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 23
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Mr. Day was married on the 18th of March, 1813, to Sarah Coit, daughter of Wheeler Coit, of Preston, (now Griswold,) who was a grandson of the Rev. Joseph Coit, of Plainfield, one of the first class of Yalensian graduates. They have had eight children, two sons and six daughters. One of the sons died in infancy, the other son and all the daughters but one are living. They are Sarah Coit, born in 1814, resides with her father; Elizabeth, born in 1816, is the wife of Prof. N. P. Seymour, of the Western Reserve College, and resides at Hudson, Ohio; Thomas Mills, born in 1817, graduated at Yale in 1837, was admitted to the bar in Hartford, 1840, and is resident in Boston ; Catherine Augusta, born in 1819, was recently married ; Harriet, born in 1821, is the wife of John P. Putnam, LL. B., who graduated at Yale in 1837, and resides now in Boston ; Robert, born in 1824, and died the same year ; Mary Frances, born in 1826, and Ellen, born in 1829, and died in 1850.
At the Commencement of Yale College, in 1847, the Corporation of that Institution conferred on Mr. Day the Honorary Degree of LL.D.
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NATHAN SMITH.
The Honorable NATHAN SMITH, of New Haven, was born in Roxbury, in 1770. He was a son of Richard Smith, and brother of the late Hon. Nathaniel Smith, whose history is briefly sketched in this volume. His mother was a daughter of Benjamin Hurd, and grand-daughter of Benjamin Hinman, of Woodbury .* The parents of the subject of this sketch were plain, unaspiring people, yet among their descendants have been some of the most eminent lawyers and statesmen of the commonwealth.
On arriving at a suitable age, Nathan was transferred from the farm to the office of his brother above named, and afterwards to that of Judge Reeve, to learn the "art and mystery" of the law ; and in due time he was admitted to the bar of his native county. He commenced the practice of law in the city of New Haven, where he continued to reside until his death. Slowly but surely, he won his way to the highest professional eminence. Indeed, he was an enthusiast in the profession he had chosen, ever regarding success therein, as the goal of his ambition. Conse- quently, he studied the standard legal authors of England and America thoroughly and systematically. No practitioner in the Connecticut Courts better understood the law in all its crooks and turns, and no one could more effectually impress the minds of a jury with his own views and feelings on any case, than he. The theoretical and practical, the profound and witty, were so happily
* In the sketch of the Hon. Nathaniel Smith, (p. 137,) we erroneously stated that his mother was a Hinman.
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blended in his arguments, that while they attracted the admiration of the listener, they were almost certain of securing the wished for verdict. His wonderful success at the bar, however, must not be attributed solely to his talents and ingenuity. His strict regard for justice and right, would not permit him to plead a case which he knew to be grossly unrighteous. Before enlisting his services in any cause, he was wont to examine minutely the main facts and circumstances connected with it; and if convinced of its justice, he entered upon the discharge of his duties to his client with his whole soul, and rarely failed of coming off victorious. It was his own manifest confidence in the goodness of the cause he advocated, united to a knowledge of his uniform integrity of purpose, which so surely won from every jury a favorable verdict.
Mr. Smith was not a politician, and had the utmost contempt of the office-seeking propensity of many of his legal brethren, And even if his own ambition had been turned into that channel, it is by no means certain he would have been successful. The political party with which he acted, was for a long series of years in the minority in the region in which he lived ; and where party lines are closely drawn, a zeal for place and power not unfrequently triumphs over merit. His name was sometimes, without his con- sent, used by his fellow-citizens in the political struggles of the times. In 1825, he was a principal opponent of Oliver Wolcott for the office of Governor of Connecticut. There were, however, some offices more directly in the line of his profession, which he did not dislike, though he was far from seeking them. He was for many years State's attorney for the county of New Haven, and subsequently, United States' attorney for the District of Con- necticut. In these stations, his peculiar genius and learning were often rendered conspicuous.
