U. :TY of CALIFORNIA Af LOS ANGELES / / f >f'' y/. 7 2 S r r. ' (' '. HISTORY THE LAW, THE COUKTS^ AND THE LAWYERS %i paiit(, FROM ITS FIRST COLONIZATION TO THE EARLY TART OF THE PRESENT CENTURY. By WILLIAM WILLIS. PORTLAND: BAILEY &z NOYES. M DCCC LXIII. 7 2i 3 ;?^> ''■ '.^ Entered according to an Act of Congress in the year 1863, by In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of Maine. PRINTED BY BROWN THURSTON, COR. OF EXCHANGE ANO MIDDLE Srs. n a- H O CO o 3C CO D £ b i c :x t i It TO THE LEGAL PROFESS lOX IN MAINE, T IT I S WO It IC , DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OK THE 9 « 0La.La. a.n.cL tfi.c J^cluxilc f- s a£ aitf- ^IclIc, IS BESPECTFLLLY BY THEIR DROTHEK, WILLIAM WILLIS. 4.'JS5ay PREFACE. The present work originated in the preparation of a lecture for tlie Maine Historical Society, in which I proposed to present brief sketches of the early lawyers, with anecdotes of the bar, in Maine. The materials became so copious that they stretched far beyond the limits of a discourse, and have assumed the shape in which they now appear. I had for a long time desired that some aged member of our bar would collect and preserve, for the instruction and amusement of his brethren and successors in the profession, reminiscences of the early lawyers and prac- tice, as well as of the usages which prevailed at the bar, in former days. 1 had hoped that Judge Mellen, who was very free and felicitous with his pen, and was more familiar with these subjects, with perhaps one exception, than any of our old lawyers, would have favored the profession with his recollections and observations, during the half century in which he was an active and leading member of the profession. Or that Judge Whitman, who h id a similar experience, and a keen relish for the curious anecdotes, the peculiar customs and racy jokes, which lingered around the courts, and in the memory of the old practitioners, long after the eccentric characters, who had not only wit in themselves, but were the cause of wit in others, had l)assed to a higher bar, would have rendered this service. But these hon- ored brethren were luiwilling to undertake the task of transmitting these valuable memorials. Solicitor General Davis, more competent perhaps, than any one, kindly replied to my letters. In one of his answers, dated in February, 1828, he writes, " If I were to give you a full answer to all your inquiries, it would II • rUEFACE. amount to a volume of the size of Butler's Reminiscences. I am so much engaged at present, that I cannot write a book of reminiscences, but I will answer some of your inquiries." The next extract Mill show how much we have lost in the foilure of Mr. Davis to record his observations. " From my earliest acquaintance with the country, in every part of which I have dis- charged my professional duties, I can recollect and farnisli more sketches of the nature you request, than any other man now alive, because I am the oldest of the whole of them ; but I cannot do it at present." In another letter he says, " If I should ever think of putting my reminiscences on paper, they would embrace a work of more extensive character, in what relates to the professional gentlemen in Maine, than could easily be obtained." Mr. Davis was at that time seventy years old, and still filling the oflice of Solicitor General. Before he left it, his health and memory failed, and the profession and the public lost anecdotes and reminiscences of the bar which can never be recovered. At this late day, I have undertaken to preserve some of the memorials of the past. I have been obliged to range over a wide field, and to ask the contribution of facts, and even memoirs, from gentlemen who have had large experience at the bar and in general society. Among these, I must not fail to acknowledge my obligations to my good friends, the venerable Jacob McGaw of Bangor, John H. Sheppard of Boston, Robert H. Gardiner of Gardiner, William Allen of Norridgewock, and William B. Sewall and Judge Bourne of Kennebunk. These, with Mr. Dummer of Ilallowell, Mr. Abbot of Castine, Dr. Bradley of Fryeburg, and Governor Crosby and Judge Williamson of Belfast, and others, have rendered me cheerful and valuable services, for which the profession, as well as myself, are their debtors. I have traced the history of the law and of the courts from the founding of the first colony on the shores of Maine to the present time, and have accompanied the progress of tho Courts by a chapter on reports and reporters, from the origin of this important department of the law down to our day. I have also, as I believe, presented a sketch of every lawyer who practiced in our courts to the year 1800, with memoirs of prominent members of the profession from that time to tho period of our separation from Massachusetts. I should liavo been glad to extend ray notices to all the principal PREFACE. Ill lawyers who entered the practice previous to 1820, when we became an independent State. Many of those gentlemen have, in years subsequent to that event, taken the highest positions at the bar, on the bench, and in public life, and have honored the profession by distinguished talents and upright lives. But my work had already so much exceeded my original design and reasonable dimensions, that I felt obliged to deny myself the pleasure of speaking of those eminent men as their standing and merits deserve. Their names will endure, and some future gleaner will transmit them to the coming time. I could wish that my labors might be justly entitled to the commendation which Lord Bacon, in the dedication of his Essays to the Duke of Bucking- ham, bestows upon that nobleman, — " You have planted things that are like to last." If mine do not last, I hope that they may, at least, interest the passing generation. NOTE. While this volume was going through the press, some changes took place on the bench of the Supreme Court. The constitutional terms of Chief Justice Tenney and Justice Goodenow, having expired in October, 1862, their places were supplied by the appointment of Justice John Appleton of Bangor, as chief justice, and Edward Fox of Portland and Jonathan Q. Dickerson of Belfast, as associates. Judge Texxey had held a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court twenty-one years, having been appointed a justice in 1841, and chief in 1855. lie was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, graduated at Bowdoin College in 181G, and after a successful and brilliant practice of twenty years in Norridgewock, he was raised to the bench. In 1850, he received from Bowdoin College the degree of LL. D., and has been a lecturer at the college, on Medical Jurisprudence, thirteen years. Judge Goodenow was born in Ilenniker, New Hampshire, in 1793, and came to Maine with his father in 1802. lie was awhile at Dartmouth College, but left before taking his degree. lie pursued his professional studies with Mr. Holmes at Alfred, and commenced practice there in 1818. IV PREFACE. He became the partner of Mr. Holmes, and married bis daugbter. In 1838, be was appointed attorney general of tbe State, and beld the office four years. In 1841, be was appointed judge of tbe District Court for tbe west- ern district, wbicb office be beld during tbe constitutional term of seven years. In 1855, be was raised to tbe bencb of tbe Supreme Court. Bowdoin College conferred upon bim, in 1820, tbe degree of A. M., and in 18G0, that of LL. D. In 1838, be was cbosen one of tbe trustees of tbat institution, and continues in tbe office. Judge Goodenow bas taken a distinguished part in the politics as well as the law of the State, is, and ever bas been, a firm supporter of all its good institutions : be retires to private life with unsullied reputation. Since the above note was prepared, another change bas taken place on tbe bencb of the Supreme Court, by the resignation, in February, 18G3, of Judge Fox, who had been appointed from tbe Cumberland Bar to the place made vacant by the elevation of Judge Appleton to tbe chief justiceship. Mr. Fox is a native of Portland, a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1834, and of tbe Cambridge Law School in 1837. He occupied a promi- nent position at the Cumberland Bar, to which be again returns : be bad been solicitor of the city of Portland several years previous to bis appoint- ment as judge. PORTRAITS James Bridge, 154 Prentiss Mej^len, . 163 EzEKiEL Whitman, .... 2S9 Stephen Longfellow, . . . . . 300 Samuel A. Bradley, .... 409 Eeuel Williams, . 444 Timothy Boutelle, .... 464 Frederick Allen, . 478 AViLLiAM B. Sewall, .... 488 William D. Williamson, . 517 Simon Greenleaf, .... 522 Samuel Fessenden, . . . . , . 541 Alkion K. Parkis, .... 665 Luther Pitch, . 592 William P. Preble, .... 597 Ether Shepley, . 619 John II. Sheppard, .... 600 Henry W. Puller, . . . . . 700 CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Page 9 THE EARLIEST JURISPRUDENCE IN MAINE GORGES, GOVERNOR OP NEW ENGLAND : GRANT OF MAINE TO HIM : HIS COURTS AND THEIR JURISDICTION FORMS OF PROCEEDING REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND AND ITS EFFECTS ON GOEGES AND HIS PROVINCE. CHAPTER II. Page 25 THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS UNDER THE COLONY OF MASSA- CHUSETTS THOMAS MORTON. CHAPTER III. Page29 PEMAQUID PROVINCE I ITS JURISDICTION AND JURISPRUDENCE. CHAPTER IV. Page36 MAINE UNDER THE CHARTER OF 1C91 DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES COURTS AND JUDGES COURT OF COMMON PLEAS GENERAL SES- SIONS PROBATE COURT CONDITION AND PROGRESS OF THE BAR — ADMISSION OF MEMBERS COUNTY OFFICERS IN 1800. CHAPTER V. Page G3 REPORTS AND REPORTERS — JUDGES OF THE SUPREME COURT AND ATTORNEY GENERALS. VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. PageTG PRACTITIONERS UNDER THE CHARTER : CHECKLEY, WATSON, BULLIVANT, RICHARDSON, READ, AUCHJIUTY FEES SALARIES EARLIEST PRAC- TITIONERS IN MAINE. CHAPTER YII. Page 83 IRREGULAR PRACTITIONERS BAR RULES DAVID SEWALL DISTRICT COURT LAWYERS FROM OTHER COLONIES. CHAPTER "V'lII. Page92 TRAVELLING THE CIRCUIT RESIDENT LAWYERS PRIOR TO THE REV- OLUTION : BRADBURY, AVYER, PARSONS, THE SULLIVANS, LA'NGDON, CrSHING, STOCKBRIDGE. CHAPTER IX. PageIOI SOCIAL USAGES OF THE BAR JOHN FROTHINGHAM ROYAL TYLER GEORGE THACHER WILLIAM LITHGOW, JR. CHAPTER X. Page 111 FIRST LAWYERS AFTER THE REVOLUTION : DANIEL DAVIS, JOHN GARD- INER BARRISTERS WILLIAM WETMORE BUSINESS AND POPULA- TION OF MAINE EBENEZER SULLIVAN. CHAPTER XI. Page128 LAWYERS FROM 1790 TO 1800: THEIR NAMES AND TIMES ISAAC PAR- KER SALMON CHASE SAMUEL C. JOHONNOT MANASSEH SMITH LAW BOOKS DUDLEY HUBBARD GEORGE STACEY. CHAPTER XII. Paoe148 WILLIAM SYMMES PHINEAS BRUCE SILAS LEE JAMES BRIDGE PRENTISS MELLEN SAMUEL 8. AVILDE GEORGE WARREN AMOS STODDARD WILLIAM HODGE THOMAS RICE ADMISSION TO THE BAR — JOSEPH THOMAS JOB NELSON. CONTENTS. VII CHAPTER XIII. Page193 BENJAMIN UASEY REUBEN KIDDER NATHANIEL PERLEY TUOMAS S. SPARHAWK ALLEN GILMAN JOHN HATHAWAY ISAAC STORY EDWARD P. HAYMAN SAMUEL P. GLIDDEN DANIEL CAMPBELL JONATHAN G. HUNTON JEREMIAH BAILEY. CUAPTER XIV. Page 225 SAMUEL THATCHER PETER O. ALDEN CYRUS KING JOSIAH STEB- BINS BENJAMIN WHITWELL JOHN MERRILL JAMES D. HOPKINS JDDAH DANA NICHOLAS EMERY THOMAS BOWMAN NATHAN BRIDGE WILLIAM WIDGERY. CHAPTER XV. PAGE275 JOHN HOLMES EZEKIEL WHITMAN LEONARD MORSE JOSIAH W. MITCHELL JOHN P. LITTLE BOIIAN P. FIELD ANDREAV GREEN- WOOD DANIEL P. UPTON TEMPLE HOVEY HENRY V. CHAMBER- LAIN EBENEZER BRADISII SAMUEL DAGGETT NUMBER OF LAW- YERS, THEIR INCREASE, AND COURSE OF PROCEEDINGS IN COURT LAWYERS IN PRACTICE IN ISOO. CHAPTER XVI. Page 338 JACOB MCQAAV BENJAMIN ORR STEPHEN LONGFELLOW WILLIAM LAMBERT BENJAMIN GREENE WILLIAM ABBOT WILLIAM CROSBY BARRETT POTTER ERASTUS FOOTE. CHAPTER XVII. Page 89G EBENEZER THATCHER JOSEPH DANE HORATIO SOUTHGATE WIL- LIAM JONES SAMUEL AYER BRADLEY JOHN WILSON GEORGE HERBERT JUDAH MCLELLAN NATHAN CUTLER JOSEPH BARTLETT. CHAPTER XVIII. Page 445 REUEL WILLIAMS THOMAS BOND TIMOTHY BOUTELLE WOODBURY 8TORER ELISIIA P. CUTLER FREDERICK ALLEN WILLIAM B. SEWALL SAMUEL HUBBARD — BENJAMIN AME!3 NATHAN WESTON WILLIAM D. WILLIAMSON. VIII CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIX. Pagb523 SIMON GREENLEAF CALVIN SELDEN SAMUEL FESSENDEN WILLIAM ALLEN HAYES EDMUND TLAGG ALBION KEITH PARRIS IIIRAM BELCHER. CHAPTER XX. Page577 CHARLES STEWART DAVEIS CHARLES SHAW< — LUTHER FITCH WIL- LIAM PITT PREBLE SAMUEL EMERSON SMITH ETHER SHEPLEY PELEG SPRAGUE ASHUR WARE. APPENDIX. Page 647 CLERKS AND SHERIFFS. CLERKS OF THE COURTS. Page 648 DANIEL SEW ALL SAMUEL FREEMAN JONATHAN BOWMAN WILLIAM ALLEN JOHN H. SHEPPARD HENRY SEWALL JOHN MUSSEY OFFICERS OF THE COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES IN MAINE FROM THEIR ORGANIZATION. SHERIFFS. Page 678 JOHN WAITE — ICUABOD GOODWIN — CHARLES GUSHING — EDMUND BRIDGE. HENRY W. FULLER, Page 700 INDEX, Page 703 LAW AND LAWYERS. LAW AND LAWYERS. CHAPTER I. THE EARLIEST JURISPRUDENCE IN MAINE. The adventurers who first settled on the coast of Maine, from the Piscataqua River to Pemaciuid, were detached com- panies, without government or any bond of union. They were pursuing their private gains, and were generally em- ployed in lumbering, fishing, and traffic with the Indians. The largest of these companies, those at Agamenticus, Winter Harbor, and Richmond's Island, adopted certain regulations for their government, called combinations. We have some fragments of records referring to such doc- uments, and to the existence of a court among the colonists at the mouth of Saco River, prior to the arrival, in the sum- mer of lt);U), of Wm. Gorges, the nephew and deputy of the chief proprietor, of which the following is a specimen : " Feb. 7, 1G80. It is ordered that Mr. Thomas Lewis shall appear the next court day at the now dwelling house of Thomas Williams (Winter Harbor), there to answer his contempt, and to shew cause why he will not deliver up the romhiiia/ioii belonging to us, and to answer such actions as arc commenced aa;ainst him." 10 KARLY JURISPRUDENCE. Ill consequence of freedom from restraint, and the roving life of the adventurers, there were, among the settlers, great dissipation and dissoluteness of manners, which is amply testified tu by the early records ; and was made one of the causes assigned by Sir Ferdinando CJorges for the appoint- ment of a Governor General of all North Virginia, or New England, as the territory was then called. In a jTaper from the King, under date of Nov. 3, 1634, endorsed by Gorges, it is declared, " Since the undertaking of the plantations, complaints of various abuses have been received, to remedy whicli, advice has l)een taken witli the Council of State, and directions given for a Governor to be sent over, to take charge of public affairs," &c.' Although this, I think, has primary reference to the Plymouth and Massachusetts com- panies, whose agitations in politics and religion were partic- ularly offensive to the royal and episcopal government, yet it may well embrace all those separate companies which were then occupying tlic coast of IMaine, whether with or without title. In another paper, under date of Nov., 1G34, endorsed by Gorges, entitled " Considerations necessary to be resolved upon in settling the Governor for N. E.," it is stated that a number of discontented persons are got into the best parts of tlie country, and arc having their su])port- ers there ; it is asked whetlier it would not be policy to lay a restraint upon this until license could be obtained that those who go over should be bound to conform to the rites and ceremonies of the church.' This restraint was imposed by the king. Early in 1035, Gorges was expecting to receive the ap- pointment of Governor General of New England, and made arrangements for an early departure ; he was not ajijjointed until 1037 ; a movement was also made to revoke the char- ter of the Massachusetts Company. But political agitations 'Early Doc. relating to Maine. 8ainsbury's Col. Papors GORGES, GOVERNOR OP NEW ENGLAND. 11 commencing at this time, both in Scotland and England, withdrew attention from colonial affairs, and the governor, instead of coming to America, followed the king to Scotland. The charter was consequently not disturbed. In a letter to the Secretary of State, Sir Francis Windebank, March, 1(336, Gorges writes, " I beseech you to do me the favor to let their lordships know that for as much as I perceive it is his majcstic's gracious pleasure to assign me Gov. in N. E." he desired them to give order for repealing the " Patents of those already planted in the Bay of Massachusetts, that there be no just cause left of contention l^y reason thereof, when I arrive in those parts." Ferdinando Gorges, grandson and heir of Sir Ferdinando, in a petition to the king, 1G75, says, " The king, by reason of complaints against the settlers in Mass., &c., resolved to take to himself the gov't of N. E,, and to have one general gov. there. That thereupon, he nominated Sir Ferdinando Gorges to be Governor. All which appears by the king's declarations and commissions, (July, 1637). That shortly after, the troubles which arose in Scotland and in England prevented pet'rs grandf. from going to his gov'nt, but he attended the king into Scotland." (Early Doc. 22.) The declaration referred to is called the " King's Man- ifesto," and is dated July 23, 1637. (Sainsbury's Col. Papers, 1,256.) " Tlie king declares his resolution to pro- vide for the future good of those adventuring in any such undertakings by appointing Sir Fer. Gorges Governor, and commands that none be permitted to go into those parts without Gorges' knowledge or license, and directions where to settle." (lb.) Massachusetts, with a perseverance and ingenuity never exceeded, batllod all tiie elTorts of her numerous and pow- erful enemies at home to annul her act of incorporation. She pursued steadily and successfully her settled purpose of 12 MAINE GRANTED TO GORGES. HIS FIRST COURT. maintaining lier independence througli a period of 140 years, until the Unal triunipli of the Rcvolntion. On the surrender of their grand charter by the Plymouth Company in June, 1635, the country was divided among the several members. Gorges received the portion lying between the Piscataqua and the Kennebec Rivers, which he named New Somersetshire, from the county in England where his estates were situated. He immediately sent over his nephew, Capt. Wm. Gorges, to take formal possession of his Province, and to establish his authority there. The deputy held his first court at Saco, March 21, 1636. This is the first legal tribunal, constituted by authority, wliich existed in Maine. The members of the court are styled commissioners ; they were seven in number, iind resided in different parts of the Province : Purchase came from Bruns- wick, Cammock and Jossclyn from Scarboro', Bonithon and Lewis from Saco, and Godfrey from York : these are historical names, and all but Lewis and Cammock lived many years, to partake of the agitations and trials which awaited the foundation of this now flourishing common- wealth. Previous to the arrival of Wm. Gorges, some kind of gov- ernment must have existed in the different settlements which had been established at Kittery, York, the mouth of Saco River, at Spurwink, and Casco. It is probable that they were held together by voluntary associations, as at Exeter and other places where the proprietors had provided no legal government. A few scattered fragments on the records of York County, indicate such to l)e the fact. By these it appears that courts were held, in which civil causes were tried and verdicts rendered by a Jury. One of these fragments of the date, Feb. 7, 1<»36, is an order that Thomas Lewis, who was one of the original patentees of Saco, should JURISDICTION OF THE COURT. 13 appear on next court day, to shew cause why he will not deliver up the combination belonging to us. The court established by Wm. Gorges assumed general jurisdiction over the whole Province, not only of the rights of parties but of government, and endeavored to introduce something of order out of the very discordant materials which had been gathered upon the different points of the territory. Actions of trespass, slander, incontinency, for drunkenness, and " rash speeches," occurred frequently, and were generally determined by the intervention of a jury of six or more persons. The forms of proceeding were of the simplest character, and the absence of lawyers is found in tlie entire freedom from all technicalities in the pleadings and verdicts : they are marked by plainness of speech and special application. A single specimen may be cited in illustration : " Sept. 7, 163G. Whereas Mr. George Cleeve hath not paid the sum of £5. 10. 8. unto Wm. Riall accord- ing to the order above specified, these are therefore to authorize you in his majestie's name, to make seizure and attach any manner of goods and chattels then belonging to the said Cleeve, for the full satisfaction of the debt and pen- alty above specified, and this shall be your warrant." This was directed to the constable of Saco, and signed by four members of the court: viz., Vines, Bonithon, Cammock, and Lewis. The criminal proceedings were equally simple : " March 23, 1G3<). There was this day presented by Mr. Theophilus Davis, officer for this place, (Saco), John Wotton for being drunk and giving ill tearms to the officer, John the carpen- ter for being drunk, James Coale for being drunk, Wm. Scadlock for being drunk. John Wotton is by order of court to make a pair of stocks by the last of April or to pay 40s. 8d. in money. Also he is fined 5s. 8d. for being drunk." Each of the others was fniod As. Sd. for drunkenness. 14 CHARTER OF 1G30. But none of tlic charters to the original proprietors con- tained any jjowers of" government ; they were merely terri- torial grants. And .^ir Ferdinando (Jorges perceiving how iuefifectual these were, had never ceased to importune the king to confirm his charter, with the necessary powers to enforce his jurisdiction. This he succeeded in accomplish- ing, and a patent was issued to him under the Great Seal, dated April 8, 1639, which conferred upon him unlimited power. By this charter the name of his territory was ciianged to the Province of ]\[aine, which is its first appear- ance in our history. Power was conferred, " with the assent of the greater part of the free-holders of said Province," to make, ordain, and publish laws, ordinances, and constitu- tions : to erect courts of justice, ecclesiastical, civil, and temporal : the church of England to be the religion of the Province : to appoint magistrates, judges, and officers, with appeal to the Lord Proprietor : to raise troops, prosecute war, build forts, towns, and cities : to establish markets : to- erect manors : to fit out a navy with admiral rights, juris- dictions, &c. More ample powers Avere never bestowed upon a subject. Gorges immediately set himself to work to organize a government under his charter. His commission to his new councillors, and his ordinances, bear date Sept. 2, 1639. By these Sir Thomas Josselyn was nominated deputy governor, and Vines, Champcrnoon, Henry Josselyn, Bonithon, Hooke, and Godfrey, his councillors. Sir Thom- as declined the a})pointmeiit of deputy, and the office was conferred by Gorges on his cousin, Thomas Gorges, who arrived at his Province in the spring of 1640. This was an able board. Thomas Gorges was educated at the Inns of Court, and was a lawyer, the first and only one, so far as wc have any knowledge, who resided in the Province for the first hundred years after its settlement, except one, Thomas Morton, who was driven from Massuciiusetts and came to gorges' councillors. 15 York ill 1044. Vines liad long experience of the country: lie was the steward and confidential agent of the proprietor, and had a grant embracing the present town of Biddeford, in which he resided. Cliampernooii was a nephew of Sir F. Gorges, and was of an ancient family in the county of Devon. Henry Josselyn had been in the country from six to nine years, was of a good family, the son of Sir Thomas Josselyn of Kent, and was placed in resjionsible positions as early as 1034 in New Hampshire and Maine, and contin ued to sustain his character in various fortunes, as a prom- inent actor in our provincial affairs, until his death in 1082. Bonithon was here in 1032 as one of the two grantees of the territory on the east side of Saco River, now embraced in the town of Saco. He was a man of energy and enter- prise, and strenuously opposed the extension of the Massa- chusetts jurisdiction over this province in 1052, and the following years, for which he was proscribed Wm. Hooke was son of Alderman Hooke of Bristol, England, and an early settler of York, as was also the remaining councillor, Godfrey, who was connected with our political affairs forty years. He was the lirst to occujiy the large tract of land at the mouth of York River, where was the principal plan- tation of Gorges, on which he expended much money, early erecting a manor house and a mill there, and stocking the ])iace with cattle. Gorges in his " Narrative," written in 1040, p. 50, says, " I have not sped so ill, I thank my God for it, but I have a house and home there, and some neces- sary means of profit, by my saw mills and corn mills, besides some annual receipts, sullicient to lay the foundation of greater matters, now the government is established." These were the men to whom the Lord rrojirietor con- (ided the affairs of his large domain ; they composed not only an executive council for tlie province, but a court for the trial of all criminal otrenses, and. as he quaintly said, 16 JURISDICTION OF THE GENERAL COURT. to determine all ditfcrences arising between party and party, for meum and ttium. His commission to them was, to bold courts, to administer oatbs, to determine all causes, civil and criminal, public and private, according to justice and equity. Tbis power also embraced admiralty and probate jurisdic- tion. And so much did he enter into details in the affairs of his government that he even prescribed the forms of pro- ceeding, which, to prevent embarrassment among a people removed from all technicalities and legal api)lianccs, were of the most simple kind, as the following summons prescribed in his ordinances will show : "To our well beloved, A. B., Greeting. These are to will and command you to come and appear before us, the council established in the Province of Maine, upon the day of , to answer to the com- plaint of . Given under our hands and seals." The same simplicity in form was carried into other pro- ceedings of the court, of which the following declaration and verdict in the year 1G47 are examples. " To the wor- shipful Henry Josselyn, Esq., with the rest of the commis- sioners and assistants now assembled at Wells. Captain Francis Champenoone Plf. against Wm. Paine of Ipswich, declareth against the said Wm. Paine for certain monies due for a cable or haw^ser delivered unto his servant Wm. Quirke to the value of twenty pounds or there about." Tbe verdict is equally plain : "We find for the Plf. fourteen pounds sterling and cost of court." The following forms of a declaration and i)lea show a degree of point and plainness worthy of imitation. "Am- brose Berry Plf. v. John Smith Dft. in an action of account. The Plf. declareth that the Deft, owetb him on account between them the lltli day of May last, the sum of X4. 11. 8. which the Deft, rcfuscth to pay, notwithstanding he hath been often thereto required, and thereupon he l)rings his action and craveth for his damages, 48, another educated lawyer in the Province, Thomas Morton, who had been master of the revels in Merry Mount, now Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1625, and wrote many satir- ical pieces uj)on the colony. He was driven out of Mas- sachusetts in li)28, and went back to England ; but return- ing in 1G4B, he was imprisoned and fined. On being set at liberty, he thouglit it expedient to abandon the Bay Colony for one where he could have a larger liberty. lie came to Aganicnticus, now York, where he died two years after, neglected and poor. The Memorialist of Plymouth calls liini " a pettifogger at Furuival's Inn." It is not prol)able ihat he had any practice in our courts. In the council minutes, May 5, 1635, relating to the surrender of the char- 28 COURTS AND LAWYERS. ter of New England, and the division of the territory, Thomas Morton is appointed solicitor to prosecute a suit for repealing the patent of the Massachusetts Company.^ It»is not improbable that he is the lawyer before referred to, and probably had a better reputation at home than in this coun- try, where his conduct was criticised by hostile judges. His satirical " rhymes and verses," on the peculiarities of New England, gave great .offense, and for which the gov- ernment of Massachusetts had him " set him in the Bilbows " in 1628. J Sainsbury's Colonial Papers, i. p. 20G. CHAPTER III. PEMAQUID PROVINCE — ITS JURISDICTION AND JURISPRUDENCE. The remarks we have made in the preceding pages apply particularly to the Province of Gorges, embracing the terri- tory between the Piscataqiia and Kennebec Rivers. The central portion of our State, lying between the Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers, was under different jurisdictions. All east of tlie Penobscot, with the exception of the Castine Peninsula, remained a wilderness, in its native condition, during the entire 17th century. Pcmaquid and the adjacent territory were occupied by permanent settlers as early as 1(325 ; several years before, it had been the frequent resort of fishermen from Europe, who had found this coast, and the island of Monhegan, lying twelve miles from Pemaquid Point, the most conven- ient station to pursue their profitable occupation. We presume no government or administration of law existed among these adventurers, until after tlie charter granted by the Council of New England to Aldworth and Elbridge of Bristol, England, in 1G32 ; although as early as 1G30, the very year that Boston was founded, it liad a population of about five hundred persons ; except it may liave been by voluntary association, as is found to have 30 PEMAQUID. been the case in most of the other settlements on the coast. It was one of the considerations of the grant to Aldworth and Elbridge, that they had undertaken to bnild a town on tlieir grant, and " settle divers inhabitants there for the general good of that country." ^ By that charter, powers of government were granted to the proprietors ; and they were authorized to " establish such laws and ordinances as are for the better government of the said persons so transported, and the same by such officer or officers, as they shall by most voices elect and choose, to put in execution." By this provision, a representative government was estab- lished, the inhabitants being authorized to elect their execu- tive officers by a majority of votes. Abraham Shurt, the agent of the proprietors, was long the chief magistrate of the colony, and, with a board of assistants, administered the government. What courts were established, or what laws enacted, no record remains to inform us. But that there was need of laws, and an efficient administration of them, we cannot doubt, from the magnitude of the trade and busi- ness of the colonists, and the intercourse they had with the mother country and the other colonies. It was at one time the seat of the most considerable transactions of any settle- ment upon the New England coast. Shurt was sent over by his employers in 1626, to take charge of their interest at Monhegan, and afterwards as the manager of their affairs under the new patent. He appears to have been active, intelligent, and faithful ; and Mr. Thornton, in his interest- ing account of ancient Pcma(|uid, in the fifth volume of the Maine Ilistorical Collections, attributes to him the autlior- ship of the brief and comprehensive formula liy Avhich the acknowledgment of the deeds in Maine and Massachusetts iSainsbury's Colonial Papers, i. 141, PEMAQUID. 31 lias ever been certified. The deed from the Indian sachems, of the Pemaquid territory, to John Brown, dated July 15, 1625, bears the certificate of acknowledgment in the well known terms, " personally appeared and acknowledged this instrument to be their act and deed, at Pemaquid, July 24, 1G26. Before me, Abraham .Shurt." We know of no such form prior to that. Shurt was living in 1662, at the age of 80, " or thereabout," as he expresses it in a deposition given in December of that year.^ This grant passed out of the hands of the heir of the original proprietors in 1650, and the controverted titles, in various sources, from the Indians, English patentees, and under possessory rights, became the subject in after years of a furious and most bitter controversy, which was only settled by the interference of the government of Massachusetts, and then by compromise, in 1812. f During a period of twenty years from this time, there seems to have been a very inefficient administration of law in that Province. The commissioners of Charles II., in 1664, visited this portion of the State, and give a very unfa- vorable view of its condition at that time. They say, " Upon Shipscot River and upon Pemaquid 8 or 10 miles asunder, arc three small plantations belonging to his royal highncsse, the biggest of which hath not above 30 houses in it and those very mean ones. The people for the most part are fishermen, and never had any government among them." The commissioners endeavored to establish order and civil government there, and for that purpose appointed most respectable persons, living in other parts of the State, as magistrates, among whom were Henry Josselyn of Scarboro' , J Mr. Williamson, in his History of Maine, says, " Abraliam Shurt, Esq., ilied at Penia(iuid about 1G80." i. G03. We know not upon what anthorit)-^ it is probably an error. 32 PEMAQUID : ITS COURTS. Robert Jordan and George Munjoy of Falmouth. It is evident that the commissioners underrated both the popula- tion and condition of that colony. At this time it had passed into the hands of James, Duke of York, brother of the king, by a double title, first in IGGS, by purchase from Lord Stirling, who had a grant of it from the Council for New England, and second, by a grant from the king, March, 1665. But this, from various reasons, did not become available until 1673 ; and when the Governor of New York, which was also granted to the Duke, assumed the administration of government there, it became an append- age of the Colony of New York, and was represented in its General Assembly. Courts were established by the Council sitting in New York, as follows : " June 24, 1680. In Council, Ordered, that some persons be appointed to go from here to Pemaquid for holding courts." " June 26. Sag- adahock magistrates or officers to continue, the courts to try only for 40s. instead of £5 formerly granted them." " Mr. Potter, Lawrence Dennis, and llichard Redding to be com- missioners and assistants in the courts of session to try to <£20." The noted Sir Edmund Andros was governor at this time, of the Duke of York's possessions on this conti- nent ; and, as such, issued a commission to Henry Josselyn, who had formerly been one of Gorges' commissioners, resid- ing in Scarboro', and others, to be a court of session, and " to act according to law and former practise." This court held its sessions in June and November. Justices of the Peace were also appointed from time to time, with authority to hear and determine causes civil and criminal. Thomas Gyles lived, at the time of the first Indian war, at Merry Meeting Bay ; he afterwards settled at Pemaquid, and was made chief justice of the court there, as his son, John, affirms. Ue was killed by the Indians in 1680. John Jordan, the eldest son of the Rev. Robert Jordan PEMAQUID. 33 of Cape Elizabeth, was appointed by Governor Andros, a special justice for Cornwall, in 1680. None of these persons were educated to the law, but we may suppose from their rank, position, and opportunities, that they were well qjialified to discharge the duties required of them. Josselyn, in particular, had for more than forty years served as assistant, commissioner, and judge, under the various governments which had existed in the western part of the State ; and from his high birth as a son of Sir Thomas Josselyn, we may suppose that he had been well instructed in the learning of his day, before he came to the country. He always maintained a high character, and died at an advanced age in the confidence and respect of all who knew him. The governors, for the time being, Andros and Dongan, occasionally visited the Province, which was called the County of Cornwall : the principal place was Pemaquid, which was constituted a port of entry, and made a shire town : it had paved streets, was defended by one of the best forts on the coast, and was surrounded by a respectable and busy population. The county embraced all the settle- ments between the Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers, over which the Governor of New York exercised almost despotic jurisdiction. Quite a large commerce was carried on with Europe, and the other English colonies on the coast, of which masts, lumljer, furs, and fish constituted the principal exports, and for which wines, liquors, coin, and various kinds of merchandise were received in exchange. A col- lector was appointed for Pemaquid City, and his instructions from the Council in New York are minute, and as formal as those emanating from our own Secretary of the Treasury. The people were jealous to maintain the character and importance of that place ; and in a ])etition to the Governor and Council of New York, they ask that " Pemaquid may 34 PEMAQUID. Still remain the metropolitan of these parts because it ever have been so, before Boston was settled.-' The Province of Pemaquid included the thriving settle- ments on the eastern side of the Kennebec River, with Arrowsic and Parker's Islands. At the commissioners' court, held at Shecpscot in ^^eptember, IGGo, their principal inhab- itants, among whom were Hammond and Parker, took the oath of allegiance to the proprietor. And Lawrence Denny, or Dennis, a resident there, was afterwards commissioned one of the justices of the court in the Province. Before tliis time, however, the inhabitants on the Kenne- bec had been under the government of the Plymouth Colony, l)y virtue of the charter granted to William Brad- ford, in 1G20 ; and by him, in 1G40, assigned to the colony. It was used by that colony for forty years, merely as a source of revenue from the salmon and shad fisheries, and traffic in lumber and furs. They had a magistrate and agents there to preserve order and regulate their trade ; but never regarded it as the place of a permanent settlement. In IGGl the colony sold the patent to some wealthy men in Massachusetts, Antipas Boies, Edward Tyng, Thomas Brattle, and John Winslow ; but the inlial)itants were few and scat- tered, and no regular government was established in it, until the Duke of York took possession of the country. In September, 1686, the Duke of York, who had now become James II., transferred the jurisdiction of his eastern territory to Massachusetts, which immediately assumed the government over it. Plis order is thus headed, " Royal order for the surrender of Pemaquid to Massachusetts," and goes on to say, " Whereas we have thought fit to direct that our port and country of Pemaquid, in regard of its distance from New York, be for the future annexed to and be continued under the government of our territory and dominion of New England," lie orders, oise to Cape Elizabeth. George Clcevcs was appointed his deputy, under the style of Deputy President, and held his court, under the name of " The General Assembly of the Province of Ligonia," wliich took cogni- PROBATE JURISDICTION. 53 zance of all matters of government, as well as private rights. In this court, in 1648, was an elaborate trial, on the petition of Rev. Robert Jordan, administrator of the estate of his father-in-law, John AVintcr, against the executors of Mr. Robert Trelawny, the proprietor of the plantation of Cape Elizabeth, on which, after a full hearing, a specific decree was passed. In May, of the same year, in the same court, was brought forward a record from a general court held under Gorges' authority, in 1640, granting administration to Payton Cooke on the estate of Richard AVilliams, above mentioned, for confirmation, which was decreed as follows : " Wee the judges for the Province of Ligonia do, by our authority ratify and confirme unto the said Payton Cooke the above said administration, according to the full terms thereof. Witness our hands, under our provincial seal at the day and year above written. George Cleeves, Henry Jocelyn, Robert Jordan." " Recorded by Edward Rish- worth, 11th March, 1667—8." After the colonial charter of Massachusetts was annulled, the president, Joseph Dudley, and after him, Andros, from 1686 to 1689, assumed supreme probate jurisdiction, intro- duced the forms of the Spiritual Court in England, and attended personally to all cases of administration, where the estate exceeded fifty pounds sterling. He introduced order and system into this branch of the law, but greatly increased the fees, and required all estates to be settled in Boston. By the charter of 1691, probate jurisdiction was con- f ferrcd on the governor and council ; but they, by virtue of their power of substitution, appointed Judges of Probate in each county. Governor Pownal, in 1760, in a statement to the council, represented that the Courts of Probate had no seal, kept no records, had Jio rules, and did not observe the common formalities of a judicial court. After this time, Registers 64 PROBATE JURISDICTION. T^erc appointed and seals adopted. Very little regularity existed in their proceedings previous to the Revolution, and no material change was made in the organization of the courts. Before 1G92, the Recorder of the Province of Maine, who was generally the clerk of the County Court, recorded wills and administrations with the records of that court. The constitution of Massachusetts, adopted in 1780, made provision that " the Judges of Probate of Wills, and for granting letters of administration, shall hold their courts at such place or places, on fixed days, as the convenience of the people shall require." And until such times and places were appointed by the legislature, the courts were to be held as the respective judges should direct. The constitution also provided that, " All causes of marriage, divorce and alimony, and all appeals from Judges of Probate, shall be heard and determined by the Governor and Council, until the legislature shall, by law, make other provision," — thus retaining the practice which had prevailed under the charter. But in March, 1784, the legislature passed the first Probate Act, which established a Court of Probate in the several counties, to be " held by some able and learned person in each county, to be appointed judge, to whom was assigned the jurisdiction of which Probate Courts have, or hereafter, by the laws of the Commonwealth, shall have cognizance." An appeal was allowed to the Supreme Court. The judge and register by the constitution were to be appointed by the Governor and Council. t Thus was established tliis important court, througli which all the estates in the community pass, in substantially the same form and with the same powers as they exist at this day. The act in Maine, of March 20, 1821, embraced, in seventy sections, running through thirty-five octavo pages, the provisions and improvements in detail, which the expe- JUDGES AND REGISTERS OF PROBATE. 55 riencc of more than a third of a century had engrafted on the original stock of primitive principles, rendered expe- dient, if not necessary, by the advancing population and wealth of so prosperous and enterprising a community as that of Massaclmsctts and Maine. The principles remained the same in jurisdiction and powers, but expanded to meet the larger exigencies. Judges of Probate had the same tenure of office by the constitution as the judges of the common law courts, but were paid, as were also the Registers, by fees assessed upon the business of their courts. In 1826, the legislature of Maine, by a most beneficent provision, abolished all fees in those courts, and appointed fixed salaries for the judges and registers, varying in the different counties with the amount of their business. In 1839, the judges of this court shared the fate of those in the other courts, by an abridgment of their life tenure to that of seven years ; and this was followed by a still more democratic rule, by which botli judges and registers, by an amendment of the constitution in 1855, were made elective by the people every four years. The Judges of Probate appointed in Maine under the charter were : Joshua Scottow, .... 1687 — 1693 Francis Hook, 1693 — 1695 Samuel Wheelwright, . . . 1695 — 1700 Joseph Hammond, .... 1700 — 1710 Ichabod Plaistcd, .... 1710 — 1715 John Wheelwright, .... 1715 — 1745 Jeremiah Moulton, .... 1745 — 1765 John Hill, 1765 — 1772 Jonathan Say ward, .... 1772 — 1775 In Cumberland : SamuelAValdo, 1760 — 1770 56 CONDITION OP THE BAR UNDER THE CHARTER. Enoch Freeman, .... 1770 — 1782 In Lincoln : William Gushing, .... 1760 — 1772 Jonathan Bowman, .... 1773 — 1804 REGISTERS. Thomas Scottow, .... 1687 — 1693 JolmWincol, 1693 — 1695 Joseph Hammond, .... 1695 — 1700 Charles Frost, 1700 — 1733 Rob't Elliot Gerrish, . . . 1733 — 1744 Simon Frost, 1744 — 1776 David Sewall, 1766 — 1781 In Gumberland : J. Stockbridge, 1760 — 1761 Stephen Longfellow, . . . 1761 — 1775 Samuel Freeman, .... 1775 — 1804 In Lincoln: William Bryant, 1760 — Roland Gushing, .... 1773 — 1778 CONDITION AND PROGRESS OF THE BAR — ADMISSION OF MEMBERS. During the exercise of royal authority in Massachusetts and Maine, under the charter of 1691, the administration of justice went on pretty Tiniformly, and without essential changes. In none of the common law courts were any lawyers on the bench, except in the Superior Gourt ; and in that, at intervals, but four,viz.,Lyndc, Dudley, Trowbridge, and William Gushing. Benjamin Lyndc studied in the Temple at Londoji, and was judge and chief justice, from CONDITION OP THE BAR UNDER THE CHARTER. 57 1712, thirty-three years. Paul Dudley was one of the most cultivated men and learned lawyers of the ante-Revolution period ; educated to the bar at the Temple, he was appointed judge in 171S, and chief justice in 1745, as successor to Lynde, and held that oflice till his death in 1751. Trow- bridge was not appointed until 1767, and Gushing in 1772. The rules of practice were few and simple ; and, although the courts were authorized to establish " rules for the more orderly practise and proceedings," they do not seem to have thought it necessary to go largely into that subject. We have no evidence that the bars of the Province established any formal regulations, or formed any associations of their members. The first act relating to attornies was one of restraint, passed in 1068, to render them ineligible as deputies to the General Court. The next was passed in 1701, prescribing the form of an oath to be taken on admission to the bar, and their fees. From 1720, onward, there were able, culti- vated, and richly endowed lawyers, who gradually raised tlie level of the bar to a high standard, and improved the forms of proceedings and the practice in the courts. Dudley, the Aucluuutys, Reed, Lynde, Shirley, Otis, Jonathan Sewall, Gridley, Pratt, Dana, Farnham, Trowbridge, &c., were among those who adorned the bar of that period, and would have done credit to any bar of recent times. But they were more addicted to routine, and restrained by the narrow limits of the institutions under which their destinies were cast. Tliey could not expand their wings freely for a flight among the stars : a colonial and dependent govern- ment was not the sphere for high aspirations or renowned achievement. When free institutions were established in the state, and all stations were open to all men, the cllects of an independ- ent and self-relying condition began to be manifest, in the 5 58 BAR REGULATIONS. general advance of society, and progress in all our institu- tions, which reached to the staid, sedate, and conservative precincts of the courts of law. All the judges of the highest court from tliat time, were educated and able law- yers, who gradually introduced improvements in the forms of proceedings and the practice of the courts. Clear and concise rules of practice were introduced in 1806, which were published in the second volume of the reports ; these, among other things, had reference to maintaining the charac- ter and purity of persons who desired to enter into practice. Examiners were appointed in each county, consisting of the best lawyers, who were carefully to examine candidates for admission, both as attornies to the Common Pleas, and as counsellors to the Supreme Court. These regulations were an expansion of an act passed in 1785, providing for the admission of attornies, similar to the Province act. The bars of the several counties also adopted stringent rules to purge themselves, and to keep their associations free from unworthy members, and to elevate the character and posi- tion of the profession. The acts and regulations concerning attornies were adopted in ]\Iaine on the separation, and were enforced, keeping up the standard of the profession and its professors. The requisitions for admission were, — good moral character, three years' study with a counsellor at law, if having received a degree from college ; or, without that, the candidate was to have faithfully devoted seven years, at least, to the acquisition of scientific and legal attainments, of which three years should have been spent in professional studies with some counsellor at law. These requirements were persisted in until 1843, when the legisla- ture of Maine, under some strange influence, swept all these salutary regulations away, and, by a single sentence, removed those just restraints whicli enabled the bar to preserve a respectable standard of professional merit, and BAR REGULATIONS. 69 to guard itself, as well as society, from the bad effects of ignorant and unqualified practitioners. The clause is as follows : " Any citizen of this State of good moral charac- ter, on application to the Supreme' Court, shall be admitted to practice as an attorney in the judicial courts of this State." Thus it will be perceived, that no discretion was left to the court to judge of merit or qualification. Any person who produced a certificate of fair character, might enter the practice, whether he had any knowledge of law, or skill in practice, or not. The effect of this law was, undoubtedly, to lower the standard of merit in the legal profession, and to break up the bar associations, which had for many years been a source of legal improvement and pleasant social intercourse. These evils became apparent in a few years, and made so difep an impression on the public mind, that the legislature, in 1859, passed an act, requiring all candidates for admission to the bar to be examined by a committee, annually appointed in each county by the Su- preme Court, of " three or more persons learned in the law, whose duty it shall be to examine thoroughly touching his qualifications as a lawyer, any applicant to be admitted to practice ; " and " no person shall be admitted thus to prac- tice, until he submits to such examination, and produces to the court a certificate of such examination," pays the dues, and takes tlic oath, which is the one originally adoj)ted, and before mentioned. But this return to more stringent requirements for admis- sion to practice, did not restore the social and i)rofitable reunions of the bar, in which the judges and the lawyers were wont to lay aside the ermine and the rolte, and give free play to their genial and cultivated minds. The wit and humor which flashed on these occasions, relieved the prosaic dullness of official station, and the tediousness of a routine life. 60 COUNTY OFFICERS IN 1800. COUNTY OFFICERS IN 1800. YORK COUNTY. Judges of the Common Pleas : Nathaniel Wells of Wells, Edward Cutts of Kittery, Jonas Clark of Wells, Simon Frye of Fryeburg. Daniel Sewall, Clerk. * Edward Cutts, Judge of Probate. Daniel Sewall, Register of Probate. William Frost of York, Register of Deeds. Ichabod Goodwin of Berwick, Sheriff. CUMBERLAND COUNTY. Judges of the Common Pleas : John Lewis of North Yarmouth, William Gorham of Gorham, Stephen Longfellow of Gorham, Robert Southgate of Scarboro'. Samuel Freeman of Portland, Clerk. William Gorham, Judge of Probate. Samuel Freeman, Register of Probate. Isaac Ilsley, Register of Deeds. John Waite of Portland, Sheriff. LINCOLN COUNTY. Judges of tlie Common Pleas : Thomas Rice of Wiscasset. Nathaniel Thwing of Woolwich. COUNTY OFFICERS IN 1800. 61 Jonathan Bowman of Dresden. Orchard Cook of Pownalboro'. Jonatlian Bowman, Jr., of Pownalboro', Clerk. ^ Jonathan Bowman, Judge of Probate. Jonathan Bowman, Jr., Register of Probate. Thomas Rice, Register of Deeds. Edmund Bridge of Dresden, Sheriff. KENNEBEC COUNTY. Judges of the Common Pleas : Joseph North of Augusta, Daniel Cony of Augusta, Nathaniel Dummer of Hallowell, Chandler Robbins of Hallowell. John Davis, Clerk. James Bridge, Judge of Probate. Thomas Bowman, Register of Probate. Henry Sewall, Register of Deeds. Arthur Lithgow of Winslow, Sheriff. UANCOCK COUNTY. Judges of the Common Pleas : Paul Dudley Sargent of Sullivan, Oliver Parker of Castine, William Vinal of Vinalhaven. Warren Hall, Clerk. Paul Dudley Sargent, Judge of Probate. Jonathan Eddy of Eddington, Register of Probate. • Also Clerk of the Supreme Court for the counties of Lincoln, Hancock, and Washington. 62 COUNTY OFFICERS IN 1800. Joseph Perkins, Register of Deeds. Thomas Phillips of Castiiie, Sheriff. WASHINGTON COUNTY. Judges of the Common Pleas : Stephen Jones of Machias, Alexander Campbell of Steuben, John Crane of Columbia. Ralph Hart Bowles, Clerk. Stephen Jones, Judge of Probate. Stephen Jones, Jr., Register of Probate. George Stillman, Register of Deeds. John Cooper of Machias, Sheriff. CHAPTER V. REPORTS AND REPORTERS Among the improvements which were introduced within the first quarter century of the new government, was the appointment of a reporter of the decisions of the Su- preme Court. This judicious measure, which has proved so valuable to the profession and to the people, was cau- tiously adopted in 1804, the act limiting the office to three years. In 1806, it was continued to 1811, when it was again continued to 1815 ; after which it was made a perma- nent institution, or during the pleasure of the legislature, the experiment having been found entirely beneficial and successful. Although reporting had been practiced many years in England, it was done, for the most part, by individ- uals on their own responsibility. East was the reporter in the King's Bench, when the law was passed in Massachusetts establishing the office of reporter. He was of the firm of Durnford Timothy Langdon and Roland Gushing were both grad- uates of Harvard, one in 17()5, the other in 1768. Langdon read law with Mr. Gridley in Boston, and was connected with some of the first families in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. He was brother of Governor John Langdon, and was born in Portsmouth. President John Adams, in his Diary, under date, " Falmouth, July term, 1771," says, " dined with David Wyer in company with his father, Farnham, Sewall, Gushing, Lowell, &c. Spent the evening with the bar at Shattuck's (the tavern) in high spirits. Agreed unanimously to recommend Tim. Langdon to be sworn. All in good spirits, very cheerful and chatty ; many good stories. This day argued the cause of Freeman and Ghild, a suit for XIO penalty, for taking greater fees in tlie custom house than allowed by the Province law. Freeman got a verdict, and I was congratulated." Langdon commenced practice in that part of Pownalboro' whicli is now Wiscasset ; he was appointed Grown Lawyer Ijcfore the Revolution ; represented Pownalboro' in the Provincial Gongress, in 1776 ; and was appointed Admiralty Judge for Maine by the Provisional government of Massa- chusetts, in 1778. Maine was constituted by the Provincial Gongress a separate Admiralty District, from which circum- stance it was ever after called, " The District of Maine," until its organization as a State. Langdon was able, eloquent, and brilliant ; but in a few years, he became very dissipated, and was s})oken of by those wlio knew him, as the shattered remains of a once sound lawyer. Losing character and business in AViscasset, he wandered off to Norridgewock, in 1793 ; but he met ROLAND GUSHING. 99 with no better success there, from his irregularities. He then tried Farmington, wlierc he remained live or six years, leading a vagrant and destitute life, — occasionally filling a writ or piciiing up a law job ; and finally died, in 1808, in a bar room at Hinkley's Plains, in Hallowell, of delirium tremens. Roland Gushing was a younger brother of Judge William and Sheriff Charles Gushing. He was born in Scituatc, Massachusetts, in 1750, and, on leaving college, in 1708, he pursued the study of law in the office of his brother William. He possessed rare talents, a fine education, person, and manners. He settled first at Dresden, then at Gardiner, from which he moved to Waldoboro', a half-shire town of Lincoln Gounty from 1787 to 1809, having been appointed Register of Probate. Here he found himself in the midst of a German population, where he could have but little business, and no congenial society. His talents and culti- vation were wasted for want of the necessary stimulus and opportunity ; and he fell into habits of intemperance, which hurried him to an early grave, in 1788, at the age of thirty- eight. He was never married. Mr. Deane, in his History of Scituate, says of him, " He was a man of talents, and celebrated for his beauty and gracefulness." It is said that he would argue most elo- quently when he could hardly stand without being sup- ported. This was told to me by the lion. Thomas Rice, a native of Wiscasset, who added, " Tradition a few years ago was filled with praises of his beauty, eloquence, and pop- ularity. In force and l)rilliancy he exceeded his more fortu- nate, because more wise and virtuous, brothers, William and Charles." He was jiot spared l)y the stern retributions which inevitably and inexorably come upon all who live in violation of the fundamental laws of our being. These two brilliant men, — Langdon and Cushhig, are sad examples 100 JOSEPH STOCKBRIDGE. of the utter waste of moral and iiitcllcctual power. Our profession, as I have liad it deeply impressed upon my observation in tlicse inquiries, furnishes too many similar examples of premature ruin by drunkenness. Joseph Stockbridge. I believe I have introduced into these desultory sketches, notices of all the lawyers who practiced in Maine prior to the Revolution, except Joseph Stockl)ridgc, who died in Falmouth, within a year after he commenced practice in Cumberland County. He was son of David Stockbridge of Hanover, Massachusetts ; graduated at Harvard College, 1755, and was appointed the first Reg- ister of Probate for Cumberland County. He ingratiated himself in public favor during the short time he lived in the county, and died much lamented, April 5, 1761, in the twenty-fourth year of his age. The following notice of Mr. Stockbridge's death, appeared in the Falmouth paper, April 13, 1761 : " On the 5tli ins. Mr. Joseph Stockbridge died here, to the great grief of the people in general ; for though he had lived here but a few months, his civil, religious, and prudent behavior gained him the esteem of all that knew him, and great satisfaction was expected from his knowledge and capacity in the offices he sustained in the county." CHAPTER IX SOCIAL USAGES OF THE BAR — FROTHINGHAM — TYLER' THACHER — LITHGO W — BARRISTERS. The social usages of that, and a more recent period, were unfavorable to the habits of lawyers. Their number was small, their meetings rare, and their spirits genial ; and when they met on occasions of the assembling of the courts, it was natural that they should unbend, and relax the con- ventional habits which their position in general society required them to maintain. It was their custom while on tlic circuits to have evening gatherings, at which the favorite beverages of the day, flip and punch, were freely circulated ; and the gay sessions were often protracted through the long hours of the night. On these occasions, they frequently held mock courts, in which one of their number was ap- pointed judge, and trials took place for breaches of good fellowship, or some imaginary ollenscs. On one of these occasions, in York County, Mr. Lowell, afterwards United States Judge, arrived during the session of the court at Biddeford, and tying his horse at the door of the tavern, went in to seek lodgings ; but the landlord being unable to accommodate him, he was obliged to obtain other quarters ; and inadvertently left his horse all night at the door where 102 SOCIAL CUSTOMS OF THE BAR. he was first fastened. This was considered in the mock court a high oifense, for which he was called to answer ; the landlord was also placed on trial for his neglect of the horse. David Farnham was appointed judge. After a long hearing and argument, the landlord was lined a bowl of good punch for his neglect, and Lowell was fined twice as much for suffering the poor animal to remain all night at the door. Tiio sentence was carried into immediate execu- tion. Mr. Lowell, born in Newbury, in 1743, became a distinguished judge of the United States Court, and father of the no less distinguished sons, John, Francis C, and Charles Lowell. He died in 1802. On another occasion, Noah Emery was accused of calling the high sheriff, Leigh ton, a fool. For this weighty offense he was brought before the court, and the allegation being proved, the court, taking into consideration the circum- stances of the offense, ordered Emery to pay one pipe of tobacco; and the sheriff to pay one mug- of flip for deserv- ing the appellation. Tlie equity of this admirable institu- tion will be at once perceived in the exact justice that was measured out to both parties, the penalties always enuring to the benefit of the company, of which both accuser and accused were partakers. Meetings of members of the bar were first held in Boston, in 1750, at the suggestion of John Adams, who had been recently admitted to practice, to take some measures against irregular practitioners. He says, in his Diary, " Many of these meetings were the most delightful entertainments I ever enjoyed. Tlie spirit that reigned was that of solid sense, generosity, honor, and integrity ; and the conse- quences were most happy ; for the courts and the bar, instead of scenes of wrangling, chicanery, quibbling, and ill manners, were soon converted to order, decency, truth, and candor. Mr. Pratt was so delighted with these meetings, LAWYERS DURING THE REVOLUTION, 103 and their effects, that when we all waited upon him to Ded- liam on his way to New York to take his seat as chief justice of that State, he said to us, " Brethren, above all things, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together." At the time of the Revolution there was no lawyer in our territory north or east of Gardiner ; and it is stated in the Diary of John Adams, that of the eight persons actively engaged at the bar in Boston, in 1763, Mr. Adams was the only one who was found there at the close of the Revolu- tion : Thacher died in 1765, Gridley in 1767, Otis incapaci- tated in 1771, and died 1783 ; Auchmuty, Kent, Sewall, and two others adhered to Great Britain. The Revolution swept as a desolating scourge over our land, and all material interests were, for the time, pros- trated. It was no longer a field for lawyers to till. Wil- liam Gushing in Lincoln, Sullivan and Sewall in York, were appointed judges of the Superior Court ; in Cumberland, Wyer died in 1776, and Bradbury and Parsons fled from the smoldering ruins of ill-fated Falmouth ; Roland Gush- ing and Langdon, in Lincoln, only remained to sustain the falling pillars of the law. Sullivan left Maine, in 1778, as a judge of the Superior Gourt, having since 1775 acted in a military capacity. John Frothing ham. The field did not long lie fallow : it must indeed be ))arren which would discourage a lawyer from entering it. The first who had the courage to adven- ture upon this apparently forlorn hope, was John Frothing- ham, who came to Falmouth in 1773, or '74, as Bradbury, Wyer, and Parsons did l)efore him, as a scliool-master. lie descended from William Frothingham, one of the first settlers of Gharlcstown, Massachusetts, through liis sixth son Samuel, the grandfather of the subject of this notice. His father was Deacon John Frothingham. He was boru 104 JOHN FROTHINGHAM : COURT ENTRIES. ill Charlestown, in 1750, and graduated at Harvard College, in 1771. While pursuing liis avocation as a teacher, he read law with Mr. Bradbury, and was a fellow-student with Parsons. lie was admitted to practice at the Cumberland Bar, in March, 1771) ; but did not abandon his vocation as teacher, which he must have found more profitable than the bar. Mr. Frothingham spent the remainder of his life in Port- land. In 1780, he was appointed County Attorney ; was collector of the excise for Maine ; one of the trustees of Bowdoin College twenty-four years, and its secretary ; a representative to the General Court, 178(3; thirty-four years clerk of the First Parish ; twelve years Register of Probate ; and eight years judge of the Court of Common Pleas, until its reorganization in 1811. He was a faithful, upright, intelligent, and honest man ; and closed his long career of usefulness, in 1826. He left several children by his wife, Martha May, sister of the late Colonel Joseph May, and of the venerable Samuel May of Boston ; three of whom sur- vive, — John, a respected merchant in Montreal ; Lucretia, the widow of Franklin Tinkham ; and Abigail, the wife of the distinguished Dr. Ray, of the Butler Asylum in Provi- dence, Rhode Island. The business of the profession in that county may be inferred from the number of entries upon the docket during the dark days of the Revolution : in 1778, they were eight- een ; 1779, twenty-six ; 1780, twenty ; and the whole num- ber for the seven years of the war, to 1783, was but one hundred and ninety-eight. The population of the county was, in 1780, then including a part of Oxford, but about fourteen thousand ; and of the State, about forty-three thousand. ROYAL TYLER : WILLIAM LITHGOW, JR. 105 Royal Tyler came to Falmouth the same year that Mr. Frothinghara was admitted to the practice, 1779. He was born in Boston, his father having been of the King's Coun- cil ; was a graduate of Harvard, in the class of 1776. He was a fine scholar and an accomplished man. He continued but about two years in our State, when he moved to Ver- mont, and became a distinguished lawyer, and the chief justice of the Superior Court of that State. In 1809 and 1810 he published two volumes of reports of the decisions of her highest tribunal. An incident occurred during his practice in Cumberland, which was not a little annoying to him. He commenced an action against an officer of a pri- vateer then lying in the harbor, and went on board with the sheriff to have the writ served. But the privateersman, not liking the process, took up his anchor and sailed out of the precinct, carrying the attorney and his officer with him, whom he landed safely at Boothbay, and kept on his cruise ; acting upon the classical dictum, — irite?' arma, leges silent. Mr. Tyler died in August, 1826, at the age of sixty-six. He had been judge twelve years, of which six were as chief j'ustice. He published, besides the two volumes of reports, several poems and comedies. He was a man of elegant manners, fine literary taste, and a learned judge. "William Lithgow, Jr., son of Judge William Lithgow of Georgetown, commenced practice during the Revolution. He was not educated at college, but read law with Mr. Sul- livan at Biddcford. On the breaking out of the war, he entered the military service ; was an officer in the army which ca})turcd Burgoyne, and served with credit during the war, in wliich he had his arm shattered, and retired with the rank of major. He returned to his profession, after these stirring scenes were over, and established himself 106 WILLIAM LITHGOW, JR. : GEORGE THACHER. at Augusta, having his oflice in the only plastered room of the block-house of Fort Weston, which had been used as a defense against the Indians. He is said to have been an able advocate, and a lawyer of much ability and extensive practice. He was appointed, in 1789, the first United States Attorney for Maine, and was twice elected a senator to the legislature of Massachusetts, and a major-general in the militia. He was a man of fine personal appearance, of military bearing, and accomplished manners. He died in February, 1796, at the age of forty-six, never having been married. The father of General Lithgow came from Scot- land in early life, with his father, and settled in Georgetown on the Kennebec. Before the Revolution, he had command by turns of the three forts at Richmond, Augusta, and Winslow ; and was employed by the government in its inter- course with the Indians. After the Revolution, he was many years a magistrate and judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a man of good sense, fine manners, a genial temper, and great hospitality. He died December 20, 1798, aged eighty-six years. He married a daughter of Colonel James Noble, by whom he had four sons and six daughters : three of the daughters married Samuel Howard of Augusta, Rev. John Murray of Boothbay, and ]\[ajor James Davidson of Bath ; the other three died single ; one of them, Jane, a handsome and accomplished woman, was engaged to Roland Gushing, but died suddenly before marriage. His sons were James, Arthur, Robert, and William. Arthur was several years sheriff of Kennebec ; he married a daughter of Sheriff Bridge. James married the only daughter of John Gardiner, the barrister, of Dresden, and had two sons, and a daughter who married Colonel E. Williams. George Thaciier. Wc have the name of but one more who, during tlie existence of the war, adventured into the GEORGE THACHER. 107 State as a practitioner : that was George Thacher of Bidde- ford. He too had been a school-master, after taking his degree at Harvard, in 1776 ; and this seems to have been the common path from the college to the bar ; for generally the young men of that day who had persevered in obtaining an education, had exhausted their means, and came out into the world embarrassed by debt, and had to struggle long to free themselves from those iron fetters. While keep- ing school, they could be acquiring means of subsistence, and the payment of their debts, and at the same time be preparing for the professions to which they were looking for future support and advancement in life, Mr. Thacher was descended from Anthony, the common ancestor, who came to tliis country in 1633 ; was of the fourth degree from him, and was born in Yarmouth, Cape Cod, April 12, 1754. His father was Peter Thacher, and his mother a daughter of George Lewis of Barnstable. He studied his profession with Shearjashub Bourne of Barn- stable, and commenced practice in York, in 1780 or '81 ; in 1782 he moved to Biddeford, where the principal part of his life was spent, succeeding James Sullivan in the prac- tice at that place. In 1788, Mr. Thacher was elected a member of tlie old Congress. On the adoption of the con- stitution of the United States, Maine constituted one district, and he was elected the first representative from Maine in the new congress. He held the office by successive elec- tions, until 1801, wlien, on being appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, he resigned his seat. He was the only representative from ]\raine until 1793, when it became entitled to three representatives, and Peleg Wads- worth of Portland, and Henry Dearborn of Gardiner, were chosen as his colleagues. Wbile in Congress, Judge Tliacher took an active part in the important debates of the time, 108 GEOKGE THACHER. and his speeches contain useful information and sound argu- ment, seasoned by genuine " Attic salt." He continued upon the bench until January, 1824, and died in April of the same year. Judge Thacher was a sound and acute lawyer, and a good general scholar. He carried to the bench a mind well stored with legal principles, and a memory always ready to furnish, from its ample stores, authority of unreported cases, and illustration from general literature. His integrity and impartiality were never- ques- tioned ; but his manner was not agreeable upon the bench, for he was constantly interrupting the lawyers and arguing points with them, and was sometimes fretful and impatient. Yet he was a man, in private life, of a genial temper and agreeable social habits ; had fine conversational powers, and was full of anecdotes, which he had a happy manner of relating. He had infinite humor, and his wit often created merriment at the bar, as well as in his social intercourse. I recollect being in court when Judge Thacher interrupted a lawyer who was earnestly pressing a point, — " You need not argue that point, sir, for to my mind it has no more weight than the lightest feather upon a bumble-bee's wing." The anecdote of the challenge sent to him while in Congress is familiar. A member had offered a proposition that the coin to be issued from the mint should bear the figure of an eagle. Mr. Thacher, by way of banter, offered an amendment, that the effigy should be a goose, for the old bird, said he, could be represented upon the large pieces, while the goslings would be suitable for the small ones. This he sustained in a humorous speech, which kept the house in a merry mood ; he alluded to the fact that Rome had once been saved from the barbarians by the cackling of geese. The mover of the bill, assuming that this was an attempt to insult him, sent a challenge. Mr. Thacher told the bearer, that he had no GEORGE THACHER. 