Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889, Part 10

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836-, comp; Adams, William, fl. 1893, ed
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 898

USA > Vermont > Washington County > Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889 > Part 10

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Mr. Dillingham represented Waterbury in 1876 and 1884, and was a. senator from this county in 1878 and 1880. He was commissioner of taxes.

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from 1882 to 1888. In 1888 he was nominated for governor, stumped the state for Harrison and Morton, and was elected governor by the largest majority ever given a candidate. His speeches during the campaign were, like his arguments before juries, logical, persuasive, and effective.

Gov. Dillingham married Mary E. Shipman, December 24, 1874, and they have one child, Paul Shipman Dillingham, born October 27, 1878.

ROSWELL N. KNAPP, of Montpelier, was admitted at September term, 1823, and practiced in Montpelier about two years. He was born in Berlin. His name is given in the Registers as Roswell H., but I have followed the record of his admission. He moved to Ohio, practiced, and died there.

NAHUM PECK, of Montpelier, was admitted at the September term, 1823. He was an elder brother of Asahel Peck (see next notice), and settled in Hinesburgh and practiced there for many years. He survived his brother Asahel. Cicero G. Peck is his son.

ASAHEL PECK, of Montpelier, the son of Squire and Elizabeth (Goddard) Peck, was born in Royalston, Mass., in September, 1803. His folks came to Montpelier in 1806, and he received his early education in the district schools of the town and in the Washington County Grammar School. He has told me how he studied arithmetic lying on the floor and ciphering by the light of pine knots in the fire-place. He was for a time in the Univer- sity of Vermont, left and went to Canada, where he studied French, returned and read law with his brother Nahum, and with Bailey and Marsh, and was admitted to the Chittenden County bar, March 29, 1832.

He was circuit judge from 1851 to 1857, and Supreme Court judge from December 1, 1860, to August 31, 1874, when he resigned. He made his home in Burlington till after his election as judge of the Supreme Court, but soon after presided in Washington and Orange counties and made his home in Montpelier till he made it on his farm in Jericho in 1872. He was elected governor in 1874; and after his term expired resumed practice until his death, May 18, 1879.

Judge Rowell's admirable sketch of him is printed in the Vermont Bar Association's Report for 1884, and to that I refer the reader. Stories of his great and peculiar personality would crowd so on each other that none can be admitted. I much doubt whether he did not know more law than any other man.

HORACE STEELE, of Montpelier, practiced here from 1824 to 1827. I am told he went to Chelsea to be cashier of the Bank of Orange, and was there soon succeeded by Jason Steele and then went to Windsor. I think he was an uncle or other relative of Judge B. H. Steele.

ORAMEL HOPKINS SMITH, of Montpelier, was admitted March term, 1825. He was born in Thetford, October 16, 1798, and read with Judge Prentiss. He was state's attorney from 1841 to 1844, and his professional life was long and honorable. In 1830 he married Mary Warner, daughter of Samuel Goss, who survives him-a most charming lady of the older days. They

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had four children, one dying in infancy ; Charles F. ; Ellen J., wife of C. J. Gleason ; and Lucy A., wife of Charles A. Reed. Mr. Smith died in Mont- pelier, January 23, 1881. Reference is made to Hemenway, vol. 4, p. 471, for more extended notice.

Charles Franklin Smith, son of O. H., was born in Montpelier in 1833, graduated at Dartmouth in 1854, read law with his father and was admitted here, November term, 1856. He went west and for a time practiced in Chicago, but moved to Hancock, Mich., about 1861. He died at Han- cock, April 23, 1864.

