollars were brought originally to the Su-
perior Court. In criminal matters the jurisdiction of both courts
was concurrent, except in crimes of a higher grade which were
tried exclusively in the Superior Court. A case was pretty certain
to reach a trial at the second term after it was entered in the
docket, unless special reasons could be shown for its further con-
tinuance.

THE COUNTY COURT JUDGE PETTIBONE.

The County Court had an important agency in the administra-
tion of Justice, fifty years ago. Under the old form of govern-
ment it consisted of one judge and four justices of the quorum;
under the constitution, of one Chief Judge and two associate judges.
When I came to the bar Augustus Pettibone of Norfolk was Chief
Judge; Martin Strong, of Salisbury, and John Welch, of Litch-
field, associate judges. Judge Pettibone had presided for several
years in the old court, and although he was a federalist of decided
convictions, he was continued in office by the party in power until
he resigned the place in 1832. It will be remembered that the
judges in this court were appointed annually by the legislature.
Judge Pettibone had a high standing as a man of integrity and of
sound common sense. His early education was deficient and he
made many grammatical mistakes in his charges to the jury, but
he had been esteemed, and was a lawyer of respectable attainments.
He was a native of Norfolk, where he lived to a very great age.
He was tall and slender in person, somewhat round shouldered
with hair which was very abundant and which remained so during
life. No one could doubt the fairness and good sense of his de-
cisions; and, upon the whole, his career as a judge was creditable
to his reputation.

JUDGE strong.

Martin Strong of Salisbury, was the senior associate judge.
He was a son of Col. Adonijah Strong of that town, a lawyer of
the olden time, of whose wit as well as blunders, many stories were
rife fifty years ogo. Colonel Strong had four sons all' of whom
entered into professional life, two as clergymen and two as law-
yers. His son, the Rev. William Strong, was father of the Hon.
William Strong, of Pennsylvania, recently appointed an associate
justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Our Judge

80 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Martin ^Strong had been a member of the bar for several years, but
had never made a very high mark in his profession — in fact he had
never devoted himself very assiduously to the discharge of its du-
ties. He owned a large and valuable farm on the town hill in Salis-
bury, and his principal business was 'to attend to that. When he
came upon the bench he seemed' to have a recollection of a few
plain legal maxims, but his methods of applying them to cases was
not always the most skillful. He was a man of immense physical
dimensions, and when he had taken his seat on the bench, he sat
in perfect quiet, until the lofld proclamation of the sheriff an-
nounced the adjournment of the court. He remained in office
till 1829, when William M. Burrall, Esq., of Canaan, took his place.

JUDGE WELCH.

The junior judge of the court was the Hon. John Welch of
Litchfield. He was a native of the parish of Milton and a gradu-
ate of Yale College in the class of 1778, a class which is said to
have produced more eminent men in proportion to its numbers than
any other which ever graduated at that institution. Joel Barlow,
Zephahiah Swift, Uriah Tracy, Noah Webster and the last Gover-
nor Wolcott, with many other distinguished men, were of the class.

Judge Welch never entered either of the professions, but he
lived to a very great age. He was appointed a judge of the County
Court in the place of Cyrus Swan, Esq., of Sharon, who had re-
signed his position on the bench of the court in 1819. Judge
Welch continued on the bench till he became disqualified by age in
1829. He made no pretentions to legal learning but his decisions
were based on a fair impartial view of the questions as they came
up. He always gave reasons for the opinion he had formed, al-
ways made himself well understood, and his candor, fairness and
sound judgment were admitted by all.

JUDGES BURRALL, WOODRUEE AND BOARDMAN.

In 1829, when Judge Welch must retire on account of his age,
it was deemed proper by the legislature to make new appointments
of both associate judges. Judge Strong had been twelve years on
the bench, and in his place William M. Burrall, Esq., of Canaan,
was appointed senior associate judge, and Gen. Morris Woodruff
took the place of Judge Welch. The court continued thus organ-
ized till the resignation of Judge Pettibone, when, not only with
the consent, but with the decided approval of both associate judges,
David S. Boardman, Esq.,- af New Milford, was taken from the
bar and installed Chief Judge of the County Court, which as then
constituted, held a high position in public confidence.

Sedgwick's address^

8i

HON. FREDBRICK WOLCOTT, CLERK

The Clerk of the Court was the Hon. Frederick Wokott, who
was appointed as early as 1781, and who retained the place till 1835,
when he resigned, after a service of forty-four years. He was a
son of the second, and a brother of the late Governor of that name,
and undoubtedly cherished highly aristocratic feelings and had a
great amount of family pride, but his intercourse with the members
of the bar was gentlemanly and conciliatory. He was of a noble
presence, large and manly in person, and always dressed jn the
best style of the ancient fashion of small clothes, white stockings,
and white topped boots. His knowledge of legal proceedings in
the County, ran back so far that no one ever presumed to question
his accuracy as to leeal forms and precedents. When his resigna-
tion was accepted by the Court, a minute, preoared bv Judge Bur-
rail, which referred to his long and faithful service, and which con-

82 LITCHFIELD COUNTY pENCH AND BAR

tained the statement that no judgment of the Court had ever been
reversed on account of any mistake of the Clerk, was entered on
the records of the County Court. He was a member of the Gover-
nor's Council under the Charter Government, and was coutinued
in the Senate for several years, under the constitution.

SHERIFF SEYMOUR

Moses Seymour, Jr., Esq., was Sheriff of the County from 1819
to 1825, but the active duties of the office were performed by his
deputy, his brother Ozias, who had been a deputy of the old Sheriff
Landon, and who had become well acquainted with the practical
duties of the office as they were preformed in our County. He
opened and adjourned the daily sessions, called parties to appear
in court as their presence was demanded, and, in fact, was the ac-
tive Sheriff in nearly all the proceedings. He succeeded his brother
as Sheriff in 1825, and held the office till 1834.

UNCEE JOHN STONE, MESSENGER

Nor must we omit to mention here, the messenger of that day,
good old Uncle John Stone. How long He had held the place be-
fore 1820, I know not, but I found him here then, and it took, but a
very short time to make his acquaintance, and learn his kindness
of heart. He had a kind of dry humor, which sometimes showed
itself in witty sayings, and sometimes in pungent sarcasms. He
was a faithful messenger, an honest man, and to all human appear-
ance, a sincere christian. He retained his place till he fell de^fl in
the public highwa}-, in 1830, in a fit of apoplexy.

BUSINESS OF THE OLD COUNTY COURT

There were three sessions of the old County Court in each year
in March, September and December. The September term was
generally short, merely disposing of the criminal business and such
other prehminary matters as could not be passed over. The Ma;[ch
term lasted three weeks, and the December term from ifoiif to six
weeks, as the business might demand. The first half day" was al-
ways taken up in calling the docket. Mr. Wolcott-had his files ar-
ranged alphabetically, corresponding with the entries -on the docket;
and of these some member of the bar, usually one of the younger,
had charge. The Sheriff took his station in the center of the bar'

Sedgwick's address 83

and as the cases were named by the Clerk, the proper entries were
made both on the docket and on the file, and then the file was passed
to the Sheriff, who delivered it to the party entitled to it and thus
at the close of the proceedings all the files had passed into the hands'
of the members of the bar where they remained until the case re-
ceived final disposition. Three hundred cases were considered as
constituting a small docket and I have known as many as nine
hundred entered at a single term.

ADMISSION TO THE BAR.

When I came to the bar in 1820, there were two grades of law-
yers in the State. The first admission only authorized the candi-
date to practice at the County Court, and a service of two years
was required at that bar before he was allowed an examination for
admission to the bar of the Superior Court; and I was at the bar
of the County Court for a year or more in expectation of under-
going another ordeal in the upper Court. In the meantime the
statutes of the State had been revised under the superintendence of
Judge Swift and many and material alterations had been made to
conform the provisions of the law to the new order of things under
the constitutions. The question came before Judge Brainard and
he decided that under the revised statutes an admission to the bar
of the County Court gave the candidate authority to practice in all
the Courts in the State, and that decision was assented to by all the
judges.

The matter of examining candidates for admission to the bar
was, in those days, an imposing solemnity, and the day for that
proceeding was a marked day of the term. All the members of the
bar were expected to be present and few failed of attending. The
committee of examination occupied the judges seats; the chair-
man holding the place of the Chief Judge, indicating to each separ-
ate member of the committee the subject in which he was expected
to examine the candidate, and thus a thorough and searching ex-
amination was had. After the examination was closed the candi-
dates retired, and the members of the ba;- gave their opinions
seriatim on the question of the admission of the applicant. Some-
times candidates were rejected. It had been the practice in early
times to have an entertainment at the close of the examination at
the expense of the successful candidates, but this had been dispensed
with when I was examined. Stories were told of some eminent
members of the bar who, on such occasions, indulged in practices
which were not creditable to their reputation for temperance and
sobriety. Perhaps it was for this reason that the practice was
abolished.

84 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

PRACTICE.

Statutory provisions and the advance of legal science, as well
as a more just sense of what is due to the best interest of litigation,
have made great changes in the course of proceedings before the
Courts, during the last fifty years. Then, it was customary for
counsel to take advantage of any trivial omission which could be
found in the proceedings, and a case nevei- came to trial until every
possible effort for abatement or delay, had been exhausted. Our
Statute in relation to amendments had not then received so liberal
a construction, nor was it in itself so liberal in its provisions as it
now is ; and thus opportunity was afforded for the display of much
ingenuity in the prosecution of dilatory pleas.

Then, there were no statutory provisions relating to injunctions.
All the power which the Court had in that matter being that with
which it was invested by the common law as a Court of Equity, and
hence, very little will be found in our Reports on this subject, until
about 1826, after the Statute authorizing the judges to grant tem^
porary injunctions had been passed. This Statute was introduced
into the legislature by Judge Swift, who was a member for several
sessions after his retirement from the bench. Since then many
cases relating to this branch of jurisprudence, have been before our
Courts.

Probably more than half the suits commenced in our County
Courts, fifty years ago, were brought to enforce the collection of
debts, and in some localities this was a profitable business. The
County Court then had jurisdiction in all cases where the matter
in demand exceeded the sum of fifteen dollars, and this brought into
it a great number of suits now tried by single justices, and accounts
for the great diminution in the ijumber of cases now brought here.

Piles of learning were devoted to destruction by the edict of the
legislature, admitting parties and other persons in interest to be
heard as witnesses. The nicest and most refined legal questions
were frequently brought before the Courts for decision in matters
relating to the interest of witnesses, but now they are almost for-
gotten by the most learned of the profession.

THE AUTHORITIES THEN IN USE.

The Statutes then in force were the Revision of 1808, by far the
most elaborate and complete of any ever published. It contains
a complete history of the legislation of Connecticut on all subjects
of statutory enactment from the first, and is still a useful book for
study by the profession. The principal labor of its preparation for
publication was performed by Thomas Day.

Comparatively few American authorities were cited in our

Sedgwick's address 85

Courts, then. Mr. Day had published four volumes of Day's Re-
ports, and then had suspended further publication for want of en-
couragement. The Legislature, in 181 5, had authorized the Court
to appoint a Reporter, and had given him a salary. Under such an
appointment, Mr. Day had commenced publishing the Connecticut
Reports, and had published three volumes of them, when he publish-
ed the fifth of Day, thus filling the gap between the fourth of Day
and the first of Connecticut. The N. Y. Reports, by Caine and
Johnson, down to the 12th of Johnson, and twelve volumes of the
Massachusetts Reports, were out, and these, with our Reports, were
about the only American authorities which were cited in our Courts
Not a single American elementary work had then been published, ex-
cept Swift's System arid Swift's Evidence. The Enghsh Reports from
Burrows down, including Douglas', Cowper's, Term, and East's
Reports, down to the 12th volume, with Blackstone's Commentaries,
which were always on the table, were the staple authorities of the
times. I remark in passing, that Judge Reeve said that he consider-
ed Cowper^s Reports the best that had then been published of the
decisions of the Court of King's bench.

But it is time to speak of the warriors in those bloodless forensic
battles which were fought on this field, fifty years ago. They are all
fresh in my memory, but they have passed from the stage of life.
I have delayed this part of my undertaking to the last moment, from
the mere dread of entering upon it. I feel it to be a very difficult
task to present the lawyers of those days to the profession now, in
anything like their just attitude. Men of the hig'hest attainments at
the bar are entirely different from each other. Many Httle things
which cannot be detailed enter into the composition of the characters
of different men. The same qualities mingle in unequal proportions
in different persons and I feel embarrassed in every way as I ap-
proach the task of speaking of the professional gentlemen who
manned the post of duty on this field, fifty years ago.

There were then, as now, two clases of the profession here. One
class had a local practice, being principally engaged in causes arising
in their immediate locality. The practice of the other class was
co-extensive with the power of their ability and not always confined
to the county — of this later class there were several here.

JUDGE GOULD.

The Honorable James Gould had undoubtedly stood at the head
of the profession in this state, both as an advocate and a lawyer,
previous to his elevation to the bench of the Supreme Court. After
his retirement from that position he professed to have retired from
practice, and devoted himself principally to giving law lectures to

86 LITCIIFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Students, but in two cases in this county, and one in Hartford County,
he came to the bar and conducted the trials. One was the case of
the Phoenix Bank against Governor Wolcott and others, in which
the Governor endeavored to avoid payment of a debt for which he
was only a surety, on the grounds of usury. It was a proceeding
in equity, and the argument of Judge Gould was exceedingly able and
elaborate. He occasionally indulged in keen, cutting sarcasms,
which pointed strongly to the Honorable defendant who was present.
His argument was what Cotton Mather would call "a luculent com-
mentary" on the law of usury. The case was decided in favor of
the Bank.

The other was a trial to the jury in which a very intimate friend
of Judge Gould was a party, and in this case his professional emi-
nence was exhibited in a very striking manner. In his argument
he was entirely unimpassioned, and remarkably clear in his illustra-
tions. He stood much of the time with his hand on a book, which
stood on one end, on the table before him, and I do not remember
that he made a single gesture during the whole time of his argu-
ment. He occupied the attention of the court and. jury for an hour
and a half, and it was the last case he tried. He was a perfect master
of the most effective method of delivery. In his written opinions
while on the bench there is sometimes an involution of thought and
language as well as a prolongation of sentences which renders neces-
sary the strictest attention while reading to work out the true mean-
ing, but in his oral deliveries he had such a perfect mastery of the
laws of accent, emphasis and cadence as to make his meaning in-
telligible to the most careless hearer. The exhibition^ of his ability
in this case was an appropriate closing effort of a long career of high
professional eminence.

There were a few other members of the bar, not reaching the
eminence of Judge Gould, yet whose practice was co-extensive with
the county and extended sometimes into other Counties. The names
of the following gentlemen now occur to me as belonging to that
class: Noah B. Benedict, Asa Bacon, Elijah Sterling, David S.
Boardman and Phineas Miner. I have not included the name of
Jabez W. Huntington, for the reason that he was then a young man
and had not, by any means, reached the high standing which he
afterwards attained. He was engaged in very many of the cases
tried, but very often as a volunteer in aid of some young beginner
who had sought his help, which under such circumstances he was
always willing to render. For the same reason I have omitted the
late Chief Justice Church because he was then just beginning to
obtain a good professional standing, and was called to the bench of
the Supreme Court which he afterwards greatly adorned before he
had obtained the high rank as a lawyer which otherwise surely
awaited him.

' SEDGWICK'S ADDRESS 8/

NOAH B. BENEDICT.

From my best recollection of the standing of the first lawyers
at the bar in those olden times, I am inclined to award the first place
as an advocate to Noah B. Benedict. He had every advantage which
a fine personal appearance could give him, not very tall, but well
proportioned, with a countenance of great beauty, indicating kind-
ness of feeling and intelligence of mind. His arguments produced
conviction in the minds of the triers more by insinuation than by
impression. He was earnest, but seldom impassioned, mild and
winning in his manner, and thus worked his way as by stealth to
the heart and convictions of the court and jury. I remember a case
on trial in which he was opposed by Boardman ; and Benedict, who
was for the defendant on the trial, contested the points inch by inch
as they arose in the case. During an intermission some one asked
Boardman how they were getting along with their case. He replied
impatiently, "Not very well. Benedict is as ingenious as the devil
can make him, and he plagues us to death." He was engaged in
nearly all the important cases tried in all the courts, and his practice
was extensive in New Haven and Fairfield counties. He attended
the session of the Supreme Court at Litchfield in 1831 and argued
several cases, but left on account of illness before the term closed.
In a short time I heard he was dead. He had reached the age of
sixty-one years. In the case of Fairman vs. Bacon the last case
but one which Mr. Benedict argued. Judge Daggett, in giving the
opinion of the court, pays the following tribute to his memory : "I
have, in this opinion, made great use of a brief furnished by the late,
lamented Mr. Benedict, because I found it presented the argument
in that terse, yet luminous view of which that gentleman was so
conspicuous, and by which the court were so often instructed and
enlightened, and rarely more so than in this, one of his last efforts."

ASA BACON.

Asa Bacon was a native of Canterbury and cahie to Litchfield as
early as 1806, after a short period of practice at East Haven, and,
for a while, was a partner of Judge Gould. In 1820 he had become
a leading spirit at the bar. He had a fine personal appearance, being
tall and well proportioned, and usually richly dressed. The first
time I saw him before the jury his head was well cased in powder
and pomatum, and a long queue was dangling at his back ; but he
soon laid aside this conformity to old time fashions, although he was
the last member of the bar to do so. He was undoubtedly a very
hard student, and his briefs were the result of extensive and faithful
study, but was after all an interesting speaker. He would sometimes

88 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BElNCH AND BAR

interlude his aj-guments with specimens of drollery and flashes of
wit, and the expectation that these would be put forth secured a very
strict attention from all his hearers. He frequently quoted passages
of scripture, and commented upon them, not always irreverently,
but sometimes with rather unbecoming levity. He was a mortal
enemy of universal suffrage, and once in commenting upon the para-
ble of talents he called the bailee of one talent who had hid it in
the earth a universal suifrage man. He was a genial, jolly, com-
panionable man, and although not addicted to excessive liberality
in his benefactions, still kept himself in good standing while he re-
mained here. When he had reached the age of sixty years he was
appointed president of the Branch of the Phoenix Bank, located in
Litchfield, and after that was never seen professionally engaged in
Court. The last years of his life were spent in New Haven where
he died at a very advanced age.

GBNDRAL STIRLING

General Elisha Sterling was a native of Lyme and a graduate of
Yale College in the class of 1787. He studied law with the Hon.-
John Canfield of Sharon, who was his father-in-law, and settled in
Salisbury in 1791. He was a man of high order of talent, and had-
he addressed himself solely to professional points would probably
have stood at the head of the bar in this county. But he loved
money and gave much of his time to , different kinds of business,
and acquired great wealth for those times. Notwithstanding this
propensity he had an extensive practice and was engaged in most of
the cases coming from the northern portions of the county. He
was a ready speaker, not very select in the choice of words and
not eloquent by any established rule of elocution, but there was a
kind of impetuosity in his manner, accompanied by a rapid but dis-
tinct utterance of language which gave him popularity as an advo-
cate. He was appointed State's Attorney in 1814, and held the
office six years when Seth P. Beers, Esq., was appointed in his place.
He retired from practice soon after, and died in 1836, at the age of
seventy-two years. His wealth enabled him to indulge the strong
taste he had for a handsome style of living and equipage, and in
that direction his mind had strong aristocratical tendencies.

JUDGE BOARDMAN

David S. Boardman was a native of New Milford and settled
there in the practice of law after his admission to the bar in 1795.

se;dcwick's address 89

He was a man of retiring disposition, in no way giving showy dis-
play of his powers, but he was a finished legal scholar, and was
deemed a very safe and prudent professional adviser. He had a very
nice literary taste, and the least grammatical blunder by a judge or
lawyer attracted his attention and frequently his ridicule. His argu-
ments were pointed specimens of perspicuity, precision and force,
but he failed to attract much attention as an advocate through a
defect of vocal power. His voice was feeble and could scarcely
be heard except by those who were near him. He had a high char-
acter for moral rectitude, and his four or five years service at the
head of the County Court gave it a dignity and moral power which
in other years it had scarcely obtained. Sketches from his pen,
descriptive of some of the members of the bar in this County of the
last century were published in one of our county papers, some
twenty years ago, and they are of the deepest interest to those whose
tastes lead them in that direction of historic inquiry. They were
originally in letters written to myself, and were afterwards with his
consent prepared for the press and published in the paper and in
pamphlet form. He was a College classmate of Asa Bacon and
they were warm personal friends. He lived to the great age of
ninety-seven years.

PHINEAS MINER.

Phineas Miner, the last because the youngest of the class of
lawyers to whom I have referred deserves a much more extended
notice than I shall be able to give him. His amiable and genial
temper as a man seemed to make him very popular as a lawyer.
Fidelity to his client and a laborious attention to their interests was
a marked trait in his professional career. He commenced practice ■
in Winchester, his native town, and had there acquired a good stand-
ing in his profession when he came to Litchfield in 1816. He had
an extensive practice and was noted for the diligence with which
he pressed every point, however unimportant, which could be made
to tell in favor of his client. His arguments were generally ex-
tended to a great length, and I have known him to receive a gentle
hint from the Judge recommending a condensation of his thoughts.
He died in 1839 at the age of sixty years, and Mr. Day, the Reporter,
gives a flattering estimate of him in a foot note on the 134th page
of the 13th volume of Connecticut Reports.

I am now to speak of a class of lawyers, much younger than those
to whom I have already referred, but who had obtained a good
standing at the bar fifty years ago.

go LITCHFIBLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

WILLIAM G. WILLIAMS.

Of New Hartford, stood as high as any member of this class. He
belonged to the eminent and reputable Williams family of Massachu-
setts, his father being a nephew of Colonel Ephriam Williams the
founder of Williams Cbllege, and himself the first cousin of Bishop
Williams of the Episcopal Church of Connecticut. As a special
pleader he had no superior at the bar. He had a tolerably fair stand-
ing as an advocate, and was indefatigable in pursuing to the last
possible eflfort any purpose he had undertaken. If he failed in one
form of action he would try another, and never gave up till further
persistence was hopeless. He commenced business as a lawyer in
Sharon, where he married, but after a few years he removed to New
Hartford, where he remained during his life. He had scarcely
reached the age of sixty years when he died.

JOHN STRONG^ JR.,

Of Woodbury, his native town, was a lawyer of very fair standing.
I remember once to have heard Judge Boardman say, that if he
found John Strong differing from himself on a point, he always
doubted the correctness of his own conclusions. He was a ready
speaker and had a peculiar habit of looking all over the hall, fre-
quently directly behind himself, while he was addressing the jury.
His arguments were clear and logical, and he was always listened to
by the court with attention. He had scarcely reached the age of
fifty years when he died. '

CALVIN BUTLER,

Of Plymouth, had a very good reputation as a lawyer. He also
stood well with his fellow citizens of Plymouth, as he was often a
member of the legislature, and he was of the convention of this
state. He was also a member of the Senate in 1832. He had a part
in all cases which came from that town and managed a trial very
well. He was earnest in his manner of addressing the jury, and he
was in full practice up to the time of his death, when he had
reached the age of seventy-two years. He died suddenly, while
away from home, and left behind a good record as a faithful law-
yer and an honest man.

CYRUS SWAN,

Of Stonington, came to the bar of this county in 1798. He settled
in Sharon, and continued in full practice for twenty years. He was

SEDGWICK'S ADDRESS 9I

appointed a judge of the county court in 1818, and reappointed for
the succeeding year, but resigning the office before the close of the
term. His health becoming intolerant of sedentary habits and re-
quiring out-door pursuits, he never resumed full practice, although
he occasionally appeared in trials where his old friends demanded
his aid. His arguments were clear, sound and sensible, and were
listened to with attention. His mind was well stored with sound
legal maxims and his aim seemed to be to make a sensible applica-
tion of these to the case in hand. He died in 1835 at the age of
sixty-five years.

ANSEL STERLING.

A younger brother of the General, with whom he studied law,
settled first in Salisbury, but in 1808 went to Sharon, where he spent
his life. His talents were diversified, addicting himself readily to
any pursuit which was a source of money making, in which he was
very -successful. As a lawyer, his forensic ability was of high
order, nor was he deficient in legal science. His language flowed
readily and rapidly, and sometimes his appeals to the jury were very
efifective. He was a member of Congress for two terms, and did
not conceal his disappointment that he was not nominated for the
third. That compliment was afforded him two years later, but he
was defeated by Orange Merwin whom the federalists had placed
on their ticket. He died at the age of seventy-two years, leaving a
large estate and a numerous family.

JOSEPH MILLER^

Of Winsted, who died recently in Michigan at a very advanced age,
was a man of moral talent and of a higher order of legal acquire-
ments than he usually had credit for. After the removal of Mr.
Miller to Litchfield, his practice was large and continued to be so for
several years. His arguments were short, compact and logical,
and were listened to with attention and interest. In middle life he
removed to Michigan, where he had a prosperous career.

WILLIAM M. BURRALL,

A native, and through life a resident, of Canaan, was a lawyer of
very extensive practice in one branch of business. He commenced
a great many cases to the court, but never argued one on the final

92 LiTCHIflELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

trial. He would sometimes argue motions for continuance, or for
other purposes, and his success on such occasions showed that he
had underrated his own powers. Although he did not argue his
cases he was the master spirit in managing all the details of the trial,
in what order witnesses should be called, and the points of testi-
mony brought out. His associates depended greatly on his skill
in conducting this part of the proceedings. He had a kind, affable
and winning way in his social intercourse, and his offices were em-
ployed in adjusting and settling legal controversies. He acted as
committee and arbitrator in more cases than any pther member of
the bar of his time, and if a desire to make himself as indifferent as
possible to all parties sometimes seemed to hold him back from de-
cisive action, he always, in the end, showed true firmness and in-
tegrity. He was an associate judge of the County Court from 1829
to 1836, and after that chief judge for ten years. He died at the
age of seventy-seven years.

COI.ONEL WILLIAM COGGSWELL,

Of New Preston, a very worthy and respectable gentleman, was a
member of the bar and was very seldom absent from the courts.
He never engaged in the trial of a case, and very seldom spoke to
the bench, but he was always a busy man in the court room. He was
one of the electors who cast the vote of Connecticut for John Quincy
Adams for President in 1824. He died before he had reached a very
advanced age.

SETH r. BEERS.

When I came to the bar in 1820, Seth P. Beers, Esq., was in full
practice. He was appointed State's Attorney soon after, but resign-
ed in three years, having been appointed Commissioner of the
School Fund, which office he held for twenty-five years. I have
heard him say tha't some terms of the Court he had commenced as
many as one hundred and fifty cases, and he was very . thorough in
all matters committed to his trust. His talents as an advocate' were
respectable, his briefs being very full and his knowledge of every
minute point being very complete. It is hardly necessary to speak
further of him as he lived down to a period within the memory of^
most of those who are present.

PERRY SMITH,

Of New Milford, held a somewhat prominent place at the bar and
his practice was extensive. So many different estimates have been

SETH P. BEERS

SEDGWICK'S ADDRESS 93

made of Mr. Smith's real qualities, that it is difficult to speak of him
with any very strong assurance of correctness. That he had talents
and friends the success he achieved both as a lawyer and a politician
render certain, but those who remember the time of his professional
experience, here, know that he had enemies, and such would be the
natural result of the unrelenting bitterness with which he pursued
his adversaries in his efforts before the courts. There was a bitter-
ness in his invectives, a persistence in his persecutions, an implaca-
biHty in his enmities, which gave a decided character to his pro-
fessional career, and which insured him the enmity of all against
whom his efforts were directed. He was always listened to with a
kind of inquisitiveness as to what new fountain of bitterness he
would open, or what new invectives he would invent to pour out
upon his adversary. These were sometimes directed against the
opposing party, and upon the whole he incurred a great amount of
hatred. I am only speaking of what occurred in court, and express-
ing the opinion which we would form in witnessing his professional
conflicts. It cannot be doubted that he had many friends and sup-
porters outside of this scene of action and it is not likely that he was
as warm and constant in his friendship as he was bitter and unre-
lenting in his hatreds. After his election to the United States Senate
he retired from the bar and was very seldom seen here.

ROGER MILLS

Of New Hartford, was at one time a partner of Mr. Williams, of
whom we have already spoken, from whom he differed in every re-
spect except that both held the position of honorable and worthy
gentlemen. Mr. Mills was slow in his conception of thoughts, slow
in all the movements of mind, and very slow in his delivery of his
arguments, and yet when all his duties in a case were accomplished
it would be seen that he had made a creditable effort and that he
was far from being a lawyer of indifferent pretensions. His son of
the same name succeded him in the practice of law at New Hartford,
but has since moved to Wisconsin where he has had a successful

career.

MICHAEL E. MILLS

Of Norfolk, was a somewhat prominent member at the bar, not
because he had very much legal ability, but because he had the tact
to make much show out of little substance. He never attempted to
argue cases in the higher courts, but on the trial of motions-as they
came before the Courts, he was very prominent. We all thought

94 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

well of Uncle Mich, as we used to call him and so did the people
of Norfolk, for he was always a prominent man in the affairs of the
town. He was a member of the legislature in 1830 and 1831, and
there made himself conspicuous in the same way he did before the
courts. He lived to a very advanced age. '

CHARLES B. PHELPS

Settled in Woodbury soon after his admission to the bar, nearly
sixty years ago. He continued in practice while he lived. He
died suddenly, from a disease of the heart, at the age of seventy-two
years. He held a respectable position as a lawyer and for two years
was a judge of the_ County Court, while that court was holden by a
single judge. All who knew him have a very pleasant memory of
his genial hnmor, pertinent anecdotes, and witty and pungent say-
ings. The younger members of the bar were delighted with his com-
pany and all deeply deplored his sudden death.

MATTHEW MINOR

Of Woodbury, was a lawyer of good classical education and respect-
able legal attainments. He had a native diffidence, which prevented
him putting himself forward, very often on the trial of cases, but
when his powers were brought out he made a respectable show.
He belonged to one of the eminent families of Woodbury and for
personal qualities was very much respected.

NATHANIEL P. PERRY

Of Kent, was a quiet, unobtrusive, conscientious man. He was the
only lawyer in that town during the greater part of his professional
life, and did a good local business. He was very diligent in the pur-
suit of his profession and generally argued the cases that he 'com-
menced. He was a member of the Senate for two successive years
and died at the age of about sixty years.

HOLBROOK CURTIS

Was a, native of Newtown but practiced law in Watertown. He
was a judge of the County Court for two years was frequently a

JUDGE C. B. PHELPS

Sedgwick's address 95

memljer of the legislature, where he had a good share of influence.
He was usually chairman of the committee on divorces and his re-
ports in such cases were very interesting. He was a man of good
common sense and acquitted himself creditably as a judge, but his
powers failed with his advancing life and he lived for several years
in comparative obscurity.

ISAAC LEAVENWORTH AND ROYAI, R. HINMAN.

There were two lawyers in Roxbury fifty years ago, Isaac Leaven-
worth and Royal R. Hinman, who made a considerable show of busi-
ness before the courts, but who retired from practice in the course
of a few years. Mr. Leavenworth went into other business in New
Haven where it is said he has been very successful and is still living
at a very advanced age. Mr. Hinman held the office of Sec-
retary of State for eight years, and published several pamphlets con-
taining the statistics of many of- the most prominent families in the
state.

JOSEPH H. BELLAMY

Of Bethlehem, deserves more than a passing tribute. He was a
grandson of the celebrated divine of that name and was a man of
great moral worth. He never had a very extensive practice as a
lawyer, but was much imployed in various branches of public busi-
ness. He was frequently a member of the legislature, and once rep-
resented the sixteenth district in the Senate. He died in middle
life, and all, of all names and parties, pay him the tribute of an
affectionate and respectable remembrance.

THEODORE NORTH

Of Goshen, his native town, removed to Chenango County, N. Y.,
about 1823. He graduated at Williams College in 1806 with the
highest honors of his class. He was a remarkably well- read-lawyer,
and had a respectable standing as an advocate. He attained to
eminence in his profession in the State of New York. He died
some twenty year^ since.

96 tITCTIFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

YOUNG MEMBERS OF THE BAR.

In 1820 there were several young members of the bar who had
just commenced practice, some of whom afterwards became eminent,
and two of them, Truman Smith, and his cousin Nathaniel B. Smith
still survive. Besides these there were George Wheaton, lyeman
Church, David C. Sanford, Nathaniel Perry of New Milford, and
William S. Holabird. These all lived to a period within the memory
of many now in practice here. Perry died at an earlier date than
either of the others and left a family, but he was still a young man
when he was called away. Sanford became judge of the Supreme
Court and was greatly respected for his eminent fitness for the place.
Wheaton was celebrated for the great skill with which he prepared
his cases for trial, and his arguments, homely in style, and common-
place in method, were listened to with great attention. They were
often charged with dry shots of wit which told upon his adversary
and excited merriment with the bar.

EEMAN CHURCH

Obtained quite a celebrity for his legal acumen and sharp points of
character. If a lawyer is to be deemed successful in proportion
to the number of cases in which he wins he was far from being a
successful lawyer. I am inclined to think that the spirit of forensic
combativeness, which seemed to possess the whole man, led him
sometimes to advise groundless prosecutions and to encourage
groundless defences. He wanted to fight, no matter whether for
the right or wrong, and the consequence was that he lost more
cases in proportion to the whole number in which he was engaged
than any other lawyer at the bar. Still, nobody could deny that he
possessed eminent shrewdness and sagacity as a lawyer, as well as
forensic ability of very high order.

WILEIAM S. HOLABIRD.

A native of Canaan, practiced in Cblebrook, but spent most of his
life in Winsted. He possessed talents which might have given him
prominence and distinction as a lawyer had he devoted himself
strictly to professional avocations, but he addicted himself more to
other pursuits than to that. He was Lieutenant Governor for two
years, and for a short time United States Attorney for the District
of Connecticut, .and I never heard any complaint of his want of fit-
ness for either position. He experienced various fortunes in his
worldly affairs, being sometimes poor and sometimes rich. At

TRUMAN SMITH

Sedgwick's address 97

his death, which occurred soon after he reached the age of fifty
years, he left a handsome estate to his family.

There were a few young members of the bar in 1820 who died
after, a short career, some of whom were probably never heard of
by the members of this generation. Their names now occur to me :
Homer Swift of Kent ; Philo N. Heacock of New Milford ; and
Chauncey Smith of Sharon. These started in professional life with
ardent hopes and fair prospects of success, but their career was soon
cut short bv death.

GEORGE S. BOARDMAN,

Son of tlie Hon. Elijah Boardrnan of New Milford, was admitted
to the bar in 1821. He was a young man of decided promise and
was a special favorite of his uncle Judge Boardrnan. When I visit
New Milford I observe, still standing, the brick fire proof office
which his father built for him, but he lived only a few months after
taking possession of it, and his death was greatl}- lamented through-
out the community. His efforts at the bar gave proof of decided
talent and he had made himself a special favorite among the mem-
bers.

CONCLUSIONS.

The whole history of this bar for the last fifty years, teems with
pleasant recollections. As a whole, it has a reputation for high
toned integrity and professional comity among its members which
is very much to its credit. If there have been instances of profes-
sional delinquency, they have been so rare as to have made no mark
on the record of the times.

I have now spoken, to as great an extent as the time will allow,
of the men who flourished in this temple of justice fifty years ago.
I have no time to give expression to thoughts which come up, with
great urgency for utterance, upon such an occasion as this, or to
review the history of the last fifty years in any other relation than
those which appertain to the administration of justice here. The
progress of human affairs during that period, towards their final con-
summation, has been marked with great changes and vicissitudes.
What shall be their development during the fifty years to come, can
be -of very little personal interest to me. I cherish the hope that
this bench will continue to be occupied by judges of integrity, ability
and of high judicial aptitudes, and that this bar will contmue to be
adorned with members whose pure lives and eminent attamments
shall make their position one of honor and usefulness.

98 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BLXCH AXD BAR

Standing here alone, the only member of this bar who has been
in practice for fifty years, I take pleasure in expressing to my
brethren of more recent experience the deepest gratitude for the
pleasant and friendly relations they have permitted me to enjoy with
them during the whole of our acquaintance. By their kind amenities
and the favor of the judges, the rays of my evening sun have fallen
upon me softer than did those of my noonday. These precious
remembrances will remain with me as long as I have consciousness,
and in conclusion I say to my brethren, not as a thoughtless wish,
but as an honest prayer — may God bless you, each and all.

WntmtB ^tmxnmnttB

REMINISCENCES

OF THE

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BAR

DELIVERED AT THE

CENTENNIAL BANQUET

NOVEMBER 18, 1898

BY

HON. DONALD J. WARNER

DONALD J. WARNER

Reminiscences of Litchfield County Bar.

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the Bar. I thank you all sin-
cerely that I am permitted to be present on this occasion, and the
effort would require better language than I can express to tell you
of my gratitude at your kind reception.

If I understand the purport of what is expected of me on this
evening it is that I shall give my reminiscences of the Bar, of the
sayings and doings of the dead who have passed before me. As a
preliminary matter I wish to call your attention to an earlier period
in my life in relation to the great inroads made by the Legislature
of the State of Connecticut upon the ancient laws. Fifty years
ago last April, through a rupture in the democratic party in Salis-
bury to which I belonged, a faction, I ought to say, not being identi-
fied with either, but attending to my own business rather than to any
political aspirations, I was urged to stand for the nomination for
representative to the House ; I did so, was elected and became a
member of the Legislature which held its session in May, 1849.
Fortunately or unfortunately I was elected, in my 29th year, although
at that time I was considered a very youthful man to legislate for the
people of the State of Connecticut. Lafayette Foster, the distin-
guished g-entleman, state senator and judge of the Superior Court,
was the Speaker of the House ; Hon. Charles J. McCurdy afterwards
minister to Austria and a judge of the Superior and Supreme
Courts, was Lieut. Governpr and presided over the Senate. . I was
highly honored, without any solicitation on my part, by being ap-
pointed on the Judiciary Committee. Of course I had to go to the
tail end of it, a very proper place for me,

Mr. Huntington: — But that tail wagged the dog.

Mr. Warner: — Well, I will tell you about the dog later. In
the year 1847, three distinguished men in this state had been ap-
pointed a committee to revise the statutes of the state. That com-
mittee consisted of Governor Minor, afterwards a Superior Court
judge, Judge Loren P. Waldo and Francis Fellowes, a lawyer, keen
and shrewd, of Hartford, on that committee. The very first thing
that was referred to our judiciary committee was the report of this
revision committee, and our very first subject were the details of
that report. They appeared before us at our first sitting. And al-
low me to say right here, that chief- justice Butler of Norwalk, then
state senator, was the chairman of that judiciary committee. The
revision committee had drafted one or two laws which they wished
the judiciary committee would see were offered in the Legislature

102 WARNER'S REMINISCENCES

and passed so that it might be incorporated in the revision which
would be published that year.

This was only an act permitting and authorizing, in a suit between
parties, that the party in question should have the privilege of call-
ing upon the opposite party as a witness to testify to the facts that
he might inquire about. Judge Waldo was also on the judiciary
committee, repesenting Tolland. The distinguished William W.
Eaton was his colleague in the House. I, being the first at the tail
end of the committee, was called upon after the discussion to give
my opinion. The opinion which I gave I had a long time under
consideration in relation to the law of witnesses and parties inter-
ested being permitted to testify. Chairman Butler called upon me
to give my opinion. I said distinctly, (it was in the presence of the
revision committee also) that I was opposed to any such law. They
had said to me it was a copy of an Act that had been passed in the
State of New York, a recent statute there, and I gave my reason '
as being opposed to it, one great reason was this, that an honest
party might be compelled by a scoundrel to testify to a fact that
would be damaging to him unless he had the same ability to testify
himself. And I was in favor of going further, I was. in favor of
passing an Act which would sweep away and wipe out that century-
old doctrine and permit every man, party or interested witness in
any form, to tell his story before a court and jury, that justice might
be done. I said further "look over your Connecticut reports and
you will find decision after decision where questions have gone up
to the Supreme Court to ascertain whether there was a shred of
interest in the witness that testified before the court. I said to
them "we have the action of account in which witnesses are permitted
to testify; we have the action of book debt in which all parties may
testify, and how many cases, will you find in the reports in this state
where the question is laid before them whether an action which was
brought in book debt did not properly belong in an action of general
assumpsit.

Well, the next gentleman was the late Hon. John P. C. Mather
of New London who sat at my right. He concurred with me, and
so it went around from lawyer to lawyer and laymen, we had an
excellent layman there, he did royal work, and it was passed unani-
mously with the exception of Judge Waldo, who said : "I am in
favor of the law, but we tried it last year in the Legislature and it
could not pass and the people are not ready for it, and I have con-
cluded that the next best thing to do is to adopt the law of New
York." Well, there, was then in the House a man named Peck of
New Haven, a brilliant man, a lawyer by education and a leader
of the Whig side ; there was Trumbull, later Governor, there was
the elder Charles Chapman who were leaders from Hartford, there
was Chauncey Cleveland, Ex-Governor, a power anywhere, his name
and his fame are known t*^ you all ; there was William W. Eaton

Warner's reminiscences 105

also. Well, I was finally instructed by the chairman, Judge Butler
to draw up a bill and have it presented. I drew the bill which
was introduced in the House or Senate, I forget which. It immedi-
ately passed the judiciary committee, and was introduced into the
House, and also in the Senate. It lay upon the table sometime
there and the matter was often cussed and discussed. Judge Button
came to me while in the House and said to me "Mr. Warner, every
member of the Superior and Supreme Court is opposed to this law,
it is such a radical change that they think a great injustice, wrong,
fraud and perjury will be perpetrated in the administration of jus-
tice." I said "Well, I can't help that, I am in favor of it." So it
went along, and one day Judge Button came to me in my seat and
said to me "Mr. Warner do you intend by that Act that a criminal
should testify in Court?" "By no means, sir." Button said "Well,
he has a right to." I said "No, sir." Well, we looked at it and he
explained it to me, to my astonishment I felt as if I had done a very
wrong thing, that I had disgraced myself by drafting a bill that
extended the law to criminals, and I looked at it and it convinced
me that he was right. I immediately went to Chapman in his seat
and told what Judge Button said and I told him I thought it per-
mitted of such an interpretation. He replied "well, it does, now
what shall we do?" After a thought, he said "Warner, draw an
amendment, when it coijies into the House, just move an amendment
to the bill." Well, I drew the amendment and soon after that Chap-
man came to me hurriedly and said "that bill has only passed the
Senate by the casting vote of the Lieut. -Governor, don't you intro-
duce that amendment, don't say a word, unless objection is made in
the House, and then you can offer the amendment." The bill came
into the House passed by the Senate and the usual formal vote was
gone through with and the bill passed in the House. Chapman
came around to me and said he "Well, Warner, it went through
like grease." Thus was passed the law which made a radical change
in the administration of justice and permitted interested parties in
criminal as well as civil cases, to testify in their own behalf. That
law I consider one of the wisest laws that was ever passed by this
Legislature and the roll of honor for it stands to Connecticut, and
I thank God that some of its labor belonged to Litchfield County.

The very next term of the Superior Court in Litchfield County
after that session of the Legislature was held in August and pre-
sided over by Judge Church, a native of Salisbury and one of the
best lawyers on the bench. There was an interesting criminal trial
on the docket, a lawyer of prominence from New York and Judge
Seymour were the prisoner's counsel. The defendant had put in
his' evidence when Judge Seymour arose and said to his Honor,
"here is a statute passed by the last Legislature, I am not clear in
my own mind as to the proper interpretation of it, whether it will
permit the prisoner to testify or not, but I am of the opinion that he

I04 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

has that right, and I submit the question to your Honor for the
purpose of determining." The Judge with considerable acerbity of
feehng animadverted upon the passage of that law as cutting up
root and branch of the old principle which had come down to us
and which no one had conceived ought to be changed. He thought
it would introduce fraud and perjury and all those things which go
to outweigh and destroy justice as administered by the court. Then
Seymour, after the judge had decided that the prisoner had the
right to testify, said to the States Attorney "Then I offer you this
prisoner to testify, I don't propose to put him on the stand for he
might say something which might inadvertently injure his case"
and that was a shrewd act on his part. The States Attorney de-
clined to accept it and the prisoner did not testify.

Now there was another radical change and overthrow of the com-
mon law principle, and that was that no plea in abatement of a suit
brought in an action of tort should bar the prosecution of it, which
was in effect that the right of action for personal injuries survived.
In other words, that the executor or administrator of a person that
had deceased could continue an action commenced by .the deceased.
Well, that was a charitable act, but too radical for many of the
lawyers, but it passed the Legislature and no one has seen fit since
to have it repealed.

Now I will tell of an incident which I heard which shows the
workings of the old law. There was a distinguished lawyer by the
name of Loomis in Bridgeport, a merry fellow full of fun, and there
was also Dwight Morris. This was before the passage of the law
of the survival of actions for personal injuries and before the law
allowing criminals to testify. There was a wayward son down in
Bridgeport who had an old, warm, kindhearted father. This way-
ward son had cost the old man many hundreds of dollars and great
grief. He had recently committed some tortious act and he was
prosecuted criminally and convicted and then prosecuted cfvilly for
damages and his body was attached, and the poor old father gave
bonds for his appearance at Court.

This worthless son was a merry-go-round fellow and he began to
have some feelings for his old gray-headed father, who was in great
grief and sorrow and in great affliction; his money was nearly ex-
pended on his boy who was so wayward. Well, Dwight Morris was
the junior counsel who was most familiar with the case that had to
be tried at the approaching term, and this rollicking fellow came into
his office one day and talked over the case and the facts in it, how
much they could do and what circumstances would mitigate the
damages. He said "Well, now, Morris, supposing I should die be-
fore that case comes on ; would that have any effect on the case ?"
Morris said "Why, yes, that would end the case." This son then
replied "By God, I guess I had better die first." Morris said "I
think that is a damned good idea." A few days before the session

WARNER S REMINISCENCES I05

of the Court Dwight Morris hurried into Loomis's office and said
"My God, Loomis, I guess I have committed murder." "Why?"
"Why our cHent is dead, he has committed suicide ; he came into my
office and said he guessed he would die if it would end the case,"
and in a foolish manner I said "Why, it would be a damned good
idea." Well, the case went out, the poor old man's money was
saved, and he lost his son.

It is a well-established fact that in the law repealing that old
common law which prohibited an interested witness to testify, Con-
necticut was the pioneer. And that Westminster Hall in England
from which we received our common law adopted that very act that
was passed by the Legislature of 1848. And from there it has ex.-
tended all over the United States.

Brethren, I commenced reading law in March, 1841, under the
instructions of Hon. John H. Hubbard at Lakeville, and I spent a
portion of my time under his advice at Litchfield so that I might
have the advantages of attending Court there, and under the in-
struction of the Hon. Origen S. Seymour, that venerable and great
man. I completed my studies with Mr. Hubbard and was admitted
to the bar at the August term, 1843. Now as it was expected of me
that I should speak of the lawyers who are gone, that I knew when
I was first admitted to the bar, I shall go in routine and start with
my native town.

Before I come to those that I knew, I wish to speak about an-
other man, one of the pioneers of law in the town of Salisbury, be-
cause he was the ancestor of a very distinguished race of people,
the ancestor of that prominent man, a judge of the Supreme Court
of the United States who went from the State of Pennsylvania and
died a few years ago. Adonijah Strong was one of the rough-
est pieces of granite, I suppose, that ever existed. He had a strong
powerful mind, he was full of wit and humor, he was illiterate, but
he had great common sense and he had great force and ability and
effect upon the court and jury, as I have learned by tradition.
Adonijah had a peculiar voice, it is said, and he had a good old wife
by the name of Nabby, and a great many stories are told about him.
He was a strong man and belonged to the Congregational Church
and a great supporter of it. There was another colonel there, a
distinguished man. Col. Joshua Porter. He was the ancestor of
distinguished sons, one of them was a cabinet officer under the
presidency of John Quincy Adams. Now about the time that the
Methodist people organized a society in Salisbury there was a great
deal of opposition to them. I guess there was more objection to
them than the Salvation Army has seen in these later days. They
held a meeting in my old school district on Ore Hill, and Col. Strong
and Col. Porter had made up their minds that they would go over
there, but not for any very religious purposes. Well, they eaoh
had a peculiar reputation. Col. Strong had the reputation of im-

I06 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

bibing considerably and eating heartily. Col. Porter had another
reputation, but I will let you guess what that was. It is spoken of
in the Scriptures. Well, the clergyman who was to ofRciate on that
occasion had been advised and Col. Strong's character was por-
trayed and so was Col. Porter's. They went in and sat down, and,
as I said, for not very worthy purposes, and after a while the clergy- ■

man was speaking about the characteristics of different individuals,
and he said "where is that wine-bibber and a glutton ?" Col. Strong
got up and said "here I am, sir !" and sat down. The next thing
the preacher said when speaking of the wickedness of the world,
"and where is he." Col Porter sat still. Strong said "Col. Porter,
get up and answer to your name as I did?"

Now I will come to those whom I knew in Salisbury. There was
John G. Mitchell of Salisbury, I believe he was born in Southbury.
He came from a very pious parentage and was admitted to the bar,
and came to Salisbury at an early age. He was not an educated
man academically speaking, he was rough in his manners, uncouth,
but he always maintained a reputation of a man of the highest
integrity, but that is common among laywers in Litchfield County.
Everybody esteemed him. He had in his office a very few books, -j

old and musty, but he was a trial justice and judge of probate after
the establishment of the Salisbury district. He was also connected
in merchandise with Mr. Walton under the firm name of Walton &
Mitchell, and he lived to an advanced age. He was rough and un-
couth, but he had great redeeming traits. Late in life he came
under the influence of a revival in the village in Lakeville and be-
came a very religious man to the astonishment of everybody.

He was frequently called upon to speak in Methodist and re-
ligious meetings, he attended faithfully always, and in one of them
he spoke of how they should work and toil to bring men into the 'J

fold. He said "brethren and sisters, you know the sharks follow the
ship, now cast your nets out among them and you may bring in a
lawyer as they brought me in." On another occasion he was speak- /^^
ing of the power of God, and talked well about it and wound up by
saying "why God could take and throw me right through this meet-
ing house, but he won't do it."

There was another old lawyer there when I was admitted to the
bar in 1843 who gave me a great deal of good advice? He ad-
vised me one day as a lawyer "if anybody offers you anything, take i
it, if it is nothing but a chew of tobacco." I recollected that and
always took one.

Then there was Philiander Wheeler, a Yale College graduate, an
educated man, a keen bright man, full of wit and humor, quick
and happy in repartee, but after I came to the bar he never attended
the courts at Litchfield, neither did Mitchell, but tried ca^es before
justices and arbitrators. One day he was called in over in Canaan
as an adviser to the justice in the trial of a man by the name of

JOHN H. HUBBARD

WARXER S REMINISCENCES lO/

Rockwell who was prosecuted for murdering his brother. Leman
Church was the defendant's counsel and the Hon. John H. Hubbard
was another, and the prosecuting attorney I think was Elmore, and
it was a protracted case, and one forenoon the lawyers had a set-to
as to the admissibility of evidence or some question that^ arose before
them, and there was a great deal of controversy between the lawyers,
and after very much had been said they adjourned and went to din-
ner. The lawyers sat around the table and Wheeler came in and sat
down. The landlord came and asked him what he would have, he
wanted to know if he would take some of the goose. "No" he
said "I have had that all the morning and I don't want any."

There was an old lady who possessed some property in Salis-
bury, whom they called Aunt Polly. She was litigious in her
character and she applied to every lawyer to sue somebody and when
one would refuse she would go to another and finally she got a
writ out for one of her neighbors and brought it before the Court.
Wheeler defended the person that she had brought the suit against
and he would stir up Aunt Polly until she become violent and quick-
tempered. She had her money in specie tied up in one corner of
her handkerchief, and he became so intolerable, as she thought,
towards her that she jumped up and she just flung this specie at
his head and it hit him, but didn't hurt him very much. He picked
it up and put it in his pocket. No sooner had he done that,
than Aimt Polly went for him and downed him over his Chair and
the lawyer on the other side said "stick to him, aunt Polly." That
was a scene in court in the early days.

I come now to speak of a man to whom I feel greatly indebted,
and I wish I could pay a better tribute to his character than I am
able to, and that is the Hon. John H. Hubbard. He was a native
of Salisbury and in his early struggles he had formidable opposition
to contend with. In early life he was feeble and unable to work
and finally he chose this profession, and by dint of educating him-
self by hard study and teaching school winters he was admitted to
the bar in the year 1826. He had a great opposition politically, it
was the day of anti-masonry when the feelings of people were very
much excited upon that question arising out of the alleged death
of one Morgan in the State of New York. He adopted the views
of the anti-masonic party and was opposed by strong men and he
had a terrible struggle, but he held his own. He had that per-
sistent indomitable never-die principle in him that carried him
along and he became a distinguished lawyer of the bar of Litch-
field County. He is a living example to young men, no matter what
the circumstances may be, if he is persistent, if he is studious, if
he bends his efforts in that direction with an inflexibility that is not
to be beaten, he will in the end conquer. I owe a debt of gratitude
to that man for he drilled me in the principles of the law to such an
extent that he said when I went to the office of Judge Seymour so

I08 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

as to be present when the courts were in session and learn some
thing of its practice, that I was able to be admitted as soon as my
time of study should expire. He became a member of Congress
and represented the 4th district. He was states attorney for the
county for how many years I don't now remember.

I will now speak of another gentleman, a lawyer in Salisbury,
Roger Averill. He was a graduate of Union College, tall, erect
and well proportioned, dignified in manners and a lawyer of fair
ability. He practiced in Salisbury for some years, but the field
was not sufficiently wide and he moved to Danbury and practiced
there, until he was made Lieut.-Governor during a portion of the
time of the distinguished war governor. Gov. Buckingham. He
was my opponent in many cases that we tried and he early taught
me an important lesson in table pounding. In a case we were try-
ing before a justice I became quite vehement and brought my fist
down on the table so strong and so often that he commiserated me
and felt sorry for me, and he kindly placed a law book upon the
table on the spot where I had been hammering and said "Brother
Warner, I am afraid you will injure your hand, the book is softer."
That took all the starch out of me.

Another gentleman by the name of Norton J. Buel was a native
of Salisbury. He studied a portion of his time under the venerable
Charles F. Sedwick, and the latter portion of it under Judge Church
when he was practicing in Salisbury. He moved to Naugatuck
in the first place and afterwards to Waterbury, but he frequently
tried cases in this county and at this bar. He was a successful
lawyer and a gentleman, and one who acquitted himself with great
ability as a lawyer.

Moving along East, we come to North Canaan and we find John
Elmore, he was a native of the town and I understood he was a
very popular young man when he started in business, he was sur-
rounded by many friends,' he was very genial and a hale fellow
well-met, everybody liked Jack Elmore, and he was on the high-
tide to become a successful lawyer, but his convivial habits dragged
him down.

Leman Church, who was a half brother of Samuel Church, was
a native of Salisbury, and he attended the law school of Judge
Gould at Litchfield. He located at North Canaan about the same
time that Elmore did. Instead of having many friends to aid him
he had to encounter the opposition of the prominent men of the
place. I asked years ago an old gentleman who was familiar with
North Canaan why it was that they all stood by Jack Elmore and
not by Church. Well, he said, Elmore was a congenial man, he
was a pleasant man, he had all the social ehments in him that were
attractive. While they never saw Church, he never met us any-
where and if he did, why there was no congeniality between us, they
were all opposed to him in the town, I mean the prominent men;

WARNEIR S REMINISCENCES 100

but he studied his books and thought deeply. He would occasion-
ally have a case, and bye and bye his star began to rise, and though
he could not and did not command the love, yet he commanded the
respect of the people by dint of his great talents and power. I con-
sidered Leman Church one of the ablest lawyers and the best
equipped on all occasions that I ever met. He had a keen, quick
perception, he had that continuousity of purpose ; he did not pander
to please the multitude nor to the applause of the individual. He
ploughed a straight furrow along his own course, and he attained
the highest position at the bar at an early age. He had the keenest
blade of satire, wit and humor, it abounded with him; at repartee
he was never at a loss, nor upon any question that the judge might
propound to him whether he ever had the case under consideration
or not; and always acquitted himself with the highest ability. I
speak thus of him because I was so situated when I first came to
the bar, the other lawyers being older, I was forced to call upon
Leman Church, and he aided me and always assisted me in any
case for which I might call upon him. Physically he was tall, frail
in appearance, he had a hunch with his head slightly deformed, a
shrivelled face, lean and gaunt, and his apparel was always neat
but of the coarsest character. His feet were clad in heavy brogan
shoes, but the redeeming feature of his countenance was his eye,
and such an eye would convince you gentlemen when cast upon
you as being that of a man of powerful intellect. Now to speak
of his ability as a lawyer. Porter Burrall, the son of William Bur-
rall, a Canaan man, a highly educated man was president of the
Housatonic Railroad. Some of its directors lived in the city of
New York and some question arose in relation to the management
of the road and there were lawyers in New York who had the
question under advisement and they had expressed opinions in re-
lation to it. There was a final meeting appointed for the further
discussion and the determination of the question involved. Bur-
rall called upon Church and told him he wanted to have him to go
down to New York City and attend that Director's meeting. Church
said in his peculiar voice "I am not going down among those dandy
lawyers they think they know everything, and I am not going."
However, Burrall had great faith in him and insisted upon his go-
ing, and he finally went down, clad like a clod-hopper and he sat
down in that convention. The opinions of these distinguished New
York Lawyers were called for and finally Mr. Burrall said, "Mr.
Chairman, I wish my friend Mr. Church of Canaan might be per-
mitted to speak." Well Church got up, a most inferior looking
man, you can't find one to compare with him in that respect, but
he went at the question under discussion and laid them out so broad
and clear and so perfectly lucid that he established them, and his
views were finally adopted. He could not bear a fop, he could not
bear what he called a Miss. Nancy, or vaporism of any kind, he

no LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

went too far perhaps in that respect, but he had a happy gift of
puncturing bubbles and I will give you one or two instances of it.
Now you know that when young men come to the bar and make
their first appearance before a Jury, they wish to make an impres-
sion and sometimes be classical and ornate. There was brother
Hitchcock who lived in Winsted, a man for whom I held the high-
est respect, and whose memory I ■ revere. He and Judge Granger
and myself were great friends. Hitchcock was a partner of Hol-
abird. They had a very important case to be tried at L,itchfield.
Hitchcock had made great preparations in the case, and it was
among his first efforts at the bar in the way of argument and trial,
and' he familiarized Granger and myself with the case and we felt
a very deep interest in his behalf. Hitchcock in the course of his
argument animadverted upon one principal witness in the case
against him, he was a very important witness for the other side,
and it was very important for Hitchcock's client that the Jury
should not take his word or the testimony he gave before the Court.
In the course of his argument Hitchcock said, alluding to that wit-
ness, "why, gentlemen of the jury, he is the very 'foUiculus,' in
this case." A little further along he said "He is a Jupiter Tonans,
gentlemen of the Jury." When Leman Church came to answer
that he said "Now, gentlemen of the Jury my young friend here,
brother Hitchcock has attempted to mislead you ; why he has talked
about one Miss Polly New Rose gentlemen of the jury, have you
seen any such witness on this stand?" "Not satisfied with that,
he has imposed upon you again, he has talked about a witness here
by the name of Jew Peter Toe Nails." As soon as we could,
Granger and I took our hats and went out. Another case we had
in the Superior Court in which Leman Church was interested, we
had medical experts in, and a learned Doctor by the name of Fuller
from New Haven was there as a witness against the interests of
Church's client. He went along very learnedly, as such physicians
do, and when Church came to cross-examine this witness he com-
menced by saying "well, now. Dr. Fooler" and he took the wind ovtt
of him pretty effectually.

Another illustration of his mode of examining a witness. There
was' a great controversy in years gone by between Jedediah Graves
and Sylvanus Merwin, father-in-law and son-in-law, about a man
who went and took up the tombstones of his children and offered
them for sale on an execution for a judgment.

Graves was a pompous sort of fellow, he was a trial justice in
the town of New Milford and he was called upon to testify to what
was said before him on a trial. He went along well and easily
and was turned over to Church for cross-examination, and Church
in his questions began to imply that he was going .outside of the
truth. After a while the witness stopped and says "Squire Church,
I have a realizing sense of the obligations of my oath, I have ad-

WARNUR S REMINISCliNCES 1 1 1

ministered them and I protest against your insinuations." Church
said "Squire Elliott, if you have got through with your peroration,
please answer my question."

Now I come to speak of that distinguished man in North Canaan,
Miles Toby Granger. He was a graduate of Wesleyah University
at Middletown in this state. He was a school teacher on a plan-
tation down in Mississippi, teaching the sons and. daughters of the
surrounding plantations, and during that time he studied law in
Mississippi and was admitted to the bar in that state. He came
back to Connecticut and went into the office of Leman Church and
studied law with him for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of
Connecticut laws and was admitted to the bar after 1843. He was
the greatest wit, humorist and wag of the bar, he was the very
Mark Twain of the bar. His sayings, his wit and his humor might
be read as Innocents at Home instead of Innocents Abroad. He
was skilled in doggerel poetry as he called it. He would see the
ludicrous and ridiculous in persons and things that no one but he
thought of, and he would bring it out to the great amusement of
his hearers. His very first argument in the Superior Court was
in poetry. It was the case of Dunham vs. Dunham. Dunham
brought a petition for a divorce against his wife, he was a widower
when he married, and she was a widow. They were both very old
and infirm, their spouses were dead and they desired companionship,
and so they inter-married. Jack Elmore brought the petition and
in that petition he set up as a ground, a fradulent contract. Judge
Ellsworth, a very grave man and a deacon of the church in Hart-
ford was holding Court. Granger led off in the argument for the
defense and Church was to close the debate. His whole argument
was in poetry, but I remember nothing but the last verse, which
was this :

"Now all his hopes in ruins lie.
Crushed by this prolapsus uteri."

He was a great fellow for giving names to persons. He dubbed
me by the name of Elder, and it has been carried on to this day, and
I believe I had been so addressed since I have been here. Why he
did it I don't know, whether an elder of the Methodist Episcopal
church or some other persuasion I havn't any idea, he never ex-
plainded it to me. He was full of his jokes and quirks, it made no
difference whether it was foe or friend, but it was all in good na-
ture. Well, you all know his history in later life when he was
highly honored, represented his town in the Legislature, in the Sen-
ate and represented the 4th district in Congress after his retirement
as a Judge.

Col. Jacob B. Hardenberg, he was a native of Kingston, N. Y.
He was a good lawyer, a soldier and a warrior at Gettysburg under
Col- Pratt. I might well say of him "he was the bravest of the
brave."

112 IvlTCHFlELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Now I come to one of my first students, George Washington
Peet. He was a native of Salisbury and read law in my office and
completed his studies in the law in the Harvard Law School. Soon
after his admission lie located in South Canaan in the office of
Judge Burrall and commenced practice there, and afterwards at
Falls Village. From his maternal ancestry he inherited the power
of acquisitiveness, which was but little diluted by what he inherited
from the paternal side. And only semi-occasionally did he commit
waste by profuse expenditure. ' He was a unique character. Peet
was a nervous, excitable, confident, energetic, bold man. He went
in pursuit of money and he got it. He was not devoid of wit and by
it occasionally entertained us. We boys were playing tricks upon
each other, as I presume they are now, the younger members.
Hitchcock had a good deal of that in his makeup, and one day at
the Court in Litchfield in warm weather Peet was down there with
his linen cOat on, and in those days the clerk had on his desk a
wafer box with little red wafers, we didn't have mucilage then,
but we used red wafers to stick things on, and Hitchcock got out
a lot of these every little while, then would wet one of them and
go around and slap Peet on the back and stick on a wafer, and soon
got him pretty well pasted. Peet was marching around in different
places making an exhibition of his back, and finally he found peo-
ple were laughing at him. Peet would ask, "well, what are you
laughing at" and then they would laugh the more. Finally some-
one asked "What the devil have you got on your back, Peet?"
Peet was very indignant and accused Hitchcock of trying to make
him the butt of this bar.

As I said. Granger gave names to everybody. There is a place
in South Canaan called Dogtown, and years ago there was a tavern
there and the place of trial of many cases. That was Peet's stamp-
ing ground, and Granger and others met him there, and so Granger
gave him the name, not of the constellation exactly, but he called
him Attorney Serious, the dog-star, the brighest star in dog-town.

I pass along to Norfolk. There was Michael Mills. He was
a tall, lean lank, bony man, high cheek bones and rather tawny
face. Granger called him the Sachem of Norfolk.

Then comes William K. Peck, Jr., he was a native of Harwin-
ton ; his parents moved with him to Salisbury when he was a young
boy. He studied law in my office and commenced practice in Nor-
folk. He was very fond of making public speeches when ever an
opportunity presented. Abolitionism and temperance were his
favorite topics and he availed himself of every opportunity to make
speeches, and in that respect, so far as capability of addressing pop-
ular sentiment at his age of life, he had decided talent. Granger
called him Duke of Norfolk. When he contemplated settling in
Norfolk, one of the good deacons of Norfolk came over to see me
to inquire about him and informed me that Mr. Peck had referred

GIDEON HALIv

WARNERS REillXISCENCES II3

him to me and wanted to know what sort of a man he was. I told
hun he was exactly adapted to Xorfolk. He said "what do you.
mean?" I replied "in the first place he is a very moral man, a man
of excellent moral character ; in the second place he will be an ad-
mirable successor of Michael ^lills in his physical make-up, he has
a peculiar tawn\- brown hair, high cheek bones, and in another re-
spect he is a black republican" as they called them then. The old
deacon laughed and said he guessed he was the man. So he settled
there and I believe acquitted himself with ability. After he had
been there a while he removed to ^lichigan where I have heard he
became a successful lawyer. I felt proud of him as a student in my
office. ' ■' > . .'j

Xow I come to \\'insted. ^^"illiam S. Holabird was a native of
South Canaan. He was physically a large, tall, splendidly made-up
man, imposing- in appearance and presence, and he was the great
democratic leader of the bar. He was a politician and he was a man
around whom the young democratic lawyers liked to gather. He
had excellent conversational powers and they were always interested
in his conversation. He was really one of the instructors in politi-
cal matters among the democratic lawyers, and he was then in ac-
tive practice. He had some bitterness in his make-up, but his
friendship was as strong as his hatred was deep and unforgiving".

Gideon Hall was an opponent, and as a lawyer and in politics
thev were diametrically opposed. Holabird was vindictive some-
times, and his hatred extended down too far.

Xow I come to another unique character, and that was Gideon
Hall. He was a lean, tall, gaunt man, he was in full practice, and
continued in practice until he was appointed Judge of the Superior
Court. He was a hard worker, diligent; his contests were elabor-
ate, manv and severe. Hall and Holabird were opponents always
in politics and lawsuits, never associated. Hall was very prolix in
the conduct of trials, and remarkably so in his arguments before;
the court and jurv. The one hour rule had not been passed when
he practiced. Hall would occasionally make attemjns at oratory
in his trials, and here is an illustration of it. He had a suit in
court for his client, the plaintiff in the case. It was a contest oyer
a piece of rockv land of no value comparatively speaking. During
the trial he was often talking about the littleness and smallness of
the case, and it was so alluded to in the argument by the counsel
for the defense. This, was a sort of an exordium or peroration in
which he said it was not available on account of the super-abundant
fecundity of its soil, but because it was ancestral estate and Imd
come down from a long line of colonial ancestors.

In relation to Hall, there is one thing which shows the estuna-
tion of the bar. This stor\' was told to me by the late George C.
Woodruff of Litchfield. A lawyer of this county had a suit m
court, a young lawver and he had associated with hmi George C.

1 14 LiTCHlflELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Woodruff. It was a case asking for the appointment of a committed
in chancery which was to be tried out of term-time, and the question
arose who should be that committee. Of course, if the parties agreed
on the committee, the court would sanction it, otherwise the court
would have to decide and appoint whom it thought best. Negoti-
ations were made between the opposite counsel. Woodruff on one
side and Hubbard and Granger on the other side, and Hubbard and
Granger suggested Hall as a good one for the committee-man. The
young man went to see Mr. Woodruff and told him that they pro-
posed to have Hall appointed committee, and Woodruff said to him
"don't you have him, why he will get things all mixed up in his
report so that we shall not get head or tail to it." The young man
reflected and said "Mr. Woodruff, that may be just what we want."
Well, it turned out so, it was mixed and Woodruff won his case.

I come now to the friend of whom I have spoken, Roland Hitch-
cock. He was a native of Burlington. He read law in Holabird's
office and he was admitted to the bar in about 1844, and became
a partner of Holabird and practiced law in Winchester until ap-
pointed as Judge of the Superior Court. I always liked the man,
and so well did I know him that his peculiarities never interfered
with our friendship. He at times exhibited much wit and humor
and enjoyed the funny side of things and contributed his share to
the merriment of the bar. There was a streak of melancholia in his
nature which always made him sorrowful. It lasted him through
life, and in the last few years of his life, had a woeful effect upon
him. He was testy and often irritable in trials. As an illustration
of that I remember a case in which Granger and myself were on
one side and Hitchcock on the other before a committee at Canaan.
Hitchcock's client was one Hart, a notable character arid who was
easily stirred up. In the course of the trial Granger, knowing
Hart's peculiarities would stir him up and he would rattle along
and interrupt the trial so that Hitchcock would sometimes get mad
at his client and he would once in a while issue an expletive on the
subject. He was- vei^y fixed in his opinions of the law and un-
changeably so at times. He was through and through an honest
man and administered justice impartially in the courts where he was
judge.

I go now to Barkhamstead and speak of the late Hiram Good-
win. He was in full practice, his clientage was not only in his town,
but extended to the adjoining towns in this, and Hartford County.
I considered him an able lawyer. He conducted his trials with
skill and his arguments were clear and logical. As a judge of the
County Court he gave satisfaction.

I come now to New Hartford. Roger H. Mills was in prac-
tice there many years before I came to the bar. He was of fine ap-
pearance and high standing at the bar. He was a member of the
Senate in the Legislative session of 1848 at the time these radical

HON. ROIvAND HITCHCOCK

QUO. WHBATON

BIRDSYE BALDWIN

WARXER S RlCillXlSCKXCES 11^

laws were made and I think he opposed both of those enactments.
He was a very accomplished man, pleasant, scholarly, but the field
was not wide ^enough for him and so he moved to Wisconsin, and
after a while died there.

Jared B. Foster was his successor there. He came to the bar
after 1843, and he is entitled to great credit, for he read law while
making and mending boots and shoes in Colebrook. He was a
merry, good fellow, he became well equipped in the principles of the
law and quickly acquired its practical parts. He represented the
town in the Legislature with ability and he succeeded Hitchcock
as judge of the Litchfield County Court and discharged his duties
with ability. He was eminently social and a hale fellow well-met.
We used to address him as Jerry. Granger dubbed him Terry Red.
For many years he was a suflferer from rheumatism and it finally
brought him to his grave.

Goshen. Nelson Brewster. His law business was local. He
lived two years in Litchfield and he tried a few cases and he was a
bank commissioner several times. Birdseye Baldwin, a unique char-
acter was his contemporary in Goshen, a kindhearted man of limit-
ed practice and of great simplicity of character. He was very fond
of whist. Granger and Hitchcock at court whenever they were in
session entertained him very often very royally, in the amusement
of which I was a witness. Oftentimes I was a partner of Granger,
and Baldwin and Hitchcock were partners. If Hitchcock and
Granger turned up a trump they would pass their trumps one to the
other under the table and pick out all the best cards and hand
back the poor ones. Finally Baldwin would get up and exclaim,
after losing all the games, "well, it does beat the devil."

I now come to Cornwall, to George Wheaton. He was of
humble origin, born in East Haven. When I was a boy, I learned
that he was of most extraordinary ability, illiterate, he murdered
the Queen's English, but one of the most skilful and adroit lawyers
at the bar in his day and time. Wheaton was a great lawyer in
my judgment. He had one peculiar gesture and that was this, he
never laughed and hardly ever smiled. As an illustration of his
cunning and shrewdness and his aptitude for hitting the party
against him I will mention an instance. There was a suit brought
against the Housatonic Railroad for damage to property injured
by the cars. Peet and myself were defending the Railroad Com-
pany and Granger and Wheaton were counsel for the plaintiff.
One of the witnesses, Charles Emmons, an employee of the railroad,
was a very important witness and his', testimony was crucial in be-
half of the defendant. Of course the casd being against a railroad
corporation it had to be put to a jury. This witness Emmons was
a very honest mail and.a.. christian gentleman, and if he could make
the jury beilieve as they ought to believe, that his testimony was
truthful, theri the casfe- 'should be decided for the defendant. In the

Il6 LITCHFIELD COoNTY BENCH AND BAR

course of the argument, in commenting on the testimony of the
witness Emmons, I dwelt upon the purity of his hfe and character,
his christian character. When Wheaton came to wind up the case
he said "Brother Warner says this Emmons is a Christian. Well,
I aint going to dispute that, but if the company finds out that
that is his character, they will discharge him very quick."

Another instance comes down by tradition. Church frequently
came in contact with Wheaton. He was called down there to de-
fend a man in some case before a justice, and Wheaton commenced
the argument of his case. He had his book of Connecticut reports
and he stated to the Court what the law was and he would read
from this book and so he read from the brief of one of the lawyers.
Church said, "Wheaton, let me take that book." Wheaton said,
"go get your own law, brother Church."

