unfortunately a Loyalist. He removed to Boston when Asa was a child, and died in May, 1775, his wife having died two years before. Asa was brought up in the family of an aunt, and after the war closed he recovered some of the property which belonged to his father, including a farm, a part of which he retained until his death. Quite late in life, he entered Rhode Island College, now called Brown University, grad uating at the age of twenty-six; the noted Tristram Burgess was one of his class-mates. He studied law in Providence with Judge Howell, was admitted to the Bar, and opened an office in the village of Chepachet, remaining there a few years, acquiring a good business and an excellent reputation. He married the daughter of LieutenantGovernor Owen, then the widow Gadcomb. Not satisfied with the place in which he lived, he made a prospecting tour through the western part of Pennsylvania and Ohio, returning home by way of St. Albans, Vt., with which place he was so well pleased that he removed there in 1802. For a time, he was in business with Bates Turner; he was somewhat averse to political life, although a warm partisan, and supported the measures of the Republican party, including the em bargo and non-intercourse acts, which pre ceded the declaration of war with Great Britain. He was one of the foremost in his support of the war measures of the govern ment and had great influence with the Re publican party and was consulted more. in relation to their views and measures than any other man in his part of the State. In 1 81 5 the Republicans, having control, elected a new Supreme Court, and he was made its Chief. In making a complete change, it was thought best to select popular and able men to fill the judgeships in the highest court. He was made its Chief; itwas an office he did not seek and did not want; his election being the result of a political move, there was much opposition to him on
the part of the Federalists. At the end of the year he positively declined a re-election, although urged to continue in office by the most prominent men of the opposition party, and among others the then leader of the Vermont Bar, Charles Marsh of Wood stock, who wrote him a letter, earnestly en treating him to continue as Chief Judge of the court; but official life was distasteful to him, and he returned to the practice of his profession, from which, however, he retired many years previous to his death, for though his mental faculties remained unimpaired, his bodily infirmities rendered him unfit for active duties. He was never a healthy man, often ill with distressing attacks of hypo chondria for which he could ascribe no adequate cause. He had, during life, several attacks of fever, still he lived until near his eightieth year. He is described by those who knew him intimately as a man of powerful intellect, for whose opinion and judgment in legal matters all had the greatest respect. He seldom read books, and determined a question by what seemed to him the law ought to be, and in the trial of cases, how the case would strike the minds of the jury under the charge of the Court. He was a great student, devoted much time to metaphysics and mathematics. His oration delivered on his graduation was published. After leaving the university, he entirely neglected the ancient classics, deem ing them of no importance, but however little he regarded the benefits of classical education in reference to himself, he spared no pains nor expense in the education of his children. His son, Asa Owen, and his son-in-law, Daniel Kellogg, both served as judges of the same court. He has a grandson in the legal profession in Chicago. Richard Skinner, the son of General Timothy Skinner, was born in Litchfield, the seat of the great law school of Reeve and
