USA > South Carolina > Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina, vol. I > Part 7
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It is possible that that circumstance, and the oath, which was administered to the Judge in 1783, when he became a citizen, led to the mistake which he committed in exparte Granstein, 1st Hill, 141.
I take up now Miss Bay's eloquent and filial notice of her father :
"His mind was clear, though bodily infirmities increased upon him with his old age ; being over eighty-four when he passed the confines of both worlds without long illness or suffering."
"A better man never lived or died."
"Although seeing so much of the dark side of human nature, he was the most unsuspicious of others doing him wrong, and was greatly cheated in his dealings with men in money matters. He was never paid for his Reports printed at the North. His urbanity of manner made him popular all through the State, and the good country folks (at that day more primitive than now) always obliged him when they were more rough to others. And in after life, his family in travel- ing through the upper country had the gratification of hearing
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him spoken of with affection; and on arriving at a stopping place late in the evening, about thirty or forty miles from Greenville, they were turned away much fatigued, but on pressing to be taken in, and the name catching the host's ear, he altered his manner, took them in, treated them kindly, and gave many comforts for the night."
"I don't know," says Miss Bay, " whether my father had ever been to college; but his education was a superior one, and Latin was an easy language with him. He was partic- ular in the education of his family, always correcting them, when young, if they made mistakes, and by word of mouth gave them much instruction."
"He was one of the best of masters, and affectionate and domestic in his habits; easily pleased as to non-essentials, but would frown down light and frivolous conversations on religious subjects by young men and those of a more mature age visiting the house. He was cheerful and fond of a fire- side circle, and took a great interest in the politics of the times."
I append notices of the death of Judge Bay by the Charles- ton Courier, the Bar, and the City Council of Charleston, and the Bar at Columbia, of all which he was eminently worthy. For, indeed, he was a good man and a just Judge, who after being long permitted to sojourn among and serve men, was in the fullness of time called home to his Father's mansion of everlasting rest and glory.
[Charleston Courier, Wednesday, November 21, 1838.] DEATH OF JUDGE BAY.
The venerable Elihu Hall Bay is no more. He departed this life on Monday night without a struggle, in the eighty- fifth year of his age. For near half a century he filled the office of Associate Justice of the Court of General Sessions and Common Pleas of this State, having been appointed on the 19th February, 1791, and having held the office until the day of his death. In consequence of his infirmities of body, however, he was exempted by the Legislature for about twenty years past from the performance of circuit duty, but he never-
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theless for a number of years after, voluntarily held the Law Courts of Charleston, in the absence of other judges, and con- tinued up to the period of his decease to discharge the duties of a Judge at Chambers. His usefulness was much impaired for a long time by great difficulty of hearing, but during his latter years he exhibited the rare phenomenon of a partial recovery from deafness in extreme old age. In his two volumes of Reports of the earlier decisions of our Courts, in his pub- lished decisions as a Judge of the Constitutional Court, and in his numerous manuscript decisions on an infinite variety of points of practice, and other matters, he has left enduring monuments of his talents, industry and usefulness. During the several latter years of his life, his mental faculties had evidently undergone considerable decay, but there continued to be occasions, almost to the last, when even amid the intel- lectual wreck would be found the elements of former emi- nence. He was profoundly versed in common law, of which he had an unbounded admiration as a system of jurisprudence, and he will live in the recollection of our community as a humane, upright and learned Judge.
TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF JUDGE BAY.
At a meeting of the members of the Charleston Bar, held at the City Hall, yesterday, Henry A. DeSaussure, Esq., was called to the chair, and R. Yeadon, Jr., Esq., appointed Sec- retary.