Church of course told the judge he was reading from the brief
of the attorney, not from the opinion of the court or the judge
who decided the case. Wheaton replied "I didn't say I did, I said I
read what is the law there, and I believe it to be good law, and if
the Supreme Court has said otherwise, they will over-rule that
decision." He was a communicant of the Congregational Church
in Cornwall. Now there was a religious revival in that town long
years ago and there was a man there by the name of Daniel Scoville.
During that revival he attended these meetings very faithfully and
appeared very much interested in them. There was a bitter hatred
between this man and Wheaton. Wheaton had law suits against
him frequently and they were conducted sharply by Wheaton as
against him. Some of Wheaton's fellow members went to him and
said, "Why this man is so much interested in the supject of re-
ligion I think that you ought, as a member of the church, to go to
him and encourage him in some form and show forgiveness on
your part." So one evening Wheaton went up there and while
Scoville was in the attitude of praying, and said "If there is any
mourner here who has any feeling against me or I have any against
him, God forbid that I should in any way bar his coming to God."
Well, he had a client there who waited until Wheaton came out
and then he said "Wheaton, you know that law suit we have got
there against him, now I want that fought right up." Wheaton
replied "Oh ! he'll fight all right."

Then there was Julius B. Harrison. He was a native of Corn-
wall, he read law with Wheaton and came to the bar after 1843
and practiced a while in Cornwall and moved to New Milford where
he died. He was states attorney for the county, he was a very
diligent man, very ambitious and he rapidly rose in his profession.
He was repetitious in his arguments, and that was the only criticism
I ever heard made, for he was certainly logical, and had he lived
to-tte ordinary age, I have no doubt he would have been one of
the leaders of the bar.

JARED B. FOSTER

Warner's reminiscences i 17

Another man from Cornwall was Solon B. Johnson, and many
of you no doubt remember him. He was a tall, large-framed per-
son, I don't know what year he came to the bar, and he was editor
of the Litchfield Sentinel, and his editorial articles were read with
a great deal of interest; there was a great deal of wit and humor
and sarcasrii contained in them. He died early in life, he was of
a peculiar nature and character, a loveable man in a great many
respects. He had a peculiar stolid appearance at times, whether
put on or natural, I don't know. If unnatural it was very success-
ful comsumation. The last term that Judge Minor held of the
Superior Court prior to his resignation, having accepted the nomi-
nation for member of Congress from the 4th district, there was a
gentleman came up to Litchfield, an entire stranger. He was in
everybody's office, he was in the court room. He was a queer
sort of a man, talking with everybody and with Judge Minor and
3'ou couldn't help being interested to know who he was. He came
across Solon Johnson and Johnson tried to get rid of him. He
was all the while teasing Johnson to take drinks with him, and Mr.
Johnson declined and kept declining. Finally, after much urging
Johnson says "my friend, there is a drug store down here and we
will go down there and get something that is pure and good."
Well, they went down to the drug store and a pint bottle was brought
out with the very purest kind of whiskey they had and a tumbler
was set down, and this stranger told Mr. Johnson to take a drink.
Johnson took up the bottle, looked at the cork, smelled of it and
says "that's all right" turned it up and drained the bottle. The
stranger looked at him aghast, expecting him to fall dead every
minute. Johnson looked at him, smiled and said "Well, aint you
going to take something?"

Xow I come to Frederick Chittenden. He was in practice when
I came to the bar, a high tempered man of great knowledge. He
had many conflicts with those with whom he came in contact. He
was of an irrascible temper, but a good-hearted, generous likely
man, very well read in the law, but depended a great deal upon
his natural abilities ; it took but very little to excite him, he was
very behgerent in the trial. There was a lawyer from Kent, Henry
Fuller, who came to the bar after myself. They had a contest and
Chittenden was so excited he struck him on the head. Well, there
was an interruption, and after the adjournment Chittenden came
in and laid his cane down upon the table and he said he would
preserve order in the court room.

John G. Reed was a native of Salisbury and read law with me.
His father and mother were Scotch. His father, the late Dr.
Adam Reed was a celebrated Divine. He was educated at Williams
College, he practiced law in Kent a short time, moved to Ohio, en-
listed in an Ohio regiment in the civil war, and when he returned
from that, he removed to Chicago and there distinguished himself

H8 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

as a lawyer before the higher courts upon mere questions of law.
He was not what you call a jury lawyer.

Well, brethren and gentlemen of the bar: The bell tolls and
my hour has expired. I look back to the time when life was new
and bright before me and everything seemed fair and good to see.
I stand here now and remember all these friends of so long ago
As I stand here alone of all those I knew in my early days,
whom I have seen fall around me like leaves in the wintry weather.

"I feel like one who stands alone,
In some banquet hall deserted;
Whose lights are dead.
Whose joys are fled.
And all but he departed.

^tatottol 55^0t^0

HISTORICAL NOTES

OF

COURTS, BAR LIBRARY AND
PROMINENT OFFICIALS

Compiled By

DWIGHT C. KILBOURN
CLERK

DWIGHT C. KII.BOURN

HISTORICAL NOTES.

Upon the establishment of Litchfield County in 175 1, the General
Assembly was pleased to order two terms of the County Court to
be held therein, one on the fourth Tuesday of December, and the
other on the fourth Tuesday of April in each year, and also one
term of the Superior Court to be held on the last Tuesday save
two, in August of each year.

In this Superior Court there was but one Clerk for the whole
Colony wlio went with the Judges from place to place as the
sessions were held, and kept the records all together in Hartford,
where those prior to 1798 can now be found in the Secretary of
State's office.

The following is the record of the first court held in Litchfield
County :

'■At a County Court held .at Litchfield within and for the County
of Litchfield on the fourth Tuesday of December A. D., 1751.

Present : William Preston, Chief Judge.

John Williams ) « , .

„ „ 1 hsqrs. Justices

Samuel Caneield > ,
-rA i,;r \ of quorain.

EbEnezER Marsh )

Isaac Baldwin was appointed Clerk and sworn.

Mr. John Catling, County Treasurer and Excise Master.

Mr. Joshua Whitney of Canaan in said County, Attorney.

"At the same Court John Davies of Litchfield in the County of
Litchfield pit. versus John Barrett of Woodbury in sd County deft.
The parties appeared and the deft, exhibited pleas in abatement
of the pltf's writ which being overruled the parties then joyning in
a demurr. to the declaration as on file, the Court is of Opinion that
the Declaration is sufficient in the Law and thereupon it is con-
sidered that the pit. shall recover of the Deft, the Sum of £1200
money. Damages and costs of Court allowed to be .

The deft, appeals from the judgment of this Court to the Su-
perior Court to be holden at Litchfield on the second Tuesday of
August next, and the plat, with Mr. Samuel Darling of New Haven
before this Court acknowledged themselves bound to the Treasurer
of sd County in a recognizance of £200 money to prosecute their
said appeal to efifedl and answer all damages in case they make not
their plea good."

The following is the Record of the first Superior Court held
in Litchfield County, and to be found in Hartford.

122 LITCHFIBLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

At a Superior Court holden at Litchfield on Tuesday ye nth,
day of August Anno Dommi 1752 anno ye Regni Rt. Georgii
Secunde Vigestum Sexto.
Present, ye

Honbl. Thomas Fitch, Bsqr. Chief Judge.
William Pitkin |
EbenEzEr Syllyman > Assistant Judges.^,
Samuel L,ynde j

This Court was opened by Proclamation and adjourned till
Two of ye clock of ye afternoon, and then opened according to
adjournment.

Persons returned to serve as jurors were:
William Marsh ] Nathan Botchford 1

Joshua Garrett j- Litchfield John Hitchcock i- New Milford

Thomas CatlingJ Partridge Thatcher j

Timothy Minor ) Nathan Davis \

Gideon Walker f Woodbury Jacob Benton \ Harwinton
Benjamin StilES ) , Samuel Phelphs )

The first recorded judgment is that of :
William Sherman ) ( John Treat

and - of New Milford vs. | of

Roger Sherman ) ( New Milford

At the May session of the General Assembly 1798 it was en-
acted that the Superior Court Judges appoint a Clerk for each
County and that the Records thereafter be kept in their respective
Counties, but that the then existing records be kept at Hartford.

In obedience of this law the Judges appointed Frederick Wol-
cott, Esq. of Litchfield, Clerk for Litchfield County, and the first
term of the Superior Court having its records at Litchfield, was
held at Litchfield on the Third Tuesday of August 1798 and was
"Opened by proclamation."

The record is as follows:

State oe Connecticut :

At a Superior Court holden at Litchfield within and for the
County of Litchfield, on the Third Tuesday of August A. D. 1798,

Present:
The Hon. Jesse Root, Esq. Chief Judge
Hon. Jonathan Sturges \

Hon. Stephen M. Mitchell f Assistant
Hon. Jonathan Ingersoll ( Judges.
Hon. Tapping Reeve )

Frederick Wolcott, Clerk.

(C

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In
ui

HISTORICAL NOTES

123

The Attorneys in active practice in 1798 were the following:

At Litchfield :

Tappixc. Reeve
Elijah Adams
John Allen
Isaac Baldwin
Uriel Holmes
Daniel ^^'. Lewis
Ephraim Kirby
Reynolds Marvin
Roger Skinner
Aaron Smith
Uriah Tracy
Frederick Wolcott.

At Canaan :

John Elmore

At Goshen :

Nathan Hale

XoaH ^^'ADHAMS

At Kent :

Barazilla Slosson

At New Milford :

Da\id S. Boardman
Samuel Bostwick
Daniel Everett
Philo Ruggles

At Norfolk:

Edmund Aiken

Augustus Pettibone

At Plymouth:

Linus Fenn

At Roxbury :

RuEus Eastman.

At Salisbury :

Joseph Canfield
Elisha Sterling
Adonijah Strong

At Sharon :

JuDSON Caneield
John C. Smith
Cyrus Swan

At Southbury :

Simeon Hinman
Benjamin Stiles, Jr.

At Washington :

Daniel N. Brinsmade
William Cogswell

At Watertown :

Eli CuRTiss

Samuel W. Southmayd

At Winchester:

Phineas Miner

At Woodbury:

Noah B. Benedict
Nathan Preston
Nathaniel Smith

The following members of the Bar are now (April 1907) residing
in the County: Those with a * are not in active practice.

Litchfield :

J. Gail Beckwith, Jr. *
Francis BissEll *
Wheaton F. Dowd
John T. Hubbard
D wight C. Kilborn
William L. Ransom *
Elbert P. Roberts
Thomas F. Ryan
George M. Woodruee
James P. Woodrufe

Bethlehem :

Walter M. Johnson *

Cornwall :

William D. Bosler
Leonard J. Nickersojt

Goshen :

Charles A. Palmer *

Norfolk :

Robbins B. Stoeckel

124

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND hM<

INew Hartford:

Frederick A. Jewell
H. Roger Jones, Jr.
Frank B. Munn

Jsiew Milford:

John F. Addis
Frank W. Marsh
Henry S. Sanford
Fred'M. Williams

INorth Canaan :

Samuel G. Camp
Geo. a. Marvin
Alberto T. Roraback
J. Henry Roraback
J. Clinton Roraback

Plymouth :

Henry B. Plumb *
E. Leroy Pond
Fred a. Scott

Salisbury :

Howard F. L,andon
Donald T. Warner

Sharon :

Willard Baker

Thomaston :

Albert P. Bradstreet
E. T. Canfield
Frank W. Etheridge

Torrington :

William W. Bierce
Bernard E. H^iggins
Walter Holcomb
Peter J. McDermott
Willard A. Roraback
Homer R. ScovillE

E. T. O'SULLIVAN

Gideon H. Welch
Thos. J. Wall

Watertown :

C. B. Atwood *

S. McL. Buckingham

Winchester :

Wm. H. Blodgett
C. E. Bristol *
Jas. p. Glynx
Samuel A. Herman
Richard T. Higgins
Samuel B. Horne
Wm. p. Lawrence *
Wilbur G. Manchester
Geo. a. SajJford
Frank W. Seymour
James P. Shelley
Wellington B. Smith
James W. Smith

Woodbury :

James Huntixgtox
Arthur D. Warner

The following persons who have been connected with this Bar
•either by admission or residence, are not now residing in the County.
l)ut are supposed to be alive and residing elsewhere.

John Q. Adams,

Negaunee, Mich.

Xouis J. Blake,

Omaha, Neb.
Edward J. Bissell,

Fond-du-Lac, Wis.
John O. Boughton,

Stamford, Conn.
David S. Calhoun

Hartford, Conn.

Uriah Case,

Hartford, Conn.
John D. Champlin,

New York City.

Chester D. Cleveland,
Oshkosh, Wis.

Frank D. Cleveland,
Hartford, Conn.

George W. Cole,
New York City.

WILLIAM L. RANSOM.

HISTORICAL NOTES

12:

Stewart ^^^ Cowan,

Mount \'ernon, N. Y.
S. Gregg Clark,

New Jersey.
E. T. Caxfield,

Hartford, Conn.
Spencer Dayton^

Phillipa, West Va.
Lee p. Dean,

Bridgeport, Conn.
E. C. Dempsey,

Danbury, Conn.
William H. Ely,

New Haven, Conn.
John R. Farnum,

Washington, D. C.

V. R. C. GiDDINGS,

Bridgeport, Conn.
W. W. Guthrie,

Atkinson. Kansas.
Robert E. Hall,

Danbury, Conn.
Ch.vrles R. Hathway,

So. Manchester.
jMarcus H. Holcomb,

Southington, Conn.
John D. Howe,

St. Paul, Minn.
Edward J. Hubbard,

Trinidad, Col.
Frank W. Hubbard,

New York. N. Y
Frank L,. Hungerford,

New Britain, Conn.
Walter S. Judd,

New York City.
William Knapp,

Denver, Col.
Fred M. Koehler,

Lrivingston, Mont.

Frank D. Liksley,

Philmont, N. Y.
Rev. A. N. Lewis,

New Haven, Conn.
Theodore M. Maltbie^

Hartford, Conn.
T. DwiGHT Merwin,

Washington, D. C.
Nathan Morse,

Akron, Ohio.
Fred E. Mygatt,

New York City.
Wm. p. Mulville,

J\'ew Canaan.
Wm. H. O'Hara,

New York City.

E. Frisbie Phelps,

New York City.
Fred a. Scott,

Hartford, Conn.
Morris W. Seymour,

Bridgeport, Conn.
Origin Storrs Seymour,

New York City.
George P\ Shelton,

Butte, Mont.
George E. Taft,

Unionville, Conn.

F. R. Tiffany,

John Q. Thayer,

Meriden, Conn.
Frederick C. Webster^

Missoula, Mont.
Rev. Edwin A. White,

Bloomfield, N. J.
John F. Wynne,

New Haven, Conn.

governors.

.Governors of Connecticut who were members of this bar.

Gen. Oliver Wolcott 1796-1798 Oliver Wolcott, Jr. 1817-1823

John Cotton Smith 1813-1817 Wm. W. Ellsworth 1838-1842

Charles B. Andrews 1 879-1 881

1=6

LlTCHFlBLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

JUDGES.

Members of this bar who have been Judges of the Superior
Court. Those starred, members of the Supreme Court of Errors.

Roger Sherman,* 1766-1789

Andrew Adams,* 1789-1798

Chief Justice, 1793.
Tapping Reeve,* 1798-1815

Chief Justice, 18 14.
Nathaniel Smith, 1806-1819

John Cotton Smith,* 1809-1811
James Gould,* 1816-1819

John T. Peters, 1818-1834

Samuel Church,* 1833 -1854

Chief Justice, 1847.
Wm. W. Ellsworth,* 1842-1861
J. W. Huntington,* 1834-1840

David C. Sanford,* 1854-1864
Origen S. Seymour,* 1855-1863
Gideon Hall, 1866-1867

Miles T. Granger,* 1867-1876
Origen S. Seymour, 1870-1874

Chief Justice, 1873.
Roland Hitchcock, 1874- 1882
Charles B. Andrews,* 1883-1901

Chief Justice, 1889-1901.
Augustus H. Fenn,* 1887-1897
Edward W. Seymour,* 1889-1902
A. T. Roraback,* 1897

CLERKS.

The following members of the bar have been Clerks of the Su-
perior Court.

Frederick Wolcott,
Origen S. Seymour,
O.- S. Seymour,
G. H. Hollister,
G. H. Hollister,
EHsha Johnson,

1798-1830

I 836- I 844
1 846- 1 847
I 844- I 845
i'847-i8so
1850-1851

F. D. Beeman,
Henry B. Graves,
F. D. Beeman,
William L,. Ransom,
Dwight C. Kilbourn,

1851-1854

1854-1855
1855-1860
1860-1887
1887-

ATTORNEYS EOR THE STATE.

The following members of the bar have been Attorneys for the
State, or King's Attorney.

Joshua Whitney, 1752.
Samuel Petibone, 1756.
Reynold Marvin, 1764.
Andrew Adams, 1772.
John Canfield, 1786.
Tapping Reeve, 1788.
Uriah Tracy, 1789.
John Allen, 1800.
Nathaniel Smith, 1806.
EHsha Sterling, 1814.
Seth P. Beers, 1820.

Samuel Church, 1825.
David C. Sanford, 1840.
Leman Church, 1844.
John H. Hubbard, 1845.
Leman Church, 1847.
John H. Hubbard, 1849.
Julius B. Harrison, 1852.
Gideon Hall, 1854.
Charles F. Sedgwick, 1856.
James Huntington, 1874.
Donald T. Warner, 1896.

SHERIEES.

The following have been the Sheriffs for Litchfield County
from its organization:

DONALD T.- WARNER.

HISTORICAL NOTES

127-

Oliver Wolcott,
Lynde Lord,
John R. L,andon,
Moses Seymour, Jr.,
Ozias Seymour,
Albert Sedgwick,
Charles A. Judson,
Albert Sedgwick,
L. W. Wessells,

1751-1771
1771-1801
1801-1819
1819-1825
1825-1834
1834-1835
1835-1838
I 838- I 854
I 854- I 866

Henry A. Botsford,
George H. Baldwin,
John D. Yale,
Charles J. Porter,
Henry J. Allen,
Edward A. NeUis.
C. C. Middlebrooks,
F. H. Turkington,

1 866- 1 869
I 869- I 878
I 878- I 88 I
1881-1884.
I 884- I 895
1895-1903
1903-1907-
1907-

COURT HOUSES.

The first Court House of the County was built at LitchSeld in'
1751-52. It stood on the public square directly in front of and
about one hundred and fifty feet distant from the site of the present
one. It was a very plain looking building about twenty-five feet
wide by thirty-six long and fifteen feet posts. In it was a huge
stone chimney and a monstrous fire-place. It was in existence as-
a part of one of the stores of the village until the great fire of 1888.
It cost as near as can be ascertained from the County Treasurer's
books £3343 4s 9d. The tax paid by each town was as follows :

L

s

d

L

s

d'

Litchfield,

284

10

9

Canaan

302

0

0-

Woodbury

1 124

II

II

Cornwall

103

0

o-

New Milford

328

7

6

Goshen

189

0

8

Kent

297

14

0

Torrington

"5

17

4

Sharon

56

0

0

Harwinton

129

12

7

Salisbury

307

10

0

Xew Hartford

los

0

O'

The second Court House was located on the same site now
occupied by the present one, it was given to the County for that
purpose by Moses Seymour. It was built in 1789 at a cost to the-
County of five thousand dollars; and whatever it cost over that
was made up by private contributions. It was designed by Wil-
liam Spratt an English Architect whose original drawing of it is-
now in existence.

After many years it was believed that the spire was unsafe and
it was taken off and the one shown in our cut of it was adderf
which ruined the whole effect of the front.

It was a veritable temple of justice, the interior being like a.
church all in one large high room with a jury room in one corner
and a gallery at one end with stairs leading up to it. It took a
large amount of wood to fill the immense fire-places and keep it
warm during the sessions in the winter. The judges sat on a.
raised platform at one end with a pulpit-like desk in front of them
and looked down with great majesty and dignity upon the arenas
in front and beneath them.

128 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BH^NCH AND I!A«

After a number of years (in 1818) an arrangement was made by
and between the town of Litchfield and the county officials where-
by the town was permitted to divide the high room and make an
upper and a lower room ; the courts to use the upper one and the
town the lower room and this arrangement continued to the time of
its destruction by fire Jcine 10, 1886. The expenses of repairs and
maintaining were divided 'between the town and county.

It has been often remarked that this old court room was one
of the pleasantest in the State and although devoid of every modern
convenience, it was a delight to lawyers and judges to practice
therein. From its windows the finest of landscapes greeted the
eye, the beautiful lakes encircled by emerald hills and the mountain
peaks beyond towering into the blue sky, the fertile and well-
tilled farms on every side made a natural panorama that soothed
the weary brain of the tired lawyer. The great Franklin, stoves
filled with Mt. Tom hickory wood made snapping sparkling fires.
The graceful arching over head the quaint wooden benches and
painted carvings, all delighted the eye and by their simple effects
aided the judges and worn-out jurors in solving the intricate prob-
lems they were called to try. ,

The jury room in the cold bleak north-west corner was not a
parlor. A big sheet iron stove for wood, a dozen wooden benches,
and a plain table was the make-up of this trysting place; there
was little prospect of comfort for an all night session of a dis-
, agreeing jury and they seldom lingered patiently about. Their
verdicts generally were rendered altogether too speedily for the poor
prisoner in the box or the fellow who lost his case.

The States Attorney's room was entirely wanting. In those
primitive times those officials carried their all in their heads and
pockets and what the attorney failed to do in his last argument the
Court carefully supplemented in his charge. The practice in the
criminal cases was largely a degree of eloquence and if the testi-
mony was weak the advocate was strong and never failed to men-
tion what the witnesses ought to have said.

The Clerk's office was also absent and he was permitted to
rent at his own expense an office in some other building and keep
the records and files wherever he chose. The judge's room was
not thought of in the olden days. Why should he need one? No
findings of facts were required of him and when the sheriff ad-
journed the court his duties ceased.

On the morning of the nth of June, 1886 nothing remained of
this old building where so many memories clustered but the two
great chimneys. The fire fiend in its ruthless track had swept
everything away.

Directly after the fire in 1886 attempts were made to divide the
County or divert the Court to other places, and the town of Litch-
field began to erect another Court House which was practically

HISTORICAL NOTES 1 29

completed about the ist of August 1888. It was a wooden struc-
ture somewhat Hke the former one with good arrangernents for
court, clerk, jury, judges and attorneys rooms. On. the morning
of the 8th of August 1888 before it had been turned over to or
occupied by the County this also lay in ashes.

Immediately the town took action towards building another
Court House and appointed a committee consisting of Hon. Charles
B. Andrews, Dr. Henry W. Buel, Henry B. Graves, Esq., with
Jacob Morse and Garner B. Curtiss, selectmen of the town. The
result of their action is the present building at Litchfield built of
stone and practically fire proof with excellent accomodations for
all court purposes and presented to the County by the town and
accepted by the county commissioners in behalf of and for the
county on the nth of March, 1890.

Meanwhile the agitation about dividing the county and court
business continued until finally it resulted in an act of the legisla-
ture allowing courts to be held at Litchfield, Winchester and New
Milford upon the two latter towns providing suitable accomoda-
tions. Whereupon the town of Winchester leased to the county
such a building with suitable accomodations for the courts of the
county on the 9th of August, 1887 and the town of New Milford
also leased such building and accomodations on the 15th day of
August, 1887 and the courts are now held at each of said places
practically holding court wherever it is most convenient to try the
cases.

In 1905 the town of Winchester increased the Court accomo-
dations by adding four large spacious rooms and fire proof vault
with metal fixtures, making this Court building one of the best in
the State for its purposes.

In 1907 a bill was presented before the General Assembly of
Connecticut, ordering the removal to Winchester from Litchfield,
of the civil records and files of the Superior Court, with the seal
and Clerk, making Winchester practically the main office of the
Court. It also provided for the removal of all the files of the Com-
mon Pleas Court and seal, to the Winsted Court House. The bill,
however, failed of passage.

SELECTING JURYMEN.

The Statutes of Connecticut provide for the selection of jury-
men for the several towns, and also prescribe the number to which
each town is entitled.

Various ways of selecting these men have been provided in
former years, but the present method seems to have been more
nearly satisfactory than any of the past ones.

The Selectmen of each town are required to forward to the
Clerk of the Superior Court during the month of May the names
of twice the number the town is entitled to. The Judges at their

130 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

annual meeting in June appoint two Jury Commissioners to act
with the Clerk of the Superior Court, who is by Statute a Jurj
Commissioner, who meet on the second Monday of July and select
one half of the names returned by the Selectmen. These names,
so selected, are printed on slips of paper, and those of each town
are placed in a box by themselves, and are the names of the men
liable for jury duty fr.om each town for the year from the following
September first. When a petit jury is required, the Clerk draws
them without seeing the name, from such towns as he desires, in
the presence of a Judge and a Sheriff.

ABOUT JURIES.

This important part of the Court deserves a very honorable
mention. The juries of this County have been composed of the
very best class of men ; men of good judgment and sterling common
sense, seldom carried away with the oratory or pathos of the ad-
vocate or losing sight of the issues of the case.

There are some incidents related of jury trials that tend to show
that they are but men and liable to some of the caprices of human
nature. The common style of voting blank upon a case by one or
more of thent on the first ballot is of very little consequence only
showing that some people do not form conclusions as rapidly as
others.

That the jurymen do not always agree with the Court is illus-
trated by a case in which Judge Carpenter in charging the jury
remarked "Now gentlemen,^ if you believe this incredible story you
will convict the prisoner, but if you do not believe it you must
acquit him." The jury after a long consultation disagreed. Upon
receiving further instruction in which the incredible story was dis-
credited still more strongly, they again retired and after mature
deliberation they still disagreed. Another strong instruction, re-
tirement and disagreement, when they were discharged from further
consideration of the case. It was ascertained they stood eleven for
conviction and one for acquittal.

In another case wherein a man sued ah officer for false im-
prisonment it was admitted that the officer was liable and the
judge charged the jury that they were the ones to assess the
damages. The offense was where an officer arrested a drunk and
put him in the town lockup over night, intending to try him in the
morning; before the trial however the man's friends hearing of
his condition went to the lockup opened the door and carried him
away. After being out a long time the jury returned much to every
ones surprise a verdict for the defendant. The exolanation that the
jury gave was that the man was rescued by his friends before the
officer had had a reasonable time to prosecute the offense.

A man was prosecuted for an assault and battery of rather an
aggravated nature ; he claimed it was done in self defense. It wns

KDWARD W. SEYMOUR.

HISTORICAL NOTES I3I

shown that the parties had an altercation and the accused followed
up the complainant and pounded him. The prisoner admitted it,
but claimed he was obliged to follow up for fear that the other man
would, as soon as he got a little distance irom him, turn around
and shoot him. The Jury p6iidered a long while, then returned to
the Court Room for instructions. The foreman said they wished
to know how far the law allowed a man to follow up another with
a sled stake in self defense.

WITNESSES.

Of course oiu- Courts had all sorts of witnesses to deal with
from the garrulous man who knows everything, to the reticent man
who knows nothing and has forgotten that.

A few specimens are preserved in the traditions of our elders.

A child was asked if he knew the nature of an oath and he re-
plied "Xo sir." Then the kind hearted judge leaned over the side
of his desk and smilingly asks "My son don't you know what you're
going to tell?" "Yes, sir," said the boy, "that old bald headed
lawyer over there told me what I must say." "Administer the
oath, Air. Clerk."

A witness in a criminal case haled from a unsavory place called
"Pinch Gut;" he was duly sworn and upon being asked his name,
gave it. The next question was "Where" do you reside?" No
answer came. The question was repeated twice and the last time
with great severity. The witness turned with dignity to the judge
and said, "Must I answer that question?" "AVhy not?" said the
Court. "Because" said the witness "I have been told that no man
was obliged to criminate himself."

\\'itnesses are often ridiculed for making evasive answers to
attorneys' questions but perhaps they do not always fully under-
stand the query. The following is a question asked by a learned
attorney in the trial of a tax case, taken from tlie Stenographer's
notes :

O. "What I want to ask you is whether comparing his land
with the other lands that you have been swearing about here, you
have sworn to some 30 other farms, and in comparison, that is, I
mean whether, how should you take them in comparison, how
should you consider them, if you take that as a basis, they are
assessed for $3,000. Taking that as a basis for your comparison,
how should you start?"

STEXOGRAPHER.

In 1884 the General Assembly passed an act providing for the
appointment of a Stenographer for the Superion Court in each of
the Counties. About 1886 Mr. Leonard W. Cogswell was ap-
pointed for this Cbunty and has held the position since that date.

Leonard \\'. Cogswell, Esq., the official stenographer is a na-

132

LITCHinULD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

LEONARD W. COGSWELIv.

tive of Litchfield County, and was born in New Preston, in July
1863, and enjoyed all the lights and shadows of a farmer's son on
a rugged farm upon the side of Mt. Bushnell. He polished up an
education received at the districe school and Village Academy by
a term at Claverack College at Hudson, N. Y. In 1884 he quit
the farm and went to New Haven and learned short hand. In
1886 he was appointed official Stenographer of Litchfield County,
and holds the same position for Windham County. His services
are in great demand during the sessions of the Legislature, by the
Committees thereof.

He was admitted to the Bar of New Haven County in June,
1897, and resides in New Haven. In the preparation of this
memoir we are indebted to him for the preservation of the re-
marks at the Banquet, and for poetical selections herein.

STUDENT S U]?E.

At the Bar Dinner in 1901 Judge Roraback in his remarks gave
a few reminisences of his student days which are worthy of preser-
vation as illustrating how lawyers were made in the country of-
fices. Upon being introduced by the Toastmaster he responded
as follows :

Mr. Toastmaster, and gentlemen of the Litchfield County Bar:
I hardly expected to make a speech, but the reference that was

>.-.-■ --^r-s^-i

AIvBERTO T. roraback.

HISTORICAL NOTES 1 33

made by my distinguished friend, Donald J. Warner carries me back
to the month of April, 1870. That is almost 32 years. I then
commenced the study of Blackstone in his office. Well, I pounded
away at Blackstone for five months, and learned it pretty thorough-
ly. As I remember it, if it had been set to music I think I could
have sung it. It was pretty dry work and pretty hard work. But
one morning D. J. came in, and he says, "Roraback, you have been
pounding away at Blackstone some time, would'nt you like a
change?" Well, I hardly knew what was coming, whether it was
a change from Blackstone to Chitty, or what it was, but I looked
up at him, and I said I thought I would. "All right," he said, "I
have got a client for you." I could hardly believe it. A real
client with a case? It was the first ray of light, the first gleam
of hope in those long months ; to have a client, a real live client.
He brought him in. I wish you could have seen him. He was
colored. His trotisers were stuck in the tops of his boots, he was
out at the seat of his pants, but he was a client ; my first client. It
was my first case, and I was happy. The case was returnable be-
fore Daniel Pratt, a Justice who had his office in the village of
Salisbury. I went to work to prepare my case, and at the time
stated for the trial I was there with my client. I made the great,
supreme, and sublime effort of my life. There was'nt any attorney
for the plaintiflF. I appeared for the defense. It was'nt necessary
that the plaintiff should be represented. The magistrate occupied
that position, and when I had finished my argument he made his.
It was very effective; iust $36.22 for the plaintiff and costs. Well,
of course I felt crestfallen. I. came down to the office the next
morning, and Donald J. the elder came in, and he asked me how
I got along with the case. I had to tell him I got beat. Thorough-
ly beaten. And he said to me, "Oh,, well, never mind that. You
will come across those little misfortunes once in a while in vour
practice of law, but, of course, vou won't get any pay." "I did, I
got my pay." "You did? How' much did you get?" "$6.""Jt6,"
Donald J. says, "that is better than a victory ; I have been defending
that cussed nigger in season and out of season for the past twenty-
five years, and I never received a cent," and he grasped me warmly
by the hand, and he says, "Roraback, you will be a success." That
was case No. i. My first case.

Case No. 2 was the case of Julius Moses vs. Virgil Roberts.
Virgil Roberts was an old farmer that lived down on the Gay St.
road, as I remember it. When the case came to trial D. J. said to
me that I had better come along down and write the evidence. So
I went along down and wrote the evidence, and when the evidence
was all in D. J. spoke to me over across the table and he says,
"Roraback, you get up and make the opening argument." I was
demoralized, for gentlemen, sitting on the other side was Gen'l.
Charles S. Sedgwick. You never saw him, most of you, but he

134

LffCltFIET^D COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

was a man that stood six feet four in his stockings, and weighed
250 lbs. "I^-am afraid I made very poor work of it with tliat great
giant on the other side. I was afraid. I verily- -beHeve if the old
General had stamped his foot and yelled "scat," I would have gone
through the window and forever abandoned the idea of studying
law. But we fought it out. I got up and made my argument,
and then the old General got up and made No. 2, and then Donald
J. Warner made the closing. Talk about wit, and talk about sar-
casm, talk about eloquence, I learned the lesson right there and
then that it was not the avoirdupois of the lawyer that wins cases.
Gen. Sedgwick was three score and ten. He lived along a few
-ears, and wrote a little pamphlet on his experiences in fifty years
at the Litchfield County Bar. He was then state attorney.

BAR LIBRARY.

The matter of having a Bar Library at the Court House was
attended to at an early date. The following action of the Bar is an
interesting Record.

"At a meeting of the Bar December 29, 1819.

The following Report of a Committee having been read was
adopted. "To the Bar of the County of Litchfield. The Sub-
scribers having been appointed by said Bar, a Committee to enquire
into the expediency of commencing a Law Library for the use of the
Bar, (and if deemed expedient to devise some mode by which it
may be obtained), having attended to the subject beg leave to re-
port in part, That the Bar now owns six volumns of the Statutes
of Massachusetts, the two volumns of the revised edition of the
Statutes of New York, published in 1813, and the two volumes of
the Statutes of Vermont published in 1808; that there now remains
tmexpended the sum of Seventeen Dollars formerly raised by the
Bar for the purpose of purchasing Statutes of other States.

And further report that it is expedient that there be raised by
the Bar the further sum of One Hundred and Fifty-six Dollars to
be paid and apportioned to the members thereof as follows :

Elisha Sterling

$6.00

Jabez W. Huntington

5.00

Jno. G. Mitchell

3.00

Samuel Church

S-oo

Reuben Hunt

2.00

Wm. M. Burrall

S.oo

W. S. Holabird

3.00

Michael F. Mills

4.00

Calvin Butler

4.00

Holbrook Curtiss

4.00

Chas. B. Phelps

5.00

Nathaniel B. Smith

3.00

Nath'l. Perry, Jr.

2.00

Roger Mills

4.00

R. R. Hinman

4.60

Philo N. Heacock

2.00

Perry Smith

6.00

Homer Swift

3.00

Nath'l. Perry

4.00

Geo. Wheaton

3.00

Cyrus Swan

5.00

Phineas Miner

6.00

Asa Bacon

7.00

Philander Wheeler

3.00

HISTORICAL NOTES I35

Leman Church 4.00 Wm. Cogswell 3.00

Joseph Miller 5.00 Ansel Sterling 5.00

Wm. G. Williams 5.00 Theodore North 4.00

Noah B. Benedict 7.00 Seth P. Beers 6.00

John Strong 2,00 Matthew Minor 3.00

Jos. B. Bellamy 4.00 Isaac Leavenworth 4.00

David S. Boardman 6.00

And that said sums of Seventeen and One Hundred and Fifty-
six Dollars with such further sum as the Court may appropriate from
the County Treasurer for that purpose, be applied to the purchase
of the Law Books hereinafter mentioned, or such other Books as
the Bar may hereafter direct, viz :

Kirby's Reports, Root's Reports, Day's Cases in Error, Con-
necticut Reports, Swift's Evidence, Swift's System, Chitty's Plead-
ings, Lane's Pleadings, Phillip's Evidence, Johnson's Reports, Mas-
sachusetts Reports.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

Signed per order,

S. P. Bters, Chairiiian.

The books mentioned in this report were purchased and are
now in the Library at Litchfield. The only provision for the in-
crease of the Library which I find is an admission fee of Five Dol-
lars from a new attorney, until 1874, nor do the books in the Li-
brary show additions of any account.

In 1874, it was Voted As a standing Rule of the Bar, that each
member pay to the treasurer thereof the sum of One Dollar each,
yearly, to be expended in the purchase of Books for the benefit and
use of the said Bar. Said payments to be made at the annual meet-
ing in each year.

In 1877 the Legislature enacted a Bill providing for the forma-
tion of County Law Library Associations. The County Commis-
sioners were to pay in their discretion each year on the first of
January a sum not exceeding Three Hundred Dollars, for the
support thereof. The Litchfield County Law Library Association
was duly organized and received money from the County Treasurer
for one year, after which the discretion of the Commissioners did
not mature, and payments ceased, for some years. In 1897 an act
was passed making the payment obligatory of one hundred and
fifty dollars to each of the libraries at Litchfield, Winsted and New
Milford, since which time a good supply of law books may be found
in each Court House.

At the session of the Legislature of 1907 an act was passed re-
quiring the County Commissioners to pay each library four hundred
dollars a year.

At New Milford large accessions came from bequests of Bros.
Henry S. Sanford and James H. McMahon.

136

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BUNCH AXD BAR

JAJIES II. ilCMAHOX.

In 1906 Bro. McMahon left by his will the sum of $1,200 to
be equally divided between the three libraries, which was available
in 1907, and has been paid to the committees.

In each Court House may be found a first class working library
with some of the Reports of other States.

In 1900 the Bar voted that all the law books of the Bar, As-
sociation be presented to the Litchfield County Law Library As-
sociation, so that all the books are under one management.

AARON WHITE FUND.

Another branch of these libraries is purchased by the income
derived from a bequest of Aaron White, a lawyer who by his will
left to each County Law Library one thousand dollars for certain
classes of books.

The following account of Mr. White who deceased in 1886,
taken from a newspaper, will no doubt be of interest in this con-
nection and is worthy of preservation.

A Boston Globe correspondent tells the following story of Aaron
White of Quinnebaug: —

Aaron White has figured in his life as the most eccentric man
in this locality, and one who is widely known in Massachusetts,

HISTORICAL KOTES 137

Connecticut and JRhode Island. He was born in Boylston, Mass.,
October 8, 1798, and was the eldest of ten children, seven boys and
three girls, nine of whom are now living. He entered Harvard
college, graduating in a class of sixty-eight members in 1817. Of
his classmates only seven are now living. Mr. White, in recounting
incidents of his college life, shows a wonderful memory. Among
his classmates were the late Hon. Stephen Salisbury of Worcester,
the Hon. George Bancroft, the Hon. Caleb Cushing, whom he con-
sidered the most talented man he ever met ; Samuel Sewall, now
living in Boston ; Dr. John Green of Lowell, the Rev. Dr. Tyng of
the Episcopal church, now living in Phildelphia; John D. Wells of
Boston, one of the greatest anatomists of his day, and Professor
Alva ^^'oods, formerly president of the Transylvania college in the
South. living- in Providence. When the "Dorr War" broke out
Squire White was living in Woonsocket. "Governor" Dorr, be-
ing at the head of the controvesy, called upon Mr. White, for advice
"as a friend and acquaintance,"' which resulted in frequent visits
between them. This resulted afterwards in both White and Dorr
being obliged to leave the state, both going to Thompson, Conn.
Soon after, Mr. White secretly got Dorr into New Hampshire.
The authorities in Rhode Island used a warrant for the arrest of
Squire \Miite, in which he was called the "coriimander-in-chief" of
the forces that opposed the state. They called on Governor Chauncy
Cleveland of Connecticut for assistance, which was refused. They
afterwards called on Governor John Davis of Massachusetts to ar-
rest White when he came to Dudley, Webster or Worcester, but
Governor Davis as in the case of Governor Cleveland, refused to
grant the request. Both governors were in sympathy with Dorr
and \Miite. The Rhode Island authorities then threatened to send
■an armed force to kidnap Squire White at his home in Quinnebaug.
Governor Davis then issued a warrant for White's arrest if seen in
^Massachusetts, but this warrant was not intended to harm Squire
White, for it was to run only thirty days from its date. The result
was that Squire White remained unmolested in his quiet home on
the banks of the placid Quinnebaug. He is a lawyer and his busi-
•ness has been such as settling estates, drawing up wills, giving ad-
vice, etc., and he has always been considered a safe man to consult
on such business. When he was in his prime he was six feet in
height, lightly built and very long-limbed, weighing 160 pounds.
He is nearly blind, his eyesight having been failing for some five
years.

In his college days he, with Caleb Cushing, collected several
rare coins. Later he engaged in collecting old-fashioned coppers.
When the government called in the old coppers in 1863 or there-
abouts, issuing new ones, and for three years afterwards, he was
most active in picking them up. His reason for going into this
business was that he thought it very profitable. He visited the mint

138 LITCHFIHILD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

at Philadelphia, making arranganents with the officers to take
these coppers and give him new pennies in return, the government
to pay all expenses in shipping to and from his home. This busi-
ness, which he has carried on for some fifteen years, as a whole has
netted him a large amount of profit. He has some instances sold
copper coins of rare date for from $1 to $3, and in one case he re-
ceived $5 for a rare copper. He paid from forty to forty-four
cents per pound, "good, bad and indifferent," selecting the good
ones from them and shipping the rest to the mint. In his trips he
visited the principal cities and large towns in New England, collect-
ing many thousand coins as a result.

After the death of Mr. White in 1886, his executors found many
barrels of copper cents — of the "not rare" ones. About four tons
of these coins were redeemed by the Sub-Treasury at Washington.

Extracts from aaron white's will.

Fourth. — Out of the residue of the estates so given in trust as
aforesaid, to pay to the Treasurers of the present eight Counties
in the State of Connecticut, to each the sum of One Thousand
Dollars in lawful money, to be by them received in trust, as funds
for the procurement and maintenance of County Bar Libraries
in their respective Counties, in their several County Court Houses,
for the sole use of the Judges and Clerks of Courts therein. Mem-
bers of the Bar, and their students at law while in the Oiffices of
said Bar members, in their respective Counties ; which funds or the
annual income thereof, as said Bar Members may direct, shall be
expended under their direction in the purchase of Books of His-
tory, and Books of Moral and Political Philosophy.

And in case said residue last mentioned be not sufficient for
the payment of all said legacies to said Counties in full, then said
residue, in equal portions to said Counties for the purposes afore-
said shall be deemed a fuUfilment of their trust. Such payment
to be made within three years from the time of my decease.'"

cextennial.

At a meeting of the Litchfield County Bar held at the Court
House in Litchfield on the 4th day of January 185 1 the following
preamble and resolution was adopted :

Whereas, During the present year a century will elapse since
the organization of the County of Litchfield; and

Whereas, a Centennial celebration of that event has been under
consideration. Therefore

Resolved, That Chas. B. Phelps, O. S. Seymour, John H. Hub-
bard, Gideon Hall, G. H. Hollister, J. B. Harrison and J. B.
Foster Esquires, be a Committee of the Bar to call a meeting of
citizens of the County to consider that subject and to take such

F. D. Beumax

HISTORICAL NOTES I39

order- thereon by appointment of a Committee of arrangements or
otherwise as shall be thought best.

F. D. Beeman, Clerk.
In pursuance of these pcoceedings the Centennial Celebration
of August 185 1 was held. Several thousand people were present.
Judge Samuel Church delivered the Historical acldress which is
reprinted in this volume. Horace Bushnell the sermon and John
Pierpont the poem.

DAVID DAGGETT.

At a meeting of the Bar of Litchfield County during the August
Term 1834, a Committee was appointed to prepare an address to
the Hon. David Daggett, Chief Justice of the State, on the occasion
of the near approach of his term of judicial service, which Com-
mittee reported to the Bar the following address, which was by
order of the Bar communicated to the Hon. David Daggett, and
together with the reply thereto was ordered to be recorded upon
the records of the Bar.

"To the Hon. David Daggett, Chief Justice of the State of
Connecticut. Sir : — The members of the Bar of the County of
Litchfield, having heard from a communication which you made
to the Legislature of the State at its last session that your judicial
term of office service will expire by Constitutional limitation dur-
ing the present year, and consequently not expecting to meet you
again in your official character, beg leave to express to you the high
sense "which they entertain of the ability, integrity and impartiality,
which you have manifested upon the bench, and to thank you
cordially for the uniform kindness and courtesy with which you
have treated them when they have had occasion to appear before
you to discharge the arduous duties of their profession. Li taking
leave of you we cannot but recollect that it is now rising of forty
years since you first formed a connection with the Bar of this
County, and that vou were long associated in practice with Adams,
Reeve, Smith, Tracy, Allen, Kirby, Benedict, Slosson and South-
mayde, whose bright names are inscribed on our records and whose
memory will be cherished so long as learning, talent and virtue
shall command esteem ; nor can we forget that your labors may
be traced in the very foundations of the judicial system of Connecti-
cut, nor that you have exercised a happy influence in adorning that
system with various learning, and in bringing it to its present
matured condition.

We tender you our best wishes that the residue of your days
may be as happy as your life has been heretofore distinguished and
honorable.

Per order of the Bar,

Phineas Miner, Chairman.
Geo. C. Woodrufif, Clerk pro fern.
Litchfield, August 29th., 1834.

:i40 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

The following is the repl}- made by the Hon. David Daggett to
"the foregoing address.

"To the members of the Bar of Litchfield of the County of
Xitchfield :

Gentlemen : — I have received with high satisfaction the address
signed by Phineas Miner and G€orge C. Woodruff, Esquirei,
your Chairman and Secretary, which you did me the honor to
communicate to me this da}-.

In taking leave of a Bar so distinguished, by the illustrious
names inscribed on its records, it is impossible that I should not
entertain a grateful recollection of the memories of those who are
now away from all earthly scenes, and also cherish a lively affec-
tion and respect for those who now occupy with such honor their
places.

If my official conduct on the bench deserves the commendation
bestowed upon it, much of it is justly due to the gentlemen of a
Bar ever characterized by ability, integrity, industry and learning.
Of your courtes}' towards me and your gentlemanly deportment
towards each other while engaged in the conflicts of the Bar, I
cannot speak in terms sufficiently expressive of the feelings of
my heart. They will be recollected with grateful affection. How
much such an intercourse between the Bar and the bench tends
to alleviate the burdens of the judicial station, can be known only
by those who have had the pleasure to witness it.

I pra}' you to accept my fervent wishes for the prosperitv and
happiness of you individually, and my cordial thanks for this ex-
pression of your esteem and respect.

David Daggett.
Litchfield, August 28th., 1834.

A true copv. Attest,

Wm. P. Burrall, Clerk.

COURT Expenses.

In the earlier part of the century the Judges were given a cer-
tain sum per day and their dinners.

Among the vouchers of the past the following bill of Court
expenses appears.

The State of Connecticut :
To Isaac Baldwin, Dr.

Superior Court, February Term, 1810.
To ninety nine dinners for the Court $40.50

To 21 bottles of wine at los 35-50

To Brandy, Sugar, etc., 17 days at 4-6 12.75

To pipes and tobacco .50

'To Segars .2$

To paper .25

$98-75

GIDEON H. WELCPI.

HISTORICAL NOTKS 141

THE COUNTY COURT.

Prepared by the late Wm. F. Hurlbut, Clerk.

The first Court organization in lyitchfield County was the County
Court, and for several years it was the principal trial court, — hav-
ing criminal jurisdiction in all cases except those punishable by
death, or imprisonment in the State Prison for life, — and civil juris-
diction in law and equity where the matter in demand did not ex-
ceed three hundred and thirt\-five dollars, but a right of appeal to
the Superior Court existed, in cases where the ad damnum exceeded
two hundred dollars, or the title to land or right of way was in
question, also raising or obstructing the water of any stream, river,
creek or arm of the sea by erection of a dam, etc., which gave
litigants the power to prevent a determination of causes by the
County Court, and which the defeated parties availed themselves
of to such an extent that most cases passed through both courts
with a trial of facts in each, with the result that public opinion con-
sidered the County Court of but little practical value. Therefore
the legislature of 1855, abolished it and transferred all causes there-
in pending to the docket of the Superior Court, causing that Court
to be loaded with such a mass of business that it was impossible
for a case to be tried within two years after being brought. This
congestion of the docket of the Superior Court coupled with the
inconvenience of travel to Litchfield (then the only County Seat)
caused the organization in 1872 of the District Court for the First
Judicial District, the district being composed of the towns of Bark-
hamsted, Bridgewater, Canaan, Colebrook, Cornwall, Kent, New
Hartford, New Milford, Norfolk, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon,
Washington and Winchester. This Court continued to exist until
1883 when the remainder of the County desirous of enjoying the
privilege afforded by it, the name was changed to the Court of
Common Pleas and its jurisdiction extended to the entire Countv
with sessions holden at Litchfield in addition to Winchester, New
Alilford and Canaan.

This was practically a revival of the old Count\- Court with
civil powers enlarged to cover causes demanding one thousand dol-
lars damages but with no right of appeal to the Superior Court
nor any criminal jurisdiction.

The Court of Common Pleas has been a popular court transact-
ing a large. majority of the litigation of the Count\' with less ex-
pense to the State and to parties than the same could have been done
by the Superior Court.

142

LITCHFIELD COU.S'T'/ BIi>'CII AXD DAR

William Preston,

Woodbury
John Williams,

Sharon
Oliver Wolcott,

Litchfield
Daniel Sherman,

Woodbury
Joshua Porter,

Salisbury
Aaron Austin,

Xew Hartford

ji'ixjivs oif the; county cocrt.
1751-175

Ansel Sterling,

Sharon
1 754- 1 773 Calvin Butler,

Plymouth
1773-1786 Ansel Sterling,

Sharon
1786-1791 William M. Burrall,

Canaan
1 791-1808 Abijah Catlin,
Harwinton
1808-1816 Elisha S. Abernethy,

Litchfield

Augustus Pettibone 1816-183T Holbrook Curtiss,
Norfolk Watertown

David S. Boardman, 1831-1836 Hiram Goodwin,

New Aliifofd Barkhamsted

WilHam ^J. Burrall, 1836-1838 Charles B. Phelps,
Canaan Woodbur}'

Hiram Goodwin, 1851-1856

Barkhamsted

1838-1839
1839-1840

1 840- 1 84 3
1 842- 1 844
1 844- 1 846
1 846- 1 847

1847-1849
1 849- 1 850
1850-1831

JUSTICES OE THE QUORUM.

John Miner, 1704-1716 John Sherman,

Woodbury Woodbury

John Sherman, 1708-1714 Joseph Miner,

^^'^oodbur}• Woodbury

William Preston, 1740-1751

; Woodbury

1723-1728
1725-1739

THE FOLLOWIXG IX LITCIlElELD COUXTY.

Thomas Chipman,

Salisbury
John Williams,

Sharon
Samuel Canfield,

New Milford
Ebenezer Marsh,

Litchfield
Joseph Bird,

Salisbviry
Noah Hinman,

Woodbury
Elisha Sheldon,

Litchfield

1751-1753 Licrease Moseley, 1755-1780

Woodbury
1751-1754 Roger Sherman, 1759-1762

New Milford
1 75 1 -1754 Daniel Sherman, 1761-1786

Woodbury
1751-1772 Bushnell Bostwick, 1762- 1776

New Milford
1753-1754 Joshua Porter, 1772-1791

Salisbury
1754-1759 Samuel Canfield, . 1777-1790

New Milford
1 754- 1 759 Jedediah Strong, 1 780-1 79 r

Litchfield

WILLlAjr f. HURLBUT

HISTORICAL N^OTUS

Htman Swift, 1786-1802 Birdseye Norton,

Cornwall Goshen

Aaron Austin, 1790-180S Augustus Pettibone,

Xew Hartford Norfolk

Nathan Hale, 1791-1809 Uriel Holmes,

Canaan Litchfield

David Smith, 1791-1814 Moses Lyman, Jr.,

Plymouth Goshen

Daniel N. T.rinsmade, 1802-1818 Oliver Burnham,

^^'ashing-ton Cornwall

Judson Canfield. i8o8-i8i5Cyrus Swan, ]

Sharon Sharon

1809
1812
i8i4'
1815
1816-
?i7-if

143
1812
•1816
■1817
■1817
1818
!i9

^lartin Strong,

1819-1820

Salisbury

ASSOCIATE JUDGES.

^Martin Strong, 1820-1829 Morris Wodruff,

Salisbury Litchfield

Tohn Welch. 1820-1829 H:ugh P. Welch,

Litchfield Litchfield

William M. Burrall, 1829-1836
Canaan

1829-
1836-

1836
1838

The Judges of the District Court were Roland Hitchcock, two
years; Jared B. Foster, three years; Florimond D. Kyler, four years
and Donald J. Warner, two years ; of the Court of Common Pleas
Donald J. Warner, six years ; Alberto T. Roraback, four years ;
Arthur D. AA'arner, three and one half years ; Alberto T. Roraback,
five months (when he was appointed to the Superior Court bench)
and Gideon H. ^^''elch now (1907) holding the office.

The Clerks have been of the County Court
Isaac Baldwin, 175 1- 1793 Frederick Wolcott, 1793- 1836

Of the District Court and Court of Common Pleas
Wm. F. Hurlbut, twenty-two years Walter S. Judd, two years

Wheaton F. Dowd, from 1901

juDGi; Preston's mojstument in woodbury

2[ttal0

HISTORICAI, NOTES I45

NOTED TRIALS.

Although the Courts are organized to remedy private wrongs
and as such their proceedings are not matters of general history, yet
these are sometimes of such a public nature and relate so closely
to the g-eneral weal and welfare that they are properly a part cf
Court history, while of course Criminal trials are public property.
Some of these have passed through the Courts of highest adjudica-
tion and are very important.

The Attorney in preparing his brief in an action cannot have
avoided noticing how often his references quote from some Litch-
field County decision, especially in the earlier cases.

Those earlier Blackstones of our jurisprudence. Reeve, Gould,
Church and Seymour laid their work on the deep foundations of
the philosophy and truths of natural justice and common sense.

The early part of our records are of appeals from the County
Court, motions for new trials, foreclosures, and a good many cases
of Insolvency proceedings and cases of ec[uitable nature. Very few
trials of fact occur; the judgments were rendered mostly after de-
cisions upon demurrers, pleas in abatement and such preliminar}'
pleadings, upon the determination of which we now have a right
to answer over, and have a trial on the facts.

In the Criminal prosecutions, if the accused by any chance was
acquitted he was discharged by paying the costs of his trial,
and till 1835 the sentences of imprisonment were made to Newgate,
now known as the Copper mines in Simsbury. .

We append herewith a few of the memorable trials, and have
probably omitted others of equally as valuable and important signifi-
cance. The abstracts are necessarily very brief and condensed.

The first recorded case upon the books of the Superior Court
is that of

Abner Wheeler, of Bethlem

vs.

Joshua Henshaw, of New Hartford.

In which the plaintifif recovered $642.75 damages and costs taxed
at $49.86.

The first divorce granted was Lucy Mix of Salisbury against
Thomas Mix.

These mixings and unmixings have formed a large per cent, of
the judgments during the century.

THE SELLECK-OSBORN ir.VTTER.

One of the most important trials and probably one that in its
general results affected the State, especially the political part of it
more than any other that has ever occurred in the State, was the
Selleck-Osborn trial 1806-1807.

Benjamin Talmadge. Esq., was a Colonel in the Revolution and
at the close of hostilities settled in Litchfield where he was a very

146 I.ITCHFI>:i,D COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

prominent citizen and for many years a member of Congress,
Frederick Wolcott, who for more than forty years was the clerk of
the County and Superior Courts, brought a suit against one WilHam
Hart of Saybrook and at the August Term of this court 1805 re-
covered $2,205.00 damages. The case was taken to the Supreme
Court and affirmed. Execution was issued and paid in full in .1806.

Selleck Osborn and Timothy Ashley were then publishing a
newspaper in Litchfield called. the Witness and made comments upon
the judgment reflecting severely upon the integrity of the Court.

Whereupon the Superior Court prosecuted them as follows :
"James Gould, Esq., Attorney for. the State for the County of
Eitchfield specially appointed by this Court in this behalf filed an
information before this Court, therein representing that Selleck
Osborn and Timothy Ashley both now resident in Litchfield in
County intending to bring the Superior Court of judicature of this
State into disrepute and contempt and especially to induce a belief
among the good people of this State that said Court in proceeding
to and rendering judgment in a certain cause in which Benjamin
Talmadge and Frederick Wolcott, Esquires were plaintiffs and
William Hart, Esq., was defendant, and that the jury who attended
said Court. in finding a verdict in said cause were influenced by par-
tial, dishonest and corrupt motives, did at Litchfield aforesaid on
the 4th day of September 1805 with force and arms most unjustly
wickedly and maliciously print and publish and cause to be printed
and published of and concerning said Court and jur}^ and of and
concerning the proceedings in said cause in a publick newspaper
called the Witness a certain false and scandalous libel purporting to
he a statement or report of the aforesaid action of the evidence ad-
duced therein and of the proceedings therein had which said infor-
mation is as on file."

The defendants plead to the jurisdiction of the Court to which
the attorney demurred and the Court decided that it had jurisdiction.
It then went to the Court for trial on their plea of not guilty. They
were found guilty and fined two hundred and fifty dollars each.
Osborn in his statement of the numerous trials says that this one
cost him $605.98. The libel suit of Julius Deming against him
$346.46 and for slandering Thomas Colier he paid $522.00.

Osborn and Ashley were also fined in the County Court one
hundred dollars for libelling Julius Deming a prominent merchant
of Litchfield. Mr. Ashley paid his part but Mr. Osborn would not
pay and was taken to jail. This aroused the Jeffersonians all over
the County and State, they calling it a political martyrdom and on
the 6th of August 1806, they gave him a great ovation forming a
grand procession with cavalry and military parade passing by the
jail where he was confined and saluting him with great honors. A
part of the celebration was an address delivered in the meeting house
by Joseph L. Smith, then a young lawyer of Litchfield. He made

HISTORICAL NOTES 1 47

remarks reflecting upon the Superior Court, consequently in due
course of time tlie State's Attorney, Urial Holmes, Esq., issued an
information against him for uttering "the following false, malicious,
scandalous and defamatory words, viz: 'The Courts of justice
(meaning the aforesaid Courts of justice in this State) have re-
garded the face of man in judgment. If the Republicans shall re-
take the property which the Federal Courts (meaning the aforesaid
Courts , magistrates, judges and justices of this State) have taken
from them (meaning the said Republicans) it will be but a poor
apology for the Federalists that they obtained it by false witnesses
perjured judges and packed juries." Also "Osborn is imprisoned
for publishing that of a Federal justice which is true of every
Federal justice in the State."

Smith first plead not guilt}-, then the Court allowed him to
change his plea to a demurrer. The Court found the information
sufficient and fined Smith two hundred and fifty dollars and costs,
one hundred and twenty three dollars and sixty four cents.

The clerk adds to the record, "The delinquint was delivered to
the custody of the Sherifif of said County."

Smith's connection with the Court was not altogether agreeable
after that, but he was soon appointed Major in the United States
Army and was a Colonel in the War of 1812 after which he was
United States Judge in Florida. He was the ancestor of the con-
federate General E. Kirby Smith.

BL.\SPI-TEMY.

At the August Term of the Court in 1809 William Leavenworth,
Jr., was informed against for blasphemy in the town of Plymouth.
The information stated "Who did in the presence and hearing of
sundry of the good people of the State then and there assembled,
blaspheme the name of God the Father and of the Hol\- Ghost, and
deny and reproach the true God and His government of the world
bv wickedly and blasphemously uttering and speaking the words
following, viz : 'I am the Holy Ghost and here is the Holy Ghost,' he
the said ^^'illiam speaking of himself and meaning that he, said
William was the Holy Ghost."

The accused was arrested, brought before the Court and plead
not guilty, and after a trial was acquitted by the jury and the Clerk
adds, "The said William was discharged by order of Court without
the payment of costs."

This was a new departure, it having been customary for the
prisoner to be obliged to pay the costs whether convicted or ac-
quitted.

The following remarkable proceeding appears upon the record
of our Courts, but the account herein given is from Gen. Sedg-
wick's History of Sharon.

148 LiTCHFlEljD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

A WRONG VERDICT STANDS.

At a regimental training in Sharon on the 20th day of Sept.,
A. D. 1805 an altercation occurred between Zenas Beebe of Sharon
and Aner Ives of Kent which was consummated by the stabbing of
Ives by Beebe with a bayonet,, inflicting a mortal wound of which
he died at the end of a week. There were mitigating circumstances
in the case which relieved Beebe from the charge of wilful murder,
but it was a clear case of manslaughter. By a singular blunder of
the foreman of the jury he was pronounced not guilty of any of-
fense. The jury had agreed upon the verdict to be rendered to be
"not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter." The foreman
rendered the first part of the verdict but stopped there. The sub-
sequent proceedings in the matter are copied from the records of the
Court.

"After the verdict was rendered the^ foreman informed the Court
that the verdict which the jury had intended to return and had
agreed on was — that the said Beebe was not guilty of murder, but
by mistake he had omitted to return and state the whole finding of
the jury, and desired to be directed by the Court whether the verdict
and the whole finding of the jury as agreed upon by them, and as he
designed at first to have stated the same, would then be made and
returned.

On consideration it was adjudged by the court that the verdict
of the jury as returned and recorded by them could not be ex-
plained or altered."

Beebe was defended by two of the ablest lawyers in the State
Nathaniel Smith of Woodbury and David Daggett of New Haven.

At the Term of the Superior Court holden February, A. D. 1820,
Beebe was tried for an assault with intent to kill Amasa Maxam
and found guilty. He was sentenced to confinement in the Old
Newgate prison for two years but died before the expiration of his
sentence.

A SINGULAR INFORMATION FOR SI,.\NDER.

In 1814, Elisha Sterling, Esq., then Attorney for the State for
the County of Litchfield presented to the Court his information
against a very prominent man of the County who was at that time
Brigadier General of the State Militia.

The complaint was for libel upon his deceased father-in-law
made by the General in the form of a "Funeral Order" and sent
to one of the inferior officers of his regiment directing him to con-
duct the funeral. The order is too wicked and vulgar to be pub-
lished entire but a few extracts from it will show its general pur-
port.

A EUNERAT, ORDER.

I have this day been informed that old is dead,

and I being out of health cannot attend the funeral. I therefore

HISTORICAI, NOTES I49

give you this order and empower you to conduct it in the following
order and I will pay the expense. First get a coffin made of
Pepperidge Plank three inches thick and duftail it strong together
with large Iron Spikes, Hoop it thick with Bars of Iron, make a
winding sheet with sheet iron, braze it well Top and Bottom, make
a Muffler with two hundred pounds of German Steel. Place a
large Iron Screw on the top of his head extending through the Jaws
so that the old fellow cannot open his mouth, next place on

a mule dressed in Regimentals with old sword and
Epaulette which he wore at the time the British invaded New York,
when he run and left his men twenty rods behind

Raise four red or crimson .Flags, place (certain neighbors) as
pall bearers to blow Rams Horns, dress (other neighbors) in Indian
Stockings and Wampum and make them carry around Winkum or
Cyder Brandy in large iron kettles to treat the procession, start by
the shouting of Rams Horns until the walls fall in ( )

as they did in Jericho. Draw Him to , then blast

a grave into a solid rock ten feet deep, put him in head downwards,
place bars of iron thick across the grave, take a sledge, drive in
stones, cement them with Plaster of Paris, so that the old Devil
cannot get out, as he would make Quarrells and Disturbance until
the Day of Judgment. Go to and get one hundred and

fifty barrells of tar or pitch and twenty barrells of brimstone and
burn around the door to keep off the devils until you perform this
my order

The information concludes as follows : —

"All of which was false, willful and malitious and done to blacken
the memory of the said deceased and cast a stigma on his memory
and on all others connected with him and excite his children to a
breach of the peace and expose them to the hatred and contempt
of the good people of this State ; all which wrongdoings of the said
are against the peace and dignity of this State contrary
to law and a high crime and misdemeanor and of evil example to
others in like manner to offend. Said attorney therefore prays the
advice of the Honorable Court in the premises.

Elisha Sterling.'

The indorsement is as follows : —

"James Gould and Xoah B. Benedict assigned as counsel for
the delinquint. Plea not guilty. On the jury for trial. The de-
linquint changing, pleads guilty.

The Court adjudge that delinquint is guilty and that he pay a
fine of $75 into the treasury of this State and the costs of this
prosecution and stand committed until judgment be comphed with.

J. W. H., Clerk pro tem."

rabEIvLO trial.
"" In the spring of 1835 a most horrible murder was committed
in New Preston. A young lad of- twelve years of age, son of Mr.

150 UTCHI'IBLD COUNTY BUNCH AND BAR

Ferris Beardsley, was brutally murdered by a wandering fellow, a
Portuguese by birth, for some fancied insult, claiming that the boy
stepped on his toes. The trial commenced in August 1835 before
Judges Waite and Williams. The prosecuting attorney for the
State was Leman Church assisted by George C. Woodruff, Esq.,
and the Court appointed Truriian Smith and O. S. Seymour for the
prisoner. The ti-ial lasted several days and on the eighteenth of
August 1835 the jury returned a verdict of not guilty by reason of
insanity. The prisoner was committed to jail for safe keeping and
remained there a number of years but was afterwards committed
to State Prison for safe keeping. He became a raving maniac
and died in prison only a few years since. It was at that time a
noted case and one of the earliest ones, now so common, of offering
expert evidence on insanity.

The proceedings of the trial were published in pamphlet form.

BEXXET WARD 3[URDER.

On the 23rd of November, 1846, Bennet Ward went into a store
kept by W. B. Lounsbury, he was somewhat intoxicated, became
noisy and violent, threatened to whip several persons who were in
the store, and began to throw fire among the dry goods that were
■disposed about the store. Among those present was George W.
Smith. Ward finally proposed to whip him, and Smith seized a stick
of wood from the wood box, and struck him over the left side of the
head, causing a fracture in the skull five inches in length. He
then kicked him out of the store and he fell upon the stoop. He
got up however and wanted to fight, but the door was shut upon
him. He then went about a quarter of a mile, to an out house of
David J- Stiles and staid there two nights, when he went into Mr.
Stiles' house, and soon became insensible. In this condition he re-
remained till his death, which occurred fifty-six hours after the
blow was received. A post-mortem examination showed there was
•concussion and compression of the brain, besides a chronic inflamma-
tion resulting from an old injury. Smith was arraigned for murder,
February Term 1847. Hon. John H. Hubbard, State's Attorney
and Hon. Charles 13. Phelps, appeared for the State and Hons.
Leman Church, G. H. Hollister and William Cothren appeared for
the accused. After an interesting trial. Smith was acquitted, on
the ground that he acted in self defence.

LUCIUS H. FOOT MURDER.

On the morning of March 4th., 1856, Lucius H. Foote, a tavern-
■er of Woodbury, was, found brutally murdered, under the horse sheds
of the Episcopal Church in the center of the town, and his whole
body frozen stiff, showing that he had been killed the evening be-
fore. Circumstances strongly pwinted to Edward E. Bradley, as
Ijeing the perpetrator of the crime. He was arrested on this sus-
picion, and after a hearing before Justice Bull, bound over, without

WILLIAM COTHRLN.

HISTORICAL NOTES ' 151

bail to the next Superior Court to be held at Litchfield. A Grand
Jury was summoned, and a true bill for the crime of murder was
found. The trial of the accused on the indictment commenced at
Litchfield on the 14th., of April, before Judges William L. Storrs
and Origen S. Seymour and a Jury, Hon. Gideon Hall, State's At-
torney, Hon. Charles B. Phelps and William Cothren, Esq. ap-
peared for the State, and Hon. Charles Chapman of Hartford,
Gideon H. Hollister and Henry B. Graves, Esqrs. appeared for
the prisoner. Not only very nice questions of circumstial evidence,
but other intricate questions of law, were involved in the case, and
the trial excited a more general interest than any case which has
been tried in this county. On the tenth day of the trial the presid-
ing Judge charged the jury, and on the eleventh day, they having
failed to agree on a verdict, after having been sent out for several
times, the papers were taken back, the jury discharged, and the
prisoner remanded to jail. The jury stood five for conviction of
murder in the second degree and seven for acquittal.

At the September term of the Court the case came on again for

trial. It was commenced October 3rd., 1856 before Hon. David C.

Sanford and Hon. John D. Park, presiding Judges with a jury.

After a careful and laborious trial for twelve days, the jury again

■ disagreed and were discharged.

On the 14th of April, 1857 he was again arrainged for trial be-
fore a jury with Hon. William W. Ellsworth and Hon. Thomas B.
Butler as presiding Judges, and after a trial of fourteen days the
jury again disagreed. Soon after this result the State's Attorney
entered a nolle prosequi and the accused was discharged. Mr.
Cothren published a complete report of the trial.

MATTHEW MORRIS MURDER.

On the 17th of July, 1861, Woodbury was again startled by the
announcement that another murder had been committed there.
Matthew M. Morris a very respectable citizen became engaged in
a quarrel with one Charles Fox, was stabbed by Fox and the knife
at the last thrust, entirely severed the main artery under the collar
bone on the right side, called by the doctors the vena cava. Fox
immediately hid his knife in the corner of the yard where it was found
the next morning, almost covered with blood. Pox took his scythe
and started for Roxbury, but was detained by a neighbor till Sherifif
Minor arrested him.

After an inquest, Fox was bound over for trial to the September
term of the Superior Court, 1861. Judge Ellsworth presided over
that Court. Gen. Charles F. Sedgwick and Wm. Cothren, ap-
peared for the State, and Gideon H. Hollister and Henry B. Graves,
Esqrs., for the defence. After the evidence on both sides had been
introduced the judge called all the counsel to the bench, and told
them that in his judgment the crime amounted to manslaughter and
no more; and that if it pleased them to agree to that view and

152 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND CAR

would waive argument, he would immediately so charge the jury.
The counsel cheerfully acceded to the suggestion of the distinguished
judge, who immediately charged the jury in accordance with his
views. The jury retired, and in a few mitiutes returned with a ver-
dict of manslaughter, and Fox was sentenced to ten years imprison-
ment in the Connecticut State Prison.

DRAKELY MURDER.

Again Woodbury was the scene of a sad murder. On the night
of August loth., 1886 Robert Drakely shot his wife through the
heart after she had retired for the night. He was a young man,
not twenty years old and had been married only a few weeks and
was, as he claimed, jealous of his wife for the attentions she be-
stowed on a small child that boarded with them. He was of a
good old family of very respectable people but had become disso-
lute and dissipated and committed the act while in a drunken frenzy.
He was bound over to the Superior Court by Justice Skelly and
taken to the jail at Litchfield. At the April term, 1887 of the
Court the Grand Jury indicted him for murder in the second de-
gree. In September, 1887 he was arraigned and plead not guilty.
He was tried before Hon. David Torrance and a jury. The prose-,
cution was conducted by Hon. James Huntington, State's Attorney
and Arthur D. Warner, Esq. ; the defense by Henry B. Graves anjl
AVilliam Cothren, Esq. The defense was that the accused from
various reasons was not mentally or mortally resf>onsible for his acts.
After an exhaustive trial and the charge of Judge Torrance the' jury
retired and in about ten minutes returned with a verdict of guilty.
He was sentenced to State Prison for life and died a few years
after commitment.

BERNICE WHITE^ MURDER.

In the early part of 1850 the people of Colebrook and vicinity
were startled by the report that Bernice White, an elderly gentleman
living near Colebrook River, had been murdered. In a short time
four men were arrested for the deed, named William Calhoun,
Lorenzo T. Cobb, Benjamin Balcomb and Henry Mennasseh, the
latter a half breed Indian. After the preliminary hearing they
were bound over for trial to the Superior Court at Litchfield. A
Grand Jury found a true bill against each of them and they were
brought to trial at the August Term 1850. There was so great a
crowd of witnesses and interested spectators that the Court was
obliged to adjourn to the Congregational Church to hold the trial.
Two Judges presided, Chief Justice Church and Judge Storrs.
Calhoun and Balcomb being minors, Charles Chapman, Esq., of
Hartford was appointed guardian ad-Utem of Calhoun and Origen
S. Seymour for Balcomb. Upon their arraignment Balcomb
plead guilty and the rest not guilty of murder in the first degree.

HISTORICAL NOTES 1 53

After a long trial Calhoun and Mannasseh were found guilty and
Cobb was acquitted. The guilty ones were sentenced to be hung
on the second Friday of July, 1851. One of them, Cobb, died in
jail and the other three finally had their sentences changed to im-
prisonment in State Prison for life. After serving there some
years Balcomb died in prison and Calhoun and Mennasseh were par-
doned out, it having been fairly proved that they had no hand in the
actual commission of the deed but were only accessories after the
fact. Calhoun died somewhere in the west and Mennasseh died in
the Farmington town house. He is said to have been the last of the
Tunxis Indians.

WILLIAM H. GREEN TRIAL.

The trial of the Rev. William H. Green of Cornwall for murder
excited a very general interest.

