Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888, Part 15

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 15

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Judge Leslie has been in co-partnership in his law business with Mr. Farr, Col. A. M. Dickey, Mr. R. H. Heath, D. Allen Rogers, and since Mr. Rogers's death with A. H. Carpenter and William D. Laird. Mr. Rogers and Mr. Leslie were in co-partnership about twenty-one and a half years. It prob- ably was the longest co-partnership in the law practice that ever existed in the county. It continued from January, 1860, until Mr. Rogers's death in July, 1881. They were just fitted for each other, each had his proper sphere in the practice of the profession. It was Judge Leslie's duty to draw all the pleadings and make all the preparation for trial of cases at nisi prius and before referees, auditors, masters, etc., and also all the preparation and briefs in Supreme Court. Mr. Rogers never made any briefs while he was in the firm, except while he was state's attorney, and then only in his state causes.

Judge Leslie's preparation of his cases was full and exhaustive, and his reputation in the profession is that of a keen, well-read lawyer, one always thoroughly prepared upon every point in his cases. His excellent reputation among his brethren extended to the business men of his vicinity, and always brought him a good practice.

Judge Leslie married Harriet Heaton Skinner, eldest daughter of Smith and Rhoda Heaton Skinner, January 16, 1845. They have had three chil- dren, all of whom are living, viz .: Julius Hayden, Elizabeth B., and Charles E. Leslie. The last named is a lawyer practicing at Waseca, Waseca county, Minn. This son graduated at Dartmouth college in the class of 1877 and read law at Wells River with Leslie & Rogers, and was admitted to the bar at the June term of Orange County Court, 1879, and in July of that year went to Waterville, Le Sueur county, Minn., and was again examined and ad- mitted to practice in all the courts of that state. Julius H. and Elizabeth B. reside with their parents at their pleasant home in Wells River.

Charles Story came to Newbury in 1850, and practiced law there as long as he lived. He was the son of Alexander and Sally Myers (Johnson) Story, and was born at Salem, Mass., December 30, 1788. He attended school in Massachusetts, came to Montpelier, Vt., and studied law with J. Y. Vail, and was admitted to the bar of Washington county in September, 1819. He practiced at McIndoe's Falls and Coventry until he removed to Newbury. He was a Whig in politics, and represented Coventry in 1832 and 1834, was

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state's attorney for Orleans county in 1836 and 1837, and at one time was a member of the Constitutional convention from Coventry. He died in the spring of 1851. His wife was a daughter of Col. Thomas Johnson, of New- bury, and a sister of David Johnson, for many years the town clerk of that town. Mr. Story was married August 20, 1812, and had three daughters, of whom the oldest, Maria Story, and the youngest, Mrs. S. J. Holden, of Wor- cester, are still living. The mother died January 27, 1859, aged sixty-seven. years.

Timothy P. Fuller, second son of Dea. Thomas and Lydia (Page) Fuller, was born in Westminster, Vt., March 30, 1790. His parents were married in November, 1778, in Hardwick, Mass., whence they removed to Westminster and thence to Hardwick, Caledonia county, Vt., just previous to 1800, with a family of eight children. Timothy P. was literally a self-made man. His opportunities for schooling were very limited, yet he acquired a practical edu- cation with business habits of a high order. Early in life he was extensively engaged in Merino sheep raising, and a little later in driving cattle and horses from the Caledonia hills to Brighton, Mass., Hartford, Conn., and other southern markets. He was a man of fine physique and superior judgment, and acquired a competency in early life. He was a hard student at his chosen profession, the law, and practiced in the courts, yet he was not formally admitted to Caledonia county bar until 1845, and to the Supreme Court in 1848. This seems rather late in life to take up a profession, but the date of his admission to the bar does not mark the commencement of his practice. Some time after his admission to the bar he removed to Cabot, Vt., and thence to Newbury, probably about 1848 or '49. His name appears upon the Orange county docket in 1850. In 1852, his health failing, he removed to Hancock, N. H., where he died July 21, 1854. He is called Judge Fuller by the friends who write about him, but whether he was judge of probate or assistant judge of the County Court, has not been ascertained.

Judge Fuller was a very kind and liberal man. He brought up in his family and assisted in his education a nephew, who made his mark in the world, Hon. T. J. D. Fuller, of Maine, member of Congress from Aroostook and Washington counties, in 1850 and following years. He was third audi- tor in the United States Treasury Department, and was the first to discover the crookedness in Secretary Floyd's accounts. He died in Washington, D. C., in the winter of 1876.

