| SIMONDS,
ROBERT W., son of Benjamin S. and Mary J. (Kelley) Simonds, was born in
Barnet, Vermont, July 24, 1870. The Simonds family came from Leeds, England,
and settled in northern New Hampshire, where Jehiel, grandfather of Robert,
resided many years as a farmer and lumber man at Dalton. Benjamin S. Simonds
was many years foreman for the Connecticut River Lumber company, first
at McIndoes, and later at Lowelltown, Maine. Michael Kelley, maternal great-grandfather
of Robert W. Simonds, came from Cork, Ireland, and settled in Dracut, Massachusetts,
whence his son, Silas, removed to Barnet, Vermont. Robert attended McIndoes
and St. Johnsbury academies.
During
his minority, his vacations and a year or two besides, were employed in
the sawmill of George Van Dyke at McIndoes, where he learned to appreciate
the value of manual labor and its equivalent in money. He began reading
law in April, 1892, in the office of Hon. Alexander Dunnett.
He
was appointed assistant county clerk the following November, and during
the illness of Hon. A. F. Nichols successfully discharged the duties of
the clerk of the court. Meanwhile he continued his legal studies in Mr.
Nichols' office, and was admitted to the bar in October, 1896.
For
nearly two years he was an assistant in the office of Bates & May,
and became junior partner of the firm of Bates, May & Simonds in April,
1899. Two years later, after the appointment of Judge Bates to the Philippines,
the firm became May & Simonds.
Mr.
Simonds has integrity and ambition, a retentive memory, and a good legal
mind, essential qualifications for the legal profession. He is an omnivorous
reader, and has an excellent private library. He married Martha A., daughter
of A. C. and Susan (Jenkins) Farmer (see Burke, Vermont) and their home
is cheered by an infant daughter, Dorothy Lucile.
Source:
Successful Vermonters, William H. Jeffrey, E. Burke, Vermont, The Historical
Publishing Company, 1904, page 101-102.
Prepared
by Tom Dunn, August 2005
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