In 1865 Mr. Green resided in Centerville, N. Y., in the character
of an itinerant Methodist preacher, and about that time he married
a woman with whom he lived several months occupying with her
the parsonage of the parish wherein he preached. In 1866 he
abandoned this wife and married a young widow who had a small
amount of property amounting to some twelve or fifteen hundred
dollars. In the spring of 1867 he came to Connecticut and tooK
the stump for P. T. Barnum who was then running for Congress
on the Republican ticket. He was esteemed a very powerful
preacher and his political arguments were eloquent and convincing,
he also lectured on temperance and was an evangelist and held re
vival meetings in different places. After a time he joined his sec-
ond wife's brother in West Cornwall and engaged with him in the
general country store business. Mrs. Green was in feeble health
with consumption and grew rapidly worse. On the evening
of May 6, 1867 she was attacked with spasms and died just aftei
midnight. From certain suspicious circumstances and subsequent
conduct of Green, suspicion was aroused to the cause of her death.
About the middle of June her body was exhumed and the stomach
and liver sent to Prof. Barker of New Haven for examination who
found traces of strychnine in those organs. Green was arrested and
sent to Litchfield for safe keeping without a mittimus and of course
was not locked up. While under keepers here his brother-in-law
called upon him and informed him of the result of the analysis.
Green concluded that his residence at the jail was not desirable at
least on his part and made his departure therefrom unknown to the
authorities and was for a few days in parts unknown. In a few
days he reported at West Cornwall where he was formally arrested
and attempted to save the State the trouble and expense of three
trials by cutting his throat with a pocket knife in which he was not
entirely successful. He was bound over to the Superior Court for
trial and in November 1867 was tried for the crime and convicted

154 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

of murder and sentenced to be hung on December 4th., 1868. His
case was carried to the Supreme Court and a new trial granted him
on the ground of newly discovered evidence. In January .1869 he
was again before the Superior Court and the new trial resulted in
a disagreement of the jury, but in September of that year the third
trial was had and the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in
the second degree. He was sentenced to State Prison for life
September 25, 1869, where he died.

JAMES iE ROY.

The career of James LeRoy, who received in 1850 at the age of
twenty-five years his third commitment to the State Prison for the
term of fifteen years upon his plea of guilty to seven different
burglaries committed in or near Winsted and New Hartford in the
years 1849 and 1850, is in many respects a remarkable one. From
his boyhood he seemed to have nothing but a criminal instinct.
When arrested in 1850 he was placed under keepers who fell asleep
and he not enjoying their society departed from them. He had
hand cuffs on and disliking them, proceeded to one of the scythe
shops, broke into the shop and set one of the water grindstones
running, and ground the shackles from his wrists and then secreted
himself so that he was not found by the officials for several days,
although they were constantly on the alert for him. After his
release from the Connecticut State Prison he was engaged in
practical observations in the management of prisons in other States
and in 1877 under the name of James Whiting was sent to prison for
theft for three and a half years, and died in prison. He made in
1850 a confession of his exploits which was published.

WOLCOTTVIELE BURGLARS.

On the night of November 1876 the warehouse of the Union
Manufacturing Company in Torrington was broken into and a
large quantity of manufactured goods carried away. The burglars
stole a hand car from the section house and started towards Bridge-
port on the Naugatuck Railroad track. When it passed through
Waterbury the watchman at the depot informed ■ Superintendent
Beach of the passage of the car. Mr. Beach immediately had an
engine fired up and started in pursuit, and just before reaching
Ansonia at about half past four in the morning the engine struck
the hand car and threw it from the ti-ack. Stopping the engine
they found fifteen pieces of woolen goods scattered about, but the
occupants of the hand car had fled, but were tracked in the snow
and soon arrested. They were lodged in Litchfield jail and had
their trial before this Court December 6, and 7, 1876 and Franklin
Johnson, William C. Davis and William C. Davis, Jr. were con-
victed of the crime and received State Prison sentences. It was
a case that excited great attention partly on account of the mode
of capture and the novel method of transit. The whole evidence

(Xu^Uftujf tt-T*^*^

HISTORICAL NOTES 1 55

was purely circumstantial and the defense was not only denial by
the accused but a fairiy proved alibi presented. The skillful prose-
cution conducted by the State's Attorney Huntington and G. H.
Welch, Esq. with the adroit defenses presented by H. B. Graves and
the large attendance at the trial makes it a noted case.

LIQUOR TRIALS.

From the Litchfield Enquirer of April 29, 1880 we take extracts
which will illustrate the great battle which was fought in our Courts
in the prosecution for the illegal sale of intoxicating spirits at about
that date :

"With all its victories in the moral field, temperance has hereto-
fore met defeat or but partial success in the Courts. Even in high
teetotal times, when the people were electing Prohibition Governors
and Prohibition Legislatures, we have seen rum-seller after rum-
seller brought before juries, their guilt conclusively proved, yet
escaping justice by acquittal or disagreement. The old prohibitory
Statute of 1854 in this County at least was an utter failure. Of
the dozens we have seen tried under the act we can recollect but
one conviction. Under Local Option there has been a marked
change, particularly of late years, and especially since the popular
feeling against the liquor trafific has been intensified by the Blue
Ribbon movement. There can be no doubt, too, that Litchfield
County is very fortunate in her State's Attorney, an officer who
never shirks or slights his duty, whether it is a rum-seller, or a
sheep stealer that is brought to the bar of the Superior Court for
trial. Of late years, therefore we have seen several convictions bv
juries, but in this County, rum and justice have never been brought
face to face so sharply and with such decisive defeat — indeed such
utter rout, demoralization and capture of the liquor interest — as
the past week has witnessed." After stating the trial of a certain
case which was most strongly contested by State's Attorney
Huntington, H. P. Lawrence and W. B. Smith for the prosecution
and H. B. Graves and A. H. Fenn for defense but resulted in convic-
tion of the parties, the article continues : "The prisoner was very
much overcome and went home completely broken down and took
to his bed seriously if not dangerously ill. On Thursday the Win-
sted Temperance men began to reap the benefit of their victory,
Dealer after dealer came up to make such settlement as he could.
The terms were the same to all. All costs must be paid and an
obligation given that they would quit the trafific. On Friday after-
noon the Court adjourned for the Term with the following record of
progress for about six days work on liquor cases :

Three convictions with fines and costs amounting to about $500
and one hundred and six cases settled for $2,664.11 and one man
in jail.

Messrs. Forbes, Holmes, Lawrence, W. B. Smith and others are
to be highly commended in their wonderfully successful assault of
what has so long been considered the last strong-hold of the liquor
traffic, the Glorious uncertainty of the law !"

156 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

MASTERS VS. WARREN.

One of the important civil cases tried in this Court cairie from
Warren.

Nicholas Masters, while riding horse-back in the eastern part of
the town, was thrown from his horse by reason of its breaking
through a small wooden sluice or bridge and received serious in-
juries, having his neck nearly broken and for some )ears carried-
his head turned partly around an-d, also received some other minor
injuries of not so serious or permanent a nature.

His- attorneySj Graves and Hollister; brought suit against the town
of Warren for damages, claiming ten thousand dollars, the writ re-
turnable to the September term, 1856. A long exhaustive trial be-
fore a jury was had at the November term, 1857 in which the
plaintiff recovered thirty-five hundred dollars. Some very inter-
esting c]uestions came up during the trial regarding the taking of
depositions by the defendant without notice to the plaintiff and also
in the charge of the judge to the jury of a statement made by the
judge of matter outside of the evidence. An appeal was taken to
the Supreme Court of Errors by the defendant claiming a new trial
which the Supreme Court did not grant and final judgment was
rendered against the town at the April term, 1858 for three thousand
five hundred and eighty-seven dollars and fifty cents damages and
costs.

The story is told in connection with this case that Dr. Buel one
of the expert witnesses for the plaintiff testified that he examined
the plaintiff and found him suffering from tortochlorosis of the
neck. J\Ir. Hollister in his argument indulged in the high sounding
word frequently, portraying the sufferings of his client during his
lifetime from such a terrible complaint. Dne of the defendant
lawyers soon after met Dr. Euel and asked him what that big word
he used meant. "Stiff neck," was the answer. "Why didn't you say
so in Court said the lawyer. That word cost the town $1500."

rohbixs VS. COEEIX.

In 1883 an action from Salisbury wherein Samuel Robbins
sued the administrator of the estate of George Coffing.

The points of law involved were important and the amount in-
volved was about $70,000, an unusually large sum for this Court
and the attorneys engaged were of the highest rank in the State.

George A. Hickox, who then edited the Litchfield Enquirer, re-
ports it as follows : "The management of the case b\' the noted
counsel on each side respectively, was looked on with much interest.
Judge Warner made an excellent opening argument for the de-
fendants, on whom the burden rested to prove their various de-
fenses. Then followed John S. Beach, with a verv clear quiet
statement of the plaintiff's claim. Most interest was naturally felt

MILES T. GRANGER.

HISTORICAL NOTES 1 57

in the argument of Ex-Governor Hubbard, who followed Mr. Beach.
The elegant forcible style of his address showed all the polish of
his first class literary work, and the weight of his oratory was made
doubly effective by his remarkable power as an actor. It was
worth while studying the use he made of an old pair of steel
spectacles he wears, to damn the defendants claims or enforce his
own. The way they fell on the table was made to express the ex-
treme of confidence or the extreme of disgust. They came down
with the weight of a sledge hammer in emphasizing the one or the
other view. His mode of handling a law paper spoke volumes. In-
deed we have heard as fine rhetoric and as fine oratory in a law
court, but never combined with such acting. Mr. Perkins closed
the case with a very telling exposition of the evidence in connection
with the position of the defendant." The jury returned a verdict
for the plaintiff to recover $67,633.33 damages and costs.

In connection with Brother Hickox's discription of the conduct
of the trial it may be proper to add that this was the last argument
in a law court that "Dick" Hubbard ever made.

higgin's escape.

One of the most interesting and exciting matters that have arisen
in modern years, related to the escape of Richard Hadley a prisoner
while being transported to the State Prison in Wethersfield in the
year 1883. — Higgin's alias was Richard Hadley.

The following extracts from the papers of the time will give full
details as well as some interesting history:

When James R. Higgins escaped from the wagon in which he
was being taken from Litchfield to Wethersfield to serve out a ten
years sentence for burglarly it was supposed that he had been fur-
nished with a key to his handcuffs by his counsel, Henry H. Prescott
of Litchfield. A. T. Roraback of Canaan, W. B. Smith of Winsted,
and Dwight C. Kilbourn of Litchfield were appointed a committee
to obtain evidence to be presented to the court at Litchfield touch-
ing Mr. Prescott's connection with the affair. Mr. Smith, of the
committee, was at Wethersfield on Tuesday and obtained the fol-
lowing statement i rom Higgins : —

I first met Harry H. Prescott of Litchfield soon after I was ar-
rested, in Litchfield jail. He was my attorney in the superior court
in that county. When I called him into the case he agreed to help
me to get away from jail, and I was to give him $250. Not having
any money I was to give him some stolen bonds as security. The
bonds were stolen from the savings bank at Woodbury, this state,
and the total amount was $7,500. I put into Prescott's hands
$6,400 in bonds. The understanding was that if I got out he should
have the bonds. He was to give Paddy Ryan and others who came
from New York to assist me in breaking jail all the points about
jail, also the use of his office, and in short was to act as a general

X58 LITCHl'IELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

go-between to aid me in escaping from jail. The understanding
was that Prescott was not to negotiate the bonds and was to keep
the matter quiet until Howard, my pal, who was arrested with me,
and I had escaped. Prescott told me that he went to New York to
see Ryan at 154 East Twenty-third street, and that Ryan was afraid
to have anything to do with him in the matter. Later he told me
that he had been to New York again, but did not see Ryan. Soon
after Prescott brought me a letter that was sent to him by Ryan and
written by Farley, one of the Ryan gang. The letter inquired
whether Prescott was all solid and to be trusted. After reading
the letter I burned it in the jail stove. I sent a letter through Pres-
cott to Ryan saying that Prescott was straight and to be trusted.

The following Sunday, after he had been to New York, Prescott
came to me and stated that he had taken the bonds to the bank
parties and had got something over $400 for them. As I had ob-
jected to his doing anything about the bonds until I had made my
escape, I was angry when I found that he had given them up. At
that time he gave me $15 and in a day or two gave my wife $200. I
could not get anything more out of him. I afterwards found that
he received about $1,200 for the bonds, but I could not get anything
more out of him. My friends of the Ryan gang did not appear and
I found that I had to depend upon my own resources. I continued
to find fault because Prescott would not give me more money, and
at last he said to me, about two weeks before court opened, that if
I would keep still he would get me a key that WOuld fit my hand-
cuffs, and I could escape either when on the way from jail to the
court house, or when I was being conveyed to the state prison if I
was convicted. Howard and I talked it over and concluded to make
the attempt to escape when we were being conveyed to or from the
court room. Prescott brought us "four' handcufif keys that fitted my
handcuffs and two small keys, like dog-collar keys ; also two files.
I had the four handcuff -keys in my pocket, all the time during the
trial. The two other keys I filed and gave to Howard. One of the
files I kept until I escaped, the other I left in the jail. When Pres-
cott gave me the keys he told me that he knew that four of them
would fit any handcuff in the jail. They did fit without any filing.
When we were taken to the court room to plead Howard was
handcuffed to me and the sheriff took my right wrist in his nippers.
While we sat in the dock, Prescott came up tO' us and said : "Why
did you not escape on the way over ?" I told him that Howard might
have got away, but I could not. Prescott replied : "That's right.
You had better wait and get away together." While I was in the
Litchfield jail Prescott gave me a revolver loaded with five cart-
ridges, also ten cartridges afterwards. He gave them to me in my
cell, I think on the afternoon of the day I was sentenced. I wanted
the revolver and he did not want to give it to me until after I had
received a visit from my wife, so that it would appear as if she had

Wellington B. Smith.

HISTORICAL XOTKS 1 59

furnished it to me if it was discovered. I asked him if he had it
with him, and he said he had. I then asked him to let me see it.
After making- me promise to give it back to him, he let me take it.
I examined it and then handed it back. At 4 o'clock Thursday
evening, after I was sentenced, he gave me the ten cartridges. The
revolver was a "Young America" or "Young American," I don't
remember which. It was double-acting, had five chambers, and was
of 32 caliber. I did not know where he got it. I don't remember
whether ho told me he got the keys from a man in Litchfield, or
whether he said he was going to get them of some man there. I
understood that the man was an officer or had been one. The last
time I saw Prescott before my escape was when he gave me the
ten cartridges on Thursday. He then cautioned me not to use the
revolver, sliook hands with me and wished me good luck. After
mv escape I pawned the revolver in Baltimore. I had it tied be-
tween mv legs the Saturday morning when the\' started to take me
to \\'ethersfie]d. I was on the back seat of the last wagon, which
the sheriff" was driving, Howard was in the first wagon with the
deputy.

?^Ir. Prescott was present while the latter part of this statement
was made, and afterwards cross-examined Higgins without material-
ly shaking his statement of the case."

MICHAEL BIOjST casu.

One of the most important cases of our Courts, considering it
in all of its features, was the case of Michael Bion from the town
of Xorth Canaan.

In 1871 Lvman Dunning's store at East Canaan in the town of
Xorth Canaan was burglarized, and a woodchopper named Michael
Bion was arrested and convicted of the crime and sentenced to two
years in State Prison. He behaved himself well, receiving the due
credit therefor and was discharged at the expiration of his sentence
with no great love for Mr. Dunning.

In 1874 a bag containing gun powder was placed near the house
of the next neighbor of Mr. Dunning occupied by the congregation-
al minister and was exploded in the night time setting the house on
fire, but doing no great damage. The two houses looked alike and
it was supposed that the intention was to place the powder at Mr.
Dunnings house. Bion was charged with this deed and arrested and
after a hard fought trial convicted and sentenced to ten years in
State Prison mainlv bv the active agency of Mr. Dunning which
did not increase Bion's affection and he made threats of. violence
against Mr. Dunning. Upon his discharge from prison he was
induced to return to France his native country. About five years
after this he was discovered working under an assumed name m
the vicinitv of Pine Plains only a few miles distant from East
Canaan. Air. Dunning fearing further injury from him got out a

lOO UTCHFlIiLD COUXTY BEXCH AiNU BAR

sureties of the peace complaint, obtained a warrant and when he
found him in Connecticut had him arrested and brought before a
justice who placed him under bonds in the sum of five thousand
dollars. Bion could not furnish such bond and on the 19th day of
November 1889 was lodged in Litchfield jail. He employed at-
torneys who instituted habeas corpus proceedings to release him and
by various stages the matter came before the Supreme Court of
Krrors at the May Term 1890 and the report of the case occupies
twenty pages of the 59th volume of the Connecticut Reports. The
Court found no error in the judgment complained of and Bion still
remained in the Litchfield jail. Afterwards an arrangement was
made by the French Consul by which Bion was released and re-
turned to France.

tije; bor/essox ^iurder trxae.

On!}' one sentence of death passed by this Court during the
Century was carried into effect and this was upon Andrew Bor-
jesson a native of Sweden who was residing in New Milford. On
the first of August 1890 in the night season Borjesson went to the
house of Homer Buckingham and climbing on the roof of the ell
part of the house entered the room of a Swedish girl named Emma
Anderson, a servant of Mr. Buckingham's and murdered her.

j\Ir. Buckingham hearing the noise in the room, went out of his
house and saw Borjesson upon the roof of the house from which
he jumped and ran off into the woods, and going to the girls room
found her lying upon the floor in a pool of blood, her neck cut from
ear to ear on the back side with other wounds upon her body. The
murderer was arrested and bound over to the Superior Court and
a true bill was found against him on the 9th of October 1890. He
was tried before the Superior Court in December and a verdict of
guilty found against him December 31st 1890, and sentenced to be
hung January 29th, 1892. His counsel made most strenuous efforts
for his reprieve getting depositions from relatives in Sweden con-
cerning his sanity. All efforts failed. It was a cool deliberate
murder and there was no public sympathy or extenuating circum-
stances. The sentence was duly carried into effect in the jail yard
at Litchfield. The scenes connected with the execution outside of
the jail enclosure, were of a disgraceful character but everything
connected with it officially were solemn, orderly and proper. The
citizens of the village were exasperated and shocked and made such
an appeal to the public sense of propriety that the Legislature en-
acted the law that all future executions of the death penalty should
be had within the State Prison.

COSHEN T.\X CASE.

In 1894, June Term, a very interesting case was tried at Win-
sted being an appeal from the decision of the Board of Relief of

CllARLI-S J. PORTER.

HISTORICAL NOTltS i6t

Town of Goslicn, about abatement of Taxes. The amount involved
was trifling, but the principle was important enough for a two
weeks contest with a very large number of witnesses and several
attorneys. A local bard reports the trial as follows :

GOSHEN TA.

A famous tax-case once was tried,

r..\- the staid old land of Goshen ;
One Fessenden Ives was taxed too high,

At least, that was his notion.

He said his land was cold and wet.

And hard-hacks covered the ground.
The once fertile soil was sterile and cold

And yellow charlicks abound.

His barn was like sweet charity

That covereth a multitude of sin : —
The outside was neat and fair to the cvc.

But old rotten timbers within.

He's assessed too high, the rest too low,

And there's a plot to take his gold,
'Tis wrong to do so after years of toil.

Thus to nib him when he's old.

The town appeared by Huntington and Warner,

By Webster, Welch and Judd,
\\'hile Ives employed Hubbard, Hickox and Burrcll

To shed his opponent's blood.

Tlie air was fragrant with sweet breath of June,

Outside were the birds and bees : —
The Judge's desk was strewed with Howcrs,

Hardbacks, charlick and cheese.

The stenographer dreams of hardback on toast,

Of ivy, rocks, alders and birch,
As the lawyers try to win their case

The other side trying to smirch.

The case dragged on its weary length.

Watched b\' Goshen ladies fair.
While poor old Kilbourn, the portly clerk.

Sat fast asleep in his chair.

For ten long days they fussed and fumed,

With witnesses goaded to tears,
Wliile the costs were doubtless large enough.

To pay the taxes a hundred years.

1 62

i,itci-ii?ii;ld county bench and bar

EDWARD A. XEI.LIS.

THE MANNERING CASE.

Edwin iNIannering a resident of Roxbur}'' died on February 19,
1893, the result of taking a dose of Epsom Salts for medicinal pur-
poses in which as afterwards discovered was a quantity of strich-
nine. The coroner made a very full investigation which resulted in
the arrest of Mrs. Mannering for 'the crime of poisoning her hus-
band. It was admitted that strichnine had been kept in the house
for the purpose of poisoning foxes, and it was shown that she had
purchased strichnine from a neighboring druggist a short time
before his death. She was bound over for trial to the Superior
Court and a true bill was found against her by the Grand Jury.
The trial occurred at Litchfield in November 1893, lasting six
(lays and resulted in her acquittal.

It was perhaps the most sensational trial ever held in this
Court. The prisoner was led into Court leaning upon the arms of
two friends and one or two physicians were constantly near to ad-
minister stimulants which was occasionally necessary. Several
ladies of the village of Litchfield interested themselves in her trial
by attending Court every day arrayed in all the sombre blackness
of mourning habiliments. It seemed like a stage play rather th^n
a cold blooded matter of fact trial. Her attorney left no art or
artifice untouched to arouse the sympathies of the Court and jury.
A distinguished jurist remarked that it was the most artistic trial
he ever witnessed.

LEONARD J. NICKERSON.

IHSTORICAI, NOTES 163

XORilAX BROOKS, WILL, CASE.

Norman Brooks a farmer living in Winchester died on the 28th
of July 1895, aged 78 years. He left a widow but no children and
had a small amount of property. After his death a will was offered
for probate which was made on the 15th of January 1895 in the
office of Warner & Landon at Salisbury. From the probate of
this will his widow appealed to the Superior Court. Upon the trial
of the case in the Superior Court the claim was made that the will
in question was not made by Norman Brooks but by some one per-
sonating him and that the disposition of his property given in this
will was entirely different from repeated declarations he had made
and also that there was a previous will which corresponded with
these declarations. The contestants had his body exhumed and the,
witnesses to the will were present to identify or not identify the
person. It was also claimed that one E. M. Clossey whose wife
was a relative of the deceased and with himself were the principal
beneficiaries of the disputed will was largely instrumental in the
production of this will. That he went with Mr. Brooks who was
quite an infirm man on one of the coldest days in January to Salis-
bury to get the will made although he was not actually present at
its execution. The case came to trial before the Superior Court and
a jury at Winchester at the April Term 1896, and after a protraced
trial the jury found that there was undue influence exerted upon the
testator in making a part of said will to wit, that part which gave
the residue of the estate to said Clossey and also of that clause
which gave him power to sell all the real estate and that said
paragraph was null and void but confirming and establishing the rest
of the will. The case was appealed to the Supreme Court of Errors
at the October Term 1896. Upon a motion for a new 'trial for a
verdict against evidence.

In the record of the case the evidence is printed in full, occupy-
ing 269 pages.

After a full hearing before the Supreme Court the motion for
a new trial was denied.

TIAVES itURDER TRIAL.

In Februar}- 1901, John T. Hayes, a young man of Winsted,
shot and killed Winnifred F. Cooke, a young lady he had fallen
in love with, because she would not elope with him and marry
against the wishes of her father. The tragedy occurred at the
Gilbert Home in Winsted on the nth of February, where the lady
was employed as a teacher. He, after shooting her shot himself
three times in his head— but failed to kill himself— and was held for
trial in the Superior Court. The trial came on at Litchfield at the
October Term, before Judge Elmer and lasted four weeks, when the
Jury returned' a virdict of, on the 8th of November of guilty of

164 LlTCHflEIvD COU^"^i■ BENCH AND BAR

murder in tiie second degree, and he was sentenced to imprison-
ment for life. The defense was insanity from hereditary^ causes
and four expert physicians were present all through the trial, and
testified from a supposed state of facts — which it took nearly two
hours to read. Two of them pronounced him not responsible and
the other two thought him responsible, for which important evi-
dence the state allowed nearly two thousand dollars, while the
jur\- paid no attention to them at all, but on their first ballot stood
eight for first degree and three for the second degree and one
blank. After twelve hours confinement in the jury room they all
agreed to bring- in a verdict of murder in the second degree, which
the court accepted. It was the most expensive trial on our cost
book. The total expenses being a little over seven thousand dollars.

HADDOCK CASE.

One of the most important cases regarding the property rights
of husband and wife, and also one that has made great confusion
in the divorce laws of the country, was decided in the United States
Supreme Court, April 12, 1906, and can be found in Vol. 201 of said
Reports beginning at page 562. This case had its inception in this
Superior Court, December 1881, and is known by the legal pro-
fession as the case of Haddock vs. Haddock.

The facts are briefly as follows : The Haddocks were married
in 1868 in New York, where both parties then resided. The very
day of the ceremony they separated, and never lived together. In
1881 Air. Haddock having resided in Connecticut for three years,
obtained a divorce from his wife Harriet Haddock, at the December
term, on the ground of desertion. The service of the writ was by
publication in the Litchfield Enquirer and a copy sent by mail to
the defendant at Tarrytown, X. Y. where it was supposed she re-
sided. This divorce was granted December 6, 1881, and the decree
was signed by Hitchcock, Judge. At that time the plaintiff was
poor but he afterwards acquired considerable property, and also
married another wife by whom he had children. In 1894 the first
wife brought suit against him in New York for a divorce from
bed and board and for alimony. Constructive service was made
of this process and she obtained a decree. As there was no per-
sonal service the judgment for alimony was ineffectual. In 1899
she brought another suit against him, and obtained personal service
on him, and was allowed a decree for alimony for $780. a year.
The defendant in this last suit' plead for one of his answers the
Connecticut divorce in 1881, but the New York courts disallowed
it. Haddock appealed to the United States Supreme Court on the
ground that the decree denied full faith and credit to the judgment
of the Connecticut courts, but the Supreme Court upheld the actions
of the New York courts and sustained the judgment, five judges
in the affirmative and four dissenting. The discussion and ex-
planation of this seemingly inconsistent decision require thirty pages
of fine print in the Report.

JII'.XKY J. AI.LKX.

IIISTOUICAI, NdTKS

165

RICHARD T. I-IIGGIXS.
COLNTV COUOXER.

I'revious to 1883 ^^^ sudden deaths that occurred in the county
wore reported to the Clerk's office only by the returnes of a jury
of inquest. A very great many of such deaths were never reported,
and those that were, showed some remarkable verdicts.

In 1883 the Legislature enacted a law for the proper return and
preservation of these untimely deaths. Each county was to have
a coroner wlio should be appointed b}- the Judges of the Superior
Court at their annual meeting, and who should hold office three
3'ears, and until another was appointed in their place. The county
coroner had power to appoint an able and discreet person learned
in medical science to be medical examiner in each town in the
county. The medical examiner was to examine the cause and
manner of each sudden death and make his report thereon to the
county coroner who was to keep a record of such deaths. The
medical examiner's reports were to be placed on file with the clerk
of the Superior Court.

The first Count\- Coroner in Litchfield County was Col. Jacob
Hardenburgh of Canaan, who held the office until his decease on
April 4. 1892. Richard T. Higgins of Winchester was appointed
to succeed him, and has held the office from that time until the
present.

i66

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BliNCH AND BAR

FRANK W. ETHERIDGE.

HEALTI-I OFFICERS.

In 1893 the Legislature enacted a law for the appointment of a
County Health Officer, who was to be an attorney-at-law and be
appointed by the judges of the Superior Court, and hold office for
four years. The statute prescribes that he shall cause the execution
of the laws relating to public health and the prevention and abate-
ment of nuisances dangerous to public health, and of laws relating
to the registration of vital statistics, and co-operate with, and super-
vise the doings of town, city and borough health officers, and boards
of health within his county. He is clothed with all the powers of a
grand juror and prosecuting officer for the prosecution of violations
of laws relating to such matters.

The appointee was Walter S. Judd, of Litchfield. The sec-
ond was William F. Hurlbut of Winchester, in 1894, and the third
was the present incumbent, Frank W. Etheridge, who has held the
office since 1896.

ARTHUR D. WARNER.

illSTORlCAl, XO'l'HS

167

■MAiU'US ir. IIOLCOMB.

ATTORNEY GENERAL.

In 1897 the Legislature of Connecticut enacted a law for the
election of an Attorney General. In November 1906 Marcus H.
Holcomb a member of this bar, but residing in Southington and
practicing law both in that town and in Hartford was elected to
that office.

l68 LITCHFlliLD COUNTY BEXCH AND BAR

THE FIRST LAW REPORTS.

Judge Church in his address mentions the fact that the first Law
Reports in this country were published at Litchfield soon after the
establishment of the Law School, by Ephraim Kirby, Esq. who was
then a prominent and successful attorney at Litchfield.

A manuscript copy of part of these reports has been preserved
by some of his descendants, and has been placed in the room of
the Historical Society at Litchfield, by whose courtesy I have been
able to reproduce in this work the first page of the "Symsbufy"
case. =' .*)',

I am also enabled to give a picture of this eminent man from
a photograph of a painting presented to St. Paul's Lodge, E and A.
M. of Litchfield, by Col. E. K. Russell U. S. A., a grandson of
Col. Kirby.

I also republish the preface to the Reports, together with a short
memoir of its author and a list of the books composing his Law
Libirary.

PREFACE.

The uncertainty and contradiction attending the judicial de-
cisions in this state, have long been subjects of complaint. — The
source of this complaint is easily discovered. — When our ancestors
emigrated here, they brought with them the notions of jurisprudence
which prevailed in the country from whence they came. — The riches,
luxury, and extensive commerce of that country, contrasted with the
equal distribution of property, simplicity of manners, and agricultur-
al habits and employments of this, rendered a deviation from the
English laws, in many instances, highly necessary. This was ob-
served— and the intricate and prolix practice of the English courts
was rejected, and a mode of practice more simple, and better ac-
commodated to an easy and speedy administration of justice, adopt-
ed.— Our Courts were still in a state of embarrasment, sensible that
the common law of England, "though a highly improved system,"
was not fully applicable to onr situation; but no provision being
made to preserve and publish proper histories of their adjudica-
tions, every attempt of the Judges, to run the line of distinction, be-
tween what was applicable and what not, proved abortive: For
the principles of their decisions were soon forgot, or misunderstood,
or erroneously reported from memory. — Hence arose a confusion in
the determination of our courts ; — the rules of property became un-
certain, and litigation proportionably increased.

In this situation, some legislative exertion was found necessary;
and in the year 1785 an act passed, requiring the Judges of the
Superior Court, to render written reasons for their decisions, in
cases where the pleadings closed in an issue at law. — ^^This was a
great advance toward improvement ; still it left the business of
reformation but half performed : — For the arguments of the Judges,

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REPRODUCTION OF KIRBY'S MANUSCRIPT.

HISTORICAL NOTES 169

without a liistory of the whole case, would not always be intelliigible ;
and they would become known to but few persons ; and being written
on loose papers, were exposed to be mislaid, and soon sink into total
oblivion. — besides, very many important matters are determined on
motions of various kinds, where no written reasons are rendered,
and so are liable to be forever lost.

Hence it became obvious to every one, that should histories of
important causes be carefully taken and published, in which the
whole process should appear, showing the true grounds and princi-
ples of the decision, it would in time produce a permanent system
of common law. — Vnit the Court being ambulatory throug-h the
State, the undertaking would be attended with considerable expence
and interruption of other business, without any prospect of private
advantage : therefore, no gentleman of the profession seemed willing
to make so great a sacrifice. — I had entered upon this business in a
partial manner, for private use ; which came to the knowledge of
several gentlemen of distinction. — 1 was urged to pursue it more
extensively ; — and being persuaded that an attempt of the kind
(however imperfect) might be made in some degree subservient
to the great object, I compiled the \'olume of Reports which is now-
presented to the public. — Could any effort of mine induce govern-
ment to provide for the prosecution of so necessary a work by a
more able hand, my wishes would be gratified, and my labour in
accomplishing this, amply repaid.

In these Reports, I have endeavored to throw the matter into as
small a comi)ass as was consistent with right understanding of the
case: — Therefore, I have not stated the pleadings or arguments
further than was necessary to bring up the points relied on, except
some few instances which seemed to require a more lengthy detail
of argument. — As the work is designed for general use in this
state. I have avoided technical terms and phrases as much as pos-
sible, that it might be more intelligible to all classes of men. — Some
cases are reported which are merely local, and have reference to the
peculiar practice of this state ; these may appear unimportant to
readers in other states: but they were necessary to the great object
of the work.

I am sensible that this production is introduced to the world
under sircumstances very unfavorable to its reputation. — But, how-
ever different I might be^ under other circumstances, I feel an honest
confidence in this attempt to advance the common interest of my
fellow-citizens; — and that, so obvious are the difficulties which
occur in almost everv stage of the business, that to detail them in
a preface would be oft'ering an insult to the understanding of my
readers.— The candid and generous, if they read the Reports, will
doubtless find frequent occasion to draw into exercise those ex-
cellent virtues ; and as to readers of an opposite disposition, I have
neither wishes or fears concerning them. — If any one should ex-

IJO LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

perience disagreeable sensations, from the inelegance of this per-
formance, let him rest assured he cannot more sincerely regret its
faults than I do."

Having persued Mr. Kirby's "Reports of Cases adjudged in
the Superior Court, from the year 1785 to 1788," it appears to us.
that the Cases are truly reported.

Richard Law.

Eliphalet Dyer.

Roger Sherman.

William Pitkin.

Oliver Ellsworth.

EPHRAIM kirby.

Ephraim Kirby was born in Litchfield in 1756, as appears by
the records of the town. His birth is also claimed to have been
in the town of Washington, Conn, on the site of the residence of
the late Hon. O. H. Piatt. He was a farmer boy, but at the age of
nineteen on the arrival of the news of the Battle of Lexington he
shouldered his musket and marched with the volunteers from Litch-
field to the scene of conflict and was present at the Battle of Bunker
Hill. He remained in the field until independance was won, ex-
cept when driven from it by severe wounds. He was in nineteen
battles and skirmishes, among them Brandywine, Monmouth and
Germantown, where he received thirteen wounds, seven of which
were saber cuts on the head inflicted by a British soldier at German-
town, where Kirby was left for dead upon the field. Mr. Kirby
studied law in the office of Reynolds Marvin, Esq., who had been
King's Attorney before the war, and who was a prominent member
of the bar. In 1787 he received the degree of M. A. from Yale
College. After his admission to the bar, he married Ruth Marvin,
daughter of his preceptor. Col. Kirby took a prominent part in the
political matters of the day, and in 1791 was first elected representa-
tive to the Legislature, and was re-elected at thirteen semi-annual
elections, and was several years, candidate for the office of governor.

On the election of Jefferson to the Presidency, in 1801. Col.
Kirby was appointed supervisor of the national revenue for the
State of Connecticut. Upon the acquisition of Louisiana, the Presi-
dent appointed him a judge of the then newly organized territory
of New Orleans. ' Having accepted the station, he set out for New
Orleans; but he was not destined to reach that place. Having
proceeded as far as Fort Stoddard, in the Missiissippi territory, he
was taken sick, and died October 2d, 1804, aged forty-seven — at a
period when a wide career of public usefulness seemed opening
upon him. His remains were interred with the honors of war and
other demonstrations of respect. Col. Kirby was a man of the
highest moral and well as physical courage — devoted in his feelings
and aspirations — warm, generous and constant in his attachments —

KI'IIRAUr KIREY.

HISTORICAL NOTES

171

and of indomitable energy. He was, withal, gentle and winning
in his manners, kindly in his disposition, and naturally of an ardent
and cheerful temperament, though the last few years of his life were
saddened by heavy pecuniary misfortunes. As a lawyer, he was
remarkable for frankness and downright honesty to his clients,
striving always to prevent litigation, uniformly allaying irritation
and effecting compromises, and only prosecuting with energy the
just and good cause, against the bad. He enjoyed the friendship
of many sages of the Revolution, his correspondence with whom,
would form interesting materials for the history of his time.

Col. Kirby, was a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity.
He was one of the early Masters of St. Paul's Lodge of Litchfield,
and for many years was its secretary. He was a beautiful penman,
as is evidenced by the records of St. Paul's Lodge. He was largely
instrumental in forming the Grand Lodge of the State of Connecti-
cut, and was one of its early officials. He was also a prominent
Royal Arch ^Nlason, and was a delegate to the convention which
organized the general Grand Chapter of the United States, and
was its first General Grand High Priest. When he left Litchfield
to accept the position of Judge of the territory of Louisana, he
gave to St. Paul's Lodge, Lit-chfield, his library of miscellaneous
books, which have been carefully preserved by the Lodge as a
memorial of him, and are now placed in the fireproof building of
the Historial Society.

He also sold his law books to Seth P. Beers and I am enabled
to give the conveyance with the list of books, which will show the
library of a prominent practising lawyer of a century ago.

List of Law Books sold to Seth P. Beers by my husband Ephraim
Kirby and delivered to said Beers by me in jjursuance of written
directions from my said husband which directions bear the date
of July the 5th A. D. 1804.

Vols. Vols.

Blackstones Commentaries
Dunscombs trial per pais
Beacon Abridgm't
Jacobs Dictionary
English Statutes
Goddphin on Executots, etc.
Fosters Crown Law
Bullen Nisi Prius
Powel on Mortgages
Alorgans Essays
Attorneys \'ade Mecum
Comyn's Digest
Cokes Institute 2 Part
Hawkins Plea of ve Crown

4 Powel on Devises i

2 Woods Institute i

5 Coke on Littleton i
I Woodesons Lectures 3

6 Bacon on Awards i
I New York Atty Vade Mecum i
I Schifflers Practice ' i
I Barlamiqui on Xat. Law i

1 Historical Law Tracts i

3 Compleat Attorney i

2 Stats. England abridgd i
5 Stiles Practical Regr. I

1 English Pleader i

2 Clerks Tutor 2

172

I^ITCIlFllitD COUN'TY BENCH AND BAR

Vols.
Every man his own Lawyer i
Office of Justice 2
Douglass on Wills i
Law of Evidence i
Dagges Criminal Law 3
Statutes of Vermont i
Benthams Defence of Usury i
Adye on Court Martial i
Beccaria on Crimes i
Acts of 1st Session of Con-
gress I
Acts of 3d Session of 5th

Congress i
Acts of I St Session of 6th

Congress i
Acts of 1st Session of ist

Congress i

Saxbys Customs i

Holts Reports i

Strangers Reports 2

Burrows Reports 5

Wilsons Reports 3

W. Blackstone Reports 2

Browns Reports i

Douglass Reports i

Dainfords Reports i

Salkelds Reports 2

Lutwyches Reports i

Cokes Reports 7

Crokes Reports 3

Kebles Reports 3

Vols,

Plowdens Reports
Ventries Reports
Carthews Reports
Hobarts Reports
Cowpers Reports
Vernons Reports
Vesey's Reports
Pre Chancery
Fincks Reports
Hardwicks Re^ports
Vaughan's Reports
Siderfins Reports
Thos. Raymond Reports
Littletons Reports
Yelvertons Reports
Dyer's Reports
Moore's Reports
Palmer's Reports
Jenkins Reports
Fitzgibbons Reports
Saville's Reports
Peere Williams Reports
Atkins Reports
Livins Reports
Ambles Reports
Lord Raymonds Reports
Comberbach's Reports
Bulstrode's Reports
Comyns Reports
Chipman's Reports
Kirbys Reports

(Signed)

RuTHY KiRBY.

BlQUttB

ROGER SHERIIAX.

HISTORICAL NOTUS 173

Signers of the Declaration of
Independence.

ROGER SHEJRMAX.

One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was ad-
mitted to the practice of tlie law in 1754 by the Litchfield County
Court.

He was born in Newton, Mass., April 19, 1721, and received a
very hmited education, and learned the trade of a shoemaker. His
father, William Sherman, dying when Roger was twenty years old,
he soon after removed to New Milford, Connecticut, and lived with
his brother William who had been settled there on a farm for about
three years. The first notice of Roger Sherman on the town records
of Kew Milford is Feb. 6, 1744. He became a large land owner
and was very prominent in all the town affairs, a deacon in the
church, and clerk and treasurer of the Eccl. Society. He and his
brother also had a general store, and he lived very nearly on the site
of the present Town Hall, which in later years has been named
"Roger Sherman Hall." The old store building is said to be still
in existence.

He was a very industrious and studious man. In 1745 the Gen-
eral Assembly appointed him a County Surveyor of New Haven
County, which then included New Milford ; this office was pecuniari-
ly of more value in those da)'s than it has been in later years, for
one of his surveys he received nearly 84 pounds ; many of the plans
and maps of his surveys are to be found in the New Milford L,and
Records made by him in his own hand.

Soon after the formation of Litchfield County in 175 1 he studied
law, and in 1757, three years after his admission to the bar, he was
appointed County Judge, and a Judge of the Quorum. He was
also a representative to the General Assembly several sessions. Re-
moving to New Haven in 1761, he was chosen the Governor's as-
sistant, and also a Judge oif the Superior Court, which office he
held twenty-three years.

• He was elected a member of the first Continental Congress
which met September 5th, 1774 in New York, and continued a
member of Congress for nineteen years, the last two being in the
Senate, of which he was a member at the time of his death, July
23, 1793-

174 LITClI]?Ii;i,D COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

As a member of the Continental Congress, he was one of the
committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, which he sign-
ed on July 4, 1776.

Thomas Jefferson says of this distinguished statesman, "I served
with him in the old Congress in the years 1775 and 1776. He was
a very able and logical debater in that body, steady in the principles
of the Revolution, always at the post of duty, much employed in
the business of the committees, and, particularly, was of the com-
mittee with Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams, Mr. Livingston and my-
self for preparing the Declaration of Independence. I had a very
great respect for him."

John Adams also wrote, "Destitute of all literary and scientific
education, but such as he acquired by his own exertions, he was
one of the most sensible men in the world. The clearest head and
steadiest heart. He was one of the soundest and strongest pillars
of the Revolution."

Chief Justice Ehsworth said that he made Mr. Sherman the
model of his youth.

The honor and fame of Roger Sherman does not rest entirely
upon his being a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In
the early formation of this government, he took an active and im-
portant part. He was a member of the Convention which framed
the Consatution of the United States, and it was undoubtedly due
to his wise and sagacious counsel and cool impartial judgment, that
the Convention was held together until the great work was ac-
complished. A^ery many of its peculiar provisions, which are now
considered so important, originated with him. This compilation
cannot go into the history of the Convention in detail, but those
wishing further light on the subject of the part taken in it by
Roger Sherman, will do well to consult Hollister's History of Con-
necticut, where it is discussed at length.

A competent authority says, that "he is the only man who signed
four important fundemental documents of our government, viz:
The Articles of Association in 1774 ; the Declaration of Independence
in 1776, which he assisted in drafting; the Articles of Confedera-
tion in 1778, and the Federal Constitution in 178.8.

OLIVER WOLCOTT.

The other signer of the Declaration of Independence in whom
Litchfield County is interested, was Oliver Wolcott, who was the
first sheriff of the County upon its organization in 1751.

The following taken from Kilbourn's History of Litchfield is a
pretty concise sketch of this distinguished man.

"The Honorable Oliver Wolcott, son of His Excellency, the
Hon. Roger Wolcott, Governor and Chief Justice of Connecticut,
was born in Windsor, December 20, 1726, and vyas graduated at
Yale College in 1745. In early manhood he commanded a company

Gdn". Oliver Wolcott.

HISTORICAI, NOTES 175

of volunteers in the Northern Army, in the war against the French.
Having pursued the usual course of medical studies, he established
himself as a physician in Goshen, and was there at the date of the
organization of the County of Litchfield, October, 1751. The
Legislature appointed him the first High Sheriff of the new County,
and he immediately took up his abode in this village, and con-
tinued to reside here until his decease, a period of forty-six years.
In 1752 he erected the "Wolcott House" in South street, where dur-
ing the Revolutionary War, King George's leaden statue was melted
into bullets, to be fired at his own troops.

With a commanding personal appearance, dignified manners,
a clear and cultivated intellect, and a character for integrity far
above the reach of suspicion, it is not to be wondered at that he
became a favorite of the people with whom his lot was cast. Besides
holding the office of Sheriff for over twenty years, he was chosen
a Representative to the Legislature five times between the years
1764 and 1770, inclusive; a member of the Council or Upper House
from 1771 to 1786. Judge of the Court of Probate for the District
of Litchfield from 1772 to 1795 ; Judge of the Court of Common
Pleas from 1773 to 1786; and member of the Continental Congress
from 1775 to 1784 (except two years). He was one of that memor-
able band of patriots and sages who, on the 4th of July, 1776, affixed
their names to the Declaration of Independence. In the early part
of the war of the Revolution, Judge Wolcott was commissioned as
a Brigadier General, and Congress appointed him a Commissioner
on Indian Affairs for the Northern Department, with General
Schuyler and others. In May, 1779, he was elected by the Legisla-
ture and commissioned by Governor Trumbull as Major General
of the Militia of Connecticut, to succeed General James Wadsworth,
resigned. In these important and responsible stations, he rendered .
the country essential service. On the field, in the camp, at the
rendezvous, in the department of the Commissary of Supplies — in
fact, wherever he could render himself useful — he was found, ever
prompt in planning and efficient in executing. At the same time
he was an active member of the Committee of Safety; and, when
at home, was equally zealous and conspicuous in the local affairs
of the town — officiating as Moderator, Selectman, Committeeman,
etc. Indeed, no man in the State, at this period, discharged so many
and varied public duties. A considerable share of the reputation
which Connecticut required for promptness in furnishing men and
means for the army, is due to' General Wolcott. Certainly, to no
other individual in the western counties could Governor Trumbull
or General Washington appeal for aid, with the certainty of suc-
cess, as to him.

In 1786, he was elected to the office of Lieutenant-Governor
of the State, and was annually re-elected for a period of ten years.
In May, 1796, he was chosen Governor, to which distinguished

176 l,lTCIlFli;i,D COUNTY BEXCII AXD BAR

position he was again elevated at the annual election in 1797. He
was now seventy years of age. His naturally robust constitution
began to feel the weight of care and responsibility which had been
so long pressing upon it. He departed this life at his residence in
Litchfield, December i, 1797, aged 71 years.

Joel Barlow, in his great national poem. The Columbiad, thus
refers to his zeal and efforts in the cause of Independence ;

"Bold WOLCOTT urged the all-important cause,
With steady hand the solemn scene he draws ;
Undaunted firmness with his wisdom joined,
Xor kings nor worlds could warp his steadfast mind."

Governor Oliver Wolcott was of and had a very distinguished
family. His son, Oliver, Jr., was Secretary of the United States
Treasury under President George Washington, and Governor of
this State for ten years. Another son, Frederick, was clerk of
County and Superior Courts for years, and the founder of the
village of Wolcottville, now the business portion of Torrington.
One of his daughters married Hon. William Moseley, M. C, of
Hartford, and another married Lieutenant-Governor Goodrich, of
Hartford.

His sister, Ursula Wolcott, married Governor ]\Iatthew Gris-
wold, and was the mother of Governor Rog'er Griswold. Thus
her father, brother, husband, son and nephew were all governors
of Connecticut, a fact which cannot probably be said of any other
lady who has lived in the State or the United States.

THE COUNTY JAIL

The history of the legal matters of the County would be in-
complete without a reference to the County Jail. This institution
is situated on one of the most prominent sites in Litchfield at the
corner of North and West streets. The original jail was located
on the brow of East Hill, on the exact spot now occupied by the
Center school hou.se. At the excavation of tlie ground for the
cellar for the school house. some of the original foundation work
was discovered, and in some of the stone work Vv^ere found staples
and rings indicating that occasionally a prisoner might have been
chained up. It is said to have been a crude, but strongly built
structure of hewn, logs. Adjoining it a large old-fashioned house
was erected in which the jailer lived and kept a hotel, the prison
being in the rear. This building appears to have been built in
1786, at a cost of about nine hundred pounds, sterling.

HISTORICAL NOTES I77

The front part of the present jail was erected in 1810-11, at
an expense of $11,24578, and was kiilt of brick, which were made
_ofclay dug on the road between Torrington and Litchfiefd, just
east of "Seymour's meadow." The bricks were very hard and
builders have said that it was much easier to clig through tlie
granite foundations than througli the brick.

A wooden building for a kitchen was afterwards added on
the northern side, and the present arrangement of cells in the
middle building was made about sixty }ears ago.

In 1895. the accommodations not proving adecjuate, a county
meeting was held and an addition ordered to be constructed on
the west end of the original building, which was done at a cost
of about $25,000.00. The old part had cells for seventeen inmates
and this addition provided cell room for twenty-eight, with cages
for five more, with washroom, bathroom and other needed ac-
commodations. It is now heated b_\' steam and furnished with
city water, and is lighted with gas from its own private plant.

In the earl}- days the keeping of the prisoners was let out to
the highest bidder and the keeper (now called the jailer) made
what he could out of the prison work and also kept a hotel in
the building. This s\-stem prevailed until about 1865, when the
sheriff, as one of the prerog-atives of his office took possession and
ran the institution himself. The price allowed for laoard of pris-
oners has varied ; at the present time it being $2.25 per week, paid
by the State.

One of the large rooms in the third story was used as a public
haJl. The Masons and other societies used it for their meetings
and at other times it was used as a schoolroom. The compiler of
these sketches has attended school there.

A large workshop is located in the second story of the new part,
in which many of the prisoners are employed caning chair seats,
manufacturing brooms, and such other employments as is allowed
to prison labor.

A large elm tree, seen in the cut at the southeast corner of the
jail yard, is known as the " Whipping post elm," on which formerly
prisoners were publicly whipped; the last whipping occurred about
sevent\-five vears ago.

21am ^4onI

THE LITCHFIELD
LAW SCHOOL

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SCHOLARS

INTERESTING MEMORANDA

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THE LITCHFIELD LAW SCHOOL.

The following" article appeared originally in the February
(1901) number of The Lazv N'otes, published by The Edward
Thomson Co., of Northport, L. I. It was written by Charles C.
IMoore, Esq., a native of Winchester, and a former member of
this bar, now one of the editors of the American and English
Encyclopedia of Law, published by the above-named company.
The article has been slightly abridged for this work. In its prepar-
ation Mr. Moore was largely aided by the late Chief Justice Charles
]_'. Andrews :

" One who looks through the records of the town meetings of
Litchfield from 1765 to 1775 will find that there were discussions
on the Stamp Act, the Boston Port Bill, and other acts of Parlia-
mentary aggression, as clear and well defined as the debates in
that town meeting where Samuel Adams and Harrison Gray Otis
were the principal speakers. The child Liberty would not have
been born in the Boston town meeting had not the Litchfield town
meeting and other like town meetings tliToughout the colonies
prepared the atmosphere in which alone that child could breathe.
Litchfield was the principal station on the highway from Hart-
ford to the Hudson ; and a depot for military stores, a workshop,
and a provision storehouse for the Continental Army were there
established during the Revolution. Many distinguished royalist
prisoners were sent there, and a military atmosphere pervaded
the place. General Washington was a frequent visitor, and so
were other general officers of the American forces, including"
Lafayette, who, when he visited the United States in 1824, went
to Litchfield to renew old memories with some of his former
comrades in arms. The leaden statue of King George the Third
which stood on the Battery in New York was conveyed to Litch-
field, and in an orchard in the rear of the W^olcott house it was
melted into bullets for the patriot army. All through the struggle
with the mother country Litchfield was a hotbed of patriotism, and
when the first law school in America commenced its regular sys-
tematic course of instruction there in 1784, the ambitious village
had among its citizens numerous men of exceptional intelligence
and culture. One of them was Andrew Adams, who had been a
member of the Continental Congress and was afterward a judge
of the Supreme Court. Oliver Wolcott was there. He also had
been a member of the Congress, had signed the Declaration of In-
dependence, and was afterward Governor of the State. Ephraim
Kirby, who a few years later published the first volume of law
reports ever published in America, Major Seymour, who had com-
manded a regment at the surrender of Burgoyne ; Benjamin Tall-

1 82 IJTCIIFIELD COUNTY BI'XCH AND UAR

madge, perhaps the most noted cavahy commaiider of the Revolu-
tion; JuHiis Deming, a very prominent and successful merchant
and financier, and many others of like character were residing in
the town. Into this community in the year 1778 came Tapping
Reeve, a young lawyer just admitted to tiie bar, to settle in
the practice of his profession. Born in Southold, Long Island,
in 1744, the son of Rev. Abner Reeve, a Presbyterian clergyman,
he was graduated at Princeton College in 1763, and was immediately
appointed teacher in a grammar school in coiniection with the
college. In that station and as a tutor in the college itself he
passed seven years. He then came to Connecticut to study law,
entering the office of Judge Root, who was then a practicing
lawyer in Hartford, and some years later a judge of the Supreme
Court. From Hartford he came to Litchfield. He had just pre-
viously married Sally Burr, daughter of President Burr of Prince-
ton, and sister of Aaron Burr. Until the conclusion of the Revo-
lutionary War there was but very little civil business done in the
county at Litchfield, and Mr. Reeve betook himself to giving in-
struction to young gentlemen who looked forward to the' legal
profession for support and advancement when quieter times should
come. This employment tended greatly to enlarge and improve
his stock of legal learning, and led the way for him to begin in
1784 a systematic course of instruction in the law and to regular
classes. The Law School dates from that year. It continued in
successful operation and with annual graduating classes until 1833.
The catalogue contains the names of one thousand and fifteen
young men who were prepared for the bar subsequent to the year
1798, most of whom were admitted to the practice in the court at
Litchfield. The list of students prior to that date is imperfect,
but there are known to have been at least two hundred and ten.
r\Iore than two-thirds of the students registered from states other
than Connecticut. Maine sent four. New Hampshire fifteen, Ver-
mont twent}'-seven, Massachusetts ninety-ifour, Rhode Island
twenty-two, New York one hundred and twenty-four. New Jersey
eleven, Pennsylvvania thirty, Delaware eighteen, Maryland thirty-
nine, A^irginia twenty-one. North Carolina twenty. South Caro-
lina forty-five, Georgia sixty-nine, Ohio four, Indiana, Mississippi
and Tennessee each one, Kentucky nine, Alabama three, and Louisi-
ana seven. There were four from the District of Columbia and
one from Calcutta. The greatest number who entered in any
single year was fift3'-four in 18x3.

" Lawyers now Hving in the original states will recognize the
names of many men conspicuous- in the juridical annals of their
state. Aaron Burr studied law at Litchfield. John C. Calhoun
entered the Law School in 1805 ; only a few rods from the school
building was the house where Harriet Beecher Stowe was born
in 181 1, and Henry Ward Beecher in 1813; and a short hour's

LAW SCHOOL 183

walk would have brought the }-oung Southerner to the spot where
John Ih-own was born in 1800, in the adjoining town of Torrington.
Two of tlie graduates became judges of the Supreme Court of the
United States — Henry Baldwin and Levi Woodbury ; fifteen United
States Senators, fifty members of Congress, five members of the
United States Cabinet, ten governors of states, forty-four judges
of state and inferior United States courts, and seven foreign minis-
ters. Georg'ia is especially well represented. Among the names of
judges of that State we notice Eugenius A. Nesbit, who wrote
the elegant dissertation in JNfitchum v. State, 11 Ga. 615, on the
privilege and duty of counsel in arguing a case to a jury, in con-
nection with the proper limitations of the freedom of debate — an
opinion copied almOiSt verbatim in Tucker v. Henniker, 41 N. H.
317, with an omission of quotation marks so singular and flagrant
as to have occasioned comment by the profession,

" The course of instruction was completed in fourteen months,
including two vacations of four weeks each, one in the spring,
the other in the autumn. No student could enter for a shorter
period than three months. The terms of instructicn were (in 1828)
^100 for the first year and $60 for the second, payable either in
advance or at the end of the year.

" In the library for the Law School at Yale University may be
found several bound volumes of manuscript which apparently con-
tain the entire lectures of Judge Reeve. They are in the hand-
writing of his son, Aaron Burr Reeve. But marginal reference
interlineations in his own hand make it certain that these volumes
•have all been revised by Jixdge Reeve himself. The tradition is that
the_\- are the manuscripts which he used in his lectures during the
last years that he taught. An inspection of these volumes shows
that the course of instruction given at the Litchfield Law School
covered the entire body of the law. They speak of the law gener-
ally— in reference to the sources whence it is derived, as customs
and statutes, with the rules for the application and interpretation of
each. Then follows Real Estate, Rights of Persons, Rights of
Things, Contracts, Torts, Evidence, Pleading, Crimes, and Equity.
And each of these general subjects is treated under various sub-
-sidiary topics, so as to make the matter intelligible and aflford the
student a correct and adequate idea of, and basis for, the work he
will be called upon to perform in the practice of his profession.
Judge Reeve conducted the school alone until 1798, when, having
been elected a judge of the Supreme Court, he associated James
Gould with him. They had the joint care of the school until
X820, when Judge Reeve withdrew. Mr. Gould continued the
■classes until 1833, being asissted during the last year by Jabez
W. Huntington. Judge Reeve reinained on the bench until he
reached the limit of seventy years in 1815. The last part of the
term he was chief justice. He died in 1823, in the eightietii year

]84 i,iTcir]?iL;i,D cooxty jiExcir axd bar

of his life. He left an only child, Aaron Burr, who graduated
at Yale in 1 802. Aaron Burr Reeve married Annabelle Shedden,
of Richmond, Va., in 1808. He died in 1809. He left an only child,
'J'apping Burr Reeve, who graduated at Yale, but died unmarried
in 1829, and thus the family became extinct. Mr. Gould became
a judge of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and was the author
of the celebrated work on Pleading. He died at" Litchfield in 1838.
The course of instruction at the school must have been incom-
parably more exhaustive than would be possible at the present day,
tor the obvious reason that there was so much less to learn. In
1784 there were no printed reports of decisions of any court in
the United States. Substantially the entire bod}' of the law was
to be found in the English reports. It is said that Judge Gould
had systematically digested for his students " every ancient and
modern opinion, whether overruled, doubted, or in any way quali-
fied." But vast bodies of law of which the modern student must
learn something were unknown to the curriculum of the Litchfield
L;aw School, and many principles latent in the common law were
just beginning to be developed. Lord Mansfield resignecl his
office of Chief Justice in 1788, after presiding in the King's Bench
over thirty vears. Prior to his time the greatest uncertainty had
prevailed on c|uestions of commercial law. " Mercantile questions
were so ignorantly treated when they came into Westminster Hall,"
says Lord Campbell in his Lives of the Chief Justices, " that they
were usually settled by private arbitration among the merchants
themselves." There were no treatises on the subject and few cases
in the books of reports. Thus in Helyn v. Adamson, 3 Burr. 699,
decided in 1758, it was first distinctly ruled that the second in-
dorser of an inland bill of exchange was entitled to recover from the
prior indorser upon failure of payment by the drawee, without mak-
ing any demand on or inquiry after the drawer. In 1770 it was held
that the indorser of a bill of exchange is discharged if he re-
ceives no notice of a refusal to accept by the drawee. (Blesard v.
Hirst, 5 Burr. 2670.) And not until 1786, in Tindal v. Brown,
I Term Rep. 167, was it finalU' determined that what is reason-
able notice to an indorser of non-payment by the maker of a
promissory note, or acceptor of a bill of exchange, is a question
of law and not of fact. Of course there was no American con-
stitutional law when the school was founded, though some of the
states had already adopted constitutions. The first book on cor-
poration law was that of Kyd, published in London in 1793, but
it was chiefly made up of authorities and precedents relatmg to
municipal corporations; and Willcock on Corporations, also an
linglish treatise was still more limited in its plan. There was no
American text-book on corporations until the first edition of Asigell
and Ames was published in 1831. At that time the need of such
a book had become very urgent, but in the early years of the Litch-

yff^ ^^

JUDGE JAMES GOULD

From a Crayon now owned by Hon. A. T. Roraback.

LAW SCHOOI, 185

field Law School there must have been extremely few piivate
business corporations in this coiintry. Not until Louisville, etc.,
R Co. ■t'. Letson, 2 How. (U. S.) 497, decided in 1844, did cor-
jxjrations become competent to sue and be sued as "citizens" of a
State, regardless of the citizenship of the corporators. A "fellow
servant" was a total stranger in legal nomenclature: Priestly v.
Fowler, 3 ]\I. & W. i, was decided in 1837; Murray v. Railroad
Co., I JilclMull. (S. Car.) 385, in 1841 ; and Farwell v. Railroad
Co., 4 Met. (Mass.) 49, in 1842. The term "contributory negli-
gence" had not been coined: Butterfield v. Forrester, 11 East 60,
was decided in 1809; Davies v. Mann, 10 M. & W. 546, in 1842,
and the phrase is not used in either case. Civil actions for dam-
ages for death by wrongful act were not maintainable. 'l"he law
of insurance was virtually the creation of Lord Mansfield, but the
volume of insurance law was comparatively insignificant for several
decades. On the other hand, there ^yas an abundance of real estate
law and of law concerning executors and administrators and trustees
generally. In those days the executor de son tort was more in
evidence than at present, although even now he has so much vitality
in some jurisdictions that it would not be wise for the practioner
to characterize him as Judge Lumpkin did in Shotwell v. Rowell,
30 Ga. 559, "de son fiddlestick!" and cry, "Away with him!" The
principles of equity jurisprudence had secured a firm footing, and
at this day they are administered in the Federal courts as they
were expounded in the High Court of Chancery in England when
the Constitution was adopted in 1789. Judge Gould was a master
of the common-law system of pleading, which was extolled by some
of its eulogists as the perfection of human reason. During the
period of the Law School the noble science of pleading became
burdened wiih. so many refinements and fictions that it fell into
disrepute ; the celebrated Rules of Hilary Term were adopted in
1834, and we have since substituted very generally for the techni-
calities of the common-law system what we term a plain and con-
cise statement of causes of action and of defenses, administering
law and equity in one suit, and sometimes peradventure evolving
a judgment as incongruous as the one examined in Bennett v. But-
terworth,, 11 How. (U. S.) 669, or exhibiting the chaos of plead-
ings and proceedings tabulated by the reporter in Randon v. Toby,
II How. (U. S.) 493. Speaking of the reformed procedure, how
many lawyers are aware that the chief merit of the Code system was
recognized and recommended for adoption by the precep,tor of
Judge Reeve, founder of the Litchfield Law School? The first
volume of Root's Connecticut Reports was published in 1798. The
reporter was Jesse Root, afterward, as above stated, a judge of
the Supreme Court, with whom Tapping Reeve had studied law
in Hartford. We will close with a quotation from the introduction
to that volume: "Are noit the courts of chancery in this State

1 86 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

borrowed from a foreign jurisdiction, which grew out of the ignor
ranee and barbarism of the law- judges at a certain period m that
country from whence borrowed ? And would it not be as safe for
the people to invest the courts of law with the power of deciding
all questions and of giving relief in all cases according to the rules
established in chancery, as it is to trust those same judges as chan-
cellors to do it? Those rules might be considered as a part of
the law, and the remedy be made much more concise and ei?eccual.
■Further, would not this remedy great inconveniences and save much
expense to suitors, who are frequently turned round at law to seek
a remedy in chancery, and as often turned round in chancery be-
cause they have adequate remedy at law? These are serious
evils and ought not to be permitted to exist in the jurisprudence of
a country famed for liberty and justice, and which can be remedied
only by the interposition of the legislature.'

THE LITCHFIELD LAW SCHOOL.

At the annual dinner of the Story Association, of Cambridge
Law School (Mass.) in 1851, the following reference was made
to the Litchfield Law School :

Judge Kent gave the sentiment:

" The first-born of the law schools of this country — the Litch-
field Law School. The Boston Bar exhibits its rich and ripened
fruits. By them we may judge of the tree and declare it good."

Hon. Charles G. Loring, of the class of 1813, reponded:

" I do not remember," he said, " to have ever been more forcibly
reminded of my }'ounger da}'s, than when looking around on my
young friends in the midst of whom I stand. It recalls the time
when I, too, was a student among numerous fellow students. It
will, probably, be news to them and many others here, that thirt}'-
. eight years ago, which to many here seems a remote antiquity, there
existed an extensive law school in the State of Connecticut, at which
more than sixty students from all parts of the country were as-
sembled— every State then in the Union, being there repre-
sented. I joined it in 1813, when it was at its zenith, and the only
prominent establishment of the kind in the land.

"The recollection is as fresh as the events of yesterday, of our
passing along the broad shaded streets of one of the most beauti-
ful of the villages of New England, with our inkstands in our
hands, and our portfolios under our arms, to the lecture room of
Judge Gould — the last of the Romans, of Common Law Lawyers';
the impersonation of its spirit and genius. It was, indeed, in his
eyes, the i^erfection of human reason, by which he measured every
principle and rule of action, and almost every sentiment.

LAW SCHOOL 187

" Why, sirs, his highest visions of poetry seemed to be in the
refinement of special pleadings ; and to him a non sequiter in logic
was an offense deserving", at the least, fine and imprisonment, and
a repetition of it, transportation for life. He was an admirable
English scholar; every word was pure English, undefiled and every
sentence fell from his lips perfectly finished, as clear, transparent,
and penetrating as light, and every rule and principle as exactly
defined and limited as the outline of a building against tlie sky.
From him we obtained clear, well-defined and accurate knowledge
of the Common Law, and learned that allegiance to it was the
chief duty of man, and the power of enforcing it upon others, his
highest attainment. From his lecture room we passed to that of
the venerable Judge Reeve, shaded by an aged elm, fit emblem of
himself. He was, indeed, a most venerable man, in character and
appearance, his thick, gray hair parted and falling in profusion upon
his. shoulders, hrs voice only a loud whisper, but distinctly heard
by his earnestly, attentive pupils.

"He, too, was full of legal learning, but invested the law with
all the genial enthusiasm and generous feelings and noble sentiments
of a large heart at the age of eighty, and descanted to us with a
glowing eloquence upon the sacredness and majesty of the law.
He was distinguished, sirs, by that appreciation of the gentler sex
which never fails to mark the true man, and his teaching.s of the
law in reference to their rights and the domestic relations, had
great influence in elevating and refining the sentiments of the young
men who were privileged to hear him. As illustrative of his feel-
ings and manner upon this subject, allow me to give a specimen.
He was discussing the legal relations of married women ; he never
called them, however, by so inexpressible a name, but always spoke
of them as 'the better half of mankind,' or in some equally just
manner. When he came to the axiom that 'a married womaij
has no will of her own,' this, he said was a maxim of great the-
oretical- importance for the preservation of the sex against the
undue influence or coercion of the husband; but although it was
an inflexible maxim, in theory, experience taught us that practically
it was found that they sometimes had wills of their own — most
happily for us.

" We left his lecture room, sirs, the very knight errants of the
law. burning to be the defenders of the right and the avengers of
'the wrong ; and he is no true son of the Litchfield school who has
ever forgotten that lesson.

"I propose, sirs, the memories of Judge Reeve and Judge Gould
■ — ajrhong the first, if not the first founders of a National Law
School in the United States — who have laid one of the corner stones
in the foundation of true American patriotism, loyalty to the law.''

1 88 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

THE FOLLOWING IS A COPY OF A STUDENT'S LETTER.

Litchfield, October 28th, 1830.
Dear Friend: —

Having received your letter just as I was on the wing for this
place, I was unable to answer it then; but avail myself of these
first moments of calm after the bustle and confusion incident to the
settling down into my nest, to turn my thoughts to that brood in
which I found myself when my eyes were first opened to legal light,
and when I first inhaled the legal atmosphere which from its misti-
ness gives to those who breath it, (at least so I presume) the well
known name of petty fogs (you will perceive an analogy m the
derivation of this word to that of luc'us a non luce\ndo, or Pared a
non parcendo) & from which like yourself I have absconded, being
now big enough to take care of myself.

Really, Ned, since my arrival I have been as busy as a hen
with one chick — I have been obliged to furnish my room, wi'th
whatever I need, from the bellows tO' the lamp wick. Wc are
obliged to board here, at one house and lodge at another. They
give you a room, with bed and bestead, et tout ca, at the rate of
one dollar a week you furnish your wood, your servant, carpet if
you don't wish to go without, lamps, oil, &c., &c.

You see & hear no more of the family than if you were the sole
occupant of the premises.

Upon your return from breakfast your room is swept, bed made,
things set to rights, as if done by magic, you never see how. I
have a fine room at Parson Jones', who is very obliging and would
be more so if able, and I board at Mrs. Reeve's, a very agreeable,
pleasant, old lady. We pay h€r, I believe two dollars and a half a
week. Our board and lodging and contingencies will run us up to
about five dollars a week, which I think is pretty well on to the
brogue for a country town. And this is independent of the lectures.
Judge Gould is so much overcome with his late family bereave-
ment that he is unable to lecture himself. Plis son, ho\,ever,
delivers them in his stead. As far as I can judge they will be very
valuable, independent of their intrinsic merit ; I will be obliged to
write up at least three reams of finely ruled foolcap. The lecture
lasts for an hour and a quarter each day, examinations once a week.
Litchfield appears to be a very pretty place, and I think I sha'l like
it well. I attended an evening or two ago an exhibition of the
young ladies' seminary at this place of which you si>eak in your
letter. There were several very handsome and interesting' young
demoiselles. The court room in which it was held was excessively
crowded and two or three fainted, one young lady upon receiving
her premium. At one end of the room men, boys and girfs were
all heaped up together, and ever and anon, you would hear some

I,AW SCHOOL 189

Sturdy bum resounding against the floor, its luckless owner having
incautiously pushed it out beyond the line of equilibrium.

I understand from Mrs. Reeve that all the marriageable' young
ladies have been married off, and that tliere is at present nothing
but young fry in town, consequently that it will not be as gay as
usual. The young ladies, she tells me, all marry law students, but
as it will take two or three }'ears for the young crop to become
fit for the harvest, you need apprehend no danger of my throwing
up my bachelorship.

The road from Poughkeepsie here is, I think, the most tedious
I ever travelled, 3-ou see nothing but rocks and stones. Con.sider-
ing the roughness of the country and the scarcity of land I am not
at all surprised the yanka3-s depend for their livlihood upon their
zi'its. I wish I had it in my power to exercise a watchful care over
B. as you have enjoined me. "Ah me! forsooth, he is a sorry
weight." His pa I suspect is afraid of some singular mancirvre
on his part and dare not trust him from his paternal eye. He did
not accompany me, as in all probability you know, but I do not yet
despair of his coming. In such expectation I shall not write him,
for I think it ver}' possible he may arrive this evening, if so he
shall write you a P. S. He and his father had not fully considered
the subject when I left.

It is growing dark and I must conclude before tea (for I ex-
pect this evening to be very busy copying notes) and this I cannot
do, without assuring you that it will give me the greatest pleasure
to see you here. I have a double bed. I will give 3'ou half, and
as long as Coont. is the land of cakes you will not starve. The
excursion will, no doubt, be agreeable and advantageous to your
health. You can come by the way of New Haven or Poughkeepsie.
When you write to the office remember me to them and to all enquir-
ing friends.

Direct, Litchfield, Connt.

The following extracts from a letter written by Augustus Hand,
while a student at the law school, will further illustrate the conduct
of the institution :

"Litchfield, Jan. 30th, 1829.
" ;My De.'VR Father : —

* * * Let me tell you how I spend my time. I rise between
7 and 8, make a fire and scrub for breakfast, from thence to lecture,
where I remain until between 10 and 11. Thence to my room and
copy lectures till 5 p. m. (Save dinner time at i p. m.) thence to
O. S. Seymour's office with whom I read law until half past 9 p. m.,
then again to my room, write till between 12 and i o'clock, then
draw on my night-cap and turn in." Exception— Monday we
spend from 6 to 9 in the Law School Debating Society, over which

190 UTCmflELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

I have the honor— I never brag) . Friday at 3 p. m, attend an extra
lecture on criminal law, and also hear an argument in the " ?>loot
Court" and decision by the judge. On Saturday at 2 p. m. attend
a severe three hours examination on the studies of the week by
Jabez W. Huntington, Esq. Aside from these exceptions the first
day is a correct specimen. As to the lectures and their utility I
will refer you to the preface of the catalogue mailed with this. I
can only say that their daily practical use to a lawyer can only be
appreciated by those who have enjoyed them. Without any doubt,
they give the same talent^a powerful superiority. The whole
is comprised in between 2500 and 3000 pages. Of these I have
written about 1200 and 1300 and should I remain here till May
and enjoy my present excellent health there will be no difficulty in
copying the whole, having access to Seymour's volumes (for what
I do not take in the office ) , who has attended two courses and has
them complete. This is, however, business between ourselves for
Ihese lectures are secured to the Judge, being the labor of his life
in the same manner as a patent right. So we talk less and write
faster. This Seymour with whom I study is the son of the sheriff
of the county, nephew of our State Senator, a graduate of Yale,
a bachelor of 26 or 27, of most sterling mind and manners, with a
brain completely identified with the study of the law in its most
theoretical and scientific part. From a natural weakness of the
eyes he does not allow himself to study evenings and therefore
invited me to read to him. This ofifer, knowing his fame, &c., I
readily accepted, his office being next door but one to mine, and he
being altogether such a man as "studies learning to use it." We
take up the title in a lecture and progress with it till it is finished,
reading (about) between ten and twenty pages an evening, he
giving me a thorough insight into it as we proceed — allowing me
without reserve, to tease liim with as many questions as I please
and now and then reading a report of some cases adapted to the
subject. Before the lesson he examines me in the preceding lesson
from memory. * * . * The law here is a study. There are ore
or two lawyers in the vicinity who make 4 or 5000 dollars a year.
I pass every day by the door of one worth about $150,000.00, about
one-half of which he made in law. This " Huntington " who ex-
amines is a bachelor rather above forty who studies, thinks and talks
law sleeping and waking. He never " pettifoggs," but pleads ia
the higher courts and writes opinions for other lawyers in every
section of the country. He will sometimes become so animated in
discussing a question which arises on the examination, that he can
hardly keep his seat. Friday, the nth inst., it came my turn for
the second time to come on to the " Moot Court." A short time
after my admission my name came on opposed to Mr. Halsted, of
N. J. (in alphabetical order), who was an old student. I tried to
cross the Rubicon but like "a poor, stuck-in-the-mud I could not ford; .

