History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 10

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532

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" Ile proved himself one of the best drill-masters and disciplioarians in the regiment, and one of the most competent officers in every position. Before going to the front he was minde captain of Company C. On the 22d of June be led Jus company into the skirmish at Petersburg as far as it advanced, and was then and there detailed assistant adjutant-gen- eral on Upton's staff, vice Capt. Sanborn, of the Fifth Maine, and, monul- ing a horse which had been brought to him, commenced his duties at once. When the regiment left the Sixth Corps at Tenallytown, in July, he was relieved. In September he was appointed judge-advocate of the division court-martinl, which tried twenty-five cases. At Cedar Creek he lost his left arm. The surgeons at Annapolis proposed to muster him out and discharge him for disability, but he protested, and wrote to Gen. Mackenzie, urging his interference. The consequence was that he was retained, and In less than seren weeks from the time he had an arnt taken off at the shoulder he reported for full duty at the front, and was at once detailed as assistant adjutant-general of the brigade again, which detail was afterwards changed to brigade inspector. He subsequently partici- pated in several fights. Ile was detailed as judge-advocate five different times, was brevetted major after Cedar Creek, promoted to major in Jan- nary, 1865, brevetted lieutenant-colonel for Little Sailor's Creek, and colonel for services during the war."

At the close of the war he returned, and in Septem- ber, 1865, resumed his studies in the office of Kellogg & Terry, in Waterbury, Conn. He remained there until Feb. 15, 1867, when he was admitted to the bar at Litchfield. After passing one year in the law school of Harvard University, obtaining the degree of LL.B., he commenced practice, Jan. 1, 1868, in Waterbury. Removed to Plymouth, April 1, 1869, remained there until March 14, 1876, but opened an office in Winsted, July 1, 1875, where he has since practiced and now resides.

Col. Fenn was city clerk of Waterbury in 1866-67 ; judge of probate, town clerk, and register of births and deaths in Plymouth, 1869 to 1876; and is now judge of probate for the Winchester District. In 1875 he was the Republican candidate for Secretary of State.

ALBERT P. BRADSTREET, son of Thomas J. and Amanda T. Bradstreet, and grandson of Seth Thomas, deceased, was born in Thomaston on the 9th day of June, 1846. He attended school in his native village and worked upon his father's farm until the fall of 1867, when he entered Yale College, where he gradu- ated in the year 1871. In October of the same year he entered the law department of Columbia College in New York City, and graduated with the degree of LL.B. in the spring of 1873. After remaining in the office of Webster & O'Neil, in the city of Waterbury, a few months, he opened a law-office in Thomaston, where he has since remained, in the enjoyment of a

lucrative practice. He was elected as representative of Thomaston in the Legislature in the years 1877 and 1878, and in the year 1880 was elected senator from the Sixteenth District for two years, being the first Republican elected to that position in his district since 1873. He was also appointed deputy judge of the Waterbury City Court in 1879, a position which he now holds. Mr. Bradstreet has held the office of town clerk of Thomaston since the incorporation of the town in 1875, and is at present a member of the board of education. Mr. Bradstreet is held in high esteem by the bar of Litchfield County, and his legislative experience has brought his name quite prominently before the people of the State.

HON. AUGUSTUS PETTIBONE was born at Norfolk, Conn., Feb. 19, 1766. He was a descendant of John Pettibone, who came from Wales, and served under Cromwell until the end of the wars, and emigrated to America about 1650. He was admitted a citizen of Windsor in 1658. Jolin Pettibone shortly after this removed from Windsor to Simsbury, and was the ancestor of the Pettibone family now spread abroad through most of the United States. Giles Pettibone, a descendant of this John Pettibone, removed from Simsbury to Litchfield County, and settled in that portion of it which the next year (1758) was incorpo- rated under the name of Norfolk. At the first town- meeting, held in 1758, forty-four citizens attended, three of whom were Pettibones,. Eli, Isaac, and Giles, the father of Augustus Pettibone. Giles Pettibone was the first representative from Norfolk in the General Assembly, a position which he occupied for twenty-six sessions; he was also judge of probate from 1779 to 1807; justice of the peace for thirty years ; and treasurer of the town for forty years. He served in the war of the Revolution, as a commissioned officer, at the battles of Saratoga and the capture of Burgoyne, and in the campaigns on the Hudson, carrying his title of colonel during his life. He was twice married and had eleven children. The mother of Augustus Pettibone was the daughter of Col. Michael Humphrey, of Simsbury, and left four chil- dren. Augustus Pettibone, at the age of fourteen, accompanied his father to the field and served several months. In 1784 lie entered Yale College, where he continued about two years, but did not gradnate. In 1787 he began reading law with Dndley Humphrey, Esq., of Norfolk, then in practice there, and continued with him from September to the following April, when he went to Litchfield, and attended Judge Reeve's lectures until March, 1790. He was admitted to the bar in Litchfield in 1790, and settled in prac- tice at Norfolk. He continued in active practice until 1812, when from infirm health he relinquished his practice ; but in the same year he was appointed associate judge of the County Court for Litchfield County, and continued such until 1816, when he was appointed chief judge of the County Court, and held that office until May, 1831. At the age of sixty-five

