USA > Vermont > Orange County > Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888 > Part 17
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In February, 1826, he commenced practice at Bethel. He was married about this time to Melissa Arnold, of Randolph. He soon had a large prac- tice at Bethel and in adjoining towns. He remained at Bethel in the prac- tice of his profession until 1840, when he formed a law partnership with Andrew Tracy, and removed to Woodstock, where he ever after resided. He was a partner with Augustus P. Hunton, at Bethel, a short time before removing to Woodstock. He remained in partnership with Mr. Tracy until the latter was elected to Congress in the fall of 1853, when Mr. Tracy re- tired from the firm, which was then Tracy, Converse & Barrett. James Bar- rett was received as a partner into the firm of Tracy & Converse in 1849. Converse & Barrett remained as a firm until Judge Barrett was elected to the Supreme bench in the fall of 1857, at which time Warren C. French, a nephew of Gov. Converse, removed from Sharon and entered into partner- ship with him at Woodstock. The firm of Converse & French continued until 1865, when Gov. Converse retired from active practice ; he, however, continued in office practice and as advisory counsel for several years there- after, occupying the same office with Mr. French, and occasionally appeared in court as counsel. During his residence at Bethel he practiced much in Orange county, and occasionally after his removal to Woodstock.
He was a well-read, able, loborious and painstaking lawyer, and a man of great industry. He made thorough preparation in his cases, and in trials in court was very skillful in the examination and cross-examination of witnesses, and was a good advocate. During his partnership with Mr. Tracy he pre- pared and argued most of their cases in the Supreme Court, Mr. Tracy con- fining himself mostly to jury trials, being an able and eloquent advocate. It is believed that no other firm of lawyers in the state did the amount of busi- ness which they did for the ten years succeeding 1840.
He held many offices of trust and honor during his long life. He was rep-
* Furnished by Warren C. French.
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resentative from the town of Bethel in 1833, and from the town of Wood- stock in 1847, '48, '49, and again in 1867 and '68. He was one of the first four senators from Windsor county, on the organization of the Senate in 1836, and held the office four years by annual re-elections, being the longest term of any state senator in our history. He was state's attorney for Windsor county three years, from 1844 to 1847 ; was lieutenant-governor of the state in 1850 and '51, Charles K. Williams, ex-chief justice, being governor.
He was nominated for governor in the summer of 1872, during his absence from the state, and was elected by a large majority, and held the office two years. In his official duties he was methodical, attentive, and courteous to all. In all his relations in life he was ever faithful, pleasant and obliging, and in manners polite and urbane, a gentleman of the old school, familiar and popu- lar with all with whom he came in contact.
He was twice married. His first wife died December 14, 1872, his sec- ond wife survives him and a daughter by the second marriage. He died at Dixville Notch, N. H., August 16, 1885, and was buried at Woodstock, Vt.
Mordecai Hale was born in Royalton, Mass., May 17, 1800, and was ad- mitted to the bar of the Orange County Court at its June term, 1826, as of Randolph, having studied with Hon. William Nutting, but there is no evi- dence that he ever practiced in this county. He was admitted to the Supreme Court in Caledonia county in March, 1830, and afterwards prac- ticed at Barnet and Peacham, in that county. He was a good scholar, but naturally indolent, and probably not in love with his profession. A corres- pondent says : " He got into the clutches of Old Sol. Downer when he first began practice. I think Downer got him into jail upon a claim that he failed to make collections and returns agreeably to a receipt he gave for the demands. He could talk and argue a case quite well before auditors, ref- erees and at justice trials, but he never tried many cases in County or Supreme Court. He married Jane Harvey, a daughter of Col. Alexander Harvey, and sister of the late Hon. Robert Harvey, of Barnet, against the wishes of her brothers, and they never forgave it, and that, together with the Downer trouble (the Downer trouble particularly), discouraged him early in life. He was quite often chosen to act as referee, auditor, etc. He was honest and upright in his dealings and would have made a good lawyer if he had been energetic and industrious in his habits and persistent to win his cause by all fair and honorable means." He was state's attorney for Caledonia county in 1846 and '47, and was state senator from that county in 1852 and '53. He removed to Peacham in the spring of 1859, where he resided most of the time until his death in 1886. While at the latter place he was one of the trustees of the Caledonia County Grammar school for several years.