The Chairman introduced the subject of the meeting with a few appropriate remarks. The Attorney General, Henry Bailey, Esq., then rose, and after a brief address, offered the following preamble and resolutions :
The character of individuals eminent for their virtues is the property of the community ; and a long life of honorable usefulness affords an example, of priceless value, for forming the character and guiding the ambition of the present and future generations. It is due, therefore, not only to the mem- ory of departed worth, but to the cause of virtue itself, and to the highest interests of society, to seal with the expression of our approbation, the termination of the career of one, whose
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life has afforded an example worthy of imitation. Impressed with these sentiments, the Charleston Bar have assembled to offer a well merited tribute to the memory of the Honorable ELIHU HALL BAY, who has just been removed from amongst us by the hand of death. For nearly half a century has he occupied a distinguished station in the judiciary of this State, -a post, which until broken down by the weight of years, he has filled with honor to himself, and distinguished usefulness to the public ; and though, from the very nature of the duties to be performed, it was impossible to escape from the preju- dices of interested and unsuccessful litigants, never in a sin- gle instance has his integrity been impeached, or the purity of his conduct or motives been called in question. To him are we indebted for the first published Reports of the decisions of our Courts; a work, the value of which cannot now be so fully appreciated, as when they constituted the only accessi- ble record of the points of law and practice settled by the sol- emn adjudications of our highest tribunal ; yet it would not, perhaps, be too much to say, that not only by demonstrating the utility of the system of reporting, but by their intrinsic merit, and direct value in closing up litigation on questions previously decided, and their effect upon the decisions of the bench, as also by the influence of his own judgments, when his faculties were in their full vigor, he has contributed more than any other single individual towards building up, and giving stability and consistency to our system of jurispru- dence. On the Bench he was at once dignified and concilia- ting in his deportment ; patient in hearing, and cautious in deciding ; and although, during the last few years of his life, his usefulness was impaired by the infirmities of a very ad- vanced age, yet, to the very last, he was untiring, persevering, and faithful in performing the duties of his high office. In all the relations of life he was distinguished by every virtue which can do honor to the man and the citizen ; and all were illustrated by the sincere and undeviating, although unobtru- sive devotion of the Christian ; and during the entire course of a long and consistent life, in which he secured the love, the esteem, and the veneration of all who knew him, he has
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not left one moral stain, or blemish, to be regretted by his friends. Therefore,
Resolved, That we will cherish the memory of the late Judge Bay, with veneration for his character and esteem for his virtues, and with gratitude as well for his public services as for the useful and noble example which his life affords, of every virtue which should form the character, and direct the conduct of the citizen.
Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with his family in their bereavement, and tender to them our condolence in their affliction.
Resolved, That as a mark of our respect we will wear the usual mourning for the space of thirty days.
Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing preamble and reso- lutions be transmitted to his family, and that they also be published in the several gazettes of this city.
The preamble and resolutions were seconded by A. Mazyck, Esq., and unanimously adopted by the meeting.
The meeting then adjourned.
HENRY A. DESAUSSURE, Chairman. R. YEADON, Jr., Secretary.
PROCEEDINGS OF COUNCIL-SPECIAL MEETING.
Wednesday, November 21, 1838.
Present-The Mayor, Aldermen Cogdell, Kinloch, Yeadon, Reynolds, Holmes, Seymour.
The Mayor stated that he had convened Council, to inform them of the death of the late venerable Judge BAY, to whose memory he paid a brief tribute of respect, and suggested the propriety of attending his funeral, in testimony of the high respect entertained by Council, in common with the whole community, for the able, faithful and meritorious public ser- vices, and eminent private virtues, displayed by the deceased through the whole of his long and valuable life.
Whereupon, on motion of Alderman Yeadon, it was
Resolved, unanimously, That Council will attend in their official capacity, the funeral of the late Hon. Elihu Hall Bay,
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one of the associate Justices of this State, as a tribute of res- pect, on the part of this body, to the eminent public services and private virtues of that venerable patriot and judge.
On motion of Alderman Seymour, Council then adjourned. JOHN R. ROGERS, Clerk of Council.
At a meeting of the Bar of South Carolina, in attendance upon the Court of Appeals, held at Court House in Columbia on Tuesday, the 27th November, 1838, James E. Henry, Esq. was called to the chair, and Wm. R. Hill, Esq., appointed Secretary.
Whereupon the Attorney General, H. Bailey, Esq., moved the following Preamble and Resolutions, which, being sec. onded by R. W. Seymour, Esq., were unanimously adopted.
