USA > Vermont > Addison County > History of Addison county Vermont, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 16
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
Judges of the County Court, John Strong, esq., chief judge ; Ira Allen, Gam- aliel Painter, William Brush and Amos Fassett, esq., side judges; Hon. John Strong, esq., judge probate; Noah Chittenden, esq., sheriff; and October 3, the Governor and Council.
" Resolved, That Hiland Hall, esq., be and he is hereby appointed one of the judges of the court in and for the county of Addison, in lieu of Ira Allen, esq., resigned."
The first term of court was held on the first Tuesday of March, 1786, at the house of Zadock Everest, in Addison, and at the March meeting three weeks later the freemen of the county elected under the general law of 1781 John Strong, chief judge ; William Brush, Hiland Hall, Abel Thompson and Samuel Lane, side judges, and Gamaliel Painter, sheriff. At the first term Samuel Chipman, jr., was appointed clerk by the court. No State's attorney appears on record till March, 1787, when Seth Storrs was appointed.
The second term was held at Colchester, but before the time arrived for another session at Colchester, Chittenden county was organized (October 22, 1787), and courts were afterward held at Addison till 1792.
The law of 1787 reduced the number of judges of County Courts to three and made it the duty of the Legislature to elect the judges, sheriffs, judges of probate and justices.
The judges of the Supreme Court who resided in Addison county belonged as much to the whole State, so far as their judicial history is concerned ; but their personal history and their social relations belong to the county of their residence, and a pardonable pride in their talents, their learning and their achievements justifies the special interest of their descendants and neighbors, and special mention of them in a county history. They were Enoch Wood- bridge, from 1794 to 1800 inclusive (seven years), the last three years as chief justice. Joel Doolittle, 1817 to 1822 and 1824 (seven years) ; Samuel S. Phelps, 1831 to 1837 (seven years) ; John Pierpoint, 1857 to 1882 (twenty-five years), the last sixteen years as chief justice.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Hon. Enoch Woodbridge was a prominent citizen of the State from the early organization of its government after the Revolution, till his death in 1805. He was born at Stockbridge, Berkshire county, Mass., December 25, 1750; grad- uated at Yale College in 1774; entered the army soon after and was at Quebec with Montgomery, at the battles of Hubbardton, Bennington and White Plains ; at the surrender of Burgoyne, and served until peace was proclaimed. He was soon after admitted to the bar, resided for a short time in Bennington county, and afterwards removed to Vergennes (about 1790). In 1794, at the first municipal election held in Vergennes after its incorporation, he was elected mayor of the city and served for several years in that capacity. He was re-
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peatedly chosen to the Legislature of the State, and in 1794 was elected by the Legislature as judge, and in 1798 as chief justice of the Supreme Court. He died at the age of fifty-five years, after a patriotic and useful career, lamented by all and without an enemy. At the first term of Addison County Court, after the settlement of Mr. Woodbridge in Vergennes, his name appears on the docket in two cases and the next year in thirty-four of the seventy-four entries. He represented Vergennes in the Legislature from 1791 to 1794 inclusive, and in 1802; was on the bench of the Supreme Court from 1794 to 1800 inclu- sive ; he was a patriotic soldier and citizen; a learned and successful lawyer and upright judge.
Hon. Joel Doolittle graduated at Yale College in 1799 and came to Middle- bury in the fall of 1800 as the first tutor in Middlebury College. He was ad- mitted to the bar as a lawyer in 1801 and remained in Middlebury. He ob- tained an extensive and successful practice in his profession until 1817, when he was elected an assistant judge of the Supreme Court and re-elected each year until 1823 and again elected in 1824. He was also a member of the old Council in 1815, 1816 and 1817, and a representative of Middlebury in the Assembly of 1824. In 1834 he was chosen a member of the Council of Cen- sors and served as president of the same. He was attentive and studious as a lawyer, faithful to his clients, and faithful to the high trusts committed to him by the public. After he left the bench of the Supreme Court he resumed his practice and continued it, as his health permitted, until his death in March, 184I, at the age of sixty-eight years.