DANIEL PIERCE THOMPSON, Vermont's novelist, was the son of Daniel and Rebeckah Thompson, and was born in Charlestown, Mass., October 1, 1795. He was a relative of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. His folks came to Berlin in 1800. He graduated at Middlebury in 1820, went to Vir- ginia, taught and studied law, and was admitted to Washington County bar, March term, 1825. He was clerk of the House, judge of probate, clerk of the court, secretary of state, and an editor. May Martin and the Green Mount- ain Boys, and all the rest rush to mind. He married Eunice Knight Rob- inson, of (Concord ?), Vt., who survives him, and is living with Mr. Burroughs in Madison, Wis. Their children were Charles, who died in infancy ; George R .; Frances, died aged sixteen ; William, died at Madison some fifteen years ago; Alma, married Hon. George B. Burroughs, of Madison, and died in 1882; and Daniel G. I attempt no notice of Mr. Thompson, but refer to 4 Hemenway 69; his own History of Montpelier and his novels should be familiar to all, as they are to most Vermonters. I scraped acquaintance with him in November, 1863, on the cars near Ogdensburg, when on a night ride on the way to Wisconsin, and at midnight we were cast away on the cold shores and in a newly-plastered " hotel" of Prescott, Canada, where we had to stay twelve long hours; and from his presence my remembrance of that night, after a son of Africa stuck his head in the car door with the exclamation, "Lawd A'mighty, de train 's gone," is pleasurable instead of horrible. He died of paralysis, June 6, 1868. He apparently believed, as many do to-day, in the Berlin murder myth.

George Robinson Thompson, his eldest son, was born in Montpelier, Jan- uary 3, 1834, graduated at U. V. M. in 1853, was admitted March term, 1856, and practiced in Montpelier a year or so. He was clerk of the House in 1856 and 1857. He began practice in New York city in 1857, and was a successful lawyer till his death, when on the way to Albany to argue a case in the Court of Appeals, on the night of February 6, 1871, at the New Ham- burgh disaster. He was of fine literary taste and good legal ability. He married, October 19, 1858, Serafina, daughter of Dr. T. C. Taplin, of Mont- pelier, who has resided here since his death. Their son George Clinton, born in 1860, died in 1863, and their youngest son, Charles Miner, born in Montpelier, March 24, 1864, graduated at Harvard in 1886, and is now literary editor of the Boston Advertiser.

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Daniel Greenleaf Thompson, youngest son of D. P., was born in Mont- pelier, February 9. 1850, was assistant secretary of state while a student, grad- uated at Amherst in 1869, taught in Springfield, Mass., and published a First Latin Book in 1872. He went to New York, studied law, and has for years practiced there with success. He is now the head of the law firm of Thompson, Ackley & Kaufman, at 35 Wall street. As Oviatt was wont to refresh his mind by reading Marshall's opinion in the Dartmouth College case, so my friend, Daniel G., has his recreation in conversing with Herbert Spencer, reading John Stuart Mill, and writing works on metaphysics. "Type metal, once hold, never lets go." He began publishing philsophical articles in 1878, in Mind, a London quarterly devoted to psychology and philosophy ; and from 1884 has published four works. His publishers are Longmans, Green & Co., London, and his works to date are : A System of Psychology, two vols., 1884 ; The Problem of Evil, 1887 ; The Religious Sen- timents of the Human Mind, 1888; and Social Progress, 1889. He is pres- ident of the Nineteenth Century Club, and I am half curious to know what proportion of that body of extremely liberal thinkers go with their president when he says : "I am inclined to the opinon that the ground for the asser- tion of post-mortem self-consciousness in identity with ante mortem self-con- sciousness is firmer than for the contrary belief." It is possible I don't get hold of Dan's meaning, but if I do he votes "yes " on the old and biggest question, "if a man die, shall he live again ?" and I say " hit 'em again "; but if I don't apprehend him and he means something else, then, as Jere. Mason said to Rufus Choate, " why did n't you say so ?"

To get back from metaphysics and opinion to known fact, Mr. Thompson married Henrietta Gallup, of Cleveland, Ohio.

WILLIAM WATKINS was admitted September term, 1825, and a William Watkins was practicing in Reading in 1827.

ASA WHEELER, JR., was admitted September term, 1825, and I am glad I don't know anything more about him ; " a short horse is soon curried."