In May, 1832, Mr. Smith was elected a Senator in the Con- gress of the United States, to succeed the Hon. Samuel A. Foote, whose term would expire on the 3d of March following. He took his seat in that distinguished body, March 4, 1833, and continued to discharge the duties of the station until the 6th of December,
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1835, when he died suddenly in the city of Washington, in the 66th year of his age. The correspondent of the New York Daily Advertiser, gives the following account of the funeral ceremonies of Senator Smith, which took place on Wednesday, the 9th of December.
" The flag-staff, with the American flag floating at half mast, denoted early on the morning of Wednesday, that the capitol was to be the scene of solemnity. At 12 o'clock the hour of adjournment came. The ladies' gallery was filled with the beauty and fashion of the nation, and the opposite gallery was not less crowded with spectators, all anx- ious to witness the obsequies. A motion was made for adjournment till 12 o'clock on the following day, which was carried by a silent vote. Prior to this, however, the President and Vice President of the United States, the Heads of Departments, public and private Secretaries, with the Senators and clergymen entered and seated themselves in the Senate chamber. Soon the coffin was borne in by servants with broad white scarfs around their hats. Next came the Representatives with crape upon their left arms, preceded by the members from Connecticut, (the state of the deceased,) in deep mourning, with a broad black scarf extending from the right shoulder under the left arm. The Vice President was in the chair; the President and Heads of Departments sat on the left side of the front row of seats ; the Senators and Repre- sentatives filled the remaining seats. Opposite the President were the delegation from Connecticut. All was still and solemn as the grave, when the minister, dressed in a black robe over which was a white scarf, arose from the seat in front of the Vice President's chair, repeat- ing some expressive and appropriate texts from the volume of Holy Writ. He addressed the assembly for some minutes, when, after invoking a blessing from the Almighty, the funeral procession was formed. The Committee of Arrangements, dressed in white scarfs, preceded the hearse ; next came the pall-bearers; then followed the clergymen, President, Vice President, Secretaries, Members and Citizens. The procession consisted of one hundred carriages, extend- ing nearly a mile in length. All of the hackmen were dressed in a uniform mourning, with a crape around their hats. The deceased was carried to the national burying-ground, where, after the accus- tomed services, the procession was re-formed and returned. The whole scene was truly impressive and solemn - worthy of the nation and of the venerated character of the deceased."
In 1808, Mr. Smith received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Yale College,
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FREDERICK AUGUSTUS TALLMADGE.
THE Hon. F. A. TALLMADGE, the celebrated lawyer and politician of the City of New York, is a son of the late Hon. Benjamin Tallmadge, an officer of the Revolutionary Army and for fifteen years a distinguished member of Congress from Connecticut. The subject of this sketch was born in Litchfield, August 29th, 1792, and graduated at Yale College in 1811, in the class with his distinguished fellow-townsman, the Hon. S. S. Phelps, of Ver- mont. Immediately after graduating, Mr. Tallmadge entered the Law School at Litchfield, and after prosecuting the usual course of legal studies, he was admitted a member of the Bar of Litchfield County.
In 1814 he commenced the practice of his profession in the City of New York. Notwithstanding he was surrounded by experienced and eminent lawyers, he soon rose to distinction in the metropolis, and in a few years he was regarded as one of its most successful advocates and counsellors. In 1834, he was elected an Alderman of that city, and while a member of the Common Council, in the fall of 1836, he was chosen a member of the State Senate, and was subsequently elected its presiding officer. As a Senator he was ex officio a Judge of the Supreme Court for the Correction of Errors. After remaining a member of that dis- tinguished body for four years, Mr. Tallmadge was appointed by the Governor and Senate, to the office of Recorder of the City of New York-a post which he occupied for five years. As Chief Justice of the Police Court in the city, his labors were arduous 40
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and responsible, and it is sufficient praise to say that he discharged them promptly and faithfully.
In 1846, he was elected a Representative to the Congress of the United States. In the autumn of 1848, before the expiration of his Congressional term, he was elected Recorder of New York by the people-his being the first election to that office under the new Constitution of the State. He still occupies the station.
Soon after locating in New York, Mr. Tallmadge was married to a daughter of the Hon. Judson Canfield of Sharon, in his native County. His public career has been eminently popular, and as he is still in the prime of life, we trust new honors await him.
