Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889, Part 9

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 9

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

William Keyes Upham, oldest son of the Senator, was born in Montpelier, April 3, 1817, studied law and began practice in Montpelier in 1838, and was there admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court at its March term, 1841 ; and about 1845 moved to Ohio, where he died March 22, 1865. He at- tained a high position in the profession in Ohio.

Hemenway's Gazetteer says there was a lawyer by the name of Charles Roby in Plainfield for a short time about 1812. I find nothing to sustain this statement. Whether Roby was a reality, or a myth as I found one " Charles Robbins " to be, I do not know.

THOMAS HEALD, of Waitsfield and Montpelier, was admitted to the Jeffer- son County bar, December term, 1813. He was a son of Col. Thomas and Sibyl Heald, and was born at New Ipswich, N. H., March 31, 1768, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1794. He read law with Jonathan Fay, of Concord, Mass., and became a lieutenant in the United States army in

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

1798. When Nicholas Baylies was practicing in Windsor county I find from Dana's History of Woodstock that there was a lawyer by the name of Heald at that bar; whether he was Baylies's classmate, Thomas Heald, or not, I do not know. Thomas Heald practiced in Waitsfield from 1813 to 1817, when he moved to Montpelier, and in 1818 moved to Alabama, where he died at Blakely, in July, 1821. He married Betsey, daughter of Jonathan Locke, of Ashbury, Mass., in December, 1800.

GEORGE WHEELER, of Montpelier, was admitted"at the December term, 1813 ; but I have no further information concerning him.

JAMES LYNDE, of Montpelier, was also admitted at the December term, 1813. He was a son of Cornelius and Rebecca (Davis) Lynde, and was. born. at Williamstown, April 21, 1791. He was an older brother of Hon. John Lynde still living in Williamstown. He graduated at Dartmouth Col- lege in 1810 and studied law with Judge Prentiss. He was practicing law here in 1817, and moved to Williamstown and went into practice there in 1818. He died in Williamstown, June 25, 1834, unmarried.

I find on the records of December term, 1813, " Mr. Elijah Blaisdell en- tered as a clerk in Mr. J. Loomis's office for two and a half years from this. December term, 1813"; also, " Mr. Henry F. Janes entered as a clerk in the office of J. Y. Vail, Esq., September, 1813 "; also, " Mr. Alanson Allen entered a clerk in the office of Joshua Y. Vail, December 1, 1813." I find nothing further about Alanson Allen except that he with Janes went with the military company to Burlington at the time of the battle of Plattsburgh.

CHARLES ROBINSON, of Barre, who was admitted to the Supreme Court in this county in 1821, was from 1814 to 1833 a practicing attorney in Barre according to the Registers. Where he was admitted originally I do not know. Perhaps he was living in Plainfield before he went to Barre, and that the name " Charles Roby," given in Hemenway as that of a lawyer in Plain- field about 1812, is a mistake, and that the name should be Robinson.

ELIJAH BLAISDELL studied law in Montpelier and was admitted at the December term, 1813. He was born in Canaan, N. H., October 30, 1782, son of Hon. Daniel Blaisdell. Soon after being admitted he returned to Canaan and later became the Hon. Elijah Blaisdell, of that place and of Pittsfield, N. H. In politics he was a Federalist, and later a Jacksonian Democrat.

JOSEPH SMITH, of Barre, was admitted at the December term, 1815. His name appears as a practicing attorney in Barre from 1818 to 1823.

AZRO LOOMIS, of Montpelier, was admitted at the December term, 1815. He practiced law in Montpelier and died here. He married Susan Burbank, June 29, 1814. They had three children, Horatio Seymour, born April 13, 1820, now a merchant and living in Montpelier, and two daughters, Emily and Julia.