SIMEON SMITH, of Northfield, the first lawyer to practice in that town, was admitted September term, 1825. He was the son of Levi and Catharine (Walcott) Smith; was born at Williamstown, September 4, 1797, graduated at Dartmouth in 1822, read law at Barre with Newell Kinsman, practiced but a few months in Northfield, moved to Kentucky and afterwards returned to Williamstown for a time, but finally settled at Covington, Ky. He married Mrs. Mary Ann (Hall) Smith, of Kentucky, the widow of his brother Zebina, which was about as near marrying his widow's sister as marrying his deceased wife's sister would have been.

It may here be said that Elisha W. Keyes, born in Northfield, is a promi- nent lawyer of Madison, Wis.

JOHN L. BUCK, of Northfield, was born in Reading, January 1, 1802, began reading with Reuben Washburn, of Cavendish, and afterwards read with J. Loomis and Mr. Prentiss. He was admitted September term, 1825, and

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in October settled in Northfield, where Simeon Smith had already located. Mr. Buck was state's attorney. He practiced in Northfield till 1851, when he went to Lockport, N. Y., to live. He married Mary Ann Hildreth, of Montpelier, November 29, 1826 ; she died in Lockport, November 6, 1864. Their children were Mary D., who died in 1852, in Lockport ; George B., who died in Northfield in 1841 ; and John H. See Gregory's Northfield for more.

John Hildreth Buck, son of John L., born in Northfield, November 22, 1827, graduated at U. V. M. in 1850, began reading law with his father, went with him to Lockport, N. Y., in 1851, and was admitted in New York in 1854. He married Harriet M. Fletcher, of Bridport, August 24, 1854. He was mayor of Lockport in 1874.

CALVIN JAY KEITH, of Montpelier, son of Chapin Keith who was some- time judge of probate, and who, when sheriff, once ended a proclamation with "God save the King " instead of "God save the People,"-an early case of heterophemy,-was born in Uxbridge, Mass., April 9, 1800, and was an infant when his folks moved to Barre. He graduated at Union College in 1822, read law with William Upham, and was admitted September term, 1825. He was the first state librarian of Vermont-1825 to 1829. He practiced in Montpelier ; became attorney for the heirs of one Elkins who went from Peacham to New Orleans and was a merchant ; it took years to unravel the matter and he spent much time in New Orleans; by skillful management he saved a fortune for the heirs and made one himself. He visited Europe in 1852, and died of brain fever at Montpelier, September 23, 1853. He was at one time partner of William Upham, and was an able lawyer. See Thompson's Montpelier.

LUCIUS BENEDICT PECK, of Montpelier, son of John Peck who was first sheriff of this county and married Anna Benedict, of Underhill, was born in Waterbury, in October, 1802, beginning in July, 1822, was in West Point Military Academy one year, read law with Mr. Prentiss, and with Denison Smith, of Barre, was admitted September term, 1825, and went into partner- ship with Mr. Smith at Barre, where he practiced till 1832, when he moved to Montpelier. He was member of Congress from 1847 to 1851; United States' district attorney for Vermont from 1853 to 1857; and would have succeeded Judge Prentiss as district judge had the wish of his party in Ver- mont prevailed; but the man who took Peck's petition to Washington brought back the appointment of himself, and made no answer to W. H. H. Bingham and the rest of a committee, who went to see him and represent that it would n't do and to suggest that he decline the appointment, than to take his commission from his desk and remark that he had figured it up and that paper was worth so many dollars each day in the year. Mr. Peck was for a third of a century the leader of this bar. He was, the last years, counsel for the Central railroad. He married, in 1830, a daughter of Ira Day ; she

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died in 1854, and a daughter survives. He died at Lowell, Mass., of apo- plexy, December 28, 1866. See sketch by Mr. Fifield in vol. 4, Hemenway.

