USA > Vermont > Orleans County > Biography of the bar of Orleans county, Vermont > Part 6
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DAVID MANNING CAMP. By DAVID M. CAMP.
T HE subject of this sketch was born in Tunbridge, Vt., on the 2Ist day of April, A. D. 1788, in a veritable log cabin. He was the son of Abel and Anna (Manning) Camp, his father being one of the traditional three brothers who came probably from Eng- land, and was one of the early settlers in Tunbridge. David M. was the fourth child in the family, and, being unusually bright and active, he readily became the pet of the household. To use his own language : "In early life I had the prestige of smartness somehow fixed upon me by my ill-judging friends, from the unto- ward effects of which I have never recovered." In those days labor was the business of the community ; educated minds were rare, and hence the opportunities for mental improvement were very limited. Young children of the first settlers had never seen a school, and the older ones, especially the boys, could not be spared from labor, save for a few weeks in the winter. Rapid progress was made in the settlement of the state, and a corresponding improvement in educational facilities, so that at .the age of fifteen Mr. Camp had acquired a good common school education for those days. For a term or two he attended an academy in the adjoining town of Royalton, and in his eighteenth year entered Dartmouth college. But an unexpected event soon dissolved that relation, and after a summer of active labor on the farm he entered the Univer- sity of Vermont, from which he was in due time graduated with honor. His class in the university numbered seventeen, and before graduation he, with eleven others, had chosen the legal profession, then generally considered the surest and most direct way to ease, eminence and wealth. Immediately upon graduation he entered the office of Hon. William Brayton at Swanton, Vt., and com- . menced the study of law. Want of funds made it necessary to
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secure some kind of labor as an aid in meeting current expenses. This he found in clerical work for his instructor, who had a large practice, especially in the way of collections, and in similar work for the collector of customs for the district of Vermont, who had his office in the same building. With this mixture of labor and study the effect upon him, like many another, seemed somewhat unfortunate. When the drudgery of the office was completed, he had little relish for study and earnest, efficient investigation. He says : " Law-reading under such circumstances was simply hate- ful, laborious and unprofitable. My acquisitions, therefore, in legal science were few, fragmentary, ill-digested and ill-arranged, and so I was unfitted and insufficient for the ordinary labors and uses of the profession." While such an unpleasant confession was not war- ranted, a long and useful life having fully proven his fine ability, rare judgment, and sound practical education, yet the admission was in a degree true in his case, as in many others. A few more sentences of his in this same connection, emphatically true in these times, may prove of interest and benefit to readers of this sketch. He says : "It has long been a subject of wonder and regret that gentlemen of this profession have so little esprit du corps, so slight an interest in the reputation and welfare of their young brethren, and so small a regard for the people at large, as to permit them to tolerate the abuse of receiving to their number persons utterly unfitted to perform the duties and bear the responsibilities of a class so necessary, so honorable, so useful. The same abuse, how- ever, is found in all the professions ; the door of entrance is capa- cious, the young adventurer is ardent and importunate, his friends, perhaps, are respectable, influential and clamorous ; it would, they say, be cruel, perhaps dangerous, to repulse him, he may yet do well, become eminent and-the ordinary fruit of a stupid and absurd course is found to follow."
In September, 1812, Mr. Camp was admitted to the bar, and for a single year practiced in company with Judge Brayton. The war of 1812 in great measure broke up the courts, through the unset- tled condition of things, and many lawyers taking up the profession of arms. Mr. Camp then removed to Derby, in the comparatively new county of Orleans, where he continued his services as an offi- cer of the customs, and attended to such professional business as was offered.
