USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > The bench and bar of Litchfield County, Connecticut, 1709-1909 : biographical sketches of members, history and catalogue of the Litchfield Law School, historical notes > Part 22
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RUSSELL, W. AYRES, of Waterbury, admitted 1869. He gradu- ated at Yale. 1868, and afterwards at Harvard Law School. He was the founder of the shore resort at Woodmont, Connecticut. He died December 14, 1873.
AsA BACON, a native of Canterbury, Connecticut, born February 8. 1771, graduated at Yale College in 1793, and was admitted to this bar in 1795. After practicing in various places he removed to Litchfield in 1806, where for many years he held a leading position at the bar. He died in New Haven in 1857. (See Boardman and Sedgwick's sketches. ) His picture appears in the Bacon group, page 62.
EPAPHRODITIS CHAMPION BACON, a son of Asa Bacon, born in Lichfield in 1810. Graduated at Yale College in 1833, and was admitted to this bar in 1840. He died at Seville in Spain, January 11, 1845. Picture on page 62.
GENERAL, FRANCIS BACON was another son of Asa Bacon, born in Litchfield January 6, 1819, and graduated at Yale College in 1838. Was admitted to this bar in 1840: he was a young man of great promise, holding a high rank as a lawyer, and took great interest in military affairs, rising to the rank of Major General of the State militia. His death occurred September 10. 1849. Picture on page 62.
WILLARD BAKER was admitted to this bar in 1881. He located and resides in Sharon. He has a large office practice and real estate business.
BIRDSEY BALDWIN, born in Goshen, February 3. 1786. Studied law at Litchfield Law School and was admitted to practice in 1811.
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Hle lived and practiced in his native town until 1841, when he re- moved to West Cornwall, where he died April 27, 1858. His pic- ture is on page 115.
GEORGE BALDWIN, a native of Washington, Connecticut, was ad- mitted to the bar in 1840. He relinquished the law for other pur- suits.
GEORGE H. BALDWIN, Sheriff 1800-1878. He died in Litch- field December 2. 1879. The following obituary of him ap- peared in the Litchfield Eu- quirer :
"Our readers will notice. with deep regret, the death of ex-Sheriff George H. Bald- win, which occurred at his residence in this village on Tuesday morning. Mr. Bald- win was born on the 20th of September. 1827. and had en- tered upon his 53d year. His father, Captain Daniel Bald- win, was a man of great ener- gy, and the son was of a simi- lar nature. After a good edu- cation in our village schools, he served an apprenticeship in GEORGE IL. BALDWIN the Enquirer office. He sub- sequently published, for a short time, the Litchfield Republican, a democratic paper, and was the first publisher of the Sentinel. He was postmaster here for eight years, Judge of Probate for one year, and Sheriff of the county for nine years. He represented the town in the General Assembly in 1861, held the office of town clerk for five years, from 1858 to 1863. and was first selectman for several years succeeding. His friends were warmly attached to him, and he was noted for his generosity and neighborly kindness. In his family, he was a devoted husband and father, and his excellent widow and children have the heartfelt sympathy of the entire com- munity."
ISAAC BALDWIN, was born in Milford, Connecticut, February 22, 1715-16. His father removed to Durham and subsequently to Litchfield.
He graduated at Yale College in 1735, and studied theology and was licensed to preach in 1737. He was never settled in this profession, but occasionally preached in neighboring churches.
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He married a daughter of Parson Collins, the eccentric minister of Litchfield, bought a farm and went to farming. His services were soon demanded in public affairs and for many years he was a prominent man in town and county matters. He represented his town in the General Assembly ten sessions, and was town clerk for thirty-one years ( 1742-1773.)
He was clerk of the Probate Court for the district of Litchfield for twenty-nine years, and was the first clerk of the County Court, which office he held for forty-two years ( 1751-1793.) He died in Litchfield January 15, 1805.
