USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > A biographical history of the county of Litchfield, Connecticut: comprising biographical sketches of distinguished natives and residents of the county; together with complete lists of the judges of the county court, justices of the quorum, county commissioners, judges of probate, sheriffs, senators, &c. from the organization of the county to the present time > Part 15
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In private as well as in public life, Colonel Kirby was a model man. Every object of local or general enterprise, or of private charity, found his heart right and his hand open, As
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a husband, a father, a friend, a neighbor, he had few equals --- no superiors. No man was ever more universally beloved while living, or more sincerely mourned in death, than EDMUND KIRBY.
On his return homeward from his last campaign in Mexico, he was greeted with many gratifying demonstrations of public regard. Landing at Sackett's Harbor, citizens and soldiery turned out en masse to welcome him. The Watertown (N. Y.) Journal of May 3d, 1848, says, " On Thursday last, the ring- ing of bells, the booming of cannon, and other demonstrations of popular enthusiasm, announced to the people of Brownville and its vicinity that their excellent fellow-citizens, Colonel Kirby, was returning to his home. Although the unexpected manner of his arrival was such as to preclude any preconcert of arrangement, and disappointed the desire of thousands of the adjacent country to join in the congratulations and welcome ; yet a large cavalcade of his friends were able to meet him be- fore his arrival in town, and before reaching the village the en -! tire population had formed in procession, and gave him a most cordial and heart-felt reception." He was addressed by Thom- as Y. Howe, Esq., in behalf of the citizens-to which Colonel Kirby responded. " The reply," says the Journal, " was drowned in cheers-three times three, and one more, the pro- cession moved on to the gate of his beautiful and beloved home- stead, and with a parting cheer left him to the embraces of his family."
After spending a few weeks at home, he repaired to Louis- ville and Cincinnati, for the purpose of discharging and paying off the Western Volunteers -- a difficult and arduous duty, but one which he most faithfully performed. While at the city last named, he addressed a communication to the author of this volume, detailing the principal incidents in the life of his father, brother, &c. Of himself he modestly remarks, " I am not conscious of deserving a conspicuous notice in your work:
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My career has been humble-my aspirations for a higher and more enlarged sphere of action, in the walks of my profession, especially during the last two years, have been curbed by the higher powers, and I can only hope to transmit to my children a name free from reproach." His anticipations in this respect are more than realized. Completing his duties abroad, he once more returned to his home, where he devoted the intervals of his public labors to the superintendance of his noble farm. He had long been known as an eminent agriculturalist-had at various times been an officer of the New York State Agricultu- ral Society, and early in 1849 he was appointed by the Gov- ernor one of the Commissioners to mature a plan for an Agri- cultural College and an Experimental Farmn.
So prominent had Col. Kirby's long and faithful public ser- ices rendered him, that, upon the elevation of General Taylor to the Presidency, he was frequently spoken of in the news- papers as one who would in all probability be called to a seat in the new Cabinet ; and we have good reasons for saying, that such would have been his destiny had not one of the chief offices of the Government (that of Vice President,) been held by a citizen of New York.
A disease of the liver, contracted in Mexico, gradually un- dermined his naturally strong constitution, and he died at Avon Springs, (whither he had gone in the hope of obtaining relief from the medicinal waters,) on the 20th of August, 1849. His remains were taken to his residence at Brownville, and were committed to the earth on the 22d, with military honors, the troops from Madison Barracks being present. The notice of his death, and of the time appointed for the rites of sepulture, although brief, brought together the largest assemblage ever convened on a funeral occasion in Jefferson county. Thou- sands on foot and in carriages pressed towards the church, where a solemn and impressive Sermon was delivered by the Rev. WM. H. HILL, Rector of St. Paul's. At the grave, the
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service of the Episcopal Church was read, three vollies were fired by the U. S. Troops present, and the body of our friend was left to its slumbers, until the trumpet shall summon him to the last dread Muster-Day !