STODDARD BENHAM COLBY, of Montpelier, is here placed because "Peck and Colby" were so long together. He was the second son of Nehemiah and Melinda (Larrabee) Colby, and was born at Derby, February 3, 1816, fitted · for college in I. F. Redfield's law office, graduated at Dartmouth in 1836, read law with William Upham, was admitted in Orleans county, December term, 1838, and practiced in Derby till 1846, when he came to Montpe- lier and was a partner of L. B. Peck for seventeen years. He was state's at- torney two years. Mr. Colby was a finished orator and always charmed with beautiful language, and his partner said of him, "give him a case with neither law nor fact on his side and he would win when another man would never dream of trying it." Peck, on the other hand, did best with a good case. Mr. Colby was appointed register of the treasury and went to Washington, where he resided the last three or four years of his life. He married Harriet Eliza- beth Proctor, February 11, 1840, and they had four children ; two growing up, one became the wife of Col. A. B. Cary, and the other is Jabez Proctor Colby. Mrs. Colby perished at the burning of the Henry Clay on the Hud- son. Mr. Colby's second wife was Ellen Cornelia Hunt, of Haverhill, N. H. They were married July 12, 1855, and had two children, Ellen and Frank. Mr. Colby went to Haverhill for rest and died there, October 21, 1867. See Baldwin and Hemenway for full sketches.

ISAAC FLETCHER REDFIELD .- Near Peck and Colby should be sketched the Redfields, those two great lights of the bench and bar of the state. Isaac F. never parcticed in this county, but he lived here for some eleven years after he was elected judge. He was born at Weathersfield, April 10, 1804, went to Coventry when his father moved there in 1805, graduated at Dart- mouth in 1825, and was in 1827 admitted to the bar in Orleans county. He began practice at Derby, and so good a lawyer was he that he was con- tinuously state's attorney from 1832 till elected a judge of the Supreme Court in 1835. He moved to Montpelier, and about 1846 to the Judge Chase house at Randolph Center, where he lived three or four years and then moved to Windsor, where he lived till he went to Boston in 1861. He was on the supreme bench twenty-five years, the last eight of which he was chief judge. He conferred honor on the court and it was quoted in other states as the " Redfield Court." After he declined further service on the bench he went to Boston. He wrote many valuable legal works, notably treatises on the law of wills and railway law. He died in Charlestown, Mass., March 23, 1876, of pneumonia, and was buried at Windsor. He married Mary Ward Smith, of Stanstead, September 28, 1836; and Catharine Blanchard Clark, of St. Johnsbury, May 4, 1842. No children survive. See Baldwin, pp. 84 to 93, for full sketch by E. J. Phelps.

TIMOTHY PARKER REDFIELD, of Montpelier, was one of the twelve children of Dr. Peleg Redfield and Hannah (Parker) Redfield. He was born at Coven-

Nie P. Kongres

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try, November 3, 1812, and was educated at Dartmouth in the class of 1836. He read law with his brother Isaac F., was admitted to Orleans County bar in 1838, and began practice at Irasburgh, where he remained ten years. In 1848 he was elected senator from Orleans county. He moved to Montpelier after the session of 1848, practiced here till his election as a judge of the Su- preme Court in 1870, and continued on the bench till the fall of 1884, when he declined a reelection. He married Helen W. Grannis, of Stanstead, Feb- ruary 6, 1840, and she survives him. They had four children, one of whom, Alice, the wife of Andrew J. Phillips, is living in Chicago. Alice has two children, a daughter, Helen, and a son, Timothy. The Judge, after many years, lies with his three other children in Green Mount cemetery, that pleasant place of rest of which Eastman wrote :-

" This fairest spot of hill and glade, Where blooms the flower and waves the tree, And silver streams delight the shade, We consecrate, O Death, to thee."

