Isaac F. Redfield

Isaac Fletcher Redfield (April 10, 1804, Weathersfield, Vermont – March 23, 1876, Charlestown, Massachusetts) was an American lawyer, judge, and legal scholar. He was a member of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1836 to 1859 and Chief Judge 1852-1859.

From 1894's Men of Vermont Illustrated
Isaac Redfield's signature 02/1855

Life

Redfield was the oldest of twelve children of Dr. Peleg Redfield and Hannah Parker, a merchant's daughter.[1] In 1806 the family moved to Coventry in the frontier region of northern Vermont. Isaac Redfield graduated from Dartmouth College in 1825 and was admitted to the Vermont bar in 1827.

After a three-year term as state's attorney for Orleans County, Redfield was elected to the state supreme court by the legislature and remained on the court until he declined re-election in 1860. In 1861 he moved to Massachusetts, in part to further his legal scholarship.

He was appointed a special counsel by the State Department in 1867 to recover property of the former Confederate government and spent 1867-8 in England and France on that task.

From 1857-1861 Redfield was a professor of medical jurisprudence at Dartmouth College. In 1861 he became one of the editors of the American Law Register and contributed many articles in addition to his editing work. His published books included:

  • Law of Railroads (1857) - This work went through at least five editions and was described at Redfield's death as "the repository of American law on that important subject".[2]
  • Law of Wills (1864-6) - 3 volumes
  • Law of Carriers and Bailements - (1869)
  • Leading American Railway Cases - (1870-2, 2 volumes)
  • Leading American Cases, on the Law of Bills of Exchange, Promissary Notes and Checks - (1871, with Melville M. Bigelow)
  • Leading American Cases and Notes Upon the Law of Wills - (1874)

Redfield also edited a number of legal works.

Family

Redfield was married twice. In 1836 he married Mary Ward Smith, who died in 1839. In 1842 he married Catherine Clark. They had a number of children, many of whom died in infancy. Luther Clark Smith, born 1851, became a lawyer in Boston but died in 1877, the year after his father's death.[3] Isaac Redfield's younger brother Timothy P. Redfield (1812-1888) studied law with Isaac, was a distinguished Vermont lawyer, and himself served from 1870 to 1884 on the Vermont Supreme Court. The governor, senator, and Secretary of War Redfield Proctor (1831-1908) was a much younger first cousin of Isaac Redfield, the youngest son of his mother's sister.[4]

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References
  1. Genealogical History of the Redfield Family in the United States, John Howard Redfield, Albany: Munsell and Rowland, 1860, p. 83
  2. The American Law Register, May 1876, p. 258
  3. The Second Triennial Report of the Secretary of the Class of 1873 of Harvard College, Arthur L. Ware, Boston: Geo. Ellis, 1879, p.23
  4. Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society for the Years 1913-14, "Redfield Proctor, His Public Life and Services", Frank C. Partridge, p.60
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