Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888, Part 11

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 836

USA > Vermont > Orange County > Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888 > Part 11

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William Adams Palmer* was born in Hebron, Conn , September 12, 1781, and was the son of Stephen and Susannah Palmer, who came to this country from England previous to the Revolutionary war. Having in his youth lost a part of one hand by an accident, he was induced to choose a professional life, and studied law in the office of John Thompson Peters, of Hebron, who removed to Hartford and became a judge of the Supreme Court of Connecti- cut. About the time he was of age Mr. Palmer came to Chelsea, and after studying in the office of Hon. Daniel Buck, especially in reference to the state statutes and the rules of practice in the courts of Vermont, he was admitted to the bar of Orange county. Thereupon, seeking a place for settlement, he visited Brownington and spent a short time in the office of Hon. William Baxter ; next went to Derby, and not liking the prospect there, he settled in St. Johnsbury about 1805. In 1807 he was appointed judge of probate for Caledonia county, and also county clerk, and removed to Danville. His public offices were numerous, and three of them of the highest dignity. He was county clerk from 1807 until 1815; judge of probate in 1807 and from 1811 until 1817; representative of Danville in the General Assemblies of 181 I and '12, 1818, 1825 and 1829 ; state senator 1836 and '37 ; delegate in the Constitutional conventions of 1828, 1836 and 1850; judge of the Supreme Court in 1816, and was re-elected in 1817 but declined the office ; United States senator from October, 1818, until March 4, 1825, having been elected October 20, 1818, both to fill the unexpired term of James Fisk and the full succeeding term. Having voted for the Missouri Compromise of 1820, he was for a time unpopular, but he became governor in 1831 and held the office until October, 1835, when there was no election to that office either by the people or the legislature, and Silas H. Jenison became governor by virtue of his election as lieutenant-governor. Gov. Palmer died at Danville, Decem- ber 3, 1860.

Joseph Farrar was a lawyer at Chelsea in 1805, and was town clerk there the same year. We find the following record in the County Court :-

" State of Vermont, Orange County Court, December Term, 1805. " Joseph Farrar, Esq , Sir :-

" It is represented to this court that through habits of intemperance, want of veracity and faithfulness to clients you have lost the confidence of society. Also it is suggested that in consequence of your not meeting your trial before the Supreme Court on an indictment for passing counterfeit money, they made an order that your name should be erased from the list of attorneys in said court. You are therefore invited to attend the court at their lodgings on Thursday evening next at 6 o'clock, to show cause why they

* By Hon. E. P. Waltou, in the Governor and Council.

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should not made an order similar to that above mentioned. By order of court.

" I. BAYLEY, Clerk.

"Orange County Court, December Term, 1805.

"The said Joseph Farrar having appeared and answered the foregoing allegations and confessing that the facts therein alleged are principally true, the court do order that his name be erased from the list of attorneys in this court ; Provided that if at any future period it shall be made to appear that the said Farrar hath reformed in his habits and retrieved his character, he may be again admitted to practice. By order of court,

" I. BAYLEY, Clerk.

" The above recorded by order of court, December 18th, 1805,

" I. BAYLEY, Clerk."

The following is the order as recorded in the Supreme Court :-

" Orange county, ss.

" Supreme Court, September Term, 1805.

" Name of Joseph Farrar is ordered to be stricken from the docket."

Before this date Mr. Farrar's name had appeared in a good many cases upon the docket of the courts of the county.

Hon. Daniel Buck came to Chelsea about 1805, from Norwich, Vt., where he had been a man of importance and influence. He had represented Norwich in the legislature several years, and was speaker of the House of Representatives from 1793 to 1795. He had also represented his district, then called the Eastern district, in the Congress of the United States. He had served in the war of the Revolution, and lost an arm at the battle of Bennington. He was born in Connecticut. His removal to Chelsea from Norwich was not altogether voluntary. He was committed to jail for debt, and having obtained the liberty of the jail yard, which was then limited to a few hundred feet about the jail, he continued the practice of his profession at Chelsea. He had practiced for some years in the county before this time, as appears from the following copy of record from the Orange County Court, viz .:-

"State of Vermont, Orange County,

June Term, A. D., 1783, SS.

At a County Court holden at Thet- ford in and for the County of Orange on the second Tuesday of June, j A. D., 1783.