10|9 rifflit to hazard liis life on such a chance, but would write to his wife, and if she consented, he would accept the chal- lenge ; but, as a compromise, he proposed that his figure might be marked on a barn door, and if the challenger, standing at the proper distance, hit it, he would acknowledge himself shot. The gentleman's friends, finding that they could do nothing with Mr. T., abandoned the matter. An anecdote to which Mr. Thacher, when at the bar, was a party, is told by an old lawyer. He was managing a cause against the Attorney General, in which the counsel were considerably excited : the Attorney General said to Mr. Thacher, " You are no gentleman." Thacher rose and said, " Well, now, I admit, Mr. Attorney, that I am no gen- tleman, — I am no gentleman." The venerable Judge Strong, who was holding the court, interrupted, and with his peculiar arch manner, said, " Well, gentlemen, I think you need not go to the jury about that." Judge Thacher had a peculiar way of charging the jury. He would dissect and analyze the case, and so mix up the facts that the jury were perplexed to know the views of the court upon them. Mr. Orr once characterized this pecu- liarity by this graphic description, — he said, "Thacher would take his fish, and make it into a chowder, and then turn the chowder back again into a fish." July 20, 1784, Judge Thacher married Mary Savage, a daughter of Samuel Pliillips Savage of Weston, Massachu- setts, by whom he had five sons and five daughters, all of whom, but one daughter, survived their father. Of the sons, George and Samuel Phillips Savage were educated for the bar, and after many years' practice, are both dead. One of his daughters married Joseph Adams, a late respected member of the Cumberland Bar. In his domestic relations, Judge Thacher was a most kind and indulgent husband and 4 110 GEORGE THACHER. father, and his dwelling was the abode of peaceful enjoy- ment, and a large though frugal hospitality ; of which the humble as well as the noblest in the land have been partak- ers. The President of the United States, and his classmate, Governor Gore, have been his guests, as they passed through our State. His invitation to Governor Gore was by the familiar address by which his classmates knew him in col- lege,— " Kitty Gore." CHAPTER X FIRST LAWYERS AFTER THE REVOLUTION — DAVIS — GARDINER — BARRISTERS — WETMORE — RAPID PROGRESS OF MAINE IN BUSINESS AND POPULATION — EBENEZER SULLIVAN. We have passed in review the members of the profession, who before and during the Revolution, upheld the feeble arms of the law in Maine. They have faded from the knowledge and the memory of those who are filling their places, and deriving benefit from their labors. They assisted to bring order and system into our jurisprudence ; to adapt it to the altered circumstances of our country, and the free institutions which had been established upon the ruins of colonial dependency. Others have labored, and we have entered into their labors. We now propose to speak of the lawyers who, during the closing twenty years of the last century, exercised a com- manding influence upon the social institutions and the political and legal systems of our State. DANIEL DAVIS. 1782—1804, The first lawyer who came into Maine on the close of the Revolution, was Daniel Davis, who was son of Daniel Davis, 112 DANIEL DAVIS. a respectable farmer, and born in Barnstable, Cape Cod, May 8, 1762, The early part of his life was spent on his father's farm. But having an earnest desire for an educa- tion, his father made efforts and sacrifices to accomplish this object. After a very crude preparation, he offered himself for admission at Harvard College, and was rejected. This, though it disconcerted him, did not extinguish his desire for a profession ; and, abandoning a college course, he was placed with an attorney at Barnstable for his legal training. In three years from that time he was admitted to the Barn- stable Bar, before he was twenty-one years old. Mr. Davis studied his profession in the office of Shearjashub Bourne of Barnstable, who took great pride in this student, after he rose to distinction, and was wont to say, when recurring to his success in after life, " I took special pains ivith Daniel^ Judges Thacher and Mellen of Maine, and Hall of Vermont, were also students in Mr. Bourne's office. The perplexing inquiry now came what he should do with himself. He was not long in making his decision ; full of confidence and hope, he mounted his horse, witli all his worldly gear upon his back, and turning his head toward the rising sun, he found himself on a pleasant autumn day of 1782, in the village of Falmouth, now Portland. He was light of purse, as he was light of heart, having only a pis- tareen in his pocket. But he had a ready wit, a handsome person, and engaging manners. An introductory letter to Dr. Deane, the minister of the only parish in the village, put him on a good footing, and he speedily commenced a most successful career. The only other lawyer in the town or county was Mr. Frothingham, and there were but four others in the whole State ; viz., Mr. Thacher in York ; Roland Cushing, Timothy Langdon,aud William Lithgowin Lincoln. In a letter written in 1828, he thus speaks of Maine, " Wiien 1 went into that country, in every part of which I have dis- DANIEL DAVIS. 118 charged my professional duties, the face of it, the habits and manners of the people, and those circumstances which are peculiar to a new country, where all the institutions of society were disregarded and neglected, would form a picture, that would astonish the present generation." Again, he says, " As a specimen of the change since my time, I recollect that when I went to Falmouth, there was no settled minister of the Gospel between that town and the British territories, except in North Yarmouth, New Gloucester, Wiscasset, and 1 believe one in Townsend. I was going to say, the sheep were without shepherds, — but then there were no sheep, but plenty of wolves all over the country." * * "I am the only survivor of tlic Maine bar who lived in that State at the time I went into it," — this was in 1828. The sar- casm contained in the above remark must be set down to the wit of Mr. Davis, and not taken for sober truth. Mr. Davis was an able advocate, and of easy and pleasant address. As a consequence, his business and reputation rapidly increased. He was no student, and not a profound lawyer ; but he had the faculty of showing all he had, and of seizing upon the points of a cause with facility and tact : he gathered up materials in the progress of the trial to con- struct an argument, which he had the happy talent to present to the jury in a most attractive form. By his readi- ness on all occasions, and his address, he became very popu- lar through the county. In 1792, he was one of the candidates for Congress, at the first election, for Cumberland District ; and received in Portland one hundred and twenty- four votes, to thirty-seven given for General Wadsworth ; the General, however, run better in the country, and obtained the position, which he held, by successive elections, until 1806. Mr. Davis was representative to tlie General Court six years, and six years a member of the senate of Massa- chusetts from Cumberland. In the legislature, he was a 114 DANIEL DAVIS. distinguished debater, and ranked with the eloquent Harri- son Gray Otis. In 1796, he was appointed United States Attorney for Maine, as successor to William Lithgow, and held the office until removed by Mr. Jefferson, in 1801. Silas Lee succeeded him. In 1800, while holding the above office, he was appointed Solicitor General of the Common- wealth, by Governor Strong ; an office created especially for him, as, in 1767, it had been for Jonathan Sewall. This position he held until 1832, when, from age and infirmity, being no longer able to perform the responsible duties of a criminal lawyer, the law establishing the office Avas repealed. It is but just to say, that he discharged all its duties with great ability and fidelity, for which he seemed to have a peculiar aptitude. In 1800, he was chosen President of the Board of Overseers of Bowdoin College, which he held five years. In 1804, finding that his services as Solicitor Gen- eral required his presence more frequently in Massachusetts than in Maine, he moved to Boston, where he resided while he continued in office. On its being taken from him, he retired from practice, and removed to Cambridge, where he died October 27, 1835. He published two works on criminal law, which are esteemed by the profession ; one called, " Da- vis's Justice ;" the other, " Precedents of Indictments." Of the former work, a writer in the Law Reporter, volume x., page 232, says, " The work of the late Mr. Solicitor Davis took at once the high rank which it long sustained among the safe and useful law books for the many. Its author was one of the best prosecuting officers that ever practiced in Massachusetts, and neatness and accuracy characterized all his literary and professional efforts." In 1786, he made a long and perilous journey to Quebec to consummate a matrimonial engagement previously formed with Miss Louisa Freeman of his native town, a sister of Dr. James Freeman, I). D., of King's Chapel, Boston. A nar- DANIEL DAVIS. 115 rative of tliis long journey through the unbroken wilderness and forest, which then spread between the Atlantic and the lower St. Lawrence, would embellish the pages of a tale with romantic interest. By this charming and accomplished lady he had a family of talented and amiable children. His eldest daughter married William Minot of Boston ; and his only surviving son is the distinguished Charles H. Davis, of the United States Navy, and of the Coast Survey, who has made himself illustrious by his skill and valor in feats of arms during the rebellion, as well as by his scientific attainments and works. I am able to add from one of the early cotemporaries of Mr. Davis, not at all given to laudation, the following char- acteristics of him : " He was eloquent and graceful, and a charming companion ; he was not a student, nor a book lawyer, but was quick in his perceptions, and argued his cases well." Mr. Davis was in the habit of quoting Scripture in his addresses to the jury, and did not always remember accu- rately. In the trial of Jacob Cochran, in Cumberland, for lewdness, a predecessor of the Mormons in his doctrines, against whom there was considerable prejudice in the com- munity, he quoted the passage, " Put off thy shoes," 0, there was scarcely a year in which he was not in some important pub- lic orticc. From 1796 to 1798 he was one of the three representatives in Congress from Maine, succeeding Gen- eral Dearborn : liis colleagues were George Thacher and Poleg Watlsworth. He declined a re-election, and the ])lace was filled by .Silas Lee. In 1799, he was appointed Tnited 134 ISAAC PARKER. States Marshal for Maine District ; and then moved to Port- land, as the courts were there held, and it was the most convenient place to discharge the duties of his ofhce. In Decemher, 1803, Mr. Jefferson removed him, and gave the oOico to Dr. Thornton of Saco, who held it to the time of his death, in 1821. Tliese offices did not withdraw him from his profession, wliich he pursued successfully in the common law courts, being , engaged in the most important causes which were pending in the tribunals of the State. He took high rank as a counsellor and an advocate ; and enjoyed a lucrative practice, until his appointment as an associate judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, in January, 180ij. He took his seat at the following March term in Suffolk. In December, of the same year, he pre- sided alone at the important trial of Thomas 0. Selfridge for the killing of Charles Austin ; in which he had to withstand the forensic skill and ingenuity of the ablest lawyers in Massachusetts, on an issue invenomed by a harsh party spirit. Attorney General Sullivan and Solicitor General Davis were for the government ; Samuel Dexter, Christo- pher Gore, Harrison G. Otis, and Charles Jackson, for the prisoner. He came out of this severe ordeal with unquali- fied approbation for dignity and impartiality. The appointment of so young a man, being then but thirty-seven years old, to so important an office, by a gov- ernor eminently qualified to estimate character and qualifi- cations, as was Governor Strong, and by the side of such aged and jjromincnt men as the accomplished Cliicf Justice Dana, ajid Justices Sedgwick, Sewall, and Tliacher, is a sufficient indication of the legal al)ility and standing of Judge Parker at the bar of the Commonwealth. Put we learn from his cotemporaries, that his qualifications for the office were fully eijual to its demands, and are amply ISAAC PARKER. 135 attested by his judicial career of twenty-four years. The testimony of a cotemporary to mc, a short time ago, will throw an agreeable light upon the private character of this estimable man ; of his public career we need say notliing, — that is already brilliantly recorded. Judge Whitman said, " Parker was one of the pleasaiitest men I ever knew, — kind, courteous, antl amiable. lie was not sanguine or over confident in his cases ; and was often embarrassed in argu- ing them. " He told me," said Judge W.," that lie frequently sulfered from this dittidence and embarrassment. At times he was very eloquent, and always, from his candid, honest manner, had great weight with the jury." He further ob- served that Judge Parker once said to him, that his per- formances- depended very much upon the state of his feelings. Chief Justice Scwall having died suddenly at Wiscasset, in 1814, he was immediately appointed his successor ; and as Chief Justice Sliaw remarks, " to the universal satisfac- tion of the community." Tliis sentiment was in no wise abated through the sixteen years during which lie presided in the court, to his own sudden and lamented death in 1830, at the age of sixty-two. His most enduring monument is to be found in the twenty-six volumes of the Massachusetts Reports, beginning at tlie second ; they record his clear and learned opinions, in all branches of the law, which under the profound lal)ors of Chief Justice Parsons and himself, were molded and formed to that mature system of jurispru- dence which is the pride and security of the ancient Com- monwealth. No man was ever more free from aifectation or pretension than Judge Parker ; modest, uiuissuming, unalfectedly great, he despised all tiie accessories and expe- dients to which weak and mean men resort to acquire notoriety. 136 ISAAC PARKER. Judge Parker was a graceful and polished writer, as well as speaker. In 1800, he delivered an eulogy on the death of Washington, at Portland, which was published : his beau- tiful tribute to the memory and character of his predecessor, Chief Justice Parsons, was also published. He was eleven years one of the trustees of Bowdoin College, and twenty years one of the overseers of Harvard, from which college he received the degree of LL. 1),, in 1814. In 181G, he was appointed Royall Professor of Law in Harvard University, — the first on that foundation, — and held the office until 1827. His popularity as a man, and his reputation as a lawyer and advocate, attracted young students to his office for their law education, after he moved to Portland, Among tliese, were Samuel D, Freeman and John Wadsworth, talented townsmen ; William B, Sewall, now of Kennebunk ; James Savage, the venerable antiquary, of Boston ; and Abraham Eustis, afterwards Brigadier General in the United States army ; these were all graduates of Harvard, and are dead, except Sewall and Savage. Judge Parker married Rebecca, a daughter of Joseph Hall of Medford, Massachusetts, who was a descendant from John Hall of Concord, 1G58, afterwards of Medford, which became the seat of the family. His grandson, John Hall, was the father of Joseph and grandfather of Mrs. Parker, Her mother was Abigail Brooks, a member of the honored fam- ily of that name in that ancient town. By her lie had several children; sons, — Edward, Charles A,, and Jolni ; daughters, — Ann, married to Henry Wainwright of Boston ; Margaret, who died before her father, unmarried ; and Emily, married to Mr, Davis of Boston. Charles graduated at Harvard in 1819, was a lawyer in Boston, and many years Clerk of the Sui»it'iiie Judicial Court in Suflblk County, SALMON CHASE. 137 SAL 51 ON CHASE. Salmon Chase, another distinguished lawyer, came into the State, and to the practice in 1789, the same year with Judge Parker. Mr. Chase was born in Cornish, New Hamp- shire, in 17(31, a descendant from Aquila Chase, who was l)orn in 1G18, and came from Cornwall, England, to New- l)ury, Massachusetts. Mr. Chase had six brothers, all of whom were highly respected. Among them were Dudley Chase, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont, and a distinguished Senator in Congress ; and the Right Rev. Philander Chase, Bishop of Ohio and Illinois. Mr. Chase graduated at Dartmouth College in 178-5, after which he went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to take charge of. a school, and 1)ecame a student at law with Judge Sher- burne. On completing his studies, he established himself in Portland, where he continued in the quiet and uninter- rupted pursuit of his profession until his death, in 1806, at the age of forty-five. Mr. Chase was a sound, well-read lawyer, and had such a reputation through the country as to be called the " Law Book." In the great deficiency of reports and books of reference, his opinions were much relied on in cases of doubt and difficulty. Mr. Hopkins, who was at the bar with him ten years, in a notice of him, says, " He was not only an able lawyer, but he was well versed in all the branches of solid learning ; in legal science, in mathematical and metaphysical learning, he had few superiors." He further says, " Mr. Chase was held by all his cotemporaries in very high respect as a lawyer." His practice was very extensive, more so than any lawyer of the time in the State, and confidence in him was unlimited ; in the midst of this success, he was suddenly removed, and a brilliant light of the bar extinguished. One of his cotem- poraries thus spoke of liim, " Salmon Chase was a sound 10 138 SALMON CHASE. lawyer, but not an eloquent advocate. He was wont to say, that let him prepare himself as thoroughly as he might, and be possessed of all the law and facts of his case, when he arose to address the jury, his mind seemed to be in chaos, he could not collect and arrange his thoughts, nor satisfy himself in the presentation of his cause." I learn from the same respected authority, that " lie was a kind and amiable man, easy and accessible in his manners, and of fine per- sonal appearance. From his sincerity and frank manner, he always had great influence with the jury. On one occa- sion he was engaged in a cause in the Common Fleas, before Chief Justice Lewis, an old man, with Mellen and Hopkins, who, being both excited, were continually sparring with each other, to the great annoyance of the bar ; in the midst of which the judge was quietly enjoying his nap. Chase, out of patience, jumped up, and said, " Pray, your Honor, stop this jabber, jabber, jabber." Mr. Chase was the uncle of the respected Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, who was named for his uncle, and to prevent all mistake in the case, the name of " Portland " was added, and " Salmon Portland Chase " perpetuates the name and residence of the honored subject of our notice. The two eminent lawyers of whom I have been speaking, Parker and Chase, together witli their cotcmjiorary, AVilliam Symmes, of whom a brief notice will follow, stand now vividly before me, as I saw them in my youthful days, in the court room and streets of Portland. All were of dig- nified mein and carriage. Chase much the tallest, but all portly, erect, and handsome. They were well-preserved specimens of the old school gentlemen and lawyers, all born before the commencement of the Pcvolution. Mr. Chase's death was very sudden ; he was at his office on Monday, and the next Sunday he died of bilious fever. 1 SALMON CHASE: SAMUEL C. JOHONNOT. 139 He left a sou and a daughter, remarkably fine children. (Jeorge, the son, graduated at Harvard College in 1818, with high promise, and gave every indication of honor and usefulness. He commenced the study of law in Portland, l)ut the next year, November 11, 1819, in the midst of brilliant expectations, his numerous friends and companions were summoned to pay the last tribute of affection and esteem at the grave of their friend. His sister, Elizabeth, married Dr. Howard of Boston, a grandson of Rev. Simeon Howard, the beloved pastor of the West Church, Boston. Mr. Chase was twice married, first to Miss Mary Stinson of Portsmouth, by whom he had one son, George, before mentioned, born September 20, 1800. She died in 1801. In 1804 he married Sarah Tyng Waldo, widow of Samuel Waldo, a merchant in Portland, by whom he bad the daughter before spoken of, who, with the mother, survived him. SAMUEL C. JOHONNOT. My next sketch will be of one whose name is not even known to persons of the last two generations, — a man who rose upon our horizon with a brilliancy which gave token of eminent success, but who was consumed in his own brightness. I refer to Samuel Cooper Johonnot. He was born in Boston, graduated at Harvard College in 1783, and was admitted to the bar of Cumberland in October, 1789, the same year which introduced Mr. Chase, Dudley HhI)- bard, and others to the practice in Maine. He had pre- viously studied and been admitted in Boston. In portraying his character I ado])t the language of Solicitor General Davis, in a letter to me in the year 1828. " Johonnot was the grandson of the cclcl)ratcd Samuel Cooper, D, D., of Boston, for whom lie was namiMl and by wliom he was adopted. His 140 SAMUEL C. JOHONNOT. grandfather discovered his extraordinary genius when he was quite a chikl. At an early age he sent him to France and Geneva for his education ; he remained many years in those countries, and when he returned he had notliing of the appearance, manners, or habits of an American. He was a complete Frenchman in everything. But his educa- tion was as thorough as any young man at that time could acquire in Europe. He was an elegant scholar. Spoke the modern languages, was full of wit, vivacity, and Latin, and one of the pleasantest companions I ever met with. But with all this, his European education ruined him for an American. He had no feelings, notions, or manners in common with us Yankees. For these reasons he could never succeed in his profession, though he had great natural endowments for it ; he accordingly quit it, and went to the West Indies. The last I heard of him he was an auctioneer. He studied with the late Governor Sullivan, by whom he was introduced to the bar, and who was extremely fond of him." To this graphic notice from Mr. Davis, I will add the tes- timony of Mr. Hopkins, who knew him well. " His satirical powers rendered him dangerous to those who fell under his censure, and ultimately proved injurious to himself ; for, entering into a newspaper quarrel upon the subject of a political election in 1791, his satire bore very severely upon several of the most considerable persons in Portland ; their resentment rendered his longer stay so perilous, that he foitnd it necessary to make a hasty removal. He resided in Portland only about two years ; he afterwards went to Dem- arara, where he was appointed American Consul in 1703, and accumulated a handsome estate." ' He died in 180G. 1 Hopkins's Address to the Cumberland Bar, 1833. MANASSEH SMITH. 141 MANASSEH SMITH Maiiasseh Smith was a son of Abijali Smith of Leominster, Massachusetts, where he was born in 1749, and graduated at Harvard College in 1773. For awhile he was chaplain in the army ; he afterwards pursued the study of law, and commenced practice in Leominster, and was for a time Clerk of the Court. He moved to Hollis in New Han^Dshire, and married there Hannah, a daughter of Daniel Emerson of that place, where several of his children were born. In 1788 he established himself in Wiscasset, Maine, where he ever after resided. He was wont to say that his whole library, at the commencement of his practice, consisted of the Statutes of Massachusetts and Blackstonc's Commen- taries. Law books were rare and expensive in that day, very few had been published in this country ; the first Amer- ican edition of Blackstone was issued at Philadelphia in 1772, and was a great enterprise ; the books then to be found in the principal cities, Boston, New York, and Phil- adelphia, were Bacon's Abridgment, Burrows, Plowden, Hobart, 2d Raymond, and Pere Williams's Reports, and the Law Dictionaries of Cunningham and Jacobs. It was not until some years after the Revolution, that any law books, except a few of forms, were published in this country: among the first were several prepai-ed by Samuel Freeman of Portland ; viz., the Clerk's Assistant, Town Officer, Pro- bate Manual, and Justice's Assistant : these, as an old prac- titioner informed me, were in general use by the profession, and with the Statutes, Blackstonc's Commentaries, and Espinasse's Nisi Prius, were al^out all the books which a lawyer's library contained at the close of the last century. Mr. Freeman was competent to the task he had undertaken, for, before the Revolution, he had been one of the irregular practitioners at the bar, and afterwards had filled all the 142 MANASSEH SMITH : LAW BOOKS. offices, the forms of which his books contained. He was forty-six years Clerk of the Court to 1820, with the excep- tion of one year, and for forty-six years was Register and Judge of Probate, passing from one to the other in 1801 ; he was Postmaster twenty-nine years, and twenty-five years a Selectman of the town. For a portion of the time he held nearly all these offices at once, — that is. Clerk, Judge or Register of Probate, Postmaster, and Selectman. Sucli an experience qualified him to prepare acceptable books of forms, and their merit was proved by their extensive use. John Adams, admitted to practice in 1758, speaking of the law books of that time, in his Diary, says, " At this time the study of the law was a dreary ramble. Tlie name of Blackstone had not been heard, whose Commentaries, together with Sullivan's Lectures, and Reeves's History of the Law, have smoothed the path of the student, while the long career of Lord Mansfield, his many investigations and decisions, the number of modern reporters in his time, and a great number of writers on particular branches of the science, have greatly facilitated the acquaintance of it. I was desirous of seeking the law as well as I could in its fountains, and I obtained as much knowledge as I could of Bracton, Britton, Fleta, and Glanville, but I suffered very much for want of books." Mr. Willard, in his address to the Worcester Bar in 1829, says, " In the seventeenth century it may well be doubted whether there were any books of tlie common law in the country, excepting two copies of the following works, which the Governor and assistants ordered to be imported in 1(>47 ; viz., Coke's Entries and Reports, his Commentaries and Reading on Magna Charta, the New Terms of the Law, and Dalton's Justice." Mr. Rice, who established himself in Winslow in 1795, informed me tiiat he opened an office in Wiscasset in 1794, MANASSEH SMITH. 143 at which time Silas Lee and Manasseh Smith were in prac- tice there. He says, " There they lived and there they died. Smith had formerly been a minister and afterwards Clerk of the Court in Massachusetts or New Hampshire. He accumulated a handsome property, and left a large family. I believe he never had any library except the Statutes of the State and Blackstone. He wrote so bad a hand that it was almost impossible to read it. It is said that Judge Paine, trying to read^.a special plea of his, was brought to a stand, and scolded him heartily. Smith said he had been, as a minister, in the habit of writing fast, which led him to be careless." Mr. Smith was not distinguished as a lawyer or advocate, but devoted himself to office business with assiduity, intel- ligence, and success. He gave more honor and service to the profession by his four sons, all of whom were educated at Harvard, and became successful and honorable practi- tioners ; viz., Manasseh, who graduated in 1800, and estab- lished himself in Warren, where he died a worthy and prominent citizen in 1822 ; Joseph Emerson, 1804, a re- spected practitioner in Boston, and died there in 1837 ; his classmate. Judge Ware of the United States District Court of Maine, pursued, for a time, his law studies with him. Samuel Emerson, a graduate in 1808, admitted to practice at the Sulfolk bar in 1812, became a prominent lawyer at Wiscasset, was made Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas in 1821, and in 1822 an associate of the new coui-t, with Chief Justice Whitman at its head ; and iii 1831 was elected Governor of the State, which office he held, by sub- sequent elections, three years. ' The fourth of this series of honored descendants is Edwin, a graduate of 1811, who, 1 A more extended notice of Governor Smith will be found in subsequent pages. 144 MANASSEH SMITH : DUDLEY HUBBARD. after discharging the duties of his profession many years m Warren, enjoying the confidence and respect of the commu- nity in wliich he has long resided, retired witli lionor from the har. Besides these sons, Mr. Smith left four daughters ; viz., Hannah, who married Colonel Samuel Scavey of Wisconsin ; Mary, married Ivory Hovey of Berwick ; Lydia and Lucy, who died in Wiscasset. He died at Wiscasset, May 23, 1823, at the age of seventy-four. DUDLEY HUBBARD. Dudley Hubbard, the first regularly educated lawyer who settled in South Berwick, was born in Ipswich, Massa- chusetts, March 3, 170)3. He was probably descended from Colonel Nathaniel Hubbard ; I infer this because the Colonel married a daughter of Rev. Samuel Dudley of Exeter ; — the two names uniting in Dudley Hubbard, seem to point to such an origin, and l)eing a native of Ipswich, long the res- idence of the Hubbard family, confirms the conjecture. He graduated at Harvard College in 178(3, in the class with Timothy Bigelow, Alden Bradford, and Chief Justice Parker. On leaving college, he immediately commenced the study of his profession witli Daniel Davis in Portland, was admit- ted to the hiiY in Cumberland County at the October term, 1789, and establislied liimself in that ])art of Berwick which, in 1814, was incorporated as South Berwick. This was a beautiful and prosperous village, containing an unusual number of well-educated and cultivated persons. Ebenczer Sullivan, a brother of John and James, was tlion in practice there ; he was brilliant and eloquent like his brothers, but irregular and desultory in his lui))its ; lie liad served in the army of tlie Revolution, and was captain of one of the two companies raised in Soutli Berwick at the beginning of the DUDLEY HUBBARD. 145 war. He afterwards commanded a company on the western frontiers. He Avas not a rival to stand much in the way of an intclUgcnt and persevering attorney ; Mr. Hubbard, therefore, soon left him far behind in the race for business, and had the whole field to himself. His clients multiijlied, many of them from Boston, with which Berwick was much connected in trade, and his engagements rapidly increased. He was for many years leader at the York bar, and he occa- sionally practiced in Cumberland. He was an eloquent advocate ; which, united -with a very handsome person, pleasing address, and dignified manners, introduced him to an extensive and lucrative practice. He also was for some- time attorney for the county. His large business and stand- ing at the bar drew numerous students to his office, among whom were some who became prominent in subsequent years ; viz., Edward P. Hayman, Benjamin Greene, George W. Wallingford, William A. Hayes, William Lambert, and Ether Shepley, late Chief Justice of Maine, all of whom but Judge Shepley are dead. The following anecdote will give an impression of the imposing appearance of Mr. Hubbard in term time. The late Judge Dana of Eryeburg, on his first attendance at the court in York, near the close of the last century; took a letter of introduction to Mr. Hubbard ; but he found him so formal and distant in his demeanor that he did not deliver it. Dana met there his classmate, the late Judge Emery, who had just csLablishcd himseU' at Parsonslield, and was also attending his lirst term. As they were jogging on together toward home, on horseback, Dana told Emery about his letter to Hul)bard ; Emery replied that lie also had a similar letter, wliich he had declined presenting for the same reason. Tbis may have been the reserve of modest young men, at a period when tbi; intercourse between the ehlor 146 DUDLEY HUBBARD : GEORGE STACY. and junior members of the bar was much less free than at the present day. Mr. Hubbard's fine conversational powers and his agreea- ble address gave him the entree into the best society, not only of his own place of residence, but of Portsmouth, Bos- ton, and of Montreal, where he went occasionally to visit his wife's friends. His social qualities and his fondness for society drew him too much from his professional duties in the latter part of his life, in consequence of whicli his pecu- niary resources were much diminished, while his expensive habits did not follow the same ratio of reduction. He also built a handsome house, the one which Judge Hayes after- wards owned and occupied. These expenditures outrun his income, and he became embarrassed and despondent ; having a proud, ambitious spirit, his affairs pressed heavily upon him,,and he died suddenly, April 26, 1816, at the age of lifty-three. His wife was Olivia Dame, whom he married at Trois Rivieres^ in Canada. She was educated. in a con- vent at Montreal, and was a woman of great personal beauty and accomplished manners. She survived her husband but a few years. Mr. Hubbard left one daughter, who married Benjamin Nason of South Berwick, and their daughter is the wife of Edward E. Bourne, Jr., a lawyer in Kennebunk, and son of Judge Bourne. Thus the blood of Mr. Hub- bard is transmitted, though not his name. GEORGE STACY. Another York lawyer, cotemporary of Mr. Hubbard, was George Stacy. He, too, was a native of Ipswich, l)orn in 1764, and graduated at Harvard College in 1784. After being admitted to the bar lie established himself at Bidde- ford in 178*J or the year before. But soon getting into some disagrecaljle entanglement with tlie other sex, and becoming GEORGE STACY. 147 dissipated, he was obliged to make a sudden departure from that place. lie afterwards became Consul for the Isle of France, and died at St. Mary, Georgia, in 1808. He was a tall and well-proportioned man, but ac({uired no distinction as a lawyer or advocate ; and his name, many years ago, passed out of the recollection of the people of Saco. In making a survey of the lives and characters of the lawyers who have moved through the plane of our history for the past one hundred years, we are deeply impressed with the retributions which have been meted out according to their lives and acts. To the industrious, virtuous, and honorable practitioners, — honor, success, applause, and friends have been awarded ; while those who have pursued the phantoms of pleasure and indulged in the social vices of the period, have fallen into untimely and unhonored graves, or lived to be objects of reprobation and contempt. Tiie examples of each class are numerous, and could easily be recalled ; but it were an invidious task to exhibit the dark shadows which have settled heavily on many of our brethren. The moral to be drawn from the contrast would be useful to young practitioners, but at an expense of wounded feeling which it were not worth while to incur. CHAPTER XII. WILLIAM SYMMES — PHINEAS BRUCE — SILAS LEE — JAMES BRIDGE — PRENTISS MELLEN — SAMUEL S.WILDE — GEORGE WARREN — AMOS STODDARD — WILLIAM HODGE — THOMAS RICE — JOSEPH THOMAS — JOB NELSON. WILLIAM SYMMES. 179 0—1807. Among the distinguished lawyers who came into practice in the State in 1790, were William Symmes, at Portland ; James Bridge, at Augusta; and Pliincas Bruce, at Machias. Mr. Symmes came with a i-cputation ac(|uircd as a member of the Convention of Massachusetts which adopted the Con- stitution of the United States. He was descended from the Rev. Zacliariah Symmes, who was rector of tlie Parish of Dunstable in Bedfordshire, England, from 1625 to 1(333. In the latter year he came to this country, and was imme- diately settled in Charlcstown, Massachusetts, where he died in 1071. His son Zacliariah, and his grandson Thomas, were ministers in Bradford. The subject of this notice was the son of the Rev. Zacliariah Symmes of Andover, and of the sixth generation from the first immigrant. He was born in 1702, graduated at Harvard College in 1780, and after pursuing his regular course of study, was admitted to prac- tice at the Essex Bar. Previous to this, he spent some time WILLIAM SYMMES. 149 in Virginia as a private tutor, during which he kept up a correspondence with his classmates and friends : his letters arc said to liave l^een interesting and instructive : a friend who had seen them pronounced them beautiful. In 1788 he was a member of the Convention of Massachusetts which adopted the Constitution of the United States, and in the first instance took part in opposition to it under the instruc- tions of his constituents ; he afterwards, on hearing the arguments of Parsons and others, changed his views, and voted in favor of its adoption, for which he received the commendation of his town. He came to Portland in 1790, and entered at once upon a successful practice, and took high rank at the bar ; he was a good classical scholar, a sound lawyer, and an able advocate. His manner was formal and stately, but graceful. One of his students, — William Freeman, — now living at an advanced age in Cher- ryfield, has given me his impressions of Mr. Symmes, which, coming from so reliable a source, arc justly apppreciated ; he says, " The personal appearance of Mr. Symmes was stately and dignified. He was, in all respects, a gentleman in his manners, and emphatically one of the old school. He was affable and polite, and commanded affection as well as respect. He may truly be said to have been one of the most imposing and infiuential men at that time in Portland. As a lawyer and advocate he was unsurpassed. In his efforts as a speaker there was perhaps more of the for tiler in re, than the suaviler in modo. He always touched the right string. He had great discriminating powers ; no one brought out the root and truth of the case so effectually as he did, whether at the bar or any public meeting. Great confidence was felt in his opinions on all occasions, and especially on legal questions. He was unquestionably the best and most reliable lawyer in the State of his time." He then speaks of the cloud which was cast upon his latter days by tlie use 150 . WILLIAM SYMMES. of intoxicating drinks ; and adds, " Often, when mellow with brandy, his favorite drink, he was brilliant, arid threw more light on a subject under discussion than any other speaker." It was probably under the influence of his favorite beverage that a scene between him and Judge Thacher took place. Mr. Symmcs had made a motion to the court, which he was zealously arguing, notwithstanding frequent inter- ruptions by the judge. Thacher at last became impatient, and said, " Mr. SyuDues, you need not persist in arguing the pohit, for I am not a court of errors, and cannot give a final judgment." " I know," replied Symmes, " that you can't give a final judgment, but as to your not being a court of errors, I will not say." Mr. Symmes often attended the courts in York, as did other prominent members of the Cumberland Bar, and was frequently engaged in important cases. In the course of a trial in an action of trespass concerning a lot of boards, Symmes, in his formal, dignified manner, spoke of the "sanctity" of this pile of lumber. Ebenezer Sullivan and other members of the bar were amused with the use of the word in that connection, and Sullivan wrote an impromptu, nearly as follows : " Moses of old, wlio led the Jewish race, Forbid but one, and that the holy i)lace ; Even God hiinsolf forbade that wood or stone Should liavo the honiafre due to him alone, But Symines, with wisdom greater than divine, Finds sanctity in boards and slabs of pine." It was very common for the wits of tlie l)ar, at that time, to amuse themselves in writing squibs and Ijon mots during the tedious processes of trials. Mr. Hopkins, a cotemporary, in his address to the Cum- berland Bar in 1833, thus speaks of Mr. Symmes : " Mr. Symmes was a well-read lawyer, and an able and eloquent WILLIAM SYMMES : PHINEAS BRUCE. 151 advocate. He ranked among the first of his cotemporaries. He was also a fine classical scholar, of cultivated literary taste, and uncommonly learned as a historian. His produc- tions in the newspapers of the time were honorable testimony to his literary character, particularly a series of numbers, entitled ' Communications,' al)out the year 1795, in de- fense of the common law. These numl)ers were published in the principal newspapers throughout the Union. Mr. Symmcs, with Judge Thachcr and two or three others, ren- dered the newspapers of that period very interesting by their valuable contributions." It may not be improper forme to say that Mr. Hopkins himself, as also Johonnot, Mr. Mellen, and Solicitor Davis, were among the contributors who made the Portland papers of that day exceedingly interesting. Mr. Symmes was never married ; he died January 7, 1807, aged forty-five. He had a brother, a physician in New Gloucester, who died in the early part of this century, about the year 1804. PHINEAS BRUCE. 1790 — 1809. Wc come now to speak of Phineas Bruce : and who, you ask, is Phineas Bruce ? No wonder that liis name is not remembered by a living member of the bar in Maine ; yet, sixty years ago, he had a name and a fame. He was the first lawyer that entered into practice in the county of Washington. He descended from George Bruce, who set- tled in Woburn, Massachusetts, about 1(').")0, and was son of George Bruce, born in 1732, and Hannah Lovctt, born in 1738. His father died in Leicester, May 3, 1785, and his mother at Billerica, December 18, 1821, having had ten children, six sons and four daughters. Phineas was the second child, and was born at Mendon, Massachusetts, June 152 PHINEAS BRUCE: SILAS LEE. 7, 1762. He graduated at Yale College in 1786, and com- menced his legal studies with William Caldwell of Rutland, ending them with Benjamin llitchborn of Boston. After being admitted to the bar, he came to Machias, in 1700. He was a good lawyer, and highly esteemed for his integrity, and his ability to investigate and analyze any su])ject to which he a})plied his powers ; but from excessive modesty and diffidence he never became a successful advocate. He represented the town of ]\Iachias in the legislature eight years, from 1793, and was the only representative to the General Court during that time from the county. In 1803, he was elected to the Eighth Congress, which commenced its term in 1804. His colleagues from Maine were Richard Cutts from York, Pelcg Wadsworth from Cumberland, and Samuel Thatcher from Lincoln. But a violent attack of hypochondriasis, to which he had been subject, occurring at this time, prevented his taking his seat ; and before the close of his term he became of unsound mind, and contin- ued insane until his death, which took place in Uxbridge, October 4, ISOf). In March, 1795, he married Jane Savage, sister of the Hon. James Savage of Boston, by whom he had five sons and one daughter. His widow died in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, in 1854, at the age of eighty-six. SILAS LEE. Silas Lee was son, and the eighth child, of Hr. Joseph Lee of Concord, Massachusetts, and was born there July 23, 1760. Mr. Lee pursued his ])reliminary studies under some diOiculties : his native town was one of the earliest battle fields of the Revolution, and letters and arms alter- nately occupied his thoughts ; and it was not until he was twenty years old, and near the close of the great struggle. i SILAS LEE. loo that lie was able to enter Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1784, having for his classmates the late Profes- sor Abbott of Bowdoin College, and Chief Justice Mellen. He pursued his legal studies with Judge Thacher at Bidde- ford, whose niece. Temperance Hedge of Dennis, Cape Cod, he afterwards married. He established himself in AViscasset in 1789, and having the whole field to himself, and being a skillful lawyer, he soon acquired a large and profitable prac- tice. He zealously pursued his professional business, while at the same time he engaged in political life. In 1794, 1798, and 1799, he represented his town in the General Court, the first' time as successor to Mr. Gardiner, who was wrecked and drowned in 1793. In 1799 he was elected to Congress from the Eastern District to succeed Mr. Parker, who had been appointed Marshal of the district. He held this place one term, when, in 1801, he was selected by Mr. Jefferson to take the place of Daniel Davis as United States Attorney for Maine. This office he held in conjunction with that of Judge of Probate, to which he was appointed in 1804 as successor to Judge Bowman, until his death, which took place March 3, 1814, at the age of fifty-four. He also held the office of chief justice of the Common Pleas in 1810, and until the new court went into operation in 1811. He died of a nervous fever caused by a continued and excessive strain upon his constitution in the severe duties of his offices. From 1807 to the close of the war with England in 1815, during the non-intercourse and non-importation laws, the embargo and all the restrictive measures of government, the United States courts were crowded with business ; large amounts of property were held under seizure for violation of law, and the novelty and importance of the suits ren- dered the duties of the District Attorney exceedingly ardu- ous. 0])position to the restrictive measures arrayed against him the whole commercial interest, which employed the ablest 11 154 SILAS LEE: JAMES BRIDGE. advocates to embarrass and foil the goverifment officers. These kept the attorney in a state of constant excitement and exertion, and were too great a burden for Mr. Lee to bear ; he perished in the midst of them, a martyr to official duty. Mr. Lee was a well-read lawyer, was quick and full of energy, and, as one of his cotcmporaries informed me, few persons more fully enjoyed the confidence of the public or were more sincerely mourned. He was a good special pleader, but a poor advocate ; in his address to the jury he was long, prosy, and tedious ; but, notwithstanding this defect, he had a very large business, which may be accounted for by- his good sense and ability as a lawyer, his genial disposition and gentlemanly manners, tic left no cliildrcn. Mr. Rice, a cotemporary of Mr. Lee, in a letter to me a short time before his death, made the following remarks : " Mr. Lee was a good lawyer, but was too tedious in his long speeches, greatly attached to special pleading, and would, in drawing a plea under the statute of limitations, occupy a sheet or two of closely written paper. He had a large business, made a good deal of money, but died poor." JAMES BIMDGE. 171)0—1834. About the same time that Mr. Lee settled in Wiscasset, James Bridge commenced practice in Augusta, then a part of Lincoln County. Ho was the son of Edmund Bridge, who was born in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1739. The Bridges are of ancient lineage ; they go back to clas- sical times ; we learn that a contest for some time existed in Italy between the houses of Pont'i and Cattali as to tlie an- tiquity of their families ; the former contended that the Bridifcs were aI)ove the Canals, the latter, that Canals ex- isted befure Bridges. Our classical friends need not be told ^•^ HON. JAMES BRIDGE AT THE AGE OF 35 J U^V-t^^<^ ifi-z^i>^ JAMES BRIDGE. 155 that the Italian names Ponti and Canali are interpreted in Englisli by Bridge and Canal. The plain English family of Bridge, their first coming to America, and the descent of James Bridge from the Amer- ican ancestor, are fnlly spoken of in a notice of Sheriff Bridge, which is contained in another part of our book. His mother was Phebe Bowman, by whom he was connected with Judge Bowman of Lincoln County. His father was Sheriff of Lincoln from 1781 to 1815, a period of thirty-four years. James, liis eldest son, was born in Dresden, Septem- ber 21, 1765. He graduated at Harvard College in 1787, a classmate of John Quincy Adams, Judge Cranch, Dr. Heze- kiah Packard, father of Professor Packard of Bowdoin Col- lege, and the late Judge Putnam of Massachusetts. He was the chum of Mr. Adams and a fellow-student at law with him in the office of Theophilus Parsons at Newburyport. On being admitted to practice in 1790, he first opened an office atBucksportonthe Penobscot, but soon after removed to xVugusta, where he ever after lived. He entered on the profession with the reputation of being a good scholar, and he soon acquired that of being a good lawyer. The time was remarkably favorable for a prac- titioner. General Lithgow was the only lawyer who occu- pied that field, and he was soon disabled by disease. Land titles were then in great confusion ; large proprietors, — ab- sentees, — had neglected their estates ; many persons were coming into tlic district, and not knowing where to apply to make purchases, had entered upon favorable locations, and pitched their habitations without title. Vexing questions were constantly arising in regard to boundaries as well as to rights of title and possession. Into the midst of this prac- tice Mr. Bridge entered with intelligence, zeal, and activity, acquired the confidence of landed proprietors and of the community, and became the leader at the bar. It was 156 .lAMKS IHUDGE, particularly as the agent and attorney of the Proprietors of the Kennebec Purchase, that his business was extended, and a large property accumulated. He associated with him in practice a young lawyer who had been his student, then just coming on the stage, Reuel Williams, as a partner, who laid, in this connection, the foundation of a fortune and political distinction. Mr. Bridge found his partner so able to take charge of the business that he gradually retired from it; and although the partnership continued in name for thirty years, yet Mr. Bridge did very little in it after 1810 ; he had a disrelish for courts, his circumstances were easy, and he was sharing considerable profits from the ofiice for the benefit of having introduced a young friend on a most successful career, and for his owiiioccasional attendance. Mr. Bridge was so much engrossed by professional duties for the first twenty years of his practice, that he did not engage in political life ; in 1799 he represented his town in the legislature, probably with a view to eifect the establish- ment of Kennebec County, which was separated from Lin- coln in that year. He was appointed tlie first Judge of Probate of the county, which he resigned in 1804, and was succeeded by Judge Daniel Cony. He was a member of the Executive Council of Massachusetts in 1818, and a del- egate to the convention which })rcparcd the Constitution of Maine in 1819, and one of the committee to draft that in- strument. Judge Bailey of Wiscasset observed to me that when he came to Maine in 1794, " Mr. Bridge was at the head of the bar in Augusta, and his practice was very extensive, especially in landed matters." He also said of jSIr. Bridge's fatlier, that " he was an excellent officer and much respected. He had a long range to attend to ; all the country now comprised in the counties of Lincoln, Kennebec, Somerset, and part of JAMES BRIDGE. 157 Waldo was then in one county." And this was before the counties of Sagadahoc, Androscoggin, and Knox were taken off. He was appointed in 1820 one of the joint commissioners of Massachusetts and Maine, " to adjust the personal con- cerns of the two States," and to make division of tlie public lands, Tbe conunissioners, consisting of Levi Lincoln, George Bliss, and Silas Holman of Massachusetts, and James Bridge, Benjamin J. Porter, and Lathrop Lewis of Maine, made their report concerning the personal rights in May, 1822, which they declared to be a full and final adjust- ment of all personal property and of lial)ilities and claims between tlie two States. December 28, 1822, they made a report " on the division of the public lands under the act of separation," a long and able document, and they made a final report of their doings in ]\Iay, 1823. Judge Bridge was also appointed in 1820 with Albert Newhall and William Swan, a commissioner to investigate the doings of certain banks whicli had become bankrupt. The office business of this gentleman was so extensive and lucrative that it occupied his time too much to enable liim to make a distinguished figure as an advocate, yet he was an easy, graceful speaker, and capable of taking a high position in that character if he bad given attention to it. Not long after his connection with ^Ir. Williams, he gradu- ally withdrew from the courts and practice, and found suffi- cient employment as President of one of the Augusta Banks and in the management of his private affairs. He was em- inently a practical man, and by a steady application to the duties of private life he secured to himself a competency, of which his children after his death, in 18o4, became partakers. A persistent solicitor for a society once was urging witlj great earnestness his su1»scription to some object, and took occasion to say tliat a liberal donation would bear 158 JAMES BRIDGE. honorable testimony to his generosity. Mr. Bridge heard him through, then coolly replied that he could not agree with him, for from his experience in life, which had been considerable, he had found that people were respected more for what they had than for what they gave away. This was not quite so good as Douglass Jerrold's reply. A not very deserving character had been frequently aided by subscription, and an appeal was again made. " Well," said Jerrold, " how much does he want this time ? " " Why, just a four and two naughts 1 think will make him straight." " Well," said he, " put me down for one of the naughts." Another reply of Jerrold's is equally good. Tom Dibbin said to him the first time he saw him, " Young man, have you sufficient confidence in me to lend me a guinea ? " " O yes," said Jerrold, " I have the conlidcnce, but not the guinea." Judge Bridge married Hannah, a daughter of Judge Joseph North of Augusta, who died before him, leaving the reputation of great benevolence of character and most pleas- ing manners. .Their children were as follows : , 1. Edmund Theodore, born in 1799, graduated at Bow- doin College in 1818. lie studied law and opened an office in Augusta, was sometime United States Mail Agent for New England, moved to New York, opened an offiico, and there died in 1854, aged fifty-five, lie left two daughters, and had a son in the practice of law in New York, who is dead. 2. Margaret, Ijorn about 1801, married a son of General North, aid of the Baron Steuben. She is now a widow re- siding in the city of New York. 3. James, born about 1803, merchant of Augusta. He married a daughter of Hon. Reucl Williams, and is living in Augusta. 4. Horatio, born 1805, graduated at Bowdoin College in JAMES BRIDGE : OLIVER LEONARD. 159 1825, studied law and opened an office in Augusta, and is now " Chief of Bureau of Clothing and Provision," at Washington. 5 and G. William and Mary, twins, born in 1808. Mary is dead, and AVilliam is now attached to the Navy Yard in Charlestown,' Massachusetts. 7. Hannah, born in 1810, married Daniel Williams, a lawyer in Augusta, Maine. The lion. Jacob McGaw of Bangor has kindly furnished me the following skftcli of one of his cotemporaries. OLIVER LEONARD. 17 9 6 — 1828. Although the ancestry of any citizen of the United States exerts very little influence upon his reputation or useful- ness in the period of life in which he is, or ought to be, most beneficial to society ; yet all of us are so constituted, that we feel satisfaction in being able to reckon honorable names among our kindred, whether they be dead or remain in full life. ^ (Jliver Leonard was not accustomed to recur frequently to his lineage, yet his relatives reckon their descent from the noble family of Leonard, Lord Dacre, who nourished iu the twelfth century, at Fontypool, in England. In 1052, James Leonard, with his brother, Henry Leon- ard, sons of Thomas Leonai^d, left Pontypool, and came to Taunton, JMassachusetts, where James settled, and there established the ilrst manufactory of iron that ever existed in America. Henry settltMl in the neighboring town of Raynhani, where he remained a few years, and then re- moved to New Jersey. From these two gentlemen, the genealogy of all the families of Leonard in the United 160 OLIVER LEONARD. States may be traced. Men of considerable eminence in the learned ])rofessions, and other dignified conditions in lite, have existed in nearly every generation of this name, since the arrival of the two brothers before spoken of. Oliver Leonard, the subject of this sketch, was a son of Jonathan Leonard, who descended from the aforenamed James Leonard, and was born at Norton, Massachusetts, in February, 1764. He entered Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 1783, and graduated in 1787. While Mr. Leonard was an undergraduate in college, the insurrection in Massachusetts, commonly known as " Shays's Rebel- lion," occurred. The patriotism of the scholar was too ardent to permit even the honors and ])enefits of college to detain him from joining the governmental troops uyder General Lincoln, and performing the duties of adjutant as long as his services could be useful to the Commonwealth. His fine personal appearance and good horsemanship in- duced poorly informed spectators to suppose that he was colonel of a regiment, and to apply to him the title which that rank confers on its lawful possessor. In his after life he was always addressed by the style or title of Colonel Leonard. Shays's Rebellion having been quelled, Mr. Leonard returned to the university, rejoined his class, and graduated with it in good standing. Embarrassment in all kinds of business at that time presented to young men great difficul- ties in making choice of the most judicious j)ursnits for usefulness and prosperity in after life. An olTer by Major Thomas Fobes to enter into partnership in trade with him, at Norton, was accepted by Mr. Leonard, but continued only about one year, when it was dissolved, and a pupilage as student at law, under the direction of Stephen Dexter, Esq., at Newport, Rhode Island, was commenced ; and with the OLIVER LEONARD. 161 exception of a short time in Judge Padelford's ofiice, at Taunton, pursued until his admission to the bar in IT'Jl. VVliile living at Newport, he became acquainted with Mrs. Sarah Fletcher, and was married to her about the time he commenced the joractice of his profession. Mrs. Fletcher was tlie widow of an English surgeon in the Amer- ican Revolution. She had, in her own right, an anniiity of one hundred guineas. With this fund to connect with pro- fessional earnings, he established himself, and opened a law oflice at Taunton, the shire town of Bristol County in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. At this place he contin- ued to reside until 179G, sharing, so far as he might with some other older and more lirnily established lawyers than himself, in the business of the county. About this time, some resolute and industrious young men who lived in the region of Mr. Leonard's nativity, but who had just begun to acquire property, determined to remove to Orrington, Maine, which was then principally in the state of nature. Mr. Leonard being favorably impressed in })rospect of the future importance of the territory bor- dering on Penol)scot River, concluded to remove from Taunton, and settle in Orrington, with the hoj)e and cxpec tation of participating lil)erally in the reward of well directed efforts for development of its capabilities of pros- pective wealth and honor. Pursuant to this determination, he purchased a tract of land on which the making of a farm had been conunenced, in that j)art of Orrington which now constitutes the town of iirewer, and there conducted, through twenty years, bis j)rofessional labors. There was no disappointment of hoj)es concerning the rapid increase of population in ( hrington and circumjacent territory ; but the residents were generally poor men. This characteristic produced numerous successful applications for pecuniary credit. Large profits were freely promised to creditors. 162 OLIVER LEONARD. which very commonly failed of fulfillment. Suits at law for collection of debts became numerous in proportion to the population. Mr. Leonard was the only lawyer, during live years, who lived within the limit that now constitutes the county of Penobscot, and enjoyed a large amount of prac- tice in the department mentioned. In 1802, two other lawyers commenced the business of their profession in the adjoining town of Bangor, and partook largely of business that before had been performed by Mr. Leonard exclusively. The fortune of Mrs. Leonard, united to her husband's pro- fessional income, induced him to engage too largely in the purchase and manufacture of lumber, together with some other oj)erations that were entirely foreign to the course of his previous education and pursuits ; which proved unfortu- nate in their results. The people of Orrington having become sufficiently nu- merous to be entitled to a representative in the legislature of Massachusetts, elected Mr. Leonard to that honorable office in 1798, and he was re-elected the five following years. Flattered by the confidence and respect thus manifested by his townsmen, he discliarged the duties of the office prompt- ly and with fidelity. Having undertaken to perform func- tions of such great and differing natures, he could jiot be expected to excel in his profession. Yet he remained at Orrington in the prosecution of a small portion of business until after the close of the war between the United States and England, which was commenced in 1812. Having disposed of the estate tliat had belonged to liim in Orrington (now Brewer), he removed to Bangor in 1817 with the intention of employing his time in more constant application to professional j)iirsuits than he liad done in several of tlie preceding years. But he had l)ecome somucli weaned from study and the routine of business, that few Avi^ .#^ A^ed jOycajs. OLIVER LEONARD : PRENTISS MELLEN. 163 clients were inclined to patronize him ; and this, too, at a time wlien increased income was very desirable. A grievous illustration of the maxim, " Solitary woes are rare," now occurred, which served to crush the aspirations of Mr. Leonard for the comforts that a pecuniary compe- tency affords to persons who have been accustomed to such enjoyments from their infancy up to the border of old age. It so happened that now, when the principal dependence of Mr. and Mrs. Leonard for their ease and even sustenance in after life, was the regular and prompt payment of her annuity, the base of the fund on which that annuity, together with other annuities, rested, became the subject of a suit in Chancery. Payment of the annuities was thereby suspended for nearly or quite twenty years. All superfluities in household affairs ceased to be attaina- ble by Mr. and Mrs. Leonard, and the comforts of life be- came fewer from month to month until absolute poverty overtook them, instead of the abundance which they had previously enjoyed. His splendid figure bent, his cheerful and handsome face became gradually gloomy, and his con- versation lost most of its charms under his adversity. In- finite wisdom protracted his depressed life until January, 1828, when his earthly existence ended, and his spiritual, eternal state commenced. At the time of Mr. Leonard's death the suit in Chancery had not been closed, but Mrs. Leonard lived to enjuy, through one or two years, the fruits of a decree entirely favorable to her claims and rights. PRENTISS MELLEN. 1 7 '.1 2 — 1 8 -J . Prentiss Mellen, the next lawyer wlio settled in Maine, was the eighth of the nine children of the Rev. John ^ireUcn of Sterling, Massachusetts, and was born in that town Octo- lt)4 PRENTI.'^^i MELLEN. ber 11, 17<)4. His mother was Rebecca Prentiss, daughter of the Rev. John Prentiss of Lancaster, from which family his Christian name was derived. His grandfather was Thomas ]N[ellen, a fiirmer of Hopkinton in Massachusetts. His father was born there 31arch 14, 1722, graduated at Harvard College in 1741, and having served long and faith- fully in the ministerial ortice at Sterling and Hanover, in the Old Colony, he died at Reading, Massachusetts, in 1807, aged eighty-hve. His elder brother Henry and himself were fitted for col- lege by their father, and entered Harvard together in 1780, from wliich they took their degree in 1784, in the same class with John Abbott, long a professor in Bowdoin College ; Silas Lee, a distinguished lawyer in Wiscasset ; and others who have taken honorable positions in society. Henry, In'illiant, witty, an attribute of the Prentiss stock, somewhat wayward, but beloved by all who knew him, established himself in the profession of law at Dover, New Hampshire, where he died in 1809. Prentiss spent a year after his graduation, in Barnstable, as a private tutor in the family of Josc})!! Otis ; he pursued his legal studies in the same place with the eccentric lawyer, Shearjashub Bourne, and was admitted to the bar in Taunton in October, 1788. On that occasion, in conformity with an ancient custom, he treated the court and bar with half a pail of punch. His own version of this treat was as follows : " According to the fashion of that day, on the great occasion, I treated the judge and all the lawyers with about half a pail of j^utu-h, which treating' aforesaid was commonly called " the colt's tail." Mr. McUen commenced jn-acLice in his native town, but removed in eight months to Bridgewater, where he con- tinued until November, 1791. Not meeting with the success ho desired, he again chaiifred liis domicil, and s})ent the PRENTISS MELLEN. 165 winter and spring witli his brother Henry in Dover. From that place, in Jnly, 1792, he removed to Biddeford in this State, by the advice of his firm and constant friend, the late Judge Thacher, who was then a Representative in Congress from Maine. Here he commenced that sphere of success- ful and honorable practice which placed him at the head of the bar in Maine, and at the head of its highest judicial tribunal. His beginning in Biddeford was of the most humble kind, and may give an idea of what professional men had to en- dure in that day. He thus described it to me : " I opened my office in one of old Squire Hooper's front chambers, in which were then arranged three beds and half a table and one chair. My clients had the privilege of sitting on some of the beds. In this room I slept, as did also sundry trav- elers frequently, the house being a tavern." Wliat his library was, may be inferred from tliis humble office apparatus. The population of Biddeford did not then exceed eleven hundred, and that of the whole county, which embraced a large ])art of Oxford, was about twenty-eight thousand ; all served by three attornies ; viz., Dudley Hub- bard of Berwick, and Messrs. Thacher and Mellen at Bidde- ford. There was then one term of the Common Pleas Court held at Biddeford ; and one term of the Supreme Court at York, for the year, in that county, and one term of the Supreme Court in each of the counties of Cumberland and Lincoln for Jury trials ; — which was all the favor the highest judicial tribunal was then permitted to extend to tliis Dis- trict. The /aw term for Maine was held in Boston, and the records kept there. I'iie whole j)o[)ulation of tiie State was then about one hundred thousand, (.iovernor Sullivan had formerly lived and practiced in Biddeford, but had removed to Boston, and was, at the time we are speaking of, Attorney General of Massachusetts. 166 PRENTISS MELLEN. From 180-1, until his appointment as chief justice in 1820, Mr. Mellen practiced in every county in the State, and was engaged in every prominent cause. In 1806, his practice in Cumberland being extensive, he removed to Portland, where his professional engagements had become numerous^ and where a very large commercial liusiness was transacted. His competitors were men of high legal attainments, of great natural abilities, and able and eloquent as advocates. Daniel Davis had just before removed to Boston ; there re- mained, — the accomplished Parker, afterwards chief Justice of Massachusetts ; the patient and laborious Chase, and the scholarly Symmes, both of whom, by their untimely death, opened a wider field for the new comers ; the grave and cautious Whitman, afterwards chief justice of Maine; the sensible and acute Longfellow, and the ardent Hopkins ; all of them residents of Portland, and ornaments of the Cum- berland Bar. He also found able rivals in other parts of the State, in the adroit and eloquent Wilde, late of the Su- preme Court of Massachusetts ; the sagacious Silas Lee ; and Orr, shrewd, skillful, and prompt. " His most constant op- ponent," said Professor Greenleaf, " was Judge Wilde ; their forensic warfare, adopted by tacit consent, was to place the cause on its merits, produce all the facts, and fight the battle in open field." He adds, " A generous warfare like this could not but create a generous friendship. They have often l)een heard to speak of each other and of those scenes in animating terms." To take the lead among such men, in their chosen pro- fession, required and proved Mr. Mellen to have possessed more than ordinary powers. It was often said, previous to the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, that the Bar of Cuml^crland was the best in the commonwealth. And certainly that must have l»ccn a bar of extraordinary qual- ity, wliich could at one time Ijoast of lawyers superior to PRENTISS MELLEX. 167 Parker, .Symmcs, Mellon, Chase, Whitman, Longfellow, Em- ery ; and the juniors, Orr, Fessendon, Greenleaf, Davies, who came in as the others passed to the bench or to a higher tribunal. , At the bar, Mr. Mellen's manner was fervid and impas- sioned ; his countenance lighted up with l)rilliancy and in- telligence ; his perceptions were rapid, and his mind leaped to conclusions to which other minds more slowly traveled, and, as a consequence, he was sometimes obliged to yield his suddenly formed opinions to more mature reflection. On one occasion Chief Justice Parsons remarked to him when he was ardently pressing a point, " You are aware, Mr. Mel- len, that there are authorities on the other side." " Yes, yes, your Honor, but they are all in my favor." He identified himself with the cause of his client, and never for a moment neglected it, or failetf to improve every opportunity in his opponent's weakness or errors, to secure a victory. His voice was musical, his person tall and im- posing, and his manner fascinating. His life was not entirely absorbed by his profession. In 1808 and 1809, and again in 1817, he was chosen a member of the Executive Council in Massachusetts ; and in 181G,an elector at large for President. In 1817, while he held the ofhce of councillor, he was chosen a senator in Congress from Massachusetts, with Harrison Gray Otis for his col- league. This situation he held until Maine was organized as a separate State, when, in July, 1820, he was appointed chief justice of its Supreme Court. The same year he re- ceived the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from l)oth Harvard and Uowdoin Colleges. He continued to discharge the laborious duties of chief justice with singular fidelity and ability until October, 1834, when, having attained the age of seventy, he became con- stitutionally dis(iualilied for the oftice. On the bench his 168 PRENTISS MELLEN. thorougli knowledge of practice, his familiarity with decided cases, and his quick perception of the points and merits ot a case, were peculiarly valuable at a time when the new State was forming its system of jurisprudence, and estab- lishing rules for its future government. The industry and. ability with which he discharged his arduous and important duties, while at the head of our highest court, appears forcibly written in the first eleven volumes of the Maine Reports ; in the first nine of which he found an able expo- nent in his friend, the accomplished Greenleaf. Of the sixty-nine cases in the first volume of Greenleaf, in which formal reports are given, the opinions in fifty were drawn by the chief justice. A larger proportion still, ap- pears in the second volume, where of the eighty-four formal opinions, he drew seventy-four. And this industry and application is apparent through the whole series, in the last of which, second of Fairheld, of the one hundred and six opinions, he prepared fifty-five. Nor were those de- cisions of a light or hasty kind ; many of them involved points of the highest importance, requiring profound study, nice discrimination, and keen analysis. It may not be im- proper to say that in these opinions the learned chief justice did not fall behind his high reputation as a lawyer or his elevated position as a judge. And it is gratifying to be able to say thaf our reports were cited at that period, in other States, with great respect. Never were stricter integrity, nor a more earnest desire to render exact justice in every case, carried to the bench"; and no judge ever performed his duties more conscientious- ly. If any criticism may be permitted on a judicial course so pure and able, it might be said that there were times when the judge's patience gave way before the tedious pro- lixity of some advocates, who were unwilHng to give the court credit for a knowledge of the elementary principles PRENTISS MELLEN. 