History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 3

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

USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > History of Litchfield county, Connecticut > Part 3

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The establishment of conrt and judicial tribunals, where society is protected in all its civil rights under the sanction of law, and wrong finds a ready re- dress in an enlightened and prompt administration of justice, is the first necessity of every civilized com- munity, and without which the forces of society in their changeable developments, even under the teach- ings of the pulpit, the direction of the press, and the culture of the schools, are exposed to peril and disaster from the turbulence of passion and conflicts of in- terest ; and hence the best and surest security that even the press, the school, or the pulpit can find for the peaceful performance of its highest functions is when protected by and intrenched behind the bul- warks of the law, administered by a pure, independent, and uncorrupted judiciary.

The Litchfield County bar has from its beginning numbered among its members able jurists, talented advocates, and safe counselors. Here many have lived, flourished, and died, while others still are upon the stage of action who have been prominent in the ad- vancement of the interests of the county and figured conspicuously in the councils of the State.

" PATRIDGE THATCHER was the first man who practiced the legal profession in New Milford. He was not educated to the profession, but took up the trade because there were none of the craft hereabout when this county was organized, which was after he came to middle age. He was a native, I have been told, of Lebanon, in this State, and came to New Mil- ford I know not how long ago. He was, however, a married man at the time. He had no children, but a large number of negroes, whom he treated with kindness enough to put to shame the reproaches of all the abolitionists in New England. He was a man of strong mind, of rigid morality, and religions to the letter according to the strictest sect of orthodox Epis- copacy. He adored Charles I. as a martyr, and he hated Oliver Cromwell worse than he did the evil one. Loyalty, unconditional loyalty, was the prime element of his political erced. Of course, his name

* Court abolished in 1855.

+ This chapter embraces the reminiscences of the late David S. Board- man, of New Milford; the remainder, except sketches of living lawyers, being furnished chiefly by Gen. Charles F. Sedgwick, of Sharon, to whom wo are under special obligations.

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was not found in any list of the wicked Whigs of the Revolution, and had he lived in these days he would most thoroughly have eschewed Democracy and Ab- olitionism. On the breaking out of the Revolution- ary war his loyalty necessarily silenced his voice in court, and he died soon after its conclusion. Lawyer Thatcher, as he was always called, was undoubtedly a very odd, a very honest, and a very good man.

" DANIEL EVERITT was a native of Bethlehem, and settled in New Milford as a lawyer some time during the early part of the Revolutionary war, probably as early as 1776 or 1777, possibly earlier, as from a record I have access to I see he was married to a daughter of the Rev. Nathaniel Taylor on the 1st of January, 1778, and I remember that he lived here some time before that event. He had not a collegiate education, but was a man of good education and received an honorary degree. He read law with Judge Adams, of Litchfield, and I remember to have heard him say that he occasionally officiated in Mr. Adams' place as State's attorney when he (Adams) was absent in Congress, which he often was during the war of the Revolution. Mr. Everitt was a man of much wit, boundless ex- travagance of expression, quick conception, and in command of language and flueney of utterance unsur- passed, but not a man of much depth of mind, nor had he much legal learning, his library extending little beyond Blackstone and Jacobs' Law Dietion- ary.

"He had, I believe, a very good run of practice, when the court really opened to do civil business after the conclusion of the war. His success in this respect was, however, of rather short duration, a number of younger lawyers having about that time commenced practice here, and other circumstances conspired to carry business away from him, and he never recovered it. While studying law I heard him argue a case or two, keeping the court-house in a roar by his wit and sarcasm, but by the time I was admitted-viz., in 1795 -he had about given up attending courts at Litchfield, though he was not fifty years of age, and indeed he was, I think, but fifty-seven when he died, in 1805. I met him, however, a few times before arbitrators and justices, and had enough to do to parry his home- thrusts of good-natured wit. Before him I often went, as he tried almost all the justice cases, which he always did with entire integrity and usually came to a correct conclusion. He represented this town, I think, three times in the General Assembly, and as a member of the convention which ratified the Con- stitution of the United States. He was a man of strict honesty, entire moral reetitude of conduct, and a professor of religion. He was, however, much given to sociality, and to that conviviality which sometimes borders on a kindred indulgence. Mr. Everitt sue- ceeded the late Col. Samuel Canfield as judge of probate in this district in 1790, and held that office till his death, at the time above mentioned.