" Present the Hon. Israel Smith, Esq'r, Chief Judge.

" Noah White, Esq.,

" Alexander Harvey, Esq., Ass't Judges. " Joshua Tucker, Esq.,

" Benjamin Baldwin, Clerk. " Abner Chamberlin, Sheriff."

The judges' commission being read the court opened, and the docket was called for the first time.

The court called upon Mr. Daniel Buck, a young gentleman who had lately come into the county in the character of an attorney, to show his cre- dentials. Mr. Buck produced a certificate subscribed by Sylvester Gilbert and Gideon Granger, attorneys in Connecticut, certifying the time and

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authors he had studied, and recommending him as being of good moral char- acter and conduct, and well qualified for the oath and practice of an attorney.

Also a certificate of record of the County Court in the county of Benning- ton, certifying his being examined by the bar, recommended to the court, admitted, sworn and entered upon the roll of attorneys in that court ; upon which the court declared themselves fully satisfied and ordered that Mr. Buck be admitted as an attorney in this court, and he is admitted accordingly. At the close of the same term is the following record, viz .:-

" This court considering that by the late settlement of the boundaries of this state Mr. Aaron Hutchinson, who was state's attorney for this county, is become an inhabitant of another state whereby he can no longer be con- sidered as an officer of this state : Requested Mr. Daniel Buck to take upon him the office of state's attorney for this county in the room of Mr. Hutch- inson. Whereupon Mr. Buck accepted and was sworn accordingly."

During the same term is the following record :-

" On a motion made by Mr. Benjamin Baldwin to resign his office as clerk of this court: The Court returned their thanks to Mr. Baldwin for his good services and accepted his resignation ; and appointed Mr. Daniel Buck to the office of clerk for this Court in the room of Mr. Baldwin, who accepted and was sworn in accordingly."

Thus it appears that Mr. Buck was admitted to the Orange county bar, made state's attorney and clerk of the county, all in one term. He continued to serve as clerk of the court for several terms, his bold, legible penmanship appearing in the record for June, 1784, although there is no signature, a part of the manuscript being gone. None of the lists of county clerks that have come under the eye of the writer contain Mr. Buck's name, Isaac Bailey, Esq., in 1801, being the first clerk named. It does not appear how long Mr. Buck served as state's attorney. Mr. Buck died in Chelsea, having been the father of eleven children, of whom D. Azro A. Buck, as he wrote his name, was the eldest.

Horrace Bassett lived at Peacham, Caledonia county, August 8, 1809, at which date he was admitted to the Orleans county bar. During the years from 1813 to 1819 he resided and practiced law in Chelsea, and was state's attorney from 1815 to 1818, inclusive. Dr. Abraham T. Lowe, of Boston, in a letter read at the centennial celebration of Chelsea in 1884, speaking of the time he spent in that town in 1816, says the lawyers there were able men, and of Mr. Bassett, in particular, he says he was "state's attorney for the county, gentlemanly and highly respected."

Hon. Daniel Azro Ashley Buck, the oldest son of Daniel Buck, was born in Norwich, Vt., April 19, 1789. Thomas Hale, Esq., in a historical sketch of Chelsea, read at the centennial celebration of that town in 1884, says of him: "He was probably the most popular man that ever lived in Chelsea, and one of the most popular in the state. He graduated at Middlebury college in 1807, and subsequently at West Point. He entered the United States army as a lieutenant, but resigned in 1811 ; was re-appointed captain, serving

