Orleans REDFIELD, Timothy Parker Genealogical and Family History of the State of Vermont: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation. Carleton, ed. Chicago: Lewis, 1903, pp 484-487 Timothy Parker REDFIELD, jurist, who adorned the supreme bench of the state of Vermont for fourteen years, and whose name is imperishably written in the judicial and political annals, came from one of the most ancient and honored New England families. The founder of the family in America was William REDFIELD, who came from England some time during the decade beginning in 1630, and he became one of the proprietors of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1642. [The town of Cambridge, first called "Newtown," was organized in 1630, and Middlesex County was created in 1643. Massachusetts became a state in 1788, as did Connecticut and New York. Vermont was first an independent commonwealth and became a state in 1791.] By his wife Rebecca he [William REDFIELD] was the father of James, born in 1646 in Connecticut, a tanner by occupation. In May 1669 at New Haven [New Haven County, Connecticut] James [REDFIELD] married Elizabeth HOWE, born in 1645, a daughter of Jeremy HOWE, who was a son of Edward HOWE, one of the first settlers of Lynn [Essex County], Massachusetts. Their [James and Elizabeth REDFIELD's] son, Theophilus, born in 1682, was a joiner by trade and probably settled in Killingworth [Middlesex County], Connecticut, soon after he reached the years of manhood. On 24 December 1706 he [Theophilus REDFIELD] married Priscilla GRINNELL, then seventeen years of age, a daughter of Daniel and Lydia GRINNELL. He [Theophilus REDFIELD] died 14 February 1759, and his wife [Priscilla (GRINNELL) REDFIELD] died 12 January 1770. Peleg REDFIELD, fifth son of Theophilus and Priscilla (GRINNELL) REDFIELD, was born 02 April 1723 at Killingworth [Middlesex County], Connecticut. In 1756 he [Peleg REDFIELD] was appointed second lieutenant in the Tenth Company of the Connecticut Regiment. In 1758 he served as first lieutenant in the same regiment at Ticonderoga [Essex County, New York], and in the spring of 1759 was commissioned captain and took command of a company of ninety men. He served throughout the French and Indian War, and died of smallpox on his journey home, on 05 December 1760, near Stockbridge [Berkshire County], Massachusetts. In 1744 he [Peleg REDFIELD] married Sarah DUDLEY, born 20 April 1723, a daughter of Ebenezer (GRAVES) DUDLEY, of Guilford [New Haven County], Connecticut, and great granddaughter of John ALDEN and Priscilla (MULLENS) ALDEN. Beriah, eldest son of Peleg and Sarah (DUDLEY) REDFIELD, was born 21 November 1744, at Killingworth [Middlesex County, Connecticut]. He [Beriah REDFIELD] removed to Richmond [Berkshire County], Massachusetts, where he became an extensive farmer. On 05 November 1770 he [Beriah REDFIELD] married Dorothy STEVENS, of Killingworth, born 30 January 1752, a daughter of Thomas STEVENS. In the spring of 1816 he removed to Seneca County, New York, where he [Beriah REDFIELD] died 04 June 1819. Peleg REDFIELD, son of Beriah REDFIELD, was born 24 June 1777 at Killingworth [Middlesex County], Connecticut. He studied medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Samuel WARE, of Conway [Franklin County], Massachusetts, and entered upon practice at Weathersfield [Windsor County], Vermont; here he [Peleg REDFIELD] was married on 05 April 1803 to Hannah PARKER, born in November 1785 in Westford [Middlesex County], Massachusetts, eldest child of Isaac PARKER, a well-to-do merchant of the place. In February 1806 Dr. [Peleg] REDFIELD moved with his family to Coventry [Orleans County], Vermont, on the northern border of the state, then an outpost of civilization, and here amid the hardships and perils of frontier life he reared a family of six sons and six daughters. His practice there became extensive and arduous. His journeys to the scattered cabins in which his patients resided were performed mainly on horseback, but not infrequently he was obliged to tread his way through the forests on foot. He was a man of vigorous mind and great force of character, and was held in high esteem, not only for professional skill, but for his business qualities. He [Dr. PELEG REDFIELD] was appointed town clerk in 1806, and held the office nineteen years; was town treasurer in 1807, 1825, and 1826; selectman in 1807, 1815, 1818, and 