LAW SCHOOL 191

Frightened out of my wits, surrounded by a literary fog in the
midst of my " notliing," I quoted from an author (Swift) with
whom the Judge had a personal quarrel, this with being oil the
wrong side of the question fired me. This time I resolved to re-
trieve. A most intricate question on the doctrine of relation and
estoppel was handed M. Brown of N. J. and myself by Sq. »San-
ford of this place. The next day we had a very learned decision
luckily in my favor. * * *

Your affectionate son,

Augustus H.vnd

THE LAW SCHOOL BUILDINGS. ■

The pictuhe of the Reeves Law School building appended here,
shows it as now ( 1908) appears after the restoration as far as
possible to its original condition. The Litchfield correspondent of
the IJ^aterbury American describes the situation as follows:

Litchfield, Nov. 19 — Tapping Reeve, the founder of the Litchfield
Law School, famous as having been the first law school in the
United States, was the son of a Presbyterian minister and was born
on the South side of Long Island. He was educated at Princeton,
where he graduated in 1763, at the age of 17 years. For seven
years he remained as a tutoj at Princeton, then came to Connecticut
and practiced law in the office of Judge Root of Hartford and as
soon as he was admitted to the bar he settled in Litchfield about
1772. He had previously married Sally Burr, daughter of Presi-
dent Burr of Princeton College, and sister of Aaron Burr, who
studied in the school, and who was a frequent visitor in his family.

In 1782, the number of students who wished to study in Reeve's
office had become so large, that he built the small house shown
in the picture, in the corner of his yard, on South Street, the place
now owned by Charles H. Woodruff of New York and Litchfield.
To this school came students from all parts of the country, many
of the men who gained renown in the practice of law and in other
professions, being graduates of this school.

Judge Reeve continued to use this building until his death, and
in 1846 the building was sold to Henry Ward, who purchased a lot
of land on the brow of West Hill and placed the building there,
fitting it up as a small house. In 1886 the property was bought by
]\Irs. Mary C. Daniels and her son, Prof. Charles F. Daniels of
New York, who made it their summer home for many years. Prof.
Daniels died a few \ears before his mother and upon Mrs. Daniel's
death it became necessar}- to sell the property.

D. C. Kilbourn began planning to have the old building pre-
served, and to that end a con>mittee was apponted by the Litchfield
County Bar, with Mr. Kilbourn as chairman. He went before the
Legislature at its session of 1907 with the proposition that the state

192 LITCHFIULD COUXTY BlJNCH AND BAR

buy it and keep it as sta;te property. This proposal was, however,
rejected. Thereupon the executor was obhged to sell the place at
auction, and Mr. Kilbourn bought it for about $2,700. He im-
mediately began restoring the old part and to do this he had the
original law school building detached from the additions which had
been put on by Mr. and Mrs. Daniels.

The building was moved to the extreme west end of the lot and
has been restored both inside and out as far as possible to its
original appearance. At the time of the Ward purchase of the
house, it was lathed and plastered. This has been taken ofif, leaving
the original wide pine boards with which it was ceiled, which still
show inkstains, and in some places penciled names. One of the
original outside doors was found in a mutilated condition, and this
has been framed into the wall, and forms the frame of a large
crayon portrait of Judge Reeve. The old small-paned windows,
which appear in the picture are the same as of old.

When taking off the plastering and lath, several old boards were
found literally covered with names and inscriptions, done by jack-
knife artists in those old school days, when human nature was much
the same as now. Many of these names are to be found in the cata-
logue of the school in Mr. Kilbourn's possession. Some of the
names are W. T. Gould, 1818; N. Billings, New London; Board-
man, 1820; William Petit, Marietta, Ohio; 1810; J. B. Skinner, A.
Bates, Samuel W. Cheever, F. E. P., R. McE., E. P. S., Jones, (in
monogram.)

An interesting question is how the building was heated, as no
trace of a fireplace was found. Did they sit in the room with no fire,
as the churches of those days were unheated!

It is Mr. Kilbourn's present intention to make, if possible, some
arrangement b}' which the old building can be kept as an interesting
relic, and the members of the Eitchfield County Bar are getting
much interested to have this done.

It should be understood, in this connection, that the picture of
what has been called "The First Eaw School of America" which
has appeared from time to time in the state papers, is not a picture
of the first law school building, but of the second one, which was
built by Judge Gould later. He came to Litchfield and was as-
sociated with Judge Reeve in his school, and after Judge Reeve's
death he carried on the school, putting up the building sometimes
called the first school in the yard of his property, now the Hoppin
house, on North street. The school was carried on in that building,
to be sure, but it was not the first building. It has been standing
about a mile west of the villaige, and used as a negro tenement,
but is fast falli'ng to pieces. There is no doubt that the interest
of Mr. Kilbourn in the real "first law school building" has been
the means of saving this historic building, and preserving it for the
benefit of future generations.

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I.AW SCHOOI, 193

THE LITCHFIELD LAW SCHOOL.

■ A catalogue of this school was published in 1828 of those attend-
ing from 1798. A supplement was added bringing the names down
to 1831. In 1849 it was reprinted including the names to the close
of the school in 1833.

In January, 1900, Hon. George M. Woodruff again reprinted
the catalogue, adding some pictures and matter relating thereto.

The various notices and prefaces are herewith reprinted and
fully explain themselves.

In the former catalogues the names are arranged by classes,
in this they appear alphetically.

It is believed that these names all appear upon the Bar Records,
it being the rule that all students should be entered thereon. Upon
bur records there are a great many names not appearing in this
catalogue, being students who were studying with other attorneys.
That none of the law school students previous to 1798 appear here
"is probably from the fact tliat our bar records begin at that date.

ADVERTISEMENT TO FIRST EDITION 1828.

The committee to whom has been referred the publication of
this catalogue, deem it proper to prefix a few observations in rela-
tion to the institution, and the course of in^^truction therein pre-
scribed.

The Law School was established in 1782 by the Hon. Tapping
Reeve, late Chief Justice of this State, and continued- under his
sole direction until the year 1793, when the Hon. J. Gould was
associated with him. These gentlemen continued their joint labors
until 1820, since which period Judge Gould has lectured alone.
■From its commencement, it has enjoyed a patronage, which dis-
tinguished talent, combined with legal attainment, justly merited.
It has been composed of young men from every section of the
Union, many of whom have since beeji eminently conspicuous, both
as jurists and as statemen. And, indeed, even now, notwithstand-
ing the nuermous legal seminaries which have been established
throughout our country, this school maintains its proud pre-emi-
nence. This, it is believed, it to be attributed to the advantages,
which the mode of instruction here prescribed, possess over the
system usually adopted in similar institutions.

According to the plan pursued by Judge Gould, the law is
-divided "into forty-eight titles, which embrace all its important
branches, and of which he -treats in systematic detail. These titles
are the result of thirty years severe and close application. They
comprehended the whole of his legal reading during that period,
and continue moreover, to be enlarged and improved by modern
adjudications. The lectures, which are delivered every day, and

194 I,ITCHFI]5I,D COUNTY BljNCH AND BAR

which usually occupy an hour and a half, embrace every principle
and rule falling under the several divisions of the different titles.
These principles and rules are supported by numerous authorities,
and generally accompanied with familiar illustrations. Whenever
the opinions upon any point are contradictory, the authorities in
support of either doctrine are cited, and the atfguments', advanced
by either side, are. presented in a clear and concise manner, together
with the lecti'irer's own views of the question. In fact, every ancient
and modern opinion, whether over-ruled, doubted, or in any way
qualified, is here systematically digested. These lecture.?, thus
classified, are taken down in full by the students, and after being
compared with each other, are generally transcribed in a more neat
and legible hand. The remainder of the day is occupied in examin-
ing the authorities cited in support of the several rules, and in read-
ing the most approved authors upon those branches of the law,
which are at the time the subject of the lectures. These notes,
thus written out, are, when complete, comprised in five large vol-
umes, which constitute books of reference, "the great advantages
of which must be apparent to every one of the slightest acquaint-
ance with the comprehensive and abstruse science of the law. The
examinations, which are held every Saturday, upon the lectures of
the preceeding week, consist of a thorough investigation of the
principles of each rule, and not merely of such questions as can
be answered from memory without any exercise of the judgment.
These examinations are held by Jabez W. Huntington, Esq., a dis-
tinguished gentleman of the bar, whose practice enables him to
introduce frequent and familiar illustrations, which excite an interest,
and serve to impress more strongly upon the mind the knowledge
acquired during the week.

There is also connected with the institution, a Moot Court for
the argument of law questions, at which Judge Gould presides.
The questions that are discussed are prepared by him in the forms
in which they generally arise. These courts are held once at least
in each week, two students acting as counsellors one on each side.
And the arguments that are advanced, together with the opinion of
the judge, are carefully recorded in a book kept for that purpose.
For the preparation of these questions, access may at all times
be had to an extensive library. Besides these courts, there are
societies established for improvement in forensic exercises, which
are entirely under the control of the students..

The whole course is completed in fourteen months, including
two vacations of two weeks each, one in the spring, the other in
the autumn. No student can enter for a shorter period than three
months. The terms of instruction are $ioo for the first year, and
$60 for the second, payable ejther in advance or at the end of the
year.

JUDGE GOULD S LAW SCHOOL BUILDING

This building was built by James Gould as his law office about
1795- When he associated with Judge Reeve in law school he used
his office for his lectures. It stood in his yard on the West side of
North street. It was abandoned at the close of the Law School
about 1835, and soon after the death of Judge Gould was sold and
removed a mile West of the village on the Bantam road and con-
verted into a dwelling house. For many years it was occupied by a
colored family, and for five or six years has been unoccupied. It
is now a ruin.

The photo from which this picture was made was taken in 1898.

CmiiCZ C. WOODKUl'lf

Compiler of this Catalogue, 1828.

LAW SCHOOL 195

This catalogue extends only as far back as 1798. Previous to
that period, it is believed that the whole number exceeded four

■hundred ; no record, however, has been preserved. The names of
the students are placed in the order in which they entered, without
an\' regard to the length of time they continued as members of the
institution. The committee have endeavored to notice those who
have distinguished themselves ; but as this has been done it erely

. from recollection, they have no doubt passed by many, who have
conferred honor upon their country and their profession.
Litchfield, Jan. i, 1828.

CATALOGUE.

Abeel, George New York 1823

Adams. Charles Massachusetts 1812

Adams, Joseph T .Massachusetts 1820

Adams, John IMassachusetts 1822

Adams, John T Connecticut 1833

Aiken, Charles ]\ew Hampshire 1832

Albro, John A Massachusetts 182 1

Alden, Cyrus ?lassachusetts 1808

Alden, Hiram O Xew Hampshire 1823

Allen, Alexander M Georgia 1801

Allen, Zimri R Vermont 181 1

Allyn, J. T Maryland 1821

Alston, William W South Carolina 1818

Alston, William J South Carolina 1824

Ames, Samuel Rhode Island — Chief Jus. R. L . 1824

Andrews, A\'illiam Massachusetts 1812

Andrews, AMlliam T Massachusetts 1812

Anderson, Franklin Maryland 1813

Anderson, John Maryland 1815

Ashley, Chester New York— U. S. Senator 1814

Aspinwall, Thomas L New York 1810

Atwater, Frederick New York 1814

Atwater, Russell New York 1815

Austin, Charles Massachusetts 1812

Austin, Ralsamon Connecticut , 1801

Austin, Senaca Vermont 1820

Averill, Elisha Connecticut 1814

Averill, William H Connecticut 1817

Aver, Zaccheus Georgia 1817

196 LITCHITELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

B

Babbitt, Roswell New York 1833

Bacon, David Connecticut 1806

Bacon, William J. New York 1823

Baker, Joshua Louisiana 1821

Baker, Walter New Hampshire 1812

Balcom, Everett Massachusetts 1818

Baldwin, Birdsey Connecticut . 1806

Baldwin, Charles New York '. . 1801

Baldwin, Charles Connecticut 1810

Baldwin, Ebenezer Connecticut 1810

Baldwin, Henry Conn.— Judge Sup. Ct. U.S. M. C.1798

Baldwin, Roger S .Conn. — Governor. U. S. Senator. 1812

Baldwin, Samuel S .Connecticut 1800

Banks, William C . Georgia 1818

Barclay, David, Jr \''irginia 1832

Barnes, Enos H Virginia 1826

Barnes, Joseph Massachusetts — Judge Penn. . . . 1801

Barnes, Lauren .Connecticut 1806

Barnwell William South Carolina 1826

Bartram, Daniel S Connecticut 1799

Bates, Anson Connecticut 1820

Battle, Josiah B . . Connecticut 1798

Baxter, Eli H .Georgia — Judge Circuit Court. . 1818

Baxter, Horace Massachusetts 1812

Beach, Erasmus D Massachusetts 1832

Beebe, Levi S New York 1830

Beecher, Truman .Connecticut 1816

Beers, David B Connecticut 1829

Beers, Frederick Connecticut 1809

Beers, Seth P Conn. — Com. of School Fund. . . 1803

BeMen, Hfezekiah Connecticut 1798

Beli, Harvey Vennont 1812

Bell, James Vermont 1824

Bellamy, Joseph H Connecticut 1808

Bennett, Milo L Conn.— L.L.D, Judge SupCt. Vt. 1811

Beverly, James District Columbia 1813

Beverly, William District Columbia 181 3

Bigelow, Horatio Massachusetts 1810

Bigelow, Silas Massachusetts 1814

Billings, Noyes Connecticut — Lieut.-Governor . . 1820

Bingham, F. W New York 1830

Bissell, Edward Connecticut 1828

Bissell, John, Jr Connecticut 1826

Bishop, Jonathan P Maryland 1814

Bixby, Alfred New Hampshire 1821

LAW SCHOOL 197

Blackwell, David Kentucky 1813

Blake, Eli W Connecticut 18.17

Blake, Francis A Massachusetts 1817

Bond, Nathaniel P Georgia 1819

Bond, William Maryland 181 1

Bonestall, Virgil D New York 1830

Bonnel, Joseph Delaware 1815

Boardman, George S Connecticut 1819

Boardman, William W ....Connecticut — Member Congress. 1816

Bolles, Job S. T Georgia " 1822

Booth, James, Jr Delaware — Chief Justice 1810

Bosson, Charles Massachusetts 181 r

Bostwick, Charles Connecticut 1798

Boyle, James Connecticut 1833

Brace, John P Connecticut 1812

Brace. Thomas K Connecticut 1802

Bradley. Benj. H Connecticut 1818

Bradley, Edwin B Connecticut 1827

Brayton, George .\ Rhode Island 1825

Breckenridge. John Maryland 182 c

Brimsmade, Daniel B Connecticut 1803

Eronson, Frederick New York 1824

Broome. Jacob Delaware 1809

Brookes, Whitefield South Carolina 1814

Brown. Charles R Connecticut 1813

Brown, Franklin New York 1827

Brown, George New York 1814

lirown, Nicholas. Jr Rhode Island 1811

Brnvn. Andrew D. W New York — Member Congress. .iSii

Buffet, William P New York 1813

Buchanan, William S Pennsylvania 1824

Bulklev, Joseph Cnnecticut 1810

Bullaril, Royal Massachusetts 1810

Bull, Epaphras W Connecticut 1826

Bunker, Charles ]\. fassachusetts 1822

Bunnell, James F. New York 1827

Burgess, W. Arnold Rhode Island 1821

Butler, Chester P Pennsylvania — Mem. of Cong. . . 1818

Butler. David B New Jersey 1825

Burrall, William P Connecticut 1828

Calhoun, John C South Carolina — L. L. D., \'. P.

Mem.. of Cong.; Senator; Sec.

of State and of War 1805

Camp, Ralph G .". Connecticut 1824

198 LITCH]?I]i;LD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Cambrelling Stephen .North Carolina , . .1813

Campbell, Collin South Carolina i8bt)

Campbell, George L New York ii826

Campbell, John South Carolina 1820

Cantelou, Peter L Georgia 1813

Cantelou, William B Georgia 1813

Canfield, Ezra Connecticut 1801

Canfield, Henry J Connecticut 1808

Cardwell, John W South Carolina _. . 1823

Carroll, Charles H New York — Member Congress. . 1817

Carroll, Willam ~. . . . . .Indiana ,1823

Castor, Dyer Pennsylvania 1825

Catlin, George Penn. — Indian portrait painter. . 1817

Catlin, George S Conn. — Member of Congress. . . . 1827

Catlin, Grove Connecticut 1806

Chase, Harvey New liampshire : . . . 1800

Chase, Moses New Hhampshire 1798

Chase, Samuel .• . . New York 1818

Champion, Epaphroditus . . .Connecticut 1805

Champlin, Christopher Rhode Island 1810

Chambers, Joseph Pennsylvania 1820

Chambers, Benjamin L, Mar3dand 1822

Chamberlin, Mellin Maine 1819

Chandler, Anson G Maine 1818

Chandler, John A Maine 1818

Chandler, Hannibal Virginia 1832

Channing, Henry W Connecticut 1809

Chapin, Moses Mass. — Judge N. Y. Courts 1813

Chapman, Charles Connecticut 1818

Chester, Henry New York 1815

Chester, Stephen M Connecticut 181 3

Cheever, Samuel Massachusetts 1812

Child, Abiel Connecticut 182T

Childs, Timothy, Jr. ._. Massachusetts — Mem. Congress. 1814

Chittenden, Frederick Connecticut 1824

Church, Aaron .Connecticut 1800

Church, Leman Connecticut 181 5

Church, Samuel Connecticut — Chief Justice 1806

Clark, Archibald Georgia 1800

Clark, Gibson Georgia 1804

Clark, Henry L New York 1826

Clark, James , . . Georgia 1820

Clark, Robert Georgia 1832

Clark, Peter New Jersey . 181 1

Clayton, John M Delaware — L.L.D, Chief Justice;

U. S. Senator; Sec. of State.. 1817
Cleveland, Stephen New York 1815

LAW SCHOOL 199

Clifton, William C Georgia 1825

Clinton, George W New York .1828

Cockburn, William New York 1818

Cogshall, Josiah H Massachusetts 1809

Coleman, John J Alabama 1827

Collier, John A Connecticut— M. C. New York. . 1805

Collins, Augustus Connecticut 1804

Collins, Josiah, Jr North Carolina 1826

Cook, James C Connecticut 1813

Cook, Oliver D., Jr Connecticut 1818

Cooke, Roger W Connecticut 1817

Cooley, James Massachusetts 1799

Cole, John " New York 1810

Cooper, Benjamin F New York 1821

Conkling, Thomas Maryland 1817

Condit, Jacob A New Jersey 1813

Converse, Porter .Vermont 1804

Cowles, Samuel Connecticut 1802

Cowles, Henry B New York 1817

Cowles, Sands G. . . . ._ Connecticut 1826

Crawford, James Vermjont 1832

Crawford, Joel Georgia — Member of Congress. . 1806

Croghan, William Kentucky 1815

Crosby, Piatt H New York 1813

Cruger, H. N., Jr South Carohna 1821

Gumming, Edward H New Jersey 1826

Gumming, William Georgia 1806

Cunningham, Robert South Carolina. 1810

Cuthbert, John A Georgia — ^Member of Congress. . 1807

Cuthbert, Alfred Georgia— United States Senator. 1804

Cutler, George Y Connecticut 1819

Cutting, Brockholst New York 1823

Cushman, Charles C Vermont 1828

Cushman, John P ". Conn.— M. C. and Judge N. Y. .1808

D

Dart, John S South Carolina 1821

Davidge, Francis H Maryland 1815

Davis, John Virginia . 181 1

Davis, James Maryland 1816

Davis, John H Delaware 1817

Davies, Henry Maryland 1809

Davies, Israel W Massachusetts 181 1

Davies, John B Virginia 1815

200 LlTCUFIItLD COUNTY [iENCH AND BAR

Dawson, Lawrence South Carolina

Dawson, William C Georgia — Judge; L'. S. Senator. .

Day, Edgar B New York

Delamotter, Jacob ,. . .Georgia ".

DeMenou, Charles Charge d' Affairs of France, D. C.

Deming, Buel rf Connecticut

Denn)^ Thomas Massachusetts

Deveraux, Geo. P North Carolina

Deveraux, Thomas North Carolina

Deveraux, Thomas P No. Carolina — Reporter Sup. Ct.

Deas, Henry South Carolina

Dexter, Christopher C Rhode Island

Doolittle, Amos B Connecticut

Doan, Guy Connecticut

Downes, Appleton Massachusetts

Downman, John B Massachusetts

Doyle, Francis Georgia

Dubois, Cornelius, Jr New York

Dunbar, Daniel Connecticut

Dunbar, Miles Connecticut

Dwight, Henry W Massachusetts, Member Congress.

Dver, Thomas Connecticut

822
817
826
821
808
825
825
817
813
815
818

813
806
814
811

813
822
830
798
809
809
799

E

Eastman, A. G New York 1833

Edwards, Henry P Conn. — Judge Sup. Ct. N. Y. . . . 1828

Edwards, Henry P New York 1830

Edwards, Henry W Conn. — U. S. Sen. ; Gov. Conn. . 1798

Edwards, John S Connecticut 1798

Edwards, Odgen .-.Conn. — -Judge-Sup. Ct. N. Y. . . . i8m

Eickelbergger, Louis Maryland 1810

Elgin, Hezekiah R Maryland 1815

EUis, Grindall R New Hampshire 1809

Ellsworth, Henry L .Connecticut 1811

Ellsworth, William W Conn. — ^Com. of Patents; M. C. ;

Governor; Judge Sup. Court. .1811

Ellmaker, Amos Pennsylvania 1806

Ellmendorf , Edmond B New York 1826

Ennis, William Rhode Island 1820

Erwin, Isaac H Alabama 1828

Everest, Sherman Connecticut 1800

F

Fairle, Frederick New York 1818

Felder, John M South Ca rolina — Mem. of Cong. 1805

Fine, John New York ". . 1813

C.KOKCrC M. WOOnRUFF

Reprinted the Catalogue, 1900

LAW SClIOOIv 201

Fisher, Isaac, Jr Maryland

Fisher, Samuel Massachusetts

Fitch, John Connecticut

Fleming, Matthew South Carolina

Floyd, Joseph R JMar\'land

Follet, Timothy A'^^ermiont

Folsom, Joshua New Hampshire

Foot, John A Connecticut

Footman, William ]Maryland

Ford, Wilham H South Carolina

Foster, George Massachusetts

Foster, James ]\lassachusetts

Foster, Thomas F Massachusetts — M. C, Geo.

Fowler, James ^Massachusetts

Fowler, John D Massachusetts

Francis, John B Rhode Island

Franklin," ^\'alter S Penn.— Clerk H. R. U. S..

Frazier, Alexander G South Carolina

Frisbie, Samuel Connecticut

Fuller, Henry H Massachusetts

Fuller, William W' Massachusetts

Fullerton, Alexander X A'ermoiiit

Fullerton, Thomas S A'ermSont

8ii
8io
803

81S
818
812
811
824

815
826
812
812
816
808
813
813
818
810
809
812
814
826
822

G

Gantt, Samuel South Carolina 181 7

Ganesvoort, Peter New York 1810

Gardner, Philip S Rhode Island 1826

Gibbs, David Alassachusetts 1808

Gibbs. Henrv W' Connecticut 1808

Gibbs, William C Rhode Island — Governor 1810

Gibson, William Georgia 1823

Glover, Samuel " New York 1820

Gold. Thomas A Massachusetts 1808

Goodwin, Edward Connecticut 1823

Goodwin, Hiram Connecticut 1829.

Gould, George Conn. — Judge Sup. Court N. Y. . 1827

Gould James R Connecticut 1824

Gould, William T Conn.— Judge, Georgia 1818

Graham, John L New York 1814

Grant, W'illiam South Carolina 1823

Grant, W'illiam A Georgia 1823

Graves. Thoiuas C Kentucky 1808

Gray, Thomas Connecticut 1817

Green, Caleb, Jr New York 1830

Greene, Albert C Rhode Island — U S. Senator. . . 1812

202 IjTCIlFliaD COUNTY BKNCII AND BAR

Greene^ Benjamin D Massachusetts 1813

Green, Henry W Rhode Island — Justice Sup. Court

and Chancellor New Jersey. .. 1823

Greene, Richard W Rhode Island 1812

Greene, William Rhode Island 1817

Griffin, George Connecticut— L.L.D 1798

Griswo-ld, Shubal Connecticut 1809

Groome, John C Maryland 1824

Gustin, Alpheus North Carolina 1819

Gwathmy, Isaac K Kentucky 1813

Gunn, I^rederick Connecticut 1812

H

Hadnall, William B Maryland 1819

Hall, Ambrose Massachusetts 1802

Hall, Gideon Conn. — Judge Sup. Court 1829

Hall, Horace Vermtont 1803

Hall, Willis New York— Attorney Gen. N. Y. 1826

Halsted, Oliver S N ew Jersey — Chancellor N. J . . . 1813

Halsted, Robert W New Jersey 1827

Halsted, William, Jr New Jersey 1814

Halsey, Hopkins (jeorgia — Mem. of Congress. . . . 1819

Hand, Augustus C Vermont — Judge Sup. Ct. N. Y.1827

Hamilton, Thomas South Carolina 1810

Harrison, Tipton B yirginia 1818

Harvey, Leroy Georgia 1821

Hasbrook, Abraham B New York— M. C. ; L.L.D. ; Pres-
ident Rvttgers' College, N.J... 1812

Hassell, Bentley South Carolina 1825

Hatch, Moses Connecticut 1801

Hawkes, Francis L North Carolina — Clergyman ; au-
thor N. Y 1818

Hawkes, Benjamin B North Carolina 1823

Hawkins, Samuel New York 1798

Hawley, Charles . . . ." Conn. — Lt.-Gov. Conn 1813

Haydcn, Moses Massachusetts 1804

Head, George E Massachusetts 1813

Hepburn, Joseph L Pennsylvania 1819

Hiccox, Guy Connecticut 1806

Hill, Joseph A North Carolina 1819

Hill, William R South Carolina 1821

Hillhouse, Augustus L Connecticut 1812

Hine, Homer Connecticut 1800

Hines, Richard 1814

Hinman, Royal R Conn. — Sec. State; historian ...1806

Hitchcock, Samuel Alabama 1828

LAW SCIIOOI. 203

Holabird, William F Connecticut — Lt. Gov. Conn 181 5

Hodges, William F Connecticut 1812

Holcomb, Chauncey P Connecticut 1824

Holley, John M., Jr. . .^ Conn. — Mem. of Cong. N. Y 1823

Holt, George B Conn. — Judge in Ohio 1812

Holt, Thaddeus G Georgia— Judge Sup. Court Ga. . 1816

Hooker, James Connecticut 1810

Hopkins, Abiather New Hampshire 1808

Hotchkiss, Minor Connecticut 1813

Houston, Patrick Georgia 1798

Houghton, Josiah J^laine 1817

Howard, Benjamin Chas. . . .Maryland 1812

Howard, John H Georgia 1813

Howe, Samuel Massachusetts — Judge 1805

Hoyt, Henry S New York 1829

Hubbard, Elijah Connecticut 1798

Hubbard, Elizur Vermont 1799

Hubbel, James Vermont 1802

Hudson, Jonathan T '. .Connecticut 1826

Hull, Hezekiah B Connecticut 1813

Hunt, Hiram P New York — Mem. of Congress. 1817

Hunt, Jonathan Connecticut 1808

Hunt, Ward E New York — Chief Justice of X.

Y. Judge U. S. Sup. Court. . . . 1830
Huntington, Jabez W Conn. — M. C. ; U. S. S. ; Judge

Supreme Court 1808

Humphrey, Joseph Connecticut 1812

Hurlbut, William Connecticut 181 5

Huffington, William Delaware 1823

Hyde, John J Connecticut 1829

I

IngersoU, Charles AI New Hampshire 1812

Ingham, Alpheus Pennsylvania 1825

Ives, Moses B ' i-lhode Island 1812

Ives, Henry C New York 1831

J

Jacobs, Cyrus Pennsylvania 1823

Jacobs, George W Pennsylvania 1819

Jacobs, William C Pennsylvania 1820

Jackson, Ebenezer, Jr. CTCorgia — Member of Congress. . 1814

Jackson, John P '. New Jersey 1824

Jackson, Joseph Georgia 1817

Jackson, Oliver P New York 1823

204 UTCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Jackson, Thomas L Georgia ., 1823

Janvier, Thomas, Jr Delaware 1828

James, Edward M New York 1805

Tarvis, Russell Massachusetts - . . . 1813

Jenkins, Charles M NewYork 1831

Jessup, Ebenezer Connecticut 1825

Jewell, Ezra Connecticut 1809

Johns, Kensey, Jr , Delaware— M. C. ; Chancellor. . . 1812

Johnson, Charles F. . Connecticut 1824

Johnson, Edwards Connecticut 1826

Johnson, James Georgia 1816

Johnson, William S Connecticut 1816

Johnston, James T Georgia 1816

Jones, Heiiry Calcutta, East Indies 1810

Jones, Joel Pennsylvania — L.L.D 1819

Jones, John Q New York 1817

Jones, Robert 1813

Jones, Rice Louisiana 1807

Judson, Noah Massachusetts 1799

K

Kaleb, William M Maryland 1827

Kaleb, J. A. Mc Maryland 1829

Kellogg, Edward Massachusetts 1823

Kelso, Charles W. . . ._. Pennsylvania 1828

Kerr, Joseph C North Carolina 1817

Key, Phillip Maryland 1829

- Kilbourn, Austin Connecticut 1821

King, Edward New York 1813

King, George G Rhode Island 1826

King, James G New York — Mem. of Congress. . 1810

Kingsbury, Sanford New Hampshire 1801

Kinnecutt, Thomas Massachusetts — ^"Lieut-Gov 1823

Kirby, Reynold M Connecticut 1809

Kirkland, Chas. P New York 1818

Knight, Frederick Massachusetts 1812

Dake, Joseph Ohio , . 1820

Lamar, Lucius Q. C. Georgia-^Judge Sup. Court 1817

Langdon, Benjamin F Vermont '. 1821

Langsing, I,eviness S New York 1830

Lathrop, Cyrus H Massachusetts ' 1810

Latham, Allen Massachusetts ; 1814

Lashell, John '. Pennsylvania ; 1810

LAW SCHOOI, 205

Lawrence, Augustus A New York 1813

Lawrence, Phillip K New York .1814

Lawrence, William B New York — Charge d'affaires,

London '. 1819

Leavenworth, Elias W Mass.— LX.D. ; M. C. ; Sec. of

State N. Y 1825

Leavenworth, Nathan New York 1813

Leavenworth, William F. . . .Connecticut 1822

Leavitt, Harvey F New Hampshire 1816

Ledyard, Henry N ew York 1830

Leonard, Cornelius New York 1810

Lewis, John L Louisiana 1825

Lewis, Robert H Virginia 1821

Lewis, William Louisiana 1817

Livingston, Carroll New York 1827

Livingston, Henry W New York 1820

Livingston, James K New York 1818

Livingston, John R New York 1823

Livingston, Robert New York 1829

Livingston, Walter New York 1820

Lloyd, Joseph R North Carolina 1818

Lockwood, Ephraim Connecticut 1798

Loring, Charles G Massachusetts 1813

Loring Edward G Massachusetts 1822

Lord, Daniel, Jr New York — L.L-D 1814

Longstreet, Augustus B Georgia — L.L.D. ; Judge Sup. Ct. ;

College President 1813

Lott, Adrain New York 1831

Low, Cornelius New York 1812

Lowndes, Benjamin Virginia 1825

Ludlow, Alfred New York 1822

Lundy, Etheldred Virginia . 1818

Lyman, Darius Connecticut 181 1

Lyman, Samuel F Massachusetts 1819

Lyman, Theodore Massachusetts 181 1

M

Marberry, John Maryland 1813

Mack, Elisha Massachusetts 1805

Magruder, Enoch Pennsylvania 1816

Mackie, Peter New York 1813

Mallory, Garrick Penn. — ^L.L.D. ; Judge Penn. . . . 1810

Mann, George Rhode Island 1826

Mann. Horace Mass. — M. of C. ; educator 1822

Mansfield, Edward D New York 1823

Markley, Benj. A South Carolina 1806

206 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Marvin, Ebenezer Verraont 1799

Marsh, Charles, Jr Vermont •, 1813

Martin, Joseph F Rhode Island 1818

Martin, WilHam D. . .' South Carolina— M. C 1810

Mason, John Y Virginia— M. C. ; Judge ; Sec. of

Navy ; Mason and Slidell afifair. 1817

Mason, William J Virginia 1821

Mayson, Charles C South Carolina 1814

Mather, Nathaniel Connecticut 181 1

Maxwell, Robert Maryland 1817

Maxey, Virgil Rhode Island — Chg. d'aifairs Bel-
gium 1805

Mayer, Abraham I'ennsylvania 1817

Mayer, John B Pennsylvania 1823

Mayo, Harman B New York 1821

]\IcCawley, Robert Virginia 1819

McClean, James G Maryland : 1822

McElhenny, James South Carolina 1822

McFarland, William H Airginia 1818

Merwin, Elijah B Vermont 1801

Metcalf, Theron Massachusetts 1806

Middleton, Henry A South Carolina 1815

Middleton, Henry South Carolina 1817

Mills, Roger Connecticut 1798

Mills, Michael F Connecticut 1801

Millar, Bowyar Virginia — (Boyer F Miller?) . .1817

Miller, Charles Connecticut 1818

Miller, Joseph Connecticut 1801

Miller, Morris Georgia 1798

Miller, Rutger B New York 1824

Miller, Solomon S \Aermont 1811

Minturn, Thomas R New York , 1826

Mitchell, Charles Connecticut 1804

Mitchell, Henry A Connecticut 1826

Mitchell, Louis C Connecticut 1807

Mitchell, Louis Connecticut 181 3

Mitchell, Stephen M Connecticut 1800

Moffit, Thomas Georgia 1816

Morris, Henry New York 1826

Moore, Robert Georgia 1822

Morrison, James New Hampshire 1809

Morse, Sidney E Mass. — Founder N. Y. Observer. 1814

Morson, Arthur A Virginia 1823

Moseley, Charles Connecticut 1806

Mumford, William W New York 1815

Alunger, Warren Connecticut 181 1

/^-£r^

Purchased the Judge Reeve Homestead

LAW SCHOOL

207

N

Nash, Lonson Massachusetts 1803

Neill, George P Pennsylvania 1829

Nesbit, Eugenius A Georgia — M. C. ; Judge Sup. Ct. 1823

Nichols, Joseph H New York 1827

Nichol, Edward New York 1813

Nicoll, John C Georgia — Judge; U. S. District

Judge 1814

Nixon, Henry G South Carolina 1820

Nelson, Armstead Maryland 1814

Newcomb, Isaac M New York 1828

Norton, Marcus Mass. — Judge ; Gov. Mass 1806

Norton, James C New York 1819

North, Theodore Connecticut 1808

Nutall, William B North Carolina 1823

o

Oakley, Jesse New York 1814

Ogden, Matthias B New Jersey 1813

Olcut, Theophilus New Hampshire 1801

Oliver, Henry Maryland 1821

Oliver, Samvtel W Georgia 1820

Olmstead, Charles C Connecticut 1810

Ormsbee, Edgar S Vermiont 1824

Orne, Henry Massachusetts 181 1

Overton, Thomas B Pennsylvania 1813

O'Hara, Arthur H North Carolina 1814

Page, Benjamin Rhode Island 1805

jPage, Henry Rhode Island 1816

Painter, Alexis Connecticut 1817

Park>'r, Araasa Connecticut 1809

Parker, Aurelius D Massachussetts 1826

Parker, Charles T Massachusetts 1828

Parker, William M 1820

Parrott, Abner B Georgia 1821

Parson, Anson V Mass. — Judge Sup. Court Penn. . 1825

Pasteur, Edward G North Carolina 1823

I'atterson, Chris. S Pennsylvania 1821

Patton, Robert 1814

Payne, Elijah, Jr Vermont 1815

Peck, William V Cennecticut — Judge, Ohio 1824

Pell, Duncan C New York 1826

Penney, Samuel New York 1828

208 IJTCTII'lELD COUXTY RlCXCH AND BAR

Perkins, Charles Connecticut 1813

Perkins, Thomas S Connecticut 1812

Pettibone, Sereno Connecticut 1802

Petet, Joel T Connecticut 1800

Petet, William W Ohio 1815

Phelps, Charles B New Hampshire 1806

Phelps, Edward A Connecticut 1828

Phelps, Elisha Conn. — Mem. of Congress 1801

Phelps, Jedediah Massachusetts 1810

Phelps, Samuel S Conn.— U. S. S. ; Judge S. C. Vt. 181 1

Pickett, Reuben North Carolina 1825

Pickett, William D North Carolina — Judge Sup. Ct.

Alabama 1826

Pierce, James Connecticut 1798

Pierce, Levi Maryland 1815

Pierce, William L Georgia 1809

Pierpont, John Connecticut — Rev. ; poet . 1809

Pierpont, John Conn. — Chief Justice Vermont. . 1825

Pierson, George New York 1830

Pillsbury, William Massachusetts 1813

Pitcher, John New York — Lieut.-Gov 181 5

Pitcher, PhiHip New York 1828

Pitt, John R Georgia 1816

Player, Thompson T South Carolina . 1826

Poe, Washington Georgia — Member of Congress. . 1823

Polk, Thomas G North Carolina . 181 1

Porter, George B Penn. — Gov. of Michigan 1812

Porter, Timothy H New Hampshire — M. Congress. . 1807

Porteus, John South Carolina 1800

Post, Albert L 1832

Potter, Ansel Connecticut 1805

Potter, Asa Rhode Island 1S26

Prentice, Henry- E 1832

Preston, Isaac T Virginia — ^Judge S. C. Louisiana. 1812

Price, Benjamin Maryland 1820

Pumpelly, George J New York 1826

Putnam, Austin . New York 1828

Putnam, Charles Massachusetts 1814

, tiftli if, .u. , , : ,

R

Rankin, Robert G New York 1827

Raymond, Daniel Connecticut 1810

Raymond, David H Connecticut 1810

Raymond, James Connecticut 1820

Raynor, Benj. L Connecticut 1824

Read, John, Jr Delaware 1824

LAW SCHOOI, 209

Read, John D Delaware 1823

Read, William T Delaware 1812

Reed, George Delaware 1808

Reed, John H South Carolina 1809

Reeve, Aaron B Connecticut 1802

Reynolds, Walter New York 1822

Richards, George H Connecticut 1809

Richards, Henry S N ew York 1826

Richards, Robert K New York 1829

Rideley, Greensburg Kentucky 1816

Ridgate, Benjamin Maryland 1814

Ridout, Addison Maryland 1813

Robbins, Samuel H Connecticut 1817

Robbins, Silas Conn. — Judge, Kentucky 1808

Rogers, Archibald G New York 1823

Rogers, Artemas Connecticut 181 1

Rogers, Charles W Georgia 1829

Rogers, Edward Delaware 1810

Rogers, Henry A Rhode Island 1821

Rogers, Henry B Massachusetts 1823

Rogers, Henry W Connecticut 1810

Rogers, Henry Pennsylvania 1823

Rogers, John Delaware 1813

Rogers, Moulton C Delaware — Judge, Pennsylvania. 1807

Rogers, William M Georgia 1829

Ross, Thomas Pennsylvania 1827

Ruggles, Heman Connecticut 1803

Ruggles, Henry J New York 1832

Rutledge, Benj. H South Carolina 1817

Rutherford, John Georgia 1829

Rutherford, Robert Georgia 1806

Samuel, Beverly South Carolina 1819

Samson, John P. C New York 1817

Sankey, Joseph S Georgia 1826

Sanford, Rollin Connecticut 1831

Sargent, William F. W Mississippi 1817

Saunders, Curtis H Tennessee 1833

Schley, John T Maryland 1828

Schell, Augustus New York 1831

Schuyler, Robert New York 1818

Scott, John Ray New York 1807

Scott, Jessup W Connecticut 1822

Scudder, Phillip J New Jersey 1813

Sedgwick, Harry Massachusetts 1807

2IO LITCIIFIBLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Sedgwick, Philo C Connecticut 1831

Selden, Ulysses Connecticut 1802

Sewall, William H Maryland 1816

Seymour, Henry Conii. — M. of C. ; Gov. of Conn. . 1829

Seymour, Horatio Conn. — L.L.D ; U. S. Senator Vt. 1798

Seymour, Isaac G Georgia 1825

Seymour, Origen S Conn. — M. of C. Judge and Chief

Justice 1824

Seymour, Osias V ermont 1821

Shaffer, Joseph L Georgia 1825

Shaiimburgh, Charles W. . .Louisiana 1827

Shaw, Henry New York — Mem. of Congress. . 1810

Sheldon, Daniel Connecticut 1798

Shelden, William Connecticut 1822

Sheldon, Isaac Connecticut 1810

Shelton, Stephen Connecticut 1809

Shepard, Samuel 1799

Sherman, Klkanah C New York 1825

Sherrell, Joseph Massachusetts 1815

Sill, Theodore Connecticut 1798

Simkins, Eklred South Carolina — M. C. ; L,t.-Gov.

S. C 1803

Sims, John G ,. . . .Pennsylvania 1812

Simons, Moses South Carolina 1810

Simmons, Edward P South Carolina 1815

Skinner, John B Connecticut 1820

Skinner, Oliver Connecticut 1800

Skinner, Richard Conn. — Chief Jus. and Gov Vt. . . 1798

Skinner, Roger S Connecticut 181 5

Sloan, Douglass W Massachusetts 1804

Slosson, Barazilli New York 1830

Smith, Archibald New York 1814

Smith, Charles Massachusetts 1810

Smith, Henry B Massachusetts 1809

Smith James H North Carolina 1818

Smith, Joseph L Conn. — Judge Florida ; U. S. ... 1800

Smith, Junius Conn. — L.L.D ; ist ocean steam-
ship, Tea grower 1802

Smith, Ira Connecticut 1809

Smith, Lemuel Massachusetts 1817

Smith, Levi B Pennsylvania 1825

Smith, Nathaniel B Connecticut 1817

Smith, Perry Conn. — U. S. Senator 1807

Smith, Truman Conn. — M. of C. ; U. S. Senator. 1817

Smallwood, William A District Columbia 1824

Spaulding, Richard B Georgia 1809

Sparks, William H Georgia 1820

ORIGDX S. SEYMOUR

LAW SCHOOL 2 1 1

Spaight, Charles G Georgia 1822

Spires, Bracnc}' T North Carolina 1832

Sprague, Peleg A'] assachusetts — U. S. Senator. . . 1813

Speed, Robert H Virginia 1827

Spencer, Alexander O New York 1818

Spencer, Oliver M Ohio 1829

Spooner, William Massachusetts 1813

Stagg, Peter New York 1823

Stansbury, G. A New York 1827

Stanley, Henry New York 1801

Stark, Caleb, Jr Viermont 1823

Stark, Wyatt South Carolina 181 1

Starr, Ephraim, Jr Connecticut 1803

Starr, Henry Connecticut 1809

Steele, William F Maryland 1814

Sterrett, John Pennsylvania 1822

Sterrett, William P Georgia 1821

Stewart, Charles S New York 1817

Stiles, Joseph C Georgia 1817

Stiles, Richard Georgia 1822

Stone, Gregory D New Hampshire 1823

Stoddart, John T Maryland 1813

Storrs, Juba Connecticut 1806

Stevens, Henry W Connecticut 1811

Stevens, John L New York 1823

Stevens, Thomas Georgia 1823

Strobel, Martin South Carolina 1806

Strong, Elisha B Conneticut 1810

Strong, Martin Connecticut 1801

Strong, Moses M Vermont 1830

Strong, Theron Connecticut 1822

Stuart, Francis South Carolina 1809

Stuart, Josephus B Massachusetts 1812

Sullivan, James Massachusetts 1822

Sutherland, Josiah, Jr New York— M. C. ; Judge Sp.Ct.j825

Sweezy, Thomas Massachusetts 181 r

Swift, Benjamin Vermont — U. S. Senator 1801

Swift, William Vermont 1817

Tabor, William J Connecticut 1813

TaUifero, William F. . '. Virginia 1813

Tallmadge, Frederick A Conn. — M. C. from N. Y 181 1

Tatnall, Edward F Georgia — Member of Congress. . 1810

Taylor, Edwin M Massachusetts 1832

212 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Taylor, Hubbard Kentucky 1810

Taylor, James S Virginia 1818

Taylor, John Oilman Massachusetts 1803

Taylor, William South Carolina 1828

Teakle, James D Maryland .' 1817

Tellfair, Josiah Georgia 1804

Tellfair, Thomas Georgda 1806

Tenney, William New Hampshire — M. of C 1809

Terry, Alfred Connecticut 1823

Thayer, James Massachusetts 1815

Thweat, Uriah , Georgia 1802

Thomas, Alexander Georgia . 1810

Thomas, Charles, Jr Delaware 1812

Thompson, Henry Massachusetts 1814

Thorndike, Larkin Massachusetts . . 1809

Todd, Charles Kentucky 1810

Tolman, Thomas Kentucky 1813

Torrey, Charles Massachusetts 1814

Tracy, George H New York 1830

Treat, Selah B Connecticut 1825

Trescott, Henry South Carolina 1815

Trotter, James G Kentucky 1809

Troup, Robert R New York 1809

Tucker, George J 1824

Tuthill, Cornelius New York 1815

Twining, Thomas, Jr .Massachusetts 1814

Tyler, Nathan Connecticut 1825

V

Vandusen, William .Connecticut : 1803

Vanderheyden, Samuel New York 1820

A'andyke, Kensey J New Jersey 1818

Vanmeter, John J Virginia 1821

Van Wagener, Gerritt G. . . New York 1823

A'erplank, James D New York 1827

w

Wager, John A'irginia 1823

Wakeman, Jonathan Connecticut 1807

Waldo, William B New York 1828

Walburg, George j\I Georgia 1815

Walker, Charles Massachusetts 1822

Walker, George J. S Georgia 1826

Wallace, James W Pennsylvania 1829

Waring, Nathaniel F New York 1827

LAW SCHOOL 213

Ward, Isaac New Jersey 1813

Ward, Richard R New York 1817

Ward, Solomon Massachusetts 1802

Warner, Eh Connecticut 1808

Warner, Thomas Massachusetts 1809

Waterhouse, Andrew O Massachusetts 181 1

Watson, John B Connecticut 1815

Watson, Samuel Massachusetts 1826

Watson, William Connecticut 183 1

Webber, Sumner A Massachusetts 1823

Weeks, Alfred A New York 1823

Wells, Ralph Connecticut 1812

A\'elles, Thomas L, New York 1823

Weems, James J District Columbia 1820

\\'etmore. William Connecticut 1815

Wheeler, Justice P Massachusetts 1804

White, John P Connecticut 1799

White, Thomas Georgia 1816

White, William New Hampshire r8i8

Whiting, John C Massachusetts 1823

Whitman, John 1808

Whitman, Lemuel Connecticut — Mem. of Congress. 1805

Whittlesey, Elisha D Connecticut — Mem. of Congress. 1813

Whittlesey, Frederick Conn. — M. of Congress; Judge

Sup. Court N. Y 1819

Whittlesey, Thomas T Connecticut — Mem. of Congress. 1818

Wight, John L, Virginia 1824

\\'illiams, David Louisiana 1816

Williams, Henry F Louisiana 1818

■ Williams, Jared W 1820

Williams, Lemuel Massachusetts 1806

Williams, Thomas S Connecticut I797

Williams, William G Massachusetts 1799

Wilkins, Edmond North Carolina 1817

Wilkins, John L N^orth Carolina 1820

Wilson, Andrew P Pennsylvania 1825

Winslow, Edward D North Carolina 183 1

Winship, John C. M A'lassachusetts 1810

Wittich, Lucius L Georgia 1824

Wolcott, Oliver S Connecticut 1818

Wood, James 1798

Woodbridge, William Ohio — U. S. Senator . 1802

Woodbury, Levi New Hampshire — Gov. of N. H. ;

Sec. of Navy and Treas. ; Judge

of LT. S. Sup. Court 1809

Woolridge, Thomas South Carolina 181 5

214 LiTCI-IFIliLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Woodruff, George C Connecticut — Mem. of Congress . 1825

Woodruff, Lewis B. Conn. — ly.L.D. ; Judge Sup. Ct.

Ct. of Appeal N. Y. and Judge
of Circuit Ct. N. Y., Conn, and

Vermont 1830

Worthington, Perry Maryland 1831

Wright, Augustus R Georgia — ^Judge Sup. Court. . . . 1833

Yates, Metcalf New York 1821

Yates, William New York 1824

Young, Charles C New York 1827

Young, Ebenezer Connecticut — Mem. of Congress. 1809

Number on Catalogue 805

Students previous to 1798. 210

Whole number 1015

BiogtapJjfea

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

OF

LITCHFIELD COUNTY

BENCH, BAR

AND

COUNTY OFFICERS

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

In the following sketches the compiler has endeavored tO' give
in most cases only a very brief account of the legal history of the
person with no attempt at genealogy, or comments upon the life
or character. The information has been drawn from a great variety
of sources and is believed to be in the main correct. It is, however,
merely an index of the names of those who have contributed their
lives and energies to make our Mountain County deserve its high
and noble record of the past and to incite our present and future
attorneys to uphold and maintain the lofty standard that their sires
have bequeathed them.

"Sflic liUE0 of 8«at men all ceminb uh
Sfljat vae can make nut liuea sublime

Anil Jiging leaue hcljtnJi ua

Jfaatpcints nn tljc aaniia of time."

BIOGRAPIIICAI, NOTKS 217

Ei.isiiA S. AuERN'ETiLY, was a son of General Russell Abcr-
nethy, of Torrington, born October 24, 1805. He entered Yale
College when sixteen years old and (graduated in 1825. Admitted
to the bar and practiced in Waterbury, removed to Torrington and
afterwards to Bridgeport, where he was the Clerk of the Superior
Court of Fairfield County from 1859 to the time of his death in 1869.

Andrew Adams, Lly.D., was born in Stratford in i;7.s6 and
graduated at Yale College in 1760, settled in Litchfield. He
rose to the rank of Colonel in the Revolutionary War, was a
member of the Council of Safety two years, of the State Council
for nine years, a member of the Continental Congress three years
and Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1779 and 1780.
He was an associate Judge of the Superior Court for four years
and the Chief Justice from 1793 to the time of his decease,
November 27, 1797.

The Litchfield Monitor mentions it as a sad and singular coin-
cidence that Governor Wolcott and Chief Justice Adams (the two
highest official dignitaries of the State), both residing in the same
village and on the same street should be lying apparently at the
point of death at the same time. Governor Wolcott survived his
distinguished neighbor only three days.

Upon a rapidly crumbling marble slab in the West burying
ground in Litchfield, is the following epitaph of this eminent man :

" In memory of the Hon. Andrew Adams, Esq., Chief Judge of
the Superior Court, who died November 27, 1797, in the 63d year
of his age. Having filled many distinguished offices with great
ability and dignity, he was promoted to the highest judicial office
in the State, which he held for several years, in which his eminent
talents shone with uncommon lustre, and were exerted to the great
advantage of the public and the honor of the High Court in which
he presided. He made an early profession of religion, and
zealously sought to promote its true Interests. He lived a Life and
died the Death of a Christian. His filial Piety and paternal tender-
ness are held in sweet Remembrance."

Elijah Adams, was a son of Chief Justice Adams. He studied
law with Judge Reeve and was admitted to this bar in 1795,
practiced his profession a few years in Litchfield and then moved
to Geneva, New York.

Sajiuel Adams, was a native of Milford, Conn., but in early
life went to Stratford, where he married Mary Eairchild. He
became a prominent lawyer and a Judge of the Fairfield County
Court. A few \ears before his death, which occurred November
12, 1788, in his 85th year, he removed to Litchfield and assisted
his son, the Hon. .Andrew Adams, in his extensive practice. His

2l8 LrrCHPlEl^D COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

widow died August 29, 1803, in the io6th year of her age, having
Hved in three centuries.

John Q. Adams, born in Cornwall, November 2, 1837. Was
admitted to this bar in 1864, and located at West Cornwall, where
he practiced until April, 1872, when he removed to Negaunee,
Michigan, where he made a fortune by his practice and successful
mining investments. He has held many and important political and
executive positions and is widely known.

John Adams, was born in Canaan June 22, 1785. He wa^
admitted to this bar in 1825. He carried on a very large business
in the iron industry at Woodville, in the town of Washington,
and was interested in other iron works. It does not appear that
he ever practiced law. He removed to Litchfield and from thence
to Falls Village in the town of Canaan, where he died about 1871.

J. Henry Adaic, only son of John Adams, was born at Wood-
ville, town of Washington, December 29, 1822, graduated at Yale
College 1842, and was admitted to this bar in 1844. Soon after he
removed to New York City and began the practice of his profes-
sion, which he relinquished and became interested in the lighting
of the city; was president of the gas company and acquired much
wealth.

John F. Addis, is a native of New Milford, Connecticut.
Studied law with his uncle John S. Turrill, Esq., and was admitted
to this bar in 1882. Resides and practices in his native town, and
is Judge of Probate for the district of New Milford.

Edmond Aiken, was admitted to this bar in 1790 from Nor-
folk, Connecticut. He practiced in that town and was also engaged
in keeping a country store. He died in 1807.

John Aiken was admitted to the bar in 1800 from Sharon.

John A. Albro was admitted to this bar in 1821. He abandoned
this profession and became a clergyman.

John AleEn. — A long biography of this eminent attorney will
be found in Boardman's sketches, page 45 of this book.

On a simple headstone in the East Cemetery in Litchfield ap-
pears the following epitaph :

To the memory of John Allen, Esq.
Many years during a life of eminent usefulness, highly
distinguished for his integrity and patriotism as a
member of the Council and Supreme Court of Errors
of Connecticut, and no less distinguished during a
period interesting and critical to his country as a mem-
ber of the Congress of the United States.
Born June 12, 1763.
Died July 31, 181 2.
Aged, 49 years.

BIOGRAI'lIICAL NOTES 219

Henry J. Ai^len, Sheriff 1884-1895. He was born in Man-
chester, Connecticut, May 26, 183 1. He came to Litchfield County
in 1859, and engaged in the hotel business in the then village of
" Wolcottville " as the proprietor of the well known " Allen House,"
which he kept until 1880. During much of this time he was em-
ployed as an agent or trustee in the management and settlement
of large estates, and was very successful therein. He was also
a constable and especially noted from his skill in collecting doubt-
ful claims. He enjoyed political life and was a shrewd worker.
In 1884 his party elected him Sheriff, which office he held until
1895, when he was defeated.

He had the unpleasant duty of carrying into effect the first and
only execution of the death penalty of the century. His great
executive ability was fully felt throughout the County. After his
retirement he was active in the interests of the New York Mutual
Life Insurance Company, of which he had been an agent for many
years, and also in the management of various trust estates. He
died October 9, 1899, and his funeral at Torrington on October 11
was remarkable for the attendance of many prominent citizens of
the State. See picture, page 164.

Charles B. Andrews, LL.D., was born in Sunderland, Massa-
chusetts, in 1834. Graduated at Amherst ColleJge in 1858. Ad-
mitted to the bar of Fairfield County in 1861, and began his
practice in the town of Kent.

In 1863 he removed to Litchfield and formed a partnership with
Hon. John H. Hubbard, then a member of Congress. He was
elected Senator from the Fifteenth District in 1868 and 1869, and
was chairman of the Judiciary committee in 1869, a member of
the House of Representatives in 1878, and again chairman of the
Judiciary Committee. Was elected Governor of the State of Con-
necticut in 1879, which office he held two years. Became a Judge
of the Superior Court in 1882 and Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court in 1889, which office he resigned October i, 1901. He was
unanimously elected by the electors of Litchfield member of the
Constitutional Convention of 1902, of which body he was the presid-
ing officer.

He died suddenly at Litchfield September 12, 1902. His legal
obituary is in the seventy-fifth volume of Connecticut Reports, from
which we quote the tribute paid to him by his successor, Chief
Justice Torrance :

" This Court is fully sensible of the distinguished services
rendered to this State by Chief Justice Andrews, and expresses its
obligation to the Attorney General for the appropriate manner in
which he has called the attention of the bench and bar to them on
this occasion.

220

LlTCHinELD COUNTY BUNCH AND BAR

i^'^'

CHARLKS B. ANDREWS.

" The Practice Act was enacted with the warm approval of
Governor Andrews in 1879. Three years later, it became his duty,
as a judge of the Superior Court, to aid in its administration, — a
work which he continued on the bench of that and of this court
for nearly twenty }-ears. But the re'gulation of legal practice,
however important, is but a small part of judicial labor. Chief
Justice Andrews was an earnest student of law as a science, — of
its fundamental principles, and philosophical development. Only
such an one could have written such an opinion, for instance, as
that from his pen, in the case of Wildman vs. Wildman, 70 Conn.,
700, in which he analyzes with so much clearness and precision the
nature of a cause of action.

" He was the seventeenth in the line of Chief Justices who
presided in this court during the first hundred and seventeen years
of its history, and of this number, only Judges Hosmer, Williams
and Park held the office for as long a period.

" In a review of a history of the courts of Connecticut, on a
public occasion, he once said this, ' In every government of laws,
the courts hold the most important place. The legislature may
he nominally higher than the judiciary, but in the actual experience

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 221

of life, the courts touch the citizen more frequently and more
nearly than the lawmaking power.'

" Acting under his conviction, he was deeply impressed by the
responsibility which attaches to a judicial station. It was his
ambition to discharge it with fidelity, and none of his associates
on the bench failed to remark the earnestness of his convictions
and the force and perspicuity with which he was able to set them
torth. On the pages of our reports they have become interwoven
with the jurisprudence of the State and of all the States."

Charles W. Axdrews, only son and child of Judge Charles B.
Andrews, was born in Litchfield November 21, 1874. Was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1902. He located in Hartford.

Edward AVarrEx AxdrEws. born at AMndham, Connecticut,
July, 181 1, a son of Rev. William Andrews. Was at Union College
but did not graduate, studied law and was admitted to this bar
in 1834. He was for a time partner of the Hon. Truman Smith
at Litchfield. He gave up the practice of law, studied theology
and was settled in 1837 over the Congregational Chruch at West
Hartford. About 1841 he went to Xew York to be pastor of the
Broadwav Tabernacle Church. After some years he went to Troy
as the pastor of a Presbyterian church. He gave up preaching and
established a school at Cornwall, Connecticut. He was sent to the
Legislature in 1851. He then gave up teaching' and resumed the
practice of law in New York City. In the war of 1861 he was
a captain and was made assistant adjutant general under General
Ivlorris at Fort McHenry, Baltimore. After the war he practiced
law for a short time in West Virginia. He then returned to New
York but soon left his professiori. He died September, 1895, at
Chicago, Illinois.

Samuel James Andrews, son of Rev. William Andrews, born
at Danbury, Connecticut, July, 1817. Graduated at Williams
College in 1839. Studied law in Hartford and Boston and was
admitted to this bar in 1842, was also admitted in New York City
and removed to Ohio and was re-admitted there. In 1844 he left
the law and studied theology, and was settled as pastor of the Con-
gregational Church at East Wiridsor, Connecticut, 1848. Dismissed
1855. He became an author and student for some years, and in
1868 took charge of the " Catholic Apostolic " congregation in
Hartford. He died in Hartford October, 1906. James P. Andrews
the present reporter of the Supreme Court of Errors, is one of his
sons.

CuRTiss B. Atwood was born in Bethlehem in 1845. Was
educated at Stamford Academy, New York, and at Brandon Sem-
inary, Vermont. Studied law with Webster and O'Neil in Water-

222 LITCIIFIULD COUXTY BE^'C1I AXD BAR

bury, and was admitted to the bar at New Haven in 1879. ^°^
resides at Watertown but is not in active practice. Represented his
town in the Legislature of 1905.

Rai^samon C. Austin, was a son of the Hon. Aaron Austin,
born in New Hartford, graduated from Yale College in 1801, and
vras admitted to this bar in 1808. He practiced a short time at
Litchfield and then located in Peekskill, New York. He died at
Washington, D. C, September 19, 1840.

Roger Averii,i,, born at Salisbury, August 4, 1809. Graduated
at Union College, 1832. Admitted to this bar in 1834 and practiced
at Salisbury until 1849, when he removed to Danbury, where he
had a successful practice and held many important offices and was
Lieutenant Governor of the State during the four years of the Civil
war. He was one of the organizers of the American Bar Asso-
ciation. He died in Danbury, December 9, 1883. (Obituary in
50th Conn. Report.) See Warner's Reminiscences.

RussELr^ W. Ayres, of Waterbury, admitted 1869. He gradu-
ated at Yak, 1868, and afterwards at Harvard Law School. He
was the founder of the shore resort at Woodmont, Connecticut. He
died December 14, 1873.

Asa Bacon, a native of Canterbury, Connecticut, born February
8, 177 1, graduated at Yale College in 1793, and was admitted to
this bar in 1795. After practicing in various places he removed
to Litchfield in 1806, where for many years he held a leading Dosition
at the bar. He died in New Haven in 1857. (See Boardman and
Sedgwick's sketches.) His picture appears in the Bacon group,
page 62.

Epapiiroditis Champion Bacon, a son of Asa Bacon, born in
Lichfield in 1810. Graduated at Yale College in 1833, and was
admitted to this bar in 1840. He died at Seville in Spain, January
II, 1845. Picture on page 62.

GUNERAi, Francis Bacon was another son of Asa Bacon, born
in Litchfield January 6, 1819, and graduated at Yale College in
1838. Was admitted to this bar in 1840; he was a young man of
great promise, holding a high rank as a lawyer, and took great
interest in military affairs, rising to the rank of Major General
of the State militia. His death occurred September 16, 1849.
Picture on page 62.

Willard Baker was admitted to this bar in 1881. He located
and resides in Sharon. He has a large office practice and real estate
business.

Birdsey Baldwin, born in Goshen, February 3, 1786. Studied
law at Litchfield Law School and was admitted to practice in 181 1.

niOGRAPHICAU NOTES

223

He lived and practiced in his native town until 1841, when he re-
moved to West Cornwall, where he died April 27, 1858. His pic-
ture is on page 115.

_ George BAi.nAvix, a native of Washington, Connecticut, was ad-
mitted to the bar in 1840. He relinquished the law for other pur-
suits.

George H. Baedwix, Sherifif
1 869- 1 878. He died in Litch-
field December 2, 1879. The
following obituary of him ap-
peared in the Litchfield Bn-
q hirer :

"Our readers will notice,
with deep regret, the death of
ex-Sheriff George PI. Bald-
win, which occurred at his
residence in this village on
Tuesday morning. Mr. Bald-
win was born on the 20th of
September, 1827, and had en-
tered upon his 53d year. His
father, Captain Daniel Bald-
win, was a man of great ener-
gy, and the son was of a simi-
lar nature. After a good edvt-
cation in our village schools,
he served an apprenticeship in
the Enquirer office. He sub-
sequently published, for a short time, the Litchfield Republican,
a democratic paper, and was the first publisher of the Sentinel.
He was postmaster here for eight 3'ears, Judge of Probate for one
year, and Sherifif of the county for nine years. Hie represented
the town in the General Assembly in 1861, held the office of town
clerk for five years, from 1858 to 1863, and was first selectrnan for
several years succeedirtg. His friends were warmly attached to
him, and he was noted for his generosity and neighborly kindness.
In his family, he was a devoted husband and father, and his excellent
widow and children have the heartfelt sympathy of the entire com-
munity."

Isaac Baldwin', was born in Milford, Connecticut, February 22,
171 '5-16. His father removed to Durham and subsequently to
Litchfield.

He graduated at Yale College in 1735, and studied theology
and was licensed to preach in 1737. He was never settled in this
profession, but occasionally preached in neighboring churches.

GEORGE ir. BALDWIN"

224 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

He married a daitg-hter of Parson Collins, the eccentric minister
of Litchfield, bought a farm and went to farming. His services
were soon demanded in public affairs and for many years he was
a prominent man in town and county matters. He represented his
town in the General Assembly ten sessions, and was town clerk for
thirtv-one years (1742- 1773.)

He was clerk of the Probalte Court for the district of Litchfield
for twenty-nine years, and was the first clerk of the County Court,
which office he held for forty-two years (1751-1793.) He died in
Litchfield January 15, 1805.

Isaac Baldwin, Jr., born at Litchfield November 12, 1753.
Graduated at Yale in 1774. Admitted to the bar and practiced at
Litchfield until 1812, when he removed to Pompey, New York,
where he died in 1830.

Roger Sherman Baldwin, born in New Haven, Connecticut
in 1793. Was a member of the Litchfield Law School, and admitted
to the bar of this county in 1813. He locaited in his native city,
where he died February 19, 1863.

Probably nO' lawyer ever attained in Connecticut a higher rank
at the bar than that which was generally conceded to Governor
Baldwin by his professional brethren, and few men have filled more
public offices than he. (For a more extended sketch of him see
obituary in 30th Conn. Report.)

Samuel S. Baldwin was born in Litchfield, and graduated at
Yale College in 1801. Was admitted to this bar in 1803 as of
Litchfield. He died in 1854.

William Baldwin, lawyer at Salisbury 1842. (Conn. Regis-
ter.)

Luther T. Ball was born in Salisbury, studied law with Judge
D. J. Warner and at Ballston, New York, and was admitted to this
bar in 1854. He removed to Illinois, where he acquired a good
reputation as a lawyer. In the Civil War he was an officer of the
Eighty-fourth Illinois regiment and was killed at the battle of Mur-
freesboro, December, 1862, and buried on the field.

LoRRiN Barnes studied in the law school. Was admitted in
1807 and practiced a short time in Bristol.

Henry S. Barbour was a native of Canton, Connecticut. Born
August 2, 1822. Studied law at Yale Law School, and was ad-
mitted to this bar in 1849. He practiced at Torrington for twenty-
one years, when he removed to Hartford, where he died September
21, 1891.

Syia'Ester Barbour was a brother of Henry S. Barbour and
practiced law a short time about 1861 at New Hartford and is now
in practice in Hartford.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 225

Anson Bates, admitted to the bar in 1820. The History of
ilartford County says he practiced law at East Granby 1831-1869.

Robert C. Bates, admitted to the bar in 181 1 as of Salisbury.

JosiAii B. Battell, born in Woodbury March i, 1776. Ad-
mitted to the bar in 1799 as of Torrington. Died May 7, 1843, i"
Torrington.

Jesse Beach was born in Litchfield in 1769. He studied law
with Judge Reeve and was admitted to the bar in 1791. The next
year he married Sally Wheeler, of Derby, to which place he moved
and practiced law there until 1801, when he removed to Redding,
Connecticut.

J. Gail Beckwith, Jr., was born in Litchfield in 1874. Gradu-
ated at Union College in 1896. Studied at Albany Law School
and in the offices of Terry & Bronson and L. F. Burpee in Water-
bury, where he engaged in practice for a short time. He served
as Corporal of Company A, Tenth Battalion, First New York
Volunteers, from April, 1898, to April, 1899. The regiment was
ordered for service in the Philippines, but only went as far as
Honolulu. Was admitted to the Litchfield bar in 1899. Was a
deputy sheriff under Sherifif Middlebrook. Is engaged m jour-
nalism.

Hezekiaii Beeciier, was born in Bethlehem, the son of Abra-
ham Beecher. He was admitted to the bar in 1854. He removed
to, and was an early settler of Fort Dodge,' Iowa. Is now deceased.

PniLEiiox Beecher, a native of Kent, was born in 1775 and was
admitted to this bar in 1800 as from Sharon. He soon removed to
Lancaster, Ohio. Henry Howe in his Historical Collections says
of him : "He represented this district in Congress from 1817 to
1827, and died about 1840. Was in politics a whig, and a man of
fine address and presence. He it was who- gave Thomas Ewing
liis first law business of any moment. The very elegant Henry
Stanbery, who began his law practice in Lancaster, and lived there
for many years, married for his first wife the daughter of Mr.
]3eecher. He later lived at Columbus and in the vicinity of Cin-
cinnati, and ended his professional career as Attorney General of
the United States under General Jackson."

Truman Beecher, admitted in 1818 from Kent. Was a
student of the law school.

Frederick Beers was born in Woodbury July 23, 1785 and
was admitted to this bar in 1815. He died in Woodbury on Decem-
ber 6, 1828, at the age of 43.

226 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BEXCII AND BAR

George W. Beers was a son of Hon. Seth P. Beers and was
born in Litchfield February i8, 1817. He graduated from Trinity
College in 1839, and was admitted to this bar in 1842. He never
practiced his profession, but was an assistant for his father in
the care and management of the immense interests of the School
Ftmd in the Western Reserve of Ohio. He died at Litchfield.

Lewis F. Beers was admitted in 1864 to this bar from Winsted.
He studied with Judge Gideon Hall, and remained in his office
in Winsted a short time after Judge Hall's death ,when he removed
to South Norwalk, where he died February 15, 1872.

Setpi p. Beers, a native of Woodbury, born July 4, 1781. Was
a student of the Litchfield Law School from 1803 to 1805, when
he was admitted to this bar and settled in the practice of his pro-
fession in Litchfield, where he died September 9, 1862. He had a
liirge clientage and occupied many positions of trust. He was
State's Attorney for the county 1820 to 1825. His principal work
was commissioner of the School Fund oF Connecticut from 1824
to 1849, a- period of twenty-five years, during which time the settle-
ment of a ver\' large number of contested land claims and titles in
the Ohio land, known as the Western Reserve, had to be adjusted
by him. It is largely through his legal and financial ability that
our present school fund of $2,000,000 exists. Died September 9,
1862 at Litchfield. (See Sedgwick's address.) Picture on page 92.

Frederick D. BEEii.vx, was a native of Warren, graduated
at Yale, class of 1842, and was admitted to this bar in 1846, and
settled and began practice in Litchfield. In 1855 he was appointed
clerk of the Superior Court, which office he held at the time of his
death, August i, i860, aged 38 years. Picture on page 138,

Charles O. Beldex. born in Montecello, New York, in 1827,
was admitted to practice in 1848. After practicing a short time at
Litchfield he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1861 he took
an active part in the Civil War, organizing the Sixty-seventh New
York Volunteers, of which he was the Lieutenant Colonel and was
in several engagements. At the close of the war his health failed
and he was unable to follow his profession. He died in Litchfield
November 22, 1870.

Joseph H. Bellamy, a native of Bethlehem, was a grandson of
the celebrated divine Joseph Bellamy, D. D. He graduated at Yale
College in 1808, and was admitted to this bar in 1810 and resided
and practiced in Bethlehem, where he died in 1848. (See Sedg-
wick's Address.)

A:mos Benedict, born in Middlebury, Connecticut, July 6, 1780,
graduated at Yale College 1800, studied law in the Litchfield Law

BIOGRAI'ILICAL NOTES 22/

School and was admitted to practice in 1803. After practicing a
short time in Litchfield he removed to Watertown, New York.
He died in 1816 while on a visit to Litchfield.

Noah B. Benedict, born in Woodbury, April 2, 1771. Gradu-
ated at Yale 1788. Admitted to the bar in 1792 and died July 2,
1831. He was one of the most learned and distinguished lawyers
in the State. (See Boardman's sketches and Sedgwick's Address
and note in 8th Conn. Report 426, also obituary in 15th Conn.
Report.) His portrait is on page 58, taken from an old painting
in the Woodbury Probate office.

MiEO L. Bennett, admitted in 1813, as of Sharon. Removed
to Vermont and was a Judge of the Supreme Court of that State.

Heman Berry, admitted 1796, as of Kent.

John B. Betts, admitted to this bar in 1882; practiced a short
time in New Hartford ; removed to the West. He died in Beatrice,
Nebraska, and was buried in New Hartford, January 24, 1902.

William W. Bidwell, born in Colebrook in 1850 and admitted
to this bar in 1858, located in Collinsville, where he practiced his
profession and was killed by accident in 1894.

WiLLiAiC W. BiERCE was born at Cornwall Bridge in 1863 ;
graduated at Williams College in 1885 and was admitted to this
bar in 1891. Is now in practice at Torrington, where he was the
town clerk and town prosecuting attorney, and is also one of the
prosecuting agents for Litchfield County.

Henry A. Bills, admitted to this bar in 185 1, practiced a short
time in Winsted, Connecticut. Published for some years the Win-
sted Nczus, and then followed other avocations. He died June
24, 1892.

Hon. Jotin' Bird, born in Litchfield, November 22, 1768, gradu-
ated at Yale College in 1786, was admitted to this bar in 1789, and
after a practice of five years removed to Troy, New York, where
he resided until his death in 1806. During these few years he held
many important positions and was a member of Congress.

Edward Bissell, a native of Litchfield, born November 27,
1808, and admitted to this bar in 1832. He afterwards entered
the United States naval service, and died January 24, 1876.

Edward Bissell, born in Litchfield, December 16, 1827, and
graduated at Yale College in 185 1, and at the Yale Law School in
1853, and was admitted to this bar in 1853. He removed to Fond
du Lac, Wisconsin, where he now resides.

228 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BfiXCII AXD BAK

Francis BissEll, born in Litchfield April i6, 1852, and ad-
mitted to this bar in 1875. He practiced a short time in New Hart-
lord , then went into the insurance business, from which he retired,
and is now engag-ed in agriculture at Bantam.

EbenezEr B. Blackman, graduated at Yale College in 1817,
admitted to this bar in 1822 and practiced at Sharon, whence he
removed to Brookfield in 1840 and died there in 1863.

