USA > Vermont > Orange County > Gazetteer of Orange County, Vt., 1762-1888 > Part 20
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After graduating Mr. Gleason read law with Cornelius W. Clark, Esq., of Chelsea, and was admitted to the bar in 1861. He at once commenced the practice of his profession at Thetford Center, one of the numerous villages of his native town, and has continued in practice there ever since. He was state's attorney for Orange county for the years 1864 and 1865, and again for 1868 and 1869. He represented his town in the state legislature during 1864 and 1865, and was state senator in 1880 and 1881. He is one of the trustees of Thetford academy, and of the State Normal school at Randolph, and was a direc- tor and attorney of the West Fairlee Savings bank. In 1880 he was appointed by Gov. Farnham chairman of the board of railroad commissioners of Ver- mont for a term of two years. He filled this responsible and delicate office to the satisfaction of the public as well as of the railroad companies. While state's attorney he conducted several important criminal prosecutions, suc- cessfully, among which were the Levi Fickett forgery case, the Tanner arson case, and many others. In the great trial of Julius Fox, of Tunbridge, for the murder of his wife, which lasted eighteen days, he was the leading counsel for the prosecution, as state's attorney, in the final contest. He has acted as counsel in many of the most important civil cases which have been tried in Orange county for the last twenty years. The long fought suit between Ira R. Melendy and the town of Bradford was twice argued by him at the general term of the Supreme Court, and finally resulted in a victory for his client. He was counsel for L. K. Smith in his suit against the town of Strafford, for injuries occasioned by a defective highway, and had the entire charge of the trial in Cook vs. Thetford, for the town, also a highway case, which resulted in a verdict for the town. In the long contested chancery case of Bicknell and Pollard against the Vermont Copper Mining Company, which it was then supposed involved $500,000, he was associated with the Hon. John W. Rowell, for the orators, and twice argued the case at Montpelier, once before Chancellor Powers and once before the general term of the Supreme Court. The case was of such magnitude and importance that the court relaxed its rule allowing each side but two hours for argument, and Mr. Gleason was permitted to occupy an entire day. The morning following the argument Chief Justice Pierpoint said to him at the breakfast table, " We congratulate you on looking so well this morning. We think you acquitted yourself creditably yesterday in your argument."
Mr. Gleason was elected judge of probate for the district of Bradford, in Orange county, in September, 1886, by a large majority, which office he now holds. Judge Gleason has been appreciated by his own townsmen, as well as by the county and the state, as is shown by the fact of his being sent to the
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legislature, and also by his being town clerk for many years, and holding other important offices within the gift of his town. He is a man universally respected, and undoubtedly will hold the office of judge of probate as long as he chooses to keep it, although he is elected for a term of but two years.
Judge Gleason has been receiver of all the immense mining and other properties in Orange county in controversy in the suits against the Vermont Copper Mining Company, Vermont Copper Company, and Ely Goddard & Cazin, by appointment of the chancellor, since 1883, and has the responsi- bility of selling this property, which was once valued at more than a million of dollars, and which produced more than 3,000,000 pounds of copper per annum, but which is now greatly depreciated in value by the fall in the price of copper.
Judge Gleason married, May 19, 1862, Sarah Lysenbee, daughter of Dr. Enoch Hilton and Arvilla Smith (Brown) Pillsbury, of Hubbardston, Mass. They have no children. About 1868 the Judge built him a commodious dwelling in the village, where he has since resided, and now, with the dignity of a responsible and honorable office resting upon him, he is quietly and happily passing the years of life's maturity.
Salmon Goddell Heaton was born in Thetford, June 21, 1813, and died in Post Mills village, in the same town, August 10, 1880. He was appointed a clerk in the pension office in 1852, and went at once to Washington, D. C., where he remained until the change of administration, in 1860. During the eight years that he was in the public service he was one of the chief clerks in the office of the secretary of the interior. Upon his return home he did a good deal of writing in the probate office for Judge Bean, at West Fairlee, and practiced law some in the Justice Courts. December 23, 1875, he was admitted to Orange county bar.
TOPSHAM.