Whereas intelligence has been received of the recent death of the Hon. Elihu Hall Bay, Senior Associate Justice of this State, the members of the Bar feel it to be due, not less to the services and virtues of his long and well spent life than to the distinguished station which he filled, to offer to his memory that tribute of respect which is the just meed of departed worth. The venerable Judge Bay has occupied a seat upon the Bench of this State for nearly half a century, and how- ever towards the close of his life his usefulness may have been impaired by the infirmities of a very advanced age, yet it has fallen to the lot of few to have filled so arduous and responsible an office for so long a period of substantial and permanent usefulness to the public, and of distinguished honor to himself. Called to the Bench at a very early age, he devoted to its services the active zeal of vigorous manhood and the ripe wisdom of his mature years. He was possessed of an intimate acquaintance with, and of profound veneration for, the principles of the Common Law, and he applied them to the new cases which were produced by the circumstances and exigencies of a young country and a novel state of society, with a wise discrimination which insured to an infant juris- prudence the advantage of resting on the broad and solid foundations which had been settled and approved by the experience and wisdom of ages. To this result he greatly
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contributed by his own judgments when in the vigor of his faculties and by the early publication of his Reports, which could not but produce a vast influence upon the current de- cisions of the Bench, and the mode of treating and discussing legal questions by the Bar, he gave consistency and a fixed character to our jurisprudence, almost from the very instant when the State first acquired an independent judiciary. His example was too valuable to be neglected, and the course which he pointed out, too obviously led to useful results, not to be pursued; and to him are we in a great measure indebted for the form and character-systematic, but flexible, and appli- cable to the varying wants of an improved civilization-which our jurisprudence has gradually assumed. Of unwearied zeal and patient industry, he was indefatigable in the per- formance of his public duties, and all his time, and all his en- ergies were devoted to them. On the Bench, his deportment was at all times dignified, and although stern in dispensing the awards of justice and the law, he was ever kind and con- ciliating in his demeanor to all who appeared before him. As a Magistrate he was of integrity incorruptible and beyond suspicion, and to the last hour of his life, when borne down and oppressed by the weight of years, he was untiring, per- severing and faithful in performing the functions of his high office. As a man he was exemplary and spotless in all the relations of life, and in every character and in every relation has left behind him an example worthy of all imitation.
1. Therefore Resolved, That the learning, the ability and the untiring industry and fidelity of the late Judge Bay in the performing the duties of his arduous and responsible office, and his long and consistent life of virtuous and honorable usefulness, entitle him to our veneration, respect and esteem, and that we will cherish his memory with a grateful recollec- tion of his services and his public and private virtues.
2. Resolved, That as a token of respect to his memory, we will wear the usual badge of mourning during the present term.
3. Resolved, That the foregoing Preamble and Resolutions be communicated to his bereaved family by the Chairman of
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this meeting, together with the expression of our deep sympa- thy in their affliction.
4. Resolved, That they be also presented to the Court of Law Appeals, and that the said Court be respectfully moved that they may be entered on the minutes.
On motion, ordered that the Preamble and Resolutions be presented to the Court by the Attorney General.
J. E. HENRY, Chairman. W. R. HILL, Secretary.
CHARLESTON, April 10th, 1783.
I do hereby certify that Mr. Elihu Hall Bay, hath this day taken and subscribed the oath of allegiance, abjuration and fidelity to the State of South Carolina.
PHIL. PRIOLEAU, Secretary.
CHARLESTON, S. C., Feb. 28th, 1784.
I do hereby certify that Elihu Hall Bay has been admitted, and is a citizen of this State.
ÆDANUS BURKE.
THE STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
To the Honorable Elihu Hall Bay, Greeting :
We, reposing special trust and confidence in your abilities, care, prudence and integrity, have commissioned, constituted and appointed, and by these presents do commission, consti- tute and appoint you, the said Elihu Hall Bay, to be one of our Associate Judges of our Courts of Session and Common Pleas in and for the said State. To have, hold, exercise and enjoy the said office of Associate Judge of the said State, together with all rights, privileges, profits and emoluments whatsoever thereunto belonging, or in any wise appertaining.
This commission to continue in force during good be- haviour.
Given under the seal of the said State.
Witness, His Excellency Charles Pinckney, our Governor and Commander-in-Chief, at Columbia, this, sixteenth day of
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February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hun- dred and ninety-one, and of the sovereignty and independence of the United States of America, the fifteenth.
Secretary's Office.
Certified and recorded by
PETER FRENEAU, Secretary.
STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
I do hereby certify that the within named Elihu Hall Bay, Esquire, took the oath of office and allegiance to the State, and also an oath for the due observance of the Jury Law, before His Excellency the Governor, on the day of the date of the within Commission.