ISAAC BALDWIN, JR., born at Litchfield November 12, 1753. Graduated at Yale in 1774. Admitted to the bar and practiced at Litchfield until 1812, when he removed to Pompey, New York, where he died in 1830.
ROGER SHERMAN BALDWIN, born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1793. Was a member of the Litchfield Law School, and admitted to the bar of this county in 1813. He located in his native city, where he died February 19, 1863.
Probably no lawyer ever attained in Connecticut a higher rank at the bar than that which was generally conceded to Governor Baldwin by his professional brethren, and few men have filled more public offices than he. ( For a more extended sketch of him see obituary in 30th Conn. Report.)
SAMUEL S. BALDWIN was born in Litchfield, and graduated at Vale College in 1801. Was admitted to this bar in 1803 as of Litchfield. He died in 1854.
WILLIAM BALDWIN, lawyer at Salisbury 1842. (Conn. Regis- ter.)
LUTHER T. BALL, was born in Salisbury, studied law with Judge D. J. Warner and at Ballston, New York, and was admitted to this bar in 1854. He removed to Illinois, where he acquired a good reputation as a lawyer. In the Civil War he was an officer of the Eighty-fourth Illinois regiment and was killed at the battle of Mur- freesboro, December, 1862, and buried on the field.
LORRIN BARNES studied in the law school. Was admitted in 1807 and practiced a short time in Bristol.
HENRY S. BARBOUR was a native of Canton, Connecticut. Born August 2, 1822. Studied law at Yale Law School and was ad- mitted to this bar in 1849. He practiced at Torrington for twenty- one years, when he removed to Hartford, where he died September 21, 1891.
SYLVESTER BARBOUR was a brother of Henry S. Barbour and practiced law a short time about 1861 at New Hartford and is now in practice in Hartford.
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ANSON BATES, admitted to the bar in 1820. The History of Hartford County says he practiced law at East Granby 1831-1869.
ROBERT C. BATES, admitted to the bar in 1811 as of Salisbury.
JOSIAH B. BATTELL, born in Woodbury March 1. 1776. Ad- mitted to the bar in 1799 as of Torrington. Died May 7, 1843. in Torrington.
JESSE BEACH was born in Litchfield in 1769. He studied law with Judge Reeve and was admitted to the bar in 1701. The next year he married Sally Wheeler, of Derby, to which place he moved and practiced law there until 1801, when he removed to Redding, Connecticut.
J. G.MIL BECKWITH, JR., was born in Litchfield in 1874. Gradu- ated at Union College in 1896. Studied at Albany Law School and in the offices of Terry & Bronson and L. F. Burpee in Water- bury, where he engaged in practice for a short time. He served as Corporal of Company A. Tenth Battalion. First New York Volunteers, from April. 1898, to April. 1899. The regiment was ordered for service in the Philippines, but only went as far as Honolulu. Was admitted to the Litchfield bar in 1899. Was a deputy sheriff under Sheriff Middlebrook. Is engaged in jour- nalism.
HEZEKIAH BEECHER, was born in Bethlehem, the son of Abra- ham Beecher. He was admitted to the bar in 1854. He removed to, and was an early settler of Fort Dodge. Iowa. Is now deceased.
PHILEMON BEECHER, a native of Kent, was born in 1775 and was admitted to this bar in 1800 as from Sharon. He soon removed to Lancaster. Ohio. Henry Howe in his Historical Collections says of him: "He represented this district in Congress from 1817 to 1827, and died about 1840. Was in politics a whig, and a man of fine address and presence. He it was who gave Thomas Ewing his first law business of any moment. The very elegant Henry Stanbery, who began his law practice in Lancaster, and lived there for many years, married for his first wife the daughter of Mr. Beecher. He later lived at Columbus and in the vicinity of Cin- cinnati, and ended his professional career as Attorney General of the United States under General Jackson."
TRUMAN BEECHER, admitted in 1818 from Kent. Was a student of the law school.
FREDERICK BEERS was born in Woodbury July 23. 1785 and was admitted to this bar in 1815. He died in Woodbury on Decem- ber 6, 1828, at the age of 43.
