TAPPING REEVE. OJnitntg, (Ennnecttcut irn9-i9nn BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF MEMBERS HISTORY AND CATALOGUE OF THE LITCHFIELD LAW SCHOOL HISTORICAL NOTES BY DVVIGHT 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. rUBUSHED BY THE AUTHOR LITCHFIELD, CONN. 1909 5^ J \j I J^r- COPYRIGHT BY DWIGHT C. KILBOURN 1909 Edition Limited to 500 THE MATTATUCK PRESS WATERBURY. CONNECTICUT (To tuxr iivcthxHnt of tit c fitchficlrt (Coitttty gar tUict XiooU to nic»ot ^tTcctic>natcIvj Iiciticatcit CONTENTS ¥ ¥ List of Illustkatiuxs xi. Statk:\ikxt in- tiik Cask xiii Judge Cjiikcil's Ckxtexxial Address i. First settlement of the towns. County organization. County Officers. Character of the people. Iron Works. Religious matters. Colonial and Revolutionary Wars. Newspapers. ^^lerchants. Slitting Mills. Xail rods. Scythes. Iron Mines. Paper Mills. Woolen Mills. Emi- gration to Vermont and the Western Reserve. Education. Morri.s' Academy. -Mis.s Pierce's School. The Law School. Fu'st Law Re- ports. Lawyers. Doctors. Authors. Foreign Missionary Society. Mission School at Cornwall. Temperance Movement. Infidelity. The future. BoAki).M.\x"s Early Lights 39 Partridge Thatcher. Daniel Everett. Tapping Reeve. John Allen. Barzillai Slosson. Samuel W. Southmayd. John Cotton Smith. Nathaniel Smith. Noah P.. Benedict. James Gould. .A.sa Bacon. Elisha Sterling. Jahez W. Huntington. Phineas Miner. Leman Church. Sedgwick's Fifty Years ai' riii-: V>.\\< 68 Correspondence. Organization of the Courts. Chief Justice Hosmcr. Judge Peters. Judge Chapman. Judge Brai'nard. Judge Bristol. Judge Daggett. The Superior Court. The County Court. Judge Petti- hone. Judge Strong. Judge Welch. Judges Burrall. ^\dodruff 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. A.sa Bacon. General Sterling. Judge Boardman. Phineas Mmer. William G Williams. John Strong. Tr. William M. Burrall. Col. William Cogswell. Seth P. Beers. Perr\ 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. Holaliird. George S. Boardman. Reflections. Jl'dgk \\'arxi:r's Re.mixisci:xges 100 Experiences in the General .\ssemhly. History of the Act allowing prisoners to testify. Story about Dwight Morris. Adoniiah Strong. Col. Joshua Porter. John G. Mitchell. Phdander Wheeler. Aunt Polly. John H. Hubbard. Roger Averill. Norton J. Buell. John Elmore. Leman Church. ^liles Toln Granger. Col. Jacob B. Har- denburg. George W. Peet. Michael F. ^lills. William K. Peck. Jr. William S. Holabird. Gideon Hall. Roland Hitchcock. Roger H. Milks. Jared B. Foster. Nelson Brewster. George Wheaton. Julius B. Harrfson. Solon B. Johnson. Frederick Chittenden. John G. Reed. X. COXTKXTS lllSToUJeAl. XoTKS 118 The first Court Record. Early Attorneys. Present Attorneys. Gov- ernors. Judges. State Attorneys. Clerks. Sheriffs. Court Houses. Jury matters. Witnesses. Stenographers. Students. Libraries. \\ hite Fund. County Centennial. Judge Daggett's Letter. Ancient Court K.\i)enses. County Court. Noted Tki ai.s 144 The Sellick-Osborne case. Blaspliemy. Wrong Verdict Stands. A Funeral Order. Rabello. Robert Drakcly. Bernice White. William H. Green. James LeRoy. Burglars on a hand car. Liquor Prosecu- tions. Masters vs. Warren Robbins vs. Cofiin. Higgins" (Hadley) escape. Michael Bion. Borgesson. Tax case. Mannering. Norman Brocks' Will case. John T. Hayes. Haddock vs. Haddock. CoL'NT\- C(»K()Xi:u. Hi:. \i, 'I'll OfficivK, At'i'okxi'V Gex'Krai 165 First L.\\\ Reports 168 The preface. Fac-similie. Ephraim Kirby. His law bocks. The CofXTv J Air 176 The Litcii I'Ii;i.i) L.wv Scitooi 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. BlOGK.\l'llK-\l, XoTl'.S Al.l'IIAl',ETlC.\LEY AkRAXC.i;1) 215 LioAX^s 307 Ex-Governor and Ex-Chief Justice Andrews address. A demurrer de Kickapoo Indians. Sound Advice of .\ll)ert 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. New Milford Power Company. Sermon at the Ex- ecution of John Jacohs, 1768. Truman Smith. Jury Commissioners. County Commissioners. Court Messengers. The Judgment File. IxDi'.x di' .\.\.\ii;s LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS «l 4 Old Litchfield n Tearing down King George Statue 17 Old Writ 4^ Count}- Centennial 1851 ,U Superior Court in Session 122 Court Houses 128 Judge Preston's Tombstone 143 First Law Report, fac-simile 168 County Jail 1/6 Law School Buildings 180 Reeve's Building 192 Gould's Buildmg iy4 May- it please the Court 308 Kickapoo Lidians 3^4 Banquet 316 Old Grimes 320 Judges I'.vi deuce, fac-similic 328 Title i^age of Old Sermon 340 PORTRAITS Allen, Henry J. Andrews. Charles B. Bacon, Asa (Group) Francis Epaphroditus C. Baldwin, Birdseye George H. Barnes, Andrew G. Beers, Seth P. Beeman. Frederick D. Ballamy. Joseph H. Benedict, Xoah B. Botsford. Henry A. Brinsmade. Daniel N. Buel. Chauncey J. Cantield. Judson Col. Samuel Case, Hubert B. Catlin, Abijah George 164 310, 220 63 63 63 115 22 ^ 34-' 93 138 7^ 38 229 231 336 232 i8 344 236 234 Church. Samuel Coe. William G. Cogswell, Leonard W . Cothren. William Dowd, Wheaton F. Ellsworth, William W. Etheridge, Frank W. Fenn. Augustus A. Foster. Jared B. Gould, James Granger. ^liles T. Graves. Henry B. Guernsey, Howard M. Hall, Gideon Harrison, George C. Herman, Samuel A. Hickox, George A. Higgins, Richard T. Hitchcock. Roland Holcnml), ^Lircu> H. Hollister. Gideon H. Home. Samuel B. Hubb-ard. John H. Huntington. Jame> Hurlbut. Wdliam F. Karl. John J. Kilbourn. Dwighl 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. C. I 78 132 150 144 242 166 154 116 184 156 152 344 113 342 250 250 165 114 167 253 254 106 256 142 344 119 170 136 266 78 33C^ 162 163 269 2. 345 78 94 160 276 XI II.I.ISTRATIOXS Ransom. William L. 1^4 Reeve. Tapping — Frontispiece Roraback, Alberto T. 133 Ryan. Thomas F. ^77 San ford. David C. 278 Henry S. 280 Sedgwick. Charles F. 71 Albert 281 Seymour. Edward W. 130 Origen S. 210 Ozias 2S7 Origen S.. 2nd 287 Alorris W. 287 Closes. Jr. -''1=; Sherman, Roger 1 7-' Smith, Jdlm Cotton 28, 290 Truman 96 Wellington B. 158 Willey T. 33C^ Turkington, Frank H. 299 Tuttle, Byron 34-' Warner, Arthur D. 167 Donald J. 100 Donald T. 126 Welch, Gideon H. 141 Wessells. Col. L. W. 30 r Wheaton, George 115 Williams, Frederic ]M. 300 Huliert 298 Wolcott, Frederick 81 Gen. Oliver 173 Gov. Oliver 302 Woodruff, George C. 195 George M. 200 Lewis B. 206 Morris, (Group) 306 James P. 306 County Coroners 344 Messengers 344 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 Count\" 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 hardlv 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 difl:"erent modes of practice began to be cr_\stallized 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 infiueiitial 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 lawxers. Directly after the formation of the county and the establishment of the county court, these men were admitted to practice as at- tornews with slight examinations, and with little knowledge oif the law;, Ijut they were strong-minded and of sterling character, oracles in their own communities, and the\- verv soon brought the decisions of the county court of this county to the front rank of judicature. It was in this op])ortune i)eriod that Tapping Reeve located at Litchfield and unintentionally began that process which e\-entually overthrew the common law^ of Lngland, 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 coukl do no wrong" and swej^t away 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 }ears ago the compiler of this l)ook conceived the idea of Collecting and [)rescr\ing 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 N'our consideration, believing his work to be a somewhat valuable contrilnitiim t(^ our earlier historv. XIV STATEMENT OE THE CASE The reprint of Chief justice Samuel Church's Address at the Centennial Celebration of the orij;anization of the county, in 1851, gives a very concise and thoroui^h analxsis of the elements which have conduced to give oiu' count}- ,^-reat inliuence 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 IJeecher Stowe among the writers and speak- ers who have done so much to uplift the world's ideas, and wonder- fullv 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 nniety years of age, of his colleagues and associates in the earlier \ears 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 otit of print, and is very rare. I regret very much ni}- inability to procure his portrait for insertion in this work. Li the re-publication of 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 Ijrother in the legal arena, while Judge Warner's "Reminiscences" completes the chain of those living and practicing at the Bar during his life. Charles I'>. 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 1 have referred to them without republishing. In the Biographical Xotes 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 onl\- the legal life brief] \- told, and the\- have nearly all been prepared by myself. I dee])ly regret that there are so man}- whom I have been unable to trace be}ond the mere fact of their admission. The section on the Law School contains the list of its students alphabetically arranged, with some other interesting matter relating thereto. So man}- references are made throughout the volume to Judges Reeve, Gould, Huntington, Bacon and others i)rominently connected with its instruction and management, that I did not think it wise to devote more space to the further histor}- of the Law School. The Historical Xotcs include onlv a few of tlie man}- trials aiid incidents which could be gathered from the Court Records, but in very niany cases the account of trials, especially those of a criminal nature, might give ])ain to sonie friend or relative of the accused, which I have tried to avoid doing. STATEMENT OF THE 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 "Leadin,!:^- Cases" would make an interesting- volume of itself. I have obtained all the subjects for illustration which I coukl 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 jjortrait 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 an\- such error, so that in due time proper corrections can be made. To the verv many friends who have aided me in this work, I wish to return my heart-felt thanks for their assistance. I have refrained from making any acknowledgment of quotations ov 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 aft'orart of Harwinton, were reUnquish- ed to Hartford ; and the remaining lands in dispute, now consti- tuting the towns of Norfolk. Goshen. Canaan, Kent, Sharon and Salisbur\-. 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 \ears 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. Xew Milford next followed in the course of settlement. Thi-lade of the Green-Woods, the high hills of Goshen, Litchfield g-i CHL^RCHS CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 9 and Co'-nwall, and heavy forests every where — these were trifles then ill the way of a Xew 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 tield, 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 v>ith his people, wedded to them almost by sacramental bonds, indissoluble. A Prinuis inter pares, he settled on his own domain, appropriated to his use by the ]:)roprietors 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 surrtiunding 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 of the spirit of Arch-Rishop Laud, transgressing the boundaries of Realm and Church, had found its way over the ocean, and was developed tmder 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 — m a Roya' 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 Xew Haven ; and many of the early titles and of proliate proceedings of several of the lO LITCIIFIKLD COLXTV UHNCli AND BAR towns, before their org-anization or incori)oration, 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 175 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 1751, the new County was established with Litchfield as the Count \- Town, under the name of Litchfield County. Litchfield County, associated with the thought of one hundred vears ago ! A brief space in a nation's history ; but such an liundred 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 tender and romantic sympathies ; and many will recall the misgivings, and yet the stern resolves, with which they commenced the various avoca- tions of life in which they have since been engaged. And from this point, too, we look back to ties which once bound us to parents, l3rothers, 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." Tt will come from some whom you will find in the halls of Legislation, in the I'ulpit, on the liench, 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, Sanmel Canfield, of Xew Milford, and b^benezer Marsh, of Litch- CHURCH S CENTEXXIAL ADDRESS II field. Isaac oaldwin, Esq., was the first Clerk, and the first Sherifif 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 ]\Iarvin, 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 ([ualifications. 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 Xew Hartford, also a member of the Council, and Augustus Pettibone, of Xorfolk. T can not at this time present a catalogue of Associate Judges. Tt has been com- posed of the most worthy and com]ietent citizens of the County — gentlemen of high influence and resj^ect in the several towns of their residence. In the office of SherifiF. GovcruDr Wolcott was succeeded by Lynde Lord, David Smith, John R. Landon. ]\Ioses 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, Xathaniel Smith, John Allen, Uriel Holmes, and Elisha Sterling, whose successors, with a single exception, still survive. Hon. Frederick Wolcott succeeded Mr. luildwin in the office of Clerk, and this place he held, undisturl)e(l 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 coiumodious 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 ma\' still be seen in the rear of the buildings on the south side of W'est street. Tt 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. \A'. 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 LITCliFllvJa) COL X'iV J'.KXCJl AND JiAR apprehension of savage incursions had passed away, and the ]:)eople were left unchsturhed to carry out, to their necessary results, what might have heen expected from the spirit and enterprise which brought them hitlier. The old French War, as it has since been called, disturbed them but little. Some of the towns in the County, moved b\- a loyal im])ulse, and a legitimate hatred of France, as well as hostilitv 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 any other pursuit, and looked for no greater results than the enjoyment of religious privileges, the increase of their estates b\' removing the heavy forest and adding other acres to their original purchases, and with the hope, perhaps, of sending an active boy 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 c^ften 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 w'oven into a net work with thongs of raw-hide, leather or deer skin, and Avhen attached to the com- mon shoe enabled the walker to travel u|)on the surface of die 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 difiierent 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. r)Ut the rich iron mine which had been earlv discovered in Salis- church's cextexnial address 13 burw and the iron ore found in Kent, could not lie neglected. Iron was indispensable, and its transportation from the coast almost mipracticable. The ore bed in Salisbury had been granted by the Colonial Assembly to Daniel Uissell 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 Lamb erected a forge at Lime Rock, in Salisbury, as early as 1734, — probablv 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. I'ar iron became here a sort of circulating medium, and promissory notes were more frequent- ly made payal)le 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 of Canaan. This property fell into the hands of Richard Smith, an English gentleman, a little before the war of the Revolution. Ui)on 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 countrw and sometimes under the supervision of Goverucur 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 shi]:)S, from the same cstalilishment. Tt will not be any i)art of my purpose to become the Ecclesiasti- cal historian of the County. This duty will be better performed 1)\- otiier pens. And yet, the true character and condition of a people can not be well understood without some study of their re- ligious state. T have alread\- 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 ])ortions of the Colony. I do not learn from that full and faithful chronicler of religious dissensions. Dr. Trumbull, that there was in this County so nmch of the metaphysical and subtle in the- ology, as had produced such bitter effects at an earlier time, in the churches at Hartford. New Haven. Stratford ard Wallingford. The Pastors were men of peace, who had sought tli( retired ]iarishes over here in the hills and valleys, without much p/ide of learning, and without ambitious views. The influence of the Pastor here was Daternal ; the eloquence of his example was more potent than the eloquence of the pulpit. Tt might be expected, that by such a Clergy, a deep and broad foundation of future good would be laid, — 14 LlTCUFlIiLU COUNTY BENCH 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 English 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. \\'e 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 ])ushes 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 \^ermont 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 purpose of inde- pendence. Tn 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 fjuiet population to action, and in church's ce:nte;nnial address 15 nearly every town in the County, meetings of sympathy were holden, and strong resolves adopted, responsive to the Boston complainings. The tax on 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 British 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. T 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 yovi of battle-fields, of vic- tories won or villages sacked any where in our sight. We were only in the pathway between the dift'ercnt 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 front 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 bv its acts, more devoted pa- triotism. Sheldon's was, I believe, the first regiment of cavalry which joined the army. Tt 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 IMajor Benjamin Tallmadge, afterwards and for man\' years a dis- tinguished merchant and gentleman of this village, and, for several sessions, a valuable member of Congress in the Connecticut dele- gation. ?^Iajor Tallmadge distinguished himself by a brilliant ex- ploit against the enemy on Long Island, for which he received the public approbation of General Washington ; and through the w^hole 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 armv, from this Countv. Among them were Col. Heman Swift of Cornwall, ^lajor Samuel Elmore of Sharon, Col. Seth Warner of Woodbury, Major Moses Seymour of Litchfield, l6 1 ITCIIFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND 1!AR Major John Webb of Canaan, Capt. John Sedgwick and Edward Rogers of Cornwall. Col. Blagden and Major Lnther 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 jiggregate 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 jjarts of his pleasure carriage, still remain in possession of the Seymour family. Governor Franklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey, and a son of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, was confined as a prisoner of war in our jail whicli 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 tliis Count}'. 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 U^yoiiiiiii:^. 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 \\'ilkesbarrc. Its extent was as broad as this State. It was su]iposed to be embraced within (^ur 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 17^4. 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- CHURCH S CENTENNIAL ADDRESS 1/ fected upon the choice lands of the Susquehanna, chiefly by emi- grants from the counties of Windham and Xew 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 little 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 Count \- 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 doff the Quaker a while, or (|uietl\' to have left our fellow-citizens in peace, lender the protection of their parent power, this little col- ony now looked for security. They were a town of the Connecticut Colony, organized witli Selectmen and other ordinary Town Of- ficers, and semi-annually sent their Deputies to the General Court at Hartford and Xew 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 i)rocess. served there, were returnable to the Courts of this Countv. and remain now upon our records. But their securitv was transient ; the war of the Revolution brought down upon tiiem a combined force of British Provincials and Tories, from Pennsylvania. Xew Jersey and X'^ew York, and a lartre bodv of Indians, commanded by Brant, a celebrated chief. This whole force was directed by Col. John Butler, of infamous memorv. I have no leisure to describe, in its details, the progress of the tragedy of the \\\voming massacre. Cols. John Franklin and Zebulon Butler were consnicious 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 settlement. 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 awav. 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 historians have found no apology. l8 LITCHFIELD COUXTV BENCH AND I!AK "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 iail, 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 wliich 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- itv and glorv in reserve. This disappointment, in a neighboring State, had produced open resistence to the laws, — re]:»ellion ! It was a contagious spirit, and such as municii^al lines could not con- fine, ^lucii 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 soiue impression. The General Assembly was then in session, and took efficient measures to jjrevent the spread of the treasonal)le contagion. Col. Samuel Canfield, of New ATilford, and Uriah Tracy, of this village, were sent to suppress it. Several individuals were arrested and im- prisoned in the iail 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 oermitted to go at large, punished enough b\- the contempt which followed them. Although tlie resources of our citizens had been consumed by a wastino- war and a l)ankrui)t government, the elasticity of our Col. Samuel Caxfield. church's cextknnial address 19 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 into 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. \^ar- 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 everv location, everv species of grass, fruit, and grain, indigenous to an\- 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. Rut we had more — that, without which, all these were worthless ; we had an industrious, and what was better, an economical and an intelligent yeomanrw 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 people were Native Americans! And liere 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. Tt was called the "Weeklv ATonitor." Tt 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 anv journal. Tt 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 buv. The thriftv farmer, on settlement, received his 20 LITCHFIELD 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 Lynians', of Goshen ; Battel, of Norfolk ; King, of Sharon ; HoUey, 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, thev 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 anv thing, it has been in a proper appreciation of their own calling. Thev have vielded a preference to other employments, to which they are not entitled. Tf 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. T 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 Countv, 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. 1 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 vicinit\ : to which mav be added, the manufacture of maple sugar, to some extent by the farmers in some of the towns. Even a few vears ago, this Count} was not believed to be destined to become a manufacturing comnumitw During the Revolutionary War, Samuel Forbes, Esq.. commenced a most inu:)ortant 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 CKXTEXNIAL ADDRESS 21 Tlierc was a slitting-mill in Xew Jersey, in which nail rods were made, but the machiner_\- 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 Salislmrw 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 fixmdation of his great fortune in after life. He afterwards erected another slitting-mill in Washington, (now Woodville. ) By these he was able to suppl\ 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 justlv l)e deemed the pioneer of the manufacturing interests in this Countv. 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 enter])rising manufacturers. Russell Hunt ct' I'rothers. at South Canaan, by whom the largest anchors for the largest ships of the American Xavy were made. The manufacture of scythes by water-power, was commenced in this County first at \Mnsted. by Jenkins & Boyd, in 1794. These enterprising gentlemen, with the brothers Rockwell, soon extensive- Iv engaged in various branches of the manufacture of iron and steel in Winsted and that vicinitw 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 Salisljury. continued for many years in most successful o])eration under its active proprietors, and es]x^cially its last owners. ]\Iessrs. Holley cS: Coffing, by whose energy and success, the iron interest, in Salisbury, has been most essentially jiromoted : and it has extended into the towns of Canaan, Corn- wall Sharon, and Kent. Ames' works, at Falls \'illage. are not equalled by any other in the State. In speaking of the iron interest. T cannot but allude again to the Salisbury iron ore, which is found in various localities in that town. It stands superior to an\- other for the tenacity of the iron which it produces, with which the armories of Si)ringfield and Harper's Ferrv are supplied, and froiu which the chain cal^les and best anchors for the Xavy are made. And I am confident, if the machinery of the steam vessels and railroad cars were made ex- clusivelv from this iron, and not from a cheaper and inferior ma- terial, we should know less of broken shafts and loss of life in our public conveyances. Paper was first made in this County, at the great Falls of the 22 LITCHFIELD COUXTV BLNCH AND BAR Housatonic, in Salisbury, by Adam c^' 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 thi.= country ; and of late, the elegant manufacture of the Papier Alache. Plymouth, New Hartford, Norfolk, Woodbury, as well as the towns before mentioned, have felt extensively the beneficial efifects 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. ( )ur voung 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 ])eople rushed again to A'ermont, and to the W'hites- town and Genesee countries, as the\' 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 ChamplaiiL 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 occu]iati(^n 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 ; Srarr and Norton, of Goshen ; Canficld, of Sharon ; Johnston. Church, and \\'aterman, of Salisbury. For a time it seemed as if de]:)opulation was to fol- low. The towns of Boardman, Canficld, 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 ])arts 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, A^crmont, or the States of the West. And we believe that these children of our own raising, have CHURCH S CKXTKXXIAI, ADDRESS 23 transniittc(l the impress and image of Litchfield County, to the gen- eral condition of societ}' where they 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. 1 do not know that before the Revolution there was a public Grammar School in the County. The preparatory studies of young men, intended for collegiate course, were prosecuted with |)rivate 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 }ears. An Academy at Sharon, not long after, acquired a deserved repu- tation, under such instructors as John T. Peters, Elisha Sterling, and Barzillai Slosson. Alanx- vears 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 controlling influence of the cities, have left us without College. Asylum, or Retreats ; but our district schools have been doing their proper work, so that Judae 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 scliool-mastcrs. and these have been among the best of our indigenous productions, and have found a good market every where. \\'hen 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 Air. 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 UTCHFIELD COUNTY BEXCII AXD 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 ex])eriment. 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 Acedeni}- 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. ]\Iany of the grandmothers and mothers of the present generation were educated as well for gentcl 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. I)efore this, and as early as 1784, a Law School was instituted in this village. Tap]Mng 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 \A'estminster, a school for the training of lawyers had been attempted. Xo 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- tornev's office, — studied some forms and little substance, and had within his reach but few volumes beyond Coke's & \\'oo(rs Insti- tutes. Plackstone's Commentaries, Bacon's Abridgment, and Jacob's Law Dictionarw and, when admitted to the lUir, was better instruct- ed in ])leas 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 oiu' sister States. Few lawyers ha.d 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 Sui)erior Court, he associated with him. as an instructor. James Oould. Fs(|. These gentlemen conducted the school together for several vears, until the advanced age of Judge Reeve admonished him to retire ; after which. Judge Gould contijiued 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 countrv. — that "he found it a skeleton, and clothed it with life, color, and complexion." This school gave a new impulse to legal CnrKCIl's CKXTEXXIAL ADDRESS 2^ learninjT 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 L'nited 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 leg-al thinking and feeling and of administration were dissemin- ated throughout the entire country. More than one thousand lawyers of the I'nited 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 of this Union, a \'ice President of the United States, two Judges of the Supreme Court of the L^nited 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, ])ublished the first volimie of Reports of Adiudged Cases, in this country, — a volume which deserved and received the approbation of the profession here and elsewhere. This was soon follow^ed 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 transjMred, but revive our recollections of the men who have acted in them. Memory cannot raise the dead to life again : yet it ma\ 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. I would speak of others. The allusion to the Law School of the County suggests to me a l:)rief notice, also, of the legal jirofession 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. Tn si^eaking of these I must confine myself to the memor\- of the dead. And here. T feel that T am under a restraint, which, on any other occasion. I would resist. I feel this chain which binds me the more as T 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 j^raise in the land. As the reoresentative of the County. T would most gladlv do them livin the Lench of the Suoerior Court in 1806. Hon. Nathan Smith was a vonnger brother of Nathaniel Smith, and though born and reared in this County, his professional and ~8 l.nCHFlKlJ) COUNTY BENCH AND BAR. public life was passed in Xew Haven Conntw but he often appeared at this I'>ar. He was less profound than his brother, more ardent, and i)erhaps 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 181 7. 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 alwa^■s 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 carrv a listener along w^ith him to his conclusions. \\'ith his brethren, his intercourse was always courte- ous, and with his younger ones, kind and affectionate. 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 vielded without irritation. He was appointed an .Associate Judge of the Superior Coiu't in 1816. and retired from the Bench to private life soon after. Judge Gould i>ublished 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 approval from the most learned Jurists in this country and Kngland. Judge Gould died in 1838. ,'>ji<'*as< -ih /m $■ /'/ Juiix CdiiiiN S\irrii. From Cravon Sketch. 1800. church's CENTEX X I AL ADDRESS 29 Noah R. 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 ])roniissorv note in his life. With such an undivided attention to his professional calling, 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 voung lawyers. (jcn. Klisha Sterling, of Salisbury, was a native of Lyme. N^o one in our profession was more assiduous in its i:)ractice than this gentleman. His causes were never neglected in their prepara- tion. The controlling points of every case he discovered (juick, and pressed both, in i)reparation and argument, with zeal. He neglected the study of method and system in his arguments, but, when concluded, nothing had been omitted. Passing 1)y, on this hurried occasion, a more particular notice of the galaxy of Lawyers, to whom I have alluded. I may be in- dulged in paying an affectionate tribute to one or two, whose familiar voices still seem sounding in oin- Com-t House. Hon. Jabez W. Huntington earned his high nrofessiona' char- acter here, where he commenced and continued his practice for several years. He engaged in ])ublic life, and returned to hi? na- tive town of Xorwich. He was elected to Congress: afterwards he was elevated to the Bench of the Superior Court, which place he retnined until he was api)ointed a Senator in Congress, in which positi'-n he died in 1847. Having been associated with Tudge Huntington at the Bar and on the Bench. T can bear true testimony to his superior abilities in both jilaces. Of m\- late brother. Leman Church Es(|., the proprieties of mv connection will not permit me to sneak. 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 T may refer. T hafl a young friend, m~)on whose opening prospects T looked with anxiety and hope. He was of generous heart and liberal hand and stinmlated b\ an honorable ambition, which seemed nearl\- at the point of o-ratification. when death came for its vic- tim. This friend was Francis Bacon. Esq., who died in 1849. ^^ the age of ;?o vears. Hon. Oliver \\'olcott. the younger, late Governor of this State, was also a member of this Bar, and though he engaged in public life soon after his admission, we are entitled to retain his name on our catalogue. I shall not speak now of his life and eminent services. They make a prominent part of the countrv's history, 30 LITCHFIELD COLNTV BENCH AND IIAR and have been, within a few years, faithfuHv written by his near relative. He died in 1833, and I regret to say that his remains lie in onr grave-yard, withont a monnment to mark his resting place. His bust has been presented, on this occasion, to the Bar of this County. 1 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 liigh opinion T have ever entertained of his purity of life and character, his ])ublic 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 taients, of his future standing; but he was here in the most bitter state of Connecticut politics, and, as he believed, was compelled to escai:)e from unmerited, opposition. He removed to the State of X"ew >'ork ; soon attained a deserved eniinence in his profession and was appointed a Judge of the United States Court, in the \orth- ern District of that State. Richard Skinner removed to \'er- mont and afterwards became an eminent Judge of the Superior Court, and ultimately Governor of that State. Tn the clerical profession, I have remarked before, that there was earlv manifested a dispc^sition rather to be good than great. The clergy of this County were nearly all educated men ; and many of them rine scholars and profound divines, and if there were not as man\ 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- vinit\ lia>^ furnished tin- most c(Mni^^(Mi them'- and employed the most pens. We are all theolgians in New England. Rev. Joseoh Hellamy. D. D.. of Rethlem, 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 CEXTEXNIAL ADDRESS 3I Avorks 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 ojMnions, 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 Josejih 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 Countw 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 t(^ Dr. Chauncex' : 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 Eee, of that town. He was educated for the bar, and commenced iiractice 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 l.\ himself, was a i)oem, entitled "The Trial of \'irtue,"" being a paraphrase oi the book of Job. Dr. Lee was a gentle- man of some ecceiUricitics. 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 T am ]:)repared on this occasion to repeat. Not because he was the author of books, but the author and originator of liberal and extensive benevolent effort. The nc^ble cause of Foreign ^lissions in this country, is deei~)l\- indebted to him as one of its most zealous and active projectors ancl friends. Another of the most splendid charities of any age or country. — the Colonization Society. — owes its existence to the eft'orts of this gentleman ; and his name will be cherished b\- the philanthropists of the world, along with those of Howard and Wilberforce. Rev. Horace Holley. D. D.. of Salisbury, was son of ^Tr. Luther Holley. and one of a highly distinguished and worthy family of brothers. Dr. Holley was first ordined pastor of a Church and Society at Greenfield, in Fairfield 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 pulnit orators among the eminent divines of that metrop- olis. He afterwards became President of Transvlvania L^niver- sity in Kentucky, and died, while vet a voung man on ship-board. 32 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR when on his return from Xew 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 remenibered as among the most learned Divines of the County. Of the Medical Profession and the Medical Professors here. mv opportunities of information have not been extensive. And yet I have known enough of them to persuade me that a more learned and useful facult}-, has not been found elsewhere in the State. Empiricism has always existed, and will exist ; and the credulit}- 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 this County, composed of the most eminent physicians then in practice here. Its object was to establish 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 Gitteau, John Calhoun, \-c. ( )ne of the earliest ])hysicians of the County was Oliver W^olcott. 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 ])ractice 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 Sherifif 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 of the Declaration of Tn- de;)en(lence. Lieutenant Governor, nnd Governor of his native State, and more than aH, the father of an excellent family. He is said to have been a man of uncommon diffidence, and dis- trustful of his own abilitv. His oublic communications display sound judgment, and his more confidential correspondence a warm affection and a pure purpose. Dr. Seth liird. of Tvitchfield, probabl\- lield the first place among the earlv physicians of the County. His reputation was wide-spread. For acuteness of di'^crimination 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. Xathaniel Perry, son of the gentleman just 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 i:)Osition than Dr. Samuel ?>. 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 ReT)orts of Dr. Woodward and his other professional writings, and the success of his elYorts in the cause of humanity, have earned for him a reputation wliich will long survive. Among the Surgeons of note, in earlier times was Dr. Samuel Catlin, of TJtchfield. and at a later jicriod. Dr. Samuel R. Oager, of Sharon. The medical profession in this County has ]iroduced some writers of respectability. Dr. Klisha North was for several years a physician of extensive i^-actice in Goshen, and he afterwards removed to New London. He i^ublished an approved treatise on spotted fever, which extensivelv 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 manv vears 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 p\ace in his profession. He i)ublislied several medical works, the most iwnular of which was, the Philosoohv of Living, which consti- tutes one of the volumes of Harpers' Family Library. The Chipman family, a numerous brotherhood, removed from Salisbury to A'ermont immediately after the Revolutionary War: it iM-oduced eminent men. Nathaniel was an officer of the Rev- olution. He became Chief Justice of \^ermont. and a Senator in Congress. He published a small volume of Judicial R'-norts and a larger treatise upon the Principles of Government. Daniel Chioman. a younger brother of this gentleman, was a verv prom- inent member of the A^ermont Bar. He was the author of a verv M I.ITCIIFIELD 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 Philip 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 L'nitefl 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 ^loore, of Salisbury, was a profound mathmatician and engaged much in the instruction of young men in what was called the surveyor's art. He ]:)ublished a treatise on surveying, with a table of logarithms. It was the earliest work on that "branch of mathematical science i:)ublished in this country. It intr()duced the method of com]:)uting 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 (nie b\ Rev. Abel Flint, in wliich he borrowed much from Moore. Ethan Allen is deserving of notice only for his revolutionary services, which are matters of public histor\'. He published a narrative of his captivity 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, wlio deserve a remembrance on this occasion. Hon. John Trumbull, late one of the Judges of the Superior Court of the State, was born in ^^^atertown. in this County, in which liis father was a minister. The Progress of Dulness. and McFingal, the most admired of his Poems, were written in early life. The\" are satyrica! productions, and for genuine wit have not been excelled by any modern efifort. Judge Trumbull's ac- tive life was passed chiefly in Hartford. A\'illiam Ray was a Salisbur\- man. born in 1771. and while a lad develoi)e(l a taste for noetry but earl\- destitution and mis- fortune.«^ ])ressed upon him drove him into the Navy of the Ignited States. He was for some time a cantive in Trii:)oli. and in t8o8 lie published the Horrors of Slavery, and in 18^1 a volume of Poems. Fbenezer P. Mason was a native of Washington. \^er\- few men gave mnre early iiromise of literary and scientific distinc- tion than voung Mason. His life and writings were published in 1842. b\- Professor Olmsted, of Yale College. CHURCH S CENTENNIAL 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 Hving. Mrs. Laura M. Thurston, of Norfolk, permitted to be pub- lished by her friends, several poetical pieces of uncommon sweet- ness and excellence. — the I'aths 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 1 have spoken before. He was a graduate of Yale College and pursued the stud\- of the law where so manv of the noted men of the country have — at the Litchfield Law School. He was among the early emigr^ants 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 hcnor with him for it'^ projection. He urged it, when in Ci^n- 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 Commitree to consider the causes of complaint against Great P>ritain, and drew up the report of that Committee, recommending the declaration of the war of 1812. He thus early ardently es])oused the cause of his country, and stood ])y the side of Tompkins and other ])atriots, 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 ui)on 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 tlie tide of success. His services at Fort Erie and the battles at the Falls, have been repeatedh- told by the writers of the country's history. I will not repeat them. So highly were they esteemed by the general Government a'ud the State, that thanks and medals were presented, and l)efore the close of the war he was offered the chief command of the arm}-, bv the President. Under the administration of the younger Adams he was offered, and accepted, the place of Secretarv of ^^'ar. My time confines me to the notice of the most consjiicuous of our sons, native and adopted : but there were others, in everv town, perhaps of equal merit but with fewer opportunities of displa\-. The list of our 1-1-iembers of Assembly, and of men bv whose efforts the foundations of society were laid here, and bv 3<) LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR wliom tilis 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. e(jual in extent, has surpassed. And by whom were all these eminent and excellent men reared and pre])ared for the stations which they have occupied in society? B} fathers,, whose own hands have toiled — by mcjthers, who were the spinsters of the days in which the\' 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 and 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 cit}' habits, our County has not fallen behind other kindred communities in encouraging the benev- olent operations of these latter days. A Alissionarv Society, auxiliary to the lioard of Commissioners of Foreign !vlissions. 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 otTerings 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, 1 have no reason to doubt. In the year 1817, the Foreign Mission School was established in Cornwall, with the special object of s])rea(ling 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 181 5. then a student in Yale College, and since distinguislied as a Divine and Philanthropist. The names of these young heathen, as known among us, were Henry Obookaih and William Tenoe. These young men were carefully instructed by Mr. Cornelius. Samuel J. ^lills, and Fdwin wight, 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 his suggestion, the Xorth Consociation of Litchfield County, liecame their patrons. The\- were, not long after, joined by Thomas Hoi)oo, their countryman, and all were l)laced under proper instruction for the great ol)ject designed. But a more liberal and enlarged ])roject was conceived : a Seminar \ in a Christian land, for the instruction of the heathen joined with the purpose of preparing voung men here for luissionarv 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 years before the modern movement in a temperance re- formation was suggested, sue]-: a project was conceived in this town and encouraged b\- the most prominent men here. A Temi)erance Pledge was signed in May, 1789, reinuliating 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, 169! and, [resides 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 s])eak 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 thinkino- which had been followed for vears — somewhat disturbed, to be sure. b\' what were called "iiczc lights" in religion. But the results of our emancipation from the mother country turned everything into a different channel, opinions and all. A new impulse broke in upon the general stagnation of mind which had been, and made every body speculators in morals, religion, ])olitics, and every thing else. My own memory runs back to a dividing point of time, when I could see something of the old world and itczc. Infidel opinions came in like a flood. ~Slr. Paine's "Age of Reason," the works of \'oltaire, and other Deistical books, w^ere broad cast, and young men suddenly became, as they thought, wiser 38 UTCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR than their fathers ; and even men' in high places, among us here, were suspected of infidel opinions. At the same time came the ardent preachers of Mr. Wesley's divinity, who were engaged in doing hattle 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 holv covenant — and the whole nutst tumble into ruin ! i^atly Kioltta SKETCHES OF THE EARLY LIGHTS OF THE LITCHFIELD BAR BY HON. DAVID S. BOARDMAN 1860 BOARDMAN S SKETCHES 4I PATRIDGE THATCHER. Patridge 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, 1 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 Xew England. He was a man of strong mind, of rigid morality, and religious to the letter according to tlie 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 wacked 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 anuisement they would afiford. DANIEL EVERITT. Daniel Everitt was a native of Bethlem and settled in Xew Alil- 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 honorary 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 Rlackstone 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 vers having about that time commenced practice here, and other cir- cumstances conspired to carr)' 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 liis 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 sufifered 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 Suju^rior Court, and never failed to listen to him, if 1 could avoid it, with unqualified love and admiration through every speech he made, to its conclusion. I say zvith 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 hewas 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 w^as 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 m 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 damages, 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 during its delivery, and for an hour afterwards I trembled so that 1 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 elocjuence 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 criiii. 