USA > Vermont > Orleans County > Biography of the bar of Orleans county, Vermont > Part 14
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high honor in 1836. He studied law in the office of the late Sena- tor Upham in Montpelier, and was admitted to the bar of Orleans county at the December term, 1838, and at once commenced prac- tice at Derby, where he remained until 1846, representing the town of Derby in the legislature in 1841. In 1846 he removed to Montpelier and formed a copartnership with the late Lucius B. Peck, under the firm name of Peck & Colby, and so continued until 1863, when Mr. Colby was made register of the treasury and removed to Washington. He held that office until his death. Mr. Colby was a ripe scholar, a facile and ready speaker, and from the first his manner at the bar was elegant, and his language choice and beautiful. He had a voice of peculiar compass and melody. He at once took high rank as a brilliant and accomplished advocate. He possessed a lively and vigorous imagination, and invested ideas and incidents with such charming beauty that a court or jury became insensibly and irre- sistibly enlisted and absorbed in the investiture with which he clothed a case. This was no studied ornamentation, but the natu- ral outpouring from that rich treasury which was entirely his own, and inexhaustibly full. He never essayed the emotional, and never addressed the passions of men, but he charmed them with the beautiful, and disgusted them with what was degrading and hateful, thereby enlisting their affection for the one, and arousing their contempt for the other, and by that he made sure their judgment. As a brilliant advocate he had no peer among us, and the profession suffered an irreparable loss when he was transferred to the service of the government. His great powers had a natural adaptation to his chosen profession, and his honor and his fame must rest there. It is a matter of regret, and we think on his part a mistake, that he ever left the profession. Mr. Colby in every emotion and in every fibre, was intellectual and spiritual. He had an utter dislike and contempt for all that was gross, sensual and degraded. His fidelity to the sacred trusts of social and domestic life was not a mere matter of policy, but of fixed duty. This made the ties of domestic life strong.
He married in his youth Miss Harriet C. Proctor, the eldest daughter of the Hon. Jabez Proctor of Proctorsville, Vt., and sister of Gov. Proctor, the present royal manager and large owner of the great marble industries of this state. By this marriage he had four
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children ; two died young. The eldest daughter, Laura, is the wife of Col. A. B. Cary of the United States army. Jabez Proctor Colby is still living. Mrs. Colby was the most lovely of women, and lost her life in the ill-fated steamer, Henry Clay, which was burned on the Hudson on its passage from Albany to New York. This sad calamity and bereavement overwhelmed Mr. Colby with great grief. On this occasion the press reproduced and published the verses that Mr. Colby had written upon the death of his class-mate, David Scott Sloan, who perished in like manner by the burning of the " Erie " on Lake Erie a few years before. For Mr. Colby was both an orator and a poet, and to show his taste and versatility it is here inserted.
BURNING OF THE ERIE.
She sails to-night, that gallant bark, How proudly greets the air ; Oh, bear thee well, bold, daring ark, Rich gems are periled there.
High hopes, fond prayers surround thy prow ; Heed well, the parting tear, Glad homes, gay hearts are saddened now, How full of truth is fear.
What cherished ones are there enrolled ; Love's perfect, greenest spring, Whose tendrils twined through half the world, Around that frail boat cling.
Scarce faded from the anxious sight Echo the last " God speed," returns A flash, a flame gleams on the night, Oh, Heaven ! The Erie burns !
Ah! virtue, talent, beauty, worth, Must ye all perish there ? Look now aloft, trust not in earth, Its hopes but mock your care.
They're lost, they're gone, great God defend The bleeding, bursting heart, Thine only is the power to send The grace that bids despair depart.
We leave the wreck, but shall we trace The march of this dread blow ? Mark crnshed affection's pallid face Where tears unbidden flow ?
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The story flies, day after day, The Erie's ruthless fate ; Tie after tie is burst away, And homes and hearts are desolate.
But enter not grief's solitude, It seeks not sympathy ; There is no heart so hard, so rude, Can paint its agony.
Must 1, too, for that offering lend A treasured sacrifice ? My generous, virtuous, manly friend With Erie's dead now lies.