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At that time prohibition of trade on the frontier gave rise to an active, illicit intercourse with Canada. This trade gave enormous profits, and many bold, enterprising, and unpatriotic citizens engaged in it. A large detective force became necessary, and the compen- sation was not large enough to secure men of the highest capacity or the best character. Many of them were very unpopular, and so collisions were constantly occurring between the officers and the smugglers. Mr. Camp, though closely confined to his office by his legitimate duties, was generally believed to be guiding in many cases the operations of these detectives. Affairs were badly mixed for some time, so that his professional business suffered greatly, and even before the close of the war he began to weary of the pro- fession, and as he remarked, "became quite disgusted in looking to the future with the small amount of business it promised, and the bitter fruits of certain threatening combinations among my fellows of the popular political faith of the county."
On the return of peace, commercial intercourse with the British provinces was resumed, and all kinds of property could be carried either way, and an honest entry and payment of moderate duties made every person and his effects perfectly safe. Mr. Camp was induced to remain in the custom house, and for twelve years quiet and prosperity seem to have been constant and uniform. During this period his law business was transferred successively to E. H. Starkweather and Lewis Marsh. He remained in the customs department until relieved of duty in 1829 by a political change in the administration. Some three years previous to this, or about 1826, he finally and entirely abandoned the practice of law.
In 1830, being quite at leisure and having some cash funds unem- ployed, he went into the mercantile business with Capt. Rufus Stewart, who was late an officer in the United States army, in the war of 1812. Two or three years after, the Captain sold his inter- est in the business to Jacob Bates. The new firm continued in trade a few years, but not proving successful, the business by mutual consent was closed out.
In September, 1815, having purchased a house and a few acres of land adjoining, having paid all debts and found a fair competence remaining, he married Sarepta Savage of Hartford, Vt., and at the - mature age of twenty-seven established a home and new family at the center of the pleasant and flourishing town of Derby.
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In 1825, Mr. Camp was elected as representative from Derby in the general assembly, and again in 1826, 1834 and 1835 the like honor was bestowed upon him. In 1836, when the amended con- stitution of the state, creating a senate, went into effect, and the new state house was completed, he was elected to the office of lieutenant-governor, and ex officio became the presiding officer of the first Vermont senate. For five years he held this honorable position, and it is safe to say that as a presiding officer in that body, in the half century since his time he has had hardly an equal, never a superior. With a fine physique, good voice, commanding presence, quick perception and ready judgment, he was pre-emi- nently fitted to control and direct the deliberations of men in any assembly. In the years 1842, 1843 and 1844 he was senator for the county of Orleans, thus completing twelve years of active, efficient and valuable service as a legislator-four years as repre- sentative, three as senator and five as presiding officer of the senate.
Previous to his legislative service, in 1816 he held the office of state's attorney, and for several years subsequent that of assistant judge of the county court for the county of Orleans. In all these positions of trust he served faithfully and acceptably. If any one characteristic predominated in his nature and active life it was that of performing every duty strictly, according to provisions of law, or in the absence of legal direction, in accordance with strict princi- ples of right and justice.
Mr. Camp was deeply interested in all educational matters. He was always a strong friend and active supporter of the academy at Derby, whose origin, growth and success he ever watched with the greatest interest. Not only the institution itself found in him an earnest friend, but many students found a pleasant home in his family, and often gained strength and inspiration from his words and assistance judiciously rendered. The early recollections of the writer are of a pleasant character, when at the age of twelve he became a member of the family and commenced his academic course. We remember clearly his words of encouragement and advice, when a mere boy we were struggling with the translation of our first exercise in Virgil, and almost ready to give up the con- test. Those words were a stimulus never forgotten. Many another student in similar circumstances has received from him like encour- agement and renewed hope. He fully believed in the common
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schools as the foundation of a thorough educational system, and for several years devoted his time and best energies to their improve- ment. He fully realized in his own meager school privileges in early life, the necessity for better instruction brought within the reach of all, even the poorest and most humble. Under the act of 1845, for the improvement of common schools, he was for several years superintendent for the county of Orleans. Most of his time for these years was spent in the visitation of schools in all parts of the county, in public lectures, examinations and holding of insti- tutes. If he did not originate the idea, he early established county institutes of several days duration, and by his thoroughness in drill and insisting rigidly upon prompt, systematic, and orderly dis- charge of all duties in the school-room, by teacher and pupil alike, he imparted an unwonted enthusiasm, and greatly elevated the standard of the common schools in the county. We question if to-day these schools throughout the county rank as high in thor- oughness of instruction, in discipline, in politeness, in solid practi- cal education as under the county system of supervision and his efficient management. When the office of county superintendent was abolished his interest in the work still continued, and he was afterward superintendent in the towns of Derby and Montpelier. In his school work his chief underlying principle was thoroughness, and especially in the rudiments, at the beginning of the child's edu- cation. After years of experience he became convinced that the old and common method of teaching the child to read by first learn- ing his letters was not the rational and best method, and he became a strong advocate of the word method, which in all these years since has been making slow but sure progress.