169 of law ; or where witnesses were pertinaciously bent on telling all their experience before coming to the point in hand. In such cases he would sometimes be obnoxious to the censure of the worthy Fuller, according to the canon of his " good judge ; " of whom he says, he is " patient and attentive in the hearing the pleading on both sides ; and hearkens to the witnesses, though tedious. He may give a waking testimony who 'hath but a dreamy utterance ; and many people must be impertinent before they can be perti- nent ; and cannot give evidence about a hen, but first they must begin with it in the egg. All which our judge is con- tented to hearken to." But we cannot say thi« always of our good chief justice ; he could not sit still till this egg was hatched. In another aspect he, however, amply met this worthy's requirement : " He nips those lawyers, who, under a pretense of kindness to lend a witness some words, give him new matter, yea, clean contrary to what he in- tended." On his retirement from the bencli, the Cumberland Bar addressed a letter to Judge Mellen, through a committee of its most respected members, expressive of the high sense it entertained of his services and merits, as an upright judge, and of his qualities as a man, to which tribute of affection and respect ho responded with deep sensibility. In 1838 Judge Mellen was appointed by the executive of Maine at the head of a commission to revise and codify the public statutes of the State, which had accumulated to near- ly one thousand chapters, of various, and in some instances, of inconsistent provisions. He earnestly engaged in this task with his colleagues, the lion. Samuel E. Smith and Ebenezer Everett, Esq., and submitted their report on the first of January, 1840, embracing the whole body of the public statute law in one hundred and seventy-eight chapters 12 170 PRENTISS MELLEN. under twelve titles. This was adopted by the legislature, and constituted the first volume of the Revised Statutes. This was tlie last public service of our estimable citizen, who had now passed the seventy-fifth year of his age. But our portrait would not be complete without the lights which come from his private and domestic life. And this was as free from obscurity as was the ermine of his judicial office. He married Miss Sally Hudson of Hartford, Con- necticut, in May, 1795, whose acquaintance he made wliile practicing law in Bridgewater, and whose musical talents first attracted his attention. She was a daughter of Bar- zillai Hudson of Hartford. He described his engagement in the following characteristic language to me : " I left Bridgewater in 1791, having there first seen and fallen in love with my present wife, and told her a piece of my mind.^' She was an amiable and accomplished woman, with whom he lived in domestic happiness over forty-three years, ad- ministering, without stint, the rites of a generous hospital- ity. She died in 1838, aged seventy-one yeai-s. By her he had six children, all born in Biddeford ; of whom two daughters only survive. The oldest son, Grenville, a grad- uate of Harvard, in the class of 1818, is well known as a literary man, flowering out from the legal profession : he died in 1841, at the age of forty-two. His son Frederick was educated at Bowdoin, from which he graduated in 1825 ; he prepared himself for the practice of law, but was seduced from it by the soft impeachment of art ; he devoted himself to painting, but died in 1834, at the age of thirty, before accomplishing his high aspirations. Judge Mellen calmly and serenely yielded up his life on the last day of the year 1840, in the midst of his own winter, having passed through seventy-six years of a busy, well- spent life ; firm in the conviction of an approval by the PRENTISS MELLEN. 171 great Judge of quick and dead. He was the last survivor of his father's family of nine children, — four sons and five daughters. His youngest sister was the mother of Governor Kent, now one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Maine. The Cumberland Bar erected a 'solid and durable marble monument to his memory, with suitable inscriptions, in the cemetery in Portland, over his remains. I believe that the remark he made in his last sickness to be perfectly true, " I have always endeavored to do do what I believed to be right." He was a religious man, a devoted attendant upon public worship, conscientious in the performance of duty, and faithful in all the relations of life. His natural temperament was cheerful and gay ; full of wit and anecdote, fond of society, which he enjoyed to the last, and in which his cheerful and benevolent coun- tenance was always acceptable. He was a man of warm imagination and fine literary taste. He early inclined to cultivate a familiarity with the muses, and like his cotemporary, Judge Story, made poetry the sport of his idle hours from his earliest to his latest age. The following ye?/ cV esprit was sent by Judge Mellen, in 1801, to Clerk Sewall, which is followed by Mr. Sewall's answer. They appeared in the Portsmouth Advertiser, Oc- tober 17, 1801. " ' Squire Sewall, Sik, — Be pleased to lend me, Or give, — or, at least, to send me. Twelve blanks of Court of Common Pleas, Touched oil' on paper smooth as grease, With the great name of your great Honor Stuck down, to sanction, at one corner. I want them soon to keep law going, For law sets other blessings flowing ; Because, as love of ready rhino Is the root of evil, ijou and / know, 172 PRENTISS WELLEN : LAW POETRY. Law scatters wide this evil stuff, Till the poor souls havu't half enough To keep their bodies from the jail. So by next post, sir, do not fail To frank them, without further telling^ And you'll oblige yjaur friend, P. Mellkn." The Clerk's answer: '* ' Squire Mellex, Sir, — See here I send you Twelve blank court writs, which I will lend you Till the next court ; and I expect To fill them you will not neglect ; And if you want^ I'll send you more, By single, dozen, or by score. You'll get them served ; which done, you'll venture On the clerk's docket all to enter That are not settled by those fools Who will not be confined to rules. For laiv sets many blessings flowing, Sends many a sheritT fast a-going ; Takes from vile folks ' the root of evil,' Which causes them to be quite civil ; Keeps them in jail till all is spent, And then be sure they will, repent; Thus justice runs through all tlie State, ' Mongst high and low, and small and great. • The commonwealth ' sends greeting ' to all, For the clerk's name is Daniel Sewall." The cultivation of poetry is not inconsistent with the severe pursuits of the legal science. Even my Lord Coke, who, in the mind of the professional student, is the personifi- cation of dryness, often quoted from the poets, and observes, " It standeth well with the gravity of our lawyers to cite verses." Everybody, too, remembers Pope's praise of Mans- field, " How sweet an Ovid was in Murray lost." And our own days have witnessed in the eminent English lawyer. Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, the most elaborate and polished of legal poets. The following poetical jcu (V esprit on the PRENTISS MELLEN : SAMUEL S. WILDE. 173 law of pauper settlement, from an old poet, may be quoted in this connection as a true legal maxim in verse : A woman having a settlement Married a man with none : The question was, he being dead, If that she had was gone. Quoth Sir John Pratt, the " settlement, Suspended doth remain, Living the husband, but him dead, It doth revive again. Chorus of puisne Judges. Living the husband, but liim dead, • It doth revive again." The calmness and patience with which our lamented friend bore his last sickness, gave ample testimony of the sincerity of his faith and the firmness of his religious principles. At this trying period he frequently uttered expressions of his entire submission to the divine will : desirous to be relieved from tlic burden of the flesh, yet perfectly resigned to wait. At one time he said, " I seem to be suspended between heaven and earth : the body clings to its native element, while the spirit struggles to be free." At another time he said, " I can't let go, the thread of life is too strong." It broke at lengtli, and the spirit ascended to its congenial home. And now, in the language of Fuller's " Holy State," " we leave our good judge to receive a just reward of his integ- rity from the Judge of judges, at the great assize of the world." SAMUEL S. WILDE. 179 2—1816. Among the bright lights which have illuminated the law in Maine, none have shone with greater luster than the late Judge Wilde. He was born in Taunton, Massachusetts, February 5, 1771, the son of Daniel Wilde and Anna Sum- 174 SAMUEL S. WILDE. ner, the only daughter of Samuel Sumner of Taunton. Daniel, his father, "was the only son of William Wilde and Anna, a daughter of the Hon. Samuel White of Taunton, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives of Mas- sachusetts at the time of the Stamp Act. He took his first degree at Dartmouth College, in 1789 ; having among his classmates, Governors Crittenden of Vermont and Dinsmore of New Hampshire. He immediately entered upon the study of law with David L. Barnes of Taunton, who was afterwards Judge of the United States District Court of Rhode Island ; and was admitted to the bar of Bristol County in 1792. He came to Maine soon after, and com- menced practice in Waldoboro'; two years after, he moved to Warren, and was the first lawyer who commenced prac- tice in that town. On the incorporation of Kennebec County, in 1799, he moved to Hallowell, which continued to be his place of residence until he removed to Massachu- setts, on the separation of Maine in 1820, to continue the exercise of his office as Judge of the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, to which he had been appointed by Gover- nor Strong, in 1815. The Hon. Frederick Allen, who was cotemporary with Judge Wilde at the Kennebec Bar, thus speaks of him as he entered on the practice in that county : " Having no superior at the bar, and, indeed, no equal, he immediately entered upon a successful course of practice, which contin- ued to expand from year to year, as long as he resided there. The great success of Mr. Wilde consisted in his power as an advocate, which was unrivaled by any cotem- porary. His clear and ready perception of all the intricate points of a cause was remarkable. He rarely failed to make himself so far master of his case as to impart his con- victions to the jury. His addresses to the jury were gen- erally brief, energetic, and rapid. His enunciation was SAMUEL S. WILDE. 175 clear and distinct. He spoke for the cMuse — not for any- general effect. The main qualities of his forensic addresses were force, energy, and ingenuity. We believe he was the most popular advocate who has ever grown up in Maine. His practice extended to all the counties east of Cumber- land." We may add that he occasionally came into Cumberland ; where, as in other counties, his great rivals were Mellen and Orr ; who, according to the custom of that time with the principal lawyers, " traveled the circuit," or followed the Supreme Court into the several counties. On the death of Judge Dewey, in 1815, Mellen and Wilde had rival claims for the vacant seat ; which was awiarded to Wilde, although the junior. Mr. Mellen was, however, not long after chosen to the senate of the United States, from which he was transferred to the bench of Maine as her first chief justice. The sharp conflicts at the bar between these eminent lawyers furnished many inter- esting scenes to the lookers on. Mellen was ardent, earnest, rapid, and impulsive, — seeming to carry his cause by storm. Wilde, cool, collected, ingenious, and impressive, — calmly undermining or overthrowing the arguments of his adver- sary. They both, for the first fifteen years of this century, had eminent success as advocates at the bar, and were lead- ing counsel in the numerous and important land cases which were continually thronging the courts. On the occasion of Judge Wilde's retiring from the bench, in 1851, at the age of eighty years, Benjamin Rand, a dis- tinguished lawyer in Boston, thus spoke of the legal attain- ments of this jurist: " By the course of his early studies, and by extensive practice at the bar with eminent lawyers, his cotemporaries, of great attainments in the recondite learning of the day, he ac(iuircd, before his elevation to the bench, a deep and thoroughly accurate knowledge of tlie 176 SAMUEL S. WILDE. great principles and rules of the common law in all its various ramifications. " Among other branches ^of the jurisprudence of the common law, that pertaining to real property then consti- tuted, and still continues to constitute, a very essential part of our legal science. This seems to have been one of his early and favorite studies." Chief Justice Shaw, on the same occasion, said, " Com- mencing the study of the law at a period when the law of real property was of the highest practical utility and impor- tance, his powerful mind was early devoted to that system of rules founded deeply in the principles of the common law. Practicing in a part of the Commonwealth where great interests were draw^n in question, depending on the law of real property ; where the highest honors and rewards of the profession awaited the practicer who was best versed in the knowledge and practice of this branch of the law, his mind became so familiar with its minute and apparently subtle distinctions, that he could apply them promptly, like simplest principles, to complicated cases." Again Judge Shaw remarks, " A practice of twenty- four years at the bar, and his judicial labors, during the long period of thirty-five years, have made his name and his reputation conspicuous amongst living jurists." He held the office of Judge of the Supreme Court longer than any other judge in Massachusetts, with the exception of the first Samuel Sewall, who was appointed in 1G92, and continued on the bench, as an associate and chief justice, until 1728, a period of thirty-six years. Benjamin Lynde held the two offices thirty-four years, from 1712 to 1745 ; and Paul Dudley thirty-four years, from 1718 to 1751. Judge Shaw held the office of chief justice thirty years, from 1830 to 1860. Mr. Wilde was so much occupied by professional engage- SAMUEL S. WILDE. 177 ments that he rarely took part in political life, although he was a very earnest and strenuous adherent of the Federal party. In 1797, on the 4th of July, he delivered an ora- tion at Thomaston, before the " Friendly Society, and in commemoration of the anniversary of American Independ- ence," whicli was published, and is characterized by terseness of language and patriotism of sentiment. In 1798 and 1799, he represented the town of Warren in the legislature ; and in 1800 and 1808, he was appointed by the legislature one of the electors of President and Vice- President. In 1814, he was a member of the Executive Council ; and, the same year, was appointed a delegate to the Hartford Convention, in company with some of the most illustrious men of the Commonwealth ; viz., George Cabot, Harrison Gray Otis, William Prescott, Nathan Dane, and Stephen Longfellow. The next year he took his seat upon the bench, which for thirty-five years he adorned by sound legal learning, undeviating impartiality, and great dignity of deportment. " Of his absolute and entire impar- tiality," says Judge Shaw, " a close and daily observation of twenty years enables me to speak with entire confidence." In 1792, the same year in which he was admitted to the bar, Judge Wilde entered into a matrimonial partnership by his marriage with Eunice, a daughter of General David Cobb, then of Taunton, but afterwards of Maine ; by whom he had nine children, most of whom are dead : their motlier died June 6, 182G. His eldest daugliter, Eunice, married Williams Emmons of Augusta, son of the Rev. Dr. Emmons of Franklin, Massachusetts, and died in 1821. Anotlier married the Rev. Mr. Tappan, son of Dr. Tappan of Au- gusta. Eleanor married John W. Mellen, son of the Rev. John Mellen of Cambridge, who arc both dead. Caroline married Caleb Gushing of Newburyport, and died in 1832. 178 SAMUEL S. WILDE : GEORGE WARREN. His eldest surviving son is Clerk of the Courts in Suffolk County. In private life, Judge Wilde was social ; and in early life, convivial ; always genial and affable. Warmth and kind- ness of heart, and courtesy of manner, ever characterized him. We may sum up his merits in the language of a res- olution offered to the Suffolk Bar by George S. Hillard, on occasion of Judge W^ilde's death, which occurred June 25, 1856: " The private and personal worth of this eminent magis- trate was in strict harmony with his official merits, and indeed, formed a part of them. His bearing upon the bench indicated the man. Simple in his tastes, of industrious habits, of a cheerful s{)irit, of warm domestic affections, and strong religious faith, he never lost his interest in life, and nothing of him but his body grew old. He was frank, direct, calmly courageous, and of unalloyed simplicity ; caring as little to conceal what he was, as to affect what he was not." His services and merits as a public man and a private citizen were imiversally acknowledged, and the three uni- versities of Harvard, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin, in conferring upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, did but record the just expression of public opinion. He was also chosen a member of that select association of Massachusetts, the '" American Academy of Arts and Sciences." GEORGE WARREN. Among the lesser lights of the Kennebec Bar which shone briefly and not brightly, and were extinguished before the opening of the present century, were George Warren, Amos Stoddard, and William Hodge. Warren was the son of General Warren ; his mother was the celebrated Mercy GEORGE WARREN. 179 Warren, daughter of James Otis of Barnstable ; she was author of several poetical effusions, and a history of the Revolution, in three volumes. Her son George did not re- ceive a liberal education, but after . pursuing the usual course of study prescri))ed to those who had not received a degree at college, he was admitted to the bar of Suffolk in 1792. The same year he went to Winslow on the Kennebec River, where his family and their friends had landed prop- erty. Winslow, then including Waterville, had a population of only about eight hundred, and their habitations were few and far between. He was the first lawyer there or in that part of the county. But law was not much to his fancy, and he only indulged in it for diversion. He was a repre- sentative to the General Court the first year of his being in Winslow ; his land agency occupied much of his time, the remainder was wildly sj^cnt. He built a cottage on the bank of the river in which he kept bachelor's hall for awhile ; but the country and society were altogether too solitary for him, and he moved to Augus- ta, where his habits of dissipation increased to a fatal extent, and he soon died very poor. Mr. Rice, who succeeded Warren and knew him well, thus speaks of him : " He built a cottage house on the bank of the Kennebec River, according to a plan furnished him by Dr. Bulfmch' of Boston ; finished the outside, did a little something to the inside, lived and kept bachelor's hall in it, and kept a ferry across the river. Warren was a very pop- ular man, very social, and soon partook of the habits of many in the country. 1 saw him at Augusta a few days before his death, and found him in great distress. Mr. War- ren was a man of fine natural talents, and though not public- ly educated, had stored his mind with much useful and pop- 1 The sou of Dr. Bulfiuch planned the State Houses in Boston and Augusta. 180 AMOS STODDARD. ular knowledge. His mother was one of the best informed and best educated women in Massachusetts, and wrote a history of the Revolution." AMOS STODDARD. 1792—1798. Amos Stoddard was the son of Anthony Stoddard of Woodbury, Connecticut, a son of the Rev. Solomon Stod- dard of Northampton, a name of great note in the ecclesias- tical history of his time. The subject of our notice was born in Woodbury, in 1759. At the age of twenty he en- tered the Revolutionary army, and served through the war. He was afterwards assistant clerk of the Supreme Court in Boston, from which place he came to Hallowell in 1792 or 1793, and opened an office as an attorney of the Common Pleas. In 1797 he represented the town of Hallo^'cU in the legislature. He was a man of fine personal appearance, and had more taste for military life than for the quiet pursuit of his profession in a remote country village, as Hallowell then was. On the first tap of the drum as a signal to arms in 1798, against the French, his military ardor revived, and he entered the army with a captain's commission. In 1799 he had command of the fort in Portland, which had been erected on the summit of Munjoy's Hill, and called Port Sumner. In July of that year he delivered the 4th of July oration in Portland. In October, 1802, he was again in charge of Fort Sumner ; but the same month he was or- dered to the Ohio, and does not appear again in our latitude. In the battle of Fort Meigs, May, 1813, he was wounded by a shell, which terminated his life, at the age of fifty-four. He had attained the rank of Major in the regular array, and was reputed to have been a man of talents. At one time he was civil commander of upper Louisiana ; and a military station, Fort Stoddard, was named for him. In 1812 he WILLIAM HODGE: THOMAS RICE. 181 published sketches of that country. He had previously pub- lished, in London, a work called " The Political Crisis." WILLIAM IIODGE. 17 9 4 — 17 9 8. Mr. Hodge was not so fortunate as Major Stoddard, for in some pique against his friends for not furnishing him with pecuniary aid, he enlisted in Adams's army as a com- mon soldier. He was born in Wiscasset, and graduated at Harvard College in 1791 ; after completing his legal studies, he opened an office in Winslow in 1794, on the point made by the Sebasticook and Kennebec Rivers, where had been erected Fort Halifax, as a frontier post to protect the country from Indian incursions. But this proved a discouraging station for a graduate of Harvard, who had been used to see people and to meet good society, and he abandoned tlie place the next year. He enlisted in the army in 1798, from which, although he was released by the intercession of his friends, it does not appear that he returned to the bar in Maine, and I have no knowledge as to his subsequent life. THOMAS RICE. In this connection I will introduce a character, — one of the cotemporaries of tl»e last three, whose steady, quiet, and honorable life was in entire contrast to theirs. Thomas Rice, who for fifty-nine years was a member of the Kenne- bec Bar, and wliose long life of eighty-six years was spent in Maine, was born in Wiscasset, ^farch 80, 17^3. He took his first degree at Harvard in 1791, a classmate of his towns- man, Hodge, before mentioned. His ancestor who first came to this country was one of the Scotch-Irish colony that ar- rived in 15oston from Belfast, — the grandfather of his father, — and settled in Sutton in Worcester County, where his 182 THOMAS RICE. fatlier was brought up. In that town the Rev. John Mc- Kinstry, an immigrant of the same colony, educated at the College of Edinburgh, was the lirst settled minister. His father, Dr. Thomas Rice, was educated at Harvard, from which he took his degree in 1756, and having pursued his medical studies with Dr. Oliver Prescott of Groton,_he es- tablished himself in his profession at Wiscasset. In addition to his labors as a physician, he was for many years a judge and chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Lin- coln County, and Register of Deeds. He discharged the duties of these various offices with uprightness and fidelity, and died honored and respected in 1812. His son Thomas, after leaving college, went to Groton to keep school, and at the same time to study medicine with Dr. Prescott, the teacher of his father. But after a little experience he quitted the study of medicine, and entered the office of Timothy Bigelow as a law student. After com- pleting his three years' course, he went to Wiscasset, where the court was then sitting, and applied for admission to the bar, but was estopped by the rule which required that a portion of the preparatory study should be pursued in the county. His own simple narrative in this perplexity will show us some of the forms of that day. He says, " I knew not then what to do but to return to Groton to consult my friend Mr. Bigelow. I stopped in Boston, — the court of Com- mon Picas was sitting there. I saw Judge Sullivan, the president of the bar in that county, and told him my story. He said he would call a bar meeting and submit my case, whicli he did, and they voted immediately for my admission to practice in that county. I have the certificate of the clerk of the court, Ezekiel Price, now before me (1851), which shows that' fifty-seven years since (1794), I was ad- mitted to the practice of the law. I returned to Wiscasset, there I found Lee and Smith (Manassch), and there I staid THOMAS RICE. 183 until the first day of the next April, 1795, when I set my face toward Winslow, including that part of it called Water- ville. A classmate of mine named Hodge had just left tliat place, and I was desirous to occupy his stand. My brother and myself each mounted a horse, one carrying my library in his saddle bags and the other my wardrobe. After a wearisome ride througli the mud, we arrived at Fort Halifax. I found, to my surprise, that the stand I had ])een looking to ha(} been occupied four days by tlie late Reuben Kidder. I was now brought to a dead stand ; which way to go I knew not ; my brother had returned with our horses, and L.was left moneyless and friendless. There was an acquaintance of my father's, who had been living in Winslow a year or two, who owned the only house in the place, except Fort Halifax and one or two fishermen's huts. I went to see him, told him my situation, and asked his advice. He said the prospect was dark, but as I had come, if I had a mind to try my luck, he would board me five or six months, and give me the use of a little room (about eight feet square) that he had in a small building which was occupied with a few articles that he had for the use of the fisliermcn. I con- cluded to stay and put up a small sign on my door, giving notice that a lawyer was ready to do business there. At tlie end of six months I paid for my board and had something left ; and in the course of two years my business had in- creased so that I thouglit I was worth twelve or fifteen hundred dollars." In another letter to me, he says, " Near by the cottage erected by Mr. Warren, and on his land, stood a small un- finished building which had been used a short time before by a man having a few goods to trade witii the fisliermcn. This building was on the bank of Kennebec River, about a mile below where my office stood on Fort Halifiix Point, be- tween the Kennebec and Sebasticook Rivers. Here myself 184 THOMAS RICE. and wife lived about two years. During the winters of these two years, I had to break my own road up to the county road, the snow being frequently from two to three feet deep. I left my wife in the morning, and wended my way as well as I could, and returned at night tired and weary. I could find no other resting place, and necessity compelled me to take that. Soon after I went there to live, Mr. Warren left and went to Augusta. The second sum- mer I lived there I bought of an Indian, a birch canoe. He taught me how to use it, and in it I went to and from my office daily, which saved me a good deal of trouble and some expense in not being obliged to cross the Sebasticook River." This may justly be called the pursuit of law under diffi- culties. We think the young practitioners of the present day would be hardly willing to make their way into practice through such toils, embarrassments, and hardships as beset the way of our pioneer on the Kennebec. Mr. Rice was a true man, he went steadily and courageously on, patiently laboring in his profession, encouraged by gradual success, securing, by integrity, ability, and urbanity of manners, the good will of the people, independence in his pecuniary cir- cumstances, honorable standing at the bar and in public life. In 1807 he was appointed by the Supreme Court one of the examiners of counsellors and attornies for Kennebec. In 1814 he represented his town in the legislature of Massachu- setts, and was representative in Congress from the Kennebec District, two terms, from 1817 to 1821. Having faithfully lived, and discharged the duties of the various offices he was called to fill, with honorable fidelity, he laid down the bur- den of his long life peacefully, at the grave's mouth, with the respect of all who knew him, August 24, 1854, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. The first President Adams, in obtaining his admission to THOMAS RICE : ADMISSION TO THE BAR. 185 the bar, passed through an ordeal not unlike that of Mr. Rice. I copy from Mr. Adams's Diary as giving iw a glimpse of the forms at that day : " 1758, October 25. Went in the morning to Mr. Gridley's and asked the favor of his advice, what steps to take for an introduction to the practice of law in this county. He answered, ' Get sworn.' But in order to that, Sir, as I have no patron in this county, — G. — I will recommend you to the court ; mark the day the court ad- journs to in order to make up judgments ; come to town that day, and in the meantime, I will speak to the bar ; for the bar must be consulted, because the court always inquires if it be with the consent of the bar. Then Mr. Gridley in- quired what method of study I had pursued, etc." " Thursday, 26. Went in the morning to wait on Mr. Pratt. He inquired if I had been sworn at Worcester. No. ' Have you a letter from Mr. Putnam to the court ? ' No. ' It would have been most proper to have done one of these things first. When a young gentleman goes from me into another county, I always write in his favor to the court in that county ; or, if you had been sworn there, you would have been intitled to have been sworn here. But now, no- body in this county knows anything about you, so nobody can say anything in your favor but by hearsay. I believe you have made a proper proficiency in science, and that you will do very well, but that is only hearsay.' Pratt is in- finitely liarder of access than Gridley ; he is ill natured, and Gridley is good natured." " Monday, November 6. Went to town ; went to Mr. Gridley's office, but he had not returned to town. Went again ; not returned. Attended court till after twelve, and began to grow uneasy, expecting that Quincy would be sworn and I have no patron, when Mr. Gridley made his ap- pearance, and on sight of me he whispered to Mr. Pratt, Dana, Kent, Thacher, tfec, about me. JNIr. Pratt said no- 186 ADMISSION TO THE BAR: JOSEPH THOMAS. body knew me. Yes, says Gridley, I have tried him, he is a very sensible fellow. At last he rose up and bowed to his right hand and said, Mr. Quincy, — when Quincy rose ; then he bowed to me, Mr. Adams, when I walked out. ' ]\Iay it please your Honors, I have two young gentlemen, Mr. Quincy and Mr. Adams, to present for the oath of attorney. Of Mr. Quincy, it is sufficient to say, he has lived three years with Mr. Pratt ; of Mr. Adams, as he is unknown to your Honors, it is necessary to say, that he has lived be- tween two and three years with Mr. Putnam of Worcester, has a good character from him and all others that know him, and that he was with me the other day several hours, and I take it he is qualified to study the law by his scholarship, and that he has made a very considerable, a very great pro- ficiency in the principles of the law, and therefore that the client's interest may be safely intrusted in his hands. I, therefore, recommend him, with the consent of the bar, to your Honors for the oath.' Mr. Pratt said two or three words, and the clerk was ordered to swear. After the oath, Mr. Gridley took me by the hand, wished me much joy, and recommended me to the bar. I shook hands with the bar and received their congratulations, and invited them over to Stone's to drink some punch, where the most of us resorted and had a very cheerful chat." JOSEPH THOMAS. 17 2 — 18 30. Joseph Tiiomas was born in Pembroke, Massachusetts, November 20, 1702, graduated at Harvard College in 1786, in the class with Judge Parker, Alden Bradford, and other prominent men. He came to Portland and took charge of the grammar school after taking his degree, and afterwards studied law with his uncle, Daniel Davis. He was admitted to the bar in Cumberland at tlie May term, 1792, and im- JOSEPH THOMAS. 187 mediately established himself in practice at Kennebunk. There was then no lawyer in that town, unless it may have been Sylvanus Wildes, who came there in 1700, but re- mained so short a time as to have left no traces or traditions concerning himself. A Sylvanus Wildes, a graduate of Har- vard in the class of 1777, is noted on the catalogue as having died in 1829 : whether the lawyer at Kennebunk was the same, we have no means of knowing. We do not find his name among the lawyers of Massachusetts or Maine in 1793. The only other lawyers in the County of York were George Thacher and Prentiss Melleu in Biddeford, and Dudley Hubbard in Berwick. Kennebunk was a part of Wells until 1820 ; the population of the united town in 1790 was but three thousand and seventy, of whicli Kennebunk con- tained the smallest proportion, probably not more than twelve hundred in 1792 ; but it was a place of considerable activity and commercial business, and became the residence of several distinguished lawyers. Mr, Thomas was a man of sound intellect, and well versed in legal principles ; which gave value and confidence to his professional advice. He rarely argued his own cases, and had no distinction as an advocate, but he had a ready wit, and was a genial, social companion. An instance of a prac- tical joke is told of him. Judge Widgery, who was an as- sociate justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas ap- pointed in 1812 by Covcrnor Gerry, altliough no lawyer, charged the jury, while holding court in York County, that a man had a right to make his mark on the ground and tell another if he stepped over it, he would knock him down. Thomas started out of court before the judge, and went to the house where the judge and several members of the bar boarded ; wlien the judge was approaching the gate, Thomas drew a line on the ground with his cane, and when Widgery came to it, he told him if he dared step over the line, lie 188 JOSEPH THOMAS: JOB NELSON. would knock him down. The judge hesitated at this appli- cation of his own law, and after considerable parley, Thomas yielded, and let him pass. Mr. Thomas was popular in his town, and had the confi- dence of the people ; he was many years one of the select- men of the town ; a representative to the legislature three years, — 1814, 1815, 1816; chief justice of the Court of Ses- sions ; and a member of the convention which framed the Constitution of Maine. In the notice of him by Mr. Hopkins, in his address to the Cumberland Bar, in 1833, he thus speaks of him : " He pos- sessed a strong mind and highly respectable acquirements in many branches of learning. He was so entirely unassuming and unpretending that his mental acquisitions were generally under-estimated by strangers, who had but little knowledge of the man ; this estimation always rose in proportion as their intimacy increased." He died January 20, 1830, aged sixty-seven, leaving no issue. His wife was a niece of Daniel Davis. The Hon. Jacob McGaw of Bangor has favored me with the following sketch of Mr. Nelson's life. JOB NELSON. 1793 — 1850. Job Nelson was born in Middleborough, Massacliusctts, in 1766, and died in Orland, July 2, 1850. The site of the town of Castine, wbcre ^Mr. Nelson's pro- fessional life was spent, is one of as much natural beauty as exists anywhere in New England. With its beauty is con- nected a harbor of great capacity and entire security for ships of any supposable size. Its ada[)tation lor ship build- ing, the carrying trade, and fisheries, is equaled by few places. JOB NELSON: CASTINE, 189 This town was the first in the State that received perma- nent settlers on the eastern shore of Penobscot Bay. It had been occupied in the seventeenth century by Baron Castine, a French gentleman, through thirty or forty years, as a tem- porary place of traffic with Indians by exchanging some cloths and trinkets of small value for beaver and other furs. By means of this business he became very rich, and left the fort which had been erected by him at large expense, and which had protected him against hostile attacks of Indians when drunk, as well as against iDlunderers of his goods and moneys at other times. The advantages which this com- manding position offered were not overlooked by England at the period of the American Revolution. She constructed, and her army occupied, an important fortification on the highest point of the peninsula. The noble harbor, too, was used as a commanding position by her navy. In 1789, Castine was made the shire town of the new and extensive County^ of Hancock, and was constituted one of the ports of entry in the United States. About this time, Chief Justice Isaac Parker of Massachusetts, who was then commencing his eminent career in the practice of law, se- lected this town as the most suitable place for his future professional labors, and here prosecuted them about ton years. In this year, also, 1790, Mr. Nelson, having pur- sued a full term of collegiate study at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and acquitted himself respecta- bly as a scholar, received the honor of that literary institu- tion in the Degree of Bachelor of Arts. Excited prospects of rapid and great prosperity that must follow the recent adoption of the Federal Constitution, filled the mind of al- most every young man of the United States, and induced him to hasten in selecting the course of his future personal employment. Mr. Nelson adoj>tod the profession of law as best adapted to his tastes, and therefore commenced its 190 JOB NELSON. study under the guidance of Hon. Setli Paddclford, at Taun- ton, Massachusetts. Having finished the usual })rcpar- atory course for admission to practice in the judicial courts of Massachusetts, he took the oaths prescribed by law, and was legally qualified to perform the duties of his station. The important question of locality, where he miglit hope to be most useful, and meet with the best success through the vigor of his manhood, must now be determined. It so hap- pened that some of the prominent events that had given notoriety to Castine in past time, and held out promises of prosperity for the future, became known to Mr. Nelson, and fixed him in the choice of that place for his residence. Thereupon, in tlie autumn of 179-3, he proceeded to carry his choice into effect, which he speedily accomplished. By this time the reputation of Mr. Parker as an excellent advocate and sound lawyer had become so well established, that he was often absent from Castine ; sometimes attending court on professional engagements, and sometimes represent- ing his town in the General Court at Boston. The new lawyer was, therefore, well received and liberally employed. Mr. Nelson soon acquired a good reputation for promptness and fidelity in all business intrusted to him. Different agencies, also, of large tracts of land, occupied portions of his time, while they added to his everyday home business, and increased his income. In 1795, Mr. Parker was elected to fill tiie office of repre- sentative in the Congress of the United States, and from that time he ceased to perform the common duties of an attorney at Castine. All of Mr. Nelson's time and powers of mind were thenceforward occupied in the discharge of various duties. His fellow-citizens desired his services as their representative in the General Court of Massachusetts, which desire he felt bound to gratify, and served them ac- cordingly. In the autumn of 1801, the late William Ab- bot, Es(i., having finished a regular course of preparatory JOB NELSON. 191 study for practice of law, came to Castine, opened an office, and shared in the professional business of the place. Mr. Nelson being nov^ well established in successful employ- ments, purchased the handsome and thoroughly-built dwelling-house recently erected by Judge Parker. This purchase was preparatory to his marriage with Miss Mar- garet Farwell, a lady of uncommon personal beauty, with corresponding gracefulness of manner and ease in conver- sation. This marriage constituted the basis of the pride and enjoyment of his subsequent life. The office of Judge of Probate of Wills, &c., in and for the County of Hancock, became vacant about this time. Mr. Nelson's qualifications, combined with the wishes of those gentlemen who were best acquainted with him, pointed him out as the most suitable person to fill it. He accordingly received the appointment to that office by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as successor to Judge "William Wetmore, in 1804, and discharged its duties in a very acceptable manner through many succeeding years, until the District of Maine was separated from Massachusetts, and assumed the position of an independent State. The functions of his office of Judge of Probate under the government of Massachusetts, therefore, ceased ; but the first Governor of Maine, — Hon. William King, — disregard- ing the difference of political opinions between himself and Judge Nelson, replaced him in the honorable office of Judge of Probate under the new Government. The duties of his office were performed by him with all the ability he had be- fore exercised, until the summer of 183G. At this period he attained the venerable age of seventy years, at which age the power of all judicial officers, excepting Justices of the Peace, ceased by reason of a provision which then existed in the Constitution of the State. Tlie duties incident to the office of Judge of Probate re- quired only a small \)iivt of his time, and being in perfect 192 JOB NELSON. harmony with liis pursuits and employments as a lawyer, had no influence prejudicial to his professional income or improvement. But the amount of home business at Castine, of every kind, decreased in proportion to the more rapid growth in business and population of some other towns that border on the waters of Penobscot and Union Rivers. There was, therefore, a concurrence of circumstances at the time when the duties of Judge of Probate devolved upon another person, and the home l)usiness of Castine was diminished, that harmonized wdth the venerable years and quiet inclina- tions of Judge Nelson. He, therefore, withdrew from the bustle of courts, and removed with his family to Boston, where he enjoyed the society of some select friends for about two years, when he returned to Castine. At this time, feel- ing that a state of entire quietude was better adapted to meet the infirmities of old age, than his present place of residence, and an unfortunate occurrence happening about the same time, the destruction by fire of his fine mansion, endeared to him by many fond associations, conspired to de- termine him to quit entirely the scene of his early labors and cares. And with the serenity and cheerfulness becom- ing a good man, he retired to his farm in Orland, a town pleasantly situated on Penobscot Bay, and overlooking its waters beautifully dotted with island gems. Here the re- mainder of his life was calmly spent in the midst of a loving and delightful family, until he was summoned to a higher and better existence. He died July 2, 1850, aged eighty- four : his remains were taken to Castine, and buried in the sepulcher of his family. Judge Nelson left five children, three sons, William, Ho- ratio, and Henry, and two daughters, all in respectable standing in society and unmarried. A son and daughter died before him, — the son left a family. Another son died recently. CHAPTER XIII BENJAMIN HASEY — REUBEN KIDDER — NATHANIEL PERLEY — THOMAS S. SPARHAWK — ALLEN OILMAN — JOHN HATH- AWAY — ISAAC STORY — EDWARD P. HAYMAN SAMUEL P. GLIDDEN — JEREMIAH BAILEY. « BENJAMIN HASEY. 1794 — 1851. Benjamin Hasey was a native of Lebanon, Maine. His father, Isaac Hasey, the first minister of that town, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and graduated at Harvard in the class of 1762. He was settled in Lebanon in 1765, where his son Benjamin was born, July 5th, 1771, and was named from an uncle, who took his degree from Cambridge in that year. His mother was' a daughter of William Owen of Boston. Mr. Hasey, like his father and uncle, was a graduate of Harvard, being of the class of 1700, of which one member still survives, the venerable Josiah Quincy, the oldest living graduate, who, at the age of ninety, is in pos- session of the ripe faculties which liave given a luster to his name and age. jMr. Hasey received his prehminary educa- tion at Dummcr Academy, under the tuition of the cele- brated Master Moody, and entered college in 178t). Soon after leaving college, he entered the ollice of the late 194 BENJAMIN HASEY : LAWYERS IN LINCOLN COUNTY. Jiidffc Thachcr in Buldeford as a student, and was admitted to i)racticc in April, 1794. In June of tlie same year, he established himself at Topsham, where he continued to re- side until his death, March 24, 1851, a period of fifty-seven years, a single, as well as a singular man. The only lawyers in Lincoln, exclusive of Kennebec County, when he com- menced practice there, were Langdon, Lee, and Manasseh Smith, all in Wiscasset. Mr. Hasey represented his town in the legislature of Mas- sachusetts several years before the separation ; but he had no taste for politics, and he withdrew from all public em- ployment. He was fifteen years one of the trustees of Bowdoin College. Reserved and retired in his habits, he became more so as he left the common highway so much frequented by lawyers and politicians. It was not unnatural that a man of his sensitive nature should have shrunk from scenes which are often contaminated by low intrigues and self-seeking arts. Of the most rigid integrity, regular and quiet in all his modes of thought and action, nothing dis- turbed him more than the cant of demagogues. As may be supposed, he was strongly conservative, — change was dis- tasteful to him. This may be a reason why he never mar- ried. For more than thirty-eight years he boarded in the same family, and for many years he occupied the same office, to which he daily resorted until within a few days of his death, in the same manner as when he was in practice. But with all his peculiarities, he was ever to be relied upon ; his word was sacred, his act just^ his deportment blameless. As a counsellor, his opinions were sound and much valued, and for many years he had an extensive practice in the counties of Lincoln and Cumberland. We remember the prim, snug-built, and neatly dressed gentleman, with his g-reen satchel in hand, according to the usage of that day, taking his seat at the bar, and waiting calmly for the order BENJAMIN HASEY. 195 of his business : he rarely appeared as an advocate, his natural diffidence and reserve disqualifying him for any dis- play. Many years before his death he left the active duties of the profession ; the innovations which were taking place in tlie manners and course of practice at the bar, were ill- suited to his delicate and conservative feelings. The want of ancient decorum and respect, the absence of forensic courtesy, fretted upon his nerves. The abolishing of special pleading annoyed him, and the revision and codification of the statutes thoroughly confused his habitual notions of practice, displaced his accustomed authorities, and cast him afloat in his old age on what seemed a new profession. He lived in the past and believed in it, and strove as much as mortal could to keep himself from the degeneracy of modern ideas. Mr. Hasey, at the time of his death, was the oldest surviving lawyer in the State ; when he commenced practice the whole number was but seventeen, all of whom he sur- vived except Judge Wilde, who had removed from the State. The Hon. Frederic Allen, his cotemporary in Lincoln County, has furnished the following well-considered estimate of Mr. Hasey's character and standing : " He was well versed in the ])rinciples of the common law. His reading was extensive, both legal and miscellaneous. His memory was tenacious, his habits studious. In his person, though very small in stature, he was of the most perfect formation, and always most neatly attired. He had much good sense, was a strict adherent to the old federal party, from whose leading opinions, so long as the party had a distinctive ex- istence, he never wavered, and had little charity for those who did. He was not much employed as an advocate : he generally argued not over one case a year, and that was done very well. His address to the jury was brief, free from all repetition, or copious illustration. He left the world in 19G REUBEN KIDDER. the same apparent quietude in which he had lived, leaving a name much honored, and a character highly respected."^ REUBEN KIDDER. 1795 — 1816. Three graduates from Dartmouth College, in the class of 1791, established themselves in the practice of law in this State about the same time, 1795 or '96, — Reuben Kidder at AVaterville, Nathaniel Perley at Hallowell, and Thomas S. Sparhawk at Bucksport. Mr. Kidder was a descendant in the fifth generation from James Kidder, who migrated to this country from East Grinsted, a considerable town in Sus- sex County, about thirty miles south of London. The fam- ily had long resided and maintained a respectable position in that town. James, the ancestor, was born there in 1G26, and was in Cambridge, ^lassachusetts, in the year 1649, when he married Anna Moore of that place. He moved to Billerica, where he died, in 1676. The family remained over one hundred years in that town. The subject of this sketch was the sixth child of Reuben and Susannah (Burge) Kidder, who moved to New Ipswich, in New Hampshire, in 1750, and were among the first settlers of that place. They had twelve children, many of whom attained a great age : seven of the eight daughters, in 1844, met at the house of one of their number, whose united ages were five hundred and thirty-two years, giving an average of seventy-six years. The eldest was ninety. Reuben Kidder was born in New Ipswich, April 3, 1768. After taking his degree in 1791, he qualified himself for the profession of the law, was admitted to practice in usual course, and established himself at Waterville in the spring of 1795, the first lawyer who adventured so far north, into what was then almost a wilderness. The town of Winslow, ' Sixth Vuluino Maine Hihlorical Collections, p. 54. REUBEN KIDDER : WATERVILLE. 197 of which Waterville was a part, contained in 1790 but seven hundred and seventy-nine inhabitants, and in 1800, but one thousand two hundred and fifty. AVni. Hodge, a graduate of Harvard in 1791, had preceded Kidder to Waterville a short time before, but had become discouraged, and left the place, into which Kidder stepped, in advance of Thomas Rice, who had intended to occupy it, but arrived four days too late. It would hardly seem to have been an object of much competition ; but the loss of it was a sore disappoint- ment to the young aspirant who was seeking, as is seen in our notice of him, some spot to spread his unfledged wings. Mr. Kidder sought the consolations of a companion in his solitude, and soon married Miss Lois Crosby, avIio became the mother of four children, of whom George and Henry died young. Camillus is settled in Baltimore, and Jerome (t. is a merchant in Boston. ]\[rs. Kidder died in 1809. In 1816, Mr. Kidder was touched with the " western fever," which at that time prevailed in Maine, and tliought to bet- ter his fortune by transferring himself to the prairies of the west. He moved to New Harmony, in Indiana, a place ren- dered memorable by Robert Dale Owen, as the seat of his captivating " social system." But his hopes were not real- ized ; like many others of our people who sought to better their condition V)y leaving the more sterile fields, but healthy climate, of our hardy north, for the sickly thougli produc- tive meadows of the west, he was doomed to sadness and dis- appointment. He died in 1817, the year after his removal. Mr. Kidder was a man of good personal appearance, much general information, and fine colloquial ])owers. His wit and humor were conspicuous ; they pervaded him, appearing in his countenance and gestures, as well as in his utterance. One who remembers him at the bar gives me the following account of him : — " He would change his countenance into sucli a sly, facetious expression — so unique and inimitable, 198 REUBEN KIDDER. that it reminded one of Drummond's famous laugh in the theater of London, which set the audience in a roar — spok- en of in Cumberland's Memoirs. The most stern visage would relax the moment Mr. Kidder imagined a joke. You saw it dawning in his looks, and when it rose full upon you, you felt a glow of real pleasure. There was no ill-nature in his M'it ; it was brilliant, but harmless. I remember an amusing circumstance when I was a student in Wilde and Bond's office in Hallowcll. The court was sitting in Augus- ta ; the members of the bar were seated around the oblong table covered with green baize, and waiting the call of the docket ; Mr. Kidder was resting his head on the table, and asleep. An action against the ' inhabitants of Waterville ' was called. Mr. Kidder was the counsel, but no one an- swered. The call was repeated, and there being no response, the court ordered the action to be disposed of, and the crier called, in a loud, shrill voice, the inhabitants of Waterville to come into court, and show cause why their default should not be recorded, when the sleeper started up from his slum- ber, and rubbing his eyes, exclaimed, ' Here are the inhabi- tants of Waterville,' when Nat Perley, the great wit of the" bar, started back, and cried out, ' For mercy's sake. Brother Kidder, don't let any of them get on me.' The court and bar joined heartily in the joke." ' Mr. Kidder was a man of abilities, and had considerable business at the bar, and was much respected for his gentle- manly qualities and his integrity of character ; but he did not attain eminence as an advocate. He engaged in some speculations, one of which was the establishment of a smelt- ing furnace and foundry on the Sebasticook River, near which was a bed of iron ore. It proved unfortunate, and the persons engaged in it lost the capital invested. ' Manuscript letter from .John IT. Sheppard, Esq. REUBEN KIDDER: NATHANIEL PERLEY. 199 Another cotemporary, William Allen, thus speaks of Mr. Kidder : " He was a sound and good lawyer ; and in person of more than medium size, a little stooping. He was honorable in his profession, and was a man of fine tastes ; he set out a grove of oaks half a mile from the village of Waterville, to which he often repaired in summer from the heat, and called it his Athenaeum. He used to wear a bouquet in summer at his button hole." I am indebted to my friend, Charles Dummer, Esq., of Hallowell, for this interesting sketch of Mr. Perley. NATHANIEL PERLEY. 17 9 5 — 1824. Nathaniel Perley, formerly of Hallowell in the county of Kennebec, was born in the town of Boxford, county of Essex, and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, about 1770. Having passed successfully the period of preparation for a liberal education, he graduated at Dartmouth College, 17U1. Entering at once upon the study of the law, he completed the term required for admission to the bar in Massachusetts, and in 1795 commenced the practice of law at Hallowell, then a thriving settlement on the Kennebec River ; this place, doubtless, attracting his attention as well from the intelligence and energy of its early inhabitants as the advantages which it presented for trade and future commer- cial conse\:iuence. The fact, however, that others with whom he was probably acciuainted, from the same county of Essex, had preceded him as residents of Hallowell, no doubt materially influenced his own determination. For some time he was the only one in the place. Intelligent, full of life, possessing high social qualities, he gathered around him many friends, and very soon he found himself actively 200 NATHANIEL PERLEY. engaged in the professional responsibilities of life. This current of business continued to enlarge with the growth of the community around him. Steadfast friends, uninter- rupted health, and persevering application gave encourage- ment to all his hopes. He was distinguished for sound com- mon sense ; he possessed varied powers ; his quickness of per- ception and constant good humor attracted early attention ; and unfortunately, as I believe, commended him to too much notice as a wit. The progress of years in his profes- sional life soon developed the fact that he was acquiring property. Without marked distinction for legal learning, he would be more truthfully described as a successful prac- titioner of law, maintaining a respectable position, whether discharging faithfully the duty which grows out of the or- dinary collection of debts, or unfolding the powers of argu- ment before a jury or the court. The course of events in his life justifies, I think, the remark, that he became too lavish of his legal opinions ; his friends partook too freely of the benefit of his knowledge without compensation ; he himself, at the same time, forgetful of that respect which was due both to himself and his profession. Overlooking the vital necessity of steady application, lie yielded to the pleasures of mere social ease, by which the strength of his reputation as a lawyer was weakened. Insensibly to him- self, he professionally lost his hold upon the better portion of the business pul)lic. Having accumulated considerable property, he was induced to embark in schemes which re- quired much of his attention outside of his office. At first, he was successful ; but entering still further upon larger operations, the results were painfully decisive upon his pro- fessional prospects. His business as a lawyer did not merely decline ; it was lost : stern pecuniary ditriculties met him while in the path he had now chosen. Bereft of that buoy- ancy of spirit whicli marked his temperament, without NATHANIEL PERLEY. 201 practical knowledge amidst the realities which then sur- rounded him, despondency settled upon his mind and pros- pects. Always sustained by the affections of a faithful wife and children, the cheerful light of a once happy dwelling was gradually extinguished. Mr. Perley died about the year 1824. The remote cause of his death was thought to proceed from an injury which he received, when with his workmen who were blasting stone, with the view of con- ducting water from a pond to a grist-mill which he was erecting in the town of Winthrop, about ten miles west of Hallowell. Unfortunately he was so near the work at the moment of explosion as to be struck upon the chest by a large stone. Mr. Perley's position as a lawyer, during a large portion of his life, was respectable. He was in the midst of friends who were constant while he continued personally attentive to his professional business. The judges of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, while on their tours of public duty, were frequently welcomed at his house. One, the late dis- tinguished Chief Justice Parsons, himself a native of Essex County, held a relation to him of marked kindness and re- gard, — the chief justice with his wife, upon more than one occasion, sharing the cordial hospitality of Mr. Perley's liousehold ; while tradition adds, Mr. Perley's colloquial powers and wit possessed great attractions for the chief justice himself. Occasions for friendly, social intercourse readily offered, as the courts for the county of Kennebec were held at Augusta, a distance of two miles only from Hallowell. In gathering the fragments of the past which illustrate the character of Mr. Perley as a man and a lawyer, I can add, that had he remained faithful to the noble objects of a true professional life, had he diligently strengthened his mind by study, and adhered witli moral strength to liis 14 202 NATHANIEL PERLEY. duties as a lawyer, he would have gathered the fruits of honorable labor and eminence, — all would have been finally well. Possessing great quickness of perception, his free social habits were both an attraction and temptation. Who, in the pursuits of life, can successfully dispense with indus- try, or habits of care and accurate attention ? A marked characteristic of his mind was a sort of natural wit, or gift of repartee. Tradition supplies many of his smart and ready answers and sayings, but rarely have I found anything which could be worthily rescued from oblivion. However gratify- ing such utterances may be to the many, I regard this char- acteristic of Mr. Perley's taste and mind, a talent, not mere- ly a questionable gift, and, as used by him, was generally highly injurious in its influence. A celebrated ambassador of the last age, when told what a clever boy his son was, exclaimed, " I would rather you had told me how industrious he was." The same writer on law education further states, " Sir Henry Wotton, the famous Provost of Eton College, we are told by Aubrey, could not abide wits. When any young scholar was com- mended to him as a wit, he would say, ' Out upon him ! I will have nothing to do with him ; give me the plodding student ! ' " The well-known Judge Doddcridge declares that he found by experience, that " among a number of quick wits in youth, few are found, in the end, very fortu- nate for themselves, or very profitable to the common- wealth." One characteristic of Mr. Perley's wit should be noted, — he appeared, himself, wholly unconscious of any such power of utterance. Unmoved himself, and even sedate in man- ner, he seemed surprised, at the moment, with the delight which the circle around him manifested. His high social qualities, united with distinguished colloquial powers and great kindness of feeling, very naturally drew around him NATHANIEL PERLEY. 203 many friends, who often beguiled him of time which should have been given to the stern duties of life. The following incident will show Mr. Perley's prompt ability to reply. In the course of his professional duties, he was engaged in the trial of an action of replevin before Judge Weston, who was tlien upon the bench of the old Court of Common Pleas. Mr, Perley's client had attached a quantity of logs as belonging to Mr. N., which logs were also claimed by another Mr. N., and the letter N was the mark upon all the logs. The case was warmly contested. An important witness had been under examination between two and three hours, when the court adjourned for dinner. Immediately upon resuming the case at the opening of the court in the afternoon, Mr. Perley requested that the same witness might be called, when Judge Weston remarked that this witness had been a long time on the stand, and very closely examined, adding, " Brother Perley, what further do you expect to obtain from him ? " Mr. Perley's prompt reply was, " The truth, your Honor: I have obtained every- thing else." Mr. Perley was faithful and firm in advancing the public interests of the town where he resided ; he represented it in the General Court in 1804 and 1816. He discharged with integrity all his political duties. Uniformly patriotic, with enlightened zeal he always upheld the best interests of our country. I find he was member of a committee of three (the other two members being the late John Davis, Esq., of Augusta, for many years clerk of the coui'tsfor the county of Kennebec, and the late Williams Emmons, Esq., then of Augusta, and at one period judge of i)robate for the county of Kennebec), who invited the llev. Dr. Tappan of Augusta to deliver an address before the Washington Benev- olent Society of Kennebec, at the celebration of peace with England, March 2, 1815. The only survivor of Mr. l^erley's 204 NATHANIEL PERLEY. family, at this time, is a daughter, Mrs. Dumont, who mar- ried the late John P. Dumont, Esq., for many years a mem- ber of the Kennebec Bar, and a resident of Hallowell, and who served, also, both as a representative and senator, at different periods, in the legislature of Maine. Mr. Fcrley, at the time of his decease, left a widow and five children, all of whom, with the exception of one daughter, Mrs. Du- mont, have since died, — two sons, two daughters, and his widow. Judge Wilde, late a distinguished judge of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, was for many years an eminent lawyer in Maine, and a resident of Hallowell, where he con- tinued until the separation of the District of Maine, when, in 1820, he removed to Newburyport, Massachusetts. There is a tradition that soon after Judge Wilde commenced his residence at Hallowell, he proposed to Mr. Perley a profes- sional business connection. It is possible that mutual friends may have suggested such an arrangement from considera- tions growing out of tlie facts that Judge Wilde's great ability often called him to appear before the courts in dis- tant counties, while a prosperous collecting business re- quired Mr. Perley to be constantly present in his office. But I do not find sufficient authority for the statement that Judge Wilde ever made such a proposal, and it is certain that such a business connection was never formed. In presenting, for your consideration, this sketch of the character of a man of education, permit me, in conclusion, to add that Mr. Perley possessed various and vigorous powers of mind. At the outset of his professional life, many ad- vantages met him in the way. With ability to discern the right, he could, with learning and steady application, have reached a position of high respectability among the earlier lawyers in this part of the State of Maine. When we look at what he actually accomplished, what is the admonition to NATHANIEL PERLEY. 205 the living ? To the young, entering upon professional life, I would say, cherish and strengthen every moral element of character ; cultivate habits of industry and careful atten- tion ; day by day discharge with fidelity every obligation of duty ; never turn aside from the high and true purposes of the profession ; aim to be useful rather than conspicuous ; value the acquisitions of learning ; hold fast your integrity, and preserve the freshness and purity of the aifections. Clothed in such armor for the battle of life, a lawyer in every generation and in all his influence, will be found a blessing and a light in every community, where the bounds of his habitation are fixed. In the language of that great and good man, Chief Justice Hale, " Speed, then, the spirit of education. Let the mind be cultivated ; let it be opened to see that there is the better and the right, and so expanded as to see that the right is ever the better, must ever be so, and that to find it is highest privilege, and true honor to resolve to brave any difficulty and overcome ^cvery obstacle to ascertain it ; and tlien to do it, even at the cost of the cutting off a right hand or plucking out a right eye, is highest honor and noblest conduct, and must result in brightest attainments of excellence and happiness, giving best success in this life, and glory hereafter." I add to this interesting notice of Mr. Perley, the testi- mony of a distinguished cotemporary, Mr. Allen of Gardiner. In his sketches of deceased lawyers of the Lincoln Bar, pub- lished in the Sixth Volume of the Maine Historical Collec- tions, he says of Mr. Perley, " He was distinguished for his wit and broad humor, — for his jokes and cutting re- partees at the bar. As a sample, an instance is recollected. When one of the four judges of the Court of Common Pleas, not remarkable for his profundity, coming late into court, observed, as an apology, on taking his seat, that he believed there was no member of the court less absent than 206 NATHANIEL PERLEY : THOMAS S. SPARHAWK. himself. ' True,' replied Perlcy, ' and no one less pres- ent.' " Mr. Allen adds, that for many years Mr. Pcrley had an extensive practice at the bar, but in the latter part of his professional career, his practice declined. With many amiable and amusing qualities, he was popular with a class of clients, but those not of the first order. The lion. Jacob McGaw of Bangor has favored me with the following notice of Mr. Sparhawk, one of his early co- temporaries. THOMAS STEARNS SPARHAWK. 1796—180 7. Thomas Stearns Sparhawk was a son of Rev. Ebenezer Sparhawk of Tcmpleton, Massachusetts, the respected Con- gregational clergyman of that town forty-four years, from 17G0 ; and was jjorn there in 1769. This parent partook largely of the noble element that characterizes New England fathers ; even while struggling with poverty, they aimed to prepare their sons, by education, to rise to usefulness and honor, when they attained maturity of years. He, therefore, spared no efforts to aid this son in acquiring a collegiate education. By rigid economy he was enabled to prepare him to enter Dartmouth College, and to assist in the payment of his expenses while an under-grad- uate. In 1791, Thomas, having acquitted himself honora- bly in all respects, through the whole term of his connection with college, received the Degree of Bachelor of Arts. From tliis time forward the burden of self-support de- volved entirely upon himself Tlie readiest mode of paying for present expenses and providing means for the future conditions of his life, seemed to him to be school teaching. These duties he commenced without delay, and pursued THOMAS S. SPARHAWK : BUCKSPORT. 207 them successfully to his scholars and respectably to himself, almost two years. Then, having fixed upon the profession of law for the employment of his talents through subsequent life, as best adapted to his taste, he engaged with ardor in searching out and understanding its varied principles. After completing a regular course of preparatory study, he was admitted at a term of the Court of Common Pleas, in the summer of 179G, to practice at the bar of the judicial courts in Massachusetts. Buckstown, now Bucksport, in the then District of Maine, had been incorporated as a town about four years. Its fine location at the head of Penob- scot Bay, with an excellent harbor and sufficient depth of water for the accommodation of ships of the largest burden, had begun to attract the attention of adventurers and en- terprising men of various occupations in life. Navigators, fishermen, traders, mechanics, professional men, and others were seeking, in that new country, opportunities for employ- ment. Mr. Sparhawk, believing in the prospective importance of the town at some future day not far distant, immediately took up his residence, and opened the first law office that was located there, and identified himself with the town, its inhabitants and interests. Having thus commenced and engaged in the activities of manhood, he received the con- fidence, friendship, and professional support of the existing population, both of the town and the circumjacent territory, which was sparse and scattered. A just appreciation of the responsibilities that he had per- manently assumed, induced him promptly to make arrange- ments for carrying out the allotments of Providence in regard to these responsibilities in the manner tliat, in his opinion, would best subserve his own honor and the welfare of society. He, therefore, in May, 1707, consummated the contract of marriage that he had previously entered into with Miss Mary 208 THOMAS S. SPARHAWK. Kinsman of Hanover, New Hampshire, by making her his wife. She was the daughter of Colonel Kinsman, a respec- table inhabitant, possessing a good estate in that town, and sister of Dr. Aaron Kinsman, an eminent physician in Port- land, who died in 1808. Miss Kinsman was a young lady of handsome person, respectable attainments, well calculated to become an excellent wife and to promote the happiness of her husband. Up to this time, only two lawyers had their homes in the whole region embraced in the valley of the Penobscot Bay and River. Tliese two gentlemen both re- sided in Castine, which is about twenty miles from Bucks- town. The people had heretofore been little accustomed to litigation, and not much inclined to it ; nor was Mr. Spar- hawk disposed to encourage that pernicious habit. His in- clination was to promote the permanent happiness and prosperity of everybody living within the reach of his influ- ence, hoping and expecting to receive his full share of the blessing that would bo conferred upon others through his instrumentality. The confidence, friendship, and profes- sional support of his neighbors, as also of tlie inhabitants of the circumjacent settlements, were enjoyed by Mr. Spar- hawk. His business, though not large, afforded himself and family a comfortable support, and enabled him to construct a respectable mansion for the present condition of his family. Litigation not being rife within the limits of his practice, the talents of Mr. Sparhawk, as an advocate, were seldom demanded, nor did he make large pretensions in that depart- ment. Persons competent to judge, suppose that he would not have attained eminence in it even if he had attempted it. Mr. Sparhawk, through the whole period of his profes- sional life, discharged the duties of everyday practice re- lating to the common concerns among neighbors in a very acceptable manner. His opinions in regard to questions of considerable intricacy were well received and respected. THOMAS S. SPARHAWK: ALLEN OILMAN. 