Friend of my youth ; I see thee now On that stern funeral pile, Calm resignation on thy brow Betokening Heaven's smile
Ah, Sloan ! we thought not thus to part, When from our college home We rushed on Fortune's busy mart, Eager for Fortune's doom.
Classmates ? our brother's course is run ; That spirit, noble, rare ; The battle fought, the victory won, Has found a Life-boat there.
After several years Mr. Colby married Miss Ellen Hunt, a lady of much accomplishment and decided scholarship, and by this mar- riage had two children-Ellen, now the wife of Mr. Stokes of New York City, a very estimable and beautiful lady, and Frank, a schol- arly lad of decided promise, now about to enter college. He was ever happy in his domestic relations, and charming in social life.
His transfer to public service in Washington was never quite congenial to his tastes, but it enabled him to be acquainted with public men, and many that figured conspicuously in the great con- flict then about to begin. This acquaintance was not only gratify- ing to him, but stored his mind with knowledge of men, and of incidents by which he hoped to reap advantage in the long life that was apparently before him, so far as is in the reach of human ken. He came to New Hampshire at the home of his kinsman, Mr. Woodard, early in August, 1867, for a few weeks' sojourn and rest, when
" The summons came to join
The innumerable caravan that moves To that mysterious realm."
Norman Bouillon
ยท
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law until June 1, 1853, when he removed West. The only attorney in the Missisquoi valley when Mr. Boardman settled there was Samuel Sumner at South Troy, a middle-aged man, who had been there several years and had a very good business, bringing nearly all the suits in that vicinity. By close application and hard work Mr. Boardman soon gained his share of the business, not only in the valley but the whole county, and after a short time he was on one side or the other of every case of any note coming from that section, and this continued as long as he resided there. In 1847 Mr. Boardman was appointed deputy collector of customs, and in 1850, under the amended constitution allowing the state's attorney of the county to be elected by the people, was elected to that office as a democrat by four majority, although the whig party had a majority in the county of more than one hundred and fifty, John L. Edwards of Derby Line being the whig candidate against him, and the next year Mr. Boardman only failed of a re-election by six- teen votes, William H. Dickerman, one of the most popular attor- neys in the county, being the successful candidate. In 1864, on the passage of the Nebraska bill, Mr. Boardman left the ranks of the democracy, and has voted with the republican party since. When Mr. Boardman left the county in 1853 he intended to settle in Iowa that same year, but leaving his family at Potsdam, N. Y., he proceeded to Iowa and invested to some extent in lands, return- ing to New York in the fall with his health somewhat impaired. Having a good offer for business he concluded to abandon his idea of the West, and contracted a law partnership with Judge William . A. Wallace of Potsdam. The population of Iowa rapidly increased, and the value of its lands were greatly enhanced. Hence in Sep- tember, 1855, Mr. Boardman was led to remove to Lyons, near his former purchases, where he has since resided, giving his whole attention to the real estate business, in which he has been very successful, accumulating a goodly competency. Mr. Boardman has always taken a leading part in the affairs of his city and county, and has been honored with places of responsibility and trust.
He was elected to the state senate in 1861, and in May, 1869, was appointed United States revenue collector for the second dis- trict of Iowa, positions which he filled with credit to himself and the country.
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BIOGRAPHY OF THE BAR -
JOHN HOLMES PRENTISS.