With the close of his public labors in educational matters, his active public life may be said to have closed. With advancing years and property amply sufficient to relieve him from the neces- sity of daily labor in any profession, he retired from public life, and passed the remainder of his days in comparative quiet and ease.
In May, 1853, his wife died after a brief illness, and in November of the same year he married Miss Almira Howes of Montpelier. In 1854, having disposed of his real estate in Derby, he removed to Montpelier. A few years were passed there and at the west, in Milwaukee and Minneapolis, when a strong longing for his old home led him to return to Derby, where he purchased a pleasant place,
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and quietly passed down the declivity of life, reaching the end February 20, 1871, having nearly attained the age of 83 years. His wife is still living at the old homestead. Three children by the first marriage still survive: Dr. Norman W. Camp, an Episcopal clergyman, now residing in Washington, D. C., associate pastor of Epiphany church in that city ; Hoel H. Camp, who for thirty years or more has lived in Milwaukee, Wis., now president of the First national bank, and one of the solid men of that city; and, Frances Harriette, wife of Prof. J. R. Webb of Benton Harbor, Mich.
This brief sketch can give but the merest outline of a long life. His was in many respects a quiet, unostentatious life, yet active, prominent, successful. He was retiring almost diffident yet dig- nified, approaching very nearly to the type of "a gentleman of the old school." This made him sometimes appear to a stranger as stern, reserved, or as this age would say "cold-blooded," yet he was kind, sympathetic, tender-hearted, pleasant and social. It needed long and intimate acquaintance to know him fully. He had a strong will, and so his likes and dislikes were equally strong. It required comparatively little time for friends and enemies alike to ascertain his true feelings toward them. As a rule his words were few, well chosen, and plainly spoken; their meaning easily and fully understood. These characteristics with a thorough abhorrence of every species of duplicity, dishonesty and deception, in politics, business, religion or social life, occasionally led him into sharp con- troversies, in all of which he held firmly to his own convictions of right, and usually gained his points. He was thoroughly an honest man ; a just man, desiring to receive in all business transactions just what belonged to him, no more, no less, and was equally desir- ous to accord just the same to others. He was a strong temper- ance man, and an ardent advocate of total abstinence. He was also a religious man, having confessed his faith, and with his wife united with the Congregational church in Derby in the year 1825, with which body he continued his relationship till death.
Of his ability or success as a lawyer the writer is unable to speak advisedly. But a small portion of his active life was devoted spe- cially to that profession, from which we may infer he was not ardently attached to it. He possessed a fine intellect, quick per- ception, sound judgment ; was free and convincing in speech, sharp, pungent, and sarcastic, if necessary-all essential qualifications for
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the profession ; yet we are led to believe from his own admissions that he felt the need of a better preparation for the work than he had been able to secure. This, with the somewhat unfavorable cir- cumstances under which he commenced his practice, no doubt diminished his courage and weakened his earlier love for the pro- fession, and perhaps led him thus early to abandon it for more con- genial, and it may be more efficient service in other directions. Certain it is that what the legal profession may have thus lost, his town, county, and state gained in active, well-directed efforts in behalf of educational, political, social, and religious interests of the people.
CHESTER W. BLOSS.
