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 27
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Probably the obsequies of no eminent man of Litchfield County were ever attended by so many distinguished public men as were his when he was laid to rest amid the scenes he loved so well on April 24th, 1905, in the cemetery at Washington, Connecticut.
HENRY B. PLUMB, a native of Wolcott, Conn., born in 1857. was admitted to this Bar in 1879. He has never practiced law- but is Secretary of the Eagle Lock Company of Terryville, with office in New York city, and resides in Terryville.
E. LEROY POND, born in Terryville, Town of Plymouth, Dec. 26, 1883. Graduated at Yale College 1904, and from the Law School in 1906. Admitted to this Bar February, 1907, and opened an office in Terryville.
CHARLES J. PORTER, born in Goshen. January 27, 1839; was sheriff from 1881 to 1884. He was in the Civil War for three years in the First Connecticut Heavy Artillery in which he was a Quarter- master Sergeant. He resided in Goshen Center where he was Post Master and carried on a large general store business. He repre- sented his town in the Legislature in 1866 and 1893. He died Dec. 19. 1907. ( See picture, page 160).
PETER B. PORTER, born in Salisbury. Graduated from Yale College in 1791, admittd to this Bar in 1793. Removed to the State of New York and died at his home at Niagara Falls in 1844. He was in Congress in 1810 and was Secretary of War under John Q. Adams' administration.
JOEL B. POTTER, admitted in 1803 from Sherman. He died October 7. 1806.
NATHAN PRESTON, born in Woodbury in 1758. Graduated from Yale College in 1776. He served in the Continental Army until I780. In 1782 he was admitted to the Bar and settled in his native town having a large practice and enjoying many political honors until his decease in September. 1822.
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WILLIAM PRESTON. He was born in Stratford in 1676, but when quite young removed with his father's family to Woodbury. He became a leading man in the town and colony. He was a mem- ber of the General Court thirty-five sessions, and stood high in the militia, having attained the rank of Colonel. He was justice of the quorum eleven years from 1740. On the, formation of Litch- field County in 1751, he was appointed its first judge, which oflice he held till his death in 1754. He was a man of fine talents and commanding influence-of sterling integrity and unflinching de- termination.
In another place will be seen a cut of his tombstone in fine pres- ervation in the cemetery at Woodbury.
WILLIAM L. RANSOM was born in Granville, Mass .. March 28. 1822. He studied law with Judge Hiram Goodwin of Riverton and was admitted to this Bar in 1854. Three years later he came to Litchfield and associated with Hon. John H. Hubbard in the practice of his profession until 1859, when he was appointed Clerk of Superior and Supreme Courts for Litchfield County from which position he resigned in 1887 after an honorable service of twenty- nine years. He now resides in Litchfield.
From the history of the Ransom family I quote the following well deserved tribute: "William L. Ransom was tendered the posi- tion of Clerk of the Superior Court and the Supreme Court of Errors which his experience and methodical habits eminently quali- fied him to fill. He accepted the appointment and for twenty-eight years he continued to discharge the duties of the office with honor to himself and the tribunal of which he was a trusted official. Patience and courtesy secured for him the well grounded regard of the clientage that had 'their day in court' and Bench and Bar alike held him in the highest esteem.'
TIMOTHY C. RANSOM was a brother of William L. and born September 22, 1824, and was admitted to the Bar in 1858. He practiced a few years in Meriden, Conn .. and then removed to North Dakota where he died.
DAVID RAYMOND admitted to the Bar in 1812 from Montville. Connecticut.
JAMES RAYMOND admitted to the Bar in 1834 from Canaan.
JOHN REED. This gentleman was undoubtedly the earliest at- torney in the territory embraced in Litchfield County. He grad- uated at Cambridge in 1697 and entered the ministry and preached at Waterbury, Stratford and other places. He became interested in the Stratford colony of settlers who went to the region now called New Milford, and obtained a large tract of land now the center of that town, and built a residence near the present Ingleside School, where he resided and held religious services in his house. In 1708,
THOMAS F. RYAN
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while living there, he was admitted as an attorney by the General Court and in 1712 he was appointed Queen's Attorney for the Colony. Mr. Reed had plenty business of his own to attend to, for the Milford settlers claiming a superior title to the New Milford lands, over the Stratford title, occupied some of the 26,000 acres. and Mr. Reed sued them for trespass, and after sixteen trials, fifteen of which he won and lost the sixteenth, became discouraged and gave up the effort, and removed to a large tract of land he obtained in the present town of Redding where he resided until 1722, when he went to Boston, and soon became the most eminent lawyer in the Colonies. He was Attorney General for several years and also a member of the Governor and Council. He was known there as "Leather Jacket John." Many anecdotes are told of this eccentric attorney which this compilation does not care to repeat. Knapp's Biographical Sketches says of him: "One act alone should give him immortality. He, from his own high re- sponsibility reduced the quaint, redundant and obscure phraseology of the English deeds of conveyance, to the present short, clear and simple form now in use. His influence and authority must have been great as a lawyer, to have brought these retrenched forms into general use. The declarations which he made and used in civil actions, have, many of them, come down to us as precedents, and are among the finest specimens of special pleading that can be found. Story has preserved some of his forms, and Parsons says that "many other lawyers had assumed his work as a special pleader as their own; and that honors due him had by carelessness or ac- cident, been given to others, who had only copied his forms."