Albert P. Bradstreet

BENCH AND BAR.

years he resigned, declining to hold any public office. Judge Pettibone represented the town of Norfolk iu thirty-two sessions of the General Assembly, and in 1830 and 1831 he was senator from the Seventeenth Senatorial District. In 1818, Judge Pettibone was a member of the constitutional convention, and a member of the committee which drafted the con- stitution for consideration of the convention, and voted for its adoption. He was a justice of the peace for nearly forty years, and judge of probate from 1807 to 1822, succeeding his father in that office.

Judge Pettibone occupied an honorable position in his profession, and was greatly esteemed by his brethren of the bar for his ability and integrity. He was forcible and logical in his address, but wholly without effort at display, and with little personal ambition. Thoroughly sincere and earnest himself, he despised all attempts at deception or trifling, and could not endure any resort to subterfuge, or any hypocrisy.

The latter years of his long life were spent at his home in Norfolk, in the eare of a small farm, which afforded him needed exercise and recreation, and in the management of the estate he had accumulated in his business. He died Oct. 4, 1847, leaving a wife, but no children.

The following inscription, found upon the monu- ment of his father, Col. Giles Pettibone, in the old burying-ground at Norfolk, so fitly describes and applies to the life of Judge Pettibone that it is in- serted here:

" Ilis life was honorable to himself and useful to society. He was distinguished by various marks of honor frown hals fellow-mon, was prompt In their service and enjoyed their confidence through a long life devoted to public employments. To the needy and unprotected poor he was n father and a friend. Tears of sorrow bedew hils grave who felt for the sufferinga of others. Mortality, tho' It presents a barrier to the works of good mon, does not obscure thelr virtues. The life of the just man shines with lustro beyond the grave."

Rufus Pettibone, a brother of Hon. Augustus Petti- bone, graduated at Williams College in 1805, studied law, and about 1818 emigrated to Missouri, then a territory, and settled there as a lawyer. lle was a man of brilliant talents and education, and imme- diately took high rank as a lawyer. He was a mem- ber of the constitutional convention of Missouri, and was chosen one of the circuit judges of the State. Afterwards he was appointed chief justice of the State by Governor McNair, the first Governor of the State, and hell the office until his death in 1825.

S. Pettibone, another brother of Augustus Petti- bone, a man of excellent ability and education, also a lawyer, was a graduate of Williams College, class of 1800. He died in Norfolk, Conn., in the prime of life.

Levi Pettibone, another brother of Augustus l'etti- bone, was the companion of Henry R. Schoolcraft in his exploring tour through Southwestern Missouri and Arkansas in 1817, and afterwards settled in Missouri, where he was many years in responsible positions, as 4

judge of probate and clerk of the Circuit Courts. He is still (in 1881) living in the city of St. Louis, in his one hundred and first year, in the enjoyment of fair health and considerable vigor. Until his eyesight failed, when he was ninety-seven years of age, he was an excellent correspondent, and engaged to a con- siderable extent in active business pursuits.

HIRAM P. LAWRENCE was born at Norfolk, Conn., in 1833. Was a member of the class of 1855 in Yale College, but did not graduate. Read law with Hon. F. D. Fyler, of Winsted, in 1870, was admitted to the bar in Litchfield County in 1873, and is settled in practice at Winsted, Conn.

