vice. In morality his principles were without a taint and his practice through life in conscientious conformity with them. In religion 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 ra- tional Calvanism, unswayed by vindictive zeal or hysterical 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 coun- tenance was rather dusky, his skin not clear, his features though far from handsome bespoke intelligence and were therefore not disagree- able. His general appearance was more like that of the late p 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. I 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 ad- mitted to the Bar the nest 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 under Judge Reeve's tuition. He was a native of Watertown, where he settled in practice, and where he spent his life. Like Mr. Slosson, he had an excellent common school education. Beyond that, his acquire- ments did not extend far in an academic course — enough, however, I ' ' s ' i : , $ \ ^1 ~}-^ c fe-^fc SKETCHES I c OF THE EARLY LIGHTS OF THE @ BY HON. DAVID S. BOA RDM AN. LITCHFIELD, CONN.: PUBLISHED l!Y .1 A M KS HUMPH REY, .1 R 1860. £&J^ttT he took no other one, nor ever named to me any price, nor would lie 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 man- ners, and great and even singular discretion, and for whom he enter- tained, 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- Ssen for as long a period as he would have desired to be a member of 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 Con- gress from that State and is now a very distinguished man there: His only surviving daughter resides also in Cleaveland, and is the' wife of her brother's immediate successor in Congress: Mrs. Allen, after a rather brief widowhood, accepted the band of a Mr. Perkins of Ox- ford 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 attention, is quite irresistible. \4 SKETCHES OP TtiE LITGHFIELD BAR. In speaking of Mr. Slosson, I must first observe that 1 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 balling 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 mode of talking, was such as to secure the attention of any one, and especiollv a boyi He used, occasionally to speak of his children, and especiallv 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 Avhich 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 acquaint" ed with him, I found was by no means exaggerated. And to his ex- cellent and accurate common school education, lie 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 unfailing correctness of his orthography and use of terms, no lexicographer ex- Celled him, and in everything pertaining to mere English, home and common school education, no one appeared to be a more thorough pro- ficiedt. And in Greek and Latin I never' saw his superior, 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 col- legiate 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 excel- lence 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 reward which would have required him to reside in New Haven ; for he went, immediately after his gradua- LHIAZ1LLAI SLOS: ON. 15 tion with one- of Lis classmates (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 elsewhere, I became greatly attatched to him, and finally, for a number of years he and I, with Southmayd for our constant companion, always occupied the same room at Catlin's Hotel during every court until his death, and there was the last time I ever saw him in life. Soon afyer the Court adjourned, hearing of his rapid decline. I sat out to visit him, and on the way, heard that he had died the night before. I however went on and stayed with the family until 1 assisted in burying him. This was in January, 1813, and in that grave I felt that 1 had buried a sincere, and I am sure, a much loved friend ; on whose character and conduct in life I could reflect with melancholy satisfaction, unmar- red by a single 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 operatioruof 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 tittle of what he had written. As an advocate he was clear, deliberate, \{\ SKETCHES OP TUB LITQHPIBLD BAR, 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-possessed rarely warming into any high degree of animation, or aiming at effect to appear eloquent, but he never failed to secure a respectful and satisfied attention. Though not one of the most leading advocates of which there are always some three or fqur 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 mobest and retiring habits, not calculated to push his way when opportunities offered, he wag yet, at the time of his decease, in a fair way of promotion. He was early and often elected to the leg- islature from his native town, and indeed their usual representative until the October session, 1812, when he was elected Clerk, which in those days was a sure stepping stone to future advancement, and havino- myself been a witness of the manner in which he performed the duties of that office, for which no man was better qualified, 1 am sure he established a reputation, which, had Providence 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 prevalent in this State. He left a widow and two sons — the oldest John William, has been and I 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, William 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 deduce 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 BAMtJEL w. houthmayd. 17 nevertheless warm and faithful in his attachments, but 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 predi- lections and uncompromising in his love of virtue and detestation of vice. In morality his principles were without a taint and his practice through life in conscientious conformity with them. In religion 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 ra- tional Calvanism, unswayed by vindictive zeal or hysterical 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 coun- tenance was rather dusky, his skin not clear, his features though far from handsome bespoke intelligence and were therefore not disagree- able. 