"TAPPING REEVE .*- I saw much of Judge Reeve's practice at the bar for nearly five years, during which time he was engaged in almost every case of import- ance tried in the Superior Court at Litchfield, and never failed to argue every one in which he was en- gaged, if argued at all. In the County Court, after I became acquainted with him, he did not practice. His school had become numerous, and he gave up his practice in that court because (I suppose) it too much interrupted his course of daily lectures, aud knowing as he did that he should have a part in every cause expected to be tried in the Superior Court. And, by the way, trials were then managed and got through with in a reasonable time, and not suffered to be dragged out to the abominable and shameful length which they now are, to the disgrace of the profession for indulging in it, and of the courts for permitting it.

"I joined Judge Reeve's school in the fall of 1793, and he was not placed on the bench till the spring of 1796; so that I saw him at the bar during nine ses- sions of the Superior Court, and never failed to listen to him, if I could avoid it, with unqualified love and admiration through every speech he made to its cou- clusion. I say with love, for no instructor was ever more generally beloved by his pupils, and indeed en- tirely so, except it was by those whose love would have been a reproach to the object of it. As a rea- soner he had no superior within the compass of my observation of forensic performances. I mean truc. forcible, and honest reasoning. In sophistry he was too honest to indulge, and too discerning to sutl'er it to escape detection in the argument of an adversary.

" As a speaker he was usually exceedingly ardent, and the ardor he displayed appeared to be prompted by a conviction of the justice of the cause he was ad- vocating. Ilis ideas seemed often, and, indeed, usu- ally, to flow in upon him faster than he could give utterance to them, and sometimes seemed to force him to leave a sentence unfinished to begin another, and in his huddle of ideas, if I may so express it, he was careless of grammatical accuracy, and, though a thor- ough scholar, often made bad grammar in public speaking. Careless as he was of his diction, and thoughtless as he was of ornament in ordinary cases, yet some elegant expressions and fine sentences would seem, as if by accident, to escape him in almost every speech. But in such cases as afforded the proper field for the display of eloquence, such as actions of slander, malicious prosecutions, etc., and in that part of such cases as usually prompt to exertions of the kind, his hurried enunciation and grammatical inaccuracies all forsook him, and then he never failed to electrify and astonish his audience. Many of these used to be recited to me by those who had often heard him, and it fell to my lot to witness one such occasion. In an action for malicious proscention, in closing the argu- ment on entering upon the subject of damages, he

· Seo history of Litchfield, clanhere in this work.

HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

burst forth into such a strain of dignified and soul- thrilling eloquence as neither before nor since has ever met my ear. The first sentence he uttered thrilled through every nerve of my entire frame to the very ends of my fingers, and every succeeding sentence seemed to increase in overwhelming effect. I was perfectly entranced during its delivery, and for an hour afterwards I trembled so that I could not speak plain. ITis manner was as much changed as his lan- gnage, and to me he looked a foot taller than before. The next day I went to him and asked him to commit to writing the concluding part of his speech, to which request he said in the simplicity of his nature, 'Why, if I should do that, perhaps I should make it better than it really was, and that would not be fair.' We told him (Mr. Bacon was with me) there was no danger of that, for we knew it could not be bettered. Well, he said, he would try, but he did not know whether he could recall it to memory, for there was not a word of it written beforehand. A day or two after he saw me in court, behind his seat, and beck- oned me to him and said he had tried to comply with my request, but it was so gone from him that he could make nothing of it.