JAMES HUNTINGTON was born in South Coventry, Conn., June 4, 1833. He studied his profession in the office of Loren P. Waldo and Alvan P. Hyde, at Tolland, Conn ; subsequently graduated at the law school at Poughkeepsie, N. Y .; was admitted to the bar of Fulton County in 1859, and in the same year commenced practice in Woodbury, where he has since resided. He is judge of probate for Woodbury Dis- trict, and State's attorney for Litchfield County.

ATTORNEYS' FEES IN 1;93.

The following interesting extracts are from the records of a "Barr" meeting hell Dec. 18, 1793 :

" At a meeting of the bar held Dec. 18, 1793, of which Adunsijah Strong, Esq., was chairman, it was voted, ' that Frederick Wolrott, E.g., of Litch- field, bo Clerk of this Barr, and have power to make Records of all Ite- solves of this Barr, to make and certify Copies thereof, and to perforat all other Duties Incident to said Office.'

" Resolved, That in future the Fees to be charged by each Member of this Barr in all Canses In which he may be employed be established IN followa, vize :

" In Common Pleas. £

" RetalDer

Term F're4

Ou appointment of Auditor

1 10

Arguing Remonstrance to Report of Auditors.

Attending Arbitrator each Day

Before n justice, nine Shillings at least, and more in proportion to the distance and laientauce of the cuse.

"The Members present and who aula silval to the alto tale of fees are as follows: Tapping Hoeve, Soloninh Strong, Daniel Everitt, PasIl N. Bilusmonde, Isaac Baldwin, Jr , Ephraim Kirly, Benjamin Stilen, Jr., Nathan Preston, Judson Caufield, Samuel Bostwick, John C. Smith. Nicholas S. Masters, John Allen, U'ilel Holmes, Nathan Smith, John Elmore, Joseph Canfield, Augustus Pettibone.

"Arguing Plea of Abatement, there tring to other defense in the case ..

The siun with Further defense

Arguing Thamnurrer of l'etitlou for new trial.

: Ilill in Chancery ...

Silent Apprent, Including term fres .

Arguing loue In fart ...

"Motion tu Arrent of Judgment.

On Appantment of Auditors ....

Argulug Rouwhatrance to report of Auditors ...

)

" In Superior thurt. C

" Retainer.

Term Fre

Arguing Plen of Alutenient

Demnurrer ..... Imne in fact ...

Argulag Motion In Arrest of Judgment

I'll In C'hancery ..

" Edmond Aklus, This Ruggles, Daniel W Lowle, Willam Cogswell, Matthew B. Whittleacy, Frederick Wole It, Ellabin Sterling, Janice Thon

HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

son, David Tallman, Eli Curtis, Aaron Smith, Roger Skinner, David Dag- gett, Isane Mills, M. Strong, Joel P. Pettett."

THE COURTS IN 1820.

Under the old government the Superior Court con- sisted of nine judges, and they were selected annually by the Legislature. Under the constitution the num- ber was reduced to five, and they held their office during good behavior or until they reached the age of seventy years. In like manner the judges of the County Courts were reduced from five to threc. Formerly these judges held the Superior Courts, but now they are holden by one judge.

TILE SUPERIOR COURT.

There were sessions of the Superior Court in each year, holden on the third Tuesdays of August and Feb- ruary, and the terms rarely extended beyond two weeks. If they reached to the third week, they were deemed to be of extraordinary length. The Superior Court had no original jurisdiction except as a court of equity. All i's actions at law came up by appeal from the County Court, and generally important cases were carried up without a trial in the court below. The party wishing to appeal his case would demur either to the declara- tion or plea, as the case might be, suffer a judgment to be entered against him, and appeal from it, and then change his plea in the Superior Court as the exigencies of his case may require. The making of copies in the case appealed was a very profitable item in the business of the clerk. All cases at law wherein the matter in demand exceeded seveuty dollars were appealable, and all matters in equity in which the sum involved exceeded three hundred dollars were brought originally to the Superior Court. In criminal matters the jurisdiction of both courts was concurrent, except in crimes of a higher grade, which were tried exclusively in the Superior Court. A case was pretty certain to reach a trial at the second term after it was entered in the docket unless special reasons could be shown for its further continuance.

THE COUNTY COURT.

The County Court had an important agency in the administration of justice fifty years ago. Under the old form of government it consisted of one judge and four justices of the quorum ; under the constitution, of one chief judge and two associate judges.

