Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Spring 2014, Vol. 40, No. 1 | Page 10

Ruminations: The Legal History of Jamaica, Vermont

In 1869, the “great freshet” of that year
devastated the town, swept out nearly every bridge, and tore out a mile of road.9
The West River Railroad ran from Brattleboro to South Londonderry. It took thirtyseven years from the granting of the charter by the legislature until its completion in
1880, and it was only a limited success, on
account of floods, cave-ins, snowdrifts, and
fallen bridges. In addition to the high cost
of the Civil War, Jamaica’s investment of its
own funds in the railroad, through the purchase of railroad bonds, nearly bankrupted the town. But after 1880, and until the
last train ran through the West River Valley
in the mid-1930s, the West River Railroad
brought Jamaica to the world, and the
world to Jamaica. The tracks are gone now,
sold for scrap. The stations are recycled.10
Jamaica has been the home of great
writers, and great writing. Scott and Helen Nearing wrote Living the Good Life
while living in Jamaica.11 After homesteading in Jamaica for thirty years, they moved
to Maine in 1952, discouraged by the ski
area development that was underway at
Stratton. Pearl Buck owned land in Jamaica, and regarded the village as her home
in the 1950s, writing several books while
living near this small town.12 Robert Penn
Warren built a house in Stratton near the
Jamaica border.13 The town has also raised
more than its share of judges and lawyers.
The Bench and Bar of Jamaica

John Butler was born in Jamaica, and
practiced law there for most of his career.
Frank Fish wrote of him, “For the prepa-

10

ration of causes for trial, the arrangement
and putting in of testimony, and the cross
examination of witnesses, he had no equal
in Windham county.” Fish wrote, Butler
had “a pity for the unfortunate victims of
his art, who tried to keep the truth from his
far-searching eye.”14 John Butler and Benjamin L. Knowlton were partners in a law
office in Jamaica, until Knowlton’s death
in 1855. Hoyt Wheeler joined Butler in a
law practice in town beginning that year.15
L.M. Reed joined them, as did Eleazer Waterman, but that office broke up in 1869,
when Wheeler, after serving as town representative and state senator, was elected an
associate justice of the Vermont Supreme
Court. Wheeler served on the high court
until 1877, when he was appointed U.S.
district judge, and served in that office until his death on November 19, 1906.
Fred Butler, John’s son, was also born
in Jamaica, in 1854, and was an associate
in the firm of Eleazer Waterman and Hoyt
Wheeler in town. Butler moved to Rutland
after Wheeler’s ascension to the high court,
where, after a career as state senator, city
judge, and superior judge, he was also
elected as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court in 1923. Reelected in
1925, he resigned a year later. Albert Butler, another of John’s sons, practiced law in
Jamaica, and served as town clerk.16
Native Jamaicans left their mark on the
law in other places. Alphonse Taft was born
in Jamaica and moved to Cincinnati, serving as a superior judge for many years. His
father Peter Rawson Taft served in the legislature, and as probate and assistant judge
of Windham County.17 John H. Watson was

THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • SPRING 2014

born in Jamaica in 1851, schooled in town
and local academies, read law, opened an
office in Bradford, served as Orange County state’s attorney and state senator, practiced law for twenty-one years, and on January 19, 1899, was appointed associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. Nine
years later, he became chief justice, and
served until his death in office on December 7, 1929, a total of nearly thirty years
on the bench.18 When he was first admitted
and practicing in Bradford, in 1883, Watson
led the Bradford militia that captured the
magazine at the Ely mines in Vershire from
startled striking workers, and earned early
recognition as a man who could be trusted.19 Eleazer Waterman was born in Jamaica in 1839, and became one of the first Vermont superior judges, serving from 1906 to
1919.20 Orion