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 BOARDMAxV 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 win 11 in g 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, Hlizur Goodrich of New Haven. Their father died during the minority of both children. ^Ir. 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 .\ew Mil ford, and taught a school for some six months, and from here went immediately into Mr. Reeve's law school, and after the accustomed ])eriod 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 ]>rac- 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 L''^nited 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 bv 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 LITCHFIELD 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 wath an attitude and walk well calculated to set ofT 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 tiian absolute abhorrence. As a specimen of his feelings and language, better than I can des- cribe, 1 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 wanted to kuozv zvhat they were about in the {nfer)ial regions. And after giving this specimen I need make no futher at- tempt to give von 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 ot 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 \Vm. Allen of Cleveland. Ohio, has been a member of Congress from that State and is now a very distinguished man there. His onlv 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 Xew York, a man of respectability and wealth. BARZII.LAI SLOSSOX. 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. \\'hen 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 bov. 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 thoroughlv 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 lie 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 Xew Haven ; for he went, immediately after his graduation with one of his class- mates (Air. 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 Air. 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 I, with Southmayd for our constant companion, always occupied the same room at Catlin's Hotel during every court until his i. 3"' X re 2 re ^ O " re :S ;^re 2 f" <■ re re < re y: "^'S- I % ^■ ^^ o 5 % »:^. U CM boardman's sketches 49 death and there was the last time I ever saw him in Hfe. Soon after the Court adjourned, hearing- of his rapid decHne, 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 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 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 remarkabh- 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 liis deductions. He spoke in much of the peculiarlx- emi^hatic 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 elTect 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 liar which was tlien, 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 ofYered, he was yet, at the time of his decease, in a fair wav 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, 181 2. 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 oHice, 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 prevalent in this State. He left a widow and two sons — the oldest John William, has been and I 50 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH 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, 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 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, 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 predilections and uncompromising 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, imswayed by vindictive zeal or hysteri- cal weakness. You observed in your letter that you never saw Air. 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. SOUTHM.Wl). 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 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 under Judge Reeve's tuition. He was a native of Watertown, where BOARDMAX S SKETCHES 5 1 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 compan}". 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 liis declarations. atTording 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 l>ar, he was certain- ly a very respectable lawyer, uixin 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 eflfect, when given at the close of a hearty laugh. 5^ IJTCHFIEI.D COLXTN- iiKXCH AND I'.AR 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 sudflen fits and starts. After hours of 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 jjressing 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 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 tiie feel- ing would pass off in a few minutes, but he continued to groan for some time. I, knowing what w^ould cure him, took up and began to read to him one of IJurke'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 w^ent to iDed 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 vear 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 together. At the Feb- fuarv Terni of the vSupreme Court. Southmayd and T occupied it, but felt that we were in solitude, and in the next term it seemed to me, most emi)hatically, 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 Air. 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 \ear 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 }oung. main- tained a high standing in his class, as api>eared 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 twenty-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 fiowing 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 vacancv which had occurred for the then approaching last 54 I.lTCIfFlKLD COLXTV BKXCH AXD UAR 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 ^^'ashington, 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 frequenth' 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 Alay, 181 1, on being elected Lieutenant-Governor; in May, 181 3 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 181 5, 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 183 1 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 sufi^er 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, iiroceeds 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 BOARDMAN S SKETCHES 55 exceeded him in force and popularity as an advocate, none of them surpassed, and in my judgment, none of them equalled him in grace of manner and elegance of diction and utterance." Early in life Gov. Smith married ]\Iiss Margaret Everson of Amenia, N. Y., a young lady of man\- 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 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. NATHANIEL SMITH. (Prom HoJUstcr's History of Connecticut.) "I received a line from m}' 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 mv views of his character, which might be of use to vou 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 T am the oklest, 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 vouth, as the common schools of the countr\- 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 disclosed. "When I iirst went to the Law School in Litchfield, which was in the fall of I7sion. was of all the pro- fessions, the one for him, 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 frequentl\- a representative to the Legislature from Canaan, and never failed to make an ini])ression upon that bodv ; 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"" ^iii^W^' to state the particulars of his family. i'ctigutick'a 3iifty feats FIFTY YEARS AT THE LITCHFIELD COUNTY BAR A LECTURE DELIVERED BEFORE THE LITCHFIELD COUNTY BAR BY CHARLES F. SEDGWICK, ESQ. 1870. L. CHAS. F. SEDGWICK SEDGWICK'S ADDRESS. Litchfield, Feb. 9, 1870. Gex. Sedgwick : My Dear Sir — At a l)ar meeting- held this noon die following nesolntion was offered b}- E. W. Seymour and unanimously adopted : jriicrcas. 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 u]>on some subject connected with his long professional career. Resohi'ed. 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, ( ). 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 A])ril. for hearing the commemoration discourse at the Court Room. Members of the I'ar of other Courts and the ]niblic generally are invited to attend. J. H. Hubbard, O. S. Seymour, Abijah Catlin, Committee. Litchfield. March 14. 1870. Sharon^ March 12. 1870. Judge Sey.mour : Dear Sir — 1 received, in due time, yotirs. written in behalf of the committee of the Bar. and owe you an aix>logy 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 thintr which would be of anv interest to mv kind friends of the Bar 72 LiTCHFlliLD COUNTY BEXCH 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 off in their current nearly every one who was active in the proceedings of the courts of tliis 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. T 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 imjily 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 lav before them. RE-ORC.ANlZATK)N OF TIIR COURTS. The Courts had then just been organized under the present Con- stitution of the State. Under the old government, the Supreme 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 trainard was elected. He was the only old federalist on the bench, till Daggett came on, in 1826. CHIEF JUSTICE HOSIER. 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 I.ITCTTFIELD COUXTV BKXCTf AND BAR which has Iiardly a rival in judicial learning- or eloquence. ]\Ir. 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 priits, and on the bench of the Supreme Court. His api^rchension of the points involved in the case before him, was very (juick, 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 partv 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 nearly all the cases tried in the Supreme Court for several years after his a]Ji)ointment, 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 liquid blacking for our boots. In fact, every thing which he had prescribed, he always designated as the 7'cry best. At one term of the Court, Phineas Miner, Es([.. 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 eft'ect. 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 vears thereafter. SEDGWICK 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 Collector 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 tiie 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. Rut 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, (1 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 judg^c^ He was verv severe in meting ciut 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. .\ man had been convicted before Judge Lanman of a State prison olTence, had been sentenced to four years' imprisonment and had served a part of 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 sufifered. 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 18 13, but they declined 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 aflfect- 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 Weekly Rev\eii\ a paper just established 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 sat next to Judge Peters ; and he, with all possible tenderness, informed the latter. 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, 'niulfa geiiieiis easiique ammuui concessns; 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 Countv. For several vears before he received the appoint- SEDGWICK S ADDRESS JJ nient, 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 efiforts 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. Ha 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 BRAIXAKD. Jeremiah Gates Brainard, of Xew 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 integrity. 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 vears. 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 cloubt 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. yS LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR JUDGE DAGCETT. 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 partv 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 Xew Haven County, and Charles J. ]\IcCurdy. 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. TITE SUPERIOR COURT, FiFTV 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 demur, 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 Aic.rsTLS PETTI rox; MICIIAKI. F. MILLS JOSKl'ii F. liALLAMY w:\i. 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. e.xce])t 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, imless special reasons could be shown for its further con- tinuance. THE COl■XT^■ COLkT JIDGE 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 tiie constitution, of one Chief Judge and two associate judges. When I came to the bar Augustus Pettibone of Xorfolk 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 i)Ower 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 Xorfolk. 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. Xo 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 8o 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 ma.xims, 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 loud 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. TTDGE 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, Zephaniah Swift, Uriah Tracy. Xoah 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- wavs made himself well understood, and his candor, fairness and sound judgment were admitted by all. JUDGES I'.L'KRALL, WOODRUFF AND BOARDM.VN. 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 Strcnig 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 W^oodrufif took the place of Judge W^elch. The court continued thus organ- ized till the resignation of Judge Pcttibone, when, not only with the consent, but with the decided approval of both associate judges, David S. Boardman, Esq., of 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 HOX. FREDERICK WOLCOTT, CLERK The Clerk of the Court was the lion. Frederick Wolcott. wlio was appointed as early as 1781. and who retained the place till 1835. when he resiq-ned. after a service of forty-four years. He was a son of the sec<:)n(l. 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 in 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 Uidge Rur- rall, which referred to his long and faithful service, and which con- 82 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR tained the statement tliat 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 vears, under the constitution. SHERIEE 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. UNCLE 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 harl 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 dead in the public liighway. 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 preliminary matters as could not be jmssed over. The March term lasted three weeks, and the Deceml,er term from four 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 ali)habetically, corresponding with the entries on the docket and of these some member of the bar, usually one of the younger, had charire. 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 Sherifif, 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. ADMISSIOK 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 cjuestion came before Judge Brainard and he decided that imder the revised statutes an admission to the bar of the County Court gave the can. Smith still survive. Besides these there were George Wheaton, Leman Churcli. David C. Sanford, Nathaniel Perry of New ^Nlilford, 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. LEMAN 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. WILLIAM S. HOLABIRD. /v native of Canaan, practiced in Colebrook. 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 aflfairs. being sometimes poor and sometimes rich. At TRUMAX SMITH SKuc. wick's adi:)KESS 97 his death, which occurred soon after he reached the age of fifty years, he left a handsome estate to his famih'. 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 b\- the members of this generation. Their names now occur to me: Homer Swift of Kent: Philo X. 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. CEOKC.K S. BOARDitAX, Son of the Hon. Elijali lUjardman of Xew Milford. was admitted to the bar in 182 1. He was a young man of decided promise and was a special favorite of his uncle Judge Boardman. When I visit Xew 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 greatly lamented through- out the comnnmity. His efforts at the bar gave proof of decided talent and he had made himself a special favorite among the mem- bers. coxcLrsioxs. The whole history of this bar for the last fifty years, teems with l)leasant recollections. As a whole, it has a reputation for high toned integrity and professional comity among its members wiiich 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 aft'airs 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 continue to be adorned with members whose pure lives and eminent attainments shall make their position one of honor and usefulness. 98 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND 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 l^leasant 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 1 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. arnet's S^miniaencea 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. I\rr. 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 sa}'ings 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 ni}' 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 1 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 gentleman, state senator and judge of the Superior Court, was the Speaker of the House ; Hon. Charles J. McCurcly afterwards minister to Austria and a judge of the Superior and Supreme Courts, was Lieut. Governor 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: — lUit that tail wagged the dog. Mr. Warner: — A\'ell, 1 will tell }'ou about the dog later. In the }ear 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 Nor walk, 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 IC.J WARNKKS KKMIXlSCEXtKS and passed so that it might be incorporated in the revision which would be pubhshed that year. This was only an act permitting and authorizing, in a suit between parties, that the party in tpiestion 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 \V. 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 lUitler 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 1 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 Xew 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 witli 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 ])ass 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 Xew York." Well, there was then in the House a man named Peck of Xew 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 ChajMuan who were leaders from Hartford, there was Chauncey Cleveland, Ex-Governor, a power anywhere, his name and his fame are known to vou all ; tliere was William W. Eaton WARNER S REMIXISCENCES lOj 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 Dutton 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." Dutton 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 Dutton 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 comes 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 lawvers 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 mv 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 UTCUFIELD COUNTY BlvN'CH AND BAR has that right, and I submit the question to your Honor for the purpose of determining-.'" The Judge with considerable acerbity of feeling 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 ]nit 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 Leg'islature 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 w'as a distinguished lawver bv the name of Loomis in Bridgeport, a merry fellow full of fun, and there was also Dwight ^lorris. 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, kindliearted 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 a])pearance 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 w^as -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 "]->v 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 IO5 of the Court Dwight Morris liurried 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 e>;- tended all over the I'nited 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. Se_\'mour, that veneral)le and great man. I completed my studies with Mr. Hubbard and was admitted to the bar at the August term. 1843. Xow as it was expected of me that I should speak of the lawyers who are gone, that T knew when I was first admitted to the bar, T shall go in routine and start with my native town. Before I come to those that I knew, T 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. T suiijiose, 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 1 have learned by tradition. Adonijah had a peculiar voice, it is said, and he had a good old wife by the name of Xabb\-, 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. Xow 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 each had a ])eculiar 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 officiate 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, 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 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 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 RKMIXISCEXCES IO7 Rockwell who was prosecuted for murdering his brother. Lemaii 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 "Lhave 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 i)ut it in his pocket. No sooner had he done that, than Aunt Polly went for him and downed him over his chair and the lawyer on the other side said "stick to h.im, aunt Polly." That was a scene in court in the early da}s. 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 T 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 Elniore 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 bv Church. Well, he said, Elmore was a congenial man, he was a pleasant man, he had all the social elements 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 ; WARNER S REMINISCENCES lOQ 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 Rurrall, the son of William Bur- rail, 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 finallv adopted. He could not bear a fop. he could not bear what he called a Miss. Nancy, or vaporism of any kind, he no UTCHFlKLD COLNTV BENCH AND BAR went too far perhaps in that respect, 1)ut 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 Jurw 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 CTranger and myself were great friends. Hitchcock was a i^artner of Hol- abird. They had a very important case to be tried at Litchfield. Hitchcock had made great preparations in the case, and it was among his first efiforts 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 "folliculus,' in this case." A little further along he said ''He is a Jupiter Tonans, gentlemen of the Jury."" When Leman Cliurch 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 T 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 out of him pretty effectually. Another illustration of his mode of examining a witness. There was a great controversy in \ears 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. T have ad- WARXKK S RKMIXISCENCES III 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 Xorth Canaan, Miles Toby Granger. He was a graduate of Wesleyan 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 i)etition 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 ofif 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, X. Y. He was a good lawyer, a soldier and a warrior at Gettysburg under Col Pratt. I misrht well sav of him "he was the bravest of the brave." 112 LITCHFIELD 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 he located in South Canaan in the office of Judge Burrall and commenced practice there, and afterwards at Falls \ illage. 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 prettv well pasted. Peet was marching around in dififerent 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 ^I^Ww ,^9*^ GIDEOX HALL Warner's remixiscexces 113 him to me and wanted to know what sort of a man he was. I told liim he was exactly adapted to Norfolk. He said "what do you mean?" I replied "in the first place he is a very moralman, a man of excellent moral character ; in the second place he will be an ad- mirable successor of Michael Mills in his physical make-up, he ha^ a peculiar tawny 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 luy office. ., , jit Xow I come to Winsted. ^\'illiam S. Holabird was a native of vSouth Canaan. He was physically a large, tall, splendidly made-u[) man, imposing in appearance and ]:)resence. and he was the great democratic leader of the bar. He was a politician and he was a man around whom the yoimg 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 ])oliti- cal matters among the clemocratic lawyers, and he was then in ac- tive practice. He had some bitterness in his make-u]), but his friendship was as strong as his hatred was deep and unforgiving. Gideon Hall was an opponent, and as a lawyer and in |)olitics they were diametricallx' tjpposed. Holabird was vindictive some- times, and his hatred extended down too far. Now 1 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 rcmarkal)ly so in his arguments before the court and iur\-. The one hour rule had not been ])assed when he ])racticed. Hall would occasionally make attem})ts at oratory in his trials, and here is an illustration of it. He had a suit in court for his client, the plaintiii in the case. It was a contest over a piece of rocky 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 had come down from a long line of colonial ancestors. In relation to Hall, there is one thing which shows the estima- tion of the bar. This story was told to me by the late George C. Woodrufif of Litchfield. A lawyer of this county had a suit in court, a young lawyer and he had associated with him George C. ^14 I.ITClIFllvLD COUN'TV BEXCII AXD P.AR WoodruH'. It was a case asking- for the appointment of a committee in chancer}- 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 comniittee, 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, WoodrulT 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 ^^'oodruff said to him "don't you have him. why he will get things all mixed up in his re])ort so that we shall not get head or tail to it." The young man reflected and said "Mr. W^iodrufl^, that may be just what we want." Well, it turned out so, it was mixed and \\'oodrult won his case. 1 come now to the friend of whom I have spoken, Roland Hitch- cock. He was a native of lUu-lington. He read law in Holabird's office and he was admitted to the liar in about 1844, and became a ])artner of Holabird and practiced law in Winchester until ap- pointed as Juflge of the Superior Court. 1 always liked the man, and so well did I know him that his peculiarities never interfered witli our friendshi]). He at times exhibited nuicli wit and humor and enjoved the funnv side of things and contributed his share to the merriment of the bar. There was a streak of melancholia in his nature which alwavs 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 remen-iber a case in wdiich 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 and who was easily stirred up. In the course of the trial Granger, knowing Hart's ])eculiarities would stir him u]:) and he would rattle along and interru])t the trial so that Hitchcock wtnild sometimes get mad at his client and he would once in a while issue an ex])letive on the snl)iect. He was very fixed in his opinions of the law and un- changeably so at times. He was through and through an honest man and administered justice im])artially 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 tliis and Hartford Count}-. T considered him an able lawyer. He conducted his trials with skill and his arguments were clear and logical. As a judge of the Coiint\- Court he gave satisfaction. 1 come now to New Hartford. Roger H. ?\[ills 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 tlie Legislative session of 1848 at the time these radical HOX. ROLAND HITCHCOCK GEO. WIIIvA'l'ON BIRDSYIi BALDWIN" WARXKK S KKMIXISCEXCES II5 laws were made and I think lie opposed both of those enactments. He was a very accomplishcfl man, ]:)leasant, 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, ^"^ ^^^ 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 ])ractical 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 emincntl\' 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 sufferer from rheumatism and it finally brought him to his grave. Goshen. Nelson Ilrewster. 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. I'.irdseye 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 vcr\- royally, in the amusement of which I was a witness. ( )ftcntimcs 1 was a ])artner of Granger, and IJaldwin and Hitchcock were ])artners. Tf Hitchcock and Granger turned u]) a truni]) tlie\ would ])ass their trumps one to the other under the table and i)ick out all the best cards and hand back the poor ones. Finalh' I'-aldwin would get ui) and exclaim, after losing all the games, "well, ii does beat the devil." T now come to Cornwall, to George W'heaton. He was of humble origin, born in East Haven, ^\'hen I was a boy, I learned that he was of most extraordinarx abilitx , illiterate, he nnu-(lered 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 m}- judgment. He had one peculiar gesture and that was this, he never laughed and liardl\" ever smiled. As an illustration of his cunning and shrewdness and his ajitilude for hitting the party against him I will mention an instance. There was a suit brought against the Housatonic Railroad for damage to property injure by the cars. Peet and myself were defending the Railroad Com- pany and Granger and W'heaton 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 case being against a railroad corporation it had to be put to a jury. This witness. Emmons was a very honest man and a christian gentleman, and lif he could make the jury believe as they ought to believe, that his testimony was truthful, then the case should be decided for the defendant. In the Ii6 I.ITCHFIKLD C0<_ NTY llENCH AND BAR course of the argument, in commenting" on the testimony of the witness Emmons, I dweU upon the purity of his hfe and character, his christian character. When \\'heaton came to wind up the case he said "r)r(jther 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, 1 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 \Mieaton. Wheaton had law suits against him fre(]uently and they were conducted sharply by Wheaton as against him. Some of Wheaton's fellow members went to him and said, "Why tins 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 \our 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 a.gainst me or I have any a.gainst him, God forbid that T should in an\- 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 ri,ght." 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. Hevvas repetitious in his arguments, and that was the only criticism I ever heard made, for he was certainly logical, and had he lived to the ordinary age, I have no doubt he would have been one of the leaders of the bar. JARED B. ]?OSTER WARNERS RE-MIXTSCENCES 11/ Another man from Cornwall was Solon B. Johnson, and many of you no doubt remember him. He was a tall, larc^e-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 sarcasm 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 hekl 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 evervbodv's office, he was in the court room. He was a queer sort of a man, talking with everybody and with Judge Elinor and vou 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 ^^Ir. Johnson declined and kept declining. Finally, after much urging Johnson savs "mv friend, there is a drug store down here and we will go down there and get something that is i)ure and good." Well, liny went down to the drug store and a ])int bottle was brought out with the very i)urest 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 savs "that's all right" tiuMicd it up and drained the l)ottle. The stranger looked at him aghast, expecting liim to fall dead every minute. Johnson looked at him, smiled and said "Well, aint }ou going to take something?" Now I come to Frederick Chittenden. He was in ])racticc when I came to the bar, a high temi)ered man of great knowledge. He had manv 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 tlie law, but dei:)ended a great deal upon his natural abilities; it took but very little to excite him, he was verv beligerent 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 C^hio regiment in the civil war, and when he returned from that, he removed to Chicago and there distinguished himself Il8 UTCHFIELD 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, Tn some banquet hall deserted ; Whose lights are dead, Whose joys are fled. And all but he departed. ^istnncal Holes HISTORICAL NOTES OF COURTS, BAR LIBRARY AND PROMINENT OFFICIALS Compiled By DWIGHT C. KILBOURN CLERK ■^S% 1^ DWIGHT C. KII.BOURN HISTORICAL NOTES. Upon the establishment of Litchfield County in 1751, 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 who 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 l)e found in the Secretary of State's office. The following is the record of the first court held in Litchfield County : "At a Count}- Court held at Litchfield within and fur the County of Litchfield on the fourth Tuesday of December A. D., 1751. Present: \\'jllia-\[ Prestok, Chief Judge. loji.v Williams ) ^ , • ' „ ( hsqrs. Justices Samuel Caxeikld r _ , r [of (juorain. Ebenezer jMarsh ; Isaac Baldwin was appointed Clerk and sworn. Mr. John Catling, County Treasurer and Excise Master. ~Sh\ Joshua \\'hitney 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 ])arties 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 effect 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 Countv, and to be found in Hartford. 122 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BEXCH 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 \'igestum Sexto. Present, ye Honbl. Tho:mas Fitch, Esqr. Chief Judge. William Pitkin | EbenEzER Sylly:\ian V .-Issisfanf Judges. Samuel Lvnde j This C(Mirt was opened by Proclamation and adjourned till Two of }-e clock of ye afternoon, and then opened according to adjournment. Persons returned to serve as jurors were: William ]SL\rsh^ Xathan Botchford ] Joshua Garrett i- Litchfield John Hitchcock !• New Milford Thomas CatlingJ Partridge Thatcher j Timothy Minor ^ Xathan Davis ^ Gideon Walker [ Woodbury Jacob Benton > Harwinton Benjamin Stiles ) Samuel Pitelphs ) The first recorded judgment is that of: William Siiivrman ) ( John Treat and - of Xew Milford vs. } of Roger Sherman ) ( Xew ^^lilford 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, Ijut 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 b\- 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 ) FkhdEkick \\'oLC(ti"i'. Clerk. 5 (A O o o 0> O -' a> ^ Ui I tc g UI o 1- z a. < Ul u. I O I- O o O x u Q. D CO u I HISTORICAI. NOTICS 123 The Attorneys in active practice in 1798 were the following: At Litchfield: Tai'I'jxc, Rkeve Elijah Adams JoHx Allex Isaac Baldwin- Uriel Holmes Daniel W. Lewis Ephraim Kirdy Reynolds Marvin Roger Skinner Aaron Smith L'RiAH Tracy Frederick Wolcott. At Canaan : 1 1 1 X I^LMiiUE At Goshen : Xathax Hale XuAll ^^'ADIIAMS At Kent : ]')AkAZlLLA SlOSSON At New Milford: D WID S. BoARDISrAN Samuel Bostwick Daniel Everett I'llILO RUGGI.ES At Norfolk: Edmund Aiken Augustus Pettusone At Plymouth: Li XLS Fenn At Ron bury : Rlfus East,man. At Salisbury : Joseph Caxfield Elisha S'TERLING Adoxijah Strong At Sharon : JuDSON Caxfield John C. Smith Cyrus Swax At Southbur}' : SniEox Hinman Bexjamix Stiles, Jr. At Washington : Daxiel N. Brinsmade \\'ii,LL\M Cogswell At W'atertown : Eli Curtiss Sa:\iuel W. Southmayd At AX'inchester : Phineas Miner At Woodbury : Noah B. Benedict Nathan Preston Nathaniel Smith The following members of the Bar are now (April 1907) residing m the County : Those with a * are not in active practice. Litchfield : J. Gail Beckwitii, Jr. Francis Bissell * Wheaton F. Dowd John T. Hubbard "D WIGHT C. KiLBORN William L. Ranso]\i * Elbert P. Roberts Tiio:\L\s F. Ryan George M. Woodruff Tajmes p. Woodruff Bethlehem : Walter AL Johnson * Cornwall : William D. Bosler Leonard J. NicKERSojf Goshen : Charles A. Palmer '^' Norfolk : RoBBiNs B. Stoeckel 124 LITCHFIKLD COUNTY BENCH AND l.Mi TNew Hartford: Frkdkrick a. JkweUv H. RuGiiR Jones, Jr. Frank B. Munn New Milford : John F. Addis Frank W. Marsh Henry S. Sani-ord Fred M. Williams -North Canaan : SAirujvL G. Camp Geo. a. Marvin Alberto T. Roraback J. Henry Rorap.ack J. Clinton Roraback -Plymouth : Henry B. Plumb * E. IvEROY Pond Fred a. Scott -Salisbury : Howard F. Landon Donald T. Warner Sharon : WiLLARD Baker Thomaston : Albert P. Bradstreet E. T. Caneield Frank W. Etiieridge Torrington : William \\'. 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. Wai,l Watertown : C. B. At wood * S. McL. Buckingham Winchester : Wm. H. Blodgett C. E. Bristol * Jas. p. Glynn Samuel A. Herman Richard T. Higgins Samuel B. Horne Wm. p. Lawrence * Wilbur G. AIanchester Geo. a. Sanford Frank W. Se y:\iour James P. Shelley Wellington B. Smith James W. Smith Woodl5ur\- : James Huntington 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, but are supposed to be alive and residing elsewhere. John Q. Adams, Negaunee, Mich. Louis J. Blake, Omaha, Neb. Edavard J. Bissell, Fond-du-Lac, Wis. John O. Boughton, Stamford, Conn. David S. Calhoun Hartford. Conn. Uriah Case, Hartford. Conn. John D. Cha:mplin. New York City. Chester D. Cleveland. Oshkosh, Wis. Frank D. Cleveland. Hartford, Conn. George W. Cole. New York Citv. ^m V |/^ WILLIAM L. RANSOM, HISTORICAL XOTES Stewart \\'. CdWAX, Mount A'ernon. N. Y. S. Gregg Clark. New jersev. E. T. Caxfield, Hartford, Conn. Spencer Daytox, Phillipa, \\^est Va. Lee p. Deax, Bridgeport, Conn. E. C. Dempsey, Danbury, Conn. William H. Ely, New Haven, Conn. JoHx^ R. Farxum, Washington. D. C. V. R. C. GiDDIXGS, Bridgeport, Conn. W. W. Guthrie, Atkinson. Kansas. Robert E. Hall, Danbnry, Conn. Cpiarles R. Hath way. So. Manchester. jMarcus H. Holcomb, Soiithington, Conn. JoHX D. Howe, St. Fail], Minn. Edward J. Hluhard, Trinidad, Col. Fraxk W. Hri'.r.ARD, New V l82r 1834 1835 18^8 185+ 1771 1801 1819 1825 1834 ■1835 18^8 1854 1866 Henrv A. Botsford. 1866-1869 George H. Baldwin. 1869-1878- John D. Yale, 1878-1881 Charles T- Porter, 1881-1884. Henry f. Allen, 1884- 1895 Edward" A. Xellis. 1895-1903 C. C. Middlebrooks. 1903-1907- F. H. Turkingtcn. 1907- COURT HOUSES. The first Court House of the County was built at Litchfield in- 1751-52. It stood on the ])ublic 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 . "^^^^B i^— ft , -.— ^ — ••■• ^ „» ;i)\\ AKD W. SEYMOUR. • Historical notes 131 shown tliat 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 follo\V;.up for fear that the other man would, as soon as he got a little distance from him. turn around and shoot him. The jur\- pondered a long while, then returned to the Court Room for instructions. JThe foreman said they wished to know how far the law allowed a man to follow up another with a sled stake in self defense. WlTXfi^SSES. Of course our 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 j^reserved 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 _\c)u're going to tell?" "Yes, sir." said the boy, "that old bald headed lawyer over there told me what I nmst sav." "Administer the oath, Mr. Clerk." A witness in a criminal case lialed from a unsavory ])lace called "Pinch (lUl ;" he was duly sworn and upon lieing asked his name, gave it. The next ([uestion was "Where do you reside .■"" No answer came. The (piestion was repeated twice and the last time with great severity, ^riie wilness turned with dignity to the judge and said, "Must I answer that ((uestion?" "\\'h_\- u^t ?" said tlie Court, "llecause" said the witness "I have been told that no man was obliged to criminate himself." Witnesses are often ridiculed for making e\'asi\e au>\vers to attorne\s' cpiestions but ])eriiai)s the_\' do not al^vays fullx' under- stand the query. The following is a question asked by a learned attornev in the trial of a tax case, taken from tlie Stenogra])her's notes : 0. "W liat I want to ask _\du is whether com])aring liis land with the other lantls that you have been swearing about here, you have sworn to some 30 other farms, and in com])arison, that is, I mean whether, how should you take them in comj^arison, how should \()ti consider them, if you take that as a basis, they are assessed for $3,000. Taking that as a basis for \-otu- comparison, how should yon start?" STKXOC.R.M'IIER. 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 County and has held the position since that date. Leonard W. Cogswell, Esq., the official stenographer is a na- 132 l.lTCIIFll'M) COrXTV i:i;XCIl AM) BAR LKOXARD AV. COC.SWKLL. tive of Litchfield County, and was horn in Xew Preston, in July 1863, ^'"^'l enjoyed all the lit^hts and shadows of a farmer's son on a rugged farm upon the sicle of Mt. lUishnell. He polished up an education received at the districe school and Village Academy by a term at Claverack College at Hudson, X. Y. In 1884 he quit the farm and went to X"ew 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 X^ew Haven County in June, 1897, '^'i^l resides in Xew Haven. In the preparation of this memoir we are indebted to him for the preservation of the re- marks at the lianquet, and for poetical selections herein. studkxt's iJi^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 lie responded as follows : Mr. Toastmaster, and gentlemen of the Litchfield County Bar: I hardly expected to make a si)eech, but the reference that was ALBERTO T. RORABACK, HISTORICAL NOTES 133 made bv mv 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 w^ork. 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 w^ould. "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 firs,t 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 trousers 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. Tt 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 Salisbur\-. I went to work to ])reiiarc 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 ])laintiff. I appeared for the defense. It was'nt necessary that the plaintiff should be represented. The magistrate occupied that position, and wdien I had finished my argument he made his. It was very eft'ective : iust $3r>.22 for the plaintiff' and costs. \\'ell. 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 T 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, you won't get an\- pay." "I did. I got my pay." "You did? How much did "you get?" "$6.""$6." 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 Xo. i. My first case. Case Xo. 2 was the case of Julius Closes 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 LITCHFIELD COUKTV BKXCII AND BAR was a man tliat stood six feet four in his stockings, and weighed 250 lbs. I am afraid I made very poor work of it with that great giant on the other side. I was afraid. T verily believe 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 uj) and made No. 2, and then Donald T. 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 Countv 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- scriliers 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 unexpended 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 exi^edient that there be raised by the Ijar the further sum of One Hundred and Fifty-six Dollars to be paid and apportioned to the members thereof as follows : Elisha Sterling Jno. G. Mitchell Reuben Hunt W. S. Holabird Calvin Butler Chas. B. Phelps Nath'l. Perry, Jr. R. R. Hinman Perry Smith Nath'l. Perry Cyrus Swan Asa Bacon $6.00 Jabez W. Huntington 5.00 3.00 Samuel Church 5.00 Wm. M. Burrall 5.00 Michael F. Alills 4.00 I l()ll)r(iok Curtiss 4.00 Nathaniel B. Smith 3.00 Roger Mills 4.00 Philo N. Heacock 2.00 Homer Swift .^.00 Geo. Wheaton 3.00 Phineas Miner 6.00 I 'Inlander Wheeler 3.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00 2.00 4.00 6.00 4.00 5.00 7.00 IIISTORICAI, NOTES 135 Leman Church 4.00 Wm. Cogswell 3.00 Joseph Miller 5.00 Ansel Sterling 5.00 Wm. G. Williams 5.00 Theodore Xorth 4.00 Xoah B. Hencdict 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- si.x 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 I'ar may hereafter direct, viz : Kirb}'"s Reports, Root's Reiwrts, Day's Cases in Error, Con- necticut Reports, Swift's Evidence, Swift's System. Chitty's Plead- ings, Lane's Pleadings, l'liilli])'s Evidence. Johnson's Reports, Mas- sachusetts Reports. All of wliicli is rcs]iccttull\' submitted. Signed per order, S. P. l>eers. Chainiiaii. The bcHiks mentioned in this report were purchased and are now in the Lil)rary at Litchheld. The only provision for the in- crease of the Library which I find is an admission fee of Five Dol- lars from a new attorne}', until 1874, nor do the l>ooks in the Li- brary show additions of any account. In 1874, it was X'oted As a standing Rule of the Bar, that each member pay to the treasurer thereof the sum of One Dollar each, vearlv, to be ex]:)ended in the purchase of Books for the benefit and use of the said I'.ar. Said payments to l)e made at the annual meet- ing in each year. In 1877 the Legislature enacted a Bill providing for the forma- tion of Countv Law Lilirary .Associations. The County Commis- sioners were to ])ay in their discretion each year on the first of Januar\- a sum not exceeding Three Hundred Dollars, for the supi^ort 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 Xew I\Iiiford, since which time a good supjjly 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 Xew Milford large accessions came from bequests of Bros. Henry S. Sanford and James H. McMahon. u<> .nClll-li;].!) COL'XTN' 1;i:NCH and I'.AR ^ wt^ jA:\rEs [1. :\ic.M Aiiox. In 1906 l>r(i. .\icMahon left liy liis will the sum of $1,200 to he e((nall_v (li\i(k'(I between the three libraries, which was available in 1907. and has been paid to the committees. Tn each Court House may be found a first class working- library with some of tlie Re])orts of other States. In 1900 the liar voted that all the law books of the Bar As- sociation l)e ])rescnte(l to the Litchfield County Law Library As- sociation, so that all the books are under one manag'ement. AAKONT WHITE FL'XD. Another branch of these libraries is ])u.rchascd l)y the income derived from a ])e(|uest of xAaron White, a lawyer w4io by his will left to each Count v Law Library one thousand dollars for certain classes of books. The following- account of Mr. White who deceased in 1886, taken from a newsi)aper, will no doubt be of interest in this con- nection and is worthy of preservation. A Loston Clobc correspondent tells the followino- story of Aaron White of Ouinnebaug' : — Aaron White has fi.