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. Aldis served as Consul in Nice until 1871, when he returned to the U.S. to accept appointment as a member of the
Southern Claims Commission, which reviewed and made recommendations for reimbursement on claims for property seized and damaged by the
Union during the
American Civil War. In 1880, he was appointed to the French and American Claims Commission, which resolved claims made by French citizens for property that was seized or destroyed by the belligerent parties during the American Civil War. He served in this position until retiring in 1884. ==Death and burial==