idate, and in various towns in Hartford
and Fairfield Counties and preached the first sermon ever delivered in
this place. He studied law, and when in 1708 the General Assembly first
provided for the appointment of attorneys as officers of the Court, he
was one of the first admitted. He held the offices of Colony Queen's
Attorney, 1712-16, Deputy for Norwalk, 1715-17, Commissioner to settle
the boundary with New York 1719, and he was Connecticut's representative
in the Inter-Colonial Commission in regard to Bills of Credit, in 1720.
He removed to Boston in 1722, and became the Attorney General and a
member of the Council of Massachusetts. He was by far the most eminent
lawyer in New England, and was called "the Pride of the Bar, Light of
the Law, and Chief among the Wise, Witty and Eloquent." It was he who
prepared the instructions to Lord Mansfield, the counsel for Connecticut
in the great case of Clark vs. Tousey, in which was discussed the
question whether the Common Law of England had any force in Connecticut
other than as it was adopted by the people of Connecticut. His
exposition of the principles involved was most masterly, and it was the
great authority upon which in a later generation the people of
Connecticut relied to sustain them in their opposition to the measures
of the crown in 1775.

In a centenary sermon delivered at Danbury in January, 1801, the Rev.
Thomas Robbins had this to say of him, "One of the early inhabitants of
Danbury was John Read, a man of great talents and thoroughly skilled in
the knowledge and practice of the law. He possessed naturally many
peculiarities and affected still more. He is known to this day through
the country by many singular anecdotes and characteristics under the
appellation of 'John Read, the Lawyer.'"

In 1712, the town was incorporated, which gave it the power to tax the
inhabitants to support a minister, and the place became thereby an
ecclesiastical society. In March, 1712, the Rev. Daniel Boardman was
called to preach to the settlers. In May, 1715, the settlers petitioned
the General Assembly that they might obtain liberty for the settlement
of the worship and ordinances of God among them, and the Legislature
granted them liberty to embody in church estate as soon as God in his
providence should make way therefor. On November 21st, 1716, Mr.
Boardman was duly ordained as the pastor of the church of Christ in New
Milford, the total number of inhabitants of the town