^ured in his life as the most eccentric man in this localitv, and one who is widclv known in Afassachusetts. HISTORICAL NOTES 1^7 Connecticut and Rhode Island. He was born in Boylston, Tvlass.. October 8, 1798, and was the eldest of ten children, seven boys and three eirls, nine of whom are now livino-. He entered Harvard colle.G:e, t,n-aduating- in a class of sixty-eight members in 1817. Of his classmates only seven are now living. Mr. White, in reconnting 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. Calel) Gushing, 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 daw and Professor Alva ^^'oods, formerly president of the Transylvania college in the South, living in Providence. When the "Dorr War" broke out Squire \\'hite was living in Woonsocket. "Governor" Dorr, be- ing at the head of the controvesy. called u])on 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 ol)lige(l to leave the state, both going to Thompson, Conn. Soon after. Air. White secretly got Dorr into Xew Hampshire. The authorities in Rhode Island used a warrant for the arrest of Squire \\'hite, in which he was called the "commander-in-chief" of the forces that opixx'^ed 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 \\'hite when he came to Dudley. W^ebster or Worcester, but Governor Davis as in the case of Governor Cleveland, refused to grant the recjuest. Both governors were in sympath\' with Dorr and White. The Rhode Island authorities then threatened to send an armed force to kidnap Scpiire 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 S(|uire \\'hite. 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- A'ice, etc.. and he has always been considered a safe man to, consult on such business. \\ hen 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 Gushing, collected several rare coins. Later he engaged in collecting old-fashioned coppers. \\'hen 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 husiness was that he thought it very profitable. He visited the mint 138 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR at Philadelpliia, making- arrangements with the officers to take these coppers and give him new pennies in retnrn, 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 mam- barrels of copper cents — of the ''not rare" ones. About four tons of these coins were redeemed bv the Sub-Treasurv at Washington. Extracts fro:\i aarox white's will. Fourth. — ( )ut of the residue of the estates so g"iven in trust as aforesaid, to pay to the Treasurers of the present eig^ht 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 liar Libraries in their respective Counties, in their several Count\' Court Houses, for the sole use of the Judges ami Clerks of Courts therein, ]Mem- bers of the liar, and their students at law while in the offices of said r.ar ineml:)ers, in their respective Counties; which funds or the annual income thereof, as said liar Members may direct, shall l)e expended imdcr their direction in the jnu'chase of Hooks of His- tory, and Hooks of Moral and Political I'hilosopliy. And in case said residue last mentioned be not sufficient for the ])ayment of all said legacies to said Counties in full, then said residue, in ccpial i)ortions to saitl Counties for the purposes afore- said shall be deemed a fullfilment of their trust. Such payment to be made within three years from the time of m\- decease.''' CENTENNIAL. .\t a meeting of the Litchfield Coimt\ Har held at the Court House in Litchfield on the 4th day of January 1851 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 Resolnei). That Chas. P.. Phelps, O. S. Sevmour, John H. Hub- bard, Gideon Hall, (;. 11. Hollister, J. 15. Harrison and J. B. Foster Hsc|uires, be a Committee of the P>ar to call a meeting of citizens of the County to consider that subject and to take such F. I). r.KK^rAX HISTORICAL XOTES 139 order thereon bv appointment of a Committee of arrangements or otherwise as shall be thought best. F. D. Beeman, Clerk. In pursuance of these proceedings the Centennial Celebration of August 1 85 1 was held. Several thousand people were present. Judg-e Samuel Church delivered the Historical address which is reprinted in this voluiiie. Horace Bushnell the sermon and John I'ierpont the poem. DAVID DAGGliTT. 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 l')ar the following address, which was l^v 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 tlic 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 cx])ire by Constitutional limitation dur- ing the present year, and consequently not expecting to meet you again in your official character, beg leave to exi:>ress to you the high sense which they entertain of the ability, integrity' and imnartiality, which \-ou have manifested upon the bench, and to thank you cordiallv for the uniform kindness and courtesy with which you have treated them when they have had occasion to a]:)pear before vou to discharge the arduous duties of their profession. In taking- leave of \()U we cannot but recollect that it is now rising of forty \'ears since xon first formed a connection with the Bar of this County, and that you were long associated in practice with Adams, Reeve, Smith, Tracy, Allen, Kirby, Benedict, Slosson and South- ma\'de, whose l)right names are inscribed on our records and whose memorv 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 \'ou have exercised a hajipy intluencc in adorning that system with various learning, and in bringing it to its present matured condition. ^^'e tender vou our best wishes that the residue of your days may be as happy as }our life has been heretofore distinguished and honorable. Per order of the Bar, Phineas ]\Iiner, Chainiiait. Geo. C. Woodrufl^, Clerk pro feiii. Litchfield. August 29th.. 1834. 140 I.ncirFlELD COUNTY I'.EXCII AND BAR The followini^' is the reply made l)y the Hon. David Dag^gett to the foregoino- address. "To the members of the Bar of Litchfield of the Countv of Litchfield: Gentlemen : — 1 have received with high satisfaction the address signed by I'hineas ]^Iiner and Georg-e C. WoodrutT, Esquire;, your Chairman and Secretary, which \ou did me the honor to communicate to me this dav. In taking- leave of a P>ar so distinguished, by the illustrious names inscribed on its records, it is impossible that I should not entertain a gTateful recollection of the memories of those who are now awa\- from all earthl\- scenes, and also cherish a lively affec- tion and resi)ect for those who now occu])}- with such honor their places. If mv official conduct on the bench deserves the commendation bestowed upon it. nuich of it is justly due to the gentlemen of a Bar ever characterized by ability, integ-rity, industry and learning. Of vour courtesy towards me and your gentlemanly deportment towards each other while engaged in the conflicts of the Bar, I cannot speak in terms sufficient!}- expressive of the feelings of mv heart. Thcv will be recollected with grateful aft'ection. How nmch such an intercourse between the Bar and the bench tends to alleviate the l)urdens of the judicial station, can be known only bv those who have had the pleasure to vritness it. I prav \-ou to accept mv fervent wishes for the prosperitv and happiness of you individually, and my cordial thanks for this ex- pression of vour esteem and res]iect. David Daggett. Litchfield, August 28th., 1834. A true cerior 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., ly days at ^-f) I--75 To pipes and tobacco o^ To Segars -25 'To paper —5 $9^-75 n GIDKOX II. WKl.Cll. HISTORICAL NOTES I4I THE COUNTY COURT. Prepared by the late Wm. F. Hurlbut, Clerk. The first Court organization in Litchfield County was the County Court, and for several years it was the principal trial court, — hav- ing- criminal jurisdiction in all cases except those piuiishable 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 thirty-five dollars, but a right of appeal to the Superior Court existed, in cases where the ad daiiiiiuiii exceeded two hundred dollars, or the title to land or right of way was in f|uestion, 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 oi)inion con- sidered the County Court of but little practical value. Therefore the legislature of 1855, abolished it and transferred all causes there- in ])ending- to the docket of the Superior Court, causing that Court to be loaded with such a mass of business that it was im])ossible for a case to be tried within two years after being- broug-ht. This cong-estion of the docket of the Superior Court coupled with the inconvenience of travel to Litchfield (then the only County Seat) caused the org-anization in 1872 of the District Court for the First Judicial District, the district being- composed of the towns of Rark- hamsted, Bridgewater, Canaan, Colebrook, Cornwall. Kent, Xew Hartford, Xew r^lilford, Norfolk, North Canaan, Salisbury. Sharon. ^^'ashing-ton and Winchester. This Court continued to exist until 1883 when the remainder of the County desirous of enjoying- the privilege afiforded b\- it. the name was changed to the Court of Con-imon Pleas and its jurisdiction extended to the entire Cotnitv with sessions holden at Litchfield in addition to Winchester. New Milford and Canaan. This was ])ractically a revival of the old County 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 County with less ex- pense to the State and to parties than the same could have been done by the Superior Court. 142 i.i'rcFTi'iKi.D cor.vTv i;Kxctt axd har jri)C,i:S ni' Till-: COUNTY COL'KT. William Preston '^75^-^5] Ansel Sterling". 1838-1839 Woodbury Sharon John Williams, 1754-1773 Calvin llntler. 1839-1840 Sharon l'l\ni()Uth Oliver \\'olcott, ^/Jo'^/^^^ Ansel Sterling, 1840-1842 Litchfield Sharon Daniel Sherman, 1786-1791 William M. Burrall, 1842- 1844 \\'(i()(ll)ur\- Canaan Joshua I'ortcr. 1791-1808 Abijah Catlin, 1844-1846 Salisbury Harwinton Aaron Austin,' 1808-1816 Elisha S. Abernethy, 1846-1847 Xew Hartford Litchfield Augustus Lettibone 1816-1831 I lollirook Curtiss. 1847-1849 X( irf oik \\'aterto\vn David S. Txtardmau, 1831-1836 i liram (loodwin, 1849-1850 Xew Milford Barkhamsted AA'illiam M. L.urrall. 1836-183S Charles B. Phelps, 1850-1851 Canaan \\'oodbury Hiram Goodwin, 1851-1856 Barkhamsted jfSTicKs OF Tiri' nroKr:\r. John ?\[iner, 1704-1716 John Sherman, ij2yiy2S Woodbury Woodbury John Sherman, 1708-1714 Joseph Miner, 1725-1739 A\'oodl)ury Woodbury William Preston, 1740-175 1 W( lodbury Tirt; l'Oi,I,OWlXG IX I.ITCII I'lia.l) corxTv. Thomas Chii)man, 1/51-1753 Increase Abiseley, I755-I7"^^ Salisbury Woodbury John Williams. I75I-I75I i^'ger Sherman, 1759-1762 Sharon Xew Milford Sanmel Canfield, 175 1-1754 Daniel Sherman, 1761-1786 Xew Milford A\'o(^dbury Lbeiiezer Alarsh, 1751-1772 Bushnell Bostwick. 1762-1776 Litchfield ' Xew Milford Josei)h r.ird. 1753-1754 Joshua I'orter. 1772-17(^1 Salisbury Salisbury Xoah Hinmau. 1754-1759 Samuel Canfield, 1777-1790 \\'oodbury Xew jMilford Klisha Sheldon, 1754-1759 Tedediah Strong. 1780-1791 Litchfield ^ ' ' Litchfield WILLIAM F. IILKLBUT JnSTORICAL NOTES 143 Hcman Swift, 1786-1802 lUrdseye Norton, 1809-1812 Cornwall Goshen AarcMi Austin, 1790-1808 Augustus Pettibone. 1812-1816 Xew Hartford Norfolk Nathan Hale. 1791-1809 Uriel Holmes, i8[4-i8i7 Canaan Litchfield David Smith, 1791-1814 Moses Lyman, Jr.. i8[5-i8i7 Plymouth Goshen Daniel X. Prinsmade, i8o2-t8t8 Oliver Purnham. 1816-1818 Washington Cornwall Judson Canfield, 1808-18 15 Cyrus Swan, 1817-1819 Sharon Sharon Martin Strong-, 1819-1820 Salisbury ASSOCIATl': JI'DGES. Martin Strong, 1820-1829 ^[orris W'odruff, 1829-1836 Salisbury Litchfield lohn Welch, ' 1820-1829 Hugh P. Welch. 1836-1838 Litchfield Litchfield William M. Purrall, 1829-1836 Canaan The Judges of the District Court were Roland Hitchcock, two years: Tared P.. Foster, three years ; Florimond D. Fyler, four years and Donald j. Warner, two years; of the Court of Common Pleas Donald 1. \Varner. six years; Alberto T. Roraback. four years; Arthur I). Warner, three and one half years: Alberto T. Roraback. five nil nulls i when he was appointed to the Superior Court bench) and Gideon II. Welch now (1907) holding- the office. The Clerks have been of the County Court Isaac P)aldwin, 1751-1703 Frederick Wolcott, i7<)3-i83r) ( )f the l)istrict Court and Court of Common Pleas Win. F. llurlbui, twenty-two years Walter S. Judd, two years W heaton F. Dowd, from 1901 junr.r; prkstox s :\roNr]\ii-:NT ix avoodtu-ry ^mis HISTORICAL NOTES 145 NOTED TRIALS. Altlioii.qh 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 pubHc nature and relate so closely to the general weal and welfare that they are properly a part ci 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 (|uote 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 tile i)hi]oso])hy and truths of natural justice and common sense. The early j^art of our records are of appeals from the County Court, motions for new trials, foreclosures, and a good many cases of Insolvency ])roceedings and cases of equitable nature. Yery few trials of fact occur; the judgments were rendered mostly after de- cisions u])oii demurrers, pleas in aliatement and such preliminary pleadings, upon the determination of which we now have a right to answer over, and have a trial on tlie facts. In the L'riminal prosecutions, if the accused by any chance was accfuitted he was discharged by paxing the costs of his trial, and till 1S35 the sentences of impris(Miment were made to Newgate, now known as the Copper mines in Simsbury. A\'e ap])end herewith a few of the memorable trials, and have proljal)ly omitted others of ec|uall\- as valuable and important signifi- cance. The abstracts arc necessarily very brief and condensed. The first recorded case upon tlic books of the Superior Court is that of Abner Wheeler, of lletlilem ^•s. Joshua Henshaw. of .\ew Hartford. In which the plaintifi' recovered $C)42.75 damages and costs taxed at $49.86. The first divorce granted was Lucy Mix of Salislniry against Thomas ^lix. I'hese mixings and unmixings ha\e formed a large per cent, of the judgments during the centiu"v. THE SKLI.l'X'K-OSBORX IMATTKR. One of the most imj^ortant trials and probabl\ one that in its general results afi:'ected 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 verv 146 ijtchfie;i.d county benxh and bar prominent citizen and for many years a member of Congress. Frederick \\'olcott, wlio for more than forty years was the cleri< of the County and Superior Courts, brought a suit against one William Hart of Saybrook and at the August Term of this cuurt 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. Sellcck ( )sborn and Timothy Ashley were then publishing a ne\vsi)aper in Litchfield called the Witness and made comments upon the judgment reflecting severely u]jon the integrity of the Court. Whereupon the Superior Court prosecuted them as follows : "James Gould, Esq., Attorney for the State for the County of Litchfield 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 plaintififs 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 Septemlx'r 1805 with force and arms most unjustlv wickedly and maliciously print and publish and cause to be printed and published of and concerning said Coiu't and jury and of and concerning the proceedings in said catisc in a publick newspaper called the Witness a certain false and scandalous libel purporting to be 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 . Lounsbury, he was somewhat intoxicated, became nois}- and violent, threatened to \\-hip several persons who were in the store, and began to throw hre among the dry goods that were disposed about the store. Among those present was George W, Smith. A\'ard 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 bead, 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' liouse. and soon became insensible. Tn 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 l)rain, besides a chronic infiamma- tion resulting from an old injury. Smith was arraigned for nmrder, February Term 1847. Hon. John H. Hubbard, State's Attorney and Hon. Charles P. 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 accpiitted, on the ground that he acted in self defence. I.lCirS 11. I'OO'P -MlUDi'.R. On the morning of .March 4th., 1856. Lucius H. Foote, a tavern- er of Woodburv, was found brutally nnn-dered, 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 pointed to Edward E. Bradley, as being the perjietrator of the crime. He was arrested on this sus- piciou, and after a hearing before Justice lUill, bound over, without WILLIAM COTHRDN. HISTORICAL NOTES 15I 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. Air. Cothren published a complete re^xirt of the trial. MATTHEW ^MORRIS MURDER. On the 17th of July, 1861, W^oodbury 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. Fox 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 15^ LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR would waive argument, he would immediately so charge the jury. The counsel cheerfully acceded to the suggestion of the distinguished judge, who immediately charged tiie jury in accordance with his views. The jury retired, and in a few minutes returned with a ver- dict of manslaughter, and Fox was sentenced to ten years imprison- ment in the Connecticut State Prison. DKAKELV aiURDER. 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 Artliur D. Warner, Esq.; the defense l\v Henry B. Graves and A\'illiam Cothren, Esq. The defense was that the accused from various reasons was not mentallv or mortally responsible 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 \ears after commitment. BERNICE WHITE, MURDER. In tile early part of 1850 the people of Colebrook and vicinity were startled by the re])ort 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 Alennasseh, the latter a half breed Indian. After the preliminary hearing they were Ijound over for trial to the Superior Court at Litchfield. A Grand Jur\- found a true bill against eacii of them and they were brouglit 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 llalcomb being minors, Charles Chapman, Esq., of Hartford was appointed guardian ad-Htem of Calhoun and Origen S. Seymour for Balcomb. Upon their arraignment Balcomb ])lead guilty and the rest not guilty of murder in the first degree. HENRY B. GRAVES HISTORICAL XOTES 153 After a lonp- trial Cal'ionn and Alannasseh were found s^uiltv 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 Alennasseh died in the Farmington town house. He is said to have been the last of the Tunxis Indians. WILLIAM II. GRLLX TRIAL. The trial of the Rev. William H. Green of Cornwall for murder excited a very general interest. In 1865 Air. 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 Re])ublican ticket. He was esteemed a very powerful preacher and liis political arguments were eloquent and convincing, he also lectured on temperance and was an evangelist and held re vival meetings in dififerent 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 wdth 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 Xew 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 w-as 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 w-as not entirely successful. He was bound over to the Superior Court for trial and in November 1867 w^as tried for the crime and convicted 154 LITCHFIELD COUNTY Bl^XCII AXD 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 LE 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 ^^^ 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 tlie 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 ]mblished. WOLCOTTVILLE BUKC.LARS. On the nioht of November 1876 the warehouse of the Union '&■ Alanufacturing 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 Hridge- port on the Naugatuck Railroad track. When it i)assed through Waterbury the watchman at the depot informed Superintendent Peach of the pas.sage of the car. Wr. Peach immediately had an engine fired up and started in ])ursuit, and just before reaching Ansonia at about half ])ast four in the morning the engine struck the hand car and threw it from the track. Stopping the engine they found fifteen ])ieces 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 ami had tlicir 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 CtajyUftuj ^. /U4.'»^ HISTORICAL NOTES 1 55 was purely circumstantial and the defense was not only denial by the accused but a fairly 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 TRI..\LS. 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. Lender Local Option there has been a marked change, particularly of late years, and especially since the popular feeling against the liquor traffic has been intensified by the Pdue 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 ])risoner 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 traffic. 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 uncertaintv of the law !" 156 LlTCJiFlKI.D COUNTY BlCNCH AND BAR MASTERS VS. WARRRX. One of the important civil cases tried in this Court came from Warren. Nicholas Masters, while riding horse-back in the eastern part of the town, was thrown from his horse bv reason of its breakins: through a small wooden sluice or bridge and received serious in- juries, having his neck nearly broken and for some years carried his head turned partly around and also received some other minor injuries of not so serious or permanent a nature. His attorneys, 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 i'^^ which the plaintiff recovered thirty-five hundred dollars. Some very inter- esting questions came up during the trial regarding the taking of depositions by the defendant without notice to the ])laintifif 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 apjieal 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 witli this case that Dr. Ruel one of the expert witnesses for the ])laintitTf testified that he examined the plaintifl"' and found him sultering from tort(Khlorosis of the neck. Mr. Hollister in his argument indulged in the high sounding word frequently, portraying the sufiferings of his client during his lifetime from such a terrible complaint. ( )ne of the defendant lawvers soon after met Dr. Buel and asked him what that big word he used meant. "StiiT neck," was the answer. "Why didn't you say so in Court said the lawyer. That word cost the town Si 500." Kor.i'.ixs \"s. coi'i'ix. In 1883 an action from Salisbury wlierein Samuel Robbins sued the administrator of the .estate of (icorge 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 by the noted counsel on each side res])cctively, was looked on with much interest-. Jndge Warner made an excellent opening argument for the de- fendants, on whom the ])urden rested to ])rove their various de- fenses. Then followed John S. lieach. with a very clear quiet statement of the ])laintift'"s claim. Most interest was naturall\- felt («■■-':' MILKS T. GRAXGER. HISTORICAL NOTES 1 57 in the argument of Ex-Governor Hubbard, who followed Air. 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 ste,;l 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 tCii 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 ])resented 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 from 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 158 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BliNClI AND BAR go-between to aid nie 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 1 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 Avhether 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 1 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 T 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 handcuff keys that fitted my handcuff's 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 escai)ed, 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. AMicn we were taken to the court room to plead Howard was handcuffed to me and the sheriff' took my right wrist in his nippers. ^Vhile we sat in the dock, Prescott came up to us and said: "Why did you not esca])e 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 a\va\- 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 tliai it would a])pear as if she had Wellixgtox B. Smith. irisTORiCAL xoTr;s 159 furnished it to me if it was discovered. I asked him if lie had it with liim. and he said he had. I then asked him to let me see it. After makin.Q" 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 Thitrsday evening, after I was sentenced, he gave me the ten cartridges. The revolver was a "Young America" or "Young American," I don't remember \\hich. 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 he tnld me he got the ke_\s from a man in Litchfield, or whether he said he was going to get them of some man there. I understodd that the man was an officer or had been one. The last time 1 saw I'rescott before my escape was when he gave me the ten cartridges on Thursday. He then cautioned me not to use the revolver, shook hands with me and wished me good luck. After mv escai)e I i)awned the revolver in P)altimore. I had it tied be- tween my legs the Saturday morning when they started to take me to \\'ethersfield. T was on the back seat of the last wagon, which the sherift' was driving. Howard was in the first wagon with the deputy. ]^lr. I'rescott was j^resent while the latter part of this statement was made, and afterwards cross-examined Higgins without material- 1\- shaking his statement of the case." :\iTc'ii.\Kr. mox cask. 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 1 87 1 Lyman 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 su])]>osed that the intention was to place the j'lowder at 'Sir. 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 mainly by the active agency of 'Sir. Dunning which did not increase Bion's afl^ection and he made threats of violence, against Mr. Dunning. Upon his discharge from prison he was intluced t(T return to France his native country. About five years after this he was discovered working under an assumed name in the vicinity of Pine Plains only a few miles distant from East Canaan. Mr. Dunning fearing furtlicr injurv from him got out a lOo j.nciii-iiaj) corxTv iiKxcir and \;.\\< sureties of tlie i)eace complaint, obtained a warraiil ami when he found him in Connecticut had him arrested and brought befcjre a justice who placed him under bonds in the sum of tivc thousand dollars. I '.ion could not furnish such bond and on the 19th day of November 1889 was lodged in Litchfield jail, lie employed at- torneys who instituted habeas corpus proceedings to release him and by various stages the matter came before the Snpreme Court of h'rri^rs at the May Term 1890 and the report of the case occupies twenty pages of the 5(;th volume of the Connecticut lve])orts. The Court found no error in the judgment complained of and I '.ion still remained in the Litchfield jail. Afterwards an arrangement was made by the French Cousul by wliich I'.ion was released and re- turned to b'rance. 'I'ril' I'.OK JI^SSOX Ml'RDI'R 'I'KIAL. Only one sentence of death passed by this Court during the Century was carried into eti'ect and this was u])on Andrew Bor- jcsson a native of Sweden who was residing in Xew Milford. ( )n the first of August 1890 in the night season Ijorjesson went to the house of Homer Buckingham and climbing on tlie r(^of of the ell jtart of the house entered the room of a Swedish girl named bjnnia Anderson, a servant of Mr. r.uckingham's and murdered her. Mr. Buckingham hearing the noise in the room, went out of his lujuse and saw Borjesson u]jon the roof of the house from whicli he jtimped and ran off into the woods, and going to the girls room fotuid her lying upon the tloor in a ])ool of blood, her neck cut from ear to ear on the back side with other wounds u])on her body. The murderer was arrested and bound over to the Sui)erior Court and a true bill w^as found against him on the 9th of ( )ctol)er i8i;o. He was tried before the Stiperior Cotu't in December and a- verdict of guilty foimd against him December 31st 1890. and sentenced to l)e imng January 29th, 1892. His counsel made most strenuous efforts for his reprieve getting depositions from relatives in Sweden con- cerning his sanity. All eft'orts failed. It was a cool deliberate murder and there was no public SNUipathy or extenuating circum- stances. The sentence was duly carried into eff"ect 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 officiallv were solenm, orderly and pro])er. The citizens of the village were exasperated and shocked and made such an ai)|)eal to the public sense of propriety that the I^egislature en- acted the law that all future executions of the death penalty shovdd be had within the State Prison. COSilKX TAX C.\Slv. In i8(;4. June Term, a very interesting" case was tried at W'in- sted being an a])i)eal from the decision of the P.oard of Relief of CIIARI.KS I. I'ORTKR. HISTORICAL XOTES l6l Town of Goshen, about abatement of Taxes. The amount involved was trifling-, but the ])rinciple 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: GOSHEXIA. A famous tax-case once was tried. lly 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 \ellow charlicks abound. His barn was like sweet charity That co\'eretli a nudtilude of sin : — The outside was neat and fair to the e\e. But old rotten timbers within. Pie's assessed too high, the rest too low. .\nd there's a ])loi to lake his gold, "lis wrong to do so after \ears of toil, Thus to rob him when he's old. The town ajjpeared b\ lluntington and Warner, T'.y Webster, Welcli and judd. \Miile 1 ves em])lo\(.'d Hubbard, llickoxand llurrell To shed his op])onent's blood. The air was fragrant with sweet breath of June, Outside were the birds and bees : — The Judge's desk was strewed with tiowers. Hardbacks, charlick and cheese. The stenogra])her dreams of hardback on toast, (Jf iv\', rocks, alders and l)irch. As the lawyers try to win their case The other side tr\ ing to smirch. The case dragged on its weary length, A\'atched by Goshen ladies fair, While poor old Kilbourn, the portl_\- clerk. Sat fast asleep in his chair. For ten long da\s they fussed and fumed. With witnesses goaded to tears, \\'hile the costs were doubtless large enough. To pav the taxes a hundred years. 1 62 I^ITCHFIELD COUNTY I'.KXCII AND BAR KD\\ARL) A. -XKI.LIS. Till-; .ma.\xi:rixg cask. Ivlwin Manncrint^- a resident of Roxljurv died (in Feliruarv 19, 1893, the result of takiui.; a dose of Epsom Salts for medicinal pur- ])oses in whieli as afterwards discovered was a (juantity of strich- nine. The coroner made a very full investigation which resulted in tile arrest of Mrs. Mannerini^' for the crime of ])oisonino- her hus- band. It was admitted that strichnine had been kept in the house for tlie i)ur])ose'of poisoning- foxes, and it was shown that she had |)urchased strichnine from a neii.jhl)orinL;' drui^'i^ist a short time before his death. She was bound over for trial to the Su])erior Court and a true bill was found aii^ainst her b_\- the (^irand Jury. The trial occurred at Litchtield in November 1893, lasting six 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 actuall\' |)resent at its execution. The case came to trial before the Superior Court and a jury at AX'inchester at the A])ril Term 1896, and after a protraced trial the jury found that there was undue influence exerted u])on the testator in making a part of said will to wit. thai ])art which g'ave the residue of the estate to said Clossey and also of that clause which gave him ])Ower to sell all the real estate and that said paragra])h was null and void Intt confirming" and establishing the rest of the will. The case was appealed to the Su])reme Court of Errors at the ( )ctober Term 189C). I pon a motion for a new trial for a A'erdict against evidence. In the record of the case the e\idence is i)rinted in full, occujiy- ing" 269 ])ages. .\fter a full hearing before the Supreme Court the motion for a new trial was denied. II ANI'.S .M IKDl-.K TKIAL. In l'\'bruar\- 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 occitrred at the Gilbert Home in Winsted on the nth of February, where the lady W'as employed as a teacher. He, after shooting her shot himself three times in his head — but failed to kill hiiuself — 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 Jurv returned a virdict of, on the 8th of Xovember of guilty of \<)4 i.n\iii"ii-:i.i) C()L■^'l'^ 1!i;ncii and i;.\k murder in tlie second dei^ree, and lie was sentenced to imprison- ment for life. The defense was insanity froni hereditary causes and four cx])erl physicians were ])resent 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 thoui^ht him responsible, for which important evi- dence the state allowed nearly two thousand dollars, while the iur\ ])ai(l no attention to them at all, but on their first ballot stood eij^'ht for first degree and three for the second deg'ree and one blank. After twelve hours confinement in the jury room they all ai.;reed to brinq- in a verdict of murder in the second deg'ree, which the court acce])ted. It was the most exi)ensive trial on our cost book. The total expenses bein;.^' a little over seven thousand dollars. HADDOCK C.\SK. ( )nc of the most important cases re^ardin^" the property rights of husband and wife, and also one that has made great confusion in the di\-orce laws of the country, was decided in the b'nited States SujM-eme Court, .\])ril 12, 1906, and can be found in A'ol. 201 of said Re])orts beginning at i)age 562. This case had its ince])tiou in this Superior Court, December 1881, and is known liy the legal pro- fession as the case of Haddock vs. Haddock. The facts are briefly as follows: The Haddocks were married in. i(S68 in New York, where both parties then resided. The very (lav of the ceremonv the\' separated, cUid never lived together. Tn i8,Si .Mr. Haddock having resided in CtMuiecticut 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 ])ublication in the Litchfield Enquirer and a copy sent b\- mail to the defendant at Tarr\town, X. Y. where it was supposed she re- sided. This divoree was granted December C). 1881, and the decree was signed b\ Hilclicock, judge. .\t that time the ]~)laintifi' was poor but he afterwards acquired con.iiderable ])roperty, and also married another wife by whom he had children. Tn 1894 ^^^^ ^^^^ wife brought suit against him in Xew York for a divorce from bed and board and for alimony. Constructive service was made of this ]:)rocess and she obtained a decree. As there was no per- sonal service the judgment for alimony was ineft'ectual. Tn 1899 she brought another suit against him, and obtained personal service on him, and was allowed a decree for alimon\- for $780. a year. The defendant in this last suit i)lead for one of his answers the Connecticut divorce in 1881, but the Xew York courts disallowed it. Haddock ai)i)ealed to the I'nited States Supreme Court on the ground that the decree denied full faith and credit to the judgment of the Connecticut courts, but the Supreme C(nirt upheld the actions of the .\'ew York courts and sustained the judgment, five judg^es in the affirmative and four dissentinj^. The discussion and ex- ])lanation of this seemingly inconsistent decision require thirty pages of fine ])rint in the Re])ort. lll'.XU^' 1. AI.l.HN. IIIS'l'OKICAI, XdTl'lS 165 RICIIAKI) T. IIIGGIXS. COl'N'lA COKOM'.K. rrc\iiius to 1883 all siukk'n deaths that occurred in the county were rei)orte(l tFn. ATTORXEV GENERAL. In 1897 the Legislature of Connecticut enacted a law for the election of an Attorney General. In Xovember 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. i68 i.iTC[ri*ii:i.i) col'xtv liKxcii and uar THE FIRST LAW REPORTS. Judge Church iu his adch'css uientiuns the fact that the first Law Reports iu this couutry were pul:)hshed at Litchfield soon after the estabhshment 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 ""Symsbury" 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, F and A. ]\L of Litchfield, l)y Col. E. K. Russell V. S. A., a grandson of Col. Kirby. I also repuljlish the preface to the Reports, together with a short memoir of its author and a list of the books composing his Law Library. PREPACIv. The uncertainty and contradiction attending the judicial de- cisions in this state, have long been subjects of complaint. — The sotirce of this complaint is easilv discovered. — When our ancestors emigrated here, they brought with them the notions of jurisprudence which prevailed in the country from whence the}" 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 ])racticc of the English coiu'ts 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 cmbarrasment, sensible that the common law of England, "though a highly ini]iroved system," was not fully applicable to onr situation ; but no provision being made to preserve and ])ublish proper histories of their adjudica- tions, ever\- attem])t of the judges, to run the line of distinction, be- iwecn what was applicable and what not, prov'ed abortive: For the i)rinci])les of their decisions were soon forgot, or misunderstood, or erroneously rej^orted from memor\-. — Mence arose a confusion in the determination of our courts ; — the rules of ])roperty became un- certain, and litigation proportionablv increased. In this situation, some legislative exertion was found necessary; and in the year 1785 an act j^assed, 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 imi)rovement ; still it left the business of reformation but half performed : — For the arguments of the Judges, It f/v^ I /fit r-y ^•'^ '<" a^'t'x) " •. ./.. ^ v.. .w'^> .*C^*w,x^* ^.. .'^ y^" ^^^ y ■- ^ -;5 '^4 REPRODUCTIOX OF KIRr.Y S :\[AXUSCRIPT. IIISTOKICAL 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 a])pear, showing" the true grounds and princi- ples of the decision, it would in time produce a permanent system of common law. — Pnit the Court being ambulatory through the State, the undertaking would be attended with considerable expeuce 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. — I was urged to i)ursue it more extensively ; — and being persuaded that an attempt of the kind (however imperfect) might be niade in some degree subservient to the great object, 1 compiled the \dlume oi Reports which is now presented to the public. — Could any ettort of mine induce govern- ment to provide for the ])rosecution of so necessary a work b_\" a more able hand, my wishes would be gratifielans and maps of his surveys are to be found in the Xew Milford Land Records made bv him in his own hand. Soon after the formation of Litchfield County in 1751 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 .\ssembly several sessions. Re- moving to Xew Haven in 1761. he was chosen the Governor's as- sistant, and also a Judge of 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 Xew York, and cimtinued 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 ^2,^ 1793- 174 LITCIIFIKI.D COUNTY BKXCII 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 Jetiferson 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 log'ical 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, Air. J. Adams, Air. Livingston and my- self for ])re])aring 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 sensiljle men in the world. The clearest head and steadiest heart. He was one of the soundest and strongest pillars of the Revolution." Chief Justice Ellsworth said that he made Air. Sherman the model of his youth. 'J'he lionnr 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 ConsiiUition of the L'nited 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- coniplished. Aery 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- fiu'ther light on the subject of the part taken in it by Roger Sherman, will do well to consult Hollister's Histor}' 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 Constitutidu in 1788. OIJN'KR AVOI.COTT. Tile other signer of the Declaration of Independence in whom Litchfield County is interested, w-as 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 was graduated at Yale College in 1745. In early manhood he commanded a company Gkx. Oi.ivkr Wor.coTT. HISTORICAL NOTES I75 of volunteers in the Northern Ami}', 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, 175 1. The Legislature appointed him the first High SherifT 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 CDmmanding 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 w^as 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 177 1 to 1786. Judge of the Court of Probate for the District of Litchfield from 1772 to 1795 : Jtidge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1773 to 1786; and member of the Continental Congress from 1775 to 1784 (except two }ears ). He was one of that memor- able band of patriots and sages who. on the 4th of July, 1776, affixed their names to the T^eclaration 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 .\fi:'airs for the Xorthcrn DcpartuKMit, with General Schuyler and others. In ■May, 1779, he was elected by the Legisla- ture and commissioned by Governor Tnunlnill as Major General of the Militia of Connecticut, to succeed General James \\'adsworth, resigned. In these ini])ortant 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 v^upplies — 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 Safetv ; and, when at home, was equally zealous and conspicuous in the local attairs of the town — officiating as Moderator, Selectman, Committeeman, etc. Indeed, no man in the v'^tate, at this period, discharged so many and varied pu])lic 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 Washingt(in 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 annuall}' re-elected for a period of ten years In ]\Iay, 1796, he was chosen Governor, to which distinguished 176 I.liXllFilvLL) COLXTY iilvXClL AXD L'.AR 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 I'.arlow, in his great national poem, Tlic Colimibiad, thus refers to his zeal and eftdrts in the cause of Independence; "Bold W'OLCOTT urged the all-important cause. With steadv hand the solemn scene he draws ; Undaunted firnmess with his wisdom joined. Nor kings nor worlds could warp his steadfast mind." Governor ( )livcr ^^\llcott ^vas of and had a ver_\- distinguished family. His son, (Miver, Jr., was Secretary of the United States Treasur^■ 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. AA'illiam ^Moseley, AT. C, of Hartford, and another marrietl Lieutenant-Governor Goodrich, of 1 lartford. His sister, Ursula Wolcott, married Governor Alatthew Gris- wold, and was the mother of Governor Roger Griswold. Thus her father, brother, husband, son. and nephew were all governors of Connecticut, a fact which cannot ])robabl_\- lie said of any other ladv wlio 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 \\'est streets. The original jail was located on the brow of East Hill, on the exact spot now occupied by the Center school house. At the excavation of the ground for the cellar for the school house some of the original foundation work was discovered, and in some of the stone work were found staples and rings indicating" that occasionally a ])risoner might have been cliaincfl up. It is said to have been a crude, but strongly built structure of hewn logs. Adjoining it a large old-fashioned liouse was erected in which the jailer lived and kept a hotel, the prison being in the rear. This building appears to have been 1)uilt in 1786, at a cost of about nine lumdred pounds, sterling. HISTORICAL NOTKS I // The front ])art of the i)resfiit jail was erected in 1810-11. at an exi)ense of $11,245.78. and was huilt of hrick, which were nKuie of clay dng- on the road between Torrington and Litchfield, iust east of "Seymour's meadow." The bricks were ^'erv hard antl builders have said that it was much easier to dig through llie granite foundations than through the brick. A woioden building for a kitchen was afterwards added on the northern side, and the present arrangement of cells in the middle ])nilding was made about sixty }ears ago. In 1895. the accommodations not i)roving adequate, 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 ])art had cells for seventeen inmates and this addition ])rovided cell rtx^m for twenty-eight, with cagt^ 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 i>ri\ate ])lant. In the early days the kee])ing" of the prisoners \\as let tmt to the highest bidder and the kee])er (now called the jailer) made \vhat he could out of the ])rison work and also kei:)t a hotel in the building. This system prevailed until about i8()5, when the sheriff, as one of the ])rerogatives of his office took ]>ossession and ran the institution himself. The i)rice allowed for board of |)ris- oners has varied : at the jn'cseni time it being $2.25 per week. i)aid by the State. One of the large rooms in the third story was used as a public liall. The Ma.sons 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 stor\' of the new ])art. in which manv of the itrisoners are emplo_\ed 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 \ard. is known as the " \\ hijjping post elm." on which formerly prisoners were i)nblicl_\- whipped : the last whipping (occurred about seventy-five years ago. ICaiu B»£ljonl THE LITCHFIELD LAW SCHOOL CATALOGUE OF SCHOLARS INTERESTING MEMORANDA /LlTCMnELD> t- ^-- '^t&< ffif,'-^ir # W*4 .ji;i)(;r !-"'= ^••^, .u LAW SCIIOOIv l8l THE LITCHFIELD LAW SCHOOL. The following' article appeared originally in the February (1901) number of TJic Laiv Notes, published by The Edward Thomson Co., of Xorthport, L. L It was written by Charles C. Aloore, 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, pu1:)lished by the above-named company. 1'he article has been slightly abridged for this work. In its prepar- ation Mr. Moore was largely aided by the late Chief Justice Charles J:. Andrews : " One who Unjks 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 r)ill, and other acts of Parlia- mentary aggression, as clear and well defined as the debates in that town meeting- where Samuel Adams and Harrison Grav (_)tis were the principal si)eakers. The child Libert}' would not have been born in the Pjoston town meeting had not the Litchfield town meeting and other like town meetings throughout the colonies I»repared the atmosphere in which alone that child could breathe. Litchfield was the i)rincipal station on the highwa_\' from Hart- ford to the Hudson ; and a depot for military stores, a workshop, and a i)rovision storehouse for the Continental Army were there established during the Re\'olution. Man\' distinguished royalist l)risoners were sent there, and a military atmosphere pervaded the place. General Washington was a freriuent visitor, and so were other general ollicers of the American forces, including Lafayette, who, when he visited the L'nited States in 1824, went to Litchfield to renew old memories with some of his former conu-ades in arms. The leaden statue of King- George the Third which stood on the Battery in New York was conve\ed to Litch- field, and in an orchard in the rear of the Wolcott 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 17S4, the ambitious village had among its citizens numerous men of exceptional intelligence and culture. One of them was Andrew Adams, who had been a niember of the Continental Congress and was afterward a judge of the Supreme Court. i^QlLver Wolcott was there. He also had been a member of the Congress, had signed the iJeclaration of In- dependence, and was afterward Governor of the State. Ephraim Kirby, who a few years later pul^lished the first volume of law re[X)rts ever published in America, Major Seymour, who had com- manded a rcgment at the surrender of Burgoyne ; Benjamin Tall- l82 T.lTCTrFH'IJ) COUNTY HK.NCll AND )',AR niadg-e, perliai).s the most noted cavalry commander of tlie Revolu- tion ; Julius Deming-. a very prominent and successful merchant and financier, and many others of like character were residing in the town. ^]nt<> this community in the year 1778 came Tapping VKeeve. a. young lawyer just admitted to the bar. to settle in the ])ractice of his profession. Born in Southold. Long Island, ill 1744, the son of Rev. Abner Reeve, a Presbyterian clergyman, lie was graduated at I'rinceton College in 1763, and was immediately ap])ointed teacher in a gramniar school in connection with the college. ]n that station and as a tutor in the college itself he passed seven years. He then came to Connecticut to study law, entering the oihce 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 ait ]vitchfield, and ]\lr. Reeve betook himself to giving in- struction to voung gentlemen who looked forward to the: legal profession for support and advancement when (piieter times should come. This emi)loyment tended greatly to enlarge and improve his stock of legal learning, and led the w-ay for him to begin in \1784 a systematic course of instruction in the law and to regular 1' classes. The Law School dates from that year. It continued in » successful o]X'rati()n and with amnial g-raduating 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, mo.st of whom were admitted to the practice in the court at Litchfield. The list of students pv'un- to that date is imperfect, but there are known to have been at least two hundred and ten. I\lore tlian two-thirds of the students registered from states other than Connecticut. Maine sent four, New Ham]:)shire fifteen, Ver- mont twent\-seven, Massachusetts ninety-ifour, Rhode Island twenty-two, New York one hundred and t\\cnt\-four. New Jersey eleven, ]\Mnisylvvania thirty, Delaware eighteen, Maryland thirty- nine, Virginia twenty-one. North Carolina twenty. South Caro- lina fortv-five. Georgia sixity-nine, Ohio four, Indiana. Mississippi and Tennessee each one, Kentucky nine, Alal>ama 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 fifty-four in 1813. " Lawyers now living in the original states will recognize the names of manv men conspicuous in the juridical annals of their state. Aaron Hurr 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 lieecher Stowe was born in 1811, and Henrv Ward r.eecher in 1813; and a short hour's LAW SCHOOL 183 walk would have brou!:i-ht the yoiino- Southerner lo the spot where ]ohn I-Jrcnvn was born in 1800, in the adjoining town of Torrington. Two of the graduates became judg-es of the Su]M-enie Court of the United vStates— Henry J5aldwin and Levi \\'oodbur\- ; fifteen United States Senators, fifty members of Congress, five meml)ers of the United Sta-tes 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. \esbit, who wrote the elegant dissertation in Mitchum r. State. 