Joseph S. Washburn was admitted to practice in Orange county at the June term of the County Court, 1828. He had an office in Randolph from 1830 to 1836, and then removed west.
Livingston Anson Sargent was born in the village of East Randolph, and
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fitted for college at the academy at Randolph Center, where he attended school three or four years, and was a classmate of Hon. Philander Perrin. His father was Benjamin Sargent, for a long time a scythe-maker in the village of his birth. His mother was Orpha Belknap, of the same village. He commenced his studies with the Hon. William Hebard, who then resided at East Randolph, and finished them with Hon. William Upham, of Mont- pelier, and was admitted to practice in the County Court of Washington county in 1834, Judge Mattocks presiding at the time. Two or three years later he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court and Court of Chan- cery at Chelsea. Soon after his admission to the County Court he commenced the practice of law in Orange county, and was associated with Hon. Levi B. Vilas in the trial of various cases, although during most of the time he resided at East Randolph. One season he resided and practiced in West Fairlee. After about a dozen years he abandoned the profession on account of ill health, and for fifteen years was confidential clerk and book-keeper for J. A. S. White, mer- chant at Northfield, Vt., and since then has done business for the Central Vermont Railroad Company. Mr. Sargent married the daughter of John E. Watt, of Windsor, Vt., January 1, 1854, by whom he had two children, a son and a daughter. The latter lives at Bellows Falls, and is the wife of Albert E. Blanchard, conductor on the Cheshire railroad, and the former, E. N. Sargent, is an expert telegraph operator and has been in the employ of the Central Vermont Railroad Company, but is now the telegraph operator at Windsor. His wife, the mother of these children, died in March, 1868.
Hon. Philander Perrin* was born in Randolph, May 18, 1808. He was the second son of Noah and Olive Perrin, and had four brothers and three sisters. Noah Perrin died January 20, 1856, aged eighty-five years, eleven months. Philander has two brothers and one sister still living. His boy- hood and early life, like most others, was comparatively uneventful ; but I am told that when a child he was frail, slender and weakly, and had a dis- taste for farm labor ; indeed he was not strong enough . to perform manual labor with success. He early showed an earnest desire to obtain an educa- tion, and did obtain such an one as the limited means of his father permitted. He attended the district school and later the Orange County Grammar school, at Randolph. He taught school winters and was very popular as a teacher.
After graduating from the Orange County Grammar school he read law with Hon. William Nutting, and was admitted to Orange county bar in June, 1836. While pursuing his legal and academical studies, he boarded at home and walked the distance of two and a half miles to attend to his studies.
On being admitted to the bar, he opened an office at Randolph Center, and commenced the practice of his chosen profession, and soon took a high rank among the first lawyers of his time. Practicing in the same town with
*Furnished by Hon. N. L. Boyden.
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his preceptor, they were usually on opposite sides of cases in that vicinity. He was careful and cautious in taking cases, and would often get the better of his preceptor, but their friendship contined to their death, and their " beatings" left no sting.
His cotemporaries and associates for many years were William Hebard, Edmund Weston, William Nutting, Levi B. Vilas, J. P. Kidder, John B. Hutchinson, A. M. Dickey, Andrew Tracy, Paul Dillingham and Lucius B. Peck. Opposed to and associated with such lawyers during his more active practice, he became a close student of the law, and a sharp and careful prac- titioner. He had a clear conception of the law and its application to the case under consideration. He studied his cases with great care and prepared them thoroughly and had an extensive practice. In his most active practice he had more causes in court in which he was counsel than any other lawyer in Orange county. In the trial of causes in court he was severe with wit- nesses that he suspected of lying, and unmerciful in his attacks upon their testimony.
He had no equal in a justice trial. He carefully prepared his case, often taking more time than many lawyers take in preparing a case for the Supreme Court. He had a large fund of ready wit and good humor, and exhibited great ability and tact in the management of his case. He was very popular, and the people generally had the utmost confidence in his legal knowledge and ability, and it was extremely difficult for any lawyer to succeed against him in the justice court. He was industrious, and when not engaged in the trial of causes, was engaged in preparation.
He was scrupulously clean and neat in the care of his books and papers. When he was through with a book he put it in its proper place, and you could scarcely find a blot or stain upon his books or papers. All his papers were neatly filed and carefully laid away, and he knew where to find them. Unlike most lawyers he was a good, plain writer and disliked poor penmanship. He was modest and unassuming, and quite diffident. He lacked confidence in his own ability in the County Court, and would often call in others to assist him, and would hesitate to take an active part in work that he was better prepared to do than any one else ; but when he did assume responsibilities he would do the work well.