Hon. Samuel Sheather Phelps, son of John Phelps, a respectable farmer of Litchfield, Conn., was born May 13, 1793, graduated at Yale College in 181I, with credit to himself, though younger than most of his class, among whom were Hon. John M. Clayton, of Delaware, and Roger S. Sherman, of Connec- ticut. The following winter he spent at the Litchfield Law School. In the succeeding spring he went to Middlebury and continued his law studies with Hon. Horatio Seymour. During the War of 1812 he was drafted and ordered to the Canada frontier. He served in the ranks at Burlington and Plattsburgh until he was appointed paymaster in the United States service. On his return to Middlebury he resumed his law studies and was admitted to the bar at the December term in 1814. He continued an extensive and successful practice in Addison and other counties until 1831, when he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court, which office he held by successive elections until 1838, when he was elected to the United States Senate and served two terms to March 4, 1851. He then retired to private life, but was frequently called to act in im- portant suits in Vermont and elsewhere, and on the death of Senator Upham, in 1853, Judge Phelps was appointed by Governor Fairbanks to fill the va- cancy .. As a senator he was considered a vigorous debater, a close and pro- found reasoner, and able to discuss the greatest questions of the day. As a
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
lawyer and judge he was second to none in the State and to very few in the United States. At Washington, where he frequently appeared before the Su- preme Court, he secured and held the very highest rank as a lawyer. He was associated with Daniel Webster and other leading lawyers in some of the most important cases coming before the Supreme Court. As a judge he was rapid in the dispatch of business, prompt to decide and unhesitating and firm in his opinions.
Hon. John Pierpoint .- The father of John Pierpoint was David Pierpoint, descended from one of Cromwell's trusted officers, and born in New Haven, Conn., July 26, 1764. He married Sarah Phelps, a sister of the father of Hon. S. S. Phelps, late of Middlebury, Vt. David Pierpoint resided on a farm three miles from the village of Litchfield, Conn. John Pierpoint was the youngest son in a family of seven sons and two daughters. He was born at Litchfield September 10, 1805. In 1815, when ten years old, he went to Rutland into the family of his brother, Robert Pierpoint, afterwards senior judge of the Cir- cuit Court of Vermont. Here he remained until he was prepared to enter upon. the study of law, when he returned to Litchfield and attended a course of lect- ures in the celebrated law school of Judges Reeve and Gould. He returned to Vermont and continued his studies with his brother Robert until he was ad- mitted to the bar of Rutland county. He first opened an office in Pittsford, Vt., and in 1832 came to Vergennes at the solicitation of a number of the lead- ing business men of the place, and immediately secured extensive practice for a young lawyer, having about thirty cases at the first term of the County Court. In 1838 he married Sarah Maria, daughter of Hon. Villee Lawrence, of Vergennes, 1 and all through the future of his life enjoyed a home which was the seat of refinement and cultured domestic happiness. " In his professional life he soon acquired the confidence of all the region round about and was the most trusted counselor of its people." More eloquent advocates at the bar were known, but the candor and integrity of John Pierpoint commended him to the judgment and approval of his clients, who soon learned that in prepara- tion and thorough knowledge of his cases and a clear and forcible presentation of them he was worthy of their trust. " He was early known at the bar as an excellent lawyer, singularly terse and clear as a speaker, and of such uniform candor and integrity that what he said always carried weight; " but the con- tests of the forum or the strife of politics were not to his taste ; he, however, accepted the office of mayor of Vergennes six years ; of representative in the State Legislature in 1841 ; of State senator in 1855-56 and '57. In 1857 he. was elected one of the judges of the Supreme Court, and in 1865 he was ad- vanced to the chief justiceship, which position he held to the time of his death -a longer term on the bench of the Supreme Court than was filled by any of his predecessors. He was first elected with great unanimity, and in all his suc-