HENRY F. JANES, of Waterbury, third son of Solomon and Beulah Fisk Janes, was born in Brimfield, Mass., October 18, 1792. His parents moved

BENCH AND BAR.

to Calais, where his boyhood was spent. He read law in Montpelier with J. Y. Vail, and began practice in Waterbury in 1817. He represented the town many years, was elected to Congress in 1834 to serve out the remainder of Benjamin F. Deming's term in the 23d Congress. Mr. Deming, who had been county clerk of Caledonia county, died during his first congressional term at the early age of thirty-four ; he was the father of H. H. Deming, now living in Montpelier. Mr. Janes was also elected to the 24th Congress, and served three years in all in Washington. He was also state treasurer for three years. In 1826 he married Fanny Butler, daughter of Gov. Butler. Dr. Henry Janes, of Waterbury, is their son. Mr. Janes was a very good lawyer and useful citizen. He died June 6, 1879.

WILLIAM RICHARDSON, of Stowe, son of Israel Putnam Richardson and Susan Holmes Richardson, of Fairfax, Vt., read law with Joshua Sawyer at Hyde Park, was admitted to Orleans County bar, August 15, 1815, and began practice in Stowe in 1817. About 1824 he went to Burlington on business, crossed Lake Champlain, and was never heard of after : it is supposed he died suddenly. Israel Bush Richardson, of Michigan, a general in the war of the Rebellion, is said to have been his brother. He married a daughter of Nathaniel Butts and they had several children. The oldest, Charles T., read law a few months at Stowe, went to Michigan, but never practiced.

William Richardson, of Waterbury, another son of the above named Will- iam, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Waterbury in 1848, 1849, and 1850. He died three or four years after his admission to the bar.

THOMAS REED, of Montpelier, was born at Hampstead, N. H., March 29, 1793. His father, Captain Thomas Reed, who married Patty Hutchins, of Hampstead, came with his family to Montpelier in 1804. Thomas, Jr., as he was called when admitted to the bar, must have been admitted to the County Court bar in 1817 or 1818, as in the last year named he was in prac- tice in Montpelier, and was admitted to the Supreme Court bar at the Sep- tember term, 1821. He was preeminently a business man and a banker, and was a man of strong body and strong mind. He went to the "Platts- burgh war " one day ahead of the other Montpelierites of his time, (they left here Friday,) with the same zeal and courage that Captain Kemp and Co. H displayed sixty seven years after in the equally dangerous "Ely war." The enemy in each case took the course of the coon that knew Captain Martin Scott, of Bennington. The day of the Plattsburgh battle the sound of can- non broke up the meeting (it was Sunday), and the villagers went over on Berlin hill and listened and wept, for they thought their folks were in the fight. Mr. Reed took pride in military matters and became a colonel in the militia. He was a man severe in speech and manner, and of great dignity ; but under- lying all this he had a sense of humor. He used to tell with great glee how the proudest moment of his life was when, arrayed in all the panoply of war, he sat his horse in presence of and in command of his regiment of Vermont

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

militia, and believed that the honor and dignity of his position must impress others as it did himself; and that the humblest moment of his life was the next one, when he became suddenly aware of the presence by his side of a slab-sided, lantern-jawed client who, undeterred from thought of gain, and unimpressed by all the pomp and circumstance of mimic war, inquired, " Mister Reed, can't I sell you abaout tew bushels of fust rate pertaters ?" The known solidity of Montpelier financial institutions and of its business in general is largely due to the influence of Col. Reed upon its business men. His advice to a young banker (found in Hemenway, vol. 4, p. 473) shows the principles on which he acted. In that advice he warns his cor- respondent to be careful in loaning to any who "go by other banks to do business at yours," and says "security, security, security, that is the main thing." He first married Emily Doane, of Hartford, Conn., and their one child died in infancy, and his wife soon after. He then married Mary L. W. Bowlend, of Billerica, Mass. They had six children. George B. Reed, of Boston, Charles A. Reed, of Chicago, William J. Reed, who died in Milwau- kee many years ago, and Edward D. Reed, late of Buffalo, N. Y., who was buried in Montpelier this week, were the sons; and Josephine, wife of J. Monroe Poland, of Chicago, and Georgianna, who married George W. Bailey, Jr., and after his death Col. E. Henry Powell, of Richford, state audi- tor, are the daughters. Col. Reed died in Montpelier of paralysis, April 19, 1864.

