USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Woodbury > History of ancient Woodbury, Connecticut : from the first Indian dead in 1659 to 1872, Vol. II > Part 55
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Judge Hinman was born at Southbury, Conn., January 27th, 1802, and died of pneumonia at his residence in Cheshire, Febru- ary 21st, 1870, aged 68. He was buried on Thursday, Feb. 24th, in the graveyard at Cheshire, adjoining the Episcopal Church, where he had been for years a faithful attendant. In accordance with a wish expressed by him some time before his death, and en- tirely characteristic of the man, no sermon was preached, and no eulogy was pronounced. But he was followed to the grave by a large concourse of his old neighbors and friends, by the judges of the Courts, and by representatives of the Bar from all parts of the State.
1 In the account of Dr. Seth Hastings, father of the above, p. 385, the list of children should be as follows, at his death, 84 years of age, viz: Seth, Betsey, Thomas, Orlando, Eurotas Parmelee, Charles, Truman, Sophia.
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The Judge was the twelfth in a family of fourteen or fifteen children, and, after having received a common school education , early applied himself to the study of the law, first with Judge Chapman, at Newtown, and afterwards with Messrs. Staples and Hitchcock, at New Haven. He was admitted to the Bar not long after reaching his majority, and settled in Waterbury, in 1824. The following year he married Miss Maria Scovill, danghter of James Scovill, of Waterbury. In 1830, he was appointed Judge of Probate for the Waterbury District, and continued to hold the office for ten years. He twice represented the 5th District, in the State Senate, and several times the town of Waterbury in the House of Representatives. While a member of the House, in 1842, he was elected a Judge of the Superior and Supreme Courts, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Roger Minot Sher- man. Upon the decease of Chief Justice Storrs, in 1861, he was elected Chief Judge, which office he continued to hold till his de- cease. Judge Hlinman continued to reside in Waterbury till 1845, when he removed to New Haven, where he remained several years, and subsequently to Cheshire, where he died. He left a widow and four children ; one son and three daughters. The Judge was 40 years old when he was elected, and is said to have been the youngest man, up to that time, who had filled that posi- tion. His election was quite unexpected to him and to the pub- lic. The judges of the Court were mostly past the prime of life, and men of marked ability. He was comparatively young, and had attained no eminence at the bar. As 'a legislator he spoke seldom and briefly, though he was acknowledged as one of the leaders, and his opinion had much weight. In his profession he was possessed of considerable ability, and, on accasions, showed it. But he was unsuited to active practice, slow of utterance, in- dolent and unmethodical in his business habits, and needed a spur to exertion, which the limited practice of a country town did not supply. But he was much better adapted by nature for the bench than the bar. He had an eminently judicial mind, and having now a sufficient inducement to exertion, he soon won, in his new posi- tion, both the respect of his associates and of the bar-a respect which steadily increased during the rest of his life. The whole action of his mind was deliberative, perpending, judicial. " Well, now let's see," was his favorite connecting and lubricating clause, in all the breaks and joints of conversation, discussion and argu- ment. The members of the bar, both old and young, throughout
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the State, regarded him with much respect, mingled with a feel- ing of complacency closely bordering on affection. He, on his part, was fond of young men, and enjoyed their society and con- versation. He called people by their first names. He knew the children, and stopped to talk with them. He made equability a study, and though by no means devoid of temper, he rarely show- ed more of it than a passing flush .- " Whatever happens," was his advice to a young friend, "make it a point never to get angry. Lawyers will abuse you, witnesses disappoint you, clients deceive and cheat you, and judges will decide against yon, when you know you are right ; but whatever happens, take it all coolly, laugh, if you can, if you can't laugh, smile, and wait for time to make things right."
His legal opinions are without the graces of style, but they are attractive, because they come directly to the point, and cover the whole ground in a manner quite peculiar to the judge himself. He seems, without labor or effort, to find the true solutions of intri. cate questions, and the conclusions are so natural, that the reader adopts them with confidence, as being those of his own mind. As has been well said by a distinguished member of the bar, " his honesty seemed rather to be constitutional than to come from any very nice conscientiousness. He seemed to go right because he could not help it."
