Asa O. Aldis

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, and as U.S. Consul to Nice, France. 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 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 in 1829. He studied at Harvard Law School and Yale Law School, 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 Vermont Supreme Court, 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 in Nice. While en route to Nice to take up his new duties, a third daughter died in London.