The following extracts from Mr. Hill's Funeral Discourse, present his character as a citizen and as an officer, in its true light: After alluding to the dishonesty and the defalcations of many of the agents of Government, the preacher continues:
But who and where is he that can rise and say that that man ever gave place to such a temptation, even for an hour ? The challenge may be made from the great Lakes to the swamps of Florida-from the Northeastern Boundary to the halls of the Montezumas (and he was the public servant over all that extent,) and the answer would be from old and young, officer and private, President, Cabinet, public offi- cer, and all with whom he was brought in contact -- " he was faithful to his trust." He never learned that there could be any difference between public and private honesty. He would have scorned such an intimation, Ład it come to him even from his nearest friend. Tens, and I may say hundreds of millions of dollars of public money have passed through his hands. Not one cent remained on its passage, save the exact amount justly due him for his arduous and most faith- fully discharged duties. Comparatively brief as has been my per- sonal intercourse with him, I have seen and know enough to satisfy me, that he lies there this moment the victim of personal, unwearied devotion to his public duties.
In Mexico, though his station as Chief of the Pay Department-had he been a man of but common mould-might justly have exempted him from the vast mass of the personal labor which he actually per- formed-yet he endured all this additional task, lest the public busi- ness might become entangled through the want of capacity or experi- ence of some who had been entrusted with a particular branch ot it. With all his fellow officers, he too endured equally the hardships of a long and weary campaign. The dangers of the battle-field he never shunned, though his station never called him to such a post. He felt, as he expressed himself to me, that though many precious lives at home were dependent on his own- and I need not tell you he never forgot them -- yet, situated as he was, he owed all his energies to his country and his companions in the field, and he might not withhold them. Hence he was found a volunteer, a cheerful and accepted volunteer, to both of those distinguished Generals upon whom so much depended. In the thickest of the battle was he found, and his fellow officers knew and felt and said, that in all those terrible scenes of peril on the Rio Grande, and on the route from the Gulf to the City of
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Mexico, no coward's heart was hid in the breast of EDMUND KIRBY. He was there, not because his soul loved such scenes, but because he felt that his duty called him there. His brave and lion heart could not be kept in the quiet tent of the Paymaster. He must be in the battle where his friends and companions needed and well appreciated his services.
All these public dangers and fatigues, I repeat, he shared equally with his companions. But when they could rest, he might not. Day and night did this faithful public servant draw upon the energies of his iron constitution, until the wonder is, that we ever had the pleas- ure of meeting him again. And since his return, I can bear witness how unceasingly he toiled to finish up the labors which had been imposed upon him, and which were arduous enough to exhaust and break down the energies and constitution of any three men. Person- al fatigue was as nothing to him-and even when sickness had sapped the very foundations of that iron frame, he would still sit for hours in his chair writing and working for the public, whose servant he was, while the perspiration of real anguish would bedew his whole coun- tenance. Often when seeing him thus have I besought him to save him- self. Others added their expostulations. But he had only one answer. The work was to be donc, and he must do it. And he labored thus, until his relaxed muscles almost refused to grasp the pen, which to him was more fatal than the sword, for it drained out his very heart's blood. Such was the fidelity of the deceased to his public trust. It was not for an hour, or month, or year merely, but for life. He lived and he died an honest man. His example in this is bright, without a spot. He served his country faithfully, and surely ; with his example before us, I may say to all those present, who like him, are entrusted with public duties -- "Go ye and do likewise."
I need scarcely add, that the same sterling unintermitting honesty and fidelity marked all his private dealings, and his relations to the society about him. We all mourn a friend lost. His energies, his public spirit, and his confessedly commanding position in society, have so interwoven him and his name with almost every thing in which any of us had any personal interest, that we can scarcely begin to realize the blank which has been made. Every eye was upon him. If he moved, we telt confident that the particular work would succeed. Was there any station of usefulness to be filled or any public trust to be discharged, involving either pecuniary or other responsibility ?--- Whose name rose spontaneously to every lip as the man for that sta- tion or trust ? I need not answer. It seemed as if in reference to him, envy herself had ab tained from exerting her baleful influence. He was respected, esteemed, beloved by all. We all weep, for we have lost a father, a brother, a friend. Oh ! there was no stimulated woe, no hypocritical pretence, in those saddened faces, which almost
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literally lined the road for the last few miles of our journey home- ward. There were all ages and sexes and classes. All knew him and all mourned that their friend-not one of whom they had read in books or heard by the hearing of the ear merely, but their own, personal, true friend had been called away.
