USA > Vermont > Men of Vermont : an illustrated biographical history of Vermonters and sons of Vermont > Part 33
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He was elected a judge of the Supreme Court in 1809 and served till 1813 when the "Vergennes Slaughter House " proceedings of 1798 were repeated and the Federalists again turned the Republicans or Democrats out of the Supreme Court-as in 1801, so in 1815 the other side had its innings. He was judge of probate in 1819 and 1820, and a councilor from 1817 to 1821.
Judge Fay died June 5, 1827, leaving no descendants.
FARRAND, DANIEL .- Daniel Farrand, son of Rev. Daniel Farrand, was born in Canaan, Conn., about 1760.
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He graduated at Yale, came to Windsor where his brother-in-law, Stephen Jacob, lived, began the practice of law but soon moved to Newbury which town he made his residence till 1800, and represented in 1792, 1793, 1796, 1797, and 1798, being speaker the last named year. He was twice state's attorney of Orange county. May 1, 1794, he married Mary Porter, of Haverhill, N. H., daughter of Asa Porter, and sister of Mrs. Mills Olcott, of Hanover, N. H. Mr. Far- rand went from Newbury to Bellows Falls, represented Rockingham in 1802, and was state's attorney of Windham county in 1801, 1802 and 1803, and in the latter year was de- feated for Congress by James Eliot. In 1813 he was a member of the council of censors and the same year was elected a judge of the Su- preme Court and served two years. When the Republicans or Democrats got the upper hand in 1815, he was bounced, as he was a strong Federalist, and, in 1814, had presided at a convention in Williston that roundly de- nounced the administration. He was chair- man of the committee of arrangements at Burlington, when President Monroe was re- ceived there on his tour, July 24, 1817, and did some very good speaking. He was a man of vigorous intellect, a good lawyer and of extensive learning. He died Oct. 13, 1825, and left nine daughters surviving him, all brilliant and accomplished women says Judge Taft.
HUBBARD, JONATHAN HATCH .- J. H. Hubbard, of Windsor, was a judge of the Su- preme Court from 1813 to 1815. [See sketch in " Representatives," ante page 135, where 1845 is a misprint for 1815-he was a judge but two years.]
ALDIS, ASA .- Asa Aldis, was born in Franklin, Mass., about 1770. His father was a loyalist and moved to Boston, where he died in 1775. Asa's mother had died two years before and he was brought up by an aunt. He graduated at Brown University in 1796, studied law with Judge Howell in Providence and began practice in Che- pachet. He married Mrs. Gadcomb, daugh- ter of Lieut .- Gov. Owen. In 1802 he moved to St. Albans and there practiced his pro- fession. In 1804 he formed a partnership with Bates Turner, but it did not last long. When the Republicans drove the Federalists off the supreme bench in 1815 he was elected chief judge of the Supreme Court, much against his wish, and served one year.
Judge Aldis was strongly urged to accept a re-election, but he absolutely refused. His ability was equal to the requirements of the office, but he did not like official position. He practiced many years after leaving the bench, but poor health kept him out of court
for a long time before his death. He died at St. Albans, Oct. 16, 1847, in his seventy- eighth year. Daniel Kellogg was his son-in- law, and Asa Owen Aldis was his son.
SKINNER, RICHARD .- Richard Skinner of Manchester was judge of the Supreme Court from 1815 to 1817, and the latter year was elected chief judge, but declined the, position. After his service as Governor, he was in 1823 elected chief judge, and pre- sided as such till 1829. [See sketch in "Governors" ante page 77.]
FISK, JAMES .- James Fisk of Barre was judge of the Supreme Court from 1815 to 1817. [See sketch in "Senators," ante page III.]
PALMER, WILLIAM ADAMS .- William A. Palmer of Danville, was elected judge of the Supreme Court in 1816, and served one year. [See sketch in "Governors," ante page 82.]