Given under my hand, at Columbia, this, 16th February, 1791.
-
Secretary.
I do solemnly swear that I will well and truly obey, exe- cute and enforce the ordinance to nullify certain Acts of the Congress of the United States purporting to be laws, laying duties and imposts upon the importation of foreign commod- ities, passed in convention of this State, at Columbia, on the 24th day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and all such Acts or Act of the Legislature as may be passed in pursuance thereof, according to the true intent and meaning of the same. So help me God. E. H. BAY.
Sworn to before me this, 29th Dec. 1832.
ROBT. Y. HAYNE, Governor of South Carolina.
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EPHRAIM RAMSAY.
Judge Ramsay, who was an eloquent and distinguished lawyer, residing at Cambridge, (old 96,) on the 19th December, 1799, was elected a Judge of the Courts of Law.
Of this gentleman I have sought information in vain. He died in 1801, less than two years after his election. He is buried at Silver Bluff, the plantation which he and Charles Goodwyn, Esq., once owned. Governor Hammond, the pre- sent owner, says, "I wish I could write you something more satisfactory than I can about Judge Ramsay. He certainly died, and was buried at Silver Bluff. He and Major Charles Goodwyn, whom you have in your ' Annals,' married sisters, daughters of General Williamson, of the Revolution. Some- where about 1800, they purchased the Silver Bluff property from Thomas Galphin, the son of the celebrated George Galphin,* the Indian trader, now immortalized by having introduced the word 'Galphinism' into our language with opprobium most unjustly added. Silver Bluff was his great trading station-he lived and died there. He built there the
*George Galphin, here mentioned, was one of the parties in an anecdote much like that which is stated in Lossing's Pictorial History of the Revolution, as occurring between Sir William Johnson and Hendrick, the great Sachen of the Six Nations.
It seems that Galphin was visited by one of the great Indian Chiefs beyond the Savannah. In the morning, after his arrival, he said, "me dreamed last night." " Ah," said Galphin, "what did my red brother dream?" "Me dream you give me a finely mounted Rifle," in the possession of Galphin, who instantly replied, "If you dreamed it you must have it," and the Rifle was handed to the Chief. Next morning Galphin said to the Chief, "I dreamed last night." "What you dream?" was the inquiry. Galphin said, "I dreamed you gave me the Chickasaw Stallion," which the Chief was riding. "If you dream um you must have um," and the horse was delivered to Galphin. The next morning the Chief said, "I dream last night." " What did my red brother dream?" was the inquiry. "I dream," said the Indian, "you gave me the red coat you wear, and much calico." "If you dream it you must have it," was Galphin's reply, and the Indian had the red coat and the calico. Next morning was Galphin's turn. He said to the Indian, "I dreamed last night." " What you dream ?" was the Indian's inquiry. "'I dreamed," said Galphin, "you gave me ten miles around the Ogeechie old town.' "Wugh," said the Indian, "if you dream um, you must have um, but I dream with you no more."
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first brick house built in the back country. It was a fort in the Revolution, alternately in the hands of both parties, and its gables now show the holes of a cannon ball, shot clear through. I had the partition plank, through which the ball went, carefully preserved, until during my late absence at Washington some one stole or burnt it."
" Judge Ramsay lived and died in that house, and was buried in the grave-yard near it, as was Galphin. When I first came to Silver Bluff Mrs. Ramsay was still living on a part of the property reserved for her, but in a year or two she moved away.
" I do not remember that I ever visited the grave-yard with Mrs. Ramsay. But many years ago I cleared and fenced it. After I had buried a son there (since another) I conceived the idea of erecting monuments to Judge Ramsay and George Galphin. I applied to Mrs. Biggs, a daughter of Major Good- wyn, who died only this year, and had lived near for fifty years, and was present at the death and burial of Judge Ram- say, but on going to the grave-yard several times she could not designate the spot. Nor could Dr. Galphin, who lived at this place (Redcliffe;) make out where his grand-father was buried."
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LEWIS C. TREZEVANT.
