Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1867-10-31
coyENNoRs OF vERMoNr.-i4.
JOHN MATrocKS.


father, James Mattocks, son of Samuel
Mattocks of Boston (who was the son Of
James Mat,ocks, whose father James
MAJ ,cks, came from the town Of Totnsss,
in thc county ,f Devonshire, in the West
Of En-. land, and was one of the first set
tiers Of Boston, died at Middletown,
in Connecticut, in New England, May 9Th
l766, aged 63 yours, and was buried in
the first burying- ground in that place"
Samuel Mattocks was born in 1889, and
was married March l4th, 1868, to Miss
Sarah Burdell (who was also born in
1897 and died at Middlebury, VI. in
1904.
John Mattocks, the fourteenth Govern
or of Vermont, was the youngest child,
and was born at Hartford, in the county
Of Hartford and State of Connecticut,
on the 4th day of March, HI. He
came from that State with his father and
family, to Vermont, about the year ITS,
or l779, and settled in Tinmouth, in this
county. He remained with bis father in
that town Till he was about sixteen years
of age, when he went to Middlebury and
commenced the study Of law in the Office
of Samuel Miller, Esq, (who was proba-
bly, his brother-in-law, and ] find that
his sister Rs5ecca married resident OF
Middlebury, by that name in l79o.) lie
remained however, but short time In
his Office, and went from thence, on foot,
to st. Adams. and continued the study OF
his profession, PROBABLY in the office Of
Hon. Bates Turner, afterwards Judge of
the Supreme Court of Vermont, when,
after three or four years study in that
Office, he was admitted to the bar in
Franklin County.
In 1877; Immediately after his being ad-
mitted to the bar, he opened an Office and
commenced the practice of his profession
in Danvile, Caledonia county, and after
remaining there short time he re-
moved to Peacham, in the same county,
where he continued 10 reside till his
death.
In 1907 he represented the town of Peach
am, in the General Assembly of Vermont,
and again in 1915 and 'l6, and also in
1928, and "a, and was the delegate
from that town TO the Constitutional Con-
vention of 1886.
He was Member of Congress from
Vermont from 1921 to 1928, and from
1926 to 1927, and again from l84l to
l843. a,.. ..
During his last term in Congress, he
stood firmly by the side of John Quincy
Adams, in the advocacy, of the Right of
Petition--no matter who were the petition
ers, or what was the subject matter of the
petition. A rule of the House Of Repre-
sentatives declared, "That all petitions,
memorials, resolutions, propositions or pa
pers, relating in any way, or to any ex-
tent whatever, TO the subject OF slavery,
or the abolition of slavery, shall, without
being either printed or referred, be laid
upon the table, and that no further action
whatever shall be had thereon This
rule was adopted by a large majority
the whole South and nearly the entire
North voting in lis favor. In addition to
this, any member Of the House presenting
petition on this subject was met with in
suit, abuse, and threats of personal vio-
lence, and even of assassination. Re-
CARELESS of these threats, and in defiance
of what he declared TO be "a disgraceful
and unconstitutional rule" he repeatedly
presented such petitions as were sent to
him and upon presenting to Congress a
petition for some of his constituents for
Inc abolition of slavery in the District of
Columbia, he said: 81 present this petit
ton, not for the idle purpose of voting,
myself, against it, but because | believe,
in my soul, that the prayer thereof ought
to be granted, so as to free this land Of
liberty from the national and damning sin
of slavery in this our own Bal!iwick, the
District of Columbia" In commenting
upon his course on this subject, and the
remarks above quoted, in circular to his
constituents, he said the richest legacy he
could leave TO his children would be the
fact that they had father who had the
courage to utter such sentiments at that
time and at that place. g.
In 1888 be was elected Judge of the
Supreme Court Of Vermont, and reelected
IN 1884, when he declined reelection.
The reason of this declination has always
been a mystery to many Of his friends, and
the general opinion seemed to be either
that the duties of the office were distasteful
to him, or that he conceived in his own
mind that he was not qualified to discharge,
IN proper manner, the duties thereof, and
80 L.. Al