St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1885-12-24
DEATHS OF Ex-GOvERNORs.
From the Burlington Free Press.
HiIaud Hall.

From the Burlington Free Press.
HiIand Hall.
The death of Ex-Governor Hiland
Hall, which took place on Friday last
at the residence of his son, Mr.. Charles
Hall, in Springfield, Mass, removes
one of the most venerable, honOred
and esteemed citizens of Vermont. He
had passed by five months the age of
80 years, retaining to a surprising de-
gree his powers of body and mind.
The day before his death he visited his
sons store. and was as well as usual
throughout the day. Next morning he
was heard to fall in his room, and was
found unconscious on the floor. Un-
der the measures taken he regained his
consciousness, but sank away aud died
at 10 O'clock that evening.
Hiland Hall was born in Bennington,
July 20, 1895. He spent his bOyhood
on his fathers farm, was educated in
the common schools; decided on a
professional life when he became of
age, read law, and at the age of "a was
admitted to the bar, began at once to
make his mark as lawyer, and was
the legislature in 1897, when Ezra But
Ter was governor. Among his associ-
ates in that Legislature were Jacob
Collamer of RoyaltOn, WHY'S Lyman
of Hartford, Geo. Il. Hodges of Rut-
land, Silas III. JenisOn of ShOreham,
William Upham of Montpelier, Henry
Stevens of Barnet, William A. Palmer
of Danville, John Smith of ST. Adams,
B. F. Bailey of Burlington, Ira H. AL
len of Irasburgh, and others whose
names became prominent in public
life. He was States attorney of Ben
ningtOn county from 1929 to 1882. He
had identified himself with the Wing
party and the next year he was elect
ed to Congress. He had four subse-
quent elections, representing Yer
mont from 1888 to I843-a period only
exceeded i'm duration by that of Justin
S. Morrill,, who had six elections to the
House. He was chairman of the COM
mittee on revolutionary claims, and as
such wrote several able reports, and
gained especial distinction by the abil-
ity and spirit with which he replied to
several of the Virginia delegations and
to Gov. Gilmer of Virginia
who was agent to the Virginia bounty
land claims, amounting to several
of dollars. Mr.. Hall opposed
these claims as fraudulent, and in con-
sequence was bitterly assaulted by the
Virginia Congressman and Gilmer, and
in a noted reply, in June 1912, he as
John Quincy Adams said, "hayed Gill
mer alive" He made speeches against
President JacksOn's withdrawal of the |
deposits from the United States bank.
in favor of distributing school funds to
the States, and against the attempt to
suppress the pamphlets which the
ave-holders considered "incendiary
documents" in tile South. He was
State bank commissioner from IS43 to
1916, was Judge of the Supreme Court
from 1916 to 1849, his associates OH the
bench being Judges Royce, Isaac Red
field, Bennett, Kellogg and Poland.
In 1850 he was appointed second
of the United States treas
nry, from 1851 to 1854 was land COM
missioner for California, to settle the
titles of the settlers and the
Mexicans i'm California.
When the Republican party was Or
ganized, Mr.. Hall was delegate from
Vermont to the first national republic
Fan convention at Philadelphia in 1856
and in 1853 was elected governor, sue
,eeding Ryland Fletcher, whose death
IS elsewhere chronicled and who sur
vived him by three days. He was re-
elected in 1859.
In his next message he announced
his retirement from public life, after
which his only official appearance was
rs delegate to the fruitless "peace
Congress" of 1861. But though he re-
tired from professional practice and
rom official station, he never lost his
interest in the affairs of his state. He
paid particular attention to early Yer
mont history, and prepared various
historical pamphlets preluding his
Early History of Vermont" a work of
100 pages published in 1868, and show
ng historical research and accuracy
hat made him an authority on Yer
mont history. He was president of I