The State of Connecticut has been extremely fortunate in the presiding judges of her highest Court, and though some have ex- celled him in legal acenmen, or brilliant genius; yet for that rarely balanced common sense, which equals either of these gifts in util- ity, and for sterling honesty, few names will hold a higher place than that of JOEL HINMAN.
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EDWARD J HUBBARD,
Was born in Bethlehem, Conn. Received a Common and High School education. Studied law with Henry B. Graves and Wil- liam Cothren, Esqrs. Was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1864, and immediately commenced practice with William Cothren at Woodbury. In the fall of 1865, as there seemed to be a better opening at Naugatuck, Conn., he opened a law office there, and remained till the fall of 1866, when the amount of business not being satisfactory, he emigrated West, and opened an office at Trinidad, Colorado Territory, where he at present resides, in the
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full practice of his profession. He holds the offices of County Attorney and United States Collector of Internal Revenue of his District.
HON. JAMES HUNTINGTON,
Was born in South Coventry, Conn., June 4, 1833. Received a High School education, and was fitted to enter the Sophomore class in College. Studied law in the office of Messrs. Loren P. Waldo and Alvan P. Hyde, at Tolland, Conn. Entered the Na- tional Law School at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., whence he graduated in 1857, and received the degree of LL.B. Was admitted to the bar of Tolland County, in April 1859, and opened an office in Woodbury, in the spring of 1859, where he still continues to re- side, in the full practice of his profession. He was elected Judge of Probate for the District of Woodbury, in April, 1861, and has continued to hold the office till the present time.
WYLLIS LAMBERT.
In July, 1871, the writer communicated to the public prints the following slight sketch of Mr. Lambert :-
" The angel of death still seems to hover over our devoted town -the first Congregational society in particular. On Wednesday, the 7th, another of the " fathers" in our church passed away, after a few days illness, aged seventy. Wyllis Lambert descended from an old and respectable family, was born in this town, and was a life-long resident. At an early age he joined the first Congre- gational church, and was ever a consistent and valued member. For a long period of years he was an able and efficient officer of the church. To his wise counsel and calm, considerate action, when causes of difference arose, the church is indebted as much, or more, than to any other man in it, for its long period of repose and prosperity. Though of a stern and unbending character by nature, yet he was slow to speak and slow to anger, in all that pertained to the interests of the visible church. He was always in his place of duty, bearing well his part in the church of his choice, in society, and in the bosom of his family. All public trusts and duties committed to his care by his fellow townsmen, were faithfully and scrupulously executed with judgment and dis- cretion. In him was to be found the discreet and wise counselor.
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Faithful in his friendships and in all the duties of life, he has moved on in the even tenor of his way, and rounded out, in a well-spent life, the alloted period of three score years and ten. His death leaves a void in the church and community that will not be filled. The fathers are passing away, and there are none to take their places. Happy those that remain, if, when life's " fitful dream is o'er," they can meet death with calm, expectant hope of a bright hereafter, and sure faith in the mercy of the great Creator, as did the deceased, who longed for the appearing of his Redeemer, and to be absent from the earth, that he might ' be present with the Lord.' "
HENRY MINOR.
In the month of January, 1871, the writer furnished the follow- ing account of Mr. Minor, for the public press :-
" Woodbury has been peculiarly unfortunate during the last few months in the loss of an unusually large number of prominent citizens, in middle life, cut down in the full strength of the vigo- rous period of men's lives, and at the very height of their useful- ness. The best and most useful period of a well preserved man's life, is the interval between the fiftieth and sixtieth year of his age. All his powers of mind and body are ripe and vigorous and effective. We can ill afford to spare our leading men at this time of their lives.
" Among those whom we have lately lost, was Mr. Henry Minor, whose death occurred on the 2d of January, at the age of 54 years. Mr. Minor was a son of the late Hon. Matthew Minor, a lawyer of note in this town for many years. The subject of this notice was an active business man all his life, having business re- lations, in all its various phases, with a large number of persons in several States. But he was the most identified with our own town. He was Deputy Sheriff for Litchfield County during more than twenty years, and bore various offices of trust in the town. As a Sheriff, he had not a superior, if even an equal, in the State. In the difficult duties pertaining to this office, he was always affa- ble, kind and considerate, with the courage and ability to be se- vere when necessary. He favored the settlement of litigation, and was quite successful on numerous occasions in inducing con- tending parties to arrange their differences amicably. He was a
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lover of peace, and his advice was valuable in his various relations in the society in which he moved, in business, in his party, and his church. He was not a profuse talker, but a word fitly spoken by him very often had a controlling influence in the difficulties of his time. He was a kind, unflinching and sincere friend. No in- ducement could ever induce him to desert one. No one would go further and endure more to do a favor, He was an honest and accurate business man, in all his dealings, and a valuable man in every relation in life.