1 She was a sister of Hon. Charles B. Lawrence, long chief justice of Illinois.
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ceeding elections no vote was ever cast against him. It soon became apparent that he had found his true vocation, and following it with calm dignity, in a quiet, unobtrusive manner, he soon secured the confidence and affection of the bar and of the community at large, and it seemed clear that he was a born judge; that here he could exercise to great advantage the severe logic in which he delighted. He also had the peculiar gift of silence when silence was the highest wisdom. His success on the bench was not so much the result of great learning or an extensive knowledge of precedents, as in the fact that "he had always the qualities of the judge. He united together a strong sense of right and wrong, an intuitive faculty of weighing evidence and arriving at controverted truth, and the power of considering all questions in their true light, free from excitement, prejudice or preconceived opinions, with absolute fairness and an all-pervading charity. The early training of the Litchfield Law School, which dealt almost exclusively with general principles, had im- pressed itself strongly upon his mind. The logical application of established legal principles was his resource, as it was his peculiar strength in dealing with all questions, however difficult or complicated. As a purely technical lawyer he did not greatly excel, but on the merits of a case he was rarely at fault." 1
One of his associates on the bench2 has said : "He was the most often right of any man I ever knew. There were others more aggressive and more brill- iant than he, but of all the men with whom I was associated on the bench, Judge Pierpoint was the wisest of us all." " He was a just man, an honest man and a great man;" ennobled by his simplicity of character and his blameless life. Judge Pierpoint, after he had given to the duties of his position all of labor and strength that he had to give, went back to the home he loved so well and there awaited the inevitable. He died at Vergennes January 7, 1882, leaving a wife and three children, one son and two daughters - H. V. Pierpoint, of Chicago, Ill .; Mrs. C. S. Cobb, of the same city, and Miss Nellie Pierpoint, now of Chicago. Mrs. Pierpoint died January 20, 1884. The fu- neral of Judge Pierpoint was attended by a large number of the bench and bar of Vermont and others from all parts of the State, testifying to the great esteem in which he was held. The bar of Vermont requested the privilege of erecting a monument at his grave, and a noble shaft of Vermont granite fitly marks the spot where rest the remains of John Pierpoint, chief justice of Vermont.
The first presiding judge of the County Court from 1785 to 1801, who was elected one year by the people and the remainder of the time by the Legisla- ture, was neither a graduate of any college or law school, nor ever admitted to the bar, and yet during that time some of the strongest and brightest minds that have been the boast of Addison county practiced at the bar of that court, but have left no record of dissatisfaction with the court. In that day the stat-
1 E. J. Phelps.
2 Judge Barrett.
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
utes were few and plain and the number of law books was comparatively few; the numberless decisions which are now so much relied on were unknown; perversion and delays of the law by technical objections found little favor, and the great duty of the judge was to mete out equal and exact justice in accord- ance with the great principles of law as gathered from the common law of England, adapting those principles to the peculiar situation of our new settle- ments and the circumstances of the inhabitants.
Hon. John Strong was born in Coventry, Conn., August 16, 1738. When he was seven years old his father removed to Salisbury, Conn., where John Strong grew to manhood and first settled. The Strong homestead lay next north of the Livingstone farm from which Montgomery at a later day bid adieu to his wife at her father's door, when he started on his fatal expedition to Quebec and never returned alive; long years afterward his remains were brought on a government steamer for burial in St. Paul's church-yard in New York city, and the steamer paused in her course to salute a gray-haired matron standing on the banks of the Hudson, with fresh and vivid memory of that bright morning when her young husband left her, full of life and hope, now the nation's honored dead. The view north from the Strong farm embraces a fertile valley with a beautiful lake in the center, on the banks of which the farm and house are located, which Thomas Chittenden (who was but eight years older than John Strong) occupied till he came to Vermont, to be its first governor. Strong married at twenty-one, moved to Addison, Vt., with his wife and three chil- dren, when twenty-eight years old, into a log house on the bank of Lake Cham- plain, which he had built the fall previous (1765) while on a prospecting tour. The trials and perils of his situation seem only to have strengthened his pur- poses and brought into play all the energies of his strong character. When the settlers had become numerous enough to hold town meetings the most important business was committed to John Strong, and from that time on to old age he almost constantly occupied positions of great responsibility, re- quiring the exercise of wise judgment, prompt decisions, firmness of purpose and determined perseverance. As a delegate to the general conventions, a member of the Legislature and of the Council for many years, he met the great- est men of that grand period of our history and proved himself equal to every emergency. The training in such a school might well supply the want of col- lege teaching, and it is not strange that when Addison county was organized he was selected to the chief judicial office and found to be well fitted for the position. In 1801 he declined all further public positions, and died June 16, 1816, leaving an enviable fame as a true patriot, a wise statesman and an in- corruptible judge. Judge Strong left a large family of sons and daughters: Moses Strong, of Rutland, and Luke Strong, of Vergennes, were lawyers; General Samuel Strong, of Vergennes, well known throughout the State, and several younger sons, have all passed away.
