History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

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 5

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BENCH AND BAR.

most persistent and inexorable of advocates. A cause accepted by him became a bond on his conscience, and he could do no less than his best in its management. He was never a politician, yet few men of the age had more carefully studied the whole seience of govern- ment. Without seeking or wishing office, he rep- resented his adopted town in seven sessions of the State Legislature, and once represented his senatorial district in the State Senate. Once, also, he served the State as its lieutenant-governor. But his tastes and aims were pre-eminently professional, and his success and reward, both in professional eminence and in substantial wealth, were very great. His es- tate was one of the largest ever gathered in the town, and it was as solid as it was large.

Of Mr. Hawley's fine literary tastes almost every plea he made for the last half of his professional ca- reer, and indced his most ordinary conversation on ordinary topics, gave most abundant proofs. His lan- guage was exceedingly terse and exact, rising often, under the glow of earnest feeling, to a high degree of strong and fervid eloquence. In his religious expe- rience Mr. Hawley's record is peculiarly one of the conscience and heart. Educated early in the faith of the Congregational Church, to the day of his death he accepted and cordially endorsed that faith. With- out ever making a public profession of religion, few men have given better evidence of the control of re- ligious principles, and both his lips and his life mod- estly yet unequivocally assured those who knew him best that his was the faith of Jesus.

Mr. Hawley was married Jan. 28, 1821, by the Rev. Jonathan Judd, rector of St. John's Church, in Stam- ford, to Mary S., daughter of David Holly, Esq., of Stamford.

ALFRED A. HOLLY, son of John William and Re- becca (Welles) Holly, of Stamford, graduated at Union College in 1818 ; was admitted to the bar, and began practice here. He soon left the profession, and since then has been connected with the Stamford and savings-banks of the town.

JOHN BISSEL was a student of law in the office of Charles Hawley, and, after being admitted to the bar, opened an office here, but soon went to New York City.

HON. TRUMAN SMITH, formerly United States scn- ator, is also a resident of Stamford. When in prac- tice he ranked among the sound and able lawyers of the Connecticut bar.

JOSHUA BEAL FERRIS, son of Joshua and Letitia (Lockwood) Ferris, was born in Greenwich, Conn., Jan. 13, 1804. The name Ferris is from Leicester- shire, England, from Henry, son of Gualchelme de Feriers, house of Feriers, to whom William the Con- queror gave large grants of land in the three shires of Stafford, Derby, and Leicester. Thus the ancestry of Mr. Ferris is traced back through Jeffrey Ferris (spelled Firries in old records of Stamford) from America to England and to France.

Jeffrey Ferris, who was made freeman in Boston in

1635, eame with the first settlers, helped pay for the first survey, and received ten acres of the first allot- ment of land. Savage says he was from Watertown, Mass., going from there to Wethersfield, thence with the first colony to this section. He was one of the eleven Greenwich men who petitioned to be accepted under the New Haven jurisdiction. He lived there- after in Greenwich, and died in 1666.

During the many years the ancestors of Mr. Ferris have resided in Greenwich, they have been agricul- turists, well-to-do, not rich, and in his carly years Mr. Ferris attended the common schools, but while still young was placed under the tutelage of and prepared for college by Rev. Daniel Smith, of Stamford (who was pastor of the Congregational church for more than forty years), and entered Yale College in 1819, graduating there in 1823. Immediately thercafter Mr. Ferris began teaching a preparatory school for boys in Stamford, at the same time devoting every hour he could give to the reading of law, on which his mind constantly dwelt. He continued teaching until 1833, but was admitted to the bar in 1829. He spent some time in Hon. Charles Hawley's office as clerk of Probate for Mr. Hawley, who was Probate judge. In 1833, Mr. Ferris opened an office as a law- yer, and has been in active practice since. About 1870, Mr. Ferris admitted Calvin G. Child, and after- wards Samuel Fessenden, into partnership. Mr. Child, in 1875, opened an office for himself, and the firm has since been "Ferris & Fessenden."

Mr. Ferris married, in 1823, Sally H., daughter of William B. Peters, Esq., whose father was the celc- brated Rev. Dr. Peters, of Hebron, Conn. She was. born in Stamford. Their children have been : Harrict (deceased), Samuel J. (lost at sea), Isadore W., Joshua B. (who was drowned), Elizabeth J. (who married William R. Fosdiek, of Stamford), Mary L. (who married Rev. E. O. Flagg, of New York), Samuel P. (now a major in the United States army), and Henry J. (now residing in New York).