"I believe I have said enough in regard to Judge Recve as an advocate, and that is the extent of your inquiry. As a judge you are acquainted with his rep- utation historically, though you probably never saw him on the bench, as he left it in May, 1816, to the regret of all admirers of legal learning and lovers of impartial justice.

"JOHN ALLEN was born in Great Barrington, Mass., some time, I believe, in 1762, of respectable parents, though not distinguished in society, as I re- member to have heard him say that he was the son of a joiner. There were but two children in the family, a son and a daughter, both much distinguished in life for many good qualities, and especially for dig- nity of manner and deportmeut, but the winning and amiable accomplishments all fell to the lot of the fe- male, gaining her many admirers, and among others a husband worthy of her in that excellent man, Elizur Goodrich, of New Haven. Their father died during the minority of both the children. Mr. Allen, having an excellent common-school education, though not a classic education, became a teacher, and, being im- pelled by a spirit of adventure, somewhat romantic as he was thought in those days, went suddenly, and without the knowledge of his friends, and while yet a minor, to Germantown, near Philadelphia, where he obtained a place as instructor of the younger classes of an academic establishment of some note at the time. How long he remained in the above-inen- tioned establishment I do not know, but soon after leaving that place, and I believe almost immediately, he came to New Milford, and taught a school for some six months, and from here went immediately into Mr. Reeve's law-school, and after the accustomed period of study was admitted to the bar, and immediately

settled in practice in Litchfield, where he spent his life. He confined himself almost entirely to the practice of Litchfield County, though occasionally, when called, in consequence of the eminence to which he soon attained in the profession, he practiced in other counties in some cases of importance, and especially in the Federal Circuit Court, in which, for a few years after the formation of the present Constitution of the United States, some considerable business was done. Mr. Allen, however, never went abroad in quest of business, thinking that the very great share of attorney business which he acquired in being al- ways found in his office equal, at least in point of profit, to what counselor business he might obtain by attending courts in other counties, considering that all the counselor business flowing from the attorney business which he did he was sure to be engaged in. From the time I entered the law-school, in the fall of 1793, I occupied a room in his office, and had free ac- cess to his ample library, and boarded at the same house with him. During all that time, and all the remaining years of his prosperous practice, which indeed lasted till the apparent commencement of his rapid decline, soon followed by death, he was engaged in almost every case of any importance in the Supe- rior and County Court. He was certainly a very suc- cessful and powerful advocate, equally with the jury as with the court, a thoroughly read lawyer, equal in point of legal science to any one at our bar during the fore part of the time I am speaking of, except Tapping Reeve, who had no rival, and in the latter part of the period James Gould, of whom I need say nothing, as you knew him in his meridian light. Mr. Allen always made diligent and faithful preparation of all cases committed to his care, and made himself fully acquainted with every point of law and every accessible point of evidence which could arise in the case, and was, therefore, usually successful when the case deserved success.

"He was six feet four or five inches high, very erect, and with an attitude and walk well calculated to set off his full stature, and, though quite lean, weighed full two hundred and thirty pounds. His countenance was strongly marked and truly formi- dable, his eyes and eyebrows dark, his hair dark, what little he had, for he was quite bald, far back, even be- fore middle age, and indeed his whole appearance was calculated to inspire dread rather than affection. His manners and conversation were, however, such as to inspire confidence and respect, though little cal- culated to invite familiarity, except with his intimates, of whom he had a few, and those, knowing the gen- erous and hearty friendship of which he was capable, were usually much attached to him and ready to over- look all his harsh sallies, imputing them to the 'rough humor which his mother gave him.' His feelings were not refined, but ardent, generous, and hearty. His friendships were strong and his aversions equally so, and, as I used to say of him speaking to others,

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' his feelings were all of the great sort.' He neither enjoyed nor suffered anything from many of those little incidents which so often affect, either pleasingly or painfully, minds of a more refined texture. As he had no taste for such things, nor, as it would seem, any faculty of perceiving, so he knew no language appropriate to their description, but in respect to those things and principles which he thought worthy of his regard he lacked no power of language to make him- self fully and forcibly understood. For neutral ground, either in morals or polities, he had no taste, and but little less than absolute abhorrence. As a specimen of his feelings and language, better than I describe, I will give you the laconic answer to an inquiry of him, why he took the Aurora, the leading Demo- cratic paper in the county, then under the guidance of that arch-Democrat, Duane ; he replied it was be- cause he wanted to know what they were about in the in- fernal regions. And after giving this specimen I need make no further attempt to give you an idea of his humor, manners, and language.