Philip Hopkins Baker was born in Meriden village, Plainfield, N. H., March 24, 1808. His father, Hernan Baker, was the oldest son of Dr. Oliver Baker, the first physician who permanently settled in Meriden village. Dr. Baker came from Connecticut, and had studied his profession in Hartford, in that state. He was a relative of Ethan Allen's mother, whose name was Mary Baker, and a cousin of Remember Baker, so well known in the early history of Vermont. Heman Baker married Abigail Hopkins, of Plainfield, in 1805. She was the daughter of Philip Hopkins, who came from Rhode Island, and was a descendant from Stephen Hopkins, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Heman Baker removed to Barnet, in 1819, but young Philip spent most of his thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth years in attendance upon the Kimball Union academy, in Meriden village. He was two terms at the Peacham academy (Vt.), taught school several terms in Bradford and Newbury, and finished his school studies at Bradford academy.
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He studied law with Seth Austin, Esq., then in full practice at Bradford, and was admitted to the Orange county bar probably in 1836, and to the Supreme Court, at the February term, 1838. Mr. Baker began the practice of his pro- fession at East Topsham, in Orange county, and continued there as long as he lived. He showed signs of marked ability in the trial of causes from the very first, and he soon had a lucrative practice. A friend says of him: " Mr. Baker had quite a turn for speculation. He was always ready to go into any kind of business where he could make something. At one time he run the shoemaking business, at another blacksmithing for a while. For a short time he was in the mercantile business with James Hutchins and James Carter, of Topsham, and Benjamin Newell, of Piermont, N. H., under the firm name of Hutchins, Carter & Co. He was in the farming business with his brother Norman Baker for a time. In his legal practice he somewhat resembled L. B. Vilas in one particular. He did a good deal of out-door work, set traps and laid plans, so that his opponents never knew exactly what they had to meet. The last two years of his life he was very successful in his Justice Court trials, and he had to meet such men as Seth Austin, J. W. D. Parker Abel Underwood, Elijah Farr, ex-Gov. John Mattocks, of Peacham, and others of that stamp. And it was the common talk of business men that he managed his cases full as well, if not better than those he had to meet." He lived, however, but about five years after his admission to the bar, dying of con- sumption March 2, 1841.
Mr. Baker's widow married Dr. Isaac McNeice, of Wells River, but died in the course of three or four years in Chicago, where she is buried. He left a young child, a daughter, who survived him but a short time.
Mrs. Salome A. Andross, widow of William G. Andross, late of Bradford, is a sister of Mr. Baker.
John Buxton, Jr., was born in Newbury, Vt., May 4, 1810, and died sud- denly at Haverhill, N. H., April 28, 1855, of disease of the lungs. He was for a. time in trade at Topsham, and then studied law with Philip H. Baker, of that place, but whether he was ever admitted to the bar anywhere is not evident. His name appears in Walton's Register as a lawyer at Topsham in 1836, and he practiced in the East village of that town for a short time. He later re- moved to New York city, where he was a successful merchant, and remained such until failing health compelled him to give up business. He married for his second wife Miss Mira Blake, of Topsham.
Joseph Huntoon was from Orange, Vt., studied law with A. M. Dickey, at West Topsham, was admitted to the bar of Orange county, January 19, 1854, opened an office for a time in the village where he studied, but finally re- moved to Wisconsin.
Capt. Josiah Osgood Livingston was born in Walden, Caledonia county, Vt., February 3, 1837, and was admitted to the bar in Lamoille county, May term, 1861. But the disturbed state of the country would not permit him to settle down to the practice of his chosen profession. The calls of patriot-
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ism were stronger than those of business, and we find him mustered into the United States service July 9, 1862, as lieutenant of Co. I, of the Ninth Ver- mont Regiment. He was appointed adjutant of the same regiment, June 23, 1863, and promoted to be captain of Company G, also of the same regiment, September 15, 1864, and was mustered out of the service at Rich- mond, Va., June 13, 1865, by reason of the termination of the war. Some of the above dates do not agree with those found in the Adjutant-General's Reports, but they are as given by Capt. Livingston. The Captain came out of the army with his health much affected. He very soon opened an office and commenced law business in Topsham, where he remained from May, 1866, to March, 1869, when he removed to Montpelier. He had a fair share of business, and gave good satisfaction to his clients while he remained in the active duties of the profession. He is now upon a farm near Mont- pelier, where his health is much more robust than when confined to an office.