Lewis J. BeakE, admitted-to this bar in 1874 and began practice
in Litchfield, but soon removed west, and is now a law stenographer
and teacher at Omaha, Nebraska.

J. W. BeakESEEE, admitted in 1866, as of Plymouth.

Samuel C. BlakelEy, admitted in 1800 from Roxbury.

William H. Blodgett, a native of Canaan. Admitted to this
bar in 1903. He located in Winsted and is now Town Prosecuting
Attorney. He was assistant clerk of the Connecticut House of
Representatives in 1907.

' David Sherman Boardman, born in New Milford in 1768,
graduated at Yale in 1793 and admitted to this bar in 179.5. ^^
located and practiced all his lifetime in his native town, where he
died December 2, 1864. President Porter, of Yale College, in his
sketch of Mr. Boardman, published in the history of New i\lilford,
says : " There have been few, if any of the inhabitants of New
Milford since its settlement, who deserve to be more honored than
this pure minded, sagacious and noble hearted man." He is the
author of the sketches published herewith. See Sedgwick's Address.

George S. Boardman, a native of New Milford, son of Hon.
Elijah Boardman, born 1799, admitted to this bar in 1820 and died
in New Milford 1825. (See Sedgwick's' Address.)

William Whiting Boardman, another son of Hon. Elijah
J>oardman was born 1794 graduated at Yale College in 1812 and
admitted to this bar in 1818. He removed to New Haven, where he
had a large practice and held many public offices — member of Con-
gress, etc. Died August 27, 1871.

William D. BoslER, born in New York City February 23, 1877.
Studied law with L. J. Nickerson, of West Cornwall, and admitted
to this bar in 1902. Commenced practice at West Cornwall, but in
1906 he removed to New York City, and is now connected with the
District Attorney's office.

Charles Bostwick was born in New Milford, graduated at Yale
College in 1796, and studied law under Judge Reeve, of Litchfield,
I'legun to practice his profession but subsequently went into com-

BIOGRAn-IICAL XOTES

229

mercial pursuits in New York. Later he removed to Bridg-eport,
where he was elected mayor in 1840 and served afterwards as city-
judge.

Joseph A. Bostwick, of New Milford, admitted in 1804.

Samuel Bostwick was born in New Milford in 1755 and gradu-
ated at Yale College in 1780. He practiced law in his native town
until his death, April 3, 1799.

Henry A. Botsford was
born in Watertown in 1821
and died at Hartford, April
14, 1895. He was Sheriff
from 1866 to 1869. He
came to Litchfield from
Salisbury, where he had
been deputy sheriff for ten
years and about 1870 he re-
moved to Winsted and in
1872 to Hartford and en-
gaged in the wholesale Chi-
cago dressed beef business.
He received the first car of
that commodity from Chi-
cago shipped to any point
in New England, except to
Boston., Lie was a genial,
kind-hearted gentleman and
made no enemies in his of-
ficial and business life.

HENRY A. BOTSEORD

John A. Boughton was admitted to this bar in 1862. He soon
removed to Bridgeport, Conn. He was for many years connected
with the internal revenue service. Is not now in the practice of his
legal profession.

John Boyd was born in Winsted March 17, 1799. He graduated
at Yale College in 1821 and was admitted to the bar of New Haven
County in 1825, and to this bar in 1826. Representative in the
General Assembly 1830 and 1835 ; County Commissioner 1840, 1849
and 1850; State Senator 1854, and_ President pro tern, town clerk
of Winchester about thirty years and died in 1881.

He was Secretary of the State of Connecticut 1859, i860 and
1861. One of the mottoes used in some of the political campaigns
of the State was, " Give us your hand, honest John Boyd." He
compiled and published the annals of Winchester. It is to him

230' LITCHFIIDLD COUNTY BliNCIl AND BAK

that the State is indebted for the preservation of so much as re-
mains of the original cliarter granted by King Charles II. In 1698
the duplicate of the patent was by the Governor and council placed
in the hands of Captain Joseph Wadsworth " in a very troublesome
season when our constitution was struck at " and was safely kept
and preserved by him until May 1715. This history is worth record-
mg here.

" In 1817 or 1816, while Mr. Boyd was preparing for college at
the Hartford Grammar School, he boarded in the family of Rev.
Dr. Flint, of the South Church, Hartford.

"Coming one day froixi school he noticed on the workstand of
Mrs. Bissell, the doctor's mother-in-law, a dingy piece of parchment,
covered on one side with black letter manuscript. In answer to his
inquiries Mrs. Bissell told him that having occasion for some paste-
board her friend and neighbor, Mrs. Wyllys, had sent her this.
Mr. Boyd proposed to procure her a piece of pasteboard in ex-
change for the parchment, to which Mrs.. Bissell consented. It
was not, however, until six or eight year.p had elapsed when Mr.
Boyd examined the parchment with care, when he learnedfor the
first time that he had what he thought and was generally {bought,
until recently, was a duplicate of the charter."

The Colonial Record, Vol. IV.', published in 1868, says :
" The original charter, which now hangs in the secretary's office
.at Hartford, is engraved on three skins. The duplicate was written
on two. So much of the duplicate as remains being about three-
fourths of the second skin, is now in the library O'f the Connecicut
Historical Society, where it was placed by Hon. John Boyd, late
Secretary of State."

Not long ago, however, search was made through the records in
London and it was found that five pounds was the fee paid for
drafting the original charter and twenty shillings for the duplicate.
Examination of the documents showed that twenty shillings was
written (probably a memorandum) on the supposed original charter
and five pounds on the supposed duplicate so that now it is certain
that the one saved by Mr. Boyd was the original and the one that
hung for years in the secretary's office and has been recently hung in
the State library is the duplicate.

The Mrs. Wyllys spoken of was related to the former Secretary
of the State by tha't name and the parchment was probably found
with his efifects.

Connecticut lived under this charter until 1818, forty-two years
after the Declaration of Independence.''

Abraham Bradley, Jr., was born in Litchfield 1767. Studied
law with Judge Reeve and was admitted to the bar in 1791. He
located in the valley of the Wyoming, Pennsylvania. Soon after he
.accepted a position under Colonel Pickering, then the Postmaster

JilOi.KAI'niCAl. NOTlCS

231

General of the United States at Washington. H» removed to-
Washington, D. C, and was assistant postmaster general, under
various administrations for nearly forty years. He and his brother,
Phineas, were the real organizers of the postoffice department of
the United States.

AijiKKT r, Bkajjs'i'reET was born in Thomaston in 1846, gradu-
ated at Yale College in 187 1, and Columbia Law School in 1873.
He was admitted to the bar in 1874 and took up practice in Thomas-
ton. He was a member of the General Assembly in 1872-78, and in
1881 and 1882 was elected to the Senate from the Sixteenth District,
being the first Republican who was returned from that district for
several years. He was town clerk of Thomaston from 1875 to
1891, and Judge of Probate from 1872 to 1890. In 1879 he was
appointed deputy judge of the Waterbury district court and in
1883 he was elected Judge of the same court, being re-elected in
1887 and 1893. He is now in business in New York City.

Nei.sox Brkwstkr was admitted from Cornwall in 1824. He
resided in Goshen and had a very limited practice. He died in 1850.

Jamics T. Bruen was admitted from Winsted in 1881, located in
the West.

, D.\NiEL N. Brixsji.vde,

of Washington, was the son
of the Rev. Daniel Brins-
made, the second pastor of
the Society of Judea, after-
wards the town of Wash-
ington. He was born in
1750, graduated at Yale
College in 1772, read law
at Sharon and was admitted
to this baf and settled in
his native town, where he
practiced his profession for
more than fifty years. In
1787 he was a clelegate to
the convention at Hartford
that ratified the Constitu-
tion of the United States.
He was justice of the quo-
rum and assistant judge of

I the County Court for six-

teen years. He represent-

DANIEL X. BRIXSMAO,.. ^^, ,^. ^^^,^ .^^ ^j^^ ^^^j^j^.

ture during forty-three sessions and was one session clerk of the
House of Representatives. He died in 1826.

232 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Clifford E. Bristol was admitted to this bar in 1882 and began
practice at Norfolk and then removed to Plainville. He now resides
in Winsted and is engaged in mercantile business.

Merritt Bronson was admitted to this bar in 1855 from New
Hartford.

Bennett Bronson was a graduate of Yale College in 1797 and
admitted to this bar in 1802 as of Southbury. He was born No-
vember 14, 1775, in Waterbury. He became a prominent man in
Waterbury, as lawj^er and banker, and died there December 11,
1850.

Charles R. Brown was admitted to the bar in 1816 from Sharon.

Saml'El Brownson v/as one of the early settlers of New Mil-
ford and its town clerk from 1714 to 1733. He was its first justice
of the peace and also Judge of the New Haven County Court and
died in 1733. He acted as attorney for the town on several occa-
sions and is said to have been an attorney in fact.

Roger Brownson was a brother of Samuel and succeeded him
in the ofSce of town clerk in New Milford and was there justice of
the peace for a number of years. He died in 1758.

Norton J. BuEL, born in Sahsbury September 13, 1813. Studied
law wth General Sedgwick and Judge Seymour and was admitted
to the bar in 1834. Removed to New Haven County and died in
New Haven JMarch 6, 1864. See Warner's reminiscences.

Epaphrus W. Bull, born in Danbury in 1805, and was admitted
to this bar in 1825. He went South in 1830 and was reported to
have been killed by the Indians in Texas in its war of 1840.'

WiLLiAii Burke was born in Ireland in 1820, came to Amer-
ica in 1838 and»following the example of Roger Sherman, settled
in New Milford, and while earning his living by shoemaking, studied
law and was admitted to this bar in 1868. He removed to Dan-
bury in 1869, and resided there at the time of his death in 1890.
The History of Danbury says of him : "In social matters his
kindness of heart, his ever ready smile and cordial bearing, his
bright and sunny disposition, and his uprightness and strength of
character made him many warm friends, who will long cherish a
pleasant memory of him."

William M. Burrall was a native of Canaan and admitted to
this bar in 1808. He was associate Judge of the County Court
from 1829 to 1836, and after that its presiding Judge for two years.
He died in Canaan in 1851, aged ^j years. (See Sedgwick s Ad-
dress.)

JUDSON" CAXFIELD

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 233

William Porter Burrall, was a son of the Hon. William M.
Burrall, born in Canaan September i8, 1806. Immediately after
his graduation from Yak College in 1826 he began the study of
law with his father, attended the Litchfield Law School and was
admitted to this bar April, 1829. He practiced law in his native
town until October, 1838, when he removed to Bridgeport, Con-
necticut, and assumed the presidency of the Housatonic Railroad
Company, then just organizing, which office he held till 1853, when
he resigned. He was connected with the New York, New Haven
& Hartford Railroad Company during its construction and the
earlier years of its operation. He was also treasurer and president
of the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1862 he was chosen vice-
president of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad and in 1868
was made its president, and upon consolidation became the vice-
president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Com-
pany, which office he held at the time of his death at Hartford,
March 3, 1874.

Charles D. Burrill, of Litchfield, was born in Charleston,
South Carolina, in 1854. He entered the class of 1878, Yale, and
after studying at the Columbia Law School, was admitted to the
Hartford bar in 1884. He removed to Litchfield in 1891.

Calvix Butler, born in Waterbury in 1772. He began to study
at Williams College but left at the close of the sophomore year and
began the study of law at Norfolk. He was admitted to this bar in
1799, and finally located at Plymouth in 1806, where he died in
1845. He held many of the town offices, was a member of the
Constitutional Convention in 1818. In 1839 he was appointed a
Judge of the County Court for Litchfield County.

Cal\ix R. Butler was a son of Calvin Butler, Esq., and born
in Plymouth August 6, 1809, and was admitted to this bar in 1843.
He died October 16, 1844.

Malcomb N. Butler was another son of Calvin Butler, Esq.,
and was born in Plymouth, June 26, 1826, and admitted to this bar
in 1846. He died in Plymouth February 29, 1848.

S. McLeax BucKixGiTAjr, born in Brooklyn, N. Y. October 3,
1876. Graduated at Yale 1899 ^"d at Harvard Law Schooli902.
Admitted to this bar 1903. Resides and practices at Watertown.

CuRTiss W. Cable was admitted to this bar in 1828.

Daniel W. Cady, a native of Petersboro, New York, and a
graduate of Cornell in 1878, was admitted to this bar in 1884. He
removed to Kansas and was engaged as a law instructor until his
death in 1885.

234 LITCHFIELD COUJiTY BENCH AND BAK

David S. Cauioun, born in Coventry, Connecticut, in 1827,
graduated at Yale College in 1848. Studied law with Judge O. S.
Seymour at Litchfield 1850-51, and was admitted to this bar Decem-
ber 18, 185 1. Has practiced in Hartford County to the present time
and for many years was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for
that county, He resides in Hartford.

GgORGi!; W. Camp was admitted to the bar in 1882 from New
Milford.

Samuel G. Camp is a native of North Canaan. He was admitted
to the bar in 1902. Resides and practices in his native village, and
is largely interested in lime manufacturing.

Ezra CanfiiJld was admitted to the bar in 1802 from Salisbury.

Edward T. CanfiEld was born in Thomaston, graduated at
Yale College and Yale Eaw School in 1903, and admitted to this
bar 1903. Practices his profession at Hartford, bvtt resides in his
native town, which he represented in the Legislature in 1907.

John CanPiEld was born in New Milford in 1740 and graduated
at Yale College in 1762; admitted to this bar in 1763 and settled in
Sharon as the first lawyer who established himself in practice there.
He was ten times sent from that town to the General Court and in
1786 he was a member of the Continental Congress and died the
same year. He was State's Attorney for the county from 1772 until
his death.

Joseph Canfield, Jr., born in 1767 in Lyme, Connecticut, and
removed with his father when he was young tO' Salisbury. He
studied law with Colonel Strong and at the Litchfield Law School
and was admitted to the bar in 1786. He located and practiced in
Salisbury until his death in 1803.

Judson CanEiEED, born in New Milford January 24, 1759, and
graduated at Yale College in 1782. He was admitted to the bar in
1785 and located and practiced in Sharon. He held many import-
ant official positions and was for many years one of the judges of
the County Court. He was one of the purchasers of the school lands .
in Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County was named after
him. He died in New York City February 5, 1840.

Henry J. CanEieed was a son of Judson Canfield, born in
Sharon, 1789, graduated from Yale College in 1806 and was ad-
mitted to this bar in 1810. In early life he removed to Ohio to take
care of his father's interests in that State. Died November 27, 1856,
at Canfield, Ohio.

. Samuel Canfield was born in Milford and removed to New
Milford early in its settlement. For many years he was the Justice

GliOKGE C.\TI,1X.

BIOGRAPIIICAI, NOTES 235

of the Peace and Town Clerk. Upon the organization of the county
in 1 75 1 he was one of the justices of the quorum for the county,
and in 1754 was appointed the agent of the county for the building
of the court house at Litchfield. He died December 14, 1754, aged
52. He was the father of Colonel Samuel. Canfield, whose picture
IS shown on page 18. " But few men have a higher record than he
at his age in the olden time."

Albert M. Card, born in Amenia, New York, in 1845 ^nd re-
moved to Sharon while quite young. He was admitted to this bar
in 1889. He represented Sharon in the Legislature in 1866 and
in 189I; Is deceased.

Lymax W. Case was admitted to this bar in 1849 ^-nd resided
in Winsted. He died May 9, 1892, at the age of 64, and the
disposal of his large estate can be seen in the case of Pinney vs.
Xewton et al. in the Sixty-sixth Connecticut Reports.

Orrin S. CasEj born in Canton and admitted to this bar in 1849.
He practiced in CoUinsville. In the war of the rebellion he was an
officer in the Thirty-first Connecticut Volunteers and was killed
before Petersburg, Virginia, August 6, 1864.

Uriah Case, born in Canton in 1828, studied law with Elisha
Johnson and was admitted to this bar in 1851. He practiced in Pine
Meadow and Plainville, but finally removed to Hartford, where he
now resides.

Abijah Catling, of Harwinton, appears upon the records of the
County Court as a practitioner in 1752.

George Catlin, was a son of Putnam Catlin and was born in
Wilkesbarre, Penn. He studied law in the Law School and was
admitted to the Bar in 1817. After a few years practice in Penn-
sylvania he quit the profession and went to painting Indian portraits
for which he has gained a world wide reputation. Our portrait of
Judge Reeve is from Catlin's painting.

George S:^nTH Catlin, born in Harwinton August 24th, 1808,
and admitted to this bar in 1828. He practiced in Windham
County from 1829 to 1853. He was a representative in Congress
in 1843-45.

Putnam Catltn, was born in Litchfield April 5, 1764 and ad-
mitted to the bar in 1786 and soon after removed to Pennsylvania
and died at Great Bend in that state in 1842. He served in the
revolutionary war and received a "Badge of Merit." Pie was the
father of George Catlin the Indian painter.

236

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

AbIJAH C a T Iv I N,

born in Harwinton,
Conn., April i, 1805.
Graduated at Yale in
1825 and was admit-
ted to the bar in New
Haven County i n
1827. He practiced a
few years in Georgia
but returned in 1837
■to Harwinton where
he lived until h i s
death, April 14, 1891.
He held various pub-
lic offices, representa-
tive to the General
Assembly ten times,
member of tlie Senate
in 1844, Comptroller
of the State 1847,
1848 and 1849, School
Fund Commissioner
1852. Was Judge of
the County Court a
number of years. He
was Chairman of the
Bar Association for
many years prior to
his death and all his life an active participant in all reform matters
of good citizenship. See his obituary in 60 Conn. Report.

John D. Champlin, was born in Stonington, Conn. January 29,
1834, but in early life removed to Litchfield. He was admitted to
this bar in 1859. After a very brief practice he engaged in news-
paper work, publishing the Litchfield Sentinel, but disposing of
that enterprise he removed to New York City, and has ever since
been engaged in literary work.

Elmore S. Chaffee, was born in Sliaron April 26, 1810 and ad-
mitted to this bar in 1833, and died in 1834.

Charles Y. Chase, was born in Sharon in 1784. Admitted
to this Bar in 1808 and after a short practice abondoned his pro-
fession for the ministry, and removed to Ohio.

Thomas Chipman removed from Groton, Conn, to Salisbury
in 1740 with five sons. He was a practioner of law and was ap-
pointed a Judge of the first County Court, but died before its first
term. He was the grand-father of Hon. Nathaniel Chipman of
Vermont.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTfiS

237

Frederick ChiTTEiVDEx was born in Kent, but died in Ivitclifield
August 12, 1869, aged 65 years, and with one exception was the
oldest practicing member of this Bar. He possessed good legal
attainments, and at one time did a very extensive law business. He
was of a very impulsive tempement, and sometimes made enemies,
but he also had warm friends. He was given to acts of kindness
and generosity. He resided at Woodville in the town of Washing-
ton and carried on a large Iron Works making bar and slitted iron.

Aaron Church, admitted to this Bar from Hartland in 1802.

Leman Church, born in Salisbury, and was admitted to this Bar
in 1816. He settled in Canaan where he died in 1849. He had
an extensive practice and was State's Attorney for a number of
years. (See Boardman sketches and Sedgwick's Address.)

jMany years ago Truman Smith was called to try a case in
North Canaan. The affair was one which called together a good
many witnesses and others, and the rooms at the hotel were all
taken. Air. Smith, in his absentmindness had neglected to have
a room assigned to him, and toward midnight, having spent the
evening in preparation for the trial of the morrow, he made ap-
plication to the landlord for a room. The host was quite taken
back to find that more room was wanted, for every bed was oc-
cupied. It was finally decided that Mr. Smith would have to occupy
the same bed with Judge Leman Church. Judge Church, as will
be remembered by the men of those days, was of very small stature,
not larger than the average boy of fourteen of fifteen; his head
was round and small, albeit he was a very able jurist. Accepting
the situation, Mr. Smith disrobed for sleep, turned down the bed-
clothes, and there beheld the Judge, up over on the back side of the
couch, like a crooked-necked squash. "Humph!" said the senator,
glancing around at the host, who was waiting to carry away the
tallow-dip of those early days, "this is the first time I ever had to go
to bed with an interrogation point!" (See Warner's Address.)

Samuel Church, LL. D., born in SaHsbury February 4, 1785.
Graduated at Yale in 1806. Studied at the Litchfield Law School
and was admitted to the Bar in 1806 and soon began practice in his
native town. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention
in 1818, a Judge of the Superior Court in 1832, Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court in 1847. The latter part of his life he resided in
Litchfield, where he died in 1854. (See Sedgwick's Address.) See
Portrait on page 3.

Gregg Clark was born in Iowa City, Iowa, February 5th, 1872.
Graduated at Harvard 1893. Engaged as a teacher at "The Gun-
nery" in Washington, Conn., and studied law with Hon. Geo. A.
Hickox, and was admitted to this Bar in 1899. Removed to New
Jersey.

Ti-iomas M. Clark, born in Winsted, January 4, 1830. Never

238 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BUNCH AND BAR

practiced. Noted as being a long time the spicy editor of the
Winsted Herald, and afterwards a prominent manufacturer. He
died at sea November 13, 1887, while returning from a voyage
taken for his health.

Chester D. Cleveland, born in Barkhamsted, served in the 2nd.
Conn. Heavy Artillery in the Rebellion, gaining the rank of Major.
Admitted to this Bar in 1866. Removed to Oshkosh, Wis. where
he was County Judge.

Frank E. Cleveland, born in Salisbury May 18, 1853. Gradu-
ated at the University of Michigan and was admitted to the Bar at
Ann Harbor, Mich, in 1873, and also to this Bar the next year.
After a short practice he became totally blind. He moved to Hart-
ford and was the publisher of law blanks and stationery. He was
the secretary of the State Board of Education for the blind. Hfe
now, 1907, resides in Washington, D. C.-and is engaged in education
of the blind.

William G. CoE, born in Winchester September 10, 1829, ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1851, began his practice at New Britain, Conn.,
but in 1856 removed to Winsted and engaged in manufacturing. He
was an active promoter -of the then Connecticut Western Railroad
Company and was its secretary. He died in Winsted May 31, 1872.

Churchill Coeein, born in Salisbury, admitted to this Bar.
Died in Chicago in 1873.

George W. Cole, born in Warren, Conn. September 6, 1850.
Was admitted to this Bar in 1876 and practiced about two years in
Plymouth and removed to Torrington in 1878. He remained there
until 1885 when he left the practice of law and became a professional
librarian. He is now engaged in Bibliographical work in New York
City.

Richard Cook, admitted in 1835 from New Hartford.

Roger W. Cook, born February 10, 1797 in Litchfield. Admitt-
ed to this Bar in 1819 from Litchfield. Died at sea November 4,
1823 on a voyage to the West Lidies for his health.

William Cogswell, was a native oi Washington and admitted
to this Bar in 1791. Was a Presidential elector in 1824 and died in
1825. He took great interest in military matters and was Colonel
in the Militia. (See Sedgwick's Address.)

William Cothren, born in Farmington, Maine, November 28,
1819. Graduated at Bowdoin College in 1843. Came to Woodbury
and studied law with Hon. Charles B. Phelps, and was admitted to
this Bar in 1845. He located and always resided in Woodbury hav-
ing an extensive practice until his death March nth, 1898. His
fame will rest principally upon his historical investigations and
especially his History of Ancient Woodbury.

BIOGRAl'lIICAL NOTES 239

Stewart W. Cowen, born in Middlebury, studied law with
James Huntington, of Woodbury, admitted to the Bar in 1885, now
in practice in Mt. Vernon, N. Y.

Edward P Cowles, born in Canaan January i6, 1815, admitted
to the Bar in 1849. Practiced in Hudson, N. Y. and in New York
City ; was appointed in 1854 Justice of tlie Supreme Court of New
York.

Walter S. CowlEs, born in Canaan February 23, 1819, admitted
to the Bar in 1851. Located and practiced in Bridgeport, and re-
moved to New York City, where he died in 1897.

Samuel Cowles, admitted to the Bar in 1803 from Norfolk.

Edward H. Cujeming, admitted in 1830.

Eli Curtiss, was born in Northbury, (now Plymouth) Febru-
ary 10, 1748. Graduated at Yale College in 1777, was active in the
Revolutionary War where he reached the rank of Captain. He lost
an arm in the service for which he received a pension. He was
admitted to the Bar in 1781, and practiced in Watertown, but finally
removed to Bristol, where he died December 13, 1821, and was,
buried in Plymouth east burying ground.

HoLBROOK CuRTiss, born in Newtown, Fairfield County July 14,
1787. Graduated at Yale College 1807, admitted to this Bar in
1809. Began his practice in Litchfield County in 181 5 at Water-
town. He died February 21, 1858. (See Sedgwick's Address.)

William E. Curtiss, was a son of Holbrook Curtiss, born in
Watertown September 29, 1823, graduated at Trinity in 1843,
studied law with William Curtiss Noyes in New York City and was
admitted to this Bar in 1846. He practiced in New York City and
was a Judge of the Superior Court of that State in 1871, and its
presiding Judge in 1876. He died in Watertown July 6, 1880.

Medad Curtiss, admitted to this Bar in 1797 from Norfolk.

George Y. Cutler, born in Watertown April 6, 1797. Gradu-
ated at Yale in 1816, admitted to this Bar in 1820 from Watertown.
He practiced at Watertown till about 1828, when he removed to
Illinois, where he was land agent, lawyer, merchant and farmer at
Commerce, the place where the Mormons located in 1838 and
changed the name to Nauvoo. He died there September 3, 1834.

Spencer Dayton, born in Winchester in 1820, and admitted to
the Bar in 1846. Resides in Philippi, W. Va.

Gilbert Dean, born in Dutchess County, N. Y. in 1819. Gradu-
ated at Yale College in 1841. Admitted to the Bar in 1842. Died
in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. in 1870.

Lee P Dean, born in Canaan October 18, 1838. Admitted to
the Bar in 1864. In 1886 he removed to Bridgeport, where he now
resides engaged in other pursuits.

240 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Eugene C. DempsEy, born in Barkhamsted January 7, 1864, ad-
mitted to the Bar in 1886. Located in Danbury, where he now
resides.

Jeremiah W. DexTER^ a native of Salisbury, served in the war
of the rebellion and was admitted to the Bar in 1866. Located and
resides at Waverly, N. Y.

William E. Dickinson, was born in New York City May 30,
1824, but came to Litchfield when a child. He was admitted to this
Bar in 1846. Located and practiced at Stonington, Conn., until
1850, when he removed to the Lake Superior regions and was en-
gaged in important mining operations. Subsequently he went to
Cuba in the same business and while there had charge of building
the Daiquria Pier for loading ore, the same pier used by the United
States to unload troops during the Spanish-American War. He
then removed to Wisconsin where he was District Attorney of
Florence County for a number of years. He died at Florence, Wis.,
June 15, 1899.

WhEaton F. Dowd, born in New Hartford, August 21, 1867.
Graduated at Yale Law School in 1894 and was admitted to this
Bar the same year, and was appointed Assistant Clerk of the
Superior Court. In 1901, after the decease of William F. Hurlburt,
he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Litch-
field County which office he has since held. He resides in Winsted.

Theodore W. Downs was admitted to this Bar in 1870 from
Bridgeport. The fohowing is taken from a Bridgeport paper of
September 24th, 1907, "Former Consul dead. Theodore Waldren
Downs former United States Consul to Quebec and prominent in
national Democratic politics, died at his home in this city yesterday
after a sickness of about seven weeks following a shock."

William Drinkwater, came to New Milford about 1730 from
Ridgefield and for nearly thirty years was a prominent man there
and was in the practice of law in 1753. He died in 1758.

Daniel Dunbar, was a native of Plymouth, admitted to this
bar in 1798. Located and practiced in Berlin, Conn., 1803 to 1841.

Miles Dunbar, was a native of Plymouth but was admitted to
this bar in 1810 as from Sharon. The history of Ellsworth a part
of the town of Sharon gives this notice of him. "Our first Dunbar
was hardly representative of the household, for he came and went
more like a comet than the staid and planetary bodies since represen-
tative. That was Miles Dunbar of Plymouth, Conn., lawyer, music
teacher and jack-at-all-trades. About 1812 he departed from
Sharon."

WHBATOX ]?. DOA^'D.

BIOGRAPIIICAI, NOTES 24 1

Henry M. Dutton, was a son of Ex-Governor and Judge Button
(who was born in Litchfield), and practiced law in Litchfield in 1861
with his uncle Henry B. Graves, Esq. Upon the breaking out of the
war he entered the service of his country and received a commission
as Lieutenant in the 5th Connecticut Infantry, and was killed in
the battle of Cedar Mountain, Va., August 9th, 1862.

RuFus Eastjian, admitted to the Bar in 1796 from Washington.

Da\id Ediiuxds, admitted to the Bar in 1806 from Newtown.

Ogden Edwards, born in 1781, a student of the Law School in
1801, admitted to the Bar in 1802 as from New Haven. He re-
moved to New York where he was a prominent man and a lead-
ing attorney for many years ; a Judge of the Superior Court, Sur-
rogate, etc.

Frederick Eggleston, admitted in 1834 from Cromwall.

NaThaxiEE B. EldrEdge, admitted in 181 1 from Salisbury.

JoHX Elmore, was a son of Col. Samuel Elmer of Revolution-
ary war fame, and born in Sharon. Settled in Canaan in 1793 and
died in that town December loth, 1849, aged 84 years.

Joiix EemorE, Jr., was admitted to the Bar in 1819 from Canaan.
He died at East Canaan, June 12th, 1857, in his 6sth year. See
Warner's Reminisences.

Hexrv Loo-Mis ElesworTii was a son of Chief Justice Oliver
Ellsworth, and after studying with Judge Reeve in the Law School,
he was admitted to this Bar in 1812 from Windsor. After a prac-
tice in Hartford he was appointed Commissioner of Indian affairs
under President Jackson. He was also Commissioner of Patents
for ten years. He died in 1858.

WiLLiAjr H. Ely, admitted to the Hartford Bar in 1879, but
located at Winsted and then removed to New Haven, where he now
resides and has a large practice.

James Ex^sinx, born in Canaan February 2, 1819, graduated at
Yale 1842, and admitted to this Bar in 1848, from Canaan. He
practiced law but a short time when he engaged in farming. He
died in Salisbury, February 3, 1883.

Fraxk W. EticeridgE, of Thomaston, was born in Montville in
1858. He was educated at the Hartford High School and pursued
his law studies with the late firm of Johnson & Prentice, of Hartford,
being admitted to the Bar in 1880. He settled in Thomaston and
has held a number of town offices. He has been Juds:e of Probate
since 1890. In 1896 he was appointed Health Officer for the
County which office he has since held. He was a member of the
last Constitutional Convention. He is also the publisher and editor
of the Thomaston Express, a weekly newspaper.

242

LITCHFiraD COUNTY BUNCH AND BAU

William W. Ellsworth
was born in Windsor in 1781,
the third son of Oliver Ells-
worth, the second Chief Jus-
tice of the United States,
graduated at Yale in 181 o,
studied law with Judge
Reeve and was admitted to
this Bar in 181 3, and began
h i s practice in Hartford,
where he died January 15th,
1868. He was a member of
Congress five years;' Gover-
nor of the State four years;
a judge of the Superior Court
and the Supreme Court four-
teen years. Rufus Choate
said of him "If the land of
the Shermans and Griswolds,
and Daggetts and Williamses
— rich as she is in learning
and virtue — has a sounder
lawyer, a more upright mag-
istrate, or an honester man
in her public service, I know
not his name." (See obitu-
ary in 34th, Conn.)

Daniel Everett, born in Bethlem in 1748, and began practice
of law jn New Milford in 1772, where he resided until his death in
1805. (See Boardman's Sketches.)

Sherman Everett, was admitted to this Bar in 1801 as from
Cornwall. He seems however, to belong to Sharon, where he was
born April 20, 1781, lived there and died October 5, 1870. The
Ellsworth History says, "The major became captain of militia was
early sent to the legislature, surveyed almost every bit of this town,
and much of other towns, was a justice of no mean record, rose to
the rank of major in the war of 1812, was treasurer of this (Ells-
worth) society, commissioner of the common land and founder of
the library which .now bears his name.

John R. Farnam, was admitted to this Bar in 1871, practiced
a short time at Litchfield and also published the Litchfield Sentinel.
In 1877 he located in Danbury, Conn., from whence he removed in
1884 to Washington, D. C.

Amos H. Farnswortii, was admitted to this Bar in 1849.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 243

Augustus H. Fen.y, born in Plymouth January i8, 1844. In
the Civil War he gained the rank of Major of the 2nd Conn. Heavy
Artillery. At the battle of Cedar Creek he was wounded and suf-
fered the amputation of his right arm at the shoulder. He was
a graduate of Harvard Ivaw School and was admitted to this Bar in
1867 and began his practice at Plymouth removing to Waterbury
and thence to Winsted at which place he resided at his death, Sep-
tember 12, 1897. In 1887 he was elected Judge of the Superior
Court, and in 1893 he was promoted to the Supreme Court of
Errors. (See his obituary in Vol. 67, Conn.)

The following tribute to Judge Fenn was given by his associate
Judge David Torrance at the Annual Meeting of the Army and Navy
Club in 1898 :

"I trust, that you will pardon me if I say a few words about him
who was my friend and companion for some years in the highest
court of this state, whom all of you know and loved, and who, when
he died was the honored president of this club.

The best legacy that a man can leave to his children and to his
fellow men, is the inspiring example of a well spent life ; a clean life,
nobly lived for noble ends. Happy the man who dying leaves be-
hind him the record of such a life ; and to the full measure of such
felicity, as far as human facility will permit, my friend and yours
attained.

His war record, young as he was, is as brilliant as it is inspiring.
Entering the army in July, 1862, when he was eighteen years old,
as a member of the gallant Second Connecticut Heavy Artillery, he
served with distinction as lieutenant, as caotain, as brevet major
and brevet lieutenant-colonel, till the close of the war and after.

When wounded and disabled by the loss of his arm at Cedar
Creek in 1864 he refused to be discharged and reported for duty
within seven weeks after he was wounded. Most men would have
regarded the loss of a good right arm as sacrifice enough for one's
country, but our comrade, in this respect, as in some others, was not
like most men. Since the war what a busy useful life he led, as
student, as lawyer, as the trusted judge of probate for years in Ply-
mouth and Winchester, as member of the Legislature, as member
of imoortant committees for the revision of our laws, as an active
participant in political contests, as lecturer in the Yale Law School,
as the eloquent orator on Memorial Days, and at Grand Army meet-
ings innumerable, as the trusted friend, the wise counsellor, and
burden bearer, in local matters and affairs, and finally as judge of
the superior court and of the supreme court of errors of this state.
What a deal of work he crowded into his fifty-four years of life.
What a useful life it was to his country and to his fellow men ! How
unselfishly and unstintedly he gave himself to all things that tended
to help men and make them better citizens, and in the midst of all
its stir and activitv and storm and stress, what a clean and noble life

244 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

it was ! He was the architect of his own fortunes. About all he
inherited from the past was the blood of a vigorous ancestry, but
blood will tell, and in him it made the desert of adverse circum-
stances the very vantage ground of succeess, and caused its barren
wastes to blossom as the rose.

He was successful because he merited success. He won his
promotions in the army, without the aid of influential friends, by
sheer force of character, by his bravery, and his proved fitness to
fill every position to which he was assigned.

In civil life he attained position and influence by his sterling
integrity and his own unaided ability. He worthily filled every of-
fice he ever held, and worthily fulfilled every one of the many trusts
that were reposed in him. His was on the whole a successful life,
in a high sense a joyous victorious life, and now that death has put
a period to it, while yet the infirmities of old age were afar off,
he may, with the wise old Greek, call it a happy Hfe, worthily ended."

Elliott J. Fenn, was born in Plymouth September i, 1855, and
studied law with Augustus H. Fenn in Plymouth, and was admitted
to this Bar in 1874. He began practice in Waterbury in 1875, and
died there in 1888.

Frederick J. Fenn, was a native of Washington, Conn., but was
admitted to this Bar in 1821 as from Canaan. He removed to
Harrisburg, Penn.

Linus Fenn, was a native of Plymouth and studied with Judge
Reeve and was admitted to practice in 1794 and persued his pro-
fession in his native town. He died in 1852.

George L,. Field, was born in Watertown December 4, 1828.
He studied law with John W. Webster in Waterbury, and was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1856, and after a brief practice in' Watertown
he opened his olfice in Waterbury. He was one of the earlier
Judges of the city court, and also the Mayor of the city. During
the last few years of his life he was totally blind. He died in
Watertown, October 22, 1879.

John A. FooTE, was admitted to this Bar in 1825, having at-
tended the Law School. The following taken from Howe's His-
torical Collections of Ohio, is of interest regarding Mr. Foote :

"Much gratification was derived at this time in Cleveland by
a call upon Mr. John A. Foote, an old lawyer an octogenarian, of
whom I had all my life heard but never met until now. He was
a brother of Admiral Foote and a son of that Governor Foote of
Connecticut who introduced a resolution, historically known as
'Foote's Resolution' which led to the debate between Daniel Web-
ster and Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina.

"Mr. Foote first came here from Cheshire, Connecticut, in the
summer of 1833, and was for years a member of the eminent law firm

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 245

of Andrews, Foote & Hoyt. He was born in 1803 on the site of
the Tontine Hotel in New Haven, but his home at the time of leav-
ing was in Cheshire. That town was overwhelmingly Democratic,
and he was a Whig, but as the State Legislature was in session
but for a few weeks his townsmen irrespective of politics gave him
and a Mr. Edward A. Cornwall, prior to their departure for the
distant wilds of Ohio, as a parting compliment the privilege of
representing them in that body. So they went down to Hartford
and passed a few weeks pleasantly among the 'Shad Eaters' as in
the humorous parlace of the time the members were called, from
the fact that they met in May, the season of shad-catching in the
Connecticut.

"The year 1883 came around when Foote and Cornwall, after a
lapse of fifty years, in company visited the Legislature of Connecti-
cut at Hartford and were received with great eclat.

"The House passed some complimentary resolutions, signed by
the speaker (Charles H. Pine) and by the clerk (Donald H. Per-
kins) expressive of their high gratification. 'Passed February 22,
1883. Washington's birthday.' These Mr. Foote with commend-
able pride pointed out to me framed on his parlor wall."

EbexEzer Foote, was born in Watertown (then Westbury)
July 6, 1773. Studied law at Judge Reeve's school and was ad-
mitted to the Bar in 1796. He located at Lansingburgh, N. Y., and
with the increase of his business moved to Troy and later to Albany.
He was one of the leading attorneys of the state, an active and in-
fluential politician. He was the founder and promoter of the cele-
brated Albany Female Academy. He died July 21, 1814, at Troy,
New York.

Jared B. Foster, born in Albany, N. Y., 1820, was admitted to
this Bar in 1848 and located and practiced in New Hartford until
his death in March 3, 1895. He held many town offices and was
Judge of the District Court for Litchfield County for the term of
three 3'ears. He was a very bright man and a witty lawyer and
a great many pleasant stories and recollections are told of his prac-
tice. (See picture, page 107.)

Walter S. Franklin, born in Lancaster, Penn. in 1799. Stud-
ied at the Litchfield Law School and was admitted to this Bar in
1820 and practiced law in York, Penn. He was Clerk of the House
of Representatives in Washington, D. C. from December 2, 1833 to
his death September 20, 1838. Major General Wm. B. Franklin
was one of his sons.

George A. Freeman was born in Boscowen, N. H. in 1876, fit-
ted for College at Phillips Academy, Andover, graduated at Yale
Scientific School in 1897, studied law with Huntington & Warner,
and was admitted to the Bar in 1901. Mr. Freeman resides and
practices in Waterbury.

,246 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BEjNCH AND BAR

SaimuBL FrisbiE, admitted to the Bar in 181 1 from Waterbury,
where he practiced a few years and then removed to Indiana.

Henry I. Fuller, admitted in 1846 from Kent and removed to
the State of New York.

Jerome Fuller, admitted in 1832 from Kent.

RuFus Fuller, born in Plymouth in 1810, graduated at Union
College in 1835, was admitted to this Bar in 1836, located in Kent,
where he practiced his profession for a quarter of a century^ .and
retired therefrom in consecjuence of ill health.

Florimond D. FvlER, born in Torrington in 1834, graduated
at Yale Law School in i860, admitted to this Bar in 1864, located
at Winsted, was a Ju'dge of the District Court for Litchfield County,
1878-1882. Returned to Torrington, and from ill health quit his
practice and became extensively engaged in the poultry business on
his ancestral home, where he died after a protracted illness, August
22, 1905.

Frederick Gaylord, admitted to the Bar in 1853 from Goshen.

Ammi Giddings, born at Sherman, Conn., in 1822 and graduated
at Yale Law School and was admitted to this Bar in 1849. He
practiced at Plymouth until 1866, when he removed to Kalamazoo,
Mich., returning to Connecticut in 1872. He died at his birth-place,
February 13, 1882.

Van Renssalaer C. Giddixgs, born in New Milford in 1833 and
after attending Yale Law School was admitted to this Bar in 1861.
After practicing in this County a while he removed to Bridgeport
in 1869 and was the City Attorney for Bridgeport.

James P Glyxk, a native of Winsted was admitted to this Bar
in 1895. Practices in Winsted and was for some years the Town
Clerk of Winchester, and also Prosecuting Attorney of the Town
Court. In 1 90 1 was appointed by President Roosevelt, Postmaster
of Winsted, which office he now holds.

George R. Gold, admitted to the Bar in 1856 from Cornwall
and removed to Michigan.

Thomas R. Gold, born in Cornwall in 1764, graduated at Yale
College in 1786, admitted to this Bar in 1788 and removed to Cen-
tral New York, where he held a leading position as a lawyer. Was
a member of Congress for twenty years. He died in 1827.

James Gould, born in Branford, Conn. December 5, 1770, grad-
uated at Yale College in 1795, attended the Litchfield Law School
and was admitted to this Bar in 1798. He assisted Judge Reeve
in the Law School and after the retirement of Judge Reeve con-
• ducted it himself until its close in 1833. He died in Litchfield May

BIOGRAnilCAI^ NOTES 247

Ti, 1838. He was a Judge of the Stipreme Court of Errors, and
author of Gould's Pleadings, published in 1832. (See Boardman
and Sedgwick Sketches.).

Jajies Reeve Gould, a son of James born in Litchfield Novem-
ber 2, 1803. Graduated at Yale College in 1824, was admitted to
this Bar in 1826, and removed to Augusta, Georgia, where he died
October 11, 1830.

George Gould, a son of James born in Litchfield September 2,
1807, admitted to this Bar in 1829. Removed to Troy, N. Y., where
he died February 11, 1868. He had been Mayor of Troy and a
Justice of the Supreme Court of New York from 1855 to 1863.

William Tracy Gould, another son of James and born October
25. 1799. graduated at Yale College in 1816, and admitted to this
Bar in 1820. He removed to Augusta, Georgia, where he became a
distinguished Judge and prominent citizen. Died July, 1882.

HiR.vM GooDWix, born in New Hartford May 5, 1808, admitted
to the Bar in 1830. Located at Riverton in the town of Barkham-
sted. Was a Judge of the Litchfield County Court 1851 to 1855.
Died February 5, 1885. His obituary is in 52d Conn. Reports.

Lyman Gra.xgee, admitted to the Bar in 1821. He was a native
of Salisbury or Canaan, and graduated at Union College in 1820.
After a short practice in Salisbury he removed to Rutland, Ver-
mont and associated with Moses Strong, having a large law practice.
He died in 1839.

Elijah Phelps Grant, born in Norfolk, 1808. Practiced in
Winsted in 1835 and 1836, when he removed to Canton, Ohio, where
he died December 21, 1874.

Friend Grant, born in Litchfield September 14, 1740. Gradu-
ated at Yale 1761, and practiced in Litchfield a year or two, and
died in 1764.

Miles Tobey Granger, was born August 12, 1817 in New
Marlboro, Mass. By his own exertions as a farmer boy and at
country school teaching he graduated at Wesleyan College at
Middletown in 1842. The next year he went to Louisana as a fam-
ily teacher and began studying law and was admitted in that State
in 1845. Returning to the North he was -admitted the same year
to this Bar, and soon located in North Canaan, making that his
residence, until his decease October 21, 1895.

Judge Granger was a Democrat in his political views, and in 1857
represented his town in the General Assembly, and in 1867 and
1868 he was State Senator from his district and chairman of the
Judiciary Committee, and was appointed a Judge of the Superior
'Court. In 1876 he was advanced to the Supreme Court of Errors

248 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

which office he held until '1887, when he resigned to accept an
election to Congress. In 1893 he was appointed a State Referee,
which position he held at the time of his death.

Bro. Hickox in his obituary of Judge Granger published in the
66th Conn. Reports, ends with a sentence with which every mem-
ber of the Bar fully concurred. "A grave, honest, shrewd man,' he
inspired confidence and respect, while his sense, wit and kindly
nature won him general esteem, and his loyalty, many lasting
friends." (Picture on page 156.)

Henry B. Graves, born in Sherman, Conn, in 1822 and admitted
to this Bar in 1845. He began his practice in Plymouth, but after
a couple of years removed to Ivitchfield where he had for more than
forty years a large and lucrative practice, frequently representing
the town in the General Assembly. The Judicial History says of
him, "He was a typical lawyer of the old school. In figure he was
tall, handsome and striking. He had great keenness of preception,
splendid capacities for analyis and was a compact and logical
thinker. He was a man of most kindly feelings warm and ardent
in his friendships, generous and helpful to all and never vindictive
even to his opponents." He died in Litchfield August 10, 1891.
Obituary in 60 Conn. Reports. Picture, page 152.

G. W. Griswold, was in practice in Winchester in 1831, but
was not admitted at this Bar.

Frederick Gunn, admitted in 1813 from New Milford. Died
in New Milford November 23, 1852, aged 65.

Warren W. Guthrie, admitted to this Bar in 1855, began prac-
tice in Seymour, Conn., but in 1856 removed to Atkinson, Kan.,
and was Attorney General of Kansas for a number of years.

Nathan Hale, was an Attorney at Sharon in 1777 and an as-
sistant Judge of the County Court for eighteen years.

Benjamin Hall, admitted to this Bar in 1797.

Elanathan S. Hall, admitted in 1846 from Fairfield County.

Gideon Hall, born in Winchester May i, 1808, graduated at
Litchfield Law School and was admitted to the Bar in 1832. He
always resided in Winsted and had a large practice until 1866, when
he 'was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court, which office he
held at the time of his death December 8, 1867. (See Warner's
Reminiscences.) Picture, page 113.

Robert E. Hall was born in Morris, Conn, in 1858, graduated
at Yale Law School in 1882 and was admitted to the Bar in New
Haven County, has practiced principally in Waterbury. Is not now
in practice.

BIOGRAPHICAI, NOTES 249

Jacob B. Hardenburgpi, born in New York State in 1833, was
admitted to the Bar in 1854 and practiced at Kingston. In the war
of the rebeUion he served nearly five years and was Colonel of the
8oth N. Y. \'oli. In 1867 he located at North Canaan taking Judge
Granger's practice. In 1883 he was appointed County Coroner
which office he held at the time of his death, April 4, 1892.

John HARPER/admitted to this Bar from Winsted in 1850. He
removed South and located at Alpalechicola, Fla. about 1851. He
was an officer in the Confederate service during the rebellion.

Julius B. Harrisox, was born in Cornwall in 1819, was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1843 and located at New Milford. Was State
Attorney in 1852 and died in New Milford October 10, 1854, aged
35 years.

IMoSES Hatch was born in Kent in 1780, graduated at Yale in
1800, admitted to this Bar in 1802, settled in Danbury where he
died in 1820.

Charles R. Hathaway, a native of Winchester. Admitted to
this Bar in 1880, now in practice in Manchester, Conn. Is now the
Record Commissioner of Connecticut.

A\'illia:\[ H.vwlEy, born in Redding, Conn , graduated at Yale
College in 1780, was admitted to this Bar in 1791 ; he removed from
Eairfield County in 1798 to Woodbury, and soon thereafter aban-
doned his legal practice for mercantile pursuits.

Charles Gordon H.vyes, eldest son of the Rev. Gordon Hayes,
born in Washington, Conn. January 20-, 1830. Graduated at Yale
in 1851. Admitted to this Bar in 1855. Removed to Rock Island,
111., and to JNIuscatine, Iowa. Died at DesMoines, Iowa, April
8, 1878.

Louis M. Heminway was born in Watertown in 1875. Was
fitted for College at the Cheltingham Military Academy, graduated
at Lafayette College in 1896 and at the Law School of the Univer-
sity of Virginia in 1899 and admitted to this Bar in the following
3"ear. He is largely engaged in the hotel business.

Joshua Henshaw, was admitted to this Bar in 1797, from New
Hartford.

Philo M. Hea cocks, born February 8, 1784, admitted to the Bar
in 1810, and practiced in New Milford until his death April 20, 1825.

Samuel A. Herman, born in Canaan 1855, and was admitted
to this Bar in 1878. He located at Winsted in company with the
late Judge Fenn, and they had a large and lucrative practice. He
has attended strictly to his profession, doing very little non-pro-

2SO

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BIiNCH AND BA.5

fessional work. He was State Senator in 1897. He was an active
promoter of the Torrington & Winchester Electric Road, and its
Secretary. He resides at his farm residence in the to^n of Tor-
rington, but continues his practice at Winsted.

George A. Hickox
was born in Washing-

P ^ - - ton in 1830, graduated

i at Trinity' College in

[ 1851, was admitted to

this Bar in 1853 and
located at Litchfield.
In 1866 he purchased
the Litchfield Enquir-
er, which he publish-
ed for a quarter of a
century, editing i t
with marked ability
and profound scholar-
ship.

In 1895 he remov-
e d to his ancestral
home at Washington,
where he died, June
6, 1903.

Richard T. Hig-
GiNS was born in
Washington in 1865,
was educated at St.
Francis College,
Brooklyn, New York. ■
Studied law with
Hon. James Hunting-
ton of Woodbury and
Winsted and has for
several years been the County Coroner. (See Coroner page 165.)

Bernard E. Higgins, born in Woodbury January 31, 1872, ad-
mitted to the Bar June, 1897. Resides and practices in Torrington,
Conn. Was Borough Clerk for three years. Is now (1907) Prose-
cuting Attorney for the town.

Homer Hine was admitted to the Bar in 1800 from New Milford.

Charles W. Hinman, born in Southbury in 1829, admitted in
1853, Before he had begun to practice he received an appointment
as one of the librarians of Congress and removed to Washington,
D. C.

Edward Hinman was born in Southbury, then a part of Wood-

GEORGE a. hickox.
admitted to this Bar in 1890. Resides in

SAMUEL A. HERMAN".

BIOGRAPHICAI, NOTES 25 1

bury in 1740 and practiced in Southbury. He was familiarly
known as Lawyer Ned. He is said to have been a very able lawyer.
He was very corpilent man, weighing something over four hundred
pounds.

Robinson S. Hinman was born in South Britain in 1801. Was
admitted to this Bar in 1825. In 1827 he removed to Utica, N. Y.,
but returned to Connecticut in 1828 and was appointed Clerk of the
Superior Court for New Haven County in 1831, holding that office
seven years. He died in New Haven in 1843.

Royal R. Hinman was born in Southbury, graduated at Yale
College in 1804 and was admitted to practice in 181 1 and practiced
for twenty years at Roxbury. In 1835 he was elected Secretary of
State and held that office for seven years. He was largely en-
gaged in compiling and publishing matters relating to the early
history of the State, and in other historical and genealogical labors.
He subsequently removed to New York City.

Simeon Hinman, graduated at Yale College in 1784, was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1790 and engaged in his profession in South-
bury, where he died in 1825.

Roland Hitchcock, one of the Judges of the Superior Court,
was a native of Burlington in Hartford County. He was admitted
to this Bar in 1844 and located in Winsted, where he died on April
28th, 1889. Picture, page 114.

The following was published at the time of his death :
"Roland Hitchcock, ex-judge of the Superior Court, died Sun-
day afternoon at his residence in Winsted, aged 66. He was a
native of Burlington and wrote the history of that town for the
Memorial History of Hartford County. He studied law with lyieu-
tenant-Governor Holabird in Winsted, which town he afterward
made his residence. He was clerk of the House of Representatives
in 1852 and 1853, postmaster from 1853 to 1861, and judge of pro-
bate six terms. He was appointed on the Superior Court bench in
1874, by Governor Ingersoll, and served until 1882. His last pub-
lic service was as representative from Winchester in 1883, when he
served on the judiciary committee. Since that time he has been en-
gaged in the practice of law in Winsted."

Elkanaii H. Hodges was born in Torrington in 1812 and was
admitted to this Bar in 1837. He was one of the pioneers of Cali-
fornia and died in that State in 1862.

William S. Holabird was born in Canaan in 1794 and attended
the Litchfield Law School. Was admitted to this Bar in 1816 and
commenced his practice in Colebrook, removing to Winsted in 1824.
He was District Attorney under President Jackson's administration.
In 1842 and 1844 he was Lieutenant Governor of this State. Died
May 22, 1855.

252 I,lTCH^Ii;i<ir COVNTV BENCH AND BAR

Marcus H. Holcomb was born in New Hartford, Litchfield
County November 28, 1844. He received his higher education at
Wesleyan Academy and studied law with the late Judge Jared B.
Foster. He was admitted to the Litchfield County Bar in 1871 and
soon after removed to Southington, where he has since resided.
He has been Judge of Probate for more than thirty years and Treas-
urer of the County of Hartford since 1893 ; a Commissioner of the
State Police since its creation; was a member of the Constitutional
Convention in 1902 ; he has been representative and senator several
times in the General Assembly and was unanimously elected speaker
one term. He holds many offices of trust and responsibility in
Southington and is closely identified with all its business interests.
Is now the Attorney General of Connecticut. (See page 167.)

Walter Hoi^comb, born in New Hartford October 13, 1853.
Admitted to this Bar in 1881, removed to St. Paul, Minn., where he
practiced until 1896 he then returned to Connecticut and located in
Torrington, where he now resides. Is Judge of the Borough Court.

David F. Hoi^IvISTEr, born in Washington March 31, 1826, grad-
uated at Yale in 185 1 and was admitted to the Bar the same year.
He commenced practice in Salisbury, removing in 1854 to Bridge-
port, where he resided and died May 4, 1906. He held the office
01 Collector of Internal Revenue for Connecticut a number of years.
The lollowing notice is from the Bridgeport Standard :

The death of the Hon. David F. Hollister removes another of
the older citizens of Bridgeport who had been a prominent factor
in its development and in all the reputable and admirable elements
of its progress. Mr. Hollister distinguished himself by his probity
and ability in every station which he filled and as a government
official, occupying an important place for many years he made a
record that is hardly paralleled in that department for accuracy,
efficiency and thoroughness. As a citizen he answered every obli-
gation; as a professional man he was honorable and able and in
every walk in life he set an example to be emulated. He lived a
long and useful life and he leaves a memory to be cherished with
afifection and respect by all who were associated with him.

John B. Hollister, born in Litchfield in i860, the only son of
Gideon H. Hollister ; was admitted to the Bar in 1884. Has never
practiced.

John M. Holly, born in Salisbury and graduated from Yale Col-
lege in 1820 and was admitted to this Bar in 1824. He removed to
western New York, became a member of Congress and died in
Florida while holding that position.

George B. Holt^ born in Norfolk in 1790, attended the -Litch-
field Law School and was admitted to practice in 1812 and removed
to Dayton, Ohio in 1818, where he became a very prominent man

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTKS

253

in the prosecution of its system of internal improvements. He was
Judge of the Circuit Court of Ohio and its President Judge for
fourteen years.

GlDIJON H. HOLLIS-

TERj born in Washing-
ton in i'8i7, and grad-,
uated from Yale Col-
lege in 1840, and was
admitted to this Bar
in 1.842, and soon
after located in Litch--
field, but has resided
and practiced at var-
ious times in other
places. He was Clerk
of the Courts 1844 to
1845, a"d from 1847
to 1850. Under Pres-
ident Andrew John-
son he was the United
States Minister t o
Hayti. He is best
known of from his
literary work, being
author of several His-
torical novels a n d
plays. He was sin-
gularly gifted in mak-
ing" and delivering
addresses on public
celebrations and anniversary occasions. In 1855 h^ published the
History of Connecticut in two large volumes. He died at Litch-
field March 21, 1881. His obituary is in Vol. 48, Conn. Reports.

Uriel Holmes, born in Hartland in 1765, graduated at Yale in
1784 was admitted to the Bar and located at Litchfield. He was
State Attorney from 1807 to 1814. A member of the General As-
sembly from Litchfield nine times ; Judge of the County Court from
1814 to 1817 ; a member of Congress in 1817 and 1818. He died
May 18, 1827.

Samuel Miles Hopkins, L. L. D. was born in Waterbury 1772,
but in early life removed to Goshen, studied at Yale, but refused
graduation, studied at Judge Reeve's Law School and was admitted
to this Bar in 1793. He removed to the State of New York and
was engaged in large real estate transactions. He was a member
of Congress and held many other high official positions. He died
at Geneva, N. Y. October 8, 1837.

254 LITCHI-'IELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Samuel B. Horne, of Winsted was admitted to the Bar in 1869
from that town, having served through the Civil War where he gain-
ed the rank of Captain. He was an aide on the staff of Governor
Phineas Lounsbury and was Commander of the Connecticut Dept.,
G. A. R. He was United States consul under President Harrison.
Labor Commissioner for Connecticut from 1895 to 1899. He
now resides and practices at Winsted; holds a Medal of Honor
Badge. His practice is mostly confined to recovering estates from
foreign countries.

F. H. HoRTON, admitted to the Bar in 1846.

Isaac M. Horton, admitted to the Bar in 1882 from Harwinton.

Samuel C. Hoseoed, admitted to the Bar in 1850 from Canaan;
never practiced; became a teacher and removed to New Jersey,
where he died.

John D. Howe, studied law with Judge Hitchcock in Winsted,
admitted to the Bar in 1866 from Winsted and soon after his ad-
mission removed to St. Paul, Minn, where he holds a large practice
as a railroad attorney.

Edward J. Hubbjs.rd, born in Bethlehem, studied with Wm. Coth-
ren, was admitted to this Bar in 1864 and removed to Trimdad,
Colorado, where he is now in practice.

John T. Hubbard, born in Litchfield in 1856, graduated from
Yale College in 1880, studied law at Yale Law School and was ad-
mitted to the New Haven Bar in 1883. Now resides at Litchfield.
Represented his native town in the General Assembly 1901 and 1903 ;
is now, (1907) Judge of Probate for District of Litchfield.

John H. Hubbard, born in Salisbury in 1804 and admitted to
this Bar in 1826. He began practice in his native town, but in
1854 removed to Litchfield. Was elected member of Congress from
his district in 1863 and 1865. Was State Attorney of the County
in 1844 and again in 1849. He enjoyed a lucrative practice and was
one of the leading lawyers of the State. He died July 30, 1872.

The following notice of the death of- this distinguished member
of our Bar, is from the Litchfield paper and written by his neighbor
and friend, Hon. Henry B. Graves :

The Hon. John H. Hubbard died in this village on the 30th of
July, 1872. The deceased was born in Salisbury in November, 1804
and was therefore at his death past sixty-seven years of awe. He
was admitted to the Litchfield County Bar in April 1826 and soon
after commenced practicing law in his native town, in the village
of'Lakeville, where he continued in a very successful business until
about seventeen years since when he removed to Litchfield. Here
he was constantly occupied in his profession, being engaged in most
of the important causes tried in our higher courts until his election

COIy. SAMUElv B. I-IORNIi;

BIOGRAPIIICAI, NOTES 255

to Congress in 1863, from this District. He was again returned
to Congress in 1865. Having served his four years in Congress,
he again returned to the practice of the law and continued it till
within a few weeks of his death.

He was very industrious, energetic, and perserving; never dis-
couraged by an adverse decision, where there was an opportunity
to pursue the cause of his client further, and was often victorious
in the court of review, where he had been overruled in the inferior
courts.

In the course of his professional career he had a lucrative prac-
tice and for many years was one of the more prominent lawyers in
this county. He served five years as State Attorney of the county
in which position he gave general satisfaction ; he was also State
Senator from the 17th District two terms and served in various
other public relations and in all of them acquitted himself with
honor. He was a good citizen ; liberal, kind, and generous to the
poor, and always reg,dy to contribute his full share to all objects
of worthy charity. As a husband and parent, he could not do
enough for those so nearly connected to him, and his affections knew
no bounds or limit. The deceased leaves a widow, three sons, and
a daughter, surviving him, to mourn his loss. Though his death
had been expected for several days, owing to the character of his
disease, yet our community was not prepared to meet with so great
an affliction and deeply sympathize with the stricken family in their
great sorrow. Picture on page 107.

Prank W. Hubbard, born in Litchfield in 1861, graduated at
Yale College in 1888 and from Yale L,aw School in 1890 and was
admitted to the Bar. After a few years practice in Torrington he
removed to Flushing, N. Y., and is Attorney for New York City
Railway Co.

Frank L. HungerFord of New Britain was born in Torrington
in 1843 and entered the University of Vermont in i860. From
1862 to 1864 he studied law in the office of Senator Edmunds, and
graduated at the Harvard Law School in 1865 being admitted to
the Bar in Burlington in 1865 and to this Bar in 1866. He prac-
ticed in Torrington for three years, then removed to New Britain,
where he has been Judge of Probate as well as City Attorney.

Levi HungerEord, admitted to this Bar in 18=14 from Sherman.
He was a Lieutenant in the 28th C. V. and died in service August
9, 1863.

Joseph D. Humphrey, admitted to the Bar in 1812 from Goshen.
He was born in Goshen March i'^, 1780, and after admission settled
in practice in Torrinrford, a oart of Torrington, for a few years,
when he removed to Norton, Summit County, Ohio, where he died
February 4, 1839.

2S6 UTCjrlFIELD COUNTY BUNCH AND BAR

Van R. Humphrey, admitted to the Bar in 1820. Was born
in Goshen July 28, 1800. Soon after his admission to the Bar he
removed to Ohio, where he became a Judge and a very promment
man. He died in Hudson, Ohio September 5, 1864.

Hiram Hunt, a native of Canaan, was admitted to this Bar in
1820; removed to New York City.

Reuben Hunt, a native of Canaan, admitted to this Bar in 1812,
and removed to Illinois.

Robert Hunt is on Connecticut Register, 1859 as Attorney in
Falls Village.

JaeEz W. Huntington, born in Norwich in 1788, graduated at
Yale College in 1806, studied at the Litchfield Law School and was
admitted to this Bar in 1810. He located in Litchfield until 1834,
when he removed to Norwich. He was a Judge of the Superior
.and Supreme Courts. He was elected a member of Congress sev-
eral terms, and United States Senator in 1840. He died in 1874.
(See Boardman's Sketches, page 64.)

James Huntington was born in Coventry, Tolland County,
Connecticut, June 4th, 1833, the son of Edward G. and Eliza Clark
Huntington, and died at his residence in Woodbury, Litchfield
County, May 2nd, igo8.

Mr. Huntington received a high school education and taught
school in his native town. Later he attended Wilbraham Academy,
and the New York Conference Seminary at Cbarlottsville, N. Y.,
and in 1857 was graduated, with the degree of L. L. B., from the
State and National Law School at Poughkeepsie, at which time he
was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York.

Subsequently he entered the law office of Alvin P. Hyde and
Loren P. Waldo at Tolland, Connecticut, and was admitted to the
Bar of Tolland County in April, 1859.

After being admitted to the Bar in the spring of 1859 ^^ opened
an office in Woodbury, where he continued in active, honorable
and successful practice up to the time of his death, at which time
he was, and for a long number of years had been president of the
Litchfield County Bar and Law Library Associations.

In April, 1861 he was elected Judge of the Probate District of
Woodbury, comprising the towns of Woodbury, Bethlehem and
Southbury, which office he retained continuously, with the exception
of one term, until disqualified by age limitations in 1903. His wise
and judicious administration of the office of Judge of Probate for
a period of over forty years won for him a high standing as a pro-
bate lawyer, and the unqualified confidence and esteem of his fel-
low men.

On July 4th, 1874 he was appointed State's Attorney for Litch-
field County, filling that office with marked ability until June, 1896,

JAMES HUNTINGTON.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 257

nearly a quarter of a centur\-, and during that time tried many im-
portant cases, and became renowned as a States Attorney in his
tireless effort to eradicate crime and bring criminals to justice ; some
of the most bitterly contested cases being in connection with liquor
prosecutions, and yet at all times he displayed the commendable dis-
position of tempering justice with mercy. At the close of his twenty-
two years of service as States Attorney the members of the Bar
of Litchfield County presented him with handsomely engrossed reso-
lutions expressive of their high regard and esteem for him in the
conduct of that important and off-times unpleasant office.

He was appointed a member of the Commission of State Police
at the time of its organization in 1903, and took a great interest in
the workings of that police power, in the detection and punishment
of crime, up to the time of his death.

Mr. Huntington always took an active interest in public affairs,
and in politics was a democrat, representing the town of Woodbury
in the Legislature in 1874-5, and was Senator from the old sixteenth
district in 1877-8. In 1904 he was a candidate for Secretary of
State on the Democratic ticket.

Mr. Huntington was married January 6th, 1863 to Miss Rebecca
Huntley Hurd, of Honesdale, Pa., who died February 28th, 1865,
leaving one daughter, Rebecca. On June nth, 1868 he married
Miss Helen Elizabeth Parker, of Woodbury, who survived him,
together with two daughters, Rebecca Huntington and Eunice
Huntington Tomlinson, and one grandson, James Huntington Tom-
linson.

For over a quarter of a century. Judge Huntington was engaged
in nearly all the large legal battles in Litchfield County, and was
considered one of the giants of the Litchfield County Bar, always
honest with the court, fair to his opponents and faithful to his clients.

He was not a great orator, but his honesty of purpose, integrity
of character and thorough familiarity with the law and facts of
the case on hand, together with his clear, concise and logical presen-
tation, made him a- tower of streng^th in the courts, and especially
before a Litchfield County Jury. He abounded in quaint simile, and
many times the studied argument of his opponent would fall before
some simple homley illustration, delivered at the oppertune time, in
his inimitable style.

While always firm, and sometimes stern, in the performance of
his duty, he possessed a most generous disposition, and was ever
courteous and obliging to his brother lawyers and especially to the
younger members of the Bar, to all of whom he became endeared,
and was affectionately known as "Uncle Jim." He loved his pro-
fession and the members of the Bar, and their honest and oft ex-
pressed love and esteem for him, was a matter of great comfort to
him in his declining years.

258 • LITCI-II'IliLD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

His commanding form and genial presence were in evidence at
nearly every official meeting of the Bar, and were among the most
pleasant features of the annual Bar banquets.

Socially, Mr. Huntington was of a domestic nature, and de-
lighted in the companionship of his home, family and surroundings,-
believing in the simplicity of the nineteenth century customs rather
than the pomp and glitter of twentieth century fads. He was a
great lover of nature and would spend hours at a time roaming
through the woods, fields and gardens where every tree, plant and
flower had for him a noble sentiment to reveal, and he took an active
interest in their growth and protection.

Mr. Huntington was a member of the school board and did much
to build up and strengthen the educational system of the town of
Woodbury. He was always active in his support of the Episcopal
Church to which religious denomination he belonged. The high
esteem in which Mr. Huntington was held by the citizens of Wood-
bury was in a measure evidenced by the memorial services held in
that town on the evening of June 28th, 1908, and the proposed mem-
orial fountain to be erected to his memory.

As a practicing attorney Mr. Huntington stood in the front
ranks, not only of the Bar of lyitchfield County, but also of the State
of Connecticut, and yet the characteristics which stand forth most
prominently to commemorate his memory, were his nobility of char-
acter, sincerity of purpose, lofiy ideals and generous disposition;
born of New England ancestors, reared in a New England climate,
he lived and died an illustrous example of christian manhood.

William F. Hurlbut, born in Winsted, Conn., January 27, 1835,
and was admitted to the Bar in 1859. He resided in Winsted and
was the Clerk of the District Court and Court of Common Pleas
for Litchfield County since 1872, excepting three years during which
time he was County Health Officer. He died at Winsted, April 11,
1901, aged 66. (See picture on page 142.)

Henry C. Ives, admitted in 1832.

George W. Jacobs, admitted to the Bar in i8io.

Daniel Jaqua, Jr., admitted to the Bar in 1819. Practiced in
Connecticut about twenty years.

George P. Jenks, admitted to the Bar in 1856.

EbENEzER Jesup, Jr., admitted to the Bar in 1826.

Ezra Jewell, admitted to the Bar in 1810 from Salisbury.

Frederick A. Jewell, admitted to the Bar in 1881 from Salis-
bury. He removed to New Hartford, where he is now in practice.
Is Judge of Probate. He represented the town in the General As-
sembly, 1907.

BIOGRAPI[ICAI< NOTRS 259

Amos JM. Joiixstiy, born in Soiithburv, October 21, 1816, ad-
mitted to the Bar in 1851. Died at the Old People's Home in Hart-
ford, April 6, 1879.

Elisiia Joiixsov, born in Barkhamsted, Mhy i, 1818. Gradu-
ated at Trinity College in 1835. Attended the Yale Law School
and was admitted to this Bar in 1840. He practiced in Plymouth
until 1855 when he removed to Hartford. He was Clerk of this
Court from 1850 to 185 1. He died in Hartford, February 18, 1891.

Solon B. Jorxsox was born in Cornwall, admitted to this Bar
in 1863. He published the Litchfield Sentinel from 1866 to 1873,
then removed to his farm in Cornwall, where he died, Alay 30, 1890,
aged 51 A-ears.

Walter \\^ Joitxsox was admitted in 1866. He never practiced.

Sylvester Johnsox, admitted in 1813 from Cornwall, of which
town he was a native.

H. Roger Joxes. Jr., born at New Hartford, June 22nd, 1882,
attended public schools in New Hartford and Gilbert School, Win-
sted. graduated from the latter, June, 1901. Entered Cornell Uni-
versity Law School at Ithaca, N. Y., September, 1903 and gradu-
ated June, 1906. Became a member of the New York Bar in Sep-
tember, 1906 and the Connecticut Bar February, 1907. At present
is editor and proprietor of the New Hartford Tribune, and engaged
in the practice of law at New Hartford.

Walter S. Judd was born in Litchfield in 1859, graduated at
Yale Law School in 1882 and was admitted to the New Haven Bar
that same year. Settled in Litchfield and was Clerk of the Court
of Common Pleas from 1894-7. Was in the Legislature in 1891
and 1893, serving on the judiciary committee the last named 3'ear.
Now resides in New York City.

George H. Ji-nsox- was a native of W'oodbury, admitted to the
Bar in 1845 ''"d removed to Texas.

S. ^^'. JcDsox was a native of Cornwall and a graduate of L'nion
College. W'as admitted to practice in 1836. He located in New
YorkCity. It is said of him, "As a lawyer he is more distinguished
for his learning, integrity and honesty, than for his brilliancy as a
pleader. If lawvers were more generally of his style, we should
have fewer law-suits and more justice."

Charles -V. Junsox was a native of ^^^ashington. Held the of-
fice of Sheriff from 1835 to 1838. After his term of office he re-
moved to New Haven and engaged in mercantile business.

James D. Keese was born in the City of New York, entered Yale
College, but did not finish his course of studies there; came to

260 LlTCHFlElvD COUNTY BlJNCI-I AND BAR

Litchfield and studied law with Judge Seymour, and was admitted
to this Bar in April, 1852. He immediately set up practice in Wood-
bury, but in less than one year removed to Birmingham, Conn.,
where he died.

Eb]3:n]<;zer B. Kellogg was a native of Norwich, Conn., and for
some years was a school teacher coming to Litchfield from Nauga-
tuck, where he had been Principal of the schools. He studied law
with George A. Hickox, and was admitted to the Bar in 1879.
After a brief practice in Litchfield he removed to Denver, Colorado,
where he died.

William Kelsey practiced law in Winchester in 1850, and in
1856 removed to Cheshire, where he died.

DwiGi-iT C. KiLBOURN" was born in Litchfield, October 9th, 1837.
He read law with Seymour & Seymour and Henry B. Graves, of
Litchfield, and after a three years service in the war of the Re-
bellion was admitted to the Bar in April, 1866. Practiced in Litch-
field until 1887 when he was appointed Clerk of the Superior and
Supreme Courts of Connecticut for Litchfield County, which office
he now holds.

George Kingsbury^ admitted to this Bar as of Canaan in 1794.
Mr. Boyd in his annals of Winchester, refers to him as being as-
sessed in that town in 1796 for his faculty as attorney-at-law, being
the "first legal luminary that shed its light on this benighted town.
His stay seems to have been as brief as a comet's visit." He re-
moved to Poultney, Vt., where he died, April 30, 1803.

John Kingsbury, born in Norwich, West Farms (now Frank-
lin), December 31, 1762. Graduated at Yale, 1786, and 1788 en-
tered the Law School at Litchfield, and was admitted to this Bar in
1790, and the next year opened an office in Waterbury and soon
became a leading citizen of that town. He was seventeen times in
the Legislature. He was Judge of the County Court about twenty
years. He died August 26, 1844. He was the grandfather of
Frederick J. Kingsbury, Esq. of Waterbury, the distinguished banker
and historian.

Daniel M. King was admitted to this Bar in 1870 from Water-
town. He located in the West and died there.

Ephraim Kirby, born in Litchfield in 1756, in a part of the town
now included in Washington. See Article "First Law Reports"
for his biography.