11 Ga. 615. on the ])rivilege and dutv of counsel in arguing a case to a jury, in con- nection with the proper limitations of the freedom of debate — an oi)inion cojiied almost verbatim in Tucker v. Henniker, 41 X. H. 317, with an omission of quotation marks so singular and fiagrant as to have occasioned comment b\- the ])rofe?sion " The course of instruction was completed in fourteen months, including two vacations of four weeks each, one in the spring, the other in the autunuL Xo student could enter for a shorter period than three months. The terms of in^lructic n were (in 1828) Sioo for the first year and $60 for the second, ])aya]jle either in advance or at the end of the _\car. " In the lil)rary for the Law School at \'ale University ma_\ be foiuid 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 I'lu^r Ree\e. lUit n'arginal reference iriterlineations in his own hand make it certain that these volumes have all l)een revised by Jndge Reeve himself. The tradition is that they are the manuscripts which he iLscd in. his lectures during the last years that he taught. An inspection of these volumes shows that the course of instruction g^iven at the Litchfield Law School covered the entire body of the law. They speak of the law gener- allv — in reference to the sources whence it is derived, as customs and statutes, with the rules for the ap|)lication and interpretation of each. Then follows Real Estate, Rights of Persons, Rights of 'Thing.s,_CA3ntracts, Torts. Evidence. Pleading, Crimes, and ivrpiity. ' And each of these general subjects is treated imder various sub- sidiary topics, so as to make the matter intelligible and atTororts. 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 intpiiry 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 z'. P-rown, I Term Rep. 167, was it finally determined that what is re.ison- able notice lo an indorser of non-]:)ayment 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 Kytl. pul)lished in London in 1793. but it was chiefly made up of authorities and ]irecedents relatmg to municipal ct)rporations ; and Willcock on Corporations, also an J\nglish treatise was still more limited in its plan. There was no .American text-book on corporations until the first edition of Augell and Ames was i)ublished in 1831. At tiiat time the need of such a book had become verv urgent, but in the earl\- vears of the L,itch- JUDGE JA:\IES GOULD From a Cravon now owned bv Hon. A. T. Roraback. LAW SCHOOL 185 field Law School there must have been extremely few private Business corporations in this country. Xot until Louisville, etc., R Co. V. Letson, 2 How. ( U. S. ) 4(;7. decided in 1844, did cor- ]K)rations 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 AL & W. i, was decided in 1837; ^lurray r. Railroad Co., I McMull. ( S. Car.) 385, in 1841 ; and Farwell z'. Railroad Co., 4 Met. (Mass.) 4cj, in 1842. The term "contributory negli- gence" had not been coined: Butterfield z'. Forrester, 11 East 60, was decided in 1809; Davies %'. ]\lann, 10 M. c^' ^\^ 54(), in 1842, and the phrase is not used in either case. Civil actions for dam- ages for death by wrongful act were not maintainable. The law of insurance was virtually the creation of Lord Mansfield, ijut the volume of insurance law was comi)arati\'ely insignificant for several decades. ( )n the other hand, there was an abunchince of real estate law and of law concerning executors and administrators and trustees generallw In those davs the executor dc son tovt was more in evidence than at ])resent. although even now he has so much vitality in some jurisdictions that it would not l)e \\ise for the practioner to characterize him as judge Lum])kin did in Shotwell v. Rowell. 30 (ja. 55y. "dc son fiddlestick!" and cr_\', "Away with him!" The princii^les of e(|uit\- jurisprudence liad secured a firm footing, and at this (lay the_\- are administered in the Federal courts a.s they were ex])ounded in the High Court of Chancery in England when the Constitution was adopted in 1789. judge Gould was a n:aster Vpf the common-law sxstem of pleading, which was extolled by some \ni its eulogists as the perfection of human reason. During the period of the Law School the noble science of ])leading became burdened with 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 e((uity 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 ])roceedings tabulated by the reporter in Randon r. Toby, IT How. {U. S.) 493. Speaking of the reformed ])rocedure, how many lawyers are aware that the chief merit of the Code system was recognized and recommended for adoption by the preceptor of j udge Reeve, founder of the Litchfield Law School ? Tlie 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 not the courts of chancerv in this State l86 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BE^NCH AND BAR borrowed from a foreign jurisdiction, which grew out of the ig-no- rance and barl^arisni of the law- judges at a certain period in 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 eiTeccual. 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 185 1, 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 exhiliits 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 younger days, than when looking around on my }0ung 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 thirty- eight }ears ago, which to many here seems a remote antiquity, there existed an extensive law school in the vState of Connecticut, at which more than sixty students from all ])arts of the country were as- sembled — ^ever\- State then in the l^ni(in, being tliere repre- sented. I joined it in 18 13, when it was at its -/enith, and the only prominent estal)lis]imcnt 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 jjcrfection of human reason, by which he measured every principle and rule of action, and almost every sentiment. I, AW SCHOOL 187 " Why. sirs, his hii^hest visions of poetry seemed to be_ in the refinement of special pleadings ; and to him a noti scquitcr in logic was an offense deserving, at the least, fine and imprisonment, and a repetition of it. transportation for life. He was an admirable ]\nglish scholar ; every word was pure English, undefiled and every sentence fell from his lips perfectly finished, as clear, transparent and ]>enetrating as light, and every rule and principle as exactly defined and limited as the outline of a building against the sky. J'Vom 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 iH)\ver of enforcing it upon others, his liighest attainment. Vrum his lecture room we passed to that of ihc venerable Judge Reeve, shaded by an aged elm, fit emblem of iiimself. He was, indeed, a most venerable man. in character and a])pearance. his thick, gray hair parted and falling in profusion upon his shoulders, his voice only a loud whisper, but distinctly heard b\ his earnestly, attentixc ])U])ils. "He, too, was full .\R THE FOLLOWING LS A COPY OF A STUDENT'S LETTER. Litchfield, October 28th, 1830. Dkar FriivNd: — Having" received your letter just as I was on tlie wins;- for this place, I was unable to answer it then ; but avail myself of these first moments of calm after the l)ustie and confusion incident- to the settling down into my nest, to turn mv thoughts to that bro;)d in which I found myself when my eyes were first o|:)ened to !c\^a! Ii,i^hf, and when I first inhaled the legal atmosphere which from its misti- ness gives to those who breath it, fat least so I presume) the well known name of pclfv fogs (}ou will perceive an analogy m the derivation of this word to that of htcus a non hiccjido. or Pared a non parcendo) & from which like yourself I have absconded, 1)eing now big enough to take care of myself. Really, Ned, since my arrival I have been as busy as a hen \\\{h one chick^I have l)een obliged to furnish my room, with whatever I need, from the bellows to the lamp wick. We are obliged to board licrc, 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, car[)et if }ou don't wish to go without, lamps, oil, e^'c, X'C. You see cK: hear no more of the family than if you were the sole occupant of the premises. L'pon your return from breakfast your room is swept, bed made, things set to rights, as if done by magic, you never see how. T have a fine room at Parson Jones', who is very obliging and would be more so if able, and T board at Airs. Reeve's, a very agreeable, ])leasant, old lady. We pay her, 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 1 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. His son. ho\,ever. delivers them in his stead. As far as T can judge they will be very vahiahlc. in(le]:)endent of their intrinsic merit : T will be obliged to write up at least three reams of finel\' 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 T think T sha'l like it well. I attended an evening- or two ago an exhibition of the young ladies' seminar\- at this place of which you speak 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 yomig lady upon receiving her premium. At one end of the room men. Ijoys and girls were all heaped up together, and ever and am mi, you would hear some i,A\v sciiooi^ ■ . i8y sturdy bum resounding- against the tloor, 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 ofif, and that diere 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 years 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, you see nothing but rocks and stones. Cor.sider^ ing the roughness of the country and the scarcity of laud I am not at all surjjrised the yankays depend for their livlihood upon their zclfs. I wish I had it in my power to exercise a watchful care over I), as you have enjoined me. "Ah me! forsooth, he is a sorry weight." His ]ia I suspect is afraid of some siii^^itlar iiiancurvrc on his part and dare not trust him from his paternal eve. He did not accompany me, as in all ])robability \'ou know, but I do not vet despair of his coming. In such ex])ectation 1 shall nut write him, for I think it very ])ossible he may arrive this evening, if so he shall write you a 1'. S. He and his father had not full\- considered the subject when I left. It is growing dark and I must conclude l>efore tea (for I ex- ])ect this evening to be very busy copxing 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. 1 will give you half, and as long as Coont. is the land of cakes you will not starve. The excursion will, no doul)t, be agreeable and advantageous to }()ur liealth. You can come by the way of Xew Haven or Toughkecpsie. \Mien you write to the olllce remember me to them and to all enquir- ing friends. Direct. Litchfield, C^jnnt. The following extracts from a letter written Irv Augustus Hand, while a student at the law school, will further illustrate the conduct of the institution : '■ Litchfield, Jan. 30th, 18J9. "Mv DivAR F.\Tin:R: — " '■'■ * Let me tell you how T spend my time. T rise between 7 and 8, make a fire and scrub for ])reakfast, from thence to lecture, where I remain until between 10 and ii. Thence to my room and cojn' lectures till 5 p. m. (Save dinner time at 1 p. m. ) thence to ( ). S. Seymour's otlice with whom I read law until half past 9 p. ni., 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 () in the Law School Debating Society, over which 190 I,lTCHI'It;LD COUNTY BKNCH AND BAR T have the honor — T 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. -\side 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 thi?. I can only say that their daily ])ractical 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 comprise3, at the age of 17 }ears. For seven }ears 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 Litchfiekf about 1772. He had previously married Sally Burr, daughter of Presi- dent l^)urr of I'rinceton College, and sister of Aaron lUirr, who studied in the school, and who was a frequent visitor in his familv. In 1782, tlie numl)er of students who \\'ished to study in Reeve's office had become so large, that he built the small house shown in the ])icture. in the corner of his yard, on South Street, the place now owned by Charles H. WoodrulT of Xew York and Litchfield, ■j'o this .-school came students from all ])arts of the coimtry. many of the men who gained renown in the practice of law and in other I)rofessions, being graduates of this school. Judge Reeve continued to use this building until his death, and in 1846 the building was sold to Plenry Ward, who ]>urchased 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 Mrs. Mary C. Daniels and her son. Prof. Charles F. Daniels of Xew York, who made it their summer home for many years. Prof. Daniels died a few years before his mother and upon Airs. Daniel's death it became necessar\- to sell the ])ropertv. D. C Kilbourn began planning to have the old building pre- served, and to that end a committee was apponted by the Litchfield County Bar. with Mr. Killx)urn as chairman. He went before the Legislature at its session of 1907 with the proposition that the state 192 i,n\iii'ii-;i,]) corxTv I'.ivxcii axj) har buy it and keep it as state property. This proposal was, however^ rejected. Thereupon the executor was obUj^ed 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 ]\lr. and Airs. 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 off, 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 i»ld 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 nuich 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; X. Billings, New London; IJoard- man, 1820; William Petit, Marietta, Ohio; 1810; J. B. Skinner, A. Bates, Samuel W. Cheever. F. E. P.. P. McE., E. P. S., Jones, (in monogram. J An interesting (juestion is how the building was heated, as no trace of a fireplace was found. Did thev 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 by which the old building can be ke])t as an interesting relic, and the members of the Litchfield 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 Law School of America" which has a])peared 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 Juenefit of future generations. i^ p 'n LAW SCHOOIv 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 1 83 1. In 1849 it was reprinted including the names to the close of the school in 1833. In January, 1900, Hon. George M. Woodrufif again reprinted the catalogue,' adding some pictures and matter relating thereto. The various notices and prefaces are herewith reprinted and fullv 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 our 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 probabh- from the fact that our bar records begin at that date. AD\ERTISEMEXT To FIRST EDITIOX 1828. The committee to whom has been referred the publication of this catalogue, deem it i)r()i)er to ])rehx a few observations in rela- tion to the institution, and the course of iuotruction 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. (fould 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 I7ni(in. manv of whom have since been 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 §y*sterrr usuaTK-~'ail6pted 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 Dcriod, and continue moreover, to be enlarged and improved by modern adjudications. The lectures, which are delivered every day, and H)4 I.ITCHI'IEI.D COl'XTY BRXCII AND BAR Avhicli usually c>ccui)y an hour and a half, embrace every principle and rule falling under the several divisions of tlie different titles. These principles and rules are su])ported by numerous authorities, -and i(enerally accompanied with familiar illustrations. Whenever the opinions upon any point arc contradictory, the authorities in su])port of either doctrine are cited, and the arc^uments. advanced l)y either side, are presented in a clear and concise manner, toj^ether Avith the lecturer's own vievvs of the f|uestion. In fact, every ancient and modern opinion, whether over-ruled, doubted, or in any way qualified, is here systematically digested. Tliese lectures, 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 liand. 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 ap]:)roved authors upon those branches of the law, which are at the time the subject of the lectures. These notes, thus written out, are, when C()m])lete, 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 com]irehensive and abstruse science of the law. The examinations, which are held every Saturdax , upon the lectures of the preceeding week, consist of a thorough investigation of the ])rinciples 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 \\\ Huntington, Esq., a dis- tinguished gentleman of the l)ar, whose practice enables him to introduce frequent and familiar illustrations, which excite an interest, and serve to im]:)ress 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 ])resides. The questions that are discussed are prepared l)y him in the forms in which the\- 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 reconkMl in a book kept for that purpose. For the preparation of these questions, access may at all times 1)6 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 either in advance or at the end of the year. jrUC.IC COLLI) S LAW SCHOOL I'.L'ILOIXG This 1)iiil(liiiy;- was l)uilt 1)\' janies (jonkl as his law office ahout 1795. ^\ hen he associated with Ju(lo;'e 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. 'J'he photo frdui which this picture was made was taken in 1898. CI^OKCK C. WOCJDKLl'l' Compiler of this Catalogue, 1828. 1,.\\V SCHOOL 195 This cataloo-ue extends only as far back as 1798. Previous to that period, it is beheved 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 any regard to the leng-th of time they continued as members of the institution. The committee have endeavored to notice those who have distiniruished themselves: but as this has been done n erelv from recollection, they have no doubt passed by many, who have conferred honor upon their country and their profession. Litchfield, Jan. 1. 1828. CATAL( )Gl 'E. Abeel, George New York 1823 Adams. Charles Massachusetts 181 2 .\dams. Joseph T Massachusetts 1820 Adams. John Iviassachusetts 1822 Adams, John T Connecticut 1833 Aiken, Charles New Hampshire 1832 Albro, John A Massachusetts 182 r Alden, Cvrus Massachusetts 1808 Alden. Hiram O Xew Hampshire 1823 Allen. Alexander M Georgia 1801 Allen. Zimri R Nernront 181 1 Allyn, J. T. Maryland 1821 Alston. William \V South Carolina 1818 Alston. William J South Carolina 1824 Ames, Samuel Rhode Island — Chief Jus. R. I . . 1824 Andrews, William Massachusetts 1812 Andrews. \\'illiam T. . . . . . .Massachusetts 1812 Anderson. I'ranklin Maryland 1813 Anderson. John ^^iaryland 1815 Ashley. Chester Xew York — U. S. Senator 1814 Aspinwall. Thomas L Xew York 1810 Atwater. Frederick Xew York 1814 Atwater. Russell Xew York 1815 Austin, Charles r\Jassachusetts 1812 Austin, Ralsamon Connecticut i8or Austin, Senaca X'ermont 1820 Averill, Elisha Connecticut 1814 Averill, William H Connecticut 18 17 Ayer, Zaccheus Georgia 1817 196 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR B Babbitt, Roswell New York Bacon, David Connecticut Bacon, William J Xew York Baker, Joshua Louisiana Baker, Walter New Hampshire Balcom, Everett Massachusetts Baldwin, Birdsey Connecticut . . . Baldwin, Charles New York Baldwin, Charles Connecticut Baldwin, Ebenezer Connecticut ]',aldwin. Henry Conn.— Judge Sup. Ct. U.S. M. C Baldwin, Roger S Conn. — Governor. U. S. Senator. Baldwin, Samuel S Connecticut Banks, William C Georgia Barcla}-, David, Jr A'irginia Barnes, Enos H A'irginia ; . . Barnes, Joseph Alassachusetts — Judge i'enn. . . . Barnes, Lauren .Connecticut Barnwell William South Carolina l^)artram, Daniel S Comiecticut Bates, Anson .Connecticut Battle, Josiah B Connecticut Baxter, Eli H Georgia — Judge Circuit Court.. Baxter, Horace Massachusetts Beach, Erasmus D ^Massachusetts Beebe, Levi S New York Beecher, Truman , . .Connecticut Beers, David B Connecticut Beers, Frederick . .Connecticut Beers, Seth P Conn. — Com. of School Fund. . . Belden, Hiezekiah Connecticut Beli', Hiarvey A'ermont Bell, James Vermont I'.ellamy, Joseph H Connecticut Bennett, Milo L Conn. — L.L.D, Judge SupCt. Vt. Beverly, James District Columbia Beverly, William District Columbia Bigelovv, Horatio Massachusetts r.igelow, Silas Massachusetts Hillings, Noyes Connecticut — Lieut.-Governor . . Bingham, F. W Xew York Bissell, Edward Connecticut B)issell. John, Jr Comiecticut r>ishop, Jonathan P Alaryland Bixby, Alfred New Hampshire 833 806 823 821 812 818 806 801 810 810 798 812 800 818 832 826 801 806 826 799 820 798 818 812 816 829 809 80^ 798 812 824 808 811 813 813 810 814 820 830 828 826 814 821 LAW SCHOOL 197 Blackwell, David . . .Kentucky 1813 Blake. Eli W Connecticut 1817 Blake, Francis A Massachusetts ^817, Bond. Nathaniel P Geor^-ia 1819 Bond. William Maryland 181 r Bonestall. A'irgil D New York 1830 Bonnel, Joseph Delaware 181 5 Boardman. George S Connecticut 1819 Boardman, William \\' Connecticut — Member Congress. 18 16 I'.olles. Job S. T Georgia ' 1822 Booth. James. Jr Delaware — Chief Justice 1810 Bosson, Charles Massachusetts t8ii Bostvvick. Charles Connecticut 1798 Bovle. James Connecticut i<^33 Brace, John V Connecticut 181 2 Brace. Thomas K Connecticut 1802 P.radley, Benj. IT Connecticut 1818 Bradley, Edwin ]'> CV)nnecticut 1827 Brayton, George A Bhode Island 1825 Breckenridge. John Maryland 1821 Brimsmade. Daniel B Connecticut 1803 B-ronson, Frederick Xew York 1824 iSroome. Jacob Delaware t8orown, Charles R Connecticut ^813 Brown, Franklin Xew York 1827 Brown, George Xew York 1814 Brown, Nicholas, Jr Rhode Island 181 1 Bruvn, Andrew D. W X'^ew York — -^Member Congress. . 181 1 Buffet, William P Xew York 1813 Buchanan, AN'illiam S ..... . 1 'ennsylvania 1824 lUilkley, Joscjih Cnnecticut 1810 lUillard, Royal Massachusetts 1810 15ull. Epaphras W Connecticut 1826 Bunker, Charles ^Massachusetts 1822 Bunnell, James F X^ew York 1827 Burgess, \\'. Arnold Rhode Island 1821 Butler, Chester P Pennsylvania — ]\Iem. of Cong. . . 1818 Butler, David B Xew jersey 1825 Burrall. \\'illiam P Connecticut 1828 Calhoun, John C South Carolina — L. L. D., A'. P. Mem. of Cong. ; Senator ; Sec. of State and of War 1805 Camp, Ralph G Connecticut 1824 198 I.ITCITI'IKI.D COrXTV HKXCn AND BAR CanibrelHng- Stephen North Carohna Campbell, Collin South Carolina Campbell, Georj^e L New York Cam])l)ell, John South Carolina Cantelou, l*eter L Georgia Cantelou, William !*> Georgia Canfield, Ezra Connecticut Canfiekl, Henry J Connecticut Cardwell. John W South Carolina Carroll, Charles H New York — Member Congress. . Carroll, Willam , . .Indiana Castor, Dyer 1 'ennsylvania Catlin, George I'enn. — Indian portrait painter. . Catlin. (icorge S Conn. — Member of Congress. . . . Catlin, Grove Connecticut Chase, Harvey ... New Hampshire Chase, Moses New Hhampshire Chase, Samuel New York Champion, Epaphroditus . . .Connecticut Champlin, Christopher Rhode Island Chambers, Joseph I'ennsylvania Chambers, llenjamin L Maryland Chamberlin, Melliu Maine Chandler, Anson G , . Maine Chandler, John A Maine Chandler, Hannibal Virginia Channing, Henry W Connecticut Chapin. Moses Mass. — Judge X. Y. Courts Chapman, Charles .Connecticut Chester, Henry New York Chester, Ste])hen M Connecticut Cheever, Sanniel Massachusetts Child, .\bicl . .Connecticut Childs, Timothy, Jr Massachusetts — Mem. Congress. Chittenden, Frederick Connecticut Church, Aaron .Connecticut Church, Leman Connecticut Church. Samuel Connecticut — Chief Justice Clark, .Archibald Georgia Clark, Gibson Georgia Clark. I lenr} L New York Clark, James Georgia Clark, Robert Georgia , Clark, 1 'ctcr New Jersey Clayton. John AT Delaware — L.L.D, Chief Justice; U. S. Senator; Sec. of State. . Cleveland. Stephen New York 813 809 826 820 813 813 80 r 808 823 817 823 82 s 817 827 806 800 798 818 80 T 810 820 822 819 818 818 832 809 813 818 815 813 812 821 814 824 80C1 815 Sof) 800 804 82(1 820 83-' 811 8.7 815 LAW scir(X)L 199 Clifton. \\ illiani C Georgia Clinton, George W New York Cockburn, William New York Cogshall. josiah H Massachusetts Coleman, John J Alabama Collier. John A Connecticut — Af. C. New York. . Collins. Augustus Connecticut Collins, Josiah. Jr North Carolina Cook, James C Connecticut Cook. Oliver D., Jr Connecticut Cooke. Roger W Connecticut Coolc}-, James Alassachusetts Cole. John New York Cooper. Benjamin F Xew York Conkling. Thomas Maryland Condit, Jacob A New^ Jersey Converse, Porter \ ermont Cowles. Samuel Connecticut Cowles. Henry \\ Xcw York Cowles. Sands G. . . . Connecticut Crawford, James X'enrnont Crawford. Joel Georgia — Member of Congress. . Croghan. William Kentucky Crosby, Piatt H Xew "i'ork Cruger. H. X.. Jr vSouth Carolina Cumming. Ivhvard I i Xew Jersey Cumming. William Georgia Cunningham. Koberl South Carolina Cuthbert. John A Georgia — Member of Congress. . Cuthbert. Alfred Georgia — United States Senator. Cutler. George Y Connecticut Cutting. r>rockholst . New York Cushman. Cliarles C Vermont Cushman. John P Conn. — M. C. and Judge X. Y. . 82;; 828 818 8og S27 805 804 826 818 817 799 810 821 817 813 804 802 817 ^26 832 8o('> 813 821 826 806 810 807 804 819 823 828 808 D FJart. John S South Carolina 1821 Davidge, Francis H Maryland 181 5 Davis, John N'irginia 181 r Davis, James Maryland 1816 Davis, John H Delaware 1817 Davies, Henry Maryland 1809 Davies, Israel W Massachusetts 181 1 Davies, John 15 \in4inia 181 ^ 200 l.lTCllI"li:i.l) COIXT^' r.KNCIl AM) IIAR Dawson, T^awrence South Carolina 1822 Dawson, William C. . . . . .Georg-ia — Judqc ; L'. S. Senator. .1817 ] )ay. iMlj^far I'. New York 1826 Delamotter, Jacob Georgia 182 [ DeMenou. Gharles Charge d'Affairs of Franco, D. C.1808 Iteming, Unci H Connecticut 1825 Denny, Thomas Massachusetts 1823 Deveraux. Geo.' I' North Carolina 1817 Deveraux, Thomas .... . . .North Carolina 181 3 Deveraux, Tliomas P No. Carolina — Reporter Su]). Ct.1815 Deas, 1 lenry South Carolina 1818 Dexter. Christopher C Rhode Island 1813 Doolittle, Amos 1! Connecticut 1806 Doan, Guy Connecticut 1814 Downes, \i)])leton Massachusetts 181 r Downman, John P> Massachusetts 1813 Doyle, Francis Georgia 1822 Duhois, Cornelius, Jr New \'ork 1830 Dunhar, Daniel Connecticut 17*^)8 Dunliar, Miles ( onnecticut i8(Xj Dwight. Henry W Massachusetts, Member Congress. 1809 1 )yer, 'Hiomas Connecticut 1/99 E Eastman, .\. G New York 1833 Edwards, I lenry P Conn. — Judge Suj). Ct. N. Y. . . . 1828 Edwards, 1 lenry P New York 1830 Edwards, Henry W Conn. — U. S. Sen. : Gov. Conn. . 1798 Edwards, John vS Connecticut 1798 Edwards, ( )(lgen Conn. — Judge Sup. Ct. X. Y. . . . iSoi Eickelberggcr, Louis Maryland 1810 Elgin, Hezekiah R Maryland 1815 FZllis, Grindall R .New Ham])shire 1809 Ellsworth, I lenry L .Connecticut 18 11 Ellsworth, William W Conn. — Com. of Patents; M. C. ; Governor: judge Sup. Court. .1811 Ellmaker, .Amos Pennsylvania 1806 l{llmend()rf, lulmond I'. New York 1826 Ennis, \\'illiam Rhode Island 1820 Erwin, Isaac II Mabama 1828 Everest, Sherman Connecticut 1800 F Fairle, Frederick New York 1818 Felder. John M South Ca rolina — Mem. of Cong. 1805 F^ine, John New York 1813 Cl-OKCK .M. WOODKITF Reprinted the Cataloj^ue. 1900 LAW SCHOOL 20 1 Fisher, Isaac. Jr Maryland Fisher, Samuel Massachusetts Fitch, John Connecticut Fleming", Matthew South Carolina Floyd, Joseph R Maryland Follet, Timoth\- .....' \^erm|on:t Folsom, Joshua New Hampshire h'^oot, John A Connecticut Footman, William Maryland Ford, William H South Carolina Foster, George Massachusetts Foster, James Massachusetts Foster, Thomas F Massachusetts — M. C, (Veo. Fowler, James Massacliusetts Fowler, John 1) Massachusetts Francis, fohn !'> Rhode Island Franklin." Walter S I'enn.— Clerk II. K. I'. S.. Frazier, Alexander (» South Carolina Frisbie, Samuel Connecticut Indler, Henry H Massachusetts h'uller, William W Massachusetts iMillerton. Alexander X N'ermont Fullerton. Thomas S \ermbnit 811 810 80:; 815 818 812 811 824 815 826 812 812 816 808 81.^ 813 818 810 809 812 814 82f> 822 Gantt, ^>ainucl South Carolina 1817 Ganesvonrt, I'eter Xew York 1810 Gardner. Philiji S Rhode Island 1826 Gihhs, David Massachusetts 1808 Gihbs, Henry W Connecticut 1808 Gihhs, William C Rhode Island — Governor 1810 (nhson. William Georgia 1823 ( ilover. Samuel Xew York 1820 Gold, Thomas A Massachusetts 1808 (roodwin. Fdward Connecticut 1823 Goodwin, Hiram Connecticut 1829 Gould, (icorge Conn. — Judge Sujx Court X. Y. . 1827 (^lould James R Connecticut 1824 Cjould, William T Conn. — Judge, C^eorgia 1818 Graham, John L Xew York 1814 Grant. William South Carolina 1823 Grant. William A Georgia ^823 Graves, Thomas C Kentucky 1808 Gray, Thomas Connecticut 1817 Green, Caleb, Jr X^ew York 1830 Greene, Albert C Rhode Island — U. S. Senator. . . 1812 202 I,riCIIl'li;i.l) COUNTY liKNCIl AND BAR GreenCj, Benjamin D IMassachusetts 1813 C.rcen. Ilcnrv ^^' Rhode Island — Justice Sup. Court and Chancellor Xew Jersey. . . 1823 Greene, Richard W Rhode Island 1812 Greene, William Rhode island 1817 Griffin, Geori^e Connecticut — L.L.I) 1798 Grisw Jones, John Q Xew York 18 17 Jones, Robert ^813 Jones. Rice Louisiana 1807 Judson, Noah Massachusetts 1799 K Kaleb, William M Maryland 1827 Kaleb, J. A. Mc Maryland 1829 Kellogi?, Edward Massachusetts 1823 Kelso, Charles W Pennsylvania 1828 Kerr, Joseph C North Carolina 1817 Key, 1 'hillip Maryland 1829 Kilbourn, Austin Connecticut 1821 King, Edward New York 181 3 King, George G Rhode Island 1826 King, James G Xew York — Mem. of Congress. . 1810 Kingsbury. San ford New Hampshire 1801 Kinnecutt. Thomas Massachusetts — Eieut-Gov 1833 Kirbv, Revnold M Connecticut 1809 Kirkiand. 'Chas. P New York 1818 Kniglit, Frederick Massachusetts 18 12 I^ake, J(>se|)h ( )hio 1820 Lamar, Lucius O. C Georgia — Judge Sup. Court 1817 Langdon. IJenjamin F \'ermont 182 1 Langsing. Levincss S New York 1830 Lathrop. Cyrus H Massachusetts 1810 Latham. Allen Massachusetts 1814 Lashell, John '. Pennsylvania 1810 LAW SCHOOL 205 Lawrence. Aiig-ustus A Xew York 1813 Lawrence, Phillip K Xew York 1814 Lawrence, William B New York — Charo^e d'affaires, London 18 19 Leavenworth. Elias W IMass. — L.L.D. : ^l. C: Sec. of State X. Y 1825 Leavenworth. Xathan New York ^813 Leavenworth. William F. . . .Connecticut 1822 Leavitt. Harvey F Xew Hampshire 1816 Ledyard, flenry New York ^830 Leonard. Cornelius Xew York 1810 Lewis. John L Louisiana 1825 Lewis. Ko1)ert H \'irginia 1821 Lewis. \\'illiam Louisiana 181 7 Livinjj^ston, Carrol! Xew York 1827 Livinj^ston. 1 lenry W Xew York 1820 Livingston, James K Xew York 1818 Livins^ston. John R Xew York 1823 Livini^ston, Robert Xew York 1829 Livin^-ston. Walter Xew York 1820 Lloyd. Joseph R Xorth Carolina 1818 Lockwood. Ephraim Connecticut ^79^ Loring. Charles G Massachusetts 1813 Lorinii' Kdward d Massachusetts 1822 Lord," Daniel, Jr New York— L.L.D 1814 Long"street, Augustus B Georgia — L.L.D. ; Judge Sup. Ct. : College President 1813 Lott. Adrain New York 1831 Low. Cornelius Xew York 1812 Lowndes. Uenjamin X^irginia 1825 Ludlow, Alfred Xew York 1822 Lundy, Etheldred \ irginia 1818 Lyman, Darius Connecticut 181 1 Lyman. Samuel F Massachusetts 1819 Lyman, Theodore Massachusetts 181 1 M Marberry. John Maryland 1813 ^lack. Elisiia Massachusetts 1805 ]Magruder. Enoch 1 'ennsylvania 1816 ^Nlackie. Teeter Xew York 1813 IMallory, Garrick I'enn. — L.L.D. ; Judge Penn. . . . 1810 ]\Iann. George Rhode Island 1826 Mann. Horace !Mass. — M. of C. ; educator 1822 ^Mansfield. Edward D New York 1823 T^Iarkley, Iknj. A South Carolina 1806 2C)6 I.ITCTIFTKI.D COUNTY ];F,NCH AND BAR Marvin, Ebenezer VeriTLont . Marsh, Charles. |r Vermont Martin, Joseph F Rhode Island Martin, William D South Carolina — M. C Mason, John Y Virginia — M. C. ; Judge ; Sec. of Xavy ; Mason and Slidell affair. Mason, William J Virginia Mayson. Charles C South Carolina Mather. Nathaniel Connecticut Maxwell. Robert Marylanrl Maxev. X'irgil Rhode Island — Chg. d'affairs \\c\- gium Mayer, Abraham I'enns) Ivania Mayer, John I ! Pennsylvania Mayo, Harman B New York McCawley, Robert Virginia McClean, James G Vlar^iand McElhenny, James South Carolina McFarland, William H A'irginia Merwin, Elijah 15 \ ermont Metcalf, Theron ]\.[assachusetts Middleton, Henry A South Carc^lina ]\liddleton, Henry South Carolina Mills, Roger Connecticut Mills, Michael F Connecticut Alillar, Bowyar A'irginia — ( r>o\er F. IMiller?) . . Miller, Charles Connecticut Miller, Josc|)h Connecticut Miller, Morris Georgia Miller, Rutger V, New ' York Miller, Solomon S \'iermont Minturn. Thomas K New ^'ork Mitchell, Charles Connecticut Mitchell. 1 Tenry V Connecticut Mitchell, Eouis C Connecticut Mitchell, Louis Connecticut Mitchell, Stephen M Connecticut Mollit, Thomas Georgia Morris, Hciu-y New York Moore, Robert Georgia Morrison, James New Flampshire Morse, Sidney E IMass. — Founder N. Y. Observer. Morson, Arthiu- A Airginia Moseley, Charles Connecticut Mumford, William \\' New York Munger. Warren Connecticut 799 813 818 810 817 821 814 811 817 805 817 823 821 819 S22 822 818 801 806 815 817 798 801 817 818 801 798 824 8ri 826 804 826 807 813 800 816 S.26 F,22 809 814 823 806 815 811 -y/'^Jr^'- r i ^-^^^g [i^A4. ^^ts Purchased the Judge Reeve Homestead LAW SCHOOL 207 N Nash, Lonson Massachusetts 1803 Neill, George P Pennsylvania 1829 Nesbit, Eugenius A Cieorgia — AL C. : Judge Sup. Ct. 1823 Nichols, Joseph H New York 1827 Nichol, Edward Xew York 1813 Nicoll, John C Georgia — Judge ; V. S. District Judge 1814 Nixon, Henry G South Carohna 1820 Nelson, Armstead Alaryland 1814 Newconib, Isaac M New York 1828 Norton, Marcus Mass. — Judge ; Crov. 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 t8oi Oliver, Henry Maryland 1821 Oliver, Sanmel W Georgia 1820 Olmstead, Charles C Connecticut i8ro Ornisbee, Edgar S X^ermont 1824 Orne. Henry Massachusetts 181 1 Overton, Thomas B Pennsylvania 1813 O'Hara, Arthur PI .North Carolina 18 14 Page, Benjamin Rhode Island 1805 Page, Henry Rhode Island 1816 Painter, Alexis Connecticut 1817 Parker, Auiasa Connecticut 1809 Parker, Aurelius D Massachussetts 1826 Parker, Charles T Massachusetts 1828 Parker, William M 1820 Parrott, Abner B Georgia 1821 Parson, Anson A' 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 \' Cennecticut — Judge, Ohio 1824 Pell, Duncan C New York 1826 Pennev. Samuel New York 1828 2o8 i.iTc~ii i'ii;i.i) t(u xTv ni;\cii and f.ar ]\'rkins, diaries Conncctiout Perkins. Tliomas S Connecticut Pettilyone, Sereno Connecticut Petet, Joel T Connecticut 1 'etet. \\'illiani \\' ( )hio Phelps. Charles ]'. Xew ilampshire Phelps, Edward A Connecticut Phelps. Elisha Conn. — A[cm. of Congress Phelps, Jedediah Massachusetts Phelps. Samuel v^ Conn.— r. v^. S. : Tudg-c S. C. A't. Pickett, Reuben North Carolina Pickett, William J) North Carolina — Judge Sup. Ct. Alabama Pierce, James Connecticut Pierce. Levi ]yiar\land Pierce, AMlliam L Georgia Pierpont, John Connecticut — Rev. ; poet Pierpont. John Conn. — Chief Justice A'ermont. . Pierson, C.eorge New York Pillsburv. William Alassachusetts Pitcher. John New York — L,ieut.-Gov Pitcher, Phillip New^ York Pitt, John R Georgia Player, Thompson T South Carolina Poe, AVashington Georgia — Member of Congress. . Polk, Thomas G North Carolina Porter, George B Penn. — Gov. of ^Michigan Porter, Timothy H New Hampshire — ]\[. Congress. . Porteus, Jolui South Carolina Post, Albert L Potter, Ansel Connecticut Potter, Asa Rhode Island Prentice, Henry E Preston. Isaac T Virginia — Judge S. C. Louisiana. l^rice, Penjamin Maryland Pumpelly, George J New York Putnam. Austin New York Putnam, Charles Massachusetts 813 812 802 800 8LS 806 828 801 810 811 825 826 798 8lS 809 809 825 830 8l^ 815 828 816 826 823 811 812 807 800 832 80:; S26 832 812 820 826 828 814 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 SCHOOL 209 Read, Jolm D Delaware Read, William T D'elawarc Reed, George Delaware Reed, John H South Carolina Reeve, Aaron B Connecticut Reynolds, Walter New York Richards, George H Connecticut Richards, Henry S New York Richards, Rohert K New York Rideley. Greenshurg Kentucky Ridgate, Benjamin Maryland Ridout. Addison Maryland Ivohhins, Samuel H Connecticut Rul:)bins, Silas Conn. — Judge. Kentucky Rogers, ,\rchibald G New York Rogers, Artemas Connecticut Rogers, Charles W Georgia Rogers, Edward Delaware Rogers, Henry A Rhode Island Rogers, Henry B Massachusetts Rogers, Henry W Connecticut Rogers, Henry I'cnnsylvania Rogers, John Delaware Rogers, Moulton C Delaware — Judge, Pennsylvania. Rogers, W'illiam M Georgia Ross, Thomas Pemisylvania Ruggles, Heman Connecticut Ruggles, Henry J New York Rutledge, Benj. H South Carolina Rutherford, John Georgia Ruthcrf(~>rd, Robert GX"<^rgia 823 812 808 809 802 822 800 826 829 816 814 813 817 808 823 811 829 810 821 810 813 807 829 827 80:5 ^{2 817 829 806 Sanniel, l^everly 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 18^^ Schley. John T 3,Iaryland 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 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR Sedgwick. Philo C Connecticut Selden, Ulysses Connecticut Sewall, William H ]\Iarylan(l Seymour, Henry Conn. — M. of C. : Gov. of Conn. . Seymour, Horatio Conn. — L.L.D ; U. S. Senator \'t. Seymour, Isaac G Georgia Seymour. Origen S Conn. — AT. of C. ;Judge and Chief Justice Seymour, Osias \ ermont Shaffer, Joseph L Georgia Shaumburgh. Charles \\'. . .Louisiana Shaw, Henr\- Xew York — Mem. of Congress. . Sheldon, Daniel Connecticut Sheldcn, William Connecticut Sheldon, Isaac Connecticut Shelton, Stephen Connecticut Shepard, Samuel Sherman, Elkanah C Xew York Sherrell, Joseph Massachusetts Sill. Theodore Connecticut Simkins, Eldred South Carolina — AJ. C. ; Lt.-Gov. S. C Sims, John G Pennsylvania Simons, Moses South Carolina Simmons, Edward V South Carolina Skinner, John B Connecticut Skinner, Oliver Connecticut Skinner, Richard Conn. — Chief Jus. and Gov \'t.. . Skinner, Roger S Connecticut Sloan. Douglass \A' Massachusetts Slosson, Uarazilli Xew York Smith, Archibald Xew York Smith, Charles Massachusetts Smitli. 1 lenry \\ Massachusetts Smith James H Xorth Carolina Smith, J()sei)h L Conn. — Judge Florida ; U. S. . . . Smith. Jmiius Conn. — L.L.D ; ist ocean steam- ship. Tea grower Smith, Ira Connecticut Smith, Lemuel Alassachusetts Smith, Levi L Pennsylvania Smith, Xathaniel P. Connecticut Smith, Perrv Conn. — U. S. Senator Smith, Trun'ian Conn.— M. of C. ; U. S. Senator. Smallwood. \\illiam A District Columbia Spaulding, Richard R Georgia Sparks, William H Georgia 831 802 816 829 798 825 824 821 825 827 810 798 822 810 809 799 825 8lS 798 803 812 810 81:; 820 800 798 815 804 830 814 810 809 818 800 802 809 817 82 s 817 807 817 824 809 820 ORIGEX S. SEYMOUR LAW SCHOOL 211 822 832 8-V 818 829 813 823 »27 801 82^ Si\ 803 809 814 822 821 817 817 822 806 81T H2^ 823 806 810 80T 8^0 822 809 8X2 822 825 8ir 801 817 Spaight. Charles (r Georgia Spires. Uracney T North Carolina Sprague. Peleg Massachusetts — i\ S. Senator. . Speed. Robert H X'irginia Spencer. Alexander ( ) New York Spencer. Oliver M Ohio Spooner. William : . Massachusetts Stag-g. Peter Xew York Stansbury, G. A Xew York Stanley, Henry Xew Y^ork Stark, Caleb, jr \ erniont Stark. W'yatt South Carolina Starr, Hphraim. Jr Connecticut Starr, Hein-y Connecticut Steele. William F Maryland Sterrett. John Pennsylvania Sterrett. \\'illiam P Georgia Stewart. Charles S Xew York Stiles, Joseph C Georgia Stiles, Richard Creorgia Stone. Gregory 1) Xew Hampshire Stoddart. John T Maryland Storrs, Juba Connecticut Stevens. Henry W Connecticut Stevens. John L Xew York . . . .' Stevens. Thomas Georgia Strobel. Martin South Carolina Strong, Elisha )> Conneticut Strong, Alartin Connecticut Strong, Moses M \ermont Strong, Theron Connecticut Stuart. Francis South Carolina Stuart, Josephus r> Massachusetts Sullivan, James Massachusetts Sutherland, Josiah, Jr Xew York — A[. C. : Judge Sp.Ct. Sweezy, Thomas [Vfassachusetts Swift. P>eniamin \>rmont — L'. S. Senator Swift. William X'ermont Tabor, William J Connecticut 1813 Tallifero, Williairi F. .'. \'irginia 18 13 Tallmadge, Frederick A Conn. — ^L C. from X. Y 181 1 Tatnall, Edward F Georgia — Member of Congress. . 1810 Taylor, Edwin M Massachusetts 1832 212 LnXllFlELD COUNTY ISliXClL AND LAR Taylor, Hubbard Kentucky 1810 Taylor. James S X'irginia 1818 Taylor, John Oilman ^Massachusetts 1803 Taylor, William South Carolina 1828 Teakle, James D ^Maryland 1817 Tellfair. Josiah Georgia 1804 Tellfair, Tliomas Georgia 1806 Tenney, William New Hampsliire — M. of C 1809 Terry, Alfred Connecticut 1823 Thayer, James Massachusetts 1815 Thvveat, Uriah Georgia 1802 Thomas, Alexander Georgia 18 10 Thomas, Charles, Jr Delaware 181 2 Thompson, Henry IMassachusetts 1814 Thorndike, Larkin Massachusetts 1809 Todd, Charles Kentucky 1810 Tolman, Thomas Kentucky 1813 Torrey, Charles r\!assachusetts 1814 Tracy, George H New York 1830 Treat, v^elah B Connecticut 1825 Trescott, Henr\- 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 ^iassachusetts 18 14 Tyler, Nathan Connecticut 1825 V Vantluscn, W illiam Connecticut 1803 Vanderheyden. Samuel New York 1820 Vandyke, Kensey J New Jersey i8i8 Vanmeter, John J Virginia 1821 Van Wagcner, Gerrilt G. . . New York 1823 Verplank, James 1) New York 1827 w Wager, Jolui \irginia 1823 Wakeman, Jonathan Connecticut 1807 Waldo, William P, New York 1828 Walburg, C;eorge M Georgia 1815 Walker! Charles :\Iassachusetts 1822 Walker, (icorge J. S Georgia 1826 Wallace, James W Pennsylvania 1829 Waring, Nathaniel F New York 1827 LAW SCHOOL 2 1 ^ Ward, Isaac New Jersey Ward, Richard R New York Ward, Solomon Massachusetts Warner, Eli Connecticut Warner. Thomas Massachusetts Waterhouse, Andrew (J Massachusetts Watson, John B Connecticut Watson, Samuel ]\'iassachusetts Watson, William Connecticut Webber, Sumner A ^Massachusetts Weeks, Alfred A New York : Wells, Ralph Connecticut Welles, Thomas L New York Weems, James J District C(>luiul)ia \\"etm()re, W'illicini L'onnecticut ^^']^eeler, Justice V Alassachusetts White, John P Connecticut White, Thomas Georgia \Mute, William Xew Hampshire \\'luting, John C ^Tassachusetts AMiitman, John Whitman, Lenuiel Connecticut — Mem. of Congress. Whittlesey, Elisha L) Connecticut — Mem. of Congress. Whittlesey. Frederick Conn. — AT. of Congress; Judge Sup. Court X. Y 1819 Whittlesey. Thomas T Comiecticut — ^Mem. of Congress. 1818 Wight, John L \'irginia 1824 Williams, David Louisiana 1816 Williams. Henry F Louisiana 1818 A\'illiams, Jared A\' 1820 Williams. Lenuiel Massachusetts 1806 A\^illiams. Thomas S Connecticut ^797 \\'illiams. William Massachusetts 1799 Wilkins, Edmond Xorth Carolina 1817 Wilkins, John L Xorth Carolina 1820 Wilson, Andrew P Pennsylvania 1825 Winslow. Edward D Xorth Carolina 1831 Winship. John C. M ^vfassachusetts . 1810 Wittich, Lucius L Georgia 1824 Wolcott, Oliver S Connecticut 1818 Wood. James 1798 Woodbridge. William Ohio — U. S. Senator . 1802 \\'oo(lbury, Levi Xew Hampshire — Gov. of X". H. ; Sec. of X^avy and Treas. ; Judge of V. S. Sup. Court 1809 Woolridge, Thomas South Carolina 1815 813 817 802 808 809 811 815 826 831 823 823 812 823 820 815 804 /'/; 816 818 823 808 805 81-, 214 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR Woodruff, George C Connecticut — Mem. of Congress. 1825 Woodruff, Lewis B Conn. — L.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 Y Yates, ]\Ietcalf Xew 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 2ita9ca)il|tea BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH, BAR AND COUNTY OFFICERS BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES Tn 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, merelv an index of the names of those who have contributed their lives and energies to make our ^lountain County deserve its high and noble record of the past and to incite our present and future attornevs to uphold and maintain the lofty standard that their sires have bequeathed them. "Qfljc lines of great men all remiu^ ua (illjat uie can make out Uues sublime Au^ ^lu«8 leaite beljiuti us iJinotptints on tlje saubs of time." BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 21/ Elisjia S. AbErxethv, was a son of General Russell Abcr- nethy, of Torrin^on, born October 24. 1805. He entered Yale College when sixteen years old and igraduated 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 i8(X). Andrew Adams. LL.D.. was born in Stratford in \jj,6 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 2^, 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 tlie 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 diis 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 man\ distinguished offices with great ability and dignity, he was promoted to the highest judicial office ni 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. Samuel Adams, was a native of Milford, Conn., but in early life went to Stratford, where he married Mary Fairchild. He became a prominent lawyer and a Judge of the Fairfield County Court. A few years 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 LITCHFIELD CO UN TV KENCII AND BAR widow 3 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 oi 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 jiaid to him by his successor. Chief Justice Torrance: " This Court is full\- 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. 22() LITCHI^IELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR CHARLES 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 judi^e 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 years. ilut the re.q-ulation 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 ])rinciples, and philosophical development. Only such an one could have written such an opinion, for instance, as that from his ])en, in the case of Wildman 7's. 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 I^resided in this court during the first hundred and seventeen years of its history, and of tliis number, only Judges Hosmer. Williams and Park held the oitice 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 be nominally higher than the judiciary, but in the actual experience BIOGRAl'IIICAL NOTE'S 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 cind the force and perspicuity with which he was able to set them ±. 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'Xeil in Water- 222 IJTCIII-IKUJ COLXTY liKNCJI AXD I'.AR bur_y, and was admitted to the bar at New Haven in 1879. Now resides at Watertown but is not in active ])ractice. Represented his town in the Legislature of 1905. Rai,s.