He excelled as a Supreme Court lawyer. Here he appeared to regain his confidence. He always thoroughly prepared his cases, and had them ready. His preparations showed great and careful study and research, and usually a clear conception of the principles of law applicable to his case. He made no attempt at show or eloquence in the Supreme Court, or to waste time by use- less and meaningless discussion, but endeavored to convince by authorities, and strove to win in a fair and honorable manner. He tried his last case in the Supreme Court in Orange county, March 7, 1882, and it was one of the best, if not the best, preparations of the term. The Supreme Court was always pleased to listen to him. He was an honorable practitioner, and kind hearted.
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He had great respect for the members of his profession and the court, and rarely spoke disrespectfully of either.
Many years before his death he became quite deaf, so that it was difficult for him to enter into active trials. Before this he was often called to act as auditor, referee, arbitrator and commissioner. His brethren and their clients had confidence, not only in his ability, but also in his integrity. He was quick to comprehend the points of the case, took the testimony carefully and weighed it fairly to all concerned. He always lived in Randolph, and prac- ticed law nearly half a century.
Politically he was a Democrat, and here as elsewhere was true to his con- victions, although not of the usually dominant party he was personally popular and was frequently called to places of trust and confidence in his native town and county. He was assistant town clerk for B. T. Blodgett for many years ; town clerk and treasurer from 1851 to 1855; trustee of the United States deposit money fifteen years ; postmaster several years ; state's attorney of the county one year, com nencing in December, 1847; register of probate for Judge Weston several years ; and judge of probate in 1850, 1851 and 1852. In all these places and positions he discharged his duties with ability and fidelity. He was a member of the Episcopal church and usually one of its officers, and was unfaltering in its support, and a constant attendant upon its services.
Judge Perrin was generous and liberal. He was a genial companion, and had a fund of ready wit and good humor that made all happy around him. May 20, 1839, he was married to Hannah Egerton, daughter of William Egerton, who was a brother of Lebbeus Egerton. They had two sons and one daughter. One son, William Egerton, served in the army in the war of the Rebellion, and died in New York of blood poison after the war closed. The other son, Frank Vilas, was named by Judge Perrin's friend, Levi B. Vilas, father of Postmaster-General Vilas. He was for several years in the employ of the American Express Co, at Springfield, Mass., but now has a good position in the postal service. The daughter married J. H. Moulton, and they live at West Randolph, and the mother lives with them. Mr. Moulton is of the firm of Moulton Bros., who own the celebrated Green Mountain Stock Farm, near West Randolph, and breed Jerseys and Hamble- tonian horses.
Judge Perrin had been quite feeble, and after the fire at West Randolph, December 6, 1884, that destroyed his office, he determined to retire from the active practice of his profession, which he did. He was stricken with paralysis February 6, which entirely paralyzed one side, and died March 4, 1885. He was buried in his family lot at Randolph Center, in the same cemetery with other distinguished dead with whom he had associated.
Warren H. Smith was born March 25, 1818, in Brookfield. His parents were Norman and Susannah Smith. His father died when Warren was five years old, and he at six years was put out to earn his living. He then
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labored and attended district schools till fourteen, and then, after a term at Randolph academy, he commenced teaching winter terms, attending said academy fall terms, and some spring terms, and farm laboring in summer for seven years, and with one term at Hanover, completed his education. He studied law in the office of William Nutting, in Randolph, where he resided after fourteen years of age, mostly, till August, 1843, laboring summers to secure. the necessary means till the June term of 1843, at Chelsea, when he was ad- mitted to the bar of the county, and assigned, with others then admitted, by Judge Stephen Royce, then holding the court, to defend a noted counterfeiter, supposed a desperate case, but he was cleared by the jury. In August, 1843, Mr. Smith moved to Rutland county and engaged in the practice as a lawyer. and has remained there ever since. For a considerable period he had a full docket and a practice fairly remunerative, but for some years past he has sought retirement from practice, except certain classes of cases. Later years. he has been more engaged in real estate and financial affairs, connected with several banks, and the care of his own business.