OHN HOLMES PRENTISS, the fourth son of Samuel B. J and Lucretia (Houghton) Prentiss, was born at Montpelier, Vt., February 10, 1811. Of the family, the Vermont Historical Gazet- teer says : "His father, Hon. Samuel Prentiss, was born at Ston- ington, Conn., March 31, 1782. His family, of a pure English and Puritan stock, are traceable as far back as 1318 through official records, which show the reputable positions occupied by branches of the family till they came to New England, where the lineage at once took stock among the best in the colonies. In direct descent he was the sixth from his first American and English born ances- tor, Capt. Thomas Prentiss. Born in England about 1620, he became a resident of Newton, Mass., in 1652, was a noted cavalry officer in the King Philip war, and died in 1710, leaving Thomas Prentiss, Jr., father of Samuel Prentiss Ist, father of Samuel 2d, who was a colonel in the revolutionary army and father of Samuel 3d, a physician and surgeon in the army and the father of Judge Samuel of Montpelier, the father of our subject. The whole stock of the Prentiss family was good, but this branch was particularly so, both physically and intellectually. Col. Prentiss of revolution- ary memory, six feet high, weighing over two hundred pounds, without corpulency, was one of the best built, most muscular men of the times; and the different members of the family descending from him, for the last two or three generations, of which those now living have been cognizant, will be remembered to have been, with a rare uniformity, well-formed, shapely and good-looking, possessing an unusual intellectual capacity and power." Samuel B., the father of our subject, having been educated for a lawyer, went to Mont- pelier, Vt., early in 1803, and opened an office, which was ever after to be his home, and the central point of the field of the splen- did professional success which he was destined to achieve. John H. attended the public schools and academy of Montpelier. He went while yet quite a young man to Boston to engage in mercan- tile pursuits, where he remained a few years, but his inclinations being more towards a professional life he returned to Vermont, and entered upon the study of the law in his father's office at Mont- pelier, and was admitted to the bar of Washington county at the November term, A. D. 1835, and to the Supreme Court at the March term, 1838.
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When living in Boston he gave much attention to the study of political economy, and he received a diploma from the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge for the best essay upon the tariff, which was delivered to him by Daniel Webster, the president of the society, in a public meeting.
After his admission to the bar he remained in his father's office until about 1839, when he went to Irasburgh, where he had a brother Charles W. Prentiss in the practice of the law. The follow- ing is from the pen of Judge Timothy P. Redfield, who was in practice at that time at Irasburgh, and who knew Mr. Prentiss inti- mately : "When John H. Prentiss first came to Irasburgh he was engaged in the foundry business. When the foundry business was closed up, John H. opened an office at Irasburgh for the practice of law, and he remained in active practice there until he removed to Minnesota. He was a good advocate, very tenacious and persistent. He was a good scholar and well learned in his profession, and con- spicuously learned in the Bible and in Shakespeare. In these text books he was never at sea, though he might trip in Blackstone or Chitty. He is remembered to have not only made telling points against his adversary, but to have entertained and instructed the Supreme Court by his easy and familiar reference to the Bible and to Shakespeare by way of illustration. He had ready wit, and to gratify the young men of the bar he was often solicited to repeat the earnest speech of the old soldier democrat out in Arkansas, who had fought under Jackson at New Orleans, in convention con- vened to alter the constitution. He hated federalism, and fancied the hated party had inspired the project to alter the constitution. A fragment of that speech is recalled : 'When I was fighting the battles of our country under the patriot Jackson in mud, blood, and dirt to the waist, where then was Daniel Webster ? Down there in Boston town writing his d-d old federal dictionary. Now alter the constitution, will you, d-n you ?'
Mr. Prentiss will be kindly remembered for his garnered knowl- edge and rich attainments." Failing health compelled him in the winter of 1869 to relinquish his practice, and in the hope of restored health he removed to Minnesota, where he passed the remaining years of his life quietly. His death took place at Winona, Sep- tember 28, 1876.
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BIOGRAPHY OF THE BAR.
WILLIAM H. MARTIN.
1
By GEORGE P. MARTIN.
W ILLIAM H. MARTIN was born in Underhill, Vt., May 6, 1813. His education was obtained wholly at the district school and the academy in Johnson, where he was in attendance a short time. He pursued his legal studies with a Mr. Pike of John- son, supporting himself meanwhile by teaching district and singing schools, and began the practice of law in Glover in the autumn of 1841, immediately after his marriage to Miss Salome Allen of John- son. After two years, during which time he built up a good busi- ness and was once elected town representative, a succession of severe pulmonary hemorrhages led him to try a change of climate, and he went to Alabama, where he spent six years in teaching. Although his health was not fully recovered, he then returned to his native town, and traveled in Vermont and Northern New York selling patent medicines. He represented Underhill for one term in the legislature, and spent the last two years of his life on a farm in Eden, where he died of consumption from whose ravages he had so long suffered, August 15, 1856. He left a wife and six children. The widow and two children, the third son, Oliver, and the only daughter, Clara Salome, have since followed him into rest. Of the four who still survive, William A. resides in Houlton, Maine, George P. in Plattsburgh, N. Y., Elon O. in Hinesburgh, Vt., and Frank E. (whose name was changed to Woodruff by legislative act), in Andover, Mass.
