History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572

USA > Connecticut > Fairfield County > History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 4

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

EPAPHRAS W. BULL came to Danbury from Hart- ford in about 1800, and removed to Ohio in 1841.

MOSES HATCH came to Danbury from Kent; was an able lawyer, and, with Asa Chapman, defended the negro Amos Adams, who was hanged at Danbury in 1817. He soon after removed to Kent, where he died.

ELISHA WHITTLESEY was also a prominent lawyer in Danbury at the close of the last century.

MATTHEW B. WHITTLESEY commenced practice in Danbury at about the beginning of the present cen- tury, and was a prominent and influential citizen. He held various official positions, among which were member of the Legislature and State's attorney.

LYMAN DENNISON BREWSTER was born in Salis- bury, Conn., July 31, 1832. He entered the Freshman class of Yale College; graduated in the class of 1855; studied law with Hon. Roger Averill, of Danbury ; was admitted to the bar Jan. 21, 1858, and has since practiced his profession in Danbury. He was judge of Probate in 1868, a member of the Legislature in 1870, judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Fairfield County, 1870-74; was elected State senator in 1879 for 1880-81. He was married, Jan. 1, 1868, to Miss Sarah A. Ives, of Danbury.

ROGER AVERILL was born in Salisbury, Conn., Aug. 14, 1809. He was educated at Union College, graduating in the class of 1832. He studied law with Chief Justice Samuel Church, of Salisbury, Conn. He was admitted to the Litchfield County bar, and practiced in Salisbury till, in 1849, he removed to Danbury, where he has since practiced. In 1843 he represented the town of Salisbury in the State Legis- lature, and was elected judge of Probate, District of Danbury, which position he held for three years ; he also held the office of trustee of the State Normal School for thirteen consecutive years. He was elected Lieutenant-Governor in 1862-65, and represented Dan- bury in the Legislature in 1868. He was appointed

HON. SIDNEY B. BEARDSLEY.

BENCH AND BAR.

commissioner for the State of Connecticut to the World's Fair to be held in New York in 1883, on the one hundredth anniversary of the treaty of peace and recognition of American independence.

Mr. Averill was twice married,-first to Miss Maria D. White, of Danbury. By this marriage he had four children,-Arthur H., a practicing lawyer with his father, in Danbury; John C., practicing with Jere- miah Halsey, of Norwich ; Harriet E., and Minnie W. His second wife was Miss Mary A. Perry, of South- port, Conn.

DANIEL B. BOOTH, son of Reuben Booth, studied law in the office of his father, and is now a practicing attorney in Danbury. He has occupied various official positions; has been a representative several terms, judge of Probate, town clerk, etc.

THE FAIRFIELD BAR IN 1797.

The following were practicing attorneys in the eounty in 1797 :

Fairfield .- David Burr, Joseph Noyes, Lewis B. Sturges, and Samuel Rowland.

Danbury .- Elisha Whittlesey and Matthew B. Whittlesey.

Newtown .- William Edmond.

Norwalk .- Taylor and Roger M. Sherman.

Redding .- Seth S. Smith, William H. Hawley.

Stamford .- John Davenport, Jr., and John T. Bene- dict.

Stratford .- Thaddeus Benedict and Joseph Walker. Weston .- Samuel B. Sherwood.

HON. THADDEUS BETTS was born in Norwalk ; was twice elceted lieutentant-governor of Connecticut, and at the time of his decease was United States senator.

CYRUS H. BEARDSLEY, father of the Hon. Sidney B. Beardsley, was born in Monroe, July 4, 1799, and died in August, 1852. He graduated at York in 1818, in the class with the late Henry Dutton and Thomas C. Perkins. He occupied many official positions, and was a man of commanding influence in the county and State. He was repeatedly a member of the Gen- eral Assembly, and Speaker in 1846. He was a judge of the County Court, State senator, etc., etc. He married Maria Burr, who is still living.

SIDNEY B. BEARDSLEY was born in Monroe, Fair- field Co., Aug. 20, 1822. He was educated at Wilton Academy and Yale College. He studied his profes- sion with Reuben Booth, of Danbury, and was ad- mitted to the bar in August, 1843. He commenced practice in Norwalk, where he remained until 1846, during which period he was judge of Probate. In 1846 he removed to Bridgeport, where he has since resided. He has had associated with him at different times as copartners in practice Judge De Forrest, William K. Secley, and Col. S. B. Sumner. In 1858 he was elected State senator, and has also been a can- didate for Congress. In 1874 he was elected by the Legislature judge of the Superior Court, which term expires in 1882.