Judge Redfield was a wise and genial man as well as a profound lawyer and great judge. No man at the bar had quite so much the flavor of the olden time. Some way he remembered the wise and witty things that seemed to be the common stock of the ancients of the law, and it was an education to hear him discourse of the old lawyers and the old practice. And withal he knew more things that were "going on " about him than nine-tenths of their actors ; how he became possessed of his information was a mystery- he must have absorbed knowledge from the air as he went along. He was a powerful advocate while at the bar-logical, adroit, with play of wit and humor, he was a dangerous antagonist. And after he was on the bench his power and mastery of the art of putting things used to make the lawyer who was getting the worst of the charge wince, and make the one whose law and facts the Judge thought were right ashamed of himself to see how a real artist could do his work. When he had his mind made up he took care that his position should be understood. When he made decisions as a chancellor he would often file reasons with or as a part of the decretal order that, when the case went up, were a tower of strength in defense of the order he had made.

It is, I find, the general sense of those who knew the two Judges Redfield that Isaac F. was the more studious in habit, and Timothy P. the stronger by nature. The elder brother cultivated more assiduously, but the younger plowed the deeper-and he seemed to know intuitively legal fields and what grains and fruit they bore. I have been surprised, after examining a doubt- ful point and going over all the authorities attainable, to hear him, the mo- ment the question was sprung in the court-room, start from a principle and go on till he had talked all the law there was about the thing-give a better summary of the law off-hand than one could find in the books of those who had taken their time for thought and statement. He was solidly grounded

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in the principles of the law-and he rembered a vast deal about practice. He was to the younger members of the bar a spring of pure and ever flowing law ; and I believe that his brethren on the bench would say that they looked to him as to the master of a stronghold of the law with all its weapons avail- able to his hand.

Judge Redfield died in Chicago in 1888, and his remains were brought to Montpelier for burial. See Baldwin and Hemenway for excellent sketches by Judge Thompson and Mr. Fifield.

LEWIS MARSH was the son of William and Hannah (Nye) Marsh, and was. born in Montpelier, July 6, 1804. He studied with J. Y. Vail, was admitted September term, 1826, and at once went to Derby, where he practiced eight years successfully. He died in Montpelier, June 4, 1835. See Baldwin, p. 118.

ORION W. BUTLER, of Stowe, began practice there in 1826, and retired in 1845. He was admitted to the Supreme Court in Montpelier, March term, 1830. He was first state's attorney of Lamoille county, and a state senator. See sketch in 2 Hemenway 729.

Willis G. Butler, of Stowe, eldest son of above, was admitted here, September term, 1856. He went to Minnesota and practiced.

AZEL SPAULDING, of Montpelier, was admitted at the August term, 1827, practiced first in Plainfield, and moved to Montpelier in 1829. He repre- sented the town in 1831, 1832, and 1833. About thirty years ago he moved to Kansas, where he died at Grasshopper Falls about three years ago. His. remains were brought to Montpelier.

THERON HOWARD, the first lawyer to settle in Cabot, practiced there from 1827 to 1832, but as Cabot was till 1855 in Caledonia county he did not properly belong to our bar ; the same is true of Timothy P. Fuller, who was from 1847 to 1850 in Cabot, (see his sketch in Child's Orange County Gaz- etteer, p. 118,) and of John McLean, who was practicing in Cabot in 1850 and died there. Mr. Howard went to Danville, and I am told to Groton also. John W. Twiss, afterwards in Chelsea, (see Child's Orange County Gazetteer,) practiced in Cabot in 1841 and 1842.

SIDNEY SMITH TAPLIN, a son of John and Lydia (Gove) Taplin, was born in Berlin, February 5, 1803, was admitted May term, 1828, and practiced for a short time in Williston. About 1829 he went to Buffalo, N. Y., where he was successful and prominent. He went to Springfield, Ill., to see whether he would locate there, and died there July 8, 1833. He married Sarah Bailey, of Buffalo, who survived him and was a successful teacher in Pitts- burg.

