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HON. ORLANDO HASTINGS. 1

Mr. Hastings was born in Washington, in Litchfield County, Conn., in 1789, and, at the age of seven years, was removed by his parents to the vicinity of Clinton, N. Y. He was the third son and fifth child in a family of eleven children. In common with the other members of that interesting household, he enjoyed in early years the instructions and prayers of eminently pious parents; and, as in ten thousand other cases in the moral history of mankind, the first sacred influences of a godly mother have but lived again in the strict integrity and high-toned religious sentiments of the son. His youth was morally circumspect, but not religious.

Being attacked, at about the age of twenty-one years, with hemorrhage of the lungs, he was turned aside from the plan of obtaining a collegiate education, which he had cherished, and after a time engaged in commercial pursuits. In 1815, he entered the law office of the late Judge Griffin, then practicing at Clinton, N. Y.; and in the year 1818, removed to Genesseo, where he established himself in the business of his profession. About this time he dated his hopeful conversion, though his public connection with the church was not formed till the year 1825. In 1830, he removed to Rochester, where the burden and heat of the day were borne. These were the first fruits of his influence, both at the Bar, and in the church. In either sphere it was an influence that will not soon be forgotten. Among the many worthy names which are justly revered, as having given character to that city, and which will live as long as it has a history, that of Orlando Hastings will stand high, both as a legal counselor, and as a very pillar in the House of God.

Mr. Hastings was gifted with a mind of rare capacity, distinguished particularly for its logical clearness, its power of close and prolonged attention, and its intuitive grasp of a whole subject at once. He generally apprehended the chief points at issue in clear and sharp outline, with no blur or shading into penumbral dimness and uncertainty. And the views so clearly and strongly conceived, on whatever subject, always enlisted the enthusiasm of his whole nature, stirred the resoluteness of an indomitable perse

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1 This notice is extracted principally from the funeral sermon preached by Rev. F. F. Ellinwood.

verence, and called forth a very rare degree of executive force. No opinion was ever indifferently entertained, which he deemed worthy to be entertained at all. No mere surmises-his own or another's-could be accepted by him as conclusions; but that which was received as truth, became a fire in his bones, stirring every energy-putting forth the most unflinching resolution, and the promptest action. Even those who differed with him could never doubt his entire sincerity; and if, in the earnestness with which he sought his ends, he seemed to any too strenuous, they were still constrained to feel that it was neither interest, nor disingenuous obstinacy, but only the zeal of strong and honest convictions, that influenced him.

I shall utter (said the pastor) nothing new to most of you, when I say, that for tenderness of sympathy, Mr. Hastings was one in a thousand. I am constrained to bear it as my well considered testimony, that in all my intercourse with men, I have never known a heart more susceptible to kindness and the tokens of friendship, or more easily moved with sympathy for the wants and woes of others. I have never seen the tears of emotion so often stealing from any other manly eye; nor heard so frequently the stifled utterances of tender feeling, from any other manly lips. Hundreds and thousands who had nothing with which to pay, have gone to him and found advice and help in every species of difficulty; and as to pecuniary means, who does not know that a large proportion of his handsome income was dispensed, almost with the freeness of the sunlight and the shower? Could all those who have received his benefactions for the last half century, stand up here in full array before us, the spectacle itself would utter a silent eulogium more eloquent than tongue can express.

I need not say to those who knew his mental or moral qualities, that he has been to us a valued counselor. I need not add that his well known earnestness and Christian zeal, have rendered him indefatigable in every labor of love among us; and so as to pecuniary support, as you might suppose, his liberal purse has been almost a treasury of the church. In our social meetings, he never opened his lips without having something to say, which was both edifying and instructive to his hearers. Moreover his example among us if punctuality in every religious duty-if thorough honesty in his Christian life—if high-toned sentiment in respect to the influence of the church upon the world has any worth, it has, we trust, left its lasting impress upon us. He loved the inte

rests of this church as his own life. There was almost no sacrifice that he was not prepared to make for its outward prosperity, or its spiritual thrift. His thoughts were much upon it; he planned for its advancement; he gave to and labored for it, and prayed in its behalf. Even when no longer able to come up to this much loved place, or even kneel at the family altar, still, bolstered in his chair, and speaking only in slow and feeble accents, he uttered one of the most remarkable petitions of his whole life, for the spiritual interests of this church. And we may feel that as a legacy of blessing to us, that prayer stands as a memorial before God.

He was one of the most industrious and successful practitioners in the State of his adoption. On the occasion of his death, special meetings of the church, and other public bodies of which he had been a member were held, at which resolutions of the most complimentary kind were passed, and also in the several Courts before which he had so long and ably practiced, set eulogies were pronounced, scarcely equaled by those delivered on any similar occasion in this country. And thus passed to his rest the able counselor, the revered friend, and the Christian gentleman. '

CHIEF JUSTICE JOEL HINMAN.

