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 4
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2.1
LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR
A new tone to female education was given by the establish- ment of a Female Seminary, for the instruction of females in this village, by Miss Sarah Pierce, in 1792. This was an in- tried experiment. Hitherto the education of young ladies, with few exceptions, had been neglected. The district school had limit- ed their course of studies. Miss Pierce saw and regretted this, and devoted herself and all of her active life to the mental and moral culture of her sex. The experiment succeeded entirely. This Acedemy soon became the resort of young ladies from all portions of the country-from the cities and the towns. Then. the country was preferred, as most suitable for female improve- ment, away from the frivolities and dissipation of fashionable life. Now, a different, not a better practice, prevails. Many of the grandmothers and mothers of the present generation were educated as well for gentel as for useful life, in this school, and its influence upon female character and accomplishments was great and extensive. It continued for more than forty years, and its venerable Principal and her sister assistant now live among us, the honored and honor- able of their sex.
Before this, and as early as 1784. a Law School was instituted in this village. Tapping Reeve, then a young lawyer from Long Island, who had commenced the practice of his profession here. was its projector. It is not known whether in this country, or any where, except at the Inns of Court at Westminster, a school for the training of lawyers had been attempted. No Professorships of Law had been introduced into American Colleges; nor was the Law treated as a liberal science.
Before this, the law student served a short clerkship in an at- torney's office,-studied some forms and little substance, and had within his reach but few volumes beyond Coke's & Wood's Insti- tutes. Blackstone's Commentaries, Bacon's Abridgment, and Jacob's Law Dictionary, and, when admitted to the Bar, was better instruct- ed in pleas in abatement, than in the weightier matters of the Law. Before this, too, the Common Law, as a system, was imperfectly understood here and in our sister States. Few lawyers had master- ed it. The reputation of this institution soon became as extensive as the country, and young men from Maine to Georgia sought to finish their law studies here.
Judge Reeve conducted this school alone, from its commence- ment until 1798, when, having been appointed to the Bench of the Superior Court, he associated with him. as an instructor. James Gould. Esq. These gentlemen conducted the school together for several years, until the advanced age of Judge Reeve admonished him to retire ; after which, Judge Gould continued the school alone until a few years before his death. It may be said of Judge Reeve, that he first gave the Law a place among liberal studies in this country .- that "he found it a skeleton, and clothed it with life. color. and complexion." This school gave a new impulse to legal
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learning and it was felt in the Jurisprudence as well as in the Legislation of all the States.
A new subject of study, not known in any other country, had been presented to the legal student here,-the Constitution of the United States and the Legislation of Congress. Uniformity of in- terpretation was indispensable.
At this institution students from every State drank from the same fountain, were taught the same principles of the Common and Constitutional Law : and these principles, with the same modes of legal thinking and feeling and of administration were dissemin- ated throughout the entire country. More than one thousand lawyers of the United States were educated here, and many of them afterwards among the most eminent Jurists and Legislators. Even after Judge Gould's connection with the school, an inspection of the catalogue will show, that from it have gone out among the States of this Union, a Vice President of the United States, two Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, forty Judges of the highest State Courts, thirteen Senators, and forty-six Repre- sentatives in Congress, besides several Cabinet and Foreign Min- isters.
I have said that this school gave a new impulse to legal learn- ing in this country. Soon after its establishment, and not before. reports of judicial decisions appeared. Ephraim Kirby, Esq an able lawyer of this village, published the first volume of Reports of Adjudged Cases, in this country,-a volume which deserved and received the approbation of the profession here and elsewhere. This was soon followed by Reports in Massachusetts and New York.
Standing at this point of time, and looking back over the events of an hundred years, we would recall, not only the scenes which have transpired, but revive our recollections of the men who have acted in them. Memory cannot raise the dead to life again ; yet it may bring back something of their presence .- shaded and dim. but almost real :- and through the records of their times we may hear them speak again. To some of these I have made allusion. 1 would speak of others.
The allusion to the Law School of the County suggests to me a brief notice, also, of the legal profession here, and of its most distinguished members, as well as a further allusion to others of the sons of Litchfield County, distinguished in other professions and employments of life. In speaking of these I must confine myself to the memory of the dead. And here. I feel that I am under a restraint. which, on any other occasion. I would resist. I feel this chain which binds me the more as I look around on this gathering and see some here. and am reminded of others-so many. who have contributed by splendid talents and moral worth. to make our name a praise in the land. As the representative of the County. I would most gladly do them living homage before you all. I re- gret that I have had so brief an opportunity to make this notice
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LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCHI AND BAR
as perfect as it should be .- a favorite theme, if I could but do it justice.