209 His health became delicate in 1806, but he was able to perforin the services that he had been accustomed to attend to from the period of his first residence in Bucksport, until 1807, when he was released from all earthly cares by a peaceful death. Very early in the nineteenth century there was a sudden and numerous influx of population into most of the towns that bordered on the waters of Penobscot Bay and River. Lawyers of very respectable attainments and distinction settled in several of these towns, but none of them made his home at the quiet, industrious town of Bucksport, or came into conflict with Mr. Sparhawk, until the closing years of his life. Good humor and ready wit, made him a cheerful com- panion and pleasant neighbor to those persons who had the benefit of being acquainted with him. Mr. Sparhawk left five children, three sons and two daughters. William, the eldest, was lost at sea. Edward Vernon was a literary gentleman, resided awhile in Montreal, and afterwards became an editor of a paper in Richmond, Virginia. Another, George, had the same tastes, and became an editor of the " Oakland Whig," in Pontiac, Michigan. His daughter Maria Louisa was a highly cultivated lady, and the author of several works ; she married Charles Fox of Boston. The other daughter, Lucia K., is unmarried. ALLEN OILMAN. 179G— 1846. Allen Gilman was the first lawyer who established him- self in Bangor, where now they exist so abundantly, lie went to that part of Orrington which is now Brewer in 1800, and to Bangor in 1801. Tliat town then had less than three* hundred inhabitants ; ho lived to sec it a full-grown city, of which he became the first Muyor. Mr. Gilman was the third 210 ALLEN GILMAN. son of John Ward Gilman and Hannah Emery, and was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, July 16, 1773. His grandfather was Major John Gihnan, who was an ofl&cer in the expedition to Louisburg in 1745, and in the French War. His mater- nal grandfather was the Rev. Stephen Emery of Chatham, Massachusetts, whose wife was the daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Allen, the minister of Cape Elizabeth, in the mid- dle of the last century. Mr. Oilman's preparatory studies were pursued at Exeter Academy, and he graduated at Dartmouth College in 1791, a classmate of Chief Justice Dudley Chase of Vermont, and of Reuben Kidder and Nathaniel Perley, his cotemporary lawyers in Kennebec county. He studied law with Judge Oliver Peabody at Exe- ter, and commenced the practice at Gardiner, Maine, in 1796. In 1798, having just married Pamela Augusta, a daughter of Gen. Henry Dearborn, a woman of rare men- tal and personal attractions, he moved to Hallowell. This lovely woman died in October, 1799, leaving a daughter four months old, now the widow of the late Major Dearborn of the United States Army. This afflicting event so dispirited him that he fled from the dear familiar scenes of his wedded days to the solitude of the wilderness. He spent one year at Brewer, and in 1801 took up his residence in Bangor, where he remained the rest of his life, devoting himself assiduously to the duties of his profession. He particularly excelled in and preferred the quiet pursuits of- the office, to the bustling scenes of the court room. His habits were modest and unassuming ; he wrote a fine and neat hand, and was extremely accurate in conveyancing and fhc draft- ing of legal instruments. He was a sound and discriminat- ing lawyer, of unquestioned integrity, and of easy, graceful manners. The Hon. Mr. McGaw, wlio is still hai)j)ily living, was the cotemporary of Mr. (Oilman, in Bangor, more than forty years. He says of him, that '' he maintained through ALLEN OILMAN: HANCOCK COUNTY: BANGOR. 211 life an elevated standing as a lawyer ; he possessed clear and rapid perceptions in cases of involved difficulties, both of law and fact, and had not only the confidence of his clients, but also of his fellow-citizens." At the time these gentle- men established themselves in Bangor, the whole of this region, extending from the sea to the Canada line, was embraced in the county of Hancock, but the inhabitants did not extend above Oldtown. The courts were held in Cas- tine until 1814, when Bangor was made a half shire town. The lawyers consequently went down to Castine to attend court, and sometimes to Machias in the county of Washing- ton, until the incorporation of Penobscot County, in 1816. There assembled at the sessions, especially of the Supreme Court, which was held but once a year, the choice spirits who had already pitched their tents in that far country, — Abbott of Castine, Herbert and Deane of Ellsworth, "Wilson and Cros- by of Belfast, and Button, Oilman, McGaw, and Williamson of Bangor. After the incorporation of Penobscot, Mr. Gilman seldom extended his professional visits beyond his own county. He was appointed the first Register of Probate in the new county, and held the office until the organization of the government of Maine, in 1820. In 1834, Bangor was incorporated as a city, on which occa- sion his fellow-citizens selected Mr. Gilman as the first Mayor, and he was re-elected the next year. His admin- istration was successful, and he did much to promote the welfare and beauty of the city. After this brief interrup- tion, he continued to pursue his professional labors, to the period of his last sickness, which terminated his life April 7, 1846, in the seventy-third year of his age. The bar of Penobscot County took honorable notice of the death of their deceased brother, who was the eldest member of that bar. Tlicy spoke of liim as a man " known for the quickness of his perceptions, for his legal acumen and iiis 212 ALLEN OILMAN : JOHN HATHAWAY. general acquaintance with legal principles. Highly respect- able in all the departments of practice, it is not perhaps too much to say that he was not excelled as a skillful, accurate, and accomplished conveyancer." Mr. Oilman was small in stature, and rather frail in health ; but by care and regular habits, his life was prolonged to a good old age. In October, 1806, he entered into a second marriage with a daughter of Col. John Brewer, by whom he had five sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Charles, born in 1807, was educated at Brown University, and became a prominent lawyer, and the reporter of legal decis- ions in Illinois, where he died in 1849. He was editor of the " Western Legal Observer," published at Quincy, Illi- nois, January, 1849. One of the daughters married Leon- ard Jones, the other died unmarried. JOHN HATHAWAY. 179 6 — 1799. The same year, 1796, that Oliver Leonard established him- self in that part of the town of Orrington which is now Brewer, and Thomas S. Sparhawk in Bucksport, both on the east side of tlie Penobscot river, as the first lawyers in those towns, John Hathaway came from the Old Colony and set- tled in the village of Camden, on the west side of Penobscot Bay, as the first lawyer in that region of country. The town was then part of the county of Lincoln, and contained a population of about six hundred. At the present time, it has about four thousand and six hundred. Mr. Hathaway was the son of Abraham Hathaway, of Raynham, Massachusetts, and was born in Wrcntham in 1773. He graduated at Brown University in 1793, a class- mate of John Merrill, who settled in Wiscasset. After leav- ing college, he took a school in Hanover, Massachusetts, and commenced the study of law at the same time with Bcnja- JOHN HATHAWAY. 213 jamin Whitman of that place, a noted lawyer in the Old Colony, and afterwards in Boston. On completing his stud- ies and being admitted to the bar, he was persuaded by some friends who had settled in Camden to establish himself in that town, which he concluded to do, and opened the first law office there in 1T9G. His early success encouraged him : there was no lawyer within hailing distance : the late Judge Wilde at Waldoboro' was the nearest, and Manasseh Smith and Silas Lee at Wiscasset, and Mr. llasey at Topsham, were then all the lawyers in what constituted the county of Lin- coln, after Kennebec was taken off. He built an office ; he got married ; became postmaster of the village ; and by his ability and attention to business, he acquired the confidence of the absentee proprietors of that and adjacent towns ujider the Waldo Patent, for whom he was agent and attorney. His business extended, and he was warranted in the assur- ance which his prospects unfolded, of reputation, and the pecuniary rewards of a successful practice. But in the midst of these bright promises, he was sud- denly stricken with typhus fever, which terminated his life at the early age of twenty-six, October 6, 1799. Mr. Locke, in his History of Camden, speaks of his having a large prac- tice in the courts, and says, " By doing business in the courts for the ' Twenty Associates ' (proprietors of that and other towns), he became quite extensively known, and rapidly obtained the confidence and esteem of his senior brethren of the bar. As a pleader, he was forcible in argu- ment and eloquent in style, and almost invariably engaged the attention of his auditors to the close of his plea." In September, 1797, he married Miss Dcborali Cushing, daughter of the Hon. Josepli Cushing of Hanover, Judge of Probate for Plymouth County, born in 1771. By her he had one son, who was lost at sea when twenty-three years old. She was liviny; in 18")9. 214 ISAAC STORY. ISAAC STORY. 1797 — 1803. Isaac Story was another early member of the Hancock bar, a brilliant meteor that flashed across it and expired. Mr. Story was the second son of tlie Rev. Isaac Story, and grandson of the Rev. Simon Bradstreet, both of Marblehead. The latter was descended from the distinguished Governor of Massachusetts of the same name. He was born in Mar- blehead, 1774, graduated at Harvard College in 1792, and after pursuing his regular course of study, established him- self in Castine, in 1797 or '98. Here for a while he con- nected with his professional duties that of editor of the " Cas- tine Journal," a weekly paper. He was more fond of liter- ature than the law, and as the region of the Penobscot was not inspiring and encouraging in this more graceful pursuit, any more than the law, he moved back to Massachusetts, and opened an office in Rutland, Worcester County. But he did not long survive : the working of his fervid genius overtaxed his frail constitution, and he died in July, 1803, at the early age of twenty-nine. It was said of him at the time of his death, that no one of his age in Massachusetts had written more for the periodical press of his time than he. Among his publications were essays from " The Desk of Beri Hesdin," in the style of the lay preacher, which appeared in the Farmer's Museum. He published a volume in a series of letters, over the signature of " The Traveler," parts of which were printed in the Columbian Centinel. He was equally happy in poetry as in prose : a volume from his pen was published under the title of " The Parnassian Shop, by Peter Quince," in imitation of Peter Pindar, of wliose wit and style he was an admirer. He received warm com- mendations from Joseph Dennie of the " Port Folio," and other discriminating judges of literary merit. He died at his father's house in Marblehead, and a notice of liis death ISAAC STORY : EDWARD P. HAYMAN. 215 appeared soon after in the Salem Register, which thus speaks of him : " A gentleman well known by numerous produc- tions in polite literature. In his manners bland, social, and affectionate ; in his disposition sportive and convivial ; in his morals pure, generous, and unaffected. Wit and humor were provinces in which he sought peculiar favor, though he not unfrequently mingled in his poetic effusions the gravity of sententiousness with the lighter graces." His kinsman, the late Judge Story, wrote a brief monody on his death, from which we make the following extract : — " Spirit of him, wliose chastened soul Could touch each chord of pure desire, Whence, flown beyond the mind's control, Thy brilliant thought, thy Druid fire 1 Lost in thy manhood's chariest bloom. O'er thee shall pity meekly mourn, And many a sylph, who haunts the gloom, AVith twilight dews bespread thine urn." EDWARD PAYNE HAYMAN. 179G— 1831. From this bright genius of the profession, I turn to an absolute matter-of-fact man, as dry and exact in details as the other was fresh, varied, and broad in the scope of his character. Edward Payne Hayman, better known as the circuit clerk of the Supreme Court, than in any other ca- pacity, was born in Boston, February 22, 1771, the second son of Capt. William Ilayman. After pursuing his prelim- inary education in his native town, he entered the office of Charles Cashing, the time-honored clerk of the courts in Boston, and who had l)ccn the sheritf of Lincoln County from its organization to his singular seizure by the tories, and made prisoner during the Revolution. This service prepared Mr. Ilayman for the duties of a similar office, to 216 EDWARD P. HAYMAN. ■which he was afterwards appointed. "When he became of age, he moved to South Berwick, and entered the ollice of Dudley Hubbard, where he continued an attentive and close student for five years, the period then required for admis- sion to tlie bar, of those who had not received a collegiate education. He was admitted to the bar in York, Novem- ber term, ITOG ; in 1800 he was elected clerk of the Senate of Massachusetts ; the same year he was appointed an assistant clerk of the Supreme Court, and the next year one of the circuit clerks — the other and chief was the venerable John Tucker, who, with Charles Cushing, the brother of Judge William, were, time out of mind, clerks of the Supreme Court. He held this office, which embraced also the county of Essex until the organization of the new government in Maine in 1820, most promptly and faithfully, discharging its responsible duties. He returned to the profession on leaving the office, but was again summoned from it in 1823, to assume the duties of Cashier of the South Berwick Bank, which had been incorporated that year, and held the post to the entire satisfaction of the stockholders and the public, to the time of his death, December 25, 1831. Mr. Hayman was a well-read lawyer, exact in knowledge of the forms of practice, and of the utmost precision in his habits of business, as well as in his manners. A person who was well acquainted with him has furnished me with the fol- lowing description of some of his peculiarities. He says, " He was exceedingly methodical and particular rin every- thing that he said or did ; he was strictly honest and correct in all his moral deportment. He never became very distin- guished in his profession, but from his constant association with the court, he was a better lawyer than advocate. I do not know that he ever had an enemy. He lived about half * a mile from the bank, and knew exactly how many minutes and seconds it would take him to walk from one to the other ; EDWARD P. HAYMAN : SAMUEL P. GLIDDEN. 217 and he always left his house at the same moment of time, and probably fo'r years he did not vary two minutes from his exact time of departure from his house, and his arrival at the bank." In 1809, he married Sarah, a daughter of the Rev. John Tompson, a Congregational 'clergyman of South Berwick, by wliom he had several chilcjren who survived him ; viz., Sarah, born in 1810 ; Edward, born in 1812 ; and Charles Cushin^, born April 15, 1815, died July 12, 1844. A.11 the lawyers who practiced in the Supreme Court of the State prior to the separation from Massachusetts, cannot fail to remember his tall, prim figure, the clear tones of his voice, and the prompt and ready manner in which the cir- cuit clerk discharged the duties of his office, and the assi- duity and attention which he gave to all the business devolv- ing upon him. He was a model in that department of life, and in fidelity to all his trusts. SAMUEL p. GLIDDEN. 1797 — 1818. Samuel P. Glidden was the first lawyer who established himself in the beautiful town of Readfield in Kennebec County. He was born in 17G1, in Unity, New Hampshire, and came to Readfield in 1797, at the age of thirty-six. He does not appear to have been a graduate of any college, but received his law training in the office of Mr. West, of Charles- town, New Hampshire. He was the son of Jonathan Glid- den, a native of Deerfield, who had four sons and four daughters : one of the daughters was the mother of Jona- athan G, Hunton, Governor of Maine in I80O. Readfield was taken from the northerly part of Winthrop, and incor- porated in 1791. In 1797, wheji ^fr. Gliddon commenced practice there, it contained a population less than nine hun- dred. It now has three pleasant villages, and a population 15 218 SAMUEL P. GLIDDEN : JONATHAN G. HUNTON. of one thousand five hundred, having decreased, according to the census tables, over four hundred since 1850. At the time Mr. Ghdden opened his office, there was no lawyer between Topsliam, where Mr. Hasey was established, on one side, and Hallowell and Waterville on the other. His opportunities for professional business were therefore good, and for a time he occupied a respectable position, and might have rendered himself, as my informant says, much more useful to himself and the community but for the in- dulgence, during the latter portion of his life, in intoxicat- ing drinks. He died December 14, 1818, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. An aged member of the bar of Kennebec County, now living, says, " I recollect seeing Samuel P. Glidden at the bar ; he was not a man of much note. He seemed to be a very quiet man, without much talent or pre- tension." During the practice of Mr. Glidden at Readfield, Ex-Gov- ernor Jonathan G. Hunton, then a young man, and nephew of Mr. Glidden, studied law with him, was his successor in business there, and married his widow for his second wife, by whom he had one child, who died at the age of seven years. Mr. Hunton moved to Dixmont a few years before his death, which occurred in 1851, at the age of seventy. He had been a member of the Executive Council, and was Governor in 1830, successor to Enoch Lincoln. This lady who became his second wife was Miss Polly Mitchell. She was married to Mr. Glidden July 12, 1799, and had by him one child, who died an infant. Mr. Glidden had the reputation of being a kind and affectionate friend and neighbor, and was univer- sally beloved by his acquaintances, and, but for his excesses, might have left an honored name. In my investigations through the antiquities of the pro- fession, I have been struck and saddened by the lamentable destruction of vigorous talent, noble aspirations, and bril. INTEMPERANCE OF LAWYERS : DANIEL CAMPBELL. 219 liant prospects, by the baneful use of intoxicating liquors by professional men. The injurious usages of society, which universally prevailed on this subject, and the genial, social character of many mcmljers of the profession, seemed to have led them, beyond other classes, into the fatal snares of dissipation and ruin. And notwitlistanding the earnest efforts that are now making to arrest the progress of this scourge of life and character, we fear that many young men, who might become the ornaments of the profession, and the *' gladsome lights of jurisprudence," are sinking gradually into dishonored graves. Daniel Campbell, a graduate of Dartmoutli in the class of 1801, seated himself by the side of Mr. Glidden in 1808, and continued to practice there until 1817 or '18, when he moved to Winthrop. He was a member of the convention which formed the constitution of Maine. He disappeared from the bar in 1824, and entered tlie ministry, and was set- tled the first minister of the Second Congregational Society in Kennebunk, December 5,1827. JEREMIAH BAILEY. 1798 — 185 3. Jeremiah Bailey was the son of Ephraim Bailey and Mary Briggs, and was born at Little Compton, Rhode Island, May 1, 1773. lie was educated at Brown University, from which he took his degree in 1794, and immediately came to Wiscasset and entered the office of Silas Lee. He was admitted to the bar in 1798, and commenced practice in Wis- casset, which was ever after the place of his abode. There were then in that village two other lawyers, — Mr. Lee and Manasseh Smith, and sixteen in the whole county which embraced all the country between the Kennebec and Penob- scot rivers from the sea to tlie Canada line. The population 220 JEREMIAH I5AILEY. of Wiscasset was then about one thousand seven hundred, and of the whole county about eighteen thousand. Mr. Bailey soon acquired a high reputation for his dili- gence and fidelity in business, and his fine social qualities, in which he was rarely excelled. In 1808, he was appointed one of the electors of President and Vice President. His colleagues in the college, from Maine, were Andrew P. Fer- nald of Kittery, Samuel Freeman of Portland, and Judge Wilde of Hallowell. It is not necessary to say, from the school of politics which they represented, that they did not vote for Mr. Madison, the successful candidate, but for Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, who received but forty-seven votes, the whole Federal strength which could then be rallied. In 1810, he was elected a representative of Wiscasset to the Gen- eral Court, and was returned the three following years, when in 1816 he was appointed Judge of Probate as successor to Silas Lee, who died that year. Tliis office he held until 1834, discharging its duties with great fidelity, kindness, and urbanity. From this post of quiet, unobtrusive duty, he was transferred to a seat in Congress as the representative of Lincoln District, which he held for one term. The polit- ical character of the District becoming democratic, he was succeeded by Jonathan Cilley, who fell a martyr in 1838 to the "• Code of honor," falsely so called. On leaving Con- gress, he returned to his profession, which he continued to pursue until his appointment by President Taylor as col- lector of the customs in Wiscasset, in 184U, which place he held through that Presidential term, and was removed for political considerations, by President Pierce, just previous to his death, in July, 1853, at the age of eighty. He left, as a cotemporary said of him, " an unsullied reputation, and marked for the utmost purity in the discharge of the duties of all the various offices which he was called on to fill." The same writer (F. Allen) observes, " He was much JEREMIAH BAILEY : \\1SCASSET. 221 distinguished for his hospitality, and beloved for his kind- ness by all his numerous friends where he lived." In 1813 he was appointed, with Benjamin Orr, a commis- sioner of Massachusetts, to close up the difficulties between the settlers and proprietors of lands in Lincoln, Kennebec, and Waldo Counties, whose complaints and hardships had been quieted and adjusted by arbitration, under authority of the State. The conflicting claims were satisfied by convey- ances of other tracts belonging to the commonwealth, by which the vexed and alarming controversies and agitations, which had long existed, were happily compromised. He was several years a member of the Board of Overseers of Bowdoin College, over which he presided a portion of the time ; and in 1830 he was elected one of the Trustees of the College, an office which he continued to hold until his res- ignation, in 1838. Judge Bailey was twice married. His first wife was Mary Seavey of Wiscasset, who died of consumption in a few years after marriage, leaving no children. In 1812, June 17th, he married Cbarlotte Welch, daughter of Dr. Thomas W^elch of Boston. By her he had six children; viz., Charlotte, Edward, Harriet, John Q., George, and Ann. Charlotte and John Q. are not living. I am indebted to my friend, John H. Shcppard of Boston, who was Register of Probate several years in the time of Judge Bailey, and had a constant friendly intimacy with him, for the following interesting remarks : He was fortunate in the choice of his residence. Wiscas- set is one of the finest seaports on the shores of New Eng- land. It was once the mart of busy commerce, when the harbor was filled with ships from the West Indies and Liv- erpool. Ilcr streets echoed with the jovial voices of mar- iners, and bur merchants were known far and wide, among whom the late Hon. Abiel Wood was one of the greatest 222 jp:hemiah bailey: wiscasset. ship-owners in tlie United States. This town suffered much from the Embargo, and the subsequent war of 1812 ; ceased to be the miniature of a great city ; and at last became a nursery and school of many sons and daughters who have risen to wealth and honor in more prosperous places. But her natural scenery neither Embargo nor War has touched : it is beautiful as ever. Wiscasset lies on the eastern side of a bay formed, as the late Attorney General Foote used to say, by the " deep waters of the Sheepscot" — a recess about fifteen miles from the sea. For fifty years this harbor has not been frozen over, but in two or three instances, and then only while the cold was below zero ; and so eligible is the location that the Commissioner of the United States Coast Survey recom- mended it at Washington for a Navy Yard. Here Judge Bailey lived to a good old age. His mansion, which he built for his own convenience, was conspicuous among the handsome houses which faced the green common, and stood on a line with the court-house and church. It was shaded by trees and shrubbery of his own planting, and near it was a garden he cultivated. Indeed, this dwelling in the midst of scenery so attractive will be long remem- bered for those agreeable parties and evening circles where age forgot its cares, and youth looked forward to pleasure. It was there I first saw and was introduced to Daniel Web- ster, Judge Story, Jeremiah Mason, and other distinguished men ; for at this hospitable mansion the members of the courts held in that shire town, and strangers of distinction, were never forgotten. . It seemed to be the delight of the Judge and Mrs. Bailey, who was a very interesting woman, to make others happy, and cast a sunshine of cheerfulness around them. Judge Bailey was a sound lawyer, well-instructed in prec- edents and pleadings, and a very safe, peace-making coun- JEREMIAH BAILEY. 223 sellor ; and in court a ready, sensible, but not an eloquent speaker. He never "mounted the high horse," — to quote a saying of his upon a very aspiring young advocate. His docket was never large, but always respectable, and he seemed contented with a moderate share of business. He had many rich Boston clients, and their patronage was lucra- tive. As a Judge of Probate he was courteous, impartial, and popular, and if in any difficult case a doubt arose, his benevolence leaned on the side of the widow and orphan ; while he was so cautious and reflective in making up his decrees, that few appeals, and still fewer reverses of his opinions, ever took place in the Supreme Court of Probate. The office of Judge of Probate is not appreciated by the public. It should always be filled by some learned, upright lawyer ; for though the duties are executed in a noiseless manner, and without jury or crier, yet it has been estimated that in thirty years nearly all the estates in a county come under the decree of the Probate Judiciary. His religion was rather in an exemplary course of life than in profession. He was not a member of the church, but was habitually a church-going man, morning and after- noon of the Sabbath. Reticence on creeds and doctrines was his favorite maxim, and whatever might have been his views on those great questions that agitate society, and some- times set their proselytes by the ears, he kept them in his own breast, and avoided all remarks on this subject. When- ever he did speak of things sacred, it was always with rev- erence. Tlie peculiar trait of his character was a kindly and hon- est heart. His natural abilities were good, but not great ; but he was blessed with prudence and " a right judgment in all things ; " self-denying and economical in his affairs ; neat and methodical in his personal habits ; he took delight in doing in the best manner whatever he did, even to writing 224 JEREMIAH BAILEY. the letters of his correspondence in a plain, round hand. He had by nature a very cheerful temperament, looking upon the bright side of every event, as though he could always see a piece of blue sky through the mists of our lower atmosphere. And even in his last days, when he was draw- ing near to the shadow of the dark mountains, he was so calm and free from all complaint and murmuring that it seemed as if his spirit saw beyond them the dawning of the life to come. Take him for all in all, I have seldom seen a happier man. In a word, he was a perfect gentleman, " totus et rotundus." "When I think of past times, and call up his image to my recollection, I feel that memory is like an ideal album of photographs. There on one of the pages in the book of reminiscence I see a spare form, not very tall, clothed in black, his habitual costume, sitting in a summer's morning by an open window in his office, shaded by an elm which he planted, a mere sapling, near the door, more than sixty years ago, and now Avith huge bole and broad branches bend- ing over the street ; and at this window I behold a face old- er in appearance than its years,' — with black eyes, high fore- head, bald front, and scattered gray hairs, bearing a good expression and most cordial smile ; and I hear a voice some- what musical in its very pleasant and cheerful tones, and ever ready, as the Scotch would say, with a " ceevil word for ilka bodie." This was Judge Bailey in the meridian of life. CHAPTER XIV. SAMUEL THATCHER — PETER 0. ALDEN — CYRUS KING — JOSIAH STEBBINS — BENJAMIN WHITWELL — JOHN MERRILL — JAMES D. HOPKINS — JUDAH DANA — NICHOLAS EMERY — THOM- AS BOWMAN — NATHAN BRIDGE — WILLIAM WIDGERY. SAMUEL THATCHER. 179 6 — 1799. Samuel Thatcher, at the thne I write ( 1862 ), is the old- est living lawyer in our State, and the oldest in his entrance on the practice. He was born in Cambridge, July 1, 1776. Mr. Thatcher was not of the celebrated Anthony and Peter Thacher families, who have scattered broadcast over the land so |many eminent men in all the professions of life. He was descended from Samuel Thatcher of Watertown, Massachusetts, who was admitted a freeman, May 18, 1642, and was from the English " Old Sarum " family, of which the Thachers above named are another branch. The ancestor was deacon of the church there, often a sclectniau and represent- ative to the General Court to the time of liis death in 1()6'J. His son Samuel, born 1618, died October 21, 1726, having had ten children, the youngest of whom, Ebenezer, was born in 1704. Ebenezer married in 1732, Susannah Spring, and they were the parents of seven children, the oldest of whom was Samuel, born November 5, 1732, who married Mary 226 SAMUEL THATCHER. Brown of Lexington, Sept. 3, 1753. These were the parents of the subject of this notice, who thus appears to be the fifth in descent from tlie first American ancestor. It will be per- ceived that this family insert t in their name, and are tena- cious of the letter. The other branch omit it, although I noticed in a letter of Judge George Thachcr, 1790, that he then retained it, but afterwards omitted it. Mr. Thatcher graduated at Harvard College in 1793, at the age of seventeen. He is now, next to Mr. Quincy of the class of 1790, the eldest surviving graduate. Among his classmates were Judge Jackson, Francis C. Lowell, and Dr. John Pierce of Brooklyn. Mr. Tiiatchcr, determining to qualify himself for the legal profession, entered the office of Timothy Bigelow, then living in Groton, and at the same time had charge of the Academy at that place. He remained one year, and secured a friendship with that distinguished gentleman whicli continued through his life. He then transferred his residence to Concord, and becanje a student in the office of Jonathan Fay, with whom he completed his preparatory studies, and was admitted to practice in 1798. He immediately came to Maine, and opened an office in New Gloucester, which was then a half shire town, the Common Pleas holding in it one term a year. William Widgery was then an acting justice there, and an occasional practitioner, altiiough never admitted to the bar. Moses Gill, a nephew of Lieut. Governor Gill, of Mas- sachusetts, had practiced in New Gloucester, about two years before Mr. Thatcher went there. He was educated by his uncle, and had large expectations from him, was a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1784, and the heir to a hand- some estate. With encouragements sufficient to stimulate the ambition of any young man, he yielded to the blandislnnents of pleasure, and after a residence of two years, he returned to Massachusetts, and became irregular in his habits. He died in 1832. SAMUEL THATCHER: THE FEDERAL PARTY. 227 But, notwithstanding the prospects of business for Mr. Thatclier at this place, were favorable, he was induced to move to Warren in October of the next year, where an opening was made by the removal of Judge Wilde to Hal- lowell, whose situation he purchased, and succeeded to his practice. Mr. Thatcher, in his new residence, by his pleas- ing address, his ability as a lawyer, and his eloquence as an advocate, soon took a commanding position at the bar, and acquired an extensive business. He obtained a reputation and popularity rarely achieved by so young a man. He had been scarcely two years in the town when he was elected its representative to the General Court, as successor to Judge Wilde, and was re-elected the next year. A vacancy occur- ring in the representation to Congress from Lincoln District, by the appointment of Silas Lee, in 1800, as United States Attorney for Maine, Mr. Thatcher was chosen to supply it, and was re-elected for the next Congress before he had attained the legal age. On this broader field he advocated, with great vigor and vehemence, the principles of the Fed- eral party, which had then sunk into a hopeless minority in the national administration, from which it never afterwards recovered. Among the able men who bravely fought the battles of opposition, were Dudley Chase and Crittenden of Vermont ; Timothy Pickering, Manasseh Cutler, and Josiali Quincy of Massachusetts ; Tillinghast of Rhode Island ; Hill- house, Tracy, and Talmadge of Connecticut ; and Drayton of New Jersey. Mr. Thatcher was with the most zealous of these in sustaining the Federal doctrines. But the influence and patronage of office, and the more popular principles of Democracy, extended the power of the dominant party through the country, and gave to it a supremacy wliicli it held through a long series of years. Mr. Thatcher's Dis- trict was not exempted from the infection, and he failed in the election of 1804. But his town, which retained its large 228 SAMUEL THATCHER. Federal majority down to the period of the separation from Massachusetts, immediately returned him to the Legislature, and he was re-elected the eight following years, witli the exception of 1811. In February, 1814, he was appointed Sheriff of the County, and held the office until 1821, when the new government of Maine going into effect, and under different political aspects from those of Massachusetts, his place was filled by a friend of separation and of the adminis- tration. He was immediately chosen to represent his town again in the Legislature until 1824, wlien he left political life. He took an active part in the debates of the Legis- lature, and his long experience gave him influence in mould- ing the laws, and putting the new State into successful operation. In debate he was ardent, animated, and eloquent ; the sharpness of his wit gave keenness and effect to his logic. In 1806, he delivered a eulogy on the death of General Knox. The General died in October of that year, aged fif- ty-six. We cannot but think that Mr. Thatcher committed a grave error when he left his chosen profession, which he was admir- ably qualified to adorn, for the hackneyed and desultory paths of politics. But it is the passion of young men, and an increasing and dangerous one in this country, where more fall by the way than attain to any profitable advancement. " All rising to great place," says Lord Bacon, " is by a wind- ing stair." How freely and constantly are now used the arts of the demagogue ; and when the object is attained which is so earnestly sought, how empty and unsatisfactory is the result ! — while the same earnestness in the pur- suit of an honorable calling will surely lead to competency, respectability, and happiness. Lord Bacon wisely says, " Men in great place are thrice servants, — servants of the sovereign or State, servants of fame, and servants of business ; so as they have no freedom, neither in tiieir persons, nor in their SAMUEL THATCHER : PETER 0. ALDEN. 220 actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty." "We do not think that Mr. Thatcher practiced any of the arts of a demagogue, which at that day had not risen into the rank of a power in the commonwealth. But in a com- munity where education and high qualities were rare, his services were demanded by public exigencies ; and he was too high-minded a man to stoop to the ordinary level of office-seeking. If he had not yielded to temptation of pub- lic life, we do not doubt that his own welfare and happiness would have been greatly promoted. Mr. Thatcher was a public-spirited citizen of Warren, and labored to advance the interest and prosperity of the people : he was active in getting an academy established in that town, which was incorporated in 1808 ; and, with Col. Head, who died in 1861 at the age of ninety-six, he caused a principal avenue of the place to be bordered by elm trees, which now constitute a beautiful and refreshing adornment to the Tillage. Mr. Thatcher married, in 1T99, Sarah Brown, daughter of Reuben Brown of Concord, Massachusetts, by whom he had five children ; viz., Harriet Howard ; Elizabeth, who died January 23, 1827 ; Samuel of Bangor, moved to Minnesota ; George Augustus of Brewer, both married ; and Benjamin Bussey, Bowdoin College, 1826, who established himself in the practice of law in Boston, and had become quite distin- guished as a writer, when he was cut off in tlie vigor of life in 1840, at the age of thirty-one. Mr. Thatcher moved to Brewer in 1833, where he still survives. PETER OLIVER ALDEN. 17 9 7 — 1843. Mr. Alden was a descendant of that handsome Jolin Al- den, who, at the age of twenty-two, came over to the new 230 PETER 0. ALDEN. world in the Mayflower, 1G20, and was the same who became the favored messenger of Capt. Miles Standish to Miss Pris- cilla Mullins, to solicit her to supply the place of his first wife, who had recently deceased. But Priscilla, who was innocent and beautiful as a Pilgrim maiden should be, pre- ferred, as was very natural, the young agent to the aged principal. Her simple reply to the proposal of the redoubt- able Captain, after listening with due respect and modesty to it, was, " Prithee, John, why do you not speak for your- self? "^ The hint was subsequently improved, and this hand- some and virtuous pair became the ancestors of a long line of descendants who have spread wide over the land, adorn- ing all branches of industry, letters, science, and the arts. The subject of this memoir was the son of Joseph, who was the son of John, who was the son of Joseph the second son of the first John and his wife Priscilla Mullins. The first Joseph was one of the early settlers of Bridgewater. The mother of Peter was Hannah Hall, and he was born in Middleborough, adjoining Bridgewater, in 1770. His father was a farmer in respectable circumstances, and his son, after preparing for college, entered Brown University, from which he took his degree in 1792. This college, for the ten years of the last century, furnished a number of scholars, who became prominent in the affairs of Maine : among these were Job Nelson of Ca.stine, John Hathaway at Camden, John Merrill at Wiscasset, John P. Little at Gorham, Peleg Chandler, Ezekiel Whitman, John Holmes, Mason Shaw. He became a student in the office of Judge Padelford in Taunton, and came to Brunswick in this State near the close of 179G, or early in 1797. He was admitted to the Cumber- land bar at the March term, 1797, having probably been 1 For a dilation of this simple story, in beautiful poetic numbers, I must cita Professor Longfellow, not as an original autbority, but as an accom- plisberl rommentor. PETER 0, ALDEN. 231 previously admitted in Bristol County, Massachusetts. He was the only lawyer in Brunswick for the remainder of that century, and for several years in the present. In 1801, he married Mindwell, a daughter of Dr. Lyman of York, by whom he received some property. He had no children. His business for a time was vr-i ' good : he was well read as a lawyer, and had fair talenr. and information, but he was no advocate. He was very irritable in his tem- per,- and his manner when he undertook to argue his cases was abrupt and disagreeable. Whenever a shrewd adver- sary wished to gain an advantage over him, his certain way was to ruffle his temper, when he would be sure to spoil his own cause. As competitors gathered around him, in Bruns- wick and the neighboring towns, his business declined, and he was left almost briefless. Henry Putnam, Isaac Gates, and Ebenezer Everett, all graduates of Harvard, established themselves by his side, and divided a business that was not more than sufficient for one ; while a diversion was also made by Of r in Topsham, Mitchell in Freeport, and enterprising lawyers in Bath. To make good the deficiencies arising from these causes, he engaged in commercial operations, which for a time were successful, but which were suddenly and sadly blasted by the restrictions on mercantile transac- tions, which took place prior to the war of 1812. The lat- ter portion of his life was embittered by disappointment and poverty, which produced hypochondria, and left liim a wreck. He died in 184 j, at the age of seventy-threes. His wife sur- vived him a few years, and died among her kindred in York. Mr. Alden was large and bulky, but not well proportioned. He was, as may be inferred from the faults of his temper- ament, unpopular in the community in which his life was spent ; but by some reaction in 1820, perhaps from sympa- thy, he was elected to the House of Representatives, and 232 CYRUS KING. re-elected the three following years, growing each time in favor until his election in 1829 was nearly unanimous. CYRUS KING. 1797 — 1817. Cyrus King was the son of Richard King of Scarborough, by his second wife, Mary, daughter of Samuel Blake of York. He was born in Scarborough, September 6, 1772. His fa- ther was an eminent citizen of that town, to whicli he moved, in 1746, from Watertown, Massachusetts, where he had been engaged in commercial business. He was a commissary in the army at Annapolis, Nova Scotia, in 1744 ; and in his new residence he became largely engaged in mercantile pursuits, in whicli he accumulated a fortune. A portion of his large landed estate is still enjoyed by some of his descendants. No family in the State has been so productive of distin- guished persons as this. The oldest son of Richard King, by his first wife, Isabella Bragdon of York, was Rufus, emi- nent and prominent in the civil history of the country, from the time of his graduation at Harvard in 1717, to his death in 1829. The own brother of Cyrus, William King of Bath, was the first Governor of Maine, and held numerous other offices of high trust, under the State and general govern- ments, which he ably discharged. The women of this fam- ily were the Doric mothers of children of much ability and usefulness. Mary married Dr. Robert Southgate, whose numerous family were conspicuous in the early part of this century ; Paulina married Dr. Allen Porter; and Dorcas mar- ried Joseph Leland of Saco ; and their blood flows throitgh many channels, inspiring energy and usefulness, Cyrus was the fourth son and youngest child of Richard, and was two years and a half old when his father died ; but his mother lived to watch over and guide the expanding fac- ulties of her son, and enjoy the honors which lie acquired. CYRUS KING. 233 She died in 1816. Mr. King was fitted for college at Phil- lips Academy, Andovcr, and entered Columbia College, New York, in 1790, from which he graduated with the high- est honors of his class. He commenced the study of law with his brother Rufus in New York, who was then a sen- ator in Congress, and on his being appointed ambassador to England, he accompanied him as his private secretary. He remained abroad one year, when, being desirous of engag- ing in his chosen profession, he returned, and completed his studies in the ofiice of the late Chief Justice Mellen at JJiddeford, and was admitted to the bar in 1797. We cannot better portray the opening career of Mr. King than by adopting the language of Mr. Folsom, in his History of Saco : " Possessing brilliant and highly cultivated powers of mind, united with habits of patient and zealous appli- cation, Mr. King soon rose to eminence in the profession. As an advocate he was unrivaled ; his style of speaking was elevated and commanding ; rich in the higher graces of pol- ished oratory, and at the same time argumentative and con- vincing." " His addresses were more like an impetuous torrent than a smooth and gentle stream." And this was the failing of Mr. King that he could not restrain this tor- rent, for, as a cotcmporary has said, " his ardent temper- ament and impetuosity of manner as an advocate sometimes carried him, in his addresses to the court and jury, beyond the limits prescribed in some of Hamlet's instructions to the players." Such was my own impression, when I have heard him argue a cause as though he would carry the court and Jury by a storm of passionate utterances. But ^fr. King was a sound lawyer and a safe counsellor. *At the height of party feeling growing out of the declar- ation of war under Madison's administration, Mr. King was elected in 1812 to the Thirteenth Congress, the repre- sentative of the York District, as successor to Richard Cutts, 16 234 CYRUS KING. who had held the office from 1800 ; and he was re-elected for the next term. Mr. King was an ardent and zealous member of tlic Fed- eral party, and entered into all their measures in opposition to tlie war, with the same heartiness and vehemence which characterized his impassioned addresses at the bar. He took a very active part in the debates through the four years that he held a seat in Congress, and at times rose to a height of eloquence rarely surpassed in that body. During his first term he was a member of the Committee on Naval Affairs : at the next term, he had acquired such experience and rep- utation as to cause him to be placed on the important com- mittees of Foreign Affairs and the Public Lands. His prin- cipal political associates in Congress were his brother Rufus, Cliristophcr Gore, Jeremiah Mason, Dana of Connecticut, of the Senate, Timothy Pickering, Pitkin, Tallmadge, Baylies, and Daniel Webster, who entered Congress from New Hamp- shire the same year that he did. The venerable Pickering was the avowed leader of the Federal party in the House, while Calhoun of South Carolina marshaled the Admin- istration forces. Clay was Speaker the whole period. The Federalists, though in a small minority, had great ability, and contained illustrious names : — Rufus King was a con- summate orator and statesman, and none of Greek or Roman fame surpassed him; Gore, every inch a gentleman, states- man, and orator; and Webster was laying the foundation of that transcendant reputation wliich increased by time to liis last breath at Marshfield. And the purity and integrity of Mr. Pickering, even his adversaries applauded. Let Mr. Randolph's tribute be my illustration. On the bill to re- duce the compensation of members to six dollars a day, fn January, 1817, Mr. Pickering made allusion to his mod- erate circumstances after a long life devoted to the service of his country. On a subsequent day, and on another ques- CYRUS KING: TIMOTHY PICKERING. 235 tion, Mr. Randolph said, " No man in the United States had been more misunderstood, no man more reviled — and that he said was a bold declaration for him to make — than Alex- ander Hamilton, unless, perhaps, it was the venerable mem- ber from Massachusetts, — Mr. Pickering — whom, whatever may be said of him, all Avill allow to be an honest man. The other day, wlien that honorable member was speaking of his own situation, on the compensation question — when his voice faltered and his eyes filled at the mention of his pov- erty, I thought I would have given the riches of Dives him- self for his honorable feeling, when he spoke of his poverty, not that of excess or of extravagance, but an honest poverty, after a long and laborious service in the highest offices of the government. If the gentleman would take it," said Mr. Randolph, " I would give him what little I have to have inscribed on my tomb, as he may on his, ' Here lies the man" who enjoyed the confidence of Washington, and the enmity of his successor.' " On this question Mr. Pickering and Mr. King took opposite sides. The subjects of principal importance after peace took place, were the Reduction of the Army, the Compensation Bill — on which Mr. "Webster made a long and able report. Internal Duties, the Tariff, on a Uni- form National Currency, Pensions, &c. Among the latest of Mr. King's addresses in the House, was a speech on the repeal of Internal Duties : he spoke on the 19th February 1817, at considerable length, and, it is added, with great zeal in favor of the repeal. Mr. King returned home at the close of the session, March 3, and died suddenly in Saco, April 25th following, deeply lamented by the whole community, on which, by his eminent talents, he had conferred so much lustre. In October, 1797, Mr. King married Hannah, the eldest daughter of Capt. Seth Storer of Saco, by whom he had one son, — William Rufus, and several daughters. His son grad- 236 JOSIAH STEBBINS. uated at Bowdoin College in 1823, became a lawyer, migrated west, and died there, in 1836, aged thirty-two. JOSIAH STEBBINS. 1797 — 1829. Josiah Stebbins was the son of Josiah and Martha Steb- bins of Brimfield, Massachusetts, where he was born, Novem- ber 19, 1766. He was a descendant of Rowland Stebbins, or Stebbings, who was born in England in 1594, came to this country from Ipswich, England, in 1634, first to Rox- bury, with his wife, two sons, and two daughters, then to Springfield and Northampton, where he died in 1671. The ancestor was a man of respectable standing in England and this country, and of" gentle blood." Josiah pursued his stud- .ies preparatory for college with the Rev. Nehemiah Williams, the able and excellent minister of his native town, who was a graduate of Harvard of the class of 1769 ; and entering Yale College 1787, he received his first degree with the hon- ors of the college in 1791. Among his classmates were Judge Gould, the distinguished lawyer and Judge, of Con- necticut ; Samuel M. Hopkins ; and General Porter, Secretary of "War during the administration of John Q. Adams. In 1794, Mr. Stebbins was appointed a tutor in Yale College, and at the same time pursued his legal studies in the office of the Hon. Elizur Goodrich of New Haven, one of the most eminent lawyers in that State, and afterwards Professor of Jurisprudence in the college. He was admitted to practice in 1796, and at the same time retired from his situation as tutor. The next year, in November, he married Laura Allen of New Haven, and with this helpmeet, a stout heart, and a head full of learning, he set forth to take up the burden of life in the wilderness of Maine. He established himself in New Milford, which had been set off from Pownalhoro in JOSIAH STEBBINS: ALNA. 237 1794, and afterwards, at his suggestion, named Alna. This is a rough town, and rather an unpromising location for a youthful pair accustomed to the refinements of New Haven. It contained, at the time Mr. Stebbins went there, but about six hundred inhabitants, and they, after a period of fifty years, had increased only to nine hundred and sixteen, by the census of 1850, and even this fell off during the next ten years, to eight hundred and seven. What inducements a gentleman of so much cultivation as Mr. Stebbins had to begin the practice of his profession in a place so little invit- ing, we do not know. It may have been for the reason that was given by Gov. Sullivan, who, when asked why he began practice in so poor a town as Arrowsic, replied, that, as he had to break into the world, he thought he would try at the weakest place. We can no better account for the fact that the Cushings and Langdon should have gone into so wild a situation as Pownalboro was, when these brilliant men made their homes there. He was the only lawyer in the town for fifteen years, and here he pursued his professional duties with great assiduity and ability, acquiring an extensive practice and reputation. He was employed very much by the settlers, squatters^ as ,tliey were called, who had entered upon unoccupied territory without title, and made themselves farms. These people, at the time of their entry, did not know who the proprietors were, and could find nobo ly who would give them a title. The wliolc territory was in dispute between numerous claim- ants, under a variety of titles, and the settlers were harassed aiM distracted by contradictory claims. Mr. Stebbins deeply sympathized with these tenants, secured their confidence, and managed their causes with great perseverance. So great was the embarrassment and trouble growing out of these con- flicting claims, that the settlers, desj)airing of any remedy in the courts, resorted to arms, and resisted all attempts to sur- 238 JOSIAH STEBBINS : THE SQUATTERS. vey their land by the proprietors. In one of these conflicts, in 1809, Paul Cliadwick, an assistant surveyor, engaged in running some lines, was resisted in his undertakings by a party of squatters disguised as Indians, and murdered. The persons suspected of this crime, seven in number, were arrested and confined in the jail at Augusta, and so bold were the accessories of this crime that an attempt was made, or threatened, to break the jail and rescue the prisoners. The militia was called out, and the whole community was in a state of extraordinary excitement. The prisoners were indicted for murder and tried. They were defended by Mel- len and Wilde with so much skill, and the popular feeling was so deeply enlisted for the guilty men, that they were acquitted by the jury. The trial commenced November 16, 1809, and occupied more than a week. The Jury returned their verdict of 7iot g^uilty^ November 25. Solicitor Gen. Davis was for the government, and the judges were Sedg- wick, Sewall, Thacher, and Parker. John Merrick, Esq., of Hallowell, made ajid published a stenographic report of the trial, of great fullness and accuracy, which filled one hun- dred and eighty-six octavo pages. To do justice to these settlers, many of whom were inno- cent, and to restore quiet to this large community, the Leg-- islature, in 1808, passed an act of limitation and^settlement ; or, as it was commonly called, the " Betterment Act." This provided that when a tenant had been in possession of land, without title, for six years, and had made improvements upon it, the jury should be instructed to inquire into the value of the improvements, and of the land, if no improve- ments had been made upon it. It was then at the option of the demandant to abandon the premises to tlie tenant at the estimated price, or to pay to the tenant the estimated value of his improvements. Mr. Stebbins took great interest in the adoption of this JOSIAH STEBBINS. 239 just and salutary measure, and personally assisted in im- proving the system after the separation of Maine. The landed proprietors strenuously resisted the passage of the law ; but the popular sentiment set so strongly in its favor, and it was so manifestly equitable to the honest and inno- cent settlers, that all opposition was overcome. The late Governor King, then a representative from Bath, is said to have been active in procuring the passage of the law. In 1813, Mr. Stebbins was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Fleas for the second eastern circuit, as successor to Benjamin Ames of Bath. Nathan Weston, Jr., was chief justice, and Ebenezer Thatcher the other associate justice of this court. He held this office until the separa- tion of the -State, discharging its duties with ability and inflexible integrity. In 1816, he was chosen a member of the Executive Coun- cil of Massachusetts, and was annually re-elected as long as Maine continued united to the old Commonwealth. In the same year he was appointed one of the electors of President and Vice President : his colleagues in Maine were Prentiss Mellen, John Low, Stephen Longfellow, William Abbott, and Timothy Boutelle. The twenty electoral votes of Mas- sachusetts were given to Rufus King, who received thirty- four votes out of two hundred and seventeen cast: the remainder were given to Mr. Monroe. The same year, 1810, was also conspicuous in the life of Judge Stebbins, as a member of the celebrated abortive convention at Brunswick on the separation of Maine. The majority of that convention, it is well known, adopted the famous report of the committee for counting the votes of the people for and against separation. By the law, a ma- jority Q^ five to /oM/* was required to carry that measure into effect. This majority was not obtained from the aggre- gate of votes, according to the usual construction of the 240 JOSIAH STEBBINS : BRUNSWICK CONVENTION. language ; but the committee resorted to a different method of counting the votes. The whole number cast was twenty- two thousand foiu- hundred and sixty-six, live-ninths of. which is twelve thousand four hundred and eighty-one; those in favor of separation were but eleven thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven. The committee thus finding that the law was not complied with on this construction, assumed the construction of the act to be, that the question must be decided according to the majorities of the respective toivns. Thus, " The corporate majorities of yeas must be placed in one column, and those of nays in another, and each added. Then, as four is to Jive, so is the aggregate majority of yeas in the towns and plantations in favor, to the aggregate majority of nays in those opposed." They accordingly ciphered it out in this way, — "The whole aggregate majority of ijcas in, the towns and plantations in favor is six thousand and thirty-one. The whole aggregate majority of nai/s in the towns and plantations opposed, is four thousand four hundred and nine ; then as live is to four, so is six thousand and thirty-one to four thousand eight hundred and twenty-live, the nays required. Hence it appears that upon this construction there is a majority of five to four at least of the votes returned in favor of said District's becoming an independent State." To this report and decision, a large and highly respected portion of the convention took exception, and strenuously opposed it ; but, being overborne by a majority, a protest against further proceeding was drawn up and signed by seventy-one members ; and, on the 9th of October, Judge Stebbins presented the protest, and moved to have it entered on the journals of the convention. The following are some of the leading points of the protest : " We protest against a separation of ^Nlaine from tlie present government, by any means whatever, without the consent of the people. JOSIAH STEBBINS : BRUNSWICK CONVENTION. 241 No such consent has been given." " We protest against a reference of this subject to the General Court for the pur- pose expressed in the resohition ; because it is, in our esti- mation, a request to that honorable body to enact that which cannot be reconciled with constitutional principles nor actual fact." " We protest against the report on which the resolutions are predicated, as indecorous, as not expressed in terms suitable to the respect which this convention owes itself, nor to the honor due to the Legislature." The con- vention, notwithstanding the protest, went on appointing a committee to prepare a constitution, others to make appli- cation to the Legislature and to Congress, and another to answer the protest. At the next session of the Legislature, the proceedings of the convention were entirely discarded, and a resolution was adopted, " That it is not expedient for the present General Court to adopt any further measures in regard to the separation of the District of Maine." The separation postponed at that time was accomplished in 1820 : in 1821, Judge Stebbins' seat upon the bench was supplied by a friend of the separation of which he was not, and he returned to the practice of his profession, which he continued to the close of his life. In 1825, he was elected a Senator to the Legislature from Lincoln County, and re- elected the two subsequent years. In this situation, his learning and experience were valual)le. He made, daring this period, several important reports, two of which were in favor of appropriations for the support of deaf and dumb pupils in the Hartford Asylum, and several elaborate reports on the sul)jcct of the State's Prison. Judge Stcl»bins was a better counsellor and legislator than a debater, although he often engaged in debate, and was a frequent advocate at the bar. But in this line his efforts were not happy, his manner was awkward, and his style confused, overloaded, and ob- 242 JOSIAH STEBBINS : BENJAMIN WHITWELL. scure. One of his cotemporarics, Mr. Allen, who practiced in the same county with him, says, " He did not excel as an advocate. He lacked method, and the power of condensing his thoughts. His arguments were desultory, involved in parentheses, and leaving no distinct impression. He was distinguished for his affability, for his inflexible integrity, and tlie purity of his moral character." ^ He was extremely careless in his pecuniary transactions. He kept no accounts with his clients, and settled none ; and, although economical, he permitted his claims to be barred by the statute of limit- ations, unless his debtors chose voluntarily to pay him. But he was a good man, a good citizen, and an able, honest law- yer. At the Lincoln bar, he stood in the front rank ; in the management of his causes, he was true and faithful to his client, and permitted no part of his case to be lost by any fault of his. In private life, he was a warm and affectionate friend to those who won and deserved his confidence. A friend of learning and learned institutions, he was one of the Overseers of Bowdoin College and afterwards a Trustee, from 1816 to the time of his death. He rarely omitted at- tending the commencement exercises and other important occasions of the institution, and took a warm interest in its progress and success. He died at Alna, much lamented, March 1, 1826, aged sixty-three, leaving one daughter, Laura, an only child, who inherited the literary qualities of her father, and lives unmar- ried in Bangor. His widow survived him a few years. BENJAMIN WHITWELL. 171) 6— 1812. Benjamin Whitwell was the son of Samuel Whitwell, a hard-ware merchant in Boston, who died in 1828, aged sev- 1 Sixth Volume Maine Historical Collections, p. 60. BENJAMIN WHITWELL. 243 enty-six, and was born there June 22, 1772. He was pre- pared for college in the famed Latin school of that town, which he entered in 1779, at the age of seven years, and graduated at Harvard College in 1790 ; of whicli class, one survivor, Josiah Quincy, clarum et venerabile nomen, yet remains, the oldest living graduate. Mr. Whitvvell ranked well in college, being distinguished more in the belles lettres than in the profound branches of study. This was man- ifested by his being selected to deliver a poem at Commence- ment, and again when he took his second degree. On the lat- ter occasion, he took for his subject" Seclusion." This was followed by a still higher tribute to his poetical talent, in his being selected to deliver the poem in 1806, before the Phi Beta Kappa Society. On this occasion, his subject was " Folly as it flies." He was then in the practice of law at Augusta, and this assignment shows that the stern duties of the legal practice liad not hardened his imagination, nor driven the love of the muses from his heart. On leaving college, Mr. Whitwell entered the office of Judge John Sprague, a very distinguished lawyer of Lancas- ter, Worcester County, whose daughter he afterward mar- ried. He was admitted to the bar, and came to Augusta in Maine, in 1796. This town was then a part of Hallowell, from which it was separated in February, 1797, and called Harrington, which name was changed to Augusta in June of the same year. It then contained a population of ten or eleven hundred, and but one lawyer, James Bridge ; Wil- liam Lithgow, Jr., had retired from practice, and died that year. By his connections in Boston, he had a very good business, having charge of some large tracts of land belong- ing to absent proprietors. But his studies and tastes were not suited to encounter the sharp conflicts of the bar in a rude state of society, and in pursuing the more gentle ten- dencies of his mind, he devoted to literary labors much of 244 BENJAMIN WHITWELL. the time which would have made him a good lawyer, and an eloquent advocate. He wrote much for the press, and as an acquaintance happily said, " He was more fond of poetry than of pleading." It was this, perhaps, that led him to associate in business, partners more inclined to the hard tasks of the profession than he was ; of these were succes- sively, Williams Emmons, son of the celebrated preacher and controversial divine of Franklin, Massachusetts ; Henry W. Fuller, and John Potter. Mr. Whitwell remained in Augusta until 1812, when he removed to Boston, where his own family connections and those of his second wife, Lucy P., a daughter of John Scol- lay, a former merchant in that city, resided. There he pur- sued his profession, was in 1816 Assistant Secretary of State under Alden Bradford, and a representative from Boston in 1818. He was a zealous politician of the Federal school, and spoke, and wrote, and acted for the cause, as long as it kept up its organization as a party. While at Augusta, he was once or twice a candidate for representative to Congress, and in 1805 represented that town in the General Court. In his political opinions he was a co-worker with Wilde and Parker, Bailey, Orr, Abbot, Longfellow, and numerous oth- er able and honorable men through the State ; but the party was for years in a desperate minority in Maine, and adventur- ers in that school had little chance for advancement. His gifts as an orator and writer were often put in requisition : in 1800, on the 22d of February, he delivered a eulogy before the people of Augusta and Hallowell on the death of Wash- ington, and on the 4th of July, 1814, he was the orator of the day before the town authorities of Boston while the war with Great Britain was at its liefght, in which he did not spare the administration of the General Government, and echoed the deeply felt and loudly exju'csscd sentiment of Massachusetts against the war. Tiie same year he was called BENJAMIN WHITWELL. 245 upon to pronounce the annual address before the Massachu- setts Charitable Fire Society, a celebrated institution of that day in Boston. Both of these orations were published, and were highly finished pieces of composition. Mr. Whitwell was a distant relative of Chief Justice Par- sons, and when that great jurist presided in his court at Augusta, he made Mr. Whitwell's house his home. A friend has given me an account of his interview with the Chief Jus- tice on one of these occasions. " I called upon him," he says, " with my mother. He wore on his head a study cap, and a red bandanna about his neck. He kindly inquired about my pursuits, and when I told him I was a student at law, he gave me in conversation a most elaborate lecture on the study of the law, enumerated a list of elementary works to be read, and dwelt much on slow and repeated perusal of some of them, especially Blackstone's Commentaries, and pointed out the way to read them advantageously. On my return home I wrote down these valuable instructions, and I think they made a permanent and useful impression upon me." In the latter part of his life, Mr. "Whitwell had been fee- ble, and was in a decline. He was advised to spend a win- ter in a Southern climate, and he went to Charleston, South Carolina, near the close of 1824, without, however, material benefit, and on his return he died at sea, in April, 182"). Several descriptions of Mr. Wliitwell, and my own recol- lections, concur in representing him as a handsome man, and of fine personal appearance. He had a tall and grace- ful figure, a broad, white forehead, with a dark, heavy eye- brow, dark hair, and a full, dark eye. His style of dress was elegant, his manners, though reserved, were graceful ; his whole appearance commanded respect, and indicated a high order of talents, which, in a profession more congenial 246 BENJAMIN WHITWELL : JOHN MERRILL. to his taste, and with an active business talent, would have insured eminent success. Mr. Whitwell, as we have intimated, was twice married. By his first wife, the daughter of Judge John Sprague of Lan- caster, he had three children ; viz., John, wlio became a pro- fessor in a college in Ohio ; Samuel, settled in Lancaster ; and Sarah, who married Mr. Tomkins. Li May, 1808, he mar- ried Lucy P. ScoUay, of Boston, whose family gave the name to the buildings at the junction of Court and Tremont streets. By her he had William S., Treasurer of the Boston and Rox- bury Mill Corporation ; Benjamin, deceased ; Lucy, married to William Parker the distinguished engineer ; and Eliza- beth. His widow is still living in Boston. JOHN MERRILL. 17 9 8 — 1816. John Merrill was the son of John Merrill, a respectable citizen of Topsham, and a Justice of the Peace for Lincoln County. He was born in Topsham in 1770. His early life was spent upon his father's farm. At a mature age he pre- pared for college, and entering Brown University, he took his degree in 1793, in a class of twelve members, in which he was among the best. He was regarded as a superior scholar, and particularly thorough in mathematics, for which he had both fondness and taste. Determining to become a lawyer, he entered the office of Silas Lee at Wiscasset, and having passed through the usual course with diligence, and a mind well stored with legal principles, he was admitted to the bar in 1798, and commenced practice in Hallovvell. He remained in that place but about two years, when he removed to Wis- casset, and we soon after find him a partner with his former instructor, Mr. Lee, whose numerous avocations as member of Congress, United States Attorney, and Judge of Probate, called him much from liis office. Mr. Merrill was a well- JOHN MERRILL. 247 read lawyer, and a safe and judicious counsellor, but a nat- ural diffidence prevented him from making any figure as an advocate. By this defect he lost the opportunities which the forum gives for the exercise and display of legal quali- ties, and necessarily took a lower position in the profession than his legal ability and acquirements might have justly claimed. His tastes seemed rather to have run outside of the bar. I am informed by one who knew him intimately that he had a fine genius, composed rapidly, and wrote in a polished style, and that he was very quick and expert in drawing up a legal instrument. He wrote a beautiful hand, was a great reader and deep thinker, and did not disdain to pay his court to the muses, in which gentle service he acquired no small repute. Many of his verses were circu- lated in manuscript among his friends, and were read with pleasure and applause. Another venerable cotemporary informs me that he was a man of good sense and general knowledge, had a fine taste, and was remarkable for his social qualities. He was a very handsome man, six feet in height, of portly figure and pleasing address. With these fine qualities, why should not this gentleman, so prepossessing in appearance and manners, and so well endowed, have left upon his times a lasting impression ? He was devoid of ambition and energy, and too desultory in his etforts when he made them ; he sacrificed to ease and indulgence powers and faculties, whicli might have given him an elevated position in the community, and conferred a permanent benefit upon his State and his profession. It is said of Mr. Merrill that, when a young man, he was famed for his agility and strength as a wrestler. He was challenged one day by a large party in To])sliam, which he did not decline, and engaged them one after another from twelve o'clock till sunset, throwing them all successively in every form of the sport. Hut the ellort was so exhausting, 248 JOHN MERRILL: JAMES D. HOPKINS. that it produced an unfavorable effect upon his constitution, and led to serious consequences. Wrestling was a very fash- ionable exercise among young men in the last century and the beginning of the present. It was one of the college customs at Cambridge, for the Freshmen, on the entry of tlie class, to be initiated into their new life by a wrestling match. The Sophomores challenged the new comers to a trial of strength in this ancient and clas- sical exercise. The Senior class was the umpire, and the vic- tors were treated to a supper on their invitation. Mr. Merrill married Miss Mary Webster of Wiscasset, by whom he had a family. A son Charles is a cashier of a bank in Maiden, Massachusetts ; and a daughter, who married Mr. Tristram Jordan of Saco, now lives in Portland, a widow with children. Mr. Merrill died in Topsham, June, 1816, aged forty-six. JAMES DEAN HOPKINS. 1797 — 1840. James D. Hopkins was born at Axminster, a manufactur- ing town on the river Ax, in Devonshire, England, in 1773. He came to Portland, in this State, at the age of eleven years, with his father, Tliomas Hopkins, who, with many other enterprising Englishmen, hastened to this country on the conclusion of peace, for a free air and a broader field for their energy. The father was a respectable merchant, and the owner of large landed property, which descended to his children, with an honored name. He built a large block of stores with dwellings connected, according to the English style, on Middle street in Portland, in part of which he traded and dwelt, and where he died, leaving two sons and three daughters. James did not receive a collegiate education, but after applying himself diligently to rudimentary studies he entered JAMES D. HOPKINS : SPECIAL PLEADING. 