" After Mr. Allen was married, which was not till he was towards forty years old, and went to house- keeping, I boarded at his house at his express solicita- tion for many years while attending court, though he took no other one, nor ever named to me any price, nor would he count the money I handed to him when leaving for home, seeming to receive it only because I refused to stay on any other terms. I therefore saw much of him in his family, where his conduct was always dignified, proper, and kind. He was proud, very proud, and justly so, of his wife, who was a woman of much personal beauty, polished manners, and great and even singular discretion, and for whom he entertained, I believe, an ardent affection.

" Before his marriage and at the age of thirty-fivo Mr. Allen was elected a member of the Fifth Con- gress, where he distinguished himself at a time when Connecticut was never more ably represented in the House of Representatives, and would undoubtedly have been chosen for as long a period as he would have desired to be a member of that body, but he declined a further elcetion. He was elected an as- sistant in 1800, and was re-elected for the five suc- cecding years, and as such was one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Errors. For several years pre- vious to his election to Congress he had represented the town of Litchfield in the General Assembly. His wife was n granddaughter of the first Governor Gris- wold.

" BARZILLAI SLOSSON .- In speaking of Mr. Slosson, I must first observe that I had formed a tolerably correct notion of him before I ever saw him. When I was a boy his father was often at my father's house, intimately acquainted there, and, I believe, scarcely ever passed that wny without calling and holding a pretty long chat, for he never was in a hurry, and his peculiar turn of mind, abundance of common sense, and great fund of wit, joined to his singularly slow,

emphatic, and sententious mode of talking, was such as to secure the attention of any one, and especially a boy. He used occasionally to speak of his children, and especially of his oldest son, Barzillai, of whom he was manifestly very proud, representing him to be always at the head of the school when small, and af- terwards used to speak with high gratification of his industry and tact at acquiring the higher branches of knowledge without the aid of an instructor, and more particularly the knowledge of the dead lan- guages, of which he knew nothing himself. And this account given by the old gentleman, from intimate in- tercourse and frequent conversation with his son when I afterwards became acquainted with him, I found was by no means exaggerated. And to his excellent and accurate common-school education he owed much, very much, of his character for exact accuracy and correct- ness in all that he said and did through life. He was about the best reader I ever heard, wrote a fair, hand- some, and legible hand, and in the unfailing correct- ness of his orthography and use of terms no lexicog- rapher excelled him, and in everything pertaining to mere English, home, and common-school education no one appeared to be a more thorough proficient. And in Greek and Latin I never saw his superior, except old President Stiles, nor, with that exception perhaps, his equal, unless it was old Parson Farrand, of Canaan, and in the other branches of collegiate education he was, to say the least, above mediocrity. As he entered college not until the senior year, and, I believe, did not even attend during the whole of that year, he could not, of course, expect to shine and did not shine in the college honors depending upon the faculty, but nvailed himself of the right to become a candidate for the honors of Dean Scholar, and ob- tained the first premium for excellence in Greek and Latin in a class of unusually high reputation. This, I suppose, ho did merely out of a laudable pride, for he did not nvait himself of the pecuniary reward, which would have required him to reside in New lInven ; for he went, immediately after his gradua- tion, with one of his classmates (Mr .- afterwards the Rev. Dr .- Smith) to reside in Sharon as one of the instructors in the Sharon Academy, then in full and successful operation. He soon after became n stu- dent-nt-law under Governor Smith's instruction, and the first County Court, which sat after his two years' elerkship had expired, being in Fairfield County, he went there for examination and ndmission to the bar. This was, I believe, nt the November term, 1793. It was not until he began to attend court nt Litchfield, and while I was in the law-school there, that I first became personally acquainted with Mr. Slosson, though I had barely seen him once or twice before. After my admission to the bar, being loented in ad- joining towns, we often met each other before justices, and consequently before the upper courts. From our frequent meetings and intercourse at Litchfield and elsewhere I beenme greatly attached to him, and