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 circum- stances, in 1787. Mr. Marvin was respectable in his profession. and was King's Attorney at the time of the Revolution. His resi- dence 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 Hinman, 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 Mil- ford, one of the Associate Judges of the County. He was appoint- ed a member of Congress under the Confederation, but died before he took his seat. We can appreciate his character when informed that he was the chosen colleague of Johnson. Ellsworth, and Trum- bull. Mr. Adams succeeded 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 Revolu- tion, 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 Con- necticut Bar. A colonial condition was, as it ever will be, un- favorable to the development of forensic talent.
The change in the state of this Bar, after the War. and especi- ally 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 profession and moral excellence, than this. Reeve. Tracy. Allen, Kirby, Strong of Salisbury. Smith of Wood- bury. 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 stand- ing of the profession here :- Gould. Sterling, of Salisbury : Benedict. Ruggles, Boardman, Smith, of Litchfield; Slosson, Southmayd,
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Swan. Pettibone, and afterward. Miner, Williams, Bacon, and others.
Tapping Reeve was a native of Long Island, and a distinguished gradute of Nassau Hall, New Jersey, and a tutor in that college. He 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 religions principle 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 profound and constant study, and was never allured by political ambition. I seem, even now, to see his calm and placid countenance 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 powers of oratory uncommon. He was a politician. often a member of our own Legis- lature : 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 distinguished.
Col. Adonijah Strong. the father of the late Hon. Martin Strong, was uniqne 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. He 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 language by inspiration. His was a native eloquence vet 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 professional and
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LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR.
public life was passed in New Haven County, but he often appeared at this Bar. He was less profound than his brother, more ardent, and perhaps more effective as a jury lawyer. 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 College 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 Legis- lature of the State he was speaker of the House of Representatives. In Congress he sustained an enviable reputation as a presiding offi- cer. 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 dis- charging 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 langh, but was very sure to carry a listener along with him to his conclusions. With his brethren, his intercourse was always courte- ous, and with his younger ones, kind and affectionate. He never gave offense. In his arguments, he resorted to no artifice, but met the difficulties in his way fully in the face. and if he could not over- come them he vielded 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 treatise on the Law of Pleading, in which he was governed by the truth of Lord Coke's saving. "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.
y
JOHN COTTON SMITH. From Crayon Sketch. 1800.
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CHURCH'S CENTENNIAL ADDRESS
Noah B. Benedict was the son of Rev. Noah Benedict, of Woodbury, a gentleman of no precocity of intellect or genins, 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 distinc- tion in his profession. He engaged in none of the ordinary busi- ness transactions of society, and, as he once told me. he never gave a promissory note in his life. With such an undivided attention 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 canses were never neglected in their prepara-
tion. The controlling points of every case he discovered quick. and pressed both, in preparation and argument. with zeal. He 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. He 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 which position he died in 1847. Having been associated with Tudge 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 connection will not permit me to speak. The deep sensation pro- duced at this Bar, and the grief which tore the hearts of his num- erons 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. He 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 catalogne. I shall not speak now of his life and eminent services. They make a prominent part of the country's history.
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LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR
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. His 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 de- parted 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 distinc- tion : but he accepted the proffered office of Clerk of the Courts and Judge of Probate for this district, in 1793, and soon relinquish- ed professional duties. For several years he was a prominent mem- ber of the Council, under the Charter administration. 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 Wolcott family, in my daily walks about this village, without recalling the stately form and ever honorable deportment of Frederick Wolcott. The duties of his official stations were discharged with 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 early 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 early 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 aspirations after fame. Di- vinity has furnished the most common theme and employed the most pens. We are all theolgians 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
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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 theolog- ical studies, and, although not a native of this County, he resided 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 ordined 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 Univer- sity in Kentucky, and died, while yet a young man on ship-board,
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LITCHFIELD COUNTY BENCH AND BAR
when on his return from New Orleans to New England. I am not 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 early as January, 1767, a Medical association was formed in this County, composed of the most eminent physicians then in practice here. 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, Simeon 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. He 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 pro- fession. 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- trustful of his own ability. His public communications display sound judgment. and his more confidential correspondence a warm affection and a pure purpose.
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