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LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR
GEORGE W. BEERS was a son of Hon. Seth P. Beers and was born in Litchfield February 18, 1817. He graduated from Trinity College in 1839, and was admitted to this bar in 1842. He never practiced his profession, but was an assistant for his father in the care and management of the immense interests of the School Fund in the Western Reserve of Ohio. He died at Litchfield.
LEWIS F. BEERS was admitted in 1864 to this bar from Winsted. He studied with Judge Gideon Hall, and remained in his office in Winsted a short time after Judge Hall's death . when he removed to South Norwalk, where he died February 15, 1872.
SETH P. BEERS, a native of Woodbury, born July 4, 1781. Was a student of the Litchfield Law School from 1803 to 1805, when he was admitted to this bar and settled in the practice of his pro- fession in Litchfield, where he died September 9. 1862. He had a large clientage and occupied many positions of trust. He was State's AAttorney for the county 1820 to 1825. His principal work was commissioner of the School Fund of Connecticut from 1824 to 1849, a period of twenty-five years, during which time the settle- ment of a very large number of contested land claims and titles in the Ohio land, known as the Western Reserve, had to be adjusted by him. It is largely through his legal and financial ability that our present school fund of $2,000,000 exists. Died September 9, 1862 at Litchfield. ( See Sedgwick's address. ) Picture on page 92.
FREDERICK D. BEEMAN, was a native of Warren, graduated at Yale, class of 1842, and was admitted to this bar in 1846, and settled and began practice in Litchfield. In 1855 he was appointed clerk of the Superior Court, which office he held at the time of his death, August 1, 1860, aged 38 years. Picture on page 138.
CHARLES O. BELDEN, born in Montecello, New York, in 1827, was admitted to practice in 1848. After practicing a short time at Litchfield he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1861 he took an active part in the Civil War, organizing the Sixty-seventh New York Volunteers, of which he was the Lieutenant Colonel and was in several engagements. At the close of the war his health failed and he was unable to follow his profession. He died in Litchfield November 22. 1870.
JOSEPH HT. BELLAMY, a native of Bethlehem, was a grandson of the celebrated divine Joseph Bellamy, D. D. He graduated at Yale College in 1808, and was admitted to this bar in 1810 and resided and practiced in Bethlehem, where he died in 1848. (See Sedg- wick's Address.)
AMOS BENEDICT, born in Middlebury, Connecticut, July 6, 1780, graduated at Yale College 1800, studied law in the Litchfield Law
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School and was admitted to practice in 1803. After practicing a short time in Litchfield he removed to Watertown, New York. He died in 1816 while on a visit to Litchfield.
NOAH B. BENEDICT, born in Woodbury, April 2, 1771. Gradu- ated at Yale 1788. Admitted to the bar in 1792 and died July 2, 1831. He was one of the most learned and distinguished lawyers in the State. (See Boardman's sketches and Sedgwick's Address and note in 8th Conn. Report 426, also obituary in 15th Conn. Report. ) His portrait is on page 58. taken from an old painting in the Woodbury Probate office.
MILO L. BENNETT, admitted in 1813, as of Sharon. Removed to Vermont and was a Judge of the Supreme Court of that State.
HEMAN BERRY, admitted 1796, as of Kent.
JOHN B. BETTS, admitted to this bar in 1882; practiced a short time in New Hartford ; removed to the West. He died in Beatrice, Nebraska, and was buried in New Hartford, January 24, 1902.
WILLIAM W. BIDWELL, born in Colebrook in 1850 and admitted to this bar in 1858, located in Collinsville, where he practiced his profession and was killed by accident in 1894.
WILLIAM W. BIERCE was born at Cornwall Bridge in 1863; graduated at Williams College in 1885 and was admitted to this bar in 1891. Is now in practice at Torrington, where he was the town clerk and town prosecuting attorney, and is also one of the prosecuting agents for Litchfield County.