He married Ruth Talcott, daughter of Col. John Talcott of Hartford and sister of Governor Joseph Talcott. One of his sons was the celebrated Col. John Reed of the "Lonetown Manor," Redding, Connecticut. He died in 1749, leaving a large estate.
JOHN G. REID was a son of Rev. Adam Reid of Salisbury and was admitted to this Bar in 1857 and located at Kent. He did honorable service in the War of the Rebellion, and afterwards removed to Chicago.
AARON B. REEVE was a son of Hon. Tapping Reeve, graduated from Yale in 1802, was admitted to the Bar in 1808, began practice in Troy, New York, where he died in 1809.
TAPPING REEVE, born in Southhold, Long Island, October, 1744. Graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1763. In 1784 he opened the Law School at Litchfield which continued until 1833. In1 1798 he was appointed Judge of the Superior Court and in 1814 he became the Chief Justice of the State. He died at Litchfield, December 13. 1823. See Boardman's "Early Lights," Law School, etc.
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JAMES RICHARDS was admitted to the Bar in 1862. He then re- sided at Litchfield where he had been preaching for some years. He afterwards removed to Charleston, W. Va., where he died.
FRANCIS X. RICHMOND was born in New Milford, admitted to the Litchfield Bar in 1897, and practiced for a short time in Water- bury. He removed to New Milford, and later returned to Water- bury, where he died in 1906.
EDWARD RICHMOND, admitted in 1815 from Washington.
CLARK RICHTER, graduated from Yale in 1856, admitted in 1861 from Salisbury.
WILLIAM H. ROOD, admitted in 1845. Practiced in Winsted, was & Judge of Probate there, removed to Lynn, Mass., where he died.
EDWARD ROCKWELL, born in Colebrook June 30th 1801. Gradit- ated at Yale College 1821. Admittel to this Bar in 1827 as from Sharon. He located in Youngstown, Ohio. Was the Secretary of the Cleveland and Pittsburg Railroad Company until 1867, when lie resigned that office and removed to New York City, where he died in 1874.
JULIUS ROCKWELL, was born in Colebrook, graduated at Yale College in 1826, admitted to this Bar in 1829 and located at Pits- field, Mass. He was a member of Congress and also a Judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.
The following extract shows the proceedings taken by the Berk- sire County Bar upon the death of Judge Rockwell in 1888:
"The Superior Court opened here this morning. Chief Justice Brigham presided at a memorial meeting of the Berkshire Bar in honor of the late Judge Julius Rockwell. There was a large at- tendance of lawyers, prominent citizens of the county and ladies. Attorney General Waterman offered resolutions adopted at a meet- ing of the Bar yesterday, gave a short sketch of Judge Rockwell's career and moved the adoption of the resolutions. Judge Tucker seconded the resolutions, and speeches were also made by the Hon. Marshall Wilcox, T. P. Pingree, Senator Dawes and Judge Brig- ham. The resolutions were ordered spread on the records of the court and as a mark of respect to Judge Rockwell's memory the court adjourned until to-morrow morning."
WILLIAM ROCKWELL was born in Sharon in 1804. Graduated at Yale College in 1822, and admitted to this Bar in 1824. Located in Brooklyn, N. Y. Was a Judge of the Superior Court of King's County.
ALBERTO 7. RORABACK was born in Sheffield, Mass. in 1849. Acquiring a good academic education ; in 1872 began the study of law with Judge Donald J. Warner in Salisbury and was admitted to this Bar in 1872. He located at North Canaan and was for a
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DAVID C. SANFORD
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quarter of a century a leader of the affairs of north western Con- necticut. From 1889 to 1893 he was the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Litchfield County. In 1895 and 1896 he repre- sented his town in the General Assembly, and in 1897 was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court. He was in 1907 promoted by the Legislature to be a Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors to take effect in September, 1908. His picture is shown on page 133.