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. Southuiayd 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. I 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 ad : mitted 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 under ^udge Reeve's tuition. He was a native of Watertown, where he settled in practice, and where he spent his life. Like Mr. Slosson, he had an excellent common school education. Beyond that, his acquire- ments did not extend far in an academic course — enough, however, I 18 SKETCHES OP THE LITCHFIELD BAR. 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. Soutiimayd, 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 witchery and innocent cunning, of both of which he had a superabundance, though he never indulged in malicious, or even very serious mischief, and in- deed 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. Soutiimayd was always sure to have all in his drafts which was requisite and perti- nent to the object in view, and in all his declarations, affording room for coloring circumstances to be inserted, there was pretty su^e to be found, slyly. slipped in, some ingenious slang whang, or Southmaydism, 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 at- tracted respectful attention from the audience as well as from the triers. And before arbitrators, referees and committees a more for- midable opponent could hardly be found. And although his practice was not large, and as was observed of Mr. Slosson he was not among the leading practitioners at the Litchfield Bar, he was certainly a very respectable lawyer, upon a par with the foremost of the second 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 adventure 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 Ihem ridiculous in the view of third persons to whom the result pf the adventure was related. I have many times joined most heartily in the laugh at the relation of the result of many such seemingly innocen,t pieces of roguery, though I could not help con- SAMUEL \V. SOUTHMAYD. 19 Ueinning the mischief, while participating in its fruits. In all such indulgences, Southmayd never entertained the least malice, for his heart was a stranger to it, but his intense love of fun, and enjoyment tof 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. From what I have been saying of Mr. Southmayd you would, I presume, be ready to conclude 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 of cheerful conversation, and while in entire health, he would suddenly complain of great distress, and exhibit unmistakable evidence 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 com- plaining, 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 we thought his distress imaginary,) and put my hand gently upon him to lead him to the bed, when he raised one 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 feeling 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 extraordi- nary eloquence read it ; on which he sprung up on end in the bed, and exclaimed " was ever anything finer than that !" I continued on 20 SKETCHES OP THS LITCHFIELD BAH. reading, and in the course of half an hour he was well and cheerful as ever. This was the most extraordinary instance 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 feel- ings as he never would attempt to describe. Mr. Southmayd was greatly esteemed in his native town, by, 1 believe, almost every one, both old and young. He was early in life sent to the legislature, and that often, and was so, I know, the last year of his life. He died of lung fever in March; 1813, about two months after the death of his friend Slosson. At the December Term, 1812, the three who had so long occupied the same room in perfect harmony, were, for the last time there to other. At the February Term of th'o Supreme Court, Southmayd audi 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. 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 manners and the gentleness of his temper almost forbade it. The family to which Mr. Southmayd belonged was of the Con • gregational order, and two df 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 lie 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 ot 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 pre- cepts he is said to have attributed much of his extraordinary success JOHN OCTTOfl .villi. 21 mus iti life. His common school education; as exhibited in afterlife, : . . e been of the most exactly accurate kind. Bis classical instruction preparatory to entering college, was commenced at home, and com, pleted under the tuition of the Rev. Mr. BrinSmadc of Washington. He entered Yale College in September, 1779', when between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and though young, maintained a high stand- ing 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 tlic office of the Hon. 'John Canfield in his native town, and there continued until he could bo by law admitted to the Bar, which was in the March term, 1786, a month after coming to twenty-one years of age : and Mr. Canfield, his legal preceptor, having died a few months after his admission (o 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 commence- ment in business was thereby attended by fortunate 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 afterwards ; indeed, from 1796 to • October, 1800 he was constantly a member, and during the two ses- sions of 1800 was speaker of the house, and while occupying that sta- tion in the October session he was informed by the Governer that he was elected a member of Congress to fill a vacancy which had occur- red for the then approaching last session of the Sixth Congress, and also for the full term of the Seventh Congress ; soon after which in- formation, 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 re- paired and served through that term, and the Seventh Congress ; was re-elected to the Eighth and again to the Ninth Congress, at the ex- piration of the Ninth Congress he declined any further elections to that honorable bod\ . 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 22 SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR. the House vras 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 1811 on being elected Lieutenant-Governor ; in May, 1813 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 em- braced 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 Avas devoted to religious studies, and his eminent christian and literary accomplish- ments being extensively known and appreciated he was selected as the first president of the Connecticut Bible Society on its establish- ment. 