HENRY A. Bil,s, admitted to this bar in 1851, practiced a short time in Winsted, Connecticut. Published for some years the Win- sted News, and then followed other avocations. He died June 24. 1892.
Hos. JOHN BIRD, born in Litchfield, November 22, 1768, gradu- ated at Yale College in 1786, was admitted to this bar in 1789, and after a practice of five years removed to Troy, New York, where he resided until his death in 1800. During these few years he held many important positions and was a member of Congress.
EDWARD BISSELL, a native of Litchfield, born November 27, 1808, and admitted to this bar in 1832. He afterwards entered the United States naval service, and died January 24, 1876.
EDWARD BISSELL, born in Litchfield, December 16, 1827, and graduated at Yale College in 1851, and at the Yale Law School in 1853, and was admitted to this bar in 1853. He removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he now resides.
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FRANCIS BISSELL, born in Litchfield April 16. 1852. and ad- mitted to this bar in 1875. He practiced a short time in New Hart- ford , then went into the insurance business, from which he retired, and is now engaged in agriculture at Bantam.
EBENEZER B. BLACKMAN, graduated at Yale College in 1817, admitted to this bar in 1822 and practiced at Sharon, whence he removed to Brookfield in 1840 and died there in 1863.
LEWIS J. BLAKE, admitted to this bar in 1874 and began practice in Litchfield, but soon removed west, and is now a law stenographer and teacher at Omaha, Nebraska.
J. W. BLAKESLEE, admitted in 1866. as of Plymouth.
SAMUEL C. BLAKELEY, admitted in 1800 from Roxbury.
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WILLIAM H. BLODGETT. a native of Canaan. Admitted to this bar in 1903. He located in Winsted and is now Town Prosecuting Attorney. He was assistant clerk of the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1907.
D.WID SHERMAN BOARDMAN, born in New Milford in 1768, graduated at Yale in 1793 and admitted to this bar in 1795. He located and practiced all his lifetime in his native town, where he died December 2, 1864. President Porter, of Vale College, in his sketch of Mr. Boardman, published in the history of New Milford, says : " There have been few, if any of the inhabitants of New Milford since its settlement, who deserve to be more honored than this pure minded, sagacious and noble hearted man." He is the author of the sketches published herewith. See Sedgwick's Address.
GEORGE S. BOARDMAN. a native of New Milford. son of Hon. Elijah Boardman, born 1799. admitted to this bar in 1820 and died in New Milford 1825. ( Sce Sedgwick's Address. )
WILLIAM WHITING BOARDMAN, another son of Hon. Elijah Boardman was born 1794 graduated at Yale College in 1812 and admitted to this bar in 1818. He removed to New Haven, where he had a large practice and held many public offices-member of Con- gress, etc. Died August 27, 1871.
WILLIAM D. BOSLER, born in New York City February 23, 1877. Studied law with L. J. Nickerson, of West Cornwall, and admitted to this bar in 1902. Commenced practice at West Cornwall, but in 1906 he removed to New York City, and is now connected with the District Attorney's office.
CHARLES BOSTWICK was born in New Milford, graduated at Yale College in 1796, and studied law under Judge Reeve. of Litchfield, begun to practice his profession but subsequently went into com-
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mercial pursuits in New York. Later he removed to Bridgeport, where he was elected mayor in 1840 and served afterwards as city judge.
JOSEPH A. BOSTWICK, of New Milford, admitted in 1804.
SAMUEL BOSTWICK was born in New Milford in 1755 and gradu- ated at Yale College in 1780. He practiced law in his native town until his death, April 3. 1799.
HENRY A. BOTSFORD
HENRY A. BOTSFORD Was born in Watertown in 1821 and died at Hartford, April 14, 1895. He was Sheriff from 1866 to 1869. He came to Litchfield from Salisbury, where he had been deputy sheriff for ten years and about 1870 he re- moved to Winsted and in 1872 to Hartford and en- gaged in the wholesale Chi- cago dressed beef business. He received the first car of that commodity from Chi- cago shipped to any point in New England, except to Boston. He was a genial, kind-hearted gentleman and made no enemies in his of- ficial and business life.