Leander Quint was born in Bath, N. H., August 9, 1823. His parents were Josiah and Jennette Quint. He was educated at Newbury seminary, read law with Hon. Abel Underwood, at Wells River, and was admitted to the Orange county bar June 29, 1849. While studying his profession he held the office of deputy sheriff in 1847, under George Sleeper, high sheriff. October 9, 1849, he sailed for California, settled in Sonora, Tuolumne county, and commenced the practice of law. He was elected city recorder in 1851, county judge in the fall of 1853, state senator in 1860. He removed to Vir-

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ginia City, Nevada, in 1863, and remained there until 1868, when he returned to California and settled in San Francisco, where he has been one of the leading criminal lawyers in that city, with an income of from $15,000 to $20,000 per annum. His most famous case was State against Laura D. Fair, charged with shooting A. P. Crittenden, one of the leading attorneys of the Pacific coast. Judge Quint defended her successfully, winning the case after an appeal to the Supreme Court. He was married, January 10, 1865, to Miss Elizabeth Arrington, of New Orleans, La., who has borne him four children.

Charles C. Dewey was born in Randolph, in humble circumstances, in 1830. When a grown-up boy he went to Woodstock as an apprentice in Haskell & Palmer's printing office. He soon left the printing business and went to West Randolph academy for a year or more, and after that entered the office of Tracy, Converse & Barrett, as a student at law, in the summer or fall of 1850. This firm was composed of Hon. Andrew Tracy, once member of Congress, ex-Lieutenant-Governor Julius Converse, afterwards governor, and Hon. James Barrett, for many years one of the judges of the Supreme Court. Mr. Dewey was admitted to the bar in Windsor county at the Decem- ber term, 1853, but continued in the office where he had studied until De- cember, 1854, when he went to Wells River on the proposal and request of Judge Underwood. Judge Barrett writes of him : " I had personal charge of him as a student, as I have had of many others. He was the most successful in learning the law, and was the best qualified for admission, of any applicant I ever knew." He had a good practice at Wells River, and made an excel- lent reputation as a lawyer. He was elected state's attorney for Orange county in 1856, 1857 and 1858, and showed marked ability in performing the duties of the office. While he was state's attorney the notorious Dr. Howard, then of Bradford, was tried for the killing of the Ashe girl by mal-practice, and was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to the state prison for two years. About 1858 Mr. Dewey took into partnership with him Mr. Henry F. Anderson, who had studied law in Woodstock with Messrs. Barrett & Converse. In the spring of 1860 Mr. Dewey left Wells River and removed to Rochester, N. Y., desiring a wider field for the exercise of his ripening abilities. The methods of practice in that state, however, were not con- genial to him, and he returned to Vermont and settled in Rutland, and at once established himself in a remunerative business. In March, 1863, he formed a partnership with Col. Charles H. Joyce, who had then returned from the army, which lasted until March, 1866. In 1869 Mr. Dewey was elected a member of the council of censors, and took an active part in the deliberations of that body, advocating female suffrage. This was his last work of a public character, the disease which finally caused his death very soon began to show its effects upon his mental powers, and he died in 1871, of softening of the brain.

At a meeting of the Rutland county bar, held on the 16th of Septem- ber, 1871, during the session of the County Court, Hon. H. H. Wheeler pre-

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siding, Hon. David E. Nicholson presented and read a series of resolutions which had been adopted by the Rutland county bar in reference to the death of Charles C. Dewey. During the exercises of the occasion Col. Charles H. Joyce, his former partner, made some very appropriate remarks, and among other things said : " When he graduated from that office (the office of Tracy, Converse & Barrett) at the end of three years hard study and close applica- tion, he went forth a well-trained and well-read lawyer, fitted and qualified to take a leading position at any bar, a position which should at once bring credit and profit to himself, and reflect honor upon his noble and generous patrons."