Col. Kirby leaves behind him a widow and nine children to mourn his loss. One of his sons (Jacob Brown Kirby,) gradu- ated at Yale College the Wednesday preceding his (Col. K.'s) death.
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AMBROSE SPENCER.
1
P. K. KILBOURNE, Esq .-
Albany, April 4, 1848.
Sir-Your letter of October 12, 1847, to my deceased father, the late Judge Spencer, requesting information respecting incidents in his life, must have arrived at Lyons after the severe attack of the dis- ease which terminated his life, and when, of course, he was unable to. pay any attention to it. As I find it among his letters, I have deem- ed it proper to explain the reason why it has not been answered. My father was taken ill in April, but no serious apprehensions of any fatal result were entertained until the 1st of October, when he had severe chills, and from that time he was confined to his bed until his death on the 13th of March last.
The best answer I can give to your enquiries, is contained in a bio- graphical notice of him in the Evening Journal of this city, of the 14th of March, a copy of which I enclose herein, and which is very accu- rate in its data, &c. Very Respectfully, Yours,
J. C. SPENCER.
AMBROSE SPENCER was born December 13th, 1765, in the town of Salisbury, in the State of Connecticut. His father was a mechanic and a farmer, who, although in mode- rate circumstances, by his industry and economy, obtained the means of giving his two sons, PHILIP and AMBROSE, the very best educatiou which the country then afforded. He often de- clared his conviction that he could not better endow his sons, if it cost all he had, than by giving them a finished education. The generosity and self-devotion of this resolution at that time, and under the privations which it occasioned, render it worthy of record. The two sons entered Yale College in the autumn of 1779, and after remaining three years, were removed to Harvard University, where they graduated in July, 1783. The
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subject of this notice was then but 17 years and six months old. This fact, as well as the concurring testimony of his classmates, among whom were John Cotton Smith and Har- rison Gray Otis, show that he must have possessed remarka- ble talent as well as close application to enable him to pass through the rigid discipline of that day, and to receive the hon- ors of Harvard.
He devoted himself to the profession of the law, and studied for some time with John Canfield, an eminent lawyer of Sharon, in his native county, and completed his studies with John Bay, at Claverack, and with Ezekiel Gilbert, at Hudson, New York. Before he was nineteen, he married Laura Canfield, a daugh- ter of his preceptor, and made Hudson his residence. In 1786 he was appointed clerk of the city ; and in 1793, he was elect- ed a member of the Assembly of New York from Columbia county. In 1795, he was elected to the Senate for three years, and in 1798, was re-elected for four years. In 1796, he was appointed asssistant attorney-general for the counties of Colum- bia and Rensselaer. In February, 1802, he was appointed Attorney General of the State ; and in 1804, he received the. appointment of a Justice of the Supreme Court, of which he was made Chief Justice in 1819. His professional practice is known to have been very extensive and very successful. He. was engaged in every important cause in that part of the State, and often met in forensic contest the great intellects that illu- mined that period -- Hamilton, Burr, Brockholst and Edward Livingston, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, Richard Harrison, Abra- ham Van Vechten, John V. Ilenry, William W, Van Ness, and others of less notoriety. His advancement to the highest hon- ors of his profession, at a time when office sought merit and talent, is the best proof of the estimation in which his powers and attainments were held.
During the period of his service in the Senate, he became the personal friend and political associate of De Witt Clinton,
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and there commenced an intimacy which, with a short interval' of alienation, continued during the life of that great benefac- tor of his native State. It was during this period, also, that the great political revolution occurred which placed Mr. Jef- ferson in the Presidency. How much of this result was attri- butable to the efforts of Messrs. Clinton and Spencer, it is now needless to enquire. But by the general voice of their political friends, they were placed in the front of battle and at the head of the Republican columns in the State. During this struggle, those gentlemen were chosen members of the Council of Appointment, at that time the dispenser of all the patronage of the State. A controversy arose between the ma-' jority of the Council and Governor Jay respecting the claim of the latter to the exclusive right of nominating officers to the Council, which agitated the State, and resulted in calling a Convention of Delegates to expound and amend the Consti- tution, which body sustained the views of the majority of the Council.