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 1815 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 cduld not perform all their 'duties with becoming grace, he resigned all his posts of honor, and on the 7 til day of December he died in the 81st 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 judge, 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 exceeded him in force and popularity as an advocate, none of them surpassed, and in my judgement, none of them equalled him in grace of manner and elegance of diction and utterance." NATHANIEL SMITH. 23 Early in life Gov. Smith married Miss Margaret Everson of Amenia, N. Y., a young lady of many accomplishments, who lived to old age. The issue of this marriage was only one child, William M. Smith, Esq., of Sharon, a gentleman much esteemed for his many vir- tues and eminent piety. A grandson bearing his name is now the Minister resident of the United States to the court of Bolivia, South America. NATHANIEL SMITH. [From Hollisters History of Connecticut.] " I received a line from my friend, General Sedgwick, stating that it was your desire that he would ask of me. in your behalf, tq 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 pre- 1 paration 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 teuly 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 life, rarely permitted its defects to be diseased. " When I first went to the Law School in Litchfield, which was in the fall of 1793. Mr. Smith though not over thirty years old, was in full practice, and engaged in almost every cause of any importance. Indeed, he was said to have established a high reputation for talents in the first cause he argued in the higher courts. It was upon a trial 24 SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR. for manslaughter, which arose in his native town, and in which he ap- peared 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 became known throughout the state as a young lawyer of the first promise ; and the reputation thus early acquired was never suffered 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 comer 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 car.scd 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 know 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 Litch- field 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 so well acquain- ted ; less tall than he, but of rather fuller habit. His face was not only the index of high capacity and solid judgment, but uncommonly handsome ; his hair was dark and thin, though not to baldness, except on the fore part of his head, and was very slightly sprinkled with gray. His fine, dark eyes, were remarkably pleasing and gentle NATHANIEL SMITH. 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 under any exertion of its capacity. His manner was very ardent and the seeming dictate of a strong conviction of the justice of his cause 5 and his gestures were the natural expression of such a conviction. Mr. Smith's style was pure and genuine Saxou, 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 ingenuity was always felt and dreaded by his opponent. He spoke with much fluency, but with no undue rapidity ; he never hesitated for or haggled at a word, nor did he ever ever tire his audience with undue prolixity, or omit to do full justice to his case for fear of tiring them ; and indeed there was little danger of it. Though certainly a very fine speaker, he never achieved or aspired to those strains of almost superhuman elo- puence 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 unassuming, and often receding in common intercourse and conversation, was, when heated in argu- ment, 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 elected 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 seat at that board in consequence of the passage of the act in 1803, prohibiting the members of the then Supreme Court of Errors from practicing before that Court. He remained 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, .vlien the judiciary establishment of that year went into operation ; from which time he remained in private life until his death. 26 SKET( HES OP THE LITCHFIELD BAE. '• Li 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 t free from all reproach. A strictly honest and pure life, free from any of those little blemishes which often mar the fame of distinguished men, may, I think, be fairly claim- ed 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." M ES G OULD. In compliance, in part, with a request recently received from you, I now send you a brief and imperfect sketch of the literary ami 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 shoAved 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. JAMES GOULD; On his first appearance aa an advocate lie evinced such an ap j 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 the field of his professional labors, in the removal by promotion of two very distinguished practitioners at that 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 Ids 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 Ids voice was very pleasant and his language pure, clear and always appropriate. He never aspired to high strains of impassioned eloquence, and rarely, if ever, addressed himself to the passions of the Court and Jury, but to their understanding only, and 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 Ids 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 susceptible of an answer could know how to apply it. In his practice at the Bat- 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 scat 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 profits 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 181G, 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- 2g Sketches of the litchfield bar. 