He married ,in 1857, with Miss Weymouth, of Walpole, N. H., and was. blessed with two sons and two daughters, but was severely afflicted in 1883 by the death of his eldest son, aged twenty-three, a doctor in Atlanta, Ga., and his eldest daughter at home, aged twenty-one years, a few weeks after her return with the family from Italy. His remaining children are at home,-the son in one of the Rutland banks as clerk and book-keeper. Mr. Smith has- never sought office, and held none of consequence, only for some thirty-five years he was a magistrate in Rutland county.
Charles Nutting was the second son of Hon. William Nutting, of Ran- dolph. After fitting for college he entered the University of Vermont, and finished his college studies at the Western Reserve college, Ohio, whither his elder brother, William, Jr., had preceded him. He graduated at the latter institution in 1840, studied law with his father at Randolph, was admitted to. the Orange county bar June 19, 1844, entered into partnership with his- father in the law business, and continued at Randolph as late as 1857, when he went to Westford, Wis.
Hon. Jefferson Parish Kidder * was born in Braintree, June 4, 1814, and died in October, 1883, at St. Paul, Minn., where he had gone from Vermil- lion, Dakota, for medical treatment. His parents were Lyman and Ruth (Nichols) Kidder. He was trained to agricultural pursuits, and taught the. Braintree district school when but fifteen years of age. He prepared for col- lege at the Orange County Grammar school in Randolph, graduated at Nor- wich university, Vt., and was a tutor therein. He began the study of law with B. F. Chamberlin, at Snowsville, a village in Braintree, and was a stu- dent of Chamberlin at the time the latter was killed. He commenced the practice of law in the same village and continued there until about 1845,
* Furnished by S. W. Kidder, of Vermillion, Dakota.
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when he removed to West Randolph, where he remained until he removed to St. Paul, Minn., in 1857. While in Vermont he was a prominent member of the state bar. The University of Vermont conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts in 1848. In 1843 he was a member of the State Consti- tutional convention of Vermont, and for five years (1843-47) served as state's attorney. From 1847 to 1849 he held a seat in the state Senate of Vermont, and was lieutenant governor of the state in 1853-1854. He was a delegate to the National Democratic convention when Buchanan was nominated. He moved to St. Paul, Minn., with his family, in 1857. He was elected to the state legislature of Minnesota in 1860. Judge Kidder was a Democrat of the Jeffersonian proviso stamp, until the commencement of the late war, after- which time he adhered with unwavering constancy to the Republican party.
He was again a candidate and was elected as a Republican and served in the House in 1863-64. In 1859, while on a visit to Dakota, " at that time unorganized," he was elected as provisional delegate in Congress from that ter- ritory. In 1865 he was commissioned by President Lincoln an associate justice of the Supreme Court for Dakota, in which capacity he served with two re-ap- pointments until 1876, when he resigned to enter Congress as the delegate from Dakota. Here he served four years. In 1880 he was for the fourth time appointed to the judgeship he had resigned, and held this posttion at the time of his death. He was a man of the people, blessed to an extent not often vouchsafed to any one individual, with the rarest and most precious of God's gifts, having a manly physique, and unusually pleasant and strikingly noticeable intellectual face, in which kindness, benevolence, self-reliance, and marked intelligence were impressedly conspicious. His affinities being with the masses, and his sympathies being lenient to the frailties of poor human nature, his decisions as judge, and his conduct as a citizen, always "leaned to mercy's side." There has perhaps been no death among public men of late years which has caused such general and wide-spread feeling of loss among all classes and conditions of men in the Northwest as did that of Judge Kidder. Either upon the bench or in private life he was one of the most approachable of men, and even when his court was in session his good humor would crop out in pleasantries that would cause a general laugh. His wit was not of the offensive sort, but was of that character which causes the object of a jocular remark to join as heartily in the laugh which followed as did anyone else. When his jocularity, while in the discharge of his official duties, was com- mented upon, he was wont to remark that it relieved the tedium and kept the machinery of justice oiled. There is no instance in which any man ever whispered a question as to the official integrity of Judge Kidder, and a decis- ion from him was always accepted as a fair expression of his measure of the rights in the case. During the whole of his long service on the bench as a nisi prius judge not a single one of his many important decisions was ever reversed or appealed from. He was a man of very cordial social qualities, and in every town in his district was attendant upon such gatherings as
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occurred during his sojourn, it being nothing unusual to see him join very gracefully in quadrilles, or to hear his voice in a chorus. About it all there was an appropriate air which did not detract from his dignity as a judge how- ever much it might add to his social popularity. As a public speaker he was eloquent and argumentative. Few men took greater delight in relating or list- ening to a pun, a flash of wit, or a good story, than Judge Kidder. If this republic was ransacked over for a typical American "to the manner born," em- bodying all the brains, dash, sympathy, force of character, intellectuality, vigor, and manliness attributed to our race by the peoples of other nations, the subject of our sketch came as near to the acme of such a mind's eye figure as we have ever known. Had he lived until Dakota had donned the robes of statehood he would have been the first choice of its people to repre- sent them in the national Senate.