HEZEKIAH HUTCHINS REED, brother of Col. Thomas Reed, was born in Hampstead, N. H., May 26, 1795; he read law with Dan Carpenter in Waterbury and was admitted to Washington County bar, March term, 1819, and that year began practice in Troy, Ohio, where he remained five years, and then returned to Montpelier and went into partnership with his brother Thomas. He, like his brother, was more engaged in business than in law, and he was president of the Vermont bank at the time of his death. Both were men of public spirit and of strong influence in establishing and main- taining a strong community. His first wife was Martha P. Barnard. They were married September 21, 1825, and had five children, Mary B., who mar- ried Prof. N. G. Clarke and died February 11, 1859; Cornelia A .; Eliza Spaulding, who married Alpha C. May and lives in Milwaukee ; Emily Doane, who married Charles W. Willard and died in January, 1886; and Gertrude H. Emily S. and Eliza D., were twins. Mr. Reed married for his second wife the widow of a Mr. Lamb, who was a Miss Lamb before her first mar- riage. Mr. Reed died in Milwaukee, June 15, 1856, while on a visit to the West.

SHUBAEL WHEELER, second child of Lieut. Jerahmel B. and Sibyl Wheeler, was born in Montpelier, March 20, 1793. He married Elsey Davis, Octo- ber 5, 1818, and their daughter Emily Mandeville was born June 29, 1819. He was in the practice of law in Montpelier in 1818, and remained here two years ; removing then to East Calais, where he was in practice for many

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years. He was assistant judge of the County Court from 1827 to 1831, and was clerk of the court from 1846 to 1849, and from 1850 to December term, 1857, having Luther Newcomb for his deputy during the last seven years. Soon after he ceased to be clerk of the court he went West and made his home the rest of his days with his daughter Emily, wife of Levi W. Wright, of Merrimac, Wis., the only survivor of his eight children. He was an accomplished, genial man ; left his too social habits when he became clerk and made an admirable officer of the court. The meeting of the bar to recommend a person for clerk in 1846 was the occasion of a lively discus- sion as to the relations of church and state in this country, in which Mr. Heaton championed the cause of Mr. Wheeler, who was opposed by some on account of his religious belief or want of it.

CHARLES STORY, son of Alexander and Sally (Myers) Story, was born December 30, 1788, at Salem, Mass., where his father lived and died. Charles came to Newbury, Vt., and August 28, 1812, married a daughter of Col. Thomas Johnson, of Newbury, by whom he had three daughters. He afterwards came to Montpelier, studied law with J. Y. Vail, was admitted to Washington County bar, September term, 1819, and went at once to Mc- Indoes Falls, where he practiced ten years. Then he went to Coventry and practiced till 1850, being state's attorney for Orleans county in 1836 and 1837. He moved to Newbury in 1850 and died there in the spring of 1851.

ROBERT L. PADDOCK (probably a son of Dr. Robert Paddock who set- tled in Barre about 1806) was born in Barre, was admitted to Washington County bar, September term, 1820, went to Highgate, where he married a Miss Freileigh, and practiced till 1824, when he went to Swanton and became a partner of Judge Fisk. In 1827 he was deputy collector at Highgate and practiced at Highgate till 1846, when he went to New York. He came back to Highgate in 1849 and practiced there four years. He died in 1861.