ORRIS S. FERRY was born at Bethel, Aug. 15, 1823. At the age of seventeen he entered Yale College, and graduated in 1844 with high honors. He commenced the study of the law with Judge Osborne, of Fairfield, and subsequently continued it with Hon. Thomas B. Butler, of Norwalk. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, and for a short time was in partnership with Judge Butler. He rose rapidly in his profession, and, in the language of Asa B. Woodward, Esq., "while yet a young man he ranked among the leaders of the bar in the amount of his business and the ability and success with which it was conducted." He was judge of Probate in Norwalk, in 1855 and 1856 was State senator, and from 1856 to 1859 was State's attorney for Fairfield County. He was elected to Congress in 1859. Being in Washington at the breaking out of the Rebellion, he enlisted in a volunteer battalion for the temporary defense of the capital, and served until troops were obtained from the North. He entered the United States service as colonel of the Fifth Con- necticut Regiment, and served through the war. He was subsequently promoted to be brigadier-genera !. At the close of the war he returned to Norwalk, and in 1866 was elected to the United States Senate and re-elected in 1872, and was regarded as one of the ablest members of that body. He died Nov. 21, 1875.

DWIGHT MORRIS was born at Morris, Conn., Nov. 22, 1820. His father, James Morris, was a graduate of Yale, in the class of 1775, entered the army, and con- tinued through the Revolution, and was a literary man, having published a history of Litchfield County and other meritorious contributions from his pen. Dwight Morris entered Yale and left about the close of the sophomore year and went to Union College, where he graduated in 1838. The honorary degree of A.M. was received by him in 1878 from Yale College.

He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1840. and commenced practice in Bridgeport, where he has since resided. He represented Bridgeport in the Gen- eral Assembly in 1845 and 1864; was judge of Pro- bate in 1845, 1851, and 1852. He raised and com- manded the Fourteenth Regiment, Connecticut Vol- unteers, 1862. Left the State with the regiment Aug. 25, 1862. September 7th was assigned to the command of the Second Brigade, French's Division, Second Army Corps; commanded the brigade, numbering two thousand men, at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862; loss in killed and wounded, five hundred and twenty-nine. He continued the command until February, 1864, when he was mustered out. In 1864 he was nomi- nated by President Lincoln judge of the Territory of Idaho, but declined the appointment, and in Feb- ruary, 1866, was appointed Consul-General to Havre, France, and_ remained such until Aug. 1, 1869. In November, 1876, was elected Secretary of State of Connecticut, and at present is a representative to the General Court.

JAMES C. LOOMIS was born in Windsor, Conn ..

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. .

April 24, 1807. He prepared for college at the gram- mar school in Hartford, and entered Yale College in 1824, then only seventeen years of age, and graduated with honor in the class of 1828. Among the mem- bers of his class were Rev. P. T. Holley, of this city ; ex-Governor Hoppin, of Rhode Island; and Judge William Strong, of the United States Supreme Court. Having decided upon the law as a life-work, he com- menced his studies at Charlotteville, Va., and com- pleted them in the office of the late Hon. Clark Bissell, of Norwalk. He pursued his studies with diligence and attention, and was admitted to the bar in 1832, and commenced the practice of his profession in Westport, with the late Hon. Samuel B. Sher- wood, one of the leaders of the Fairfield bar, which at that time was adorned by such brilliant legal lumi- naries as Roger Minot Sherman, Charles Hawley, Clark Bissell, T. B. Butler, Reuben Booth, Fitch Wheeler, Henry Dalton, etc.

Mr. Loomis rose rapidly in the profession, and, de- siring a more promising field for successful practice, in 1840 removed to Bridgeport, where he at once entered into a large practice and participated actively in public affairs.

In 1848 he formed a copartnership with George W. Warner, which continued several years. He was for a number of years the city attorney and legal adviser of the city, and mayor for one term in 1843. His municipal service was at a period of much excite- ment, when important questions of finance, etc., had to be grappled with and settled.

The employment of a special steamboat to run in connection with the Housatonic Railroad in oppo- sition to the old line at this period caused the exhibi- tion of much bad blood between the partisans of the rival lines, and Mayor Loomis was repeatedly called upon to appear with posse to keep the peace on the arrival of trains from Albany.