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ARPHAXAD LOOMIS,
WAS born at Winchester, on the 9th of April, 1798. His father was a farmer, in very moderate circumstances. Arphaxad was the fifth son, and from the time his father removed with his family to Herkimer county, New York, until his fourteenth year, he was accustomed to steady service on the farm. He enjoyed, however, the usual opportunities afforded to boys in the country, of attending the common school, and which he improved to good advantage. When fourteen years of age, his father hired him out as the teacher of a common school, seven or eight miles from home. He was then quite small of his age. His agreement was six dollars per month, and to "board round." He subsequently, for several successive years, taught school in the winters, and during the summers he attended the academy at Fairfield, Herkimer county, paying his tuition by his winter earnings. According to the com- mon practice of that institution, he lived in his room, at the acad- emy, upon his own food, a week's supply of which he was accus- tomed to carry from his father's house, a distance of four miles, every Monday morning. He also wore the home-made garments
of his father's household. It was understood, however, that he
was not to be a burden to the family, even to this extent, and accordingly, his winter's earnings were, with the exception of "tuition," and "book-money," regularly paid over to his father, as an equivalent for his supplies. He was very desirous of going through a collegiate course, but his resources would not permit the gratification of this ambition.
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In 1818, he entered his name as a student in a law office at Johnstown, Montgomery county. At the end of three months, however, his funds became exhausted, and he was compelled once more to commence teaching. Although he sometimes brooded in deep despondency over his want of means to prosecute his legal studies, he was determined not to " give up." Having heard that a teacher of his acquirements might probably find good employ- ment at Watertown, Jefferson county, he borrowed ten dollars of his father, and on the 20th of December, 1818, he started on foot with a knapsack on his back, over the bleak hills and frozen ground. Owing to the extreme cold, which happened to set in about that time, the journey proved a very severe one, and to that he attrib- utes his impaired hearing.
At Watertown, he obtained employment in the district school. Here, also, he entered a law office, and pursued his legal studies. At the end of three months, he obtained sufficient law business to enable him forever to relinquish the school room, and to continue his studies without further interruption. He completed them at Sacketts Harbor, in January, 1825, and took his license as attor- ney at law. He spent the two succeeding years in practicing in the office where he finished his course. A part of the third year was spent in a journey through the south-western states, with a vague notion that he would locate himself in a new country, and " grow up with it." He visited Gen. Jackson, and saw all the lions in his way. He found the country, however, too "new " for his taste, and returned to his father's house exhausted in funds, and in feeble health. After recruiting himself to some extent, he finally located at Little Falls, Herkimer county, his present resi- dence. He there devoted himself to the practice of his profession, with considerable success.
In February, 1828, he was appointed surrogate of Herkimer county, which office he held until 1837. In the winter of 1834, his name was sent to the senate, by Gov. Marcy, for the office of circuit judge : but, owing to an apprehension that his defective
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hearing would interfere with the proper discharge of the duties, the nomination was subsequently withdrawn. On that occasion he received complimentary letters from all the democratic senators, assuring him that nothing but the said impediment had induced them to advise the substitution of another person.
During the spring of the same year, Gov. Marcy appointed him on the commission, with Messrs. Elisha Litchfield and Eli Moore, to investigate the subject of mechanical labor in the state prisons ; also, the prison policy and discipline. After a most laborious investigation, a report and bill, both drawn up by Mr. Loomis, were submitted to the legislature, in 1835, on which the law of the year was based. This had the effect of subduing the prevail- ing excitement for several years, when the continual disregard of the regulations, by executive officers of the prisons, caused the mechanical interests in the state to renew the complaint.
In the fall of 1836, Mr. Loomis was elected a representative in congress, and took his seat at the first session under Mr. Van Buren's administration. During the long session of 1837-8, he was a member of the committee on private land claims, and his labors were so severe as to seriously impair his health. The following session he served on the committee on public lands, where he also found that there was work to do. While on the latter committee, he strenuously exerted himself to prepare the way for the sale of lands to actual settlers only, and at a very moderate price, believing then, as now, that all other sales are detrimental to the public interest. He also exerted himself in favor of postage reform, and the regulation of the franking privi- lege, and with this object he introduced many resolutions of inquiry into the existing abuses, and which had the effect of hastening the subsequent action of congress on those subjects.