NEWELL KINSMAN, of Barre, was admitted at the March term, 1822, and immediately began practice in Barre. He was a good lawyer, and his name appears among the practicing attorneys of Barre as late as 1855. He mar- ried Leonora Lamb, a sister of the second Mrs. H. H. Reed, of Montpelier. She died suddenly at Cleveland, Ohio, June 14, 1856, the two families hav- ing gone West for a few weeks' trip, on which Mr. Reed and Mrs. Kinsman both died. I do not find that Mr. Kinsman resumed practice.

THE OLD COURT-HOUSE AGAIN.

In the preceding pages I have, in case members of the same family were lawyers, " kept the family together," and so have given an account of some members of the bar, admitted in late years, directly after the sketch of the first member of the family admitted, and this same course will be followed hereafter. But now, in taking leave of those who came to our bar before any member of it now living was admitted, I wish to make a few corrections and additions in respect of the foregoing matter.

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

I have not before me my manuscript describing the building of the first court-house in 1818, but think that it gives the idea that at that time State street was not in existence. If so it is wrong. State street was " staked out " in 1807, and completed so that when the first State House was occupied in 1808 it was open for travel. The old State House fronted on State street, as did the old court-house. Each had a cupola, and a sketch made by Mrs. Watrous, from which an engraving appears on the old map, dated 1821, gives them in exaggerated glory. In this engraving the State House and the court- house appear in a line with each other, somewhat farther back from State street than the Pavilion. On the south side of State street, and nearly oppo- site the State House, appears the old Eaton tavern ; and to the west of the court-house, and I should say about where the southwest corner of the State House yard now is, appears the old Baylies residence.

On the list of Mr. Vail's scholars attending the academy in the winter of 1807-08, besides the name of Mr. E. P. Jewett, is that of one other survivor of that winter's pupils, that of Eliza Jewett, now Mrs. William R. Shafter, at present residing in her ninety-second year with her brother, Col. Jewett. Her memory, like his, holds many interesting traditions, and is a mirror for the olden times. Most of the very interesting matter they have given me, how- ever, does not pertain to the legal history of the county. Another name on that list of scholars is that of Eliza Reed, sister of Thomas and H. H., who became the mother of James R. Spaulding, a lawyer of this bar. Col. Jewett tells me that there was no whipping-post in Montpelier in his time, but they had a whipping-place "at the hay scales," and that there he saw one Joe Pilkey whipped for stealing, twenty lashes he thinks, Nathan Doty being the- officer who wielded the cat ; and Pilkey was to run away after whipping, and did so run.

Col. Jewett, by the way, is pretty well entitled to tell of law and law- yers, for his mother, Ruth Payne, was the daughter of Elisha Payne, who though of Lebanon, N. H., was chief judge of the Supreme Court of Ver- mont in 1781-82 ; his wife, Julia Kellogg Field, is the daughter of Charles K. Field, and the niece of Roswell M. Field who started the Dred Scott case ; and his daughter, Ruth Payne Jewett, is the wife of John W. Burgess, Ph. D., LL. D., professor of constitutional history, international and constitutional law, and political science in Columbia College School of Law. Now if the Colonel is not related to the law by consanguinity and affinity, I am mis- taken. No thanks to the Colonel for this item about him ; he gave me no. information on that-I knew it myself.

"When this old 'shire ' was new," and I have it not by tradition, but recorded in the clerkly hand of John Barnard, merchant, rum was $1.75 a gallon, and loaf sugar thirty-four cents a pound. Sally Hutchins, the Satur- day before the first term of court opened of a Monday, bought fifteen gallons of rum and didn't get it any cheaper,-perhaps that was n't considered a wholesale transaction in those days,-but by buying nineteen pounds and five

BENCH AND BAR.

