Genealogical and family history of the state of Vermont; a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol I, Part 125

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1032

USA > Vermont > Genealogical and family history of the state of Vermont; a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol I > Part 125

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Of the eleven children of Judge Parish by his second wife the youngest was John Kimball,

whose birth occurred at Randolph, November 18, 1848. After an attendance of some years in the Orange county grammar school he decided to seek a career in the rapidly growing west, and in 1867 made his way to Wisconsin, fixing his abode at the rising town of Waupaca. Being still under age, he attended school several terms after his arrival, and then entered the State Univer- sity at Madison, where he was graduated in the class of 1872. Entering a law office he studied diligently, was admitted to the bar in 1873, and soon thereafter located at Medford, the capital of Taylor county. His talent, ambition and fine general presence soon brouglit the young lawyer to the front, and he speedily received the ap- pointment as district attorney, an office to which he was afterward repeatedly re-elected, and which he held until 1885. In 1884 he was sent to the Wisconsin state legislature by his admiring con- stituency, and in 1887 was elected judge of the fifteenth judicial circuit, which lofty position he filled so acceptably as to be honored by a re- election in 1893 and 1899.

In June, 1891, Judge Parish was united in marriage to Miss May W. Carrington, a Virgin- ian by birth, and connected with one of the most distinguished families of the Old Dominion. The Judge is prominently connected both with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His elder brother, Luke Parish, is a resident of Randolph Center, and is another esteemed member of this highly honored family. A twin brother of the latter, Mark Parish, re- sides in Oakland, California.

Luke Parish was born November 6, 1845, on his father's farm in the northern part of the town of Randolph. He grew up in the village of Randolph Center, whither his father moved when he was seven years old, and attended the district school and the Orange county grammar school, being a student at the latter after it be- came a State Normal School.

FRANK PARSONS ROBINSON.

Frank Parsons Robinson, of Burlington, Ver- mont, is one of the leading business men of that city, where he also officiates as overseer of the poor, having been appointed to that position in April, 1901. He was born in Morrisville, Ver-

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mont, July 21, 1853, a son of James Caswell and Anna Webster (Parsons) Robinson. His grand- father, Rev. Septimius Robinson, son of Eliab, was born July 27, 1790. He married, first, Lucy Kingsley, who died in 1833. He married, sec- ond, January 6, 1835, Samantha Washburn, who died at Homer, New York. Rev. Septimius Rob- inson died at Morrisville, Vermont, September 27, 1860, where he had been pastor of the First Congregational church for twenty-five years.

James Caswell Robinson was born January 12, 1822, in Fairhaven, Vermont, and died in Burlington. He acquired a common school edu- cation, and when but a boy removed to Hartford, Connecticut, where he learned the occupation of boot and shoe maker, which he followed for sev- eral years. He made the journey to Connecticut to deliver a fine horse, and, having no sled, he made a large handsled from poles and with a box fastened on for a body. In this way he went to Connecticut, and in a few years married a wife, on September 14, 1846, becoming the hus- band of Anna W. Parsons, of Bloomfield, Con- necticut, who was born there October 26, 1822. The ceremony was performed in Bloomfield by Rev. Septimius Robinson, who had made the trip from Vermont for that express purpose. In the early fifties the young couple removed from Connecticut to Morrisville, Vermont, and in 1860 Mr. Robinson was appointed postmaster, which office he filled for twenty-one years. He was also entrusted with other local offices. In politics he was a stanch Republican, and in religion was a member of the Congregational church. In 1864, during the scare caused by the St. Albans raid, the "Home Guards" were formed, and Caswell Robinson was orderly sergeant. At this time he was postmaster, and when on his way home from the office at night, when stopped by a sentinel with a demand for the countersign, not knowing the proper word, many times he would call out "United States mail," which would always let him pass. Of the six children born to J. Cas- well and Anna Robinson, five are living, the second, Daniel P., having died October 10, 1850, aged five months. The living are Charles E., now living in Cambridge, Massachusetts ; Frank P., of Burlington, Vermont ; J. Arthur, of Mor- risville, Vermont ; Edwin Septimius, also of Mor-

risville, Vermont ; and William H., of Philadel- phia, Pennsylvania. The father of these children died in September, 1893, and the mother, August 27, 1886.

