|
|
|
HON. ELISHA CARPENTER
HARTFORD: Judge of the Supreme and Superior Courts
Judge Elisha Carpenter was born in that part of the old town of Ashford which is now known by the name of Eastford, Jan. 14, 1824, and received a common school and academic education. He was appointed judge of the superior court July 4, 1861, and was made a judge of the supreme court in 1865. For thirty years he has been a prominent representative of the legal profession of this state, and a jurist of undoubted attainments. Prior to the appointment to the bench he had held the offices of judge of probate and state’s attorney, and had served for two sessions in the state senate. He first became a member of that body in 1857, his colleagues including the Hon. Dwight Loomis of Rockville, who is now a judge of the supreme court, the late Governor James E. English of New Haven, and Ralph S. Taintor of Colchester. In 1858 Judge Carpenter was returned from the old 14th district. It is one of the most interesting facts in connection with the history of the Connecticut senate, that the roll of 1858 has furnished four members of the superior and supreme courts. Three of the members, ex-Judgc Dwight W. Pardee of this city, the late Judge Sidney B. Beardsley of Bridgeport, and the subject of this sketch, have attained eminence and honor in the highest court in this state, while the fourth has served for years as one of the ablest jurists on the superior court bench in Connecticut. Judge James Phelps of Essex, who was the colleague of Judge Carpenter in the senate in 1858, has also served in the national congress. The incident that these four interpreters of the law were associate law-makers in the senate in 1858 is one of great value in estimating the genius and spirit of the Connecticut judicial system. Tenure of office in the higher court judgeships is practically identical with the constitutional limit. Judge Carpenter was the president pro tempore of the senate in 1858. In 1861 he represented the town of Killingly in the house of representatives, serving as chairman of the military committee. During the first week of this session the legislature passed a bill confirming the act of Governor Buckingham in sending troops into the United States service without authority of law, and providing for further furnishing of state troops for such service. After his appointment to the superior court bench, Judge Carpenter removed to Wethersfield. He remained in that town several years, bnt eventually settled in Hartford, where he now resides. His career on the supreme court bench has been identified in an exceptional manner with public interests. Of recent years he has been called upon to prepare the most important opinions of the court relative to labor issues. The noted boycott opinion, which defined the rights of workingmen so clearly that there has been no contest in that direction since, was from his pen. The opinion relative to the forfeiture of wages in case of a violation of contract, which the supreme court enunciated two years ago, was also prepared by Judge Carpenter. This opinion presented with the utmost clearness the fundamental principles of law relative to the rights of labor. It was also Judge Carpenter’s perception of the spirit and object of the secret ballot law that led the supreme court last year to a strict construction of the text, the idea of secrecy in the statute being regarded as the fundamental one. Anything outside of the strictest conformity to one course immediately destroyed the secrecy of the vote. It is in cases and issues of this nature that Judge Carpenter has rendered the public inestimable service. He is a man of absolute personal integrity, and his career has been a priceless inspiration for bench and bar during the thirty years in which he has discharged the duties of a judge in the highest courts of the state. In politics Judge Carpenter is a republican. He is a member of the Asylum Hill Congregational church, and is a typical representative of the great denomination with which his entire religious life has been identified. During the war Judge Carpenter was the firmest of supporters of the Union. Unable to share personally in thc military activities of the struggle, he provided and sent a substitute into the field, though himself never the subject of any military conscription. His heart and hand were governed by an exalted patriotism, the very thought of which was an inspiration to many a man in the field. The oration which he pronounced at the funeral of Gen. Lyon in Eastford during the initial year of the war was a matchless tribute, showing that the Judge’s heart was in loyal kinship with that of the fallen hero, by the side of whose grave the state was bowed in the most affectionate sorrow and reverence. Judge Carpenter has been married twice. His first wife was Miss Harriet G. Brown of Brooklyn, Conn. She died July 3, 1874, leaving three daughters and one son. The latter died Sept. 11, 1879. The present wife was Miss Sophia Tyler Cowen, niece of the late Gen. Robert O. Tyler and daughter of the late Mrs. Cowen, whose memory will long be regarded with affection and enthusiasm in this city. There are two children by the latter marriage. One of the daughters of Judge Carpenter by the first wife is Mrs. Myron H. Bridgeman of this city.
Source: Illustrated Popular Biography of Connecticut - 1891, Compiled and Published by J. A. Spalding, Hartford Conn., Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard Company, 1891
Free Connecticut Genealogy Lookups
Connecticut Counties
Colonial Connecticut
Connecticut Genealogy Data Resources
|
Search
Surnames on Our Site Search for Your Ancestors
on Other Sites
|
|