ounces of loaf sugar she got that at thirty cents a pound. Sally was provi- dent for her hostelry. A clergyman was charged thirty-four cents for his pound the day before, but he got his quart of rum for forty-four cents and his pint of brandy for forty-two cents. Samuel Prentiss, Jr., November 28, 1811, bought three pecks of salt for $2.50. Freight from Boston was $2.50 a hundred, and ox-teams were in frequent use to bring it. Judge Salvin Collins, November 30, 1811, two days before court, was charged thirty-eight cents for three dozen eggs, one dollar for a pound of " Hyson Skin Tea," $2.57 for loaf sugar at thirty cents a pound, and what else he bought that day cost him $1.75 -- doubtless he was on hospitable thought intent ; and the day court met he bought a forty-two cent "hair comb." Mr. Prentiss about these days bought " H. S. Tea " at $1.13 ; perhaps better tea, perhaps not a one-price store. "B. Tea " was only fifty cents a pound and " B. sugar" twenty-two cents; molassas was $1.25 a gallon and calico fifty to fifty-six cents a yard ; cotton cloth thirty to thirty-four cents a yard ; a dozen needles eight cents ; a paper of pins twenty-five cents, and a spelling book twenty-five cents. J. Y. Vail bought a dozen "segars " for eight cents ; good ones, too ; they were bought by the barrel and sold singly for a cent a piece. Either the lawyers paid more for their rum or drank a better quality, for the charges against them are fifty cents a quart. Mr. Baylies about this. time varied the ordinary routine of purchases by the lawyers by negotiating for a quart of gin-twenty-five cents. It is likely that he was digesting that " Index," and it is presumed that there was no " celery compound " in the market. I am told that some of those (not of the professional men, how- ever) to whom these charges appear " died of delirium tremens." And per- haps it should also be here remarked "by way of improvement" that the venerable and holy man who bought the rum and the brandy died fifty years after, having attained the age of ninety-five years only. " There 't is " again: " sometimes the spirits work and sometimes they do not."

OF WHOM SOME ARE LIVING.

PAUL DILLINGHAM, of Waterbury, was admitted March term, 1823. He- was then Paul Dillingham, Jr., but now at almost ninety years is the Nestor of our bar. He was born at Shutesbury, Mass., August 10, 1799, and is the son of Paul and Hannah (Smith) Dillingham. He came to Waterbury in 1805, and nearing manhood attended the Washington County Grammar School at Montpelier, and afterwards read law with Dan Carpenter, whose law partner he became immediately on admission. His grandfather, John, served under Wolfe and was killed at Quebec ; and his father was three years a soldier in the Revolution. He represented his town in 1833, '34, '37, '38, and '39; was state senator from this county in 1841, '42, and '61 ; was state's attorney in 1835, '36, and '37 ; was a member of Congress from March 4, 1843, to March 4, 1847 ; was elected lieutenant-governor in 1862, 1863, and.

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

1864, and governor in 1865 and 1866; and for more than fifty years drew tears and verdicts from juries. The jury was to him an instrument " easier to be played on than a pipe."

Of noble presence and melodious voice, his were "words that weep and tears that speak." And bench, bar, and court-room audience, as the jury, like an old violin, vibrated to the sound he gave it, were " of one consent ; congreeing in a full and natural close." I remember Judge Barrett once told me of a famous case at Rutland (perhaps the Strickland will case), where people packed the court-room as Dillingham, whom they had heard of but had not heard, was to close against E. J. Phelps, whose delightful oratory they well knew. Phelps adroitly painted what was coming by such praise of his brother Dillingham's eloquence as would have broken most men up and made them fail to meet expectation by performance. Judge Barrett said that when Dillingham rose the whole audience eagerly bent forward to hear, but that under his slow and hesitating manner for the first ten minutes, as he stumbled along over some preliminary matter, they lost all interest in him and sank back against the seats with sighs of relaxation, merely wondering how such a halting speaker could have gained such a reputation. But in five minutes from that time, the Judge said, Dillingham had put out from shore with bench, bar, audience, and jury all aboard, and with all sails set and filled with favoring breeze, ship and cargo all his own, was on his way on the open sea to the port of destination. It was a problem to Judge Barrett whether the halting start was accidental or designed.