Henry F. Anderson was born in Keene, N. H., July 8, 1834, and was the son of Dexter and Sophia (Foster) Anderson. He was graduated from Dart- mouth college in 1856, in the class with Hon. L. G. Hinckley, and his death was the fifteenth out of a class of sixty. He read law with Messrs. Barrett & Converse, at Woodstock, Vt., and began practice at Wells River, about 1858, where he went into partnership with Charles C. Dewey. Subsequently he went to Rochester, N. Y., probably with Mr. Dewey, who moved to the same city. Mr. Anderson removed to New York city in 1862. He died at his home in Rahway, N. J., in May, 1887.

Edwin Aldrich Rodgers was born in Newbury on what is called " Rodgers Hill," October 20, 1824. His parents were Col. Josiah W. and Lydia S. (Aldrich) Rogers. He fitted for college at the M. E. Conference seminary, at Newbury, and entered college at Middletown, Conn., where he remained through the freshman year, but deciding to make law his profession he left Middletown and went to Harvard college, where he graduated. After the close of his collegiate course he studied law with Hon. Abel Underwood, at Wells River, and was admitted to the Orange county bar January 20, 1854. The following month he started for California, and soon after arriving there he settled in Sonora, Tuolumne county, where he has remained ever since. He has been successful in his profession and is now saluted as " Judge," having held the office for several years. He married Henrietta Morrow, a native of Jamaica Plain, Mass. At that time he was superintendent of schools for the county and his future wife a teacher. They have no children.

Judge Rodgers has never visited the east since his removal to California until in August, 1880, when he came as a delegate from Masonic bodies in his state to the Masonic convention held in Chicago. He is a member of Cali- fornia Consistory, No. 32, and of the Pacific Commandery, No. 3, K. T.

Edwin Harvey, son of Alexander Harvey, was born in Ryegate, Vt., in 1833, and died at McIndoe's Falls some twenty years since. He began his legal studies at Peacham, with William Mattocks, a son of Gov. John Mat- tocks, but finished his course in the office of Hon. Abel Underwood, at Wells River, and was admitted to the Orange county bar January 20, 1854. He soon went to Burlington and practiced there with W. W. Peck, under the firm name of Peck & Harvey.

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Samuel Batchelder, brother of Hon. John W. Batchelder, was born in Top- sham, April 28, 1824. He attended school quite a while at the academy at Bradford, studied law with Hon. Abel Underwood, at Wells River, was ad- mitted to the bar in Orange county, but opened an office at McIndoe's Falls. Not making the practice of law very remunerative he went to Kemper Springs, Mississippi, and opened a school, where he remained some time, and then came north and graduated at Norwich university, at Norwich, Vt. He married Miss Susan Taplin, of East Corinth, and again returned to Missis- sippi, where he taught school about nine years. He afterwards taught in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where his wife died. He finally removed to Albert Lea, Freeborn county, Minn., where he was county inspector of schools and county auditor, which latter office he held for eight years, with an income from it of more than $2,000 per annum. While at Albert Lea he married for his second wife Miss Addie Syms. Mr. Batchelder died quite suddenly, De- cember 7, 1881. He was universally respected.

David T. Corbin was born in the town of Brasher, St. Lawrence county, N. Y., August 11, 1833. While yet an infant he was removed with his par- ents to Grand Isle county, Vt., where, and in the adjoining county of Chit- tenden, he was reared. After passing through the preparatory course of study at Burlington, he was matriculated at Dartmouth college, in 1853, from which institution he was graduated in 1857. He read law with C. C. Dewey, at Wells River, in the town of Newbury, and was admitted to the bar at Chel- sea, in January, 1859, and immediately entered upon the practice of his profession at Wells River.

Upon the opening of the war of the Rebellion he was commissioned early in May, 1861, by Governor Fairbanks, to raise a company of soldiers for the war. Said company was enlisted inside of ten days and was organized at Wells River, of which Mr. Corbin was unanimously elected captain, the 25th day of May, 1861. This company joined the Third Regiment of Vt. Vols., which went into camp at St. Johnsbury, Vt., in June, 1861, and became Com- pany C, in that regiment. Captain Corbin remained with his company and regiment, which served in the Army of the Potomac, participating in the several engagements which preceded and led up to the battle known as the " Seven Days Battle" in front of Richmond, in June, 1862. In this battle he was severely wounded and taken prisoner, carried to Richmond, Va., and confined in Libby prison. Soon after the fall of 1862, he was exchanged, but, on account of his wounds, was then unable to rejoin his regiment. He was mustered out of service on account of his disabilities from wounds received in service, and returned to Vermont in the fall of 1862, whereupon he was ap- pointed, by Edwin M. Stanton, secretary of war, special provost-marshal for the state of Vermont. This office he held about six months, when he resigned it and was appointed, June 17, 1863, a captain, by President Lincoln, in the Invalid Corps, which subsequently was styled the Veteran Reserve Corps. He

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served in this corps during the remainder of the war, being most of the time on detached duty as judge advocate of General Courts-Marshal.