Mr. Ferris represented Stamford in the State Legis- lature in 1836-38, and was a member of the State Sen- ate during 1840-41 and 1849-50. He was appointed judge of Probate (to succeed Hon. Charles Hawley) by the General Assembly in 1838, and held that office many years. He was also State's attorney for several years. His politics, in early life, were in accord with the Whig party. Since the organization of the Re- publican party he has given that his support.

From the beginning of his practice, Mr. Ferris has taken rank with the ablest lawyers of his age in the county. His client's interests have always been his own, and he has shown great shrewdness in the man- agement of his cases, and care in preparing the minute details on which success so often depends. As a coun- selor he is careful, far-seeing, and safe. His courteous demeanor and unaffected politeness render his com- panionship pleasing, and have tended to win him many friends. He has been engaged in many difficult

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

and laborious cases in the highest courts of the State, and has a reputation for integrity, fidelity to the inter- ests of his clients, indefatigable labor, and legal acu- men second to no other lawyer in this section of the State. Many interesting and important cases in which he has participated might be cited had we space, aud did it eomport with the wishes of Mr. Ferris to pub- lish them.

WILLIAM THOMAS MINOR, LL.D., the second son of Simeon H., of this town, graduated at Yale in 1834, and studied law with his father. After being admit- ted to the bar he commenced practice in his native town, where he has continued to reside. He has always been popular at home, and his townsmen from the first have looked to him as a leader for them in all local movements for the prosperity of the town. He has represented the town in the State Legislature seven times, and once his district in the State Senate. In 1855 he was chosen Governor of Conneetieut, and re-elected the next year. He received in 1855 the hon- orary degree of LL.D. from the Wesleyan University at Middletown. In 1864 he was appointed by Presi- dent Lincoln consul-general to Havana, which offiee he resigned in 1867. On returning to his native town he was chosen to represent the town in the State Legis- lature, aud by the Legislature he was appointed judge of the Superior Court of the State.

HENRY A. MITCHELL, of New Canaan, was here in 1842 and 1843.

JAMES H. OLMSTEAD was born in Ridgefield, Conn., Nov. 24, 1830. He was educated at the dis- trict schools of his native town and Ridgefield Acad- emy. He subsequently taught school in Tarrytowu, N. Y., and other places, and finally, having decided upon the legal profession as a life-work, went to Stamford and commenced his studies in the office of the late Charles Hawley. He continued his studies with diligence and attention, and in October, 1854, was admitted to the bar, and began practice in his adopted town of Stamford, where he has since resided. He entered into the practice with vigor and persis-

tency, and soon took a prominent position at the Fair- field bar. He was appointed State's attorney in 1874; was reappointed, and again received the appointment, but resigned the office July 1, 1880. He was judge of Probate five years, and member of the Legislature in 1874. During his official career as State's attorney he prosecuted ten trials for murder, the first being that of James Lattin, and the last the celebrated Buckholz case. He discharged his official duties fearlessly, and, iu the language of a present judge of the Superior Court, "was one of the most vigorous prosecutors in the State."

Oct. 2, 1854, he united iu marriage with Adelaide F., daughter of the late Col. Lorenzo Meeker, and their family has consisted of eight children, four of whom are living,-viz., Cora Montgomery Meeker, Irving, Fanny, and Mary.

FRANCIS M. HAWLEY, son of the Hon. Charles, a

native of Stamford, graduated at Trinity College, studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar in 1864, and opened here a law-offiee.

JULIUS B. CURTIS was born at Newtown, Conn., Dec. 10, 1825. He was the only sou of Nicholas and Sarah A. (Bennett) Curtis, and is a lineal descendant of William Curtis, one of the first settlers of Stratford, Conn. (The birthplace of Mr. Curtis is erroneously given in Huntington's "History of Stamford" as being at Stamford.)

Mr. Curtis received his early education at the public schools of his native town, supplemented by one year's atteudanee at the Newtown Academy and at a private school of academic character. But his education was largely obtained by studying alone without the aid of a teacher.

He commenced the study of law with Hon. Edward Hinman, of Southbury, Conn., in the summer of 1846, and afterwards continued his legal readings uuder Isaac M. Sturges, Esq., then of Newtown, and Hon. Amos S. Treat, completing his studies at the law school at Ballston Springs, Saratoga Co., N. Y., in the summer of 1850, and was admitted to the bar at Fair- field, Conn., at the session of County Court held iu December, 1850.