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 1 ;s3y2 SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR, County Bar. and by his faithfulness and zeal in the management of it lie 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, however 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 untiring industry in the preparation of a cause for trial no man excelled him. He was an able, and when the nature of the case allowed 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 1832 admonished him of the danger of much public speaking, and in- duced 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 judgement in the management, led to his appointment 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, Hp 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 him. self an%ncommon elasticity of spirits he was fitted to enjoy life and £o 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 buoy- ancy of spirits, a very unfortunate man. In March, 1807, he married Miss Lucretia Campion the only ELISHA STERLING. 33 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 marriage, 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 profession. 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 College of ten thousand dollars. ELISHA STERLING. Gen. Elisha Sterling of Salisbury, who was for a long time a very respectable member of the Litchfield County 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 standing in it is evinced by his having an honorary share in its commencement exercises. Immediately alter 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 tuition, 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 Salisbury, where he continu- ed to reside during the remainder of his life. He was very fortunate T; L SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR. in his place of settlement, and soon found himself engaged in lucrative practice, which lie 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 Connecticut acquired a larger property than he did. He was at an early period by the County Court appointed the Attornej for the State in that County, and by them (to whom alone the right of that appointment then pertained.) annually reappointed for manj 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 prosecutor 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 ap- pointment of the legislature, and until, for a like cause above mention- ed, 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 Salis- bury when the political standing of the town would allow of such a choice, and was a major-general of the militia. At a somewhat ear- lier period he married a daughter of the Hon. John Canfield, deceas- ed, of Sharon, who for a long time was a distinguished member of the Bar of Litchfield 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 occasioned by a slight wound in the leg, too much neglected. He was above medium size, of a light com- plexion and good personal appearance, and his moral and religious habits unimpeachable. 35 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 character 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, 1806, with the reputation of a good scholar. Soon after his graduation he became a teacher in an academic school under the government 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 Keeve's Law School, in which he continued a diligent student uutil 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 profession in Litchfield, and there continued it. until its final termination by an office conferred upon hiin 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 por- tion of practice of which he was ambitious and which was improving to him. His forte as an advocate was in detecting error in declara- tions and other parts of pleadings, 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 lan- guage 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 wa-< elected to the 21st Congress, and reelected to the 22cl and 23d Con- gress ; and near the expiration of the last of his Congressional career he was chosen a Judge of the Superior Court, and held that office un- 36 SKETCHES OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR, til 1840, when being chosen a senator of the United States he resign-' ed 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 public. 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 M IX JIM Phinsas Miner, a very respectable and somewhat eminent mem ber of the Litchfield Canity 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 in all respects. At an early period in life he commenced the practice of law in the place of his birth, in the society of Winsted, as is believed, a place of a great deal of active manufacturing business arid 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 tile expectation of drawing after him an engagement in all the disputable cases from that fruitful quarter; when he removed to Litchfield ami was much employed as an advoeate for a number of years, and until his health rather prematurely failed, and he became the victim of great mental and bodily suffering, until relieved hy death before reaching the ordinary period at which old age begins to make its effects much percept i I tie in the human 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 him to avoid, and less wounding to an ear of taste, but the fault apparent to all, was the extreme prolixity of his argu- ments ; but these faults notwithstanding, Mr. Miner was a respectable and able advocate. LEMAN CHURCH. ft] 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 man: LEMAN CHURCH. One more attempt to comply with your repeated requests. Le- mah 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 scholas- tic and professional ; the latter in the office of his half-brother, Sam- uel Church, afterwards a Judge of the Superior Court, and finally Chief Justice of the same ; and after his admission to the bar ho "opened an office in North Canaan, where he resided during the re bainder 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 occupied 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 con- siderable importance discussed, in which he was not engaged, In September, 1833, Mr. Church was appointed by the Court, State's Attorney, as successor to his brother Samuel, on the latter's elevation 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 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 075 897 8