249 the oflfice of Daniel Davis, then the most brilliant lawyer at the bar in Maine, and earnestly devoted himself not only to acquire the knowledge of his special profession, but of gen eral literature. He became well grounded in legal princi- ples, and particularly in that then most important branch, " special pleading," which he applied with adroitness in his subsequent practice. He was admitted to the bar in March, 1797, and immediately entered on a remunerative practice. He was not only an adroit special pleader, but he was remarkably well read in the law of real estate, for which his skill gave him numerous engagements. In respect to special pleading, — now almost a " misnomer," and forgotten at the bar, — he may have carried his art to excess of refinement, as is apt to be the case with those who have peculiar aptitude in any subject which has taken possession of the mind. It was sometimes diverted from its legitimate purpose of opening the pathway to truth, into intricate subtleties and tricks of deception. We cannot but think that one of the causes of the falling off in the high standard of excellence in our profession in Maine, may be traced to the abrogation of nearly all the forms of pleading ; — when they were in force, one could not be a good lawyer who was not tolerably well versed in them. Sir William Jones says, " Our science of special pleading is an excellent logic ; it is admirably cal- culated for the purpose of analyzing a cause, of extracting, like the root of an equation, the true points in dispute." Again, " It is reducil)le to the strictest rules of pure dialect ; and if it were scientifically taught in our public seminaries of learning, would fix the attention, give a ha1)it of reason- ing closely, quicken the apj)rehension, and invigorate the understanding ; but," he adds, " it may unquestionably be perverted to very bad purposes." It was observing the " bad purposes," that made Lord Mansfield an avowed enemy of special pleaders^ if not of the science. 17 250 JAMES D. HOPKINS. Mr. Hopkins was for several years a leading member of the bar, and had more business than any other member in the early part of this century. As an advocate, he was zeal- ous, ardent, and impassioned. His faults were, too much ex- citability and too much expansion. He entered with his whole soul into the cause of his client, and spared nothing which thorough investigation and untiring industry could accomplish for his success. A short time previous to the appointment of -liis legal instructor, Mr. Davis, as Solicitor General, he formed a partnership with him, which continued until Mr. Davis left the State, in 1804. During the existence of the Federal party, Mr. Hopkins entered zealously into the controversies of the day in sup- port of its principles. His addresses at public meetings were ardent and impulsive ; at times, eloquent, and on occa- sions of high excitement, often overwrought and violent. In the latter portion of his life, he took no active part in politics, but quietly and steadily pursued his literary and legal labors with the love and interest which had guided his early studies. For industry and patient labor he was a pattern to young men who are seeking preferment in life. When not engaged in the active duties of his profession, he devoted liimself to study and general improvement. He wasted no time in mere amusement. He was fond of antiquarian researches, and it gave him particular pleasure to trace pedigrees, and to examine ancient titles. With a warm imagination and fond- ness for labor, he prepared, in his leisure hours, a work of fiction, in two volumes, founded upon the early settlement of Portland, which was highly interesting as a historical novel. It was never published. His taste in this department of research was also displayed ^n an address which he delivered before the members of the Cumberland bar in 1883, which was published in a pamphlet of seventy-nine (pages. The JAMES D. HOPKINS. 251 work exhibits careful investigation, and preserves valuable memoi-ials relative to law and lawyers in Maine. A single extract will sliow the tendency of his own studies. In speaking of some libraries in the last century, he says they contained " Good store of black-letter learning, a few vol- umes of which, modern notions notwithstanding, are worth a multitude of recent publications." During the latter period of his life, he was engaged in the preparation of a work on Insurance, which was nearly ready for the press ; but the full and accurate volumes of Mr. Phillips of Boston, on the same subject, had so entirely oc- cupied the ground that he did not deem it advisable further to pursue his work. Mr. Hopkins also left copious notes and memoranda on the law of real estate ; and his man- uscripts show an immense amount of labor in the examin- ation of titles, and in explaining and illustrating the records. He was three times married. His first wife was Mary, a daughter of John Bagiey of Portland, to whom he was mar- ried December 18, 1801. She died within three months of their union. In December, 1804, he married Dorcas, a , daughter of Capt. Daniel Tucker of Portland, by whom he left three daughters who are still living, and arc his only sur- viving children. Mr. Hopkins had a younger brother, Tliomas, who read law with him, and a few montlis with Judge "Wilde at Ilallowell, and was admitted to the l)ar of Cumberland in 1805. We quote the following tender memo- rial of him from the Address to the Bar above referred to : "He commenced practice in Bridgton, where he remained about a year, and then removed to Portland in ill licalth, which continued and increased until his death, Dec. 8, 1807. Cut off in the morning of his days, he had but little oppor- tunity of showing his ])rofessional (lualifications or acijuisi- tions. What he was, and what he promised to be, it should be the office of some other to declare. He was my brother." 252 GEORGE W. WALLING FORD. GEORGE WASHINGTON WALLINGFORD. 1798 — 1824. George W. "Wallingford was born at Somersworth, in New Hampshire, February 19, 1778. His father, Samuel Wal- lingford, was killed in a naval engagement between the Drake and Ranger in April, 1778. This engagement was one of the daring actions of the renowned naval commander, Paul Jones. It took place in April, 1778, off Belfast, Ireland. Jones had been cruising on that coast, and by his many bold enterprises had struck terror into the minds of the people in that neighborhood. To stop his marauding, the sloop-of- war Drake, of twenty guns, was prepared for sea, on board of which a large number of volunteers entered for a holiday expedition, making her crew one hundred and sixty men, so determined were they to get rid of this pest. On the morning of April 24th, Jones's ship, the Ranger, of eighteen guns, was off the harbor, and the Drake immediately pro- ceeded to get under way, and came slowly out to sea. The Ranger ran down toward her, and, hauling up her courses, lay to, to await her arrival. On her coming up, Jones sheered across her bow, and poured into her the first broadside. The engagement was maintained with great energy and • obstinacy at close quarters for more than an hour, when, the captain of the Drake receiving a musket ball in his head, the crew called for quarter, and the action ceased. Tlie captain and lieutenant of the Drake died of their wounds, and forty-two of her crew were killed. The loss on board the Ranger was the brave and noble Lieutenant Wallingford, and one seaman killed and six wounded. The prize was taken to Brest, with two hundred prisoners, being double the number of his own crew, and Jones was greeted with lively demonstrations of joy by the American commission- ers, in which the French court heartily joined. One incident honorable to the humanity of Lieut. Wal- GEORGE W. WALLINGFORD. 253 lingford, we cannot forbear to mention : — Jones, just previous to the above-named battle, liad entered Whitehaven harbor in the night, with the intention of destroying tlie town and a large fleet of vessels lying there. He assigned to Wal- lingford the duty of firing a portion of the fleet, while he scaled the forts and spiked the guns. Having entirely ac- complished this object, he was surprised not to see the ship- ping on fire. Meeting Wallingford on the .pier, he inquired as to the failure of his part of the plan. He stated that his light had gone out, and besides, he did not see that anything could be gained by burning poor people's property. Left in infancy an orphan, the son was compelled to endure hardships and to struggle through many trials. He was educated at Harvard College, from which he took his first degree in 1795, having for his classmate Bishop Dehon of South Carolina, Benjamin Gorham of Boston, and Caleb Bradley and Joshua Wingatc of Maine. The last survivor of this class of forty was Caleb Bradley, a clergyman, who died in Westbrook, June 3, 1861, at the ripe age of eighty- nine. On leaving college, Mr. Wallingford entered the office of Dudley Hubbard in South Berwick, and became an atten- tive and diligent student. He was admitted to the bar in. 1798, and establislied himself in the profession at Kenne- bunk in 1800. Joseph Thomas was the only practitioner in the village, then a part of the town of Wells, since incorpo- rated as a separate town by the Indian name of Kenncbunk. Mr. Wallingford had an advantage over Mr. Thomas, in that he was a good advocate and a forcible and pleasing speaker, while Mr. Tliomas rarely argued his own cases to the jury. But Wallingford, two years after, was encountered by a com- petitor, his equal in all the qualities of a lawyer, advocate, and a man, the late Joseph Dane, although not gifted with the courage and impulsiveness of the former. These qual- 254 WALLING FORD : CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. ities, with a firm will and a determined resolution, very useful, if not necessary to the advancement of a lawyer, oftentimes placed Wallingford in the van of his compet- itor. He was ardent, bold, and independent, both as a law- yer and politician ; and as an active member of the Federal party, he toolc a prominent position in the contests which fiercely raged in the early part of the century. In 1813, he was elected one of the representatives of Wells to the Gen- eral Court, and was successively re-elected during the con- tinuance of our connection with Massachusetts. Here he took an active part in the discussions of the great questions which agitated the country, advocating with boldness and ability the leading measures of the Federal party. In 181G, he was chosen a member of the Brunswick Convention, and united with those who protested against the action of the majority, in declaring that the conditions of separation had not been complied with. They did not consider that the requisite majority had been obtained. And this view was sustained by the Legislature. He was also a member of the Convention held in Portland, in October, 1819, which adopt- ed the Constitution under which we now live. He bore his part ably in the debates, and from his experience in the rules of deliberative assemblies, he was a useful and honored mem- ber of the Convention. He did not, however, sign the Con- stitution, from objections to some portions of it, which he and thirty-one other members, who also declined subscribing it, were unable to have amended in conformity with their views. Among these were all the delegates from AVells, four in number, '^and the five delegates from Portland, which included Judges Whitman and Emery, Messrs. Asa Clapp and Isaac Ilsley. Tiic principal objection was to the appor- tionment of representatives, which the minority considered unequal and unjust, as it deprived the inhal)itants of large towns of their just proportion of members in the legislative GEORGE W. WALLINGFORD. 255 body. The discussion on this subject was long and learned, in whicli the most al)Ie delegates in the Convention took part, as Judges Bridge, Thacher, and Green, Mr. Holmes, Mr. Whitman, Allen of Norridgewock, Ames, Wallingford, Parris, &c. As may be inferred, Mr. Wallingford was not an advocate for the separation ; he preferred a connection with Massachu- setts, which, with Maine, constituted a large and powerful State, until our resources, population, and wealth should be so much increased as to give us some consideration in the confederacy. Another argument with him undoubtedly was of a political nature : he preferred the conservative character and the high moral standard of the Old Bay State, to swinging off into the control of the Democratic party, whicli would have charge of affairs in the new State. His membership in the Convention was his last public ofRcc with the exception of his representation of his town in the legislature of Maine in 1823. The next year, January 19, 1824, he died, much honored and lamented, at the age of forty-eight, in the midst of his vigor and usefulness. He was a good lawyer, a popular advocate and debater, and a man of stern principles and rigid integrity. He was earnest and forcible in contending for truth, or maintaining his principles, or advocating the rights and interests of his clients. He enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and was esteemed as a conscientious public man. In September, 1806, he married Miss Abigail Chadbourne of Berwick, a sister of Ichabod R. Chadbourne, the respect- ed lawyer of Eastport, by whom he had one daughter, who married and died without issue. His wife died in 1808. He married for his second wife, Mary, a daughter of Dr. Jacob Fisher of Kennebuuk, by whom he had one son and four daughters, who survived him. 256 JUDAH DANA. JUDAH DANA. 179 8—184 5. Judali Dana was the first lawyer that ventured into that part of Maine now embraced in the county of Oxford. He established himself at Fryeburg, in September, 1798. The town had then about seven hundred inhabitants : it had but one thousand and four by the census of 1810 : the whole county of Oxford in 1800 had but nine thousand nine hund- red. The town was granted in 1702 to General Joseph Frye, from whom it takes its name, and was occupied the same year by Osgoods, Bradleys, and others, principally from Con- cord, New Hampshire. Mr. Dana was the son of John Winchester Dana and Han- nah Pope Putnam, a daughter of General Israel Putnam, the celebrated Major General of the Revolution, and was born at Pomfret in Vermont, April 25, 1772. Judge Dana's father was one of the first settlers of that town. He grad- uated at Dartmouth College in 1795, having among his class- mates Heman Allen of Vermont and Judge Nicholas Em- ery of this State. The present generation may be pleased to know the style of dress which graduates wore at that day. Judge Dana thus described his own, — " a black coat, vest, and small clothes with large silver knec-bucklcs, black silk stock- ings and shoes, with silver shoe-buckles ; black silk gloves, and the head surmounted with a black three-sided cocked hat. The hair was queued down the back almost to the hips with a black ribbon — hair dressed and powdered white as snow." Thus, in a strange masquerade, with the excep- tion of the hat, the young graduates appeared on the stage at Commencement : the small clothes continued sometime into the present century for dress garments. On leaving college, Mr. Dana took charge of Moore's Charity school at Hanover, and at the same time entered the office of Benjamin I. Gilbert of that place, a sound law- JUDAH DANA. 257 yer and good classical scholar, who was known by the sobri- quet of Baron Gilbert, from his namesake, the distinguished Chief Baron. In September, 1798, having completed his studies, he was admitted to the bar of Grafton County in New Hampshire, and determining to settle in Maine, he came to the district the same month, and was admitted to the bar in Lincoln County. Thus furnished and equipped, he entered upon the practice in the town which for nearly half a century continued to be his place of residence. The nearest lawyer to him in Maine was at Portland, fifty miles distant, so that he had the range of the forest and the plain, and most energetically and successfully did he pursue his game. His business extended into New Hampshire, which Fryeburg adjoined, and he attended the courts of that State held at Dover, as well as those of his own county held at York, to which his town belonged ; — to reach which places he pursued his long and solitary way on horseback. He became a leading advocate, and as he was a careful and intelligent student, he acquired a high reputation at the bar of his own county, and practiced with success in Cumberland, where he encountered the able men of that bar, whose names have in part been recorded. His first competitor, wiio settled in a neighboring town, was his classmate, Nicholas Emery, at Parsonsfield. But there soon came into his immediate neighborhood another, to divide the same loaf which was hardly enough for one hun- gry practitioner to enjoy. Jacob McGaw from New Hamp- shire, and two years after him in college, opened an office along side of him in 1801, and a vigorous rivalship took place, which certainly did not diminish the business nor the excitement in the efforts of the young and ardent aspirants for legal fame and an honorable support. These lawyers attended the courts in New Hampshire, at York, and in Cum- berland, and they had rafeiiy sharp encounters on lesser mat- 258 JUDAH DANA. ters before local magistrates at home. But Mr. McGaw was not satisfied with this limited field of labor, and left it in two or three years for Bangor, where we shall have the pleasure of another meeting with him. He was succeeded by Sam- uel A. Bradley, a graduate of Dartmouth of 1799, who for a long series of years was a competitor in law and politics with Mr. Dana. In 1805, Oxford County was established from territory in the northern parts of York and Cumberland. It was the seventh county in the State in the order of its organization, following Kennebec, which was established in 1799. Paris was appointed the shire town, and two terms a year of the Common Picas and Sessions were granted to it, but its issues in the Supreme Court were tried in Portland. The two law- yers of Fryeburg found places in the Probate Court, — Mr. Dana as Judge, and Mr, Bradley as Register. Judge Dana also received the appointment of County Attorney, which he held until he was raised to the bench of the Common Pleas. No other persons in any of the offices in the county were lawyers. Judge Dana continued to practice with increased success, both ill the Common Pleas of his own county, and in the Supreme Court at Portland, and he was engaged on one side or the other of every cause, civil or criminal, tried in Oxford from June, 1805, to August, 1811. It is said that he main- tained himself with al)ility in his conflicts with the leaders of the Cumberland bar, Hopkins, Longfellow, Whitman, and others, until 1811, when he was appointed Associate Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the first eastern circuit, under the reorganization of that court by Governor Gerry's administration. Benjamin Greene of South Berwick was Chief Justice, and William Widgery of Portland, second as- sociate. This office he held until 18^2, when the government of Maine established a new court for the whole State, con- JUDAH DANA. 259 sisting of three judges, of which Chief Justice Whitman was placed at the head. Judge Dana was a well-read lawyer, of a judicious, well- balanced, and discriminating mind. His perceptions were quick and ready, and he discharged the duties of his official stations with integrity, urbanity, and sound legal intelligence. He was fond of his office, had a high sense of the obligations it imposed, and labored earnestly and devotedly in a faith- ful discharge of its duties. From these he returned to the bar with unabated zeal, and entered into its conflicts with the energy of his early life tempered by the calmness of judgment which the exercise of the judicial office is wont to impart. In 1819, he was a member of the State Convention which framed the Constitution of Maine, and was one of the Com- mittee to prepare that instrument, which was composed of some of the most prominent men in the State. He took an active part in the debates. He was appointed to several political offices. In 1833, he was one of the Executive council in the administration of Governor Smith ; in 183G and 1837, he was one of the Bank Commissioners. In 1836, he was appointed by Governor Dunlap, United States Senator for the remainder of Judge Shepley's term, who resigned that office on being appointed a judge of the Supreme Court ; his colleague was John Rug- gles. While a Senator, he engaged in tbc debates of that body, one of the most exciting of which was that on the res- olution of Mr. Benton to expunge from the record the cen- sure on Gen. Jackson. I am indebted to an intimate friend of Judge Dana for the following estimate of his character and powers : " He was a ready speaker, urbane and conciliating, but of un- questioned firmness. In all imblic positions, he was time and faithful, and fully equal to the demand upon him. In 260 JDDAH DANA : HIS STUDENTS : DANIEL WEBSTER. private life, no gentleman could be more genial. Time and chance were never wanting with him to say and do kind things to every one within his circle. In a large sphere of professional life, Judge Dana could have acquired a more brilliant reputation, but he loved the country and its retire- ment, and there chose to act his part, keeping fresh, how- ever, in the world's history, living and past." He labored effectually to promote the educational interests of his adopted town, and contributed to other improvements to make it a desirable place of residence. He was one of the Trustees of Bowdoin College from 1820 to 1843. Such was the genial character and reputation of Judge Dana that his office became the resort of many young men who were pursuing the study of law. Among these were Daniel "Webster, for a short period ; General Samuel Fessen- den ; Peter C. Virgin of Runiford ; Gen. Eleazer Wheelock Ripley ; Joseph Howard ; Philip Eastman of Saco ; Henry B. Osgood, and several others. Mr. Webster graduated at Dartmouth College in 1801, and afterwards had charge of the academy at Fryeburg ; during this time he had his name in Judge Dana's office. A letter from him to his teacher, which we are permitted to use, will give us a little insight into his pursuits while there. " Boston, December 29th, 1804, — Dear Sir, — Circumstances exist which render it desirable to me to be able to show that during the eight months in which I instructed in the Frye- burg Academy, I considered myself destined for the profes- sion of the law, and had access to the librari/ of a practi- tioner. If you can, salro honore, say this of me, it would gratify me that you should. A ' student at law' I certainly was not, unless ' Allen Ramsey's Poems' and ' Female Quix- otism ' will pass for law books. Besides, I should not ex- pecj; a man of your habits to certify nie to have been a student at anything- during the time which I loitered away JUDAH DANA. 261 in your country, perusing rather my male and female friends than my books. To be serious, however, you would really oblige mc by writing me a line, and stating in it, if you can, that while I was in the academy six hours in the day, you understood me to have made choice of the law as a profes- sion, and that I had access to your library. I w^ll imme- diately excuse you if there is anything in this request incom- patible with propriety." Judge Dana replied, saying : " The precise time of your residence in Fryeburg, as preceptor of the Academy, I can- not now ascertain, but I think you came in November or December, 1801, and returned the September following, so as to make up the term of your eight months. On your ar- rival, you informed me you intended, as you had commenced, to pursue the study of the law, and wished for the privilege of using my books, and during said term you had access to my library." Judge Dana was twice married ; his first wife, and the mother of all liis children, was Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of Professor Sylvanus Ripley of Dartmouth Col- lege, and grand-daughter of the first President Wheelock of the same college. Generals Eleazer W. and James "W, Ripley were her brothers. His second wife was the widow of General John McMillan of Fryeburg. His only son who survived infancy, is the Hon. John W. Dana, former Gover- nor of Maine, and late Minister to Bolivia. Of his several daughters, one married Judge Howard of Portland, another is the widow of the late Henry B. Osgood, and now the wife of Judge Goodcnow of Alfred. He died in December, 1845, at the age of seventy-three, with a consciousness of having endeavored to discharge the duties of life, and with a firm religious trust ; leaving a handsome estate, the fruit of his labor, his care, and judi- cious management. 262 NICHOLAS EMERY. NICHOLAS EBIERY. 1798 — 1861. Nicholas Emery, the classmate of Judge Dana, opened his ollioc in Parsousfield at the same time his friend estab- lished himself in Fryeburg, — the autumn of 1708. Parsons- field lies in the northwest corner of the county of York, and on the boundary of New Hampshire, west, and Oxford, north. This is a large and unbroken township of land, and contained, when Mr. Emery commenced practice there, about twelve hundred inhabitants ; it was a flourishing and growing town, and that part of the county being destitute of any member of the profession, afforded much encouragement to a young practitioner. Mr. Dana was the only lawyer in that part of the State north of him, and the only ones on the south in the county were at Biddeford, Berwick, Kennebunk, and Saco, — the whole number not exceeding six or eight : Mr. Dana, who was his next neighbor, was not nearer than twenty miles, the others thirty miles at least. This range might be considered sufficiently large to give ample employ- ment to one lawyer. Mr. Emery was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, Septem- ber 4, 1776. His first American ancestor was Anthony Emery of Romsey, England, a carpenter, who came over, with his brother John, in the James of London, in the spring of 1635, arriving in Boston in June. John settled in New- bury, Anthony in Kittery. The descent is through Daniel Emery of Kittery, whose will on York records bears date November 8, 1722. Daniel had four sons, three of whom he named from the Patriarch of the Deluge and his two sons, — Noah, Shem, Japhct: he wisely substituted the name of a beloved apostle for that of the despised Ham. Noah, the eldest, married Joanna, a daughter of Nicholas Perry- man, a lawyer of Exeter, and of his wife, Joanna Dudley, a descendant of Governor Thomas Dudley of Massachusetts. NICHOLAS EMERY. 263 These were the grand-parents of the subject of our notice ; his fatlier, Noah, tiicir second son, married Jane Hale, by whom he had six children, all of whom are dead but John and Jane, now residing in Exeter. Their father, Noah, was many years clerk of the judicial courts for the County of Rockingham. Their father's sister, Margaret, a woman of remarkable powers of mind and an ever-ready flow of wit, is still living at Exeter, in her ninety-first year, having been born i^i October, 1772. Nicholas was the third child. He entered the far-famed academy at Exeter, at the age of twelve years, in 1788, the same year that the renowned and beloved Benjamin Abbott commenced his course of instruc- tion in that seminary ; whiclf continued with eminent success through a period of fifty years. His long term of service closed with ajnbilee which brought together a large number of his surviving pupils, to bear honorable testimony of their affection for their venerated instructor. After a diligent pursuit of his preliminary studies, Mr. Emery entered Dart- mouth, from which he took his degree with the honors of the college, among able competitors, in 1795, at the age of nine- teen : he appeared on Commencement day in the same style of dress which wc have described in the sketch of his class- mate, Judge Dana. On leaving college, Mr. Emery, having decided upon the law as the occupation of his life, determined to seek the best advantages wiiich his State afforded for instruction. He therefore wisely placed himself under the tuition of Edward St. Loe Liverraore of Portsmouth, son of Chief Justice Sam- uel Livermore, an accomplished lawyer. Mr. Livermore was afterwards a judge of the Supreme Court of New Hamp- shire, and united to extensive knowledge of his profession, large general information, and a most happy faculty of inter- esting his students in their studies, and leading them to elevated principles in the administration and practice of law. 264 NICHOLAS EMERY. Mr. Emory always acknowledged his obligations to Judge Livermore for his kind guidance through the mazes by which the grand edifice of jurisprudence is reached, and the ge- nial and urbane spirit which he manifested toward him. Af- ter two years' study in Judge Livermore's office, he became for a year in 1797, an assistant instructor in Exeter Academy. On completing his studies, he was admitted to the bar in tlie autumn of 1798, and immediately proceeded to Par^ns- field and entered upon the practice. The name of Emery was traditional at the bar of York. Noah Emery, one of his family, was the earliest resident lawyer in the State, hav- ing commenced practice about 1725, and continued near forty years almost the only lawyer in the State, enjoying a large practice. In 1750, Caleb Emery, another member of the same family, came into the bar, and continued through the Revolution alone in the county, after Judge David Sew- all was raised to the bench. A John Emery was also a prac- titioner at that bar, commencing prior to the Revolution. This new comer, therefore, of the same name, had a sort of prescriptive right to a respectable practice on the old field which had for so many years been trodden and cultivated by his race. His accomplishments as a lawyer, and his easy, pleasant manners, soon brought him into notice. Numerous and profitable engagements extended his practice from his own county into the adjoining county of Strafford in New Hamp- shire. After seven or eight years' successful practice in this section of the country, which required much labor and long travel, and being about to form a matrimonial connection with a most admirable woman, used to all the refinements of life, he determined to seek a more eligible position. In the spring of 1807, he, therefore, moved to Portland; and in the autumn of the same year, ho married Ann T., the NICHOLAS EMERY. 265 eldest daughter of the worthy and honored Governor Gihuaii of New Hampshire, a lady admirably qualified to give dig- nity, grace, and happiness to the domestic circle. Mr. Emery now entered upon a course of uninterrupted success. The business of the courts in Cuml^erland County was never greater than in tlie year he came to Portland ; the number of entries on the docket of the Common Pleas was two thousand four hundred and twenty-two : it was the year of numerous failures, and the laws for the collection ef debts were harsh, giving creditors the power to seize upon the property without exemption, as well as the person of the debtor. In repeated cases, the household furniture of re- spectable but unfortunate merchants, who had done large business and handled heavy masses of property, was sold under the hammer by relentless creditors, not sparing, in some instances, the beds on which the care-worn and de- pressed family sought repose. Attachments were numerous under this system, and some of the principal lawyers made more than one hundred entries a term. A favorable opening into this ample field was made for Mr. Emery by the death of two of the most prominent lawyers ; — Salmon Chase died in August, 1806 ; he had the largest practice of any attorney in the State : William Symmes died in "January, 1807; and the accomplished and successful Parker, having l)een appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court, had moved to Boston. There were left twenty-nine lawyers in the county, of whom thirteen were in Portland : among them were the able and eloquent Mellen, recently moved from Biddeford ; the sagacious Whitman ; the keen and logical Orr ; Longfellow, Hopkins, and the young but promising Greenleaf, all skillful and ingenious in the pro- fession. Into competition with such men, did Mr. Emery enter, to wage forensic battle : ably and manfully did he sustain liimself for more than a quarter of a century, en- 18 266 NICHOLAS EMERY. gaged ill the best cases, and acquiring reputation and prop- erty. In 1834, Cliief Justice Mellen having retired from the bench of the Supreme Court, Judge Weston was promoted to his place, and Mr. Emery, with the general assent, was appointed to fill the vacancy ; the court then consisting of Chief Justice Weston, Judge Parris, and himself. He faith- fully and promptly discharged the duties of this official station during the constitutional term of seven years. A cotemporary and friend, the Hon. Mr. ]\IcGa\v of Bangor, who still lives at an advanced age, thus speaks of him as a judge, " With honorable fidelity and capability he discharged its high functions through the constitutional term of seven years." " Since closing the duties of his eminent judicial station, Judge Emery has not participated in tlie honorable strife that gentlemen feel who are contending for pre-emi- nence as advocates at the bar." Tiie opinions of the court, as drawn and delivered by Judge Emery during the time* he occupied a seat upon the bench, are recorded in the eight volumes of the Maine Reports from the twelfth to the nine- teenth, inclusive. They show careful and diligent research, and just conclusions. An able opinion drawn by him on the question of excluding a witness for want of belief in a Supreme Being, was published in the Law Reporter of No- vember, 1841, Vol. 4, p. 208. In this case it was decided that, by the statute of Maine, a belief in the Supreme Being is a pre-requisite to the admission of a witness to testify ; but, he says, the court will require a clear, open, and deliberate avowal of disbelief before rejecting a witness. The judge reviewed numerous decisions in this country and England on the subject. Judge Emory was devoted to his profession, and was thoroughly read in the law, in which he kept himself fresh amidst the ever-varying changes which the progress of soci- NICHOLAS EMERY. 207 ety rendered necessary in the rules of jurisprudence and tlie modes of administration. He had seen spec-ial pleading, in which he took i)lcasure, gradually giving way hefore the cogent demands of the people for more plainness and sim- plicity in the forms of proceeding. He accommodated him- self to these changes, and though cautious of innovation, he did not qjcct a measure hecause it was new. But caution was the tendency of his mind, and he was slow and reserved hoth in forming and giving an opinion ; he desired to look at a question on all its sides, and it may be said of him, as of the great Chancellor, Eldon, that, after the widest examina- tion and the most careful reflection, he still douljted. A cotemporary of his early life, in speaking of Judge Emery at that period, said, " He was eloquent and ingenious as an advocate, and made an impression on tlie jury and the bench, l)ut after a severe sickness which he had, his powers seemed to be less acute and vigorous." Judge Emery seldom took part in political affairs, but was occasionally drawn into them from his more quiet and congenial pursuits. In 18l(), he was a member of the Bruns- wick Convention on the question of separation ; and in 1819, he was again chosen a delegate from Portland to the con- vention [wliicli formed the present Constitution of Maine. He engaged in the debates on important questions. On the new government's going into effect, he was one of the three representatives chosen from Portland, his colleagues for this and the following year being Asa Clapp and Simon Green- leaf. Tiiese were the most important years in the annals of the State, for the government had to be organized, and the laws adapted to the new relations in which the people were placed. The whole body of the statute law in force in the State was arranged and digested by a board of jurisprudence, consisting of Judges McUcn, Preble, and Weston, who made their rc})ort at the session of the Legislature in 1821, which 268 NICHOLAS EMERY. was revised, amended, and adopted by that Legislature. His services, in conjunction with tliosc of Judge Potter of Port- land in the Senate, and Simon Greenleaf in the House, were of great value in the preparation of this important cominla- tion. He was an active and useful member in these initia- tory sessions. In 1882, he was appointed one of the com- missioners of Maine with Judge Preble and Reuel Williams, to negotiate watli the government of the United States, for a cession of the disputed territory, under the treaty of 1783 ; and signed an agreement for an arrangement of the contro- versy on the basis of receiving compensation in land for the territory yielded up. His public life closed with the term- ination of his judicial ofilice. In his domestic life, Mr. Emery was no less fortunate than in the outward relations in which he appeared and acted before his fellow-men. The amiable, wise, and judicious woman with whom he lived near forty years, was of the gen- uine type of womanhood. Of a pure blood, coming down through ancestors among the most distinguished in her na- tive State, she proved and maintained its title to distinction : she inherited the virtues and fine qualities of the stock from which she descended, and left it when she died, as living she had borne it, unsullied. Her death, which took place in 1848, at the age of sixty-eight, was an irremediable loss to her surviving companion, who felt the shock through his own remaining years. The latter portion of Judge Emery's life was passed in an almost unconscious state; and liis shattered frame yielded at last to the gradual decay of time, on the 24th of August, 18G1, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Of his six children, one son and two daughters only survive. Margaret, the sister of Judge Emery's father, who is men- tioned in the former part of this article as living, has died before this sheet comes from the press, October, 18G2, in the ninety-first year of her age. NICHOLAS EMERY : THOMAS BOWMAN. 269 Judge Emery, when he died, was the oldest but one of the Cumberland Bar ; the oldest, Chief Justice Whitman, still lives, having entered upon his eighty-seventh year, in his native town, East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Both, at the bar and on the bench, were honored, and in private life respected and trusted. They were connecting links be- tween tlie present and the future, having passed through the whole period of our existence as a nation, thus far, and wit- nessed tlie wonderful changes which have taken place in the ever increasing volume of our imperial greatness. THOMAS BOWMAN. 17 U 7 — 1800. About the time that Judges Dana and Emery commenced practice in York County, three young candidates for the honors and profits of the profession commenced their course in Kennebec County, — Thomas Bowman, Nathan Bridge, and Samuel P. Glidden. Bowman was the youngest son of Judge Jonathan Bowman of Dresden, who, for many years, ^ was Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Lincoln, and afterward judge of the court, and Judge of Probate at the same time, while his son, Jonathan, Jr., was clerk of one court and register of the other. And it so happened that Tliomas, the subject of this notice, a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1704, also became the first Register of Pro- bate in the County of Kennebec, which was organized in 1799. lie was born in Dresden, May 20, 1774, studied his profession witli James Bridge at Augusta, and was admitted to practice in 1797. His practice was inconsiderable, and having afterward the office of Register of Probate, which furnished him a pleasant occupation ; and having married a daughter of Samuel Howard, one of the oldest and most respected families of Augusta, by whom, and with the con- siderable patrimony he inherited from his father, he was 270 THOMAS IJOWMAN: NATHAN BRIDGE. made independent, he became careless of tlic emoluments of the profe^^sion, Williout such stimulant, wo cannot expect much clfort through the dark and tedious mazes of the law to the higher rewards it has to offer to its votaries ; and only to the patient, persistent, toilsome laborer and devotee, will she vouchsafe her noble muniments and honors. Mr. Bowman was placed above the necessity for exertion, and although of fine parts, and of remarkal>ly attractive personal ap])carance and address, he willingly let go the pri/X's which he might have gracefully worn. Wilde and Allen, Bond and Rice and Boutelle, won the fame and the rewards with which a faithful, worthy, and devoted service to the law seldom fails to crown the victor in this honorable pursuit. He lived and died in the old Fort Weston at Augusta, which had a traditional name, as being a frontier post many years: it had for a while the only jAastcrod room in the town, and was the oflice of AVilliam Litligow, Jr., the dis- tinguished predecessor of Bowman in the practice. He died June 3, 1837. He had five children by his wife, whom he married November 3, 1799. His daughter Mary married Llewellyn W. Lithgow of Augusta, May 25, 1825 ; and Sarah married first, November 12, 1833, Dr. Sherman, a physician of Dresden, and after his death in 1847, Edward T. Baker of Dorchester, Massachusetts. Mr. Lithgow was a grandson of the celebrated John Gardiner of Pownalboro', barrister at law, by his daughter Ann. liis father was James Lith- gow, son of Judge William Lithgow. He has no children. Mrs. Baker has children. A genealogical account of the Bowmans is given in my sketch of Jonathan Bowman, the father of Tiiomas, which will appear in subsequent pages. NATHAN iniID(;E. 1 7 !l8— 1 S'Jf). Nathan Bridge was a younger son of Sherilf Edmund Bridge, and born in Dresden, September 25, 1775. After NATHAN BRIDGE. 271 pursuing the usual rudimentary studies, not having received a Uberal education, he entered the office of his brother James, in Augusta. Having been admitted to the bar in 1798, he estabhshed himself in that part of Pittston which lies upon the western side of Kennebec River, and is now Gardiner, the division of the town having taken place in February, 1803. He was the first lawyer in the town, and the only one between Hallo well and Bath. The whole town on both sides of the river contained a population of about one thousand two hundred in nearly equal proportions. By the census of 1810, Pittston had one thousand and eighteen inhabitants, and Gardiner one thousand and twenty-nine. Being the only lawyer for this extensive territory, he had a large business for several years, principally in matters con- cerning real estate, acting as the agent of absent proprietors of large tracts of land. " Mr. Bridge was highly instru- mental in bringing to a successful conclusion many contests and controversies in which the value of his personal and local knowledge was very apparent, and was conspicuously displayed." He kept his office in the second story of an old building erected by Dr. Gardiner of Boston before the Revolution, which is thus humorously described by an olc^ resident. It was " the exact counterpart of the old Pownalboro' court house in Dresden, still standing on the bank of Kennebec River : the rest of the upper stories was used for dwellings, and the lower portion for pigs and wood, tlic Ijoards and clapboards of this portion having been taken olT and used for fire-wood. You would not expect a learned lawyer in full robes from such a receptacle." Mr. Bridge never had much fancy for his profession, and therefore did not take sufficient pride in it to seek its higher rewards. He was not very able as a lawyer, not being grounded in a sound preliminary education, and he was no 272 NATHAN BRIDGE: WILLIAM WIDGERY. advocate. In 1808, he invited Frederic Allen, wlio was then settled at Warren, to become his partner, and on his accept- ing the situation and becoming familiar with the business, Mr. Bridge retired. In 1810, he engaged in land specula- tions, and subsequently, about 1815, moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, where his brotlier Edmund was successfully engaged in mercantile business. H6 returned in a few years, on the death of his brother, with improved means, purchased a small farm, on which he erected a neat cottage, about a mile from the river, where he resided in a quiet, unostentatious manner, until the close of his life, which took i)lace in 1827, September 15, at the age of fifty-two. Mr. Bridge was a man, as Mr. Allen says, " of much kind- ness and active benevolence. He was strictly honest in all his transactions, and was emphatically the poor man's friend. His conduct and deportment were ever marked Avith a high sense of honor in all his business, as well as social relations." He never was married. WILLIAM WIDGERY. 1788 — 17 98. On the list of lawyers which I have annexed to these sketches, IJiave put down the name of William Widgery, who was no lawyer, and yet had a considerable practice in New Gloucester, where he lived many years. His name is also contained in a manuscri{)t list of lawyers prepared by William D. Williamson. ' This eccentric man came to this country, in his boyhood, from England, before the Revolu- tion, poor, friendless, and uneducated. We find him serving on board a privateer as lieutenant, in the Revolutionary War. During the war, he settled in New (xloucester, where lie married ; and by the natural force of his mind, and the energy of his character, sin)plicd the deficiencies of his early life, and rose to places of distinction and wealth. He WILLIAM WIDGERY. 273 was chosen the representative of New Gloucester to the General Court, in 1787, and held the office by repeated elections eight or nine years. In 1788, he was elected a delegate to the convention of Massachusetts which adopted the Constitution of the United States, and strenuously opposed the adoption, frequently speaking on the sul)jects under discussion. In 1794, he was a senator in the Legis- lature of Massachusetts from Cumberland, and many years *a Justice of the Peace. It was in the exercise of the latter office, that he acquired some knowledge of the forms of legal business, and undertook to practice law in the courts, before any regular lawyer was settled in New Glou- cester. His good common sense guided him in his practice. In technical law and legal principles and decisions, he was without any knowledge or skill. In 1701, being a member of the Legislature, he procured a term of the Court of Common Pleas to be held in New Gloucester, in January of each year, which continued until 1805. He quitted prac- tice near the close of the last century, and moved to Port- land ; where his energies found more ample scope in com- mercial business, which he carried on largely and with success. In 1810, he was chosen a representative to Congress from the Cumberland District, and supported earnestly the measures of Mr. Madison's administration. He voted for the war against the strong wishes and interests of his con- stituents, which rendered him very unpopuhir ; and liis return home from that session was greeted with loud mani- festations of disapj)robation. His place was supplied in the next Congress by CJeorgc Bradbury. In 1812, he was appointed an associate justice of the new Court of Common Pleas by Governor Gerry, and held the ofiice until 1822, when the court was abolished. He died the same year. 274 WILLIAM WIDGERY. He was twice married ; his first wife was Miss Randall, by whom ho had all his children. His daughter Elizabeth, born in New Gloucester in 1779, married Elias Thomas of Portland, and died in 18G1, leaving a large family. His eldest son, William, was drowned in the Hudson River, in 1805. His second wife was the Widow Datlbrne of lioston. At the time of her marriage, she had a daughter, Eliza, wiio became the wife of Nathan Kinsman, a successful law- yer in Portland, and the mother of John Daffbrne Kinsman,* who succeeded his father in the same profession in the same place. These persons are all dead. Mr. Widgcry is a striking example of what may be done by perseverance, untiring energy, and self-confidence. Without any intellectual cultivation, or any knowledge, except that acquired by experience, he placed himself along side of practical statesmen and learned jurists ; and had his say, whatever it may have been, in the halls of legisla- tion, and in courts of justice. His manners were rough, his language unrefined and ungrammatical, and his expres- sions confused. Yet he made his way through all these difficulties and embarrassments, never daunted, never abashed ; and always hopeful, cheerful and jubilant. And, having enjoyed the distinctions of society, he died at a good old age, leaving a large estate, the fruit of industry and good management. CHAPTER XV JOHN HOLMES — EZEKIEL WHITMAN — LEONARD MORSE — JOSIAH W. MITCHELL — JOHN P. LITTLE — BOH AN P. FIELD — ANDREW GREENWOOD — DANIEL P. UPTON — TEMPLE HOVEY — HENRY V. CHAMBERLAIN EBENEZER BRADISH SAMUEL DAGGETT NUMBER OP LAWYERS : THEIR INCREASE, AND COURSE OF PRO- CEEDINGS IN COURT — LAWYERS IN PRACTICE IN 1800, JOHN HOLMES. 1799 — 1843. In 1799, two lawyers came into the State who were des- tined for many years to exercise a large inflnencc in the civil as well as legal interests of this commilnity. These were Ezekiel Whitman and John Holmes. They both orig- inated in the Old Colony, Mr. Holmes in Kingston, and Mr. Whitman in EastBridgcwater ; and they both were edncated at Brown University, from which one gradnated in 1795, the other in 1796. I propose to speak of these two prom- inent men somewhat at length, and for ^fr. Holmes I shall borrow largely from a l)iogra})hical notice which I contrib- uted, soon after his death, in 184-), to the Law Keporter, Vol. 6, p. 145. Mr. Holmes was tlie second son of Malchiah Holmes, and was born at Kingston, Massachusetts, in March, 1773. 276 JOHN HOLMES. His early life was passed as a manufacturer in the extensive iron works of his father at that place. He was seen toiling at the furnace by a collegian, the temporary schoolmaster of the village, who, licing attracted by his intelligence, advised his fiither to educate him. The hint was improved, and in December, 17ii2, at the age of nearly twenty, he took his first lessons in Cheever's Latin Accidence, at the town school. His friend, on leaving the school in the spring, com- mended young Holmes, who had made very rapid progress in his studies, to the instruction of Rev. Zephaniah Willis, the venerable minister of Kingston. He was admitted at Brown University one year in advance, in 1793, where he pursued his studies with great assiduity, and was a good scholar, although he labored under serious disadvantage, for want of early training. He enjoyed the friendship of his college companions by his good humor, his frank and amiable manners. The same fearlessness, the same easy and inde- pendent manner, characterized him there, as in the subse- quent periods of his life. Among his classmates were Tris- tram Burgess of Rhode Island, Chief Justice Aldrich of Vermont, Dr. Benjamin Shurtleff of Boston, and Dr. Ben- jamin 0. Simmons of South Carolina. He was graduated with a respectable appointment in 1796, and immediately entered upon his professional studies with Benjamin Whit- man, who then resided at Hanover, and was in full and dis- tinguished i)racticc in the Old Colony, He was a diligent student, and fully bent on success in his profession. On being admitted to the bar, in 1799, he resolved to seek his fortune in the eastern country, as affording to the enterprising and intelligent adventurer an eminent promise of success, and an ample field of professional lal>or. He established himself in September, 1799, at Alfred, in the county of York, then a district of the town of Sanford, and containing but about eight hundred and fifty inhabi- JOHN HOLMES. 277 tants. It was not incorporated until 1808 ; still, it afforded a very favorable opportunity for a talented young man to rise in the profession. He was for several years the only lawyer in the neighborhood. The titles to land in that part of the country were in an imperfect and unsettled state ; the settlers had made their pitches upon vacant spots, in what was called the FlneUcn or Phillips Grant, and made tlieir improvements without a shadow of title : the proprietors had just begun to make an investigation of their riglits. Mr. Holmes was employed l)y tliem for this purpose, and pursued the in(]uiry and the prosecution of the claims with great industry and success. Many actions were necessarily brought, and much and exasperated litigation was the con- sequence, which called forth great legal talejit from Maine and Massachusetts, and settled some very important ques- tions in the law of real estate. The statement of one of these cases, in which Mr. Dane of Beverly appeared as coun- sel, may be found in 7 Dane's Abridgement, 697. The dis- cussion of the points in this case produced some little excite- ment between Chief Justice Parsons and the counsel, par- ticularly with Mr. Dane, toward whom the judge expressed himself with some impatience, in regard to the plea of not guillij to a writ of right. These cases brought Mr. Holmes into extensive practice, and a familiar acquaintance with the law of real estate ; and his fees were not inconsiderable. The counsel upon the other side complained to him that he received all the emoluments, while they had to bear heavy burdens. At the time Mr. Holmes commenced practice, the Supreme Court was composed of Chief Justice Dana, and Justices Paine, Bradbury, Nathan Gushing, and Dawes, and was held at York once a year. The Common Pleas consisted of Nathaniel "Wells, Edward Cutts, Jonas Clark, and Simon Frye, none of whom were educated as lawyers. There were three terms a year of this court, held at York, Waterboro', and Biddeford. 278 JOHN HOLMES. The courts in York, beside tlieir own lawyers, were attend- ed by the late Chief Justice Parker, Mr. Symmes, and Solic- itor Davis of Portland, some New Hampshire lawyers, and occasionally by a professional gentleman from Massachusetts, and were made the occasion of a great deal of mirth and hilarity. The Judges and the lawyers, on account of the badness of the roads, generally performed their circuits on horsel)ack, and often met witii poor fare and rougli usage ; but when they could not get a good dinner, they would con- trive to have a good laugh, to which Judge Paine, Mr. Davis, and the late Judge George Tliacher contributed no little of the Attic seasoning. Tiie mail was also transported on horse- back. It is related that a respectable lawyer, on one occa- sion, as lie was passing through Saco woods, met the mail- carrier, and expecting a letter from Boston by the mail, which only came once or twice a week, he expressed to the post-rider his desire to obtain the letter. He took off his mail-bag without hesitation, poured the contents upon the ground, and they both went to work searching for the desired object. The letter having been found, the carrier quietly deposited the remaining budget in his bag, and pursued his way. This collection of lawyers, jurors, suitors, and Avit- nesses filled up the small villages in which the courts were held, and the public houses could not atlford comfortable accommodation for the persons that thronged them. It was quite a privilege, enjoyed by few, to obtain a separate bed, far more a separate chamber. These meetings were the occasion of much dissipation, in which many members of the bar were no ascetics. The gravity and dignity of the bar, in that day of the robe and the wig, were very apt to be left in the court room — they were seldom seen in the bar room. Mr. Holmes contributed his share to the amusement of his associates. The number of lawyers in Maine, at the time of Mr. JOHN HOLMES. 279 Holmes's accession to the bar, was forty-five, of whom ten resided in the county of York, which then included Oxford, and was the most populous county in the district. ' Tliose in York were the late Chief Justice Mellen and George Thacher in Biddeford ; Cyrus King in Saco ; Dudley Hub- Ijard, Ebcnczcr Sullivan, and Edward P. Hayman in Ber- wick ; Joseph Thomas and George W. Wallingford in Ken- nebunk ; Judah Dana in Fryeburg ; and Xicliolas Emery in Parsonsfield. Beside these, the bar of Maine then contained the names of Chief Justice Parker, Justice Wilde, and Solicitor General Davis, afterwards of Massachusetts ; Chief Justice Whitman, then of New Gloucester ; William Symmes; Salmon Chase of Portland ; and Silas Lee of Wiscasset, who was afterwards a member of Congress, and fourteen years United States Attorney for Maine. These all were distin- guished in their profession, and most of them in public life. Mr. Holmes was a good lawyer, but not of the first order. He handled the weapons of wit with more skill and effect than those of a severe logic, although he was not deficient in that prime quality of a sound jurist. The force of his argument was sometimes weakened, or at least appeared to bo less close and stringent, by the propensity he had, and which he seemed not al)le to control, of mingling in his texture the threads of wit and anecdote. He was quick of perception, and seized readily upon a weak point of his adversary, which, by a great facility of language and infin- ite good humor, he turned to the best account. Whenever an opportunity occurred of exhibiting his oj)ponent in a ridiculous position, no person could better avail himself of the occasion. An opportunity of this kind was furnished him in the discussion which took place in the Senate of the United States, on some subject connected with nullification. 1 The population of York County was then Ihuty-four tliuusaml ; of Maine, one hundred and fifty-one thousand. 280 JOHN HOLMES. Mr. Tyler, wc believe, alluding to the satirical remavk of John Kandol[)li, some years previous, which designated cer- tain active politicians as partners, under the name of " James Madison, Felix Grundy, John Holmes, and the Devil," inquired, with a view to reproach Mr. Holmes, what had become of that celebrated firm. Mr. Holmes immediately sprung upon his feet, and said, " Mr. Speaker, I will tell the gentleman what has become of that firm : the first mem- ber is dead, the second has gone into retirement, and the last has gone to the NuUifiers, and is now electioneering among the gentleman's constituents ! and thus the partner- ship is legally dissolved." The laugh produced on this occasion was wholly at the expense of Mr. Tyler. In his discussions at the bar, Mr. Holmes often carried the exercise of this talent too far for good taste or ultimate benefit to his client. To raise a laugh at the expense of an opponent is not always to gain a cause : he was yet very successful with the jury, and a popular advocate, and became and continued for several years the leader of the York bar. "Wit and humor were the characteristics of his mind, and he delighted in their display. An instance or two, at random, will exhibit this trait more perfectly. He was once assist- ing a client in the survey of a parcel of land, about which he was quarreling with his neighbor. Neither of the par- ties was of unimpeachable character. As they were passing through a portion of the disputed territory, they came to a swamp covered with bushes and almost impassable. One of the litigants said to Mr. Holmes, " This, Squire, is the Devil's hop-yard." " Ah !" said Mr. Holmes, " then I think the Devil must be dead, for I see his sons arc quarreling for the inheritance.^^ " Thon you expect to prevail," said the op- posing counsel, " as your client is the oldest heir." " It is not certain," said he, " my client, to be sure, is the oldest, but yours is the most deserving-.^^ Mr. Holmes was equally JOHN HOLMES. 281 happy in the relation of anecdotes. The Rev. Mr. P., some years since, delivered a lecture at Alfred on the subject of slavery, and took for his text the words, " Remember them that are in l)onds as bound with them." After he had fin- ished his discourse, which was an able one, Mr. Holmes observed that, whatever miglit be justly said against the institution of slavery, he did not think the text ever had or was intended to liave any application to the subject ; it related to a very different aifair. The application of it to domestic slavery reminded liim of a clergyman who preached from this text, " And David took from the brook three smooth stones." " Now, my hearers," said the preacher, " by these words I intend to prove, explain, and illustrate the doctrine of the T/-m%." " It wasjiue smooth stones," said the dea- con, in a low tone, very respectfully. " We will see," said the preacher, opening the book with some excitement, and read deliberately, " And David took from the brook fii^e smooth stones." "Well, my hearers," said he, "I made a small mistake in the fact, but it makes not the slightest dif- ference in the arg-ument.^^ During a portion of the time of Mr. Holmes's practice, Joseph Bartlett also practiced at that bar. He was a grad- uate of Harvard, of the class of 1782, and settled first in Woburn, Massachusetts : he came to Saco in 1802. In some respects he resembled Mr. Holmes : he was a better scholar, and of a more polished wit : his manners were insinuating, and he possessed a peculiar sway over the minds of young men. In other respects he was far different from Mr. Holmes ; he was treacherous to his friends, abandoned in his morals, and miserable in his end. Yet the early part of his career was brilliant and promising. Mr. Bartlett, while he resided at Saco, had a libel suit against the publisher of the Arn-iis, a democratic paper pub- lished at Portland, and anotlicr upon the jail bond, given by 19 282 JOHN HOLMES. the defendant in this case, growing out of political questions. The latter case, which Avas a very severe one for the defend- ants, was argued by Solicitor Davis and Samuel Dexter for the plaintiff, and by the famous Barnabas Bidwell and the late Judge Story of Massachusetts, for the defense ; a re- port of it is contained in the Massachusetts Reports, volume 3, page 86. The former was conducted by Mr. Mellen, Mr. Emery, and Mr. Holmes for tlie plaintiff, and Cyrus King and Judge Wilde for the defendant. There was much irri- tation and sparring between the counsel : the case was closed by Judge "Wilde for the defendant, in a clear, con- cise, and highly finished argument, which produced a deep sensation. Mr. Mellen was also very able in his closing ar- gument for the plaintiff. One of the principal competitors of Mr. Holmes at the bar and in politics, was Cyrus King, of Saco, a fine lawyer and an accomplished scholar ; a man of ardent temperament, inflexible principle, and elevated moral character. Mr. Holmes frequently took advantage of his temper to gain advantages over him at the bar. By the coolness of his own temper, he often succeeded in this attempt. Mr. Holmes was not content with the quiet pursuit of his professional duties, although he had an extensive and prof- itable business. " Tlie gladsome light of jurisprudence " w as not brightand warm enough for him : — he loved law, but he loved politics more : he was ambitious, and like too many of the profession, he abandoned the embraces of the most noble of sciences for the strife of politics. How many thousands who have embarked their proud hopes and anxious expectations upon this wild and stormy sea, after a course of imposing but transient grandeur, have been swept away into entire forge tfulness, while the names of the upright judge and the learned jurist, the Hales, the Mansfields, the Par- JOHN HOLMES. 283 sons, and Marshalls, continue fresh and fragrant, as the ben- efactors of their race. Mr. Holmes was of a sanguine temperament, and ambi- tious of distinction. He began life as a federalist of the old school, and was not Ijackward in making his principles known and felt. He was elected by that party in 1802 and 1803 to the Legislature of Massachusetts, from Sanford and Alfred. But the federal policy, although it had the ascen- dency in Massachusetts, was not to the taste of the people of his town or county, nor, indeed, of the majority in Maine. He could not, therefore, succeed any more as the candidate of the party ; still, he labored on in the cause with great ardor, hoping against hope, through the exciting periods of the embargoes and non-intercourse, when, finding there was no stemming the tide of democratic principles, he yielded to the storm like many of his cotemporaries, and trimmed his sails to the prevailing wind of popular favor. In this connection, we cannot forbear presenting our read- ers with a specimen of Mr. Holmes's poetical talent. In 1810, a democratic caucus was held at Kennebunk for the selection of candidates. It was said by their opponents, that, disregarding the modern rule of total abstinence, they determined to try the efficacy of treating at the election. Mr. Holmes, with a good deal of tact, seized upon this topic, and published the eifusion in six stanzas, from which we copy the first and last : KENNKBUNK CADCUS. SONG. •• The York County Bonos of late had a meeting : The object was great, but the party was small. The marshal had issued his circulars greeting, To tag, rag, and bob tail to meet at his call, lie called for attention While he made objection 284 JOHN HOLMES. To Gore's re-election, And wished they'd be mum ; But while he was stating The cause of the meeting, ^ The caucus was prating, And calling for — rum. l So, bribing the printer, and treating the voters. Was the plan they adopted the election to carry, And ride, by tlie help of those tipsy supporters. Into office, by votes they had purchased for Gerry, When all shouted applause, To the Jacobin cause. And declared, by the laws, They would never be dumb ; And most solemnly swore, Than to re-elect Gore, They had rather give more Than a hogshead of rum." The four other stanzas make pointed reference to the lead- ing Democratic politicians of York County, such as Marshal Thornton, Judge Green, William Moody, Stephen Thacher, &c. In the latter part of 1811, he became the advocate of the national administration, and the war measures of Mr. Mad- ison. And immediately on the next election, he was returned a representative to the General Court of Massachusetts from Alfred, So high stood his reputation with his new friends, that he was their candidate for Speaker of the House, in opposition to the old incumbent, Timothy Bigelow. A large majority of the House were the political friends of Mr. Bige- low, and he was re-elected ; but Mr. Holmes became an untiring assailant of the measures of the majority, and a vigorous partisan and active leader of the party which he had espoused. He was elected to the Senate of Massachu- i " The historical election anecdote of the purchase of rum to carry on the elections in York County is well known." JOHN HOLMES. 285 setts in 1813, and continued a member of that body during the trials and excitements of the war, boldly sustaining the policy of the national government, and contending with unabated ardor against all the anti-war measures of Mas- sachusetts. He was appointed Lieutenant Colonel in Col. Lane's Regiment, United States Army, in 1813, but declined the appointment. Ths situation of Mr. Holmes in the Legislature was one which would have exceedingly embarrassed a man of ordi- nary firmness or less buoyancy of mind. The suddenness of his change of sentiment, and the zeal with which he advo- cated the cause to which he had devoted himself, became the subject of severe rebuke on the part of his former asso- ciates. The keen severity of Daniel A. White, the polished irony of Harrison Gray Otis, the caustic humor of Josiah Quincy and Judge Putnam, were not spared in the frequent and sharp encounters which the political heats of the day engendered. And it would be doing great injustice to Mr. Holmes not to say, that he sustained himself with great abil- ity in these trying and unequal contests. For wit he returned wit, and full measure ; for argument, argument, although his dialectics were not of the most compact form ; and on all occasions he preserved his coolness. He was a ready debater, never taken by surprise, and when argument was deficient or unavailing, he pressed into his service the auxiliaries of wit and satire. In 1815, he was appointed by Mr. Madison, commissioner under the fourth article of the treaty of Ghent, to make di- vision between the United States and Great Britain, of the islands in Passamaquoddy Bay. Tlie next year he was elected a representative to Congress from York district to succeed Mr. King, and re-elected in 1818 without opposition, having received eleven hundred and six out of eleven hund- red and eighty-two votes. This latter was a period wlien 286 JOHN HOLMES : BRUNSWICK CONVENTION. parties were in a transition state, and little excitement agi- tated the public mind. While he was discharging the du- ties of commissioner and member of Congress, he was ac- tively engaged in effecting the separation of Maine from Massachusetts. He not only labored in this work, but he led in it, and as a leader he had to bear the blame of whatever measures of his party were injudicious or unjust- ifiable. In the proceedhigs of the Brunswick convention, in 1816, which reported a constitution, on the assumption that the requisite majority of five-ninths had been obtained, he sus- tained a liberal share of abuse. He was not, however, the author of the political arithmetic which converted five-nint]»s of the aggregate majorities of the corporations into a major- ity of five-ninths of the legal voters of the district. He indeed signed the report of that committee as the chairman, and thus the paternity of that calculation was cast upon him. It is unnecessary to say that the plan did not succeed, tlie Legislature of Massachusetts not being inclinedto sanction so palpable a perversion of the plain import of language. The next attempt, however, at separation, succeeded ; and a convention met at Portland, in October, 1819, composed of the most prominent and able men in Maine, to form a con- stitution of government. Mr. Holmes was appointed chair- man of the committee which drafted the instrument, and took a conspicuous part in all the discussions whicli led to the adoption of the constitution under which the people of Maine now live. In 1820, he was elected the first senator to Congress from the new State, and continued to hold that honorable station, by renewed election, until 1827. In 1828, lie was again elected to the Senate, for the unexpired term of Judge Par- ris, who was appointed to the bench of tlie Supreme Court, in June, 1828. In 1833, his Congressional life ceased, and JOHN HOLMES. 287 he returned, with all the freshness of 'oiith, to the practice of the law, after an uninterrupted and .^.ost successful polit- ical career of over twenty-two years, in which there was not a year when he was not occupying some public station. In 1836 and 1837, he was elected a representative from Alfred to the Legislature of Maine, and, in 1841, he was appointed, by President Harrison, attorney of the United States, for the Maine district, in which office he died, July 7, 1843. Few persons have had their ambition more fully gratified than Mr. Holmes. The road of public life was freely opened before him, and he appeared to have attained whatever in that direction he most desired. That he acquired a very exalted or enviable reputation cannot be awarded him : he may rather be considered a skillful partisan than an able statesman : he directed his energies to skirmishing and hang- ing upon the flanks of his political opponents, ratlier than striking out any great and permanently useful measures. His popularity at one time in Maine was very great, and he managed matters in his own way. In reviewing the life of such a man, we may perhaps derive a useful reflection upon the danger, not to say folly, of leaving the broad highway of an honorable and profitable profession, for the fitful and the exciting pursuits and the unsubstantial rewards of the mere politician. That Mr. Holmes had as much of popular favor and its fruits as falls to the lot of men, none will deny ; that they furnished him the satisfaction and the rewards which he would have acquired in the quiet progress of his profession, we do not believe. Whatever estimate maybe formed of Mr. Holmes's public life, there is no diversity of opinion in regard to his private and domestic qualities. He was a kind husband, a tender and judicious parent, and a good neighbor. As a townsman, he was exceedingly vigilant in promoting the interests of his fellow citizens in the matters of education, internal 288 (JOHN HOLMES. improvements, and /irhateyer related to their municipal interests. From th(^ time he settled in Alired, he never ceased his exertions until he procured all the courts of York County to be held in that place, which was finally accom- plished in 1833. He also succeeded in having the route of a railroad from Portland to Dover laid out through his adopted town, but failed in raising the means to complete it. Mr. Holmes was twice married : his first wife was Sally Brooks of Scituate, to whom he was united in September, 1800. By her he had all his children, tsvo sons and. two daughters. His eldest daughter married the Hon. Daniel Goodenow, Judge of the Supreme Court of Maine : she died a few years since. His second wife was the widow of James Swan, son of Col. James Swan of Boston, and the accom- plished daughter of General Knox, to whom he was married in July, 1837. He moved the next year to her seat in Thom- aston, the late residence of her father, where he continued the principal portion of the time, until his appointment as district attorney, when he divided his residence between Portland and Thomaston. He devoted that period of his life to the preparation of a digest of public and private law, which he published in 1840, under the name of the ^ States- man," in one octavo volume. In this work he passes rap- idly through the circuit of jurisprudence, contenting him- self by presenting a succinct statement of general princi- ples ill constitutional and municipal law. It is satisfactory, in closing this account of a man who has occupied, for many years, so large a space in public opin- ion, to be able to say that the last scenes of his life were calm and delightful — life's fitful fever was over : the pageant- ry had passed before liim in all its gaudy drapery : his heart was weary of it, and sought that rest which only can be found in a close communion with its divine author. His intellect was clear to the last ; his faith was unclouded ; he i \ '^^\ s* ,<:?