CHASE, DUDLEY .- Dudley Chase of Randolph was chief judge of the Supreme Court from 1817 to 1821. He presided at the trial of Stephen and Jesse Bourne for the murder of Russell Colvin-a case that has become famous and which gave Wilkie Col- lins the theme for "The Dead Secret." [See sketch of Judge Chase in "Senators," ante page III.]
DOOLITTLE, JOEL .- Joel Doolittle was born about 1773 in Massachusetts, grad- uated at Yale in 1799, came to Middlebury in the fall of 1800 as the first tutor in Mid- dlebury College. He was admitted to the bar in 1801 and was a successful lawyer till 1817 when he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court. He served six years con- tinuously on the bench, and after a year of practice at the bar was again elected a judge in 1824 and served the following year.
Judge Doolittle was a councillor from 1815 to 1818, represented Middlebury in 1824 and was a member and president of the council of censors in 1834.
He died, March 9, 1841, at the age of sixty-eight. Mrs. Doolittle survived him and after his death went to Painesville, Ohio, where she lived with her children.
BRAYTON, WILLIAM .- William Bray- ton of Swanton was born in Lansingburgh, N. Y., and when thirteen was a student in Will- iams College, but never graduated. He was admitted to the bar in Franklin county in February, 1807, and began practice in Swanton. He married Hortentia Penniman, daughter of Jabez and Frances Penniman. Frances was the widow of Ethan Allen. He
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was made chief judge of Franklin county court in 1815, represented Swanton in 1817, and that year was elected a judge of the Supreme Court, and served as such five years. While on the Supreme bench he moved to St. Albans, and after living there several years, and after ceasing to be a judge, he removed to Burlington, where he died in 1828. His son, William, died young, but a daughter, if not now, was very lately living in Missouri. He published the reports known as Brayton's Reports.
VAN NESS, CORNELIUS PETER .- Cor- nelius P. Van Ness, of Burlington, was chief judge of the Supreme Court from 1821 to 1823. [See sketch in "Governors," ante page 78.]
WILLIAMS, CHARLES KILBORN .- Charles K. Williams, of Rutland, was a judge of the Supreme Court, 1822 to 1824, again from 1826 to 1833, and from 1833 to 1846 was chief judge. [See sketch in "Gover- nors," ante page 88.]
AIKENS, ASA .- Asa Aikens, of Wind- sor, was born in Barnard ; entered Mid- dlebury College in 1804; studied three years there ; then was a year as a cadet at West Point. In 1808 he returned to Mid- dlebury and studied law with Joel Doolittle. In 1812 he settled in Windsor, which town he represented two years and he was state's attorney for Windsor county two years. In 1812 he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court and served on the bench two years. He was a careful, painstaking lawyer and judge, and the two volumes of reports pub- lished under his name form the first product of skilled labor in this state in that line. "Aikens' Forms" is thumbed in many a law office in the state. Later in life he pub- lished "Aikens' Tables."
In 1843 he moved to Westport, N. Y., and made that his home afterwards. On a visit to his son-in-law at Hackensack, N. J., he died of nervous prostration, July 12, 1863. He was buried in Trinity cemetery, New York City.
PRENTISS, SAMUEL .- Samuel Prentiss, of Montpelier, was judge of the Supreme Court from 1825 to 1829, and in 1829 was elected chief judge, and held that position till elected senator in 1830. [See sketch in " Senators," ante page 114.]
HUTCHINSON, TITUS .- Titus Hutch- inson of Woodstock, son of Rev. Aaron and Margery (Carter) Hutchinson, was born in Grafton, Mass., April 29, 1771. July 4, 1776, the family left Hebron, Conn., and moved to what is still called the Hutchinson
Farm, in Pomfret, two miles from Wood- stock. Titus graduated at Princeton College, studied law with his brother Aaron in Leb- anon, N. H., and was admitted to the Orange county bar June, 1798. He settled in Wood- stock, where there was already one lawyer. In 1813 he was appointed U. S. attorney for the district of Vermont, and held the office ten years.