Frank Parsons Robinson received his educa- tion in the public schools of his native town, and later attended the People's Academy of Mor- risville. After completing his studies he was en- gaged as a clerk in a mercantile business, and also as a clerk in the postoffice at Waterbury, Ver- mont. Later he removed to Burlington, Ver- mont, where he was employed as a clerk. He subsequently learned the photograph business, which he conducted successfully for nine years in Morrisville. In the fall of 1888 he returned to Burlington, and was associated with the firm of Burnham & Grant (now L. G. Burnham & Company), where he remained for ten years, after which he purchased a steam laundry and conducted it for three years, selling out in Jan- uary, 1902, having been appointed to the position of overseer of the poor during that period. Mr. Robinson has proved a very capable official, and has made many improvements in the management of the affairs intrusted to his charge. Under the direction of the mayor and the pauper committee of the board of aldermen, he has adopted a sys- tem that results in great saving to the city. In- stead of giving individual orders for supplies, he buys in large quantities such goods as are needed, and then himself gives to the applicant what is necessary. A woodyard has also been established; the wood is bought in four-foot . lengths, and the needy poor are given an oppor- tunity to assist in cutting this into stove lengths. In the winter of 1901-02 the fuel bill was seven- teen hundred dollars, and during the past year several hundred dollars have been saved from this sum by the economy introduced by Mr. Rob- inson. His business abilities have found full scope for action in this responsible position, and the city is fortunate in having such an incumbent in the office.

Mr. Robinson is a firm adherent of the princi- ples of the Republican party, and has served on city and ward committees. He is a consistent member of the Episcopal church of Burlington. He is a past master of Burlington Lodge No. 100, F. & A. M., and has served as district

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deputy of the fifth Masonic district; and belongs to the Scottish Rite order, in which body he has been honored with a responsible office.

On April 23, 1879. Mr. Robinson married Miss Cora Alice Morse, a daughter of Nelson Morse, of Walden, Vermont, and one child has been born to them, Sarah Anne Robinson. Nel- son Morse was a farmer, and spent his life in Cabot. His wife, who was born in Malden, lives in Burlington and Cabot. All of her eight chil- dren are living in the state but two. The eldest son, Alfred, is a successful farmer at Barnet, Vermont, while Edmund, a graduate of the Uni- versity of Vermont, is a merchant in Lyndon.

HON. EDWARD JOHN PHELPS.

The annals of the state of Vermont contain the name of none more worthy of honor than that of Edward John Phelps. His talents were of an unusually high order, and his broad knowl- edge of men and affairs, and his calm judicial temperament afforded him an equipment which made him a commanding figure in his profession, as a statesman and as a man of affairs.

He was justly proud of his ancestry, and sought throughout his life to add adornment to his family name. He came of that splendid Eng- lish stock which settled in Connecticut, and there planted the seeds of religious and political liberty, and sent its descendants to propagate its princi- ples wherever they dispersed. along the seaboard and westward beyond the mountains. His earliest 'American progenitor was William Phelps, who emigrated from England in 1630. He was an important character-founder of the historic old town of Windsor, and many years a magistrate.

Edward Phelps, great-grandfather of Edward J. Phelps, was an extensive landowner and was a representative in the general court of Connecti- cut. His son, John Phelps, was a Revolutionary war soldier, and became a wealthy and influential citizen of Litchfield, Connecticut.

Samuel Shethar Phelps, father of Edward John Phelps, was a man of great ability, and was in his day one of the most distinguished jurists and men of affairs in the state. As was remarked by the Rev. Dr. Mathew H. Buckham. "the list of important public offices held by him would seem to justify the scriptural name he bore, prob-

ably a family name in the Puritan times, She- thar, 'one of the wise men who knew law and judgment.'"* \ graduate of Yale in 1811, he settled in Middlebury, Vermont, in 1812; was a member of the general assembly from 1821 to 1832, of the council of censors in 1827, and of the governor's council in 1831. He was judge of the state supreme court, 1831-38, United States senator, 1839-51, and was appoint- cd to fill a vacancy in that body in 1853-54. On the bench he was held in the highest esteem for his ability, legal learning and integrity. In the halls of Congress, and before the people, in the bitterest days of the slavery agitation, he earnestly deprecated the measures adopted by the Frec- soil party, and advocated a conservative and con- stitutional policy of non-interference with slavery. His wife was the widow of Francis Shurtliff, of Middlebury, and a woman of unusual beauty of person and character.