\:mox C. Austix. was a son of the Hon. Aaron Austin, born in Xew Hartford, graduated from Vale College in 1801, and was 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. RocKR A\t-:rii.l, born at Salisbury, August 4. 1809. Graduated at Lhiion 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 oiTices and was Lieutenant Governor of the State during the four years of the Civil v/ar. 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. Russell W. Ayres, of W^aterburw admitted 1869. He gradu- ated at Yale. 1868. and afterwartls at Harvard Law School. He was the founder of the shore resort at Woodmont, Connecticut. He died December 14, 1873. Asa Bacox". a native of Canterbury. Connecticut, born Feliruary 8, 177 1, graduated at Yale College in 1793, and was admitted to this bar in 1795. After practicing in various ])laces he removed to Litchfield in 1806. where for many years he held a leatling i:)Osition at the bar. He died in Xew Haven in 1857. (See Boardman and Sedgwick's sketches.) His ])icture appears in the Bacon group, page 62. Epapiiroditis Cita.mpiox' B.acox'. a son of Asa Bacon, born in Lichfield in t8io. Graduated at Yale College in 1833. and was admitted to this bar in 1840. He died at Seville in Spain. January li, 1845. I'icture on page 62. CjKxi-.kal Francis B.\cox was another son of Asa B>ac(»n. born in Litchfield January 6, 1819. and graduated at Yale College in 1838. \\';is admitted t<» this bar in 1840; he was a xoung man of great ])romise. holding a high rank as a lawyer, antl took great interest in military afi:'airs. rising to the rank of Alajor General of the State militia. His death occurred September 16, 1849. picture on ])age 62. Wn.LAKi) r>\Ki:K was admitted t<> this bar in 1881. He located and resides in Sharon. He has a large otHce ])ractice and real estate business. P>iRi)SKY Baldwin, born in Goshen. February 3, 1786. Studied law at Litchfield Law School and was admitted to ])ractice in 181 1. niOCRAl'iriCAL NOTES 223 He lived and practiced in his native town nntil 1841. when he re- moved to West CornwaU, where he (Hed April zy , 1858. His pic- ture is on page 115. George B ai.dwjx, a native of Washington, Connecticut, was ad- mitted to the har in 1840. He relinquished the law for other pur- suits. George H. IJalowix. Sheriff 1 869- 1 878. He died in Litch- field Decemher 2, 1879. The following" obituary of him ap- ])eared in the Litchfield £//- qmrcv : "( )ur readers will notice, \\ itii dee]i reg^ret, the death of ex-Sheriff George W. Bald- win, which occurred at his residence in this village on Tuesday morning'. Mr. Bald- win was horn 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- g\\ and the sun was of a simi- lar nature. After a good edu- cation in our villag'e schools, he served an apprenticeship in the h'.nciuirer office. He sub- Gl-;ORGE [J. J!A1.I>W I V secjuently ])ublished. for a short time, the Litchfield Republican, a democratic j^aper. antl w^as the first publisher of the Sentinel. He was postmaster here for eight years. Judg'e of Probate for one year, and Sheriff' of the county for nine years. He represented the town in the (jcneral Assembly in 1861, held the ofiice of town clerk for five years, from 1858 to 1863, and was first selectman for several years succeeding'. His friends were warmly attached to him. and he was noted for his g'enerosity and neighborly kindness. ]n his famil\-, he was a devoted husband and father, and his excellent widow' and children have the heartfelt sympath}' of the entire com- munity." Isaac Baldwin, was born in Milford. Connecticut, February 22, 1715-16. His father removed to Durham and subsequentlv to Litchfield. He graduated at Yale College in 1735. and studied theology and was licensed to ])reach in 1737. He was never settled in this profession, but occasiiMially preached in neighboring churches. 224 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BLXCII AKD PAR He married a daitg-hter of Parson Collins, the eccentric minister of Litchfield, bought a farm and went to farmint;^. 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 thirty-one years (1742-1773.) He was clerk of the Probaite Court for the district of Litchfield for twenty-nine years, and was the first clerk of the County Court, which oflice 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, wlien he removed to Fompey, New York, where he died in 1830. Ror.KK SiiKRMAX Baldwix, 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 located in his native city, where he died February 19, 1863. lYobalily no lawyer ever attained in Connecticut a higher rank at the bar than that which was generally conceded to Governor Jjaldwin by his professional brethren, and few men have filled more public otlices than he. ( For a more extended sketch of him see ol'ituary in 30th Conn. Report.) Sa.mi'Kl S. 1>.\ld\V]\ 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. WiLLrA:\L Baldwlx, lawyer at Salisljury 1842. (Conn. Regis- ter.) Lutiii:k 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 Blinois. where he ac([uired a good reputation as a lawyer. In the Civil W'ar he was an othcer of the Eighty-fourth Illinois regiment and was killed at the battle of Mur- freesboro, December, 1862, and l)urie(] on the field. LoRKix 1k\rxks studied in the law school. Was admitted in 1807 and ])ractice(l a short time in Bristol. Hp:nkn' S. 15.\Kr,()iK was a native of Canton, Connecticut. P)0rn 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, 1 89 1. Syl\'Hstkr Baki'.oi'r was a lirotlur of Henry S. Barbour and ])ractice(l law a short time about 1861 at New Hartford and is now in ])ractice in Hartford. lilOGRAl'illCAI, NOTKS 225 Anson Bates, admitted to the bar in 1820. The History of Hartford County says he practiced law at East Granby 1831-1869. RoKKRT C. Bates, admitted to the bar in 181 1 as of SaHsbury. JosiAii B. BatTELL, born in Woodbury March i, 1776. Ad- mitted to the bar in 1799 as of Torrington. Died ^lay 7, 1843, "^^ Torrington. Jesse Beach was born in Litclifield in 17O9. He studied law with Judge Reeve and was admitted to the bar in 1791. The next year he married Sall\- Wheeler, of Derby, to which place he moved and practiced law there until l8or, when he removed to Redding, Connecticut. J. Gail Beckwitii. Jr., was born in Litchfield in 1874. Gradu- ated at l^nion College in 1896. Studied at Albany Law School and in the offices of Terry cv lironson and L. F. i>uri)ee in Water- bury, where he engaged in practice for a short time. He served as Corporal of Company A, Tenth l>attalion. First Xew York Volunteers, from April, i8(j8, to April, 1899. The regiment was ordered for service in the Lhilip]Mnes, but only went as far as Honolulu. Was admitted t<> the Litchfield bar in 1899. Was a deputy shcrilT under SheritT M iddlebrook. Is engaged m jour- nalism. HE/ci:ki\ii Li:i;cii i:k. was born in I'.ethlehem. the son of Abra- b.am lieecher. He was admitted to the bar in 1854. He removed to, and was an early settler of Fort Dodge, Iowa. Is now deceased. PlliLEMox I')Kixiii:r. a native of Kent, was burn in 1773 and was admitted to this bar in 1800 as from SharcMi. 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 ver\' 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. Beecher. He later lived at Columbus and in the vicinitx* of Cin- cinnati, and ended his professional career as Attorney General of the I'nited States under General Jackson." Truman Beecher. admitted in 1818 from Kent. \\'as 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 COUXTY BENCH 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 Colleg'e in 1839. and was admitted to this bar in 1842. He never j)racticed his ])rofession. Init was an assistant for his father in the care and manag'ement of the immense interests of the School Fund in the Western Reserve of Ohio. He died at Litchfield. LivW'is F. Hkeks 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 Judg'e Hall's death .when he removed to South Norwalk, where he died February 15. 1872. Setii 1'. 1')i;i:ks, a native of W'^oodbury, born July 4. 1781. Was a student of the Litchfield Law School from 1803 to 1805, when he was admitted to this Imr and settled in the practice of his pro- fession in Litchfield, where he died September 9, 1862. He had a larg'e clientage and occupied many ]M)siti()ns 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, ^ period of twenty-five years, during- which time the settle- ment of a very large number of contested land claims and titles in the Ohio land, known as the Western Reserve, had to be adjusted bv 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. Fki'.di'.kick 1). B);i:.M\N. was a native of Warren, graduated at Yale, class of 1842, and was admitted to this bar in 18-16, and settled and began ])ractic.e 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. ChariJ'S C). ]^)Eeden', born in JNTontecello, New York, in 1827, was admitted to practice in 1848. After practicing a short time at Litchfield he removed to Milwaukee, W^isconsin. Tn 1861 he took an active ])art 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 miable to follow his profession. He died in Litchfield November 22, 1870. Josi'.i'ii 11. Ui'.i.i.A.MN', a nati\'e of IJethlehem, was a grandson of the celeljrated divine Joseph Bellamy, D. 1). lie graduated at Yale Colleg-e in 1808, and was admitted to this bar in i8to and resided nnd practiced in lielhlehem, where lie died in 1848. ( See Sedg- wick's Address.) At\ios Benedict, born iti IMiddlebury, Connecticut, July 6, 1780, graduated at Yale College 1800, studied law in the Litchfield Law BIOGRAl'IllCAL XOTES 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, l)(>rn 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. Keport.) His portrait is on page 58, taken from an old nainting in the Woodbury Probate office. MiLo 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. ToiiN 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. Wiij.iA.M W. BiDWEEi.. 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. Wii.i.iA.M W. BiERCK was born at Cornwall Ikidge 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 1851, practiced a short time in Winsted. Connecticut. Published for some years the Win- sted NcTVs, and then followed other avocations. He died June 24, 1892. Hon. Jt)iix Bird, born in IJlchheld, 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 manv important positions and uas a member of Congress. EowARn BissELL, a native of Litchfield, born November 2y, ]8o8, and admitted to this bar in 1832. He afterwards entered the United States naval service, and died January 24, 1876. Edward Bissell, born in Pitchfield, December 16, 1827. and graduated at Yale College in 1851. and at the Yale Law School in 1853. and was admitted to this liar in 1853. He removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he now resides. 228 IJTCIIFIKIJ) COUNTY KltXCIl AND I'-AK Francis BissEi.l, born in Litchfield April 16. 1852. and ad- mitted to this bar in 1875. He ]jracticed a short time in New Hart- ford , then went into the insurance business, from which he retired, and is now engaged in agriculture at IJantam. EbenezEk B. Blackman, graduated at Yale College in 1817, admitted to this bar in 1822 and practiced at Sharon, whence he removed to I'rookfield 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 ( )maha, Nebraska. J. W. BlakESEEE, admitted in 1866, as of Plymouth. SamlEE C. Be.\kEEEv, admitted in 1800 from Roxburv. ^^'IEEIAM H. Beodgett. a native of Canaan. Admitted to this bar in 1903. He located in W'insted and is now Town Prosecuting Attorney. He was assistant clerk of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1907. D.W'ii) SiiER-MAN BoAKD.MAN, b(trn in New Alilford in 1768, graduated at Yale in 1793 and admitted to this bar in 171;.^. He 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 Milford, says: "There have been few, if any of the inhabitants oi New Alilford since its settlement, who deserve to be more honored than this ])ure minded, sagacious and nol)le 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. lilijah Boardman, born 1799. admitted to this bar in 1820 and died in New Milford 1825. (See Sedgwick's Address.) WiEi.iA.M W'lirriNG I'.oAKD.MAX. another son of Hon. Elijah Boardman was born 1794 graduated at Yale College in 1812 and admitted to this bar in 1818. fie removed to New Haven, where he had a large {practice and held many i)ublic offices — member of Con- gress, etc. Died August 27, 1871. WiEi.iA.M 1). r.oSEER, born in New York City Februarv 23. 1877. Studied law with L. J. Nickenson, of West Cornwall, and admitted to this bar in i<;02. Commenced practice at West Cornwall, but in 1906 he removed to New York City, and is now connected with the District Attorney's office. CiiAKi.Ks i'.os'iwicK was born in New Milford, graduated at Yale College in 1796, and studied law under Judge Reeve, of Litchfield, I'egun to practice his profession lint subsequently went into com- BIOGKAl'JIICAL NOTES 229 mercial pursuits in New York. Later he removed to Bridgeport, where he was elected mayor in 1840 and served afterwards as city judge. Joseph A. Bostwick. of Xew ]^Iilford. admitted in 1804. Sami'EL Bostwick was horn in Xew Milford in 1755 and gradu- ated at Yale College in 1780. He practiced law in his native town until liis death. April 3. 1799. Hkxrv a. Botsford was born in W'atertown in 1821 and died at Hartford, April 14, 1895. He was Sheriff from 1866 to 1869. He came to Litchfield from Salishurv. where he had lieen deputy sheriff for ten years and about 1870 he re- inoved to Winsted and in 1872 to Hartford and en- gaged in the v.holesale Chi- cago dressed beef business. He received the first car of that commodity from Chi- cago shii)ped to any poiut in Xew England, except to r.ostcMi. He was a genial, kind-hearted gentleman and made no enemies in his of- ficial and business hfe. IIEXKV A. llOTSrORD John A. Bol'Ghtox was admitted to this l:)ar in 1862. He soon removed to Bridgeport. Conn. He was for man\' years connected with the internal revenue service. Is not now in the practice of his legal profession. Joiix BovD was born in ^\'insted March 17, 1799. He graduated at Yale College in 1821 and was admitted to the bar of Xew 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 fciii : inwn clerk of Winchester about thirty years and died in 1881. He was Secretary of the State of Connecticut 1859, i860 and i86r. 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 1 \ 1 ^^Bk v^ 1 1 '^^KV. ^ l'"^- m 1 1 230 LITCHFIELD COUNTY P.KXCIl AM) I'.AK that the State is in(lel)ted for the preservation of so much as re- mains of the original charter granted by King" Charles II. In i6g8 the duplicate of the patent was by the Governor and council placed m the hands of Captain Joseph Wadswurth " in a very troublesome season when our constitution was struck at "" and was safely kept and preserved bv him until Mav 1715. This liistory is worth rccord- mg" here. *' In 1817 or 1816, while Mr. Wnyd was ])re|)aring for college at the Hartford Crammar School, he Ijoarded in the family of Rev. Dr. Flint, of the South Church, Hartford. "Coming one day from 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 in(|uiries .Mrs. Fussell told him that having occasion for some paste- board her friend and neighbor. Mrs. Wyllys, had sent her this. Mr. Boyd ]iroposed to procure her a ])iece of pasteboard in ex- change for the parchment, to which Mrs. Bissell consented. It was not. however, until si.x or eight year^ had elapsed when Mr. Bo}(l examined the i)archment with care, when he learned for the iirst time that he had what he thought and was generally thought, until recently, was a duplicate of the charter." The Colonial Record. A'ol. IV.. ])u])lished in 1868. says: "The original charter, which now hangs in the secretary's oflRce at Hartford, is engraved on three skins. The duplicate was written on two. So much of the (lu])licate as remains Ijeing about three- fourths of the second skin, is now in the library of the Connecicut Historical Society, where it was placed by Hon. John Boyd, late Secretary of State." Xot long ago, however, search was made through the records in London and it was found that five ])ounds was the fee paid for drafting the original charter and twenty shillings for the duiilicate. I'.xamination of the documents showed tliat twenty shillings was \-.ritten (probably a memorandum) on the sui>])osed original charter and five ])oun(ls on the supposed du])Iicate so that now it is certain that the one saved by Mr. Bo}'d 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 that name and the iiarchment was probably found whh his efifects. Connecticut lived under this charter until 1818, forty-two years after the Declaration of Independence.'' Al•.l^\ll AM l'>KAi)i,i;v, JK., was born in Litchfield I7''>7. 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 accei)ted a i)osition under Colonel Bickering, then the Postmaster ijk)<;kai'jiical notes 231 General of the I'nited States at Washington. He removed to Washington, P. C, and was assistant postmaster general, under various administrations for nearly forty years. He and his hrother. Phineas, were the real organizers of the postotHce department of the United States. Ai.i;i':iar 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 jMichigan 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 totallv 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. He now, 1907, resides in ^^"ashington. D. C. and is en^'aged in education of the blind. WiLLiAir G. CoE, born in Winchester September 10, 1829, ad- mitted to this Bar in 1851, began his practice at N^ew 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 A\'insted Alay 31, 1872. Ciii'KCiriLL CoEEix, born in Salisbur\-, 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 I'lxniouth 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 eng"aged in B)ibli(\gra]')hical 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 Indies for his health. Willl\:m Cogsavell. was a native of 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.) WiLLL\.\i Co'iiiKEx. born in Farmington, Maine, November 28, 1819. Graduated at Bowdoin College in 1843. Came to Woodbury and studied law with Hon. Charles V>. l^helps, and was admitted to this Bar in 1845. He located and always resided in Woodbury hav- ing an extensive i)ractice until his death March nth. 1898. His fame will rest i)rincipally upon his historical investigations and especially his History of Ancient AA'oodbury. •'■'aiiiL BIOGRAl'lllCAI, NOTES 239 Stewart W. Cowex, born in ^Nliddlebury, studied law with James Huntington, of Woodbury, admitted to the Car in 1885. now in practice in Mt. Vernon, X. Y. Edward P. Coavles. born in Canaan January t6. 18 15, admitted to the Bar in 1849. Practiced in Hudson. X. Y. and in Xew York City; was appointed in 1854 Justice of the Supreme Court of Xew York. Walter S. CowlES, born in Canaan February 23. 1819, atlmitted to the Bar in 185 1. Located and practiced in Bridgeport, and re- moved to Xew York City, where he died in 1897. Samuel Cowles, achnitted to the P)ar in 1803 from Xorfulk. Edward H. Cu-MMixc. admitted in 1830. Eli Curtiss, was born in Xorthbury. (now Plymouth) Febru- ary 10, 1748. Graduated at Yale College in 1777, was active in the Revolutionar) War wliere he reached the rank of Captain. He lost an arm in the service for which he received a pension. He was admitted to the I'ar in 178 1. and practiced in Watertown. but finally removed to Ihnstol. where he died December 13, 182 1, and was buried in I'hmouth east ])iu"ying ground. Holbrook Ctrtiss, born in Xewtown, Fairfield County Jul}- 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 Februar_\- 21. 1858. (See Sedgwick's Address.) WiLLL\.AL E. Clrtiss. was a son of Holbrook Curtiss. Ijorn in Watertown September 29, 1823, graduated at Trinity in 1843, studied law with William Curtiss Xoyes in Xew York City and was admitted to this Bar in 1841'). He practiced in Xew York City and was a Jvulge of the Superior Court of that State in 1871. and its presiding Judge in 1876. He died in Watertown July 6, 1880. Medad Ci'RTiss, admitted to this Bar in 1797 from Xorfolk. George ^'. Citler. born in Watertown April 6. 1797. Gradu- ated at Yale in 1816, admitted to this P»ar in 1820 from Watertown. He practicetl at \\'atertown 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 Xauvoo. He died there September 3. 1834. Spencer Davtox. born in Winchester in 1820, and admitted to the Bar in 1846. Resides in I'hili])])!. W. \'a. Gilbert Deax. l>orn in Dutchess County. X. Y. in 1819. Gradu- ated at Yale College in 1841. Admitted to the liar in 1842. Died in Poughkeepsie. X. ^'. in 1870. • Lee p. Deax. born in Canaan October 18. 1838. Admitted tc the Bar in 18O4. In i88f) he ren.ioved to Bridgeport, where he now resides engaged in other pursuits. 240 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BLNCH AXD BAR EuGEXE C. Dempsey, born in Barkhamsted January 7. 1864, ad- mitted to the Bar in 1886. Located in Danbiiry, where he now resides. jERE:\nAir \\\ DexTER, a native of SaHsbury, served in the war of the rebehicni and was admitted to the Bar in 1866. Located and resides at W'averly, N. Y. WiLLiA.^r E. DiCKixsox, was born in New York City Alay 30, 1824, but came to Litchfield when a chikl. 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. WiiEATox F. DowD, born in Xew Hartford, i\ugust 21, 1867. Graduated at Yale Law School in 1894 and was admitted to this Bar the same }'ear, 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. Dowxs was admitted to this Bar in 1870 from Bridgeport. The following is taken from a Ih-idgeport 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." WiLLi.\:\r DkiNKWATEK, 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. DaxiEl DrxiiAR, was a native of Plymouth, admitted to this bar in 1798. Located and practiced in Berlin. Conn.. 1803 to 1841. Miles Dfxn.vu, was a native of l'l_\mouth hut 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 w^ent 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." \\lli;\TC)X F. 1K)\^■D. BIOGRAPiriCAL NOTES 24I Henry A1. Button, was a son of Ex-Governor and Judge Button (who was born in Litchfield), and practiced law in Litchfield in i86i with his uncle Henry B. Graves, Esq. L'pon 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, \'a., August 9th, 1862. RuFus EAST:\rAN, admitted to the Bar in 1796 from Washington. BxWiD Edmunds, admitted to the l^>ar in 1806 from Newtown. Ogden Edwards, born in 1781, a student of the Law School in 1 80 1, 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. Nathaniel B. Ei.drkdge, admitted in 181 1 from Salisbury. John Elmore, was a son of Col. Sanuiel Elmer of Revolution- ar}- war fame, and born in Sharon. Settled in Canaan in 1793 and died in that town Becember loth, 1849, aged 84 years. John Elmore, Jr., was admitted to the Bar in 1819 from Canaan. He "died at East Canaan, June 12th, 1857. in his 65th year. See Warner's Reminisences. Henry Loomis Ellsworth 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 18 12 from Windsor. After a prac- tice in Hartford he was appointed Commissioner of Indian afitairs under President Jackson. He was also Commissioner of Patents for ten years. He died in 1858. Willi a:^i H. Ely, admitted to the Hartford Bar in 1879, but located at ^^'insted and then removed to New Haven, where he now resides and has a large practice. Ja.aies Ensign, 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. Frank W. Etheridge, of Thomaston, was born in Montville in 1858. He was educated at the Hartford High School and pursucfl his law stutlies with the late firm of Johnson cS: 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 Judsfe of Probate since 1890. In 1896 he was appointed Health Officer for the Countv 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 I.rrCllFllCLD COUXTV JiKXClI AND BAR William W. EIvLSwortii 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 1 a \v \v i t h Judge Reeve and was admitted to this Bar in 1813, 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 tlie Shermans and Griswolds, and Daggetts and Williamses — rich as she is in learning' and virtue — has a soimder la\\\er, a more upright mag- istrate, or an honester man in lier ])uhlic service, I know not his name." ( See obitu- • ary in 34th, Conn.) Daxikl Everett, born in liethlem in 1748, and began ])ractice of law in New Milford in 1772, where he resided until his death in 1805. { See Roardman's Sketches. ) vSiii'.K.MAX hAKuiiT'i'. was admitted to this liar in 1801 as from Cornwall. He seems however, to belong to Sharon, where he was born Ai)ril 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) societ^■, commissioner of the common land and founder of the library which now bears his name. John R. Farx.\.m, was admitted to this Bar in 1871, practiced a short time at Litchfield and also published the Litchfield Sentinel. In 1877 he located in Daubur} , Conn., from whence he removed in 1884 to Washington, D. C. Amos H. F.\rxsw()rtii. was admitted to this Bar in 1849. BIOGRAPIIICAI, NOTES 245 Augustus H. Fexx, born in Plymouth January 18, 1844. In tlie 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 Law School and was admitted to this Bar in 1867 and began his practice at Plymouth removing to Waterbury and thence to W'insted at which place he resided at his death. Sep- tember 12. 1897. In 1887 he was elected Judg'e of the Superior Court, and in 1893 he was promoted to the Supreme Court of Errors. (See his obituary in \'ol. 67, Conn.) The following tribute to Judge Fenn was given by his associate ludge David Torrance at the Annual i\Ieeting of the Armv and Xavv Club in 1898: "I trust, that you will pardon me if I say a few words about him who was my friend and C(>m])anion for some years in the highest court of this state. wIkmu 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 exam])le of a well spent life ; a clean life, nobly lived for noble ends. Hai)py 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 i)ermit. m\ friend and yours attained. His war record. \(iung 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 caDtain, as brevet major and l)revet lieutenant-colonel, till the close of the war and after. When wounded and disabled 1)\' 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 vears 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 ]:)olitical contests, 'as lecturer in the Yale Law School, as the eloquent orator on ^femorial Da\s, 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 judg'e of the superior court and of the supreme court of errors of this state. What a deal of work he crowded into his fiftv-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 activit\' and storm and stress, what a clean and noble life 244 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BLXCH 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 ofi^, he may, with the wise old Greek, call it a happy life, worthily ended." Elliott J. Fexx, was born in Plymouth September i, 1855, ^^^^^ studied law with Augustus H. Fenn in Plymouth, and was admitted to this P)ar in 1874. He began practice in Waterbury in 1875, and died there in 1888. Fredkrick J. Fenn, was a native of Washington. Conn., but was admitted to this Bar in 1821 as from Canaan. He removed to Harrisburg, Penn. LiNi'S Fexn, 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. Geokoe L. Field, was born in Watertown Deccml^er 4. 1828. He studied law with John \\\ \\'ebster in Waterbury, and was ad- mitted to this Bar in 1856, and after a brief practice in Watertown he opened his office in Waterbury. He was one of the earlier Judges of the city court, and also the ^layor of the city. During the last few \ears of his life he was totally blind. He died in Watertown, October 22, 1879. John A. Foote, was admitted to this B)ar in 1825, having at- tended the Law School. The following taken from Howe's His- torical Collections of Ohio, is of i'nterest regarding Mr. Foote: "Aluch gratification was derived at this time in Cleveland by a call ui)on Mr. John A. Foote, an old lawyer an octogenariaiL of whom 1 had all iii\- life heard but never met until now. He was a broilicr 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. Havne, of South Carolina. "Mr. Foote first came here from Cheshire. Connecticut, in the suninuT of 1833, and was for \cars a member of the eminent law firm EIOGRAPHICAI, NOTe;S 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 C)hio, 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 }cars, 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 ]\Ir. Foote with commend- able pride pointed out to me framed on his parlor wall." EhExEzer FootK, was born in Watertuwn (then \W"stbury) July 6. 1773. Studied law at Judge Reeve's school and was ad- mitted to the Bar in 1796. He located at Lansingburgh, X. 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 Academv. He died Julv 21, 1814, at Trov, New York. Jarko P>. Foster, born in Albany, X. Y., 1820, was admitted to this Par in 1848 and located and practiced in X^ew Hartford until his death in ]\ larch 3, 1895. He held many town offices and was judge of the District Court for Litchfield County for the term of three years. He was a very bright man and a witty lawyer and a great many pleasant stories and recollections are told of his ]M-ac- tice. (See picture, page 107.) Walter S. Fraxklix, born in Lancaster, Penn. in 1799. Stud- ied at the Litchfield Law School and was admitted to this Bar in 1820 and jiracticed 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. Free:max' was born in Boscowen, X. 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. ^Ir. Freeman resides and practices in \\'aterbury. 246 LITCHFIELD COUNTY UENCH AND BAR Sa.mlkl FkisiuK, admitted to the liar in 1811 from \Vaterl)ury, where he practiced a few years and then removed to IncUana. HivXKV 1. FrijJCK. a(hnitted in iH^i) from Kent and removed to the State of New York. Jkko.mk FllljCk. admitted in 1832 from Kent. RrFi'S Fi'LLKR. born in Plymonth in 1810, g-raduated at Union College in 1835, was admitted to this PJar in 1836, located in Kent, where he practiced his profession for a qnarter of a century, and retired therefrom in consecpience of ill health. Florimoxd D. FnlKk. born in Torrington in 1834, g'raduated at Yale Law School in i860, admitted to this liar in 1864, located at Winsted, was a Judge of the District Court for Litchfield County, 1878-1882. Returned to Torrington. and from ill health cjuit his practice and became extensively engaged in the poultry business on nis ancestral home, where he died after a ])rotracted illness, August 22, 1905. FrEdkrick Gaylord, admitted to the Bar in 1853 from Goshen. A:\iMi Giddings, born at Sherman, Conn., in 1822 and graduated at Yale Law School and was admitted to this Bar in 1849. ^^ 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. \'ax' Rexssai.akr C. Giddixc.s, born in Xew Milford in 1833 and after attending Yale Law School Avas admitted to this Bar in 1861. After practicing in this Countv a while he removed to Bridgeport in 1869 and was the City Attorney for Bridgeport. Jamks p. Gia'Xx, a native of Winsted was admitted to this Bar in 1895. Practices in Winsted and Avas for some years the Town (.Merk of Winchester, and also Prosecuting- Attorney of the Town Court. In 1901 was appointed by President Roosevelt. Postmaster of \\'insted, which office he now holds. Gi':()RC,E R. Gold, admitted to the l^)ar in 1856 from Cornwall and removed to Michigan. Thomas R. Gold, born in Cornwall in 1764. graduated at Yale College in 1786. admitted to tiiis P)ar in 1788 and removed to Cen- tral New York, where he held a leading position as a lawyer. Was a mcm])er of Congress for twenty years. He died in 1827. Jajmes Gotli), born in Pranford, Conn. December 5, 1770, grad- uated at Yale College in 1795, attended the T^itchfield Law School and was admitted to this Par in 1798. He assisted Judge Reeve in the Law School and after the retirement of Judge Reeve con- chicted it himself until its close in 1833. He died in Litchfield May ISlOGKAl'lllCAL NOTES 24./ II, 1838. He was a Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors, and .author' of Gould's Pleadings, published in 1832. ( See Boardinan and Sedgwick Sketches.) Iamks Rekve Gould, a son of James born in Litchfield Novem- ber"2, 1803. Graduated at Yale College in 1824, was adiuitted to this ])ar in 1826, and removed to Augusta. Georgia, where he died October 11, 1830. Geerior Court. Li 1876 he was advanced to the Supreme Court of Errors 248 LITCHFIELD COUXTV 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 66tli 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 loxalty, 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 Litchfield 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 \\'inchester in 1831, but w'as not admitted at this Bar. Frederick Gunn, admitted in 1813 from Xew ]\Iilford. 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 Watcrbury. Ts not now in practice. BIOGRAPHICAL XOTES 249 Jacob B. Hardexburgii, born in Xew York State in 1833, was admitted to the Bar in 1854 and practiced at Kingston. In tlie war of the rebelHon he served nearly five years and was Colonel of the 80th N. Y. A'olo. 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. JoHx Harper, admitted to this Bar from Winsted in 1850. He removed South and located at Alpalechicola, Fla. about 185 1. He was an officer in the Confederate service during the rebellion. Jui.ius B. Harrisox. was born in Cornwall in 1819, was ad- mitted to this Bar in 1843 aud located at Xew Milford. Was State Attorney in 1852 and died in Xew Milford October 10, 1854, aged 35 years. Moses 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 jiractice in Manche-^ter. Conn. Is now the Record Commissioner of Connecticut. William HawlEv, born in Redding. Conn , graduated at Yale College in 1780, was admitted to this Bar in 1791 ; he removed from Fairfield County in 1798 to Woodbury, and soon thereafter aban- doned his legal practice for mercantile pursuits. Charles Gordox Hayes, eldest son of the Rev. Gordon Hayes, born in W'ashington, Conn. January 20. 1830. Graduated at Yale in 1851. Admitted to this Bar in 1855. Removed to Rock Island. 111., and to ^Muscatine, Iowa. Died at DesMoines, Iowa, April 8, 1878. Louis M. Hemixway was born in \\'atertown 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 Mrginia in 1899 and admitted to this Bar in the following }-ear. He is largely engaged in the hotel business. Joshua Hexshaav, was admitted to this Bar in 1797, from New- Hartford. Philo AI. Heacocks, born February 8, 1784, admitted to the Bar in 1810. and practiced in X'ew Milford until his death April 20, 1825. Samuel A. Her^iax. 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- 250 I.lTCTTFIia.D COUXTV T'-KXCTE AXD liA.; fessional work. He was State Senator in 1897. He was an active promoter of the Torrington c\: Winchester Electric Road, and its Secretary. He resides at his farm residence in the town of Tor- rington, hut continues his practice at W'insted. George A. Hickox was born in Washing- ton in 1830, graduated at Trinity College in 1 85 1, 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 W^ashington, where he died, June 6, 1903. Richard T. Hig- Gixs was born in Washington in 1865, was educated at St. Francis College, Brooklyn, Xew York. Studied law with Hon. James Hunting- ton of Woodbury and admitted to this I5ar in 1890. Resides in Winsted and has for several years been the County Coroner. (See Coroner page 165.) Berxard E. Higgixs, born in Woodbury January 31, 1872, ad- mitted to the I'ar June, 1897. Resides and practices in Torrington. Conn. Was Borough Clerk for three years. Is now (1907) Prose- cuting Attorney for the town. Homer Hixe was admitted to the Bar in 1800 from Xew Alilford. Cjiarles W. Hixmax, 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 Hixmax'^ was born in Southbury, then a part of Wood- GEORGE a. hickox. SAMUEL A. iier:max. BIOGRAI'JIICAI, NOTES 25 1 bury in 1740 and practiced in Southbiiry. He was familiarly known as Lawyer Xed. He is said to have been a very able lawyer. He was very corpilent man, weighing something over four hundred pounds. RoBiNSOx S. HiXMAX 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 Xew Haven County in 183 1, holding that office seven years. He died in Xew Haven in 1843. Royal R. Hin:\iax 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 ^'^^ "^^'^^ elected Secretary of State and held that office for seven years. He was largely en- gaged in compiling and i^ublishing matters relating to the early history of the State, and in other historical and genealogical labors. He subsecjuently removed to .\cw York City. SniEox HiXMAX. 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 HrrcircocK. 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. ricture, page 114. The following was imblished 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 Alemorial History of Hartford County. He studied law with Lieu- 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 IngersoU. 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 \\'insted." Elkaxah 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. Wilija:\[ S. Holai-.ird 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 LITCHFIELD COUXTY BLXCII AND BAR Marcus H. Holcojmb was born in New Hartford, Litchfield County November 28, 1844. He received his higher education at Wesleyan Academy and studied law with the late Judo^e 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 l\jlice 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 Southing^ton and is closely identified with all its business interests. Is now the Attorney General of Connecticut. (See page 167.) Waltkr Hoixo:mi!, born in Xew 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. Hollister, born in Washington March 31, 1826, grad- uated at Yale in 1851 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 Ivlay 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 (\eath 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 ])rofessional 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 aflfection and respect by all who were associated with him. John B. Hollister, born in Litchfield in 1860, the only son of Gideon H. Hollister ; was admitted t(^ the Bar in 1884. Has never practiced. Joiix M. Holly, born in Salisbury and graduated from Yale Col- lege in 1820 and was admitted to this I>ar 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 181 2 and removed to Dayton, Ohio in 1818, where he became a very prominent man BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 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. GiDEOX H. HOLLIS- TER, born in Washing- ton in 18 1 7, and grad- uated from Yale Col- lege in 1840. and was admitted to this Uar in 1842. and soon after located in Litch- tield, but has resided and practiced at var- inus times in other places. lie was Clerk of the Courts 1844 to 1845, 'I'l'l from 1847 to 1850. Under Pres- ident Andrew John- son he was the United States Minister to Ilayti. He is best known (if from his literary work, l)eing author of several His- torical novels a n d plays. He was sin- gularly gifted in mak- ing and delivering addresses on ])ul)lic celebrations and anniversary occasions. In 1855 he published the History of Connecticut in two large volumes. He died at Litch- field March 21, 1881. His obituary is in \'ol. 48, Conn. Reports. Uriel Holmes, born in Hartland in 1765, graduated at Yale in 1784 was admitted to the Bar antl located at Litchfield. He was State Attorney from 1807 to 18 14. 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 ^IilES Hopkixs, 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, X. Y. October 8. 1837. 254 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BF.NCII AXD 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 Lounsburv 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. HoRTox, admitted to the Bar in 1846. Isaac M. Hoktox, admitted to the Bar in 1882 from Harwinton. Samuel C. HosFord. admitted to the Bar in 1850 from Canaan: never practiced ; became a teacher and removed to New Jersey, where he died. JoHX 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. HuiiiiARD, 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. Joiix T. HuBi'.ARD, born in Litchfield in 1856, graduated from Yale College in 1880, studied law at Yale Law School and was ad- mitted to the Xew 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. Joiix H. HuiiBARD, 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 meml)er of our Bar, is from the Litchfield paper and v^-ritten by his neighbor and friend, Hon. Henry P>. Graves: The Plon. 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 age. He was admitted to the Litchfield Countv T5ar in Ai)ril 1826 and soon after commenced practicing law in his native town, in the village of Lakeville, where he continued in a very successful l:)usincss until about seventeen years since when he_ removed to Litchfield. Here he wks constantly occupied in his profession, being engaged in most of the important causes tried in our higher courts until his election COL. SAMUEL P.. IIOKXE BIOGRAPIIICAI, XOTES 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 tliis 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 (ither 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 ready 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 ti) him, and his afifections 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, vet our community was not ]:)repared to meet with so great an affliction and deeply sympathize with the stricken family in their great sorrow. Picture on ])age 107. Frank W. HrnnARi). born in Litchfield in 1861. graduated at Yale College in 1888 and from Yale Law School in 1890 and was admitted to tlie Bar. After a few years practice in Torrington he removed to Flushing, N. Y., and is Attornev for Xew York Citv Railway Co. Frank L. HungerFord of Xew Britain was born in Torrington in 1843 and entered the L^niversity of A'ermont 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 Xew Britain, where he has been Judge of Probate as well as City Attorney. Levi HuNGERFORn, admitted to this Bar in 18^4 from Sherman. He was a Lieutenant in the 28th C. \\ and died in service August 9, 1863. Joseph D. Humphrey, admitted to the Bar in 181 2 from Goshen. He was born in Goshen ^larch i.S. 1780. and after admission settled in practice in Torrineford, a oart of Torrington, for a few years, when he removed to X'^orton, Summit County, Ohio, where he died February 4, 1839. 256 LiTLxiFlEU) COL'XTY P.KXCII AXD BAR Van R. Hu:\ii'Iikkv, admitted to the Bar in 1820. Was born in Goshen Jnly 28, 1800. Soon after his admission to the Bar he removed to Ohio, where he became a Judge and a very prominent man. He (bed in Hudson, Ohio September 5, 1864. Hiram Hunt, a native of Canaan, was admitted to this Bar in 1820; removed to Xew York City. RkubEx Hunt, a native of Canaan, admitted to this Bar in 1812, and removed to IlHnois. RoiiKRT 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 Su]3reme Courts. He was elected a member of Congress sev- eral terms, and L'nited States Senator in 1840. He died in 1874. (See Boardman's Sketches, page 64.) Ja.mks Hi^NTiNGTON 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, 1908. Air. 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 he opened an office in Woodbury, where he continued in active, honorable :ui(l successful practice up to the time of his death, at which time he was, and for a long number of }ears had been president of the Litchfield County Bar and Law Library Associations. Tn April. 1861 he was elected Judge of the Probate District of Woodbury, comprising the towns of Woodbury, Bethlehem and Southbury, which office be retained continuously, with the exception of one term, until (lis(|ualified b\- age limitations in 1903. His wise and judicious administration of the office of Judge of Probate for a ])eri()(l 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 Jul\ 4th. 1874 he was appointed State's Attorney for Litch- field County, filling that office with marked ability until June, 1896, JAMES IIUISTTINGTON. BIOGRAPHICAL XOTES 257 nearly a quarter of a century, 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 ]nmishment of crime, up to the time of his death. Mr. Huntington always took an active interest in public aft'airs, 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 r)th. 1863 to Miss Rebecca Huntley Hurd, of Honesdale, Ta., who died February 28th, 1865, leaving one daughter, Rebecca. On June iith, 18(18 he iuatned Miss Helen Elizabeth Parker, of \\'oodl)ury. 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 liar, always honest with the court, fair to his opponents and faithful to his clients. He was not a great orator, but his honesty of jnirpose, 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 strength 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 "L^ncle Jim." He loved his pro- fession and the memlDers of the Bar, and their honest and oft ex- pressed love and esteem for him, was a matter of great comfort t() him in his declining years. 258 LITCTIFIKI.D COUXTY BEXCII AXD 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. ]\lr. 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 wdiere 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 ^Ir. 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 Litchfield 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, lof ly ideals and generous disposition ; born of New England ancestors, reared in a Xew England climate, he lived and died an illustrous example of christian manhootl. William F. HurlbuT, born in Winsted, Conn., January 27, 1835, and was admitted to the Bar in 1859. He resided in W'insted 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 f^C). (See picture on page 142.) Henry C. Ivks, admitted in 1832. George W. Jacobs, admitted to the Bar in 1820. Daniel Jaolia, Jr., admitted to the Bar in 1819. Practiced in Connecticut about twenty years. George P. JExks. admitted to the Bar in 1856. EbEnEzER Jesup, Jr., admitted to the lUir in 1826. Ezra Ji^weu,, admitted to the Bar in 18 10 from Salisbury. Frederick A. Jewell, admitted to the Bar in 1881 from Salis- bury. He removed to Xew Hartford, where he is now in practice. Is Judge of Probate. He represented the town in the General As- sembly, 1907. DIOGRAPIIICAL NOTES 259 Amos J\I. Joiixsox, born in Southbury, October 21, 1816, ad- mitted to the Kar in 1851. Died at the Old People's Home in Hart- ford, April 6, 1879. Elisiia Johxsox, born in Barkhamsted, May i. 1818. Gradu- ated at Trinity College in 1835. Attended the Yale Law School and was admitted to this liar in 1840. He practiced in Plvmonth until 1855 ^vhen he removed to Hartford. He was Clerk of this Court from 1850 to 185 1. He died in Hartford, February 18. 1891. Sor.ox B. Joiixsox 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, Mav 30, 1890, aged 51 years. Walter \\'. Johxsox was admitted in 1866. He never practiced. Sylvester Johxsox, admitted in 1813 from Cornwall, of which town he was a native. H. Roger Joxes, Jr.. born at Xew Hartford, June 22nd, 1882, attended public schools in Xew Hartford and Gilbert School. Win- sted, graduated from the latter, June, 1901. Entered Cornell Uni- versity Law School at Ithaca. X". Y.. September. 1903 and gradu- ated June, 1906. Became a member of the Xew York Bar in Sep- tember, 1906 and the Connecticut Bar February. 