USA > Vermont > Orleans County > Biography of the bar of Orleans county, Vermont > Part 17
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An acquaintance with his accurate business methods pointed him out as a fit person for the office of bank commissioner, which posi- tion he held in 1862-3-4, fully meeting the expectations of his friends.
In the house he was young and unassuming ; but when he came to the senate in 1869 and 1870 his position forced him to more active service, and he was soon one of the recognized leaders of that body. Special subjects, also, called him out. Among other things he was thoroughly aroused by the proposed legislation dis- posing of the Newbury Seminary property, in respect to which his settled convictions and positive and emphatic avowal of them were absolutely irresistible, and prevented the legislation first attempted. In his fidelity to his Alma Mater was displayed one of the most commendable characteristics in human nature. He stood by her with the affection of a determined child.
As deputy collector of customs at Newport, from 1872 to 1886, he conducted the business in accordance with a strict integrity and method which no one thinks to question.
Take him all in all he has been in his sphere a thoroughly suc- cessful man, even beyond the expectations which country lawyers, dependent upon their own exertions, are wont to base on small beginnings. In the well established firms of Edwards & Dicker- man, and Edwards, Dickerman & Young, the former existing from April, 1864, to April, 1881, and the latter since then, he has con- tributed his share of patient work to build up an extensive practice.
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In August, 1854, Mr. Dickerman was married to Miss Hannah P. Bates. Fortunate in his domestic relations, which are united more closely by a bond of union in the person of a lovely daughter, I leave him to the expectations of the future which are incidental to meridianal life and to new achievements in his unfinished work, and with the hope that the half has not yet been accomplished.
GEORGE TUCKER.
T T HE subject of this sketch was born at Claremont, N. H., June 16, 1825, son of Samuel and Alma Rice Tucker. Mr. Tucker soon moved to Northfield, Vt., and engaged in farming. Young Tucker's youth was spent in attending the district school and in labor on the farm. Later he attended the Norwich Military University. He studied law at Montpelier, and was admitted to the bar of Washington county about 1852, and soon went to Barton, Orleans county, where he formed a copartnership for the practice of the law with Gen. William W. Grout, since representative to congress from Vermont. This only continued about one year, as the war of the rebellion broke out, and he was one of the first to answer the call of the president for troops by volunteering, and was elected captain of Co. D, 4th Vermont Volunteer Infantry. He served in the army until compelled to resign on account of sickness.
Afterwards he removed to Alexandria, Va. He lived in Virginia for a number of years, and assisted materially in reconstructing that state, and bringing its legislation into harmony with the gen- cral government. He was clerk of the house of representatives of Virginia for two terms, and was prosecuting attorney for Fairfax county for six years. He was once elected to congress, but was beaten in a contest for his seat, because of the prejudice against allowing any one to serve in that body, elected by the votes of the frecdmen.
The Canon City Record of May 30, 1885, says of him : "He took an active part in all the reconstruction measures subsequent to the war, and was very popular with the honest and faithful union men of the South, and was much respected by all the political parties, because of his opposition to all dishonest government, and to that class of men who for mercenary purposes fastened themselves on to the governments of the South at the close of the war.
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He advocated just and honest government both for the colored race and the white, and the education of all classes and their eleva- tion to all that was noble and good.
He was employed for many years in investigating the claims of union men for indemnity for losses during the war, where fine opportunities for speculation off of the government were offered, yet he kept his hands entirely clean, and he received only his wages, and honestly discharged all his duties without a breath of suspicion against his integrity. He removed from Virginia to Washington City in 1869, and lived there until his removal to Colorado in 1880, and has lived since that time in Canon City in the county of Sag- uache, where he died May 22, 1885.
He was engaged in his profession until his death, and was two years county attorney of that county. He had considerable mining property, and if it can be properly conserved it will be quite valu- able.
Judge Tucker was scholarly and well studied in his profession. About him there was nothing of the pettifogger. He practiced law to get at the right. His aim was to know the law and apply it to the case in hand. He made no effort to cheat justice and acquit the guilty. As a citizen he loved the good and hated the evil. He labored diligently and actively in every enterprise for bettering the condition of his fellow-men. He was kind and charitable in all the relations of life, a kind and indulgent husband and father, a trusty friend, a worthy citizen, and a high-minded and honorable man."
