USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Litchfield County centennial celebration > Part 5
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I have not been able to learn much of the Lawyers who practiced in this territory before the organization of the County in 1751. Samuel Pettibone, Esq., of Goshen, and Reynold Marvin, Esq., of Litchfield, (a native of Lyme,) are all of whom I can speak.
Mr. Pettibone lived to a great age and died in reduced cir- cumstances, in 1787. Mr. Marvin was respectable in his pro- fession, and was King's Attorney at the time of the Revolution. His residence was at the dwelling of Dr. William Buel, in this village.
Among the Lawyers of the new County who appeared in its Courts, were Mr. Thatcher, of New Milford, Hezekiah Thompson and Edward Ilinman, of Woodbury, Mr. Humphrey, of Norfolk, John Canfield, of Sharon, Andrew Adams, of Litchfield, Mr. Catlin, of Harwinton, and Joshua Whitney, of Canaan. Of these, Messrs. Canfield and Adams became distinguished at the Bar and in public life. Mr. Canfield was the son of Samuel Canfield, of New Milford, one of the Associate Judges of the County. He was appointed a member of Congress under the 4
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Confederation, but died before he took his seat. We can appre- ciate his character when informed that he was the chosen col- league of Johnson, Ellsworth, and Trumbull. Mr. Adams sue- ceeded Mr. Marvin as State's Attorney. He was esteemed an eloquent advocate, and his reputation at the Bar was distinguished. He was well versed in theological studies, and in the absence of his minister, often officiated in the pulpit. He was a member of the Continental Congress, and after the Revolution, became an Associate, and then Chief Justice of the Superior Court.
Before the Revolution there were but few eminent lawyers in the County, and professional gentlemen from abroad attended our courts and were employed in the most important causes. Among these were Thomas Seymour, Esq., of Hartford, and Hon. Samuel W. Johnson, of Stratford, then standing at the head of the Connecticut Bar. A colonial condition was, as it ever will be, unfavorable to the development of forensic talent.
The change in the state of this Bar, after the War, and espc- cially after the settlement of the government, was sudden and great ; and, within a few years after this event, no County in the State and but few in other States, could boast of a Bar more distinguished for legal talent and high professional and moral excellence, than this. Reeve, Tracy, Allen, Kirby, Strong of Salisbury, Smith of Woodbury, Smith and Canfield, of Sharon, are names which revive proud recollections among the old men of the County. And while these gentlemen stood before our courts, there came to their company a younger band, destined, with them, to perpetuate the high standing of the profession here ;- Gould, Sterling, of Salisbury ; Benedict, Ruggles, Board- man, Smith, of Litchfield ; Slosson, Southmayd, Swan, Pettibone, and afterward, Miner, Williams, Bacon, and others.
Tapping Reeve was a native of Long Island, and a distin- guished graduate of Nassau Hall, New Jersey, and a tutor in that college. IIe commenced practice here in 1783, and was one of the most learned lawyers of the day in which he lived. He loved the law as a science, and studied it philosophically. He considered it as the practical application of religious princi- ple to the business affairs of life. He wished to reduce it to a certain, symmetrical system of moral truth. He did not trust to the inspiration of genius for eminence, but to the results of
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profound and constant study, and was never allured by political ambition. I scem, even now, to see his calm and placid coun- tenance shining through his abundant locks, as he sat, poring over his notes in the lecture room, and to hear his shrill whisper, as he stood when giving his charge to the jury. He was elevated to the Bench of the Superior Court in 1798, and to the office of Chief Justice in 1804, and retired from public life at the age of seventy years, and died in 1827. He published a valuable treatise on Domestic Relations, and another on the Law of Descents.
Gen. Uriah Tracy was a native of Norwich, and one of the first of the pupils of Judge Reeve. As a jury advocate he obtained a high distinction. His wit was pungent and his pow- ers of oratory uncommon. He was a politician, often a mem- ber of our own Legislature ; for several years a member of Congress, and he died in 1807, while a member of the Senate of the United States, in which body he was eminently distin- guished.
Col. Adonijah Strong, the father of the late IIon. Martin Strong, was unique in genius and manner, of large professional business, sound practical sense, and many anecdotes of his say- ings and doings are still remembered and repeated in the County.