JOSIAH A. FLETCHER.
T HE subject of this sketch was born in Wheelock, Vt., in 1814. He prepared himself for college at the common schools and Lyndon Academy. He took a full course at the University of Vermont. He pursued the study of the law in the office of Jessie Cooper of Irasburgh, and was admitted to the bar of Orleans county at the June term, 1842. In 1843 he was married to Miss Almira Kellum, daughter of Hon. Sabin Kellum of Irasburgh, and soon afterwards opened an office for the practice of his profession at Glover. Mr. Fletcher was a man of great energy in his profession, and perhaps it may be said of him that he had more energy than
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discretion. About the time he located in Glover, a very large amount of law business for that section of country sprung up, in which he became interested as counsel, and in some way he very frequently became interested pecuniarily in his client's cause. Mr. Fletcher was a man that always looked upon the bright side of his client's cause. He apparently had no doubt of its justness, and espoused it vigorously, and had he possessed more discretion it is quite likely he would have met with good success. For a year or two he brought more cases upon the docket of Orleans county court than any other lawyer in the county, but he had not calculated closely as to their merits, and the result was what usually follows in such cases. He had evidently tried to do too much, supposing that success lay in the great number of cases he could bring into court.
Mr. Fletcher's great mistake was such as is quite often made by young lawyers, who are unwilling to wait until their industry has earned for them a valuable permanent reputation. After practicing law at Glover a few years he went to Derby Line to reside, remain- ing there, however, but a few months. Mr. Fletcher's professional career virtually ended with his residence in Glover. In 1854 he went to California, where he died in 1875.
EDWARD A. CAHOON.
By GEORGE W. CAHOON, FSQ.
E DWARD A. CAHOON, the son of Hon. William Cahoon, was born at Lyndon in the year 1818. After receiving an academical education he became a student of the University of Vermont, where he graduated in 1838. He studied law with George C. Cahoon at Lyndon, and was admitted as an attorney of Orleans county court at its December term, A. D. 1842. Immedi- ately on his admission to the bar he formed a copartnership with George C. Cahoon, and continued his partner until 1850. He con- tinued in the practice of his profession until he was elected cashier of the Bank of Lyndon at its organization. He was elected state's attorney for the county of Caledonia in 1854, and again elected in 1855. He held the office of state senator for the years 1856 and 1857. He was elected one of the presidential electors in 1860- Lincoln's first election, and was chosen messenger to carry the
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John D. Edwards
Metropolitan Betaling &Enwww ... Per
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ORLEANS COUNTY, VERMONT.
father of thirteen children, John L. being the eleventh. His early life was spent on the farm and at the district schools, where he acquired those frugal and industrious habits which have ever since attended him. He fitted for college at Newbury Seminary, and entered the University of Vermont in 1840, and remained there one year, when his desire to study law led him to enter the law office of the late Hon. Stoddard B. Colby of Derby, from which he was admitted to the bar of Orleans county at the June term, 1843. Opening an office in Brownington over the "Stewart store," so called, he remained there until January, 1844. His business promised to be of more than a strictly local nature, and he then removed to Bar- ton, and from thence to Derby Center in October, 1845.
At the latter place he formed a copartnership with William M. Dickerman, a young man of unusual promise, under the firm name of Edwards & Dickerman, which continued about two years. At its termination Mr. Edwards continued alone until the spring of 1859, when he was associated with Gen. S. W. Slade of St. Johns- bury, for a short time, doing an extensive business in Orleans, Cal- edonia, Essex, and other counties, as he did before and after that partnership. In the fall of 1857 he went into business with Judge E. A. Stewart, as Edwards & Stewart. In 1864 that partnership business was closed out, and another one formed with Hon. J. E. Dickerman, under the old name of Edwards & Dickerman, which has since continued, John Young entering the firm in 1881. In politics Mr. Edwards was a whig until 1856, since which time he has been in accord with the democratic party.