" For the last three or four years, he has been a great sufferer, confined to his house, on his bed much of the time. But he bore up through it all with calm Christian fortitude, closing up his bu- siness, and setting his house in order for the last great change. He was fully aware, in his last sickness, that his hour had come, and he met death with the fortitude and composure which had characterized his life. He seemed to have almost a prophetic in_ timation of his last day. And thus he passed away, through great suffering and weariness, and ascended, as we fondly believe, to his bright reward above."
REV. ELISHA MITCHELL, D. D. 1
Elisha Mitchell, D.D., Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology in the University of North Carolina, was born in Wash- ington, Conn., on the 19th of August, 1793. He was the oldest son of Abner Mitchell, a respectable farmer of that town, whose wife, Phæbe Eliot, was a descendant, in the 5th generation, of John Eliot, the celebrated " Apostle to the Indians. Dr. Mitchell was thus a member of a family now very widely spread over the United States, and reckoning many who have exercised much in- fluence in commerce, politics, science and religion. He possessed many of the characteristics which marked the Eliots, especially of the earlier generations. The Rev. Jared Eliot, M. D. and D. D., minister for many years at Killingworth, Conn., was Dr. Mitch- ell's great-grandfather. He was distinguished, in his own times, for his knowledge of History, Natural Philosophy, Botany and. Mineralogy, while, as a theologian, he was sound in the faith, and delighted in the doctrines of the gospel of grace. Among his
1 This memoir of Dr. Mitchell was prepared by Prof. Charles Phillips.
38
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correspondents were Dr. Franklin and Bishop Berkeley, and in 1762, he was honored by the Royal Society of London with a gold medal, for a valuable discovery in the manufacture of iron. This ancestor, Dr. Mitchell, closely resembled in many peculiarities of body and soul. Both were men of large stature, of great bodily strength, of untiring activity, of restless curiosity, of varied and extensive attainments, of quaint and quiet humor, of persevering generosity, and of a well-established piety. His desire for excel- lence in things pertaining to the mind, was a prominent feature in Dr. Mitchell's character, from early childhood. When only four years' old, he acted a spirited part in an exhibition of the school he then attended, greatly to his own satisfaction, and to the delight of his friends. As he grew older, he was never so well pleased as when his playmates would gather around him, to hear him tell what he had read in his books, and explain the pic- tures they contained. His preparation for college was completed by the Rev. Azel Backus, D. D., who maintained for many years a classical school at Bethlehem, Conn., and was afterwards the first President of Hamilton College, N. Y. Dr. Backus was famous, in his day, for his skill in training boys. He exercised a very strong control over even the vicious, by his genial disposition, his good common sense, his keen wit, his sleepless vigilance, his long- suffering patience, his respectable attainments in science, and his devout deference to the will of God. Those who knew Dr. Mitch- ell, will readily believe, that many of his excellent peculiarities as a man, and as a professor, must have received an important devel- opment by his association with Dr. Backus.
Dr. Mitchell graduated at Yale College in 1813, along with Hon. Geo. E. Badger, Dr. Olmsted, President Longstreet, Mr. Thomas P. Devereux, Rev. Mr. Singletary, and others, who have been of note in various walks in life. Among these, he was counted as one of the best scholars in their class, being especially distinguish- ed for his knowledge of English Literature. He was very popu- lar with his college mates, and the younger members of the insti- tution, especially, delighted to do him honor. The College Soci- ety to. which he belonged depended on him to gain it credit on public occasions. His fine physiognomy, the dignity of his per- son, the originality of his discussions, and the humor that enli- vened them, rendered his orations acceptable to audiences, and se- cured him respect from men of taste and education. It was not till the Senior year, that he became thoughtful on the subject of
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religion. The kind and gentle persuasions of a classmate-a man of humble powers of mind, but of exemplary piety-had great influence in leading him to that serious examination of his life and hopes, which resulted in his conversion.
