Denver County, History of Colorado, BIOS: VAILE, Joel Frederick (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II


p. 59, 62
photo p. 60


JOEL FREDERICK VAILE.

	Joel Frederick Vaile was for many years a distinguished citizen 
of Denver, prominently known as a lawyer and orator. In his chosen 
profession he won distinguished honors by reason of his highly 
developed natural talents and ability. Indiana claimed him as a native 
son, his birth having occurred in Centerville, that state, on the 14th 
of March, 1848, while his last days were passed in Denver, where his 
death occurred April 3, 1916. Fortunate is the man who has back of him 
an ancestry honorable and distinguished and happy is he it his lines of 
life are cast in harmony therewith. In person, in talent and in 
character Joel Frederick Vaile was a worthy scion of the race from 
which he sprung. He was descended through the maternal line from Elder 
William Brewster, who with intrepid spirit led the band of Pilgrim 
fathers to the new world and was their recognized leader as they 
disembarked from the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, 
remaining their spiritual and temporal adviser for many years. Among 
his descendants were those who exerted marked influence over public 
life and thought in their respective communities as the years passed 
on. One of the ancestors of Mr. Vaile was Colonel Benjamin Hammond, who 
participated in the battle of Bunker Hill and in many other important 
engagements which led up to the final victory that crowned the American 
arms in the Revolutionary war. The ancestral record of Joel Frederick 
Vaile was one of which he had every reason to be proud. His father, 
Rawson Vaile, was born May 20, 1812, and for nearly fifty years was a 
leading representative of the bar of Indiana, in which state he spent 
nearly his entire life, passing away at Kokomo in December, 1888.

	It was from his father that Joel F. Vaile inherited his love for 
the legal profession. In the acquirement of his education he attended 
the public schools of his native state and afterward continued his 
education in Oberlin College of Ohio, from which he was graduated with 
the class of 1872. He then took up the study of law in his father's 
office and after two years' thorough preliminary reading was admitted 
to the bar and entered upon active practice in connection with his 
father. He was never an aspirant for political office yet he ever took 
the keenest and deepest interest in public affairs and his opinions 
were of such soundness and his insight so keen that his ideas always 
carried weight with party leaders. Moreover, he possessed natural 
oratorical power and ability, which were developed in the course of his 
law practice and he ever had the faculty of holding the close attention 
of his hearers to any subject upon which he spoke. He was barely thirty 
years of age when he was chosen prosecuting attorney of the thirty-
sixth Judicial district of Indiana, which office he occupied during the 
years 1878 and 1879, making a most creditable record by the able and 
fearless manner in which he discharged his duties. Speaking of this 
period of his career, a contemporary writer said:  "The next year, 
1880, was held the historic convention of the republican party at 
Chicago, where the Stalwarts, under the leadership of Roscoe Conkling, 
sought to force the nomination of the beloved Grant for the third time. 
Although it was a distinction invariably conferred upon the older 
members of the party, yet the people of Vaile's district elected him a 
delegate to this memorable gathering. There, as a young man, he saw and 
came into close personal contact with the giants in intellect whose 
names are enrolled on the pages of national history. Although a great 
admirer of President Grant and warmly disposed toward the impetuous and 
commanding Conkling, Vaile could not support their program. He voted 
for the precedent established by Washington, and Garfield was 
nominated."

	Mr. Vaile's residence in Colorado dated from 1882, at which time 
he took up his abode in Denver and entered upon the practice of law. He 
formed a partnership with John A. Bentley and not long afterward became 
a partner of Senator Edward O. Wolcott, the firm being accorded a very 
distinguished position in the ranks of the legal fraternity in the 
state. In fact they were connected with the most important litigation 
tried in the courts of Colorado. Upon the death of Senator Wolcott in 
January, 1905, Mr. Vaile became general counsel for the Denver & Rio 
Grande Railroad. He was at different periods a partner in the law firm 
of Wolcott & Vaile, of Vaile, McAllister & Waterman and of Vaile, 
McAllister & Vaile. His course as a member of the bar was ever 
characterized by a masterful grasp of every problem presented for 
solution. He was never surprised by an unexpected attack of the 
opposing counsel, for he studied his cases from every possible 
standpoint and was ready for defense as well as for attack. He was 
seldom, if ever, at fault in the citation of a legal principle and he 
most clearly recognized the relation between cause and effect. His 
reasoning was sound, his presentation of a cause clear and cogent and 
the court records bear testimony to the many favorable verdicts which 
he won.

	Mr. Vaile was married twice. On the 10th of August, 1875, at West 
Brookfield, Massachusetts, he wedded Charlotte M. White and they became 
the parents of two sons and two daughters: William N., an attorney of 
Denver; Gertrude, of Denver, who is a director of civilian relief of 
the Rocky Mountain division of the Red Cross; Louis Frederick, who is 
an officer of the Thirteenth Field Artillery, now in France; and 
Lucretia, who is head of the reference department of the Denver public 
library. Mr. Vaile was married a second time on the 4th of January, 
1912, when Miss Anna L. Wolcott, of New York city, became his wife. She 
is of the noted Wolcott family, a sister of Edward O. and Henry R. 
Wolcott, and was the founder of The Wolcott School for Girls in Denver, 
mention of which is made elsewhere in this work.

	During the period of his connection with Colorado, Mr. Vaile 
became a prominent and active worker in the republican party and was 
one who exercised the strongest influence over its activities. In 
recognition of his ability his name was suggested a number of times as 
the choice of his party for United States senator. He felt that the 
pursuits of private life, however, were in themselves abundantly worthy 
of his best efforts and his ambition lay in the direction of attaining 
distinction in his chosen profession rather than in the political 
field. He held membership in the Denver Club, also in the University 
Club of Denver, the Denver Athletic Club and the Metropolitan Club of 
New York. He had attained the age of sixty-eight years when death 
called him on the 3d of April, 1916, while in Pasadena, California. A 
man of marked ability and personal worth, he left the impress of his 
individuality for good upon the public life and thought of Denver, 
where for many years he ranked as a leading lawyer. He was always 
called upon to meet where intelligent men where gathered in the 
discussion of important public questions and he held to high ideals in 
citizenship and in public affairs as well as in the life of the 
individual.