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 II, Part 3

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1044

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Department of War, Feb'y. 25th, 1842. SIR: In answer to your letter of the 24th I tarnsmit herewith a copy of your former letter of the 21st inst. as you request, and have to state that I could not perceive the object of it, if it were not to induce a suppression of operations in the class of cases to which you allude. I am extremely obliged to you for the information you gave, and will be still further obliged if you can point out a mode in which the erroneous con- struction you suppose to have been give can be corrected, without violating the indispensable rule of adhering to former decisions.

Very respectfully your obd't. Sv't., Hon. Hiland Hall, House of Representatives.

J. C. SPENCER.

House of Representatives, Feb'y. 26th, 1842.

SIR: I thank you for the copy of the letter of the 21st inst. inclosed in yours of yesterday. In your letter you say you are extremely ob- linged to me for the information I gave you, and will be still further obliged if I can point out a mode in which the erroneous construction I suppose to have been given the act of July 5th 1832, "can be corrected without violating the indispensable rule adhering to former decis- ions." I would be glad to oblige you in this

particular, but it is out of my power. Under an indispensable rule to adhere to erroneous de- cisions, I know of no mode in which they can be corrected.

You are doubtless unaware of the amount of labor this "indispensable rule of adhering to former decisions" will save in the adjustment of these half-pay claims. There will be no neces- sity of reading the law or the evidence in any case. You may safely allow, without examina- tion, all claims that are presented. I will engage to furnish you a precedent from "former de- cisions" for any allowance you may make.

I am, sir, very respectfully yours, Hon. J. C. Spencer, HILAND HALL.

Secretary of War.

Mr. Hall was bank commissioner of Vermont for four years from 1843, judge of the supreme court for the like period until 1850, when he was appointed second comptroller of the United States treasury. As comptroller, his duties were to revise all accounts with the government, of officers and others in both the war and navy de- partments, after they had been stated and passed upon by the second, third and fourth auditors, and to "finally adjust" them. A claim came be- fore him founded on an expenditure that had been ordered by the head of a department which he though was illegal. It was insisted in behalf of the claimant that, the secretary being his superior officer and representing the president, the comptroller was bound by his approval and had no power to disallow it. In support of this doctrine a labored written argument was pre- sented, and it appeared to be sanctioned by the published opinions of three former attorney gen- erals. On full examination of the statutes, Mr. Hall came to the conclusion that judicial author- ity had been designedly conferred on the account- ing officers as a check upon lavish expenditures in the departments, and that it was as much their duty to disallow claims not sustained by law. as it was that of a court of justice. The question being one of importance, the opinion of the comp- troller was published in pamphlet, and it is un- derstood has since been accepted and followed in the several departments, as a just exposition of the law on the subject.

In 1851, at the solicitation of President Fill- more, he accepted the office of land commissioner

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

for Calnorma, of which he was chairman, and had charge of the fund for the expenses of the commission. The duties of the commissioners were to adjust the class to land under the treaty with Mexico; the titles of the owners, as jecog nized by the Mexican laws, having been guaran ted to them by that treaty. The opinion of the commission in the famous Mariposa claim of J. C. Fremont, involving millions of dollars, was written by Mr. Hall, containing in its elucida- tion, almost without exception, all points that would be likely to arise in the adjustment of claims. On the accession of President Pierce, new commissioners were appointed, and Mr. Hlall, in the spring of 1854, returned to Vermont, and resuming his residence on the farm on which he was born, in Bennington, retired from the further practice of his profession.

Mr. Hall was a member of the convention which met at Philadelphia in 1856 and gave the Republican party a national character by nominating candidates for the presidency and vice presidency. In 1858 he was elected by that party governor of the state by a large majority, and re-elected the next year by a similar major- ity.

In his first message, besides calling the atten- tion of the legislature to the local affairs of the state, he spoke in decided condemnation of the then recent attempt of the majority of the judges of the supreme court of the United States, in furtherance of the wishes of President Buchanan and his advisers, to fasten upon the country by judicial sanction the new and extraordinary doc- trine that the Constitution itself legalized slavery in the territories, and that Congress had conse- quently no power to prevent its introduction.