GEORGE BALDWIN.
T HE subject of this sketch was born at St. Johnsbury, Vt., Jan- uary 22, 1830, and is the son of Jonathan Baldwin. His grandfather came from Rehoboth, Mass., and was one of the early settlers of St. Johnsbury. His mother's name was Sawyer.
George was educated at the schools in St. Johnsbury and the institute at New Hampton, N. H. In 1850 he commenced the study of the law with William Dickerman at Coventry, and after- wards read law with S. W. Slade at St. Johnsbury. He entered the Ballston, N. Y., Law School, graduating therefrom in May, 1852, and upon his return to Vermont resumed the study of the
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law in the office of Henry F. Prentiss at Derby Line, and was admitted to the bar of Orleans county at the June term, A. D. 1853, and at once opened an office at Stockbridge, Vt., for the prac- tice of his profession, where he remained about two years. He then removed to Chilton, Calumet county, Wis., that being the county seat. In 1854 Mr. Baldwin was elected district attorney for his district, and re-elected in 1855. In 1865 he was elected a mem- ber of the assembly of Wisconsin, and in 1869 he was elected a member of the state senate, an office which he held two years. In 1856 he commenced to invest what little money he could accumu- late from his practice, in real estate. This increased in amount and value until in 1877 he gave up the practice of law, and gave his whole time and attention to the real estate business. In Octo- ber, 1885, he removed to Appleton, Wis., it being more of a rail- road center, and would better accommodate him in the disposition of real estate in the northern part of the state, also in Dakota and Minnesota. Mr. Baldwin has a partner in the business, the firm being Baldwin & Killen.
JOHN COLBY.
OHN COLBY was born in Barre, Vt., September 19, 1807, the J son of Jonathan and Esther Colby. His education was obtained at the common schools and at Barre Academy. He afterwards attended the academy at Poultney, and Waterford, N. Y., where he graduated, and commenced studying law there, but having been called home on account of the sickness of his mother, he did not return. In 1831 he commenced the study of the law with Newell Kinsman of Barre, and was admitted to the bar of Washington county in 1835, and immediately entered upon practice at Wash- ington. He represented the town of Washington in the legislature in 1837-38-39, also 1841. In 1840 he was appointed register of probate for the district of Randolph, and in 1841 was elected by the legislature judge of probate for that district. In 1848 he went to Salisbury, Vt., where he engaged in the practice of the law, and was also engaged in farming. He represented Salisbury in the leg- islature in 1850 and 1851. In 1853 he removed to Craftsbury, where he practiced two years, and from there went to Glover, where he remained but a short time when he removed to Hartland.
ORLEANS COUNTY, VERMONT. 189
He took an active and influential part in the affairs of his town and county. He represented Hartland in the legislature from 1858 to 1861, inclusive, and from 1864 to 1866, inclusive, making thirteen years that he was a member of the house of representatives. In 1872 thinking to retire from active business, he removed to Fairlee, Vt., where he died March 19, 1875, holding at the time of his death the office of town clerk for Fairlee. He was twice a member of the constitutional convention.
In 1837 he married Adaline M. Kneeland of White River Vil- lage, by whom he had four children-Clinton, now at Waterbury, Conn., Henry, Jennie E., now Mrs. Cragin of Holyoke, Mass., Nel- lie L., now Mrs. Bickford of Fairlee, Vt. In politics he was an ardent republican, and was an earnest member of the Congrega- tional church.
DON ALONZO BARTLETT.
T HE subject of this sketch was born at Brownington, Vt., Sep- tember 19, A. D. 1829, the son of Seth and Asenath Higgins Bartlett. His father was a farmer, and moved with his young fam- ily to Coventry, Vt., when Orleans county was comparatively new. He was a man of sterling qualities, and of a persevering and ener- getic make-up. He gained a comfortable competence by industry and economy, besides helping his four sons who all became lawyers to such an education as his means and the schools of that section would admit of. Don worked on his father's farm summers, and attended the district school winters until old enough to begin school-teaching, thus earning something to enable him to continue his studies at more advanced schools, which he did, attending the academy at Brownington and also at Derby.