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in the thirty-first regiment United States infantry during the War of 1812 with England. The commander of his regiment was Col. Hamilton, whom I met in Louisiana, and who informed me that Martin Van Buren was the unsuc- cessful rival 'of Lieutenant Buck for the appointment of captain, the selection or choice depending on the colonel, who seemed to have been charmed by young Buck's appearance, and being influenced, no doubt, by his military education at West Point. Mr. Buck established himself in Chelsea, in 1816, as a lawyer, and here he soon rose to the front rank in his profession. He was elected some fourteen times to the legislature, and generally with little or no opposition. He was elected to Congress twice, -not three times, as erroneously stated in the books, -serving from 1823 to 1825 and from 1827 to 1829. At the Congressional election in 1826 Col. Buck received all the votes but one cast in Chelsea, James Bell, of Walder, receiving that one. He was chosen many times speaker of the House of Representatives when in the legislature, and had the reputation of being one of the best presiding offi- cers in New England. He married, I believe, a daughter of Phineas Dodge, who kept the hotel that stood on the ground where the present hotel stands, and had several children, three of whom I remember, two daughters, Betsey and Caroline, and one son, Daniel, who for many years was a clerk in the House of Representatives at Washington. All the children are now dead. Col. Buck removed to Washington where he died poor." C. W. Clarke, Esq., says of him in the article upon Chelsea which he furnished for Hemenway's Gazetteer : " He was an old fashioned gentleman, of easy and winning ad- dress, appreciative of and abounding in the courtesies of life, not profoundedly learned either in law or politics, but was remarkable for having always at im- mediate command all the resources incident to an acute understanding applied to a close observation of common things."

After 1836 he removed with his family to Washington, D. C., on account of failing health, and died there about 1839. He was admitted to the Supreme Court of Vermont at its September term in 1814, in Orange county, as appears from the records of the court.

Jason Steele was born at Randolph, Vt., August 1, 1789, and his parents were James and Abigail (Makepeace) Steele. The family came to Vermont from Connecticut about 1770. He fitted for college at Randolph academy and was graduated at Dartmouth college in 1812. He studied law a Wood- stock, Vt., with the Hon. Charles Marsh, was admitted to the bar about 1816, and commenced practice in Randolph, where he married Harriet, daughter of Shubael Converse, February 21, 1822. In 1827, when the Orange County bank at Chelsea was chartered, he was called to be its cashier, removed there and held the position until the expiration of the charter. He then formed a partnership for the practice of the law, with Hon. William Hebard, at Chelsea, remaining there until 1848, when he was asked to become cashier of the Ascutney bank at Windsor, Vt. He accepted the position, resigning it after five years' service.

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He represented the town of Windsor in the legislature in 1854 and 1855, and was bank commissioner for the state of Vermont the two years following. He had two sons and four daughters, and three of the daughters are now living. He died at his home in Windsor, October 7, 1878.

John Worthington Smith will be remembered as the court auditor of Orange county when the accounts of justices, sheriff and prosecuting officers were passed upon and usually approved by the auditor as to the amount claimed for services, and if not in correct form the auditor would suggest the forni to include all the items of actual expense and services. He was born in Chelsea, July 12, 1792, graduated at Dartmouth college in 1817, and was admitted to Orange county bar at the June term, 1824. He lived in Chelsea a great many years, but in the last days of his residence there, he was not in the active practice of law. He was town clerk of Chelsea in 1826 and 1849, and county clerk for Orange county, which includes also the duties of clerk of the County and Supreme Courts and Court of Chancery, from 1838 to 1840, and was court auditor from about 1856 for quite a num- ber of years. He died at Waterloo, Pa., January 18, 1875.

Russell Jarvis, who married the daughter of Judge Josiah Dana, as is mentioned in the sketch of his life, was admitted to the Supreme Court in Orange county at its August term, 1821. He did not practice law to any great extent in Vermont, and probably not anywhere. He was a lawyer by profession, but a journalist in practice most of his life. He was born in Boston, Mass., in 1791, and died at New York, April 17, 1853. During his in- fancy his family moved to Claremont, N. H., where his early life was spent. He was graduated at Dartmouth in 1810, and afterwards at the Litchfield (Conn.) Law school. He married for his first wife the only daughter of Judge Dana, by whom he had a daughter, Caroline, now Mrs. John H. Uhl, of Yonkers, N. Y. The early death of his young wife made Claremont dis- tasteful to Mr. Jarvis, and he removed to Boston and went into company with a Mr. Dunlap there in the practice of law. About two years later he married a daughter of Thomas Cordis, Esq., merchant, of Boston, and by her had two · children ; but the mother and both children were lost on the steamer " Lex- ington," on Long Island Sound, returning from New York to Boston to attend the wedding of her young brother. Before the death of his second wife Mr. Jarvis had twice changed his residence and had also changed his profession. He had been to Washington, D. C., as editor and proprietor of the United States Telegraph, in company with Duff Green, but in 1836, on the establishment of the Public Ledger at Philadelphia, he became its editor, adding greatly to its popularity by his labors. In 1839 he withdrew from that paper and established a morning journal, the World, which lived only nine months. He then removed to New York, where he resided until his death.