Roney M. Harvey was the son of John and Margaret (Haight) Harvey, who had eleven children, all born in Topsham, ten of them living to reach maturity. Roney was the youngest, except one, and was born May 20, 1843. The father was of Scotch descent, but the mother was pure Yankee from the state of Maine.
Mr. Harvey lived with his parents in Topsham until ten years of age, and then in Groton, Vt., until he was twenty-one, attending the district schools, Newbury seminary, and Peacham academy. He taught district schools five winter terms, and also attended a select school for several terms at East Top- sham, taught by Rev. N. R. Johnson, the Presbyterian clergyman at that place. In 1866 he went to California, and during the same year he attended Eastman's Business college, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He went to West Top- sham in the spring of 1867 and commenced the study of the law with J. O. Livingston, Esq., then in practice there, and was admitted to the bar at the December term of Orange County Court, 1869. He soon opened an office at West Topsham, and December 28, 1870, he married Miss Cora J. Bill, daughter of Hon. Roswell M. Bill, of that village. He has lived and made it his home at Topsham since 1867. He has had good success in his pro- fession, and although Topsham is not the center of a large business, yet Mr. Harvey has been employed in many important suits that originated in other towns. He is a persistent worker for his clients and an effective advocate before a jury. He was elected state's attorney for the county in 1878 for the term of two years, was sent by his town to the state legislature in 1880, and during the session was elected by the legislature one of the supervisors of the insane for the term of two years. He was again elected to the legis- lature, in 1886, for the biennial term. Mr. Harvey has three children, two boys and a girl, Erwin M., Laila J. and John N.
The brethren of Orange county are so modest, and furnish so few facts in regard to themselves, that it is not possible to do them justice without more research than it is possible to give for this work.
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TUNBRIDGE.
Newell Ordway, who practiced law some time in Tunbridge, was born in that town about 1802, '03, or '04. He came from an old stock of that name, who were among the first settlers of the town, and was brought up on a farm. In early life he engaged in teaching school, and finally studied law with Hon. William Hebard,at East Randolph. He was admitted to Orange county bar, but the date we cannot give. He opened an office in Tunbridge and practiced there for several years. For some misdemeanor, however, he was disbarred. He finally was guilty of several criminal acts, and during one session of the legis- lature at Montpelier he stole a horse and chaise from John Spalding, and an overcoat from John Ferrin, of Lamoille county, was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to state's prison for a term of six years. He remained in prison some four years or so, and was then pardoned out by the governor. After his discharge from prison, it is said, he came to Tunbridge in the night to see his mother and bid her good bye, since which time nothing has been. known of him.
Gustavus Rolfe was born at Hanover, N. H., April 10, 1797, removed to Chelsea some few years thereafter, attended the common district schools there, entered the academy at Randolph, and spent some years there under Rufus Nutting, preceptor, and pursued an academical course of instruction, giving his attention to Latin, English and scientific branches. He commenced the study of the law in the office of Hon. Edmund Weston, in Randolph, and there finished his law studies. He was admitted to the bar of Orange County Court, December term, 1830, having passed his examination with distinction and credit, and was admitted to the Supreme Court in Orange county at the March term, 1833, and to the District and Circuit Courts of the United States, in May, 1842. He was probate register under Judge John Colby in the district of Randolph. He practiced his profession in Orange and Wind- sor counties until September 25, 1869, when he deceased.
During the years while acquiring his education at the academy, and during his law studies, he was a successful teacher in several district schools in the winter season at Tunbridge and elsewhere.
Sylvester C. Eaton was born in Hardwick, Caledonia county, Vt., April 2, 1808. He received a common school education alone, with the addition of perhaps two or three terms at the Montpelier academy. Although his educa- tion was limited, he was ambitious and studious and desirous of making the most he could of himself, and he studied law in the office of Upham & Keith, of Montpelier, and was admitted to the Washington county bar at the April term, 1833. He practiced law in Plainfield, in the county where he was ad- mitted to the bar, for five years and then removed to Orange county, residing in Tunbridge for a year, when a better opening offering in Chelsea he re- moved there about 1840. He continued in the practice of law until 1842,
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when he left the profession and entered the ministry as a teacher of universal salvation. He was stationed at various places in Vermont as a preacher. His last removal was from Brattleboro to Northfield, where he died January 7,1886.