He commenced the study of the law at Coventry in the office of William M. Dickerman, and afterward going to Irasburgh to teach, entered the office of Jessie Cooper, from whose office he was admit- ted to the Orleans county court at the June term, A. D. 1853, and immediately formed a copartnership with Mr. Cooper, who had then been in active and successful practice at Irasburgh some years.
In October, 1854, he married Mary L. Cooper, a daughter of his partner, and in 1857 he emigrated to the territory of Kansas, and settled at Wyandotte in the practice of his profession, where he
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died March 12, 1862. He had been appointed judge of probate for his district the year of his decease. He had by his industry, integ- rity and unblemished character, won an honorable reputation in the state of his adoption. He devoted much of his time, when not occupied in the duties of his profession, to the cause of education and religion, taking a prominent part in the organization of the First Congregational church of Wyandotte, and was one of its trustees at the time of his decease. His life was exemplary in all respects, and he had the esteem of his friends and the confidence of those with whom he had business relations.
CHARLES - ROBINSON.
T "HE Robinson family from time immemorial until within the last century, was particularly given to religion and preaching. The names of their children were taken from the bible, which good book to them was a code to be literally followed.
The Rev. John Robinson, on account of his great piety and intol- erance, was chosen pastor of the " May-flower," but having died at Leyden before she sailed for America, was unable to get even a bird's-eye view of the Puritan's blarney stone at Plymouth. His son Isaac, however, came over in that immortal ship, and helped Capt. Miles Standish and others instruct the people in their several religious duties.
Peter, son of Isaac, settled at Nantucket, Mass., where was born unto him another Peter, who settled at Windham, Conn. Here was born Jacob, son of Peter, 2d, in whose children became lost the bible names of the family. Jacob had three sons whom he named Eber, Tracy and Vine. Eber settled at Tolland, Conn., as a mer- chant, Tracy at Binghamton, N. Y., as a lawyer, and Vine at Brooklyn, Conn., as a farmer. Eber was an officer in the army dur- ing the revolutionary war, after which he took his family to Ver- mont, and settled in Holland, Orleans county. Eber's second son, Charles, was born at Tolland, Conn., January 25, 1787. He was educated at Peacham Academy, studied law with William Baxter at Brownington, and settled in Barre, Washington county, where he practiced for many years. He married Nancy R., daughter of E. D. Wheeler, then the high sheriff of Washington county.
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Unto them was born on the first day of November, A. D. 1816, a son, Charles Robinson, Jr., our subject. This Charles was edu- cated under Prof. Southmaid at the academy in Montpelier, and under Dr. Wilbur Fisk, president of the Wesleyan Academy at Wilbraham, Mass. £ After the death of his father in 1834, young Robinson traveled through the Southern states, and visited the East Indies and Western Australia. On his return to America in 1844, he commenced the study of the law in the office of Hon. Timothy P. Redfield at Irasburgh in Orleans county, Vt., and in 1847 finished his studies with Hon. Luke P. Poland at Morrisville, and was admitted to the bar in Lamoille county the same year. On Judge Poland's election as judge of the supreme court, Mr. Robin- son purchased his house and office at Morrisville, and succeeded to the law business of the judge.
In 1853 he moved to Newport, Vt., having been appointed dep- uty collector by the Hon. D. A. Smalley, the collector of Vermont, and opened a law office at that place.
In 1847 he married Philura L., second daughter of Dr. William Page of Waterville, Vt., by whom he had one son, Charles Homer, who now resides in New York.
Mr. Robinson's practice in Orleans county was quite extensive, and for several years he was attorney for the Connecticut & Pas- sumpsic Railroad Company.
During the first year of Andrew Johnson's term as president, he received the appointment of United States Consul at Quebec, where he remained about four years. After leaving Quebec he went to Boston, and accepted a prominent clerkship in the Boston custom house, and for the past elever. years has been a liquidating clerk in the naval office.
Mr. Robinson's residence is in Medford, some three and one-half miles from the city, where he and Mrs. Robinson are enjoying themselves among their fruit and flowers.
FREDERICK MOTT.
F REDERICK MOTT, a graduate of Brown University, was called in A. D. 1851, to take charge of the Derby Literary and Theological Institute, situated at Derby Center, Vt., where he remained three years. During this time the success of the school
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more than equaled the expectations of its most sanguine friends.