J. CLINTON ROARBACK, a son of Judge A. T. Roarback was born in North Canaan. Graduated at Yale University and at the Yale Law School. Was admitted to this Bar in 1905. Ile resides and practices in North Canaan.
J. HENRY ROARBACK was born in Sheffield. Mass. in 1870, and admitted to practice in 1892 at this Bar. He located at North Canaan in company with his brother Judge A. T. Roarback to whose law business he suceeded upon the latter's elevation to the bench in 1897. He has been a very active politician. holding the position of a member of the Republican State Central Committee for several years. Is the Postmaster at North Canaan. He is also extensive- ly engaged in the lime business of that region.
WILLARD A. RORABACK Was born in New Marlboro, Mass. March 12th, 1860 and admitted to this Bar in 1883. Locating in Torring- ton, he has held many of the town offices, representing the town in the Legislature of 1895. Has been Judge of the Borough Court, and is now Judge of the Probate Court of that District.
ELBERT P. ROBERTS Was born in Litchfield in 1863 and was ad- mitted to this Bar in 1884. Resides and practices in Litchfield. He has a large real estate business, and has for many years been the Secretary of the Board of Education of Litchfield.
WILLIAM J. ROBERTS Was born in New Milford and graduated in Yale College in 1859. During the War of the Rebellion he was a Captain of Company I, Eighth Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers. He was admitted to the Bar in 1866, and died in New Milford, June 30, 1870.
WILLIAM R. ROGERS, of Georgia, a graduate of the Litchfield Law School, was admitted to this Bar in 1831.
SAMUEL ROWLAND, admitted to this Bar in 1794, resided in Fair- field, Conn. and died there in 1837.
PHILO RUGGLES was born in New Milford in 1765 and admitted to the Bar in 1791. Began practice in New Milford and then re- moved to Poughkeepsie, and afterwards to New York City where lie died in 1829.
JOHN H. RUSSELL. a native of Canaan, admitted to this Bar in 1849 and settled in Salisbury. He devoted most of his time to farming. He died at Lakeville in 1871.
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LITCHIFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR
JOSEPH RYAN, admitted to practice in 1858 from Norfolk, went to Illinois.
TIMOTHY RYAN, admitted in 1861 from Norfolk. Located in Illinois.
THOMAS F. RYAN was born in Ireland, March 6, 1872. He was educated at St. Mary's College, Troy, N. Y. and graduated from Yale Law School in 1897. and was admitted to this Bar. He be- gan to practice at Torrington, but soon went to Tucson, Arizona, where he combined law and mining. He returned to Connecticut in 1901 and located in Litchfield in 1905.
DAVID C. SANFORD, born in New Milford in 1798, was admitted to the Bar in Fairfield County in 1820. He removed to Litchfield. where he practiced till 1832, when he went to Norwalk, but soon returned to New Milford, where he resided at the time of his death in 1864. In 1854 he was elected a Judge of the Superior Court, which office he held at the time of his decease.
GEORGE A. SANFORD, born in Simsbury. 1852 : educated at Union College, was admitted to the Litchfield County Bar in 1903. He resides and practices at Winsted. Is an active member of the School Board of Winchester.
ROLLIN SANFORD was born in Cornwall. Vt. of Litchfield, Conn. ancestry. Graduated from Yale College in 1831 and was admitted to this Bar in 1833. He abandoned the legal profession and en- gaged in the mercantile business in New York City, where he died. December 2, 1879.
HENRY SEYMOUR SANFORD died at his home in New Milford on Saturday November 2. 1901 at the age of 6 years. He was the son of the late Judge David C. Sanfor 1 and of Amelia S. ( Seymour ) Sanford, a member of the distinguished Seymour family of Litch- field. He was born in Norwalk, Conn., March 1, 1832. He en- tered Yale College in 1848 and graduated in the class of 1852. He then took the two years' course at the Harvard Law School. After his admission to the Bar he spent one year in Washington, D. C., as private Secretary for Ex-Judge Seymour, then a member of Con- gress. Returning to New Milford, he became associated with his father in his well established law practice, and when his father was elevated to the supreme bench, the son carried on the practice with ability.
At the age of 20 years he met with a serious accident that dis- abled him physically for life, placing him at a great disadvantage when in the full strength of youth he was entering upon an in- usually promising career. But with remarkable pluck and bravery he rose superior to a misfortune which would have discouraged an ordinary man from attempting to do anything noteworthy, and for many years with rare perseverance and patience successfully pur-
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281
sued his chosen calling, although unable to go about except in a wheel-chair, and what was more remarkable still, he retained his naturally high spirits and genial disposition.