Mr. Curtis commenced the practice of his profession at Greenwich, Conn., in the summer of 1851, and soon took high rank and established a fine practice. He was elected in 1858 and re-elected in 1860 as senator, to represent the Twelfth Senatorial District in the General Assembly of the State. He removed to Stam- ford in the fall of 1864 and opened an office for the practice of law.

In 1867, Mr. Curtis was elected judge of the court of Probate for the district of Stamford, and held the offiee by successive yearly elections until 1870. His practice as a lawyer is extensive. In his profession he is esteemed as acute, painstaking, and diligent; of perfect rectitude, one can intrust business to him without fear that his trust is misplaced. As a law- yer he is logieal and argumentative, rests his case upon the law, and his presentation of it is apt to dis- cover any technical defect in an opponent's case.

In politics he has ever been a pronounced Free- Soiler; voted for Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams in 1848. Previously he was a Whig, and a Republican from the first nominations of that party.

Mr. Curtis married Mary Acker, daughter of Peter aud Mary Acker, of Greenwich, Oet. 30, 1854. Their two children are Sarah, born March 9, 1866, aud Louis J., born March 11, 1869.

Mr. Curtis is of positive character, independent thought, and close reasoning powers,-does not blindly follow the lead of any one, but must satisfy himself that his course is right. He is strong and loyal in his friendships, and would stand alone, if occasion demanded, to defend either a friend or a principle, and, in consequence, has to a large degree the respect and

HON GEO. A. DAVENPORT.

I. M. Sturges

BENCH AND BAR.

confidence of the community. He is pre-eminently the enemy of shams, wherever they exist, and nothing will sooner disgust him than hypocrisy, prevarication, or untruth. He has been a diligent and persistent worker in his chosen sphere, and has met with good reward financially and otherwise.

CALVIN G. CHILD, son of Asa Child, Esq., a native of Norwich, Conn., graduated at Yale in 1855, and practiced law in New York until 1866, when he re- moved to this place. He died Sept. 28, 1880. .

SAMUEL FESSENDEN, the present State's attorney, is also a resident of Stam ford.

JUDGE GEORGE A. DAVENPORT is of English de- scent, which may be traced through a long line of ancestry, reaching back, according to the "Daven- port Genealogy" of Mr. A. B. Benedict, to the eleventh century. He was born in Wilton, Fairfield Co., Conn., Jan. 31, 1808. His father was a manufac- turer of woolen fabrics in a small way, carrying on farming at the same time. His educational advan- tages were both common school and academic. At the conclusion of his studies he entered the profession of the law. Of his career as Probate judge, however, we wish more particularly to write, and we think we cannot do better than to quote entire an article ap- pearing in the Norwalk Gazette, Jan. 8, 1878, upon the retirement of the judge from the office which for nearly thirty years he had filled so creditably :

"During the present month Judge George A. Dav- enport, who for a quarter of a century has adminis- tered the duties of the Orphans' Court of the district of Norwalk, will retire from further service by reason of the constitutional limitation of age. This is no trivial event in our local history. Few, if any, Pro- bate districts in the country have been so highly favored with such exceptional capacity and fidelity to public trust, and we are sure that the regrets at Judge Davenport's retirement will be both universal and sincere. Differing as widely as the poles with him in many things, we all the more gladly bespeak the district's obligations and gratitude with the most hearty unreserve. Both parties have uniformly voted for him as the best possible candidate that could be chosen for the trying and responsible duties of Pro- bate judge. The angry disputes he has quelled among those once friends, the jealousies and heart- burnings among members of the same families he has removed, the expensive lawsuits and vexations litiga- tions he has prevented by his own free and sound advice,-all are matters of conspicuous local liis- tory. Of all the wills he has drawn, settlements and decisions he has made, not one has ever been upset or reversed. His records are models of clerkly beauty and neatness, and marvels of legal accuracy.

" We trust we shall not yet lose the wisdom of his ripe experience and counsels, or the light of his pres- ence among us for many years to come. Though re- lieved from official responsibility and drudgeries, he

may yet serve his generation in many important ways, and he will not fail to do so.

"On the 31st of January, 1878, Judge Davenport reached his seventieth year, and was by legal limita- tion debarred from holding the office of judge of Pro- bate."

Judge Davenport was married early in life to Miss Mary Sturges, of Wilton, Fairfield Co., Conn. Their children are Mary A., wife of Charles B. White, surgeon in the United States army ; Julia A .; Ben- jamin, a graduate of the law school of the University of Georgetown, D. C., now practicing as an attorney and counselor-at-law in the city of Washington ; Daniel, graduate of Yale, studied law in the office of Woodward & Perry, Norwalk, now attorney and counselor-at-law in Bridgeport, married Mary E. Jones; Timothy, graduate of Yale, and attended New Haven Law School ; and Sarah.