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BENCH AND BAR.
Hon. Joel Linsley was born in Woodbury, Conn., and settled in Cornwall at an early day, where he soon became a popular leader in town and a man of influence in the county. He was elected chief judge of the County Court 1801 to 1806 inclusive, and again in 1808-09. He had the reputation of being a man of solid worth, a bright and active mind, a benevolent disposition and very pleasing social powers.
Hon. Henry Olin was born in Shaftsbury, Vt., May 7, 1768, coming upon the stage of active life after the exciting times of Vermont's first settlement and the Revolutionary War had passed. He settled in Leicester about 1788. His early advantages of education were limited, but a love for reading and study and a retentive memory were more than compensation for this loss. In his physical proportions Judge Olin was a man of great size, being of large frame and very fleshy. Mentally he was different from Judge Strong, and while he might lack the executive ability, the reticence and self-reliant power of his predecessor, he was equally famed for his sound sense, his sterling rectitude, his love of justice and quick perception of right, and excelled in conversational power, in a quick and ready wit, which made him a general favorite. He was for twenty-two years a member of the Legislature from Leicester; eight years assistant judge, and fifteen years chief judge of the County Court; State coun- cilor in 1820-21; member of Congress in 1824, to complete the term of Hon. Charles Rich, deceased, and lieutenant-governor in 1827-28 and 1829.
Hon. Dorastus Wooster was born at Derby, Conn., September 2, 1787. In 1805 he came with his parents to Cornwall. He began his law studies with Hon. Joel Doolittle in 1815 and was admitted to the bar in 1817; began the practice of his profession in Middlebury, where he continued during his life. In 1824 he was elected chief judge of the County Court, but the change in the judi- ciary system made in that year assigned a Supreme Court judge to preside in County Court. Judge Wooster afterward held the office of assistant judge for many years. He died January II, 1855, respected for his integrity and fidelity to the trusts committed to him.
The following notices of some of the lawyers, now departed, who have graced the bar of Addison county, contain statements of facts drawn largely from Swift's History of Middlebury, and valuable papers left by the Hon. Charles Linsley :
Samuel Chipman, jr., of Vergennes, the first lawyer who settled in Addison county and first clerk of Addison County Court, was one of six sons of Samuel Chipman, who moved from Salisbury, Conn., to Tinmouth, Vt., in 1775. Na- thaniel, one of the most prominent men of his day, was the eldest of the six sons, and was educated at Yale College. Daniel, the notable lawyer and statesman of Addison county, was the youngest son, and was educated at Dartmouth. The other four had but a common school education. Lemuel and Cyrus be- came doctors; the other four, lawyers. Samuel, the fifth son, first appears on
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
record as admitted to the bar at the first term in March, 1786, of the Addison County Court, and appointed clerk at the same time. John A. Graham was ad- mitted at the same time. Of the twenty-four cases on the docket, Samuel Chip- man appears as attorney in twelve; his brother Nathaniel in five; his brother Darius in three, and Enoch Woodbridge, of Bennington county, in two cases. The most significant records, however, are the records of conveyances of real estate in Vergennes, which show him to have dealt largely in such property, and with great shrewdness ; to have purchased such lots within the city limits as have since become the most valuable. He and General Strong bought the island on the falls and built a grist-mill ; tradition tells of his sharp manage- ment in securing his full share of water power by removing rocks from the channel to his mill in the night time. He removed in 1803 to Madrid, N. Y., where after a few years he relinquished his professional business and engaged in farming. He was born December 20, 1763, and died in 1839, leaving a large family.