JOHN A. BOUGHTON was admitted to this bar in 1862. He soon removed to Bridgeport, Conn. He was for many years connected with the internal revenue service. Is not now in the practice of his legal profession.
JOHN BOYD was born in Winsted March 17, 1799. He graduated at Yale College in 1821 and was admitted to the bar of New Haven County in 1825. and to this bar in 1826. Representative in the General Assembly 1830 and 1835: County Commissioner 1840, 1849 and 1850: State Senator 1854, and President pro tem; iown clerk of Winchester about thirty years and died in 1881.
He was Secretary of the State of Connecticut 1859. 1860 and 1861. One of the mottoes used in some of the political campaigns of the State was, "Give us your hand, honest John Boyd." He compiled and published the annals of Winchester. It is to him
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that the State is indebted for the preservation of so much as re- mains of the original charter granted by King Charles II. In 1698 the duplicate of the patent was by the Governor and council placed in the hands of Captain Joseph Wadsworth " in a very troublesome season when our constitution was struck at " and was safely kept and preserved by him until May 1715. This history is worth record- ing here.
" In 1817 or 1816, while Mr. Boyd was preparing for college at the Hartford Grammar School, he boarded in the family of Rev. Dr. Flint, of the South Church, Hartford.
"Coming one day from school he noticed on the workstand of Alrs. Bissell, the doctor's mother-in-law, a dingy piece of parchment, covered on one side with black letter manuscript. In answer to his inquiries Mrs. Bissell told him that having occasion for some paste- board her friend and neighbor, Mrs. Wyllys, had sent her this. Mr. Boyd proposed to procure her a piece of pasteboard in ex- change for the parchment, to which Mrs. Bissell consented. It was not, however, until six or eight years had elapsed when Mr. Boyd examined the parchment with care, when he learned for the first time that he had what he thought and was generally thought, until recently, was a duplicate of the charter."
The Colonial Record, Vol. IV., published in 1868, says :
" The original charter, which now hangs in the secretary's office at Hartford, is engraved on three skins. The duplicate was written en two. So much of the duplicate as remains being about three- fourths of the second skin, is now in the library of the Connecicut Historical Society, where it was placed by Hon. John Boyd, late Secretary of State."
Not long ago, however, search was made through the records in London and it was found that five pounds was the fee paid for drafting the original charter and twenty shillings for the duplicate. Examination of the documents showed that twenty shillings was written (probably a memorandum) on the supposed original charter and five pounds on the supposed duplicate so that now it is certain that the one saved by Mr. Boyd was the original and the one that hung for years in the secretary's office and has been recently hung in the State library is the duplicate.
The Mrs. Wyllys spoken of was related to the former Secretary of the State by that name and the parchment was probably found with his effects.
Connecticut lived under this charter until 1818, forty-two years after the Declaration of Independence."
ABRAHAM BRADLEY, JR., was born in Litchfield 1767. Studied law with Judge Reeve and was admitted to the bar in 1791. He located in the valley of the Wyoming, Pennsylvania. Soon after he accepted a position under Colonel Pickering, then the Postmaster
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
General of the United States at Washington. He removed to Washington, D. C., and was assistant postmaster general, under various administrations for nearly forty years. He and his brother. Phineas, were the real organizers of the postoffice department of the United States.
ALBERT P. BRADSTREET was born in Thomaston in 1846, gradu- ated at Yale College in 1871, and Columbia Law School in 1873. He was admitted to the bar in 1874 and took up practice in Thomas- ton. He was a member of the General Assembly in 1872-78, and in 1881 and 1882 was elected to the Senate from the Sixteenth District. being the first Republican who was returned from that district for several years. lle was town clerk of Thomaston from 1875 to 1891, and Judge of Probate from 1872 to 1890. In 1879 he was appointed deputy judge of the Waterbury district court and in 1883 he was elected Judge of the same court. being re-elected in 1887 and 1893. He is now in business in New York City.