ISAAC MOREHOUSE STURGES was born in Wilton, Fairfield Co., Conn., July 6, 1807, and died at his sis- ter's residence in that town on the 30th day of Octo- ber, 1877.

Admitted to the bar of Fairfield County in January, 1837, he at once commenced practice in Newtown, re- moving from that place to Bridgeport in 1848, where he soon obtained a large clientage and continued in the full discharge of his professional duties till the last. He had been engaged in the trial of a cause the day before his death, and left it unfinished at the close of the day, intending to continue the trial on the morrow, but died very suddenly from an attack of heart-disease before the morrow came.

His father, Erastus Sturges, a farmer living at Wil- ton, was a justice of the peace of the old school, four- teen times elected to the General Assembly, and a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1818; before him were tried many cases, and Betts, Bissell, and Sherwood, in their management of justice trials, furnished the student with examples of legal ability and models for emulation,-the only school of instruc- tion open to him, for until his admission to the bar Mr. Sturges had never been present at a higher court.

Entering the profession somewhat late in life with limited educational advantages, being mainly those, aside from attendance at district schools in the winter months, derived from three years' instruction at the Wilton Academy, then under the charge of the late Mr. Hawley Olmstead, with his opportunity for liter- ary culture circumscribed, he neglected nothing, but treasured everything of which he could avail himself, and brought to the chosen calling of his life a mind so matured and trained that he became not only an acknowledged leader of a bar where leadership carried with it deserved recognition of ability, but outside of professional studies he was one of the best read of our number,* and kept himself abreast of all that was new in literature and science. He thought carn-

* Prepared by the late Hon. Calvin G. Childs, of the Fairfield bar.

HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

estly, talked well, and applied with discrimination the thoughts and opinions of others. His chief char- acteristic was thoroughness. In the technics of the profession he had hardly a superior; he elaborated every detail sometimes beyond apparent necessity, but he always had a precedent for every proposition suggested, and, with abiding faith in his own premises, he considered it his duty to force a recognition from the court by citing numerous authorities of the con- clusions which he deemcd established. He took nothing for granted in the court or in anything else, but developed his argument with syllogistic precision "Ab ovo usque ad mala." This minuteness of research characterized his professional life throughout. It was unsafe to disregard his law, for the motion in crror was sure to follow, urged with dangerous persistency ; it was unwise to be heedless of his facts, for each was claimed for a fixed and special purpose in the line of his argument; and as a result of such completeness few were employed in as many cases, none was more able as a practitioner, and so vigorous was he as an adversary that it was unsafe to mect him, with hope of success, having a single weak spot in armor, for his thrust was unerring with whatever weapon he went to battle, and he never asked nor gave quarter.

One eminent in our profession has called Judge Hosmer "a traveling index of the law." There was no safer digest for Fairfield County than Mr. Sturges, for his tenacious memory and diligent research ena- bled him to furnish information of some decision on almost every conceivable point,-information which he was always ready to impart.

Somewhat of a recluse in his habits, being unmar- ried, and living quite by himself in bachelor quarters till the last few years of his life, when he made his liome with a sister in Wilton, going to his office at Bridgeport daily, he acquired a taste for a solitary life which at times made him appear unsocial; but his character when sought out and known was thoroughly cordial and kindly. He seemed to dread the first ap- proach to companionship or intimacy, but after the friendship was formed he was loyal to it in word and deed. Possessed of a sensitiveness which at times almost mastered him, he scemed desirous to appear to the world as indifferent to criticism, censurc, or praise. He aimed to be strictly just, but the equipoise of the scales which he prided himself in holding well bal- anced was not rarely disturbed by a genial kindli- ness which he never admitted he possessed. Without being lavish in expenditure or in the least degree os- tentatious, he showed in many ways, quictly and with- out publicity, a generosity which sprang from a large- hearted sympathy and thorough unselfishness. His ambition centred in his profession. He was, however, elected a representative from Wilton in 1837, from Newtown in 1844, and again from Wilton in 1876. He was judge of Probate of the district of Newtown in 1844, and judge of the City Court of Bridgeport in 1860-61.

" The annals of lawyers, like the annals of the poor, are brief and simple. No memorial can keep their memorics from oblivion, even in the next generation, except the brief record of their forensic contests to be found in the Connecticut Reports." So wrote Mr. Sturges shortly before his death. Surely in that record, which shows to a certain extent what the law- yer is, few have a more prominent place.