He twice represented his town in the lower house of the State Legislature, and once or twice the Tenth District as State senator, and by virtue of this position became a member of the corporation of Yale College. The business and investments of Mr. Loomis were very successful financially, and he finally, a few years previous to his death, withdrew from the active practice of his profession, dividing his time between the cares of his private affairs and numerous public interests, with which he became identified. The most arduous and important public service of the later years of his life was in connection with the public schools of the town. In April, 1876, the town voted to consolidate the school districts, and elected a new board of edu- cation for the care and management of the schools, of which he was elected president. He at once entered with an interest and zest peculiar to himself upon the work of organization, involving an amount of thought, attention, and labor few can realize.

He was one of the first projectors of Seaside Park, was a commissioner thereon, and was very active and

influential in its early improvement and manage- ment.

At the time of his decease he was president of the Bar Association of Fairfield County, of the board of education, of the Mountain Grove Cemetery, of the Bridgeport Library Association, and was also an active director in the City National Bank, and trustee of the People's Savings-Bank.

He manifested a decided interest in religious mat- ters; was president of the stockholders' association for the erection of the present edifice of the First Congregational Society from 1849 to about 1860, when its interests became merged in and absorbed by the society, of which he was also a member and liberal supporter. He was a constant attendant upon public worship.

In 1833 he united in marriage with Miss Eliza Mitchell, of New Haven, who, together with their young son, died in 1841. In 1844 he married Mary B., daughter of Ira Sherman, Esq .; their family con- sisted of two children,-a son and a daughter,-both deceased, the former while a member of the senior class in Yale College, and the latter in early childhood.

Politically, Mr. Loomis was a conservative Demo- crat, and in 1861 and again in 1862 was the candidate of his party for Governor of the State against Mr. William A. Buckingham. Though he failed of gu- bernatorial honors at this period, during his long career almost any position, political or judicial, would seem to have been within his reach; but he was never sufficiently ambitious to strive very earnestly for such honors, or to accept them when proffered.

His death made a painful void in his home, in the family and social circle, in the church and society to which he was attached, in the legal profession, and in numerous boards in which he presided or partici- pated. He died at South Egremont, Mass., Sept. 16, 1877.

AMOS SHERMAN TREAT was born in the town of Bridgewater, Litchfield Co., Conn., Feb. 5, 1816. He is a son of Daniel A. and Almira Sherman Treat, and is a lineal descendant of Richard Treat, one of the pat- entees in the colonial charter, and of his son Robert Treat, for many years Governor of Connecticut. On the maternal side he is descended from Samuel Sher- man, one of the pioneers of Connecticut. His father owned a small farm in Bridgewater, and died when the subject of this sketch was twelve years of age, leaving a widow and five children. Having decided upon a collegiate course, he prepared for college in Hudson, Ohio, and entered Yale College. After leaving college he taught school in South Carolina, and still later in New Jersey. He commenced the study of the law with Hon. Jacob W. Miller, of Mor- ristown, N. J., at one time United States Senator from that State, and completed his studies with C. R. But- ler, Esq., of Plymouth, Conn. He was admitted to the bar in Litchfield in 1843, and commenced the practice of his profession in Newtown, Conn., where

. !

BENCII AND BAR.

he remained until July 12, 1854, when he removed to Bridgeport, where he has since resided, except from May, 1870, to November, 1875, when he lived in Wood- bridge, in this State. Although actively engaged in the practice of an arduous profession, Mr. Treat has been much in public life, and has manifested a gen- uine interest in public affairs and in all projects tend- ing to advance the material interests of his adopted city and the county in general.

He was clerk of the Fairfield County Court from 1854 to 1859; member of the Pcaec Congress in 1861; represented Bridgeport in the Connecticut Legislature in 1858, 1862, 1869, and 1879; and Woodbridge in the same body in 1871, 1872, and 1873.

He was Speaker of the House in 1872, chosen to that position by the Republican party, of which he has been a member since its organization. He was a director in the Bridgeport and City National Banks; director in the Gas-Light Company many years ; and its president for ten years. While a resident of New- town he was a member of the board of education sev- eral years, and postmaster one year.

In the Masonie fraternity Mr. Treat has taken a prominent position. He was made a Mason in 1855, and has held nearly all the offices of the lodge, in- cluding Master. He has also held nearly all the offices in Hamilton Commandery, and has been its Eminent Commander, and was Grand Commander of the State Commandery in 1868 and 1869.