NELSON BREWSTER was admitted from Cornwall in 1821. He resided in Goshen and had a very limited practice. He died in 1850. JAMES T. BREEN was admitted from Winsted in 1881, located in the West.
DANIEL N. BRINSMAADE
DANIEL, N. BRINSMADE, of Washington, was the son of the Rev. Daniel Brins- made, the second pastor of the Society of Judea. after- wards the town of Wash- ington. He was born in 1750, graduated at Yale College in 1772, read law at Sharon and was admitted to this bar and settled in his native town, where he practiced his profession for more than fifty years. In 1787 he was a delegate to the convention at Hartford that ratified the Constitu- tion of the United States. He was justice of the quo- rum and assistant judge of the County Court for six- teen years. He represent- ed his town in the Legisla-
ture during forty-three sessions and was one session clerk of the House of Representatives. He died in 1826.
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CLIFFORD E. BRISTOL was admitted to this bar in 1882 and began practice at Norfolk and then removed to Plainville. He now resides in Winsted and is engaged in mercantile business.
MERRITT BRONSON was admitted to this bar in 1855 from New Hartford.
BENNETT BRONSON was a graduate of Yale College in 1797 and admitted to this bar in 1802 as of Southbury. He was born No- vember 14, 1775. in Waterbury. He became a prominent man in Waterbury, as lawyer and banker, and died there December 11, 1850.
CHARLES R. BROWN was admitted to the bar in 1816 from Sharon.
SAMUEL BROWNSON was one of the early settlers of New Mil- ford and its town clerk from 1714 to 1733. He was its first justice of the peace and also Judge of the New Haven County Court and died in 1733. He acted as attorney for the town on several occa- sions and is said to have been an attorney in fact.
ROGER BROWNSON was a brother of Samuel and succeeded him in the office of town clerk in New Milford and was there justice of the peace for a number of years. He died in 1758.
NORTON J. BUEL, born in Salisbury September 13. 1813. Studied law wth General Sedgwick and Judge Seymour and was admitted to the bar in 1834. Removed to New Haven County and died in New Haven March 6, 1864. See Warner's reminiscences.
EPAPHRUS W. BULL, born in Danbury in 1805, and was admitted to this bar in 1825. He went South in 1830 and was reported to have been killed by the Indians in Texas in its war of 1840.
WILLIAM BURKE was born in Ireland in 1820, came to Amer- ica in 1838 and following the example of Roger Sherman, settled in New Milford, and while earning his living by shoemaking, studied law and was admitted to this bar in 1868. He removed to Dan- bury in 1860, and resided there at the time of his death in 1890. The History of Danbury says of him: "In social matters his kindness of heart, his ever ready smile and cordial bearing, his bright and sunny disposition, and his uprightness and strength of character made him many warm friends, who will long cherish a pleasant memory of him."
WILLIAM M. BURRALL was a native of Canaan and admitted to this bar in 1808. He was associate Judge of the County Court from 1820 to 1836, and after that its presiding Judge for two years. He died in Canaan in 1851, aged 77 years. (See Sedgwick s Ad- dress.)
JUDSON CANFIELD
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WILLIAM PORTER BURRALL, was a son of the Hon. William M. Burrall, born in Canaan September 18, 1806. Immediately after his graduation from Yale College in 1826 he began the study of law with his father, attended the Litchfield Law School and was admitted to this bar April, 1829. He practiced law in his native town until October, 1838, when he removed to Bridgeport. Con- necticut, and assumed the presidency of the Housatonic Railroad Company, then just organizing, which office he held till 1853, when he resigned. He was connected with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company during its construction and the earlier years of its operation. He was also treasurer and president of the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1862 he was chosen vice- president of the Hartford and New Haven Railroad and in 1868 was made its president, and upon consolidation became the vice- president of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Com- pany, which office he held at the time of his death at Hartford, March 3, 1874.
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