Litchfield enquirer., 1845-11-13
Hon, DAVID DAGGETT.

Judge DAGGErr was born at Attleborough, in the county of Bristol. Mass, Dec. 3l, 1764. Like many of those whose names are now recorded on the roll ot fame he can boast of having raised him.
 self to his present eminence, from humble origin. His father was for many years tavern keeper, on the route between Providence and Boston, aud 1t assistant to him in this business, that hIs son David spent the first fifteen years of his life
 Up tn this time his opportunities for acquiring an education had not exceeded year of schooling. All his knowledge ot arithmetic had been obtain d by the of chalk, under the tutOrage of in his fathers employ. Yet the few opportunities he enjoyed were improved with the same diligence and assiduly that have ever characterized his sub sequent life.
 Mr. Daggett now set himself about acquiring an etlucation And notwithstanding his very limited atainments, in two years from this time he entered the Junior class of Yale College, and was able to acquit himself, while there, with much credit 10 himself and the institution. He graduated in 7S3, and immediately commenced the study of law with Charles Chauncy, Esq, of New Haven, afterwards a Judge oi the Superior Court. At the same time | he commenced teaching first a common school and afterwards the Grammar School in New Haven In this way he supported himself during most of his professional studies. About six months before their close, however, he was selected for what was then termed "Keeper, of the College Buttery" and as this business nterfered less with hsstudies than that of teaching, he relnquished the latter and took charge of the buttery. It should be remark ed that in old times it was customary for some in- dividnal. selected by the faculty. to occupy the southeast corner of old South Middle, lower floor,
 as kind of butterv or hucksters shOp and sell ci
 der, cakes, candies, stationery. and other Yankee 1 nations, to the students. In other words, he was what might, perhaps, be termed professor of cakes and cider; or, according to the modern bl of fare.
 professor of waff1es and coffee.
 In January. l7S6, MT. Daggett was admitted t' the bar, and in the April following he was chosen
 Int in Vala Cn1laua yrhich office he declined
 and settled in the practice of law at New Haven
 From l791 until 1913, he wasa greater part of the | time member of one or the other of the two | Houses of the State Legislature. and several ot those years Speaker of the House of Representa- Itives In June, 1Sll, he was appointed States Attorney for the County of New Haven, which office he resigned in 1873, on receiving the ap-
 pointntent of Senator in the Congress of the Uni -ed States. In November, 1894, he became an as. sociate instructor in the law school al New Haven,
 with the late Judge Hitchcock as his coadiutur, and in 1926, he was appointed Kent Professor of Law in Yale College: at which time the Corpora. tion of the College conferred on him the honorary degree of LL.-D.--In May of the same year, he was appointed an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court. and six years afterwards he was made Chief Justice. This last station he continued to fill until | December 3lst, 1894, when he was constitutional ly disqualified by age. He was at time for two successive years, Mayor of the city of New Haven | This brief record, and the records of the last
 half century, serve to- show the estimation in
 which the Judge has been held by the world, as a
 scholar, statesman, and lawyer. And though
 he has already passed the bounds of four-score
 years he continues punctually to discharge the du-
 ties of hls Professorsmp, with little or no abate.
 ment of his wonted intellectual vigor. As he I moves about these classic walks, with antiquated dress, we cannot but venerate him as one 'who has come down to us from a former generaGon.' May his declining years be as peaceful as his former II ; k.sl down without the intervention of cloud to ob- scure its brightness -- Yaie Literary JMagazine.