FRIEND ROBERT JAY WALSH 



229 



lice for himself in what was then the 

 town building'. During the year of his 

 admission to the Bar he was chosen 

 counsel for the town of Greenwich, an 

 office which he proudly retained up to 

 his death ; thirty-five years of continu- 

 ous service. 



An ardent Republican, during the 

 presidential campaign of 1880, he took 

 the hustings in Connecticut for Gar- 

 field and Arthur and the same year he 

 was elected to the Republican State 

 Central Committee, a party honor 

 which was afforded him by re-election 

 down to the time he was appointed 

 Judge, when he resigned. In the year 

 1884 he ran as state senator from the 

 Twelfth District and was elected by a 

 large majority, running far ahead of 

 his ticket. In 1886 he was chosen sec- 

 retary of the State Central Committee 

 and being renominated for the Senate 

 was re-elected by twice the majority 

 received in the previous campaign. He 

 was elected to several important chair- 

 manships of Committees and was Re- 

 publican Senate leader. 



In 1885 having already achieved a 

 wide reputation he was appointed by 

 Governor Harrison a member of the 

 commission to revise the statutes of 

 Connecticut, and although the young- 

 est man in this body he was one of the 

 most active in its deliberations. Prob- 

 ablv no lawyer has occupied a more 

 distinguished position at the Bar. In 

 1900 he gave up all political activities, 

 resigned as Judge of the Court of Com- 

 mon Pleas, and resumed the active 

 practice of law and his attention to his 

 several real estate enterprises. 



Early, Judge Walsh saw the advan- 

 tage of developing Greenwich real es- 

 tate and was one of the pioneers in 

 buying property on a large scale ; his 

 first venture was the purchase of the 

 then Zopher Mead farm which proved 

 very profitable ; subsequently with the 

 late Nathaniel Witherell he acquired 

 the farm belonging to the estate of Col. 

 Thomas A. Mead, and together with 

 Mr. Witherell built the Edgewood Inn. 

 About 1901 he purchased with others 

 Field Point, probably the most valu- 

 able suburban residential section of its 

 size in New England. 



Mr. Walsh was intensely interested 

 in everything that was for the benefit 

 and upbuilding of the community. 

 He was one of the pioneers in the in- 



troduction of electricity in town, and 

 of the trolley company. At the time 

 of his death he was president of the 

 Greenwich Trust Company, which he 

 helped to organize thirty years ago ; 

 the Greenwich Water Company, The 

 Putnam Cemetery Association, the 

 Abendroth Bros. Foundry of Port 

 Chester, N. Y., and the Port Chester 

 Water Works, and director of the New 

 York & Stamford St. R. R. He was 

 trustee of the Y. M. C. A., the Green- 

 wich Library Association, a charter 

 member of the Fairfield County Golf 

 Club, now the Greenwich Country 

 Club, and also a member of the Blind 

 Brook Club, Indian Harbor Yacht 

 Club, the Republican Club of New 

 York, a member of Acacia Lodge, F. 

 & A. M., and Empire Lodge, I. O. O. F,, 

 both of Greenwich. 



Judge Walsh married Miss Annie A. 

 Merritt, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mat- 

 thew Merritt, on October 7, 1879, to 

 this union three children were born, 

 Lucy M., now the wife of Walter B. 

 Todd ; Edith B., who died several years 

 ago, the wife of A. W. W. Marshall, 

 and Roberta Jay, the wife of Lloyd S. 

 Cooney. 



Judge Walsh's career is a shining 

 example of what may be accomplished 

 by inherent natural ability, coupled 

 with a strong determination and perse- 

 verance even under the most adverse 

 circumstances. He acquired a moder- 

 ate competence, an influential position 

 and an honorable name. That there 

 are no rules for building character, no 

 rules for achieving success, no royal 

 road to fame, is proved by the career 

 of Honorable Robert Jay Walsh, who 

 was the architect of his own fortune, 

 who loved his friends and his enemies 

 and it is thought that even his enemies 

 loved him. 



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He was, in the most unqualified 

 sense, a self-made man. Appren- 

 ticed in earlv boyhod to learn the trade 

 of blacksmith, his passion for books and 

 study, which he indulged in his leisure 

 hours and at every opportunity, awak- 

 ened ambition for great things, and he 

 soon abandoned the forge and anvil for 

 a career that was destined to be distin- 

 guished, brilliant and eminentlv sucess- 

 ful. 



His chief inheritance was sturdy self- 

 reliance, indomitable will, magnetism 