Edward John Phelps, son of the parents named, inherited the forceful character of his sire, and from his mother his gracious and winning traits of character. He was born in Middlebury, June 12, 1822, the eldest child in a family of nine sons and two daughters. He began his educa- tion in a select school taught by his aunt, Miss Shurtliff, "a superior woman and excellent teacher," and studied advanced branches in Bishop Hopkins' school in Burlington. He en- tered Middlebury College at the early age of fourteen, and was graduated when eighteen. Among his classmates were two with whom he maintained a life-long friendship, and whose traits were in common with his own-Henry H. Hudson and Ezra Wright Sherman, both schol- arly men, the first named being the distinguished Shakespearean scholar. Immediately after his graduation, young Phelps went on horseback. to Virginia, where, without letters of introduction, he so impressed a well-to-do planter that he was engaged as the family tutor. While thus occu-

From an "Address on the Life and Public Services of Edward John Phelps," delivered be- fore the Vermont Historical Society, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, November 7, 1900, by Mathew Henry Buckham. The facts contained in this admirable paper have been largely drawn upon for this narrative.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

pied he devoted his leisure time to reading law, and in 1842 entered the law school of Yale Col- lege. In 1843 he completed his studies under the tutorship of Hon. Horatio Seymour, of Middle- bury, Vermont, and was admitted to the bar of Addison county in the same year. He prac- ticed in Middlebury until 1845, when he removed to Burlington, where he ever afterwards main- tained his home.

In 1851 Mr. Phelps was appointed second comptroller of the United States treasury by President Fillmore, at the close of whose admin- istration he resigned, though President Pierce urged him to continue in the office. Returning to his law practice, he soon attained a leading position as advocate and counsellor. His pro- fessional life extended over a period of a half- century, and its field extended from suits in a justice's court to the most intricate constitutional cases before the supreme court of the United States. His biographer (Rev. Dr. Buckham) said, "If at any time between 1850 and 1890 the consensus of bench and bar had been brought to the question, who is the most brilliant lawyer among you all? it would have fallen, with little question, if any, upon Mr. Phelps," and he de- fines his epithet thus: "By brilliancy would have meant in this testimony not the superficial flash which the word sometimes denotes, not display without substance, but large knowledge of the law, clear insight into its principles and its deeper philosophy, close and correct reasoning and sound judgment, the whole illuminated, made persuasive, by that finest art which seeks only to clear away all obstructions from truth that she may shine in her own convincing light."

During the years of his active practice in the state Mr. Phelps appeared in nearly all the great cases which came before the Vermont courts. He was prominent as counsel in the Vermont rail- road litigation which largely occupied the atten- tion of the state and federal courts for a quarter of a century. In his late years he gave up his. home office and local practice and gave his entire attention to cases in the federal courts. One of the most important, and which enlisted his deep sympathy and most strenuous efforts, was the case of Bean vs. Beckwith, involving the funda- mental rights of citizens under the federal con- stitution, the right to the writ of habeas corpus,

of exemption from arbitrary arrest and of trial by jury, questions which arose under the presi- dent's proclamation of martial law in the loyal states during the Civil war. It is of deep interest to note that his contentions, set forth in his brief in this case, bristling with deep historic and legal learning, and urged with almost passionate ear- nestness, are substantially the same as were after- wards stated as fundamental principles of the common law of Dicey's great work on the Eng- lish constitution.

His high abilities as a lawyer found the high- est possible recognition. Entirely without his previous knowledge, he was appointed minster to England by President Cleveland, and in this distinguished and highly responsible positon he reflected honor upon his nation by his tactful and dignified conduct of affairs of the utmost magni- tude. He managed with firmness and discretion, and to the entire satisfaction of the two govern- ments interested, the Sackville-West affair, the negotiations for an extradition treaty, and the controversies over the rights of American fisher- men and the destruction of seals in tlie Behring Sea, and the good results of his diplomatic ef- forts were seen years later in the happy conclusion of the Venezuela incident, a consummation which was attributable in large degree to the kindly feel- ing which he had engendered in England.