He was appointed state's attorney for Orleans county by the leg- islature in 1850. He was a member of the constitutional conven- tion in 1850 and 1857, and of the council of censors in 1862. In 1867-8 he was a candidate of the democracy for the office of gov- ernor and for member of congress in 1874 and 1876. In these campaigns his local popularity was strikingly manifested. In 1872 he was appointed register in bankruptcy, and held the office until the law creating it was repealed.
While in that position his decisions were carefully considered, and much respected by the courts in obedience to which he acted, and held in high esteem by the bar. In make-up the subject of this sketch is a tall, spare man, with features prominent, yet not gross, rather indicating a delicate organism. I cannot better
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describe his appearance or motions than to say that they are sug- gestive of a wavy, curving grace, being quite easy and elastic in his address, creating no impression of abruptness. His hair is now, at sixty-six years of age, jet black, and (in singular contrast with his face) looks darker than it did even in his younger days. He is dig- nified and reserved, yet affable and blandly congenial.
His nice literary taste almost borders on fastidiousness, and yet he is a plodding, practical man. He takes in the details of a case rather slowly, but when it is all discovered to the mind's eye the picture is complete with every feature distinct and well adjusted. I have known him in instances of great haste to perform intricate and difficult work with most remarkable rapidity. But generally he is deliberate, considerate, and very cautious. He excels as a special pleader, being happy in formulating legal propositions so as to meet every issue and point made by his opponent. He states the law or a fact so that the statement will be correct, as well as the concep- tion of it in his mind.
The remarkable aptness of the man in stating a case, and his skill in the use of language so as to give clearness and comprehen- siveness to the details, renders him efficient as a chancery lawyer, and one of the most desirable of referees.
No man at the bar is more genial and full of jest in the amenities of professional life, and although possessed of lively and healthy prejudices, at times most satirically flavored, he generally manages to detach them from himself and make them a part of his case, in which he often uses them in lightning thrusts, which leave traces of the life-blood of the "other man's case" on his cutting and almost noiseless sentences, e. g : On one occasion the interest which he represented charged that a guardian had abused his wards, and among other things that the little children had actually suffered from want of food. It was replied that all their wants were supplied, and that great care had been bestowed upon them, even to teaching them the little exercises of children's prayer. ".Yes," said Mr. Edwards, with the keenest and quietest irony imaginable, "With what fervency and religious appetite those poor little chil- dren must have repeated those prayers, especially this clause, 'give us this day our daily bread.'"
As a jury advocate this man is very insinuating, always going with grave features, temperately, warily and skilfully. If he fails
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to convince the jury he secures their respect, and the interview is always mutually pleasant. He is never boisterous. From him there are no sudden bursts of eloquence, but only that his keen pure style at times is fired with an ardor corresponding to its kind. It is of the delicate and sensitive type. One of the chief respects in which he excels as an advocate is in presenting the most ingen- ious grouping and arrangement of facts and circumstances. His peculiar genius is probably at its best when dealing with circum- stantial evidence, which he arranges in the most formidable man- ner, and which he runs through reviewing and rearranging a priori and a posteriori backward and forward in such a quiet and ingen- ious manner as to make it the most convincing, and whether suc- cessful or otherwise, he seldom fails to elicit the admiration of his auditors.
He goes to the cross-examination of witnesses with a thorough knowledge of the details of his case.
He artfully conceals the design of his examination, so that the witness will unconsciously throw off any partisan attitude, and per- mit him to mould the most favorable features of the evidence to the purposes of his case.
Although absorbed by the practice of his profession to which he is as entirely devoted as his health will allow, it never has betrayed him into exclusively materialistic thoughts. I mean that the fine fancies of his life are not lost in its dull realities. Although he is from his manner of life and occupation a matter of fact man, amid his prosaic work he still retains his poetic fancies. I heard him recently, in denouncing some abuse of legal authority, repeat the following :
" Man, proud man ; dressed with
A little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured. His glassy essence, like an angry ape, Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As make the angels weep !"
with all the zest and fancy of a poet born. This is so characteris- tic of the man that I may be pardoned this abrupt reference to it. The trend of his mind runs not to the ideal, and yet in discussing literature he is as likely to weave into the conversation something like
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