^ jJf^"^ Lst. At the a^e 'jf 80 years JOHN holmes: ezekiel whitman, 289 knew in whom he trusted, and exhausted nature surren- dered up the spirit, without a murmur or a struggle, to the hand that gave it. The United States District Court being in session, the morning after Mr. Holmes's death, Judge Emery, the only survivor of the York bar, when Mr. Holmes entered it, except Judge Dana of Fryeburg, communicated to the court, in a highly appropriate manner, the intelligence of the de- cease of the United States attorney. Judge Ware briefly replied, expressing his high sense of Mr. Holmes's merits, and his sympathy with the bar on the occasion, and observed that he was ready to unite with them, in paying the last tribute of respect to his memory. The court was immediately adjourned, and the bar then adopted appropriate resolutions, and attended his remains, the next day, to their final rest- ing place. Appropriate services were performed in the High street church, which he attended, and he was buried under Masonic honors. EZEKIEL WHITMAN. 1799—1822. Ezekiel Whitman was born in East Bridgewater, Massa- chusetts, March 9, 1776. He was of the sixth generation of the descendants of John Whitman, who came to this country about the year 1635 from England, and settled in Weymouth, Massachusetts, where he died at an advanced age. His descent was through Thomas, the eldest son of John, who was born in England, and came over with his mother at the age of about twelve years, several years after his father's migration. In 1662, Tliomas moved to Bridge- water, where he died in 1712, aged about eighty-three. Nich- olas was the third son of Thomas ; Josiali was the ciglith son of Nicholas ; and Josiah's third son, Josiah, was the father of Ezekiel, the subject of our memoir. The descend- 290 EZEKIEL WHITMAN. ants of Thomas Wliitman contain examples of remarkable longevity, llis daug-htcr Susannah, who married Benjamin Willis of Bridgewater, died at the age of ninety-eight ; his grand-daughter Sarah was ninety-four ; four grandsons aver- aged eighty-six years ; one great-grand-daughter lived to be ninety-five ; and one great-grandson, John of East Bridge- water, died in 1842, at the great age of one hundred and seven years ; the ages of twelve great-grandchildren of Thom- as amounted to one thousand and sixty-four years, giving an average of eighty-eight and two-thirds years ; and four great- great-grandchildren are now living, of whom Chief Justice Wliitman is one, and his sister, another, whose average age is eighty-four and one-half years. Judge Whitman's father, Josiah, died in 1777, a year after his birth, at the age of twenty-four years. His mother was Sarah, a daughter of Caleb Sturtcvant of Halifax, Massachusetts, by p]Iizabeth Smith, a daughter of Ezekiel Smith of Hingham, from whom he derived his Christian name. She was a lineal descend- ant of Elder Robert Cushman of Plymouth. Judge Whit- man is of the seventh generation from Elder Cushman, and in the same degree from Samuel Sturtevant of Plymouth in 1G43, the ancestor of the families of that name. His mother was left poor, with two infant children, a son and daughter. And she did not survive to superintend the education of licr children, nor to enjoy the prosperity and lienor which her son achieved. His life, thus begun in sorrow, was continued many years through a hard struggle with poverty. At the age of seven, the Rev. Levi Whitman of Wellfleet took charge of him, and gave him the rudiments of an education, and treated liim with a kindness which he never forgot, and which he repaid to the venerable elder when in old age their circum- stances were reversed. The children, also, of his uncle, he. received into his family, and made provision for them. At EZEKIEL WHITMAN : COLLEGE EXPENSES. 291 the age of fourteen years he became uneasy at his state of dependence, and determined to go to sea ; but his uncle res- olutely opposed that mode of life, and persuaded him to pur- sue the preparatory studies for a liberal education. For this purpose he was placed with the Rev. Killjorn Whitman of Pembroke, who afterwards l)ecame a lawyer of consider- able practice in Plymouth County. He was, however, a wayward student, apt to learn and quick of discernment, but not very diligent in the routine methods of that day. His life had been so desultory that he had not formed habits of patient industry. But it was no great affair at that time to pass through the preliminary preparation for college. A little knowledge of Virgil and Cicero, in Latin, and of Luke and the Acts, of the Greek Testament, seem to have been sufficient in the classical department ; so, after fifteen months' study, our young stu- dent, in 1791, offered himself at the door of Brown Univer- sity for admission, and was freely received. This college had been in operation twenty-six years. The fir^t President, Dr. Manning, ceased from the presidency and life in 1791, and the next year was succeeded by the learned Dr. Maxcy, who had been professor of Divinity. He presided over the institution until 1802, when he entered upon the presidency of Union College in New York. The standard of education was at that time low in all our col- leges, as was also the scale of expense, in comparison of both at the present day. The tuition at Brown University was six pounds lawful a year ; the charge for board, sweeping room, and making the bed was six shillings eiglit pence a week ; a load of wood, six shillings eight pence, and candles nine pence a pound. The cost of books for the whole col- lege course, need, as a manuscript letter of a deceased schol- ar informs mc, not exceed three pounds. The same letter observes, " The studying weeks are thirty-nine in a year, but 292 EZEKIEL WHITMAN. if a scholar "will study at home, he need not be here more than two-thirds of that. I think that twenty pounds per annum might largely defray all the necessary expenses, and that the scholar might keep school every winter to earn some part of that. Scholars are allowed to be gone a year or more at a time, only they don't rise while they are gone, if they can't pass examination with their class when they re- turn." Tlic letter referred to was written by Martin Parris, uncle of the late Governor Parris of Maine. Martin Parris was afterwards settled in the ministry at Marshfield. ' He graduated at Brown University in 1790 ; was born in Pem- broke, and died in Marshfield, 1839, aged seventy-two. The class into which Mr. Whitman entered, numbered twenty-six members, and was the largest which grad- uated at the college until 1802. During the vacation of his first year, and the winter following, he taught school in Marshfield. It was on one of these occasions that he prac- ticed a joke upon the minister which had nearly cost him his situation. The Rev. Mr. Leonard was troubled with a painfully hesitating manner of delivery : at a particular time he was unusually beset with this infirmity over some word, on which our schoolmaster became impatient, and spoke in an audible whisper, " Spell it." A solemn pause threw young Whitman, then but sixteen years old, into con- fusion at his rashness, which was only relieved by a severe rebuke from the minister. His funds being entirely exhausted, he was forced to leave college in his senior year, and ho had to resort to school- keeping to recruit his means for completing his course : returning just previous to commencement, he was, after examination, admitted to his degree, A letter written to me some years ago by Mr. Whitman's classmate and a par- ticular friend, the late Peleg Chandler, of New Gloucester, shows the hardships which young men in narrow circum- EZEKIEL WHITMAN. 293 stances were obliged to endure in order to obtain an educa- tion. Mr. Chandler had been pursuing his studies with the Rev. Mr. Briggs of Halifax : when the time approached for his examination, he says he turned his face toward Prov- idence : "I traveled on with rather low spirits until I got into a village in the south part of Bridgewater, called Titi- cut. It was a monstrous hot day, the last of August, 1792. While musing along on my old Rosinante, I saw a person some fifty rods ahead. As he approached, I saw he was a young man with a large bundle tied up in a bandanna hand- kerchief hung over liis back on a cane ; he had on no coat, nor jacket or stock. He wore an old pair of nankeen breech- es, and I think he had his stockings and shoes in one hand, suspended by his garters. When he got within two or three rods, he sat down under the shade of an oak. As I ap- proached him, he saluted me by saying, ' I guess you are going to college, aint you ? You had better get off and take comfort with me under this shade. ' This man is now Chief Justice of Maine (1843), and this was the first time I ever saw or heard of him. We laid on the ground under this tree three or four hours. I told him who I was, and all about my difficulties, and my fears that I should not be able to enter college. He gave me words of courage, gave me the key to his room, for he had been there the freshman year, and we agreed to chum together." " Whitman was at that time sixteen, and I was almost nineteen. I found him an agreeable chum, and the class respected and loved him. He was in many things eccentric, but never vicious : he had a mind of his own, and always pursued that mind. He was slow of speech and motion ; never went to morning prayers if he felt sleepy ; got the monitor to excuse him three or four times, and me, when the roll was called, to speak for him. The monitor would put him down tardy sometimes, and then he would say that he started in season ; this ere- 294 EZEKIEL WHITMAN. ated a smile with the President, who knew how moderate his momentum was. He stood high with President Maxcy, as he invariably told the truth, let the consequence be what it would. I don't believe there was one in our class in whom the government had more confidence than in him. He hat- ed the studies of Latin and Greek, and did not excel in them, but in all the other branches he stood high on the first half of the class." This trait of truthfulness, exact and without prevarication or reservation, he carried through life, and left the impress of it on all his children. I may be permitted to add, from the same trusty and worthy correspondent, who died in 1847, some further traits in the character of this remarkable man. " Whilst a boy, he was one of the most agreeable compan- ions I ever met with ; as a man, he was generous and hon- orable and kind. He was obstinate in his own opinions, but his opinions were always, or nearly so, right. If roused by insult or abuse, the storm would break out, and time ajone could calm the elements of his mind." On taking his degree, Mr. Whitman's funds were at their lowest ebb. He was absolutely penniless, and various plans for immediate relief passed through his imagination : one of these was to go upon the stage. Powell, who was a familiar star sixty or seventy years ago, was playing then at Prov- idence ; and the vagary came into his mind to join his com- pany. How many young men of genius and poverty in the old country have tried this unfortunate expedient ! His friend Cbandler, never truer, urged every argument to dis- suade him from this course, and his own better judgment coming to the rescue, he abandoned the project, and also the one, almost as bad, of going to sea. He at last, after many struggles, came to the resolution of studying law, and immediately entered the office of Benjamin Whitman of Hanover, where he remained a short time, and then went EZEKIEL WHITMAN. 295 to that of Nahum Mitchell of East Brido-ewater. Nothing could have been more propitious. Mr. Mitchell was a good lawyer, a general scholar, and a man of most admirable qualities. He was elected a member of the Eiglith Congress, was afterwards a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Plymouth County, and held other places of distinction. Mr. Mitchell, finding in his student a young man of solid judg- ment, quick perceptions, and rare ability, confided to him many cases before magistrates and referees, in which he al- ways acquitted himself in a manner to give his instructor not only satisfaction, but a sure token of future success. He had acquired so good a character, while engaged in his legal preparation, that he was employed on an important mission into the far distant regions of the South-west. A gentleman of Bridgewater had purchased a quantity of Vir- ginia land warrants, which that State sold with unbounded liberality at very low prices, the locations to be made in what is now the State of Kentucky. In consequence of these indiscriminate sales, tlie greatest possible confusion occurred in making locations and securing the titles. In some instances, the same land was covered by several sur- veys loosely and indefinitely made, so that no purchaser knew what was his own, unless he took and kept open and actual possession of it. Kentucky was separated from Vir- ginia in 1790, and admitted to the Union in 1792. The purchaser of whom I am now speaking had procured a large quantity of land to be surveyed and located under his war- rants, but died before the conflicts in regard to his rights were adjusted. Mr. Wliitman was sent out, by his heirs, in 1796, to gather uj) the wrecks of the property, and close the settlement of the estate. He traversed the whole distance on horseback ; spent the year in Kentucky, in accomplisliing the object of his journey, and returned in the same manner through Cumberland Gap, Virginia, Maryland, jects which occupied the attention of Congress principally during these sessions, were the rup- ture of negotiations with Great Britain, on the refusal of that power to carry into effect the arrangement entered into with her ambassador, Mr. Erskine ; the quarrel with his suc- cessor, Mr. Jackson ; the renewal of the non-intercourse sys- tem ; and subjects connected with our commercial relations with the two great belligerent nations. Tlie question of re-establishing the National Bank, removal of the seat of government to Piiiladelphia, and the admission of Louisiana to the Union, which Avas opposed by Josiah Quincy in an able and eloquent speech, and by other Federalists, — were also topics of excited discussion. Mr. Whitman acted with the Federal party, but does not appear to have taken an active part in debate. Hcj Josiah Quincy, and William Bailies of West Bridgewater are believed to be tlie only surviving members of that Congress. Mr. Quincy is over ninety, the other two in their eighty-seventh year, in 1862. At the election for the Twelfth Congress, which took place in November, 1810, the contest was severe, between Mr. Whitman and William Widgery. The result was a precise equality, each party having one thousand six hundred and thirty-nine votes. Scattering, one hundred and lifty-one. In Portland, the residence of l)oth caiulidatcs, the vote was, — Whitman, three hundred and Ibrtv-seven, Widgery, two hundred and forty-nine. On the next trial, in April, Mr. Widgery was elected by a small majority. Mr. Whitman returned well pleased to his profession, for he had no taste for tiiese protracted absences from a home 306 EZEKIEL WHITMAN. to which ho was devotedly attached : he preferred tlie quiet pursuits of })rivatc life to the agitations and acrimony of politics. During the seven years, 1811 to 1817, he devoted himself to the practice of law, having a very large business ; the amount of which, and the estimation in which he was held by his fellow citizens, may be inferred from the fact that in this period he argued at the law terras in Cumberland County more than half of all the causes which were pre- sented to the court. In 1815 and 181(), he was a member of the Executive Council of Massachusetts ; and in 1816, a member of the Convention held at Brunswick on the subject of the separa- tion of Maine from Massachusetts, — which was to take place on the event that a majority of five-ninths of the votes of the people pronounced in favor of separation. This propor- tion was not obtained, the vote being eleven thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven in favor, and ten thousand five hundred and thirty-nine against separation ; still, the Con- vention met, and by a peculiar construction put upon the language of the act, taking the majorities of the corpora- tions instead of the individual votes, the Convention, by a small majority, decided that the requisite condition was complied with, and thereupon raised committees to draft a Constitution, and to apply for admission as a State. It is unnecessary to say that this erroneous and violent construc- tion was wholly discountenanced and repudiated by Mr. Whitman ; and a minority of the Convention signed a pro- test against the proceeding, and had it entered upon the rec- ords, declaring " the exercise of further powers to be usurp- ation." The Legislature of Massachusetts sustained the views of the minority, and resolved, " that the ])owers of the Brunswick Convention have ceased," William King was President of the Convention, having ninety-seven votes to eighty-five given to Mr. Whitman, EZEKIEL WHITMAN. 307 In 181,6, Mr. Whitman was again elected Representative to Congress, and re-elected for the two following terms of 1819 and 1821, the Fifteenth to the Seventeenth Congresses. His experience in political life, the soundness of his judg- ment, and the integrity of his character, gave him influence in the councils of the nation. The years in which he held his seat in Congress were among the most critical and im- portant in our history. When he entered Congress for the second time, 1817, the nation was but twenty-seven years old. It had passed tlu'ough severe trials : a sharp and expen- sive war with a powerful nation, preceded by harsli commer- cial restrictions, had just been honorably concluded: a new course of policy, growing out of the altered state of the country, had to be instituted. It will be sufficient, on this occasion, to indicate some of the prominent measures pro- posed. These were, — Internal Improvements, a Bankrupt Law, Revolutionary Pensions, Renewal of the Charter of the United States Bank, and a Tariff having reference to the important question of giving protection to our manufactur- ing industry, which had begun to extend over the liiiddle and northeastern States, and was employing a large amount of capital. Tiie Florida question, involving the occupation of that territory under the Spanish rule, and the attack of Gen. Jackson upon the Fortress of Pcnsacola in pursuit of the Seminole Indians ; and the execution of the two Eng- lishmen, Arbutluiot and xVmbristcr, — led to long and acrimo- nious discussions, in whicli Mr. Wliitman took a conspicuous part. But the most exciting and important questions, which occupied much time in 1810 and 1820, grew out of tlie attempts to restrict slavery. The first important battle on this great issue was then fought. It commenced by the introduction of the proposition to amend the l)ill for the admission of Missouri, by inserting a clause j)r()liil)itiiig slav- ery in the State. Maine, in 181'J, having a}>})licd for admit;- 308 EZEKIEL WHITMAN. sion as a State, a bill for the purpose passed the House in the usual course. Ou reaching the Senate, it was amended by a clause admitting Missouri without restriction, which, after a most able and ardent debate, passed the Senate, Feb- ruary 15, 1820, — yeas, twenty-three; nays, twenty-one. Mr. Mcllen of Portland, and Mr. Otis of IJoston, the Sena- tors from Massachusetts, strenuously opposed the unnatural connection. In the House, the vote on striking out the restric- tion from the Missouri bill was equally close, ninety to eighty- seven. Mr. Holmes and Mark L. Hill alone, from Maine, voted in the affirmative ; Mr. Whitman and the other three representatives from Maine voted against removing the restriction, and Mr. AVhitman spoke earnestly against it. Only twelve members from the Free States voteti to strike out the restriction. The Southern vote was unanimous. Rufus King of New York, as Mr. Quincy observes in his Life of Adams, " delivered two of the most well-considered and powerful speeches that this Missouri question elicited." Mr. Adams in his Diary says, " I heard Mr. King on what is called the Missouri question. His manner was dignified, grave, earnest, but not rapid or vehement. He laid down the position of the natural liberty of man, and its incom- patibility with slavery in any shape : he also questioned the constitutional right of the President and Senate to make the Louisiana treaty. The great slave-holders in tlie House gnawed their lips and clenched their fists as they heard him." Again, he says, " They call his speeches seditious and inllam- matory." The result was produced by the adroitness of Mr. Clay, and some other prominent men, in proposing and enforcing the compromise line of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, which carried members from the Free States sufficient to adopt the measure. Mr. Adams on this result remarks, " In this instance tlie Slave States have clung together in one unbroken phalanx, and have been victorious EZEKIEL WHITMAN. 309 by means of accomplices and deserters from the ranks of Freedom. Time only can show whether the contest may ever, with equal advantage, be renewed." Mr. Whitman's opinion then was, that the North ought to liave stood lirm and united against sanctioning the introduc- tion of slavery in Missouri ; and has expressed his belief, that, had such l)een the case, the question which has been productive of so many evils, and such unmitigated calamity to the country, would have been successfully terminated. Mr. Whitman also took an active part in the discussions on the tariff bill : he advocated the reduction of the enormous duty of ten cents a gallon on molasses, but without effect ; and moved successfully an amendment to reduce the duty on printed books from thirty-five to twenty per cent., ad valorem. He offered other amendments, and entered into the debate with earnestness and ability by tlie side of his friend, Nathaniel Silsbee, the able commercial member from Salem, Massachusetts. In 1818, he delivered an able speech of about an hour in length in favor of a bankrupt law, which failed by a vote, eighty-two to seventy. Although Mr. Whitman frequently spoke on important subjects, he was so careless of fame that he never took the trouble of preparing reports of his speeches for the press. On the exciting question growing out of the invasion of Florida by Gen. Jackson, I was informed by his colleague, the late Joseph Dane of Kennebunk, that Mr. Whitman made one of the speeches which that agitating measure drew forth, that he literally stormed the character of Jackson, and denounced the act as arbitrary, and a violation of neutral and national law. His friends urged him to prepare his remarks for tlie pivss, but he declined doing it. On the 4th of Fcl^niary, 1822, the new State of Maine ])assed an act establishing a court of Common Pleas for the State*, to consist of a chief justice and two associate jus- 310 ezekieI whitman. tices. Gov. Parris constituted the court by tlie appointment of Mr. Whitman chid' justice, and Samuel E. Smith, after- wards Governor of the State, and David Perham of Penob- scot County, associate justices. Mr. Wliitman, in conse- quence of this appointment, resigned his seat in Congress, and retired from political life, lie continued to discharge the duties of principal judge in the Common Pleas with great fidelity and ability, with unimpeached integrity, and to the public approbation, until December, 1841, when he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court, as suc- cessor to Chief Justice Weston. At the head of the highest judicial tribunal of the State, Chief Justice Whitman devoted himself with untiring dil- igence, and undiminished powers of mind, to the arduous duties of the office for a period of nearly seven years. He resigned the office in October, 1848, at the age of nearly seventy-three, while yet in vigor and unimpaired intellectual strength, the result of a uniform system of temperate hab- its, self-restraint, and moderation of life. He had held the office of judge twenty-six and a half years, and his retire- ment from the bench was regarded as a public misfortune. No man ever presided in a court of justice with a sounder judgment, with more calm self-possession and dignity of deportment. Every party which appeared in his court was allowed full opportunity to exhibit his case ; but he always felt it his duty to let the jury understand clearly and dis- tinctly what were his views on the evidence submitted, which he fully presented to them. He endeavored, iu the conducting of cases before him, to contlnc the counsel to the true j)oints in issue ; and when these were unsupported by testimony, he would so rule as to al)ridgc the lal)or of parties, save the time of the court, and ])romote the cause of justice. Sophistry, and fraud, and cunning shifts, found no encouragement and no shelter under his administration ; EZEKIEL WHITMAN. 311 for his own mind was free from all gitile, or equivocation, or pretension. Although naturally of a very ardent, and perhaps excitable temperament, he had early acquired a com- plete control over himself; and his deportment upon the bench was calm, patient, and imperturbable, except when attempts were made to practice collusion, deception, or fraud, when his latent feeling would manifest itself in a manner not to be misunderstood. The judicial opinions of Cliief Justice Whitman are con- tained in nine volumes of the Maine Reports, from the twen- ty-first to the twenty-ninth, inclusive, reported by Mr. John Shepley. They are characterized by great simplicity and plainness of language, and directness of application to the real points in issue. They are remarkaljly free from fine- spun verbosity, or attempts at ornamentation. There is no mistaking the law which it is the design of the court to establish. In a note to decisions in the Supreme Court of Maine, published in the Law Reporter, 1848, volume eleven, ])agc seventy-two, it is said, " It was with melancholy inter- est that the Bar remembered that this was the last law term which the learned and venerable Chief Justice would hold in the county. Having presided in this court and the Court of Common Pleas for twenty-six years, with a dignity and impartiality rarely equaled, he will this year, by the expir- ation of his Constitutional term, retire from the bench. The lessons of soundjuridical knowledge, clear, practical wisdom, and impartial justice, which have so long flowed from liis lips, giving force to truth and confidence to virtue, will never again be heard." As the expression of cotemporaneous opinion may be considered the fairest exponent of the esti- mation in whicu Judge Whitman was held by the community in wiiich tlic best })art of his life was spent, we again offer the testimonial of the Law Reporter of January, l84lt, in an article on " Judicial Changes in Maine." The writer 312 EZEKIEL WHITMAN. says, " Judge Whitnian is nearly the last of the old-school lawyers among lis ; and he retains more of the })lainness and simplicity which we associate with the earlier time than any we arc acquainted with. Born in the year in which our inde})cndcnce was declared, he is a connecting link be- tween the present and the Revolutionary age, and presents an admirable specimen of the union of the two. No judge in our day has presided in the courts with more calm dignity, more independence, firmness, and integrity, than Judge Whitman. He commanded on the bench universal respect ; no restlessness or impetuosity disturl)ed the uniform current of his deportment. As deep waters flow calmly and strongly, without ripple or commotion, so the vigorous and self-poised mind conducts its operations without noise or turbulence." These testimonials indicate the public favor which waited on his judicial life. We believe they were well deserved and uniform during the whole period. And yet he was no less popular as a man. Without any of the arts which are practiced by those who seek attention and applause in the community, he was attended by both. An eccentric lawyer in Windham in his county, well remembered at our bar, once said to him, " How is it. Whitman, that you contrive to make yourself so popular, when you go along, taking no notice of anybody ; while I get no popularity, although I bow to everybody ? " This was a peculiarity of Judge Whit- man, that in passing through the streets he would scarcely recognize his acquaintances, and had none of that address which wins so many sunshine friends. His was the popular- ity which Lord Mansfield, in his great speech, said he desired, and which he admiraltly described as " that which follows, not that which is run after — that popularity which, sooner or later, never fails to do justice to the pursuit of noble ends by noble means." Without pretension or courtly arts of any kind, he was EZEKIEL WHITMAN. 313 always gentle, affectionate, and simple in his manners and conversation, never thrusting himself into notice on any occasion, but always sustaining himself when pressed, and coming up to any required emergency. He was willing to wait for tiiat approljation which surely rewards the efforts of an honorable and useful life. He read much, but was never fond of writing. The only work he ever prepared for the press was a genealogical account of the " Descendants of John Whitman," his ances- tor, and the first immigrant of the name to this country, 1635. This was printed in a pamphlet of forty-four pages, with biographical sketches, for private distribution. On retiring from the bench. Judge Whitman engaged in those quiet and peaceful pursuits which became his age and his unambitious habits. Study, and gentle labor in his garden, sufiicient to keep up the tone and vigor of his con- stitution, gave repose and serenity to his mind. In March, 1852, occurred one of the severest afflictions which had ever befallen him, the sudden death of his wife, who was struck with paralysis, and died in a few hours. He had lived with her in kind and affectionate companionship near fifty-three years. She had brought up her three children, all of whom were born within five and a half years of her marriage, and who survived her. She had passed with him through priva- tions and trials to scenes of independence and comfort, and had made for liim a home of unalloyed domestic happiness. Her death made that home desolate, and, not long after, yearning for the land of his birth and early life, he removed in October, 1852, to East Bridgewater, his native place, to repose and find relief in the associations of his early years. There he still lives, tranquil and serene, remarkably exempt from the sharp trials of old age, waiting for the summons 21 314 LEONARD MORSE : JOSIAH W. MITCHELL. which comes inevitably to a'll, to appear at the tribunal of the final judge. " Rectius occupat Nomcn beati, qui Deorum Muneribus sapienter uti." LEONARD MORSE. 1799 — 1815. JOSIAH W. MITCHELL. The same year, 1799, wliich gave to our State Chief Jus- tice Whitman at New Gloucester, John Holmes at Alfred, — the first lawyer in that place, — witnessed also the coming of Andrew Greenwood to Bath, John Park Little to Gorham, Bohan P. Field to North Yarmouth, and Leonard Morse to Freeport, being the first persons who established themselves in the profession at those places. Three of them graduated at Brown University ; viz., Little in 1794, Whitman in 1795, and Holmes in 179G ; Field, at Dartmouth, in 1795. Leonard Morse was a graduate of Harvard in 1796, with Dr. Woods of the Andover Institution, John Pickering, and Dr. Jackson of Boston. He was born and educated at Cambridge, and established himself in Freeport in 1799. He remained there until 1815, pursuing the ordinary duties of the profession, without arriving at any distinction as a lawyer or an advocate. His habits had previously become so bad that business left him. He died in 1823, leaving a family. His widow married a second husband, Simonton, and is living. She was a Porter of Freeport. He was succeeded in the profession there by Josiah W. Mitchell, who was the son of Jacob Mitchell, and born in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in 1785. He was not lib- erally educated, but pursued his legal studies with Judge Ezekiel Whitman, first in New Gloucester and then in Portland, and was admitted to the bar of Cumberland County in 1807. He had an extensive business in Free- JOSIAH W. MITCHELL : JOHN P. LITTLE. 315 port and the neighhoring towns, and was a sound law- yer and good advocate. He died in December, 1852, suddenly, leaving a wife and a large family of children. He was twice married, first to Sally, a daughter of Oakes Angier, an able lawyer in West Bridgewater, by whom he had one son and two daughters. His second wife was the widow of EUsha P. Cutler, the eloquent lawyer of North Yarmouth, of whom we speak in another place. By her he had three sons and two daughters. Six of his children and his widow still survive. His mother was also the mother of Chief Justice Ezekiel Whitman. He represented the town of Freeport in the General Court of Massachusetts four years ; viz., 1812, 1816, 1817, and 1818. He was a Federal- ist, and sustained with ability the policy of that party. He also represented his town, subsequently, in the Legislature of Maine. JOHN PARK LITTLE. 1799 — 1809. Mr. Little was the son of John Little of Littleton, Massa- chusetts, where he was born. His mother's maiden name was Park, from whom he derived a portion of his own. His father cultivated a large farm, on which his son was brought up, until he left the occupation for one more congenial to his taste. He graduated at Brown University in 1794 : after which lie pursued his legal studies in the office of Timothy Bigelow at Groton, who was the legal instructor of several prominent lawyers in Maine, such as Samuel Thatcher and Thomas Rice. Probaljly Mr. Little had charge, as some other of Mr. Bigelow's students had, of the Groton Academy. Mr. Little was admitted to practice in Massachusetts in 1799, and immediately came to Gorham. He was the first, and for several years the only lawyer in the town. So great was the opposition to the settlement of a lawyer in Gorham, that 316 JOHN p. LITTLE : BOHAN P. FIELD. the people met after church, on Sunday, in the meeting- house, and voted ahnost unanimously against Mr. Little's settling there. But he went, notwithstanding, and proved one of the best citizens who ever settled in Gorhara ; a man of great worth, very popular, and a pillar in the cluirch. The same opposition existed to his successor. Col. Whitte- more, who also, ultimately, became popular. He was a native of Gorham. We learn from ^h\ Ho})kins, who was his contemporary, that " he was industrious, and attentive to the duties of his profession. He had an extensive practice, and enjoyed the full confidence of his clients and his friends. He was not so much distinguislied as a lawyer or an advocate, as for his private worth. He was a man of strict integrity, and his moral and social virtues rendered his death a source of grief to an extensive circle of acquaintances and friends, and a loss to the community." Mr. Little married Mary Jackson Prescott, daughter of Judge Prescott of Groton, by whom he had one son, born in March, 1808, who survived his father but one year. Mr. Little died March 2(3, 1800, leaving a character without reproach. His widow married, for a second husband, the honorable and excellent Lathrop Lewis, and still survives, in 1862, in the eighty-eighth year of her age. She had three children by Mr. Lewis, who are all dead. She is erect and vigorous, walking regularly to church, and enjoys excellent health. BOHAN PRENTISS FIELD. 1700 — 1843. Bohan P. Field was born in Gill, i\rassachusetts, April 28, 1774, and was educated at Dartmouth College, from wliich he took his degree, in 1795, with the reputation of good scholarship, and a taste for classical studies, which he retained BOHAN P. FIELD. 317 through life. He pursued his legal studies under the care of the Hon. .Samuel Dana of Amherst, New Hampshire, afterwards a distinguished judge of that State. On being admitted to the bar in New 'Hampshire, he came to North Yarmouth, in this State, in 1799, and was the first lawyer who took up his residence in that place. The next year, 1800, he moved to Belfast, and became the pioneer of the profession in that thriving town. Belfast is in the Waldo Patent, and was then part of the county of Hancock. It was incorporated in 1773, and contained, in 1800, but six hundred and seventy-four inhabitants: it now contains, by the census of 1860, five thousand five hundred and twenty inhabitants. Mr. Field lived through the period of its growth from its humble beginning, forty-three years, and beheld it a flourishing commercial city, having contributed, by his enterprise, good judgment, and active exertions, to promote all the interests of his adopted town. On the organization of the county of Waldo, in 1827, Mr. Field was appointed chief justice of the Court of Sessions for the county by Gov. Lincoln, although they were on oppo- site sides in politics ; and continued, for a term of ten years, to discharge the duties of that office with industry, and to the satisfaction of the people of the county. He was a well-read lawyer, and his opinions were regard- ed as of good authority, and entitled to much weight. He rarely, however, api)oared as an advocate, but when he found it necessary or expedient to address the jury, he did it with force and clearness, without any display of rhetoric, arguing for the cause and not for outside effect. He was valued, in the community where he lived, most for his general intel- ligence, his integrity of character, and the soundness of his judgment. The following tribute to his memory is from the pen of Mr. Williamson of Belfast: in speaking of him as a magistrate and referee, in which capacity he was often em- 318 ANDREW GREENWOOD. ployed, he says, " No man entered on the investigation of the rights of parties freer from passion or prejudice, and no one exercised a sounder judgment. Hence, his decisions were uniformly correct and satisfactory. Such was his known integrity of character rfnd singleness of purpose, that he received a thousand unsought tokens of public favor and confidence. Few men ever died more highly respected and esteemed by all who knew him." Mr. Field died March 13, 1843, aged sixty-nine. ANDREW GREENWOOD. 179 9 — 1816. An ancestor of Mr. Greenwood, in the direct line, lived at Norwich, England, in the time of Charles I., and tradition assigns to him the honorable posts of lieutenant and chap- lain in Cromwell's army. Nathaniel, the son of this Myles Greenwood, was born in England in 1G31, and, before Crom- well had an army, or thought of power, came to this coun- try young, married Mary Allen, daughter of Samuel Allen of Braintree, and died in 1684. We have an account of three sons left by him, viz, Samuel, Isaac, and Nathaniel. Samuel was the father of Isaac Greenwood, Hollis Profes- sor of Mathematics in Harvard College from 1727 to 1738, grandfather of John Greenwood, who lived in Portland be- fore the Revolution, and great-grandfather of the Rev. Fran- cis William P. Greenwood, late minister of the Stone Chapel in Boston. From Nathaniel, another of the three sons of the first American Nathaniel, came Andrew Greenwood, the subject of this notice. The second Nathaniel was twice married, first to Elizabeth Venteman, by whom he had seven children. The youngest was Miles, the father of Andrew, who became a wealthy East India merchant in Salem ; he owned much shipping and some i)rivateers in the Revolution, ANDREW GREENWOOD. 319 one of which he commanded. He afterwards met with dis- asters by the loss of vessels and cargoes ; and, being reduced in his circumstances, he became a clerk in the Old Massa- chusetts Bank in Boston, and died in that service. By his first wife, Miss Hale of Medford, he had several children. The eldest. Miles, born in Salem, 1769, died in Cincinnati, in 1831, and was the father of the present Miles of that city, the largest iron manufacturer of Ohio. The second son, Andrew, the fifth in the line of descent from Myles, the Cromwellian chaplain, became the lawyer in Maine. Mr. Greenwood was born in Salem, in 1776, and was educated at the Dummer Academy in Byfield, under charge of the celebrated Master Moody, by whom he was fitted for college, expecting to be offered at Harvard, where six of his family had been educated, from 1685 to 1739. But the reverse in his father's fortune turned the tide against him, and he was obliged to give iip the further pursuit of his classical studies. While alf the academy he had made good use of his opportunities, and letters are in existence, from Master Moody, speaking in flattering terms of his proficiency, and of his being fully qualified to enter college. Disappointed in his hopes of a public education, he did not relinquish his plan of life ; but, returning to Salem, he at once commenced the study of law, and pursued it through the regular term, when, being admitted to the bar, he pro- ceeded to Charleston, South Carolina, where he made many friends ; but, his health failing, he undertook a voyage to the "West Indies, to restore his energies, whence he returned to Salem. Soon after, he came to Maine and established liiraself at Bath, the first lawyer who occupied that field. Bath was incorporated in 1781, and in 1800 contained a population of one thousand two hundred and twenty-five, .which has been continually increasing to the present day. It more than doubled in the ten years following 1800. 320 ANDREW GREENWOOD. Among this enterprising people, having no lawyer nearer, on one side, than Wiscassct, and Topsliam on the other, Mr. Greenwood went, well furnished with natural gilts and acquired knowledge, to adorn the profession, and gain dis- tinction for himself. Soon after he was seated here, a competitor entered on the same field, John Winslow, son of Dr. Winslow of Marsh- field, educated at Brown University, from which he grad- uated in 1795. He established himself at Bath in 1800, having previously practiced in Northborough, Massachusetts. Mr. Greenwood, either thinking that the place did not offer sufficient business for two lawyers, or desiring a larger scope, went to Portland the same year to try his fortunes there. Here he remained about two years, when he returned to Bath in the latter part of 1802 or early in 1803. Winslow in turn took his departure for Louisiana, just then become a territory of the United States, where he entered into wild and ruinous speculations, which y which he made ANDREW GREENWOOD. 321 himself a most agreeable companion. But it may well be doubted whether these social qualities contributed to advance him in his profession, or to give him an elevated position at the bar. A lawyer can become eminently distinguished only by an aljnegation of those agreeable attributes which grace the saloon or which make a man the coveted guest at the din- ner table. There are undoubtedly exceptions to this rule, and we can readily recall the names of Chief Justice Par- sons, Solicitor General Davis, Daniel Webster, and Judge Story as equally great and happy in the forum and at the social board. Mr. Greenwood's success at the bar was made manifest by two beautiful houses which he built in Bath, one occupied by Colonel Robinson, the other by himself during his life, and now, I believe, by the Hon. Freeman Clarke. His taste in architecture was not confined to his own buildings, but displayed itself in the structures of other persons who sought his advice, and in some public buildings. His influence was felt in the erection of a church for Dr. 'William Jenks, his pastor, now the venerable antiquarian in Boston. In 1809, Mr. Greenwood received from Bowdoin College the honorary degree of A. M., which was a proper tribute to his literary and classical attainments. In 1800, he liad delivered a eulogy on the death of Washington at Bath, and had shown himself on other occasions to be possessed of a highly cultivated mind. Frederick Allen, an early con- temporary at the Lincoln Bar, says, '• Mr. G/'cenwood lived in Bath when I first knew him : he had a very good practice, and was considered one of the most prominent and successful lawyers of that place." In 1813 and 1814, he represented the town of Bath in the General Court. At the first term, an animated debate took place on the answer to the Governor's speech. It was then the practice in Massachusetts and some other States, as well 322 ANDREW GREENWOOD. as ill Congress, and as it now is in England, for each branch of the Legislature to prepare an address responsive to the suggestions of the chief magistrate's speech. This was in ap- proval or reprobation, as the views of the speech suited the majority. On the present occasion, the Democratic minority in each house entertained a bitter hostility toward Governor Strong, in consequence of his opposition to the war and Mr. Madison's administration. Mr. Otis reported the answer in the house, which, of course, approved of Governor Strong's policy, and a very animated debate took place, in which the leading men on both sides engaged, among whom Avere the late Chief Justice Shaw, General Fessenden, then of New Gloucester, and Mr. Otis. Mr. Greenwood being a warm Federalist and a hearty supporter of Governor Strong, ad- vocated the sentiments of the address with great zeal and eloquence : the newspapers of the day remark that his speech '' was replete with spirit and independence." It was while he was a member that the subject of the famed " Hart- ford Convention " was introduced, and the measure adopted and carried through, under a tremendous lire from the op- position ranks. Mr. Greenwood, of course, bore his part in the encounter with spirit and success, aided by other Federal members from Maine, as General Fessenden of New Glou- cester, Jeremiah Bailey of Wiscasset, Samuel Thatcher of Warren, Isaac Adams and George Bradbury of Portland. In 1814, Stephen Longfellow was on the Portland delegation, instead of George Bradbury, who was sent to Congress. Probably there was never u brighter display of forensic abil- ity in the General Court than during the three years of the war with England. Ijigelow was Speaker of the House, John Phillips, President of the Senate ; among the mem- bers were Otis, Daniel A. White, Samuel Dana, Erastus Foote, in the Senate ; the late Judges Jackson and Sliaw, James Savage, the Pickmans, and John Pickenng of Salem, ANDREW GREENWOOD: DANIEL P. UPTON. 323 John Holmes, General Fessenden, Josiah W. Mitchell, Thatcher, Calvin Selden, Wallingford, and other prominent men, in the House. In 1809, Mr. Greenwood married Ann Harrod of New- biiryport, who, with two daughters, survived him. One of the daughters, Sarah Miles, married the Hon. George Lunt of Massachusetts, and died in 1858 ; the other married first, Hay ward Pierce of Bangor, and second, the gallant General Buford of Illinois, who distinguished himself at Island No. 10, and has performed other services in the war. She and her mother are now living in Illinois. Mr. Greenwood died in Bath, in the house built by him and afterwards owned and occupied by the Hon, Freeman Clarke, November 15, 181G. The following extract from a letter written by his daughter, Mrs. Buford, will be inter- esting in this connection : " In a visit at Bath a few years ago, I was surprised to find my father's memory ^till fresh and green in the hearts of his friends. I was carried to the church he did so much to erect, — Dr. Jenks's. The two fine houses he built, — one occupied then by Colonel Robin- son, and the other where he lived and died, occupied by Mr. Freeman Clarke, — both show a fine taste and a true love of proportion in architecture. Judge Wilde of Boston has often spoken to me of his eloquence, and his power over any audi- ence he addressed, — also of his conversational powers and ready wit." DANIEL PUTNAM UPTON. 1800 — 1805. Among the young men of talents and promise who came into Maine, near the close of the last century, was Daniel Putnam Upton, who established himself, the first lawyer, in Eastport, the frontier town of the State and the United 324 DANIEL P. UPTON. States, in 1800. Mr. Upton was descended from John Up- ton, who was a blacksmith in Salem Village, now Danvers, as early as 1658 : from which place he moved to Reading, Massachusetts, where he died in 1699. He had three sons, William, Caleb, and Samuel, from the latter of whom, the subject of this notice descended, being in the fifth degree from the first xlmerican ancestor. Amos, the son of Sam- uel, who was born in 1716 and died October 6, 1780, a man of great energy and stern Puritan principles, was his grand- father ; and Benjamin, the fourth of the seven children of Amos, was his father. Down to 1810, there was no family in New England by the name of Upton, but the descendants of John, through his three sons above named. The mother of Daniel P. was Rebecca, a daughter of Deacon Daniel Put- nam, a refined and cultivated woman, who died in 1785, at the age of thirty-four, too early to leave the full impress of her character upon her young family of five children, of whom Daniel was the second, and then but eleven years old. Mr. George B. Upton of Boston, the son of Daniel, made the following striking statement to me : he said, " I remem- ber to have seen my grandfather's mother : she lived to be ninety-nine years old. She told me that she had seen and talked with people who were here prior to 1650." This seems to be bringing the foundations of our country very near to us. Mr. Upton also gives mc another anecdote of historical interest connected with the family, taken from the Massachusetts records :" December 21, 1717, WiUiam and Samuel Upton liberate Thomas, who had faithfully served their father, John Upton of Reading ; and give secur- ity to the treasury that tliey will meet all charges which may come against said black man." Daniel P. Upton was born in Reading, August 12, 1774 ; he took his first degree at Harvard College in the class of 1797. This was a marked class, containing the memorable DANIEL P. UPTON : EASTPORT. 325 names of Horace Binney, William Jenks, Chief Justice William M. Richardson, Prof. Asahel Stearns, Dr. John C. Warren, and Daniel Appleton White. Of this class of fifty- four persons, who left the halls of the university sixty-five years ago, five survive, in 18G2 ; among whom are Binney and Dr. Jenks. On leaving college, Mr. Upton pursued the study of law, and part of the time with Phineas Bruce of Machias, who was then the only lawyer in Washington County. Machias had a population of less than one thou- sand, and the whole county less than four thousand. What inducements turned Mr. Upton's attention to that remote and ungcnial region, we are not informed. Machias was the shire-town of the county, and the Common Pleas held one term a year there ; the Supreme Court going no farther east than Wiscasset. But there was some good society in the place : in addition to Mr. Bruce's family, were those of Sheriff John Cooper, of George Stillman, and Judges Jones and Avery. Mr. Upton was admitted to the bar of the Common Pleas in Machias at the August term, 1800. The certificate of Mr. Bruce, as to the qualifications of his student, accord- ing to the custom of that day, bears date July 23, 1800. On being admitted to the bar, he selected Eastport, the most eastern part of the State, in which to commence the prac- tice of his profession. Tliat town had a population of only five hundred and sixty, and then included what is now Lu- bec. It had communication with outside civilized society, almost wholly by water, as a dense and continuous forest cut it off from other parts of the State. The town is the smallest in territory in the State, is !?ituated upon an island, and contains but one thousand nine hundred and ten acres. The road from there to ^lachias, the shirc-town in the county, was not laid out until 1801) ; and Jonathan D. Weston, the successor of Mr. Upton in the practice there, in his interesting 326 DANIEL P. UPTON. account of Eastport, says, that he was the first person who went the whole distance between those towns by land, which was in August, 180G. He also says that the first two-story house was built there in 1802 : this was two years after Mr. Upton moved to it, and there were but two in the town until 1805. The encouragement for a professional man, and the stim- lant to the literary tastes and pursuits of a scholar, accus- tomed to the refinements of the society existing in the neigh- borhood of Boston, Cambridge, and Salem, must have been, on this frontier post, of the most humble character. Only one court a year was held in the county, and that at a con- siderable distance ; so that he had rare opportunities to meet his professional brethren : it is not therefore surprising that his spirits and health failed, under the adverse circum- stances in which his fortunes were cast. He was admitted to the Supreme Court, held at Castine, on the fourth Tues- day of June, 1803, a term of this court having been granted to Hancock County in 1801. He was commissioned as a justice of the peace, May 10, 1801. But he did not long remain at liis post after this last appointment. The next year he returned to Reading, his native place, where he died December 31, 1805. Mr. Williamson, the historian of Maine, in a manuscript notice of him, says, " He had talents to render him distinguished, had he the industry requisite to put them in vigorous operation ; but he had no competitor in his profession near him to awaken and excite his emula- tion. Yet he was a very accurate lawyer." His early death deprived the profession of a member, who, under more favorable auspices, would have been its ornament and , a valuable acquisition to the State. Mr. Upton was a man of good personal appearance, of easy address and manly character. His widow never ceased to speak of him with the tcndercst afiection, and to the end of her long life, with DANIEL P. UPTON : GEORGE B. UPTON. 327 tears. This excellent woman was Hannah Bruce, sister of Phineas Bruce, and daughter of George Bruce of Mcndon, where she was born December 27, 1768. She survived her husband more tlian fifty years. She is said to have been a woman of rare intellectual endowments, gifted with uncom- mon conversational powers, and of a cheerful, happy tem- perament. Iler mind was well cultivated, and her retentive memory, stored by careful reading and by an experience ex- tending far back to the scenes of the Revolution, rendered her a most agreeable companion. By her, Mr. Upton had two children, who survived liim. One, bearing his own name, Daniel Putnam, was a successful ship-master, having by his merit risen early to the command of a ship, and in this capacity was twenty years in the serv- ice of Enoch Train of Boston, commanding' his packet- ships, of one of which, the Washington Irving, he was cap- tain when he died, at the age of forty-six. May 2, 1849. He was not married. The following expressive words are from an obituary which appeared in a newspaper, immediately after his death : " As an experienced and judicious ship- master, a faithful and correct business man, and, above all, as a whole-souled sailor, Capt. Upton had few equals." His other son is George B. Upton of Boston, one of the enterprising and honored merchants of that city, who lives to do credit to the memory and perpetuate the virtues of most worthy parents. He has children, one of whom bears the name of his grandfather, Daniel Putnam, another his own, and thus combines, as George Bruce Upton, the blood of his first American ancestors, Upton and Bruce. The son is a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1849. Mr. Upton, the subject of our notice, was buried in Read- ing, but, by the considerate regard of his surviving son, his remains nf)w rest in the beautiful shades of Mount Auburn, by the side of his long-parted wife, and their deceased son. 328 TEMPLE HOVEY : HENRY V. CHAMBERLAIN. Mr. Upton was succeeded at Eastport by Jonathan Deles- dernier Weston, a graduate of Harvard in the famous class of 1802, who, after an honorable course of practice, died in that place in 1834. TEINIPLE HOVEY. 1800—180 3. Temple Hovey was the son of Dr. Ivory Hovey of South Berwick, and a descendant of the Rev. Ivory Hovey, a learned and faithful minister of Plymouth and Rochester, in the Old Colony, who died in 1803, at the age of eighty- nine. Mr. Hovey was not publicly educated ; but, passing through the usual routine studies under the care of Dudley Hubl)ard, he was admitted to the bar in 1800. He did not live long enough to make any figure at the bar, or to indi- cate what his future might have been. He died in about two years after his admission to practice. HENRY VASSAL CHAMBERLAIN. 1800 — 1808. Henry Vassal Chamberlain was the first lawyer who set- tled in that part of the county of Kennebec which is now embraced in the county of Franklin. He was born in Wor- cester, Massachusetts, about 1778, and established himself in Farmington in 1800. I have not been able to find his name on any of the catalogues of the New England colleges, and cannot state how or where he was educated. I am in- formed by one who knew him in early life, that he was well educated. He was tall, erect, with an agreeable counte- nance, pleasant manners, and an exceedingly interesting personal appearance. With such rare advantages, in a new country, where they could be made peculiarly valuable, he was largely patronized, and found friends and business rap- idly flowing towards him. He soon married, and Jjuilt the most elegant house in the village. He was popular, en- HENRY V. CHAMBERLAIN: EBENEZER BRADISH. 329 gaged actively in the affairs of the town, and, having a fine taste, he introduced many improvements, whose benefits have been felt to the present day. Farmington was incorporated in 1794, and the county in 1838. The population of tlic town in 1800, when Mr. Cham- berlain went to it, was nine hundred and forty-two ; in 1860, it was three thousand one hundred and six. Mr. Cham- berlain remained in Farmington but eight years, all of which were prosperous, and afforded encouragement to future use- fulness and honor ; but this advantage he lost by one false step, produced by dissipated habits into which he had fallen, which involved a heavy pecuniary loss, and seriously dam- aged his reputation. He therefore left the country in 1808, and sought in far off Mobile, to retrieve the fortunes he had sacrificed here. It is but justice to say that in his new home, he acquired a high reputation and a large estate : he became collector of the port, and surrogate of the county, and held other honorable offices, which he discharged with fidelity. In social life he was hospitable and kind, and became an honorable, useful, and acceptable citizen of the place to which he moved, and in which he spent the greater portion of his life. In 1841, he made a visit to Farmington with his wife, where he renewed his acquaintance with his former friends : he died abqut 1855, leaving a family. His wife, whom he married while in Farmington, was Miss Tar- bel of Groton, Massachusetts. His son, Henry Vassal, is a lawyer, has been mayor of Mobile, and judge of the Orphan's Court of that city. EBENEZER BRADISH. 1796—1799. Ebenezer Bradish, son of Ebenezer Bradish, a lawyer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, graduated at Harvard College, 330 EBENEZER BRADISH : SAMUEL DAGGETT. in 1702. He came to Hallowell and commenced practice in 1795 or 1796. The only information 1 have of liim, I derive from the late Thomas llice of Winslow, who, in a letter to me in 1851, thus speaks of him, and some other of his contemporaries : " Amos Stoddard located himself as a law- yer in Hallowell, a short time before I came to this place, and in two or three years he was followed by Nathaniel Per- ley and Ebenezer Bradish. Stoddard and IJradish did not possess much reputation as lawyers. Bradish was the son of Ebenezer Bradish, a lawyer in Cambridge, was graduated at Harvard, 1792. He staid in Hallowell three or four years, and then, I believe, removed to the far west." I do not find Mr. Bradish's name in the Registers of that period; and, although his name is starred in the college catalogue, the time of his death is not given. His father graduated at Harvard, 1769, and died 1818. SAMUEL DAGGETT. 1783 — 1798. On the annexed list of lawyers prior to 1801, is the name of Samuel Daggett. The only information I have concern- ing him is derived from a manuscript catalogue of lawyers by Mr. Williamson, the historian of Maine, whose entry is, " Samuel Daggett, 1783, Pittstdi, now Gardiner, removed hither from Boston. Exitus, 1798." I also find his name in the Massachusetts Register of 1793, as an attorney of the Common Pleas of that year in Pittston. But I do not find his name in the catalogue of any New England college, nor in the history of Gardiner by Mr. Hanson, nor in the tax lists of that town from 1785 to 1803. I therefore infer tliat there was no such lawyer in Pittston, or that he was a mere bird of passage. LAWYERS TO 1800: THEIR INCREASE. 331 LAWYERS TO 18 00: THEIR INCREASE. I have, ill the preceding pages, brought to notice every lawyer who resided in Maine previous to the present century, and I think all of any distinction who attended our courts from other States. The whole number of resident and reg- ularly educated attornies was seventy-nine, and of those actually in practice at the close of the last century, fifty- three. The names of the latter class will appear at the close of this chapter. At the same period, 1800, the Suffolk Bar contained thirty-three members, thus classed : five barristers, twenty attornies in the Supreme Court, and eight in the Common Pleas. At the time of the Revolution, 1775, there were but eight lawyers in Maine. Their increase during the next quarter of a century was not rapid ; but after that time their multiplication far outstripped the proportion of other classes. In early times, the increase of attornies in Eng- land was so great that the legislature intel-posed at different times to check it. In the reign of Henry VI., the number was actually limited to six in Norfolk, six in Suffolk, and two in Norwich. The limitation did not last long. Lord Coke says, " "When the statutes gave way to appear by attorney, it is not credible how, with attornies and their multiplication, suits in law, for the most part unnecessary and for trifling causes, increased and multiplied." In Eng- land, in 1800, the number of barristers was seven hundred and seventy-three ; in 1851, it was three thousand two hundred and seventy-four. During the same time the attor- nies increased from five thousand one hundred and nine, to about ten thousand. The population during that period nearly doubled, while the barristers increased four-fold. In Maine, a similar increase took place. In 1800, when the population was one hundred and fifty-one thousand seven hundred and nineteen, the luimber of lawyers was fifty-three. 332 INCREASE OP LAWYERS : CHANGE OF CUSTOMS. In 1820, the date of separation, the population had nearly doubled, being two hundred and ninety-eight thousand three hundred and thirty-five, but the number of lawyers had in- creased to two hundred and seven, more than quadruple in the twenty years. In 1840, they had more than doubled the number in 1820, being four hundred and thirty-seven, — of whom Aroostook had four ; Cumberland, sixty-six ; Franklin twenty; Hancock, twelve; Keiniebec, fifty-nine; Lincoln, forty-nine ; Oxford, twenty-six ; Penobscot, seventy-four ; Piscataquis, ten ; Somerset, twenty-five ; Waldo, twenty-nine ; Washington, twenty-nine ; York, thirty-four. Bangor, with a population of eight thousand, six hundred and thirty-four, had forty-eight ; while Portland, with a population of fifteen thousand, two hundred and eighteen, had tliirty-seven. In 1860, the number enrolled in the profession was five hun- dred and twenty-nine, and the population of the State was six hundred and twenty-eight thousand, eight hundred and one. As the lawyers increased to a multitude, the customs of the bar and the mode of conducting business changed. The respect that was due and paid to the court diminished, and there was less decorum among the members of the bar. In the early day, bar meetings were regularly held ; and the opening of the courts was always attended by a procession of the judges and lawyers, preceded by the sheriff and his deputies, the former in his ofiicial costume, with staff, sword, cocked hat, blue coat, and buff vest. In the proceedings of the court, the lawyers were more concise in their arguments, both to the court and jury. Mr. Parsons, in his interesting memoir of his father, the distin- guished chief justice, says, he was seldom over half an hour in his addresses to the jury, and these were directed without ornament, to make plain and clear to their minds the precise points of the case. And Chief Justice Mellen, THE CONDUCT OF TRIALS. 333 in an article written for Colman's Miscellany in 1839, observed, " Thirty or forty years ago a cause was argued in half an hour, or an hour at the most, which now demands half a day ; and in accomplishing the task there is as much circum-round-about declamation, phraseology, and travel- ing backwards and forwards, as there was in Corporal Trim's story to Uncle Toby, about the King of Bohemia and his seven castles." This brevity in argument, and the mode of conducting causes, still prevails in England. Mr. Hillard of Boston gives us an illustration of this in an article to the Law Reporter in 1849. He attended several of the courts in England, and thus speaks of an important trial : " The case was argued ably and thoroughly. It was conducted with much more temperance, moderation, and smoothness, than would have been the case in a question of similar magni- tude here. The trial lasted about seven hours, and I am persuaded it would have taken three days in our country. The addresses to the jury would have been three or four times as long ; there would have been more repetition, more vehemence, more declamation. On that occasion, there was not a single word spoken. But the difference was still more marked in the examination of witnesses. Very few ques- tions were asked — none that were not strictly pertinent — and the cross-examination was very brief, and not in the least degree teasing. AVithout wishing to draw any invid- ious comparisons, I will also observe that I was most favor- ably impressed with the tone of decorum and good breeding which presided over the whole trial. The presiding judge was dignified and generally silent. On the part of the coun- sel, there were no snappish interruptions, no unseemly vocif- eration, no angry snarls, no vulgar crimination and recrim- ination. The gentleman was never, for a moment, sunk iji the advocate." 334 TRIALS : COURTS OP PLEAS AND SESSIONS. These remarks are respectfully commended to the coiisid- oratioii of the profession in Maine. They represent some- thing of tlie practice in this country a half century ago, to which a return would be most honorable and refreshing. We also commend the subject to the consideration of the bench as well as the bar, that their deportment and their influence may be employed in this work of salutary reform. Let them rigidly preserve the decorum which is due to the cause and the place. Let me use the language of Lord Bacon: — "The parts of a judge in hearing are four : to direct evidence ; to moderate length, repetition, or imper- tinency of speech ; to recapitulate, select, and collate the material points of that which hath been said ; and to give the rule or sentence." Again, this wise judge gives further advice, which should be heeded : " Let not the counsel at the bar chop with the judge, nor wind himself into the hand- ling of the cause anew, after the judge hatli declared his sentence ; but, on tlie other hand, let not the judge meet the case half way, nor give occasion to the party to say his coun- sel or proofs were not heard." In connection with an account of the practice and pro- ceedings in court at the close of the last century, I present a statement from Mr. Rice, an active member of the bar at that period, as an interesting historical record. He says : " I will now speak of the Court of Common Pleas, as con- nected with the Court of Quarter Sessions. The Court of Common Pleas consisted, I think, of five judges, for the trial of all civil suits. They received, as a compensation for their services, a part of the entry fee paid the clerk. The entry fee for each action, in those days, was one dollar and ninety cents. The clerk and court, after the term closed, met at their chambers ; the list of entries was brought forward l)y the clerk ; and the sum total then divided between the clerk, court, and sherilL In addition to this sum, the judges COURTS OP PLEAS AND SESSIONS. 335 received pay as justices of the sessions. The Court of Ses- sions consisted of all the Justices of the Peace in the county, together with the justices of the Common Pleas. Justices were not so plenty then as now. As many of these justices as chose assembled two or three days during the term, and attended to criminal trials, and those matters and things in which the county was more immediately interested, such as taxes, roads, and jails ; and they passed upon all accounts against the county ; the Common Pleas being considered a quorum to do business, if no others appeared. They received a small per diem pay of about four shillings for their serv- ices. In those times, the juries were paid by the cause : no cause, no pay. When a case was opened, the plaintifif advanced eight dollars as jury fee, to be paid to jury, sheriff, and crier. Sometimes the jurors would attend a whole term, and not try more than two or three causes ; and sometimes, after the writ was read, the case would be taken from the jury, and demurred or defaulted. In such cases, the jury fee was not paid. There was a practice, in early times, of appealing from defaults. The Supreme Court sat but once a year in Lincoln, and all persons, sued on demands not dis- puted, who chose, would be defaulted in the Common Pleas, and then appeal to the Supreme Court, merely to give them time of payment. The cost attending those appeals was equal to that of an original action in the Supreme Court. The record in the Common Pleas would stand thus : The defendant, though solemnly called, did not appear, but made default ; the court then rendered judgment. The defend- ant afterwards came into court, and appealed from that judg- ment ; a complaint was entered at the next Supreme Court, for affirmation or judgment, the appellant not having entered his appeal. One day's attendance and travel was allowed in those cases, besides the entry and clerk^s fee for copies. At some terms, twenty of these entries would be made by one 336 LAWYERS IN 1800. person, and would be productive of nearly as much fees as original actions. The justices of the Common Fleas were none of them lawyers : they were plain, sound-sense men, aiming to do their duty faithfully. I believe, without speak- ing disrespectfully of any other court, that the business of the counties, by the courts thus organized, was as faithfully performed, and with as much satisfaction to the community, as it has since been, and at much less expense," In the old wooden court-house in Portland, there were wings extended on each side of the judge's seat, for the accommodation of the sessions justices, who frequently appeared in considerable number during the terms of the Common Pleas. LAWYERS IN PRACTICE IN 1800. The following table contains the names of all the lawyers who were in practice in Maine in the year 1800, arranged alphabetically by counties : CUM BE RL AN D. Alden Peter Oliver, Little John Park, Angier Charles, Morse Leonard, Chase Salmon, Parker Isaac, Da\ds Daniel, Symmes William, Frothingham John, Vaughan George Elliot, Hopkins James Dean, Whitman Ezekiel. HANCOCK. Field Bohan Prentiss, Nelson Job, Oilman Allen, Sparhawk Thomas Stearns, Leonard Oliver, Story Isaac, Wetmore William. LAWYERS IN 1800. 387 KENNEBEC Bridge James, Kidder Reuben, Bridge Nathan, Perley Nathaniel, Bowman Thomas, Rice Thomas, Chamberlain Henry Vassal, Whitwell Benjamin, Glidden Samuel P. Wilde Samuel Sumner. LINCOLN, Bailey Jeremiah, Greenwood Andrew, Hasey Benjamin, Langdon Timothy, Lee Silas, Merrill John, Stebbins Josiali, Smith Manasseh, Thatcher Samuel, Winslow John. Bruce Phiueas, WASHINGTON. Upton Daniel Putnam. YORK Dana Judah, Emery Nicholas, Hayman Edward Payne, Holmes John, Hovey Temple, Hubbard Dudley, King Cyrus, * Mellen Prentiss, Sullivan Ebenezer, Thacher George, Thomas Joseph, Wallingford Geo. "Washington. CHAPTER XVI JACOB MCGAW — BENJAMIN ORR — STEPHEN LONGFELLOW — WIL- LIAM LAMBERT — BENJAMIN GREENE — WILLIAM ABBOTT — WILLIAM CROSBY — BARRETT POTTER — ERASTUS FOOTE. JACOB MCGAW. 1801 — 1836. The first ten years of the present century witnessed the accession of many enterprising and talented young men to the bar of Maine, who were destined to occupy eminent positions in their peculiar department, as well as in public stations. Among these were Stephen Longfellow, Benjamin Orr, Benjamin Greene, Samuel Hubbard, Jacob McGaw, Joseph Dane, William P. Preble, Timothy Boutelle, A. K. Parris, Benjamin Ames, William Crosby, William Abbott. Reucl Williams, S. A. Bradley, Simon Greenleaf, Samuel Fessenden, Nathan Weston, Frederic Allen, Ether Shepley, Charles Davies, and others, whose names will find a place in our subsequent pages. To many of these distinguished men, the society, the social institutions, and the public prosperity of Maine are largely debtors. Their liberal and genial cul- ture, their elevated tone of character, their sound practical wisdom, have made an indelible impression upon the char- JACOB MtGAW. 