Mr. Sanford moved to Bridgeport in 1869 and was a well known attorney there for thirty years. He was at one time the leading lawyer of the Fairfield county Bar, and he was associated with or opposed to the foremost lawyers of his city and state in many im- portant cases, a number of which came before the Supreme Court. He was aggressive, able and brilliant as a lawyer and liked nothing better than to cross swords with a foeman worthy of his steel.
One of the last and most gracious acts of Mr. Sanford's life was to donate the rare and valuable collection of law books which had belonged to him and his distinguished father to the law library in New Milford for the use of the members of the Litchfield County Bar which the two Sanfords, father and son, had both honorably and ably represented.
HENRY S. SANFORD, a son of Henry Seymour Sanford, was born in Bridgeport August 5. 1873. Graduated from Yale Law School in 1895. Ile was admitted to the New Haven Bar in the same year, and admitted to the New York Bar in 1898. Practiced in New York until 1905. Soon after the decease of his father he re- moved to New Milford, where he now resides and practices.
ALBERT SEDGWICK was born in Cornwall in 1801. He held the office of Sheriff 1834 and 1835 and also from 1838 to 1854 in which latter year he resigned the office, having been appointed School Fund Commissioner of Connecticut which office he held for twelve years during which time he resided in Hartford. He was an ardent and active poli- tician, with a genial pleasing way and won many voters to his side at the polls. He died in Litch- field at the residence of his daughter Mrs. Thomas M. Coe in 1878. He at one time was greatly interested in developing the mining of Nickel in the western part of Litchfield, but the opening of the civil war and dis- covery of the rich silver deposits in the great West ruined this industry in Connecticut.
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FREDERICK A. Scorr, born in Plymouth in 1866, graduated from Yale 1889, from Yale Law School in 1891 and admitted to this Bar the same year. Resides at Terryville, practices at Hartford. Has been Clerk of the different branches of the General Assembly and in 1901 was Clerk of Bills in that body. Represents Plymouth in the General Assembly of 1909.
HOMER R. SCOVILLE was born in Harwinton in1865, graduated at Williams College in 1890, the New York Law School in 1892, and was admitted to that Bar the same year. After a few years practice in New York City, he removed to Torrington, Conn., and was admitted to this Bar in 1900. He is now in active practice in Torrington.
CHARLES F. SEDGWICK. The following obituary of this distin- guished member of our Bar is taken from the 50th Conn. Reports, for which it was prepared by his colleague and friend Bro. Donald j. Warner:
Charles F. Sedgwick was born in Cornwall, Litchfield County, Connecticut, September 1, 1795. His grandfather Gen. John Sedgwick, was a major in the Revolutionary army, and a major- general of the State Militia. His ancestory is traced to Robert Sedgwick, one of Cromwell's Generals.
He was a brother of the late Albert Sedgwick, and a cousin of the renowned Gen. John Sedgwick, of the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potoma.
After graduating at Williams College, 1813, he took charge of an academy in Sharon, Conn. and at the same time studied law, and was admitted to this Bar in March, 1820. He immediately located in Sharon, and there continued in the practice of his profession, and ended there his life's work.
He married Betsy, daughter of Judge Cyrus Swan, of Sharon, October 15, 1821.
He was early a member of the Legislature in both branches, a Judge of the Court of Probate for the District of Sharon, and from 1856 to 1874 was States Attorney for the county.
He inherited and manifested a special admiration for military affairs, and was appointed Brigadier General of the State Militia in 1829, and afterwards Major General of the Third Military Division of the State. Physically, he was a remarkable man ; large, tall, and erect, his appearance in and out of the court room was attractive and commanding. As a lawyer not arrogant, not brilliant, always courteous, a ready, fluent advocate, presenting his views of the case on trial with force and zeal, commanding the respect of the court and jury.
In the discharge of his duty as a public prosecutor, the ad- ministration of his office was characterized by the application of the principle "that ninety-nine guilty persons should escape, rather than
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one innocent person should suffer." His habits were exemplary ; tobacco and intoxicants in all their forms were to him abhorrent.