There were three sessions of the old County Court in each year, in March, September, and December. The September term was generally short, merely dis- posing of the criminal business and such other pre- liminary matters as could not be passed over. The March term lasted three weeks, and the December term from four to six weeks, as the business might de- mand. The first half day was always taken up in calling the docket. Mr. Wolcott had his files ar- ranged alphabetically, corresponding with the entries on the docket, and of these some member of the bar, usually one of the younger, had charge. The sheriff

took his station in the centre of the bar, and as the cases were named by the clerk the proper entries were made both on the docket and on the file, and then the file was passed to the sheriff, who delivered it to the party entitled to it, and thus, at the close of the pro- ceedings, all the files had passed into the hands of the members of the bar, where they remained until the case received final disposition. Three hundred cases were considered as constituting a small docket, and there were as many as nine hundred entered at a single term.

In 1820 there were two grades of lawyers in the State. The first admission only authorized the candi- date to practice at the County Court, and a service of two years was required at that bar before he was al- lowed an examination for admission to the bar of the Superior Court. The statutes of the State were sub- sequently revised under the superintendence of Judge Swift, and many and material alterations had been made to conform the provisions of the law to the new order of things under the constitution. The question came before Judge Mainard, and he decided that under the revised statutes an admission to the bar of the County Court gave the candidate authority to practice in all the courts in the State; and that de- cision was assented to by all the judges.

The matter of examining candidates for admission to the bar was, in those days, an imposing solemnity, and the day for that proceeding was a marked day of the term. All the members of the bar were expected to be present, and few failed of attending. The com- mittee of examination occupied the judges' seats, the chairman, holding the place of the chief judge, indicating to cach separate member of the committee the subject in which he was expected to examine the candidate, and thus a thorough and searching exami- nation was had. After the examination was closed the candidates retired, and the members of the bar gave their opinions seriatim on the question of the ad- mission of the applicant. Sometimes candidates were rejected. It had been the practice in early times to have an entertainment at the close of the ex- amination at the expense of the successful condidates, but this had been dispensed with when I was ex- amined. Stories were told of some eminent members of the bar who, on such occasions, indulged in prac- tices which were not credible to their reputation for temperance and sobriety. Perhaps it was for this reason that the practice was abolished.

PRACTICE.

Statutory provisions and the advance of legal sci- ence, as well as a more just sense of what is due to the best interest of litigation, have made great changes in the course of proceedings before the courts during the last fifty years. Then it was customary for counsel to take advantage of any trivial omission which could be found in the proceedings, and a case never came to trial until every possible effort for

BENCH AND BAR.

abatement or delay had been exhausted. Our statute in relation to amendments had not then received so liberal a construction, nor was it in itself so liberal in its provisions as it now is; and thus opportunity was afforded for the display of much ingenuity in the prosecution of dilatory pleas.

Then there were no statutory provisions relating to injunctions, all the power which the court had in that matter being that with which it was invested by the common law as a court of equity, and hence very little will be found in our reports on this subject until about 1826, after the statute authorizing the judges to grant temporary injunctions had been passed. This statute was introduced into the Legis- lature by Judge Swift, who was a member for several sessions after his retirement from the bench. Since then many cases relating to this branch of jurispru- dence have been before our courts.

Probably more than half the suits commenced in our County Courts fifty years ago were brought to enforce the collection of debts, and in some localities this was a profitable business. The County Court then had jurisdiction in all cases where the matter in demand exceeded the sum of fifteen dollars, and this brought into it a great number of suits now tried by single justices, and accounts for the great diminution in the number of cases now brought here.

Piles of learning were devoted to destruction by the edict of the Legislature admitting parties and other persons in interest to be heard as witnesses. The nicest and most refined legal questions were fre- quently brought before the courts for decision in matters relating to the interest of witnesses, but now they are almost forgotten by the most learned of the profession.

THE AUTHORITIES THEN IN USE.

The statutes then in foree were the revision of 1808, by far the most elaborate and complete of any ever published. It contains a complete history of the legislation of Connecticut on all subjects of statutory enactment from the first, and is still a useful book for study by the profession. The principal labor of its preparation for publication was performed by Thomas Day.