During his whole life, Judge Spencer took a warm interest in the public events effecting the destiny of his country, and contributed his best services to the promotion of its welfare. Ardent in his temperament, as resolute as he was honest in his purposes, and firm and persevering in the execution of them, he necessarily became mingled with the political organ- ization of the times through which he passed. But he was no blind partizan ; he saw and deprecated the errors of his own associates as freely as he exposed those of his antagonists. And it was his known independence and disinterestedness, his fearless maintenance of truth and justice on all occasions, that gave his opinion that great weight which for a long series of years they received not only from his friends, but from the whole community.
The judicial course of the subject of this notice has given him a reputation over the whole extent of our country, equal to that
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of its most distinguished jurists. For nearly twenty years he was associated on the bench of the Supreme Court of the State, and in the Court of last resort, with Kent, Thompson, Platt, Woodworth and Van Ness. No lawyer need be informed that those twenty years were the Augustan age of our jurispru- dence. The reports of cases decided by these Judges, became standard authorities in the various States of this Union, and were quoted with the highest respect in Westminster Hall. They adapted the principles of the common law of England to the new exigencies of our country-a task requiring the most profound knowledge and the greatest circumspection,-and were distinguished as well for their conformity to the spirit of our institutions, as for their soundness and perspicuity. In these decisions, Judge Spencer had his full share: Indeed, it is but just to say, according to the concurrent testimony of those best able to judge-the members of the legal profession -to the opinions delivered by him does the Court owe much of its reputation for strict and accurate reasoning, clearness of views and of language, and a thorough comprehension of the philosophy of the common law. Although Judge Spencer was held to be one of the best, if not the first, common law lawyer of his time, yet his opinions delivered in the Court for the Cor- rection of Errors, show that he was also a consummate master of equity jurisprudence.
Having nearly arrived at the period limited by the then Constitution for judicial service, Judge Spencer retired from the bench in January, 1823, amidst the universal regret of those who had witnessed his labors. The accomplished reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court, William Johnson, Esq., in the dedication of the Twentieth Volume of his Reports, has expressed the general sentiment of the Bar and of the com- munity, in the lofty testimony he bears to the strict impartiality, stern justice, and unwavering independence, of Judge Spencer during his long judicial career, and amidst party contentions of the most ferocious character.
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In 1808, during his judicial term, Judge Spencer was ap- pointed by the Legislature together with Peter J. Monroe, to prepare and report such reforms and improvements in the Chancery System of the State, as they should deem expedi- ent. This report, made in March, 1809, was enlightened, comprehensive, and well adapted to the wants of the State. It proposed the division of the State into three equity districts, with a Chancellor for each, and a court in banc consisting of the three Chancellors, and various modifications of the prac- tice and improvements of the whole system, which, if they had been then adopted, would have obviated the necessity of the extensive and vital changes which have recently been made. It is singular that many of the modern changes are in conformity with those recommended by the report of 1809.
After leaving the bench, Judge Spencer devoted himself for a few years to the legal profession, more, it is presumed, more for the sake of the occupation it afforded, than for the emolument. His usual success attended him, but he found the cares and anxieties of the profession irksome and encroach- ing too much on his time. He soon occupied a farm in the vicinity of Albany, and employed himself in superintending its cultivation. He was chosen Mayor of the city of Albany, and served his fellow citizens in that capacity to their great grati- fication. In 1829 he was elected to the Congress of the Uni- ted States, and discharged all the duties of the station during his term. He declined taking any leading part in the political movements of the day, although his advice and aid were al- ways at the command of his friends. The difficulty with the Cherokee Indians was, however, of a character calculated to enlist his warmest sympathies, His innate love of justice, which had been invigorated by his judicial duties and had be- come the ruling principle of his life, was shocked by the treat- ment of that unfortunate people ; and with characteristic en- ergy and fearlessness, he united with Wirt and that noble
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oand of statesmen and philanthropists, who resisted and en- deavored to arrest the cruel aggressions and the monstrous injustice of our government. But it was in vain. In vain did the virtuous Marshall and his associates on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, declare the eternal prin- ciples of right. The law was too weak. Cupidity and vio- lence triumphed over a helpless people, and drove them from the land in which they were born and from the graves of their ancestors, into a wilderness.