The language of the message in regard to this assumed action of the court was as follows :

With a strong habitual reverence for judi- cial authority, when exercised within its appro- priate sphere, for the determination of individual rights, I confess I have not a high regard for it when sought to be extended to political questions. The history of our parent country furnishes many examples of judges, learned and eminent, whose extra-judicial opinions were sought and obtained by the government for the purpose of crushing out the rising spirit of liberty among the people.

Indeed, for the character of the judicial ermine, it is to be lamented that judges of distinguished legal attainments have often been found giving countenance to oppression and wrong by ingen- ious and fanciful constructions, and that English liberty has been fixed upon its present firm foun- dations, not by the aid of judicial efforts, but by overcoming them. There is reason to hope that the extra judicial opinions of the majority of the judges in the Dred Scott case, contrary as they are to the plain language of the Constitution, to the facts of history, and to the dictates of com- mon humanity, will meet the fate which has at- tended those of the judges in the parent country, and that liberty will be eventually established in spite of them.

The prophecy thus earnestly made by Gov- ernor Hall was six years afterward literally ful- filled in the triumph of the cause of national freedom and right over servitude and wrong, by the suppression of the rebellion and the extinc- tion of slavery.

At the close of his second annual message, in 1859, after expressing his greatful thanks to the people of his state for the generous confidence they had always shown him, he announced his determination to retire from public service at the expiration of the term for which he had been elected. He, however, consented to act as one of the commissioners to the fruitless "Peace Con- gress," which on the call of Virginia assembled in Washington in February, 1861, on the eve of the Rebellion, and was chairman of the delegation from Vermont.

Mr. Hall always took deep interest in Amer- ican history, especially that connected with the territory and state of Vermont. He was for six years president of the Vermont Historical Society, and was active in the preparation and ar- rangement of the materials for the two published volumes of its Collections, and in otherwise pro- moting its usefulness and success. He read sev- eral papers at meetings of the society which have been published,-among them one, in 1869, in vindication of Colonel Ethan Allen as the hero of Ticonderoga, in refutation of an attempt made in the Galaxy magazine to rob him of that honor. He has contributed historical papers to the New York Historical Magazine, to the Vermont His- torical Gazeteer, to the Philadelphia Historical

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THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Record, and also to the New England Histori- cal Genealogical Register. In 1860 he read be- fore the New York Historical Society a paper showing, "Why the early inhabi- tants of Vermont disclaimed the jurisdiction of New York, and established a separate government." In 1868 his "Early History of Vermont," a work of over five hundred pages, was published by J. Munsell, Albany, in which the controversy of its early inhabitants with New York, and their struggle for the establishment of their state independence, as well as their valua- ble services in the cause of their common coun- try during the Revolutionary war, are largly treated, and the necessity of their separation from the government of New York, in order to main- tain the title to their lands and preserve their liberty, is very fully shown.

Governor Hall was very prominent in his ex- ertions to have a suitable centennial celebration of the battle of Bennington, and for the erection of a creditable monument, consisting of a high and commanding shaft, to the heroes of the vic- tory, and in securing for both the favorable ac- tion of the state legislature, and also in subse- quently promoting their successful accomplish- ment. A few months before the celebration in 1877, he prepared a clear and full description of the battle, with an account of its important con- sequences, which was extensively published in newspapers and pamphlets, a copy of which has a place in the official account of the centennial celebration.

The University of Vermont in 1859 conferred on him the honorary degree of LL. D. He was a life member and vice president for Vermont of the New England Historical Genealogical So- ciety, a member of the Long Island Historical Society, an honorary member of the Buffalo and corresponding member of the New York His- torical societies.

