History of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Somewhat of a recluse in his habits, being unmar- ried, and living quite by himself in bachelor quarters till the liLst few years of his life, when he made his home with a sister in Wilton, going to his oflice at Bridgeport daily, he acquired a taste for a solitary life which at times made him appear unsocial ; but his character when sought out and known wjis thoroughly cordial and kindly. He seemed to dread the first ap- proach to companionship or intimacy, but after the frieudship was formed he was loyal to it in word and deed. Possessed of a sensitiveness which at times almost mastered him, he seemed desirous to appear to the world as indifferent to criticism, censure, or praise. He aimed to be strictly just, but the equipoise of the scales which he prided himself in holding well bal- anced was not rarely disturbed by a genial kindli- ness which he never admitted he possessed. Without being lavish in expenditure or in the lea.st degree os- tentatious, he showed in many ways, quietly and with- out publicity, a generosity which sprang from a large- hearted sympathy and thorough unsclfishnass. His ambition centred in his profession. He was, however, elected a representative from Wilton in IS.'J", from Newtown in 1844, and again from Wilton in 187(5. He was judge of Probat* of the district of Newtown in 1.H44, auil jiiilf' "f the City Court of Bridgeport in ISOO-Cl. " The annals of lawyers, like the annals of the poor, arc brief and simple. No memorial can keep their memories from oblivion, even in the next generation, except the brief record of their forensic contests to be found in the Connecticut Reports." So wrote Mr. Sturges shortly before his death. Surely in that record, which shows to a certain extent what the law- yer is, few have a more prominent ]dace. And thus another psisscs from the brotherhood of the profession, — that brotherhood which amidst the contentions and emulation of forensic struggles ad- mits a generous chivalry in its antagonisms and ends contests with the adjournment of court; which re- spects rivalry, buries animosity, and recognizes in the leadership earned by professional prominence the tribute due to i)atient effort in an honorable calling. The present bar of Fairfield is as follows: Bridgeport— li. C. Ambler, Henry T. Blake, Ste- phen S. Blake, Morris B. Beardsley, A. B. Beers, John A. Boughton, Ebenezer Burr, Jr., Charles S. Canfield, J. C. Chamberlain, Daniel Davenport, R. E. De Forest, Charles A. Dotcn, Theo. W. Downs, V. R. C. Giddings, F. B. Hall, David F. Hollister, F. L. Holt, Francis Ives, .1. A. Joyce, F. G. Lewis, D. B. Lockwood, Michael McGuinnes.s, L. N. Middle- brook, Dwight Morris, William H. Noble, Frank P. Norman, W. E. Norton, Eugene B. Peck, John J. Phelan, J. W. Parrott, Henry 8. Sanford, William K. Seeley, Morris W. Seymour, William R. Slielton, Charles Sherwood, Lucius M. Slade, William H. Stevenson, E. Stewart Sumner, Goodwin Stoddard, Samuel B. Sumner, A. L. Tallmadge,.Amos S. Treat, Curtis Thompson, Morris Tuttle, George W. War- ner, Levi Warner, Mark D. Wilbur, William C. Wild- man. Danbiiry. — Roger Averill, Arthur H. .Vverill, .\.T. Bates, David B. Booth, Lyman D. Brewster, AVilliam Brooke, J. R. Farnum, B. A. Hough, Howard B. Scott, Howard W. Taylor, William F. Taylor, O. A. G. Todd, Sanuicl Tweedy. lirookfithl. — Samuel Sherman. Eagton. — Charles R. Dudley. Fairfield (Southport). — Charles H. Oilman and John H. Perry. Greenwich. — H. W. R. Hoyt, Myron L. Mason, Frederick O. Hubbard, R. Jay Walsh. A'cwtowii (Sandy Hook). — James A. Wilson. A'orwatt. — .Vlfred E. .Vustin, H. H. Barbour, Joseph F. Foote, J. B. Hurlbutt, John E. Keeler, John H. Perry, F. W. Perry, Albert Relyea, John S. Seymour, William R. Smith, Levi Warner, Asa B. Woodward, Joseph W.Wilson (South Norwalk), Nelson Taylor, Nelson Taylor, Jr. Stamford. — Samuel H. Cohen, Julius B. Curtis, Joshua B. Ferris, Samuel Fessenden, Nathaniel R. Hart, Micliael Kenealy, Edwin L. Scofield, William C. Strobridge, Jr. Stratford.— X . R. C. Giddings. TrumbuU.—Ji. C. Hunter. WILLIAM F. TAYLOR. \Vm. F. Taylor was Lorn in Anifiista, Ga., Oct. 27, 1823. His father, Francis C. Taylor, for many years a merchant of that city, was a direct descendant of Thomas Taylor, oneof the first .settler.s and patentees of Danbiiry. His mother, Hannah N. Cliurch Taylor, was a native of the city of Dublin, Ireland, from which place, at the ai^e of one year, she emigrated to tlie city of Baltimore, Md., where resided her relatives, the Pattersons, one of which family afterwards married Jerome Bonajiarte. Mrs. Taylor and her mother's family afterwards reinoved to the State of Georgia, where they owned largo tracts of land granted to them by the English government. "William F. Taylor removed to Danbury at about the age of eight, wherelie attended school, pur- .'