On quitting College, Dr. Mitchell taught a school for boys, un- der the care of Dr. Eigenbrodt, at Jamaica, L. I. Afterwards, in the spring of 1815, he took charge of a school for girls at New London, Conn. Here he formed an acquaintance with Miss Maria S. North, daughter of an eminent physician of that place, who be- came his wife in 1819. Experience has shown the wisdom of this choice, as for nearly forty years this lady presided over his house- hold in a manner to command his entire esteem, love and confi- dence. In 1816, Dr. M. became a Tutor in Yale College, and while so engaged, he was recommended to the favorable notice of the Trustees of the University of North Carolina. This was done through Judge Gaston, by the Rev. Sereno E. Dwight, a son of President Dwight, and at that time Chaplain of the Senate of the United States. Ever since 1802, one of the most active and judi- cious of the Trustees of the University, Judge Gaston was, at that time a member of the House of Representatives, and on terms of intimacy with Mr. Dwight. Because of this recommendation, in 1817, these gentlemen were appointed each to a professorship in the University of North Corolina-Dr. Mitchell to the chair of Mathematics, then vacated by Dr. Cald well's elevation to the Pres- idency, and Dr. Olmsted to the chair of Chemistry, then first es- tablished at the University. After spending a short time at the Theological Seminary in Andover, Mass., and receiving a licence to preach the Gospel, from an orthodox Congregational Association in Conn., Dr. Mitchell reached Chapel Hill on the 31st Jan, 1818, and immediately began to discharge his duties as a professor-a labor from which he ceased only by reason of death. In the dis- charge of these duties, he exhibited an energy, a vigilance, an in- telligence, a good common sense, a self denial, an attention to mi- nnte particulars, and a success rarely surpassed or even equaled. During the thirty-nine and a half years of his connection with the University, his absence from his post on account of sickness, visits to the seat of government, attendance on ecclesiastical bodies, and for all other causes, did not occupy, on an average, more than three days in the year. Indeed, it may safely be stated, that throughout that entire period, his days and nights, in term time and in vacation, were devoted to his professorship. No one of the
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hundreds of students who have been connected with the Univer- sity during the last generation, will be able to recall the memory of his absence from morning and evening prayers, but as a rare exception to the general rule.
Dr. Mitchell preached his first sermon in the College Chapel shortly after his arrival there, and his last in Salisbury, N. C., when on his way to the scene of the labors that cost him his life. He was ordained to the full work of the Christian ministry by the Presbytery of Orange, in Hillsborough, N. C, in the fall of 1821. During his long ministry, there were very few weeks in which he did not declare to his fellow men the will of God for their salva- tion. He always, and most heartily, acknowledged that this Kos- mos, with whose varied phenomena he was very conversant, was created and controlled by a personal God, whose wisdom, power, goodness and holiness, he set forth with no little skill, and often with very striking originality. This he did during a time wherein too many of his associates in the investigation of Nature, indulged in speculations and clothed them in language, that ignored the existence of an anthoritative revelation concerning creation and Providence. His minute acquaintance with the Archæology and Geography of the Holy Scriptures, rendered his exposition of them at times luninous, in a remarkable degree, and most deeply interesting. For the redemption of the one race of mankind from the abyss of ruin and misery into which the fall of Adam had plunged it, he looked only to the mystery of the Cross inwrought by the Holy Ghost, and received by faith into the heart of each individual, and he rested his own soul thereon with sincere and deep-felt emotions. During his eventful life, he was ever an at- tentive observer of the signs of the times, being a great reader of newspapers, and other periodicals. In these he had noticed so many associations for the reformation of the evils in humanity, skillfully organized, and vehemently recommended, and, after all, superseded by their original projectors, that while he did not op- pose schemes which, devised by man, relied on the organization of his fellow-men for the attainment of reformation, he was not disappointed when these attempts failed-and he persevered in the old way of presenting to his hearers the necessity of a prompt and persevering dependence on the power of personal and reveal- ed religion to regulate the affections, and the daily life.