Hon. Nathaniel Smith, of Woodbury, a native of Washington, commenced life under discouraging circumstances. HIe had neither fortune nor the prospect of any, nor early education, to stimulate him. Like many other New England boys, he fought his way to eminence; and eminent he was ; and I cannot tell by what process he became so. He, too, was one of the early members of the Law School here. He was not a man of many books. He seemed to understand the law, as did Mansfield and Marshall, by intuition, and to have acquired the power of lan- guage by inspiration. His was a native eloquence, yet chaste, and " when unadorned, adorned the most." I think he was one of the most profound lawyers and judges of this country. He was a member of the Council, a member of Congress, and was elevated to the Bench of the Superior Court in 1806.
Hon. Nathan Smith was a younger brother of Nathaniel Smith, and though born and reared in this County, his profes- sional and public life was passed in New Haven County, but he
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often appeared at this Bar. He was less profound than his brother, more ardent, and perhaps more effective as a jury law- yer. He died, while a Senator in Congress, in 1835.
Hon. John Allen was a native of Massachusetts and instructed by Mr. Reeve, and for several years held a commanding position at this Bar.
Hon. John Cotton Smith, of Sharon, was the son of Rev. Cotton Mather Smith, of that town. A graduate of Yale Col- lege and of the Litchfield Law School, he soon took a prominent place by the side of Tracy and Nathaniel Smith at the Bar of the County. He was known as a fluent speaker, and of easy and graceful address ; he became a popular advocate. For several sessions of the Legislature of the State he was speaker of the House of Representatives. In Congress he sustained an enviable reputation as a presiding officer. Upon retiring from Congress he was soon placed upon the Bench of the Superior Court, from which he was promoted to the office of Governor of the State. From this he retired, and from public life, in 1817. The remainder of his life was spent in doing good, either as President of the American Bible Society, or in discharging the duties of a virtuous citizen in his native town, until his death in 1845.
Hon. James Gould was a native of Branford, a graduate and a tutor of Yale College. He pursued his professional studies with Judge Reeve, and, soon after coming to the Bar of this County, he became associated with him as an instructor of the Law School. Judge Gould was a critical scholar, and always ; read with his pen in his hand, whether Law book, or books of fiction or fancy, for which he indulged a passion. In the more abstruse subjects of the law, he was more learned than Judge Reeve, and, as a lecturer, more lucid and methodical. The Common Law he had searched to the bottom, and he knew it all- its principles, and the reasons from which they were drawn. As an advocate, he was not a man of impassioned eloquence, but clear and logical, employing language elegant and chaste. He indulged in no wit, and seldom excited a laugh, but was very sure to carry a listener along with him to bis conclusions. With his brethren, his intercourse was always courteous, and with his younger ones, kind and affectionate. He never gave offense. In
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his arguments, he resorted to no artifice, but met the difficulties in his way fully in the face, and if he could not overcome thein, he yielded without irritation. He was appointed an Associate Judge of the Superior Court in 1816, and retired from the Bench to private life soon after. Judge Gould published an able trea- tise on the Law of Pleading, in which he was governed by the truth of Lord Coke's saying, "he knoweth not the law, who knoweth not the reason thereof." His volume has received flat- tering approval from the most learned Jurists in this country and England. Judge Gould died in 1838.
Noah B. Benedict was the son of Rev. Noah Benedict, of Woodbury, a gentleman of no precocity of intellect or genius, and his first appearance at the Bar did not promise the eminence which he afterwards acquired. He studied, and the Law was the chief subject of his study. He aspired to no higher place than distinction in his profession. He engaged in none of the ordinary business transactions of society, and, as he once told me, he never gave a promissory note in his life. With such an undivided atten- tion to his professional calling, it was not strange that he should reach a high place at the Bar. And he did reach it, and, at the time of his death, no man here stood before him. His example should be a choice model for young lawyers.
Gen. Elisha Sterling, of Salisbury, was a native of Lyme. No one in our profession was more assiduous in its practice than this gentleman. His causes were never neglected in their prepara- tion. The controlling points of every case he discovered quick, and pressed bothi, in preparation and argument, with zeal. Ile neglected the study of method and system in his arguments, but, when concluded, nothing had been omitted.