C HESTER W. BLOSS, whose name appears among the attor- neys of Orleans county as having been admitted to the bar March 13, 1813, never lived in the county. He came early to Peacham, Caledonia county, and soon had quite an extensive prac- tice, both in his own and the adjoining counties. The late Hon. Bliss N. Davis of Danville, said of him : "I had no acquaintance with him until I came to the bar myself in 1824 ; he was then in good prac- tice at Peacham, and continued so until about 1838, when he moved to Beaver, Penn. I do not understand he practiced his profession after he left Vermont. I heard of him as a hotel-keeper. Mr. Bloss had the reputation in this county of being a very conscien- tious lawyer, and very efficient in his business, mostly collecting, as that part of the practice at his day was very lucrative. The late . Gov. Mattocks was practicing law in Peacham at that time, and it would take a man of high professional standing to compete with him."
CHARLES DAVIS.
Biographical Sketches of Eminent American Lawyers.
W HILE it has been so universally remarked, as to have become almost a truism, that in the country in which we live, and under our republican form of government, family rank and great wealth give to the possessor no real advantage over the one who brings to his aid only commanding intellect and moral worth ;
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yet this should detract nothing from the meed of credit awarded the self-made man. The factitious obstacles to his progress which would exist under a different state of society are removed ; but the struggle is none the less praiseworthy that, by the removal of these obstacles, the man of ardent aspirations finds himself a competitor with the entire mass of his fellow-citizens. We are accustomed, it is true, to refer with pride to our ancestry, if we can trace the time back to those men of the seventeenth century, whose pride of con- science rose superior to pride of power, and whose purity of con- duct and motive justified as applicable in truth the name which their enemies conferred upon them as a reproach ; yet we refer to our puritanic descent only as evidence of the unblemished charac- ter which we inherit, and are bound by our earnest efforts to sus- tain. This was the only advantage of birth possessed by Charles Davis, who is the subject of this sketch, and he, by his own indus- try and perseverance, gained for himself the reputation which he sustained of a sound lawyer, an able judge, a faithful and efficient public officer, and a man of unflinching integrity and honesty of purpose.
Judge Davis was born in Mansfield, Tolland county, Conn., Jan- uary 1, 1789. His family was of the genuine Puritan stock, their ancestors having emigrated from England to Massachusetts early in the seventeenth century ; and early in the eighteenth century branches of the family were settled in Mansfield. His father, Philip Davis, was also a native of Mansfield ; he was a farmer and mechanic, and was a man of great industry and activity in business, of sterling honesty and integrity, and of exemplary piety and pur- ity of character. In January, 1792, he removed with his family to Rockingham, in Vermont, where he resided until October, 1806, when he removed to Middlebury, Vt., in order that he might, with the more facility, give to his son the advantage of a collegiate edu- cation ; and he continued to reside in Middlebury until August, 1822, when he died at the age of sixty. Until his removal to Mid- dlebury his son pursued diligently the occupations of his father, with no other advantages of education than were derived from his attendance a few months in each year at district schools, and two terms at neighboring academies ; but in the spring of 1807 he com- menced his studies preparatory to his collegiate course, and pursued them with such diligence and success that in August, 1808, he was
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admitted a member of the sophomore class in Middlebury College. He was associated, in his class, with many young men of talent and promise, several of whom have since attained distinguished honors, both in the state and under the general government. Among them young Davis took rank as a diligent and successful student, and when he graduated in 1811 he pronounced an English oration, then esteemed an appointment, not the first, indeed, but highly respect- able. In September, 1811, immediately after his graduation, Judge Davis commenced the study of the law at Middlebury in the office of Daniel Chipman, Esq., who then held a very high rank in his profession in the state, as a man of much sagacity and native talent, and of very extensive legal learning. Mr. Davis pursued his studies without interruption, under the tuition of his able instructor, until June, 1814, when he was admitted to the bar. In December, 1814, he married Miss Lucinda Stone of Chesterfield, N. H., who died January 26, 1884, aged ninety-five years and three months. During his residence in Middlebury he became warmly engaged in the exciting political topics connected with the then existing war with Great Britain, and was for some year or more editor