Reynold M. Kirby was a son of Ephraim Kirby and was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1810.

Philemon Kirkum, admitted to the Bar in 1799, resided at Win-
sted. In Boyds Annals of Winchester is a very interesting account
of this eccentric man.

BIOGRAPI-IICAI, NOTDS 261

WiLUAM KxAPP was a member of the Fairfield County Bar, but
practiced in New Milford a few years prior to 1880, when he re-
moved to Denver, Colorado.

Frederick M. KoehlER, admitted to the Bar in 1885, resided in
Litchfield, but soon removed with his family to Montana.

Edward A. Kunkee, practiced at Torrington a year or two prior
to 1878 and at a later period was at Thomaston.

John" R. Landox was born in Salisbury, September 14, 1765, and
married in Litchfield, Anna Champion, daughter of Rev. Judah
Champion, January 10, 1796, and settled at Litchfield. He was
Sheriff from 1801 to 1818. After his term of office expired he re-
moved to Castleton, Vt., where he died, February 27, 185 1. Mr.
Landon during his term also had unpleasant duties. Here is sen-
tence that he had to execute :

"Whereas Samuel Whitmore, of New Milford, in said county, be-
fore the Superior Court holden at Litchfield in said county, on the
. 1st Tuesday of February 1804, was legally convicted of Adultry,
and, on consideration, was by the Judges of said Court sentenced
and adjudged to be whipped on his naked body' Ten Stripes, and
to be stigmatized or burnt on his forehead with the letter "A" on a
hot iron, and to wear a halter about his neck on the outside of his
garments during his abode in this State of Connecticut — and as
often as he shall be found without his said halter, worn as aforesaid,
upon information and proof of the same before any Assistant or
Justice of the Peace, to be whipped not exceeding thirty stripes, and
to pay the cost of this prosecution, etc." All these sentences were
thus executed to the letter, as appears from sheriff's returns.
In executions for horse stealing, the prisoners were sentenced
to be twice set astride a wooden horse and kept there an hour and
then whipped fifteen stripes on the naked body, with an interval of
a month between two punishments. A man convicted of forgery
in 1788 was sentenced to stand twice in the pillory, and was "dis-
enabled to give any evidence or verdict in any court or before any
Magistrate or Justice of the Peace."

Joseph LakE^ admitted in 1822.

Edgar M. Landon of Salisbury, admitted in 1824.

Howard F. Landon of Salisbury was born in Sharon in 1869
and graduated at the Amenia Seminary. He studied law with Hon.
Donald T. Warner in Salisbury and graduated at the Albany Law
School in 1890. He was admitted to the Litchfield Bar the follow-
ing year and formed a partnership with Mr. Warner in Salisbury.
As Senator from the 19th district he made an enviable record in the
session of 1901.

262 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BUNCH AND BAR

Hiram P. Lawrence of Winsted was born at Norfolk in 1833.
He fitted for Yale College at Norfolk Academy, studied law with
Judge F. D. Fyler in Winsted and was admitted to the Litchfield
Bar in 1873. Died August 9, 1908.

Isaac Leavenworth, admitted to this Bar in 1815. Settled in
Roxbury where he practiced for twenty years. In 1837 he removed
to New Haven and engaged in other business. (See Sedgwick's
fifty years.)

Bradley D. Lee, born in Barkhamsted March 24, 1838. Served
in the War of the Rebellion as Quartermaster of the Second Connec-
ticut, Heavy Artillery. Admitted to this Bar in 1856 and removed
to St. Louis, Mo., where he became a leading attorney. Died in that
city May 10, 1897.

CiiAUNCEY Lee, D. D., born in Salisbury November, 1763.
Graduated at Yale College in 1784, was admitted to this Bar in 1786.
He practiced a few years and then relinquishing his profession, en-
tered the Ministry and became a very learned and impressive preach-
er. He was author of "Revival Sermons," "Triumphs of Virtue,"
a metrical paraphrase of the Book of Job, an arithmetic, and several
pamphlets. He died in Hardwick, N. Y., 1842.

Rev. Alonzo Norton Lewis, M. A., born at New Britain Sep-
tember 3, 1831. Graduate of Yale, class of 1852. For several years
a teacher of public schools and academies. Principal of Litchfield
Academy 1852-4. Studied law with Hollister and Beeman and after-
wards with Judge Charles B. Phelps of Woodbury, whose youngest
daughter, Sarah Maria he married November 28, i860. Admitted
to the Bar at Litchfield September, 1857. Ordained an Episcopal
clergyman in 1866. Rector at Bethlehem, Connecticut, Dexter,
Maine, New Haven and Westport, 1866 to 1891. From 1891 to
1907 was rector of Christ Church, Montpelier, Vt. He died in New
Haven September 12, 1907. He had been Secretary of the Masonic
Veteran Association of Connecticut for many years. Was a mem-
ber of the Society of the Cincinnati of Connecticut.

Daniel W. Lewis was a native of Farmington. Studied law
with Judge Reeve, graduated at Yale College in 1788, and was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1796.

Ja^ies LillEy, admitted in 1809 as from Sharon.

Frank D. LindslEy, admitted in 1882 from North Canaan. He
located at Philmont, New York.

Cit.'VRLES D. LoxgeELLOw was a native of Maine, but studied with
Mr. Cothren in Woodbury and was admitted to this Bar in 1861.
He located in Pennsylvania.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTKS 263

John J. Lord, admitted in 1823 from Sharon.

Lynde Lord was the second Sheriff of the County, holding the
office from 177 1 to 1801, about thirty years. He was born in Lyme,
Connecticut, and died in Litclifield June 16, 1801, aged 68 years.

That he had some unpleasant duties to perform the following
returns on Executions attest :

The execution in this case is dated 1779 and signed by Geo. Pit-
kin, Clerk of the Superior Court. The statute of blasphemy then
in force reads as follows :

That if any person within this state shall presume wilfully to
blaspheme the name of God the Father, Son or Holy Ghost, either
by denying, cursing or reproaching the true God, or his government
of the World ; every person so offending shall be punished by whip-
ping on the naked body, not exceeding forty stripes, and sitting in
the pillory one hour; and may also be bound to his good behavior,
at the discretion of the Superior Court, who shall have cognizance
of the offence.

The nature of the punishment inflicted will most concisely appear
from the following return of the officer setting forth what he did in
pursuance of the sentence of the court :

LiTCi-iFiULD, 23d August, 1779.

Then by virtue of the within Execution took the within named
Samuel Tousley from the common Goal in Litchfield to a Gallos,
viz, erected for that purpose, and set him thereon with a Rope
round his Neck for the space of one full hour, and then I branded
him with the capital Letter B with a hot iron on his forehead, and
then tied him to a tail of a Cart, and caused him to be whip'd thirty-
nine Stripes in his Naked body, in the whole, — at four of the most
public places in the Town of Litchfield and then returned him to
the Goal from whence he came.

Test,

Lyxdiv Lord, Sheriff.

Three days after execution of the sentence Tousley paid the cost
in the case, amounting to £153, 8 shillings and six pence, or $531.42.
This would imply that Tousley must have been a man of consider-
able property, but these costs were probably payable in paper money
worth at that time hardly a twentieth of its face value in specie.

It seems that tramps were not unknown in Connecticut in our
early history. A transient person who, "not having the fear of God
before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of
the devil" burnt some buildings in Sharon, "contrary to the law of
this colony and the rights of mankind." The fellow was duly con-
victed and sentenced, and the following sheriff's return shows the
nature of his punishment. After being duly "bull dozed" at the
cart's tail by the sheriff, he was remanded to jail till he could pro-

264 LITCPIFIULD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

cure sureties for future good behaviour and had paid the costs of
his prosecution :

LiTCH]?iUi<D, 2 1 St Feb., 1776.

Then by virtue of the within Execution I caused the within nam-
ed John Thomas to be taken from the common Goal in Litchfield to
the place of Execution and there Set upon a Gallos with a Rope
Roimd his neck for the full Term of one hour and Then tied to the
Tail of a Cart and Transported to four of the most public places in
the Town of Litchfield and there whipped on his naked body Thirty-
nine stripes in the whole, according to the within Directions.
Fees 40s. Test,

Lyndu Lord, Sheriff.

GuoRGE LovERiDGE was admitted in 1840 and practiced a short
time in New Milford.

John P. Loveridge. This name appears on the Connecticut Reg-
ister of 1842 as an attorney at New Milford.

RoMUo LowERY, born in Farmington in 1793, graduated at Yale
in 1818, studied at the Litchfield Law School and was admitted to
this Bar in 1820. He settled in Southington and was a highly re-
spected member of the Hartford County Bar and a Judge of the
County Court. He died in 1856.

Benedict E. Lyons was born in Thomaston, June 13, 1883.
Graduated from Yale College in 1905 and from the Law School in
1908, and was admitted to this Bar in 1908. Located at Hartford.
Represents Thomaston in the General Assembly of 1909.

Darius Lyman was a son of Col. David Lyman, born in Goshen
July 19, 1789. Was admitted to this Bar in 1812 and removed to
Ravenna, Ohio. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, W. S.
C. Otis, Esq., of Cleveland, Ohio December 13, 1865.

David Lyman was admitted to this Bar in 1841, and after a
practice of five years he relinquished the profession and entered the
Ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

SamuEE Lyman was a son of Ensign Moses Lyman, born in
Goshen January 25, 1749. He graduated from Yale College and
studied Theology and afterwards studied law and was admitted to
this Bar in 1773. He commenced practice at Hartford with flatter-
ing prospects of success, but relinquished that for a military ap-
pointment and removed to Massachusetts. Here he became a
Judge of the Circuit Court of that State and was a member of the
first Congress convened under the Constitution of the United States.
He died at the age of 55 years.

Wilbur G. Manchester was born in Winchester in i860. Grad-
uated at the Yale Law School and was admitted to the Bar in 1896.
resides and practices in Winsted, and has been active in Grange
and Prohibition circles.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 265

Theodori; M. Maltbie, born in New York in 1842, admitted to
this Bar in 1863 from Norfolk where he practiced a short time and
then removed to Hartford where he now resides.

Cyrus Marsh, practiced law in Kent in 1761 and was after-
wards a Minister of the Gospel of that place.

Fraxk W. Marsh, born in New Milford in 1855, graduated at
Yale College in 1879, admitted to the New Haven Bar in 1882, re-
moved to New Milford where he now resides.

SamuEIv Marsh, born in Litchfield in 1765, graduated from Yale
College in 1786, admitted to this Bar in 1788 and remove?d to Nor-
folk, Va.

George A. Marvin was born in Norfolk in 1870, graduated from
the Yale Law School in 1901 and was admitted to this Bar. He
resides and practices in North Canaan.

Reyxoed Marvix was born in Lyme, Conn., and graduated at
Yale College in 1748. He located in Litchfield on the formation of
the New County, and was the first lawyer in that town. He was
appointed King's Attorney in 1764, which office he held eight years.
After this period he does not appear to have been active in legal
matters. He died at Litchfield in 1802.

Nicholas Masters, born in 1758, graduated from Yale College
in 1779, admitted to this Bar in 1780, resided in New Milford, where
he died in 1795.

Charles S. Masters, admitted to this Bar in 1812 from New
Milford.

Peter J. McDermoTT was born in Torrington, and graduated
from Yale Law School in 1905 and was admitted to this Bar.

James H. McMahox, born at New Milford, June 24, 1839 ; son
of John and Sophia Wells McMahon. He received an acedemic
education, but did not enter College. He studied law at the Albany
Law School and was admitted to the Litchfield County Bar in No-
vember, 1863. Judge McMahon was a well-known lawyer in West-,
ern Connecticut, and for many years was engaged on one side or
the other in most of the important cases in that section. He was
elected Judge of Probate for the District of New Milford in August,
1864, and held his first term of probate, August 30th, of that year.
He continued in office until the first Monday in January, 1897. In
1873 ^nd 1875, he was a member of the General Assembly. He
died at New Milford, August 9,1906. His funeral was very largely
attended by lawyers from Litchfield, Fairfield and New Haven
Counties, in all of whose courts he had been an active practioner,
and also by the members of the Odd Fellows, and the Masonic
bodies of which he had been a member.

266

I^ITCIIFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAK

He gave in his will the sum of $1,200 to the Litchfield County
Bar Association, to be divided between each of the Law Libraries
at the Litchfield, Winsted and New Milford Court houses. His'
picture may be found on page 136.

William H. McMorris was admitted to the Litchfield Bar in
1904. He removed to Pennsylvania.

Walter S. Merrill, born in New Hartford in 1829, admitted
to this Bar in 1852 and located in Southington, where he resided
until his death, January 10, 1901.

Paul E. Mead was born in Westbrook, Maine, October 27, 1878.
but came when quite young to Falls Village, Conn. Studying at
Exeter and at Brown's University, he entered the Yale Law School,
from which he graduated in 1904, and was admitted to this Bar.

Chesterfield C. Middlebrooks
was Sheriff of Litchfield County
from 1903 to 1907. He was born
in Sharon, Conn., July 24, i860. In
1880 he went to Winsted and en-
tered the employ of the Gilbert
Clock Company, where he contin-
ued for fourteen years. He was
for several years at the head of the
police force in Winsted, and was a
constable of the Town of Winches-
ter, in which offices he showed
great executive ability. In 1894 he
was appointed deputy sheriff under
Sheriff Henry J. Allen, and in 1903
was elected sheriff by a good ma-
jority. At the expiration of his
office in 1907 he was appointed by
the Judges of the State, one of the
Jury Commissioners for Litchfield
County.

Edward S. Merwin, admitted to the Bar in 1870 from New Mil-
ford.

T. DwiGHT Merwin, born in New Milford. Graduated from
Yale College in 1877. After a short practice in New Milford, he
removed to New York City, where he is now in practice.

Michael F. Mills^ born in Norfolk in 1786, admitted to this
Bar in 1801. He located in Norfolk, dying there in 1857. (See
Sedgwick's Address.)

Roger Mills was admitted to this Bar in 1798 from Norfolk
and settled in New Hartford about 1800.

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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 267

Roger H. Miles was a son of Roger Mills and was admitted to
this Bar in 1836 and located at New Hartford. Was Secretary of
State in 1849-1850, after which he removed to Beloit, Wis., where
he died, November 11, 1880, aged 67.

Joseph MielER, a graduate of Williams College, studied at the
Litchfield Law School and was admitted to this Bar in 1802. He
located at Winchester, was a member of the Constitutional Con-
vention in 1818. In 1835 he removed to Richland, Mich. He was
a member of the Michigan Constitutional Convention and also U.
S. Attorney for the District of Michigan.

]\Iatthew Miner, Jr.. born in Woodbury in 1781, graduated
from Yale College in 1801 and was admitted to this Bar in 1804.
Practiced in Woodbury, which town he represented in the General
Assembly in 1830-1832, and was also Senator of his district in 1837.
Died at \A'oodbury, December 11, 1839.

Gilbert S. Minor, a native of Cornwall, admitted to the Bar in
1848. He removed to Alexandria, Va., where he died about 1880.
(The compiler of this work pursued his law reading while in the
U. S. service in the Civil War, from books borrowed from this
gentleman's library.)

Phixeas Miner, born in Winchester 1777, studied at Litchfield
Law School, admitted to this Bar in 1797, began practice in his
native town, but removed to Litchfield in 18 16, was representative
in Congress in 1832. Died at Litchfield, September 16, 1839.
(See Boardman's Sketches.)

John G. Mitchell, practiced in Salisbury. (See Warner's
Reminiscences. )

Henry A. Mitchell. The Connecticut Register says, he was
a lawyer in Plymouth in 1832. He removed to Bristol. Was States
Attorney for Hartford County, 1836 to 1838. Was editor of the
Hartford Times.

John G. Mix, admitted to this Bar in 181 5 from Woodbury.

Henry S. Morrill, born in New Hampshire in 1840, graduated
at Wesleyan College in 1866, was admitted to this Bar in 1870, and
for a few years thereafter he was engaged as a teacher, but finally
removed to Waterbury, where he was a Judge of the City Court.
He died in Waterbury, July 12, 1884.

T. DwiGHT Morris, born in Litchfield in 1817, graduated from
Union College in 1838, and was admitted to this Bar in 1839 and
located at Bridgeport. Was Colonel of the 14th Connecticut In-
fantrv in the Civil War, United Statets Consul at Havre, France,
1865 to 1869, Secretary of State, 1876. Died at Bridgeport, Septem-
ber 26, 1894.

268 LlTCIlFlEtD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Nathan Morse;, a graduate of Amherst College, practiced in
New Hartford in 1876, and removed to Akron, Ohio.

Charles E. Moss, born in Litchfield and admitted to, the Bar in
1843. Practiced in Waterbtiry until 1847, when he removed to
Iowa. He was engaged in the Mexican War as a Sergeant of the
3rd United States Dragoons, and in the War of the Rebellion as a
Lieutenant-Colonel of an Iowa Cavalry Regiment.

WiELiAM P. MuLViLLE, born in Norfolk February 23, 1879.
Graduated at Yale Law School in 1906, and was admitted to this
Bar. Located at New Canaan, Connecticut.

Warren MungER, admitted to this Bar in 1812 from Norfolk.

Frank B. Munn, born in West Stockbridge, Mass. November
16, i860. Graduated from Dartmouth College in 1887, admitted"
to this Bar in 1891. Resides in New Hartford and practices in that
town, and also has an office in Winsted. He is now, and has been
a Referee under the United States Bankrupt Law since its passage.'

Harris B. Munson, born in Middlebury in 181 2, .admitted to
this Bar in 1850, finally located at Seymour, where he died, February
2, 1885.

Thaddeus Munson, practiced in Canaan in 1809.

Frederick E. MygaTT, a native of New Milford, studied at the
Yale Law School, admitted to this Bar in 1892. Now practices in
New York City.

Edward A. Neeeis held the office of Sheriff of Litchfield County
from 1895 to 1903. He was born in the State of New York, but
m early life came to Winsted, where he has since resided. For
many years he carried on a tinware manufacturing and jobbing
business. He was a soldier in the Civil War, a member of the 6th
Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, he was wounded at the siege of
Petersburg in 1864 and suffered an amputation of his left foot.
(See picture on page 162.)

Leonard J. Nickerson of West Cornwall was born in that town
October 23, 1857. He graduated from the Alger Academy and
studied law with Hon. Arthur D. Warner, being admitted tO' this
Bar in 1879. In 1883 he represented Cornwall in the General As-
sembly, and has been very active in town affairs. He has an ex-
tensive practice throughout the State. Picture, page 162.

Major A. Nickerson, a native of Cornwall, admitted to this Bar
in 1834. After a brief practice, mostly in Berlin, Connecticut, he
removed to New York State and entered the Ministry.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

269

Major A. NickErson, born in Cornwall and admitted to this
Bar in 1868. For some years, owing to poor health he did not
practice, but about 1888 opened a law office in Plainville, Conn.
Died suddenly in his office, April 25, 1891.

MiKKEL Neilson, a native of Denmark, studied law in Litchfield
and was admitted to the Bar in 1881, and removed West.

Charles Nettleton was
born in Washington, Conn.
October 2, 1819, and after
studying law at Litchfield
was admitted to the Bar.
He opened an office in
Naugatuck and was for a
time in New Haven, but
not meeting with satisfac-
tory clientage he removed
to the city of New York
and made a specialty of
conveyancing and for some
years was a pension attor-
ney. He was a great col-
lector of the session laws
of' all the different States
and it was claimed that he
had the largest and fullest
library in this line in the
country. For the help of
the Tilden-Hayes Electoral
Commission, the Library of
Congress moved to Wash-
inton all this part of 'Mr-
He died in New York May 5, 1892.

Theodore North, born in Goshen March 2, 1780. Graduated
from WilHams College and was admitted to this Bar in 1809. Mem-
ber of the Constitutional Convention in 1818. Removed to Elmira
N. Y. in 1823. Died April 21, 1842.

Jonathan T. Norton was admitted to this Bar in 1847 and
practiced a short time in West Cornwall, when he removed to
Brooklyn, N. Y.

James H. Norton, born in Goshen in 1823, admitted to this Bar
in 1846 and soon removed to Pennsylvania. Entered the field of
journaHsm and was connected with the New York City daily papers.
Resided at Middletown, N. Y. Died in 1894.

William H. O'Hara, born in Washington October 15, 1859
and was educated at the "Gunnery"; admitted to this Bar in 1880.

Nettleton's library.

270 LlTCHFlElvD COUNTY BUNCH AND BAU

Practiced in. Bridgeport. In 1893-4 was an Alderman in Bridge-
port and the latter year president of the Board and Acting Mayor.
In 1902 removed his office to New York City.

James L. Orr, born in Hudson, N. Y., studied with Hon. John
H. Hubbard, was admitted to the Bar in 1845. He practiced at
Sharon and then removed to Michigan. His health failing him he
returned to Salisbury, where he died.

Samuei. D. OrTon, born in Bridgewater. Admitted to the Bar
in 1830. Practiced a number of )'ears in New Milford.

Eugene O'Sueeivan practices law in Torrington.

ChareES a. Paemer, born in Goshen in 1859, graduated from
Williams College. Admitted to this Bar in 1885. Practiced a few
years at Sharon and then removed to Torrington. Now resides in
Goshen, and is not in the practice of law.

Joseph M. Paemer, born in New Milford in 1788. Was ad-
mitted to the Fairfield County Bar, but located at Woodbury, where
he practiced until 1816, when he removed to Predericktown, Md.
He was a Judge of one of the higher courts in that State.

Solomon M. Paemer was admitted to the Bar in 181 1.

Jonathan Edward Parjialey, admitted to the Bar in 1790, re-
sided and practiced in Bethlehem.

David ParmalEE, a lawyer in Eitchfield, 1797. (Connecticut
Register.)

CoE. Amasa Parker, born in 1784 in the limits of the present
town of Washington. Graduated from Yale College in 1808. At-
tended the Litchfield Law School and was admitted to the Bar in
1810. He removed to Delhi, Deleware County, N. Y.

AxsoN V. Parsons, admitted to the Bar in 1826.

Daniee Parsons, admitted to the Bar in 1847 from Sharon.

Walter M. Patterson, admitted to the Bar in i860, practiced
a short time in Sharon.

Calvin Pease, a lawyer in New Hartford, 1799. (Connecticut
Register.)

William K. Peck, Jr., born in Harwinton and admitted to the
Bar in 1847 from- Norfolk. He located in Norfolk and removed to
Winsted in 1864. He removed from Winsted to Michigan in 1869,
and died at Grand Rapids, Mich, in 1870. The following paragraph
is from a highly complimentary notice of the stump labors of Wm.
K, Peck, Esq. which we find in the Western New Yorker published
at Warsaw, November, 1867:

"The series of meetings held in this county by W. K. Peck, Esq.,
of Connecticut, have been among the most successful and satisfac-
tory ever known here. The appointment for the Court House on

BIOGRAPHICAI, NOTUS 27I

Saturday evening drew together an audience that pacl<ed the room
full. Mr. Peck is a man of fine presence and genial manners with
a remarkably good voice and excellent qualities as a popular speak-
er. For perfect candor and fairness, for strong points sharply put,
for earnestness and agreeable humor, and to sum it all up — for a
good effect in a political speech, Mr. Peck ranks with the best men
on the stump. We hope to have him here again."

Nathaxibl Perry was a native of Woodbury and was admitted
to the Fairfield County Bar in 1816. He began practice in Wood-
bury, removing to New Milford in 1823. He died in Kent in 1849,
aged 60 years.

George W. PeET was born in Salisbury in 1828 and after ad-
mission to the Bar he practiced in Canaan. The latter part of his
life was devoted chiefly to financial operations. He was president
of the Iron Bank of Falls Village, etc. He died at North Canaan
in 1882.

Hugh F. Peters, graduated at Yale College in 1849; admitted
to the Bar in 1851.

John Thompson Peters, graduated at Yale College, 1789 ; ad-
mitted to the Bar in 1791. Was Judge of the Superior Court from
1818 to 1834. Died August 28, 1834. Resided at Hartford. (See
Sedgwick's "Fifty Years.")

Joel T. Pettet, admitted to the Bar in 1801 from Sharon. He
was a young man of great promise, but died of consumption, Septem-
ber 13, 1807, aged 32.

Augustus Pettibone, born in Norfolk February 19, 1766, a son
of Col. Giles Pettibone. Attended the Litchfield Law School and
was admitted to the Bar in 1790. He settled in Norfolk, was a
member of the Constitutional Convention in 1818 and Judge and
Chief Judge of the County Court from 18 12 to 1831 He died
October 4, 1847. (See Sedgwick's "Fifty Years.")

CoL. Giles Pettibone, born in Simsbury December 9, 1735. His
name appears as an attorney in the early records of the County
Court. Resided in Norfolk and died there March 17, 1810.

Samuel Pettibone, the first King's Attorney of Litchfield
County was born in Simsbury July 26, 1798. He began to practice
law as early as 1730. He removed to Goshen prior to 1740 and was
active in the formation of the County in 175 1. Upon the establish-
ment of the County Court he was appointed King's, or as we now
term it, State Attorney, which office he held several years. He was
prominent in the town afifairs of early Goshen and represented the
town in the General Assembly a number of times. He died in 1787.

SerEno Pettibone was a brother of Augustus Pettibone and
born in Norfolk November 9th, 1778; graduated at Williams Col-

2/2

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BB^NCH AND BAR

leg-e in 1800, and was admitted to this Bar in 1803. He practiced
a few years at Norfolk, and died there, November i6th, 1826, "just
in the prime of hfe, a man of fine abihty and promise."

"^'.'.f Mi.

•,T>

JOHN PlERPONTj 1 85 1.

John Pierpont, born in Litchfield April 6, 1785. Graduated at
Yale College in 1804. Studied law at the Litchfield Law School
and was admitted to this Bar in 1810. He removed to Newbury-
port, Mass., where after a short practice of law he became an Uni-
tarian Minister. He edited a large number of school books; the
old fashioned National Preceptor, being perhaps the best known
of them. He was also a poet, and his "Stand, the ground's your own
my braves ! " has been the standard for boyhood declamations, dur-
ing the last three-quarters of a century. His poem delivered at our
Centennial celebration in 1851, has also become classical. In his
earher years he, like many of the Boston celebreties, was not fas-
tedious in his dress, and the portrait we publish of him is said by all
our old men to be a characteristic one. The second, near the close
of this book, looks as he did in later life, when he held a clerical
position in one of the Government departments in Washington. He
was the ancestor of John Pierpont Morgan, the noted banker and
financier. Mr. Pierpont died at Medford, Mass., August 27, 1866.

BIOGRAPI-IICAL NOTES 273

Charles B. Phelps was born in Chatham, now Portland, Con-
necticut in 1788 and pursued his professional studies under Judge
Reeve and Noah B. Benedict, Esq., and was admitted to the Bar in
September, 1809. Entered into practice at Woodbury, and there
continued the exercise of his profession to the time of his death,
December 21, 1858. He was Judge of Probate for nearly thirty
years and was an authority on Probate Law. He was a member of
the House of Representatives in 1831, 1837, and 1852 in which latter
year he was elected its Speaker. In 1843 he was elected to the Sen-
ate and was its President pro tern. In 1850 he was elected Judge
of the County Court, holding the office three years. In Mr. Coth-
ren's history of Woodbury, will be found a lengthy biography of this
honest lawyer. Picture, page 94.

Ralph P. Phelps, attorney in Winchester, 1832. (Connecticut
Register.)

E. Frisbie Phelps, graduated from Yale Law School, and was
admitted to this Bar from Harwinton in 1866. He soon removed
from the State. Is now in New York City in the insurance business.

Elisha Phelps, born in Simsbury. Graduated from Yale Col-
lege in 1800; attended the Litchfield Law School and was admitted
to this Bar in 1802. Settled in his native town, where he died m
1847.

Amos Pierce (Pearce), graduated at Yale, 1783. Died in
"Woodbury, 1798.

James Pierce was admitted by the County Court in 1799.

John Pitcher was admitted by the County Court in 1816. Lieu-
tenant-Governor of New York. '

John Pierpont, born in Litchfield September 10, 1805 ; mem-
ber of the Law School ; admitted to the Bar in 1826. He removed
to Vergennes, Vermont. Was Judge of the Supreme Court and
held other important offices in that State.

OrvillE Hitchcock Platt was admitted to this Bar in 1850.
He was born in Washington, Conn., and his early life was that of a
hard working farmer boy. Both parents being of good New Eng-
land stock, earnest in religion, patriotic, and having the courage of
their convictions; he inherited that breadth of mind and strength of
character for which he became so prominent. Beginning in the old
red school house, and afterward attending the Academy, in which
he later on taught, he was still further furnished, by close and per-
sistent study at home. Having chosen the law as his profession he
entered the office of Gideon Hollister and Fred. Beeman in Litch-
field in 1848 and in due time was admitted to this Bar. He began
his practice at Towanda, Penn., but in a short time returned to
Connecticut and settled at Meriden, where he soon became a prom-

274 LlTCIlFlIiLD COUXTY BluVCII AND BAR

inent attorney and citizen. In 1855 he was Clerk of the Connecti-
cut Senate and in 1857 was Secretary of State. He was repeatedly
elected to represent his town in the General Assembly of the State,
serving in the Senate in 1861-2, and in the House of Representatives
in 1864 and 1869 and was given important positions in the deliber-
ations of those bodies. In 1877 he was appointed State Attorney
for New Haven County. In 1879 he was chosen United States
Senator by the General Assembly, a position which he occupied
continuously until his death at his summer residence at Washington,
Connecticut, April 21, 1905.

In an address delivered by him to his townsmen just before start-
ing for Washington to take his seat in the Senate, he said, "Just
now everything is new and seems unreal. I can scarcely appreciate
the future; how I shall walk in the new part in which I am set,
time will show. I do know that I shall try to do right as I see the
right."

He took his seat March 18, 1879, and for more than a quarter
of a century gave his best thought and untiring industry to all
matters of legislation and gradually won his own place in the front
rank.

He served eighteen years on the committee of patents, eight of
those years as chairman. He was regarded by all, as the best au-
thority on patent law in the Senate. For sixteen years he was a
member of the committee on Indian affairs, and no one was more
alive than he to the true welfare of the Indians. No man in of-
ficial life was ever a more practical and useful friend of these
wards of the nation.

For twelve years he was a member of the committee on Territories,
six years as chairman, and while such chairman six states were ad-
mitted into the Union, viz : North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana,
Washington, Idaho and Wyoming.

For ten years and up to the time of his death, he was a mem-
ber of the committee on finance. For four years he was chairman
of the committee on Cuban Relations, and was the author and
father of the noted Piatt Amendment — that great bulwark and
mainstay of the Cuban Republic against foes, foreign and domestic.
In the investigation of this subject he accumulated a large and ex-
haustive library relating to Cuban and Philippine matters, probably
the largest in the country, which has been given by his heirs to the
State Library at Hartford, Conn.

He was for twelve years a leading member of the Judiciary
Committee, and at the time of his death was chairman of that com-
mittee. On this great committee, on account of his skill and learn-
ing as a lawyer, and his industrious prudence and conservative
character, he was one of the most active, useful and safe members,
favorable to all reasonable innovations, but strongly set against
revolutionary or doubtful schemes or measures. No man in the
Republican party was oftener consulted by both Presidents, I\Ic-

ORVlhL,t iriTCllCOCK PLATT

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 275

Kinley and Roosevelt upon vital questions, not only of party policy,
but of material and international importance. The last great
service he rendered, was in presiding over the' Senate as a Court
of Impeachment in the case of Judge Swain. The care, dignity and
impartiality with which he performed that difficult task proved him
to be a master mind in that eminent body.

Senator Teller of Colorado said of him : "He was a party man
with a strong partisan spirit, because he believed his party was best
calculated to secure the highest degree of progress and prosperity
it was possible for a nation to attain. While he was a partisan
and defended the principles of his party with inteUigence and vigor,
he recognized that there were two political parties in the country,
and that there might be wisdom and patriotism in those differing
with him. He was a good type of Americanism, and his aspiration
for his country was for all parts and all the people within its
borders."

Probably the obsequies of no eminent man of Litchfield County
were ever attended by so many distinguished public men as were
his when he was laid to rest amid the scenes he loved so well on
April 24th, 1905, in the cemetery at Washington, Connecticut.

Hexry B. Plumb, a native of Wolcott, Conn., born in 1857,
was admitted to this Bar in 1879. He has never practiced law —
but is Secretary of the Eagle L,ock Company of Terr3'ville, with
office in New York city, and resides in Terryville.

E. EuRoY Pond, born in Terryville, Town of Plymouth, Dec.
26, 1883. Graduated at Yale College 1904, and from the Law
School in 1906. Admitted to this Bar February, 1907, and opened
an office in Terryville.

Charles J. Porter, born in Goshen, January 27, 1839 ; was
sheriff from 1881 to 1884. He was in the Civil War for three years
in the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery in which he was a Quarter-
master Sergeant. He resided in Goshen Center where he was Post
Master and carried on a large general store business. He repre-
sented his town in the Legislature in 1866 and 1893. He died
Dec. 19, 1907. (See picture, page 160).

Peter B. Porter, born in Salisbury. Graduated from Yale
College in 1791, admittd to this Bar in 1793. Removed to the State
of New York and died at his home at Niagara Falls in 1844. He
was in Congress in 1810 and was Secretary of W^ar under John
Q. Adams' administration.

Joel B. Potter, admitted in 1803 from Sherman. He died
October 7, 1806.

Nathan Preston, born in Woodbury in 1758. Graduated from
Yale College in 1776. He served in the Continental Army until
1780. In 1782 he was admitted to the Bar and settled in his
native town having a large practice and enjoying many political
honors until his decease in September, 1822.

276 . IvlTCI-lFlELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

William Preston. He was born in Stratford in 1676, but
when quite young removed with his father's family to Woodbury.
He became a leading man in the town and colony. He was a mem-
ber of the General Court thirty-five sessions, and stood high m the
militia, having attained the rank of Colonel. He was justice of
the quorum eleven )-ears from 1740. On the formation of Litch-
field County in 1751, he was appointed its first judge, which office
he held till his death in 1754. He was a man of fine talents and
commanding influence — of sterling integrity and unflinching de-
termination.

In another place will be seen a cut of his tombstone in fine pres-
ervation in the cemetery at Woodbury.

William L. Ransom was born in Granville, Mass., March 28,
1822. He studied law with Judge Hiram Goodwin of Riverton
and was admitted to this Bar in 1854. Three years later he came
to Litchfield and associated with Hon. John H. Hubbard in the
practice of his profession until 1859, when he was appointed Clerk
of Superior and Supreme Courts for Litchfield County from which
position he resigned in 1887 after an honorable service of twenty-
nine years. He now resides in Litchfield.

From the history of the Ransom family I quote the following
well deserved tribute : "William L. Ransom was tendered the posi-
tion of Clerk of the Superior Court and the Supreirje Court of
Errors which his experience and methodical habits eminently quali-
fied him to fill. He accepted the appointment and for twenty-eight
yxars he continued to discharge the duties of the office with honor
to himself and the tribunal of which he was a trusted official.
Patience and courtesy secured for him the well grounded regard of
the clientage that had 'their day in court' and Bench and Bar alike
held him in the highest esteem."

Timothy C. Ransom was a brother of William L. and born
September 22, 1824, and was admitted to the Bar in- 1858. He
practiced a few years in Meriden, Conn., and then removed to North
Dakota where he died.

David Raymond admitted to the Bar in 181 2 from Montville,
Connecticut.

James Raymond admitted to the Bar in 1834 from Canaan.

John ReEd. This gentleman was undoubtedly the earliest at-
torney in the territory embraced in Litchfield County. He grad-
uated at Cambridge in 1697 and entered the ministry and preached
at Waterbury, Stratford and other places. He became interested
in the Stratford colony of settlers who went to the region now called
New Milford, and obtained a large tract of land now the center of
that town, and built a residence near the present Ingleside School,
where he resided and held religious services in his house. In 1708,

THOMAS F. RYAN-

BIOGRAPIIICAI, NOTES 2^^

while living there, he was admitted as an attorney by the General
Court and in 1712 he was appointed Queen's Attorney for the
Colony. Mr. Reed had plenty business of his own to attend to, for
the Milford settlers claiming a superior title to the New Milford
lands, over the Stratford title, occupied some of the 26,000 acres,
and J\Ir. Reed sued them for trespass, and after sixteen trials,
fifteen of which he won and lost the sixteenth, became discouraged
and gave up the effort, and removed to a large tract of land he
obtained in the present town of Redding where he resided until
1722, when he went to Boston, and soon became the most eminent
lawyer in the Colonies. He was Attorney General for several
years and also a member of the Governor and Council. He was
known there as "Leather Jacket John." Many anecdotes are told
of this eccentric attorney which this compilation does not care to
repeat. Knapp's Biographical Sketches says of him: ''One act
alone should give him immortality. He, from his own high re-
sponsibility reduced the quaint, redundant and obscure phraseology
of the English deeds of conveyance, to the present short, clear and
simple form now in use. His influence and authority must have
been great as a lawyer, to have brought these retrenched forms into
general use. The declarations which he made and used in civil
actions, have, many of them, come down to us as precedents, and
are among the finest specimens of special pleading that can be
found. Story has preserved some of his forms, and Parsons says
that "many other lawyers had assumed his work as a special pleader
as their own ; and that honors due him had by carelessness or ac-
cident, been given to others, who had only copied his forms."

He married Ruth Talcott, daughter of Col. John Talcott of
Hartford and sister of Governor Joseph Talcott. One of his sons
was the celebrated Col. John Reed of the "Lonetown Manor,"
Redding, Connecticut. He died in 1749, leaving a large estate.

John G. Reid was a son of Rev. Adam Reid of Salisbury and
was admitted to this Bar in 1857 and located at Kent. He did
honorable service in the War of the Rebellion, and afterwards
removed to Chicago.

Aaron B. Reeve was a son of Hon. Tapping Reeve, graduated
from Yale in 1802, was admitted to the Bar in 1808, began practice
in Troy, New York, where he died in iSog.

Tapping Reeve, born in Southhold, Long Island, October, 1744.
Graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1763. In 1784 he
opened the Law School at Litchfield which continued until 1833.
In 1798 he was 'appointed Judge of the Superior Court and in 1814
he became the Chief Justice of the State. He died at Litchfield,
December 13, 1823. See Boardman's "Early Lights," Law School,
etc.

278 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

James Richards was admitted to the Bar in 1862. He then re-
sided at Litchfield where he had been preaching for some years. He
afterwards removed to Charleston, W. Va., where he died.

Francis X. Richmond was born in New Milford, admitted to
the Litchfield Bar in 1897, and practiced for a short time in Water-
bury. He removed to New Milford, and later returned to Water-
bury, where he died in 1906.

Edward Richmond, admitted in 181 5 from Washington.

Clark Richter, graduated from Yale in 1856, admitted in 1861
from Salisbury.

William H. Rood, admitted in 1845. Practiced in Winsted, was
a Judge of Probate there, removed b Lynn, Mass., where he died.

Edward Rockwell, born in Colebrook June 30th 1801. Gradu-
ated at Yale College 1821. Admitted to this Bar in 1827 as from
Sharon. He located in Youngstown, Ohio. Was the Secretary of
the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad Company until 1867, when
he resigned that office and removed to New York City, where he
died in 1874. ■ ,

Julius Rockwell was born in Colebrook, graduated at Yale
College in 1826, admitted to this Bar in 1829 and located at Pits-
field, Mass. He was a member of Congress and also a. Judge of
the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.

The following extract shows the proceedings taken by the Berk-
sire County Bar upon the death of Judge Rockwell in 1888 :

"The Superior Court opened here this morning. Chief Justice
Brigham presided at a memorial meeting of the Berkshire Bar in
honor of the late Judge Julius Rockwell. There was a large at-
tendance of lawyers, prominent citizens of the county and ladies.
Attorney General Waterman offered resolutions adopted at a meet-
ing of the Bar yesterday, gave a short sketch of Judge Rockwell's
career and moved the adoption of the resolutions. Judge Tucker
seconded the resolutions, and speeches were also made by the Hon.
Marshall Wilcox, T. P. Pingree, Senator Dawes and Judge Brig-
ham. The resolutions were ordered spread on the records of the
court and as a mark of respect to Judge Rockwell's memory the
court adjourned until to-morrow morning."

William Rockwell was born in Sharon in 1804. Graduated
at Yale College in 1822, and admitted to this Bar in 1824. Located
in Brooklyn, N. Y. Was a Judge of the Superior Court of King's
County.

Alberto 1'. Roraback was born in Sheffield, Mass. in 1849.
Acquiring a good academic education ; in 1872 began the study of
law with Judge Donald J. Warner in Salisbury and was admitted to
this Bar in 1872. He located at North Canaan and was for a

: . ,^'i-^

DAVID C. SANFORD

BIOGRAPHICAL XOTES 279

quarter of a century a leader of the affairs of north western Con-
necticut. From 1889 to 1893 he was the Judge of the Court of
Common Pleas for Litchfield County. In 1895 and 1896 lie repre-
sented his town in the General Assembly, and in 1897 was appointed
a Judge of the Superior Court. He was in 1907 promoted .by the
Legislature to be a Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors to take
effect in September, 1908. His picture is shown on page 133.

J. Clixtox Roarback, a son of Judge A. T. ;Roarback was born
in North Canaan. Graduated at Yale University and at the Yale
Law School. Was admitted to this Bar in 1905. He resides and
practices in Xorth Canaan.

J. HuxRY RoARBACK was born in Sheffield, Mass. in 1870, and
admitted to practice in 1892 at this Bar. He located at North
Canaan in company with his brother Judge A. T. Roarback to whose
law business he suceeded upon the latter's elevation to the bench in
1897. He has been a very active politician, holding the position
of a member of the Republican State Central Committee for several
years. Is the Postmaster at North Canaan. He is also extensive-
ly engaged in the lime. business of that region.

WiLLARD A. RoRABACK was born in New Marlboro, Mass. March
I2th, i860 and admitted to this Bar in 1883. Locating in Torring-
ton, he has held many of the town offices, representing the town in
the Legislature of 1895. Has been Judge of the Borough Court,
and is now Judge of the Probate Court of that District.

Elbbrt p. Roberts was born in Litchfield in 1863 and was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1884. Resides and practices in Litchfield. He
has a large real estate business, and has for many years been the
Secretary of the Board of Education of Litchfield.

WiLLi.vJi J. Roberts was born in New Milford and graduated in
Yale College in 1859. During the War of the Rebellion he was a
Captain of Company I, Eighth Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers.
He was admitted to the Bar in 1866, and died in New Milford, June
30, 1870. ■

WiLLi.Mi R. Rogers, of Georgia, a graduate of the Litchfield
Law School, was admitted to this Bar in 1831.

Samuel Rowland, admitted to this Bar in 1794, resided in Fair-
field, Conn, and died there in 1837.

PiiiLO RuGGLES was born in New Milford in 1765 and admitted
to the Bar in 1791. Began practice in New Milford and then re-
moved to Poughkeepsie, and afterwards to New York City where
he died in 1829.

John H. Russell, a native of Canaan, admitted to this Bar in
1849 and settled in Salisbury. He devoted most of his time to
farming. He died at Lakeville in 1871.

280 IJTCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Joseph Ryan, admitted to practice in 1858 from Norfolk, went
to Illinois.

Timothy Ryan, admitted in 1861 from Norfolk. Located in
Illinois.

Thomas F. Ryan was born in Ireland, March 6, 1872. He was
educated at St. Mary's College, Troy, N. Y. and graduated from
Yale Law School in 1897, and was admitted to this Bar. He be-
gan to practice at Torrington, but soon went to Tucson, Arizona,
where he combined law and mining. He returned to Connecticut
in 1901 and located in Litchfield in 1905.

David C. Saneord, born in New Milford in 1798, was admitted
to the Bar in Fairfield County in 18.20. He removed to Litchfield,
where he practiced till 1832, when he went to Norwalk, but soon
returned to New Milford, where he resided at the time of his death
in 1864. In 1854 he was elected a Judge of the Superior Court,
which office he held at the time of his decease.

George A. Saneord, born in Simsbury, 1852 ; educated at Union
College, was admitted to the Litchfield County Bar in 1903. He
resides and practices at Winsted. Is an active member of the
School Board of Winchester.

RoEiviN Saneord was born in Cornwall, Vt. of Litchfield, Conn,
ancestry. Graduated from Yale College in 183 1 and was admitted
to this Bar in 1833. He abandoned the legal profession and en-
gaged in the mercantile business in New York City, where he died,
December 2, 1879.

Henry Seymour Saneord died at his home in New Milford on
Saturday November 2, 1901 at the age of 69 years. He was the
son of the late Judge David C. Sanfor J and of Amelia S. (Seymour)
Sanford, a member of the distinguished Seymour family of Litch-
field. He was born in Norwalk, Conn., March i, 1832. He en-
tered Yale College in 1848 and graduated in the class of 1852. He
then took the two years' course at the Harvard Law School. After
his admission to the Bar he spent one year in Washington, D. C,
as private Secretary for Ex-Judge Seymour, then a member of Con-
gress. Returning to New Milford, he became associated with his
father in his well established law practice, and when his father was
elevated to the supreme bench, the son carried on the practice with
ability.

At the age of 29 years he met with a serious accident that dis-
abled him physically for life, placing him at a great disadvantage
when in the full strength of youth he was entering upon an un-
usually promising career. But with remarkable pluck and bravery
he rose superior to a misfortune which would have discouraged an
ordinary man from attempting to do anything noteworthy, and for
many years with rare perseverance and patience successfully pur-

HENRY SEYMOUR SANFORD

BIOGRAPHICAI, NOTES

281

sued his chosen caUing, although unable to go about except in a
wheel-chair, and what was more remarkable still, he retained his
naturally high spirits and genial disposition.

Mr. Sanford moved to Bridgeport in 1869 and was a well known
attorney there for thirty years. He was at one time the leading
lawyer of the Fairfield county Bar, and he was associated with or
opposed to the foremost lawyers of his city and state in many im-
portant cases, a number of which came before the Supreme Court.
He was aggressive, able and brilliant as a lawyer and liked nothing-
better than to cross swords with a foeman worthy of his steel.

One of the last and most gracious acts of Mr. Sanford's life was
to donate the rare and valuable collection of law books which had
belonged to him and his distinguished father to the law library in
New Milford for the use of the members of the L,itchfield County
Bar which the two Sanfords, father and son, had both honorably
and ably represented.

Henry S. Sanford, a son of Henry Seymour Sanford, was born
in Bridgeport August 5, 1873. Graduated from Yale Law School
in 1895. He was admitted to the New Haven Bar in the same
year, and admitted to the New York Bar in 1898. Practiced in
New York until 1905. Soon after the decease of his father he re-
moved to New Milford, where he now resides and practices.

• :,. Albert Sedgwick was born in

Cornwall in 1801. He held the
office of Sheriff 1834 and 1835
and also from 1838 to 1854 in
which latter year he resigned the
office, having been appointed
School Fund Commissioner of
Connecticut which office he held
for twelve years during which
time he resided in Hartford. He
was an ardent and active poli-
tician, with a genial pleasing way
and won many voters to his side
at the polls. He died in Litch-
field at the residence of his
daughter Mrs. Thomas M. Coe
in 1878. He at one time was
greatly interested in developing
the mining of Nickel in the
western part of Litchfield, but the opening of the civil war and dis-
covery of the rich silver deposits in the great West ruined this
industry in Connecticut.

282 IJTCHFIELD COUNTY B^NCH AND BAR

Frederick A. Scott, born in Plymouth in 1866, graduated from
Yale 1889, from Yale L,aw School in 1891 and admitted to this Bar
the same year. Resides at Terryville, practices at Hartford. Has
been Clerk of the different branches of the General Assembly and
in 1901 was Clerk of Bills in that body. Represents Plymouth in
the General Assembly of 1909.

Homer R. Scoville was born in Harwinton ini86s, graduated
at Williams College in 1890, the New York Law School in 1892,
and was admitted to that Bar the same year. After a few years
practice in New York City, he removed to Torrington, Conn., and
was admitted to this Bar in 1900. He is now in active practice in
Torrington.

Charles F. Sedgwick. The following obituary of this distin-
guished member of our Bar is taken from the Soth Conn. Reports,
for which it was prepared by his colleague and friend Bro. Donald
j. Warner:

Charles F. Sedgwick was born in Cornwall, Litchfield County,
Connecticut, Septemeber i, 1795. His grandfather Gen. John
Sedgwick, was a major in the Revolutionary army, and a major-
general of the State Militia. His ancestory is traced to Robert
Sedgwick, one of Cromwell's Generals.

He was a brother of the late Albert Sedgwick, and a cousin of
the renowned Gen. John Sedgwick, of the Sixth Corps of the Army
of the Potoma.

After graduating at •Williams College, 1813, he took charge of
an academy in Sharon, Conn, and at the same time studied law, and
was admitted to this Bar in March, 1820. He immediately located
in Sharon, and there continued in the practice of his profession,
and ended there his life's work.

He married Betsy, daughter of Judge Cyrus Swan, of Sharon,
October 15, 1821.

He was early a member of the Legislature in both branches, a Judge
of the Court of Probate for the District of Sharon, and from 1856
to 1874 was States Attorney for the county.

He inherited and manifested a special admiration for military
afifairs, and was appointed Brigadier General of the State Militia in
1829, and afterwards Major General of the Third Military Division
of the State. Physically, he was a remarkable man ; large, tall, and
erect, his appearance in and out of the court room was attractive
and commanding-. As a lawyer not arrogant, not brilliant, always
counteous, a ready, fluent advocate, presenting his views of the case
on trial with force and zeal, commanding the respect of the court
and jury.

In the discharge of his duty as a public prosecutor, the ad-
ministration of his office was characterized by the application of the
principle "that ninety-nine guilty persons should escape, rather than

BIOGRAPI-IICAIv NOTES 283

one innocent person should suffer." His habits were exemplary;
tobacco and intoxicants in all their forms were to him abhorrent.

The current events of the day were all noted by him, and he de-
lighted in works of history, biography -and genealogy. His wonder-
fully retentive memoiy, bodily vigor, and genial nature made him
a delightful talker in the social circle, and eminently useful in fur-
nishing information of and concerning persons and their affairs. If
it became necessary to find a collateral or other heir to an estate, or
to insert a branch in the genealogical tree of a family in Western
Connecticut, Gen. Sedgwick was referred to as a living compen-
dum of the required information, and his detailed reminiscences of
the peculiarities and characteristics of persons always interested his
hearers and often excited their merriment.

His centennial address and history of the town of Sharon in
1865, is a valuable depository of knowledge for the inhabitants of the
town. He lived soberly, he waited for death calmly and died in
communion with the Congregational Church at Sharon, March 9th,
1882, in his 87th year. Picture on page 70.

Edward Woodruff Seymour, a Judge of the Supreme Court of
this State, died at Litchfield, on the i6th day of October, 1892. He
was born at Litchfield, August 30th, 1832 the oldest son of Chief
Justice Origen S. Seymour. His mother was a sister of George
C. Woodruff, Esq., of Litchfield, a prominent lawyer there, and
Judge Lewis B. Woodruff of New York. He graduaited at Yale
in 1853, and was admitted to the Bar in Litchfield in 1856, where
he continued to practice until 1875, when he removed to Bridgeport,
and formed a partnership with his younger brother, Morris W.
Seymour, with whom he was associated until 1889, when he was
appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors. He was for
several years Judge of Probate in the Litchfield district. He repre-
sented Litchfield in the State Legislature in 1859-60-70-71, and was
a member of the State Senate in 1876. He represented his district
in Congress from 1882 to 1886. He was one of the representatives
of the diocese of Connecticut in the general conventions of the
Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States.

As a lawyer he was thorough, quick in perception, sound in re-
flection, pleasing and effective in speech. He prepared his causes
conscientously. His knowledge of men, his quick wit, his rare ap-
prehension of humor and humorous things, his abounding good
judgment, his intellectual alacrity in emergencies, and his courage
in a crisis gave him a fine outfit for practice. He cross-examined
a witness always with skill, and sometimes with genius. But no
tempation to score a point ever led him into the petty tyranny of
abusing a witness. He wore the golden rule on his heart and re-
membered that the man in the witness box was a brother.

As a Judge, without being hortatory he warmed his opinions
with wholesome morals. Such ethics, for instance, as we find in

284 IJTCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

the Opinion in Coupland vs. Houstonic Railroad Company, in the
61 St Conn., make good reading. His career as a lawyer and Judge,
strengthens our attachment to our profession which he adorned.

Judge Sej'mour is mourned by the Bar and by the bench of the
State with a common and tender grief. Years of closest intimacy
bound many manly hearts to him with a love which may not be told,
but which must be undying. His grave is the toinb of hope and
promise and of a Hfe broken when it was strongest. He was buried
in the afternoon of a gentle October day, when the sun shone'
through the clouds and brightened the gold and scarlet and crimson
of fading nature, and he was buried in love.

From Henry C. Robinson's sketch in the 62d Conn. Reports.

A TRIBUTE BY JUDGE FENN.

Yesterday morning, at Litchfield, there passed from week-day
toil into Sunday rest, from work so consecrated that it was worship
into eternal peace — as pure a soul, and as gentle, as ever parted from
earth to enter heaven. One who speaks from a torn heart because
he loved him living, and loved him dead; one who met him in de-
lightful social intercourse four days last week, (the last time on
Friday), in seeming health, full of Hfe and its interests, and to whom
the telegram announcing his sudden death came with shocking
agony, can neither be silent or speak with i calm, dispassionate
utterance, in such an hour. Edward W. Seymour lies dead at the
age of sixty, in the town in which he was born, and on the street
where he has always lived. The oldest son of the late Chief Justice,
Origen S. Seymour, he inherited the rare judicial temperament, the
calm, candid, impartial judgment, the love of mercy-tempered jus-
tice, so essentially characteristic of his father. Educated at Yale
College, a graduate of the famous class of 1853, studying law in his
father's office, entering into partnership with him, early and fre-
quently called to represent his town, and later his senatorial district
in the General Assembly, a useful member of Congress for four
years, having in the meantime, by devotion to his profession, as well
as by natural ability, become the acknowledged leader of the Bar in
the two counties of Litchfield and Fairfield ; certainly it was the prin-
ciple of natural selection which three years ago led to his choice as
a member of our highest judicial tribunal — the Supreme Court of
Errors of this State. While of his services upon that Court this is
neither the time, or place, to speak with fullness, it has been the
privilege of the writer to know them somewhat thoroughly, and be-
cause of such knowledge he can the more truly bear witness to the
rare spirit of fidelity to duty, to justice, to law, as a living, pervading
and beneficent rule of action, with which, whether upon the bench
listening to, and weighing the arguments and contentions of counsel,
in private study, in the consultation room, or in the written opinions

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

285

of the Court, which bear his name, the high duties of that great
office have been sacredly discharged. When Chief-Justice Seymour
died, Governor Richard D. Hubbard, in a public address, declared :
"I think we can all say in very truth and soberness, and with nothing
of extravagance in eulog}-, that we have just lost the foremost, un-
deniably the foremost lawyer, and take him for all in all, the noblest
citizen of our State." If it be too much to say this of a son, whose
}ears were almost a score less than those of the father, surely it is
not too much to affirm that never did son tread more worthily in the
footsteps of an honored parent, and never did untimely death break
truer promise than this which has deprived our State of those years
of ripened usefulness, which would have made the career of the
son as fruitful in honor, and all good, and good to all, as that of the
sire. But God knows best, and doubtless what is, is for the best.
Certainly to him who lies crowned with the beautiude of Christ, upon
the pure in heart, it is well. — Augustus H. Fexn.
Picture on page 130.

MosES Seymour, Jr.
was born in Litchfield on
June 30th, 1774. He held
the office of Sheriff from
1819 to 1825. He gave
little personal attention to
it, being actively engaged
in business, — and deputiz-
ing his brother Ozias who
was his deputy, to attend
to the Court duties. He
was for a while Postmaster
at Litchfield. He gave the
site on which the Court
House is now located to the
County to be used only for
County purposes. He was
a large landholder, and en-
gaged largely in the ex-
change and sale of real
property. He died in Litchfield, May 8, 1826. (See Sedgwick's
Address.)

Origen S. Seymour, born in Litchfield February 9, 1804, grad-
uated from Yale College in 1824, admitted to this Bar in 1826 and
located in his native town in which he resided untd his decease,
August 12, 1881. He frequently represented the town of Litch-
field in the General Assembly and was elected Speaker of the House
in 1850. In 1 85 1 he was elected to Congress and again m 1853.
In 1855 he was elected one of the Judges of the Superior Court,
which office he held eight years. In 1864 and 1865 he was nomi-

286 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

nated for Governor by the Democratic Party. In 1870 he was
elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors and m 1873 was its
Chief Justice, which office he held until retired by the Constitutional
limitation of age in 1874. After his retirement he was engaged
most of the time as a referee. The new code practice adopted by
the Legislature in 1879 was prepared by a Commission over which
he presided. He received the degree of L. L. D. from Trinity Col-
lege in 1866 and from Yale, 1873.

The obituary notice and tributes to his great worth published in
the 48 Conn. Report are but faint expressions of the feelings -of all
of the legal fraternity and leading citizens of the State of Connecti-
cut regarding this distinguished member of our Bar.

The following obituary notice was published by the New .Haven
Register at the time of Judge Seymour's death : "This distinguislied
citizen of Connecticut died at his home in Litchfield, this morning,
after a comparatively brief illness, in his 78th year. Possessed of a
fondness for study, he prepared for college, and entered Yale at the
age of sixteen, graduating in the class of 1824. His chosen pro-
fession was the law, and by his assiduity and natural gifts he speedi-
ly arrived at the highest rank at the Bar. Though devoted to his
profession he engaged astivily in politics, espousing the Democratic
cause. He was a member of the House of Representatives of Con-
necticut in 1842, 1843, 1849 and 1850, being Speaker in the latter
year. In 1851 he was elected to Congress from the 4th District,
and at the expiration of his term was re-elected. In 1855 he be-
came a Judge of the Superior Court, continuing in office until 1863.
In 1870 he was promoted to the Supreme Bench. He was Chief
Justice from June 5, 1873, to February 9, 1874, when he became
disqualified by reason of having reached the age of 70 years, and
retired from the Bench, which he had greatly adorned. Upon his
retirement from the Bench he resumed the practice of the law, be-
_ ing consulted in a great number of important cases. He served on
various State Commissions, one of which was that appointed to
settle the disputed boundaries between New York and Connecticut.
His most important recent public duty was that upon the commis-
sion to revise the Civil Practice in the State courts. Of this com-
mission he was the chief part, and the report adooted by the com-
mission, of which he is the reputed author, was ratified by the Leeis-
lature and is now the established law of the commonwealth. The
series of brilliant lectures delivered by him before the 'Yale Law-
School and members of the New Haven Bar. in advocacy of the
adoption of the revised civil practice, had much to do with its final
adoption. Though advanced in years he was elected a member of
the House of Representatives of Connecticut in 1880, and was a con-
trolling spirit in that body, although his usefulness was impaired
latterly by ill health.

Born of a family distinguished both in law and in politics. Judge
Seymour was one of its most brilliant scions. He was a cousin of

CS'^^iX

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' ^!^K ;<mir

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 28/

Horatio Seymour of New York, a relative of Ex-Governor Thomas
H. Seymour of Connecticut, .and leaves behind him two sons at the
Bar, Morris W. Seymour of Bridgeport and Edward W. Seymour
of Litchfield; another son, Rev. Storrs O. Seymour is a prominent
Episcopal clergyman in Litchfield. In politics Judge Seymour was
a consistent, unflinching and earnest democrat. In religion he was
an Episcopalian, being a devout and devoted Churchman.

While Judge Seymour was prominent in all the walks of life,
whether in church affairs, politically or socially, he will be chiefly
remembered as a great lawyer and a good man. By his cjualities of
mind and training he was specially fitted to ornament the Bar. His
intellect was clear and cloudless ; he grasped the salient points of a
controversy with remarkable ease and quickness ; in statement he
was luminous, perspicacious and strong. His style of oratory was
simple unornamental but pelluicid and most convincing. Those who
heard him argue a case were convinced in spite of themselves that
Judge Seymour reasoned from internal conviction of the truth of
liis cause and they felt that the argument flowed from his intellect
as a logical sequence of established facts. Hence he was, while
unrhetorical, a most persuasive speaker. By his death the Bar of
the State loses its brightest luminary, his party an able and effective,
advocate, the church a pious and noble member, and society
one who was amiable, gentle and affectionate, and who loved
mankind because he recognized in them something akin to divinity.
A'^iewed in every aspect his death must be regarded as a public
calamity. That he will rest in peace needs ho assurance. With
such a noble life, such lofty aspirations, such a pure purpose, and
with such noble fulfillments of the promises of his early manhood,
he leaves behind him a record which, while it is the honor and glory
of his family, is also a delight and blessing to the public. Judge
Seymour was a good and great man. He needs no further eulogy.

His portrait is on page 210.

OziAS Seymour was born in Litchfield July 3, 1776, was a brother
of Moses Seymour, Jr. He held the office of Sheriff from 1825,
when he succeeded his brother in that office, to 1834. He was the
father of the late Chief Justice Seymour. He died in Litchfield.
His picture is included in the Seymour group.

Morris W. SEviiouR, son of the late Chief Justice Origen S.
Seymour and brother of the late Supreme Court Judge, Edward W.
Seymour, was born in Litchfield in 1842, was a member of the class
of 1866 Yale, graduated from Columbia Law School in 1868 and was
at once admitted to the Litchfield County Bar. Mr. Seymour be-
gan practice in Bridgeport and was soon elected successively city
clerk, city attorney and corporation counsel. In i88r and 1882 he
was a member of the State Senate and was chiefly instrumental in
establishing the State Board of Pardons of which he has been for
many years, a valued member. He has been lecturer on law at Yale

288 1,XTCHFII?,LD COUNTY BEXCH AND BAR

University and has given especial attention to admirality and patent
cases in the highest courts of the nation. Mr. Seymour's summer
residence is at the old homestead in Litchfield.

Origen Storrs Sbymgur, is a son of Morris W. Seymour, gradu-
ated from Yale College in 1894 and from Yale Law School in 1896
and was admitted to this Bar in 1896. Is in practice in New York
City.

Fraxk W. Seymour, born in Colebrook in 1871, graduated from
Yale College in 1892 from Yale Law School in 1894, admitted to
this Bar in 1894. Resides in Winsted and is Judge of the Win-
chester Town Court, and Judge of Probate of that district.

James P. ShEEEEy was born in Torrington in 1859 and admitted
to this Bar in 1889. Resides and practices at Winsted. Has a
large practice in Pension matters and Government claims.

George F. Si-iEETon was a native of Southbury, but was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 185 1. He located at Seymour and soon be-
came interested in extensive manufacturing operations in that town.
He was very active in State Military matters and at one time held
the office of Major General. He was also very prominent in politi-
cal affairs. He died at Seymour, October 17, 1902.

George F. Shei.ton was born in Southbury and graduated from
Yale College in 1877. He studied law in Woodbury, and was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1880. His professional life has been in the
Western States very much interested in railroad litigation. He is
now in practice in Butte, Montana, and is one of the counsel for
Senator William A. Clark in his extensive mining industries.

Stepi-iEK Si-iELTON was admitted to this Bar in 181 1 from
Plymouth.

Daniel Sherman, of Woodbury, born August 14, 1721, was
perhaps the most distinguished man that had arisen in the town
previous to his day. He was a descendant of Samuel Sherman, of
Stratford who emigrated to this country from England, in company
with his brother, Rev. John Sherman, and his nephew, Capt. John
Sherman, ancestor of Hon. Roger Sherman. He was a justice of
the quorum for twenty-five years, a Judge of the Litchfield County
Court for five years from 1786. For sixteen years he was Probate
Clerk for the district of Woodbury, and Judge of that district for
thirty-seven years. He represented his native town in the General
Assembly sixty-five sessions, retaining the unbounded confidence
of his fellow-citizens. This was by far the longest period of time
any one has ever represented the town. He was a member of the
Council of Safety from 1777 to 1781. He was a man of command-
ing powers of mind, of sterling integrity, ^nd every way qualified
for the various public trusts confided to his care. He died at Wood-
bury, July 2, 1799, full of honors, and was followed by the afifec-

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Reduced Facsimile of Layout of Land by Roger Sherman.
Complimenls of D. C. Kilbourn. Insert in Bench and Bar Book,,

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 289

tionate recollections of the inhabitants of the town among whom
he had so long lived. (History of Woodbury). He was the an-
cestor of ]Major-General William T. Sherman, and of Hon. John
Sherman, !\I. C.

Roger Shermax, a signer of the Declaration of Independence in
1776, was born in Massachusetts, and came to New Milford in 1750.
He was admitted to this Bar in 1754 and in 1761 removed to New
Haven where he lived until his death, July 23, 1793. See article on
Signers of the Declaration, page 172.

Oliver Skixxer, born in Litchfield July i8, 1782, and admitted
to this Bar in 1803.

Richard Skixxer, LL. D. was born in Litchfield May 30th,
1778, the son of General Timothy Skinner and Susannah Marsh,
his wife. He was admitted to the Bar in 1800, and removed to
Manchester, At.

At the deidcation of the Mark Skinner Library in that town
July 7, 1897, the following sketch of Richard Skinner was given by
his townsman. Judge Loveland Munson : "It was in the year 1800
that Richard Skinner, then 22 years of age, and fresh from the
Litchfield Law School, became a resident of JManchester and com-
menced the practice of his profession. He was appointed State's
Attorney for Bennington County in the second year of his practice,
was elected Judge of Probate for the District' of Manchester five
years later, and was continued in those offices until called to more
important fields of service. He was a member of Congress from
1813 to 181 5, three times chosen Governor of the State, a Judge of
the Supreme Court of the State for eight years, the first Chief Judge
of the Court as now organized. The esteem in which he was held
is sufficiently attested by the fact that for twenty-eight years, and
until his voluntary retirement, he was continuously in the public
service." His death occurred in Manchester May 23, 1833.

Roger Skixxer was a brother of Richard Skinner, and was
torn in Litchfield June 10, 1773, and admitted to the Bar in 1793.
He began practice in Litchfield but removed to the State of New
York. He was Judge of the United States Court in the Northern
District of that State.

Roger S. Skixxer graduate from Yale College in 1813 and was
admitted to this Bar in 1816.

Barzillai Slossox graduated from Yale College in 1791, was
admitted to the Fairfield County Bar in 1793, and settled in Kent,
where he died in 1843. (See Boardman's Sketches).

JoHX Seosson, a son of the foregoing was admitted to this Bar
in 1801. Resided in Kent where he was a prosperous merchant.

William Slossox was admitted to this Bar in 1800 from Kent.

290

LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Aaron Smith was a son of Gen. David Smith of Plymouth, grad-
uated at Yale in 1790, studied at Reeves Law School and was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1793. In 1809 he located in Litchfield, where
he held many official positions and died there in 1834.

ChauncEy Smith, was a lawyer in Sharon in 1819, 1820.
(Conn Reg.)

Erastus Smith of Plymouth was admitted to this Bar in 1828,.
and located in Hartford about 1833 and practiced there for forty
years. He died in 1878.

James W. SiiiTi-i admitted to this Bar in 1884. He went to-
Kansas and practiced a few years and in 1895 returned to Winsted
where he is now in practice.

Johx Cotton Smith, born
in Sharon February, 12, 1765,.
graduated from Yale in 1783,
admitted to this Bar in 1786.
He located in his native town
where he died December 7th,
1845. His whole life was one
\ ^^^^W^A, 'j^^H continual employment in pub-

" ""••"• lie official capacity, was rep-

pesentative in Congress four
terms ; Judge of the Superior
and Supreme Courts of Con-
necticut ; Governor of Con-
necticut 1813 to 1817. It is
impossible in this brief state-
ment to mention all of his other positions. A memorial biography
of his life was published. See Boardman's Early Lights.

John Cotton Smith, Jr., born in Tivoli, X. Y., graduated from-
Yale in 1830, admitted to the Bar in 1832. He resided in Sharon
and is known much better as a politician than lawyer. He held a
very influential position in the Democratic party for many years.
He died at Sharon, November 21, 1879, aged 68 years.

Joseph L: Smith, born in New Britain, Conn., May 28, 1776,
located in Litchfield about 1802, where he practiced until the war
of 1812. He married one of Ephriam Kirby's daughters. In con-
sequence of the active part he took in the 6th of August Festival
1806, he lost most of his practice. He was appointed by the ad-
ministration a Major in the war of 1812, remaining in service till
1818, when he removed to Florida. From 1823 to 1827 he was
a Judge of the United States District Court for Florida. He died
at St. Augustine May 24, 1846. Gen. Ephriam Kirby Smith who-
was the last Confederate General to surrender his command was a
descendant of the above.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 29 T

Juxius Smith was a son of Gen. David Smith and a brother of
Aaron Smith, born in Plymouth October 2, 1780. He graduated
at Yale College in 1802, and then attended the Litchfield Law
School, and was admitted to the Bar and began his practice in
New Haven, but soon became interested in mercantile business
which necessitated his removal in 1805 "to London, England, and
in which he was engaged until about 1832.

During this period Robert Fulton had demonstrated the practic-
ability of using steam for propelling vessels and Smith conceived
the idea that steam could be used in Ocean Navigation. It was a
preposterous scheme at that time. The little boats would move on
narrow rivers outside of waves and winds but on the broad bosom
of the ocean Neptune's power could not be withstood, and Smith's
efforts were laughed at as fancies of an idle dreamer. He per-
severed, however, after many rebuffs both in England and America
some of which were strangely laughable ; he succeeded in chartering
a trial vessel but no one would take any stock in his building one.
After six years the Sirius- a small craft of seven hundred tons
steamed out of the harbor of Cork on April 4, 1838, bound for
America or as the papers of the day had it for destruction, but in
nineteen days steamed into the bay of New York.

The arrival of this craft under steam in New York opened the
new era of commerce and it was not long before a company' was.
formed and a new steamship called the British Queen was built
and soon Smith received great honors, Yale College adding an L.
L. D. to his name.

He subsequently bought a plantation in South Carolina and be-
gan the culture of the tea plant which he imported from China, and
proved the possibility of growing it successfully in the United States.

Nathaniel Siiith was born in 1762, within the limits of the
present town of Washington, then a part of 'Woodbury. He com-
menced life a farmer and cattle dealer, with scarcely the advantages
of a common education. Such, however, was the impulse of hiff
powers, he surmounted all obstacles. Studied law with Ephraim
Kirby and Judge Reeve, at Litchfield, and was admitted to the Bar-
in that county in 1787. He commenced the practice of law at
Woodbury and rose more rapidly to the highest grade of his pro-
fession than almost any other man has done. His powers of
thought and elocution gave him almost unlimited dominion over his
audience. He was a member of the House of Representatives in
the State Legislature October 1789, October 1791, May 1792, Oc-
tober 1794 and Mav 1795. In 1797 he was elected a representative
from this State in the Congress of the United States. Having-
served in that capacity two terms he declined a re-election in 1801.
In 1802, he was elected to the Council or Upper House of the
Legislature of this State ; a situation he resigned in 1804. In 1805,
he was appointed States Attorney for the County of Litchfield, and

292 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENdl AND BAR

Judge of the Supreme Court, in October, 1806. In the latter of-
fice he contmued until 1819. He died March 8th, 1822.

NathanEl B. Smith^ born in Woodbury December 1795, gradu-
ated from Yale College in 1815 and admitted to this Bar in 1818.
He began practice at New Haven but soon removed to Woodbury.
He continued in practice only a few years. He died in Woodbury.

Col. Natitanbl Smith, a son of Nathaniel B. Smith, born in
Woodbury in 1831, admitted to the Bar. Never engaged in the
practice of law and during the rebellion was appointed Major of
the 19th Conn. Infantry and was promoted to be its Lrieutenant
Colonel, resigning therefrom for disability May 6, 1864. He died
at Woodbury August 26, 1877.

Nathan SiiiTii was born in Roxbury in 1770 and was admitted
to this Bar in 1792 and located in New Haven. He became one of
the most celebrated lawyers in the State, and had a very extensive
business. He was United States Senator and died while holding
that position in the City of Washington, December 6, 1835.

Perry Smith was born in Washington, Conn., studied law at
the Litchfield L,aw School and was admitted' to the Bar in 1807 and
settled in New Milford, where he died in 1852. He was a United
States Senator for six years from March 4, 1837.

Phineas Smith, Jr. was a younger brother of Hon. Truman
Smith, born in Roxbury, graduated from Yale College in 1816, ad-
mitted to this Bar in 181 8 and removed to Vermont, where he died.

Richard Smith was born in Roxbury in 1769, graduated from
Yale College in 1797, admitted to this Bar in 1801 and died in 1805.

Richard Smith, a native of Sharon graduated from Yale Col-
lege in 1825, admitted to the Bar in 1830, died in Sharon, December
21, 1878, aged 76.

Truman Smith was a son of Phineas and Deborah Ann (Jud-
•son) Smith and was born in Roxbury, Conn, on the 27th of Novem-
ber, 1 79 1.

Mr. Smith graduated at Yale College in the class of 181 5, was
admitted to the Bar in 1818, -and located in Litchfield where he re-
sided until 1854 when he removed to Stamford, residing there until
bis death. May 3rd, 1885.

