History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Jo.sEi'H F. Foot has practiced law in Norwalk more than a quarter of a century, and has always been considered an excellent legal adviser. He was for several years one of the justices of Fairfield County. The following list of Stamford lawyers is taken chiefly from Huntington's " History of Stamford" : John Davenport, the first child of Hon. Al)ra- ham and Elizabeth (Huntington) Davenport, was born in Stamford, .Ian. 1(5, 1752. He graduated at Yale in 1770. His scholarship is indicated in his appointment to a tutorshii) in 1773. Entering on the legal profession, he was soon called to take an im- portant place among the Revolutionary patriots of that day. With a major's commission he was cm- ployed in commissary dejiartnu-nt, and his duties here were often onerous and ilifficult. When the patriot cause was suffering for the want of a suital>le public interest in the welfare of the new nation just ordained by the Declaration of Independence, he was appointed by the Assembly of the State as one of a commission to visit the principal towns and arouse the peoj)le to a just sense of their dangers and move them to cor- responding exertions. On the death of his brother James, in 1799, he was chosen to take his place in tl'.e national Congress, and h<'ld bis seat in the Hoikc of Representatives until 1S17, wlicn he declined a re- election. He was a nienilier of tlie Congregational Church in Stamford, of which he was apiiointed dea- con in 1795. This was the office in which his emi- uent goodness was best shown. He was, to his death, an example of earnest, living inety, whose fruits were ever manifest in the character of a benevolent, fer- vent, and exemplary Ciiristian. His death oci'iu-red Nov. 28, 1830. •loEi. T. Benedict, son of Rev. Mr. Benedict, of North Stamford, after a short practice of his legal profession became a preat'her. jAJtEs Stevens was the youngest child of David and Mary (Talmage) Stevens, and was born July 4, 17(58, in that part of Stamf<.)rd — Ponus Street^ — which has since been incorporated with the town of New- Canaan. He liecanie a lawyer and opened an office in his mitivc town, in the village of Stamford. He was a man of considerable native talent, and, joining heartily in the Democratic movement, then inaugu- rated, he won his way to a seat in the HoiLse of Repre- sentatives of our national Congress. He was in that famous Congress which pa.ssed the "Missouri Com- promise," and gave his vote for that measure. He represented Stamford thirteen times in the State Leg- islature, and was much in public life until his death, which took place April 4, 1S35. A brief obituary of him in the Sentinel of that date says, " ]Mr. Stevens has been extensively known as a kind neighbor and friend, as a politician of sterling integrity, and as an inflexible advocate of Democratic princii)les. He has represented this town in Itoth branches of the Legis- lature of this State ; was f(jr some time a judge of the County Court; has been a reijresentative from this State in the Congress of the LTnited States." Simeon H. SIinoh was son of , of Wood- bury, where he was born, in 1777. He was descended from that Thomas iMinor who was born at Chew Magna, England, April 23, 1(508; came to New Eng- land in 1G30, and settled in New London in 1(545, where he died in 1090. He was a j)rotninent man among the settlers in Eastern Connecticut. His family name dates back to about the middle of the fourteenth century, when the third Edward bestowed it upon Henry the Miner, of Jlendippe Hills, Somer- setshire, England, for his prompt efficiency in furnish- ing him an escort as he embarked on that famous invasion of France in which he won the liattle of Crecy against so great odds. John Minor, third son of John, of New London, w.as born in 1(534 (so Cothren, in his " Hi.story of Woodbury," says), went to Stratford, and tlu-nc'c to Woodbury, and was a leading nuui for years. Simeon H., of Stamford, was prol>ably a great-great-grand- son of this second John. On being admitted to the bar, he settled in Stamford in 1831, and spent here the rest of his life. He rapidly won a high ]>osition at the Fairfield County bar, of which he was a promi- 18 HISTORY OF FAIRFIELD COUNTY, CONNECTICUT. nent member until his death, Aug. 2, 1840. The iS'lam/nrd Advocate of tlie same week pay-s a hi<^h tribute to Ills i>rofos.sionnl al)ility: "Possessed of a strong mind and sound legal judgment, no member of the bar commanded a greater share of practice, until his health began to fail him, than he. For fourteen years he discharged the office of State's at- torney." He represented the town in six sessions of the Legislature, and was judge of Probate several years. In tlie discharge of all official duties he was prompt and efficient. FrederickScofield, son of Benjamin and brother of .ScUeck Scoficid, was born Aug. 13, 1778. He graduated at Yale in 1801, and entered the legal pro- fession, and for a few years had an office here. He subsequently became a teacher in Philadelphia, where he died in 1841. Joseph Wood was a descendant, in the sixth gen- eration, of Jona.s Wood, one of the pioneers of the settlement in Stamford. Joseph Wood, second, a great-grandson of the pioneer, removed from Hemp- .stcd to Stanwich, where Joseph was born, March 24, 1779. His father, David, son of the al)ove Joseph, second, was among the respectable farmers of Stan- wich, a man of intelligence and piety. His mother, Sarah Ingersoll, was noted for her cheerful and amia- ble disposition. Brought up on his father's farm, he acquired hiibits of industry, and, being of an inquisi- tive turn of mind, be commenced in his seventeenth year fitting for college. He graduated at Yale in 1801, and devoted him.