1907. At present is editor and proprietor of the X"ew Hartford Tribune, and engaged in the practice of law at X'ew Hartford. Walter S. Ji'od was born in Litchfield in 1859, graduated at Yale Law School in 1882 and was admitted to the X^ew Haven Bar that same year. Settled in Litchfield and was Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas from 1894-7. ^^^^ in the Legislature in 1891 and 1893, serving- on the judiciary committee the last named year. Xow resides in Xew York City. George H. Judsox" was a native of \\'oodbury. admitted to the Bar in 1845 '^"'^^ removed to Texas. S. ^^^ Jinsox was a native of Cornwall and a graduate of Union College. \\'as admitted to practice in 1836. He located in New York City. It is said of him, "As a lawyer he is more distinguished for his learninof, intee'ritv and honestv, than for his brilliancv as a pleader. If lawyers were more generally of his style, we should have fewer law-suits and more justice." Charles A. Judsox was a native of Washington. Held the of- fice of SheriiT from 1835 to 1838. After his term of office he re- moved to X"ew Haven and engaged in mercantile l)usiness. James D. Keese was born in the City of X'ew York, entered Yale College, but did not finish his course of studies there; came to 26o LITCHFIELD COUNTY BEXCII 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. EbEnEzek r>. KErj.or.G was a native of Xorwich, 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. WiLLiAiM KelsEy practiced law in Winchester in 1850, and in 1856 removed to Cheshire, where he died. DwiGiiT C. KiLBOURN was l)orn 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. Georce Kixgsbury, 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 ligiit 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. JoTTX Kixr.sr.rRY, born in Xorwich, West Farms (now Frank- Im), 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. King.sbury, Esq. of Waterbury, the distinguished banker and historian. Daniel M. Kino was admitted to this Bar in 1870 from Water- town. He located in the West and died there. EpiTRAnr KiRi!^-, born in Litchfield in 1756, in a part of the town now included in Washington. See Article "First Law Reports" for his biography. Reynold jM. Kirby was a son of Ephraim Kirby and was ad- mitted to this Bar in 1810. Philemon Kirkuii. admitted to the Bar in 1799, resided at Win- sted. In Boyds Annals of Winchester is a very interesting account of this eccentric man. BIOGRAPIIICAI, XOTES 261 Willia:m KxAiT 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. FrKdKkick M. KokiilivR, admitted to the Bar in 1885, resided in Litchfield, but soon removed with his family to Alontana. Edward A. KuxKi:r,, practicetl at Torrington a year or two prior to 1878 and at a later period was at Thomaston. Joiix R. Laxdox 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. A't.. where he died, February 27, 1851. JMr. Landon during his term also had unpleasant duties. Here is sen- tence that he had to execute : 'AVhereas Samuel W'hitmore, 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 Adnltrw and, on consideration, was by the Judges of said Court sentenced and adjudged to be whi])ped on his naked body Ten Sf rifles, 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 aliode 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 ])rosccution, etc." All these sentences were thus executed to the letter, as appears from sherift"s returns. In executions for horse stealing, the jM'isoners vv'ere 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 anv Magistrate or Justice of the Peace." Joseph Lake, admitted in 1822. Edgar ]\L Laxdox of Salisbury, admitted in 1824. Howard F. Laxdox of Salisbury was born in Sharon in 1869 and graduated at the Amenia Semina'ry. He studied law with Hon. Donald T. Warner in Salisbury and graduated at the Albanv Law School in 1890. He was admitted to the Litchfield Bar the follow- ing year and formed a partnership with :\Ir. Warner in Salisbury. As Senator from the 19th district he made an enviable record in the session of 1901. 262 litciifie;ld county bench and p.ar Hiram P. Lawrence of Winsted was born at Xorfolk in 1833. He fitted for Yale Colleg-e at Xorfolk Academy, studied law with Jiidg-e F. D. Fyler in Winsted and was admitted to the Litchfield Bar in 1873. Died August y, 1908. Isaac Leavenworth, admitted to this Bar in 181 5. Settled in Roxbury where he practiced for twenty years. In 1837 he removed to New Haven and engaged in other Inisiness. ( See Sedgwick's fifty years.) Bradley D. LEE, born in Barkhamsted ^larch 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 Ijecame a leading attorney. Died in that city May 10, 1897. CiiAUNCEY Lee, D. D., born in Salisbury X'ovember, 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 Mrtue," a metrical paraphrase of the Book of Job, an arithmetic, and several pamphlets. He died in Hardwick, X\ Y., 1842. Rev. Alonzo X'orton Licwis. ^I. A., born at X'ew 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 X^ovember 28, i860. Admitted to the Bar at Litchfield September, 1857. Ordained an E]iiscopal clergyman in 1866. Rector at Bethlehem, Connecticut, Dexter, Maine, Xew Haven and Westport, 1866 to 1891. From 1891 to 1907 was rector of Christ Church, jNIontpelier, At. He died in X'ew Haven September 12, 1907. He had been Secretary of the ]\Iasonic A'eteran Association of Connecticut for many years. \\'as a mem- ber of the Society of the Cincinnati of Connecticut. Da.\ii;e W. Lewis was a native of Farmington. Studied law with Judge Reeve, graduated at Yale College in 1788. and was ad- mitted to this P)ar in 1796. J.\-MES Lii.Ei'V, admitted in 1809 as from Sharon. Frank D. LixdslEy, admitted in 1882 from X'orth Canaan. He located at Philmont, Xew York. Charles D. Loxr.i'i:i.i.()\v was a native of ]\[aine, but studied with ^Ir. Cothren in ^^'oo(lbury and was admitted to this Bar in 1861. He located in Pennsvlvania. BIOGRAPHICAL XOTKS 263 John" J. Lord, admitted in 1823 from Sharon. Lynde; Lord was the second Sheriff of the County, holding the office from 1771 to 1801, about thirty years. He was born in Lyme, Connecticut, and died in Litchfield 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 : Litchfield, 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, LyxdiJ 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 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BKXCII AXD BAR cure sureties for future good behaviour and had paid the costs of his prosecution : LiTCHFiLLD, 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 Round 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, Lyxdl Lord, Sheriff. George; LovLRIDGE was admitted in 1840 and practiced a short time in New Milford. JoHX" P. LovEridgE. This name appears on the Connecticut Reg- ister of 1842 as an attorney at New Milford. Romeo 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 Ly.max-^ was a son of Col. David Lyman, born in Goshen July 19, 1789. Was admitted to this Bar in 18 12 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 Ministrv of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Sa-MI'i;l L^ ^r.w 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 pros]iects of success, but relinquished that for a military ap- pointment and removed to Alassachusetts. Here he became a Judge of tlie Circuit Ctnu't 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 l)orn in Winchester in i860. Grad- uated at the Yale Law School and was admitted to the Bar in 1896. resides and practices in A\"insted. and lias licen active in Grange and Prohibition circles. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 265 Theodore M. AIaltbiE. born in Xew 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 ^linister of the Gospel of that place. Frank W. Marsh, born in Xew Milford in 1855. ijraduated at Yale College in 1879, admitted to the Xew Haven Kar in 1882, re- moved to Xew Milford where he now resides. Sa:n[uEl AFarsh. born in Litchfield in 176^, gradnated from Yale College in 1786, admitted to this Bar in 1788 and removed to X^or- folk. Va. George A. Marvin was born in Xorfolk in 1870, graduated from the Yale Law School in 190T and was admitted to this Bar. He resides and ]iractices in Xorth Canaan. REyxoi.I) ]\[ar\'in' was born in Lyme. Conn., and graduated at Yale College in 1748. He located in Litchfield on the formation of the X'ew 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 l)een active in legal matters. He died at Litchfield in 1802. Nicholas Masti:ks, born in 1758. graduated from ^'ale College in 1779, admitted to this liar in 1780, resided in Xew Milford, where he died in 1795. CiL\RLES S. Masters, admitted to this Bar in 1812 from X^ew Milford. Li:'i'i:r J. McDermott was born in Torrington, and graduated from Yale Law v^chool in 1905 and was admitted to this Bar. James H. ]\IcAL\iion, born at Xew ]\Iilford, 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 ]\rcMahon 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 Xew Milford in August, 1864, and held his first term of probate, August 30th, of that year. He continued in office until the first ^londay in January, 1897. In 1873 and 1 875, he was a member of the General Assemblv. He died at Xew ^lilford, August 9.1906. His funeral was very largely attended bv lawyers from Litchfield, Fairfield and X"ew Haven Counties, in all of whose courts he had been an active practioner, and also bv the members of the Odd Fellows, and the Masonic bodies of which he had been a member. 266 LiTCIlFlIvLD COUXTY BEXCII AXD BAR 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, W'insted 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. Waltlr S. ArivRRiLL, 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. Mkad was born in Westbrook, Maine, October 27, 1878. but came when (|uite young to Falls X'illage, Conn. Studying at Exeter and at lirown's University, he entered the Yale Law School, from which he graduated in 1904, and was admitted to this Bar. Chesterfiivld C. AIiddlebrooks was Sherifl:' 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 sherift' 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 Jurv Commissioners for Litchfield County. Edward S. Mkrwix, admitted to the Bar in 1870 from Xew ^lil- ford. T. Dwicirr Mi;r\vix, 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, d\ing 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. I^^^^^^^^^TO^^S.,-- ^mms^p^^^^^S'Sy^ -^^^ ^ I ^^M ,^^MlBH&K^fflifrilfll^M^- '^^^ 1 ^/ l|||||il^^;^ijif ^jC^^HHP"^ \^ jK^^^^t^^^KtS^v l^Ssk SSSSS^l^f^^it^, wKglKmjmL fl^^B BIOGRAPfllCAI, NOTES 2U'J Roger H. Mills was a son of Roger Alills and was admitted to this Bar in 1836 and located at Xew Hartford. Was Secretary of State in 1849-1850, after which he removed to Beloit, Wis., where he died, November 11, 1880, aged 67. JoSEi'iL ]\iiLLER, a gratUtate of AX'ilhams 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. Matthew Mixer, 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 Woodbury, December 11, 1839. Gilbert S. Minor, a native of Cornwall, admitted to the Bar in 1848. He removed to Alexandria. \'a., where he died about 1880. (The compiler of this work pursued his law reading while in the U. S. service in the Civil \\'ar, from books borrowed from this gentleman's library.) PiiiNEAS AIixER, born in A\'inchester 1777. studied at Litchfield Law School, admitted to this Bar in 1797. began practice in his native town, but removed to Litchfield in 1816, was representative in Congress in 1832. Died at IJtchfield. September 16, 1839. (See Boardman's Sketches.) JoiTX G. Mitchell, practiced in Salisbury. (See \\'arncr's Reminiscences.) Henrv a. Mitchell. The Connecticut Register savs, 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. JoiiN G. Alix, admitted to this Bar in 181 5 from Woodbury. Henry S. Morrii,l, 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 \Watcrbm-y. July 12, 1884. T. DwTC.iiT ]\IoRRis, born in Litchfield in 1817, graduated from Pinion College in 1838, and was admitted to this Bar in 1839 and located at Bridgeport. Was Colonel of the 14th Connecticut In- fantry in the Civil W^ar. Lnited Statets Consul at Havre, France, 1865 to 1869, Secretary of State. 1876. Died at Bridgeport, Septem- ber 26, 1894. 268 LITCHFIELD COUXTY BENCH AND BAR Natiiax MoksK, a graduate of Amherst Colleg'e, practiced in New Hartford in 1876, and removed to Akron, Ohio. CiiARLKS E. Moss, born in Litchfield and admitted to the Bar in 1843. Practiced in W'aterbnry 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. WiLLiA:\r 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" Muxgek, admitted to this Bar in 1812 from Norfolk. Fraxk B. Munk, 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 W^insted. He is now, and has been a Referee under the L'nited States Bankrupt Law since its passage. Harris B. ]\Iuxsox, born in ]\Iiddlebury in 1812, admitted to tliis Bar in 1850, finally located at Seymour, where he died, February 2, 1885. TifADDEus Muxsox, 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. Nellis held the office of Sherifif 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 \"olunteer Infantry, he was wounded at the siege of Petersburg in 1864 and sufifcred an amputation of his left foot. (Sec i)icture on page 162.) Li';oxARi) J. NiCKERSOx of West Cornwall was born in that town October 23, 1857. He graduated from the Alger Academy and studied law with Hon. Arthur D. \\'arner, being- admitted to this ];ar in 187c). In 1883 he represented Cornwall in the General As- sembly, and has been very active in town aiTairs. He has an ex- tensive practice throughout the State. Picture, page 162. AIajor a. Nickersox, 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 ^linistry. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTKS 269 Major A. NickERSOx. 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 I'lainville. Conn. Died suddenly in his office, April 25, 1891. MiKKKL Neilsox, a native of Denmark, studied law in Litchfield and was admitted to the Bar in 1881, and removed West. Charles Xettletox w^as ' born in Washington. Conn. October 2, 1819, and after studying- law at Litchfield was admitted to the Bar. He opened an office in Xaugatuck and was for a time in New Haven, but not meeting- with satis fac- tor v clientage he removed to the city of Xew York and made a specialty of ::.il Nettleton's librarv. convevancmg and for some years was a pension attor- ney. He was a great col- lector of the session laws of all the difl^erent States and it was claimed that he had the largest and fullest library in this line in the country. For the help of the Tiiden-Hayes Electoral Commission, the Library of Congress moved to Wash- inton all this part of Mr. He died in Xew York Alay 5, 1892. Theodore Xorth. born in Goshen March 2, 1780. Graduated from Williams 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 ^^'^^ practiced a short time in West Cornwall, when he removed to Brooklyn, N. Y. James H. Nortox, born in Goshen in 1823, admitted to this Bar in 1846 and soon removed to Pennsylvania. Entered the field of journalism and was connected with the Xew York City daily papers. Resided at Middletown. X. Y. Died in 1894. William H. O'Hara, born in Washington October 15. 1859 and was educated at the ■'Gunnerv" : admitted to this liar in 1880. 2/0 LITCIIFIKLD COUXTV BKXClt AXD DAR Practiced in lirido-eport. 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 Citv. James L. Orr, born in Hudson. X. V.. studied with Hon. John H. Hubbard, was admitted to the Ijar in 1845. He practiced at Sharon and then removed to ^lichig'an. His health failing- him he returned to Salisbury, where he died. Samuel D. Ortox, born in Bridgewater. Admitted to the Bar in 1830. Practiced a number of years in New Milford. EuGEXE O'Sl'LUVax practices law in Torrington. Charles A. PAL:\rER. born in Goshen in 1859, graduated from Williams Colleg'e. 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. Pal:^[ER, born in New Milford in 1788. Was ad- mitted to the Fairfield County Bar, but located at Woodbury, where he practiced until 181 6, when he removed to Fredericktown, Md. He was a Judge of one of the higher courts in that State. SoLOMOx M. PAL:\rER was admitted to the Bar in 181 1. Jox^^ATHAX Edward PAR:\rALEY, admitted to the Bar in 1790, re- sided and practiced in Bethlehem. David PARirALEE. a lawyer in Litchfield, 1797. (Connecticut Register.) CoL. A:\rASA 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. Axsox- V. Parsoxs, admitted to the Bar in 1826. Daxiel Parsoxs, adiuitted to the B)ar in 1847 from Sharon. W'alter AI. Pattersox, admitted to the Bar in i860, practiced a short time in Sharon. Calvix Pease, a lawyer in New Hartford, 1799. (Connecticut Register.) Willia:m 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 IMichigan 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 JVcstcrji New Yorker pulilished at Warsaw, November, 1867: "The series of meetings held in this county l)y 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, XOTES 271 Saturday evening' drew together an audience that packed the room full. Air. Peck is a man of fine presence and genial manners with a remarkably g'ood 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. A\'e hope to have him here again." Nathaniel Perry was a native of Woodbury and was admitted to the Fairfield County Bar in 18 16. He beg'an practice in Wood- bury, removing to Xew Alilford 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 A'illage, etc. He died at North Canaan in 1882. HuCTi F. Peters, graduated at Yale College in 1849; admitted to the Bar in 1851. JoFix Tiro:\rpsoNr 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.") JoEE T. Pettet, admitted to the I'ar in 1801 from Sharon. He was a young man of great |)n)niise. but died of consumi^tion, Septem- ber 13, 1807, aged T,2. Al"GL'STus Petti r.oxi;. born in Norfolk February 19, 1766, a son of Col. Giles Pettibonc. Attended the Litchfield Law School and was admitted to the Bar in 1790. He settled in Norfolk, w^as a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1818 and Judge and Chief Judge of the County Court from 1812 to 183 1 He died October 4, 1847. ( See Sedgwick's "Fifty Years.") CoE. Giles Pettip.oxe, 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 Alarch 17, 1810. SamuEi, Pettthoxe. the first King's Attorney of Litchfield County was born in Simslnu'y Jul\' 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 C(nu't 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 aft'airs of early Goshen and represented the town in the General Assembly a number of times. He died in 1787. SerExo Pettitoxe was a brother of Augustus Pettibone and born in Norfolk November 9th, 1778; graduated at Williams Col- 272 LITCHFIELD COUNTY BlvXCII AND I5AR lege in 1800. and was admitted to this Bar in 1803. He practiced a few years at Xorfolk, and died there. November i6th, 1826, "just in the prime of Hfe, a man of fine abihty and promise." JOHN piiiRi'ONT, 185 1. John PiRRroNT, born in Litchfield April 6, 1785. Graduated at Yale Colle$:^e in 1804. Studied law at the Litchfield Law School and was admitted to this 15ar in 1810. He removed to Newbury- port, Alass., 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 Precepter, 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 earlier 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 ^Nledford, Mass., August 27, 1866. lUOGRAPTTICAI, XOTES 2"]}^ Charles B. Phelps was born in Chatham, now Portland. Con- necticut in 1/88 and pursued his professional studies under Judge Reeve and Xoah 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 vear he was elected its Speaker. In 1843 l""^ ^^"^"^ elected to the Sen- ate and was its President pro tem. In 1850 he was elected Judge of the County Court, holding the office three years. In ^Nfr. 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. Frispje 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 Xew York City in the insurance business. Elisha Phelps, born in Simslnu-y. 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. A:\ros Pierce (Pearce), graduated at Yale. 1783. Died in Woodbury, 1798. James Pierce was admitted by the County Court in 1799. JoHX PiTCLiER was admitted by the County Court in 181 6. Lieu- tenant-Governor of Xew 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. \'ermont. \\'as Judge of the Supreme Court and lield other important offices in that State. Orvh.le 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 Xew 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 I.ITCHI-IKLI) COLXTV lU.XClI 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 x^ttorney 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 Ijy 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 trv to do right as I see the rig-ht." He took his seat Alarch 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. Xo 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 meml)cr 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 Wyohiing. 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 Plartford, C(^nn. 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 sate members, favorable to all reasonable innovations, l)ut strongly set against revolutionary or doubtful schemes or measures. No man in the Republican partv was oftencr consulted hv both Presidents, Mc- UKVir.Ll-; IJITCIROCK I'LATT BIOGRAPHICAI^ 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 ImpeachmeiTi; 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 intelligence 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 Litchfieltl 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. Henry 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 Lock Company of Terryville, with office in Xew York citv. and resides in Terryville. E. LeRoy 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 2^, 1839; was sheriiT from 188 1 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 \\'ar under John Q. Adams" administration. Joel B. Potter, admitted in 1803 from Sherman. He died October 7, 1806. Nathan Preston, born in \\'oodbury 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 lionors until his decease in September, 1822. 2/0 LITCIIFIKLD COUXTY BKXCII AND BAR \\'ir.i.iAM PrEstox. He was born in Stratford in 1676, bnt 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 in the militia, having attained the rank of Colonel. He was justice of the quorum eleven years from 1740. On the. formation of Litch- field County in 1 751, he was apj^iointed its first judge, which office he held till his death in 1754. He was a man of fine talents and commanding- influence — of sterling- integ'rity and unflinching de- termination. In another place will be seen a cut of his tombstone in fine pres- ervation in the cemetery at Woodbury. W^iijjAM L. Rax"So:m was born in Granville. ]\Iass., Alarch 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 Supreme Court of Errors which his experience and methotlical habits enfinently quali- fied him to fill. He accepted the appointment and for twenty-eight years he continued to discharge the duties of the oflice with honor to himself an.l 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."' TiMOTiiv C. Rvxso.Ar was a brother of William L. and born September 22, 1824, and w^as admitted to the Bar in 1858. He practiced a few years in ^Meriden, Conn., and then removed to North Dakota where he died. D.wiD R.WMOXD admitted to the Bar in 1812 from jMontville, Connecticut. Jamks Ravmoxd admitted to the Bar in 1834 from Canaan. JoTTX Rkkd. 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 niinistry 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 Alilford, 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 1". RYAN" BIOGRAPIIICAI, XOTES 2// while living- there, he was admitted as an attorney by the General Court and in 171 2 he was appointed Queen's Attorney for the Colony. Mr. Reed had plenty business of his own to attend to, for the ]\Iilford settlers claimino- a superior title to the Xew Milford lands, over the Stratford title, occupied some of the 26.000 acres, and ]Mr. Reed sued them for trespass, and after sixteen trials, fifteen of which he won ami 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 initil 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." ^Nlany anecdotes are told of this eccentric attorne_\- 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 law\er. 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 S])eciiuens 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 ^Eanor," Redtling, Connecticut. He died in 1749, leaving a large estate. Joiix 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. Aarox B. Rehvi; was a son of Hon. Tapping Reeve, graduated from Yale in 1802, was admitted to the Bar in 1808, began practice in Troy. Xew York, where he died in 1809. Tapping Reeve, born in Southhold. Long Island, October, 1744. Graduated from the College of X'ew 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 BLNCII 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. A^a., where he died. Francis X. Ricii:mond was born in New Milford, admitted to the Litchfield Bar in 1897, and practiced for a short time in Water- burv. He removed to Xew^ ^Milford, and later returned to Water- l)ury, where he died in 1906. Edward Richmond, admitted in 18 15 from Washington. Clark Riciiter, 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 to Lynn, Mass., where he died. Edward Rockwell, born in Colebrook June 30th 1801. Gradu- ated at Yale College 1821. Admittetl 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 Xew York City, where he died in 1874. Ju-Lius Rockwell was born in ( olebrook, 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 Brighan.i 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 \\'atcrman 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- hauL The resolutions were ordered spread on the records of the court and as a mark of respect to Judge RcKkwell's memory the court adjourned until to-morrow morning."' William Rock welt, was born in Sharon in 1804. Graduated at Yale College in 1822, and admitted to this Bar in 1824. Located in Brooklyn. X. Y. \\as a Judge of the Superior Court of King's County. Alberto 1. Rorap.ack was born in Sheffield, IMass. 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 Xorth Canaan and was for a «^^ -j D.WID C. SAX FORD BIOGRAPIIICAI, XOTES 2/9 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 he 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. Clixtux R().\r]!ack^ 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. HivXRY RoARiJACK was born in Sheffield. Alass. in 1870, and admitted to practice in 1892 at this IJar. He located at Xorth 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 Xorth Canaan. He is also extensive- ly engaged in the lime business of that region. Wii.i.ARi) A. RoRABACK was boru in X'ew Marlboro. ]\Iass. ^larcli 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. Elbert P. Roberts was born in IJtchtield 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. W'li.i.i A:yr J. Roberts was born in Xcw Milford and graduated in Yale College in 1859. During the \\'ar of the Rebellion he was a Captain of Company I, Eighth Regiment of Connecticut A'olunteers. He was admitted to the Bar in 1866, and died in Xew ]\Iilford, June 30, 1870. \\'ii.i.iA.>[ R. Ror.ERS. of Georgia, a graduate of the Litchfield Law ScliDol, was admitted to this Bar in 183 1. SA:\n-Er. Rowland, admitted to this liar in 1794. resided in Fair- field, Conn, and died there in 1837. PiiiLO RugglES was born in X'^ew ^lilford in 1765 and admitted to the Bar in 1791. Began practice in Xew Mil ford and then re- moved to Poughkeepsie, and afterwards to X"ew York Cit}' where he died in 1829. Joiix H. Russell, a native of Canaan, admitted to this Bar in 1849 ^"<^l settled in Salisbury. He devoted most of his time to fanuing. He died at Lakeville in 187 1. 28o I.ITCIII-IKLD CUU-NTV liK-XCli AND BAR Joseph Ryax, admitted to practice in 1858 from Norfolk, went to Illinois. Timothy Rvax, admitted in 1861 from Xorfolk. Located in Illinois. Thomas F. Ryax was born in Ireland. March 6, 1872. He was educated at St. Mary's College, Troy, X. V. 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. Da\ii) C. Sanford, born in Xew Milford in 1798, was admitted to the Bar in Fairfield County in 1820. He removed to Litchfield, \vhere he practiced till 1832, when he went to Xorwalk, 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. Sanford, born in Simsbury, 1852; educated at L^nion College, was admitted to the Litchfield County Bar in 1903. He resides and practices at Winsted. Is an active member of the School Boarcl of \\' inchester. Roujx SaxFord was born in Cornwall, \'t. of Litchfield, Conn, ancestry. Graduated from Yale College in 1831 and was admitted to this Bar in 1833. He abandoned the legal profession and en- gaged in the mercantile business in Xcw York City, where he died. December 2, 1879. Hexry Seymour Sax ford died at his home in X'ew ]\Iilford on Saturday Xovember 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 ■ tlien 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 .\ew Milford, he became associated with his father in his well established law ])ractice, 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 witli a serious accident that dis- abled him ])hysically 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 lie rose superior to a misfortune which would have discouraged an ordinary man from attem]:)ting to do anything noteworthy, and for many years with rare perseverance and i)atience successfull\' pur- HEXRY SEYilOL'R SAXFORD BIOGRAPHICAL XOTES 281 sued his chosen caUing, altliough unal^le 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 w-as at one time the leading lawyer of the Fairfield county 15ar, 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, al:)le 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 ]\lilford for the use of the members of the Litchfield County Bar which the two Sanfords, father and son, had both honorably and al)ly represented. Henry S. SaxFord, a son of Henry Seymour Sanford, was l)orn in Bridgeport August 5, 1873. Graduated from Yale Law School in 1895. He was admitted to the Xew Haven Bar in the same year, and admitted to the New York Bar in 1898. Practiced in New York until 1905. vSoon after the decease of his father he re- moved to New Milford, where he now resides and practices. Ai.nKRT Sedgwick was born in Cornwall in 1801. He held the office of Sheritt 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 wdiich 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 AL Coe in 1878. He at one thne 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 industrv in Connecticut. 282 LITCHFIELD COUNTY P-EXCH AND BAR Frederick A. Scott, born in Plymouth in 1866, graduated from Yale 1889, from Yale Law 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 P»ills in that body. Represents Plymouth in the General Assembly of 1909. H():\iER R. ScoNiLLE was born in Harwinton ini865. graduated at Williams College in 1890, the Xew 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 liar in 1900. He is now in active practice in Torrington. Charles F. Sedgavick. The following obituary of this distin- guished member of our Bar is taken from the 50th 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 ^larch, 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 Ijoth 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 admiraticMi for military affairs, 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 courteous, a ready, fluent advocate, presenting his views of the case on trial with force and zeal, commanding the respect of the court and jury. ]n the discharge of his duty as a public jirosecutor, the ad- ministration of his office was characterized by the a])plication of the principle "that ninety-nine guilty ]U"rsons should escape, rather than BIOGRAPHICAI, XOTES 283 one innocent person should snfifer." 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 memory, 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. K 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 Sjtli year. Picture on page 70. Edward Woodruff Sey:\I()IK, a Judge of the Su])rcnK' 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. W'oodruff, Esq., of Litchfield, a prominent lawyer there, and Judge Lewis ?>. Woodruff of New York. He graduated 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, ^lorris 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 1859-60-70-7 t. and was a member of the State Senate in 1876. He represented his tlistrict 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 thorcnigh, quick in perception, sound in re- fiection, pleasing and eft'ective in speech. He prepared his causes conscientously. His knowledge of men. his quick wit, his rare ap- I)rehension 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 hortatorv he warmed his opinions with wholesome morals. Such ethics, for instance, as we find in 284 IJTCiri'IKLD COUXTV BEXCII AND BAR the opinion in Coupland vs. Houstonic Railroad Company, in the 6ist Conn., make good reacUng. His career as a lawyer and Judge strengthens our attachment to our profession which he adorned. Judge Seymour is mourned by the Bar and by the bench of the State with a common and tender grief. Years of closest intimacy l)oun(l many manly hearts to him with a love which may not be told, but which must be undying-. His grave is the tomb of hope and promise and of a life 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 ()2d 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 life and its interests, and to whom the telegram announcing his sudden death came with shocking agony, can neither be silent or speak with 1 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, stud\ing 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 acknowdedged leader of the Bar in the two counties of Litchfield aud Fairfield ; certainl\- 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 l)rivilege 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 XOTES 28: -of the Court, which bear his name, the high duties of that great othce 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 eulogy, that we have just lost the foremost, nn- ■deniably the foremost lawyer, and take him for all in all, the noblest citizen of onr State." If it be too much to say this of a son, whose years were almost a score less than those of the father, surely it is not too mnch to affirm that never did son tread more worthily in the footsteps of an honored parent, and never did nntimely 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. — Ai/ouSTus H. Fkxx. Picture on page 130. AIosEs 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 (Jzias 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, ^lay 8, 1826. (See Sedgwick's Address.) Origex S. Seymour, born in Litchfield February 9, 1804, grad- itated from Yale College in 1824, admitted to this Bar in 1826 and located in his native town in which he resided until his decease, August 12, 1 88 1. He frequentlv represented the town of Litch- field in the General Assemblv and was elected Speaker of the House in 1850. In 185 1 he was elected to Congress and again in 1853. In 1855 he was^lected one of the Judges of the Superior Court, %vhich^ office he held eight vears. In 1864 and 1865 he was nomi- 286 LITCIIFIKLD COUNTY liKXCTI AND BAR nated for Governor by the Democratic Party. In 1870 he was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors and in 1873 was its Chief Justice, which ollice 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 lie 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 distinguished 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, lie 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 memljer of the House of Representatives of Con- necticut in 1842, 1843, 1849 si''*^^ 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 I5ench. He was Chief Justice from June 5, 1873, to February 9, 1874, when he became disqualified l)y reason of having reached the age of 70 years, and retired from the Bench, which he had greatly adorned. L^pon his retirement from tiic Bench he resumed the jiractice 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 disj^uted 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 reputear in 1889. Resides and practices at ^^ insted. Has a large practice in Pension matters and Government claims. George F. SiiEeton 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 ver_\- 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 \\'estern States very nuich 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. Stephen ShEi.tox Avas admitted to this Bar in 181 1 from Plymouth. I)axjI';i, SiiivR.MAN, of Woodbur\-. born August 14. 1721, was perhaps the most distinguished man that had arisen in the town ])revious to his day. He was a descendant of Samuel Sherman, of Stratford wlio emigrated to this country from England, in company with bis brotlier. Rev. John Sherman, and bis 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 thirt}-seven years. He represented his native town in the General i\ssembly sixty-five sessions, retaining the unbounded confidence of his fellow-citizens. This was by far the longest period of time any one has ever rejiresented 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, and every way qualified for the various public trusts confided to his care. He died at W'ood- biu-y. July 2. 1 799, full of honors, and was followed by the affec- BIOGRAnilCAL- XOTES 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 ^lajor-General William T. Sherman, and of Hon. John Sherman, ]\1. C. Roger SiiErmax^ a signer of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, was born in Massachusetts, and came to New JNIilford in 1750. He was admitted to this Bar in 1754 and in 1761 removed to New Haven where he lived until his death, July 2;^, 1793. See article on Signers of the Declaration, page 172. Oeix'ER Skixxer, born in Litchfield July 18, 1782, and admitted to this Bar in 1803. Richard Skixxer, LL. D. was born in Litchfield ]\Iay 30th, 1778, the son of General Timothy Skinner and Susannah ALirsh, his wife. He was admitted to the IJar in 1800, and removed to IManchester, 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 Alunson: "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 Manchester 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 ottices until called to more important fields of service. He was a member of Congress from 1813 to 1815, 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 sufliciently 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. R()r.i-:R SkixxivK was a brother of Richard Skinner, and was born in Litchfield June 10, 1773, and admitted to the Bar in 1793. He began ])ractice in Litchfield but removed to the State of Xew York. He was Judge of the Lnited 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. Barzieeai 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). Joiix Seossox, a son of the foregoing was admitted to this Bar in 1 801. Resided in Kent where he was a prosperous merchant. W'iLi.iA:\r Slossox was admitted to this Bar in 1800 from Kent. 290 LITCHFIELD COUXTY BEXCII AND BAR Aarox 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 otlicial positions and died there in 1834. ChauxcKy Smith, was a lawyer in Sharun in 1819, 1820. (Conn Reg.) Erastus S.mitii 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. Smith admitted to this Bar in 1884. He went to- Kansas and practiced a few years and in 1895 returned to W'insted where he is now in practice. JoHX CuTTox 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. I^'s whole life was one continual employment in |)ub- lic 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 I{arly Lights. Joiix C()TT(^x S:\nTH. Jr., born in Tivoli, X. Y., graduated from 'S'ale in 1830, admitted to the Bar in 1832. He resided in Sharon and is known nuich better as a politician than lawyer. He held a very influential position in the I3emocratic party for many years. He died at Sharon, November 21, 1879, aged 68 years. Joseph L. Smiiif, born in Xew Britain, Conn., ]\Iay 2S. 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 ]8o6, he lost most of his ])ractice. He was appointed by tlie 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 Lnited 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 XOTES 29! Junius 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. Init 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 Xavigation. 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 coukl not be withstood, and Smith's efforts were laughed at as fancies of an idle dreamer. He per- severed, however, after many rebuff's 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 Xew York. The arrival of this craft under steam in Xew York opened the new era of commerce and it was not long before a compan\- 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 possibilitv of growing it successfully in the United States. X^ATiiAXiEL S:\riTii 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 his^ powers, he surmounted all obstacles. Studied law with Ephraim Kirby and Judge Reeve, at Litchheld, and was admitted to the Bar in that county in 1787. He commenced the practice of law at Woodbury and rose more raj^idly 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 [May 1795. Li 1797 he was elected a representative from this State in the Congress of the L'nited States. Having- served in that capacity two terms he declined a re-election in 1801. In 1802, he was elected to the Council or L^pi^er 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 COUXTY BEXCH AXD BAR Judo^e of the Supreme Court, iu October, 1806. In the latter of- hce he continued until 1819. He died INIarch 8th, 1822. Xatjiaxkl Vj. Smith, born in Woodbur)- December 1795, gradu- ated from Yale College in 181 5 and admitted to this Bar in 181 8. He began practice at Xew Haven but soon removed to Woodburv. He continued in practice only a few years. He died in Woodbury. Col. Xathaxll Smith, a son of Xathaniel B. Smith, born in Woodbury in 183 1, admitted to the Bar. Xever engaged in the practice of law and during the rebellion was appointed Major of the 19th Conn. Infantry and was promoted to be its Lieutenant Colonel, resigning therefrom for disability ^lay 6, 1864. He died at Woodbury August 26, 1877. Xathax S.aiith was born in Roxbury in 1770 and was admitted to this Bar in 1792 and located in Xew 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 Simith was born in Washington, Conn., studied law at the Litchfield Law School and was admitted to the Bar in 1807 and settled in Xew Alilford, where he died in 1852. He was a United States Senator for six years from March 4, 1837. BFrixKAS S:\riTH, Jr. was a younger brother of Hon. Truman Smith, born in Roxbury, graduated from Yale College in 1816, ad- mitted to this Bar in 1818 and removed to \"ermont, where he died. Richard S-Mith was burn in Rcjxljury in 1769, graduated from Yale College in 1797, admitted to this Bar in 1801 and died in 1805. Richard S.mitii, 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. TRu:\r.\x S-Mitii was a son of Phineas and Deborah Ann ( Jud- son) Smith and was born in Roxbury, Conn, on the 27th of Xoveni- ber, 17(^1. Mr. Smith graduated at Yale College in the class of 181 5, was admitted to the liar in 1818, and located in Litchfield where he re- sided until 1854 when he removed to Stamfcird, residing there until his death, Alay 3rd, 1885. Two of his uncles. Xathaniel Smith and Xathan Smith had at- tained fame and rank at the liar and in public life, and it seems natural tliat 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. ^Te was a member of the 26th and 27th Congress (1839-43) for the 5th District and of the 29th and 30th (1845 to. 1849) ^o^ ^^^^ 4^^'^ District. He was BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 293 chairman of the Xational Committee in the Taylor campagin and offered a seat in the Cabinet which he dechned. From 1849 to 1854 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 vounger lawyer, Cephas 15rainerd, retaining- in his own hands but two cases, known as the Lockwood and the Humaston cases. President Lincoln appointed ]\Ir. Smith Judge on the part of the United States of the Mixed Court at Xew York, established untler the treaty of 7th of April, 1862, with Great Britain, aniT 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 \"irginia. Upon entering Congress. ]\Ir. 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 Xew 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 Xqw Jersey and largely circulated. His associates in the minoritv report were Millard Fillmore, John ]\Iinor Botts and Ben- ianfin Randall. The discussion was conducted with the greatest acrimony and John Ouincy .Adams in his Diary says. "Mr. Snfith made a speech of three hours in answer to Fisher's most disingenuous speech." It was Mr. Snuth's haliit all through his Congressional career to discuss ill c.vtciiso 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 ])rinted speeches as well as from the votes of their repre- sentatives what they were actually doing and saying in Congress. Mr. Smith was deeplv interested in legislation looking to the improvement of the means of communication in the countrv. hence he was cxceedinglv 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 anv 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 Alissouri Compronnse. Mr. Smith came to X'ew 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 Lockwood vs. The N. Y. Central Railroad which is re- ported in 17 \\'all. 321. The question presented was whether it :294 LITCHFIELD COUXTV BEXCII AND 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 Xew York had decided in favor of the exemption. ]\Ir. 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 b}' Air. 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 arg-ued on the 15th and i6th of January, 1873. ^^^• 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 1)\- ]\[r. Justice Bradley, sustained the judgment below and a most elaborate opinion was written; in fact tliis 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 jur}-, beginning on Xovember 15th, 1 87 1 and continuing for thirteen days. This suit was against the Western Union Telegraph Company. Mr. Smith had as his opponents John K. Porter, ( leorge Gifford, Grosvcnor P. Lowry and Charles Francis Stone. It involved first, a very important question respecting the interj^retation 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 telegra])h and the case proceeded. 'Sir. Smith was alone in the case save only a young assistant whose cliief Inisiness was to read papers and extracts from authorities. During the progress of the case the fjuestion of the construction •of the instument arose and was argued at length, Mr. Smith occu- pying- practically an entire dav, under the suggestions of the ]:)rc- 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 ])hysical and mental power he had ever witnessed. The case was closed and the jury went out about six o'clock on the 13th day of the trial. Judge Porter having occupied the first part of the dav in summing up for the defense and Mr. Smith the latter ]iart 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 thne during LlOGRAPllICAL XOTES 295 the trial. That case also went to the Supreme Court of the United States and was argued there on the 30th of March, 1874. I\[r. Smith closing- the argument. That court however sustained the ruling of Judge Woodruff on the interpretation of the contract, and defeated Mr. Smith. 'Sir. Smith was very eft'ective 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. Alwavs a believer in the essential doctrines of Christianity, as taught in the churches of Xew England, late in life he became a communicant in the Presbyterian Church of Stamford. A\'i:i.LixGTox B. Smith, born in Xew Hartford June 3. 1856, was admitted to practice at this Bar in 1877. He resides and prac- tices in \\'insted. 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. Sa:\iukl J. SouTTiMAM), 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.) LK:\rAX 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. Rui-us STAXLiiv, of Litchfield, admitted in 1790. Sirni P. Staples, graduated from Yale in 1797. admitted to this Bar in 1799, located in Xew Haven, where he died in 1861. Daxikl Starr, born in Xew ?\Iilford. admitted to the Bar in 1800. Died ^lay i, 1826. AxsEL Sterlixg. born in Lyme, 1782, admitted to this Bar in 1805, located in Sharon in 1808, where he died Xovember 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 ). Toiix :\L Sterlixg. son of Gen. Elisha Sterling, born 1800, in Salisbury, graduated at Yale in 1820. Admitted to the Bar in 1823. 296 LITCIII'IKI.I) COUNTY BEXCH 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, horn in Stamford in 1768, admitted to this Bar in 1797, located in his native town where he held many puhlic of- fices and was elected to the i6th Congress. Died April 4, 1835. BENjA:\riN Stiles, a native of Sonthhury, g-raduated from Yale in 1740. Practiced law in his native town of Sonthhury. Benjamin StieES, Jr. was born in Sonthhury, 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. 181 7. Eeiaki.\[ S. Stoudakl), 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 1815, and began to practice in Kent. In 1818 he left Kent and went "west" with George P.. 