He continued his agricultural pursuits in the vicinity of Albany, enjoying the universal esteem and regard of the com- munity, until 1839, when he removed to the village of Lyons, -having previously lost by death his last wife. In that se- questered village he lived in the calm enjoyment of a green old age, and in the grateful recollections of a well spent life, until summoned hence. Possessing a vigorous constitution, impro- ved by great regularity and temperance of life, he scarcely knew disease until his last fatal sickness: His wonderful health at his advanced age, and the firmness and elasticity of his step, were for years the admiration of all who knew him.
In 1844, he was President of the Whig National Convention held at Baltimore, which nominated Henry Clay for the Pres- idency and Theodore Frelinghuysen for the Vice Presidency of the United States. The last public act of his life was to address an able letter to his fellow-citizens in opposition to a proposed amendment of the Constitution, providing for an elective judiciary with brief terms of office. In an eloquent and logical argument, equal to the best efforts of his best days, he presented the subject in a manner to elicit universal com- mendation of its ability and manliness.
Some years previous to his death, Judge Spencer became a member of the Episcopal church, and was sustained in his last days by the hopes and promises of the Gospel.
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The Hon. John Canfield Spencer, a son of Judge Spencer, was a member of Congress from 1817 to 1819 ; and was sub- sequently Secretary of State for the State of New York. In 1841, upon the resignation of the Harrison Cabinet, he was appointed to and accepted the office of Secretary of the United 'States Treasury, which he held until the close of President Tyler's Administration,
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WILLIAM RAY.
WILLIAM RAY was born in Salisbury, on the"8th of De- cember, 1771. While he was a child, his father removed to a remote town in the State of New York, where the son had lit- tle opportunity for cultivating those intellectual and literary tastes which were very early developed in him. At the age of nineteen, he left the paternal roof and went to Dover, in Duch- e's county, where he assumed the charge of a school. He soon. abandoned this occupation, and engaged in trade, which The pursued for several years. His commercial speculations, however, proved unsuccessful, and finally issued in bankruptcy. Finding it impossible to obtain a release from his creditors, or to procure employment for the support of himself and wife, he left his home in the spring of 1803, and started for Philadel- phia in search of some congenial occupation. He traveled through the State of Pennsylvania under circumstances of great distress, and with but very slender pecuniary resources. He was overtaken by sickness ; his last cent was expended ; and he at length reached Philadelphia in a state of extreme destitution, and not yet restored to a comfortable degree of health. Here new trials awaited him. He failed to procure employment, and, impelled by his necessities, on the 13th of June, 1803, he enlisted into the maritime service of the United States. He admits that " imprudence, vice, intemperance and prodigality, were the primary causes of his misfortunes ;" and pleads that "the miseries and horrors of painful mancipation, end a thousand concomitant evils and sufferings, ought, in
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some a grec, to expiate his faults and follies in the benignant eyes of Charity.
On the 3d of July, Ray and his comrades were ordered on board the frigate Philadelphia, under the command of Captain Bainbridge, destined to join our squadron against Tripoli. She sailed in the course of the same month, having on board a com- plement of three hundred men. The frigate proceeded pros- perously on her voyage, and arrived at Gibraltar on the 26th of August. Here she remained a few days, and was joined by several American ships of the line. Information being receiv- ed that a vessel with Barbary colors was cruising off the 'Rock,' the Philadelphia went in pursuit of her, under English colors. The stranger was easily captured, and proved to be a Moroc- co vessel mounting twenty-two guns, and containing about one hundred men. The prize had captured an American brig, which the Philadelphia, on the following day, overtook and re-captured, liberating her crew from their bondage. The frigate, in company with the prize and brig, then returned to Gibraltar. In October, the Philadelphia proceeded to the island of Malta, and from thence sailed for Tripoli. On the 31st day of October, she fell in with an enemy's vessel off the harbor of Tripoli, and gave chase, The pirate stood in for the town, and the frigate inade every effort to cut off her retreat. Having no pilot on board who understood the harbor, and be- coming excited in the pursuit, the Americans ventured in too far, and when about three miles distant from the town, their vessel struck upon a shoal, and remained fast. Every effort was made, though in vain, to release her, while the enemy, emboldened by her condition, sent off three gun-boats against her. It was a little past twelve o'clock when the frigate struck, and the crew continued firing at the boats, at the same time endeavoring to get their ship afloat, until four o'clock in the afternoon, when, unable to escape or longer to resist, they struck their flag, and the Philadelphia was consigned to her
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