In 1826 he was elected a judge of the Su- preme Court, served as such till 1830, when he was elected chief judge, which position he occupied three years, being defeated by Judge Williams in the election of 1833 by a vote of 118 to 113.
Judge Hutchinson married Clarissa Sage Feb. 16, 1800. She died Jan. 18, 1844. Their children were : Edwin, Oramel, Hen- ry, Titus, Clarissa S., and Alexander. The judge lived in comparative retirement the last twenty years of his life. He died Aug- ust 24, 1857. A full sketch of him may be found in Henry Swan Dana's History of Woodstock, as good a town history as was ever written in this world-perhaps they write town history better on the planets of the Pleiades or those of the golden belt of Orion, but not here.
ROYCE, STEPHEN .- Stephen Royce of Berkshire was judge of the Supreme Court from 1825 to 1827, again from 1829 to 1846, and was chief judge from 1846 to 1852. [See sketch in "Governors," ante page 91.]
TURNER, BATES .- Bates Turner of St. Albans entered the Revolutionary army at sixteen, studied law under Judges Reeve and Gould and was admitted to the bar in Connecticut. He settled in Fairfield in 1796, but moved to St. Albans and in 1804 there formed a partnership with Asa Aldis. It lasted but a short time and he returned to Fairfield and set up a law school. He had in his life about 175 law students. In 1812 he removed to Middlebury thinking his school would do better there, but soon re- turned to Fairfield and before long to St. Albans again.
He was elected a judge of the Supreme Court in 1827 and continued in service two years. He was quite old when elected judge but on leaving the bench returned to prac- tice. Judge Turner, carrying his bag of law papers, called on a lady who playfully re- minded him that Judas carried a bag. "Yes," said the judge, "and kept better company than I do."
Judge Turner died at an advanced age, April 30, 1847.
PADDOCK, EPHRAIM .- Ephraim Pad- dock of St. Johnsbury came when a young
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man from Massachusetts to Vermont. His opportunities for education were limited to the common school, but he made such good use of them that he was for two or three years employed as an instructor in Peacham Academy. He began the practice of law in St. Johnsbury and by diligence became a learned lawyer. He represented St. Johnsbury from 1821 to 1826, inclusive ; was a member of the constitutional conven- tion of 1828, and of the council of censors in 1841. He was elected a judge of the Supreme Court in 1828, but preferred the work of his profession and retired from the bench in 1831.
Judge Paddock continued in active prac- tice till 1848, when he gave up professional duties and lived in peace and quiet the re- mainder of his days. He died July 27, 1859, at the age of seventy-nine.
THOMPSON, JOHN C .- John C. Thompson, of Burlington, was born in Rhode Island, studied law in Hartford, Conn., and was there admitted to the bar about 1813. He came at once to Windsor, where he staid till 1818, in which year he re- moved to Hartland. In 1822 he left Hart- land and settled in Burlington. He was a good lawyer and rose rapidly in public favor. In 1827 he was elected a councillor and held that office till elected a judge of the Supreme Court in 1830. Before his first year of serv- ice was ended he was taken sick on his way to Montpelier in a stage-coach and in a few days died. He had won approval as a judge although so short a time on the bench.
Judge Thompson married Nancy Patrick in December, 1816. His death occurred June 27, 1831. He left surviving him a son who was drowned in Lake Champlain, Sep- tember, 1846.
BAYLIES, NICHOLAS .- Nicholas Bay- lies of Montpelier, son of Deacon Nicholas Baylies, of Uxbridge, Mass., was born in Uxbridge, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1794, read law with Charles Marsh of Woodstock, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Woodstock a number of years. He moved from Woodstock to Montpelier in 1809 and was "warned out" of Mont- pelier the 15th of November following-a fine old custom for booming a new settle- ment ! He was a scholarly man and was the author of a three volume " Digested Index to the Modern Reports," published at Montpelier in 1814, which received the ap- proval of James Kent and Judge Parker. The " proprietors " of this book were Nicho- las Baylies, Samuel Prentiss, Jr., and James H. Langdon. Mr. Baylies also published a theological work on free agency. He was elected state's attorney in 1813, 1814 and
1825, and a judge of the Supreme Court in 1831, 1832 and 1833.