Dec. 15, 1869, he united in marriage with Mary A., only daughter of Treat Clark, of Woodbridge, Conn., and they have one daughter, Mary Clark, born Jan. 28, 1872. Mr. Treat attends the North Congregational Church.

JOSEPH F. FOOT has practiced law in Norwalk more than a quarter of a century, and has always been considered an excellent legal adviser. He was for several years one of the justices of Fairfield County.

The following list of Stamford lawyers is taken chiefly from Huntington's "History of Stamford":

JOHN DAVENPORT, the first child of Hon. Abra- ham and Elizabeth (Huntington) Davenport, was born in Stamford, Jan. 16, 1752. He graduated at Yale in 1770. His scholarship is indicated in his appointment to a tutorship in 1773. Entering on the legal profession, he was soon called to take an im- portant place among the Revolutionary patriots of that day. With a major's commission he was em- ployed in commissary department, and his duties here were often onerous and difficult. When the patriot cause was suffering for the want of a suitable public interest in the welfare of the new nation just ordained by the Declaration of Independence, he was appointed by the Assembly of the State as one of a commission to visit the principal towns and arouse the people to a just sense of their dangers and move them to cor- responding exertions. On the death of his brother James, in 1799, he was chosen to take his place in the

national Congress, and held his seat in the House of Representatives until 1817, when he declined a re- election. He was a member of the Congregational Church in Stamford, of which he was appointed dea- con in 1795. This was the office in which his emi- nent goodness was best shown. He was, to his death, an example of earnest, living piety, whose fruits were ever manifest in the character of a benevolent, fer- vent, and exemplary Christian. His death occurred Nov. 28, 1830.

JOEL T. BENEDICT, son of Rev. Mr. Benedict, of North Stamford, after a short practice of his legal profession became. a preacher.

JAMES STEVENS was the youngest child of David and Mary (Talmage) Stevens, and was born July 4, 1768, in that part of Stamford-Ponus Street-which has since been incorporated with the town of New Canaan. He became a lawyer and opened an office in his native town, in the village of Stamford. He was a man of considerable native talent, and, joining heartily in the Democratic movement, then inaugu- rated, he won his way to a seat in the House of Repre- sentatives of our national Congress. He was in that famous Congress which passed the "Missouri Com- promise," and gave his vote for that measurc. He represented Stamford thirteen times in the State Leg- islature, and was much in public life until his death, which took place April 4, 1835. A brief obituary of him in the Sentinel of that date says, "Mr. Stevens has been extensively known as a kind neighbor and friend, as a politician of sterling integrity, and as an inflexible advocate of Democratic principles. He has represented this town in both branches of the Legis- lature of this State; was for some time a judge of the County Court ; has been a representative from this State in the Congress of the United States."

SIMEON H. MINOR was son of - -, of Wood- bury, where he was born, in 1777. He was descended from that Thomas Minor who was born at Chew Magna, England, April 23, 1608; came to New Eng- land in 1630, and settled in New London in 1645, where he died in 1690. He was a prominent man among the settlers in Eastern Connecticut. His family name dates back to about the middle of the fourteenth century, when the third Edward bestowed it upon Henry the Miner, of Mendippe Hills, Somer- sctshire, England, for his prompt efficieney in furnish- ing him an escort as he embarked on that famous invasion of France in which he won the battle of Crecy against so great odds.

John Minor, third son of John, of New London, was born in 1634 (so Cothren, in his "History of Woodbury," says), went to Stratford, and thence to Woodbury, and was a leading man for years. Simeon H., of Stamford, was probably a great-great-grand- son of this second John. On being admitted to the bar, he settled in Stamford in 1831, and spent here the rest of his life. Hle rapidly won a high position at the Fairfield County bar, of which he was a promi-

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

nent member until his death, Aug. 2, 1840. The Stamford Advocate of the same week pays a high tribute to his professional ability : "Possessed of a strong mind and sound legal judgment, no member of the bar commanded a greater share of practice, until his health began to fail him, than he. For fourteen years he discharged the office of State's at- torney." He represented the towu in six sessions of the Legislature, and was judge of Probate several years. In the discharge of all official duties he was prompt aud efficient.