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, ( )hio, then a little village of five or six hundred inhabitants. PI ere they located, Holt to become an honored Judge and citizen, and Stoddard a millionare. RoDBiNS Battele StoeckEL 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. Stoeckcl resides and practices in Norfolk where he has been Judge of Probate for several }ears. CoE. Adonijaii 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 rei)orted 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, Esqr. on account of his great cmminence as a lawyer and eloquence as an advocate be considered as a member of this P^ar for the purpose of instructing students, although he shall not continue to practice. Attest Amos Benedict, Clerk." ( See Warner's Reminiscences.) joiix Stkon*.. Jr., horn in Woodbury December 31, 1786, gradu- ated from ^'ale College in 1806 and admitted to this Bar in 1808. He opened an ollice in Wood])ury and continued in the active dis- charge of his professional duties till his death in November, 1834. FRANK ir. TURKIXGTOX IIIOGRAPIIICAL XOTES 29/ Few men have occupied a higher place in the confidence and af- fections of the community. Was Judge of Probate and represented the town in the General Assembly a number of years. Tedhdiaii Stroxc, born in Litchfield, Connecticut in 1738. grad- ated from Yale College in 1761. He represented his town in the General Court for thirty sessions. \\'as 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. Marti y Stroxg, a son of Col. i\doniiah Strong, admitted to this Bar in 1801 and located in Salisbury. He was Judge of the Countv Court and one of its most active magistrates. (See Sedg- wick's Address). TiiEROX R. Strong was a son of Hon. Martin 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. Cyrus 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 ) . Br;xjA:\rix SwiET, admitted to the Bar in 1802. Hkmax Swift, admitted to the l'>:ir in 1819 from Kent. ]\IiLTox H. Swift, a native of Kent, admitted to the liar in 1838. Removed to Ottawa, Illinois. Jacez 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." Gkorc.]' E. Taft, l)orn in Sheffield, Mass. November 4th. 1854. admitted to this Bar in 1883 and soon after located at Lmionville in Hartford County, where he is now in practice. Has been a member of the School Board there and Judge of Probate. Ror.KRT S. TiiARKx was born in Lebanon in 1714 and upon the formation of the County in 175 1 was in practice at Xew Alilford. He died January 9th, 1786. (See Boardman's Sketches). Joiix O. TiiAVER was admitted to this Bar in 1869 and after practicing a short time in Xew Milford he removed to Meriden, Conn., where he is now in practice. He served four years in the Civil War, 1861, and in 1899 was Judge Advocate of the Depart- ment of Connecticut G. A. R. 298 LiTCTirir;i,D couxtv BKxcTr and p.ar Jam lis Thompson was born in Woodbury. ^larch 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 his profession and entered the Episcopal Ministry. He died August 18, 1844. JuDSOx B. TnoMrsox. admitted to the Bar in 181 1. HkzEkiah Thompsox 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. Martix H. Thomas, admitted to the Bar in 1808 from Salisbury. TuDSOX B. TiioMAS was in 1810 in Colebrook. Admitted to the Bar in 1808 from Salisbury, F. R. TiFFAXY, admitted to the Bar in 1879. Georoi.; Ton, graduated from Yale College in 1795 and admitted to the Bar in 1797. Oliver A. G. Todd, born in Plymouth October 181 2, admitted to the Bar in 1833, practiced law in Waterbury, Litchfield, New 'M\\- ford and Danbury in wliich latter city he died August 14, 1886. David Toi.max, admitted to this Bar in 1792 from \\'oodbury. L^RiAH 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 Ji-idge 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 chities 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 tern. He died at Washington. D. C. July 19, 1807, and was the first person buried in the Congressional l)urying ground. Amos S. Tkkat. born in Bridgewater. February 5. 1816. ad- mitted to this Bar in 1843. practiced in Fairfield County and died at Bridge]:)ort April 24, 1886. SKr..\ii ]'.. Tkkat, D. 1)., born in ILirtford Februarv 19, 1804, graduated at Yale 1824, admitted to this B>ar in 1826. Practiced at East Windsor and Penn Yan. New York. In 1835 lie entered the ministry and was Secretary of the American IJoard of Commission- ers for Foreign Missions manv years. Died at Boston, ^larch 28th, 1877. /f. / . BIOGRAPHICAL XOTES 299 Frank H. TurkixgT(.)X, the ])resent Sheriff of the County, was born in Morris, then a part of Litchfield, June ii, 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 Morris, carrying their meats mostly by teams to Waterbury, Conn. He was very much interested in politi- cal aft'airs, 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, ow-ning more arable land which he successfully cultivates than any other person in Litchfield County. Joiix S. TuRRiLL was 1)()rn Fcl)ruary 8, 1825, attended Law School at Balston Springs, N. Y. and was admitted to this Bar in 1 85 1. Located in New Mil ford, enjoying a large practice until his death, July 19, 1889. He w^as one of the Committee who prepared the Revision of the Statutes of 1875. Stkpiikx Twixixr,, graduated at Vale College in 1795. was ad- mitted to this Bar in I7()7. located at Xew Haven, where he died in 1832. He was Steward of \n\c College from 1819 to 1832. CiFARLKS Tl-TTLE. admitted 10 the Bar in 1856 from North Cole- brook. NoAii \\'ai)I1a.ais, a native of Goshen, studied law at Litchfield Law School and was admitted to the I'.ar in 1793. Removed to Pennsvlvania and was admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County, Pa. in 1800. Albert Wadiiams, born in Massachusetts June 19, 1819. gradu- ated at Norwich L^niversit}', \ermont. and was admitted to the New York Bar. Removed to Goshen and began the practice of law about 1865. He died in Goshen, May 1884. GeokcI'; Wadswortii. born in Litchfield, was admitted to this Bar in 185 1. He located in Buff'alo, N. Y.. where he died March 19, 1907, aged yy. Frederick T. Wallace, admitted to the Bar in 1844. Tiio:mas f. 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. \\'arxer, born in Southbury August 2. 1848. ad- mitted to this Bar April 1872. After eleven years practice at West Cornwall he removed to Woodbury, where he is now in practice. He was Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for this County one term of four vears. 300 LITCHFIELD COU^■TV BEXCII AND LAR DuXALiJ J. W'akxkr, born in Salisbury September 15. 1819, was admitted to this Bar in 1843, settled at Salisbury, where he de- ceased ]\Iay 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- ingl\- interesting and a considerable portion of it is included in this com])ilation. DoxAi.i) J. \\'akxkk, son of Donald T. Warner, and grandson of Judg"e Donald AX'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. L)oxAi.i) T. W'akxkr, 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 oflice of States Attorney since 189^). Tn 1902 he was a leading member of the Constitutional Convention of Connecticut. He was a member of the State Senate in 1895 '^^'"1 ^897' ii^ which latter year he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Lv:\rAx F. W^vrxlr. a native of Roxbury, admitted to the Bar in 1848 and removed west. ]\LlTox J. Wakxkk 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. X^ew ^Mexico, wher he died. Thomas G. Water:max'. a native of Salisbury studied law with Gen. Elisha vSterling and was admitted to this Bar in 1809. He be- came a prominent member of the Bar in Binghamton. X. Y., where he died in 1861. Author of Waterman's Digests. Dour.LASS Watsox, born ]\Ia}' 12, 1821 at Canaan, admitted to the Bar in 1845. Daxikl F. Whi'.ster, born in LitchfieUl March 14, 18^3. gradu- ated from Dartmouth College in 1874 and admitted to this Bar in 1876. Located and practiced in Waterbury until his death in 1896. FrkdKrick C. Wei'.ster, born in Litchfield October 17. 18^0. Graduated from Yale College in 1874 and was admitted to the r>ar 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 Max'or. He is now a Judge of one of the Districts of that State. GiDKox H. Welctt, born at East PTaddaiu. Conn.. Seotember 22. 1844. (^iraduated at Yale College 1868. and from Yale Law School in 1870. and immediately located at Torrington. succeeding the late i"ki".i)i;ric m. Williams BIOGRAPHICAL XOTKS 301 Henry S. Barbour. 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. Fraxcis A\\ \\']:sskLLS, admitted in 1870. Resides in Omaha, Neb. Samuel WET:\roRE, admitted in 1803. N. WetmorE, admitted in 1808. Leverette W. W'essells was born in Litchfield in 1819. Held the office of Sheriff for twelve years from 1854 to 1866. succeed- ing Hon. Albert Sedgwick, imder whom he was a Dep- uty Sheriff' for nine years. Was Post Master of Litch- field. 1850 to 1854. a repre- sentative in the General Assemlily iu 1879 and again in 1887, was Quarter Mas- ter General of the State in 1879 and 1880. In 1862 he was commissioned a Col- onel by Governor Bucking- ham and by his skillful •, management organized the J i9tli 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 Fourtii 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 LITCIII'IKLD COL'XTV BKXCK AND DAR George Wiieatox, 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 membero of the Litchfield Count}- ISar, died at his residence in Corn- wall, on Friday evening-, Xov. 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 Litchfield and Fairfield County Bars." Joshua Wiutxkv. — 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 new County in 1751, appointed thereto l)y the new County Court. He was very prominent in town afifairs In Norfolk until about 1763 when it is' said that he removed back to Canaan. 1 suppose him to have been the same Joshua \\'hitne\" who served from Canaan all through the Revolution and was a "Leftenant." SoLoM(jx W'lLiTXEv, from Canaan admitted to the Bar in 1763. Cttari.es \\'iiiTTi,ESEv, born in Salisl)ury, graduated from \\\\- liams College in 1840, admitted to this Bar in T844. Began practice in Cheshire, removed to ^^liddletown and in T855 to Hartford, Conn. Was States Attorney for [Middlesex Countv for six years. Was Captain of Campan\- I 22nd Conn. A'ols. He died in Alexandria, A'a., in 1874. Ei.isii A WiriTTT.ESEv, a native of Washington, was admitted to this liar 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 apjDointed Auditor of the Treasury for the Post Office Dei)artment and in t84(j first Comptroller of the Treasury of the United States. Roi.ER WiiiTTEESEv. born in Xewington, T7r)7, graduated from Yale in 1787; studied at the Litchfield I^aw School and was ad- mitted to the Bar in 1790. He practiced at Southington and died there October 5, 1844. Thomas T. Whit ri.i:sEv, born in i7t)4- graduated from Yale College in 1817; admitted to this Bar in T820. He located in Dan- burv. He was representative in Congress in 1827 and T829 and died in ]868. GUNKKXUR OLIVER WOLCOTT BIOGRAPHICAL XOTES 303 Edavix a. WiiiTK, born in Cornwall, graduated from W'eslevan University; admitted to this Bar in 1882. Removed to the State of New 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 work on Episcopal law and is en gaged in codifying the Church laws of the State of Xew Jersey. HuuKRT W'lij.iA.MS 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 tow-n. He was Post blaster in that village a number of _\ears. He died suddenly September 24. 1906. Frkdekic ]\I. W'ili.ia.als. born in Washington, Conn., Xovember 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 Xew Haven Bar in 1887 and later moved to X"ew Milford. He has been very prominent in the affairs of his town and is a most etlicient P'rosecuting Agent for Litchfield County. \\'ii.i.iam: G. W'ii.tjams. born in Stockbridgc, [Mass.. Admitted to this Bar in 1800 and located at Sharon until i8og when he re- moved to Xew Hartford, where he died in 1838. aged 51;. Tiio:mas A\'ir,cox, admitted in 1799 from Canaan. AxDRKw B. A\'iLSux. admitted in 1865 from Cornwall. Practiced a short time at Xewtown and removed to Bridgeport, where he en- gaged in manufacturing. Gi;X. ()i.i\i:r Wolcott was the first Sheriff of the County, hold- ing the office for more than twenty _\ears. (See articles on Signers of the Declaration on page 174.J OlinER Wolcott, Jr., L. L. D. was born in Litchfield January II. 1760. and was the son of ( )liver W'olcott, the Signer of the Declaration of Independence. At the age of thirteen he was pre- pared for antl entered Yale College, but by reason of taking fre- quent vacations to go into the Revolutionary Army, did not gradu- ate till 1779. He was admitted to this Bar in 1781. His wdiole life was devoted to the public service and aft'airs. He was suc- cessively Comptroller of this State. Auditor and Secretary of the United States Treasur\-. 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 X'ew York. June 2, 1833. ^''^ ^^'^^^ 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 LlTClll-JiaD COUNTY BKXCII AND BAR Dami;i, Wood, admitted in 1799 from Sliaron. John Woodbridgk, Jr., admitted in 1851 from Xew Hartford. EzKKii;i. Woodruff, a native of Farmington, graduated from Yale in 1779 and was admitted to this Bar in 1781. He located at Middletown and in 1789 removed from the State, Georgk 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 .Woodruft, 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 w'here 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 contemporaries. He held almost every oftice 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 Militia, 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. WoodrufT was prominent in those branches where certainty is possible. It was in the trial of (ptestions 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 ])ainstaking" care. Jn whatever relation of life one looks at him as citizen, as neigh- bor, in ]orivate life or ]:)ublic station, as counsellor or judge he was one of the best products of our American civilization. (Condensed from obituary in 54, Conn. Report). Gkorc.i'. M. WY)0DRuFF 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 ])e said for four generations as Mr. Woodruff's grandfather on one side was countv judge and on the other sheriff. He was born in Litchfield. 1836 and has l:)een extremely active in state as well as town afi'airs. He pre])ared for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, graduated at Yale in 1857. the Harvard Law School in 1859 and was admitted to the Litchfield I'ar in the same year. He was in the Legislature in 1863, 1865 and 1872. serving Bi()C.K.\riiic.\r, NOTES 305 on the Judiciary Committee the first two terms. He was town treas- urer 1866 to iyo6 and jud^i2:e of Probate since 1868 with the ex- ception of one }ear. He was one of the state raih'oad commissioners from 1874 to i8y7 and chairman of the Board from 1875. Mr. Woo(h-utt 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 cliurch and has been president of the Savings Society since 1885. He is also president of the First National Bank and \'ice- 1 'resident of the Colonial Trust Company of W'aterbury. Ja:\i1':s I'. W'ooDiui'i' is a son of Hon. George ^\. W'oodrutt. horn in Lritchheld October 30, 1868, graduated from Amherst College in 1891 aufl from Vale Law School in i8()3 and was admitted to this Bar in 18(^3. Resides and ])ractices at Litchfield in company with h.is father. He represented his town in the Legislature of i8gc)-i(;o3. Ho\. T^i;\vis !'). W'ooDKri'F. L. L. D.. son of Gen. Morris W'ood- rtiff and brother of Hon. Georg-e C. Woodrufif, was born in Litch- field (South Farms) June 19, 1809. Preparing" for College at the then noted Morris Academy, he graduated with high honors from Yale Colleg'e 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, lie laid the foundation of the scholarly learning- which secured his success at the Bar and so distingtiished his judicial career. ( )n com])leting- his sttulies in that school he was admitted to the liar of Connecticut in 1832. In October of that year he re- moved to the cit\ of Xew York, and after a successful practice at the Bar he was, in 1850, called to the B)ench, and thereafter held successively the offices of Judge of the Court of Common I'leas. Superior Court, (.'ourt of Ap])eals. and L'nited 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 ])ortion of the }ear and he died at his home in that place Septeml)er to. 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 re])utation on the B>ench. Dignified, in his bearing, he was in the family circle tender and afifectionate, everywhere generous, kind and helpful. Devoted to his home jo\'s, genial and cordial, he was the delight of the social circle, and his loving welcome, hos])itable l^oard and ever open door, kept warm hearts constantlv about him. Tt was said of him: — "He went to the very bottom of every sub- ject with which he undertook to deal. He cared not for the mul- tiplicity ()f details, they never clogged his percepticMi of a general 3o6 LITCIIFIICLD COUXTV BENCH AND DAR 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 I\Iusic or Art is to some natures, it engrossed him, and was a prov- ince in which he moved a King and a blaster." 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 lersev. 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 li. 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 ^^'ooDRUl'f was for many years one of the Judges of the Countv Court, and apparently a standing committee for the lay-out of higiiwavs and the transaction of matters of a similar nature. He was a ]\Iajor 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. PiTKix CoAVLES 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 Somcrville, Tenn. September 15th, 1896. JoHX F. \\'yxxe;, l)orn at Sandisfield. Mass.. i860. Admitted to the Bar in 1881. Settled at Union ville 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. Jmrx 1). \.\]X. Sheriff' of the County from 1878 to 1881. He was born in Canaan in 182O. At the close of his term of office he resided in \\'insted and was employed as a commercial traveler. He removed to Hartford, and retired from active business pursuits. He died in Hartford A])ril 24. 1905. LIGANS UAY IT I'l.i'.ASi: Til]': COURT. MAY IT PLEASE THE COURT In the preparation of this volume 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 1 have printed them herein under an old law term, that 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 may add to the interest of the book. "Tliis world is Init a fleeting show. And soon grim death will jerk us So let's be ha]Ji)y as we go, .\nd all enjii\- the circus." l;X-(".0\'. CJIAKLKS n. AXDKKWS. In the earlier ])rei)aration of this v()lume I was promised an original article by the late Hon. Charles 1j. Andrews, but his lament- ed decease prevented me from obtaining one in his own writing. (Jf 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 lianquets. 310 I.lTClll'lKl.D COU.VTV BENCH AND IJAR AN ADDRESS BY EX. GOVERNOR CHARLES B. ANDREWS Vuu i^'ivc it, Mr. J 'resident, as the result (if vour rejections, that tlie jucHcial power is tlie hii^hest in the trinity of the g-overnmental powers. 1 apprehend that most thoughtful ])ersons will agree with \ini for the reasons you have given. In every government of laws, the courts hold the most important ])lacc. The legislature may be nominally higher than the judiciarx : hut in the actual experience of life, the courts touch the citizen more frequently and more nearly, tlian the law-making power. The legislature ordinarily does no more than make rules in the abstract ; the courts ai)ply 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 ])ass upon the facts, as well as interi)ret th'> rule made by the legislature. Jn one of those fer\id hursts of el()(|uence. for which Mr. ]vufus Choate was so widcl_\- known, he exclaimed: "Let us repose secure imder 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." 'J'hinking only of that former time, wlien no one living was con- nected with the courts, 1 cherish the belief that the judiciary of Con- necticut has measuraljly fulfilled for the people of that state, such an liigh idea. To some extent, doubtless, this is dne to the fact that there ha.-> 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 jKipulation have never brought disturbance into the courts. rerha])s, also, the cities of Xew York on the one side, and Boston (.n the other, h;i\-e drawn from us other sources of trouble. In an- otlicr degree good fortune has come from tlie character of its people. Connecticut was a i'uritan colony, even more so than Massachusetts. It has always been a I'uritan state. 'J"he I'uritan, with all his wil- fulness, his self-assertion, his theologv and his dogmatism, was a conser\ati\e citizen. l\es])ect for the powers that be was a part of Ills creed. To l)e sure, he intended to have the ])owers on his side most of the time, and never scrui)led to cpiarrel with them if they were not : but notwithstanding, lie had the thrifty habit of economy: and the money-making man is compelled to have a respect for law: and tliis res])ect for the law has continued to this day to be a char- acter n\ the peo])le of tlie state. Hut mainl}- the result has come from tlu' judiciary itself. In the original frame of government of that stale all judicial ])ower was exercised by the legislature. ^I'he legislature continued to hear cases on ajjjjcal imtil the year 17S4. CHART.KS r.. AXIIRKAVS, C. J. GU\-. ANDREW S ADDRESS 3II 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 quoruiu. It was soon the subject of complaiiU. tliat tlie members of this court were chosen with reference to their qualifications 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 Court 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 a|)p()inted, there have been forty-four niem1>ers of that court. Thirteen of its deceased members have been Chief Justices — Jesse Root. Stei)hen ?*lix ^Mitchell. Ta])ping Reeve. Zep- lianiah Swift, Stephen Titus Hosmer, David Daggett, Thomas Scott Williams, Samuel Church, Kenry ^Nlatson \\'aite, William Lucius Storrs. Joel Hinman, Thomas Belden Butler and ( )i;igen Starrs 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 b\- the peojjle 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 re])osed secure under the shadow of their own trusted magistrac}'. Xor is it a wonder that the court held a creditable ])lace among other like com-ts in the nation. Of the individual character of these and other of the judges, and of the later court, others can .>peak much better than myself. Prior to i8i(), all the judges were appointed annually. There was a statute which ])rovided that the judges should hold oHice dur- ing the pleasure of the legislature : l)ut the legislature continued to manifest its ])leasure by annual elections, until the adoption of the constitution, in 1818. By that constitution the judges of the Su- ])reme and Superior Courts were to hold ollice during good behavior, subject to impeachment and to be removed by advice of two-thirds of each house of the general assemlily. Another clause of the con- stitution declared that no judge or justice of the peace should be capable of holding oHice after he arrived at seventv 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 seventv vears 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 C.v when he became a la\\\er in Hartford. He raised a company for the army and became a colonel. Pie was a member of the Conti- ricntal Congress for fcnu" years. He was a judge of the Superior Court after 1788. He ])ublished two volumes of reports. Another Chief Ju>tice was Zei)haniah Swift, who was the author of Swift's Digest. The older lawyers in all those states, which founded their law u])on the common law. have doubtless heard of this book. It was exceedingly valuable as an introductory l)Ook for beginners, and an excellent hand-book for professional work. 'i"he work of the court in ConnecticiU is recorded in the volume of rei)orts which I have mentioned, in five volumes of Day's Reports, and in fifty-seven volumes of Connecticut Re]XM-ts. In them there are no startling cases. Thev record the litigated cases of a ])eoi)le usually hap])_\-, and intent on the arts of i)eace ; but I feel sure that they teach constantly the principles of that science of which Lord I^-skine said : "They are founded in the charities of religion, in the ])hiloso])hy of nattu-e. in the truths of history, and in the experience of common life." n. WILLIAMS ARCL'.MLXT 3I3 A DEMURRER AX ARGLMEXT 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. .\rthur D. Warner, Judg-e. The lease ran in the name of Arthur (joodman, a.g-ent for the Kickai)(JO Indian Company. A plea in abatement was filed on the claim that the suit should have been in the name of the real party, instead of the agent. To this plea in abatement the plaintitt hied a demurrer. Mu. \\'iLLL\-MS: If the Court please, I a])pear 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 I'own of Salisbury, but actually of the Kickapoo Imlian i\ledicine Cnl\- as \"ou give the tielinquents a sting, "a la mode" "I'eter vs. Annanias and Sap])hira." in which case you loose your client ])robably. and the mutual benefit is at an end. Doubtless your client suiters equally with yourself in the final result, which might have been avoided by _\ou 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 gcncroUy, then you had better leave the undertaking, and follow son"ie more appropriate calling, by Avhich you can be maintained. Therefore, legal services, freely rendered, without adequate ])ro- vision for remuneration, are, as to yourself, your clients, or any one. both impolitic and unwise. A wise lawyer, for any services he n"iay have rendered, will seldom permit a client, or any one, to define his "Qimnhmi }[cniit." This Notice, you can Dost up in v(nu' office, or hang it out doors, b\' the side of vour shingle. A. JV. Albany, X. Y.. Feb. ist. 186;. ST-^^ I.lTCllFllvLD COrXTV I'.KXCII AM) r,AR The Annual Banquets The one Imiidredth anniversary of the estahhslmient of the Litchfield Count}' J!ar Association was observed bv a Centennial Celebration at W'insted, on the i8th of Xovember. 1898. at the Beardsley House, then kept by Ceori^e Spencer. And since that time the Way lias held an Annual J!an([uet at ahuut the same time of the year, they being holden in different ])laces in the countv as accomodations could be secured. Thex' are "-enerallv attended bv ,-1* Ijetween forty and fifty meml;ers of the liar. 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. T ha^•e, however, already included in tliis 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 IWiTATiOX. Greet IXC, : i'y authority of the Litchfield County liar you are summoned to appear at Winsted on Friday evening, Xovember 18, 1898, then and there to answer in "a c(3mplaint wherein it is complained and said. Fjrst Count. T. The Sui)erior Court for Litchfield County was established within and for Litchfield County in 1798. 2. At a meeting of the ""Uarr" of said County it was voted to commemorate said event at \\'insted. Conn. 3. James Huntington, Wellington K. Smith, Leonard J. Xick- erson, and Dwight C. Kilbourn were ai)])oiined a Committee to carry said vote into efi:'ect. Si'Coxi) Cor XT. 1. Such commemoration will be lield at the P.eardsle}- House, W'insted Conn., Xovember 18, i8(j8, and consist of a l*)an(|uet and other exercises commencing at 8:30 r. .m. 2. ^'our prompt acceptance of this invitation is requested that the (.'ommittee may be able to guarantee the retpiisite accommoda- tions. 3. Damages are assessed at $2 per ])late. 'idle ])laintiff is found to be of sufficient ability to provide for your comfort and i)leasure. liereot lail not but due appearance make, nr immediatel}' signify cause to the ccMitrarv. Winsted, Xov. 4, 1898. TjIE Co.MM ITTI'I"., L)y James llunlington. L'hairman. Dwi"ht C. Kilbourn, Sec'v. TIIK BAXnuET 317 YE SKXTIMKXT. "Come l)ack to _\n)ur mother, ye chiklren, for shame. Who have wandered hke truants, for riches or fame. With a smile on her face, and a sprig in lier lap. She calls you to feast from her bountiful lap. Come you of the law who can talk if you please Tin 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 :mexu. Little Waramaug Clams Celery ■\\'e liave met the Eneniv aiul tliev are Ours." — Oliver II. Perry. 181,^ Puree of Eitchheld .Aftishrooms Salted Almonds Stuffed Olives "The Law: It has honored us; may we honor it." — Daniel U'ehster. 1847 Steamed Twin Lake Salmon '■Pincli Gut Plain" Potatoes "Dibble Hill" Sauce "We Surgeons of the Law do desperate deeds, sir." — Bcaitiiimil ami fletehcr Supremes of Sweetbreads Slurges Case style '"Oh! "tis a blessed thing (o have rich chenls." — Beauuiout ami fleteJier Probate I'lmch "Protect me from the sin That dooms me to those dreadful words : 'My dear, where liavc vou l)een ?' " — O. //'. IloUncs j\rf)unt Riga Patridges, Roasted. Stuffed with Torrington Chestnuts ■■'Fore God. my intelligence Costs me more dian m\ share cift cnmes to." — B. J orison Knowles Salad. ■"Move to Erase" Dressing ■■Im]M)riance is one thing and learnine's another; But a debate's a debate, that I assert." — Cong^reve Canaan Tee Cream, with ori!2,'inal R. and R. tlavor ■■ 'Tis better bellv 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 3i8 ijTcrmKi.T) couxtv ]!i-:\cii axd uar PRESIDENT HUNTINGTON'S ADDRESS The after-dinner speaking" was opened 1)\ 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 hapi)y manner of "Lhiclc Jim," as he was familiarly called by his brethren of the Bar during the later years of his life. "Brethren of the Bar of I^itchfiel 1 County: A\'e have met this evening to celelu'ate the lOO years of the existence of the Superior Court of Litchfield Countv. To ^■ou voun""er members of the Bar it may seem a great ways back to i/ar of this County and I trust it will remain so another too years. .Another characteristic is their self-reliance, we have to rely on ourselves and it has made self reliant lawxers. ]1LXTIXGT(JX S ADDRESS 319 Another thing, they are a tough lot physically as well as mentally. And the\' must necessarily he 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, t:_)gether 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 ot sitting down to such a tine feast as this to eat we are satisfied with the smell of the onions and the turni])s and cabbage that are boiling on the stove for the famil_\- to eat. ( )ur lives are spent in that v/ay and it has made a tough lot of us physically, ^^'e are called upon as lawyers in the country to become all-round men and to do all kinds of Vv'ork. A count r\- lawyer is called ui)on 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 an\-one asks what kind of law_\ers does it make to jjraciice in that manner, mv answer is if _\ou take the Connecticut ]\e])orts from l\irb\- to the 70 Conn., \'ou read the work of I.itciiheld County lawyers clear through the 70 volumes of those reports. Ves, further, it is the same kind of men that \-ou are, gentlemen, that 13 of them have re])rescnted the liench vi the SujuMdor Court of this State, 10 of them tlie Su])reme Court liench and three of them as Chief- justices, the\ were men of the same experience and the same kind (jf ]}ractice ; and hi>w well the\- have tilled their ])Iaces the records of the Supreme Court, the opinions, that have been written by them through all the Connecticut Re])orts will tell you. ^o we ma\' well lie proud of our Count)- and of our Count)' I'.ar, and I ask, when m_\- time has come to join the innumerable caravan that moves, that there can be nothing better said of me than that Jim Miuuington was a res])ectable member of the Litchfield Count)' i'.ar. M\- brethren, 1 said to )-ou that 40 years jiractice, two-fifths of a ceiUurx , two-fifths of the time of this Superior Court went back to where one could almost say it was a step l)ack to the beginning. We have with us t:inight a brother whose tall form and snowy hair are known to xou all and who has practiced law in the Su])erior Court over one half its time, who is a connecting link with the be- s^inning of this court: who i^racticed law with men who w.'ere mem- bers of the r.ar when the Su])erior Court was organized, and it is Vxith exceeding great pleasure, nothing could give me more pleasure, that T introduce to \'ou nuv venerable and honored brother. Donald J. Warner. To him it ma)- be said, as liohues wrote to AMiittier on his 80th birthdav. 320 ITCH I' J i: 1.1) colntv r.icxcii and uak Dear friend, wlunn th\' four.'^Cdre winters leave more dear Than when Hfe's roseate summer on tliy clieek Ijurned in tlie tlusii of manhood's earHest vear, Lonely, how lonel_\- ! 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 answerini^' g"rasp to seek Warm with the love no rippling" rhymes can s])eak. I,ook backward ! from th\- loftv heigiit survev Thy years of toil, of peaceful victories won Of dreams made real, large hopes outrun ! Look forward! brighter than earth's morning ra}' Streams the ])ure light of Heaven's unsetting sun. The unclouded dawn of Life's immortal day. h^ir judge Warner's address see his reminiscences, page loi. Many letters were received from the absent brethren regretting their inal^ility to attend; the one froiu the Hon. Wm. L. Ransom, who for nearl}' thirt\- years Vi'as Clerk of the Courts enclosed as his response an excuse from the late Judge Granger for not attending a Banquet at the Island Jlotel t<» which he had been invited, and is as follows : Dear Ransom, were my legs as liml)er As they were in daxs of yore, When I snared the festive sucker ( )n tile Whiting River shore. — Silverv stream, — that nuu-mers sweetly Through fair Wangum's ])eaceful vales. Kissed l)v morning's slanting sunbeams, Fanned l)y evenings pleasant gales. When T chased the obese woodchuck O'er the hills and sandy knoll WHien I snatched the sluggish bull heads W^rigglino- frdm their mmldx' holes, When with dog and gun by moonlight Through the swamps and reedy fens T ])ursucd the scented polecat Terror of the matron hens. Cdadl} would I climb .\b)uul I'isgah. Mwstic mountain ol the l\ast, b'or the fun of being with _\ou At your Island Hotel feast. But, Oh ! Ran.som, temi)U'; edax Unremitting night and da\ Seventv years has gnawed our nniscles 'I'ill thc\ 're in a — b.ad waw ALOXZO X. I.KWIS LETTER 321 Youthful hose well saved oi ragged Serve but to hide our spindle shanks. And our shin bones sharp and jagged I 'lav us now rheumatic pranks. Accoutered thus Dear Rans, you see, The feast you spread is not for me, Whatever things the Gods deny us, Is for the best. Good night. Tobias. Leonard W. Cogswell, the ( )nicial Stenographer, offered the fol- lowing original POE^I: Oh, sacred soil of Litchfield Hills, Where Winter's winds howl drear ; The country's best and bravest men. Have found their l)irtli-])l:ice here. The plain and sim])le life tliey led Upon these rugged hills. Gave vigorous health and mental strength. Brave hearts and sturdy wills. Senators. Gox-ernurs, Judges rreachers, Found here ciaigenial soil. And worked their wa\' to liigh renown With most incessant toil. Then let us all fresh courage take. And till Death our warm blood chills, W'e'll l)less the Fate that gave us birth ( )n these rock-ribbed Litclifield Hills. At one of our bancpiets the following interesting letter was re- ceived from Rev. A. \. Lewis: Alontpelier, A'ermont. Dec. ii, 1902. To the Men]bers of the I^itchfield County Rar, in annual reunion convened : Gentlemen: — I regret exceedingly my inabilit}' to be present at your festive gathering. Fort\-five years ago at the September term of the Superior Court, Judge Seymour presiding, I was admitted an attorney and counsellor. F. D. Recman, Esq., was Clerk of the courts, and Hollister, Graves, Hubbard, Toby Granger, George C. W^oodruft'. judge Phelps, Sedgwick, Sanford, et al., were the lead- ing barristers. "There were giants in those days." The Litch- field Rar was second to none in the state. The condition of things was very dift'erent than the present. Litchfield was an inland town, accessable only by stage and private conveyance. The lav\'yers, litigants and witnesses came to stay. The ^Mansion House, V. S. Hotel and Wheeler House were thronged with guests. The open hotel fires in the hotel olUces were scenes 322 LlTCllFlKLD COUNTY JSKNCll AND BAR of mirth and jollitw William Deming", Sr.. Stephen Deming, Harry liissell 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 antl orphans you have made and the miser_\- }'ou have caused, how do you feel?" Uncle Ste]ihen paused a moment and said, "Deacon , when I think of myself, by myself, I feel like putting my hand upon my mouth and ]n\- mouth in the dust and crying unclean, unclean, God be merciful to me a sinner. But, Dea- con, when 1 compare mvself with m_\^ neighbors I thank God and take courage." A Plymouth farmer had a case in Graves" hands which had been runninof for vears. Term after term Graves had charged continu- ance fee $7; and the farmer becoming discouraged had tried to get the case taken out of court, but all in vain. (_)ne 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!" "V\diy not," asked one of the listeners. "IJecause," answered the farmer, "Because he'd make trouble there." The writer of this talk was a student in Hollister t\: Beeman's office and was often employed in copying ])leadings,etc. In one of the documents occurred the following sentence: "And whereas this case has been brought b\- regular continuances to this court, etc." In the co]i\- made b\ the writer it read thus: "And whereas this case has been lirougbt 1)\- 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 re]:)ort thereon to the court. It was charged by the ])etitioner that her husband ou a certain occasion when she had returned from a drive with the co-resi)ondent had composed and recited to her and her escort before tlie cliildren 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 ilollister reading with solenni face this [)oetical gem to 'the court ! A Litchfield law_\er. whose name I have forgotten, was pleading a case of little importance before a jurw lie was very pathetic and solcnni, so much so that when he concluded the o])iu")sing counsel arose and said, "May it please xour Honor, hadn't we better sing a Innm ?'' FELICITIES 325 The Hon. Charles CIiai)man of Hartftird was journe}ing' 'to Litchfield to attend conrt, in the Hartford and Litchheld stage. It was winter. The stage was an open pnng, the snow was falling" and a northwest wind drove it directly into the faces of the pass- engers. Chapman and "Dick" Hubhard. a In'other lawyer, were sitting on the hrst seat and took the fnll force of the storm. Xo one had spoken for some minntes, when Chapman broke the silence with "I say Hubbard, I had rather facit per aliiim than facit per se!'' Gentlemen : — Some of us have outlived our contemporaries. We are ncaring the setting- sun : our places must soon be filled l)y an- other generation; soon we shall be summoned to the court of last resort. May we respond to the summons, bearing' with us the record of a well-spent life and the hope of a blessed immortality. Yours fraternall}', A. X. Li:wis, Pastijr of Christ's Church. ^ront])elier, A'ermont. HURLBUTISMS The late \\'il]iam V. Hurl])ut, Clerk of the Court of Common rieas, gave me considerable assistance in the preparation of this \vork. The following items are some which he thought would interest members of the liar. ( )ne 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! ]f you. know anything aljout this case, God knows that you know more about it than I do." On the trial of a jM'isoner for shooting- a man whom he thought was stealing- his chickens, the iudge charged the jury very forcibly ag'ainst the accused, l)Ut the jur\' brought in a \-erdict of "Xot Guilty." The judge continued the laborious work of sharpening his pencil in which he was engaged when the iiu-\- gave the verdict. After a consideral)le length of time had ela])se(l he suddenly ex- claimed, "S , }ou have esca]:)ed as ])v fire." The members of the liar have never l)een able to understand the nature of that esca])e. The Hon. Truman v'^mith 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. "Tf your Honor please : T had ]M-e]iared with considerable care a brief with the intention of filing it with the coin-f. After T had finished it I said to myself, if I live fourteen years from the 2r)th 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 T said to myself it was not — - the game was not worth the ]iowder." 324 LITCIIFIKLI) COLNTV Jll'NCH AND LAR There are a multitude of odd and funny things connected with our profession. I am obhged to exclude almost everything" 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 trnm \-arious sources. ScKXK, Criminal Court in Canaan. Alonzo B. Garfield, C. J- on the bench. Crime, prisoner charged with robbery of a drunken woman. Clint Koraback, acting State's attorney. Airs. Xora vSmith (complainant) sworn. Ex. by Air. Roraback : O. W ere vou down in the defendant's house near Fine Grove? A. Yes. 0. Did \ou have some monev there? A. Yes.' O. Did }()u lose it? A. Yes. It was stolen from m_\' pocketbook which I carried in- side my corsets, as I lay on the bed drunk. O. You think the ])risoncr 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 growed up." Mr. Rorai'.ack: — That is all the testimony we have, your Honor, and it is enough. Don wants him bound over. GarFikf.I), C. J. — We hain't got much evidence ag'in" the prisoner, and I don't think he is guilty : that is. not nmch ; but what Don says goes in this court, and so I'll bind him over. ScKXK, Su])erior Court at Litchfield, ( )ctober Term, 1906. Hon. Ralph Wheeler, J. Prisoner, h'ranceski Balcyss, charged with rob- bing a Swede of $165. DoXAT.i) T. \\\\R\KR, to complainant. '\lv. Gustafson : Did you have a Hungarian at work for you? A. I did; he is what they call i\ J'ole, and 1 can do a day's work, or yump over the moon cjuicker than I speak his name, but I have it writ down on a piece of paper, and }ou can tear ofi:' what you want and make a dictionary of the rest. T had a Geruian. and an Irishman, and a nigger to work for me at the same time, and at first 1 thought one of them took it, but our Xorthfield detective sa\"s this is the man. Don took the pajier and attem])ted to read the following name — but he didn't — but asked Kilbourn to: Czyrkstecheltzkoxtcheld- oszlefifski. T. F. R^■\^' (counsel for prisoner, to prisoner on the stand) : O. if you had an\- of your countrymen in AA'aterburw who were they and vvhere are they now?' Tin: I'kisoxkr (throueh a \\'alerl)ur\- interpreter): retrovsk\-, Oskaloft'skw and Xevereft'ski, 1'o Siberia were sent: Kitofi'sky, RubonotTsky, and W'allereft'sky, Tn a dungeon cell were pent. FELICITIES 325 Alilarodovitch and Tetruvitch. Kostolovitch and Rostomaroft' The}- imprisoned or swung them off ; Uut wlien is gone. He never is missed. That is what it sa_\s in a i'ohsh letter written in Russian seript. Three Other Interpreters Emi'eoyed i!v the Court to Watch the First: — That is wrong, he says what not so it. The CofKT : Keep still. Don : Wait. RvAX : Sit down. The Col'RT : Air. Stenographer, what did the witness say? The StexograimlI'Ik : 1 don't know, _\onr Honor. The Court : This is the worst Babel of a case 1 ever heard. Brother Ryan got the $165. (Answer to complaint for di\-orce between Hungarians, received from Hungar_\ In Kilbcjurn.j Dr. Grosz Dezso Law\er S. A. L'jiiEi.Ev Hungar\-. High EsteE-MEd Court: Janos Zsarnaw 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 da\' of 2oktober, claims that the marriage, 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 total!}" negdected all the duties of marriage. All thi> complains of the ])laintiff are not true. I did not de- sert him but he left me 10 years since, dying secretly, ^\'ithin this time- he did not wrote a single line, nor supported me and our chil- dren. Therefore he is v^dio neglected the duties of marriage and not I am who has deserted him. 1 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 monthlx' rate as to support myself antl the children. I give, further, to acknowledge to the court, that a verdic of de- vorce returned in the l\ S. A. lias no power ther in Hungary and even if the jury shotd,d devorce him. according to our laws. I remain in links of marriage, still he can live married in the i'. S. A. That would be very unlawful. Faith full V, 326 I.lTClll-Jl'.I.D CorXTV BKXCII ASD ]!.\R AN ENOCH ARDEN CASE ••AH's \\"ell that Hnds Well;'— (Jn Alt. Riga as well as in Shakespeare. The happy ending of St. \'alen>Line's night, Fe'bruar\- 14th. 1908, of the tragical stor\- of Lovie of Mt. Riga, deserted with her baby in her arms b}- her lursband 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 hap])ily married to Charlie with two Sitalwart children by her side, but unlike Enoch of old did not conveniently sink into obscurity ag'ain. Divorced February 14th, 1908, from the resurrected husband and married the night of the same day to her true husl.)and, accord- ing to the following form : — lloth Lovie and Charlie _\-our right hands unite IJefore witnesses here St. \'alentine"s night. You, CHARLI li. do ])romise to take Lovie to wife. To love her and cherish her the rest of your life. You, LOriB. (\o promise Charlie as husband to take. And, cleaving only to him. each and all others forsake. Now, each having promised the ( 'dier to wed. To Have and to Hold, till Life's journey be sped. For richer, for jDOorer, in sickness and health, — \\v force of the Lavv of our good Commonwealth, 1 VR(3CLAni ynu t:) be lawful Husband and Wife. /.' EX J '01. jNIay your joys be many, and your sorrows be light, And the memories sweet of St. N'alentine's night. And ever, as the circling years roll on, Keep a kindly thought of the Jus'tice. — DiMi. Till-: ALxKixc, oi' A jiKoK. — judge i\ali)h Wheeler liad had his patience sorely tried b\ lawxers who wished to talk, and b\' men who tried to evade jur\- service. Between hypothetical questions and excuses it seenuMJ as if they never would get to the actual'trial of the case, j^o when a ])uzzled little German, who had been ac- ce])ted b\- both sides as a juror, jumjieil u]). llie jmlge was exas- ])erated. "Shudi^"e!'" cried the Cerman. 'A\'hat is it?" demanded the jud*ge. "I tink I like to go home to mein Fran."' said the Cerman. "So would I. but we can't." retorted the ludge. "Sil down." "Hut. Shudge," persisted the Cerman, "I tink 1 not make a good shuror." "You're the best in the box." said the Judge. "Sit down." "What box?" said the Cerman. "The jur_\- box." said the Judge. "Ach. llimmel. I ihougni it was ein l)ad box what beoples get in somedimes. ]^)Ut. Shudge." ])ersisted the little Cerman. "1 dou't sjjcak goot bhig- lish alread\' \et." FiaiClTlES ^2J '"Yon don't have to speak at all," said the Judge. "Sit down." The httle German pointed to the lawyers to make his last des- perate plea. "Shudge, ' said he. "1 can't make noddings von what dese fellers say." It was the judge's chance to get even with the lawvers for many annoyances. "X either can anyone else," he said. "Sit down." With a sigh, the little German sat down. Here is a simnct which the Clerk received, which perhaps may be slightly sarcastic. "For the love of God and humanity. To avoid both wrath and profanir_\-. To enable the executor to pay legacies and debts. Send along that certificate in Sclleck vs. Lietts." Yours very truly. Jtidge Aides 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. Heeman was Clerk and Air. Granger \A'as simply a practicing attorney, Slier it! Sedgwick got ijeeman to write an epitaph on Granger, which \\"as as follows : "\\ hen Toby died — dire groans were he.ird. His friends were in commotion. F'or Heaven refused to dwn the bird And Hell declined the portion." Taking this epita])h into another room the Sheriff folded it up and presently retm-netl to the court room where .Mr. Granger was at fhe table, trying a case, and handed the note to him. Cpon read- ing it, Air. Granger turned it over and wrote ui)on tiie back the fol- lowing, upon Air. ]^)eeman : "And when the Clerk of Hell rose u[) To publis'h to the legions The reason wh_\- the l^ird was liarred A place in those dark regions. A bright red glow about his head Revealed to all those poor damned sotils The face and form of lieeman." Lines Composed b\' 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 Rock He slew and skinned, without a shock Of conscience, or a thought of wrong. But took the mutton right along. : 328 LITCHFIELD COUXTY ]iKXCir AM) liAR The picture of judj^cs t'\-ick'ncc shows h(j\v ;he witnesses impress a judicial mind, it is a reprochicticm of a ])?j)er left hv a learned judge upon his desk after a tedious trial. ( )ther similar papers arc in my possession, many of them utterly unintelligible. The State pays an enormus sum for Stenogra])hers, 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 manv pounds of their liierogl\-phic 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 liands of the Court and Counsel. Until that is done lawvers and judges must take their own notes as best thev can. THE lawyers' ways. "I've been list'nin to them lawyers In the court house of the street An' 1 ve come to the conclusion That I'm most completely beat. First one fellow riz to argv. An' he boldly waded in As he dressed the itremljlin' ])ris"ner In a coat o' deep-dyed sin. \\'hy, he painted him all over In a hue o" blackest crime. An' he smeared his reputation Witli 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. Idien 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 ]:)ris'ncr Ever_\- blessed hiunan grace. Till I saw the light o" virtue Fairl\- shining from his face. 