The first time I ever heard Gov. Dillingham before a jury was nearly twenty years ago in the Gregory-Atkins case, in which he had the logic, humor, and sarcasm of Timothy P. Redfield to contend against. I had heard Dillingham greatly praised as a jury advocate, and had heard him criti- ·cized by certain bright college students as a man who maltreated the King's English, and whose nouns and verbs did not well agree. So I thought I would be an impartial critic and watch and find whether he was strong or weak, and in what his strength or weakness lay. I carried out my plan for a few minutes, long enough to find that he let the parts of speech get along among themselves pretty much as best they could ; and about an hour after, as his last words fell on the hushed court-room, the fact dawned on me that I had for an hour forgotten all about criticism or the study of oratory and had be- come convinced his client was entitled to a verdict-and to be honest about it he got to talking about one thing that started the tears in my eyes, and I remember what it was and that it justified tears, but what particular connection it had with that case is a little difficult to see now, though it was plain enough when he was talking.

Mr. Dillingham first married Sarah P. Carpenter, eldest daughter of Dan ; she died September 20, 1831. September 5, 1832, he married her sister Julia, and they had seven children. Of their three daughters, E. Jane, Ellen S., and Caroline, the second married J. F. Lamson, of Bos-

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ton, and died in 1875, and the youngest, Caroline, in 1855, married Matt H. Carpenter, of Wisconsin. The four sons were Charles, who was lieuten- ant- colonel of the Eighth Vermont, and has since the war lived in Louisana. and is now in Texas ; Edwin ; William P .; and Frank.

In the Biographical Encyclopedia of Vermont is a sketch of ex-Governor Dillingham, and in Hemenway, vol. 4, p. 861, is an appreciative notice by Hon. B. F. Fifield, whose concluding words, as true now as when written seven. years ago, I quote :-

" With nothing to regret in his past, and a Christian's hope of the future,. his present condition exhibits a restfulness and placidity which fittingly crown. a life of labor not spent in vain."

Edwin Dillingham, of Waterbury, second son of Paul and Julia, was born. May 13, 1839. He began the study of law with his brother-in-law, Matt. Carpenter, in Milwaukee, in 1858, went from there to a law school and, graduated in 1859, came home and read with his father, and at September term,. 1860, was admitted to this bar, after which he became his father's partner and. practiced in Waterbury till July, 1862, when he recruited Co. B, of the roth. Vermont, and was made its captain. He was taken prisoner when an aide on the staff of Gen. Morris, at Locust Grove, November 27, 1863, and was in Libby prison four months. He was made major of the Tenth in June, 1864,. and was, September 4, 1864, at the battle of Winchester, struck on the thigh by a twenty-pound shot and, borne bleeding to the rear, died in two hours. One of the members of his regiment wrote of him from the battlefield : " While the fight was still roaring up over the hill he died, and this was the. end of a beautiful, harmonious life, young, handsome, brilliant, brave amid. trials, cheerful amid discouragements, upright, and with that kindness of heart which ever characterized the true gentleman, blended with firmness and. energy as a commander, he was ever respected by all of his command and. loved by all of his companions.

' A fairer and a lovelier gentleman The spacious world cannot again afford.'

We shall long mourn him in our camp."

William Paul Dillingham, of Waterbury, now governor of Vermont, is. the third son of Paul and Julia, and was born December 12, 1843. He read law with his brother-in-law, Matt H. Carpenter, in Milwaukee, from 11864 to. 1866, two years ; he also read with his father and was admitted to Washing- ton County bar, September term, 1867. He was state's attorney from 1872 to 1876, and established his reputation as a skillful lawyer in his conduct of the bitterly fought liquor cases during the long jury term of 1873, and later in the Barre bank burglary case, and the trial of Asa Magoon, who was convicted of the murder of Streeter and hung at Windsor. This reputation he has main- tained in his conduct of civil cases.

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Gazetteer of Washington County, Vt., 1783-1889, Part 9

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