^iiing all the English and classical studies, until about sixteen years old, when he began the study "f law in the office of Fish & Bridgeman, in the city of New York. Returning to Danbury in the year 1841, he entered the sophomore class of Trinity, then Wash- ington College, Hart- ford, from which he graduated, taking one of the first honors uf his class. On leaving college he read law in the ofBce of the late Gov. Charles Hawley, at Stamford, for one year, leaving this office to enter that of the late Hon. S. H. Hickok, of Danbury, at the request of the latter-named gentle- man. He remained here but a few months, being obliged to suspend his studies frtun jirostration caused by severe hemorrhage of the luug>, afterwards finishing his prei)aration for the jirofcssion of llie law under the instruction of the late Hon. Echvanl Taylor, then judgeof Fairfield County. He was ailuiitted to llje bar in August, 184ti. Owing to the death of the late Hon. S. H. Hickok, which occurred about this time, Mr. Taylor, from his connection with liim, succeeded to nearly the whole of his practice, jumping, as it were, immediately into merfias res, and from that moment his law business lias been very great, extending into various other and sometimes distant States, and from the most inferior courts to the Su]ireiiie Court of the United States. In 1848, Mr. Taylor received the degree of Master of Arts from Trinity College. Tn IS.'JO he was appointed State's attorney of Fairfield County, which oiSce he held for a period of three years. Tn 18.')2 he was elected Democratic Presidential elector for the Fourth District of Connecticut, voting for Peirce and King. He was elected DemocraticStatesenator for the Eleventh District of Connecticut, which was the only senatorial district that gave a majority for the Democracy ut that election. In 1865 he received the Democratic nomination for Congress in the Fourth District, and, although defeated, ran some hundreds ahead of his ticket. Mr. Taylor has also been elected at various times treasurer of the town of Danbury, including school visitor, and fi>r the past four years has been president of the board of education of that town. He has also at vari- ous times been en- gaged in diflerent public enterprises, and to hi.s efforts, almost solely, the Pahquioque National Bank owes its origin, and for the most of the time since its cor- jioration he has been one of its directors and rendered it most valuable aid. lie aided greatly in the creation of the Union Savings-BankofDan- liury, and is a charter member of the same. On the 16th of Sep- tember, 1S.56, Mr. Taylor was married to Miss Isabella Meeker, of Danburj-. Their children are three in number, one son and two daughters. The sou, a young man (if much promise, is a member of the bar of Fairfield County, and is practicing law with his father. Mr. Taylor is an Epi-scopalian, but attends regularly with his wife and family, a portion of every Sunday, tlie Congregational church, of which she is a member. He is of a strong vital tem]ierament, like that of his father's family. His ancestor Thomas Taylor was the father of eight children whose aggregate ages amounted to eight hundred and fifty-eight, two or three nf them attaining to over one hundred years each. From this family was descended the late Dr. Nathaniel Taylor of the Yale Theological School, the father of the wife of President Porter of Vale College, also President Seely of Amherst College. P. T. IJarnuni is also one of the descendants. MEDICAL HISTORY. TIt'si'7><»-/.— EdmuiKl JI. Locs, Ea\v;ird J. Taylor (Gi-eeu's Farm), Albert Relyca. Wiltan. — George A. Diivenport (Cauiioii's Station), J. Beldeii Hurll.utt. The senior members of the bar of this eoiirity have many of them made up their records ; tliose still left are soon to follow, and the juniors are to assume their ]daces at the bar and on the bench ; to them will soon be committed these great responsible trusts. The perpetuity of our free institutions is committed to the guardianship and keeping of the bar and judiciary of our free country, for the history of the world teaches, and all free governments illustrate, this truth, — treat the subject lightly as you will, — that to the jirolessiou of tlic law civil government is indebted for all the ^ safeguards and intrenchments with which the liber- ties of the people are protected ; that legislation is shaped, constitutions enlarged, amended, and adojited by the enlightened administration of the statesmen, both of England and the United States, who have been in both, and are in all free governments, edu- cated for the bar, and, ascending by the inherent force j of their disciplined professional life, they become the directors of the destinies of states and nations. 3Iilitary chieftains may spring into jiower ; tyrants may for the hour dazzle, with the glamour of nulitary parade and the pomp of war, an oppressed and fren- zied people ; but they turn, as the cannonade dies away, to the statesmanship of the country, and call to the parliaments and congressional halls for final de- bate the arbitraments of the liberties of the people. From the days of King John to the jireseut hour the bar and the bench have furnished the statesmen who have erected the bulwarks of constitutional law, and extorted from tyrants the Magna Chartas which have secured to the oppressed the guarantees of free institutions.