J. Morse Flint was the third son of General Martin Flint and his second wife, Asenath Morse, who was a niece and adopted daughter of Hon. Dudley Chase. He married Lavina L. Hebard, only daughter of Enoch Hebard, Esq., of Randolph, and lived at home with his father, Gen. Flint, until his decease, February 28, 1855. J. Morse Flint was appointed superintendent of com- inon schools for the county of Orange, November 25, 1845, and re-ap- pointed the next year. He was also a member of the state Senate at one time. He practiced law at West Randolph for a number of years, but soon after his father's death he removed to Wisconsin, where he has served two terms in the legislature of that state.
John B. Hutchinson, son of Col. Rufus Hutchinson, was born in Braintree, ·October 8, 1819, and died at West Randolph, of consumption, April 2, 1867. He graduated at the University of Vermont in 1843, and received the degree of A. M. in 1848. He studied law with Hon. Edmund Weston, and was admitted to the bar of Orange county in June, 1845, and commenced the practice of law at West Randolph, where he ever after lived. On October 24, 1849, he was married to Lucretia M., youngest daughter of Hon. N. P. Gregory, of Plattsburgh, N. Y. He was judge of probate for the district of Randolph for three years from December 1, 1853, and a member of the council of censors in 1855. In 1856 he represented Randolph in the legislature, and was senator from Orange county in 1864 and 1865. For many years he was a director of the Northfield bank under the state system, and its cashire about two years.
Judge Hutchinson was universally respected both for his moral and intel- lectual worth, and enjoyed in an unusual degree the business confidence of the community. He was not an advocate, and tried but few cases, though he was engaged in many ; but he gave honest industry to the case and prepa- ration of his cases, and rendered valuable service to his clients. But it was in chamber counsel that he was at his best. There his natural disposition for peace asserted itself, often to the extinguishment of flames that with different advice might easily have been fanned into useless and expensive litigation.
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It was this quality more than any other that gave him his hold on men, and caused them to seek his advice and rely upon it, for they felt that it was honest at least.
Milan H. Sessions was born in Randolph, December 4, 1821, and was educated at the academy in the same town and at Norwich university (Vt). He read law with Hon. Edmund Weston, in West Randolph, was admitted to the Orange county bar, June 17, 1846, and commenced practice in the vil- lage where he studied, in his native town. He was married, November 3, 1847, to Caroline C. Chandler, daughter of William B. Chandler. In Janu- ary, 1850, he removed to Waitsfield, Washington county, Vt., where he was elected state's attorney for the county in 1851 and '52. In May, 1855, he removed to Waupaca, in the county of the same name, in the state of Wis- consin, and was there elected district attorney for the county in 1857 and 1858. In August, 1862, he raised Co. G, of the Twenty-first Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers in the war of the Rebellion, making enlistment papers and enlisting eighty-seven men in one day or within twenty-four hours. He was commissioned as captain, August 26, 1862, and was discharged, on surgeon's certificate of disability, March 29, 1864. After his return he re- entered the profession and was elected to the Senate of the state of Wiscon- sin for the sessions of the legislature for 1865 and 1866, and was elected a member of the House of Representatives from Waupaca county for the ses- sion of 1869. In April, 1871, he again changed his location and removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, and was there elected to the legislature of that state for the session of 1873, and chosen speaker of the House. He was again elected to the legislature of that state for the years 1879 and 1883. In May, 1884, he removed to Minneapolis, Minn., where he formed a partnership with A. L. DeCoster, Esq., for the practice of law, and where he now resides. In 1885 he was a delegate from the depart- ment of Minnesota to the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic held at Portland, Maine, and also to the national encampment held in St. Louis, Mo., in 1887.
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