A brief account of Judge Hinman appears on page 442, but as he has now deceased, a further record of him will be added--taken principally from a paper prepared by Frederick J. Kingsbury, Esq., of Waterbury, and printed in the 35th vol. of Conn. Reports.

Judge Hinman was born at Southbury, Conn., January 27th, 1802, and died of pneumonia at his residence in Cheshire, February 21st, 1870, aged 68. He was buried on Thursday, Feb. 24th, in the graveyard at Cheshire, adjoining the Episcopal Church, where he had been for years a faithful attendant. In accordance with a wish expressed by him some time before his death, and entirely characteristic of the man, no sermon was preached, and no eulogy was pronounced. But he was followed to the grave by a large concourse of his old neighbors and friends, by the judges of the Courts, and by representatives of the Bar from all parts of the State.

1

In the account of Dr. Seth Hastings, father of the above, p. 385, the list of children should be as follows, at his death, 84 years of age, viz: Seth, Betsey, Thomas, Orlando, Eurotas Parmelee, Charles, Truman, Sophia.

The Judge was the twelfth in a family of fourteen or fifteen children, and, after having received a common school education, early applied himself to the study of the law, first with Judge Chapman, at Newtown, and afterwards with Messrs. Staples and Hitchcock, at New Haven. He was admitted to the Bar not long after reaching his majority, and settled in Waterbury, in 1824. The following year he married Miss Maria Scovill, daughter of James Scovill, of Waterbury. In 1830, he was appointed Judge of Probate for the Waterbury District, and continued to hold the office for ten years. He twice represented the 5th District, in the State Senate, and several times the town of Waterbury in the House of Representatives. While a member of the House, in 1842, he was elected a Judge of the Superior and Supreme Courts, to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Roger Minot Sherman. Upon the decease of Chief Justice Storrs, in 1861, he was elected Chief Judge, which office he continued to hold till his decease. Judge Hinman continued to reside in Waterbury till 1845, when he removed to New Haven, where he remained several years, and subsequently to Cheshire, where he died. He left a widow and four children; one son and three daughters. The Judge was 40 years old when he was elected, and is said to have been the youngest man, up to that time, who had filled that position. His election was quite unexpected to him and to the public. The judges of the Court were mostly past the prime of life, and men of marked ability. He was comparatively young, and had attained no eminence at the bar. As a legislator he spoke seldom and briefly, though he was acknowledged as one of the leaders, and his opinion had much weight. In his profession he was possessed of considerable ability, and, on accasions, showed it. But he was unsuited to active practice, slow of utterance, indolent and unmethodical in his business habits, and needed a spur to exertion, which the limited practice of a country town did not supply. But he was much better adapted by nature for the bench than the bar. He had an eminently judicial mind, and having now a sufficient inducement to exertion, he soon won, in his new position, both the respect of his associates and of the bar-a respect which steadily increased during the rest of his life. The whole action of his mind was deliberative, perpending, judicial. "Well, now let's see," was his favorite connecting and lubricating clause, in all the breaks and joints of conversation, discussion and argument. The members of the bar, both old and young, throughout

the State, regarded him with much respect, mingled with a feeling of complacency closely bordering on affection. He, on his part, was fond of young men, and enjoyed their society and conversation. He called people by their first names. He knew the children, and stopped to talk with them. He made equability a study, and though by no means devoid of temper, he rarely showed more of it than a passing flush.-"Whatever happens," was his advice to a young friend, "make it a point never to get angry. Lawyers will abuse you, witnesses disappoint you, clients deceive and cheat you, and judges will decide against you, when you know you are right; but whatever happens, take it all coolly, laugh, if you can, if you can't laugh, smile, and wait for time to make things right."

His legal opinions are without the graces of style, but they are attractive, because they come directly to the point, and cover the whole ground in a manner quite peculiar to the judge himself. He seems, without labor or effort, to find the true solutions of intri. cate questions, and the conclusions are so natural, that the reader adopts them with confidence, as being those of his own mind. As has been well said by a distinguished member of the bar, "his honesty seemed rather to be constitutional than to come from any very nice conscientiousness. He seemed to go right because he could not help it."

The State of Connecticut has been extremely fortunate in the presiding judges of her highest Court, and though some have excelled him in legal accumen, or brilliant genius; yet for that rarely balanced common sense, which equals either of these gifts in utility, and for sterling honesty, few names will hold a higher place than that of JOEL HINMAN.

EDWARD J HUBBARD,

Was born in Bethlehem, Conn. Received a Common and High School education. Studied law with Henry B. Graves and William Cothren, Esqrs. Was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1864, and immediately commenced practice with William Cothren at Woodbury. In the fall of 1865, as there seemed to be a better opening at Naugatuck, Conn., he opened a law office there, and remained till the fall of 1866, when the amount of business not being satisfactory, he emigrated West, and opened an office at Trinidad, Colorado Territory, where he at present resides, in the

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