He was brevetted major for gallant conduct in the presence of the enemy at the battle of Savage Station, Va., June 29, 1862. About the close of the war he was ordered to duty at Charleston, South Carolina, in the Freed- men's Bureau, and arrived in that city in the fall of 1865. Soon after he was detailed by the department commander, then Gen. Daniel E. Sickles, to hold the Provost Courts for the city of Charleston and the Sea Islands, which position he held for nearly two years. He resigned his commission in the army in March, 1867, and was immediately appointed United States district attorney for the state of South Carolina, by President Johnson, which position he continued to hold, being twice re-appointed by President Grant, for ten years, when he resigned.

He was elected, in 1868, senator from the county of Charleston, South Caro- lina, to the state legislature, which position he held for the term of four years. During most of this time, the lieutenant-governor having resigned, he served as president of the Senate. In 1869 he was elected city attorney for the city of Charleston, which office, by two re-elections, he continued to hold for six years.

In 1869 he was elected by the legislature of the state of South Carolina one of three commissioners to codify the laws of the state of South Carolina, and report also a code of practice for the state. He, with his associates, re- ported a code of practice to the legislature in December, 1870, which was- adopted by the legislature, and in 1871 reported a compilation of the laws of the state to the legislature. This last service was thrown upon him alone, as his associates were unable to serve. His codification of the laws of the state was adopted by the legislature.

In 1869 Mr. Corbin was elected a judge of the Circuit Court for the Charleston circuit, S. C., by the unanimous vote of the legislature. This office, however, on account of other official duties, he was obliged to decline.

In 1876 he was elected, by the legislature of South Carolina, senator of the United States for the term of six years, commencing on the fourth day of March, 1877. His seat, as a senator from South Carolina, was contested by Gen. M. C. Butler, late of the Confederate army. The committee on privileges and elections of the Senate of the United States reported that he was entitled to a seat in the Senate, and that Gen. Butler was not ; but the Senate, being about equally divided in politics, all the Democrats and one or two Republicans who have never been able to explain satisfactorily their votes, were induced to vote for Gen. M. C. Butler, who thereby obtained by one vote the seat to which Mr. Corbin had been duly elected.

In 1879 Mr. Corbin was nominated by President Hayes to be chief justice of the territory of Utah, but his nomination failed to receive the confirmation of the United States Senate, that body at that time being, by a large ma- jority, Democratic.

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The opposition to Mr. Corbin's confirmation was led by Gen. M. C. Butler,. who had obtained Mr. Corbin's seat in the United States Senate, and by Gen. Wade Hampton, his colleague in the Senate, from South Carolina. Mr. Corbin has always been, since that party was organized, an ardent Re- publican. Judge Corbin is now practicing law in the city of Chicago.

Daniel Allen Rogers was born in East Columbia, N. H., on the 11th of September, 1828, and died at Wells River, July 11, 1881. He was the son of the Rev. Daniel Rogers who died several years ago. Daniel A. Rogers received a good academical education at the academy at Farmington, Maine, made famous by the Abbotts. He read law with Lyman T. Flint, Esq., at Colebrook, one of the half shire towns of Coos county, and was admitted to the bar at the May term, 1854. He at once opened an office at the county seat, and immediately entered into a large practice. He was postmaster of Colebrook for several years, and as he was a Democrat in those days, he was probably appointed under President Pierce, who was elected in 1852. Hoping to better his condition he sold out his practice at Colebrook and entered into partnership with Cornelius Adams, Esq., intending to practice his profession under the new firm at Washington, D. C. But Mr. Adams died before Mr. Rogers removed from Colebrook, and not caring to trust his fortunes alone in the great city, and having sold out his business at home, he was compelled to remove, and went to St. Johnsbury, Vt., where he re- mained about a year and then came to Wells River, the principal village in the town of Newbury, where he entered into partnership with Hon. C. B. Leslie about 1861. He was elected state's attorney of Orange county in 1876 and held that office two years, and to quote the language of Judge Leslie, from a sketch written immediately after Mr. Rogers's death: " The criminal justice in and for Orange county, while he was state's attorney, was. so well and ably administered that when the convention was being held at Chelsea to select his successor, the presiding judge then holding the County Court there suggested that Mr. Rogers be nominated again, saying that the office of state's attorney had been so well and ably filled by him for the two years he had held the office that it would be well for the state and county to elect him again."