1819, and represented the town of Coventry in the general assembly of Vermont for nine successive years from 1812 to 1820. In politics he was an old-school Federalist, and was decidedly positive in his convictions. He [Dr. Peleg REDFIELD] died 08 November 1848, aged seventy-four years. His [Dr. Peleg REDFIELD's] wife, Hannah (PARKER) REDFIELD, the mother of Timothy P., was a remarkable woman. She faithfully performed her material [marital?] duties in rearing and training her large family. She also proved herself a worthy helpmeet to her husband in establishing their new home on the hillside of Coventry [Orleans County, Vermont], and was ever its presiding genius, to whom the husband and children always turned for cheer and inspiration. Possessed of strong character and remarkable intellectual ability, throughout her long life she was a great reader of the best literature of the time. In the current topics and events of the day she always took a keen interest. Her conversational powers were fine and charming. Separated to a great extent by her lot in life from the refinements and social influence of education and refined society, yet such were her attainments, her sterling worth and native sense that she would have adorned the best society and won admiration for her charming qualities and inherent worth. From her both Timothy P. and Isaac F. inherited the characteristics and mental qualities which, with their industry, brought them well-deserved eminence. Timothy Parker REDFIELD, fourth son of Dr. Peleg and Hannah (PARKER) REDFIELD, was born 03 November 1812 in Coventry [Orleans County], Vermont. His was the ordinary experience of Vermont boys born and brought up on the farms in that day, an experience admirably adapted to develop the industry, self-reliance, and independence since so characteristic of the man, and so peculiar to his class. After the usual academic preparation he matriculated at Dartmouth College, where he ranked first in his class, and was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and he graduated with high honors in the class of 1836. Immediately after graduation Mr. [Timothy Parker] REDFIELD commenced the study of law in the office of his brother, Hon. Isaac R. REDFIELD, and was admitted to the bar of Orleans County in 1838. Beginning the practice of his profession in Irasburg [Orleans County, Vermont], he continued it in that place up to the time of his removal to Montpelier [Washington County, Vermont], in 1848. He made his entry into public office as a member of the state legislature in 1839, and in 1848 he represented Orleans County in the state legislature. Subsequently he was for several years a member of the state board of education. From 1848 to 1870 he was numbered among the most active, able, and efficient lawyers in Vermont, and in 1870 was elected judge of the supreme court. Successive elections retained him in the same dignified and influential office for many years. Judge [Timothy Parker] REDFIELD's elevation to the supreme judiciary of Vermont was an invaluable testimony to his intellectual and moral worth. He has always been a Democrat in politics, but his fitness for the position was so generally acknowledged that he was elected to the place by a legislature overwhelmingly Republican, and against numerous competitors. His dignified judicial bearing and acknowledged impartiality made him at once a general favorite with the public, the bar, and his associates. His fame my and will justly rest upon his judicial life. Had Judge [Timothy Parker] REDFIELD's political affiliations been with the Republican party, he would in all probability have worthily filled a seat in the Senate of the United States. That he did not was not the fault of his ability, of his patriotism, or his moral excellency, but was the fault, or rather result, of his conscientious devotion to the principles and policy of a party which in Vermont is in a perpetual minority. At the time of Senator MORRILL's first election to the national senate, Judge REDFIELD received sixteen votes in the legislature as the candidate of the Democrats. At Mr. MORRILL's second election Judge REDFIELD received eleven votes. Although the acknowledged peer of his successful competitor, his party associations precluded every hope of election. After Judge REDFIELD's elevation to the supreme bench of Vermont, he made numerous decisions which have passed into