Two of his uncles, Nathaniel Smith and Nathan Smith had at-
tained fame and rank at the Bar and in public life, and it seems
natural that Truman Smith should be a successful pTactioner and
be honored with many political offices. He was a member of the
State Legislature in 1831, 1832, and 1834. He was a member of
the 26th and 27th Congress (1839-43) for the 5th District and of
the 29th and 30th (1845 to 1849) for the 4th District. He was

BIOGRAPHICAL KOTES 293

chairman of the National Committee in the Taylor campagin and
offered a seat in the Cabinet which he declined. From 1849 to ^^54
he was a member of the U. S. Senate. This honor he resigned and
opened an office in the city of New York, and continued in practice
there until the i6th day of May, 1871, when he handed over all his
business to a younger lawyer, Cephas Brainerd, retaining in his own
hands but two cases, known as the Lockwood and the Humaston
cases.

President Lincoln appointed Mr. Smith Judge on the part of the
United States of the Mixed Court at New York, established under
the treaty of 7th of April, 1862, with Great Britain, and he held that
position until the abrogation of the treaty in 1870.

At the Litchfield School where he acquired the preliminary
knowledge of his profession, he was under the instruction of Tap-
ping Reeve and James Gould ; and among his fellow students were
John M. Clayton of Deleware and John Y. Mason of Virginia.

Upon entering Congress, Mr. Smith at once took a prominent
position. He was a member of the Committee to which were finally
referred some of the questions arising in regard to the famous New
Jersey Election case and he drafted the minority report upon that
case. This the majority in Congress- refused to print, but it was
printed in New Jersey and largely circulated. His associates in the
minority report were Millard Fillmore, John Minor Botts and Ben-
jamin Randall. The discussion was conducted with the greatest
acrimony and John Quincy Adams in his Diary says, "Mr. Smith
made a speech of three hours in answer to Fisher's most disingenuous
speech."

It was \lr. Smith's habit all through his Congressional career
to discuss in cxfcnso some of the more important measures pending
in the various sessions, and these speeches he always circulated
among his constituents, his feeling being that they ought to know
from the printed speeches as well as from the votes of their repre-
sentatives what they were actually doing and saying in Congress.

Mr. Smith was deeply interested in legislation looking to the
improvement of the means of communication in the country, hence
he was exceedingly active in regard to the construction of the Sault
Ste. Marie canal. Perhaps it may be safely said that the initiation
and construction of the canal was more due to him than to any other
one person. One of his last speeches in the Senate was in advocacy
of a railroad and telegraph line connecting the two oceans.

Shortly before he resigned from the Senate he made his speech
famous at that time and since, in reply to Douglas and against the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise.

Mr. Smith came to New York at the age of sixty-three, probably
too late in life to attain at that Bar a success correspondent to his
talents and learning. The most important case which he conducted
there was Lockzvood vs. The N. Y. Central Railroad which is re-
ported in 17 Wall. 321. The question presented was whether it

2g4 LITCHFIULD COUNTY BUNCH AXD BAR

was competent for a common carrier to secure exemption from
liability for negligence by a stipulation in a ticket to that effect. The
particular action was in favor of a drover who was taking cattle
■over the road under what was called a drover's pass. The courts
of New York had decided in favor of the exemption. Mr. Smith's
action was brought in the United States Circuit Court and Mr.
justice Smalley overruled the defense and the jury returned a ver-
dict for $25,000. This verdict was set aside by Mr. Justice Nelson
on appeal as excessive. The case came on for a second trial before
Mr. Justice Woodruff who also overruled the defense and the jury
found a verdict for $17,500.

The case was then taken to the Supreme Court of the United
States. and argued on the 15th and i6th of January, 1873. Mr.
Smith attended upon this argument and opened the case in an ad-
dress of an hour on behalf of the respondent. He argued the case
upon a most elaborate brief which examined all the authorities bear-
ing upon the question and it was most carefully reasoned. The
Supreme Court, speaking by Mr. Justice Bradley, sustained the
judgment below and a most elaborate opinion was written; in fact
this is the leading case upon the subject in this country today.

The other case which Mr. Smith retained in his hands, the
Humaston case, was tried before a jury, beginning on November
15th, 1871 and continuing for thirteen days. This suit was against
the Western Union Telegraph Company. Mr. Smith had as his
opponents John K. Porter, George Gifford, Grosvenor P. Lowry and
Charles Francis Stone. It involved first, a very important question
respecting the interpretation of the contract between the parties
and, secondly, the value of the inventions under discussion over and
above the cash which had already been paid upon them. Mr. Smith
opened the case in an address of two hours in which he explained in
■detail the various inventions for the transmission of messages by
telegraph and the case proceeded. Mr. Smith was alone in the case
save only a young assistant whose chief business was to read papers
and extracts from authorities.

During the progress of the case the question of the construction
■of the instument arose and was argued at length, Mr. Smith occu-
pying practically an entire day, under the suggestions of the pre-
siding Justice, in developing his view of the case. The presiding
Justice afterwards remarked that considering Mr. Smith's age, it
was the most remarkable exhibition of physical and mental power
he had ever witnessed. The case was closed and the jury went out
about six o'clock on the 13th clay of the trial, Judge Porter having
occupied the first part of the day in summing up for the defense and
Mr. Smith the latter part in summing up for the plaintiff. The jury
found a moderate verdict in favor of the plaintiff for '$7,500.

The Humaston was a remarkable case in that Mr. Smith, who
became eighty during the trial, was able to stand that amount of
work without exhibiting any diminution of force at any time during

BIOGRAPIIICAI, NOTES 295

the trial. That case also went to the Supreme Court of the United
States and was argued there on the 30th of JNIarch, 1874, Mr. Smith
closing the argument. That court however sustained the ruling of
Judge Woodruff on the interpretation of the contract, and defeated
i\'Ir. Smith.

Air. Smith was very effective before juries, his commanding
presence and voice, his great moral force, his readiness in retort,
his wit, his courage and his capacity as an actor and his elaborate
preparation made him a very dangerous adversary.

Always a believer in the essential doctrines of Christianity, as
taught in the churches of New England, late in life he became a
communicant in the Presbyterian Church of Stamford.

Wellixgtox B. Smith, born in New Hartford June 3, 1856,
was admitted to practice at this Bar in 1877. He resides and prac-
tices in Winsted, Conn. He was a member of the Constitutional
Convention in 1902. He was for many years a prosecuting agent
for Litchfield County engaged in the suppression of the illegal sale
of intoxicating liquor and was the moving spirit of the liquor trials
a brief account of which can be found on page 155. He has repre-
sented the town of Winchester in the Legislature and was on
Governor Chamberlain's Staff as Judge Advocate holding the rank
of Colonel. His portrait appears on page 158.

Samuel J. Southmayd, a native of Watertown studied in the
Litchfield Law School and admitted to the Bar in 1795. Practiced
in Watertown, where he died in 1813. (See Boardman's Sketches.)

Le^iax B. SpraguE was a native of Salisbury and was admitted
to the Bar in 1841. He soon after located in Woodbury and died
there August, 1845.

RuFus StaxeEy, of Litchfield, admitted in 1790.

Seth p. Staples, graduated from Yale in 1797, admitted to this
Bar in 1799, located in New Haven, .where he died in 1861.

Daxiel Starr, born in New Milford, admitted to the Bar in 1800.
Died May i, 1826.

AxsEL Stereixg,, born in Lyme, 1782, admitted to this Bar in
1805, located in Sharon in 1808, where he died November 6, 1853.
(See Sedgwick's Address).

Elisha Sterlixg, born in Lyme, graduated from Yale in 1787,
admitted to the Bar in 1790, in the following year located in Salis-
bury, where he lived until his death in 1836. (See Boardman's
Sketches).

John M. Sterlixg, son of Gen. EHsha Sterling, born 1800, in
Sahsbury, graduated at Yale in 1820. Admitted to the Bar in 1823.

296 I<ITCHI?IELD COUNTY BJJNCH AND BAR

In 1827 he removed to Cleveland, Ohio. Was a noted anti-slavery
reformer. He died in Philadelphia in 1880.

Henry W. Stevens,, admitted to the Bar in 181 1 from Canaan.

James Stevens, born in Stamford in 1768, admitted to this Bar
in 1797, located in his native town where he held many public of-
fices and was elected to the i6th Congress. Died April 4, 1835.

Benjamin StilES, a native of Southbury, graduated from Yale
in 1740. Practiced law in his native town of Southbury.

Benjamin Stiles, Jr. was born in Southbury, August 28, 1756,
graduated from Yale College in 1776, was admitted to this Bar in
1781, and practiced in Woodbury, having a very large office practice.
He died July 12, 1817.

Eliakim S. Stoddard, Jr., admitted to the Bar in 1847 from
Sharon. Died in Sharon May 14, 1865, aged 42 years.

Henry Stoddard was a native of Woodbury and born in 1786.
He was admitted to this Bar in 181 5, and began to practice in Kent.
In 1818 he left Kent and went "west" with George B. Holt of
Norfolk, a young member of this 'Bar who became so distinguished
in his later years in Ohio. They journeyed on horseback till they
reached Dayton, Ohio, then a little village of five or six hundred
inhabitants. Here they located. Holt to become an honored Judge
and citizen, and Stoddard a millionare.

RoBBiNS Batteee StoEckEE of Norfolk was born in New Haven
in 1872, fitted for college at Hopkins Grammar School, graduated
from Yale with honors in class of 1893 and Columbia Law School
two years later being admitted to the Litchfield Bar in 1896. Mr.
Stoeckel resides and practices in Norfolk where he has been Judge
of Probate for several years.

Col. Adonijah Strong, Judge Church says, "He was unique in
genius and manner, of large professional business, sound practical
sense and many anecdotes of his sayings and doings are still re-
membered and reported in the County."

The following vote appears upon the Bar Record : "At a Bar
meeting Deer. Term 1804 the following resolution was passed unan-
imously viz. That Adonijah Strong, Esc|r. on account of his great
emminence as a lawyer and eloquence as an advocate be considered
as a member of this Bar for the purpose of instructing students,
although he shall not continue to practice. Attest Amos Benedict,
Clerk." (See Warner's Reminiscences.)

John Strong, Jr., born in Woodbury December 31, 1786, gradu-
ated from Yale College in 1806 and admitted to this Bar in 1808.
He opened an office in Woodbury and continued in the active dis-
charge of his professional duties till his death in November, 1834.

FRANK 1-r. TURKINGTON

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 297

Few men have occupied a higher place in the confidence and af-
fections of the communit}-. Was Judge of Probate and represented
the town in the General Assembly a number of years.

JedEdiah Stroxg, born in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1738, grad-
ated from Yale College in 1761. He represented his town in the
General Court for thirty sessions. Was a member of the Conti-
nental Congress and Secretary of the Convention which adopted
the Constitution of the United States. He died in Litchfield in 1802.

;Martix Stroxg, a son of Col. Adonijah Strong, admitted to
this .Bar in 1801 and located in Salisbury. He was Judge of the
County Court and one of its most active magistrates, (^ee Sedg-
wick's Address).

TiiEROX R. Stroxg was a son of Hon. Alartin Strong, born in
Salisbury in 1802, admitted to this Bar in 1823. He located at
Rochester, X. Y. He was a member of Congress in 1839 and a
Judge of the Supreme Court of New York, 185 1 to 1858, and after-
wards a Judge of the Court of Appeals. He died in Xew York
City, 1873.

CvRCS SwAX was a native of Stonnington, studied in the Litch-
field Law School and admitted to the Bar in 1798. He settled in
Sharon and died there in 1835, aged 65. ((See Sedgwick's Ad-
dress).

Bexjamix Swift, admitted to the Bar in 1802.

HuiiAX Swift, admitted to the Bar in 1819 from Kent.

iNIiLTox- H. SaviFT, a native of Kent, admitted to the Bar in 1838.
Removed to Ottawa, Illinois.

JabFz Swift, Judge Church says of him, "He was the first law-
yer ever settled in Salisbury and was a native of Kent. He built
the stone house of Town Hill. Upon the breaking out of the war
of the Revolution he joined the army m Boston and there died."

Georgf E. Taft, born in Sheffield, Mass. November 4th, 1854,
admitted to this Bar in 1883 and soon after located at Unionville in
Hartford County, where he is now in practice. Has been a member
of the School Board there and Judge of Probate.

Robert S. Ti-iarex was born in Lebanon in 1714 and upon the
formation of the County in 175 1 was in practice at New Milford.
He died January 9th, 1786. (See Boardman's Sketches).

Joiix Q. Thayer was admitted to this Bar in 1869 and after
practicing a short time in New Milford he removed to Meriden,
Conn., where he is now in practice. He served four years in the
Civil War, 1861, and in 1899 '^^^ Judge Advocate of the Depart-
ment of Connecticut G. A. R.

298 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BUNCH AXD BAR

James Thompson was born in Woodbury, March 4, 1767, gradu-
ated from Yale College, 1789, and was admitted to this Bar in 1791.
He settled at New Durham, N. Y. About 1800 he left hii profession
and entered the Episcopal Ministry. He died August 18, 1844.

JuDSON B. Thompson^ admitted tothe Bar in 181 1.

HezEkiah Thompson was born in New Haven in 1734, studied
law in Stratford, and was admitted to the Bar in Litchfield in 1763.
He located in Woodbury. Died May 1803. "He stood well as a
lawyer and magistrate, and was a gentleman of the old school." 6th
Conn. Reports.

Martin H. Thomas, admitted to the Bar in 1808 from Salisbury.

JuDSON B. Thomas was in 1810 in Colebrook. Admitted to the
Bar in 1808 from Salisbury.

F. R. TiEFANY, admitted to the Bar in 1879.

George Tod, graduated from Yale College in 1795 and admitted
to the Bar in 1797.

Oliver A. G. Todd, born in Plymouth October 1812, admitted
to the Bar in 1833, practiced law in Waterbury, Litchfield, New Mil-
ford and Danbury in which latter city he died August 14, 1886.

David ToLiiAX, admitted to this Bar in 1792 from Woodbury.

Uriah Tracy, appointed States Attorney, 1794 to 1800. He
was born in Franklin, (now Norwich), Conn., February 2, 1755,
and graduated at Yale College in 1778, and read law with Judge
Reeve at Litchfield, where he was admitted to the Bar in 1780, and
settled in that town where he rose to a high eminence in his pro-
fession. He was very largely engaged in duties of a public nature,
and often represented his adopted town in the Legislature, and was
Speaker of the House in 1793. Was a representative in Congress
from 1793 to 1796, when he entered the Senate and was a member
until his death in 1807, serving part of the time as President pro
tciii. He died at Washington, D. C. July 19, 1807, and was the
first person buried in the Congressional burying ground.

Amos S. Treat, born in Bridgewater, February 5, 1816, ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1843, practiced in Fairfield County and died
at Bridgeport April 24, 1886.

Selah B. Treat, D. D., born in Hartford Februarv 19, 1804,
graduated at Yale 1824, admitted to this Bar in 1826. Practiced at
East Windsor and Penn Yan. New York. In 1835 he entered the
ministry and was Secretary of the American Board of Commission-
ers for Foreign Missions many vears. Died at Boston, March 28th,
1877.

/

BIOGRAPHICAL XOTES 299

Frank H. Turkixgtox, the present Sheriff of the County, was
born Jn Morris, then a part of Litchfield, June 11, 1854. Receiving
a common school education, he associated with his father in an ex-
tensive cattle and stock buying business, and butchering for the
wholesale trade at East Alorris, carrying their meats, mostly by
teams to Waterbury, Conn. He was very much interested in politi-
cal affairs, and represented his town in the Legislature twice — al-
though he was a Republican in a strong Democratic town. In 1906
he was elected Sheriff. He is also a farmer on a large scale, owning
more arable land which he successfully cultivates than any other
person in Litchfield County.

JoHX S. TuRRiLL was born February 8, 1825, attended Law
School at Balston Springs, N. Y. and was admitted to this Bar in
1851. Located in New Milford, enjoying a large practice until his
death, July 19, 1889. He was one of the Committee who prepared
the Revision of the Statutes of 1875.

Stephen" Twining, graduated at Yale College in 1795, was ad-
mitted to this Bar in 1797, located at Xew Haven, where he died in
1832. He was Steward of Yale College from 1819 to 1832.

Charles Tuttle, admitte'd to the Bar in 1856 from North Cole-
brook.

Noah Wadi-ia3is, a native of Goshen, studied law at Litchfield
Law School and was admitted to the Bar in 1793. Removed to
Pennsylvania and was admitted to .the Bar of Luzerne County, Pa.
in 1800.

Albert WADii.viis, born in Alassachusetts June 19, 1819, gradu-
ated at Norwich University, Vermont, and was admitted to the New
York Bar. Removed to Goshen and began the practice of law
about 1865. He died in Goshen, J\'Iay 1884.

George Wadsworth, born in Litchfield, was admitted to this
Bar in 1851. He located in Buffalo, N. Y., where he died March 19,
1907, aged 77 .

Frederick T. Wallace, admitted' to the Bar in 1844.

Thomas J. Wall, born in Torrington, February 19, 1879. Grad-
uated at Yale Law School and was admitted to this Bar, June 26,
1906. Practices in Torrington, and he writes me that he is kept very
busy between law-book agents and mercantile collection agencies.

Arthur D. Warner, born in Southbury August 2, 1848, ad-
mitted to this Bar April 1872. After eleven years practice at West
Cornwall he removed to Woodburv, where he is now m practice.
He was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for this County one
term of four rears.

300 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Donald J. Warner, born in Salisbury September 15, 1819, was
admitted to this Bar in 1843, settled at Salisbury, where he de-
ceased May 31, 1904. He was Judge of the District Court and
Court of Common Pleas eight years, and until he was retired by
reason of Constitutional limitation of age. His adress on the oc-
casion of the Centenial Celebration in Litchfield 1898, was exceed-
ingly interesting and a considerable portion of it is included in this
compilation.

Donald J. Warner, son of Donald T. Warner, and grandson of
Judge Donald W.arner, was born in Salisbury'July 24, 1885. Grad-
uated at Yale College in 1905, and from the Law School 1908, when
he was admitted to this Bar.

Donald T. Warxer, son of Judge Donald J. Warner, was born
in Salisbury December 15, 1850. Was admitted to the Bar in 1873.
He resides in Salisbury, and has held the office of States Attorney
since 1896. In 1902 he was a leading member of the Constitutional
Convention of Connecticut. He was a member of the State Senate
in 1895 and 1897, in which latter year he was chairman of the
Judiciary Committee.

Lyjian F. Warner, a native of Roxbury, admitted to the Bar
in 1848 and removed west.

Milton J. Warner was born in Salisbury, graduated from Wil-
liams College, was admitted to this Bar September, 1867, and located
at Waverly, X. Y. Afterwards removed to Santa Fe, New Mexico,
wher he died.

Thomas G. Waterman, a native of Salisbury studied law with
Gen. Elisha Sterling and was admitted to this Bar in 1809. He be-
came a prominent member of the Bar in Binghamton, N Y., where
he died in 1861. Author of Waterman's Digests.

Douglass Watson, born May 12, 1821 at Canaan, admitted to
the Bar in 1845.

D.\NiEL F. Webster, born in Litchfield March 14, i8^^. gradu-
atecl from Dartmouth College in 1874 and admitted to this Bar in
1876. Located and practiced in Waterbury until his death in 1896.

Frederick C. Webster, born in Litchfield October 17 i8so
Graduated from Yale College in 1874 and was admitted to the Bar
in 1876. Practiced law in Litchfield a short time, then removed
to the West. He resides at Missoula, Montana, of which city he has
been Mayor. He is now a Judge of one of the Districts of that
State.

Gideon H. Welch, born at East Haddam, Conn., Seotember -^^
1844^ Graduated at Yale College 1868, and from Yale Law School
in 1870, and immediately located at Torrington, succeedino- the late

FREDERIC M. "WIIXIAJIS

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

301

Henry S. Bai-bour, Esq. He had a lucrative practice, and held
numerous town offices and represented the town in the General As
sembly in 1881 and the District in the State Senate in 1897. In 1897
upon the appointment of Judge Roraback to the Superior Court
he was appointed by the Governor, Judge of the Court of Common
Pleas, which action the Legislature confirmed for another term of
four years, and is now (1907) in office. Picture on page 141.

Ralph Wells, admitted in 1813 from Hartford.

Resides in Omaha,.

Fraxcis W. Wessells, admitted in 1870.
Xeb.

Samuel Wetjiore, admitted in 1803.

N. Wetjiore, admitted in 1808.

LeverETTE \\'. Wessells
was born in Litchfield in
1 819. Held the office of
Sheriff for twelve years
from 1854 to 1866, succeed-
ing Hon. Albert Sedgwick,
under whom he was a Dep-
uty SheriflF for nine years.
Was Post Master of Litch-
field, 1850 to 1854, a repre-
sentative in the General
Assembly in 1879 and again
in 1887, was Quarter ]\Ias-
ter General of the State in
1879 and 1880. In 1862 he
was commissioned a Col-
onel b}' Governor Bucking-
ham and by his skillful
management organized the

i 19th Infantry Regiment,

afterwards the 2nd Connec-
ticut Heavy Artillery. This was a Litchfield County Regiment and
won a leading record for its valor in the war of the Rebellion.! Col-
onel Wessells resigned his commission by reason of ill health in 1863
and was immediately appointed Provost Marshall of the Fourth
District of Connecticut which office he held until the close of the
Rebellion. "To his old friends in the Commonwealth and beyond
its limits the thought that they are to see his face no more must
needs be a sad one : but to him the end came as a happy release from
the house of pain. He had lived beyond all expectation and filled
the measure of his years, had done a man's work in the world, and
long since assured for himself an honorable place in the remembrance
of his town and State." He died at Dover, Del. April 4th, 1895.

302 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

George Wheaton, of Cornwall, — The following is the notice of
his death from a county newspaper :

"George Wheaton, Esq., the oldest and one of the most respected
memberi of the Litchfield County Bar, died at his residence in Corn-
wall, on Friday evening, Nov. 24th, 1865. He was born in East
Haven in 1790, and was, therefore, in his 76th year. He removed
to Salisbury about 1810 where he studied law with Judge Church,
then a practicing lawyer. He was admitted to the Bar in 1813, when
he made Cornwall his place of residence. Mr. Wheaton was a well-
read, exact lawyer, a prudent business man, and a close reasoner.
He was a valuable man in town affairs, and enjoyed the respect and
confidence of his fellow-citizens. He had long been a member of
the Congregational Church, and he was known and beloved as a'
consistent Christian. His funeral was attended at Cornwall last
Sunday by a large number of people, among whom were many of
the prominent members of the Eitchfield and Fairfield County Bars."

Joshua Whitney, — ^He was one of the early settlers of Norfolk
coming there from Canaan. He was a lawyer and was first King's
Attorney of the npw County in 175 1, appointed thereto by the new
County Court. He was very prominent in town affairs in Norfolk
until about 1763 when it is said that he removed back to Canaan.
1 suppose him to have been the same Joshua Whitney who served
from Canaan all through the Revolution and was a "Eeftenant."

Solomon Whitney, from Canaan admitted to the Bar in 1763.

Charles Whittlesey, born in Salisbury, graduated from Wil-
liams College in 1840, admitted to this Bar in 1844. Began practice
in Cheshire, removed to Middletown and in 1855 to Hartford, Conn.
Was States Attorney for Middlesex County for six years. Was
Captain of Campany I 22nd Conn. Vols. He died in Alexandria,
Va... in 1874.

Elisha Whittlesey, a native of Washington, was admitted to
this Bar in 1781 and soon removed to the Connecticut Reserve. In
1823 he was elected member of Congress which position he held for
eighteen years. In 1841 he was appointed Auditor of the Treasury
for the Post Office Department and in 1849 first Comptroller of the
Treasury of the United States.

Roger Whittlesey, born in Newington, 1767, graduated from
Yale m 1787; studied at the Litchfield Law School and was ad-
mitted to the Bar in 1790. He practiced at SouthirTgton and died
there October 5, 1844.

Tho:iias T. Whittlesey, born in 1794, graduated from Yale
College in 1817 ; admitted to this Bar in 1820. He located in Dan-
bury. He was representative in Congress in 1827 and 182Q ind
died in 1868.

GOVERNOR OLIVER WOLCOTT

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 303

Edwix a. WiiiTiv, born in Cornwall, graduated from \\'esleyan
University ; admitted to this Bar in 1882. Removed to the State
of Xew York and after a practice of a few years abandoned the law
and became an Episcopal Clergyman. He is now in Bloomfield, X. J.
He is the author of a standard v\-ork on Episcopal law and is en-
gaged in codifying the Church laws of the State of X'ew Jersey.

Hubert Wieliams was born in Salisbury, September 10, 1853.
Graduated from Columbia Law School in 1873 : was admitted to the
Bar in 1875 and resided in Lakeville, his native town. He was
Post Master in that village a number of years. He died suddenly
September 24, 1906.

Frederic ]M. \\'iLEiAiis, born in Washington, Conn., X'ovember
27, 1862. He prepared for college at the Upson School in Xew
Preston and graduated from the Yale Law School in 1887 ; also
studying with Hon. Simeon E. Baldwin. He was admitted to the
X'ew Haven Bar in 1887 and later moved to Xew Milford. He has
been very prominent in the affairs of his town and is a most efficieni
Prosecuting Agent for Litchfield County.

\^"ILLIAlr G. WiEEiAMS, born in Stockbridge, Mass. Admitted
to this Bar in 1800 and located at Sharon until 1809 when he re-
moved to X"ew Hartford, where he died in 1838, aged 59.

Thomas \\'ilcox, admitted in 1799 from Canaan.

AxDREw B. WiLSOx, admitted in 1865 from Cornwall. Practiced
■ a short time at X^ewtown and removed to Bridgeport, where he en-
gaged in manufacturing.

Gex. Oliver Woecott was the first Sheriff of the County, hold-
ing the office for more than twenty years. (See articles on Signers
of the Declaration on page 174.)

Oliver W'olcott, Jr., L. L. D. was born in Litchfield January
II, 1760, and was the son of Oliver Wolcott, the Signer of the
Declaration of Independence. At the age of thirteen he was pre-
pared for and entered Yale College, but by reason of taking fre-
c[uent vacations to go into the Revolutionary Army, did not gradu-
ate till 1779. He was admitted to this Bar in 1781. His whole
life was devoted to the public service and affairs. He was suc-
cessively Comptroller of this State, Auditor and Secretary of the
United States Treasury, Judge of the United States Circuit Court,
President of the Bank of America, President of the Constitutional
Convention of Connecticut, and Governor of his native State from
1817 to 1827. He was one of the most illustrious statesmen of the
early days of the Republic, the intimate friend and adviser of Wash-
ington, Adams and Hamilton; and for some time previous to his
decease in Xew York, June 2, 1833, he was the last surviving mem-
ber of Washington's cabinet. The departure of few men from the
world ever produced a more deep and general feeling of sorrow.

304

LITCHFIELD COUXTY BF.XCII AXD BAR

Daniel Wood, admitted in 1799 from Sharon.

JoHX WooDBRiDGE, Jr.. admitted in 185 1 from New Hartford.

EzEKii-L WooDRUFJ?, a native of Farmington, graduated from
Yale in 1779 and was admitted to tliis Bar in 1781. He located at
Middletown and in 1789 removed from the State.

George: C. Woodruff was born on the first day of December,
1805 in Litchfield in that part of the town which is now the town
of Morris. He was the eldest son of Maj. Gen. Morris Woodruff,
who was for 11 years a Judge of the County Court. George C.
graduated at Yale in 1825, studied law at the Litchfield Law School
under Judge Gould and was admitted to this Bar in 1827. He soon
located in Litchfield where he resided until his death on the 21st
day of November, 1885. He took a leading position at the Bar of
Litchfield County, gradually rising until he became its acknowledged
head and was chairman of the Bar Association for many years. In
his early life he was daily thrown into conflict with those giants of
the profession — ^the two Churches, Huntington, Bacon, Smith and
others of their able contemixiraries. He held almost every office of
the town and county — justice of the peace, grand juror, postmaster,
town treasurer, town clerk, bank director and president, clerk of the
superior court, Colonel in the Alilitia, member and clerk of the Gen-
eral Assembly, judge of probate, member of the Thirty-Seventh
Congress — the duties of each in turn performed with that rigid ex-
actness and scrupulous integrity which marks the perfect man. To
him the state at large owes many of the best features of the revision
of our statutes adopted in 1875. As a lawyer, Mr. Woodruff was
prominent in those branches where certainty is possible. It was in
the trial of questions of law, the dryer and more abstruse the better
that his most consummate skill was shown. In the Supreme Court
of Errors not infrequently his entire argument was written out with
the most painstaking care.

In whatever relation of life one looks at him as citizen, as neigh-
bor, in private life or public station, as counsellor or judge he was
one of the best products of our American civilization.

(Condensed from obituary in 54, Conn. Report).

George M. Woodruff was a son of Hon. George C. Woodruff
of Litchfield and enjoys the distinction of being, through his father
and mother, a member of the only two families in the county who
have for three successive generations practiced before its courts.
In fact it might be said for four generations as Mr. Woodruff's
grandfather on one side was county judge and on the other sheriff.
He was born in Litchfield, 1836 and has been extremely active in
state as well as town affairs. He prepared for college at Phillips
Academy, Andover, graduated at Yale in 1857, the Harvard Law
School in 1859 and. was admitted to the Litchfield Bar in the same
year. He was in the Legislature in 1863, 1865 and 1872, serving

EIOGRAl'IIICAI, XOTES

30s

on the Judiciary Committee the first two temis. He was town treas-
urer 1866 to 1906 and Judge of Profeate since 1868 with the ex-
ception of one year. He was one of the state railroad commissioners
from 1874 to 1897 and chairman of the Board from 1875. Mr.
Woodruff was commissioner for this state to the Universal Ex-
position at Hamburg in 1863 and a member of the State Board of
education from 1865 to 1877. He is an active member and Deacon
in the Congregational church and has been president of the Savings
Society since 1885. He is also president of the First National Bank
and Vice-President of the Colonial Trust Company of Waterbury.

James P. Woodruff is a son of Hon. George M. Woodrufif, born
in Litchfield October 30, 1868, graduated from Amherst College in
i89i_and from Yale Law School in 1893 and was admitted to this
Bar in 1893. Resides and practices at Litchfield in company with
his father. He represented his town in the Legislature of 1899-1903.

Hox. Lewis B. ^^'ooDRuFF, L. L. D., son of Gen. Morris Wood-
rufif and brother of Hon. George C. Woodrufif, was born in Litch-
field (South Farms) June 19, 1809. Preparing for College at the
then noted ^lorris Academy, he graduated with high honors from
Yale College in 1830. In the fall of that year he entered the Litch-
field Law School, where under the instruction of Judge Gould, then
at its head, he laid the foundation of the scholarly learning which
secured his success at the Bar and so distinguished his judicial
career. On completing his studies in that school he was admitted
to the Bar of Connecticut in 1832. Li October of that year he re-
moved to the city of New York, and after a successful practice at
the Bar he was, in 1850, called to the Bench, and thereafter held
successively the offices of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas,
Superior Court, Court of Appeals, and United States Circuit Court
for the Second Judicial Circuit, which latter position he filled at
the time of his death. A devoted lover of his native State it was
especially pleasing to him that Connecticut was a part of his Judi-
cial District, maintaining a residence in Litchfield a portion of the
year and he died at his home in that place September 10, 1875,
esteemed, revered and beloved by all who new him. His great
learning, his remarkable power of analysis, and his deep discern-
ment and excellent judgment, reinforced by habits of profound
study and indefatigable industry, and his sterling integrity insured
his high reputation on the Bench.

Dignified, in his bearing, he was in the family circle tender and
afifectionate, everywhere generous, kind and helpful. Devoted to
his home joys, genial and cordial, he was the delight of the social
circle, and his loving welcome, hospitable board and ever open door,
kept warm hearts constantly about him.

It was said of him : — "He went to the very bottom of every sub-
ject with which he undertook {o deal. He cared not for the mul-
tiplicity of details, they never clogged his perception of a general

3o6 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

bearing, and never one of them was deprived of the exact degree
of weight to which it was relatively entitled. Law was to him what
Music or Art is to some natures, it engrossed him, and was a prov-
ince in which he moved a King and a Master."

In i860, Columbia College of New York conferred upon him
the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

He married a daughter of Chief Justice Hornblower ■ of New
Jersey. Of his three children, the eldest, Charles H. Woodruff,
adopted his father's profession, practicing in New York and main-
taining as a summer home his father's country residence; and he
also has contributed two sons, Lewis B. and Frederick S., to the
Bar of New York.

He purchased the Judge Tapping Reeve residence in Litchfield
for his summer home. His portrait appears on page 206 in con-
nection with the Law School.

Morris Woodruff was for many years one of the Judges of the
Count}' Court, and apparently a standing committee for the lay-out
of highways and the transaction of matters of a similar nature. He
was a Major General of the State Militia and held very many town
and county public offices. His two sons, George C. and Lewis B.
became Attorneys of the highest standing, while his only daughter
was the esteemed wife of the late Chief Justice Seymour. He was
born in Litchfield in 1777 and died in 1841.

Pitkin Cowles Wright was born in Canaan May 1835. Grad-
uated at Williams in 1852 and admitted to practice in 1855. He re-
moved to Iowa. He was the Grand High Priest of Iowa in 1868-9.
He died at Somerville, Tenn. September isth, 1896.

John F. Wynnf^ born at Sandisfield, Mass., i860. Admitted
to the Bar in 1881. Settled at Unionville in the town of Farming-
ton which town ,he represented in the Legislature in 1886. Sub-
sequently he removed to New Haven where he is now in practice.

John D. Yale, SheriiT of the County from 1878 to 1881. He
was born in Canaan in 1826. At the close of his term of office he
resided in Winsted and was emplo_ved as a commercial traveler. He
removed to Hartford, and retired from active business pursuits.
He died in Hartford April 24, 1905.

-Cf]>b

^§oiILi-^'^^

LIGANS

MAY IT PLEASU Tlllt COURT.

MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT

In the preparation of this vohvme the compiler has collected many
items not exactly apropos to the general scheme of the book. They
are, however, papers and documents of such general interest that
they should be preserved, and I have printed them herein under an
old lawr term, thit they may be available at some future time. I
have not aimed at any particular arrangement, and the reader if he
is a lawyer, may demur to them, plead in abatement, move to strike
out, erase, or for a more particular statement, just as he pleases.
There will be no charge beyond the price of the book whether he
wins or loses his motion ; if he is a layman he may omit them alto-
gether. I have included a number of pictures which ma}- add to
the interest of the book.

"This world is but a fleeting show,
And soon grim death will jerk us :

So let's be happy as we go.
And all enjoy the circus."

EX-GOV. CHARLES B. ANDREWS.

In the earlier preparation of this volume I was promised an
original article by the late Hon. Charles B. Andrews, but his lament-
ed decease prevented me from obtaining one in his own writing. Of
course those who read the Connecticut Reports are familiar with his
legal opinions as found in those Reports. Judge Andrews v/as,
however, a writer on many other subjects besides legal opinions.
The following is an address which he delivered, which will serve to
show his style of thought and composition, and is also a review of
many of the matters contained in this volume. He gave it to me
as his contribution to one of our banquets.

3IO LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

AN ADDRESS BY EX. GOVERNOR
CHARLES B. ANDREWS

You give it, J\Ir. President, as the result of your reflections, that
the judicial power is the highest in the trinity of the governmental
powers. I apprehend that most thoughtful persons will agree with
you for the reasons you have given. In every government of laws,
the courts hold the most important place. The legislature may be
nominally higher than the judiciary; but in the actual experience
of life, the courts touch the citizen more frequently and more nearly,
than the law-making power. The legislature ordinarily does no more
than make rules in the abstract; the courts apply them to concrete
cases. To the parties in any given case, that seems only to be the
law, which the court decides to be law, for the reason that the court
must pass upon the facts, as well as interpret thp rule made by the
legislature.

In one of those fervid bursts of eloquence, for which Mr. Rufus
Choate was so v/idely knov/n, he exclaimed : "Let us repose secure
under the shadow of a learned, impartial and trusted judiciary, and
we need no more. Given that, and it matters little what constitution
you have, or who makes the laws."

Thinking only of that former time, when no one living was con-
nected with the courts, I cherish the belief that the judiciary of Con-
necticut has measurably fulfilled for the people of that state, such an
high idea. To some extent, doubtless, this is due to the fact that
there has been no great city in the state, so that the questions, vex-
atious and dangerous, liable to rise from a vast, divergent and largely
unlearned population have never brought disturbance into the courts.
Perhaps, also, the cities of New York on the one side, and Boston
on the other, have drawn from us other sources of trouble. In an-
other degree good fortune has come from the character of its people.
Connecticut was a Puritan colony, even more so than Massachusetts.
It has always been a Puritan state. The Puritan, with all his wil-
fulness, his self-assertion, his theology and his dogmatism, was a
conservative citizen. Respect for the powers that be was a part of
his creed. To be sure, he intended to have the powers on his side
most of the time, and never scrupled to quarrel with them if thev
were not ; but notwithstanding, he had the thrifty habit of economv :
and the mone}'-making man is compelled to have a respect for law ;
and this respect for the law has continued to this day to be a char-
acter of the people of the state. P>ut mainly the result has come
from the judiciary itself. In the original frame of government of
that state all judicial power was exercised by the legislature. The
legislature continued to hear cases on appeal until the year 1784.

CHARLES B. ANDRi;"^S^ C. J.

GOV. Andrew's address 311

In that year it was enacted that the Lieutenant Governor and the
Council should constitute the Supreme Court of Errors. In 1793
the Governor was added to the court, and made the presiding judge.
Eight members were necessary to form a quorum. It was soon the
subject of complaint, that the members of this court were chosen
with reference to their Ciualifications as legislators rather than as
judges. In 1806 an -act was passed which transferred all the judicial
power of the Governor and Council to the then Superior Court, and
it was made the Supreme Coiirt of Errors. That was the origin of
the Supreme Court of Errors as it now exists. Jesse Root was at
that time Chief Justice. Including its then members, and all who
have since been appointed, there have been forty-four members of
that court. Thirteen of its deceased members have been Chief
Justices — Jesse Root, Stephen Mix Mitchell, Tapping Reeve, Zep-
haniah Swift, Stephen Titus Hosmer, David Daggett, Thomas Scott
Williams, Samuel Church, Henry Matson Waite, William Lucius
Storrs, Joel Hinman, Thomas Belden Butler and Ovigen Storrs
Seymour.

These were notable men in their day, and came up to the full
standard of being learned, impartial and trusted. The memory of
every one of them is cherished by the people of Connecticut with
affectionate pride and veneration. They were no more than a fair
indication of the other members of the judges. It is little wonder,
then, that the people of that state have reposed secure under the
shadow of their own trusted magistracy. Nor is it a wonder that
the court held a creditable place among other like courts in the nation.

Of the individual character of these and other of the judges, and
cf the later court, others can .speak much better than myself.

Prior to 1819, all the judges were appointed annually. There
was a statute which provided that the judges should hold office dur-
ing the pleasure of the legislature ; but the legislature continued to
m.anifest its pleasure by annual elections, until the adoption of the
constitution, in 1818. By that constitution the judges of the Su-
preme and Superior Courts were to hold office during good behavior,
subject to impeachment and to be removed by advice of two-thirds
of each house of the general assembly. Another clause of the con-
stitution declared that no judge or justice of the peace should be
capable of holding oflice after he arrived at seventy years of age.
These two provisions of the constitution have given rise to the sus-
picion that in Connecticut a man cannot behave well as a judicial
officer after he is seventy years old.

In 1855 there was a change by which the judicial term was made
eight years. The legislature has always elected all judges. An-
other change in 1880, has so made it that the legislature elects the
judges upon the nomination of the Governor.

In the general field of law, the state of Connecticut deserves at
least a passing notice. Everv lawyer in the country has heard of
the Litchfield Law School. ':More than to any other, and perhaps

312 LITCHFIELD COL'XTV UEN'CII AXD BAR

more than to all other agencies, it is owing to that law school, that
the law in these United States has so much uniformity, consistency
and symmetry as it has. That school was founded by Tapping
Reeve in 1784. When Mr. Reeve became a judge of the Superior
Court, in 1789, he associated with himself James Gould as a teacher.
They continued the school together till 1820. Judge Reeve died in
1822. Judge Gould continued it till 1833. During its existence
there were educated nearly two thousand young men, coming from
every one of the then states. Among the number were those who
afterward became judges, chief justices and prominent lawyers and
statesmen in most of the states — ^Chief Justice Baldwin, of Georgia ;
John C. Calhoun; John M. Clayton, of Deleware ; Daniel S. Dick-
inson, of Xew York; Levi Woodbury, of Maine; Theron Metcalf,
of Massachusetts ; William Halstead, of Xew Jersey ; Washington
Poe, and very many others.

The earliest volume of reports of decided cases published in
Aimerica was in Connecticut, by Ephraim Kirby, at Litchfield, in
1789. It has erroneously been said, that the first volume of Dal-
lo's reports was the earliest. Dallo's first volume was not published
imtil 1790.

Of Tapping Reeve I should speak a little more. He was much
more than an ordinary man. He was born at Brookhaven, L. L, in
1744; graduated at Princeton in 1763. He studied law with Jesse
Root, at Hartford; settled at Litchfield in 1772, and began his law
teaching in 1784. He was a born teacher. Every one of the pupils
who came under his instruction became at once inspired v/ith a love
of study, with the grandeur of the science and the dignity of the pro-
fession. Jesse Root, who was the instructor of Judge Reeve, was
himself a distinguished man. He was born in Coventry, Conn. ;
graduated at Princeton, in 1756. He was a preacher until 1763,
when he became a lawyer in Hartford. He raised a company for
the army and became a colonel. He was a member of the Conti-
nental Congress for four years. He was a judge of the Superior
Court after 1788. He published two volumes of reports. Another
Chief Justice was Zephaniah Swift, who was the author of Swift's
Digest. The older lawyers in all those states, which founded their
law upon the common law, have doubtless heard of this book. It
was exceedingly valuable as an introductorv book for beginners,
and an excellent hand-book for professional work.

The work of the court in Connecticut is recorded in the volume
of reports which 1 have mentioned, in five volumes of Day's Reports,
and in fifty-seven volumes of Connecticut Reports. In them there
are no startling cases. They record the litigated cases of a people
usually happy, and intent on the arts of peace ; but I feel sure that
they teach constantly the principles of that science of which Lord
Erskine said : "They are founded in the charities of religion, in the
philosophy of nature, in the truths of history, and in the experience
of common life."

H. WILLIAJIS AUGU.MEXT 313

A DEMURRER

AX ARGUMENT OX A DEMURRER.

Argument of Hubert Williams, Esq., in the case of Arthur Good-
man vs. The Town of Salisbury, tried in the court of Common Pleas
before Hon. Arthur D. Warner, Judge.

_ The lease ran in the name of Arthur Goodman, agent for the
Kickapoo Indian Compan)-. A plea in abatement was filed on the
claim that the suit should have been in the naane of the real party,
instead of the agent. To this plea in abatement the plaintiff filed a
demurrer.

y[R. WiLi^iAiis: If the Court please, I appear in behalf of the
plea in abatement and against the demurrer. This is a demurrer
to a plea in abatement in the case nominally of Arthur Goodman
against The Town of Salisbury, but actually of the Kickapoo Indian
Medicine Company against said town.

It would be a waste of words for me to tell your Honor that I
am like necessity — that I know no 'aw. There are, however, a few
facts in relation to this demurrer which I would like to present to
the Court. And in passing, I would like to ask your Honor what
you are here for ? As I understand it, I am here to give your Honor
the facts, and \ou are here to apply the law to those facts. It
would" be presumptions in me to attempt to instruct your Honor as to
what the law is, because if you don't know, }ou ought not to be
here, and I assume that because you are here, you do know the
whole law.

Coming back to the c]uestion at issue in this case, what are the
real facts ? In order to obtain a proper comprehension of the case
it will be necessary to begin our recital of facts back in the dawn
of tradition, and I will begin at the time when the great Creator
placed our common forefather, Adam, in a deep sleep in the Garden
of Eden, and from his side drew forth and fashioned that which
has ever since been the solace and joy of mankind in all ages, —
WOMAX, but, after all. Eve was only a side issue, and that is all
I am in this case.

Taking up now the lease, for the breach of which this action
is instituted, and examining it carefully, your Honor will see that
it gives to the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Company the exclusive
use of the town hall of Salisbury with all its appurtenances for one
week or longer, an absolute deed in fee, at the option of the Medicine
Company, in perpetuity, so that no longer shall we be able to trans-
act the ordinary affairs and business which appertain to the town
of Salisbury, for the oratory of the yeomen will be blended with the
shrill cry of the Indian warwhoop, and the beat of the festive tom-
tom. They can build their wigwams and campfires any where in the
town building. Whether this lease includes the town vaults, I know
not, for the town officials still hold the keys thereto. But any citi-

iH

LITCIIFIELD COUNTY BEXCH AND BAR

zen getting the keys to the vaults and desiring to examine the pro-
bate, land or town records, could only obtain access to them after
stumbling over tall drunken chieftains, sciualling pappooses, fat
squaws and ill-smelling dogs.

Not only that, but your Honor will see that it includes the town
hall and its appurtenances. Among other appurtenances we have a
lockup. Under the language of this lease which is set forth in the
complaint, we will no longer be able to apprehend offenders and
keep them in close confinement in that lockup until they may be
brought before proper authorit}-, because, forsooth, Arthur Good-
man, representing the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Co., has the ex-
clusive lease of our lockup. And God and your Honor know that if
these Kickapoo Indians flock into our beautiful, peaceful town and
get on the rampage, after filling up with their own medicine or the
white man's fire-water, there will be immediate need for a lockup.

Another appurtenance connected with our town hall, and dear to
the heart of every son of Salisbury, is a cemetary immediately in
the rear of that hall, where repose the bones and ashes of many of
our honored dead. Under the terms of this lease, your Honor, it
is possible that when Time shall have filled the measure of Eternity,
and new ones shall have been born, still that hallowed ground which
we love so much will be given over to Indians and tape-worms, and
the graves strewn with feathers.

^riSckApoo^

REMEOy '/

ALBIiRT WADIIAM'S MAXIM 3I5

SOUND ADVICE

Albert Wadhams, Esq. practiced law in Goshen, coming to this
County from \'ermont. He never had an extensive clientage and
held some peculiar views relative to law and particularly to railroad
trusts, but did not live long enough to see the trusts all abolished
according to his ideas. I found in his papers a good many queer
things, some of which were very sensible. The following good ad-
vice is I think, worthy of preservation.

MAXIM FOR A I^AWYER

OR

"Quantum Meruit"

Always be sure, in regard to the payment of your Fees, before
your Services are Rendered.

This is an act of justice to your clients, as well as to yourself.
I will suppose you do not make this provision, but render voluntary
services, trusting to the supposed honor of your clients, after bene-
fiting them, to remunerate you. There are times, when your chances
are, that they will imitate "Annanias and Sapphira" partly, or in
full, thereby treating you discreditably, and placing no proper esti-
mate on what }'0u may have accomplished. It is equally a wrong,
if excessive fees are received. In order to compensate yourself
fairly in the first case, you can seldom do it, only as you give the
delinquents a sting, "a, la mode" "Peter vs. Annanias and Sapphira,''
in which case you loose your client probably, and the mutual benefit
is at an end. Doubtless your client suffers equally with yourself
in the final result, which might have been avoided by you in the com-
mencement, by providing for your fee. Your services are either of
value, and should be adequately paid for, or they are of no value.
It is said that a stone fitted for a wall, will not be left in the way,
and in a like manner your compensation for services can be secured,
before you are placed in a required position. If this cannot be done
generally^ then you had better leave the undertaking, and follow
some more appropriate calling, by which you can be maintained.
Therefore, legal services, freely rendered, without adequate pro-
vision for remuneration, are, as to yourself, your clients, or any one,
both impolitic and unwise. A wise lawyer, for any services he may
have rendered, will seldom permit a client, or any one, to define his
"Quantum j\[cruit.''

This Xotice, you can post up in your office, or hang it out doors,
h\ the side of your shingle.

A. W.

Albany, X. Y., Feb. ist, 1865.

3l6 LITCHFIELD COUXTY JiUXCII AXD BAR

The Annual Banquets

The one hundredth anniversary of the estabhshment of the
Litchfield County Bar Association was observed by a Centennial
Celebration at Winsted, on the i8th of N'ovember, 1898, at the
Eeardsley House, then kept by George Spencer. And since that
time theBar has held an Annual Banquet at about the same time
of the year, they being holden in dififerent places in the county as
accomodations could be secured. They are generally attended by
between forty and fifty members of the Bar. The exercises con-
sist of after-dinner speeches, with a good deal of singing inter-
spersed, and all of them have been very enjoyable.

It is impossible to give a full account of these yearly gatherings.
I have, however, already included in this book some of the good
things which have been said on these occasions, and now present
a few more.

The invitation to the Centennial was as follows :

YE IWTTATION.
GrEETix'G :

By authority of the Litchfield County Bar you are summoned
to appear at Winsted on Friday evening, November 18, 1898, then
and there to answer in a complaint wherein it is complained and said.
First Count.

1. The Superior Court for Litchfield County was established
within and for Litchfield County in 1798.

2. At a meeting of the "Barr" of said County it was voted to
commemorate said event at Winsted, Conn.

3. James Huntington, Wellington B. Smith, Leonard J. Xick-
erson, and Dwight C. Kilbourn were appointed a Committee to
carry said vote into effect.

Secox^d Count.

1. Such commemoration will be held at the Beardsley House.
Winsted Conn., November 18, 1898, and consist of a Banquet and
other exercises commencing at 8 130 p. m.

2. Your prompt acceptance of this invitation is requested that
the Committee may be able to guarantee the requisite accommoda-
tions.

3. Damages are assessed at $2 per plate.

The plaintiff is found to be of sufficient ability to provide for
your comfort and pleasure.

Hereof fail not but due appearance make, or immediatelv signify
cause to the contrary.
Winsted, Nov. 4, 1898.

The Comjiittee,

By James Huntington, Chairman.
Dwight C. Kilbourn, Sec'y.

ti-ie; banquet 317

YE SEXTIAEEXT.

"Come back to your mother, ye children, for shame,
Who have wandered Uke truants, for riches or fame,

With a smile on her face, and a sprig in her lap.
She calls you to feast from her bountiful lap.

Come you of the law who can talk if you please
Till the man in the moon will allow its a cheese,

And leave the old lady who never tells lies
Asleep with her handkerchief over her eyes."

YE MENU.

Eittle Waramaug Clams

Celery

'"We have met the Enemy and they are Ours." — Oliver H. Perry. 1813

Puree of Litchfield Mushrooms

Salted Almonds Stuffed Olives

"The Lavif : It has honored us; may we honor it." — Daniel Webster^ 1847

Steamed Twin Lake Salmon

"Pinch Gut Plain" Potatoes "Dibble Hill" Sauce

"We Surgeons of the Law do desperate deeds, sir.'' — Beaumont and Fletclicr

Supremes of Sweetbreads

Sturges Case style

"Oh! 'tis a blessed thing to have rich cWtnts."— Beaumont and Fletclicr

Probate Punch
"Protect me from the sin
That dooms me to those dreadful words :
'My dear, where have you been?'"— O. W. Holmes

Mount Riga Patridges, Roasted, Stuffed with Torrington Chestnuts

" 'Fore God, my intelligence
Costs me more than my share oft cqmes to."— S. Jorison

Knowles Salad, "Move to Erase" Dressing ,
"Importance is one thing and learning's another:
But a debate's a debate, that I assert."— CoMgir^r

Canaan Ice Cream, with original R. and R. Havor
" 'Tis better belly burst than good food be lost."

Crackers Cheese

Coffee

"Whilst we together jovial sit.
Careless and crowned with mirth and wit,
We'll think of all the friends we know
And drink to all worth drinking to ["-Charles Cotton

3l8 LITCHFIELD COUXTY BEXCH AND EAR

PRESIDENT HUNTINGTON'S ADDRESS

The after-dinner speaking was opened by the Hon. James Hunt-
ington,— for many years the beloved and honored president of the
Bar Association, and who has recently deceased, — and his speech
shows in a measure the felicitous and happy manner of "Uncle Jim,"
as he was familiarly called by his brethren of the Bar during the
later years of his life.

"Brethren of the Bar of Litchfield County : We have met this
evening to celebrate the lOO years of the existence of the Superior
Court of Litchfield County. To you younger members of the Bar
it may seem a great ways back to 1798, but to me, who has practiced
at the Bar tv/o-fifths of the time (and I don't tell you now how old
I am) it seems but a step back to the beginning. I suppose that
some of my brethren here tonight will give something of the history
and reminiscences of the Bar either specially or in the county gen-
erally, but for myself, I wish to say but a few words in regard to
this celebration. I wish to direct your attention to a few of its
peculiarities and characteristics, and the first characteristic that I
wish to mention after the practice of two-fifths of a century at this
Bar, is that it has the reputation of being a fighting Bar, that the
lawyers of Litchfield County are persistent tryers and fighters, they
never let the ground go un-hoed in a case. As a Judge of the Court
said to me not long ago "If a Judge comes to Litchfield County and
expects that it will be a sort of a vacation, after he has been to Litch-
field, and from Litchfield to Winsted and from Winsted down to
New Milford and back again two or three times, he will go home
thoroughly convinced that it is no vacation to come to Litchfield
County and hold a long term."

Another characteristic of this Bar is its good fellowship. It has
been so for forty years and I presume it was for the sixty years
before ; it is now and I trust it ever will be.

It is remarked by attorneys from other counties in this State
and from other States, that they never came to a Bar Vi^here there
is such good fellowship as there is in this Bar. They never address
one another by more than half of their first name. And when one
of the boys becomes a Judge of the Superior Court they with pride
and pleasure address him as His Honor, it is ten chances to one that
when night comes and he comes off the Bench, that they address
him as Tobey or Ed or Jerry or Bert or Gid. And he feels as much
honored to come down to that fellowship ofif from the Bench as he
is by being respectfully addressed while on it by the members of
this Bar.

I say it is peculiarly characterifitic of the Bar of this Count}' and
I trust it will remain so another 100 years.

Another characteristic is their self-reliance, we have to rely on
ourselves and it has made self reliant lawyers.

IIL-XTlXliTOX'S ADDRESS 319

Another thing, they are a tough lot physicahy as well as mentally.
And they must necessarily be so. They come up to these shire
towns in summer's heat and winter's cold. We start out early in the
morning and go 7 or 8 miles and try a justice case all day long and
come home in the rain and cold at night, together singing songs and
telling stories. \\'e are called in the night season to go miles away
to make the wills of the dying, we are called upon day after day
to take depositions in kitchens by the kitchen stove, and instead of
sitti-ng down to such a fine feast as this to eat we are satisfied with
the smell of the onions and the turnips and cabbage that are boiling
on the stove for the family to eat. Our lives are spent in that way
and it has made a tough lot of us physically. We are called upon
as lawyers in the country to become all-round men and to do all
kinds of work. A country lawyer is called upon to do everything al-
most that can be done except writing sermons and writing Doctor's
prescriptions although some Cornwall gentlemen can write those,
1 am told.

If anyone asks what kind of lawyers does it make to practice in
that manner, my answer is if you take the Connecticut Reports
from Kirby to the 70 Conn., you read the work of Litchfield County
lawyers clear through the 70 volumes of those reports. Yes, further,
it is the same kind of men that you are, gentlemen, that 13 of them
have represented the Bench of the Superior Court of this State,
ID of them the Supreme Court Bench and three of them as Chief-
justices, they were men of the same experience and the same kind
of practice; and how well they have filled their places the records
of the Supreme Court, the opinions, that have been written by them
through all the Connecticut Reports will tell you. So we may well
be proud of our County and of our County Bar, and I ask, when my
time has come to join the innumerable caravan that moves, that
there can be nothing better said of me than that Jim Huntington
was a respectable member of the Litchfield County Bar.

;\Iy brethren, I said to you that 40 years practice, two-fifths
of a century, two-fifths of the time of this Superior Court went back
to where one could almost say it was a step back to the beginning.
We have with us tonight a brother whose tall form and snowy hair
are known to you all and who has practiced law in the Superior
Court over one half its time, who is a connecting link with the be-
ginning of this court ; who practiced law with men who were mem-
bers of the Bar, when the Superior Court was organized, and it is
with exceeding great pleasure, nothing could give me more pleasure,
that I introduce to you our venerable and honored brother, Donald
J. Warner.

To him it may be said, as Holmes wrote to Whittier on his 80th
birthdav.

320 ITCI-IFIELD COUNTY BI];^'CH AND UAR

Dear friend, whom thy fourscore winters leave more dear

Than when hfe's roseate summer on thy cheek burned in the fiusli

of manhood's earhest year,
Lonely, how lonely ! is the snowy peak
Thy feet have reached after many a year !
Close on thy foot-steps 'mid the landscape drear
I stretch my hand thine answering grasp to seek
\\"arm with the love no rippling rhymes can speak.
I,ook backward ! from thy lofty height survey
Thy years of toil, of peaceful victories won
Of dreams made real, large hopes outrun !
Look forward ! brighter than earth's morning ray
Streams the pure light of Heaven's unsetting sun,
The unclouded dawn of Life's immortal day.

For Judge Warner's address see his reminiscences, page loi.

Many letters were received from the absent brethren regretting
their inability to attend; the one from the Hon. Wm. L. Ransom,
who for nearly thirty years was Clerk of the Courts enclosed as his
response an excuse from the late Judge Granger for not attending
a Banquet at the Island Hotel to which he had been invited, and is
as follows :

Dear Ransom, were my legs as limber
As they were in days of yore.
When I snared the festive sucker
On the Whiting River shore, — ■
Silvery stream, — that murmers sweetly
Through fair Wangum's peaceful vales.
Kissed by morning's slanting sunbeams,
Fanned by evenings pleasant gales.

When I chased the obese woodchuck
O'er the hills and sandy knoll
When I snatched the sluggish bull heads
Wriggling from their muddy holes.
When with dog and gun by moonlight
Through the swanirps and reedy fens
I pursued the scented polecat
Terror of the matron hens.

Gladly would I climb Mount Pisgah,

Mystic mountain of the East,

For the fun of being with you

At your Island Hotel feast.

But, Oh ! Ransom, tempus edax

Unremitting night and day

Seventy years has gnavifecl our muscles

Till they're in a — tad wav.

ALOXZO 1^. unvis' LETTER 321

\outhful hose well saved 01 ragged
Serve but to hide our spindle shanks,
And our shin bones sharp and jagged
Play us now rheumatic pranks.
Accoutered thus Dear Rans, you see,
The feast you spread is not for me,
\\'hatever things the Gods deny us,
Is for the best. Good night. ' Tobias.

'&'

Leonard ^^■. Cogswell, the Official Stenographer, offered the fol-
lowmg original

POEM :

Oh, sacred soil of Litchfield Hills,
Where ^^■inter's winds howl drear;
The country's best and bravest men,
Have found their birth-place here.

The plain and simple life they led
Upon these rugged hills,
Gave vigorous health and mental strength.
Brave hearts and sturdy wills.

Senators, Governors, Judges Preachers,
Found here congenial soil.
And worked their way to high renown
A\'ith most incessant toil.

Then let us all fresh courage take.
And till Death our warm blood chills,
\\'e'll bless the Fate that gave us birth
On these rock-ribbed Litchfield Hills.

At one of our banquets the following interesting letter was re-
ceived from Rev. A. X. Lewis :

Montpelier, Vermont, Dec. 11, 1902.
To the Members of the Litchfield County Bar, in annual reunion
convened :

Gentlemen : — I regret exceedingly my inability to be present at
your festive gathering. Forty-five years ago at the September term
of the Superior Court. Judge Seymour presiding, I was admitted
an attorney and counsellor. F. D. Beeman, Esq., was Clerk of the
courts, and Hollister, Graves, Hubbard, Toby Granger, George C.
Woodruff, Judge Phelps, Sedgwick, Sanford, et al., were the lead-
ing barristers. "There were giants in those days." The Litch-
field Bar was second to none in the state.

The condition of things was very different than the present.
Litchfield was an inland town, accessable only by stage and private
convevance. The lawyers, litigants and witnesses came to stay.
The Alansion House, U. S. Hotel and Wheeler House were thronged
with guests. The open hotel fires in the hotel offices were scenes

322 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BEXCLI AXD BAR

of mirth and jollity. William Demiiig, Sr., Stephen Deming, Harry
Bissell and other notables were usually in attendance with stories,
jokes and repartees worth recording.

"Uncle" Stephen Deming had been in his younger days a tavern,
keeper. A certain deacon, professedly a temperance man, but sus-
pected of selling "the ardent" on the sly, took up his parable and
said, "Uncle Stephen, when you reflect upon your rum-selling days,
the widows and orphans you have made arrd the misery you have
caused, how do you feel?" Uncle Stephen paused a moment and

said, "Deacon , when I think of myself, by myself, I feel

like putting my hand upon my mouth and my mouth in the dust and
crying unclean, unclean, God be merciful to me a sinner. But, Dea-
con, when I compare myself with my neighbors I thank God and
take courage."

A Plymouth farmer had a case in Graves' hands which had been
running for years. Term after term Graves bad charged continu-
ance fee $7 ; and the farmer becoming discouraged had tried to get
the case taken out of court, but all in vain. One day he was sitting
on the piazza of the U. S. Hotel rehearsing his grievance to the
lawyers, when Graves went past. The farmer ejaculated, "I hope
to G — d Graves won't go to hell !" "\Vhy not," asked one of the
listeners. "Because," answered the farmer, "Because he'd make
trouble there."

The writer of this talk was a student in Hollister & Beeman's
office and was often employed in copying pleadings, etc. In one of the
documents occurred the following- sentence : "And whereas this case
has been brought by regular continuances to this court, etc." In
the copy made by the writer it read thus : "And whereas this case
has been brought by regular contrivances to this court !" The
blunder ( ?) caused a ripple of merriment on the bench and in the
bar. It was too true.

A petition for a divorce was submitted to a referee or commis-
sioner who made his report thereon to the court. It was charged
by the petitioner that her husband on a certain occasion when she
had returned from a drive with the co-respondent had composed and
recited to her and her escort before the children the following lines:

"William Johnson went to ride,
With Sarah Wilkins for his bride,

Returning home I heard them say.
We've had a dam good ride to-day."

Imagine Hollister reading with solemn face this poetical gem to
the court !

A Litchfield lawyer, whose name I have forgotten, was pleading
a case of little importance before a jury. He was very pathetic and
solemn, so much so that when he concluded the opposing counsel
arose and said, "May it please your Honor, hadn't we better sino- a
hymn ?"

FELICITIKS

323

The Hon. Charles Chapman of Hartford was journeving- to
Litchfield to attend court, in the Hartford and Litchfield stage. It
was winter. The stage was an open pung, the snow was falling
and a northwest wind drove it directly into the faces of the pass-
engers. Chapman and "Dick" Hubbard, la brother law\er, were
sitting on the first seat and took the full force of the storm. No
one had spoken for some minutes, when Chapman broke the silence
with "I say Hubbard, I had rather facit per aliinn than facit per se !"

Gentlemen : — -'Some of us have outlived our contemporaries. We
are nearing the setting sun ; our places must soon be filled by an-
other generation ; soon we shall be summoned to the court of last
resort. ;\Iay we respond to the summons, bearing with us the record
of a well-spent life and the hope of a blessed immortalitv.

Yours fraternally,

A. N. Li'.wis,

Pastor of Christ's Church, Montpelier, Vermont.

HURLBUTISMS

The late William F. Hurlbut, Clerk of the Court of Common
Pleas, gave me considerable assistance in the preparation of this
work. The following items are some which he thought would
interest members of the Bar.

One of the learned Judges of the Superior Court, after setting-
through a long, tedious trial of a case, to charge the jury com-
menced with the following remark:

"Gentlemen of the Jury! If you know anything about this
case, God knows that }'ou know more about it than I do."

On the trial of a prisoner for shooting- a man whom he thought
was stealing his chickens, the judge charged the jury very forcibly
against the accused, but the jury brought in a verdict of "Not
Guilty." The Judge continued the laborious work of sharpening
his pencil in which he was engaged when the jury gave the verdict.
After a considerable length of time had elapsed he suddenly ex-
claimed, "S , you have escaped as by fire." The members

of the Bar have never been able to understand the nature of that
escape.

The Hon. Truman Smith closed an argument made in a little
case appealed from a Justice of the Peace, in which the matter in
demand was very trivial, and the action of the opposing counsel
had been very erratic, with the following comments. "If your
Honor please : I had prepared with considerable care a brief with
the intention of filing it with the court. After I had finished it I
said to myself, if I live fourteen years from the 26th day of next
October I shall be one hundred years old ; now is it worth while
at my time of life to come into court with an enormous bomb shell
just to annihilate a musquito? and I said to myself it was not —
the game was not worth the powder."

324 LITCHFIELD COL'XTY Ijr;XCH AXD BAR

There are a multitude of odd and funny things connected with
our profession. I am obliged to exclude almost everyithing of that
sort, but will save a few. Some of them I have taken from Brother
Cogswell's brief before the "Supreme Court of Eaters" and others
from various sources.

Sciixi;, Criminal Court in Canaan. Alonzo B. Garfield, C. J.
on the bench. Crime, prisoner charged with robbery of a drunken
woman. Clint Roraback, acting State's attorney.

Mrs. Nora Smith (complainant) sworn.

Ex. by Mr. Roraback:

O. Were you down in the defendant's house near Pine Grove?

A. Yes.

O. Did you have some money there ?

A. Yes.

O. Did you lose it ?

A. Yes. It was stolen from my pocketbook which I carried in-
side my corsets, as I lay on the bed drunk.

O. You think the prisoner stole it?

A. Yes, and I come up to see Hen. Roraback the next day, and
he said he'd see I had justice done. Hen. is all right since "he
grO'wed up."

AIr. Roraback : — That is all the testimony we have, your Honor,
and it is enough. Don wants him bound over.

Garfield, C. J. — We hain't got much evidence ag'in' the prisoner,
and I don't think he is guilty ; that is, not much ; but what Don says
goes in this court, and so I'll bind him over.

ScExE, Superior Court at Litchfield, October Term, 1906. Hon.
Ralph Wheeler, J. Prisoner, Franceski Balcyss, charged with rob-
bing a Swede of $165.

Doxald T. Warxer, to complainant, Mr. Gustafson : Did you
have a Hungarian at work for you ? A. I did ; he is what they call
ii Pole, and I can do a clay's work, or yump over the moon quicker
than I speak his name, but I have it writ down on a piece of paper,
and you can tear off what you want and make a dictionary oi the
rest. I had a German, and an Irishman, and a nigger to work for
me at the same time, and at first I thought one of them took it, but
our Xorthfield detective says this is the man.

Don took the paper and attempted to read the following name
• — ^but he didn't — but asked Kilbourn to : Czyrkstecheltzkoxtcheld-
oszlefifski.

T. F. Ryax (counsel for prisoner, to prisoner on the stand) :

Q. If you had any of your countrymen in Waterburv, who were
they and where are they now ?

The Prisoner (through a Waterbury interpreter) :
Petrovsky, Oskalofifsky, and Xeverefifski,

To Siberia were sent;
Kitoffsky, Rubonoffsky, and Wallerefl^skv,
In a dungeon cell were pent.

FELICITU'S

3-'5

\\

^lilaroclovitch and Tetrovitch,
Kostolovitch and Rostomaroff
The_\- imprisoned or swung them ofif ;

J kit when is gone,

He never is missed.

That is what it sa\s in a PoHsh letter written in Russian script.
TuREJj Other Interpreters EiiPLOvED by the Court to
ATCH THE First : — That is wrong, he savs what not so it.
The Court: Keep still.
Dox: ^^■ait.
Ryax : Sit down.

The Court: Mr. Stenographer, what did the witness sav?
The Stexographer : I don't know, your Honor.
TiH-: Court: This is the worst Babel' of a case I ever heard.
Brother Ryan got the $165.

(Answer to complaint for divorce between Hungarians, received
from Hungary by Kilbourn.)

Dr. Grosz Dezso
Lawyer
S. A. UjHicucv
Hungary.

High Esteemed Court :

Janos Zsarnay, seated at Torrington, Conn., according to 'the
writ of summon of Litchfield County, ss. dated from 1906, 12 Sep-
tember, and being handed to me on the day of 2oktober, claims that
the niarriag-e, bound between me and the plaintiff in the year of 1873,
should be devorced upon the ground, that I should have wilfully
deserted him and totally neglected all the duties of marriage.

All this complains of the plaintiff are not true. I did not de-
sert him but he left me 10 years since, flying secretly. Within this
time he did not wrote a single line, nor supported me and our chil-
dren. Therefore he is who neglected the duties of marriage and
not I am who has deserted him.

I being now a 55 years old women, unable to earn, do not agree,
that our marriage should be devorced. On the contrary : I entreat
the jury that Janos Zsarnay should be convicted to pay a 20 dollar
monthly rate as to support myself and the children.

I give, further, to acknowledge to the court, that a verdic of de-
vorce returned in the L'. S. A. has no power ther in Hungary and
even if the jury should devotee him, according- to our laws, I remain
in links of marriage, still he can live married in the U. S. A, That
would be very unlawful.

Faithfullv,

326 LiTCriFlULD COUXTY BEXCH AXD BAR

AN ENOCH ARDEN CASE

"All's Well that Hnds Well,"—

On Mt. Riga as well as in Shakespeare.
The happy ending of St. Valembine's night, February 14th, 1908,

of the tragical story of Lovie of Mt. Riga, deserted

with her hahy in her arms by her husband in 1882, who was re-
ported dead a few years later, and thereafter remained unheard of
until August, 1907, when, like Enoch Arden, he appeared to find

his wife happily married to Charlie with two stalwart

children by her side, bur unlike Enoch of old did not conveniently
sink into obscurity again.

Divorced February 14th, 1908, from the resurrected husband
and married the night of the same day to her true husband, accord-
ing to the following form : —

Both Lovie and Charlie your rig-ht hands, unite
Before witnesses here St. Valentine's night.
You, CHARLIE, do promise to take Lovie to wife,
To love her and cherish her the rest of your life.
Yon, LOVIE, do promise Charlie as husiband to take,
And, cleaving only to him, each and all others forsake.
Xow, each having promised the other to wed.
To Have and to Hold, till Life's journey be sped.
For richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, —
Bv force of the Lav/ of our good Commonwealth,
I PROCLAIM you to be lawful Husband and Wife.

U ENVOI.
Ma}' your joys be many, and your sorrows be light,
And the memories sweet of St. Valentine's night.
And ever, as the circling years roll on.
Keep a kindly thought of the Justice, — Don.

Tnii AI.\KixG OF A Juror. — Judge Ralph Wheeler had had his
patience sorely tried by lawyers who wished to talk, and by men
who tried to evade jury service. Between hypothetical questions
and excuses it seemed as if they never would get to the actual trial
of the case. So when a puzzled little German, who had been ac-
cepted by both sides as a juror, jumped up, the Judge was exas-
perated.

"Shudg-e!" cried the German. "What is it?" demanded the
judge. "I tink I like to go home to mein Frau," said the German.
'^So would I, but we can't," retorted the Judge. "Sit down." "But,
Shudge," persisted the German, "I tink I not make a good shuror."
"You're the best in the box," said the Judge. "Sit down." "What
box?" said the German. "The jury box," said the Judge. "Ach,
Himmel, I thought it was ein bad box what beoples get in somedimes.
But, Shudge," persisted the little German, "I don't speak goot Eng-
lish alreadv vet."

FELICITIES 327

"You don't have to speak at all," said the Judge. "Sit down."
The little German pointed to the lawyers to make his last des-
perate plea. "Shudge, ' said he, "I can't make noddings von what
dese fellers say." It was the Judge's chance to get even with the
lawyers for many annoyances. ">\ either can anyone else," he said.
"Sit down." ^^'ith a sigh, the little German sat down.

►^

Here is a sonnet which the Clerk received, which perhaps may be
slightly sarcastic. ^

"For the love of God and humanity.
To avoid both wrath and profanity.
To enable the executor to pay legacies and debts.
Send along that certificate in Selleck vs. Betts."
Yours very truly,
Judge ]\Iiles T. Granger was very much addicted to poetry ; one
of his specimens has been for many years a classic. More than
fifty years ago when Fred D. Beeman was Clerk and Mr. Granger
was simply a practicing attorney, Sheriff Sedgwick got Beeman to
write an epitaph on Granger, which was as follows :

"When Toby died — dire groans were heard,

His friends were in commcition.
For Heaven refused to own the bird
And Hell declined the portion."
Taking this epitaph into another room the Sheriff folded it up
and presently returned to the court room where Mr. Granger was
-at the table, trying a case, and handed the note to him. Upon read-
ing it, Mr. Granger turned it over and wrote upon the back the fol-
lowing, upon Mr. Beemian :

"And when the Clerk of Hell rose up

To publish to the legions
The reason why the bird was barred

A place in those dark regions,
A bright red glow about his head

Revealed to all those poor damned souls
The face and form of Beeman."

Lines Composed by Judge Granger while on the Bench
trying a Sheep-stealing case.

Alas for Winters, all forlorn.

He husked for Hod, the Rustling Corn

And through the woods when night was dark,

He raided on the sheep of Clark,

And one small lamb out of the flock

He slew and skinned, without a shock

Of conscience, or a thought of wrong.

But took the mutton right along.