In 1872 he was elected to represent the town of Newbury in the General Assembly for the biennial term. He was for two years selectman of New- bury, and for several years prior to and up to his decease he was one of the prudential committee in the graded school district of Wells River. He filled all of these various positions of trust well and efficiently and to the satisfac- tion of the public.

To quote Judge Leslie again : "But there is another office which Mr. Rogers has held and filled for several years past, and filled, too, with extra- ordinary ability, and which by reason of his large biblical knowledge he was well qualified to fill, and that office is that of superintendent of the Sabbath- school. Nothing pleased him more than to see the young growing up with a.

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.correct knowledge of the word of God. He would talk to the members of the Sabbath school as if they were his own children. It is therefore some- thing more than a mnere form that the church and Sabbath-school will, on the Sabbath of July 17 (the Sabbath after his decease), hold a memorial service for the beloved brother and superintendent who is gone." And again Judge Leslie says: "For many years Mr. Rogers has been selected by his brother lawyers and their clients, not only in Vermont, but in New Hampshire, as auditor, referee and master in chancery, to sit and try cases as such officer of the court, and the cases so sent to him to try and determine have been very numerous, often involving large and important interests, and so well has he performed these laborious and conscientious legal duties that he was probably more often selected for that purpose than almost any other man in this section."

Mr. Rogers left a wife and four children, two sons and two daughters, to mourn a loss that is indeed irreparable. He had many friends wherever he was known. His genial manners and rich fund of anecdote will long be missed by the members of Orange county bar.

Benjamin F. Burnham, who practiced at Newbury, 1861-63, enlisted in the Eighth Vt. Vols., in December, 1863, and afterwards commanded a company in the 87th U. S. Colored Infantry. In 1865 he was judge advocate of a military commission sitting at New Orleans, and afterwards was detailed as assistant superintendent to establish Freedmen's schools in Louisiana ; and while so engaged was dangerously wounded by a rebel assassin at Monroe, the shire town of Wachita Parish. On recovering from his wound he re- turned north and settled at Boston, where he has since been engaged in law literature, chiefly by Messrs. Little, Brown & Co. He was editor of Vol. 29 (for 1869) of their Annual Digest, and has assisted upon each volume thereof since issued. In the last volume of the General Digest, the editor-in-chief, Benjamin V. Abbott, makes honorable mention of his assistance upon that series. He also supervised the table of cases thereto, and assisted in later works, including the last edition of Washburn on the " Law of Real Property," " Morawetz on Corporations," and the third edition of " Morse on Banking " ·(soon to be published). He was for several years a special justice of the South Boston Municipal Court. After the death of his wife, in 1880, to beguile his loneliness by a labor of love, he completed a religious work projected by her, entitled "The Life of Lives," (a copy of which may be found in the Ver- mont state library).

Judge Burnham was born at Groton, Vt., in 1830, graduated at the Wes- leyan university in 1853, was principal of Lewiston seminary (Fulton county, Ill.) two years, and was admitted to the bar by the Illinois Supreme Court in 1857, and practiced at Chicago until 1861, when matters connected with the settlement of his father's estate induced him to return and reside in Vermont.

William Allen Tewksbury was born in Newbury, November 17, 1838. He fitted for college at Newbury seminary and Barre academy. Entering

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Middlebury college he graduated with honor in 1865, bearing away the Parkerian prize as a speaker. After reading law with Dickey & Worthen, of Bradford, aud C. W. Clarke, Esq., of Chelsea, he was admitted to the bar in January, 1867. In the spring of the same year he removed to Iowa and formed a partnership with F. G. Clark, another young Vermonter, at Belle Plain, Benton county, where for a number of years he enjoyed a lucrative practice. Subsequently removing to Vinton, the county seat, he occupied a prominent position at the bar till his career was cut short by a fatal attack of erysipelas. He died in January, 1884, aged forty-six years.

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Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888, Part 15

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