Passing by, on this hurried occasion, a more particular notice of the galaxy of Lawyers, to whom I have alluded, I may be in- dulged in paying an affectionate tribute to one or two, whose familiar voices still seem sounding in our Court House.
Hon. Jabez W. Huntington earned his high professional char- acter here, where he commenced and continued his practice for several years. Ile engaged in public life, and returned to his na- tive town of Norwich. He was elected to Congress ; afterwards he was elevated to the Bench of the Superior Court, which place he retained, until he was appointed a Senator in Congress, in
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which position he died in 1847. Having been associated with Judge Huntington at the Bar and on the Bench, I can bear true testimony to his superior abilities in both places.
Of my late brother, Leman Church, Esq., the proprieties of my connexion will not permit me to speak. The deep sensation produced at this Bar, and the grief which tore the hearts of his numerous friends, when he died, is the only eulogy upon his life and character to which I may refer.
I had a young friend, upon whose opening prospects I looked with anxiety and hope. IIe was of generous heart and liberal hand, and stimulated by an honorable ambition, which seemed nearly at the point of gratification, when death came for its vic- tim. This friend was Francis Bacon, Esq., who died in 1849, at the age of 30 years.
Hon. Oliver Wolcott, the younger, late Governor of this State, was also a member of this Bar, and though he engaged in public life soon after his admission, we are entitled to retain his name on our catalogue. I shall not speak now of his life and eminent services. They make a prominent part of the country's history, and have been, within a few years, faithfully written by his near relative. He died in 1833, and I regret to say that his remains lie in our grave-yard, without a monument to mark his resting place. Ilis bust has been presented, on this occasion, to the Bar of this County.
I make the same claim to retain among the names of our eeparted brethren, that of Hon. Frederick Wolcott, a son of the elder Gov. Wolcott, of this village. He became a member of this Bar in early life, and with high prospects of professional distinction ; but he accepted the proffered offices of Clerk of the Courts and Judge of Probate for this district, in 1793, and soon relinquished professional duties. For several years he was a prominent member of the Council, under the Charter administra- tion. An intimate connexion with this gentleman, both public and private, justifies the high opinion I have ever entertained of his purity of life and character, his public spirit, and his frank and open bearing. I never pass by the venerable mansion of the Wol- cott family, in my daily walks about this village, without recall- ing the stately form and ever honorable deportment of Frederick Wolcott. The duties of his official stations were discharged with
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the entire approbation of the community for many years, and until a short time before his death, and amidst the conflicts and overturnings in the political revolutions of the times.
Roger and Richard Skinner, were sons of Gen. Timothy Skin- ner of this town, and members of this bar. Roger commenced business in this village, and gave assurance, by his carly talents, of his future standing; but he was here in the most bitter state of Connecticut politics, and, as he believed, was compelled to escape from unmerited opposition. He removed to the State of New York ; soon attained a deserved eminence in his profession, and was appointed a Judge of the United States Court, in the North- ern District of that State. Richard Skinner removed to Ver- mont, and afterwards became an eminent Judge of the Superior Court, and ultimately Governor of that State.
In the clerical profession, I have remarked before, that there was carly manifested a disposition rather to be good than great. The clergy of this County were nearly all educated men ; and many of them ripe scholars and profound divines, and if there were not as many here as in some other regions, whose names have been transmitted to us as among the great ones of New England, it has been because the severer calls of parochial duty, and stinted means, and Christian graces, restrained their aspira- tions after fame. Divinity has furnished the most common theme, and employed the most pens. We are all theologians in New England.
Rev. Joseph Bellamy, D. D., of Bethlem, was probably the first and most eminent of our writers on this subject. He was eloquent and impressive as a preacher, as well as learned and pro- found as a scholar and writer. He published several theological works upon practical and controversial subjects, besides occasional sermons, which are found in the libraries of Divines, and have been held in high repute, not only among the disciples of his own peculiar opinions, but among others, as well in Europe as in this country ; and a modern edition of them has been recently pub- lished. Dr. Bellamy was the grandfather of the late Joseph H. Bellamy, Esq., of Bethlem, a gentleman of great moral and pro- fessional worth.