On the 1st of January, 1841, Mr. Loomis took his seat in the New York legislature, as a representative of Herkimer county. Here, entertaining strong convictions of the great evils of a public debt, and thinking that he perceived a strong tendency to create
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debts, and in many cases from selfish motives, it occured to him that these tendencies might be lessened, if not entirely obviated, by preventing any public debt, unless sanctioned by the direct vote of the people themselves. In addition to giving his views through the press, on the 14th of January, 1841, he introduced a resolution to amend the constitution, so as to restrain the legisla- ture from borrowing money, or creating any public debt, except to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or to defend the state in war, unless authorized by a direct vote of the electors, at a general election. This proposition was approved by most of the democratic papers in New York, and other states. Many of the editors kept it at the head of their columns for months. Although the resolu- tion was not carried, yet its frequent repetition by him during succeeding sessions, resulted, in the convention of 1846, of which Mr. Loomis was an active member, in its adoption.
Of the arduous labors of Mr. Loomis, as chairman of the judi- ciary committee, in the legislature, and of his eminent services as a member of the convention, and which seriously injured his health, our limits, will not permit us to speak. It will be sufficient to say, that a more devoted public servant cannot be found.
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WILLIAM W. BOARDMAN.
THIS gentleman is a son of the late Hon. Elijah Boardman, of the United States Senate, and was born in New. Milford, on the 10th of October, 1794. During his boyhood, he was for a while at school in Great Barrington, Mass., among his mother's relatives, and was thence transferred to Bacon Academy, at Colchester, where he fitted for College. In the autumn of 1808, he entered Yale College and graduated in due course, before he was eighteen years of age. The following year was spent by him as a resident graduate at Harvard College. He read law with David S. Board- man, Esq., of New Milford, and at the Litchfield Law School, and commenced the practice of the legal profession at New Haven, in 1819, where he still resides.
Upon the organization of our State Government under the new Constitution, in May, 1819, Mr. Boardman was elected Secretary of the Senate, and was annually re-elected until 1824, when he was appointed Judge of Probate for the District of New Haven; a post which he filled for five years. In 1830, he was elected to the Senate of this State, and was twice re-elected. In the spring of 1836, he represented New Haven in the Connecticut House of Representatives, at which session he had a somewhat famous debate with the Hon. Perry Smith (since of the United States Senate,) then a member from New Milford. At the extra session held during the following winter, the law relating to electors' meet- ings, enacted in pursuance of an amendment of the Constitution, was drawn up and reported by him. Mr. Boardman was again a
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member of the House in 1837, and was appointed chairman of the Committee on Divorces. At the same session he proposed amend- ments to the Constitution, giving the election of Judges of Probate and Justices of the Peace to the people, and though they failed at that time, they have recently been adopted.
In 1838 and 1839, Mr. Boardman was a member of the House, and elected Speaker both years. In 1840, he wås chosen a mem- of the 26th Congress to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resigna- tion of the Hon. Wm. L. Storrs, who had been transferred to the Supreme Bench ; and was a member of the Committee on Private Land Claims. In April, 1841, he was re-elected to the National House of Representatives, and during the three sessions of the 27th Congress, he served as Chairman of the Committee on public buildings and grounds.
The subject of this sketch was returned as a member of the Connecticut Legislature in 1845, and was again elected Speaker. He was also a member in 1849, and would have been elected Speaker on one of the ballotings if he had withheld his own vote. On the ballot alluded to, Mr. Boardman had 110 votes ; John C. Lewis, Esq., of Plymouth, had 108; and there was two scattering votes, one of which was cast by Mr. Boardman. On the following ballot Mr. Lewis was chosen by one majority. During this session, Mr. B. was Chairman on the part of the House of the Committee on Divorces, the late Gen. Bacon, of Litchfield, being Chairman on the part of the Senate. In 1851, Mr. Boardman was once more a member and candidate for Speaker of the House.
We have thus given the leading events in the history of one of the distinguished sons of Litchfield County - a gentleman who is still in the prime of life and on the highway to new preferment.