He removed to Lyndon about 1835, where he lived with his son-in-law, George C. Cahoon, and practiced law till his death, August 17, 1847. He was buried in Mont- pelier, August 22, 1847. Mr. Baylies was probably seventy-nine years of age at his death, though some authorities make him eighty-two and others only seventy-five. He argued a case in the Supreme Court in Mont- pelier but a few months before his death. He married Mary Ripley, daughter of Prof. Sylvanus Ripley, and granddaughter of Pres- ident Eleazer Wheelock. She was a sister of Gen. Eleazer Wheelock Ripley, who com- manded at Lundy's Lane after Scott was wounded. Mr. Baylies' only daughter, Mary Ripley Baylies, married George C. Cahoon of Lyndon, Oct. 27, 1825. His son, Hor- atio N. Baylies, was long a merchant in Montpelier, and died in Louisiana. An- other son, Nicholas Baylies, Jr., was a lawyer.
PHELPS, SAMUEL SHEATHER .-- S. S. Phelps of Middlebury, was a judge of the Supreme Court from 1831 to 1838. [See sketch under " Senators," ante page 116.]
COLLAMER, JACOB .- Jacob Collamer of Woodstock, was a judge of the Supreme Court from 1834 to 1842. [See sketch under "Senators," ante page 121.]
MATTOCKS, JOHN .- John Mattocks, of Peacham, one of the brightest men that ever lived, was elected a judge of the Supreme Court in 1834, but served only one year, ab- solutely declining a re-election. The opinions he gave are not only good law but so put that, as Horace Greeley would have said, they "are mighty interestin' reading." [See sketch in "Governors," ante page 85.]
REDFIELD, ISAAC FLETCHER .- Isaac F. Redfield, son of Dr. Peleg Red- field and Han- nah ( Parker) Redfield, was born at Weath- ersfield, April 10, 1804; went to Coventry when his father moved there in 1805 ; graduated at Dartmouth in 1825, and was in 1 82 7 admitted 1 to the bar in Or-
leans county. He began practice at Derby, and so good a law- yer was he that he was continuously state's
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attorney from 1832, till elected a judge of the Supreme Court in 1835. He moved to Montpelier, and about 1846 to the Judge Chase house at Randolph Center, where he lived three or four years, and then moved to Windsor, where he lived till he went to Bos- ton in 1861. He was elected a judge of the Supreme Court in 1835, and so served till 1852, when he was elected chief judge, which office he hekl till 1800.
He conferred honor on the court, and it was quoted in other states as the " Redfield Court." After he declined further service on the bench he went to Boston. He wrote many valuable legal works, notably treatises on the law of wills and railway law. Judge Redfield died in Charlestown, Mass., March 23, 1876, of pneumonia, and was buried at Windsor. He married Mary Ward Smith of Stanstead, Sept. 28, 1836, and Catha- rine Blanchard Clark of St. Johnsbury, May 4, 1842. No children survive.
BENNETT, MILO L .- Milo I. Bennett, of Burlington, was born in Connecticut, studied at Williams and Yale and graduated at Yale in 1811. He studied law at the Litchfield Law School ; came to Bennington and soon went to Manchester, where he remained till 1836, when he went to Maine and spent two years in the business of lumbering and losing his property.
In 1838 he moved to Burlington ; was in the fall of that year elected a judge of the Supreme Court and served till the court was reduced to three judges in 1850. He was in 1850 elected one of the four judges of the newly established circuit court and going off the circuit bench practiced law one year, 1851-'52, in company with E. E. Kellogg. In 1852 he was elected again to the Supreme Court and served this time till 1859, seven years.
After his judicial service closed he was commissioner to revise the statutes and this revision, when enacted, became the "Gener- al Statutes," published in 1863. "Bennett's Justice" was also a work on which he spent a good deal of time.