HISTORY OF LITCHFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT.

finally for a number of years he and I, with South- mayd for our constant companion, always occupied the same room at Catlin's Hotel during every court until his death, and there was the last time I ever saw him in life. Soon after the court adjourned, hearing of his rapid decline, I set out to visit him, and on the way heard that he had died the night before. I however went on and stayed with the fam- ily until I assisted in burying him. This was in Jan- uary, 1813, and in that grave I felt that I had buried a sincere, and I am sure a much-loved, friend, on whose character and conduct in life I could reflect with melancholy satisfaction unmarred by a single reproachful recollection or one which I could wish to have forgotten.

" Mr. Slosson's great fondness for ancient litera- ture rendered him scarcely just in his comparative esti- mate of that with modern improvements. As a lawyer he was highly respectable in theory and remarkably accurate in practice ; as a pleader I do not remember that he ever had occasion to ask for an amendment or to alter a tittle of what he had written. As an advocate he was clear, deliberate, methodical, and logical in his deductions. He spoke in much of the peculiarly emphatic manner of his father above mentioned, though not with his unusual slowness. He was always eool and self-possessed, rarely warm- ing into any high degree of animation or aiming at effect to appear eloquent, but he never failed to secure a respectful and satisfied attention. Though not one of the most leading advocates, of which there are al- ways some three or four at the bar, he might, at least, be estimated an equal to any of the second class of the Litelifield bar, which was then certainly a highly respectable onc.

"Though not an aspirant after public preferment, and from his habitually modest and retiring habits not calculated to push his way when opportunities offered, he was yet at the time of his decease in a fair way of promotion. He was early and often elected to the Legislature from his native town, and indeed their usual representative until the October session, 1812, when he was elected clerk, which in those days was a sure stepping-stone to future advancement; and having myself been a witness of the manner in which he performed the duties of that office, for which no man was better qualified, I am sure he es- tablished a reputation, which, had Providence per- mitted, promised a solid and lasting existence.

"Mr. Slosson's political opinions were of the gen- nine Washingtonian political school. None of your heady, rash, and merely partisan notions found favor with him. He was a constant and honest adherent to the political views then prevalent in this State.

"The foregoing sketch of the leading incidents in Mr. Slosson's life may be a sufficient indication from which to deduce his true character, but I must indulge myself in adding that I never knew or heard of a single act of his life, either in youth or mature years,

that left even a shade upon his reputation. Cool and deliberate in his temperament, never hurried away by enthusiasm,-for enthusiasm never manifested it- self in his nature except in his passion for ancient literature,-he was sure to think and act with pro- priety. He was nevertheless warm and faithful in his attachments, but not so far as to warp his con- scientious regard for integrity. He was perfectly just and generous in his intercourse with the world, honest in his predilections, and uncompromising in his love of virtue and detestation of vice. In moral- ity his principles were without a taint, and his prac- tice through life in conscientious conformity with them. In religion he was a firm and steadfast believer in the great doctrines of the gospel, though not a public pro- fessor. His principles were those of true rational Calvinism, unswayed by vindictive zeal or hysterical weakness.

"He was a small man, not much, if any, under medium height, but of slender frame and counte- nance. Though not dark complexioned his coun- tenance was rather dusky, his skin not clear; his features, though far from handsome, bespoke intelli- gence, and were therefore not disagreeable. His gen- eral appearance was more like that of the late Leman Church than any other member of the bar I can think of, though he was somewhat larger and more erect.

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History of Litchfield county, Connecticut, Part 3

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