The Behring Sea seal fisheries question had come into prominence during Mr. Phelps's resi- dence at the court of St. James. He had con- ducted the American side of the case, and he afterwards expressed the conviction, that, had President Cleveland and Secretary of State Bay- ard maintained their position with more firmness, the British government would have yielded the points at issue. He subsequently represented the United States in the Paris tribunal of arbitra- tion in 1893, under appointment by President Harrison. The court sat for fifty-four days, and Mr. Phelps made the closing argument, oc- cupying eleven days, and extending over three hundred and twenty-five printed pages. Mr. Phelps covered a wide field of international law, treating of territorial rights, rights on the high seas, and of visitation of search, and, while the court was not convinced of the justice of the American case, it warmly commended the ability, dignity and courtesy of the American advocate.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Mr. Phelps accomplished much to dignify his profession within the range of his personal in- fhience. He frequently gave his services gratuitously to a worthy man wronged, and he was severe in his arraignment of the law's delay, and of the irrelevant details with which trials were frequently cumbered. In 1881 he was presi- dent of the American Bar Association, and his annual address was a masterly review of changes in legislation in various states. Ile was pro- fessor of medical jurisprudence in the University of Vermont from 1880 to 1883, and delivered a course of lectures which have been published. He was lecturer on constitutional law in Boston Uni- versity in 1882, and he was Kent Professor of Law in Yale College from 1891 until his death, the period of his absence in England excepted.

Had he not been so deeply devoted to his profession, Mr. Phelps would have taken highest rank as a man of letters. His few published essays and addresses show a fine literary sense and the true touch of an artist. In 1887 he pre- sided at the centennial celebration of the battle of Bennington, and his address upon that occasion was most felicitous, and his was a more notably meritorious effort on the occasion of the dedica- tion of the Bennington Battle Monument in 1891. He was at his best in topics pertaining to his profession, and he evoked the admiration of Pres- ident Dwight, of Yale College, who spoke of him as "a worthy example of the educated and refined scholar." His address on Chief Justice Marshall, before the American Bar Association in 1876, and that on Judge Samuel Prentiss, before the same body in 1882, are regarded as gems among papers of that character. In 1886 he de- livered before the Philosophical Society of Edin- burg an address on "The Law of the Land," which brought him the respect and admiration of English literateurs. One of the most signal com- pliments paid him was at a dinner given in his honor by the Century Club of London, on the eve of his return home, when Lord Chief Jus- tice Coleridge linked his name with those of Everett, Buchanan, Adams, Mortey and Lowell, and said that no one of these his predecessors had ever been the recipient of such unanimous and cordial expressions of regard, and that no Ameri- can minister had ever left England amid more universal regret.

Mr. Phelps was totally devoid of what is known as political ambition. He represented the city of Burlington in the constitutional conven- tion of 1870, and aided in the inauguration of the biennial system of elections and in other salutary changes in the organic law of the state. In 1880 he was the Democratic candidate for governor, but the nomination came unsought, and he made no effort towards election, yet received the largest vote cast by his party in a generation. He was of too judicial a temperament to be an ardent partisan. While he sypathized with the south in the controversies preceding the Civil war, he came to the clear conviction of the justness of the termination of the struggle, and rejoiced in the elimination of slavery. In three conspicuous instances he declined to act with his party-in 1872, when he would not support Mr. Greeley for the presidency ; in 1890, when he supported Mr. Blaine's Behring Sea policy ; and in 1896, when he supported Mr. Mckinley for the presi- dency.

In his personal character he was essentially a gentleman of the old school. He had a sincere love, a reverence, for the old manly virtues, and was stern, sometimes fierce, in expressing his detestation of what was mean. Falsehood, hy- pocrisy, malice-these he could not endure. He loved art, but sculpture more modern than the Greek, and paintings, paintings since Raphael, did not warm him. He had a special fondness for the, old songs and ballads. In literature his favorite fiction was Sterne and Smollett and Scott; his poet was Byron, and his dramatist was Shakespeare. But his two first books, as models of literary excellence as well as guides to a model life, were the King James Bible and the unaltered Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. In brief, in life and tastes, he was, to again quote Dr. Buckham, "one more of the men of our time, who have made the name . and the history of Vermont to be admired and honored far and wide in the world." His death occurred March 9, 1900.