Rev. Jna. Edwards was a pupil of Dr. Bellamy in his theological studies, and, although not a native of this County, he resided
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among us for several years, as the first settled minister of Cole- brook, and until he was called to the presidency of Union Col- lege, in 1799. He was the author of several volumes of great merit ; and among them, a treatise upon the salvation of all men, in reply to Dr. Chauncey ; also, a dissertation on the liberty of the will, in reply to West, and observations on the language of the Stockbridge Indians.
Rev. Chauncey Lee, D. D., who succeeded Dr. Edwards, as minister in Colebrook, was a native of Salisbury, and a son of Rev. Jonathan Lee, of that town. He was educated for the bar, and commenced practice in his native town. This he soon relin- quished for the clerical calling. Very early he published a Deci- mal Arithmetic, and afterwards a volume of Sermons on various subjects. But his most elaborate work, and the one most esteemed by himself, was a poem, entitled " The Trial of Virtue," being a paraphrase of the book of Job. Dr. Lee was a gentle- man of some eccentricities, but a very learned divine and impres- sive preacher.
Rev. Samuel J. Mills, a native of Torrington, and son of the venerable pastor of one of the societies there, is entitled to a more extended notice than I am prepared on this occasion to repeat. Not because he was the author of books, but the author and originator of liberal and extensive benevolent effort. The noble cause of Foreign Missions in this country, is deeply indebted to him as one of its most zealous and active projectors and friends. Another of the most splendid charities of any age or country, - the Colonization Society,-owes its existence to the efforts of this gentleman ; and his name will be cherished by the philanthropists of the world, along with those of Howard and Wilberforce.
Rev. Horace Holley, D. D., of Salisbury, was son of Mr. Luther Holley, and one of a highly distinguished and worthy family of brothers. Dr. Holley was first ordained pastor of a Church and Society at Greenfield, in Fairfield County, and was one of the successors of the late Dr. Dwight, in that parish. He subsequently removed to Boston, and became one of the most eloquent pulpit orators among the eminent divines of that metrop- olis. He afterwards became President of Transylvania University in Kentucky, and died, while yet a young man, on ship-board, when on his return from New Orleans to New England. I am not
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informed that he left any published works behind him, except sermons delivered on special occasions. He was my class-mate in College, and I knew him well.
The Rev. Dr. Backus of Bethlem, Rev. Mr. Hooker of Goshen, and Rev. Dr. Porter of Washington, are remembered as among the most learned Divines of the County.
Of the Medical Profession and the Medical Professors here, my opportunities of information have not been extensive. And yet I have known enough of them to persuade me that a more learned and useful faculty, has not been found elsewhere in the State. Empiricism has always existed, and will exist ; and the credulity of some good men will give it countenance. We depend upon a learned medical influence, more than any thing else, to save us from its death-dealing results.
As carly as January, 1767, a Medical association was formed in this County, composed of the most eminent physicians then in practice herc. Its object was to establish rules of practice and intercourse ;- promote medical science by providing for annual consultations and dissertations, and to protect the reputation of the profession and the health of the community, from the inroads of ignorant pretenders to medical science. Among the names of the gentlemen composing this body, I see those of Joshua Porter, Lemuel Wheeler, Joseph Perry, Seth Bird, William Abernethy, Samuel Catlin, Simcon Smith, Cyrus Marsh, Ephraim Gitteau, John Calhoun, &c. One of the earliest physicians of the County was Oliver Wolcott. He was the son of Hon. Roger Wolcott, of Windsor, a former Governor of the Colony. IIc had served as an officer in the French war, and settled himself in Goshen before the organization of the County, in the practice of his profession. Whether he continued in practice as a physician after his removal to this town is not known ; probably, however, his official duties as Sheriff prevented it. He was subsequently honored with almost every official place which a good man would covet,-he was a member of the House of Representatives, of the Council, a Judge of Probate, a Judge of the County Court, a Representative in Congress, a signer of the Declaration of In- dependence, Lieutenant Governor, and Governor of his native State, and more than all, the father of an excellent family. He is said to have been a man of uncommon diffidence, and dis-
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trustful of his own ability. His public communications display sound judgment, and his more confidential correspondence a warm affection and a pure purpose.
Dr. Seth Bird, of Litchfield, probably held the first place among the early physicians of the County. His reputation was wide-spread. For acuteness of discrimination and soundness of judgment he was not excelled.