Judge Bennett did good work both at the bar and as a judge and good legal work is kept up by his descendants in the Boston Law School. He died July 7, 1868.
HEBARD, WILLIAM .- William Hebard of Randolph was elected a judge of the Su- preme Court in 1842, served one year, was again elected in 1844 and served another year. [See sketch in "Representatives," ante page 152.]
KELLOGG, DANIEL .- Daniel Kellogg of Rockingham was born at Amherst, Mass., Feb. 10, 1791, graduated at Williams Col-
lege in 1810, studied law with Gen. Martin Field of Newfane, and began practice at Rockingham in 1814. In 1819 and 1820 he was judge of probate, secretary of the Gov- ernor and council 1823 to 1828, state's at- torney 1827, and member of the council of censors the same year, United States attor- ney for District of Vermont 1829 to 1841, member and president of the constitutional convention of 1843 and presidential elector in 1864.
He was elected a judge of the Supreme Court in 1843, but did not accept; in 1845 he was again elected and served six years. Ile was a scholarly, orderly man of excellent legal learning and took great pains in writing his opinions. He had the confi- dence of both the bar and the people. His professional, social, political and business life were characterized by the most perfect integrity. Judge Barrett said of him, " His lawyership was broad, accurate, practical and sensible, the result of faithful study, faithful and extensive practice, of a large con- versancy with current business and affairs in all departments, and a most excellent social culture and bearing." He was president of the first savings bank of the state.
Judge Kellogg married, first, Jane McAffee of Rockingham ; second, Merab Ann Brad- ley, daughter of William C. Bradley ; third, Miranda M. Aldis, daughter of Asa Aldis .. His children were : Henry, George B., Sarah B., and Daniel.
Judge Kellogg moved to Brattleboro in 1854 and died there May 10, 1875.
HALL, HILAND .- Hiland Hall of Ben- nington was a judge of the Supreme Court from 1846 to 1850. [See sketch in “Gov- ernors," ante page 93.]
DAVIS, CHARLES .- Charles Davis of Danville was born in Connecticut, and when he was a boy his father moved to Rocking- ham and in 1806 to Middlebury. Charles graduated at Middlebury, studied law with Daniel Chipman and was admitted to the bar in 1814. He edited a newspaper at one time. He stayed two years in Middlebury, then went to Barton and afterwards to Waterford, but in 1828 settled in Danville. He was that year elected state's attorney and held that office seven years and again served a year by an election in 1838. From 1840 to 1845 he was United States attorney for the district of Vermont and was probate judge for a time. In 1846 he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court and served two years. He represented Danville after he was on the bench, though it was a strongly Democratic town and he was a firm Whig ; in his legislative service he was chairman of the judiciary committee. He spent the last
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of his life with a son in Illinois and died Nov. 21, 1863.
POLAND, LUKE POTTER .- Luke P. Poland, of St. Johnsbury, was a judge of the Supreme Court, 1848 to 1850 ; of the Cir- cuit Court, 1850 to 1857 ; of the Supreme Court, 1857 to 1860, and its chief judge, 1860 to 1865. [See sketch in “Senators," ante page 124.]
CIRCUIT JUDGES .- Three judges sat on the bench of the Circuit Court, which existed from 1850 to 1857, who never re- ceived an election to the Supreme bench. They were Robert Pierpoint, William C. Kittredge and Abel Underwood.
ROBERT PIERPOINT, of Rutland, a brother of John Pierpoint, was born in Litchfield, Conn., May 4, 1791 ; came when a child to Manchester, studied law with Governor Skinner, and settled in Rutland. He was circuit judge from 1850 to 1856, and died May 6, 1865.