Comparatively few American authorities were cited in our courts then. Mr. Day had published four vel- umes of Day's Reports, and then had suspended further publication for want of encouragement. The Legislature, in 1815, had authorized the court to ap- point a reporter, and hind given him a salary. Under such an appointment Mr. Day had commenced pub- lishing the Connecticut Reports, and had published three volumes of them when he published the fifth of Day, thus filling the gap between the fourth of Day and the first of Connecticut. The New York Re- ports, by Caine and Johnson, down to the twelfth of Johnson, und twelve volumes of the Massachusetts Reports were out, and these, with our own reports,

were about all the American authorities which were cited in our courts. Not a single American ele- mentary work had then been published except Swift's System and Swift's Evidence. The English Reports from Burrows down, including Douglas', Cowper's, Term, and East's Reports, down to the twelfth vol- ume, with Blackstone's Commentaries, which were always on the table, were the staple authorities of the times. Judge Reeve said that he considered Cowper's Reports the best that had then been published of the decisions of the Court of King's Bench.

The following is a list of the present members of the Litchfield bar :

Litchfield .- George C. Woodruff, George M. Wood- ruff (railroad commissioner), Origen S. Seymour (does not appear in court as counsel), George A. Hickox, Henry B. Graves, Henry H. Prescott, Dwight C. Kil- bourn, Wm. L. Ransom (clerk of the Superior Court), Charles B. Andrews, Frank W. Wessells, Edward W. Seymour.

Winchester .- R. Hitchcock (judge of the Superior Court), Augustus H. Fenn, Hiram P. Lawrence, Wel- lington B. Smith, Samuel B. Horne, William II. Ely, William F. Hurlbut, Florimond D. Fyler, Samuel A. Herman.

New Hartford .- Jared B. Foster, John B. Betts, Nathan Morsc.

Riverton .- Hiram Goodwin.

Wolcottrille .- Gideon H. Welch, George W. Cole.

Thomaston .- Albert P. Bradstreet, F. W. Etheridge. Terryville .- Henry l'lumb.

Harwinton .- Abijah Catlin.

Woodbury .- James Huntington, William Cothren, George F. Shelton.

New Milford .- John S. Turrill, James II. MeMIahon,

T. Dwight Merwin.

Sharon .- J. Wade Hughes, Charles F. Sedgwick.

West Cornwall .- Arthur D. Warner, N. A. Nicker-

son.

Lakeville .- llubert Williams.

Salisbury .- Donald J. Warner, Donald T. Warner. Canaan .- M. T. Granger (judge of Court of Errors), Jacob B. Hardenberg, A. T. Rorabuck.

Falls Village .- Lee P'. Dean, Dwight W. Clarke. Washington .- William II. O'Hara.

The senior members of the bar of this county have, many of them, made up their records; those still left are soon to follow, and the juniors are to assume their places at the bar and on the bench ; to them will soon be committed these great responsible trusts. The per- petuity of our free institutions is committed to the guardianship and keeping of the bar and judiciary of our free country, for the history of the world teaches, and all free government illustrates, this truth,-treat the subject lightly as you will,-that to the profession of the law civil government is indebted for all the safe- guards and intrenehments with which the liberties of the people are protected; that legislation is shaped, constitutions enlarged, amended, and adopted by the

HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

enlightened administration of the statesmen, both of England and the United States, who have been in both, and are in all free governments, educated for the bar, and, ascending by the inherent force of their dis- ciplined, professional life, they become the directors of the destinies of states and nations.

Military chieftains may spring into power, tyrants may dazzle with the glamour of military parade and the pomp of war an oppressed and frenzied people, but they turn as the cannonade dies away to the states- manship of the country, and call to the parliaments and congressional halls for final debate the arbitra- ments of the liberties of the people.

From the days of King John to the present hour the bench and bar have furnished the statesmen who have erected the bulwarks of constitutional law, and extorted from tyrants the Magna Chartas which have secured to the oppressed the guarantees of frec insti- tntions.

Imbued with the historical traditions of their pre- decessors, and tracing the paths they have trod, emu- lating their good example, it should become more and more the resolute purpose of the Litchfield County bar to so walk in the light of their professional teach- ings that when they are called to follow them to that upper court, and file their judgment-roll of the great trial of life with that Supreme Judge from whose bar they can take no appcal,-

" Thou go not like the quarry-slave at night Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him and lies down to pleasant dreams."

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 10

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1532

Author: J.W. Lewis & Company (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1532