The current events of the day were all noted by him, and he de- lighted in works of history, biography and genealogy. His wonder- fully retentive memory, bodily vigor, and genial nature made him a delightful talker in the social circle, and eminently useful in fur- nishing information of and concerning persons and their affairs. If it became necessary to find a collateral or other heir to an estate, or to insert a branch in the genealogical tree of a family in Western Connecticut, Gen. Sedgwick was referred to as a living compen- dum of the required information, and his detailed reminiscences of the peculiarities and characteristics of persons always interested his hearers and often excited their merriment.
His centennial address and history of the town of Sharon in 1865, is a valuable depository of knowledge for the inhabitants of the town. He lived soberly, he waited for death calmly and died in communion with the Congregational Church at Sharon, March otli, 1882. in his 87th year. Picture on page 70.
EDWARD WOODRUFF SEYMOUR, a Judge of the Supreme Court of this State, died at Litchfield, on the 16th day of October, 1892. He was born at Litchfield, August 30th, 1832 the oldest son of Chief Justice Origen S. Seymour. His mother was a sister of George C. Woodruff, Esq., of Litchfield, a prominent lawyer there, and Jadge Lewis B. Woodruff of New York. He graduated at Yale in 1853, and was admitted to the Bar in Litchfield in 1856, where he continued to practice until 1875, when he removed to Bridgeport, and formed a partnership with his younger brother, Morris W. Seymour, with whom he was associated until 1889, when he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Errors. He was for several years Judge of Probate in the Litchfield district. Ile repre- sented Litchfield in the State Legislature in 1859-60-70-71, and was a member of the State Senate in 1876. He represented his district in Congress from 1882 to 1886. He was one of the representatives of the diocese of Connecticut in the general conventions of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States.
As a lawyer he was thorough, quick in perception, sound in re- flection, pleasing and effective in speech. He prepared his causes conscientously. His knowledge of men, his quick wit, his rare ap- prehension of humor and humorous things, his abounding good judgment, his intellectual alacrity in emergencies, and his courage in a crisis gave him a fine outfit for practice. He cross-examined a witness always with skill, and sometimes with genius. But no tempation to score a point ever led him into the petty tyranny of abusing a witness. He wore the golden rule on his heart and re- membered that the man in the witness box was a brother.
As a Judge, without being hortatory he warmed his opinions with wholesome morals. Such ethics, for instance, as we find in
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the opinion in Coupland vs. Houstonic Railroad Company, in the bist Conn., make good reading. His career as a lawyer and Judge strengthens our attachment to our profession which he adorned.
Judge Seymour is mourned by the Bar and by the bench of the State with a common and tender grief. Years of closest intimacy bound many manly hearts to him with a love which may not be told, but which must be undying. His grave is the tomb of hope and promise and of a life broken when it was strongest. He was buried in the afternoon of a gentle October day, when the sun shone through the clouds and brightened the gold and scarlet and crimson of fading nature, and he was buried in love.
From Henry C. Robinson's sketch in the 62d Conn. Reports.
A TRIBUTE BY JUDGE FENN.
Yesterday morning, at Litchfield, there passed from week-day toil into Sunday rest, from work so consecrated that it was worship into eternal peace-as pure a soul, and as gentle, as ever parted from earth to enter heaven. One who speaks from a torn heart because he loved him living, and loved him dead ; one who met him in de- lightful social intercourse four days last week. (the last time on Friday ), in seeming health, full of life and its interests, and to whom the telegram announcing his sudden death came with shocking agony, can neither be silent or speak with a calm, dispassionate utterance, in such an hour. Edward W. Seymour lies dead at the age of sixty, in the town in which he was born, and on the street where he has always lived. The oldest son of the late Chief Justice, Origen S. Seymour, he inherited the rare judicial temperament, the calm, candid, impartial judgment, the love of mercy-tempered jus- tice, so essentially characteristic of his father. Educated at Yale College, a graduate of the famous class of 1853, studying law in his father's oflice, entering into partnership with him, early and fre- quently called to represent his town, and later his senatorial district in the General Assembly, a useful member of Congress for four years, having in the meantime, by devotion to his profession, as well as by natural ability, become the acknowledged leader of the Bar in the two counties of Litchfield and Fairfield ; certainly it was the prin- ciple of natural selection which three years ago led to his choice as a member of our highest judicial tribunal-the Supreme Court of Errors of this State. While of his services upon that Court this is neither the time, or place, to speak with fullness, it has been the privilege of the writer to know them somewhat thoroughly, and be- cause of such knowledge he can the more truly bear witness to the rare spirit of fidelity to duty, to justice, to law, as a living, pervading and beneficent rule of action, with which, whether upon the bench listening to, and weighing the arguments and contentions of counsel. in private study, in the consultation room, or in the written opinions
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