'i'lien 1 own 'at I was ])uzzled How such things could rightlx' 1)e; And this aggrevating c|uestion Seems to keep a ])uzzling me. So will some one ]~)lease intorm me, .\n' this mystery unroll, ] low an angel an' a devil Can ])ossess the self-same sotd. ' IT //^ /''^<'^^- <^.€s 97/ _£jirse itdf^^'jt Morse oio:/^ Jfor?seff^ce~^_ '^oq.o^ iC^rft c^_£/ a^ ^ ^^ ^ 2^u'f/ meney /IJl TSr^^^JJ^^ ^ Till': judge's notes OE ENJl'EXCE Sliuwing- the workings of thf Judicial mind MR. AVIIJ.IAM GRIMES. (.■■()l.l) CRI.MKS") HISTORICAL XUTE 329 "OLD GRIMES." One of the characters connected with our legal fraternity was William Grimes, universally 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 Litchtield probably about 1808, and was a general servant to the students at the Law School. He was born in \'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 Litcl-field was thought by them to be the home of the free. Grimes was thrifty, frugal and acquiretl 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 l;y notifying his master who took steps to recover him and he was o[)!igcd to disp.ose of his property through his friends Dr. Abel Catlin and William H. Thompson, who took the [)roceeds 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 \\hich a copy is here given. ] le 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 from other data which I have secured is as follows : Albert G. Green, of Rhode Island, who afterwards became a distinguished man, L'nited 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 im]3ortuned 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 GRniES. 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 grav — He wore it in a queue. 330 LlTCili'iliLD COUNTY Dl;XClt AND LAR Whene'er he heard the voice of pain His breast with pity burned ; The large round head 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 ('own. He modest merit sought to hnd And pay it its desert ; He had no malice in his mind. No rullles on his shirt. His neighliors he did not al)use. Was sociable and gay ; He wore large buckles on his shoes. And changed them every day. Thus undisturbed by anxious cares His peaceful moments ran. And everybody said he was A hue old gentleman. ^ GEORGE CATLIN'S PORTRAIT The iroutisipiecc in this book is from an old oil ]xunting that he made of himself \yhen he was about twenty-tive }ears old and is now in the possesston of his daughter in New York city who kindly loaned it for reproduction. DIXNKR TO JUDGIi SliYMOUR 331 CUAii'-LlMKXTARV DIXXKR TO JUDGE (J. S. SEYMOUR On the 29th of January, 1874, the JJar of Fairfield County gave a complimentary cinmer to Chief Justice Origen Storrs Seymour, on the eve of his retirement from th^ Jjench — under the provisions of the Constitution. Many distinguished guests were present ; many pleasant and interesting things were said, some relating to our Rar and though all are worthy of preservation we have the space for only a few. The Fresident, Hon. James C. Roomis, introduced the exercises by saying : Gentlemen: — 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 com])elled 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 afi'ords me unfeigned pleasure to as- semble with you around this festive board and unite with our dis- tinguished friends. His Excellenc}-, the Governor of the State of Connecticut; FRs 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 otficials who have honored us with their presence, in paying this well-merited tribute of respect to one 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 tip in the l)osom 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 "( )I(1 (Jcean" float more or less securely, however un- consciousl}', upon the foundations, which this mighty river has con- tributed to establish and maintain ; so, though we cannot define with 33- IJTCIII'IKI.D COUNTY UKXCII AND BAR mathematical jirecision 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 his 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 ui)on the Bench, have greatl}' contributed to the stabilit}' and pros- perity of our institutions and given additional security to the rights of person and property so eminently and so universally enjoyed. It has been my privilege to have been honored with the personal acquaintance and 1 believe friendship of eight of the predecessors of our Chief Justice in that high office — Hosmer, Daggett, Williams, Church, \\'aite, Storrs, Hinuian, Jiutler — glorious names ! They were all high-minded, learned, impartial judges, uncorrupted — in- corruptible ! They have gone down to their graves crowned with honors, haviug trausmitted 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 — if touched itofhiiig less spotless. He will soon transmit it to his successor stainless, to be borne by him through his judicial life uusoiled and then trans- mitted in all purity to another, thence to descend from generation to generation, 1 hope to the latest generation of man, without a spot or blemish. It would aft'ord uie great pleasure to dwell for a few moments, did tiuie permit, upon the many virtues which embellish and adorn the private life of our Chief Justice ; to s])eak of his devotion to the welfare and happiness of his family and friends — of his tender sym- j)athies 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 L'ench, of his liospitalitw his generosity, his integrity, his incorru])tibility — ^but time fails me. I can only say that in all the relations of private life. Judge Seyuiour has been and is the Christian gentleuian, acknowledged and appreci- ated as such by all who know him most, b_v those who know him best. Daniel Webster, speaking of himself at a public dinner given him in the city of Boston some years since, said: "If public life has its cares and trials, it sometiuies has its consolations; if the approliation 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 ui)()n the mind, it is also among the richest re- wards which can console and gratify the heart." In the s])irit 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 (le])ths of my heart, let me sav to you, Mr. Chief Justice, in conclusion, you ]ia\-e cx]ierienccd the cares and trials of public life; JUDGK SEYMOUR S RESPONSE 333 you have secured the approbation of the good ; you have won a crown; it is fit that you should enjoy it. Console and gratify your heart with this rich reward and when \ou 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 tranquil repjose, 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 ])rofessional life at the P)ar and on the Bench, and I do not and cannot look with indilTerence upon my approaching separation from these duties. I, however, make no quarrel with the constitutional provisi(^n under which my retirement takes ])lace "The days of our age are three score _\ears and ten ;" when those years are accomplished, na- tr.re 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 cberisli the memories of professional life, and part from it with f(Mul regret, and I will occupy your time a few moments this evening in suggest- ing some i)articulars 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 m\ native County of Litchfield in 1826, and 1 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 lawvers. — the privilege of fellow- ship on free and easy terms with the elder brethren. I well remem- b-er 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, ]\riner. Huntington. Beers, Board- man, the Churches, Smith. A\'hen I found myself in a snarl, and that happened to me semi-daily. T 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 ])erhaps that we love one another more than the medical facult\'. but our Imsiness bring's us constantly into association with our brethren, our labors arc not isolated but performed in public and in each other's company, whereby we become thoroughly acquainted with each other. Xo man can conduct a comulicated cause in court with- out showing his brethreii 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 inteoTitv and truthfulness in 334 IJTCIIFIELD COUNTY LEXCII AND ISAR liini, they will appear. If on the contrary, he is a sham, everybody will see it. The practice of clianging' partners as associate counsel, brings lawyers 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- g"ag"ed as associates, and at once as familiar and intimate with each other as the Siamese twins. We become, therefore, thoroughly 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 ui').:in the advent of the temperance re- formation, they "took the chills" and died out. iUit 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 l)ar has alwa}s 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, furnj-li scenes of instructive interest. The marvelous and varied pov/'-rs 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 readilv recall man\- such scenes as livelv 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 disg-ustinc>-, exhibiting human nature of its most revolting form and the members of the liar 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 liighest satisfaction. He can here interrogate the masters of juris- prudence, ancient and modern upon th.e matters he has in hand, and will seldom fail of getting an appropriate answer. I yield no blind obedience to authorities and precedents. Law is a progressive science. \\'iicn 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 ])ast that the present may correct, and there are mistakes and errors in the i)resent whicli it is to be hojied the future will correct, but taken as a whole a law- library is re]ilete with sound truths ai>]^licable. 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 ujion which learned arguments have been heard at the I'ar. and learned consultations had b\- the Bench, so that all available learning on the subject is G. II. IIOI.LISTKR S ADDRESS 335 brought forward and receives its due weight. It is difficult to over- estimate the vahie tif the well weighed opinions of such chancellors as Hardwick, Eldon and Kent, and of such Judges as ]\lansfield, Kllenborough and ^larshall. 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 }ou will permit me, occupying- the position I do. to repeat the names of those who have filled the high office I am about to lay down, iioiiiiiia clara each of which upon bare mention suggests all the virtues jiertaining to their high judicial position. When I came to the liar the Chief Justiceship was held 1)y the learned Hosmer followed in quick succession by Daggett, Williams, Church. W'aite. Storrs. and Hinman. and then b}' my immediate predecessor, the lamented Butler, companion, friend, brother. In this, his native county, he needs no eulog_\" from me. In the reports of his judicial opinions he has raised to himself a monument acre pcrmiiiis. Allow me. in conclusion, to propose as a toast. "The memory of the lionored dead of the Bench and Bar of this State." The toast "The liar of Litchfield County" was responded to by lion. Gideon H. Ilollister. as follows: It is difficult to name a portion of this Continent that might with more propriety have been called a -wilderness than was Litchfield Coimty 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- ci])les could bring about in the face of wintry skies and in defiance of steep hills. In 1772, about fifty _\ears after the organization of the town. Tapi)ing Reeve, son of a clergyman of lirookhaven. established him- self in this remote and obscure place which had nothing but a Cotu't House, Jail and ?yleeting House to form a centre for the few tcnvns 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 vehicles and had there been any. there were no roads that could have been safely traversed b_\- 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 liright eyes. With him v.-ent Sally Burr, his \\-\ic. 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 sju^nt four happy years and which now lielcngs to Judge Woodrufl', who is our distinguished guest this evening. ]N[r. Reeve established himself here as a lawver and soon attained to the highest distinction in his profession. After 33^ I.ITCIIFIKI.I) COUNTY UL:XCII AND J'.AR continuing- in it for twelve years, in 1784. when the Revolutionarv \\a.v was scarcely over, he instituted the Litchfield Law School in which he was the sole instructor until 1797, a ])eriod of fourteen years, when he associated with him James Gould, who was after- wards so renowned in the histor_\- of American jurisprudence. This school educated young men from all parts of the Union, among whom were John C. Calhoun, Levi Woodbury, John Al. Clayton, Roger S. Baldwin, v'^amuel S. Phelps, Nathaniel Smith. William Elliot, Origen S. Seymour, Lewis 1>. Woodruff. Truman Smith and other distinguished men, whose names have shed lustre upon the an- nals of our countr_\-. 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 pedagogue, 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, ])r(jduced an overwhelming eft'ect. He was very unequal in the exhibition of his ]x)wers. 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 op]:)ressed and help- less. He was the first eminent lawyer in this country who dared to arraign the common law of England for its severity and refined cruelty in cutting oft' 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 nnich lavor, but he lived long enough to sec them gain a foot hold in this and other States. His principles did not die with him. but are per- ])etuated in his "Domestic Ivclations," and in the jurisprudence of his countr}'. He was an ardent Revolutionary patriot of the Federal school. His fervent ])iety, well-timed charities, noble impulses, thoroughness. simi)licit_\- of character, and disinterestedness all served to render him a general favorite in a widely-extended circle of friends and accjuaintances. He died in 1823. in the 80th year of his age. Such was the head and founder of the Litchfield liar. The next distinguished member of this liar if we are to follow the order of l)irth, was .Xndrew .Adams, born in I73^>. who was successive!}- King's Attorney, member of Congress and Chief Judge. He was a man of clear mind and of great learning. After him Afajor-Ceneral I'riali Trac\-. born in 1755. From 1706 to 1807 he was a Senator from Connecticut, leader of tlie Federal ])ari\-, an intimate friend of Hamilton. Fisher Ames and Aforris, and was a man of great legal acumen and ]^articularly famed for his wit. Then UjIIows Col. Ei)hriain l\irl)y. born at Litchfield in 1757, an ofTicer in the Revolutionary arm\- wlio carried to his grave a frightful \\-riund lliat he received in tiie strn^'o-Ie. He was a faithful and G. H. IIOLLISTER S ADDRESS 337 accurate lawyer. In 1789. he published a volume of "Reports oi' 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 Xathaniel Smith, who was born about the year 1763 and who, after severe struggles with pov- erty and imperfect, earlv 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. Jndge Church and Judge Williams have both told me that he was in their opinion the most gifted man ever l)orn 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 ]^Ir. Smith and how to estimate him. He says : "His voice was excellent, being both powerfid and harmonious, and never broke under any exertion of its capacity. His manner was verv ardent and the seeming dictate of a strong conviction of justice of his cause, and his gestures were the natural expression of stich a conviction. ^Ir. 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 s])read out in his mind's eye from the [beginning. His integrity was always felt and dreaded by his op- ]H:)nent. He spoke with nnich fluency but with no undue rapidity, he never hesitated or haggled at a word, nor did he ever tire his attdiencc with undue ]:)rolixity : 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 tis. This is a part of his argument in the case of Jedediah Strong and \\\ie 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 imder Judge Reeve, and joint professor and delivered lectures to the students in this institution iov 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 33i^ 1JTCIIFJ];I,D COL'^'TV JiKXCIL AND LAR of the L'niied States. Gould's i)leading 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 anmuniccnicnt of Chitt_\''s work on the same title induced him to change !iis ])lan. 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, onlv by the Commentaries tju the laws of England. Judge Gould carried to the liar the same classical finish which appears in his writings. It would have been impossible for him to speak an ungrammatical sentence, use an ineleg'ant 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 wdthin 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 b_\' any wdiich 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 trul\' enviable. To them fiocked from every State in the Union the youth who were to shape the jurisprudence of the western world. They looked upon these renovvmed teachers with as nuich reverence as the }oung 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, llenedict, Sterling, Swan, Asa Bacon, Samuel and Leman Church, Alills, rheli)S. Minor, Strong and others — and but for the ])resence in \\'hich 1 stand. I might attempt some brief sketch of the character and career of the venerable man whose retiracy froiu public life has been the occasion of this meeting, which, though a festival in form, has suft'used our eyes wUh tears. I am one of hi'^ oldest students here ])resent and have known him well. You will all join mc in the prayer that his declining years may be like his l^rofessional and judicial life, serene as they are pure, and that no clouds of sorrnw nia\- settle down between him and a better world. 22 ^ 00 o W O •Si 14 W ^th H "- y. IIISTUKICAL NOTES 3^9 WATERTOWN MURDER TRIAL New principles of law are presented in the case of State vs. William AlcLanghlin. who was indicted by the Grand jury at the April term, 1908, for murder in the first degree. The facts, over which there was no particular contest, were as fellows : On the morning of April 12, 1908. a few men were gathered upon the depot platform at W'atertown. Some of them were at- taches of the railroad. l)ut 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. Une word led to another, and the victim of the tragedy, Robert Downs, a yoimg man of nineteen, pushed McLaughlin over so that he fell on the platform, breaking a bottle of whiskey which he had in his pocket. ]More 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 westerl}- side of the depot platform from where the wordy dispute took place, and McLaughlin went around the opposite corner of the building and threw out the broken glass from his pocket, and then, unseen by anyone, drew a pocket knife, and gfiing up to Downs struck him wi'h it in the neck, severing the carotitl artery, from which wound Downs died within a lew minutes. The trial before the Superior Court was at the (_)ctol)er term 1908, in Litchfield, before Judge Kdwin L>. Gager, lasting into the third week. The prisoner was defended l)y Thomas F. Ryan, Esq., assisted by Elbert P. Roberts, Esq., both of Litchfield. The State prosecution was b\' State Attornex' Donald T. Warner, assisted by Howard F. Landon, Es(|. The principal question was as to the de- gree of the crime, the State contencling- that there was time for premeditation and deliljeration and that all the elements of murder in the first degree were present. The defense claimed that the chronic alcoholism of the acctised. as shown by his previous history, cind by the medical testimony of the defendant's expert. Dr. John L. I'uel, rendered the accused incapable of the deliberation and pre- meditation under all the circumstances of the case necessary to con- stitute the crime of nnu'der in the first degree. The jur_\- after long deliberation returned a verdict of murder in the second degree, and the prisoner was sentenced to State Prison for life. A\'hile chronic alcoholism, as a defense is known in the law. it lias 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 Avith the successful installation of The Xew Milford Power Company. 340 I.ITCIIFIKLU COUNTY BI^XCII AND BAR NEW MILFORD POWER CO. About l\\ent_\-hve years ag'o the JI(jn. Nicholas Staul), 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 incorijorate a company for that purpose, and a charter was granted l)y the General Assembly of 1893, forming the New Milford Power Comj^any. 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. Alany hydro-electric engineers advised that there could not be fall enough obtained to develop sufficient power to make such a jilant, considering the large expense of the trans- mission line, prohtaljle. Walter S. Morton, an eminent hydraulic engineer, now the consulting engineer of the Xew York City Water Supply Commission, saw at once how the power of the water at JJulls Bridge could be doubled, and acting under his suggestions the com])any proceeded to erect a small dam in the g'orge at Bulls liridge, and dug a canal over two miles long to convey the water to a point in the town of New Alilford, where they obtained a fall of one hundred and fifteen feet, with an average of two thousand horse power. The incorporators employed Frederic 'SI. Williams, Esq., of New Alilford to attend to the legal part of the business. The charter liad to be amended, giving the company various powers not original- ly included therein. After the charter was perfected and the stock of $i,ooo.oco. subscribed, the dam was built, the canal dug and the po'wer house, with four immense dynamos was erected. These were all matters of mechanism, but the real interesting part to us attorneys was the proceedings relating to the acquisition of the flooded territor}-. Lands bordering on the river suddenly rose in value, and but little could be ])urcha&ed, consequently condenuiation ])roceedings under the charter were instituted by 'Sir. Williams, to accpiire them. Nothing like these proceedings appear upon our records, in number or in accuracy. Committees were appointed consisting of Hon. Geo. Al. Woodruft' of Litchfield, James Alldis, Esq., of Torrington and Edwar.d S. Roberts. Esq.. of North Canaan, anil 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 jiarty. The report of the Committee was accepted by the Suj^erior Court, and no appeal was carried in any case to the Sujjremc Court of Errors. Lines of wire were erected and ])(i\\er successfully transmitted to Waterbury, and other cities. Several electric roads are run by it. and ultimatelx' the New York and New Haven and TL'irtfurd Ixailroad Comi)any obtained the con- trol of the ])lant. ^l^^gi^S^SSSZESEXSS!?^'' 1 A S E R M O. N , I ^"v Delivered at I {L ITCH FIELD, , On the 2** Day of November, A. D. 176^ " .[| « On the Day of ilic Execution of JOHN . J AC OB S, jH in An Indian Narivc, ^Jl^ ^^^'Jf^'J'*^^ to Sentence of Death palTed upor>|| I?* hiKx.:^"!^ ^) the Hon. Superior CoLiir, .^ For the Murder of i^iiTAMES CHOC ^Preached upon the Dcfire of theCrimin il, ajid \ ptibliOitd at the requeft of foiiic.jpl^ Hearers. ' ^r -.- . — __=« '1^? , f '■-r ^ By TIMOTHY PITKIN, A.l^''v^V| *aftor of tl»e firft Church in F'ir^ffgtCft'Q nou /J)ctll not kill. Sixth Cot«iMAHi>\, •^••%^ '^ " H A R r F R j)ivi<()X Tl'TTlk was also ap]iointed in 1895 '^'^'^ 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 nian 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 oHices of the town of Plymouth; Selectnian and Judge of Probate. He did a good deal of law lousiness such as conveyanc- ing, drawing wills, contracts and the like. He was especially fond of assisting attorneys in ])reparing 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. AxDREw G. P).\RXES was appointed Jurv Comniissioner in T()07. He is a native of Sherman Conn., born Xoveniber 15th, 1838, but has resided in Xew Milford nearly his whole life where he is an ex- tensive farmer, dairyman, cattle breeder and large grower of to- bacco. Has held man\- town ottices and represented New Milford in the Legislature of 1895 «i"*^^ i'J03' a'lf^ ^^'^s Senator of his dis- trict in 1907, and is re-elected Senator for 1909. CjiKSTKRFiEi.n Q. MiDDLKi'.Rooiv was aD])ointe(l a Jury Ccjm- missioner in- 1907. He has been Sheriff of Litchfield Countv and liossesses a large acquaintance all over the Comity, peculiarly fiitting him for exercise of his ]-)resent office. 344 J.lTCJil'lKLD COINTV liKXCII AND UAK COrXTY COMMISSIOXERS. 'i"he 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 afifairs, such as providing for the care of the County Inuldings, tlieir repair, providing for .the maintenance of the jail, etc. i'robably 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 otlice for four years from their appoint- ment. The present Commissioners are as follows Hubert I). Case, the Chairman is a native of narkhamsted, born April 3rd. 1856. He is a merchant, has been a member of the Gen- eral Assembly from his town, and has held man}' town offices. His term of office expires Uctoljer 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 Xew Hami)shire and A er- mont. He has rei)resente(l Thomaston in the Legislature. His term of office expires ( )ctober i, 191 1. John J. Karl was born in Goshen, X\ Y. ^larch i, 1864, but has resided since his bo\hood in Litchfield. He is a teacher, composer £)nd publisher of nuisic. Js verv active in political affairs, and is Town Clerk of Litchfield, and Clerk of the Probate Court of Litch- field District. His term of otlice expires October i, 1913. ^ COURT MHSSKXGERS 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 attenfl 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. Li W'insted, Ur. 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 ccnfiicts of the opposing parties. Y, O J o I— ( c/i CO JUDGMENT. One hundred years have brought then' bloom and fruit, Since "every one who had a cause or suit," Might "come up hither" and present his claim, With no misgivings, that, whoever came, With 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 hghts. 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 _\ears, 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' Pikrpoxt. In Riv IX TIIi; MATTKR OF run LITCIIFIKLD COUNTY Bexcii and Bar. January i, 190c) 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, which 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 Count}' by John Pierpont in his Centennial poem is hereby accepted and approved. DwiGHT C. Kilcourx, ( Clerk. INDEX NAMES 142, 217 2\6 2\7- 336 123, 217 124. 218 92, 105. 293 174. 218 124. 218 123. 218 218 218 340 13 219. 2bb \2 /• Abernelhy. Hlisha S. Adam and Church Adam and Eve J. Henry Adams. Andrew 1 1, 5(). 126. I V), 181, Eliiah John Q. jolm (Juincy John Samuel Addis, Jolm F. Aiken, Edmund John Albro, John A. Alld.s, James Allen, Ethan Henr\ J. John II, 28. 45. 56, 62, 126, 218. 338 John Wm. 47, 139 Ames, Fisher 336 Andrews, Charles B. 125, 126, 129. 181, 219. 309. 310 Charles \\. 221 Edward Warren 221 James P. 221 Samuel James 221 William 221 W. H.. Rev. 221 Andros, Sir Edmund 6 Annual hanquets 316, 317 Ashley, Tnnothy 146 Atwood, C. B. 124, 221' Austin, Aaron 11, 142, 143, 222 Ralsamon C. 222 Averill. Roger 108. 222 Avers, Russell W. 222 Babcock. Rufus. Rev. 7 Bacon, Asa 61. 86. 9^7. 134- ^-2-'. 2>i?>- 338 Epaphroditus C. 222 Gen. Francis 222 Backus. Azel, D. D. 23, 33 Baker, Willard 124, 222 Balcomb, Benjamin, murder 152 121, 123, 140. 143. G. W Baldwin. Birdseye Chief Justice Daniel George H. George Isaac II Isaac Jr. Roger S. Samuel \\ illiam Ball, Liuher T. Bancroft. George Barbour, Henry S. S\lvesier Barker, Prof. Barnes, Andrew Eorrin Barrett. John Barlow, Joel Bates, A. Robert C. Battell. Josiah B. Beach, Jesse John S. Supt., Geo. 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, 171 Belden. Charles O. Bellamv. Jo'-eph H. 30. 9^ Joseph, D. D. Benedict. Amos Noah B. 29, 56, S7- 86 149, 227. 27 X. Rev. Noah Bennet, Milo L. Benton, Jacob Isaac II o. - 221 12 12; 224. :^i(> -'44 224 244 137 224, 301 224 153 343 -'^4 121 80. 176 19-'- 22':^ 225 156 154 150 225 148 225 182 2>7 22- 123. 7^■ ■ S7. 338 321. 327 22^ 226 226 226. 333 226 135. 226 30, 226 226, 296 123, 134. 139, 59 227 \22 21 ir IXUKX Berry, Hcnian 22-J Betts, John B. 227 Tliaddeus 78 Bidwell. William W. 2^1 Bierce, William W. 124, 227 Billings. X. 192 Bills. Henry A. 227 Brigham. Judge 278 Bion, Michael--trial 159 Bird, Hon. John 227 Josepli 3^. 142 Bissell. Daniel 13 Edward 227 Edward 124. 227 Francis 123. 22S Governor 78. ■ 56 Harry 322 Blackman. Ehenezer B. 228 Blagden, Col. 16 Blake. Louis J. 124. 228 Blakeslee. J. W. 228 Blakeley. Samuel C. 22S Blodgeit, William H. 124, 228 Boardman. Daniel. Rev. 7 David S. — Sketches 39, 23^ '3-' 40. 80, 86. 88, 90. 123. 135. 142, 228. ,^33. 337, 338 Elijah 20, 97. 228 George S. 97. 22S William W. 22S Booth. Walter 78 Borjesson. Andrew — trial 160 Bosler. William 1). 123. 228 Bostwick. Bushnell 142 Charles 228 Joseph A. 229 Samuel 123. 229 Botchford. Natlian 122 Botsford. Henry A. 127, 229 Botts. John AI. 292 Boughton. John O. 124, 229 Boyd. John 229 Bradley, Alirahani, Jr. 23c Edward E. 150 Phincas 231 Bradstreet. Alliert P. 124. 231 Brainard, Cephas 203 Jeremiah G. 73. 77. 83 Brant 17 Brewster. Nelson 115. 231 Breen, James T. 231 Brinsmnde. Dan'el X. 123. 143. 231 Rev. Daniel ^3. 231 Bristol. Clifford E. 124. 232 William 73. 77 Bronson. Bennett 232 Merritt 232 Brooks. X'orman 163 Brown. Charles R. 2V2 John 183 Brown Si 111, Samuel Roger Buckingham, Gov. Wm. A. 108, 301 Homer 160 S. McLean 124, 233 Buel, Dr. Henry W. • 129, 156 Dr. John L. 339 Xorton J. 108, 232 Dr. William 26 Bull, Epaphrus. W. 232 Burke, William 232 Burr. Aaron 44. 182. 191, 335 Sally 44. 182. 191. 335 Burrall. Porter 109 William ^L 80. 91, 109, 112. 134. 142. 143 232. 233. William P. 140. 233 Burrill, Charles D. 233 Burnham. Oliver 143 Bushnell, Horace 139 Butler, Calvin go. 1^4. 142. 233 Calvin R. 233 ALiIciilm X. 233 Col. John 17 Butler, Hon. Thomas B. 151. 311 Chief Justice loi. 332. 33^ Zehulon 17 Cable. Cuni^s W. Cady. Daniel W. Calhoun. D;i\"id S. [(.Iiii C. \\'illiain Camp. George W. Samuel G. Camden. Lord Canfield. Ezi"a Edwartl T. Henr\ J. John Joseph Judson 233 233 124. 234 182, 312, 336 L^2 234 124, 234 73 234 124. 125. 234 234 26. 53. 126, 234 123. 234 123. 143. 234 Samuel 10. 26. 42. 121. 142. 234 Col. Samuel 23^ Card. Albert M. 235 Carpenter, Judge 130 Case, Lyman W. 233 Orrin S. 23^ I'riah 124. 23s Catbn. Dr. Abel 329 Abijah 71. 142. 236, 23s George 23^. 330 George Smith 235 John T2I Putnam 235 Thomas 122 Chaffee. Elmore S. 236 INDEX III mi. Cliamberlain, Gov. Abiram Champion, Anna Champlin, Epaphroditus Lucretia Judah. Rev. John D. Chapin, Rev. Chapman, Charles 77, lo. Judge Charles I, King II, King Chase. Charles Y Cheever, Samuel W. Chipman, Thomas Hon. Nathaniel Chittenden, Frederick Choate, Rufus Chockrer. James Church, Aaron Leman 29. 50, 66, 109, no. III, 116, 126, 2?,1, Z},?,- 338. Samuel 3, 66, 86, 126, 133, 139, 152, 168, 297, 302. 311, 2,2>^. 2,2,2^, Clark. Senator William A. S. Gregg Thomas M. Clayton, John AI. 293, Cleveland, Chauncey Chester D. Frank E. General Clossey, E. M. Cobb, Lorenzo T. Coe, Mrs. Thomas M. William G. Coffing, George Churchill Cogswell. Leonard \V. 131, Col. William 92. 123. Cole. George W. Collier, Thomas Collins, Rev. Timothy Cook, Richard Roger Roger W. Cornelius. Elias Cornwall. Edward A. Cothren, William 150. 238. 254. 262, 273. 34 County Jail Court Messenger County Commissioner, Cowan, Stewart W. Cowles. Edward P. Weaker S. Samuel 22>, 56, iz, 76 142, 242, 96, 135, 103, 237. 335> 125, 312, 102, 124, 124, 321 135. 124, 19, 151, 12 = 295 261 63 63 261 236 2,1 ■ 78 41 230 236 192 236 236 237 310 341 237 108 150, 108 296 337 288 237 237 336 137 238 2.38 61 163 L=52 281 238 156 238 3^3 238 238 146 224 238 II 238 36 245 152 176 344 344 239 239 239 239 Cromwell, Oliver Cumming, Edward Curtiss. Eli Garner B. Holbrook Medad William E. Cushing, Caleb Cutler, George Y. D 41, 282 239 123, 239 129 94, 134, 142, 239 239 239 137 239 Daggett, Judge 56, 78. 139- 140, 148, Darling. Samuel Davis, Gov. John William C. William C. Jr. Nathan Davies, John Dawes, Senator Day, Thomas Dayton, Spencer Dean, Gilbert Lee P. Deming, Julius Stephen William Dempsey, E. C. Dexter, Jeremiah W. Derso, Dr. Grosz Dickinson, Daniel S. William E. Dowd, Wheaton F. Downs. Robert Theodore W. Dorr, Governor Drakely, Robert Drinkwater, William Dunbar. Daniel Miles Dunning. Lyman Dutton, Judge Thomas Henry M. Dwight. Rev. Timothy D\er, Eliphalet 311. Z32, 335 121 137 154 154 122 121 278 84. 85, 98 125, 239 239 125, 239 20, 182, 146 322 322 125, 240 240 325 312 240 143, 240 239 240 137 152 240 240 240 159 103, 241 241 37 170 Eastman. Rufus 241 Eaton, William W. 102 Edmonds. Judge 5^ David 241 Edwards. Rev. Jonathan 31, 335 Pierrpont 56 Ogden 241 Eggleston. Frederick 241 Eldridge. Nathaniel B. 241 Elliott. Rev. John 64 IV INDSX Elliott, William 336 Ellsworth, Henry Loomis 241 Oliver 170. 174. 241. 212 William W. 7b. Ill, 1 28, 126, 151, 242 Elmer, William T., Judge 163 Elmore, John 108, III, ^23, 241 John Jr. 241 Col. Samuel 15- 241 Ely, William H. 125, 241 Emmons, Charles 115 Ensign. James 241 Etheridge, Frank W. 124, 166, 241 Everitt. Daniel 41, ^23. 242 Sherman 242 Everson, Margaret 55 Ewing, Thomas 225 249. 123. Fairchild, Mary 217 Farnam, John R. 125, 242 Farnsworth, Amos H. 242 Farrand, Rev. Daniel 23 Fellows, Francis lOi Fenn, Augustus H. 126. 155, 243, 244 Elliott J. Frederick J. Linus Field. George T.. Fillmore, Millard Fitch, Thos Flint, Rev. Dr. Foote, Admiral Ebenezer Governor John A. Lucius H. Forbes, Samuel i Foreign Mission School Foster, Jared B. 115, 138, 143, Lafayette S. Fox. Charles Franklin, Benjamin John Governor Maj. (k'li. Will. B. Silas Weaker S. Freeman. George A. Frisbie. Samuel Henry L Jerome Rufus Fulton, Robert Fyler, Florimond D. 143. 285 244 244 244 244 293 122 230 244 245 244 244- 245 150 3, 20, 21 30 245, 2S2 lOI 151 16, 174 17 16 245 17 245 245 246 117, 246 246 246 291 246, 262 114. 142. 24; Garfield, Alonzo B. Garrett, Joshua Gager, Judge Edwin B Ga>lord, Frederick George IH.. Statue Giddings, Ammi V. R. C. (jifford, George (ilynn, James P. Gold, George R. Thomas R. Goodman, Arthur Goodrich, Elizur Lieut. Gov. Goodwin, Hiram Gould, James 24, 28, 46, 56, 59, 146, 149. 183. 187, 194, 246, 293. 304. 338 James Reeve George William T. Dr. William Granger, Lyman Miles Toby no. III, 112 320. 321, 326 Grant, Elijah Phelps Friend Graves. Henry B. 126, 129. 151. 152, 254, 260. 321 Jedediah Green. Albert G. Dr. John William H. Griswold, Geo. W. Roger Governor Guiin, Frederick Guthrie. W. W. Haddock v. Haddock Hadley, Richard Hale, Nathan 123. Hall, Benjamin Elnathan • Gideon 126. 138, 151, Robert E. Halsted, Mr. Hamilton, Alexander Hand, Alexander Hardcnburg. Col. Jacob B. Ill, 12 324 122 339 246 181 246 246 294 124, 246 246 246 313 45 176 276 85. 108, 126, 188, 192, 193, 312, 336. 337, 247 247 247 59 247 114, 115, 126, 247, 247 247 155, 241. 248, 47. ^2S. no 329 ^37 153 248 176 176 248 248 Harper, John 164 157 M3. 248 248 248 226, 248 125. 248 312 336 336 165, 249 249 Harrison, C.eorge C. Julius B. ii6, Hart, William Harvey, Joel Rev. Hathaway, Chas. R. Hatch, Moses Hawle>-, Charles William Hayes, Charles Gordon John T. Hazelton, John Heacock, Philo N. Heminvvay, Louis M. Henshaw, Joshua Herman, Samuel A. Hickox, George A. 156. Higgins, Bernard E. James R. Richard T. Hillhouse, James Hine, Homer Hinnian, 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. Holcoml/, Marcus H. Walter Hollister, David F. Gideon H. 126, 138, 150, 151, 321, 322, 335 John B. Holly, John M. Holley, Horace Holle>- & Coffmg Holmes, Uriel II, 123, 143, Holt, George B. Hopkins, Samuel Miles Hornblower, C. J. Home, Samuel B. Horton, F. H. Isaac M. Hosnier, Stephen Titus 73' Hosford, Samuel C. Howe, Henry John D. Hubbard, Edward J. INDEX 11 V 343 Hubbard, J. H. 71. 105, 107, 114. 126, 126, 138, 249 138, 150, 219. 254. 270, 321 146 John T. 123, 254 36 Frank W. 125, 255 Richard D. 157, 285 125, 249 1 1 , * •-,-, t^ L^ ♦- /~\ »-, 342 ninnabcon 249 7S Hungerford, Frank L. 125, 255 Levi 255 249 Humphrev, Joseph D. 255 249 Van R. 256 163 Hunt. Hiram 256 13 Reuben 134, 256 97, 134, 249 249 Robert Russell ^ 256 21 145, 249 Huntington, Edwar ■d G. 256 124, 249 James 124, 126, 152. 155. 245. 237- 248, 250 250, 256, 316, 318 124, 250 Gen Zacliariah 64 157 Jabez W. 29, 64, 76 . 86, 126. 124. 165, 25c 56 134, 183, 190. Hurl but. 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. I 18 256 95. 138, 123, 251 251 122 Ingersoll, Jonathan Governor 122 251 143, 251, 254 113, 134, 251 251 125, 167, 252 124, 167, 252 252 253, 262, 273, 252 252 3" 21 147, 253, 338 252, 296 253 306 124. 254 254 254 220. 311. 332 254 225 125, 254 125, 254 Judge Ives, Aner Henrv C. 50 148 2.^8 Jackson, President 241, 251, 225 Jacobs, George W. 258 John 341 James, H. 6 Jay, John 13 Jaqna, Daniel, Jr. 258 Jefferson, President 170, 174, 337 Jenks, George P. 258 Jenkins & Boyd 21 Jessup, Ebenezer, Jr. 258 Jewell, Ezra 258 Frederick A. 124, 258 Johnson, President Andrew 253 Franklin 154 Samuel N. 26 Amos M. 258 Elisha 126, 259 Solon B. 117, 259 Walter W. 123, 259 Sylvester 259 Johnston. S. W'. II Josiah S. 34 Jones, Rev. Isaac 188 H. Roger, Jr. 124, 259 VI INDEX Judd, Walter S. Judges Notes Judson, Charles A. George H. S. W. K 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 i 260, 290, 291, 312, Reynold Ai. Kirkum, Philemon Knapp, William Koehler, Fred M. Kunkel, Edward A. 125, 143, 166, 127, 259 328 259 259 259 259 260 260 186, 335 314 123, 260 260 260 260 260 25, 27, 123 68, 170, 181, 336 260 260 125, 261 125, 261 261 Lake, Joseph 261 Landon, Edgar M. 261 Howard F. 124, 261, 339 John R. 11, 127, 261 Lanman, James 71 !, 75 Law, Richard 181, 311 Law School 170 Lawrence, H. P. 155, 262 Wm. P. 124 Leavenworth, Isaac 95- 135, 262 William 147 Lee, Rev. Jonathan 7 Bradley D. 262 Rev. Chauncey 31, 262 LeRoy, James 154 Lewis, Rev. Alonzo N. 125, 262, 321, 322> Daniel W. 123, 262 Lilley, James 262 Linsley, Frank D. 125, 262 Longfellow, Charles D. 262 Loomis, Hon. James C. 331 Lord, John J. 263 Lynde 127, 263, 264 Loring, Charles G. 186 Lounshury. Gov. Phineas 254 W. B. 150 Loveridge, George 264 John P. 264 Lower J, Romeo 264 Lowry, Governor P. 294 125- 124, 10, 121, 124, 124, 123, 126, 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 Frank W. Samuel William Marshall, Judge Marvin, George A. Reynolds 11, 20, 265 Ruth Mason, John Y. Ebenezer P. Masters, Charles S. Nicholas 156, McDermolt, Peter J. 124, Mather, John P. C. Maxam, Amasa McCurdy, Charles J. 78. McMahon, James H. 135, 265, John McLaughlin, William McMorris. William LI. Mead, Paul E. Mannassah, Henr>' Merrill, Walter S. Merwin, Edward S. Orange Sylvanus T. Dwight Metcalf, Theron Middlebrooks, C. C. 127. 225 Miller, Joseph Mills, Michael F. Roger Roger H. Samuel J. Minor, Gilbert S. John Joseph Matthew 94- Matthew J. Miner, Phineas 65, 74; 86, 89. 123, 134. 139, 267, 23,2' 338 125, 266, 91. 135, 93, 112, 134, 93, 114. 134, 122 264 264 264 264 143 264 264 265 264 162 184 265 142 265 265 122 335 265 170, 170 293 34 265 265 265 102 148 lOI 206 265 339 266 266 152 266 266 91 no 266 312 3t3 267 266 266 267 30 267 142 142 135 267 140, INDEX vn Miner, Timothy William T. Alitchell, John G. Henry A. Stephen Mix Mix, John G. Lucy Thomas Morrill, Henry R. Moore, Charles C. Samuel Morris. Governcur T. Dwight James Matthew M Morse. Jacob Nathan Morton, Walter S. Moseley, Increase William Moses, Julius Mosher, Lewis W. Moss, Charles E. Mulville, Wm. P. Munger, Vv^arrcn Munn, Frank B. Munson, Harris B. Judge Lovel.'iiul Mygatt, Fred E. N 1 06. 122 117, lOI . 134. 267 267 122, 311 267 145 145 267 181 34 13. 336 104, 267 23, 3: ^ 65 151 129 125. 268 340 142 176 133 344 268 125. 268 268 124 . 268 268 28g 125: , 2(xS 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 North, Theodore 95. 135- 269 Norton, Birdse>e 143 James H. 269 Johnathan T. 269 Noyes, William Curiiss 239 Obookiah. Henrv 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 146 123, 151 112, 112. 76, 23. 73, 75, i26, Palmer, Charles A. Joseph M. Solomon M. Parmaley, Jonathan E. David Park, Hon. John D. Parker, Amasa Rev. Daniel Parsons, Anson V. Daniel Patterson, Walter M. Pease, Calvin Peck, Wilham K. Peet, George Washington Perkins, Donald H. Perry, Nathaniel 94, 95- I34. Peters. Hugh F. John T. Pettit, Joel T. William Pettibone, Augustus II, 79, 80, 123, 142, 143, Giles Samuel 26, 126, Sereno Phelps. Chark's B. 94, 134. 138. 142, 150, I5L 262, 273.^21 E. Frisbie 125, Elisha Ralph P. Samuel 122, 336, Pickering, Col. Pierce, Amos James Sarah Pierpont, John I39, 272, 273, Pine. Charles H. Pingree, T. P. Pitcher, John Pitkin. Rev. Timothy (sermon) George William 122, Piatt. Orville H., Hon. 170, Plumb, Henrv B. 124, Poe, Washington Poem. The Lawyers Ways Pond. E. LeRoy 124, Porter. Charles J. 127, John K 270 270 270 270 270 220 270 23 270 270 270 270 102 270 271 245 271 271 271 271 192 271 271 271 271 238, Joshua II. I; Peter B. President Potter, Joel B. Prentice, George D. Prescott. Henry H. 10 = 106, 35, 273 273 273 338 230 273 273 24 345 245 278 273 341 263 170 273 275 312 328 275 275 294 142 275 228 275 76 157 VIII IND^ji Preston, Nathan William 123, 275 10, 121, 142, 276 Rabello (trial) 140 Ransom, William I,. 123. I. 26, 261, 276, 320 Timothy C. 276 Randall, Benjamin 293 Raymond, David 276 James 276 Reed, Rev. Adam 117 John 276, 277 John (j. 117, 277 Roraback, Alberto T 124, 126, 132, ] 43. 157, 278, 301 J. Clinton 124, 279, 3^3 J. Henr>' 124, 279 Willard A. 124, 279 Reeve, Aaron Burr 183, 184, 277 Abner Rev. 182 Reeve, Tapping II, 23, 24, 28, 37, 42, 46, 56, 59, 61, 62, 85, 122, 123, 126, 139, 182, 185, 187, 191, 192, 193, 195, 217, 225, 228, 230, 241, 244, 245, 246, 253, 273, 277, 290, 291, 293, 298, 306, 311, 312, 329, 335, 336, 337 Tapping Burr Roberts, Elbert P, Edward S. Virgil William J. Robinson, Henry C. Richards, James Richmond, Edward Francis X Richter. Clark Riibbins, Rev. Ammi Samuel Rockwell Bros. Edward Julius William Rogers, Capt. Edward William Roosevelt, President Root, Jesse 122, 182, 18;, 191. 311, 312 Rood, William H. 278 Rowland, Samuel 279 Rugglcs, Philo 123, 279 Russell, Col. 1-:. K. 168 John II. 279 Ryan, Joseph 280 Timothy 280 Thomas F. 123, 280, 326, 339 184 123. 279, 339 340 133 279 283 278 278 278 278 23 156 21 278 278 278 16 279 "75 246. Salisbury, Stephen Sanford, George A. David C. 96, 126, Henry S. 124, Henrv Seymour 280, Rollin Scatocoke Indians Scott, Fred A. Scoville, Daniel Homer R. Sedgwick, Albert Charles F. 71, 108, 151, 282, 321, 342. Gen. John Robert Capt. John Sewall, Samuel Seymour, E. W. 71, 126, Frank^ W. Horatio Morn's W. 125, 283, Moses 82, Moses, Jr. 11, 15 Origin Storrs 71, 126, 138, 150, 151, 152, 283, 285, 286, 288, 311, 336. Ozias II, S2, \27, Rev. Storrs O. Thomas Shay's Rebellion Sheldon. Daniel Col. Elisha Shfdly, James P. Shelton, George F. Stephen Sherman. Daniel n, John Capt. John Rev. John Roger 56. 122, 126, 173. 232, 288, 289. Samuel William Gen. Wm. T. Sherwood, S. E. Skinner, J. B. Mark Oliver Richard, L. L. D Roger Roger S. Gen. Tmiothy Slosson, Brazillai John John ^\'illiam Nathaniel William 30, 47. 137 124, 280 151, 280 135. 281 281, 321 280 5 124, 282 116 124, 282 127, 281 126, 147 282 282 16 137 283, 28^ 124, 288 287 287, 288 181, 285 , 37, 127 103, 125 189, 234 33^, 333 285, 287 287 26 18 37 15, 142 124, 288 125, 288 288 142, 288 142 288 288 142, 170 288 122, 173 289 56 192 289 289 30, 289 123. 289 289 30, 289 123, 289 289 49 50, 139 40, 289 INDEX IX Smith. Aaron 123. 290. 291 Strong. Adonijah 27 . 79. 105. 123. 296 Chauncey 97, 290 Jedediah 55, 142, 297, 337 Cotton Mather 28, ■ 53 John, Jr. 90, 135, 296 David II. 143, 290, 291 Martin 27, 79, 143. 297. 338 James W. 124, 290 Moses Theron R. William Rev. William 247 George W. Cien. E. Kirhj- 147, 150 290 297 79 79 John Cotton 28 ^ 53,. 123. 125 Sturges. Jonathan 122 126, 290, 338. Swain, Judge 275 John Cotton. Jr. 290 Swan, Betsey 282 Joseph L. 146, 290 Cyrus 80. 90. 123. 134. 143. Junius 291 282. 297. 338 Nathan 27, 292, 342 Swift, Benjamin 297 Nathaniel 11, , 27. 2 8. 55 . 58 Heman, Col. 15, 143- 297 96, 123. 126. 134, 139. 148. 291 Homer 97, 134 Nathaniel B. 292, 336, 337 Jabez 297 Col. Nathaniel 292 Milton H. 297 Perry 92. 134. 292 Zcphaniah Phcnias J., Jr. 292 73. 80 . 83. 84. 31 1. 3^~ Richard 13. 292 Syllyman. Hb-enezer 122 Rev. Dr. 48 Truman 56, 96, 150, , 221, 237 T 292, 293, 294. 323. 33,3, 336, 342 Wellington B. Taft, George E. 125, 297 155. 157. 295. 316 Talcott, Col. John 277 Willey T. 344 Ruth 277 William M. 55 Tallmadge, Col. Bcnjair liii Southmayd, Samuel W. I 5. 20 . 37, 145, 181 50, 123, 139. 295 Ta\lor. Nathaniel, ] Rev. 41 Spencer. George 316 Teller. Senator 275 Ambrose 34 Tharen, Robert S. 297 Sprat t, William 127 Thatcher, Patridge 26, 41, 122 Sprague. Lenian B. 295 Thayer. John Q. 125, 297 Stanberry, Henry 225 Thomas. John 264 Stanlev, Rufus 295 Judson B. 298 Staples, Seth P. 295 Martin H. 298 Starr, Daniel 295 Thompson, Hezekiah 26 ,298 Staub, Hon. Nicholas 340 James 298 Sterling. Ansel 91, 135. 142. 295 Judson B. 298 Elisha II, 23. 29, ( 53, 86, 88 William H. 329 123, 126, I ^4. 148, 149. 295. 300, Tiffanv. F. R. 125 , 298 338 Tracy, Uriah John M. 295 II, 18, 23. 2 7. 3; ", ^6. 60 . 80, Stevens, Henry W. 296 123, 126. 139, 298. 336 James 296 Treadwell. John 37 Stiles. Benjamin 122, 296 Treat, Amos S. 298 Benjamin, Jr. 123, . 296 John 122 David J. 150 Selah B. 298 President 48 Todd, Oliver A. G. 298 Stoddard, Eliakim S. 296 George 298 Henry 296 Tolman, David 298 Maj. Luther 16 Torrance, Hon. David 152 , 219 , 243 Stoeckel. Robbins Battell 123. , 296 Tousley, Samuel 263 Stone. Charles F. 294 Trumbull. Gov. 64. 102 . 175 John 82 Doctor 13 Storrs, Judge John 31 76. 151. 152, 311. 332- 3"^^ Tucker. Judge 278 Stowe. Harriett Beeche ■r 182 Turkington, F. H. 127 , 299 St. Paul's Lodge, F. & A. M. 168 Turrell, John S- 299 INDEX Tuttle, Byron 343 Judge Ralph 326, 2,27 Charles 299 Philander 106, 134 Tiinxis Indians 153 Sally 22 s Twining, Stephen 299 W hite, Aaron 136, 138 Tyng, Rev. Dr. 137 Bernice Rev. Edwin A. 125, 152 303 W Whitmore. Samuel 261 Whitney, Joshua 121, 126, 302 Wadhams, Albert 299, 315 Solomon 302 Noah ^23, 299 Whittlesey, Charles 302 W'adsworth, George 299 Elisha 302 Gen. James 175 Roger 302 Capt. Joseph 230 Thomas T. 302 Waite, Judge 150,, i52, 335 W.lcox, Marshall 278 Henry 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, 150, Walton, Mr. 106 220, 22,2, 335, 2,2,7 Ward, Bennet , 150 Thomas Scott 311 Henry 191 William G. 90, 135, 303 Warner, Arthur D. W'ilson, Andrew B. 303 124. 143. 152, 245 268 299 313 Wolcott, Frederick Donald J., Jr. 300 II, 22, 30, 27, 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 lOI 125, 127, 142, 303, 181, 217. Donald T. 124. 126. 261. 30C Gov. Oliver 125, 176, 303 322,, 339 Roger 174 Lyman F. 300 Ursula 176 Milton J. 300 W'ood, Daniel 304 Seth 15 Woods, Prof. Alva 137 Washington, George 15- 175. 181 Woodbn'dge, John, Jr. 304 Watterman, Atty.-Gcnl. 278 Woodburv, Levi 183, 312, 336 Thomas 300 Woodruff, Ezekiel 304 Watson, Douglass 300 Frederick S. 306 Webb, John Maj. 16 George C. 113, 139. 140, 150, Webster. Daniel F. 300 283. 304, 305, 321 Daniel 332 George M. 123, 193. 304. 340 Frederick C. 125, 300 James P. 123, 30.S John W. 244 Lewis B. .305. 306 Noah 80 Morris j?', 80, 143 304. 305 Welch, Gidcnn TT 124, 143. i.S.v 300 WriG;ht, Pitkin Cowles 306 Hugh P. 143 Wyllys, Mrs. 230 John 3 7. "C ), 80, 143 Wynne. John F. 125. 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 g6. T15, 134, 302 WHieeler, Abncr (trial of) 145 Zsarney, Janos 335 \ University of Connecticut Libraries 39153027585639