Judge Lewis C. Trezevant was born in the city of Charles- ton, on the 14th Dec., 1770. Of his education and early life I have no means of being informed. He studied law with Gen. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney: he was admitted to the Bar, in the city of Charleston, on the 17th of November, 1791, twenty- seven days before he was of full age. His name on the roll of attorneys in Charleston is Lewis Trezevant. The name above is that given by his nephew, Dr. Trezevant, of Colum- bia. He was, I presume, an eminent and successful lawyer. This is shown by his early election to the Bench. In less than nine years from his admission to the Bar, and in the thirtieth year of his life, he was placed upon the Bench. On the 10th of February, 1800, he attained to that highest legal distinction.
In traveling in the upper country on a law circuit, in com- pany with Richard Gantt, (afterwards Judge Gantt,) he was thrown out of a gig and injured in one of his knees, which produced permanent lameness, and was by him regarded as the cause of his subsequent diseased and debilitated condition of body. It induced him to seek, at so early a period of his life, a place on the Bench.
He was a stern, inflexible, conscientious and upright Judge. I have no doubt that the vast amount of labor performed by him contributed much to shorten his days.
His nephew, Dr. Trezevant, of Columbia, informs me that his custom was in Court " never to adjourn when a case was before him, if it could possibly be completed in the day." That he frequently remained in the Court House until twelve at night, and sometimes until two and three o'clock. He says, " I have known him, after coming from the Court House, after a session of the whole day, and prolonged into the night, to have his desk drawn to his bed, and sit there and write until day, and then just throw himself back in his clothes and sleep until Court time, and then rise and attend to his duties."
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Such labor is more than human nature can endure. Night was designed by God as the period of rest. This law of na- ture cannot be habitually infringed without injury to health, mental power, strength, and length of days. I once, like Trezevant, sat in Court until I trenched deeply on the night. I found it was doing me injury, and that it was not a satis- factory manner of administering justice. For years I have left the Court House about sundown, unless some important matter made it necessary to vary from the rule.
Judge Trezevant was remarkable for order in his private and public business; " his papers were so arranged that he could place his hands " upon any one he needed, even in the dark.
In the Court House every thing was done decently and in order. He came on the Bench just at the close of the County Court system, and it became therefore his duty to correct the misrule of that system. I have been told he examined every paper in Court; if a writ, declaration or plea, was not written lengthwise, on a half sheet or sheet of propatria paper, or was not folded properly, he instantly threw the papers and the case out of Court. This would not now be tolerated by the Bar ; it would be called by them tyranny to thus correct their slovenly habits. But Judge Trezevant thus educated the Bar to precision, neatness, and a compliance with the rules of Court, which made the old lawyers stern and inflexible in their practice, and has left the little remembrance of regular practice which now remains at the Bar.
So, too, he entered on the Process every decree which he pronounced in the summary jurisdiction. This was great labor, and unnecessary where the decree was by default. But in every case tried or proved in Court, his practice was whole- some, and of late years has been generally conformed to by the Judges.
It is very probable, as his nephew supposes, that Judge Trezevant's mind was not quick : but he made up in industry what he wanted in quickness. His opinions, briefly reported, may be found in 1st and 2d Brevard Rep. I think they indicate a careful consideration and preparation. He had the reputa-
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tion of being rather cross in the administration of justice ; this might have arisen from his want of health.
His nephew says, "he was one to whom we (his, the Judge's brother's children,) were all taught to look up to as a being of more than ordinary character, and the reputation which he had abroad for stern uprightness of character, tended still more to keep him in my memory." " Though I never knew him to speak harshly to a child, or censure, or interrupt one in amusements, yet there was about him a certain ap- pearance of inflexibility, which made us careful as to what we did or asked in his presence; for we never approached where he was but with a feeling of awe, and always moved about in his presence with the utmost care. This originated, partly, from the fact of his always being a valetudinarian, and we were cautioned not to make a noise, or intrude on his pri- vacy. This caution was increased by the deference which we always saw paid to him by our father, (who, though his elder brother, yet seemed to view him as a parental counsel- lor.) The same respect was shown to him by every grand- mother and mother, and hence we came to view him as a person whose conduct was never wrong, and who had not the usual faults of nature." These sentences, the recollection of his nephew not twelve years old at his death, show the won- derful influence which he had and exercised in his own fami- ly. Judge Trezevant was a bachelor, and I presume his mother, brother, and his family, lived with him. For his nephew says, "he was a warm friend, an exemplary son and brother ; he was fond of having those he valued with him, and his house was generally the headquarters of his brethren the Judges."
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