But it was as a professor that Dr. Mitchell displayed the most energy, and accomplished the greatest results. Until 1825 he pre-
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sided over the department of mathematics and natural philosophy. During this period, the doctrine of Fluxions, now called the Cal- culus, was introduced into the college curriculum, and the degree of attainment in other branches of mathematics was elevated con- siderably. In 1825, when Dr. Olmsted accepted a situation in Yale College, Dr. Mitchell was transferred to the chair thus vacated, and left his own to be filled by Dr. Phillips. The pursuit of nat- ural science had always been a delightful employment with Dr. Mitchell ; even while a professor of mathematics, he had frequently indulged his taste for Botany by excursions through the country around Chapel Hill. After he took upon himself instruction in Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology, he extended and multiplied these excursions, so that when he died, he was known in almost every part of North Carolina, and he left no one behind him bet- ter acquainted with the mountains, valleys and plains, its birds, beasts, bugs, fishes and shells, its trees, flowers, rivers and mosses, its rocks, stones, sands, clays and marls. Although in Silliman's Journal, and in other periodicals less prominent, but circulating more widely nearer home, he published many of his discoveries concerning North Carolina, yet it is to be regretted he did not print more, and in a more permanent form. It would, doubtless, thus have appeared that he knew, and perhaps justly estimated the worth of many facts, which later investigators have proclaim- ed as their own remarkable discoveries. But the information he gathered was for his own enjoyment, and for the instruction of his pupils. On these he lavished, to the utmost capacity for recep- tion, the knowledge that he gathered, by his widely extended ob- servations, and had stored up mainty in the recesses of his own singularly retentive memory.
But it was not only for accuracy and intelligence as a personal observer, that Dr. Mitchell was famous, marked as his exertions were by a wonderful activity of body, patience of labor, and in- sensibility to fatigue. He read greedily all that he had a chance to read on the subjects directly or indirectly concerning his pro- fessorship, and on many other things besides. So that he well de- served the name of "the walking Encyclopedia." There were very few subjects on which men of polite literature, and of abstract as well as natural science converse, wherein he was not an intelli- gent and appreciative listener, or instructive teacher. His knowl- edge of Geography was wonderful. It was a constant amuse- ment for him to read the advertisements in a large commercial
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newspaper, to learn what things were bought and sold in the markets of the world, and then to sit down and find out where the things were manufactured. Such was his reputation for these acquisitions, that when any one wanted some rare information, or a historical, or geographical, or more strictly scientific matter, it was a common thing to say,-" Go ask Dr. Mitchell." He also kept himself supplied with periodicals and magazines, in which the sciences he taught were developing ; for he loved to have his knowledge fresh, and would not wait for others to winnow the true from the false. He took pleasure in removing the pure metal from the crude ore for himself. His large library contained some- thing on almost everything. But it was in such a form, and ob- tained in such times, and at such prices, that in the market, it never would have brought any approximation to what it cost him. The sciences which he taught were developing, while he taught them, and he felt it incumbent on him to have, at the earliest mo- ment, whatever treatise he heard of, as likely to secure him the latest and best information. Much of what Dr. Mitchell had to read, is not now necessary, and many of his acquisitions may seem to others useless, but he thus provided that no one of his pupils left his laboratory without having an opportunity of hearing all that was of any interest or of use to him, on the subject there dis- cnssed. Nor were his remarkable accomplishments as a professor confined to his own apartment. In the Ancient Languages he was frequently ready and able to help a colleague, who was pre- vented from discharging his own duties. In the mathematics, he would often, at public examinations, propose such questions that showed that his earlier love still retained a hold on his attention and affections. He was a good writer, and in the department of Belles Letters, he was a well read and instructive critic. When it was known that he was to deliver an address before the North Carolina Agricultural Society, a friend, who knew him well, ex- claimed, " I ll warrant that Dr. Mitchell begins at the Garden of Eden." And so he did. But by the time that, passing through Egypt and Canaan, Greece and Rome and Great Britain, he got to Cuatham County, N. C., he furnished, as usual, an essay full of rare information, judicious suggestions, peculiar humor, and ex- cellent common sense.
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