John A. Graham was admitted to the bar of Addison county at the first term held in the county, March, 1786, and his name appears as attorney in cases in that court for a number of years. He was born in Southbury, Conn., June IO, 1764 ; studied law in his native county in 1785 ; was very active in the affairs of the Episcopal Church, and went to England to secure the confirmation by the English Church of the Rev. Dr. Peters, as bishop of Vermont, but failed in his object, without fault on his part, as was thought by the people whom he rep- resented. While in England on a second visit he published Letters on Ver- mont, and after his return a volume of his speeches and a work to show that Horne Tooke was the author of the Letters of Junius. He lived a few years in Rutland, then a short time in Washington, and then in New York city, where he resided until his death in 1841. He was a bold, energetic and sanguine man, and succeeded best in New York in the practice of criminal law.
Seth Storrs was born in Mansfield, Conn., June 24, 1756; graduated at Yale College in 1778, and taught for several years at Northampton, Mass .; after the Revolutionary War he studied law with Noah Smith, in Bennington. He was admitted to the bar in that county, and in 1787 removed to Addison and began practice there. Addison was then the shire town of the county and the prominent place, and Seth Storrs was the second lawyer to settle in the county. He was appointed State's attorney soon after his arrival and held the office for
ten years.
Mr. Storrs boarded in the family of John Strong, then chief judge
The
of the county, and soon married Electa Strong, the daughter of his host.
courts were held in Addison till 1792, when they were moved to Middlebury, and Mr. Storrs followed them the next year and opened a law office and secured a good practice, in which he continued for many years. He soon became a large landholder and interested himself in his farming and village lots; he also became deeply interested in the project of starting a college in Middlebury.
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After the charter was secured he gave the land needed for the college buildings, and his interest in the institution never abated. He was also a member and officer in the Congregational Church, and constant in his zeal and labors for its growth and prosperity. He was known as a good lawyer, a courteous and pol- ished gentleman of the old school. He died at Vergennes while on a visit there, October 9, 1838, aged eighty-two years.
Samuel Miller was the first lawyer who settled in Middlebury, and was among the most distinguished of her citizens. He was born in Springfield, Mass., April 2, 1764; came into this State in 1785, and resided in Wallingford. He never had a collegiate education ; this deficiency was, however, well supplied by superior talents and a thirst for knowledge which he early manifested. In- dependent of all external aids he set himself to work to build up a character and influence by his own native energies. Soon after he came into the State he entered upon the study of law in the county of Rutland. Immediately after his admission he settled in Middlebury, when the site of the village was almost a wilderness. Mr. Miller had a mind of unusual activity and vigor and of very quick and discriminating perceptions. He immediately entered upon an exten- sive practice in this and adjoining counties. While he lived he and Daniel Chip- man occupied a similar rank and stood at the head of the profession in the sev- eral counties where they practiced. In his addresses to the jury Mr. Miller's enunciation was rather rapid, but his argument was systematic, clear and forci- ble. He was prompt and thorough in his business habits, as his rapid rise in his profession sufficiently showed. He was not inclined to enter into public life, but was known and had an extensive influence through the State. He was elected a representative to the General Assembly in 1797 and was a prominent and influential member. His manners were courteous and gentlemanly and he was rather insinuating in his address. He was everywhere recognized as a gentleman. He was large minded and liberal in his support of educational and religious institutions of the town of his adoption. On the 7th of October, 1790, he was married to Rebecca, daughter of Hon. Samuel Mattocks. Mr. Miller died of a cancerous affection on the 17th of April, 1810, leaving a widow, but no children, surviving him.
Josias Smith graduated at Dartmouth College in 1789 and came to Ver- gennes early in 1791, and soon secured a large practice. In 1792, out of sev- enty-four entries divided among nine lawyers, Josias Smith had twelve, and the next year thirty-two out of the one hundred and fourteen new cases. His name appears on Vergennes records as holding important town offices. He was town clerk for several years, and was on committees of investigation and for settlement of disputed questions in which the town was interested. After the city organization he was elected mayor in 1810, but died the December follow- ing. Enoch D. Woodbridge, who was admitted to the bar later than Mr. Smith, became his partner, and the firm of Smith & Woodbridge was not only
10
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HISTORY OF ADDISON COUNTY.
widely known and their help sought as skillful and faithful lawyers, but their practice brought them a large income. Smith invested in real estate, but died too young to realize all his expectations. For many years after his death his name was often mentioned as a successful and popular lawyer.
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