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JOHN MILTON HOLLEY.
JOHN MILTON HOLLEY, (son of a distinguished gentleman of the same name,) was a native of Salisbury, where he was born in November, 1802. He graduated with distinguished honors at Yale College, in 1822, and after pursuing a course of legal study, he was admitted to the New York bar in 1825, and commenced practice the next year at Lyons, in Western New York, where he has ever since resided. His learning, capacity, and integrity, soon placed him in the front rank of his profession. To a mind at once brilliant and solid, he united those generous qualities of the heart which attract the love and confidence of mankind. Popular hon- ors were showered upon him, and, during his whole career, he enjoyed the most gratifying demonstrations of public regard. In various stations of public trust he exemplified the remark that offi- cial elevation is made truly illustrious by the personal worth and fidelity of the incumbent. He was chosen to represent his county in the Assembly of his State in 1838, and again in 1841. In the Legislature of his State he gained a high reputation for eloquence and ability. Ever firm and unyielding in the assertion of what he deemed to be the truth and the right, always fearless and bold in the expression of his convictions, yet the ingenuous candor of his spirit disarmed hostility by winning the admiration and friendship of political opponents. Whilst he had no personal enemies, no man could boast a more devoted "troop of friends."
In 1845, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the State Senate. In 1846, he was chosen to represent the 27th Congressional dis-
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trict, composed of the counties of Seneca and Wayne, in the Thir- tieth Congress, and was, at the time of his election, in the enjoyment of health which gave promise of a long life of usefulness and honor. But, he was struck suddenly down with a fit of pulmonary apo- plexy from which he never fully recovered. Being desirous to dis- charge with fidelity his representative obligations, at the commence- ment of the ensuing session, though exceedingly feeble and infirm, he repaired to the Capital, and took part in the organization of the . House, and yielded reluctantly to the advice of his physician and friends to seek relief in repose and a southern clime. Immediately after the opening of the session, he proceeded to Jacksonville, in the State of Florida, where the genial influences of the climate seemed to revive him for a season, and his friends were flattered with the hope of his recovery. But a sudden return of the disease brought with it a fatal termination, and he expired on the 8th of March, 1848. He died conscious of the mighty change which awaited him, calm and resigned, in the hope of a glorious future. The companion of his life, who had accompanied him with that fidelity and affection known only to woman, was present at his bed- side, to smooth his dying pillow, and close his eyes in death. In writing to a friend, the day before his death, he said, "With hopes of earthly fame or distinction I have done; I seek those better things to which the humblest votary may aspire." He had evi- dently withdrawn his thoughts from " the competitions, factions, and debates of mankind," to contemplate the higher concerns of that immortal existence upon which he now has entered.
On the 18th of March following the decease of Mr. Holley, the Hon. Washington Hunt, Representative in Congress from the State of New York, arose in his place and said :
Mr. Speaker, I rise to discharge a mournful and unwelcome duty. Upon me has been devolved the melancholy task of announcing to the House that JOHN M. HOLLEY, one of the Representatives of the State of New York, has departed this life. He died at Jacksonville, in Florida, on the 8th instant, after a protracted illness, which he endured with calmness and Christian resignation.
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I feel the inadequacy of language to express the grief with which I am penetrated by this afflicting event. The nation has lost one of her noblest sons, and the public councils are deprived of the services of a pure patriot and a wise statesman. The estimation in which his virtues were held by the people of the State to which he belongs, forms of itself, the highest eulogium upon his character.
Mr. Speaker, in the community where our lamented colleague had dwelt so long, the intelligence of his death will be received with the, deepest sorrow. Universally beloved while living, his loss will be uni- versally mourned; whilst the memory of his manly graces and virtues will be fondly cherished by all who knew him.
I dare not trust myself to speak of the domestic circle which is made desolate, and the hallowed ties which are sundered by this afflictive dispensation. Would that we might impart consolation to the bereaved family by the expression of our affectionate sympathy and condolence ! May they be sustained and comforted by the protecting power of the Supreme Being whose merciful promise it is to be the widow's friend and "a father to the fatherless."
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