Hiland Hall was married in 1818 to Dolly Tuttle Davis, of Rockingham, Vermont, who, after over sixty years of happy and useful mar- ried life, died January 8, 1879. The fruit of the marriage was six sons and two daughters. Of the sons, two are living, viz: Henry D., born May 5, 1823, married Carolina E. Thatcher, March 24, 1847. They celebrated their golden

wedding, and they 'were the fifth generation, in lineal descent, where the parties had lived to- gether over fifty years. She died July 24, 1899, in North Bennington, where Mr. Hall now re- sides. Charles, born November 18, 1832, married Jane E. Cady, in September, 1856, who died in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, October 2, 1862. He mar- ried, April 19, 1864, Mina Phillips, and now re- sides in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he is a successful wholesale and retail crockery mer- chant. The deceased were: (I) Eliza D., born August 29, 1821, married Adin Thayer, Jr., of Hoosick Falls, New York, and died August 10, 1843. (2) Hiland H., born January 19, 1825, married Jane A. Waters, September 19, 1849. He was a thorough business young man, going to San Francisco as a clerk of the California Land Commission, where he died a few days af- ter landing, December 9, 1851, of fever, contract- ed on the Isthmus of Panama. (3) Laura V., born January 27, 1828, married Trenor W. Park, December 15, 1846, and died June 21, 1875. Mr. Park went to San Francisco in 1852, and in the firm of Halleck, Peachy, Billings & Park, was engaged in a large law practice. He became the owner of the Panama Railroad and sold it to De Lesseps on his undertaking the building of the canal. He died December 13, 1882, a multi- millionaire. (4) M. Carter, born March 7, 1820, married, April 20, 1844, Sophia B. Deming, of Arlington. He died June 15, 1881. For much of the last half of his life he was afflicted with rheumatism, so as to be rendered almost help- less. Previous to this affliction he had an exten- sive acquaintance and influence in the town, coun- ty and state. (5) John V., born February 10, 1831, married, September 10, 1860, Nellie E. Lyman. He studied law and practiced for a while in. Oshkosh, Wisconsin, but, returning to Bennington, was appointed clerk of the county court, which office he held at the time of his death, October 8, 1888. (6) Nathaniel B., born September 2, 1826, married Martha B. Rouse, February 25, 1850. He was a lawyer and served as major of the Fourteenth Vermont Regiment in the Civil war. In 1870 he removed to Jackson. Michigan, and went into the real estate and in- surance business, in which he was successfully en- gaged at the time of his death, June 7. 1892.

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

TRENOR WILLIAM PARK.

Trenor William Park, of Bennington, Ver- mont, was born in Woodford, Vermont, Decem- ber 8, 1823. His father, Luther Park, born March 4, 1789, married Cynthia Pratt, and died July 10, 1871. William Park, his grandfather, who died in 1840, aged about ninety years, was a gallant soldier and a commissioned officer in the Revolutionary war. His warrant, which is in the possession of Miss Anna C. Park, of Ben- nington, is couched in the following language :

STATE OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY.

To William Park, of Northbridge, in the County Worcester and State aforesaid, gentle- men. Pursuant to a resolve of the General Court of said State of the 20th of April last, I the subscriber being appointed to take the com- mand of a regiment of militia raised in said State for the space of eight months from the time of their arrival at the Pikes Kill on Hud- son river, the place of their destination, do ap- point you quartermaster of said Regt. For which this shall be your sufficient warrant. Given under my hand and seal at Upton in said County this eighteenth day of May, A. D., 1778.

EZRA WOOD, Colonel.

When two or three years old, Trenor W. Park removed with his parents to Bennington. There his meagre educational advantages were utilized in such irregular manner as the poverty of the family would allow, but pluck, persistance and industry enabled him to surmount all ob- structions. From 1830 to 1836 he was known as a bright, precocious, keen-witted boy, who ped- dled molasses candy to supply the necessities of the household. He also performed such acts of service as he was capable of doing. Among these he carried letters to and from the post- office at Bennington, which was then located in what is now called Bennington Center, and this penny-postal establishment between the present village of Bennington and that of Revolutionary fame was among the earliest harbingers of the cheap postal system. When fifteen years of age, Trenor Park had become the proprietor of a small candy store on North street. But his as- pirations were to much higher ends than any as-

sociated with so humble a branch of commerce. He resolved to become a lawyer, and entering at sixteen the law office of A. P. Lyman (a man of extraordinary native talent, who died in 1883), he there studied for his profession, and with such success that he was admitted to the bar soon after attaining his majority. Beginning prac- tice in Bennington, he continued to prosecute it with great success until the spring of 1852.

