Nicholas Baylies (April 9, 1768April 14, 1847) was a

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

lawyer, politician, and judge. He served as a justice of the

Vermont Supreme Court The Vermont Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority of the U.S. state of Vermont. Unlike most other states, the Vermont Supreme Court hears appeals directly from the trial courts, as Vermont has no intermediate appeals court. The Court ...

from 1831 to 1833.

Biography

Nicholas Baylies was born in

Uxbridge, Massachusetts Uxbridge is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts first colonized in 1662 and incorporated in 1727. It was originally part of the town of Mendon, and named for the Earl of Uxbridge. The town is located southwest of Boston and south-southe ...

on April 9, 1768, the son of Deacon Nicholas Baylies (1739-1831) and Abigail Wood Baylies (1742-1788), and the grandson of

Thomas Baylies Thomas Baylies (1687–March 1756) was a Quaker ironmaster first in England, then in Massachusetts. Origins and family Thomas Baylies was the son of Nicholas Baylies of Alvechurch in north Worcestershire. On 5 June 1706, he married Esther, ...

, a well known New England

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

. He was educated in Uxbridge, and graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

in 1794. Baylies moved to

Woodstock, Vermont Woodstock is the shire town (county seat) of Windsor County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 3,005. It includes the villages of Woodstock, South Woodstock, Taftsville, and West Woodstock. History Cha ...

after finishing college, and studied law with Charles Marsh. After attaining admission to the bar, Baylies practiced law in Woodstock as Marsh's partner until 1809, when he relocated to Montpelier. In 1813, Baylies served on the state Council of Censors, which met every seven years to review actions of Vermont's government and ensure their constitutionality. He served as state's attorney of Washington County from 1813 to 1815. From 1814 to 1815 he served on Vermont's executive council. He was state's attorney again from 1825 to 1826. In 1831, Baylies was appointed an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court, succeeding Ephraim Paddock. He served until 1833, when he was succeeded by Jacob Collamer. As an attorney, Baylies was recognized for his legal acumen and technical expertise; among his written works was a three volume reference work on British and U.S. common law, 1814's ''A Digested Index to the Modern Reports of the Courts of Common Law in England and the United States''. In 1835, Baylies moved to

Lyndon, Vermont Lyndon is a town in Caledonia County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,491. Lyndon is the home of Lyndon State College. The town contains one incorporated village, Lyndonville, and four unincorporated villages ...

to live with his daughter Mary and son-in-law, George Cahoon. He continued to practice law almost until his death, and argued a case to the Vermont Supreme Court a few months before he died.

Death and burial

Baylies died in Lyndon on April 17, 1847. He was buried at Elm Street Cemetery in Montpelier.

Family

In 1798, Baylies married Mary Ripley (1778-1830), the daughter of Dartmouth College Professor Sylvanus Ripley, and granddaughter of Dartmouth's founding president,

Eleazar Wheelock Eleazar Wheelock (April 22, 1711 – April 24, 1779) was an American Congregational minister, orator, and educator in Lebanon, Connecticut, for 35 years before founding Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. He had tutored Samson Occom, a Mohe ...

Eleazer Wheelock Ripley Eleazer Wheelock Ripley (April 15, 1782 – March 2, 1839) was an American soldier and politician. He fought in the War of 1812, eventually rising to the rank of brigadier general, and later served as a U.S. Representative from Louisiana, f ...

was her brother. The children of Nicholas and Mary Baylies included: *Horatio Nelson Baylies (1802-1849), a merchant who lived first in Montpelier, and later in

Franklin, Louisiana Franklin is a small city in and the parish seat of St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 7,660 at the 2010 census. The city is located on Bayou Teche, southeast of the cities of Lafayette, () and New Iberia () and ) no ...

*Mary Ripley Baylies (1804-1858), the wife of George C. Cahoon *Nicholas (1809-1893), an attorney who settled in Louisiana, where he served in the Louisiana House of Representatives and as a judge. He later moved to

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

and served in the

Iowa House of Representatives The Iowa House of Representatives is the lower house of the Iowa General Assembly, the upper house being the Iowa Senate. There are 100 seats in the Iowa House of Representatives, representing 100 single-member districts across the state, formed ...

References

Sources

Books

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Magazines

Internet

Works by

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baylies, Nicholas 1768 births 1847 deaths People from Uxbridge, Massachusetts People from Woodstock, Vermont People from Montpelier, Vermont People from Caledonia County, Vermont Dartmouth College alumni U.S. state supreme court judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law Vermont lawyers State's attorneys in Vermont Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court Burials in Vermont American lawyers admitted to the practice of law by reading law 19th-century American lawyers