William Hebard, the subject of this sketch, was born in Windham, Conn., November 29, 1800. His genealogy is as follows : Robert Hibbert, born

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in England, came to Salem, Mass., in 1635, from Wales, and died in Salem, May 7, 1684. Ten children were born to him, among whom was Robert Hibard, born in Salem, Mass., in March, 1648, who married Mary Walden, by whom he had seven children, among whom was Robert Hebard, and moved to Windham, Conn., after his children had cleared a farm there, and died April 29, 1710.

Robert Hebard was born July 8, 1676, and married Mary Read, by whom he had ten children. He died June 26, 1742, in Windham, Conn. His son Samuel Hebard was born May 2, 1710. He married for his second wife Mary Burnap, who died at the age of eighty eight years. They had seven children, among whom was Diah Hebard, born June 29, 1757, at Windham, Conn. He married Zerviah Hebert (or Ebert), who was of a French family from Normandie. They had seven children, all born in Windham, Conn., the youngest of whom is the subject of this sketch. Diah moved his family to Randolph, Vt., in 1804, and died February 19, 1841. Zerviah died May 17, 1850, aged ninety-two years and four months.

William Hebard, up to very near his majority, lived and worked on the farm of his father, near West Randolph, and had, to that time, only such advantages for an education as the common schools afforded. After he was free to act for himself, he in reality commenced to get his education, which was at the Orange County Grammar school, at Randolph Center. His edu- cation was obtained under a good deal of difficulty, as his means were very limited, and all he had he was obliged to earn. He boarded mostly at his father's while attending the Grammar school, and walked to and from school daily, a distance of three miles each way. He did not go through college, although he amply fitted himself; but when he had finished his academical course, he at once began his legal studies under William Nutting, a then noted lawyer at Randolph. During his academical and legal course he was obliged to teach to get the means for continuing his studies, which he did, and was noted for his success as a teacher. Commencing to educate him- self so late in life, he did not complete his law reading until he was nearly twenty-seven years old.

He was admitted to the bar of Orange county in 1827, and commenced the practice of the law in East Randolph, where he resided until November, 1845, when he removed to Chelsea, and resided there till his death. At the time he located in practice, East Randolph was the most important of the four villages in the town, and quite a business place, and he soon acquired a lucrative practice. After the railroad was built, gradually the business has left the place, and it is but a shadow of what it once was.

While he resided in East Randolph he held many important positions in public life,-representing the town in the General Assembly in the years 1835, 1840, 1841 and 1842 ; state senator in 1836 and 1838 ; state's attorney for Orange county in 1832, 1834 and 1836 ; judge of probate for the district of Randolph in 1838, 1840 and 1841 ; and judge of the Supreme Court of

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Vermont three years, from 1842 to 1844, inclusive. After his retirement from the Supreme bench he moved to Chelsea, and opened a law office in part- nership with the late Jason Steele, which continued a year or two, when Judge Steele moved to Windsor, Vt., the partnership was dissolved, and he con- tinued the business.

In 1848 he was elected representative to Congress, and re-elected in 1850. Upon his election he formed a law partnership with the late Hon. Burnam Martin, which continued until the close of his congressional life, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, and afterwards he conducted the practice alone until 1864, when he associated with him his oldest son, S. B. Hebard, as partner, and that relation between them continued until his death.

In 1834 and in 1848 he was a member of the council of censors, and sec- retary of the council in 1834, and in 1857 he was a delegate to the State Constitutional convention. In 1860 he was a delegate to the National Re- publican convention, whichi nominated Abraham Lincoln. In 1858, 1859, 1864, 1865 and 1872, he represented the town of Chelsea in the General Assembly. His practice was always quite extensive, both in his own and other counties, and at the time of his death he had more cases than ever before.

After his establishment in Chelsea he was employed in most of the im- portant causes tried in his own county, and he was much in demand as auditor, referee or master. He was a man of firm and unswerving integrity, to whose character no stain has ever come, and whose word was ever to be relied upon. He was very successful as an advocate before a jury, not on account of his eloquence, for he was not what might be called eloquent ; but in his argu- ments to a jury he had the faculty of convincing them of his sincere belief in his case, and he could always state his case with clearness, and group his facts in such a manner, and present them with such force and logic that he succeeded in winning causes in many instances where defeat seemed certain. He had a persistence that never flagged, a courage that never faltered, and with him there was no cessation of the fight until the question was finally settled beyond appeal. He was always esteemed a safe counsellor, and his advice was sought as well for his known honesty as for his legal knowledge. His knowledge of practice was equaled by few, and hardly excelled by any, and his fertility in expedients consequent upon his thorough knowledge of practice, has saved to his clients many a case that before seemed hopeless. No better analysis of his character as a lawyer can be given than to quote from a paper by Hon. James Barrett, one of the justices of the Supreme Court, read on the occasion of memorial services on the death of Judge Hebard. Judge Barrett says :-

" I think his prominent characterising qualities were candor, considerate- ness, integrity and faithfulness. He was plain and practical-not ornate or polished. At the bottom was a substantial common sense, that gave itself with faithful effort to such service as he was called to do. And what esti-

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mate was held of him as the result of such service is amply and best attested by the fact of his large and long continued professional practice, with all classes of the community for confiding clients, and no just interest of any one sacrificed or suffering for lack of adequacy or attention or exertion on his part,-by his early and oft repeated calls to offices of important responsi- bility, in which his characteristic integrity and assiduity were always con- spicuous,-by universal respect and esteem in which he was held as a citi- zen-as a member of society-as a neighbor-as a friend,-that respect and esteem increasing with the increasing intimacy and thoroughness with which he was known. The qualities which I have named, co-operating with his temperament, materially induced what became a distinguishing trait, namely, persistence in maintaining his ideas and convictions. He did not solve ques- tions, or determine as to the legal quality of cases upon their first presenta- tion. His mind was reflective and reasoning, rather than apprehensive and intuitive. He was patient and thorough in getting a knowledge and com- prehension of the facts. He was then patient and painstaking in his pro- cesses of study, reflection and reasoning as to the law involved, and in the end, whether right or wrong in his results, he was not only the master of his ideas, well defined, but he was sincere in his convictions thereto. He was no: profound, in the sense of being versed in the learning of the law beyond the exigencies of his practice, nor did his mind solve the law of sub- jects by normal processes of its own, as distinguished from the acquirement of it by the study of the books. He was not of the type of Story in the for- mer respect, or of Marshall in the latter. At the same time he brought to bear in practice his plain and vigorous faculties, both of study and reflection, with an adequacy that rendered him a judicious and safe counsellor, and a serviceable and adequate attorney and advocate. In the putting of his facts and ideas-his propositions and his argument into written expression, he had unusual facility and merit. His reports as auditor and referee, his drafts of pleadings in law and equity, his briefs and arguments, are marked in this respect."

Judge Hebard married Elizabeth Starkwether Brown, a niece and adopted daughter of Hon. Dudley Chase, of Randolph, September 12, 1830, who died April 16, 1870. Five children were born to them-Olivia B., born February 26, 1832, who married Charles Paine, and now lives in Pittsburg, Pa .;. William, who was drowned at the age of seven years ; Salmon B., born November 15, 1835, a lawyer now residing at Chelsea ; George T., born August 10, 1840, who rendered eminent service to the country in command or the Ist Vt. Battery in the war of the Rebellion, and who died August 7, 1879; and William, born July 4, 1845, now residing in Nevada.

Judge Hebard died at Chelsea, of congestion of the lungs, after a brief illness, October 20, 1875, having almost reached his seventy-fifth birthday, full of years and honors, and in the complete possession of all his faculties. He died as his friends wished, before age had dimmed and abated his force, and in harness.

Hon. Levi B. Vilas was born February 25, 18t 1, in Sterling, Lamoille county, Vt., a rugged section well calculated to develop the physical and intellectual strength which distinguished him in all his work in life. He was ambitious in his youth, and intended to pursue a collegiate course ; but ill health pre-

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vented. After a thorough study of the law, he was admitted to the bar at St. Albans, in Franklin county, in 1833, and practiced his profession at Morristown, Johnson and at Chelsea, covering in all a period of eighteen years. At the start he took a leading position at the bar, and during all this time he enjoyed a large and lucrative practice.

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Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888, Part 11

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers Number of Pages: 836

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 836