DAVID B. WEBSTER was admitted to the Supreme Court at June term, 1829. He practiced in Chittenden county, and in 1836 was for a little while in. practice in Northfield. He married a daughter of Samuel Goss, of. Montpelier, and moved to Kalamazoo, Mich.

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GEN. SETH CUSHMAN, who was a nephew of Judge Elijah Paine, and who went to Guildhall in 1805 and died there in 1845, aged sixty-three, came down to Montpelier on some political wheel in 1830 and opened a law office, but the wheel didn't revolve, so he went back home.

JONATHAN PECKHAM MILLER, of Montpelier, son of Heman Miller, was born in Randolph, February 24, 1797. His father died when Peckham was two years old. He went to Burlington with the Randolph volunteers for Plattsburgh. He enlisted in the regular army in 1817, served two years, fitted for college, and was at Burlington in college when the college buildings burned, May 24, 1824. Afloat again, he sailed for Greece, August 21, 1824, and became a colonel in the Greek revolution. Returning, he settled in Berlin, where he lived until 1833. He was admitted May term, 1831, and practiced in Montpelier till his death, February 17, 1847. He was an earn- est abolitionist, and deserves a high place in the annals of men who have sought to free the oppressed. He was a brave soldier and a noble man. He married Sarah, daughter of Jonathan Arms, in June, 1828. Their daughter Sarah is the wife of Abijah Keith, an honored citizen of Chicago. See Hemenway, vol. 4, p. 457, for full sketch.

LUCAS. MILTIADES MILLER was a Greek orphan adopted by Col. Miller and brought to this country by him. He was admitted to the bar, April term, 1844. He practiced here a few years, when he went to Oshkosh, Wis., where he became a prominent and successful man.

Heman W. W. Miller, brother of Col. J. P., was born in Randolph. He was, like Col. Miller, of commanding presence, but, unlike his brother, of erratic character. He is given in the Registers as a practicing attorney in Calais in 1838, and in Moretown in 1839 and 1840. Whether he was ever really admitted to the bar I do not know. He was an abolitionist and was as a stump speaker a sort of "Great Kyhega of the Universe." He was once discoursing to a multitude of the martyr, Lovejoy. Said he : "My friends, future ages will erect to him a monument that shall have for its base eternal space, and from whose top you can behold the throne of Almighty God." He was married. He died in poverty, about which he cared nothing.

PETER SLEEMAN WHEELOCK was born in Montpelier, studied law with W. Upham, and was admitted November term, 1832. He went into busi- ness at Sutton, but was not successful. He then went to Boston and began the practice of law, and was for many years a police judge, in the Roxbury district I think. He attained a competence and died only a few years ago.

WILLIAM MORRILL PINGRY, of Waitsfield, son of William and Mary (Mor- rill) Pingry, was born in Salisbury, N. H., May 28, 1806. He was admitted in Caledonia county, June term, 1832, went to Waitsfield and practiced there till 1841, when he moved to Springfield and thence to Perkinsville, where he lived an honored citizen, being state senator, and also assistant judge as he

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had been in this county. He was twice married. He wrote a Genealogy of the Pingry Family, published in 1881, which see for more full account.

THOMAS J. ORMSBEE was admitted November term, 1832.

SYLVESTER C. EATON, of Plainfield, was born in Hardwick, April 2, 1808, read law with Upham & Keith, and was admitted here, April term, 1833. He practiced in Plainfield till 1839, when he moved to Tunbridge, going thence to Chelsea in 1840. In 1842 he began preaching as a Universalist, and so continued in various places for very many years. He died at North- field, January 7, 1886.

LEWIS ROYCE was admitted at the April term, 1833, and went into prac- tice at Washington, where he remained two years, being the first lawyer to locate in that town. He moved from Washington to Michigan.

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Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889, Part 10

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836-, comp; Adams, William, fl. 1893, ed Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers Number of Pages: 898

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836-, comp; Adams, William, fl. 1893, ed
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., The Syracuse journal company, printers
Number of Pages: 898