WILLIAM C. KITTREDGE, of Fair Haven, was born in Dalton, Mass., Feb. 23, 1800 ; graduated at Williams College in 1812; studied law in Northampton, Mass .; went to Kentucky, and was there admitted to the bar; was six months in Ravenna, Ohio ; came to Vermont, was admitted in Rutland December, 1824, and settled in Fair Haven. He married three times, and had eleven children. For eight years he represented his town ; was county senator two years ; was speaker two years ; was state's attorney five years, and six years a judge of the county court. He was Lieutenant-Governor in 1852, and in 1856 was elected a circuit judge, and served one year. He died at Rutland, June II, 1869, while on his way to Bennington in discharge of his duties as U. S. Assessor of Internal Revenue.
ABEL UNDERWOOD, of Wells River, was born in Bradford, April 8, 1799, and was an uncle of Levi Underwood. He fitted for col- lege at Royalton, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1824, teaching to pay his way. He stud- ied law with Isaac Fletcher, of Lyndon, and was admitted to the bar in Caledonia county in 1827. July 12, 1827, he married Emily Rix, of Royalton, and in 1828 began practice in Wells River, being about one thousand dollars in debt for his education. He pros- pered in life, was U. S. attorney for this dis- trict, from 1849 to 1853, and was a circuit judge from 1854 to 1857. Judge Underwood died April 22, 1879. His daughter and grand- daughter live in Montpelier.
ISHAM, PIERPOINT .- Pierpoint Isham, of Bennington, was born at Manchester. He was a son of Dr. Ezra Isham and his mother was a cousin of Judge Phelps and of Judge Pierpoint. After attendance at the
academy he studied law with Governor Skin- ner ; was admitted to the bar and first set- tled in Pownal but soon moved to Benning- ton. In 1851 he was elected a Supreme Court judge and served six years. At the end of that time, when the circuit judge sys- tem was broken up and the Supreme Court judges again made to undertake the task of presiding at trials in county court, Judge Isham absolutely declined a re-election, for his impulsive temperament made him averse to sitting at the conduct of jury trials. He made an excellent judge in the work of the Supreme Court, which was all that a Supreme Court judge had to do during the term of his service. Judge Isham died May 8, 1872.
ALDIS, ASA OWEN .- Asa O. Aldis, of St. Albans, was born in that town ; graduated in 1829 at the University of Vermont, studied law and became law-partner of his father, Judge Asa Aldis. His practice was large, and in 1857 he was elected a judge of the Supreme Court, and served as such till the summer of 1865, when he resigned, moved to this step by the loss of several children and the impaired health of other members of his family. He was United States consul at Nice till 1870, and in 1871 was appointed president of the Southern Claims Commis- sion, the duties of which important position occupied his time till 1880, when the com- mission ended. He thereupon served till 1884 on the French and Alabama Claims Commission, and from 1871 made Washing- ton City his home. He had the grippe in 1890, and was thenceforward in poor health till his death, which occurred in Washington, D. C. Owen Aldis, his son, is a Chicago lawyer.
PIERPOINT, JOHN .- John Pierpoint, of Vergennes, was born at Litchfield, Ct., Sept. 10, 1805, and was the sev- enth and young- est son of Dan- iel and Sarah ( Phelps ) Pier- point. In 1815 he came to Rut- land to live in the family of his brother Robert, who had mar- ried and settled there, and years after at the Bates House he told Judge Ross that he had felt old when there for he had hunted that ground all over time and again and shot his first game near where the Gen- eral Baxter residence stands. His first day's hunting was so successful that his
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brother Robert told him next time he might take his new gun. John was as good a hunter all his days as he was judge and there can be no higher praise of skill than that. Judge Peck once went with him when he was hunting and told of his shooting a bird on the wing, "fring as much as a min- ute after it had gone out of sight behind some cedar trees." At his brother's he did the chores and went to school; at eighteen began studying law, probably in Manchester, and to continue his study he soon went to the law school at Litchfield and boarded in his father's family two miles away. Judge Ross thinks that there he got the habit of thinking law as he walked and all through his life he kept the habit of walking in study. He was admitted to the bar in Rutland county in 1827 and began practice in Pitts- ford, where he wore through the boards of his office floor by walking back and forth, it is said.
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