Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1906-04-27
AsAPH p. cHILDs DEAD.
Stricken With Heart Trouble While In
South Carolina,

South Carolina.
a telegram from Major +. W. Child
TO his brother, X. :. Childs, announce,
the death of Asaph =. Childs, 90, a
,atesbnrg, 5. G., Tuesday morning
Mr., aud Mrs, Childs, whose home 4
NJ castleton, have been at the Licking
ton hotel, Batesburg, with the famil,
OF his brother, +. W. Childs. He I'm,
suffered from heart trouble for yeal
or more. Mr.. Childs had arranged /,
return north Monday night, but a tele
gram changed his plans and no was /,
have left the south Tuesday night. IL,
passed somewhat uncomfortabl,
night Monday, but seemed better Tues
day morning, and was listening to d
pretty story, when he sank away, and
without struggle breathed his last
in the presence of his wife, his brother
and sister, Major +. w. Childs and Mrs
Sarah NJ. Kidder. The body was
brought north at once, arriving at Cas-
tleon yesterday.
Asaph p. Childs was born in vii,
mington June 10, 1910, son of Major
A. Il. and Hannah Lane Childs. He
began his education in the public
schools, and afterward entered Powers
institute in Bernardston. Mass, from
which he was graduated in 1859. HIav.
ing determined upon the law as his
profession, he entered the Office Of the
late Charles n. Davenport, and Con.
gresham Kittredge Haskins, but the
breaking out of the Civil war aroused
his spirit of patriotism and temporarily
turned him aside from this purpose.
Enlisting as private in Company +,
10th Vermont regiment, in 1862, his
business qualifications attracted the
attention of his superiors, and he was
detailed for duty in the quartermas.
RS department, being stationed for a
long period at various military posts,
with headquarters at the national cap
ital and in Virginia with Generals
Casey and Stoughton, Colonel A. p.
Blunt, and Major Hiram Smith, and
others. When the Confederate troops
advanced upon Fairfax Court house
and station Mr. Childs was placed in
charge of great federal supply train,
which he safely fastened over the Or
ange & Alexandria railroad into Wash
ington, just as the enemy appeared on
Arlington Heights. At later day he
had the sad duty of being one of the
escort of the body of the lamented
President Lincoln, after his assassina-
ton. from the dwelling opposite old
Ford s theater to the White House; he
had only few days before attended
Lincoln s last public reception. In
1865 and the early part of 1866 he
served in the commissary department
in Tennessee and Texas, and was hon
orably discharged late in the latter
year, long after the close of the war,
having been in the Union service for
more than three years.
After his discharge from the army
Mr. Childs was for some time en-
ployed in the quartermaster general s
Office in the old Corcoran Art building
near the war department at Washing
ton. During brief stay at his home
in 1864 he was admitted to the bar in
Windham county, and while discharg-
ing his clerical duties under the gov
eminent at Washington, devoted his
spare hours to further preparing him
self for his chosen profession in the
Columbia Law college, from which he
was graduated in June, 1867, being
then admitted to practice in the fed
eral courts. He did not, however, en-
gage in practice, but his knowledge OF
law afforded him excellent equipment
for the duties which devolved upon him,
chief among them being those pertain
ing to the positions he occupied for
more than thirty years as state agent
and agency director of the New York
Life Insurance company and special
n cent of the Mutual Life Insurance
company of New York. For several
wears Mr.. Chids was editor and pro-
prietor of the Bennington Vermont
News. Gazette, and Reformer, and ne
also published the daily Centennial,
which contained the official record OF
the famous Bennington Battle Monu-
ment celebration, also the addresses,
accounts of the festivities, notes OF
the early Vermont battles and heroes
and of valued relics of the Revolution
ary era. with other items incident TO
such heroic times and deeds, wnlch
proved to be a publication OF rare MS
toric value. MT.
a br0ad-mlnueu uehocldt III P0i''i
but always Independent and a,gglres-
sive. placing public interests before
mere party purposes, Mr.. Chllds mas
been throughout his life conspicuous
fioure in political circles. In 1876, IN
the Tilden campaign, he was a candl,
date for congress in the first Vermont
district, most successfully leading a
forlorn hope simply for the sake OF
principle. From 1882 until 1854 ne rep
resented Bennington in the state legls.
latnre and has held various important
Offices In 1896 he affiliated with the
sound money wing of his party, beng
chosen delegate to the famous lnaian,
apolis convention. Public-spirited IN
the highest degree, he conferred upon IPIT?,
the people of his native town. WI,
min otonl a benefit for all time IN the
presentation, in 1897, of a soldiers
monument. He was charter member
of Custer post, G. A. r. OF benni SEEMING
Ton in which he was past command
or and has frequently been delegate
n the national encampments, ana was
a member of the commission TO wnicn
was appointed the duty OF procuring