History of Salisbury, (Litchfield County) Connecticut United States of America

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Biographies:

Josiah Stoddard Johnston, senator, was born in Salisbury, Conn., Nov. 24, 1784; son of Dr. Jolm and Mary (Stoddard) Johnston. He was half-brother of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. His parents removed to Mason county, Ky., in 1790, where his father practised medicine and where his mother died in 1798. He attended a preparatory school in New Haven, Conn., 1796-1801, and was graduated at Transylvania university, Ky., in 1805. He then studied law and removed to the territory of Orleans, locating in the frontier town of Alexandria. He was a member of the territorial legislature, 1807-12; district judge of Louisiana, 1812-20; representative in the 17th congress, 1821-23; U.S. senator to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator James Brown in 1823 to accept the mission to France, and by re-election in 1825 and 1831, serving, 1823-33. He was chairman of the committee on commerce and a member of the finance conmittee. He acted as second to Henry Clay in his duel with John Randolph; supported the administration of John Quincy Adams; was a close personal friend of Gen. Winfield Scott, and raised a regiment of volunteers for service in the war of 1812, which was not called into active service until too late to take part in the battle of New Orleans. He married Eliza, daughter of Dr. John Sibley, of Louisiana, and left one son, William Stoddard, who dying left one son of the same name, a resident of Philadelphia, unmarried. He was killed in the explosion of the Lioness on the Red river, La., May 19, 1833.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Judson Stuart Landon, jurist, was born in Salisbury, Conn., Dec. 16, 1832; son of William and Phebe (Berry) Landon; grandson of Ashbill Landon, and a descendant of James Landon, who came from England to Boston, Mass., in 1675. He attended Amenia and Charlotteville seminaries, N.Y., was principal of Princeton (N.Y.) academy, studied at Yale Law school, 1854-55, was admitted to the bar in 1855 and practised in Schenectady, N.Y. He was district attorney, 1857-63; county judge, 1865-70; member of the constitutional convention of 1867; was elected a justice of the supreme court for the fourth district of the state of New York in 1873, and in 1900 was assigned to the court of appeals, by Governor Roosevelt. He was elected a trustee of Union college in 1878, and was president ad interim of Union, 1884-88, succeeding the Rev. Dr. Eliphalet Nott Potter and being in turn succeeded by Dr. Harrison E. Webster, LL.D., and was subsequently made lecturer on constitutional law at the Albany Law school. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Union in 1855 and that of LL.D. from Rutgers college, N.J., in 1885. He is the author of: The Constitutional History and Government of the United States, a Series of Lectures (1889).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Albert Ensign Church, educator, was born at Salisbury, Conn., in 1807; son of Samuel Church, jurist, and grandson of Nathaniel and Lois (Ensign) Church. He was graduated from the U.S. military academy, West Point, July 1, 1828, and from 1828 to 183l and in 1833 was assistant professor of mathematics, from 1837 until his death. He published several valuable textbooks in mathematics. He died at West Point, N.Y., March 30, 1878.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Samuel Church, jurist, was born in Salisbury, Conn., Feb. 4, 1785; son of Nathaniel and Lois (Ensign) Church. He was graduated at Yale college in 1803 and was admitted to the bar in 1806, practising in his native town. He was postmaster of Salisbury in 1810; justice of the peace in 1818; representative in the General assembly in 1820, 1821, 1823, 1824, 1829 and 1831; State senator 1824-27; and a member of the constitutional convention in 1818. He was probate judge 1821-32; State's attorney, 1825-32; judge of the superior court and of the supreme court of errors, 1832-47 and in 1847 was elected chief justice. He removed to Litchfield in 1845. Trinity college conferred on him the degree of LL. D. in 1847. He died in Newtown, Conn., Sept. 13, 1854.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor