News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1903-11-04
Waldo Brigham.

Written by H. M. Mcfarland and read be
fur4 the Vermont Bar Association at Mont
pelier, October 81. 1908.
La responding tO the call TO
pr pare somethn 6 10 the wav Oh
sketch OF the life aud service of Wal 10
Brigham, find myself not only dis
charging he du y which originated
with the call, buu also performing II
labor OF love, inspired hy profound
respect for the m I'll ia n lawyer and
high minded cit,z.n and toy an Intl-
mate knowledge of his nome life,
which, though unprefentious, Was
charming 10 It's simplicity.
Waldo Brigham came OF Puritan
ancestry, tracing his genealogical llnn
to Thorn rs BrI2 ham VINO Game IRON
England to Amrrlct, locating a
Cambridge, Mass, about 1854 H.
was born AT iker- field, VI June 10,
1929, tne Youngest culld, III n famlIy
OF ten, OF Asa aud Sally Harry Brig
ham, and died after II long and PAIN
full illn4-- at HYDE Park, Vt, April
2ud, 1900 The iarm was his nursery
and the rcene Of his boyhOod days, as
it has been of so many SONS OF Vermont
who have done their state and them
selves honor at home aud abroad.
His early education WAS obtained III
the district school and at Bakersfield
Academy, then in charge OF that
prince OF Vermont educators, jacob
Spaulding. After completing his
course AT the Academy, heentered the
Universe Y OF Vermont from which he
GRADUATE With honor in the class Of
1854 Among his classmates were
Chas. j Alger, a lawyer late OF Bur
lington; O liver Dana Barrett, at one
time partner of Gen. B. F. Butler;
Reuben Clark Benton, until his death
in 1895 prominent lawyer of MIMI
eapolt.; Chas Merrck Gay, editor and
publisher If the Living Age" from
1S67 TO 1879; Simeon Gilbert, editor
OF the "A vance," Chicago, from
1886 to 1898; Chas. Il. Heath, late
of Washington County Bar, and WIN
slow C. Watson. prominent lawyer
of Plattsburg, N Y,
Among those in college contenpora-
neouslS with Mr.. Brigham, but in 9th
er classes, who have acl ieved prOmi-
nence may be mentioned Matthew
Henry Buckham, Pres. of the Univer-
sity, Matthew Hale, j Isham Bliss,
Ezra Hoyt Byington, Selim Hobart
Peabody, John Ellsworth Goodrich,
now connected with the University,
Benjamin F. Fideld, Constans l..
Goodell, prominent Cong' clergy
man late Of st. Louis. Mo, HI Henry
Powers, Norman Williams, Isaac
Newton Camp, Abel e. Leavenworth
and Henry A. 2. Torrey.
Mr.. Brigham, IA many another
young man at the University in his
day and since, was happily chancellor
OF his own exchequer. His college
course included not only the abs5ra
tions OF higher mathematics, but a
training in practical finance, which
oftentimes in more ways than Onp
proves to be the best discipline of the
whole curriculum. I6 begets an &C
quaintance with the ways and means
Of life, without which too many young
men whose natural ability has given
promise Of great US fulne IS hav9 gone
down in failure.
As a means to the replenishing of
the impoverished purse OF graduation
day, Mr. Brigham assumed the duties
of the principalship OF st. Lawrence
Academy, Potsdam, n Y. in the fall
after leaving the Uni versity. He re-
manned there one year and then took
up the study of the law, first in the
office of Hon. W. C. Wilsonin Bakers
field, and afterwards in the office OF
John A. Child and Whitman G. Ferrin,
then partners in the practice of law
at Hyde Park. He was admitted to
the bar of Lamoille county at the
May term 1857 and shortly thereafter
entered the office of Hon. Homer E
Royce. then a member of Congress
from Vermont, at e Berkshire He
remained there practicing his pro.
fession four Years, returning to Hy IL
Park in 1862 At this time the
brain and the Drawn of both the
North and the South we're pitted
against one another in the ter.
rible struggle which was then on.
John A Child, with whom Mr.. Brig
ham read law, was among those to
whom the call to arms was call to
duty and Mr.. Brigham entered his Of
flee to continue his professional work
Before going to the front, Mr.. Child
sickened and died, aud shortly there
after Mr. Brigham formed a partner
ship with George L. Waterman, son
OF Hon ' W. Waterman, who proved
himself to be one of the brightest law
yers Vermont has produced. This
partnership continued until dissolved
by the failing health of Mr.. Water
man in 1884, covering the period of
thegreatest activity in Mr.. Brigham's
legal career. During this time, span
ming almost quarter of century,
there was hardly case of any prom-
nence on the Lamollle County docket
in which did not appear Brigham &
Waterman and in the lists against
tuem Il. Henry Powers and Phillip
K. Gleed, of the firm of Powers 4
-Geed, or George W. Hendee. Those
were the great days in the practice of
law in Lamoille County, the days of
the giants at her bar.
n