328 LITCriFlEI.D COUXTY BEXCII AXD ]!AR

The picture of Judges evidence shows liow ';he witnesses impress
a judicial mind. It is a reproduction of a paper left by a learned
judge upon his desk after a tedious trial. Other similar papers arc
in my possession, many of them utterly unintelligible. The State
pa3's an enormus sum for Stenographers, but their notes are little
value during a trial and the translating of them is too expensive for
an ordinary suit. The attic of the Court House contains many
pounds of their hieroglyphic papers, and are practically worthless,
as different systems are used, and seldom one shorthand writer can
read anothers notes. To make our present system of taking evi-
dence of full use, the notes should be transcribed during the trial
and placed in the hands of the Court and- Counsel. Umtil that is
done lawyers and judges must take their own notes as best they can.

THE lawyers' ways.

■ "I've been list"nin to them lawyers

In the court house of the street
An' I've come to the conclusion

That I'm most completely beat.
First one fellow riz to argy,

An' he boldly waded in
As he dressed the tremblin' pris'ner

In a coat o' deep-dyed sin.
Why, he painted him all over

In a hue o' blackest crime,
An' he smeared his reputation

With the thickest kind o' grime,
Tell I found myself a-wond'rin.

In a misty way and dim.
How the Lord had come to fashion

Such an awful man as him.
Then the other lawyer started,

An' with briming, tearful eyes,
Said his client was a martyr

That was brought to sacrifice,
An' he gave to that same pris'ner

Every blessed human grace,
Till I saw the light o' virtue

Fairly shining from his face.
Then I own 'at I was puzzled

How such things could rightly be ;
And this aggrevating question

Seems to keep a puzzling me.
So will some one please inform me,

An' this mystery unroll.
How an angel an' a devil

Can possess the self-same soul. '

^f

w

'^IIA

C^^^nci/:'.

THE judge's XOTES op EVIDEXCE

Showing the workings of the Judicial mind

MR. WIIvLIAM GRIMES.

("old grimes")

HISTORICAL XOTE 329

"OLD GRIMES."

One of the characters connected with our legal fraternity was
William Grimes, miiversally known as "Old Grimes." It is gener-
ally supposed that he was a mythical character but he was not. He
was a run-away slave who came to Litchfield probably about 1808,
and was a general servant to the students at the Law School. He
was born in A'irginia and was the body servant of a man by the
name of Grimes, whose name, in after years, he adopted ; by the
fortunes of business adversities his master was obliged to. dispose
of him and he fell into the hands of cruel masters from whose bar-
barous treatment he ran away to the land of Liberty, which at that
time was Litchfield. Judge Reeve had acquired quite a reputation
for defending fugitive slaves and Litchfield was thought by them to
be the' home of the free. Grimes was thrifty, frugal and acquired
some little property and owned a piece of land between the present
residence of George Kenney and the Fire Department building, to
v/hich he moved a small building for a barber shop. Some of the
Southern students of the Law School ascertained his status, made
matters unpleasant for him by notifying his master who took steps
to recover him and he was obliged to dispose of his property through
his friends Dr. Abel Catlin and William H. Thompson, who took the
proceeds to purchase his freedom. His last appearance on Litch-
field Land Records was August 6, 1824. In the latter years of the
Law School, Grimes removed to Xew Haven, where he acted in the
same capacity as he had at Litchfield to the students at Yale College.
He published in a little pamphlet a sketch of his life, containing the
portrait of which a copy is here given. He died about 1850 in Xew
Haven.

His great notoriety consists in the the well-known lines "Old
Grimes is Dead," the history of which as given to me by an old
resident of Litchfield, and fi-om other data which I have secured
is as follows: Albert G. Green, of Rhode Island, who afterwards
became a distinguished man. United States Senator, etc., was a
student of the Law School in 1812, and was very fond of making
rhymes about all manner of things, and upon all occasions, and
Grimes importuned him to make some poetry for him, the result be-
ing the lines above referred to, a few stanzas of which are here
given.

OLD GRIMES.

Old Grimes is dead — that good old man.

We ne'er shall see him more ;
He used to wear a long black coat

All buttoned down before.

His heart was open as the day.

His feelings all were true ;
His hair was some inclined to gray —

He wore it in a queue.

2^^0 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

Whene'er he heard the voice of pain
His breast with pity burned ;

The large round liead upon his cane
From ivory was turned.

Kind words he ever had for all,
He knew no base design ;

His eyes were dark and rather small,
His nose was aquiline.

He lived in peace with all mankind,
In friendship he was true ;

His coat had pocket-holes behind.
His pantaloons were blue.

But good old Grimes is now at rest.
Nor fears misfortune's frown ;

He wore a double-breasted vest,
The stripes ran up and down.

He modest merit sought to find

And pay it its desert ;
He had no malice in his mind.

No ruffles on his shirt.

His neighbors he did not abuse.

Was sociable and gay ;
He wore large buckles on his shoes.

And changed them everv clay.

Thus undisturbed by anxious cares
His peaceful moments ran,

And everybody said he was
A fine old p;entleman.

^

GEORGE CATLIN'S PORTRAIT

The frontisipiece in this book is from an old oil painting that he
made of himself when he was about twenty-five years old and is
now in the possesston of his daughter in New York city who kindly
loaned it for reproduction.

DIXX15R TO JUDGi; SEY^iIOUR 33I

CLmi'UAIEXTARY DIxXNER TO
JUDGE O. S. SEY.AIOUR

On the 29th of January, 1874, the Bar of Fairfield County gave
a comphmentary chnner to Chief Justice Origen StOrrs Seymour,
on the eve of his retirement from the Bench— under the provisions
of the Constitution.

2\Iany distinguished guests were present; many pleasant and
mterestmg things were said, some relating to our Bar and though
all are worthy of preservation we have the space for only a few.

The President, Hon. James C. Eoomis, introduced the exercises
by sa}'ing :

Gexixemex : — I feel confident that nothing has transpired in the
history of the Fairfield County Bar during my long connection with
it, which has given more pleasure to its members than the oppor-
tunity which this occasion affords, to express to our Chief Justice
on the eve of his retirement, our high appreciation of those exalted
qualities which characterize and adorn his life, and which has made
him so eminently useful and so universally esteemed, and our deep
regret that, in the midst of his usefulness and in the full possession
of all his intellectual powers, he is compelled to retire from his high
official station and discontinue his invaluable services under the stern
provisions of our Constitution, which makes 70 years of age the
limit of judicial life in Connecticut.

I assure you, gentlemen, it affords me unfeigned pleasure to as-
semble with you around this festive board and unite with our dis-
tinguished friends, His Excellency, the Governor of the State of
Connecticut; His Honor, the Chief Justice elect, and his honorable
associates of the Supreme Court; the distinguished Judge of the
Circuit Court of the United States for the district of Connecticut;
the Judges of our Superior Court and of other courts, and other
oflBcials who have honored us with their presence, in paying this
well-merited tribute of respect to oaie who so emiently deserves it.

From the time of a generation at least Judge Seymour has been
a star of the first magnitude in the civil, political, judicial and, I may
say, religious constellations of the State. He has deservedly won for
himself a name that will be known, honored and loved, not only in
his day and generation, but so long as the public records endure.

There is no human standard by which we can measure the exact
amount of good which results to a State from a busy, active and
well spent life in the public service Even the great Amazon is
swallowed up in the bosom of the fathomless deep ; nevertheless its
influence, unmeasured and immeasurable in all its magnitude and
power is there, and the great ships which float the treasures of the
nations on "Old Ocean" float more or less securely, however un-
consciously, upon the foundations, which this mighty river has con-
tributed to establish and maintain ; so, though we cannot define with

332 UTCHFli;i,D COUKTY BENCH A>D BAR

mathematical precision the exact quantity of good, which has re-
sulted to our commonwealth and its citizens from the eminent ser-
vices of our distinguished friend, yet no one will doubt but hi,s long,
active and useful life spent in the administration of the local affairs
of his immediate neighborhood — in the advocacy of the rights of the
citizens at the Bar — in the promotion of the public weal in the
councils of the State and nation^ — ^and in the maintenance of the great
principles of justice and equity, according to established authority
upon the Bench, have greatly contributed to the stability and pros-
perity of our institutions and given additional security to the rights
of person and property so eminently and so universally enjo3-ed.

It has been my privilege to have been honored with the personal
acquaintance and I believe friendship of eight of the predecessors
of our Chief Justice in that high office — Hosmer, Daggett, Williams,
Church, Waite, Storrs, Hinman, Butler — glorious names ! They
were all high-minded, learned, impartial judges, uncorrupted — in-
corruptible ! They have gone down to their graves crowned with
honors, having transmitted the ermine of the judicial robes spotless
and when that emblem of purity and incorruptibility fell upon the
shoulders of him who now so gracefully wears it — it touched nothing
less spotless. He will soon transmit it to his successor stainless, to
be borne by him through his judicial life unsoiled and then trans-
mitted in all purity to another, thence to descend from generation to
generation, I hope to the latest generation of man, without a spot
or blemish.

It would afford me great pleasure to dwell for a few moments,
did time permit, upon the many virtues which embellish and adorn
the private life of our Chief Justice ; to speak of his devotion to the
welfare and happiness of his family and friends — ^of his tender s3'm-
pathies with the unfortunate and afflicted, of his gentlemanly deport-
ment everywhere and on all occasions, of his manly practice at the
Bar, of his patience and suavity on the Bench, of his hospitality, his
generosity, his integrity, his incorruptibility — ^but time fails' me.
I can only say that in all the relations of private life. Judge Seymour
has been and is the Christian gentleman, acknowledged and appreci-
ated as such by all who know him most, by those who know him best.

Daniel Webster, speaking of himself at a public dinner given him
m the city of Boston some years since, said: "If public life has its
cares and trials, it sometimes has its consolations ; if the approbation
of the good is fit to be pursued, it is fit to be enjoyed ; if it be, as
it undoubtedly is, one of the most stirring and invigorating motives
which can operate upon the mind, it is also among the richest re-
wards which can console and gratify the heart."

In the spirit of these sentiments of this pre-eminently distinguish-
ed statesman — in the name of the Fairfield County" Bar— in the
presence of this large circle of distinguished friends,' and from the
lowest depths of my heart, let me say to you, Mr. Chief Justice, in
conclusion, 3-ou have experienced the cares and trials of public life ;

JUDGE SEYMOUR'S RESPONSE 333

you have secured the approhation of the good ; you have won a
crown; it is fit that you should enjoy it. Console and gratify your
hqart with this rich reward and when you ascend from your present
high position to the bosom of your family and to the circle of your
loving and beloved friends, there to enjoy the honored evening of
your useful life in trancjuil repose, may the soul stirring and invig-
ating" consolation cheer and animate you to your latest breath, intensi-
fied with the comfortable hope that beyond there is prepared an im-
mortal crown, which neither time nor Constitution can take away.

Chief Justice Seymour responded to the toast "Our Chief Justice"
as follows :

I stand here to-night on the eve of separation from pursuits to
which during a long life I have been devoted. I have enjoyed my
professional life at the Bar and on the Bench, and I do not and cannot
look with indifference upon my approaching separation from these
duties.

I, however, make no quarrel with the constitutional provision
imder which my retirement takes place. "The days of our age are
three score years and ten ;" when those years are accomplished, na-
ture craves .a brief period of repose between, on the one hand, the
active duties of life and its final close on the other.

I submissively bow, therefore, to the law of the land, believing
it to be in harmony with the law of nature, but at the time I cherish
the memories of professional life, and part from it with fond regret,
and I will occupy your time a few moments this evening in suggest-
.ing some particulars wherein the lawyer's life among the varied
pursuits of mankind is regarded by me as a favored one.

I was admitted to the Bar in my native County of Litchfield^ in
1826, and I at once found myself in possesion of a privilege which
I then thought might be peculiar to myself, but which I afterwards
found was common to all young lawyers, — the privilege of fellow-
ship on free and easy terms with the elder brethren. I well remem-
ber the pleasure of 'these associations and the help I derived from
them. It is pleasant to recall the names of the giants in those days,
when I was a stripling, Bacon, Miner, Huntington, Beers, Board-
man, the Churches, Smith. When I found myself in a snarl, and that
happened to me semi-daily, I always found relief in the ready and
cheerfully-given counsel of these my venerable seniors. '

It is truth familiar. to us all that lawyers, young and old, -high
and low, rich and poor, associate together with great freedom, not
perhaps that we love one another more than the medical faculty, but
our business brings us constantly into association with our brethren,
our labors are not isolated but performed in public and in each
other's company, whereby we become thoroughly acquamted with
each other. No man can conduct a complicated cause in court with-
out showing- his brethren what manner of man he is. If he has mind
industrv. learning and culture, he shows it ; his temper and disposi-
tion will show themselves. If he has integrity and truthfulness in

334

LITCHFIELD COUXTY BEXCII AND BAR

him they will appear. If on the contrary, he is a sham, everybody
¥,^111' see it. The practice of changing partners as associate counsel,
brings lawvers into the most intimate relation with each other.

It is amusing to notice gentlemen who are opposed to each other
in the morning almost to personal altercation, in the afternoon en-
gaged as associates, and at once as familiar and intimate with each
other as the Siamese twins. We become, therefore, Ihoroughly
acquainted with each other and wear no masks in each other's
society.

In this connection, if time allowed, I would like to describe the
bar meetings of olden time which had a lingering existence 50 years
ago, but those old-fashioned gatherings could not be conducted on
temperance principles and upon the advent of the temperance re-
formation, thev "took the chills" and died out. But the attraction
of the profession lies in the inherent dignity of the law itself, con-
trolling'as it does by its silent power, the moving masses in all their
various relations and interests — in the equity, calm wisdom and dis-
passionate justice of its precepts — in its noble history in the past
and in the services and accomplishments of its living professors.

The bar has always drawn to itself the best talent and highest
culture of the country, and hence the contests of the Bar conducted
by skillful and learned counsel, furni=:li scenes of instructive interest.
The marvelous and varied pov/ers of the human mind are in these
contests called for and developed in a manner and to an extent
unequaled in any other arena.

I readily recall many such scenes as lively and dramatic as the
inventions of Shakespeare's genius. I would not be understood
however, as saying that the court room is exactly paradise regained.
The scenes are generally animated, spirited and varied ; sometimes,
however, dull and stupid; sometimes disgusting, exhibiting human
nature of its most revolting form and the members of the Bar have
much thankless labor, many sleepless nights and bitter disappoint-
ments.

But it is in his library that the true disciple of the law finds his
highest satisfaction. He can here interrogate the masters of juris-
prudence, ancient and modern upon the matters he has in hand, and
will seldom fail of getting an appropriate answer. I yield no blind
obedience to authorises and precedents. Law is a progressive
science. When it is said that law is the perfection of reason, it is
not to be understood that all the utterance of judges and jurists are
such. There are mistakes and errors in the past that the present
may correct, and there are mistakes and errors in the present which
it is to be hoped the future will correct, but taken as a whole a law
library is replete with sound truths applicable, more or less directly,
to the various living issues pending before the courts, not mere ab-
stract truths worked out in the closet, but truths upon which learned
arguments have been heard at the Bar, and learned consultations
had by the Bench, so that all available learning .on the subject is

G. H. IIOIXISTER S ADDRESS 335

brought forward and receives its due weight. It is difficult to over-
estimate the vahie of the weU weighed opinions of such chancellors
as Hardwick, Eldon and Kent, and of such Judges as Mansfield,
Ellenborough and JNlarshall.

Among the most cherished memories of my professional life is
the intimate acquaintance which I have enjoyed' with all the eminent
jurists who have adorned the bench of the State during the fifty
years. I need not recite their familiar names in this assembly, but
}0u will permit me, occupying the position I do, to repeat the names
of those who have filled the high oHice I am about to lay down,
nom'uia clara each of which upon bare mention suggests all the
virtues pertaining to their high judicial position.

When I came to the Bar the Chief Justiceship was held by the
learned Hosmer followed in quick succession by Daggett, Williams,
Church, \\'aite, Storrs, and Hinman, and then by my immediate
predecessor, the lamented Butler, companion, friend, brother. In
this, his native county, he needs no eulogy from me. In the reports
of his judicial opinions he has raised to himself a monument acre
pcnmiiis. Allow me, in conclusion, to propose as a toast, "The
memory of the honored dead of the Bench and Bar of this State."

The toast "The Bar of Litchfield County" was responded to by
Hon. Gideon H. Hollister, as follows :

It is difficult to name a portion of this Continent that might with
m.ore propriety have been called a wilderness than was Litchfield
County at the time of its first settlement, nearly a century after
Hartford was founded. The site of the present village of Litchfield
was overgrown with alder. It needed an emigrant's faith to foresee
the changes that human industry under the guidence of good prin-
ciples could bring about in the face of wintr}- skies and in defiance
of steep hills.

In 1/7^, about fifty \ears after the organization of the town,
Tapping Reeve, son of a clergyman of Brookhaven, established him-
self in this remote and obscure place which had nothing but a Court
House, Jail and ]\Ieeting House to form a centre for the few towns
that clustered around it. He could not have driven to the village
in a carriage to save his life, for two reasons there were no wheeled
\-ehicles and had there been any, there were no roads that could have
been safelv traversed by them. This interesting adventurer was a
graduate of Princeton, and was then only twenty-eight years old.
He was a delicately formed slender man of classical features, pale
complexion and large bright eyes. With him went Sally Burr, his
v,'ife, daughter of President Burr of Princeton, sister of Aaron Burr,
and grand-daughter of Jonathan Edwards — one of the most beauti-
ful and accomplished women of her time. They took up their abode
in South Street, in a house where I spent four happy years and
which now belongs to Judge Woodruff, who is our distinguished
guest this evening:. Mr. Reeve established himself here as a lawyer
and soon attained to the highest distinction in his profession. After

336 LITCHI?IELD COUXTY BUNCH AXD BAR

continuing in it for twelve years, in 1784, when the Revohitionary
War was scarcely over, he instituted the Litchfield Law School in
which he was the sole instructor until 1797, a period of fourteen
years, when he associated with him James Gould, who was after-
wards so renowned in the history of American jurisprudence. This
school educated young men from all parts of the Union, among
whom were John C. Calhoun, Levi Woodbury, John M. Clayton,
Roger S. Baldwin, Samuel S. Phelps, Nathaniel Smith, William
Elliot, Origen S. Seymour, Lewis B. Woodruff, Truman Smith and
other distinguished men, whose names have shed lustre upon the an-
nals of our country. Two of these graduates have been judges of
the Supreme Court of the United States, fifty of them members of
Congress, forty have been judges of the highest State courts and
several have been foreign and Cabinet ministers.

Tapping Reeve was not a mere peyJagogue, nor was he a mere
lawyer. He was a man of genius, and in middle age when his
feelings were enlisted in the trial of a cause, he often exhibited
powers of eloquence, which from the suddenness with which they
flashed upon the minds of his audience and from his impassioned
manner, produced an overwhelming effect. He was very unequal
in the exhibition of his powers. He was a man of ardent temper-
ament, tender sensibilities and of a nature deeply religious. His
sympathies led him to espouse the cause of the oppressed and help-
less. He was the first eminent lawyer in this countr}' Vi'ho dared to
arraign the common law of England for its severity and refined
cruelty in cutting ofif the natural rights of married women, and
placing their property at the mercy of their husbands to squander
it at pleasure. His sentiments did not at first meet with much
favor, but he lived long enough to see them gain a foot hold in this
and other States. His principles did not die with him, but are per-
petuated in his "Domestic Relations," and in the jurisprudence of
his country. He was an ardent Revolutionary patriot of the Federal
school. His fervent piety, well-timed charities, noble impulses,
thoroughness, simplicity of character, and disinterestedness all served
to render him a general favorite in a widely-extended circle of
friends and acquaintances. He died in 1823, in the 80th year of his
age. Such was the head and founder of the Litchfield Bar.

The next distinguished member of this Bar if we are to follow
the order of birth, was Andrew Adams, born in 1736, who was
successively King's Attorney, member of Congress and Chief Judge.
He was a man of clear mind and of great learning. After him
Major-General Uriah Tracy, born in 1755. From 1796 to 1807 he
was a Senator from Connecticut, leader of the Federal party, an
intimate friend of Hamilton, Fisher Ames and Morris, and was a
man of great legal acumen and particularly famed for his wit.

Then follows Col. Ephriam Kirby, born at Litchfield in 17S7, an
ofHcer in the Revolutionary army who carried to his grave a frightful
wound that he received in the struggle. He was a faithful and

G. H. hollistur's address 337

accurate lawyer. In 1789, he published a volume of "Reports of the
Supreme Court of Errors." This was the first volume of law re-
ports ever published on this continent. Upon the organization of
Lousiana, he was appointed by President Jefferson a judge of the
newly acquired territory of Orleans, and died on his way to his place
of destination in the 48th year of his age.

After him in the order of birth comes Nathaniel Smith, who was
born about the year 1763 and who, after severe struggles with pov-
erty and imperfect, early education, rose so rapidly in his profession
that soon after he commenced the study of law under Judge Reeve,
he was sitting by his master's side on the bench of the Supreme
Court of Errors. Judge Church and Judge Williams have both
told me that he was in their opinion the most gifted man ever born
in the State. I will not attempt any sketch of him, but if you will
allow me I will quote a passage from a letter written to me by David
S. Boardman who knew Mr. Smith and how to estimate him. He
says:

"His voice was excellent, being both powerful and harmonious,
and never broke under any exertion of its capacity. His manner
was very ardent and the seeming dictate of a strong conviction of
justice of his cause, and his gestures were the natural expression of
such a conviction. Mr. Smith's style was pure and genuine Saxon,
with no attempt at classic ornament or allusion. His train of
reasoning was lucid and direct, and evincive of the fact that the
whole of it was like a map spread out in his mind's eye from the
beginning. His integrity was always felt and dreaded by his op-
ponent. He spoke with much fluency but with no undue rapidity,
he never hesitated or haggled at a word, nor did he ever tire his
audience with undue prolixity; or omit to do justice to his case for
fear of tiring them ; and indeed there was little danger of it."

There is only one brief specimen of the style of this eloquent
man handed down to us. This is a part of his argument in the case
of Jedediah Strong and wife before the General Assembly, and
which is to be found in a volume of our reports. In arguing
against the theory advocated by Judge Reeve in favor of married
women, he took the opposite or common law ground and expressed
himself as follows :

"But the manners have led the law and the law the manners,
until every barrier is broken down and we seem about to bury in
oblivion forever the rule that the wife has no separate existence."

Last in order of birth of the truly great men who can be partic-
ularly dwelt upon in this hurried outline, is James Gould, born at
Branford in 1770, and one of the most elegant scholars and terse
writers who have adorned the profession in this country. He
studied law under Judge Reeve, and joint orofessor and delivered
lectures to the students in this institution for thirty-five vears : at
the end of which time, there had been educated at the Litchfield
Law School one thousand and twenty-five lawyers from all parts

^

338 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCII AND BAR

of the United States. Gould's pleading is one of the most con-
densed and critical pieces of composition to be found in our lan-
guage and is of an original character. He had at first contemplated
a more extended treatise, but while he was preparing material for it,
the announcement of Chitty's work on the same title induced him
to change his plan. As it was presented to the public, Gould's
"Pleading" is therefore only a summary of the original design but
for clearness and logical percision it is surpassed-, if at all, only
by the Commentaries on the laws of England.

Judge Gould carried to the Bar the same classical finish which
appears in his writings. It would have been impossible for him
to speak an ungrammatical sentence, use an inelegant expression
or make an awkward gesture. His arguments were expressed in
the most brief forms in which a speaker can convey his thoughts
to his hearers. He seldom spoke longer than half an hour, and in
the most complex and important cases never exceeded an hour.
He could shoot a quiver full of shafts within the circle of the target
with such certainty and force that they could all be found and
counted when the contest was over.

As a Judge, his opinions are unsurpassed by any which appear
in our reports for clearness and that happy moulding of thought
so peculiar to him at the Bar and in social conversation.

The position of this eminent jurist and his venerable master
and associate, was truly enviable. To them flocked from every
State in the Union the youth who were to shape the jurisprudence
of the western world. They looked upon these renowned teachers
with as much reverence as the young men of Athens regarded the
philosophers who prepared their minds for the strifes of the Agora,
the debates of the council or the shades of contemplative retirement.

As I have before said, all attempts at particular description of
the members of the Litchfield Bar, must end here. I might speak
of John Allen, Gov. John Cotton Smith, Holmes, Boardman, Hunt-
ington, Benedict, Sterling, Swan, Asa Bacon, Samuel and Leman
Church, Mills, Phelps, Minor, Strong and others — and but for
the presence in which I stand, I might attempt some brief sketch
of the character and career of the venerable man whose retiracy
from public life has been the occasion of this meeting, which, though
a festival in form, has suffused our eyes with tears. I am one of his
oldest students here present and have known him well. You will
all join me in the prayer that his declining years may be like his
professional and judicial life, serene as they are pure, and that no
clouds of sorrow may settle down between him and a better world.

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iriSTORICAI. XOTBS 339

WATERTOWN MURDER TRIAL

New principles of law are presented in -the case oi State vs.
William .NlcLanghlin, who was indicted by the Grand Jury at the
April term, 1908, for murder in tlie first degree. The facts, over
^v•hich there was no particular contest, were as follows :

On the morning of April 12, 1908, a few men were gathered
uix)n the depot platform at W^atertown. Some of them were at-
taches of .tlie railroad, but most of them were on their way to
church. The accused, a man of forty-six years, accosted the de-
ceased in a manner which the latter regarded as offensive. One
word led to another, and the victim oif the tragedy, Robert Downs,
a young man of nineteen, pushed McLaughlin over so that he fell
on the platform, breaking a bottle of whiske}- which he had in his
jjocket. }iIore angry words followed, and the combat, so far as the
knowledge of those on the platform went, was over. Robert Downs
retired to a distance on the westerly side of the depot platform from
where the wordy dispute took place, and Mclvaughlin went around
the opposite corner oi the building and threw out the broken glass
from his pocket, and then, unseen by anyone, drew a pocket knife,
and going up to Downs struck him wi*h it in the neck, severing' the
carotid artery, from which wound Downs died within a few minutes.

The trial before the Superior Court was at the October term
1908, in Litchfield, before Judge Edwin B. Gager, lasting intO' the
third week. The prisoner was defended by Thomas F. Ryan, Esq.,
assisted by Elbert P. Roherts, Esq., both of Litchfield. The State
prosecution was by State Attorney Donald T. Warner, assisted by
Howard F. Landon, Usq. The principal question was as to the de-
gree of the crime, the State contending that there was time for
premeditation and deliberation and that all the elements of murder
in the first degree were present. The defense claimed that the
chronic alcoholism of the accused, as shown by his previous history,
and by the medical itestimony of the defendant's expert, Dr. John L.
Buel, rendered the accused incapable of the deliberation and pre-
meditation under all the circumstances of the case neces-sary tO' con-
stitute the crime of murder in the first degree.

The jury after long deliberation returned a verdict of murder in
the second degree, and the prisoner was sentenced to State Prison
for life.

While chronic alcoholism, as a defense is known in the law, it
has been so seldom resorted to, in cases of this character, that un-
usual interest was manifested by the legal fraternity in this case.

An interesting case not heretofore mentioned, is that connected
with the successful installation of The New Milford Power Company.

340 LITCHFIELD COUA'TY BEXCII AXD EAR

NEW MILFORD POWER CO.

About twenty-five years ago the Hon. Nicholas Staub, of
New Milford and a former Comptroller of the State, conceived the
idea that the great water power of the Housatonic river oug-ht to be
utilized. He interested a few other persons with him in the matter
and they decided to incorporate a company for that purpose, and a
charter was granted by the General Assembly of 1893, forming the
New Milford Power ■Compan\^ The matter laid dormant for a
long time. There was plenty of power in the river, but there were
no mills or factories requiring it. The scientific development of
electrical energy and more particularly the availibility of trans-
mitting it without material loss over long distances to be applied
wherever power was required, opened up the way for the Company
to begin operations. Many hydro-electric engineers advised that
there could not be fall enough obtained to develop sufficient ^power
to make such a plant, considering the large expense of the trans-
mission line, profitable. Walter S. Morton, an eminent hydraulic
engineer, now the consulting engineer oi the New York City Water
Supply Commission, saw at once how the power of the water at
Bulls Bridge could be doubled, and acting under his sugges.bions the
company proceeded to erect a small dam in the gorge at Bulls
Bridg'e, and dug a canal over two miles long to convey the water
to a point in the town of New Milford, where they obtained a fall
of one hundred and fifteen feet, with an average of two thousand
horse power.

The incorporators employed Frederic M. Williams, Esq., of New
IMilford to attend to the legal part of the business. The charter
had to be amended, giving the company various powers not original-
ly included therein. After the charter was perfected and the stock
of $1,000,000. subscribed, the dam was built, the canal dug and the
power house, with four immense dynamos was erected. These
were all matters of mechanism, but the real interesting part ito us
attorneys was the proceedings relating to the acquisition of the
flooded territory. Lands bordering on the river suddenly rose in
value, and but little could be purchased, consecpiently condemnation
proceedings under the charter were instituted by Mr. Williams, to
acquire them. Nothing like these proceedings appear upon our
records, in number or in accuracy. Committees were appointed
CMisisting of Hon. Geo. M. Woodrufif of Litchfield, James Alldis,
Esq., of Torrington and Edward S. Roberts, Esq., of North Canaan,
and long hearings were had before these gentlemen, and it is an in-
teresting fact that no exceptions were taken during the three weeks
of the hearings by either party. The report of the Committee was
accepted by the Superior Court, and no appeal was carried in any
case to the Supreme Court of Errors. Lines of wire were erected
and power successfully transmitted to Waterbury, and other cities
Several electric roads are run by it, and ultimately the New York
and New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company obtained the con
trol of the plant.

■/v \

liiSERMO.NVi

^'} , Delivered at

yLlTCHFIELD, i

,■ Oo the 2" Day of November, A. D. ijOQ. ' \fi )

On ihc Day of the Execution of

An- Indian N.l^ivf,

>^^ri K^Purfuanc to Sentence of Death pifTcd upon^
i^ kt iii's\ i- •f^'m by the Hon. Superior Court, I..'

'4c :n/

For the Murder of

.^^■

:\!'

^AMES CHOCKR^R. |

"Preached upon (he Dcfirc of liieCrirninal.^^d
publiflied at the requefl of fonic . jpf,^tbQ
Hearers^ ' ■ '^jf'%ie

By TIMOTHY PITKfN, A.'^**^;''
aflor of the fird Church in Fnr^tiiugtfn.b

*L-

« Tlfov /twit not UU. Sixth CommamO^-

HARrF.ORjyH.r^;^^^

Printed jay Green $f IVatfon^'^atxt 'the '|tj?ftlt§y* J^_
^Bridge..";:' ':,<L^SiSdr' ^'"'^

(Reproduction of title page of sermon).

OLD SER.UOX 341

OLD SERMON

The compiler has in his library a cop.v of a sermon delivered at
Litchfield, in November, 1768, on the execution of John Jacobs for
murder of James Chockrer, both Indian natives, the title page of
which is herewith reproduced. This is the first trial for murder in
the county, and must have been of unusual interest to have called
forth a sermon from so eminent a divine as Timothy Pitkin, pastor
of the Church at Farmington. I will quote a few choice extracts
therefrom.

The text was :

NUMBERS XXXV. 16.

AXD IF HE SMITE HIM WITH AX' IxSTRUMEXT OF IRON, (sO

THAT HE DIE) HE IS A MURDERER: The ?\Iurderer shall

SURELY BE PUT TO DeaTH.

After a long sermon on the text addressed to "Men and Brethren,"
and ending with "There is no way for sinners, but to repair to
Christ; to Christ we must go, or to hell," the learned Divine pro-
ceeds, "My discourse now turns to the poor prisoner, under sen-
tence of death," — with the following soothing language, "JOHX
JACOBS. It was your request, that this last advice, by me should
be given to 3"ou, and therefore by help of divine grace, I shall speak
to you, with great plainess, and O ! that I may address you, with
that warmth and faithfullness, which your present case calls for ;
this being the last sermon you will ever hear.

"When I see a poor criminal, under sentence of death, when I
view your aggravated crimes, .and you standing upon the edge of
time, and just launching into an unalterable and eternal state; O!
prisoner what shall I say to you ! O ! my hearers, what words shall
your preacher choose !

Prisoner, attend ! The great God hath made a law, that he that
shcddcth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed. And in our
text, if one smite another zvith an ■instrtuncut of iron, so that he die,
he is a murderer, the murderer shall surely be put to death. GOD
had an infinite authority to make this law, and annex this penalty ;
and, JOHN, this is your case: you smote one of your fellow crea-
tures in malice and rage, ivith an instrument of iron so that he died;
therefore you are a murderer, and you stand chargable with guilt
of blood, 'tis just that you be put to death, for by the statute of
heaven, by the law of GOD, you ought to die.

Prisoner, attend ! You deserve to suffer the eternal pains of
hell, it is just in God to send you to the hopeless regions of the
damned ; you was a sinner and have been a prayerless malicious
creature, therefore GOD, aga.inst whom you have sinned and whose
laws you have violated, may justly damn you." There is a consider-
able more of this kind of consolation.

342 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR

TRUMAN SMITH

The biographical notes on Truman Smith, which I have hereto-
fore given, were prepared by a distinguished lawyer of New York
City, who had been associated with Mr. Smith in his practice, and
mostly relate to matters outside of Litchfield County. The Humas-
ton case, however, was one in which the plaintiff, Mr. Humaston,
was a native of Litchfield, and was in the employ of the Western
Union Telegraph Company when he invented a process of sending
a number of messages simultaneous upon the same wire, and the
Telegraph Company claimed that it was their property. To prevent
other telegraph companies from using this invention they pensioned
Mr. Humaston during his lifetime.

During, Mr. Smith's residence in Litchfield he was one of the
leading, if not the leading lawyer in Litchfield County, in certain
classes of cases, and used the forcible, brow-beating method of
trial. He was a terror to witnesses in cross-examination, and many
stories are told about him. Previous to the great fire in 1886 the
compiler had in his office a massive cherry table which once be-
longed to Mr. Smith, who frequently oame into the office, as he
visited Litchfield, and would go up to the old table and after ex-
amining it a little would say, "Old fellow, I have pounded you a
great many times !"

I well recollect the last case which Mr. Smith tried in this court,
and probably the last one he tried in any court. R was a case which
was brought by Mr. Cothren for some man in Woodbury against
Mr. Nathan Smith of Roxbury, a brother of Truman Smith. It
appeared during the trial that the plaintiff never authorized the
bringing of the suit, which was over some very trivial dispute of
account, nor did the party who was recognized to prosecute, enter
into any recognizance. The case came before Judge Hovey, and
Mr. Smith moved that it be erased from the docket, and made an
argument of about two hours in support of his motion. He was
then nearly eighty years old and too infirm to stand during his argu-
ment, so he would stand part of the time, then sit for a time, and
never did an attorney receive such a scoring as did Mr. Cothren,
who withdrew the suit. The whole performance was the most im-
pressive exhibition of ancient legal warfare I have ever witnessed.

C. F. Sedgwick, Esq. of Sharon, Conn., said in an article in the
Leavenworth Genealogy, P. 26, that "Up to Mr. Smith's time, the
eminent men of the county were a kind of privileged class, neve.'
mingling with the common people — ^but Mr. Smith welcomed to
his acquaintance and sympathy good men of all conditions in societv
no matter how humble or obscure the man might be. He never took
advantage of his social position to obtain preferment for himself —
never asked for a nomination — never solicited the vote of anv man — •
his weieht of character, eminent fitness and great abilities alwavs
marked him as the man for the place and his nominations were made
with great unanimity."

GEORGE C. HARRISON

ISYRON" TUTTLE

CHESTERFIELD C. MIDDLEBROOKS ANDREW G. BARNES

JURY COMMISSIONERS

JURY COM.MISSIOXERS 343

Mr. Smith, in the latter part of his Hfe, hved in Stamford, anJ
for a number of years was actively engaged in the suppression of
intoxicating hquors, writing and pubhshing several pamphlets re-
latmg thereto and often appearing before the General Assembly
in support of temperance legislation.

JURY COAI.MISSIOXERS.

On page 129 the method of drawing jurors is outlined. I have
obtained the pictures of all of the Jury Commissioners since this
way of selecting the Jury was provided and who act with the Clerk
as the board of selection in Julv.

George C. Harrison was appointed in 1895 and died while
holding the office, February 25th, 1907. He was born in Cornwall,
May 19th, 1840, and resided in his native town all his life, holding
nearly all the honors its citizens could give him regardless of party
in the town offices. Was Judge of Probate many years. He was
often appointed by this Court as a Committee to lay out roads, ap-
praise propert}-, assess damage, etc. As a Jury Commissioner he
was very conscientious and at the sessions of the board he always
had his list carefully marked and checked as to the fitness of each
nominee.

Byrox TcTTi.E was also appointed in 1895 and resigned soon
after Mr. Harrison's death. He was also exceedingly careful and
fair in the discharge of his duty. He died in Plymouth September
25, 1908, aged 83. He was in early life an active business man and
a noted manufacturer of carriages which industry he discontinued
soon after the close of the civil war. He held many of the most
important offices of the town of Plymouth ; Selectman and Judge
of Probate. He did a good deal of law business such as conveyanc-
ing, drawing wills, contracts and the like. He was especially fond
of assisting attorneys in preparing a case for trial by looking up
the evidence, witnesses and exhibits, and felt great pride saying that
he never lost a case that he prepared as he desired.

Andrew G. Barxes was appointed Jury Commissioner in 1907.
He is a native of Sherman Conn., born November isth, 1838, but
has resided in \ew Milford nearly his whole life where he is an ex-
tensive farmer, dairyman, cattle breeder and large gro'wer of to-
bacco. Has held many town offices and represented New Milford
in the Legislature of 1895 and 1903, and was Senator of his dis-
trict in 1907, and is re-elected Senator for 1909.

Chesterfield C. Middlebrook was appointed a Jury Com-
missioner in 1907. He has been Sheriiif of Litchfield Countv and
possesses a large acquaintance all over the County, peculiarly
flitting him for exercise of his present office.

344 J^lTCHJ'lEl^D COUKTY JJJi.N'CH AND BAR

COUNTY COMMISSIONERS.

The office of County Commissioner was established more than
half a century ago and a large variety of duties are assigned to
them in relation to County affairs, such as providing for the care
of the County buildings, their repair, providing for the maintenance
of the jail, etc. Probably their most arduous duty is that relating
to the excise, or granting of licenses for the sale of spirituous and
intoxicating liquors. Their salaries at present are $600 a year and
mileage. They hold their office for four years from their appoint-
ment. The present Commissioners are as follows

Hubert B. Case, the Chairman is a native of Barkbamsted, born
April 3rd, 1856. He is a merchant, has been a member of the Gen-
eral Assembly from his town, and has held many town offices. His
term of office expires October i, 191 1.

Howard M. Guernsey was born in Thomaston January 9, 1877.
He has been -for several years engaged in the manufacture of lum-
ber. His mills are now in operation in New Hampshire and Ver-
mont. He has represented Thomaston in the Legislature. His
term of office expires October i, 191 1.

John J. Karl was boTn in Goshen, N. Y. March i, 1864, but has
resided since his boyhood in Litchfield. He is a teacher, composer
and publisher of music. Is very active in political affairs, and is
Town Clerk of Litchfield, and Clerk of the Probate Court of Litch-
field District. His term of office expires October i, 1913.

^

COURT MESSENGERS

One of the busy men in Court is its messengers. The duties
are various, and not defined by statute. The theory is they are to
regulate the temperature, lighting and ventilation of the Court
room; to get reference books as required from the library for use
in the Court, and attend to the multitudinous errands of the lawyers
engaged in the trial of a cause.

They are appointed by and hold their office during the pleasure
of the judge.

The present messengers are at Litchfield, Chauncey J. Buel. He
is also the Janitor of the building. In Winsted, Dr. Willey T. Smith,
a dentist by profession, rests his nerves in the forensic eloquence of
the attorneys. In New Milford, Lewis W. Mosher, a veteran of the
Civil war, enjoys the strifes and conflicts of the opposing parties.

'A
M
T4

tfX

W

o

T I 1

< CO

3 ^

o

a

12;

n

y?'/^

JUDGMENT.

One hundred years have brought their bloom and fruit,

Since "every one who had a cause or suit,"

Alight "come up hither" and present his claim.

With no misgivings, that, whoever came,

\yith a good cause, good witnesses, good men

Upon the bench as judges, and, again,

With twelve good honest jurors ; if he saw

That well-feed "counsel learned in the law,"

Had courage, after half dozen fights.

Would — stand an even chance to get his rights.

And then at least the controversy o'er.

The case all settled, to be tried no more.

Those hundred years, as onward they have swept.

Have seen how calm the litigants have slept: —

Judge, jury, counsel, parties have withdrawn.

And to a higher bar together gone,

Where every right decree is ratified

And every wrong reversed and set aside.

John Pierpont.

In Ri.;
in the matter oe
the litcheield county
Bench and Bar.

January i, 1909

Be it remembered that this cause having been pending for a
century and a half, and the parties having been duly heard, by their
witnesses and counsel, and having examined the foregoing exhibits,
v/hich are made a part of this record. It is considered and ordered
that the foregoing judgment presented fifty years ago to the citizens
of Litchfield County by John Pierpont in his Centennial poem is
hereby accepted and approved.

DWIGHT C. KlEBOURN,

Clerk.

INDEX

NAMES

Abernethy, Elisha S.
Adam and Church
Adam and Eve

J. Henry
Adams. Andrew

II, 56, 126, 139,

Elijah

John Q.

John CJuincy

John

Samuel
Addis, John F.
Aiken, Edmund

John
Albro, John A.
AlldiS, James
Allen. Ethan

Henr>' J.

John
II, 28, 45, 56, 62,

John Wm.
Ames. Fisher
Andrews, Charles B.

125, 126, 129, 181,

Charles W.

Edward Warren

James P.

Samuel James

William

W. H., Rev.
Andros, Sir Edmund
Annual banquets
Ashley, Timothy
Atwood, C. B.
Austin, Aaron 11,

Ralsamon C.
Averill, Roger
Ayers, Russell W.

Babcock, Rufus, Rev. 7
Bacon, Asa

61, 86, 87, i.H, 222, 333, 338

Epaphroditus C. 222

Gen. Francis 222

Backus. Azel, D. D. 23, 33

Baker, Willard 124, 222

Balcomb, Benjamin, murder 152

142,

217
22

313
218

181,

217,

,336

123,

217

124,

218

92,

los.

293

174,

218
217

124,

218

123,

218
218
218
340
13

127,

219,

260

126,

218,

338

47,

139
336

219,

309,

310
221
221
221
221
221
221
6

316,

317
146

124,

221

142,

143,

222
222

108,

222
222

Baldwin, Birdseye

Chief Justice

Daniel

George H.

George

Isaac II, 121, 123,

Isaac Jr.

Roger S.

Samuel

VVilliam
Ball, Luther T.
Bancroft, George
Barbour, Henry S.

S>lvester
Barker, Prof.
Barnes, Andrew G.

i,orrin
Barrett, John
Barlow, Joel
Bates. A,

Robert C.
Battell, Josiah B.
Beach, Jesse

John S.

Supt., Geo. W.
Beardsley, Ferris
Beckwith, J, Gail
Beebe, Zenas— trial
Beecher, Abraham

Henry Ward

Hezekiah

Rev. Lyman

Philemon

Truman
Beeman. Frederick D.

126, 139, 226, 262,
Beers, Frederick

George W.

Lewis F.

Seth P.

88. 92, 126, 135.
Belden, Charles O.
Bellamv. Joseph H. 30,

Joseph, D. D.
Benedict, Amos

Noah B.

29, 56, 57, 86, 87, I

149, 227, 27;, 338

Rev. Noah
Bennet, Milo L.
Benton. Jacob

Isaac

115. 222
312
223
223
223
, 223
224
336
244
224
244
137
301
224
IS3
343
224
121
176
225
225
225

225
156

154
150

22.=r
148
225
182
225

37

22s

225

127,

140, 143

224,

224,

80,
192,

123,

27.3. 321,

171, 226,

95- 135.
30,
226,

327
225
226
226

333
226
226
226
296

23, 134, 139,

59
227
122

21

124,

124,
123,

78,

124,

124,

Berrj', Hemaii
Betts, John B.

Thaddeus
Bidwell, William W.
Bierce, William W.
Billings, N.
Bills, Henry A.
Brighani, Judge
Bion, Michael— trial
Bird, Hon. John

Joseph
Bissell, Daniel

Edward

Edward

Francis

Governor

Harry
Blackman, Ebenezer B.
Blagden, Col.
Blake, Louis J.
Blakeslee, J. W.
Blakeley, Samuel C.
Blodgett, William H.
Boardman, Daniel, Rev.

David S. — Sketches

40. 80, 86, 88, go, 123, 135,

228, 333, 2i7, 338

Elijah

George S.

William W.
Booth, Walter
Borjesson, Andrew — trial
Bosler, William D.
Bostwick, Bushnell

Charles

Joseph A.

Samuel
Botchford. Nathan
Botsford, Henry A.
Botts, John M.
Boughton, John O.
Boyd, John
Bradley, Abraham, Jr.

Edward E.

Phineas
Bradstreet. Albert P.
Brainard, Cephas

Jeremiah G.

Brant

Brewster, Nelson.
Breen, James T.
Brinsmade, Daniel N.

Rev. Daniel
Bristol, Clififord E.

William
Bronson, Bennett

Merritt
Brooks, Norman
Brown. Charles R.

John

20, 97,
97,

123,

123,

127,

124,

124,

7Z, 77, 8,

113,

123, 143,

S3,

124.

72

227
227
78
227
227
192
227
278

159
227
142

13
227
227
228

322
228

16
228
228
228
228
7

39,
142.

228
228
22S
78
160
228
142
228
229
229
122
229
292
229
229
23c

150
231
231

203

3
17

23 T

231
231
231

232
77
232
232
t6.^
212
183

44, 182,
44, 182,

Brownson, Samuel

Roger
Buckingham, Gov. Wm. A

Homer

S. McLean
Buel, Dr. Henry W.

Dr. John L.

Norton J.

Dr. William
Bull, Epaphrus, W.
Burke, William
Burr, Aaron

Sally
Burrall, Porter

William. M.

80, 91, 109, 112, 134,

232, 233.

William P.
Burrill, Charlfs D.
Burnham, Oliver
Bushnell, Horace
Butler, .Calvin

Calvin R.

Malcolm N.

Col. John
Butler, Hon. Thomas B.

Chief Justice loi

Zebulon

232

232
108, 301

160
124, 233,
129, 156

339

108, 232

26

232

232

, 191, 335

I9i> 335

109

142, 143

140, 233

233

143

139

90, 134, 142, 233

233

233

17

151- 311

332, 335

17

Cable, Curtiss W.
Cady, Daniel W.
Calhoun, David S.

John C.

William
Camp, George W.

Samuel G.
Camden, Lord
Canfield. Ezra

Edward T.

Henry J.

John

Joseph

Judson

Samuel to, 26,

Col. Samuel
Card, Albert M.
Carpenter, Judge
Case, Lyman W.

Orrin S.

Uriah
Catlin, Dr. .\bel

Abijah

George

(icorge Smith

John

Putnam

Thomas
Chaffee, Elmore S.

124,

124, 125,
26, 53, 126,

233

233

124, 234

182, 312, 336

152

234

234

73

234

234

234

234

123, 234
123, 143, 234

42, 121, 142, 234
235
235
130
235
•35

124, 235
329

71, 142, 236, 235

235, 3.30
235
121

235
122
236

INDEX

in

Chamberlain, Gov. Abiram

295

Champion, Anna

261

Champlin, Epaphroditus

63

Lucretia *

63

Judah, Rev.

23, 261

John D.

236

Chapin, Rev.

2)1

Chapman, Charles

^^, 102, isi.

152, 323

Judge 56, 73, 76, 78

Charles I, King

41

ir, King

230

Chase, Charles Y

236

Cheever, Samuel W.

192

Chipman, Thomas

142, 236

Hon. Nathaniel

236

Chittenden, Frederick

117, 237

Choate, Rufus

242, 310

Chockrer, James

341

Church, Aaron

237

Leman 29, 50, 66,

96, 108

41, 282

239

123, 239

129

94, 134, 142, 239

239

109, no, III, 116, 126, 13s, 150,

237, 333, 338.

Samuel 3, 66, 86, 103, 108

126, 133, 139, 152, 168, 237, 296

297, 302, 311, 332, 333, 335, 337

Clark, Senator William A. 288

S. Gregg I2S, 237

Thomas M. 237

Clayton, John M. 293, 312, 336

Cleveland, Chauncey 102, 137

Chester D. 124, 238

Frank E. 124, 238

General 61

Clossey, E. M. 163

Cobb, Lorenzo T. 152

Coe, Mrs. Thomas M. 281

William G. 238

Coffing. George 156

Churchill 238-

Cogswell, Leonard W. 131, 321, 323

Col. William 92, 123, 135, 238

Cole, George W. 124, 238

Collier, Thomas 19, 146

Collins, Rev. Timothy 224

Cook, Richard 238

Roger II

Roger W. 238

G melius, Elias 3^

CMmwall, Edward A. 245

Cothren, William 150, I5i, 1S2

238, 254, 262, 273, 342.
County Jail i7o
Court Messenger 344
County Commissioner 344
Cowan, Stewart W. 125, 239
Cowles. Edward P. 239

Walter S. 239

Samuel 239

Cromwell, Oliver
Gumming, Edward
Curtiss, Eli

Garner B.

Holbrook

■Medad

William E. 239

Gushing, Caleb 137

Cutler, George Y. 239

D

Daggett, Judge

56, 78, 139, 140, 148, 311, 332, 335

Darling, Samuel 121

Davis, Gov. John 137

William C. 154

William C, Jr. 154

Nathan 122

Davies, John 121

Dawes, Senator 278

Day, Thomas 84, 85, 98

Dayton, Spencer 125, 239

Dean, Gilbert 239

Lee P. 125, 239

Deming, Julius 20, 182, 146

Stephen 322

William 322

Dempsey, E. C. 125, 240

Dexter, Jeremiah W. 240

Derso, Dr. Grosz 325

Dickinson, Daniel S. 312

William E. 240

Dowd, Wheaton F. 143, 240

Downs, Robert 239

Theodore W. 240

Dorr, Governor 137

Drakely, Robert IS2

Drinkwater, William 240

Dunbar, Daniel 240

Miles 240

Dunning, Lyman IS9

Dutton, Judge Thomas 103, 241

Henry M. 241

Dwight, Rev. Timothy Z1

Djer, Eliphalet 170

Eastman, Rufus 241

Eaton, William W. 102

Edmonds, Judge 56

David 241

Edwards, Rev. Jonathan 31. 335

Pierrpont 56

Ogden 241

Egglcston, Frederick 241

Eldridge, Nathaniel B. 241

Elliott, Rev. John 64

Elliott, William

336

Ellsworth, Henry Loomis

241

Oliver 170, 174.

241, 242

William W.

76, III, 128, 126,

151, 242

Elmer, William T., Judge

163

Elmore, John 108, in.

123, 241

John Jr.

241

Col. Samuel

15. 241

Ely, William H.

125, 241

Emmons, Charles

IIS

Ensign, James

241

Etheridge, Frank W. 124,

166, 241

Everitt, Daniel 4i>

123, 242

Sherman

242

Everson, Margaret

55

Ewing, Thomas

225

F

Fairchild, Mary

217

Farnam, John R.

125, 242

Farnsworth, Amos H.

242

Farrand, Rev. Daniel

23

Fellows, Francis

Id

Fenn, Augustus H.

126, 155, 243, 244

249, 285

Elliott J.

244

Frederick J.

244

Linus

123, 244

Field, George L.

244

Fillmore, Millard

293

Fitch, Thos.

122

Flint, Rev. Dr.

230

_ Foote, Admiral

244

Ebenezer

24s

Governor

244

John A.

244, 24s

Lucius H.

150

Forbes, Samuel

13, 20, 21

Foreign Mission School

30

Foster, Jared B. 115, 138, 143, 245, 252

Lafayette S.

lOI

Fox, Charles

151

Franklin, Benjamin

16, 174

John

17

Governor

16

Maj. Gen. Wm. B.

24s

Silas

17

Walter S.

245

Preeman, George A.

24s

Frisbie. Samuel

246

Henry I.

117, 246

Jerome

246

Rufus

246

Fulton, Robert

201

Fyler, Florimond D. 143, 246, 262

114.

Garfield, Alonzo B.
Garrett, Joshua
Gager, Judge Edwin B
Gajlord, Frederick
George HL, Statue
Giddings, Ammi

V. R. C.
Gifford, George
Glynn, James P.
Gold, George R.

Thomas R.
Goodman, Arthur
Goodrich, Elizur

Lieut. Gov.
Goodwin, Hiram
Gould, James

24, 28, 46, 56, S9.

146, 149. 183. 187,

194, 246, 293, 304.

338

James Reeve

George

William T.

Dr. William
Granger, Lyman

Miles Toby

no, III, 112, 114,

320, 321, 326
Grant, Elijah Phelps

Friend
Graves, Henry B.

126, 129, 151.

254, 260, 321

Jedediah
Green, Albert G.

Dr. John

William H.
Griswold, Geo. W.

Roger
Governor
Gunn, Frederick
Guthrie, W. W.

H

324
122
339
246
181
246
1 25, 246
294
124, 246
246
246
313
■45
176
142, 247, 276

'85, 108, 126,
188, 192, 193,
312, 336, 337,

247
247
247
59
247

115, 126, 247,

247
247

152, 155, 241, 248,

no
329
137
153
248
176

47, 176

248

7 25, 248

Haddock v. Haddock

164

Hadley, Richard

'57

Hale, Nathan 123,

143,

248

Hall, Benjamin

248

Elnathan .

248

Gideon 126, 138, 151,

226,

248

Robert E.

125,

248

Halsted, Mr.

312

Hamilton, Alexander

336

Hand, Alexander

336

Hardenburg, Col. Jacob B.

Ill,

i6s.

249

Harper, John

249

INDEX

Harrison, George C.

Julius B. ii6,

Hart, William
Harvey, Joel Rev.
Hathaway, Chas. R.
Hatch, Moses
Hawlej-, Charles

William
Hayes, Charles Gordon

John T.
Hazelton, John
Heacock, Philo N.
Heminway, Louis M.
Henshavi', Joshua
Herman, Samuel A.
Hickox, George A. 156,
Hi'ggins, Bernard E.

James R.

Richard T.
Hillhouse, James
Hine, Homer
Hinman, Chief Justice

Noah

Edward

Charles W.

Joel

Robinson S.

Royal R.

Simeon
Hitchcock, John

Roland

no, 112, 114, 126,
Holabird, William S.

96, no,
Hodges, Elkanah H.
Holcomb, Marcus H.

Walter
Hollister, David F.

Gideon H.

126, 138, ISO, 151,

321, 322, 335

John B.
Holly, John M.
Holley, Horace
Holle>- & Coffing
Holmes, Uriel

II, 123, 143,
Holt, George B.
Hopkins, Samuel Miles
Hornblower, C. J.
Home, Samuel B.
Horton, F. H.

Isaac M.
Hosmer, Stephen Titus
73,
Hosford, Samuel C.
Howe, Henry

John D.
Hubbard, Edward J.

343

Hubbard, J. H. 71,

lOS,

107,

114,

126,

126,

138,

249

138, ISO, 219,

254,

276,

321

146

John T.

123,

254

36

Frank W.

I2S,

255

I2S,

Richard D.

IS7,

28s

249

Humaston

342

249

7i

Hungerford, Frank L.

I2S,

255

Levi

255

249

Humphrey, Joseph

D.

255

249

Van R.

256

163

Hunt, Hiram

256

13

Reuben

134,

256

97,

134,

249
249

Robert
Russell

256
21

1 45,

249

Huntington, Edwar

d G.

256

124,

249

James 124,

126,

152,

155,

245,

237,

248,

250

250, 2S6, 316,

318

124,

250

Gen Zachariah

64

157

Jabez W.

29, 64, 76

, 86,

126,

124,

i6s.

250
56

134, 183, 190.
Hurlbut, Wm,. F.

194,

256,

333,

338
141

250

The County

Court

143

333,

335

Health Officer

142

166,

240,

258,

323

26,

250
250
311
251

Doctor
■ Hyde, Alvin P.

18
256

I

95.

138,
123,

251

251
122

Ingersoll, Jonathan
Governor
Judge

122

251

50

143,

251,

254

Ives, Aner

Henry C.

148
258

113,

134,

251

J

251

I2S,

167.

252

Jackson, President

241,

251,

22s

124, 167

, 252

Jacobs, George W.

258

252

John
James, II.

341
6

2S3,

262,

273,

Jay, John ,
Jaqua, Daniel, Jr.

13
258

252

Jefferson, Presideni

170,

174,

337

252

Jenks, George P.

258

311

Jenkins & Boyd

21

21

Jessup, Ebenezer, J
Jewell, Ezra

fr.

258
258

147,

253,

338

Frederick A.

124,

2S8

252,

296

Johnson, President Andrew

253

253

Franklin

'54

306

Samuel N.

26

124,

254

Amos M.

258

254

Elisha

126,

. 2S9

254

Solon B.
Walter W.

117,
123,

259
259

220,

311,

332

254
22s

Sylvester
Johnston, S. W.
Josiah S.

259
II
34

125,

254

Jones, Rev. Isaac

188

125,

254

H. Roger, Jr

124,

, 259

VI

INDEX

259

260

260

186,

335
314

123,

260
260
260
260
260

2C

;, ZT,

123

168/

170,

181,

,336

260
260

I2S.

261

I2S,

261
261

Judd, Walter S. 125, 143, i65, 259

Judges Notes 328

Judson, Charles A. 127, 259

George H. 259

S. W. 259

Keese, James D.

Kellogg, Ebenezer B.

Kelsey, William

Kent, Judge

Kickapoo Indians

Kilbourn, Dwight C.
•Kingsbury, Frederick J
George
John

King, Daniel M.

Kirby, Ephraim

Law Reports
260, 290, 291, 312,
Rejnold M.

Kirkum, Philemon

Knapp, William

Koehler, Fred M.

Kunkel, Edward A.

Lake, Joseph
Landon, Edgar M.

Howard F.

John R.
Lanman, James
Law, Richard
Law School
Lawrence, H. P.

Wm. P.
Leavenworth, Isaac

William
Lee, Rev. Jonathan

Bradley D.

Rev. Chauncey
LeRoy, James
Lewis, Rev. Alonzo N.

125, 262,

Daniel W.
Lilley, James
Linsley, Frank D.
Longfellow, Charles D.
Loomis, Hon. James C.
Lord, John J.

Lynde 127

Loring, Charles G.
Lounsbury, Gov. Phineas

W. B.
Loveridge, George

John P.
Lowerj', Romeo
Lowry, Governor P.

124,
II,

95.

261

261

261, 339

127, 261

1i, 75

181, 311

170

155, 262

124

135. 262

147

7

262

31, 262

J 54

321, 323
123, 262

262
125, 262

262

331
263
263, 264
186
254
150
264
264
264
294

Lynde, Samuel
Lyman, Darius

David

Col. David

Ensign Moses

Moses, Jr.

Samuel
Lyons, Benedict E.

M

Maltbie, Theodore M.
Manchester, Wilbur G.
Mannering, Edward
Mansfield, Judge

Lord
Marsh, Cyrus

Ebenezer 10,

Frank W.

Samuel

William
Marshall, Judge
Marvin, George A.

Reynolds 11, 20, 123,

265

Ruth
Mason, John Y.

Ebenezer P.
Masters, Charles S.

Nicholas
McDermott, Peter J.
Mather, John P. C.
Maxam, Amasa
McCurdy, Charles J.
McMahon, James H. 135,

John
McLaughlin, William
McMorris, William H.
Mead, Paul E.
Mannassah, Henrj'
Merrill, Walter S.
Merwin, Edward S.

Orange

Sylvanus

T. Dwight
Metcalf, Theron
Middlebrooks, C. C. 127, 225
Miller, Joseph 91,

Mills, Michael F. 93, 112,

Roger 93, 114,

Roger H.

Samuel J.
Minor, Gilbert S.

John

Joseph

Matthew

Matthew J.
Miner, Phineas

6s, 74, 86, 89, 123, 134,

267, 333, 338

122
264
264
264
264

143
264
264

I2S, 265

124, 264

162

335

184

265

121, 142

124, 265

265

122

335

124, 265

126, 170,

170

293

34

265

156, 265

124, 265
102
148

78, lOI
265, 206
26s
339
266
2S6
152
266
266
91
no

125, 266
312

, 266, 343

135, 267

, 134, 266

134, 266

267

30

267

142

142

94, 135
267

139, 140,

INDfix

VII

Miner, Timothy

William T.
Mitchell, John G.

Henry A.

Stephen Mix
Mix, John G.

Lucy

Thomas
Morrill, Henry R.
Moore, Charlfs C.

Samuel
Morris, Governeur

T. Dwight

James

Matthew M
Morse, Jacob

Nathan
Morton, Walter S.
Moseley, Increase

William
Moses, Julius
Mosher, Lewi's W.
Moss, Charles E.
Mulville, Wm. P.
Munger, Warren
Munn, Frank B.
Munson, Harris B.

Judge Loveland
Mygatt, Fred E.

N

122

117, 101

106, 134, 267

267

122, 311

267

267
181

34

13, 336

104, 267

23, 37, 6s

iSi

129

125, 268

340
142
176
133
344
268

I2S, 268

268

124, 268

268
289

125, 268

Nellis, Edward A. 127, 268

Nesbit, Engenius A._ 183

Nettleton, Charles 269
Nickerson, Leonard J.

123, 228, 268, 316

Major A. 268, 269

Nelson, Mikkel 269

New Milford Power Co. 340

No-rth, Theodore 95, 135, 269

Norton, Birdseje 143

James H. 269

Johnathan T. 269

Noyes, William Curtiss 239

O

Obookiah, Henry 30

O'Hara, William H. 125, 269

Old Grimes 329

Orr, James L. 270

Orton, Samuel D. 270

Otis, Harrison Gray 181

O'Sullivan, Eugene T. 124, 270

Osborne, Sellick 146

Palmer, Charles A, 123, 270

Joseph M. 270

Solomon M. 270

Parmaley, Jonathan E. 270

David 270

Park, Hon. John D. 151, 220

Parker, Amasa 270

Rev. Daniel 23

Parsons, Anson V. 270

Daniel 270

Patterson, Walter M. 270

Pease, Calvin 270

Peck, 102

William K. 112, 270
Peet, George Washington 112, 271

Perkins, Donald H. 245
Perry, Nathaniel .94, 95, 134, 271

Peters, Hugh F. 76, 271
John T. 23, ^z, 75, 126, 271

Pettit, Joel T. 271

William. 192
Pettibone, Augustus

II, 79, 80, 123, 142, 143, 271

Giles 271

Samuel 26, 126, 271

Sereno 271

Phelps, Charles B.

94, 134, 138, 142, ISO, 151, 238,

262, 273, ^21

E. Frisbie

Elisha

Ralph P.

Samuel
Pickering, Col.
Pierce, Amos

James

■Sarah
Pierpont, John
Pine, Charles H.
Pingree, T. P.
Pitcher, John
Pitkin, Rev. Timothy (sermon)

George

William
Piatt, Orville H., Hon.
Plumb, Henry B.
Poe, Washington
Poem, The Lawjers Ways
Pond, E. LeRoy
Porter, Charles J.

John K.

Joshua II

Peter B.

President
Potter, Joel B.
Prentice, George D
Prescott, Henry H.

I2S, 273

273

273

122, 336, 338

230

273

273

24

139, 272, 273, 345

24s

278

273

341

263

122, 170

170, 273

124, 275

312

328

124, 275

127, 27s

294

15, 105, 106, 142

35, 275
228

27.=;
1 57

VIII

INDEX

Preston, Nathan

William lo,

123, 27s
121, 142, 276

3

Salisbury, Stephen
Sanford, George A.

137
124, 280

R

David C.

96,

126,

151, 280

Rabello (trial)
Ransom, William L.

140

Henry S.
Henry Seymour
Roll in

124,
280,

135. 281

281, 321

280

123, 126,

261, 276, 320

Scatocoke Indians

5

Timothy C.

276

Scott, Fred A.

124, 282

Randall, Benjamin

293

Scoville, Daniel

116

Raymond, David

276

Homer R.

124, 282

James

276

Sedgwick, Albert

127, 281

Reed, Rev. Adam

117

Charles F.

71,

108,

126, 147

John

276, 277

151, 282, 321,

342.

John G.

117, 277

Gen, John

282

Roraback, Alberto T.

Robert

282

124, 126, 132, 143,
J. Clinton
J. Henrj'

, 157, 278, 301

124, 279, 323

124, 279

Capt. John
Sewall, Samuel
Seymour, E. W.

Frank W.

71,

126,

16

137

283, 284

124, 288

Willard A.

124, 279

Horatio

287

Reeve, Aaron Burr

183, 184, 277

Morris W.

125,

283,

287, 288

Abner Rev.

182

Moses

82,

181, 285

Reeve, Tapping

Moses, Jr.

II, IS

, 37, 127

II, 23, 24, 28, ZT,

42, 46, 56, 59,

Origin Storrs

71,

103, 125

■ 61, 62, 85, 122, :

[23, 126, 139,

126, 138, ISO,

151,

152,

189, 234

182, 185, 187, 191,

192, 193, 19s,

283, 285, 286,

288,

311,

331, 333

217, 225, 228, 230,

241, 244, 245,

336.

246, 253, 273, 277,

290, 291, 293,

Ozias II,

82,

127,

285, 287

298, 306, 311, 312,

329, 335, 336,

Rev. Storrs <

D.

287

337

Thomas

26

Tapping Burr

184

Shay's Rebellion

18

Roberts, Elbert P,

123, 279, 339

Sheldon, Daniel

37

Edward S.

340

Col. Elisha

15, 142

Virgil

133

Shelly, James P.

124, 288

William J.

279

Shelton, George F.

125, 288

Robinson, Henry C.

283

Stephen

288

Richards, James

278

Sherman, Daniel

II,

142, 288

Richmond, Edward

278

John

142

Francis X.

278

Capt. John

288

Richter, Clark

278

Rev. John

288

Robbins, Rev. Ammi

23

Roger 56,

122,

126,

142, 170

Samuel

IS6

173, 232, 288

, 289

Rockwell Bros.

21

Samuel

288

Edward

278

William

122, 173

Julius

278

Gen. Wm. T.

289

William

278

Sherwood, S. E.

S6

Rogers, Capt. Edward

16

Skinner, J. B.

192

William

279

Mark

289

Roosevelt, President

246, 275

Oliver

289

Root, Jesse 122, 182, 185, igi, 311, 312

Richard, L. 1

L D.

30, 289

Rood, William H.

278

Roger

. 30,

123, 289

Rowland, Samuel

279

Roger S.

289

Rugglcs, Philo

123, 279

Gen. Timothy

30, 289

Russell, Col. E. K.

168

Slosson, Brazillai

2;

;, 47,

123, 289

John H.

279

John

289

Ryan, Joseph

280

John William

49

Timothy

280

Nathaniel

50, 1.39

Thomas F. 123

;, 280, 326, 339

William

40, 289

INDEX

290

146, 290

291

27. 292, 342
28. 55, 58

Smith, Aaron 123, 290, 291

Chauncey 97, 290

Cotton Mallicr 28. 53

David II, 143, 290, 291

James W. 124, 290

George W. 150

Gen. E. Kirby 147, 290

John Cotton 28. 53, 123, 125
126, 290. 338.
John Cotton, Jr.
Joseph L.
Junius
Nathan

Nathaniel 11
96, 123, 126, 134. 139, 148, 291
Nathaniel B. 292, 336, :^S7

Col. Nathaniel 292

Perry 92. 134. 292

Phenias J., Jr. 292

Richard 13, 292

Rev. Dr. 48

Truman 56, 96, 150, 221, 237
292, 293, 294, 323, 333, 3^, 342
Wellington B.

155, 157, 295, 316
Willey T.
William M.

Southmayd, Samuel W

50. 123, 139. 29s

Spencer, George
Ambrose

Spratt, William

Sprague, Leman B.

Stanberry, Henry

Stanley, Rufus

Staples, Seth P.

Starr, Daniel

Staub, Hon. Nicholas

Sterling. Ansel 91, 135. 142

Elisha II, 23, 29, 63, S6. 88
123, 126, I ^4. 148, 149, 29t. 300,
338
John M.

Stevens, Henry W.
James

Stiles, Benjamin

Benjamin. Jr.
David J.
President

Stoddard, Eliakini S.
Henry
]\Iai. Luther

Stoeckel, Robbins Battell

Stone, Charles F.
John

Storrs, Judge

76, 151, 152, 311

Stowe, Harriett Beecher

St. Paul's Lodge, F. & A. M

344
55

316

34

127

29s
J^5
29s
295
295
340
205

29s
296
296

122. 296

123. 296
150

48
296
296

16

123. 296

204

82

Strong. Adonijah 27,

Jedediah

John, Jr.

Martin 27,

■Moses

Theron R.

William

Rev. William
Sturges, Jonathan
Swain, Judge
Swan, Betsey

Cyrus 80,

282. 297, 338
Swift, Benjamin

Heman, Col.

Homer

Jabez

Milton H.

Zephaniah

73- 80,
Svllvman, Eb-enezer

79, IDS, 123, 296

55. 14^. 297, 337

90, 13s, 296

79. 143. 297, 338

247

297

79

79

122

27s

282

90. 123. 134. 143.

297

15, 143, 297

97. 134

297

297

?3. S4. 311.

31-
122

332.

3^5
182
168

Taft, George E.
Talcott, Col. John

Ruth
Tallmadge, Col. Benjam
15, 20,
Taylor, Nathaniel, Rev.
Teller, Senator
Tharen, Robert S.
Thatcher, Patridge
Thayer, John Q.
Thomas, John

Judson B.

Martin H.
Thompson, Hezekiah

James

Judson B.

William H.
Tiffany. P. R.
Tracy. Uriah

II, 18. 23, 27. ■?-

123, 126. 139, 298.
Treadwell, John
Treat, Amos S.

John

Selah B.
Todd, Oliver A. G.

George
Tolman, David
Torrance, Hon. David
Touslev, Samuel
Trumbull, Gov.

Doctor

John
Tucker, Judge
Turkington, F. H.
Turrell, John S.

125, 297

277

-277

in

37, 145. 181

41

275

297

26, 41, 122

125, 297

264

298

298

26, 298

298

298

329

125, 298

, s6, 60, 80,

336

37
298
122
298
298
298
298

152, 219, 243

263

64, 102. 175

13

34

278

127, 299

299

INDEX

Tuttle, Byron

343

Judge Ralph

326, 327

Charles

299

Philander

106, 134

Tunxis Indians

I S3

Sally

22s

Twining, Stephen

299

White, Aaron

136, 138

Tyng, Rev. Dr.

137

Bernice

152

Rev. Edwin A.

I2S, 303

W

Whitmore, Samuel

261

Whitney, Joshua

121,

126, 302

Wadhams, Albert

299,

31S

Solomon

302

Noah

123,

299

Whittlesey, Charles

302

Wadsworth, George

299

Elisha

302

Gen. James

175

Roger

302

Capt. Joseph

230

Thomas T.

302

Waite, Judge

150,.

332,

335

Wilcox, Marshall

278

Henrj- Matson

311

Thomas

303

Waldo, Loren P.

lOI,

256

Williams, Ephraim,

Col

90

Walker, Rev.

6, 7

Frederic M.

124,

303, 340

Gideon

122

Hubert

303, 313

Wall, Thomas J.

124,

299

John 10,

II,

121,

142, ISO,

Walton, Mr.

106

220, 332, 335,

337

Ward, Bennet

ISO

Thomas Scotf

311

Henry

191

William G.

90,

13s, 303

Warner, Arthur D.

Wilson, Andrew B.

303

124, 143, 152, 24s

,268,

,299,

313

Wolcott, Frederick

Donald J., Jr.

300

II, 22, 30, 37,

81,

122,

123, 126,

Donald J.

116,

133,

143

143, 146, 176

224, 278, 300, 319,

320

Gen. Oliver

10,

II, I

6, 22, 29,

Reminiscences

Id

I2S, 127, 142,

303,

181,

217.

Donald T. 124,

126,

261,

30c

Gov. Oliver

I2S,

176, 303

323, 339

Roger

174

Lyman P.

300

Ursula

176

Milton J.

300

Wood, Daniel

304

Seth

15

Woods, Prof. Alva

137

Washington, George

IS,

175,

181

Woodbn'dge, John,

Jr.

304

Watterman, Atty.-Genl.

278

Woodbury, Levi

183,

312, 336

Thomas

300

Woodrufif, Ezekiel

304

Watson, Douglass

300

Frederick S.

306

Webb, John Maj.

16

George C.

113,

139,

140, ISO,

Webster, Daniel F.

300

283. 304, 30S,

321

Daniel

332

George M.

123,

193,

304, 340

Frederick C.

125,

300

James P.

123, 305

John W.

244

Lewis B.

30s, 306

Noah

80

Morris 78

i, 80,

143,

304, 30s

Welch, Gideon H 124,

i43>

IS5,

300

Wright, Pitkin Cow

'les

306

Hugh P.

143

Wyllys, Mrs.

230

John 37, 75

1, 80,

143

Wynne, John F.

12s, 306

Wells, John D.

137

Ralph

301

Y

Wessells Francis

301

Leveritte W.

127,

301

Yale, John D.

127, 306

Wetmore, Samuel

301

N. /

301

Z

Wheaton, George 96,

US,

134,

302

Wheeler, Abner (trial 0

f)

145

Zsarney, Janos

335