Stephen Royce
Portrait on display in Vermont State House
23rd Governor of Vermont
In office
October 12, 1854 – October 10, 1856
LieutenantRyland Fletcher
Preceded byJohn S. Robinson
Succeeded byRyland Fletcher
Chief of Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
In office
1846–1852
Preceded byCharles K. Williams
Succeeded byIsaac F. Redfield
Associate Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court
In office
1829–1846
Preceded byBates Turner
Succeeded byCharles Davis
In office
1825–1826
Preceded byAsa Aikens
Succeeded byBates Turner
Member of the Vermont House of Representatives from St. Albans
In office
1822–1825
Preceded byJames Mason
Succeeded byBenjamin Swift
State's Attorney of Franklin County, Vermont
In office
1816–1817
Preceded byEbenezer Marvin Jr.
Succeeded byIsrael P. Richardson
Member of the Vermont House of Representatives from Sheldon
In office
1815–1817
Preceded byChauncey Fitch
Succeeded bySamuel Wead
Personal details
Born(1787-08-12)August 12, 1787
Tinmouth, Republic of Vermont
DiedNovember 11, 1868(1868-11-11) (aged 81)
Berkshire, Vermont, U.S.
Resting placeEast Berkshire Episcopal Cemetery, Berkshire, Vermont, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic-Republican Party
Whig Party (before 1854)
Republican (from 1854)
RelationsHomer E. Royce (nephew)
Alma materMiddlebury College
ProfessionAttorney

Stephen Royce (August 12, 1787 – November 11, 1868) was an American lawyer, judge and politician. Originally a Democratic-Republican, and later a Whig Party, he became a Republican when the party was formed in the mid-1850s. Royce served as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1829 to 1846, chief justice from 1846 to 1852, and 23rd governor of Vermont from 1854 to 1856.

Born and raised in Tinmouth, Vermont, Royce attended the local schools and the Addison County Grammar School. He taught school while attending Middlebury College, from which he graduated in 1807. He then studied law, attained admission to the bar 1809, and practiced in East Berkshire, Sheldon, and St. Albans. He represented Sheldon in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1815 to 1817 and served as State's Attorney of Franklin County from 1816 to 1817. Royce represented St. Albans in the Vermont House from 1822 to 1825, when he was selected to serve as an associate justice of the Vermont Supreme Court. He served until 1826, and returned to the court as an associate justice in 1829. He served until 1846, when he became the court's chief justice.

In 1854, Royce was the successful Whig nominee for governor, elected with support from Whigs and members of the new Republican Party. In 1855, he was reelected as a Republican. Royce was Vermont's first Republican governor, and the party remained in control of Vermont's government for the next 100 years. His term included the Republican Party's creation of the Mountain Rule, under which governors alternated between the east and west sides of the Green Mountains and were limited to two years in office.

Royce died in Berkshire on November 11, 1868. He was buried at East Berkshire Episcopal Cemetery in Berkshire.

Early life

Royce was born in Tinmouth in the Republic of Vermont on August 12, 1787, the son of Stephen Royce (1764-1833), a veteran of the American Revolution and War of 1812, and Minerva (Marvin) Royce, a daughter of Ebenezer Marvin, who served as a judge and member of Vermont's Council of Censors.[1] Royce grew up in Franklin and Berkshire and attended the local schools.[1][2] He attended school in Tinmouth and graduated from the Addison County Grammar School.[2] He began attendance at Middlebury College in 1804, where his classmates included Daniel Azro Ashley Buck and William Slade.[3] He taught school in Sheldon to earn his tuition, and he graduated from Middlebury in 1807.[2]

Start of career

After graduation, Royce began studying law in the office of his uncle, Ebenezer Marvin Jr.[1] He attained admission to the bar in 1809, and practiced in East Berkshire and Sheldon before moving to St. Albans.[1] Among the prospective attorneys who studied law under Royce was Charles Linsley.[4]

Royce was Franklin County State's Attorney from 1816 to 1818, and served in the Vermont House of Representatives from 1815 to 1816 and 1822 to 1824.[5]

Career as judge

Royce was a justice of the Vermont Supreme Court from 1825 to 1827, and again from 1829 to 1846.[1] In 1837, he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Vermont. In 1846 he became Vermont's Chief Justice and served until 1852.[6]

Governor

He was elected Governor of Vermont in 1854, as a Whig, the last Whig to hold the office. He was re-elected to a second one-year term as a Republican, serving from 1854 to 1856. He was the first Republican to attain the office after the party was founded in the mid-1850s,[7] ushering in more than a century of Republican domination in Vermont politics. Vermont elected only Republicans to the governorship until Democrat Philip Hoff won the office in 1962.[8]

Death

Royce died in Berkshire on November 11, 1868.[9] He was interred at East Berkshire Episcopal Cemetery in East Berkshire.[10]

Family life

He never married, but resided with his mother, at her request, whenever he was in his hometown.[11]

Royce was the uncle of Vermont Chief Justice and Congressman Homer E. Royce.[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jones, Leonard A.; Reno, Conrad, eds. (1900). "Vermont: Stephen Royce, LL.D." The Judiciary and the Bar of New England for the Nineteenth Century. Boston, MA: Century Memorial Publishing Co. pp. 17–19 – via Google Books.
  2. 1 2 3 Partridge, Henry Villiers (1905). A History of Norwich, Vermont. Dartmouth Press. p. 175. Retrieved July 3, 2014.
  3. ↑ Nason, Henry B., ed. (1887). Biographical Record of the Officers and Graduates of the Rensselaer, 1824-1886. Troy, NY: William H. Young. p. 31 – via Google Books.
  4. ↑ Ellingson, Barbara (1997). "Biographical Sketch, Charles Linsley" (PDF). Charles and Emmeline Linsley Papers, 1827-1892. Montpelier, VT: Vermont Historical Society. p. 1. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  5. ↑ The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, edited by Rossiter Johnson and John Howard Brown, 1904, Rowland to Royce page
  6. ↑ Ullery, Jacob G. (1894). Men of Vermont Illustrated. Brattleboro, VT: Transcript Publishing Company. pp. 91–92 – via Google Books.
  7. ↑ "Stephen Royce". National Governors Association. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  8. ↑ Encyclopedia of Vermont Biography, edited by Prentiss Cutler Dodge, 1912, page 39
  9. ↑ "Death of Judge Royce". Watchman & Journal. Montpelier, VT. November 18, 1868. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ History of Berkshire. Berkshire, VT: Berkshire Historical Society. 1994. p. 70 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ Catalogue of Officers and Students of Middlebury College, published by the college, 1917, page 10
  12. ↑ History of Franklin and Grand Isle Counties, Vermont, edited by Lewis Cass Aldrich, 1891, page 228
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