Daniel Folsom Weymonth was born in Tunbridge, June 22, 1818, was ed- ucated at the district schools, at the academy at Newbury, Vt., and at the old academy at Randolph, was engaged in teaching in the district schools winters during the time of his attending at the academies, and during his law studies. He studied law with Hon. William Hebard, at East Randolph, and was register of probate under Judge Hebard ; was admitted to the bar in Orange county in 1841 or 1842, and practiced his profession in Tunbridge, and in Bethel in Windsor county.
He was married, in October, 1843, to Mary Blodgett, of Randolph, and in April, 1850, moved from Tunbridge to Wisconsin and was in practice in that state until 1873, when he removed to Minnesota, was in practice there, in 1881, and in the meantime there held the office of judge of probate. He took up a quarter section of land in his neighborhood, and there with his son was also engaged in farming.
Norman Durant came to Tunbridge and practiced as a lawyer from about 1844 to 1850, and went from there to California. He is said to be dead.
Charles Morris Lamb was born at Randolph, April 6, 1803. His parents migrated from Tolland county, Conn., to Randolph, late in the last century. His first knowledge and recollection of things was in Claremont, N. H., where he had been taken in early infancy by friends upon the death of his mother. He worked at farming till twenty-two years of age.
What education he had was acquired in the common district schools until fifteen years of age, and by attending at Randolph academy one term in the fall of 1821, and a school in Claremont, N. H., one term in the fall of 1825. 'He taught district schools in Claremont and Charlestown, N. H., from 1823 to 1826, inclusive. In April, 1826, he engaged with Jonathan C. Hall, a mer- chant of Tunbridge, and remained with him as clerk and partner till 1834, when Hall died, and the business, so far as Lamb was concerned, proved a failure. In January, 1832, he was married to Louisa M. Hutchinson, of Tunbridge, and one son and three daughters were the fruit of the mar- riage.
From 1830 to 1852 he held several offices in the town of Tunbridge, viz .: selectman, lister, constable, town clerk, postmaster, deputy sheriff and justice of the peace, and engaged in farming to some extent in the meantime, and was with Norman Durant, an attorney at Tunbridge, from 1846 to 1850.
He was admitted to the bar in Orange county, at the June term, 1850, Judge Isaac T. Redfield presiding. He remained in Tunbridge till Decem- ber, 1852, when he removed to South Royalton, Vt., and has practiced in the counties of Orange and Windsor constantly, and in the counties of Addison and Washington occasionally, until the time of this writing (March, 1887).
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In 1872 he was elected and served in the legislature of Vermont as a sen- ator from Windsor county. Since February, 1873, Charles P. Tarbell has been his law partner, under the firm of Lamb & Tarbell.
WASHINGTON.
Lewis Rice, or Royce, was the first attorney who located in Washington. He came there about 1834 and practiced his profession two years and then removed to Michigan. We have not the means of giving any further ac- count of him.
Hon. John Colby was born in the town of Barre, Vt., studied law in the office of Newell Kinsman, of that town, was admitted to the bar of Washing- ton county about 1835, and soon after opened an office for the practice of his profession in the town of Washington. He represented his adopted town four times in the state legislature. He was register of probate one year under Hon. William Hebard, judge of probate for the Randolph district, and was himself elected judge of the same district in 1842. While he lived in Wash- ington he had a fair share of professional business. In 1848 he removed to Salisbury, in Rutland. county, and represented that town two years. About 1852 he removed to Orleans county, and was elected to the legislature from one of the towns in that county two or three years. Next he lived in Hart- land. in Windsor county, and represented that town several times. He then took up his abode in Windham county, and after remaining there a few years removed to Thetford, and thence to Fairlee, where he died about 1878. He was a member of the House of Representatives of Vermont, in all, fourteen years.
Judge Colby was a reliable, honest man, but never succeeded in his profes- sion after he left the town of Washington, for the reason that he devoted his energies mainly to political advancement.