The appointment of Hon. Hiland Hall by President Fillmore, in 1851, to the chairmanship of the United States land commission in Cali- fornia (a body constituted to settle Mexican land titles in the new territorial domain), brought an entire change into the plans of Mr. Park, who was the son-in-law of Mr. Hall. In the spring of 1852 Mr. Park and his family emigrated to the Pacific coast. Arrived in San Francisco, he com- menced the practice of law, and displayed so much ability in the successful management of his first case (in which he was pitted against Gen- eral James A. McDougall, subsequently United States senator, and who then and ever after proclaimed Mr. Park the most skillful jury law- yer on the Pacific coast), that he attracted the attention of the law firm of Halleck, Peachy & Billings, whose senior member was General Hal- leck, of Civil war fame, and on whose invitation Mr. Park became a member of the firm of Hal- leck, Peachy, Billings & Park, which soon grew to be the leading law firm in California, doing a lucrative business, and which erected Mont- gomery block, the finest structure at the time on the Pacific coast.

Mr. Park's professional career in San Fran- cisco was not unattended by personal danger. Pistols were favorite arguments with disput- ants, but he smiled at threats and danger, and re- lied upon principles and precedents and cool behavior. He was the counsel of Alvin Adams, of Boston, president of the Adams Express Com- pany, throughout the long and intricate litiga- tion in which that company was involved in Cal- ifornia and Oregon. In the historic reform movement of 1855 he aided "James King of William" in establishing the San Francisco Bul- letin. When that daring reformer was assissin- ated for upholding law and order, the memor- able "Vigilance Committee' sprang at once into being and assumed the local government, and

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Mr. Park became its attorney. Five of the more prominent ruffians were hung, the worst of their companions were deported to Australia, and San Francisco, freed from their presence, fell into the condition of one of the most tranquil and law-abiding cities on the continent.

In 1858 Mr. Park visited Vermont. He was then the possessor of what was justly regarded a fortune. This, however, was unexpectedly diminished in his absence by a commercial panic in San Francisco. Yet, although his available resources were suddenly circumscribed, the abil- ity and zeal to make the most of opportunities remained intact. Not only was he a brilliant and successful lawyer, but he was no less distin- guished for judgment and skill in real estate oper- ations. Politics attracted his energies, and he failed of election as United States senator from California by a few votes only. Next he became associated with Colonel John C. Fremont in the control of the celebrated Mariposa mine, and administered the affairs of the Mariposa es- tate. Prosperous himself in all his undertakings, he also made the fortunes of those who were con- nected with him in business, notably in the case of General Fremont, who very candidly admitted in after years that the wisest thing that he had ever done was to turn over his business inter- ests to Mr. Park, through whom he had been freed from a large burden of debt and made a wealthy man. Mr. Park, as might have been expected of his Vermont blood and training, was an ardent lover of his country, and could not brook the idea of its disruption and probable de- struction. A citizen of San Francisco when the cannonading of Fort Sumter announced the beginning of the long-expected strife, he wrote the following letter, which, with its enclosure, reveals his genuine patriotism.

Hon. Erastus Fairbanks, Governor of Vermont:

I have to thank the Pony Express for the pleasing intelligence that my native state has by unanimous vote of the legislature appropriated men and money to aid the administration in the protection of the Constitution against the foes of the country.

I know the Green Mountain boys, like their ancestors in the Revolution, will be found facing the enemy. Although nearly six thousand miles

removed from Vermont, I look with great inter- est to anything that relates to her honor, and always find her right. I love Vermont and her people, and take pride in being counted among her sons.

Enclosed you will find a check for $1,000 which the state of Vermont will pleace accept as my contribution toward defraying the expenses of fitting out her sons for battle, or supporting the families of those who may fall in defence of the flag of our Union.

With full confidence in the success of the right I am very truly yours, T. W. PARK.