And thus another passes from the brotherhood of the profession,-that brotherhood which amidst the contentions and emulation of forensic struggles ad- mits a generous chivalry in its antagonisms and ends contests with the adjournment of court; which re- spects rivalry, buries animosity, and recognizes in the leadership earned by professional prominence the tribute due to patient effort in an honorable calling.

The present bar of Fairfield is as follows :

Bridgeport .- R. C. Ambler, Henry T. Blake, Ste- phen S. Blake, Morris B. Beardsley, A. B. Beers, John A. Boughton, Ebenezer Burr, Jr., Charles S. Canfield, J. C. Chamberlain, Danicl Davenport, R. E. De Forest, Charles A. Doten, Theo. W. Downs, V. R. C. Giddings, F. B. Hall, David F. Hollister, F. L. Holt, Francis Ives, J. A. Joyce, F. G. Lewis, D. B. Lockwood, Michael McGuinness, L. N. Middle- brook, Dwight Morris, William H. Noble, Frank P. Norman, W. E. Norton, Eugenc B. Peck, John J. Phelan, J. W. Parrott, Henry S. Sanford, William K. Seeley, Morris W. Seymour, William R. Shelton, Charles Sherwood, Lucius M. Slade, William H. Stevenson, E. Stewart Sumner, Goodwin Stoddard, Samuel B. Sumner, A. L. Tallmadge, Amos S. Treat, Curtis Thompson, Morris Tuttle, George W. War- ner, Levi Warner, Mark D. Wilbur, William C. Wild- man.

Danbury .- Roger Averill, Arthur H. Averill, A. T. Bates, David B. Booth, Lyman D. Brewster, William Brooke, J. R. Farnum, B. A. Hough, Howard B. Scott, Howard W. Taylor, William F. Taylor, O. A. G. Todd, Samucl Tweedy.

Brookfield .- Samuel Sherman.

Easton .- Charles R. Dudley.

Fairfield (Southport) .- Charles H. Gilman and John H. Perry.

Greenwich .- H. W. R. Hoyt, Myron L. Mason, Frederick O. Hubbard, R. Jay Walsh.

Newtown (Sandy Hook) .- James A. Wilson.

Norwalk .- Alfred E. Austin, H. H. Barbour, Joseph F. Foote, J. B. Hurlbutt, John E. Keeler, John H. Perry, F. W. Perry, Albert Relyea, John S. Seymour, William R. Smith, Levi Warner, Asa B. Woodward, Joseph W. Wilson (South Norwalk), Nelson Taylor, Nelson Taylor, Jr.

Stamford .- Samuel H. Cohen, Julius B. Curtis, Joshua B. Ferris, Samuel Fessenden, Nathaniel R. Hart, Michael Kenealy, Edwin L. Scofield, William C. Strobridge, Jr.

Stratford .- V. R. C. Giddings.

Trumbull .- R. C. Hunter.

WILLIAM F. TAYLOR.

WM. F. TAYLOR was born in Augusta, Ga., Oct. 27, 1823. His father, Francis C. Taylor, for many years a merchant of that city, was a direct descendant of Thomas Taylor, one of the first settlers and patentees of Danbury. His mother, Hannah N. Church Taylor, was a native of the city of Dublin, Ireland, from which place, at the age of one year, she cmigrated to the city of Baltimore, Md., where resided her relatives, the Pattersons, one of which family afterwards married Jerome Bonaparte. Mrs. Taylor and her mother's family afterwards removed to the State of Georgia, where they owned large tracts of land granted to them by the English government.

William F. Taylor removed to Danbury at about the age of eight, where'he attended school, pur- suing all the English and classical studies, until about sixteen years old, when he began the study of law in the office of Fish & Bridgeman, in the city of New York. Returning to Danbury in the year 1841, he entered the sophomore class of Trinity, then Wash- ington College, Hart- ford, from which he graduated, taking one of the first honors of his class.

On leaving college he read law in the office of the late Gov. Charles Hawley, at Stamford, for one year, leaving this office to enter that of the late Hon. S. H. Hickok, of Danbury, at the request of the latter-named gentle- man. He remained here but a few months, being obliged to suspend his studies from prostration caused by severe hemorrhage of the lungs, afterwards finishing his preparation for the profession of the law under the instruction of the late Hon. Edward Taylor, then judge of Fairfield County. He was admitted to the bar in August, 1846.

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History of Fairfield County, Connecticut : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 5

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