At the close of his labors as principal he entered the office of John L. Edwards at Derby for the study of the law, and was admit- ted to the bar of Orleans county at the December term, 1856, and opened an office for a short time at Derby Line, but soon went West and settled in Iowa for the practice of his profession. He married Miss Emma Dean of Grafton, Vt., who was preceptress of the Derby Institute during the three years he was its principal. He now resides at Winterset, Iowa.
AMASA BARTLETT.
By REV. PLINY H. WHITE.
A MASA BARTLETT, a son of Seth and Asenath (Higgins) Bartlett, was born in Bennington, Vt., May 8, 1835, but in early childhood removed with his parents to Coventry, where he was brought up. He was one of four brothers who became law- yers. After obtaining a suitable academical education he com- menced the study of law with J. L. Edwards, Esq., of Derby, continued it with Hon. T. P. Redfield of Montpelier, and ended it with Jessie Cooper, Esq., of Irasburgh. He was admitted to the Orleans county bar at the June term, 1857, and in the following September removed to Kansas, where he established himself in practice at St. George. Though young in years and in the profes- sion, he was elected early in 1858 state's attorney for Pottawattomie county, and in the ensuing fall was elected to the Kansas legisla- ture from the representative district, consisting of that county and an adjoining one. In both these offices he acquitted himself cred- itably. In June, 1859, he returned to Vermont, and entered into partnership at Irasburgh with his former instructor, Jessie Cooper, Esq. This introduced him at once into a large and very miscella- neous business, in which he proved himself honest, capable and faithful. He continued in practice at Irasburgh about three years, in the meantime receiving his brother, Leavitt Bartlett, Esq., into partnership in place of Mr. Cooper.
When the ninth regiment was called for he decided to abandon his practice and go into the service of the country. About the first of June, 1862, he received recruiting papers, and in the remarkably
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short space of nine working days he had recruited a company. Upon its organization he was elected captain.
He shared the various fortunes of the ninth regiment, was with it at the siege of Suffolk and the surrender of Harper's Ferry, endured the vexations of the long inaction at Chicago as paroled prisoner, and went joyfully to active service at Newbern. When the late Maj. Jarvis was killed he was deputed to accompany the remains to Vermont, and was soon after promoted to the vacant office. His last sickness was very short. He was unwell a few days prior to March 14, but was on duty till that day. He was then taken with brain fever, accompanied with convulsions, and survived only two days. His remains were conveyed to Coventry, where they were buried March 27, on which occasion a discourse on "The Christian Patriot " was delivered by the writer of this notice. Maj. Bartlett was eminently a Christian patriot. He did not leave his religion at home when he went into the army, as the manner of some is. It was a part of his daily life, as constant and conspicuous as the insignia of his rank. He looked after the moral and religious interests of his men as diligently as he cared for their health and discipline. His tent was the place of a regular prayer meeting, of which he was the conductor, and his faithful encieavor for the good of his men was not without valuable results.
RINALDO A. BARKER.
R INALDO A. BARKER was born in Glover, Vt., August 25, 1830, and is the son of Joseph and Mary (Brittan) Barker. He received an academical education, and taught school several terms while pursuing his studies. In 1855 he commenced the study of law in the office of John P. Sartle at Barton, where he remained until December, 1857, when he was admitted to the bar of Orleans county. In 1858 he went to Delavern, Wis., where he remained one year. He then removed to Nebraska, where he practiced his profession about a year. In 1860 he emigrated to Atchison, Kansas, and opened a law office, but on the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, he enlisted as sergeant in Co. K, First Kansas Infantry. He soon afterwards was commissioned as sec- ond lieutenant of the same company, He was wounded in the bat-
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tle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., after which he was promoted to be first lieutenant of the same company. In 1862 he resigned on account of disability and returned to Atchison, and again commenced the practice of his profession. He was elected city attorney in 1863, and re-elected in 1864. In the fall of 1864 he was elected secrc- tary of state, and in January, 1865, removed to the capital, Topeka, and held that office until 1869, when he then engaged in the insur- ance business. In 1877 he removed to Chicago, where he has since resided. He was married December 9, 1862, to Julia A. Pierce, daughter of Horace Pierce of Barton, and has two children-Julia M. and Ellen M.