«elf to the legal profession. His law-teaeher was Judge Chauncey, of New Haven. He was admitted to the bar of New Haven, when he selected Stamford as the field for commencing his professional career. Here he opened an office in 180:i, where he continued to practice until 182it. During his stay here he was held in esteem as a good citizen and honorable in his profession. He represented the town in the State Legislature, and was judge of Pro- bate several years. In 1820, Mr. AVood removed to Bridgeport, tlicnce to New York City in 18.37, and from this city, in 1841, to New Haven, where he spent the remainder of his life. Here he stoo<l among the first citizens of the cbi-ssic city in intelligence and social worth. After his removal to New Haven lie was appointed judge of the County C<mrt, in which office be showed eminent qualities as jurist. His .stern and sterling integrity never forsook him here. He was still later chosen to the office of city clerk. His titstes were especially liferarj-. While in New York he had edited an agricultural periodical. He had also gath- ered largely the materials for a memoir of his father- in-law, but never published it. He died Nov. 1.3, 186<5, during a session of the literary cbib at the reaideiice of Rev. Pres. Day, just after an interesting discussion in which be had taken part. Bf.sja.mix T. Sheltox is reported as a practicing lawyer here in 1812. Charles Havley wsls born .Tune 15, 1702, in what is now the town of Monroe, formerly Hunting- ton, and still earlier Stratford. His ancestors were among tlie early settlers of that old town, and both on his father's and mother's side they were among the most respectable and honored of the settlers. Joseph Hawley, the progenitor of the family in this country, came to Stratford, proliably with the i)io- iiccrs of the town, and for many years was a leading man in the new colony. He rei)rescutcd the town several times in the State General Assembly. In bis will in 1689 he gives to his son Samuel all his " build- ings and lands in Parwidge, Derbyshire, in old Kng- land," indicating thus, no doubt, the early English locality of the family. On his mother's side Mr. Hawley was descended from William Curtiss, another of the prominent settlers of Stratford. He also num- bered among his Stratford ancestors Henry de Forest, who fled from France on the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1G'», and Richard Booth, the ancestor of another honored line. Thus Mr. Hawley is found to belong to the best names of which our country can boast. From a record of his ancestors, gathered by him with much pains and care, we learn the following facts: His great -great-grandmother, Bethia Booth, was born in 1658, and lived until 1759. At the time of her death, her grandson, Milton Hawley, the grandfatlicr of Charles, was twenty-four years of age ; and at the date of his death, in 1819, Charles was twenty-si -x. Thus it was made possible for Mr. Hawley, in 1865, to report from the lips of his grand- father the story which he had learned from the lips of his grandmother of events coming under her per- sonal observation as far back as 1605. Po.s-sibly so rare an opjiortunity of learning the family story may account for one of the most marked characteristics of Mr. Hawley's later years, — his strong family aflection. Mr. Hawley graduated at Yale College in 1816, and entered on the study of law in the Litchfield Law School. On being admitted to the bar, he es- tablished himself in Stamford in 1819. From the first his diligence in business and his zeal in working won the confidence of the public. That he might fit him- self locally for his profession, be made himself early familiar with the records and traditions of the town, and even became so much interested in tlie.se glean- ings for professional use as to form a plan of the his- tory of the town. But he rose so ra]>idly in bis jiro- fession tliat he found hini.sclf obliged to abandon this attempt ; and so the opportunity of preserving mueli of the material for such a history which then existcil was forever lost to the town. Giving himself wholly to his professional work, he soon jdaced himself among the first juri.sts of the State. From the very beginning of his professional career he was thorough, exact, and exhaustive in whatever cause he undertook. His sense of right and justice was as keen as his discriminations of falsehood and truth, and this made him one of the ^PV<,.(A-<i^^^-^^fr:'<^jC^