339 acter, the laws, and institutions of our State. The names of such men should not be suffered to die. Let us attempt to do something to keep the record of their services and merits fresh amidst the perishable memorials of time. In 1801, no less than eight young men entered into the practice in Maine, — Jacob McGaw at Fryeburg, John Abbot at Castine, William Lambert and Benjamin Green at South Berwick, Benjamin Orr at Topsham, Stephen Longfellow at Portland, Barrett Potter at North Yarmouth, and William Jones at Norridgewock. Jacob McGaw was the first adventurer of the new cen- tury. He came to Fryeburg in January, 1801, where Mr. Dana had been in practice nearly three years, and to that time the only lawyer in what is now the county of Oxford. Mr. McGaw was of that noble old stock which has infused so much energy into the Saxon blood of America. His father, Jacob McGaw, born in the north of Ireland, in 1737, came to this country at the age of twenty-three, arriving in Boston in 1760. His companion in this emigration was his cousin, Robert Means, afterwards the Col. Robert Means of Amherst, New Hampshire, who had the honor to be the father of the three remarkable women, wives of Jeremiah Mason, the distinguished lawyer of New Hampshire and of Boston, the Rev. Jesse Appleton, President of Bowdoin Col- lege, one of whose daughters is the wife of the late Pres- ident of the United States, Franklin Pierce ; the third daughter of Col. Means married the late Amos Lawrence, the merchant of Boston, who was no less distinguished in his sphere, than the others in theirs. These two cousins, McGaw and Means, embarked their little fortunes together, and carried on their business as partners, in Merrimac, New Hampshire, until 1770, having all things in common. Mr. Means then sold out his inter- est in the firm to his relative and partner, McGaw, and 340 JACOB MCGAW. moved to Amherst, where he married and commenced a suc- cessful trade. At this time, it happened that John Orr, another descend- ant of the Scotch-Irish immigration, whose father, following the exodus of a portion of his race from the old and renowned Londonderry, of the north of Ireland, to the new London- derry of America, lived at Bedford, a few miles from the residence of Mr. McGaw, with his sister Margaret. These families, originating in the same locality of the old country, and having a common faith, the Presbyterian, which knit the souls of these emigrants firmly together, and endeared them to one another in this land of their adoption by kindred associations, became intimate. And as our friend, Mr. Mc- Gaw, happily said, " This acquaintance resulted in the impor- tant and very happy relation of husband and wife between my father, Jacob McGaw, and Margaret Orr." The fruit of this happy union was four sons and three daughters. Two of the sons were educated at Dartmouth College, and became lawyers ; two were merchants ; the three daughters were married to gentlemen of much respect- ability. The children received the best education it was in the power of their parents to bestow. Jacob, the subject of this notice, was born in 1778, at Merrimac, and having passed through the usual preparatory studies, entered Dartmouth College, from which he took his degree in 1797, at the age of nineteen. In December of the same year, he entered the office of the Hon. Thomas W. Thompson of that part of Salisbury, New Hampshire, which is now Frank- lin, and, after passing the regular curriculum^ he was admit- ted an attorney of the Common Pleas in January, 1801. Being now legally qualified to enter on the practice of law, he lost no time in putting himself in a position to make his talents and his privileges available. He had vigorous health, he had an ardent mind, a good education, and high hopes. JACOB MCGAW. 341 Armed with these, he only needed opportunity. He pro- ceeded at once to Fryeburg, and opened his office there in January, 1801 ; thus beginning the year and the century in this wide but cheerless field of professional labor. We will permit Mr. McGaw to look back from his eminence of four- score, and narrate some of the experiences of this period of his life : " The Hon. Judah Dana had preceded me about three years, and was the only practicing lawyer in all that part of the county of York that was situated north of Ossipee River, and south of the Canada line, and had no competitor within the territory that now constitutes the county of Oxford. A considerable portion of northeastern New Hamp- shire was without any lawyer resident in it. Although the limits of country within which the principal part of our practice originated was extensive, yet the population was sparse. The terms of the courts were all holden at great distance from Fryeburg, which caused practice in them to be laborious. York was eighty miles distant from my office, and Waterboro' forty, Dover in New Hampshire seventy, Rochester and Gilmanton about sixty each. At all these places I necessarily attended at every term of the court, and occasionally at Haverhill and Plymouth, New Hampshire. As a matter of course, the litigation originating within a considerable distance around Fryeburg was managed by Judge Dana and myself on opposite sides. " This state of things called into exercise such debating powers as each of us possessed, and tended to cause a more thorough study of principles and authorities than would have been likely to have happened had we been within reach of older and abler lawyers." Their wits were undoubtedly sharpened by this self-reliance. One anecdote I have heard of their practice which was amusing. On one occasion, they had a very sharp contlict in a trial before a magistrate in a 342 JACOB MCGAW. neighboring town, in which the counsel became much excited. Not getting through the case in season to return home, they were obliged to stop at the tavern, in which the trial was held, for the night. When bed-time arrived, the simple country girl who lighted tliem ta their chamber, expressed great surprise that they should be put into one room. She thought it could not be safe for persons who had quarreled so bitterly in the day-time to be shut up together at night. Judge Dana, however, quieted her fears, and told her that lawyers were like two sides of a pair of shears ; they did not cut one another, but only what was between. I borrow further from Mr. McGaw's manuscript letter to me : " In 1805, the county of Oxford was organized, and tlie first term of a judicial court was holden at Paris, the shire-town, in June of that year. Much of the extensive region both north and west of my residence was composed of the White Mountains and their branches, which rendered it incapable of compact settlement or valuable productive- ness. This fact, with some other considerations, led me to the conclusion that Fryebnrg would not be the most favor- able place for a permanent residence. My professional busi- ness had been equal to any just claim that I could make to public patronage, yet it seemed to me that some other loca- tion might furnish a better promise for the future. With this feeling, I visited the Penobscot River and Bay, and, having determined to adventure into that new country, I closed my business iu Fryeburg, and moved to Bangor in the last days of Oct()l)er, 1805." The numerous acquaintances he had formed by his long residence in various j daces in New Hampshire, and his later practice in that State and Maine, and the reputation he had acquired for business talents, and as an advocate, very soon introduced him to a good and an increasing business. He says, " Within a period of two years, my docket was respect- JACOB McGAW: COURTS IN HANCOCK. 343 able ■V7hen compared with the business of the most success- ful practitioners in the then very large county of Hancock, which extended to the Canada line from the sea. All the terms of the courts were held at Castine ; and the Supreme court, sitting at Castine, hfid appellate jurisdiction of all appeals from the Common Pleas of Washington County, and so continued as long as Maine was united to Massachusetts. At the first term of the Common Pleas, holden at Castine, which I attended, I was invited by a professional brother to argue a cause for him impromptu, in a matter of small amount, but in which there were some doubtful points. I accepted his proposal gratuitously, and gained a verdict. And as it was a case where the court had final jurisdiction, I supposed that the verdict ended the suit. But the oppo- site counsel, vexed and disappointed, filed a bill of excep- tions to the ruling of the court, under the statute of Eliz- abeth, and brought a writ of error to the Supreme Court. This was then an extraordinary process, and it was the first case of the kind I ever heard of." He argued the excep- tions in the Supreme Court in a manner to elicit commend- ation from the court, although the cause was decided against his client. This effort of the new lawyer in the growing county gave him a reputation which increased his business, and opened the way for more profitable engagements. He thus speaks of his progress : "In 1810 or 1811, I was appointed to attend the courtsat Machias, in Washington County, to manage some litigated causes pending there. Although the distance from Bangor, as the road was then traveled, was more than one hundred miles, yet I found compensation for the labor of the tedious journeys and attending the courts during twenty succeed- ing years. The late John Wilson of Belfast and myself were opposing counsel in most of the causes which were tried during that period in that county. 344 JACOB MCGAW : LAWYERS IN HANCOCK. " My competitors in practice, after moving to Bangor, were principally the Hon. William Crosby, until he was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Hon. John Wilson, Allen Gilman, Esq., and the Hon. William D. Williamson. After Maine became a separate State, professional business increased very much. Some of my former rivals either died or were employed in new direc- tions, and younger men, as Gov. Edward Kent, John P. Rogers, and Judges John Appleton and Jonas Cutting, took the places which had been occupied by the gentle- men before mentioned. Through many years, and until my health suffered by too much confinement and too little exer- cise, my uninterrupted employment as an advocate was not less than that of any other gentleman of the bar in the county where I resided." In 1816, on the organization of the county of Penobscot, he was appointed county attorney, an office which he held and most faithfully discharged, until the establishment of the new government in Maine, when he was succeeded by Allen Gilman. In 1834, Mr. McGaw was obliged, by the failure of his health, for the causes above indicated by him, to relax from his severe labors ; and in 1836, he relinquished his engage ments as an advocate, and for the most part his other profes sional employments, and retired to the quiet enjoyment of private and domestic life. This great change in the habits and pursuits of an active and busy career of over a third of a century did not disturb that cheerfulness and serenity of mind which had ever characterized the early and riper years of this most estimaltK; and uniformly honored man. And now, at the age of fourscore and four years, he enjoys the peaceful rewards of a well-spent life, and calmly and pa- tiently waits the inevitable summons to the higher bar. Mr. McGaw is a man of fine personal appearance, of ardent and impulsive temperament, and agreeable conversa- JACOB MCGAW : BENJAMIN ORR. 345 tional powers. As an advocate, he was, during his active practice, the leader at the bars in which he was employed, and the securing his services was considered almost as equiv- alent to success. He had great influence with the jury by his easy, pleasant manner, and the happy tact of introduc- ing anecdotes, and applying familiar incidents and facts to illustrate his argument. He retired from the bar with the honors of the profession upon him, and with the respect and affection of his professional brethren, his clients, and the community. Soon after his removal to Bangor, Mr. McGaw married Miss Poor, a daughter of Ebenezer Poor, of Andover, in Maine, and a sister of the father of John A. Poor. The latter gentleman became a partner of Mr. McGaw, and suc- ceeded to his business. Mr. McGaw has one daughter living, the wife of John B. Foster, a merchant in Bangor. BENJAMIN ORR. 1801 — 1828. A most fitting accompaniment and companion piece to the sketch of Mr. McGaw, will l)e that of his kinsman, Ben- jamin Orr. Of the same honored descent, originating in the land and under the principles of the great reformer, John Knox, their ancestors brought to this country the inflexible religious ideas and stern self-poised characters which distinguished the disciples of that rigid teacher. Their families, by inter-marriage, became more nearly allied, the aunt of Mr. Orr becoming the mother of Mr. McGaw. The parents of both transmitted to their children the firm resolution, the intellectual power, and the unbending integ- rity which they received from their own. This Scotch-Irish stock, mingling the current of its blood with that of 8axon origin, lias diifused itself over the whole country, with a 23 346 BENJAMIN ORR. vigorous growth, imparting a vital, elevating tone to the population of the land. The following extract from a jeu (Tesprit was written for the centennial celebration in Bedford, in 1850, by George Kent. Mr. Kent is a son of New Hampshire, a member of our profession, and late of Bangor, now absent on a foreign appointment. He thus speaks of the race. " A hundred years ! wLat hopes and fears Are crowded in its pages ! What scenes to thrill of good or ill, In glancing down the ages ! Than Scottish stock, not Plymouth Rock Can boast of nobler scions ; Whose mixture good, of Irish blood, Speaks true Scotch-Irish " lions." Not lions they, which, in our day, Might pass for "just the dandy ; " But stern old stuff, in aspect rough, Yet always shrewd and handy. From Ulster's coast, a valiant host. They crossed the deep blue waters, And refuge found on Yankee ground. Sires, mothers, sons, and daughters. Hither our Macs had made their tracks, Our Orrs, and Goffs, and Fattens ; Their housewives, too, of good ' true blue,' Undecked with silks or satins."' The father of the subject of this notice was John Orr, born in 1749. He was an officer in the army of tlie Revo- lution, and served as a lieutenant under General Stark at the battle of Bennington, where he was severely wounded, and rendered a cripple for life. He died at Bedford, New Hampshire, in 1823, aged seventy-four, leaving the reputa- tion of a sound and vigorous mind, and of an exemplary Christian character. He was the son of John Orr, who BENJAMIN ORR. 347 came from the north of Ireland, in 1726, to Londonderry, in New Hampshire, with a brotlier Daniel and sister Janet. He died in 1754, and his wife a week after, leaving his son John a lad of five years old. At the age of nineteen, John, the son, came to Maine with some other young men, and engaged in the occupation of a carpenter, where he remained two years, and then returned to Bedford. In two years after, he married Jane, the daughter of Benjamin Smith, and earn- estly engaged in conducting a saw and grist mill, and in improving his farm. His oldest son, Benjamin, was born in Bedford, December 1, 1772. When he arrived at years of discretion, he ex- pressed a desire to receive a liberal education ; but his father, having eight sons to provide for, was not able to comply with his wishes, and apprenticed him to a housewright. He labored in this capacity for two or three years, when he pur- chased a release from his indentures, and worked on his own account, keeping steadily in view the prominent idea of his life, — to qualify himself for a learned profession. With this intent, his head and hands were constantly busy, working at his trade, pursuing a course of study, and keeping school. Some buildings in Portland, Fryeburg, and other places, were pointed out by him, in after life, as the work, in part, of his hands, and they did him credit. He excelled no less in mechanical art in early life than he afterwards did in the higher art of the law ; and such was his genius, that, if he had not preferred the more elevated walks of a profession, he would have been no less eminent as a mechanic. By keeping steadily in view his great plan of life, his mind was constantly educating itself amidst his daily mechanical toil, by close attention and constant discipline, superior far to the mere formula and routine study of schools. When in Portland and other towns in which courts were sitting, he embraced the opportunity to spend what time he could 348 BENJAMIN ORR. spare in listening to their proceedings, hearing the arguments of counsel and the rulings of the court, and thus increasing his stores for improving the operations of his own mind. In tliesc early pursuits and struggles, he exhibited the qualities which ripened to the rich fruits of mature years, and gained him the affection and attachment of the compan- ions of his labors. In his studies he received much aid from Paul Langdon, a graduate of Harvard, and some time preceptor of Fryeburg Academy, who gave direction to his preparatory ctibrts. With such assistance, and his own "unbending perseverance, he was enabled, in 1796, to enter the junior class of Dartmouth College. During the last year of his college life, he was attacked with a severe disease, one of the consequences of his unremitted application ; which had the effect of inducing his father to procure means to assist his son, on returning health, to complete his college course, without further extraordinary exertions. Wliile in college, so earnest was Mr. Orr to get forward in life, that he entered his name in a lawyer's office, as appears by the following certificate, which we insert to show the form of that day: " State of N. H., Grafton ss. I hereby certify that the bearer, Mr. Benjamin Orr, lodged his name as a clerk in my office on the 27th day of April, 1797. That at the next term of the Court of Common Pleas in September following, he was regularly received into my office as a can- didate for thg bar, and continued therein one year, to Se|> tember, 1798, during which period he attended with diligence and constancy to the study of law, and made every profi- ciency therein which could be expected in that term. Attest, William Woodward, attorney at law, and secretary to the bar of said county." The following certificate continues the. history of his apprenticeship: " N. fl., Cheshire, ss. This certifies that Mr. Benjamin Orr, at September term of the Court of Common Ploas in 1708, was, by tlio consent of the BENJAMIN ORR. 349 bar of this county, admitted a student in the office of Sam- uel Dinsmore, Esq., of Keene. Attest, Samuel West, clerk of the bar of Cheshire County." On taking his degree in 1798, he entered the office of Samuel Dinsmore, late governor of New Hampshire, and continued there something over a year; when, thinking that Maine would be the best field for his future labors, he pro- ceeded to Hallowell, and placed himself under the tuition of the late Judge AVilde. In the autumn of 1801, he was admitted to the bar in Lincoln County, and immediately opened an office in Topsham, where Mr. Hasey was then the solitary practitioner. In 1803, he was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court, and from the position he at once took at the bar, his practice became very extensive in his own, and the adjoining county of Cumberland. Some interest- ing letters from Judge Wilde to him at this period, show a sincere attachment between these distinguished men. April 9, 1801, Judge Wilde writes, " I am happy to learn, by your favor of the 28th ult., that you are not dissatisfied with the place you have chosen for your professional exertions. The man who is accustomed to dwell with gloomy despon- dency upon the present scenes and views of life, will derive but little satisfaction from the future. However elevated his situation, however splendid his talents, he will find it diffi- cult to eradicate that canker of the mind which the restless spirit of early life had formed, and which had been nour- ished by the habits of succeeding years. The high objects of honorable enterprise are not obtained by brooding over the present evils of life with a morose and gloomy mind, but by activity, industry, and energy, which will not be exerted when surrounded by the horrors of disappointment and discontent." In the same letter he confided his busi- ness to him. " As my attendance in this county will be indispensable, I must be indebted to the candor of my breth- 350 BENJAMIN ORR : JUDGE WILDE. reii in the disposal of my actions in Lincoln. I shall beg the fiivor of you to take a list of my actions, and to which, if you have no objections, you will have the goodness to attend." " If I shall have it in my power to be of any serv- ice to you, either professionally or otherwise, I shall be happy in the occasion, as it will evince the sentiments of esteem with which I am, my dear sir, your obedient friend and servant." In November, 1801, " The only objection that I can see to your coming to our December term is busi- ness, which is not to be neglected. I am rejoiced that you receive so large a share of it, as I have your interest and prosperity very much at heart." In December, 1802, he writes, " I hardly know what to say to you on the subject of separation. I have always been friendly to the measure, but I very much doubt if the present time be the most favor- able for bringing it into view." He then states some objec- tions to the measure, among which was the seditious spirit which was prev^ailing among the squatters in Kennebec and Lincoln Counties. He adds, "' Upon the whole I see diffi- culties in the way, which, I think, cannot be removed ; and I think, with great deference to the better judgment of many of my friends, that it would be better to wait for a more favorable opportunity." He closes the same letter with the following remarks : " Mrs. Dutton, the mother of our friend, lately died on her passage from this place to Penobscot, under circumstances peculiarly distressing to her friends. Poor Dutton writes in great distress on the occasion. I most sin- cerely sympathize with him. Mrs. Samuel Howard is like- wise almost the same as dead — there is hardly a forlorn hope left. Thus death plays the tyrant about us. We must all soon feel that his power is not to be resisted by force, or softened by entreaties. While we remain, however, let us ' act well our parts,' in doing which I shall always remain, I trust, most sincerely your friend." BENJAMIN ORR. 351 Mr. Orr's first appearance in the reports is in the second volume of Grecnlcaf, in a case argued by him on a bill of ex- ceptions to the ruling of Judge Tiiacher at nisiprius against him, in which he gained his case ; Lee and Mellen on the oth- er side ; Parsons, chief justice, delivering a learned opinion. From that time onward, to his death in 1828, he had continual employment in the best causes argued in the State ; attend- ing the circuit of the Supreme Court in the several coun- ties. Here he came in competition Avith lawyers and advo- cates of the highest powers in Maine : Mellen, Wilde, Whit- man, Longfellow, Lee, Boutelle, Emery, McGaw, Wilson, Crosby, Greenleaf, and Fessenden. On one occasion, he encountered the able and distinguished Jeremiah Mason of New Hampshire, in a bill in equity before the Circuit Court of the United States. The case was of great importance, as may be supposed by the engagement of such an advocate as Mason. " His success was complete and triumphant," and he was highly complimented by Mr. Mason for the man- ner and ability with which he conducted the cause. In chancery practice, which came in principally with the intro- duction of the Circuit Court into this State, in 1820, favored by Judge Story, Mr. Orr became quite eminent. This prac- tice was not familiar to our lawyers, who joined, on that account, probably, in the general prejudice against equity jurisdiction. They had, no doubt, the opinion which Selden expressed many years ago, when he said, " For law we have a measure, and know what to trust to ; equitij is according to the conscience of him that is chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is equity. 'Tiaall one as if they should make the standard for the measure a chancellor's foot. Wliat an uncertain measure would this be ! One chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, a third an indifferent foot. It is the same thing with the chancellor's con- science." 352 BENJAMIN ORR, 111 this department, Mr. Orr is said to have been without a rival in the State, and was consequently much employed in causes arising under it. He pursued his large and suc- cessful practice without interruption by extraneous employ- ments, except for two years from 1817, when he represented the Lincoln District in Congress. His heart was in his pro- fession. He sought it for the love he bore it, and he ren- dered to it a most devoted affection, and the honor of a most upright and chivalrous service. Although a firm and conscientious member of the Federal party, he had no taste for political life : he did not like the paths that led to it — they were winding and crooked and narrow. He, however, yielded his private inclinations, and was elected to the Fif- teenth Congress, being the first of Mr. Monroe's administra- tion, and took his seat December 1, 1817. During the first session, he did not much engage in debate : some running observations, taken from his familiar correspondence, will convey the impressions which these new scenes made upon him. December 15, 1817, he writes, " Debates begin to grow lively, and some good things are said. For my own part, my propensity is very strong to be silent." December 17, he says, " The oratory of the western mountains and wilderness is as vociferous as themselves, full of foam and rhetorical flourishes. But amidst these, there is occasional relief from the well-timed and judicious observations of men of thought and weight of character." " Mr. Speaker Clay, I feel well satisfied, has no cordiality for the administration. He does not appear to wish to hide his feelings." Decem- ber 30, " I do not as yet feel any inclination to enter the list of debaters, and am very much amused to see so many around me set up for orators." It was at this session that a change was made in the compensation of members, from six dollars to eiglit dollars a day, and excited a good deal of controversy and debate. Mr. Orr touches the point of the BENJAMIN ORR. 353 subject in a few words. He says, January 8, 1818, " On the business of compensation, there has been some little stir among us, and it is truly amusing to see men ivrig-g-ling- between ambition and avarice. Many who would do every thing but cheat in such manner as to become legally crim- inal, are extremely anxious to have their votes for cheapness recorded, so that the people who chose them may see and approve. The Speaker, Clay, appointed a committee of seven to prepare a law on the sul)ject, and put Holmes at the head of it. When they retired to consult upon the busi- ness, they were all very ready to give their opinions except Holmes : he said he was not under any obligation to give an opinion, and did not. Tiie rest of the committee agreed to report a bill for nine dollars, which was afterwards, in the house, reduced to eight." Mr. Holmes, on the passage of the bill, uniformly voted against increasing the compen- sation. The claim of Massachusetts for a remuneration of her war expenses was another question which engrossed the attention particularly of members from Massachusetts and Maine. In regard to this, Mr. Orr writes, January 25, 1818, " The question of the Massachusetts claim worries my mind a good deal. Every one who knows me will expect me to advocate that claim in Congress, in some measure suitable to its merits. I feel entirely incompetent to the task ; yet, I suppose, with my colleagues, I must attempt it. Tiierc is more than eight hundred thousand dollars depend- ing, and pretty strong ])rejudices existing against the allow- ance of it." The ■^^ V STEPHEN LONGFELLOW. 361 grandfather, the finst immigrant to Maine, graduated at Har- vard College in 1742, and came to Foriland, then Falmouth, as the Grammar School Master, in 1745. He filled many offices of honor and trust, and exercised an important influ- ence in the affairs of the town and county. lie was fifteen years Grammar School Master ; twenty-tliree years Parish Clerk ; twenty-two years Town Clerk ; and fifteen years Reg- ister of Probate and Clerk of the Judicial Courts ; several of which offices he held at the same time. His son Stephen held the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and died much respected, in 1824, at the age of seventy-four. The grandfather died in 1790. The subject of our notice entered Harvard College in 1794, at the age of eighteen, and at once took an honorable position with the government and his college companions, by the frankness of his manners, and his uniformly correct deportment. His scholarship is attested by his election to the Phi Beta Kappa society. I have the privilege of offer- lug the satisfactory testimony of his associates concerning tills period of his life. His classmate, Humphrey Dever- cux, now living at Salem, in a letter, says of him, " On entering college, Longfellow was in advance in years of many of us, and his mind and judgment, of course, more matured. He had a well-balanced mind, no part so prom- inent as to overshadow the rest. It was not rapid in its movements, nor brilliant in its course, but its conclusions were sound and correct. He was inclined to think, com- pare, and weigh closely : he did not soar into the regions of fancy and abstraction, but kept on the terra fir ma of prac- tical common sense. In his habits, he was studious and exemplary, free from every contaminating influence. In a class which had its full share of talent and scholarship, he held a very reputable rank among its high divisions, and shared its honors in the assignment of the college govern- 24 362 STEPHEN LONGFELLOW. ment, and in the estimation of his classmates. In his tem- perament, he was bright and cheerful, and engaged freely in the social pleasures of friendly meetings and literary associations. His manners then, as in later life, were cour- teous, polished, and simple ; springing from a native polite- ness, or a generous, manly feeling. He was born a gentle- man, and was a general favorite of his class." The venerable Daniel Appleton White, of Salem, two years his senior in college, lately deceased, writes, " Mr. Longfel- low was a general favorite with his classmates. The Rev. Dr. Channing used to speak in high terms of his excellent classmate : he said to me in one of his eulogiums, that he possessed great energy of character." He again says, "' I never knew a man more free from everything offensive to good taste or good feeling ; even to his dress and personal appearance, all about him was attractive. In his deport- ment and manners, he was uniformly courteous and amiable. He was evidently a well-bred gentleman when he left tlie paternal mansion for the university. He seemed to breathe an atmosphere of purity, as his natural element, while his bright intelligence, buoyant spirits, and social warmth dif- fused a sunshine of joy that made his presence always glad- some." These high tributes to the youthful character of Mr. Long- fellow were fully sustained in his riper years. He grad- uated in the class of Dr. Channing, Judge Story, Professor Sidney Willard, Dr. Tuckerman, and other distinguished scholars, of whom but three in a class of forty-eight, now remain. On leaving college, he immediately entered on the study of law with Salmon Chase of Portland, who was then engaged in the most extensive practice of any lawyer at the Cumber- land Bar ; and was admitted to practice in 1801. He estab- lished himself at Portland, where the held was already STEPHEN LONGFELLOW. 363 occupied by seven lawyers in a population of thirty-eight hundred. These prior occupants of this held were John Frothingham, who commenced practice there in 1778, and was for a while the only lawyer in the county ; Daniel Davis, a polished gentleman and popular advocate ; William Symmes, a good scholar and lawyer, but of very formal manners ; Isaac Parker, afterwards Chief Justice of Massa- chusetts — all these were from the old Bay State ; Salmon Chase and George E. Vaughan, from New Hampshire ; and James D. Hopkins, a native of England, but whose parents immigrated to Portland soon after the peace of 1788. There were but two other members belonging to the Cumberland Bar at that time, who were Ezekiel Whitman, then practic- ing at New Gloucester ; and Peter 0. Alden, at Brunswick. Of these, not one survives but the venerable Judge Whit- man, who was born in the same month and year with Mr. Longfellow, and is now enjoying, in his native town, East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, a serene old age, the ripe fruit of temperance, self-control, and a virtuous life. The county then contained a population of about thirty-two thousand. Notwithstanding this array of able counsellors, Mr. Long- fellow, fearless of the competition, earnestly engaged in the struggle which such a rivalship exacted. The forensic efforts and encounters were conducted with more regard to court- esy and the dignity of the bar at that period than at the present time. The members of the bar, and the judges on the bench, carried into their ofiicial deportment, the dignified and somewhat formal manners of the old school. Levity or vulgarity could not exist in the presence of that person- ification of dignity, the learned Chief Justice Dana ; nor would rudeness or degrading personalities be tolerated by his more learned but less j)olishcd successor, Chief Justice Parsons, and his associates, the pure-minded Sewall and the stern and reserved Sedgwick. 364 STEPHEN LONGFELLOW. Parker, Davis, Chase, and AVhitmau coulJ not do other- wise than welcome to their association a brother, kindred to them in all elevated qualities. Mr. Longfellow soon secured a successful and honorable practice, and took a command- ing position at the bar, by the urbanity of his conduct, his legal ability, and the integrity of his principles. One of his contemporaries at the bar recently said to me, "Longfellow had a line legal mind, he was industrious, attentive, courte- ous, and got into business at once. His first address to the jury was plausible and ingenious, and almost as good as any one he afterwards made." On the death of Chase and Symmes, and the removal of Judge Parker to Boston, all which occurred in 180G and early in 1807, he became one of the leaders in the practice, which, as he advanced, con- tinually increased, until its accumulated weight bore too heavily upon his over-taxed powers ; and he was admonished by a fearful attack of epilepsy, to withdraw for a while from the excitements of business and its overwhelming cares. He gradually, although most reluctantly, quitted a field which had been to him a source of happiness and fame, and on which he had conferred dignity and honor. No man more surely gained the confidence of all who approached him, or held it firmer ; and those who knew him best, loved him most. In the management of his causes, he went with zeal and directness of purpose to every point which could sustain it : there was no traveling out of the record with him, nor a wandering away from the line of his argument after figures of speech or fine rhetoric, but he was plain, straight-forward, and effective in his appeals to the jury, and 1?y his frank and candid manner won them to his cause. And I may truly ofi"er him as an illustration of Ful- ler's " good advocate," whom he thus describes, " He makes not a Trojan siege of a suit, but seeks to bring it to a set Imttle in a speedy trial. In pleading, he shoots fairly at the STEPHEN LONGFELLOW. 365 head of the cause, and having fastened, no frowns nor favors shall make him let go his hold." But with all this, although firm and unyielding when he believed himself to be right, he never forgot the duties of a gentleman and a Christian, nor lost his suavity of manners in the ardor and bravery of action. ■ A man of such estimable qualities was not permitted to give his whole time to his profession : the people demanded the exercise of his eminent ability and practical talent for their service ; and in 1814, a year of great excitement and danger to the republic from war with England, — a large fleet hanging upon our coast, and a well-disciplined army menacing our northern frontier, — he was sent to the Legis- lature of Massachusetts, and while there he was chosen a member of the celebrated Hartford Convention, in company with Judge Wilde from this State, George Cabot, Harrison Gray Otis, and other distinguished Federalists from Massa- chusetts and the other New England States. In 1816, he was chosen an elector of President, and with Prentiss Mel- len, and the other electors of Massachusetts, threw his vote for the eminent statesman, Rufus King, a native of Maine. Mr. Monroe, the candidate of the Democratic party, was elected for this, his first term, by a majority of one hundred and nine votes ; for his second term, from 1817 to 1821, he received every electoral vote but one, which was thrown for JohnQuincy Adams, by Gov. Plumer of New Hampshire. This was the era of good feeling ; or, as John Randolph called it, the " era of indifference." Political harmony pre- vailed, such as had not existed since the days of Washing- ton : the old Federal party, which had embraced many of the wisest and best men of the country, Avhose names are now canonized, then ceased to exist ; all parties united to render a sincere and hearty support to the federal constitu- tion, opposition to which, in the early days of the govern- ment, had created the anti-federal party. 36(3 STEPHEN LONGFELLOW. Ill 1822, Mr. Longfellow was chosen to the Eighteenth Congress, the closing two years of Mr. Monroe's second administration, where he was associated with Lincoln of Maine, Webster of Massachusetts, Buchanan of Pennsylva- nia, Clay of Kentncky, Barbour and Randolph of Virginia, McLane of Delaware, Forsyth of Georgia, Houston of Ten- nessee, Livingston of Louisiana. Henry Clay was Speaker of the House, and John Chandler and John Holmes were Senators from Maine. Having served out his term faithful- ly and well, and by his voice and vote resisted the general and profuse expenditure of public money for indiscriminate internal improvements, he took leave of political life, which had no charm for him. The remainder of his years, so far as his health permitted, he gave to his profession. How well he served it, the first sixteen volumes of the Massachusetts Reports, and the first twelve of the Maine Reports, extend- ing through a period of more than thirty years, bear ample testimony : they exhibit his ability as a learned jurist, and his skill as an ingenious dialectician. In 1828, he received from Bowdoin College the honorable and merited distinction of Doctor of Laws. He was one of the trustees of that institution from 1817 to 1836. In 1826, he represented Portland in the Legislature, with Isaac Adams and Gen. Fessenden. In 1834, he was President of the Maine Histor- ical Society, having previously held the office of Recording Secretary. He died August 3, 1849, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. In his domestic life, Mr. Longfellow was as exemplary as he was able in public and professional relations. In Jan- uary, 1804, he married Zilpah, daughter of General Peleg Wadsworth of Portland, with whom he lived in uninter- rupted happiness for more than forty-five years. She was a woman of fine manners, and of great moral worth. By her he had eight children, — four sons and four daughters. The STEPHEN LONGFELLOW. 367 sons are destined to transmit the name with new luster to posterity, in lines divergent from the parental profession, — poetry, divinity, and science. The elder surviving son, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, by his sweet and eloquent verse, has not only made his name vocal throughout his own land, but has found genial echoes on the otlier shores of the ocean, and his numbers will be repeated in distant lands and times, like the songs of the bards that have floated down to us through the centuries, which have preserved naught else. In all the relations of private and public life, Mr. Long- fellow was a model man ; kind and affectionate in his fam- ily, prompt and efficient in business, courteous uniformly, ready with money or service, whenever properly required, and filling large places in benevolent and religious institu- tions. His death was deeply mourned, and tlie people grieved most of all that they should see his face no more. A life so adorned could not have been withdrawn from its sphere of usefulness without making a palpable void ; and I only express the universal sentiment that was felt at his departure, that an able, upright, and Christian gentleman had gone : one to whom may be applied language iised in regard to an eminent English lawyer, " that he cast honor upon his honorable profession, and sought dignity, not from the ermine or the mace, but from a straight path and a spot- less life." The Bar, at a very full meeting, took an honorable and appropriate notice of the death of their deceased brother. Professor Greenleaf, the particular friend and admirer of Mr. Longfellow, and who for many years practiced with him at the Cumberland Bar, in reply to a letter from another friend, inviting him to attend the meeting, said, " Dear Brother Daveis : Many thanks for your kind letter and kind remembrance. It warms and cheers me. I am strongly 368 STEPHEN LONGFELLOW: WILLIAM LAMBERT. tempted to go down to the Supreme Court in November, especially as the meeting you anticipate will draw out the qiicc extant of the Cumberland Bar, as it was in our youth. We shall see Whitman and Potter, possibly South- gate ; but where are Orr, and Mcllcn,and Hopkins, and the rest of that day, and now at last, Longfellow ? It will be a scene of lights and shadows." Professor Willard, in his " Memoirs of Youth and Man- hood," in speaking of his classmate, Longfellow, thus remarks : " He was a young man of remarkable maturity of judgment, and of quiet, afiablc, and gentlemanly man- ners and demeanor, from his first entrance within the col- lege walls to his exit. His kindness and courtesy were so unostentatious and sincere that they seemed to be innate. So early was his ability as a counsellor and advocate of his younger fellow-students, perceived by them and confided in, that in cases of doubt or difTiculty in matters of conduct, his advice was often sought and followed. During his long career of professional service in Portland, he was distinguished and respected no less for the excellence of his social character, and for his judgment in matters of municipal and civil concerns, than for his talents and integrity in the business affairs of his chosen vocation, as a counselor at law. It may truly be said of the conduct of his life, " His own example sanctioned all his laws." Before the meeting of his class at the expiration of the half cen- tury from the year they graduated, his constitution had become greatly impaired, and his consc(iuent absence was deeply regretted." WILLIAM LAJ\IBERT. 1801 — 1824. The same year were admitted to the bar in York County, William Lambert and Benjamin Greene, who both studied with Dudley Hubbard, and settled in South Berwick by the WILLIAM LAMBERT : BENJAMIN GREENE. 369 side of their teacher. Mr. Lambert was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, July 22, 1778. Having been fitted fur college at the celebrated Dummer Academy, he entered Dartmoutli College, from which he took his degree in 1798, a classmate of Mr. Orr, of whom we have spoken in preceding pages. Mr. Lambert, deciding on the practice of law as his profes- sion, was attracted to the office of Mr. Hubbard in Berwick, whose reputation as an advocate was widely spread. Having passed through the regular course of study, he was duly ad- mitted to the bar, and opened an office in South Berwick. Mr. Lambert confined himself principally to office business, and rarely appeared as an advocate. His business was of a profitable character, and was promptly attended to by him and to the satisfaction of his clients. He was a man of quiet habits, of good personal appearance, and a worthy citizen of the town. He died December 11, 1824, aged forty-six. He was twice married, first to Rhoda Hastings of St. Jolmsbury, Vermont ; second, to Abigail, daughter of Eben- ezer Rickcr of Somcrsworth, New Hampshire. He left two children, a son and a daughter : the son is the Rev. Thomas Ricker Lambert, Rector of the Episcopal church in Charles- town, Massachusetts ; the daughter is the wife of the Hon. John P. Hale, Senator in Congress from New Hampshire. Mr. Lambert's son, the Rev. Thomas Ricker Lambert, prepared himself for the profession of law, and was, for a time, in the oflicc of Judge Emery in Portland. But a change coming over his views of life, he devoted himself to Christ and the church- He received from Brown University the honorary degree of A. M. in 1845. BENJAMIN GREENE. 1801 — 1837. Benjamin Greene was the second son and fourth child of Benjamin Grocnc and Martha Brown of Wultham, Massa- 370 BENJAMIN GREENE. clmsetts, and was born in that place May 5, 1764. He grad- uated at Harvard College in the class of 1784, which con- tained the honored names of Professor Abbott of Bowdoin College, Silas Lee, Chief Justice Mellen, Benjamin Pickman of Salem, and President Webber of Harvard College. He studied divinity, and was settled in Medway, Massachusetts, in the ministry, June, 1788. He was dismissed from the pastoral office in 1793, and went to Marblehead, where ho remained a few years engaged in teaching. In 1797, he was invited to take charge of the Berwick Academy : accepting this proposal, he moved to that place, and entered upon the course of instruction in that seminary. While pursuing the duties of Preceptor, he had his name entered in the office of Dudley Hubbard as a student at law. In 1801, he closed his vocation as an instructor of youth, was admitted to the bar, and entered at once, full fledged for law and politics on a hearty pursuit of both. Mr. Greene commenced practice with great advantages ; he had a mature, well-cultivated mind ; he had large knowl- edge of the world, and varied experience ; he had a good voice, easy manners, was a fluent speaker, and had abundant confidence in himself. He therefore moved forward with considerable rapidity ; he took an active part in the various interests of the town, parochial and educational, in which his experience gave wisdom to his counsels. In 1809, he was elected a representative to the General Court, and was re- elected in 1810, 1811, 1813, 1815, 1816, 1817, and 1819 : he was a member of the convention of 1819 which formed the Constitution of Maine, took an active part in the debates of that learned body, and was one of the committee to make application to Congress for the admission of the State into the Union. While a member of tlie Legislature in 1811, in the admin- istration of Governor Gerry, the old Court oi Common Pleas, BENJAMIN GREENE. 371 which had existed from the days of the charter, was abol- ished, and a new system was established called the " Circuit Courts of Common Pleas," by which the Commonwealth and Maine were divided into circuits, in each of which a chief justice and two associates were appointed. Maine was divided into three circuits, " the first Eastern Circuit," em- braced the counties of York, Cumberland, and Oxford ; over this branch Mr. Greene was appointed chief justice, and Judah Dana and William Widgery, associates. Judge Greene entered with vigor and vivacity upon this new sphere of action, and discharged its duties with great promptness and fidelity. He magnified his office, and upheld the dignity of the bench with scrupulous exactness ; was somewhat formal and precise in his manner, not to say, pompous, and although not a very learned judge, he conducted the business of the court with urbanity, impartiality, and integ- rity. He held the office until the establishment of the new Court of Common Pleas, which took place under the act of Maine, passed February 4, 1822. He had been, for several years before this appointment, a special justice of the old court of Common Pleas for sessions business, and held the office of county attorney. In 1824, Judge Greene was again called to represent his town in the Legislature, and was chosen Speaker of the House. In September of the same year, he was appointed by President Adams, Marshal of Maine, as successor to Thomas G. Thornton of Saco, who had held the office from 1803. This was his last public service, which, ending in 1830, he moved to Athens, in Maine, where his son. Dr. Benjamin F. Greene, then re- sided, and passed the remainder of his life in a peaceful re- tirement, to its close, October 15, 1837, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. His wife had died in 1830. Judge Greene was short in stature, and of a full figure ; his features were large, and his complexion dark. He was 372 BENJAMIN GREENE : WILLIAM ABBOT. an easy and rather graceful speaker, used good language and had a powerful voice ; his manner was inflated, and his ges- ticulation somewhat overdone. But he was, in general, popular as a speaker, and did not avoid occasions for display. He was not a profound lawyer, but presided very well in a court which was not called upon to pronounce final de- cisions. Judge Greene married Lydia Clark, daughter of the Rev. Jonas Clark of Lexington, Massachusetts, the worthy min- ister of that town for half a century, through the trying conflicts of the Revolution, who died in 1805. His daugh- ter Lydia was born there in 17G8. By her Judge Greene left five sons ; he had no daughters. His oldest son, Benjamin Franklin, a physician, who resided at Athens, now at Park- man ; and Frederick, a lawyer at Saco, — only survive. His son Charles, born at Marblehead, Feb. 21, 1796, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1811, a classmate of Judge Sliep- ley, Judge Parker of the Cambridge Law School, and other prominent men, was a successful lawyer, first in South Ber- wick and then at Athens, Maine ; was a senator in the Leg- islature in 1835 ; councillor in 1836, and several years judge of Probate for Somerset County. He married Sarah Saw- telle of Norridgewock, by whom he had several children. He died August 24, 1852. Another son, Henry Bowen Clark, was a distinguised physician in Boston, where he died in 18-48. His other son, Bowen Clark, was a lawyer in Saco. WILLIAM ABBOT. 1801 — 184 'J. For the following interesting sketch, I am indebted mainly to the hand of a relative and friend of the sul)ject. It was my good fortune to know Mr. Abbot with consider- able intimacy, and I take much pleasure in adding my tes- timony to this just and beautiful tribute to his memory. WILLIAM ABBOT. 373 William Abbot was born at "Wilton, Hillsboro' County, New Hampshire, November 15, 1773. His father, William Abbot, was a native of Andover, Massachusetts, where he married Phebe, daughter of Timothy Ballard, also of Ando- ver, who was the mother of the subject of this notice. Mr. Abbot, the father, moved, early in life, from Andover, the place of his nativity, to Wilton, where he settled as a farmer, and where he died, in 1793, in the full vigor of his powers, at the age of forty-six years, having the iinqualilied respect of his fellow-citizens. He was a member of the State Con- vention of New Hampshire, which, in 1788, adopted the constitution of the United States. He was a descendant in the fifth degree from the American ancestor of the family, George Abbot, who, in 1644, emigrated from Yorkshire in England, and Avas one of the first settlers of Andover. The farm originally taken up by him remains in the Abbot fam- ily to the present time. Young Abbot passed his early years upon the paternal farm in "Wilton ; and there he probably acquired the love for horticulture which he carried with him through life. He began preparation for college in his native town, in 1790, in the town school, under the care of Jonathan Fisher, then an undergraduate of Harvard College, and subsequently settled in the ministry at Bluehill, Maine. After due prep- aration, he entered Harvard College, where he ever main- tained a high character for industry and moral worth. He was graduated at the Commencement in 1797, delivering a poem on th-c occasion on his favorite subject, " Music." Among his classmates who subsequently arose to eminence, were the late Dr. John C. Warren, and the Hon. Horace Binney of Philadelphia, who was Mr. Abbot's room-mate. With both of these gentlemen, he maintained relations of intimate friendship to the close of his life. Mr. Abbot had a fine natural taste for music, and in his 374 WILLIAM ABBOT. early years he taught vocal music in Connecticut and Mas- sachusetts. On leaving college, he commenced the study of law with William Gordon of Amherst, New Hampshire, an eminent lawyer, and a graduate of Harvard, in 1779. Having completed a full course of professional study, in 1800, he was admitted to the bar. He removed from his native State to the then District of Maine, in 1801, and com- menced the practice of law at Castine, in Hancock County, ■where he remained for nearly thirty years, assiduously en- gaged in the practice of his profession. In May, 1802, Mr. Abbot married Rebecca, daughter of Dr. Israel and Rebecca (Stevens) Atherton ; he was a distinguished physician, resid- ing in Lancaster, Massachusetts. In a brief biographical sketch, by Hon. Jacob McGaw, a distinguished member of the Penobscot Bar, in reference to Mr. Abbot's professional life at Castine, he says, " His entire devotion to all the proprieties of life, and his constant attendance at his place of business, did not pass unobserved by the merchants and other energetic men, among whom he had come to live. All of his surroundings indicated that he was worthy of the confidence of a virtuous people. His sub- sequent life supplied complete confirmation of the correct- ness of its foreshadowings." Mr. Abbot enjoyed the confidence of the people among whom he had taken up his residence, not only in their busi- ness relations, but also as a public agent. He held the office of Register of Probate eighteen years from 1803, until the separation. In 1816, he was appointed one of the electors of President and Vice President, on the ticket with Cliris- topher Gore, Prentiss Melleii, Israel Thorndike, William Phillips, and others : the vote of the college was given entire to Rufus King, who received but thirty-four out of the two hundred and seventeen votes cast. In 181C, he was chosen a member of the Brunswick Convention. His town, Cas- WILLIAM ABBOT. 375 tine, was strongly opposed to separation, having given seven votes in favor to sixty-five against the measure : he, of course, represented the sentiment of his people, and de- nounced the action of that body. In 1819, he was a member of the convention which met at Portland and framed tlie constitution under which we live, and was on the committee to select the baptismal name of the new State. He was a representative in the first Legislature of the State, and in those of 1823, 1826, and 1827, in all of which he was an industrious, useful, and intelligent member, watching carefully, as it was our fortune to know, with deep interest all that related to the honor and welfare of the new republic. " In 1829, Mr. Abbot removed to Bangor, where he soon established for himself the substantial and dignified reputa- tion he had previously earned, and worthily worn in the county of his former labors." Here the popular confidence in him was soon manifested by his election to places of pub- lic trust. He was, for a considerable time, a member of the Board of Selectmen of the town before its adoption of a city government ; and chairman of the board when that change was made. He was chairman of the committee chosen to draw up a charter for the prospective city, and the charter adopted was almost wholly his work. He had been a mem- ber of the superintending school committee of the town of Bangor, and after the adoption of the city charter, he was chairman of the board some twelve years. In connection with his official labors in this department, the sketch before quoted from, continues, " Under his fostering care, a system and grade of schools, teachers, and tasteful structures, which it is believed has no superiors in the State, was developed and completed. A beautiful plat, containing about three acres, was purchased by the city, stocked with handsome shade trees, and ornamented with pleasant gravel walks. 376 WILLIAM ABBOT. Then, by a vote of the city council, it received the honored and merited appellation of ' Abbot Square.' The plat is set apart for the exclusive use of schools, with suitable play grounds for the children. Confidence in this estimable man was further manifested by his being elected to the onicc of mayor of the city in the year 1848. Again, in the succeed- ing year, he was elected with great unanimity to the same office. But he soon finished the work that had been assigned him on earth. In August of this year he died, and was deeply mourned." The intellect of Mr. Abbot was clear, strong, and dis- criminating, rather than brilliant, imaginative, and original. It was well-balanced and logical ; its pre-eminent charac- teristic was practical common sense, constituting the pos- sessor of it a man of sound, reliable judgment. As an advocate and a public speaker, he was not an eloquent man, in the popular sense of that word. His eloquence consisted in his earnestness, his sincerity, his deep conviction. But he possessed great influence with juries, whose reason and sense of moral right he addressed, rather than their feelings or their prejudices. He never allowed the advocate's desire of success to obscure or prevail over the moral convictions of the man ; and therefore, when he expressed an opinion, unqualifiedly, to the jury, they knew it to be the sincere conviction of the man, not the partial view of the advo- cate. He was regarded by his legal brethren and compeers as a sound lawyer, thoroughly read in his profession, learned, astute, and able, and was greatly respected by them. In his opinions and in his character, Mr. Abbot, both by nature and by haljit, was consenative. Yet a rational, not a })lind conservatism — one which not only receives, but demands progress ; a conservatism which will not accept all change as progress, nor all destruction as improvement ; but a conservatism which, while putting forth its aspirations WILLIAM ABBOT. 377 and its efforts for the higher and the better, still labors to " prove all things," and to " hold fast that which is good." In politics, Mr. Al)bot was a disciple of Washington, Hamilton, Jay, and Ames, — a worthy and consistent mem- ber of the old Federal party, the principles and measures of which had been inaugurated, developed, sustained, and adorned by the efforts and toils of those illustrious patriots. Of this party he continued to be a member so long as it existed as a distinct organization. In the latter years of his life, he was a member of the Whig party. In his religious views, from examination and conviction, he was a firm and decided Unitarian Christian of the school of Noah Worcester, Channing, and the Wares. In the form- ation of his opinions, he was independent. Eminent names had but little influence over him. Upon all subjects which he regarded as important, he formed his opinions slowly and with much caution. And when, after thorough and patient examination, he had come to adopt an opinion through con- viction of its truth, he held it persistently. Yet he was not a bigot, but he was always ready to receive and honestly weigh new evidence, to accept new light upon every subject. Firmly as he held his own views, he was always tolerant, liberal, and courteous to those from whom he differed. The universal respect awarded to Mr. Abbot, and the con- fidence and trust reposed in him by those who differed most widely from him upon political, theological, and other sub- jects, bear unquestioned testimony to his sound judgment, and not less to his disinterestedness, his integrity, his sincer- ity, and his conscientiousness. Throughout his whole life, from childhood to old age, he maintained a pure and well- balanced character. He was singularly unselfish, liberal, and public-spirited. With a native delicacy of feeling, and reserve amounting almost to diflidence, he was liable to be regarded as unsympathetic and cold. Yet those who were 25 378 WILLIAM ABBOT. acquainted with liim in his family relations, and in the inti- macies of private friendship, knew how (|uick and broad were his sympathies, and how strong and enduring were his attachments. In person, Mr. Abbot was fully six feet in height, of rather spare form, but of remarkable muscular power. The nat- ural expression of his countenance when in repose was dig- nified and grave ; but when moved by the gentle emotions, its expression became amiable and beneficent, with a pecu- liarly winning sweetness. *•' He is a good man," was the earnest c vclamation of a child who had received one of his pleasant smiles ; and when excited by quiet humor, of which he had a keen appreciation, it lighted up with mirthful animatioii. Upon the Sunday after his interment, a just and discrim- inative discourse upon his character was preached by Dr. F. H. Hedge, then in charge of the Unitarian Society in Ban- gor. An extract from that discourse will conclude this notice. " As a public functionary, Mr. Abbot was distinguished by entire devotion to the trust assigned him, by a wise regard to the public good, and a conscientious discharge of the duties he assumed. It is not, however, as a public officer, whatever the ability, his knowledge or his zeal, that we love best to remember him, but as a private citizen — as a man. His character was remarkable for its harmony ; a character in which no passion or sentiment was unduly prominent, but all combined in just proportion, each in its order, each within bounds, each subservient to all the rest, and all sub- jected to the moral sense which reigned supreme in his heart and life. Characters so constkuted are not apt to become famous, unless placed by accident in a commanding position ; but place them where you will, they act with beneficent effect on the sphere in which they move ; they WILLIAM ABBOT. 379 are the strength and marrow of the state. It is the prom- inence of some one quality that makes the great man ; it is the balance of all the (qualities proper to humanity that makes the useful man. Mr. Abbot was not ambitious; he sought no distinction, he sought no office. In these days of selfish competition, when the spoils of party and the lust of place are tempting so many from the paths of useful industry, and making pol- itics a scramble for prizes and a name for intrigue, he was content to labor from year to year, with no other emolument than the slow returns and ordinary gains of his profession ; and while in politics he took a decided stand, he did it from conviction, and not from calculation ; and asked nothing from government, but to leave him undisturbed in the peaceful pursuit of his calling. He coveted no man's goods, he asked no man's vote, he sacrificed nothing to popularity, nothing to the fear or favor of men. Whatever of popular- ity he enjoyed, was unbought and unsought. Too proud to beg, too honest to intrigue, too meek to claim, he lived by labor, and continued to labor at threescore years and ten, as he had labored at two-score, and " honest poverty " pre- ferred to " gainful perjury." A conscientious man, quick to perceive, and strict to interpret, the claims of duty ; a man whose chief aim and constant study it was to do right and to render unto all their dues. If I should say that he was an honest man, I should do imperfect justice to my concep- tion of his character in this regard. Let me rather say, a man in whom honesty was incarnate ; whom no conceival)le bribe could have tempted to swerve from the strict integrity of his life ; with whose character aught of meanness or obliquity refused even in imagination to combine. Honor and probity composed the aroma of his name. Mr. Abbot was a religious man, a Christian by confession and by practice ; uniting the performance of Christian ordi- 880 WILLIAM abbot: WILLIAM CROSBY. nances, and exhibiting the best fruits of the Christian spirit in his character and hfe. While, for his own part, he em- braced, with his whole soul, that form of doctrine which is commonly called Unitarian, he was tolerant of all opinions, honestly formed and sincerely held, and sought the proofs of the Christian character, not in the creed but in the life. It is no small praise to say of any man, what in strictest truth may be said of him, that he was blameless, and led from the first commencement of his active existence until its close, a blameless life. To be possessed of some one distinguished virtue is less infrequent than to be without reproach. He was one to whom no scandal or breath of suspicion could ever attach, — whose pure fame no obloquy ever dared to assail, — whom to know was to respect, whom to name was to praise." WILLIAM CROSBY. 180 2 — 1830. We cannot better follow our notice of Mr. Abbot than by introducing here a brief biography of one of his contempo- raries of the same admirable qualities which Ave have shown that he possessed. Judge Crosby was his contemporary in college and at the bar. They were of strong kindred sym- pathies in religion and politics, and were guided in all their conduct by the same sterling principles in morals. Judge Crosby's earliest American ancestor was Simon of Cambridge, who came over in the Susan and Ellen in 1635, at the age of twenty-six, with Ann, his wife, and son Thomas, but eight weeks old. His son Simon, born in 1G37, moved to Billerica, Massachusetts, and was the head of that branch of the family. Thomas, the eldest son of the first Simon, born in England, was the head of the Cape Cod family ; and Joseph, born in 1G39, was head of the Braintrce stock, WILLIAM CROSBY. 381 the ancestor, as Gov. Crosby informs me, of the Major Crosby, an acting justice of Billcrica, in whose court tlie elder President Adams first fleshed his maiden sword ; and also of the several Professors Crosby, of considerable liter- ary fame. The Governor adds, " I have heard my father remark that if any of his descendants ever attained to any eminence, it would be through their own merits, not those of their ancestors ; for that the highest position in church or state ever occupied by any of his ancestors, was that of first selectman, deacon, or captain of a military company ; adding that he found comfort in the fact that no one of them, to his knowledge, had ever been hung !" This is a pleasant piece of badinage, but not exactly true, for we find that even the first Billerica Simon was several times chosen a repre- sentative to the General Court, first in 1692, at a time when the office was really a mark of distinction ; other honors have waited on the family. Judge Crosby was born in Billerica, June 3, 1770. His father was a farmer in moderate circumstances, and his son William was destined to the same occupation ; but at the age of seven years, one of those events occurred, which, as in numerous other cases, so much so as to seem Providen- tial, changed the course of his future life. Playing about a cider mill while in operation, his right hand was caught in the machinery, and his arm was drawn in nearly to the shoulder, and so crushed as to cripple it for life. This dis- qualified him for manual labor, and he could not even use it in writing — he always wrotcwith his left hand. This event, seemingly sad and dishcai'tcning, was full of precious hopes and results : the necessary resort was an education, for which he soon began to ])repare. But he had to struggle with poverty and adverse circumstances. At the age of seventeen, he began to teach school and prepare 382 WILLIAM CROSBY. for college, the latter portion being accomplislicd at the Phillips Academy, Andover, then under the care of Master Pemberton. He entered Harvard College, 1790, and took his degree in regular course, in 1704. Among his class- mates were Rev. Timothy Alden, William Bigelow, better known among his college companions as " Sawney " Bige- low, and the late Professor McKcan of Harvard. Not one of the class is living : Rev. Isaac Braman was the last sur- vivor. The class was made somewhat famous by Bigclow's " classology," or class song, which was sung and remem- bered many years after, through the college halls : it pre- serves, like Goldsmith's " Retaliation," some striking char- acteristic of each scholar. Tlie rythmical measure was in imitation of the "Heathen Mythology," a popular song of that day, " Songs of Shepherds in rustical roundelays." A few stanzas of this Bacchanalian extravaganza will show its spirit and character : " Witty George Appleton,^ high blooded Athcrton,^ Rigadoon Atkinson 3 joined the high Go. Here little high Sawney,'^ call'd Bigelow, appeared in view, Amid the full chorus distending his lungs. Now jovial Charming^ kindled merriment fanning, Was never for ganging while liquor would flow ; And Crosby, the blood, would be damn'd if he would, Sneak off if he could, and not join the high Go. I Appleton died in 1808. S* Charles II. Atherton, a distinguished lawyer of New Hampshire, and Representative in Congress, died 1853. 3 John Atkinson died 1838. 4 William Bigelow died Januarj' 12, 1844, in Boston, aged seventy. Allen, in his Biographical Dictionary, says of him, " He was a wit, writer of poe- try, editor of several periodicals, and author of a history of his native town, Natick, and of Sherburne. He unhappily disregarded the laws of Temper- ance." 5 Francis Dana Channing, brother of Rev. Dr. Channing, died iu 1810. He was a lawyer in Boston. WILLIAM CROSBY. • 883 While Braman 1 split razor, buffoon of pleasure, Made fun without measure, to assist the high Go. From Pike's learned page, came McKean 2 in a rage. The full vessels to guage, boys, and bless the high Go." Mr. Crosby, on leaving college, took charge, for a year, o the Aurian Academy at Amherst, New Hampshire, on a salary of seventy-five pounds lawful money a year : after which he pursued the study of law two years in the office of William Gordon, a very prominent lawyer in Amherst. His third year was spent under the care of Samuel Dana at Groton, when he was admitted to the bar in Middlesex County in 1798, and immediately opened an office in his native town. He remained here three years, but being desirous of changing his location, he made a tour of explor- ation into Maine, which then seemed to be a land of prom- ise to young lawyers, a promise often broken to their hopes ; not, however, to the hopes of the truly persevering and meritorious, as our record fully shows. He at first pro- posed to settle in Bangor, which then was a wild and un- cultivated field ; but finally determined on Belfast, to which place he moved January 2, 1802. Mr. Crosby was the second lawyer who settled in Belfast : Bohan P. Field had preceded him a short time. It was then a small place, containing but about eight hundred inhabitants, but was favorably situated on a beautiful harbor and bay, which gave encouragement of a rapidly increasing business. The town belonged to Hancock County, the shire of which was Castine, on the opposite side of Penobscot Bay. This con- nection continued during nearly the whole of Mr. Crosby's 1 Rev. Isaac Braman, pastor of the church in Georgetown sixty -one years, died in 1858, aged eighty-eight, honored and respected. 2 Prof. McKean of Cambridge, died in 1818, eminent for learning and piety. 