Dr. Joseph Perry, of Woodbury, was not only eminent in his profession, but, what was unusual in his day, he excelled as a belles-lettre scholar and was a gentleman well read in various branches of science. Later generations produced their eminent and accomplished physicians. Dr. Nathaniel Perry, son of the gentleman just named ; Dr. Daniel Sheldon, of this town ; Drs. Fowler of Washington, Rockwell of Sharon, Welch of Nor- folk, Ticknor of Salisbury.
Dr. Samuel Woodward, of Torrington, was not only a physi- cian of high repute himself, but he was almost literally a father of the faculty. Dr. Samuel B. Woodward, late of Worcester, Massachusetts, Dr. Henry Woodward, late of Middletown, and Dr. Charles Woodward, of the same place, were his sons,-born and educated in this County. Few men in any community have attained a more eminent and useful position than Dr. Samuel B. Woodward. Under his superintendance the Insane Hospital, at Worcester, was established and for many years conducted, and now sustains a reputation equal with any of the noble charities of this country. The Annual Reports of Dr. Wood- ward and his other professional writings, and the success of his efforts in the cause of humanity, have earned for him a reputation which will long survive.
Among the Surgeons of note, in earlier times, was Dr. Samuel Catlin, of Litchfield, and at a later period, Dr. Samuel R. Gager, of Sharon.
The medical profession in this County has produced some writers of respectability. Dr. Elisha North was for several years a physician of extensive practice in Goshen, and he after- wards removed to New London. He published an approved treatise on spotted fever, which extensively prevailed in Goshen and its vicinity, while he resided there.
Dr. Caleb Ticknor, of Salisbury, was brother of the late ex-
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cellent Dr. Luther Ticknor, of that town, and of Dr. Benajah Ticknor, for many years a surgeon in the navy of the United States ; and although a young man when he removed to New York City, about the year 1832, he rose rapidly to a high place in his profession. He published several medical works, the most popular of which was, the Philosophy of Living, which constitutes one of the volumes of Harpers' Family Library.
The Chipman family, a numerous brotherhood, removed from Salisbury to Vermont immediately after the Revolutionary War ; it produced eminent men. Nathaniel was an officer of the Rev- olution. He became Chief Justice of Vermont, and a Senator in Congress. He published a small volume of Judicial Reports and a larger treatise upon the Principles of Goverment. Daniel Chipman, a younger brother of this gentleman, was a very prom- inent member of the Vermont Bar. He was the author of a very creditable essay "On the Law of Contracts"; and besides a volume of Law Reports, he published the life of his brother Nathaniel, and also the life of Gov. Thomas Chittenden.
Hon. Ambrose Spencer, late Chief Justice of the State of New York, was born in Salisbury, the son of Philip Spencer, Esq. He was prepared for his collegiate course under the instruction of Rev. Daniel Fanand, of Canaan ; studied the law, I believe, with Hon. John Canfield, of Sharon, whose daughter he married.
Hon. Josiah S. Johnston, late an eminent member of the Senate of the United States, from Louisania, was a native of the same town. He was the son of Dr. John Johnston, who re- moved carly to Kentucky. His academical studies were pur- sued here.
Samuel Moore, of Salisbury, was a profound mathematician and engaged much in the instruction of young men in what was called the surveyor's art. He published a treatise on surveying, with a table of logarithms. It was the earliest work on that branch of mathematical science published in this country. It introduced the method of computing contents by calculation entirely, without measuring triangles by scale and dividers. It was a valuable treatise, but was nearly superseded by a more
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finished one by Rev. Abel Flint, in which he borrowed much from Moore.
Ethan Allen is deserving of notice only for his revolutionary services, which are matters of public history. He published a narrative of his captivity as a prisoner of war, and a volume of Infidel Theology. He was a native of this county ; the town of his nativity has been a matter of dispute, but it is not a question worth solving.
We have had Poets, too, besides such as I have mentioned, who deserve a remembrance on this occasion.
Hon. John Trumbull, late one of the Judges of the Superior Court of the State, was born in Watertown, in this County, in which his father was a minister. The Progress of Dulness, and McFingal, the most admired of his Poems, were written in early life. They are satyrical productions, and for genuine wit have ยท not been excelled by any modern effort. Judge Trumbull's ac- tive life was passed chiefly in Hartford.
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