of the "Ver- mont Mirror," a newspaper strongly opposed to the war; yet, though thus strongly opposed, he always advocated the duty of defending the country, when invaded, and several times tendered his personal services in the militia for that purpose. His position as an editor brought him into immediate contact with many of the most active and able politicians of the day ; but although the con- tests in which he engaged were warm and often exciting, and he young and ardent, esteemed it no part of the duty of an editor to lose sight of the amenities and courtesies of life. He continued to enjoy, in an eminent degree, the friendship and confidence of men of opposite views, with whom his editorial writings brought him more immediately in collision. In June, 1816, Judge Davis removed to Barton, in Orleans county, then comparatively a new county, where he resided until March, 1818, when he removed to Waterford in Caledonia county, and remained there until November, 1828, when, his professional business having become much enlarged, he removed to Danville, the county seat. There were strong men then at the bar in that section of the state-John Mattocks, Wil- liam Mattocks, Isaac Fletcher, Seth Cushman, James Bell and Ephraim Paddock. They were all lawyers of high standing in their
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profession, and have left behind them a reputation which their descendants may well esteem their best birth-right. Among these men of strong minds, some years his seniors in age, Judge Davis wrought his way to professional distinction
With such competitors, and struggling for years against narrow pecuniary circumstances, amid the cares of a growing family, with a physical constitution never robust, and often impaired by ill health, his success could not be rapid ; but his constantly increasing practice and present extended reputation prove that he laid the foundation firmly of professional eminence. In 1828 he was elected state's attorney for the county of Caledonia, which office he held for seven successive years, discharging its duties with fidel- ity and success, and in 1838 he was again elected to the same office, which he then held for one year. In 1831 he was elected clerk of the house of representatives of Vermont, but severe sickness com- pelled him to decline a re-election.
Upon the accession of Gen. Harrison to the presidency in 1841, Judge Davis received, without solicitation upon his part, the office of district attorney of the United States for the district of Ver- mont, which office he held until the expiration of his commission in 1845, when he gave place to a member of the political party which had then gained the ascendency. In October, 1845, Judge Davis was elected by the legislature to the office of judge of pro- bate for the district of Caledonia, and again in 1846; but at the same session, a bill having passed the legislature providing for the election of an additional judge of the supreme court, that office was tendered to and accepted by Judge Davis, and was held by him for two years. Upon the bench Judge Davis endeavored honestly and with an unaffected love of truth and justice, and with an industry and application superior to the capacities of his physical constitu- tion, to acquit himself creditably and faithfully. The opinions delivered by him, and published in the nineteenth and twentieth volumes of the Vermont Reports, are noticeable for forcible reason- ing, fortified by the results of most thorough research. No analogy of the law escaped him, and no authority bearing upon the question was overlooked. His reputation as a lawyer, thoroughly educated in the principles of his profession, and as an able and honest judge, may well be allowed to rest upon these published examples of his industry.
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After his retirement from the bench the townsmen of Judge Davis manifested their confidence in his integrity and their appre- ciation of his talents by electing him as their representative to the legislature of the state at the October session, 1851, although there was a majority of more than two to one in the town against the whig party, of which he was well known to be a firm and unwavering member. Deservedly placed, during that session, at the head of the judiciary committee, the arduous duties devolving upon him were performed with a faithfulness and industry best evidenced, perhaps, by the published laws of the session, and the reports ema- nating from his pen, which were extensively read and appreciated throughout the state. Unlike most lawyers, Judge Davis did not allow the duties of his professional or official life to prevent his acquiring an intimate acquaintance with general literature, and while Coke and Blackstone received their share of attention, his hours of relaxation were ever devoted to cultivating an acquaint- ance with the ancient classics, the best English authors, as well as some of the modern languages. The last few years of his life were spent with his son, Isaac T. Davis, at Rockford, Ill., where he died November 21, 1863, aged seventy-four.
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