FREDERICK SCOFIELD, son of Benjamin and brother of Selleck Scofield, was born Aug. 13, 1778. He graduated at Yale in 1801, and entered the legal pro- fession, and for a few years had an office here. He subsequently became a teacher in Philadelphia, where he died in 1841.

JOSEPH WOOD was a descendant, in the sixth gen- eration, of Jonas Wood, one of the pioneers of the settlement in Stamford. Joseph Wood, second, a great-grandson of the pioneer, removed from Hemp- sted to Stanwich, where Joseph was born, March 24, 1779. His father, David, son of the above Joseph, second, was among the respectable farmers of Stan- wich, a wan of intelligence and piety. His mother, Sarah Ingersoll, was noted for her cheerful and amia- ble disposition. Brought up on his father's farm, he acquired habits of industry, and, being of an inquisi- tive turn of mind, he commenced in his seventeenth year fitting for college. He graduated at Yale in 1801, and devoted himself to the legal profession. His law-teacher was Judge Chauncey, of New Haven. He was admitted to the bar of New Haven, when he selected Stamford as the field for commencing his professional career. Here he opeued an office in 1803, where he continued to practice until 1829. During his stay here he was held in estcem as a good citizen aud honorable in his profession. He represented the town in the State Legislature, and was judge of Pro- bate several years.

In 1826, Mr. Wood removed to Bridgeport, thence to New York City in 1837, and from this city, in 1841, to New Haven, where he spent the remainder of his life. Here he stood among the first citizens of the classic city in intelligence and social worth. After his removal to New Haven he was appointed judge of the County Court, in which office he showed eminent qualities as jurist. "His stern and sterling integrity never forsook him here. He was still later chosen to the office of city clerk. His tastes were especially literary. While in New York he had edited an agricultural periodical. He had also gath- ered largely the materials for a memoir of his father- in-law, but never published it. He died Nov. 13, 1856, during a session of the literary club at the residence of Rev. Pres. Day, just after an interesting discussion in which he had taken part.

BENJAMIN T. SHELTON is reported as a practicing lawyer here in 1812.

CHARLES HAWLEY was born June 15, 1792, in what is now the town of Monroe, formerly Hunting- ton, and still earlier Stratford. His ancestors were among the early settlers of that old town, and both ou his father's and mother's side they were among the most respectable aud houored of the settlers. Joseph Hawley, the progenitor of the family in this country, came to Stratford, probably with the pio- neers of the town, and for many years was a leading man in the new colony. He represented the town several times in the State General Assembly. In his will in 1689 he gives to his son Samuel all his " build- ings and lands in Parwidge, Derbyshire, in old Eug- land," indicating thus, no doubt, the early English locality of the family. On his mother's side Mr. Hawley was descended from William Curtiss, another of the prominent settlers of Stratford. He also num- bered among his Stratford ancestors Henry de Forest, who fled from France on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1655, and Richard Booth, the ancestor of another honored line. Thus Mr. Hawley is found to belong to the best names of which our country can boast. From a record of his ancestors, gathered by him with mnuch pains and care, we learn the following facts : His great-great-grandmother, Bethia Booth, was boru in 1658, and lived until 1759. At the time of her death, her grandson, Milton Hawley, the grandfather of Charles, was twenty-four years of age ; and at the date of his death, in 1819, Charles was twenty-six. Thus it was made possible for Mr. Hawley, in 1865, to report from the lips of his grand- father the story which he had learned from the lips of his grandmother of events coming under her per- sonal observation as far back as 1665. Possibly so rare an opportunity of learning the family story may account for one of the most marked characteristics of Mr. Hawley's later years,-his strong family affection.

Mr. Hawley graduated at Yale College in 1816, and entered on the study of law in the Litchfield Law School. On being admitted to the bar, he es- tablished himself in Stamford in 1819. From the first his diligence in business and his zeal in working won the confidence of the public. That he might fit him- self locally for his profession, he made himself early familiar with the records and traditions of the town, and even became so much interested in these glean- ings for professional use as to form a plan of the his- tory of the town. But he rose so rapidly in his pro- fession that he found himself obliged to abandon this attempt; and so the opportunity of preserving much of the material for such a history which then existed was forever lost to the town.

Giving himself wholly to his professional work, he soon placed himself among the first jurists of the State. From the very beginning of his professional career he was thorough, exact, and exhaustive in whatever cause he undertook. His seuse of right and justice was as keen as his discriminations of falsehood and truth, and this made him one of the

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 4

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1572

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) comp. cn
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1572