the category of legal standards. Among them was the noted case, "State ex rel. PAGE vs. SMITH et al," better known as the "Quo Warranto Case." In this suit he gave an elaborate and exhaustive decision, that now occupies ten pages of the Forty-eighth Vermont reports. No opinion of Judge [Timothy Parker] REDFIELD's ever acquired notoriety or redounded so much to his credit as the opinion of the court, written by him, in the case of James R. LANGDON et al, against the Vermont and Canada Railroad Company et al, in 1882. This suit was one branch of the famous Vermont Central Railroad litigation, which has been in the courts of the state for over twenty-five years. In the LANGDON case, among other principles involved, was the question whether a receiver's debt should take precedence of recorded antecedent mortgages as a lien upon the property, and if it did, whether such a lien could be enforced by strict foreclosure. The questions were novel, and many millions of dollars depended upon the result. The controversy was all the more embittered by reason of the different construction which was given by counsel to an opinion of the court delivered in 1877 upon the same subject. The masterly way in which Judge REDFIELD explained the opinion of 1877, and the exact and precise method in which he demonstrated, both on principle and authority, that a receiver's debt did constitute a first lien upon the property managed, and that such lien could be enforced by strict foreclosure, won for his opinion comments of universal admiration. The best evidence these comments were just is found in the fact that since delivery of the opinion there seems to be absolute submission to its verdict; it is a strong judicial exposition of the law of the case which cannot be answered. This opinion has gone far beyond the boundaries of Vermont, and some of the best legal minds of the country pronounce it a model of judicial learning and of logical reasoning, and an exact enunciation of difficult and novel questions of law. His [Timothy Parker REDFIELD's] biographer in the "Vermont Historical Magazine" says "Judge REDFIELD is an excellent scholar; and while his bearing is reserved and dignified, such as becomes his position, yet in social life he is one of the most charming of companions. His reminiscences of the old bar and his fund of anecdotes are the delight of those who enjoy his friendship, and will be long remembered by those who come after him. He is a member of the Episcopal church, and a devoted Christian, not only in profession, but also in practice. In short, Judge REDFIELD is a model in all that constitutes a conscientious Christian gentleman, and a able, upright, impartial judge. To speak this of his record is but the just mead of praise to acknowledge worth, and to keep he memory of such men green is but to strengthen and stimulate public virtue." On 06 February 1840 Judge [Timothy Parker] REDFIELD married Miss Helen W. GRANNIS, of Stanstead, Province of Quebec. [At the time of this marriage, Stanstead, just north of Orleans County, Vermont, was probably then still part of what was called Lower Canada. The law passed in 1840 joining Upper and Lower Canada, the two colonies then known as Canada West and Canada East, was not effective until 1841.] She was the daughter of William and Nancy Melinda (DUSTIN) GRANNIS, and her mother was a daughter of Moody DUSTIN, of Revolutionary fame, figuring in the annals of the day as second lieutenant in Captain HEAD's company, Colonel Joseph CILLEY's regiment, 08 November 1776, and as captain on 05 March 1778. Four children, three of whom are buried in the Green Mountain cemetery at Montpelier [Washington County, Vermont], were the issue of this union. The only surviving child [1903], Alice, is the wife of Andrew J. PHILLIPS, and formerly resided at Chicago, Illinois. Two children were born to them [to Andrew J. and Alice PHILLIPS]: Helen [PHILLIPS], who died at the age of fifteen years; and Timothy Redfield [PHILLIPS], who survives. Judge [Timothy Parker] REDFIELD died 27 March 1888 in Chicago [Cook County], Illinois. [Calculated from his birthdate given in the biography, Timothy Parker REDFIELD was seventy-five years of age when he died. Since he died in Chicago, was Timothy P. REDFIELD residing with or visiting his son-in-law and daughter, Andrew J. and Alice PHILLIPS, at the time of his death?] Submitted by Cathy Kubly ========