In 1863 Mr. Park retired trom business and returned to Vermont. Inaction, however, was too wearisome for one of his temperament, and he soon again entered upon active life. He es- tablished the First National Bank of North Ben- nington, built a fine residence, and connected him- self with various business enterprises. He also embarked in state politics, was elected to the legislature, and wielded great influence in that body. One of the original incorporators of the Central Vermont Railroad Company at the reor- ganization of the Vermont Central under that title, he furnished much of the capital required on that occasion. Not all his railroad enterprises were as remunerative as he had expected. The Lebanon Springs Railroad was one of these. Commencing its construction in 1868, he hoped thereby to make Bennington an important rail- road town and to place it on a through route from New York to Montreal, but almost ruined his finances and also impaired his health in the undertaking. He wished to supply the great want of transportation experienced by southern Vermont, but did not meet with fitting co-opera- tion. Prior to this he had purchased the West- ern Vermont Railroad. His connection with these works showed the sincerity which his op- ponents have since so freely and fully admitted.

In 1872 Mr. Park was united with General Baxter in the ownership of the celebrated Emma Mine, and while he managed it the payment of dividends was regular. Positive, energetic, and accustomed to operate on a large scale, he did not escape criticism and litigation. His sagac- ity and legal acumen were marvelous, and in the legal controversy which sprang out of the Emma

THE STATE OF VERMONT.

Mme, after a jiny trial of five months, he was fully vindicated. Neither trials nor claims were impending at the time of his decease, nor did any stain rest upon his character. His admin- istration of the Pacine Mail Steamship Com- pany, of which he was for years a director, was characterized by his wonted shrewdness and force. He purchased a controlling interest in the Panama Railroad, and was elected its president in 1874, and so continued until his decease. As manager, in connection with General John G. McCollough, he saw the value of its stock rise from below par to three hundred cents on the dol- lar, at which latter rate it was sold to the De Lesseps Canal Company. His was the dominant mind in the old Panama corporation, and to him the felicitous close of its affairs was mainly due. The transfer of its property and the accompany- ing negotiations were only completed a few months before he sailed for Panama on the trip upon which he died.

Trenor W. Park was warmly and deeply at- tached to the locality in which the years of his youth and early manhood had been spent. He was, with E. J. Phelps, of Burlington, ex-Gover- nor Prescott, of New Hampshire, and ex-Gov- ernor Rice, of Massachusetts, one of the commit- tee on the design of the Bennington Battle Monu- ment, which is intended to perpetuate the mem- ory and preserve the spirit of Revolutionary patriotism. He was also a liberal giver. When one of the trustees of the University of Vermont, he conceived the idea of donating the Gallery of Art which now bears his name. Benefactions whose good was apparent in the improved health of hundreds of poor people of New York city (beneficiaries of the Tribune Fresh-air Fund), he delighted in. To these he afforded some months of delightful rural experience at Ben- nington. The Bennington Free Library is also a monument of his munificence, in conjunction with the late Seth Bliss Hunt, and they were its sole donors and to an equal extent.

His last and largest contemplated gift was that for the ample endowment of a "Home" at Bennington. The "Park Home" for destitute children and women is one of the most impres- sive memorials of the man. The Hunt property north of the village was purchased, the Home

incorporated by act of the legislature in 1882, and when news of its passage reached him he was busy devising the best method to accomplish the object and inaugurate the charity dear to his heart. He was not destined to witness the consummation of his plans. Paralysis seized him on the 13th of December, 1882, while a passenger on board the Pacific mail-steamer San Blas. His remarkable career closed suddenly. After his death, his heirs conveyed the Hunt property to the state for a Soldiers' Home, and it is univers- ally acknowledged to make an ideal Home.

Mr. Park's life is not only an illustration of the possibilities of youth in this country, but also of the intrinsic value of shrewdness, energy and perseverance. Nurtured in poverty, he died in affluence. Reared with many scanty advantages he died an able and astute legist, a general of in- dustry, a monarch of finance. Of course he had enemies. Such men necessarily make opponents. But he also made and kept a host of warm and de- voted friends. Short and slight of figure, head bent forward as if in profound thought, deep-set eyes, a manner nervous and restrained, chin and mouth strong and firm, quick and decided in expression, a great reader and powerful thinker-this mod- est and unobtrusive man was one whose memory neither Vermont nor the world will permit to perish.

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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 II, Part 3

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed Publication date: 1903 Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 1044

Author: Carleton, Hiram, 1838- ed
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: New York, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 1044