Asa Owen Aldis (September 2, 1811 – June 24, 1891) was a Vermont attorney, judge and diplomat. 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 ...

, and as U.S. Consul to

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Biography

Asa O. Aldis was born in St. Albans, Vermont on September 2, 1811, the son of Asa Aldis, who served as a justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. His mother was Amey (Owen) Aldis, whose father Daniel J. Owen had served as

Lieutenant Governor of Rhode Island The current lieutenant governor of Rhode Island is Sabina Matos, who was sworn in on April 14, 2021, after Daniel McKee succeeded to the office of governor. The first lieutenant governor was George Brown. In Rhode Island, the lieutenant gov ...

and Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. His sister Miranda was the wife of Vermont Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kellogg. He was descended from John Aldis and Nathan Aldis. Aldis graduated from the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, commonly referred to as the University of Vermont (UVM), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont, United States. Foun ...

in 1829. He studied at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

and

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

, attained admission to the bar in 1832, and practiced in partnership with his father. Aldis continued to practice in St. Albans after his father's death, first as the partner of John Smith, and later in partnership with Smith's son J. Gregory Smith. A Republican, In 1857 he was elected a justice of the

, and he continued to serve until resigning in 1865. The deaths of two daughters, one in 1862, and one in 1863, caused Aldis to solicit a diplomatic appointment that would enable him to move his children to a healthier climate, and he left the Vermont Supreme Court in order to accept appointment as U.S.

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Aldis served as Consul in Nice until 1871, when he returned to the U.S. to accept appointment as a member of the Southern Claims Commission, which reviewed and made recommendations for reimbursement on claims for property seized and damaged by the Union during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. In 1880, he was appointed to the French and American Claims Commission, which resolved claims made by French citizens for property that was seized or destroyed by the belligerent parties during the American Civil War. He served in this position until retiring in 1884.

Death and burial

In retirement, Aldis was a resident of

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. He died there on June 24, 1891, and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in St. Albans, Vermont.

Family

In 1836, Aldis married Elizabeth Sterne Lynde (1815-1837). They were the parents of a daughter, Elizabeth, who was born and died in 1836. After his first wife's death, in 1841 Aldis married Mary Townsend Taylor (1824-1909), with whom he had six daughters and two sons: * Mary Aldis (1844–1863) * Miranda Metcalf Aldis (1846–1862) * Harriet "Hattie" Aldis (1848–1865) * Helen Lynde Aldis (1849–1935), the wife of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

real estate developer Bryan Lathrop, in 1875. * Cornelia Aldis (1854–1921) * Owen Franklin Aldis (1852–1925), a Chicago attorney and real estate developer who served on the board of directors for the 1893

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...

. * Arthur Taylor Aldis (1861–1933), a Chicago real estate developer. * Amy Owen Aldis (1865–1918), the wife of Richards Merry Bradley Jr. (1861-1943), a prominent real estate investor.

References

Sources

Books

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Newspapers

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aldis, Asa O. 1811 births 1891 deaths People from St. Albans, Vermont University of Vermont alumni Vermont lawyers Vermont Republicans Justices of the Vermont Supreme Court Consuls for the United States Burials at Greenwood Cemetery (St. Albans, Vermont) Harvard Law School alumni Yale Law School alumni 19th-century Vermont state court judges 19th-century American lawyers