HEALEY C. AKELEY.
T HE subject of this sketch was born at Stowe, Vt., March 16, 1836, the son of George and Electa Akeley. He obtained his education at the common schools and Barre Academy. He studied law with Dillingham & Durant at Waterbury, subsequently attended the law school at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., from which he graduated in 1857 and returned to Vermont, and was admitted to the Orleans county bar at its December term, A. D. 1857; and at once opened an office at Greensboro where he remained until the fall of 1858, when he removed to Grand Haven, Mich., where he now resides, engaged actively in the practice of the law, the firm being Akeley & McBride. In October, 1863, he enlisted as a private soldier, and in August, 1865, was mustered out as adjutant of the Second Mich- igan Cavalry. In 1866 he was appointed collector of customs for the district of Michigan, a position which he held with credit to himself and the country until 1880. Mr. Akeley has been for sev- eral years extensively engaged in buying and selling pine lands and other real estate, also extensively engaged in lumbering interests, by which he has become very wealthy.
ALONZO D. BATES. By B. F. D. CARPENTER, ESQ.
A LONZO D. BATES, the son of Lewis C. and Lucy Ann Bates, was born at Derby, Vt., November 30, 1827. He received his education at the common schools and at Derby Acad- emy. After leaving school he engaged in teaching in the states of
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Georgia and Alabama from the fall of 1848 until the fall of 1854, when he returned to Vermont, and applied himself to the study of the law in the office of Hon. Jerry E. Dickerman at West Charles- ton, Vt., with whom he pursued the study of the law until June, 1858, when he was admitted to the Orleans county bar. At this term of the Orleans county court there were also admitted to the practice of the law the late Judge Benjamin H. Steele, William G. P. Bates, a brother of the subject of this article, who soon after- ward removed to the state of Illinois, where he has resided for many years, and Hon. Edward A. Stewart, now residing at Newport, Vt.
He established himself in the practice of the law at the growing village of Newport, Vt., then better known as Lake Bridge, soon after his admission to the bar, and remained there until 1862, hav- ing during his residence at this place been twice elected to the office of state's attorney, and serving in that capacity for the years 1860 and 1861. He then removed to West Charleston, Vt., suc- ceeding Mr. Dickerman in the practiceof the law at that place, and remaining there until about 1872, when he removed to Derby, Vt., where he has since resided.
A study of the law for three and one-half years, conscientiously pursued, had undoubtedly well prepared him to assume the work of a practicing attorney. His practice, doubtless, was of that varied character which usually falls to the lot of a country practitioner, calling for a knowledge of the common law, the statute law, and that broader and more liberal code in the equity side of the court, so that the youthful practitioner must, to succeed, have in mind all the remedies, both legal and equitable.
As a student and as a practicing lawyer he was, and is, unique and original in his expression and application, and sometimes seemed to carry the principle to an excess ; he seemed to believe in the individuality of himself, in this : That he followed after no copy, evidently believing it to be the duty of every one, and of himself in particular, to develop his own character without trying to fashion himself according to some other model; hence he was and is always extremely slow and cautious in arriving at conclusions, though self- reliant and independent in forming opinions, yet, when the conclu- sion is arrived at and the opinion well matured, aggressive and pug- nacious in maintaining it, because the result of this mental process had been to reduce the proposition to a moral certainty, like the
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demonstration of a mathematical problem. That he has laboriously and faithfully studied his profession and has an intelligent compre- hension of its principles, is shown in the manner in which he exam- ines and analyzes a legal question, so that if one obtain from him an opinion it is a safe and reliable one.
This manner of thought and painstaking carefulness and caution has so fitted him in the preparation of a cause, and in the knowl- edge of the law governing it, and in the use of that acquired knowledge that he seems well fortified at all points, and among his contemporaries at the bar there are few, or none, who excel him in this particular ; hence he has been very successful in the prepara- tion and conduct of causes before referees, auditors, and before the supreme court.
It is but fair, and not at all in derogation of his reputation as a lawyer, to say that his success lies more in the exposition and appli- cation of the law governing the cause than in an elaborate discus- sion of the facts connected therewith.
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