Herman Allen White was born in Washington, September 21, 1817. He had the usual fortune of Vermont boys in those days, an inheritance of labor, and he worked upon a farm until he was twenty-one years of age, obtaining, in the meantime, such education as he could from the common schools of his native town, and from a short attendance upon the seminary at Newbury. He studied law with the Hon. John Colby, of Washington, and was admitted to the Orange county bar at the December term of the County Court, A. D., 1843. He at once opened an office in his own town and has remained there ever since in full practice. In November, 1848, he was elected town clerk, and has annually been re-elected to that office up to and including March, 1887. He was register of probate under Judge John B. Hutchinson, and was elected judge of probate for the Randolph district in Orange county for the years 1856 and 1857. He represented the town of Washington in the General Assembly of the state for the years 1857, 1858, 1863, 1864, 1865 and 1876. In 1866 he was elected state's attorney for Orange county for two years, and
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in 1870 was chosen to represent his county in the state Senate, with Dr. Harry H. Niles, of Thetford, as his colleague. The townsmen of Judge White have always placed unbounded confidence in his integrity, and as the result he has held various offices of trust in the town. His experience as town clerk and as judge and register of probate have given him an insight into town affairs and the settlement of estates that makes him a very valuable man in suits that involve such questions. His home in his native town is one of the finest and most tastefully cared for of any residence in the village of Washington.
Denison Smith Bowles was born in Washington, April 4, 1820. He had a common school and academic education, and taught district school consider- able in his early life. He studied law with Hon. H. A. White, at Washing- ton, and was admitted as an attorney of Orange County Court, January 20, 1853. For a time he remained in Judge White's office, and then opened an office by himself in the same village, and was in the active practice of the profes- sion for about ten years, when he retired to his farm, and is now engaged in the pursuits of agriculture.
Mr. Bowles represented his town in the state legislature in 1860, and has held various offices of trust to the acceptance of his townsmen. He is a man of strict integrity in all his business relations.
Carlos Caldwell Pope was born in Washington, July 22, 1834, and was admitted to Orange county bar at the January term of the County Court, in 1856.
Nelson A. Taylor, then of Washington, was admitted to the Orange county bar June 23, 1857. He remained in Washington a while, and then went to Montpelier about 1860, and entered into the firm afterwards known as Wing, Lund & Taylor. He remained in this firm until September 24, 1862, when he was appointed quartermaster sergeant of the Thirteenth Vermont Regi- ment, by Col. Randall. November 28th he was promoted to the position of quartermaster of the same regiment, and he served in that capacity until July 21, 1863, when he was mustered out of service with his regiment. After his return home he went into the lumber manufacturing business for a while at Washington, but it was not very remunerative. Later he went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he went into the grocery trade.
WEST FAIRLEE.
Hon. Nathaniel Niles was born in South Kingston, R. I., April 3, 1741. He commenced his collegiate course at Harvard, but in consequence of failing health suspended his studies for a time, then resuming them he graduated at a New Jersey college in 1766, at the age of twenty-five. He taught for a time in New York city, studied law, medicine and theology, the last under the Rev. Dr. Bellomy ; resided and preached for a time at Norwich and Tor- rington, Conn., and finally, in 1779, settled in that part of Fairlee which was
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known as West Fairlee after 1797, the west portion of the original town having been organized into a separate township. He was of an inventive turn of mind, and devised a process of drawing wire by water-power, and also the manufacture of wool cards by machinery. The latter invention he ex- changed for several hundred acres of land in Fairlee, and came to that town with several of hisfriends. Hon. William Child, who was one of the assistant judges of Orange County Court in 1867 and 1868, says of Judge Niles, as he came to be called, in the account of Fairlee, in Vol. II of Miss Hemenway's Vermont Historical Gazetteer, and who knew him personally : " He was a man possessing a sound, well balanced mind, extensive knowledge, and enjoyed the esteem of a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and was by them promoted to various positions of honor and responsibility. He was the leading man of the place, often officiating as clergyman, lawyer and phy- sician. The writer distinctly recollects listening to his pious admonitions, while holding forth in the former capacity in his own house, which was vol- untarily thrown open by him for religious worship, previous to the erection of our first church edifice."
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