Mr. Phelps was married in August, 1846, to Mary, daughter of Hon. Stephen Haight, of Burlington. Of this marriage are surviving two children : Mary (Mrs. Horatio Loomis, of Bur- lington), and Charles Pierpont Phelps, of Bos- ton.

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

GEORGE FRANKLIN EDMUNDS.

Georgc Franklin Edmunds, of Burlington, son of Ebenezer and Naomi (Briggs) Edmunds, was born in Richmond, February 1, 1828. His preliminary education was obtained in the public schools and under a private tutor. When but eighteen he began the study of law in Burlington, and continued it at Richmond in the office of his brother-in-law, A. B. Maynard, in 1846-47. In the two following years he was a student in the office of Smalley & Phelps in Burlington. In March, 1849, he was admitted to the bar of Chit- tenden county, and to partnership with Mr. May- nard at Richmond. The new firm was very suc- cessful. In November, 1851, he removed to Bur- lington, which thenceforward bccame his homc. At the time of Mr. Edmund's removal to Burling- ton the legal fraternity of the state was excep- tionally strong. Ex-Governor Underwood, D. A. Smalley, E. J. Phelps, L. E. Chittenden, and others were formidable competitors, but he soon worked his way to the front. In 1866, when he was first appointed to the national senate, he had secured the largest and most lucrative practice in that section of Vermont.

The services of George F. Edmunds fill some of the cleanest, brightest pages in the legislative history of the state and the nation. In 1854 he made his first appearance in the field of local politics as the moderator of the Burlington March meeting, and he was soon afterward elected repre- sentative of the town to the legislature. A mem- ber of the house in the years 1854-55-56-57-58- 59, he was also speaker during the last three sessions. In 1864 he served in the joint com- mittee on the state library, and also in the com- mittee on the judiciary. In 1855 he was made chairman of the latter body.

In. 1861 Mr. Edmunds was returned, against his protest, to the state senate from Chittenden county, and was chairman of its judiciary com- mittec. Re-elected in 1862, he served on the same committee. In each of these years he was also president pro tempore of the senate. In 1866 United States Senator Solomon Foote died, and Mr. Edmunds was appointed his successor by Governor Paul Dillingham. April 5, 1866, he began that long senatorial career which so honored himself, his state and his country. He

was afterwards elected by the legislature for the remainder of the term ending March 4, 1869, and in 1868, 1874, 1880, and 1886 received elec- tions for the full senatorial term. In 1891, after more than a quarter of a century's service, he resigned. His impress on national legislation was greater than that of any other man of his time, and he had for years been the foremost senator. No one thinks of his pro tempore presidency of the senate, so overshadowed is it by his real leadership.

In the winter of 1876 came a crisis in the his- tory of the United States, the great danger of which is year by year realizcd. The nation was threatened with all the evils of disputed succession to the chief magistracy. Senator Edmunds com- prehended the situation, and led from danger to lawful safety. He first admitted the draft of a constitutional amendment, which remitted the duty of counting the electoral votes to the su- preme court of the United States. But this was rejected by a vote of fourteen to thirty-one. On the 16th of December he called up the message from the house of representatives announcing the appointment of a committee of seven to act in conjunction with a committee of the senate in advising some method of counting the electoral vote; and submitted a resolution referring the message of the house to a select committee of seven senators, having power to prepare and re- port, without unnecessary delay, such a measure as would secure the lawful count of the electoral vote, and the best disposition of the questions connected therewith, and that this committce have power to confer with the committee of the house of representatives. The resolution was adopted, the committce appointed, and Senator Edmunds was made its chairman. In the discussion which followed he devised thc electoral commission bill.

On the 13th of January, 1877, Mr. Edmunds reported the proposed measure, which provided for the appointment of an clectoral commission. and which defined the dutics of its members. The bill passed into law. Senator Edmunds was appointed a member of the electoral commission on the part of the senate, and contributed effi- ciently to the lawful solution of the problem in which so many dangers lurked.

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Genealogical and family history of the state of Vermont; a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol I, Part 125

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed Publication date: 1903 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1032

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1032