384 WILLIAM CROSBY. practice, the bar containing many able lawyers. It was at this bar that Chief Justice Parker, Isaac ►^tory, William Abbot, and John Wilson commenced their professional lives ; and here, as young practitioners, early came Allen Oilman, Jacob McGaw, and AVilliam Crosby. Abbot, Wilson, Oilman, and McOaw were the competitors through a series of years in the practice of Hancock, which em- braced also what is now Penobscot County, and also in Washington County on the east, and Lincoln on the west. On this large circuit, these and other lawyers traveled and labored, and there often encountered the adroit and experi- enced advocates of the older parts of the State, — Mcllen, Wilde, Orr, Lee, &c., who were accustomed to travel the circuit. In this honorable competition, Mr. Crosby ably sustained himself, not only as a sound and honest lawyer, but as an ingenious and popular advocate. For several years, in the early part of his practice, he was county attor- ney, which made him familiar with the criminal side of the court. A gentleman of the profession, ^ a townsman, and competent to speak on this point, said in a well-prepared notice of his death, " As a sound, practical lawyer, he filled the largest space in the community, and will the longest be remembered as the safe counsellor, the able advisor, and the eloquent advocate. His clear, logical mind readily compre- hended the most complicated questions. He at once ana- lyzed and seized upon the strong points of the case, enforcing his views and positions upon the minds of the jury with that clearness of illustration and that force of reasoning which were always effective and often irresistible." Another law- yer, and a competent witness in the case, thus speaks of his merits : he says, " There was one trait in the character of Mr. Crosby as a lawyer, which contributed much to secure 1 Hiram 0. Alden. WILLIABI CROSBY. " 385 the high reputation which he had acquired. No considera- tion would induce him to undertake the prosecution or defense of an action, unless morally convinced that the ground of his client was maintainable." Again, the same writer says, " As an advocate, he possessed a clear, musical voice, and a happy power of illustration. He was lucid and logical in his reasoning, fluent in his enunciation, never at a loss for the most appropriate language to express his ideas. He knew how to seize and dwell upon the strong points in his cause. He could be playful or witty, or embellish with the flowers of rhetoric as occasion might require : his elo- quence was of the most attractive character." Mr. McGaw, whose competency to pronounce nobody will deny, says, " Mr. Crosby was generally deemed to be the ablest advo- cate and best lawyer then living Jn the large county of Hancock." In 1811, on the reconstruction of the Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Crosby was selected as the chief justice in the third Eastern Circuit, embracing the counties of Hancock, Washington, and Penobscot. Nothing could have been more complimentary, for he was a firm and well-known oppo- nent of the administration of Gov. Gerry, by whom the appointment was made. He was the only lawyer on the bench of this circuit ; his associates were democratic politi- cians, — MartinKinsley of Hampden, and James Campbell of Harrington in Washington County. Kinsley was that year in the council, and Campbell was often a senator. This office Judge Crosby held until 1822, when a new court was constituted by the State under its separate organization, consisting of but three judges for the whole territory ; of which Ezekiel Whitman was appointed chief justice, and Samuel E. Smith of Wiscasset, and David Perham of Brewer, associates. The administration being in the hands of the democratic party, it was deemed to bo a State necessity, or 386 WILLIAM CROSBY. rather a party necessity, that a majority of that court, as of the Supreme Court, should he on that side in politics. The Federalists having the chief justiceship in each court, the associates were consequently taken from the supporters of the administration. Judge Crosby's qualities for the distin- guished office he had held for eleven years were of a high order. Calm, patient, learned, and discriminating, he car- ried to the investigation of causes a clear judgment and a most upright mind. The writer whom wc have before quoted, Mr. Williamson, thus speaks of him as a judge: " On his elevation to the bench, he more than equaled pub- lic expectation as a judge. Quick in his perceptions, learned in the law, nice and discriminating in his judgment, and placing a cause in the clearest light before a jury, he was not exceeded by any judge in the State." Surely, the State ought not to have parted with the services *of such a man and such a judge. But the law of party is inexorable ; rotation has its victims while it exalts its worshippers. Judge Crosby returned to the bar in 1822, and continued the practice of his profession with eminent success until 1830, when he carried into effect a resolution which he had long before adopted, to retire from all active business at the age of sixty years. Having reached that grand climacteric, he gave up his office and all professional engagements to his accomplished son, William G. Crosby, afterwards Governor of the State, and retired to his books, his philosophy, and his farm. With admirable complacency and self-denial, did this philosophic man, in full health and the maturity of his powers, give up the honors and emoluments of his profes- sion and the blandishments of a popular life, for the quiet pursuits of friendship and study, which were congenial to his tastes. He was a good scholar, and pursued his investi- gations into almost every department of science. His ex- aminations into some of the branches of natural philosophy WILLIAM CROSBY. 387 are said to have been acute and valuable. " As a natural- ist, few men have devoted more patient study to the mech- anism of nature." In a letter from his son to me, before referred to, he says, on his retirement, " The remainder of his days was passed in the society of his book^fc — he was a constant reader ; in the preparation of manuscript on vari- ous topics ; and in agricultural and horticultural pursuits, of which he was passionately fond." Intliis manner glided on the last twenty-two years of his life. lie died of paral- ysis, March 31, 1852. " Until two years before his death," says his son, " he had enjoyed almost uninterrupted, vigo- rous health. His was truly a ' green old age ; ' and no man ever enjoyed life more than he did." His death was serene and tranquil as his life had been. " The stream is calmest when it nears tlie tide, The flowers are sweetest at the even-tide, The birds most musical at close of day, And saints divinest when they pass away." Soon after Mr. Crosby became established at Belfast, on October 12, 1802, he took a wife from his native town, who continued, during his long life, to be his partner and com- panion, and the light and blessing of his domestic circle, and who survived him to mourn a great bereavement. Judge Crosby had no taste for the excitements of politics. " He was a Federalist, a title which, to the very last," says his son, " he claimed to be proud. In his religious faith, he was a Unitarian. In neither politics nor religion was he a big- ot, but in both liberal to an extent which some men count a fault." His party, both in religion and politics, was gener- ally in a minority ; but as he did not form his opinions for the profit of them or the honor, but from a sincere convic- tion, it mattered not to him what the Avorld thought or be- lieved : nothing did or could move him from his conscien- 388 WILLIAM CROSBY : BARRETT TOTTER. tious convictions. lie was once elected to the Senate of Massachusetts, in 1815. In 1812, he was chosen an elector of President and Vice President, on the board with General Heath, Harrison Gray Otis, Nathan Dane, Lothrop Lewis, Israel Thorndike, and others. Massachusetts cast her twen- ty votes for DcWitt Clinton, in opposition to James Madison. I know of no other political oflfice held by him. I will close this notice with a few extracts from Mr. Al- den's remarks, as he was his neighbor and knew him well : " As a companion, he was cordial and communicative ; as a neighbor, kind, social, and accommodating ; and as a citizen, just and humane. As a benefactor. Judge Crosby occupied a high position, taking the lead in most of the charitable, educational, and religious enterprises of the day. The erection, in 1818, of the spacious church of the First Con- gregational Society, Unitarian, in Belfast, and the installa- tion therein of the Rev. William Frothingham, were objects in which he felt a lively interest and ^took an active part. There, in the sanctuary of his own erection, and with the pastor of his own choice, he was a regular and constant worshipper for a period of more than thirty years." BARRETT POTTER. 1801 — 1822. The Potter family were early immigrants to this country. John and William, each with a wife and two children, were of the company of the eminent and Rev. John Davenport, one of the founders of the New Haven Colony. They arrived in Boston in 1G37 ; and the next year, 1638, the company proceeded to the place which is now New Haven, where they laid the foundation of that thriving community. William Potter was the ancestor of the subject of this notice. His grandson, Daniel, was born in North Haven, in 1685 ; his son Daniel, born June 9, 1718, married Mar- BARRETT POTTER. 389 tha Joes, March 11, 1741, and soon after moved to Plym- outh in Connecticut : he had five sons and three daughters : all the sons, viz., Jarcd, Elani, Isaiah, Lyman, and Daniel, "were educated and graduated at Yale College, between the years 17G0 and 1780. Isaiah, the father of Barrett Potter, took his degree in 1767, in company with the honored John Trumbull, and Governor Treadwell of Connecticut, and the famous theologian. Dr. Nathaniel Emmons of Franklin, Massachusetts. He was settled in the ministry at Lebanon, New Hampshire, and soon after married Elizabeth, a daugh- ter of Colonel John Barrett, a native of Boston ; but who moved first to Middletown in Connecticut, thence to Spring- field, Vermont. Tlieir son, Barrett, was born March 8, 1777, at Lebanon. After passing through the usual preliminary studies, he was admitted to Dartmouth College, from which he received his degree in 1796 : Bishop Chase of Illinois was one of his classmates. Deciding upon the profession of law as the future business of his life, he entered the office of Benjamin Gilbert, a leading lawyer in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he remained about a year, when he went to his uncle John Barrett's, in Northfield, Massachusetts, where he com- pleted his studies, and was admitted to practice in the autumn of 1801. He immediately came to North Yar- mouth, in this State, where he opened his office in Novem- ber of that year. Here he remained until March, 1805, when he moved to Gorham, built him an office ( still used as an office) , and earnestly pursued his professional duties. In 1806, the appointment of Judge Parker of Portland to the bench opened the way for some enterprising lawyer in that town. The late Chief Justice Mellcn determined to improve the opportunity, and with that view invited Mr. Potter to take his office at Biddcford, — his business being then the most profitable, probal:»ly, in the county of York, — 390 BARRETT POTTER, •worth two thousand dollars a year. But Mr. Potter having, about the same time, an ortcr from Mr. Chase of Portland, who was overwhelmed with business, and exhausted with its care, to form a connection Avitli him ; he preferred this situation, moved to Portland in June, 18015, and entered into partnership with that distinguished gentleman. But, unhappily for Mr. Potter, Mr. Chase survived this new arrangement but about two months, having died suddenly in August. But Mr. Potter, by his devotion to business, his skill and intelligence, retained much of the business, especially the collecting part, which was very considerable, arising from clients and correspondents in Boston and other places, who had reposed the utmost confidence in Mr. Chase. Mr. Potter, also, had the settlement of the estate of Mr. Chase, and the guardianship of his children : trusts which he executed with great exactness and integrity, both as regarded their education and their estates. At the time Mr. Potter moved to Portland, the only law- yers in the town were Mr. Chase, William Symmes, both of whom died within a few months ; Isaac Parker, appointed judge, and soon after moved to Boston ; James D. Hopkins, Stephen Longfellow, Horatio Southgate ; and Woodbury Storer, Jr., recently admitted. Law business was large and increasing, the trade and commerce of the town was exten- sive, never more so for many succeeding years than at that time. The tonnage of the port was thirty-nine thousand, and the amount received for duties at the custom house in 1806, was three hundred and forty-six thousand four hund- red and forty-four dollars. A large trade was carried on with the West Lidies in shipping lumber and provisions, and importing sugar, molasses, and rum. Mr. Potter's office business was lucrative, and occupied most of his time ; he was not much employed as an advocate, but whenever his own cases needed that service, he did not shrink from per- BARRETT POTTER. 891 forming it, and he presented them in a sensible, intelligent manner, without display or pretension. He had the entire confidence of his clients, and discharged his duty toward them with faithfulness for their best interest and to their satisfaction, so that he could justly say, on retiring from practice, that he had conscientiously endeavored to do his duty to his clients, to the courts, and to the community in which he lived. In 1819, Mr. Potter was chosen a member of the Execu- tive Council of Massachusetts, and in 1820, to the Senate of Maine from Cumberland County. That being the first Legislature which assembled in the new State, much im- portant and responsible duty devolved upon it. The judges of the Supreme Court had been appointed commissioners to prepare a digest of the statute laws in force in the State : their report was made to the January session, and Mr. Pot- ter, with Timothy Boutelle and Daniel Rose, were appointed a committee on behalf of the Senate to revise the report, and submit such alterations and suggestions in regard to the laws as the altered circumstances of our State seemed to re- quire. This laborious task was promptly and ably attended to ; and the laws published in 1821, under the superintend- ence of the judges of the Supreme Court, were the result of the action of the two committees. Judge Potter is now the only survivor of the Senate of that year, and Chief Justice Weston only remains, though much younger than Judge Potter, of the board of jurisprudence. The Legislature chosen in 1820, by a provision in the Constitution, held over to January, 1822 : in that year he was witlidrawn from polit- ical life by his appointment as Judge of Probate, successor to Judge Parris, who had been chosen Governor of the State in place of Governor King. This office Judge Potter held a quarter of a century, and retired from it in 1847, at the age of seventy, with intellect unclouded, his natural force 392 BARRETT POTTER: ERASTUS FOOTE. scarcely abated, and with a just consciousness that he had administered his office with strict integrity, with unim- peached impartiality, and for the rights of the numerous classes of persons among whom the Judge of Probate stands a wise arbiter and a judicious friend, having a large discre- tionary power in relation to the widow and orphan, requir- ing that a tender compassion should be regulated and con- trolled by a sound judgment. Judge Potter brought to this office the admirable qualities which enabled him to discharge its duties with justice and equity. In July, 1809, Judge Potter married Ann Titcomb, a daughter of the Hon. Woodbury Storer of Portland, by his first wife, who was a daughter of Benjamin Titcomb, and grand-daughter of Moses Pearson, honored citizens of Port- land through a period of seventy years. By her he had three daughters, — Eliza, now living with her father unmar- ried ; Mary, the first wife of Professor Henry W. Longfel- low ; the third, Ann, the wife of Peter. Thacher^of Rockland, a respected member of the bar of Knox County. Mrs. Pot- ter was a lovely woman, but of frail and delicate organiza- tion : she died at the age of forty years in 1821. ERASTUS FOOTE. 1801 — 185 6. Erastus Foote was one of the few lawyers who came to this State from Connecticut : he was born in Waterbury, in that State, October, 1777. That town was a place of some importance for its manufacturing and agricultural resources : it was the birth place of the celebrated Samuel Hopkins, D. D., the founder of the sect which took his name sixty years ago, the Tlopkinsians. Mr. Foote was not educated at college, but after receiving ample advantages of prelim- inary study, he entered the office of Judge Samuel Hinkley at Northampton, at the age of nineteen, and having diligent- EBASTUS FOOTE. 393 ly pursued his studies under the instruction of this distin guished lawyer four years, he was admitted to the bar in Hampshire County, in 1800, and commenced practice in Nortliampton. After a short experience at that place, he removed to Caraden in Maine in 1801, where he was the successor of John Hathaway, wlio died in 1799, and was the second law- yer in the town. Its population did not then exceed one thousand, but his business was drawn from a much larger space of country, and from other persons than those who lived in that narrow circle. Mr. Poote was an enterprising and aspiring man, of considerable ability, and a power of displaying what he had to the best advantage. He was a handsome man, of florid countenance, a cheerful expres- sion, tall, of a fine figure, and with a self-reliance amply sufficient to set off these qualities. His manner was some- what pompous, and his arguments verbose, but he had no difficulty in saying what he wanted to say, and making himself understood. He was kind and genial in his dispo- sition, and of a sanguine temperament : he made himself agreeable to the younger members of the bar. He was quite successful in his practice. In 1811, he succeeded Benjamin Ames as county attorney, — an office which enlarged his practice and increased his experience. He held this office to the time of separation, and was prepared by it for the duties of the higlier criminal office to which he succeeded. In 1812, he was elected a senator to the Legislature of Mas- sachusetts from Lincoln County on the Federal ticket; but the war breaking out with England while he held this office, he gave his adhesion to tlic National administration, and sustained the war measures of Mr. Madison. He was appointed the same year to the command of the fifth regiment of the second brigade, clevcntli division of the niilitia of Massachusetts, and was called into service in 1814, 20 394 ERASTUS FOOTE. "when the British threatened the whole coast, and effected a landing at Castine and some other places. His exploits as a military man did not add to his reputation, and were made the theme of much raillery by the party which he had aban- doned, whenever his name was brought forward ibr political office. He was an unsuccessful candidate of the Democratic party for Congress at that time. After the war was ended, Mr. Foote, in 1815, moved to Wiscasset, the shire town of the county where he had mar- ried his wife. The question of separation from Massachu- setts was now agitated, and Mr. Foote took sides Avith its advocates. He was elected to the House of Representa- tives of Massachusetts in 1819, and supported vigorously the measures proposed to accomplish that favorite object. He was elected to the first Senate which convened in Maine, in 1820, and before the close of his term, received the appointment of attorney general of the State. Gov. King, who made the appointment, carefully canvassed the qualifi- cations of various candidates, and remarked that he knew no man better qualified for the office than Col. Foote. He had large experience as a criminal lawyer, as well as in other branches of practice, and other departments of busi- ness. He entered, therefore, upon its duties with great advantages, and is entitled to the commendation of having faithfully, ably, and promptly filled all tlie expectations of his friends in its discharge. The late William D. William- son, the historian of Maine, in speaking on this subject, said, " Col. Foote held tlie office about fourteen years, a very cor- rect, able and faithful prosecuting officer. It is said that he never lost but a single indictment for defect in form." Mr. Orr, a very competent judge in such matters, is reported to have said, " It is almost impossible to wrest a criminal out of the hands of Brother Foote." Wliile in office, he made valuable suggestions to tlic government, \vhi(.'b h'd to im- ERASTUS FOOTE. 395 provements in the criminal law. Mr. Foote was succeeded, in 1832, by Jonathan P. Rogers of Bangor, and returned to the bar, where he continued with almost youthful ardor to pursue the duties of his profession. He died July 4, 1856, at the age of seventy-nine, and was the oldest practicing law- yer at that time in the State, Mr. Foote was a public-spirited citizen ; ready at all times to promote good objects ; he was kind and benevolent ; prompt with his counsel and his purse for the relief of the distressed, and exemplary in all the relations of life. As early as 1820, he was elected a trustee of Bowdoin College, the duties of which he discharged for twenty-four years : in 1821, the college conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. lie was a friend of education, and was himself a cultivated man. Mr. Foote married two daughters of Moses Carlton, an honored citizen of Wiscasset, who survived his son-in-law, and died the same year, aged ninety-one. By his second wife, he had one son, bearing his name and adopting his pro- fession, a graduate of Harvard in the class of 18-13, and several daughters. CHAPTER XVII. EBENEZER THATCHER — JOSEPH DANE — HORATIO SOUTHGATE — WILLIAM JONES — SAMUEL A. BRADLEY — JOHN WIL- SON — GEORGE HERBERT — JUDAH MCLELLAN — NATHAN CUTLER — JOSEPH BARTLETT. EBENEZER THATCHER. 1802 — 1841. Ebenezer Tliatclier, a younger brother of Samuel Thatcher, of whom we have, iu previous pages, given an account which embraced the origin and descent of the family, was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, October 9, 1778. He was edu- cated at Harvard College, under the shadow of whose ven- erable halls he was born, and graduated in the class of 1798, which contained such illustrious names as Channing, Long- fellow, Story, Tuckerman, Willard, and maintained such rank as to entitle him to membcrsliip of the Phi-Beta-Kappa Society. Professor Willard, in his interesting " Memoirs of Youth and Manhood," in describing the members of his class, says, " He was a young man of more than conunon talents and literary ambition, but somewhat self-distrustful^ He acquitted himself well, however, in the performance of the tasks prescribed by the professors and tutors, and main- EBENEZER THATCHER: COLLEGE CUSTOMS. 397 tained a respectable relative rank in his class." He was something of an athlete in college : at that day it was the custom for the sophomore class, on the first or second week after the entrance of the freshman class, to give them a challenge to a wrestling match, and tiuis introduce them to the fellowship of this peculiar community. On the entrance of the class which graduated in 1800, containing the names afterwards renowned, of Allston, Buckminster, Boutelle, Lowell, Chief Justice Shaw ; the sophomores, embracing Professor Cleaveland, Willard Hall, General Sumner, John Wilson of Belfast, le motives of action, and an ardent desire to become distinguished in his profession. Immediately after his admission, he opened an office at JOSEPH DANE. 401 Kennebunk, then a part of Wells, and soon became prom- inent as a sound lawyer, an able advocate, and an upright man. There were then in practice in that county, Prentiss Mellen, Cyrus King, Dudley Hubbard, Benjamin Greene, Joseph Thomas, John Holmes, and George W. Wallingford, all men of note at the bar and in public service, and who preceded him in the crowded funereal procession to the tomb. He continued in practice until 1837, having main- tained for more than a third of a century, a character of spotless integrity, and of great honor and ability in his profession ; and during the latter portion of the time, was a leader at the bar of York County. Although his modesty and reserve caused him to shrink from public employments, he was induced, by the earnest application of his fellow citizens, occasionally to take office. In 1816, he was a member of the abortive convention at Brunswick, on the subject of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts ; and in 1819, of the convention which formed the constitution of the 8tate, and was one of the very able committee appointed to draft that instrument. In 1818, he was chosen one of the two members of the Executive Coun- cil of Massachusetts, then allowed to Maine, but he declined accepting the office. In 1820, he was chosen a member of the Sixteenth Congress, for the unexpired term of Mr. Holmes, who had been raised to the Senate ; he was re- elected to the Seventeenth Congress, and having served out his term, he declined being again a candidate. He served his town as a Representative in the Legislature of the State, in the years 1821, 1825, 1832, 1833, 1839, and 1810, and the county in the Senate, in 1829. At the close of the ses- sion of 1840, he retired from public life altogether, having declined the appointment of commissioner tp revise the pub- lic statutes, and the office of executive councillor, both of which were honorably tendered to him. He preferred the 402 JOSEPH DANE. enjoyments of private life, and the repose of his own excel- lent family, to the bustle and excitement of political life. He was thoroughly and essentially conservative in all his views, and he had a great abhorrence of a demagogue and an intriguing politician, in whatever guise they might appear. He was a valued member of the old Federal pjjrty while it existed, but in the latter part of his life he took but little interest in politics. In every public office, and in every act of private life, his conduct was characterized by a hrm, undeviating sense of right, and a conscientious determina- tion neither to do nor to submit to what was unjust or wrong. No man or statesman's record is clearer than that of Mr. Dane, among all our public men or fellow citizens, through the more than half a century ^that he dwelt in our community. In October, 1808, he married Mary, a daughter of the Hon. Jonas Clark of Kennebunk. Mr. Clark was a son of the Rev. Jonas Clark of Lexington, Massachusetts ; and his wife was Sarah, a daughter of Dr. Edward Watts, a prom- inent physician of Portland before the Revolution, and a son of Judge Samuel Watts of Boston. Mrs. Dane is a lady of great excellence of character, and still survives. They had two sons and one daughter. His eldest son, Joseph, succeeded to his business, and in 1850, served as one of the Bank Commissioners. His second son, Nathan, is a farmer in xVlfrcd. He represented his county in the Senate of the State in the years 1857 and 1858, and is now Treasurer of the State. From a stock so sound and health- ful, we should be justified in expecting no other than excel- lent fruit. He bore his last sickness, which was attended with con- siderable suffering, with cheerfulness and patience ; and sur- rendered his parting breath with Christian resignation and trust. He died at Kennebunk, where the preceding fifty- JOSEPH DANE: HORATIO SOUTHGATE. 403 six years of his life had been passed, May 1, 1858, aged seventy-nine. The death of siicli a man, altliough full of years, was felt as a public loss ; and the community in ■whicli he lived, mourned with unfeigned sorrow the depart- ure of a wise counsellor, a true friend, and an honest man. His death preceded that of his classmate. Prof. Cleaveland, just five months and a half; and but five from a class of forty-four now remain alive. Ebenezer Clapp and the Rev. William Frothingham, beside those before mentioned, John Wilson and Prof. Cleaveland, adopted our State, at an early period of their lives, as their place of residence ; and all died among us, after enriching our community Avith the fruits of their wise and varied experience. The law, theology, and science are their debtors for large contributions made by them, in tlie early period of our commonwealth, to the departments they ably represented. In our zeal for the new, and the present, and the pressing, let us not forget those wise pioneers and vigorous men who strengthened the foundations of our young society, and defended its bat- tlements through the struggles of our earlier and weaker day. HORATIO SOUTHGATE. 1802 — Horatio Southgate was admitted to the Cumberland Bar at the October term of the Common Pleas, in 1802, held at New Gloucester. By the influence of William Widgery, who resided in New (jloucester, and was a leading justice of the peace, an active politician, and one of the irregular practitioners at the bar, a term of the Common Pleas was established at New Gloucester in 1791. It continued there \intil 1805, when it was removed to Portland ; and the three terms were ever after, annually, held at the latter place, until that court was abolished. Davis, Symmes, Chase, 404 HORATIO SOUTHGATE. Hopkins, Greenwood, and Longfellow from Portland ; Whit- man of New Gloucester ; Little of Gorham ; Potter of North Yarmouth ; and Morse of Freeport, attended the courts there, and were the only lawyers in the county at that time. Mr. Southgate was the son of Dr. Rohert Southgate of Scarboro', a practicing physician in tiiat town, and one of the judges of the Common Pleas. He came from Leicester, Massachusetts, in 1771, with all his worldly gear in a pair of saddle-bags, on the horse which bore their possessor through the forests of Maine to that place. This worthy man, the father of several beautiful and accomplished daughters, died in 1833, at the age of ninety-two years. His wife, the mother of Horatio and his other children, was Mary, the daughter of Richard King of Scarboro', and sister of the renowned statesman, Rufus King. Her son, of whom we are speaking, was born in Scarboro', in August, 1781. At the age of thirteen years, in 1794, he was placed at Exeter Academy, where he had for his asso- ciates, Henry Wadsworth, who gallantly perished before Tripoli, in 1803 ; Leverett Saltonstall of Salem, Massachu- setts ; the accomplished Joseph S, Buckminster, afterwards the pastor of Brattle Street Church, in Boston ; Augustine and Bushrod Washington from Virginia ; and Daniel Webster. After the preparatory course at this celebrated institution , he entered the office of Salmon Chase in Portland, where he pursued the regular term of study prescribed by the rules, and was duly admitted to the honors and duties of the profession. He opened an office in Portland, but spent a portion of his time in Scarboro' assisting his father, who, in addition to the routine of his busy profession as a physi- cian and his duties as judge, owned a very extensive farm ; to this, and to all the neighboring lands and marsh where it HORATIO SOUTHGATE. 405 was situated, he was giving additional value by the construc- tion of a turnpike road over the very extensive marsh, form- ing the most direct and convenient route for the travel from Portland to Boston. This excellent road, long used for com- mon travel, is now the bed of the railroad on the same route. Mr. Southgate had his office in the building erected by the Portland Bank, now owned and occupied by the Canal Bank. His office, for many years, was on one side of the entrance to the banking-room, and Judge Whitman's on the other ; and here he continued to practice until 1815, when, at the instance of Judge Whitman, a member of the Coun- cil, he received from Governor Strong the appointment of Register of Probate for the county of Cumberland. In this office he was retained twenty-one years, during the closing period of Judge Freeman's administration as judge, the whole of Judge Parris's, and a large part of that of Judge Potter. This fact alone is a sufficient testimonial to his ac- curacy and fidelity, to which I can properly add, tliat no man ever discharged the duties of the station with more promptness, integrity, and honesty than did this incumbent. The records during that period are a model for neatness and correctness. In 1830, Mr. Southgate prepared " The Probate Manual, containing Forms adapted to the Practice of Probate Courts in the State of Maine," also the laws relating to the sub- ject. Tiiis compilation was much needed, was well prepared, and is still in constant use. Mr. Southgate, after the death of his father and mother, took possession of the homestead farm in Scarboro', where he continues to reside, enjoying a serene and vigorous old age. By his three wives, he has had a large family of children, sixteen sons and daughters, but of wliom only five are lining. Among the sons, five were educated at Bowdoin College, and 406 HORATIO SOUTHGATE : WILLIAM JONES. all became clergymen ; viz., Robert, of the class of 182G, is minister at Ipswich, Massachusetts ; Horatio, late Bishop of Constantinople, is settled in New York ; Frederick and John B. are dead; and William S., of the Episcopal Church, is settled at Litchfield in Connecticut. His second wife was a daughter of Noah Webster, the renowned lexicographer ; his first, a daughter of Major Hugh McLellan of Portland ; his third, Miss Neal of Portland. He made to me, recently, the following statement : " There is one fact respecting the Cumberland Bar, of which, I be- lieve, it would be difficult to find a parallel instance in any other bar. It is this : in 1861, there were four of its mem- bers living, the youngest of whom was past eighty years of age." These were Judges Whitman, Emery, Potter, and himself. Emery is since dead. I can add to this singular fact the names of Samuel Thatcher, now living at Brewer, Maine, at the age of eighty-six ; and Chief Justice Weston, now eighty, living at Augusta, — both of whom began practice in New Gloucester, and were members of the Cumberland Bar : also Judge Ware, now eighty, whom entered the 'Cum berland Bar in 1817 ; and General Fessenden, aged seventy- eight, whose membership runs from 1809. So that there now survive seven persons wlio were members of the Cum- berland Bar, the youngest of whom is seventy-eight ; three, eighty-six ; one, eighty-one ; and two, eighty years old. W J L L I A IM JONES. 1801 — 1813. William Jones was the first lawyer who settled in Nor- ridgewock, if we except the itinerant and shattered remains of the once brilliant man, Timothy Langdon, who made that town his occasional residence for about two years, from 1795 to 1797. Langdon had practiced at Pownalboro', as we have before mentioned, prior to iha Revolution, during WILLIAM JONES. 407 wliich he acted as judge of the Admiralty Court for Massa- chusetts ; and who, afterwards, by liis dissipated habits, became a wanderer and an outcast, and died a pauper. Jones establislied himself in Norridgewock in 1802. He was the son of a Avortliy farmer in Concord, Massachusetts, and was born there in 1768. He was educated at Harvard College, from which he took his first degree in 1703, in a class containing the distinguished names of Judge Charles Jackson of Massachusetts, Francis C. Lowell, the Rev. Dr. Coffin of Buxton in this State, the Rev. Dr. John Pierce of Brookline, and Samuel Thatcher of Brewer. The latter is the only surviving graduate of the class. Mr. Jones was a man of fine natural abilities, and of very handsome personal appearance. His father spared no pains to give these qual- ities their highest advantages : he was placed under the tuition of one of the best lawyers in the county of Middle- sex. Being trained well for the bar to which he was admit- ted in due course, he opened an office in his native town. But he had scarcely entered the practice before the war with France startled the whole country with its clarion notes, and the excitable and ardent young men, and many elders rose respondent to the shout. We have seen that a number of our profession in Maine laid down their law books, and put on tlie harness of war. Major Stoddard of Hallowell was a prominent one, and he died in the service after this impromptu war was over. The war of 1812 had the same inspiring effect, and we find Gen. Ripley and Col. Larnedof our State eagerly entering the army ; and so it is in the present unhappy conflict all over the North. Members of the profession are quitting the peaceful pursuits of the forum for the great arbitrament of ])attlc. Col. Shepley and numerous others of Maine, we trust will adorn their names with the trophies i of the field, as tiiey have with those of the ])ar. 408 WILLIAM JONES. Jones was fired up with military zeal. He had devoted much time to the study and practice of belligerent tactics, and having a fine military bearing and considerable knowl- edge of the art, he received a commission as major, and pro- ceeded with his regiment to Oxford, the head-quarters of the army. But this brief war was terminated as it begun, on the sea, by a series of brilliant actions, such as have illustrated the naval history of our country from its origin to the present day. On the disbanding of the forces, Mr. Jones returned to the bar, less fitted for the practice of his profes- sion than when he broke away from it. He never could exorcise his military visions, and after he moved to Nor- ridgewock, he paid more attention to the parade than to the bar ; was chosen first a colonel, then a brigadier general ; rode a horse elegantly, and made a very showy officer. He practiced in Concord until near the close of 1801, when he went to Warren in this State, and the next year to Norridgewock. Norridgewock was incorporated June 18, 1788, and had, in 1802, about six hundred and fifty inhabitants. It is a beautiful town, the county seat, lying on both sides of the Kennebec River, and contained, by the census of 1860, one thousand nine hundred inhabit- ants. Here he had a large farm, which he carried on in connection with his law business, of which, for a time, he had a full share. His manners were easy and popular ; he won the affection of the people ; and if he had devoted him- self to either his farming or his profession, he might have retained his patrimony, which was respccta])le, and made large additions to it. But, fond of social life, fond of sports, proud of his gay horse and his own fine person, he mingled in assemblages of the people, and thus run out his business, and run down his farm, until he found himself dependent upon the good will of his friends for the support of himself and family. When Calvin Selden opened his office by the z^' # '^^ ■\ (^P-ci>-^-t''V'<'^i-<.^ K^T. /^/J. Williamson, the lawyer, the politician, and the historian, who establislicd himself at Bangor, then in the county of Hancock, in 1807. ^Ir. Wil- liamson was born in Canterbury, Connecticut, July 31, 1770. He was educated at Brown University, from Avhich he took his degree in 1804, at the age of twenty-five, and 618 WILLIAM D. WILLIAMSON. at once commenced the study of the profession which he had adopted, in the office of Samuel F, Dickinson, at Am- herst, Massachusetts. On being admitted to the bar, he immediately entered on the practice, at Bangor. Mr. Wil- liamson commenced the active pursuits of life under unus- ual advantages : he was older, and had had more experience than young men generally when entering on their profes- sion : he had great activity of mind, an ardent, sanguine temperament, and a persevering industry : qualities like these rarely fail of success, and we find in this case no exception to the rule : liis prosperity was uninterrupted. At the time he went to Bangor, there were three lawyers in the town, — Allen Oilman; Samuel E. Dutton, who soon after moved to Boston ; and Jacob McGaw ; and sixteen in the county, embracing Hancock, Penobscot, and territory now included in several other counties. Mr. Williamson did not lack confidence or perseverance : his competitors for the prizes of the law were very able, — many of them eloquent men : he pushed his way among them, acquired a large busi- ness, which he managed with skill : he attended the courts regularly at Castine, and in the neighboring counties, and established a good reputation at the bar, and in the commu- nity. His advance was greatly aided by his appointment, in 1811, as county attorney for Hancock, an office which the administration of Governor Gerry, by an act passed tliat year, restored to the patronage of the executive. It had passed through several mutations within a few years. It was originally bestowed by the courts ; but in the politi- cal struggles for power, in the early part of this century, it was made the foot-ball of parties : in 1807, under Governor Sullivan, the Democratic party gave the appointment to the executive : under Governor Gore, in 1809, it was restored to the courts : in 1811, under Governor Gerry, it was again given to the executive, as were also the clerkships of the WILLIAM D. WILLIAMSON. 619 courts. Mr. Williamson was the most active democratic lawyer in the county, while a majority, including the most prominent and influential meml)ers of the profession, were of the federal party. Tliis oflice he held, and faithfully discharged its duties, until it became vacant by tlie estab- lishment of the county of Penobscot, in 181G, when Jacob McGaw was appointed for Penobscot, and George Herbert of Ellsworth for Hancock. The same year, how- ever, he was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts, and held the office by successive elections until the separation of Maine from Massachusetts. Wlien this event took place, he was chosen the first and sole senator from Penobscot to the Legislature of Maine, and elected president of that body, as successor to Gen. John Chandler, who was chosen the first senator of the new State in Congress. By another change, during his term of office, he became the acting governor of the State, in place of Governor King, who was appointed commissioner under the Spanish treaty, and resigned the office of governor. But in this busy time of political muta- tion, he did not even hold the office of governor through the whole term, for having been elected to Congress from his district, he resigned the former office to take his seat in the House, in December, 1821. This position he held but one term, wlien, by a new division of the State into districts, the election fell to another portion of the territory : David Kidder, a lawyer in Somerset County, was his successor. But Mr. "Williamson did not long remain without the honors and emoluments of office : in 1824, he was appointed judge of Probate for the county of Penobscot, which office he held until 1840; when the amendment of the constitution having taken effect, which limited the tenure of all judicial offices to seven years, he retired from a station which he had filled with promptness, fidelity, and ability for sixteen years. If any one could be gratified by success iu politics, 620 TTILLIAM D. WILLIAMSON. surely Mr. Williamson should be that man : he entered into orticc almost at the commencement of his professional career, and continued in possession of one or another, during the wliole meridian of his life. It may have satisfied the ambi- tion of the time, but we doubt whether it produced tho happiness, — we know that it did not the fame, — which attended the steady and quiet pursuit of all his leisure hours. His History of Maine was the great labor of his life : to this the best powers of his mind were given ; and on this he labored with an earnestness and ardor which gave joy to his heart and liglit to his understanding. Wherever he went, upon whatever subject he was engaged, his eye and his pen were intent upon his great work. He was indefat- igable in his labors, and explored all sources of knowledge which would be likely to inform or illuminate his page. He collected a vast mass of materials, and rescued from oblivion treasures, which, had it not been for his exertions and industry, would have passed out of human obserA'ation and memory. The work was published in two large octavo volumes, the first edition in 1832 ; and a second issue, with corrections, was made in 1839, with a portrait of the author. The title is, " The History of the State of Maine, from its First Discovery in 1G02, to the Separation, A. D. 1820, in- clusive : " pp. G60, 714. The work is not skillfully or con- veniently arranged, and the style is defective : it is an ample collection of valuable facts, but does not rise into tlic rank of an elegant or a philosophical history. We could not now spare it ; and the student of the history of Maine could not do without it. Tiiis State and all the States are greatly his debtor for this fruit of his unwearied and abundant labor. How low do the rewards of his political life sink, when compared to this enduring monument to his memory WILLIAM D. WILLIAMSON. 621 and fame ! His political acts have perished in the using : the history will be his perpetual record. Mr. Williamson was an original member of the Maine Historical Society ; and many of his valuable manuscripts, prepared while collecting materials for his history, are now preserved in the archives of the society, — the gift of his nephew, Joseph Williamson of Belfast. His mind had a tendency to detail, and he gathered up and arranged statis- tics with great facility and fondness, the results of which appeared in various forms. Mr. Williamson finished his useful and varied life on the 27th of May, 1846, at the age of sixty-six. The Penobscot Bar passed appropriate resolutions on the occasion, and attended his funeral. 84 CHAPTER XIX. SIMON GREENLEAP — CALVIN SELDEN — SAMUEL PESSENDEN WILLIAM ALLEN HAYES — EDMUND FLAGG — AL- BION KEITH PARRIS — HIRAM BELCHER. SIMON GREENLEAP. 180 6 — 1834. Among the distinguished lawyers and advocates who have adorned the Cumberland Bar during its century of exis- tence, from the organization of the county in 1760, we may rank Professor Grecnleaf, who for twenty-seven years was one of its able champions. He descended from Edmund Grecnleaf, who was born in the parish of Brixliam, Devon- shire, England, about the year 1600, and came to Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1635, with his family. One of his de- scendants, the Rev. Jonathan Grecnleaf of Brooklyn, New York, in his well prepared genealogical account of the fam- ily, to which I am largely indebted for many facts, remarks : "It is believed that the ancestors of the Grecnleaf family were Huguenots, who left France on account of their relig- ious principles, sometime in the course of the sixteenth century, and settled in England. The name was probably translated from the French name ^Feuilleverlj' which means <> "<<- ^^^f-»i.<7t<^^l££.^^^^^ SIMON GREENLEAF. 523 in English a green leaf." His wife was Sarah Dole. The table of descent in a direct line to Simon is as follows : 1. Edmund, . . . died in Boston, 1671. 2. Stephen, born in England, 1630, drowned 1690. S.John, " June 21, 1682, died June 24, 1734. 4. Daniel, " Dec. 24, 1690, drown'd Jan., 1729. 5. Jonathan, " July, 1723, died May, 1807. 6. Moses, " May 19, 1755, " Dec. 18, 1812. 7. Simon, " Dec. 5, 1783, " Oct. 6, 1853. The grandfather of Simon, the Hon. Jonathan Greenleaf, was the sixth child and second son of Daniel, who was drowned when his son Jonathan was a little over five years of age, leaving his family quite destitute. At the age of seven, Jonathan was apprenticed to a ship carpenter, which was the principal occupation of his life, and by which he accumulated a large estate. And as he was a very upright, honest man, it is very probable that the high character of the ships built at Xewburyport, and on the Merrimac River, may be owing to the integrity of the men who were en- gaged in this employment. Jonathan Greenleaf rose into political life and influence : he was a member of the Pro- vincial Congress, and after that, of the House of Represen- tatives, the Senate, and Council of Massachusetts. He T^as of dignified manners and popular address, and from tho gentle, silvery tones of his voice, he was distinguished from others of the name by the title " silver-tongued Greenleaf.'* His second son, Moses, father of Simon, was also bred a ship-carpenter, but on the breaking out of the Revolution, he entered the army as a lieutenant : the next year he was promoted to a captaincy, and served nearly through the war. In 1781, he formed a connection in shi|>building with his father ; and from that time to 1790, the firm built twenty- 524 SIMON GREENLEAP. two ships and brigs. In the latter year, he moved on to a farm in New Gloucester, where he died Pcccmber 18, 1812. He was a well-proportioned man, with a military air, walk- ing erect with a firm step. His wife, whom he married in 177G, was Lydia, a daughter of the Rev. Jonathan Parsons of Newburyport, a woman of remarkably benevolent and self-denying spirit. They had five children, viz., Moses; Clarina, married to Elcazar A. Jenks, a printer in Portland ; Ebenezer ; Simon ; and Jonathan, who was born in 1785, and is the only survivor. He studied divinity with the Rev. Francis Brown of North Yarmouth, and was ordained at Wells, Maine, in 1815 ; and in 1843 was installed pastor of the Wallabout Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York. While residing in Wells, he published in 1821, " Sketches of the Ecclesiastical History of Maine from the Earliest Settlement to the Present Time," a work admirably executed and of standard authority. Their eldest brother, Moses, was also gifted with high intellectual qualities : in 1816, he published " A Statistical A^iew of Mahie." This, in 1829, he enlarged into an octavo volume of four hundred and sixty-eight pages, entitled, " A Survey of the State of Maine, in reference to its Geographical Features, Statistics, and Political Economy : Illustrated by Maps." Accompa- nying this was a large map of the State, and an atlas exhib- iting various features of the State, titles to land, &c. These works were of high authority and very valuable. Simon Greenleaf, the subject of our notice, was born in Newburyport, December 5, 1788. He did not accompany his father's family to New Gloucester in 1790, but was re- tained by his grandfather for the advantage of the better schools in his native town. He was educated at the "Latin School " in Newburyport, then under charge of Michael Walsh, who was well known in his day, and for many years in the early part of the present century, as the author of SIMON GREENLEAF. 625 the " Mercantile Arithmetic," which -was not only a popular text book, but a counting-house companion. Mr. Greenleaf rapidly improved his advantages, acquired a very thorough knowledge of the Latin and English languages, and great facility in the use of them. On leaving the academy, ho went to New Gloucester, and entered the ofiice of Ezekiel Whitman as a student, and boarded in his family. I am happy to be able to give the testimony of so discriminating an observer as Judge Whitman to the early character of Mr. Greenleaf: he said, " When he came to me in New Gloucester, he was an excellent English and Latin scholar, and became a very faithful and devoted student." He added, " When business called me from home, I intrusted my office business to him, placing entire confidence in him, and was never disappointed or deceived." In his family he was kind, patient, and considerate, and won the affection of all the members of it. He was admitted to the bar of Cum- berland in 180G, and commenced practice in Standish, but the next year he moved to Gray. Being the first and the only lawyer in the place, he soon acquired a very considera- ble practice, which he retained and enlarged by his fidelity and skill. As his family increased, he desired to extend the range of his business and increase its emoluments, and in 1818 he removed to Portland. At that time, the two leading meml)crs of the bar had been drawn aside from their profession into public life : Judge Mcllen was in the United States Senate, and Judge Whitman in the House of Representatives ; and Mr. Orr, who had a large practice in Cumberland, was also in Congress. This encouraged the accession of otlier prominent men to Portland : of these were Mr. Greenleaf and the late Judge Preble, who came the same year. !Mr. Greenleaf was not disappointed : his business and his fame increased, and the larger and more cultivated society, and its superior advantages iu other 626 SIMON GREENLEAF. respects, stimulated his susceptible powers to higher efforts. He now took rank among the foremost men at the bar, and by his winning manners, and his persuasive style of speak- ing and address, accompanied by the skill and ingenuity of his arguments, established his reputation and his practice on a firm basis. In the act of the new State, establishing the Supreme Judicial Court, passed June 24, 1820, the governor and council were required " to appoint some suitable person learned in the law, to be a reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court," whose duty it was made to obtain true and authentic reports of cases decided by the court, and publish them, whenever they would compose a suitable volume. His compensation was fixed at six hundred dollars a year salary, and the profits arising from the publication. Mr. Greenlcaf was immediately appointed reporter under this act, and entered on his duties at York, August term, 1820. He continued faithfully, promptly, and very ably to discharge the duties of this arduous and responsible office for twelve years, closing with the July term at Waldo in 1832. The cases determined during this period are con- tained in nine volumes, the last embracing a table of cases, and a digest of the whole. Tlie judges were, — Mellen, chief justice, and Weston, judge, through the whole period ; Judge Preble to 1828 ; and Judge Parris the remainder of the time. The reports arc distinguished for the clear and concise manner in which the points of law are stated, and the arguments of counsel given : they took high rank in this class of legal productions, and were received as stand- ards of authority throughout the Ujiion. They were de- servedly considered among the most valuable of American reports, and so highly were they esteemed that a new edi- tion was demanded by the profession, — a very rare tiling in this class of works, — which was published with annotations SIMON GREENLEAP. 527 by Mr. Abbot of Cambridge, a short time previous to Mr. Greenleaf's death. Ill 1821, while engaged in his office of reporter and his extended practice, increased by his attending the circuits through the several counties, he employed [himself in the preparation and publication of " A Collection of Cases, Overruled, Doubted, or Limited in their application. Taken from American and English Reports." Professor Parsons of the Cambridge Law School, in a notice of Professor Greenleaf's death, gives the following interesting account of the origin of this useful little work. He says, " His first law book sprang, as we have his own authority for saying, from this circumstance. Very early in his professional career, he had given an opinion, and argued a case which grew out of his opinion, upon the authority of an English decision, which seemed to be applicable and decisive. But the court informed him that this case had been overruled, and had no authority whatever. He determined at once to ascertain, as far as he could, which of the apparently au- thoritative cases in the reports had lost their force, and to give the information to the profession. The idea was origi- nal, the execution good, and the book very useful." But Prof. Parsons observes, if he could have had access to a more complete library of Reports, he might have made it more full and useful. By his unceasing application, his genius, and his increas- ing experience, Mv. Grcenleaf advanced himself into the foremost rank of the profession : the eminent lawyers who had been moving onward with him, were gradually with- drawing from the bar, — Judges Mellon, Whitman, and Preble to the bench, Mr. Longfellow by ill healtii, and Mr. Orr in 1828 by death ; thus making a larger opening for the learning and talents of the younger members who were pressing forward fur distinction : among those wore Mr. 628 SIMON GREENLEAF. Greciileaf, Gcii. Fesscndcn, Mr. Davies, and others still younger. So conspicuous had Mr. Grecnleaf become about the time that he closed his duties as reporter, that the at- tention of Judge Story, then at the head of the law school at Cambridge, was turned to him, as the most suitable per- son to supply the vacancy in that department of the univer- sity, rendered vacant by the death of the lamented Prof. Ashmun. We are indebted to Prof. Parsons's address before quoted, to a little private history on this subject, which it may not be uninteresting to our readers to review. Mr. Parsons says, " He succeeded Prof. Aslnnun in 1833, as Royall Professor. It was, as I have always imderstood, at Judge Story's suggestion that Mr. Greenleaf was solicited to leave Portland, and take upon himself these new duties. I have been told, but not by Mr Greenleaf, that Judge Story, holding his court in Portland, had there an interest- ing case in admiralty. At that time, this branch of the law was known only in our largest commercial cities, and not to many of the profession there. And Judge Story was sur- prised when he found that Mr Greenleaf brought to this case, a thorough acquaintance with this very peculiar sys- tem of law, which he himself deemed of great importance, and which, foreseeing its constantly increasing value, he wished to make prominent in the instruction of the school. And he immediately determined to bring Mr. Greenleaf to Cambridge, if he could." The case above referred to as attracting the notice of Judge Story, was similar, perhaps, to one of which the fol- lowing anecdote is related. Mr. Grccnlcafs father was not only a ship-carpenter, but an accurate draughtsman, and he took much pains in teaching his boys the art of con- structing a vessel. Simon, in this, was his most apt scholar: the benefit of which was shown in his legal practice. On one occasion, ho was engaged in an insurance cause : the SIMON GREENLEAF. 529 vessel insured had been injured by pounding upon the bot- tom or side wliile lying at a wharf. The defense was, that the injury was occasioned by carelessness in the insured in not securing her to the wharf, alleging the damage to have been in her side and not her bottom. One of the witnesses for the plaintiff was a master-builder, who had repaired the ship, and who, having testified that the injury was on the bottom, was thus cross-examined by Mr. Greenleaf. " You are a ship-carpenter, and master of your trade ?" " Yes.'* " In building a vessel, after laying your keel, you place a row of crooked timbers cross-wise, securing them to the keel with iron bolts ?" " Yes." " These you call floor timbers? ^^ "Yes." "Between these floor timbers the end of another crooked timber is inserted, as you would in- sert the fingers of one hand between those of another, and these you coW foot hook (futtuck) timber?" "Yes." " And so you proceed, filling in rows of crooked timbers, until you reach the top, calling the third the rising timber, then the naval timber^ and then the top timber ? " " Yes." "Now," said Mr. Greenleaf, "state to the jury, on your oath, what kind of a timber you furnished for the repairing of that vessel. Was it a floor timber, a foot hook, a rising or a naval timber ?" " It was a naval timber," said the witness. The case was clear, the jury saw it at a glance. The injury was on the side of the vessel, and not on the bottom : it was from carelessness and not accident, and the defense was sustained. For this anecdote I am indebted to his brother Jonathan, and it well illustrates his ingenu- ity and the advantage of his early attention to the details of the mechanic arts, in wliich he was quite proficient. He entered upon the important duties of his professor- ship, a new and untried course of life, in ISSS-, when there were but about fifty students in the school, and closed his labors in it by resignation in 1848, when the number was 530 SIMON GREENLEAF. about one luindrcd and fifty. ^ The duties of his professor- ship, and those which he voluntarily assumed and per- formed, were too much for his health, and he retired from liis office with a shattered constitution. For thirteen years, from 1833 to 184G, he and Judge Story labored together to build up this valuable school. To use the language of Prof. Parsons, " They worked harmoniously and success- fully, and perhaps the more harmoniously, because they were so entirely different. With much in common, for both were able, learned, and of the most devoted industry, there were other traits that belonged to one or the other of them exclusively. Greenleaf was singularly calm, finding strength in his very stillness, always cautious, and therefore always exact ; Story was as vivid and impulsive as man could be. His words flowed like a flood ; but it was be- cause his emotions and his thoughts demanded a flood as their exponent, and Story's manner was most peculiar : everybody listened when he spoke, for he carried one away with the irresistible attraction of his own swift motion. And Greenleaf, — somewhat slow and measured in his enun- ciation, — by the charm of his silver voice, the singular felic- ity of his expressions, and the smooth flow of his untroub- led stream of thought, caught and held the attention of every listener as few men can." In connection with this office, Mr. Parsons again says, " If Mr. Greenleaf could himself have directed the course of one who was to con- struct a memorial of him, assuredly he would have given special prominence to that which was not only the scene of his long-continued usefulness, but the object with which he 1 " The exact number of students who liave been in the Law School during Mr. Greenleaf s connection with it is one thousand three hundred and five. During the same period, upwards of ten thousand volumes have been added to the library, at the cost of over twenty-six thousand dollars." — Law Rep. 11,190. SIMON GREENLEAF. 531 was most earnestly, most devoutly, and most successfully identified." In 1846, after the death of Judge Story, he was appointed as his successor in the Dane Professorship, in which he continued until his resignation in 1848. The current of testimony was strong and uniform to the very able and satisfactory manner in which he discharged the duties of his professorship. The numerous pupils, who, during his labors, partook of the benefit of his instruction and his counsel, scattered all over our country, cherish a sweet recollection of the eloquent and persuasive lessons which it was their privilege to receive from him. The Fac- ulty of the college were most unwilling to lose his services, but yielded to a paramount necessity. And they bestowed upon him the honorary title of Emeritus Professor, which he bore as long as he lived. They also bestowed upon him the degree of LL. D. in 1834, in which they were followed by Amherst in 1845, and Alabama in 1852. The whole life of Prof. Greenleaf was filled with useful and honorable labor, — " Actis oBVum implct, non seg-nibus ajinis.'^ — But the fifteen, nay, the twenty years in which he resided in Cambridge were the most busy portion of his life. In addition to his lectures and the duties incident to his professorship, he was incessantly at work upon his books. During this period, he published a second edition of his Reports with notes ; in 1842, his first volume " On the Law of Evidence ; " in 1846, the second volume ; and in 1853, the third volume. In 1849, appeared the first volume of his edition of " Cruise's Digest of the Law of Real Property ; " and in 1850, the second and third volumes — all these vol- umes were in royal octavo. In 1841, he prepared, at the request of the Cumberland Bar, a memoir of Chief Justice Mellen, which was published as an Appendix to the seven- teenth volume of the Maine Reports. In 1845, he delivered a eulogy on Judge Story, which was published. This was 582 SIMON GREENLEAF. a beautiful tribute to the memory of a great man, an hon- orable literary eflfort. In a notice of it in the Law Reporter for December, 1845, is this remark : " It is entirely free from the defects of extravagant and indiscriminate praise, to which eulogies are peculiarly exposed. It is calm and conscientious. It is also a production of much literary merit. It has that simplicity and transparency of stylo wliich we always notice in Prof. Grecnleaf's publications." His discourse on his inauguration in 1833, was published in that year. Several communications from him appeared in the Law Reporter, viz., in 1839, L, 345, "Remarks on the Exclusion of Atheists as Witnesses ;" in the April number, 1847, " The Rule of Damages in Actions ex Delicto." In 1845, he published " Testamentary Counsels and Hints to Christians on the Right Distribution of their Property by Will: By a Retired Solicitor." In 1846, he published " An Examination of the Testimony of the Four Evangelists by the Rules of Evidence administered in Courts of Justice ; with an account of the Trial of Jesus." This was repub- lished in London in 184G. Besides these, he printed " A Catalogue of a Select Law Library ;" " A Course of Legal Studies ;" " A Letter to a Lawyer : By a member of the Profession," which was published as a tract by the Ameri- can Tract Society. The continued pressure upon mind and body in the prep- aration and publication of these valuable works could not but make serious inroads upon a system of the strongest model, much more upon one not gifted with the highest physical properties. No wonder that the silver cord was loosened by the great tension upon it, or that the golden bowl which fed the lamp of life was broken. He gave no margin of his life to recreation, except from one field of mental activity to another : the consequence was that he fell exhausted by life's toil : lie was cut down suddenly, with SIMON GREENLEAF. 633 his harness all on, in the midst of his labors. He died on the 6th of October, 1853, at the age of seventy, " in the full maturity of his powers, and the meridian of his fame." Mr. Greenleaf had neither leisure nor taste to engage in politics. His political opinions were always firm and de- cided as a federalist of the old school, and he never hesi- tated to express them. But he was no partisan, and the farthest remove from a demagogue. In 181G, he was pro- posed as a candidate for the Senate of Massachusetts from Cumberland County, with Lathrop Lewis, but the opposition candidates were elected by a small majority. h\ 1820 and 1821, he, with Asa Clapp and Nicholas Emery, represented Portland in the Legislature of Maine. As these were ses- sions when the new government was put in operation, the duty was responsible, and to a lawyer who was expected to pass upon the code of laws to be adopted on careful revision, arduous. Mr. Greenleaf was faithful to his trust, and ben- eficial to the country. With this experience, he retired at once and forever from political office. Mr. Greenleaf, in August, 180G, married Hannah King- man, a daughter of Capt. Ezra Kingman of East Bridge- water, Massachusetts, by whom he had fifteen children, — eleven of whom died in infancy. The survivors are two sons and two dauglitcrs : the daughters married Episcopal clergymen, — Charlotte Kingman, the Rev. Samuel Fuller ; and Caroline Augusta, the Rev. Andrew Croswell : of the sons, Patrick Henry graduated at Bowdoin College in 1825, was educated for the bar, and practiced sometime in Port- land, — he afterwards became, and is now, an Episcopal minister : James graduated at Dartmouth College in 1834, was a merchant in New Orleans at the l)rcaking out of the great Rebellion, and now resides in Cambridge, Massachu- setts : he married a daughter of his father's cherished friend, Stephen Longfellow. 534 SIMON GREENLEAF. As a writer and author, Professor Greenleaf stands deserv- edly high, and may be ranked, among Ai^^rican authors, in the class with the learned jurists, Kent and Story. The estimation in which his works are held, and their merits, may be inferred from the following remarks of Professor Parsons : " His reports are among the most valuable of American Reports : his edition of Cruise has entirely super- seded, for American use, the English edition. It is, how- ever, in his work on the Law of Evidence, that we find the best proof of his industry, his learning, and his sagacity. He certainly intended it, at first, mainly as a manual for students. But the profession took it up ; and, as repeated editions were demanded, it grew upon his hands ; and has grown equally in public favor, until it has overcome all competition, and become the book which every student and every practicing lawyer must have. How completely it has monopolized the public favor, may be inferred from the fact, that of the several volumes, there have been printed in this country, — if we include the second edition of the third volume now going through the press, — but very little less than thirty thousand copies." It may be interesting to those who never saw Mr. Green- leaf, to have a portrait of him, drawn by a familiar hand. ^ His brother Jonathan, in his " Genealogy," says : " Mr. Greenleaf was a grave, sedate-looking man, and very quiet in his movements. He was about five feet ten inches in height, rather stout built, full face, with a small, sharp eye, nearly black: His original hair was very dark brown." I may add from my own personal observation, that his com- plexion was sallow, his posture a little stooping, with his head projecting forward : his countenance was expressive of I Since writing this memoir, we have been able to obtain an excellent portrait of Prof. Greenleaf to adorn our volume, to which we take pleasure to refer our readers. SIMON . GREENLEAP. 635 benignity and intelligence. His brother thus continues his personal description : " Religion was not with him a dry- system of doctrines, but a living and active principle of love to God and love to man. For the last thirty years of his life, he was one of the most spiritually-minded men, evi- dently intent on walking humbly with God, and doing good to the bodies and souls of his fellow-men. Thus he moved quietly on as years increased upon him, with the evi- dence of his piety becoming brighter and brighter, especially to those who saw him in private life." Some other traits of character we notice in a brief bio- graphical sketch published in the Cambridge Chronicle im- mediately after his death. "As an instructor, he was greatly beloved, and his lectures were clear, distinct, and practical. As a counsellor, he was clear, safe, and practical. His advice was always characterised by a weight of com- mon sense as well as legal skill. As a man, he possessed a weight of character which insured for him the esteem of all who enjoyed his society, or came within the circle of his influence. Affable, polite, courteous, frank, and liberal- minded, he secured the confidence of his fellow citizens and neighbors. Combined with varied and legal attainments, he possessed great simplicity of character, which seemed to set off as in bold relief, those characteristics for which he was so truly distinguished." The bar of Suffolk and Cumberland, on receiving tidings of the death of Prof. Greenleaf, immediately held meetings, and adopted appropriate and feeling resolutions. At the assemblage of the Suffolk Bar, the venerable Justice Wilde presided, and made some suitable remarks on the pro- fessional life, eminence, and character of Mr. Greenleaf. Charles G. Loring submitted the resolutions with a few in- troductory oljservations. One of the resolutions was as fol- lows : " That as Americans, wo owe him a debt of grati- 536 SIMON GREENLEAP. tilde, for by his science and erudition, lie has illustrated the judicial literature of his country at home and abroad, and added another American name with those of Story, Kent, and Wheaton, to the great legal authors of Christendom. That by his laborious, genial, and successful services as teacher of the law, in the school at Cambridge, he has deserved the gratitude of his country." Judge Hoar, in response to the resolutions presented in court, said, "Among those eminent lawyers, who have never held judi- cial station, the name and opinions of Mr. Greenlcaf stand highest as authority, in all matters of law. I consider his death a great public loss." Judge Emery presided at a meeting of the Cumberland Bar, held October 11th, and Charles S. Daveis presented tho resolutions, which paid a high tribute to the intellectual and moral worth of Mr. Greenleaf, and an affectionate rec- ollection of the kind and social relations that had existed between them. One of the resolutions thus speaks : " Re- solved, That under a sense of the solemn impression pro- duced by his lamented loss, and the length of time to which his works may last, we could not better express our affec- tionate regard for his worth, and render more justice to his memory than by the inscription suitable to be placed on his monument, that it was the aim of his instructions and writings, in accordance with the purpose of his life, to im- prove the tone, and raise the standard of professional mor- ality, no less than the scale of legal excellence ; and that he sought to sustain the solemn sanctions of the divine law, by exhibiting confirmed grounds of evidence in attestation of Christian truth." Mr. Daveis spoke feelingly to the resolutions, and in high commendation of Mr. Greenleaf, as did also Judges Emery and Parris, Gen. Fessenden, and others. CALVIN SELDEN. 637 CALVIN SELDEN. 1808 — 1859. Calvin Selden of Xorridgewock died November 29tb, 1859, at the age of eighty. Mr. Selden was a descendant, in the sixth degree, from Thomas Selden, one of the com- pany of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, who came over to Cambridge, Massachusetts, in October, 1633 ; from which place he migrated to Hartford, Connecticut, in 1G36, and was made freeman in 1640. The parents of Mr. Selden were Joseph and Susannah ( Smith ) Selden of Haddam, Connecticut, where he was born February 28th, 1779. Mr. Selden spent the early part of his life on his father's farm ; but having a desire for an education, he changed the course of his pursuits. His father wishing him to become a minister, he prepared for college, and entered Dartmouth, from which he took his degree in 1803, at the age of twenty-four. A certificate from President Wheelock, at this time, is so honorable to this graduate, that I will not withhold an extract from it. " He is a young gentleman of talents and unblemished moral and religious character, of respectable acquirements in the different branches of colle- giate literature, and of accomplishments in music." He immediately after took charge of the Gilmanton Academy in New Hampshire, which he kept for two years, at the same time pursuing his studies in divinity. He was duly licensed as a preacher, and officiated in several parishes, but his performances not coming up to his own ideal of excellence, he suddenly abandoned that profession, and devoted himself to law. On being admitted to the bar, he came to Norridgewock in the autumn of 1808, at a most favorable juncture. Efforts were then making for the establishment of a new county from the territory constitut- ing the northern part of Kennebec, which resulted in the incorporation of Somerset County, March 1st, 1809, with 85 538 CALVIN SELDEN. Norridgc^ock for its sliire-town. At that place, a large trade was carried on by Messrs. Ware and Sawtelle, who with ample means were extending their business in every direction. Mr. Selden entered at once upon a suc- cessful course of practice, to which he brought a high character for integrity, considerable experience, and good business qualities. He soon acquired the confidence of the whole community, and took a prominent position at the bar and among the people. In 1810, '11, and '12, he "vVas chosen , to represent the town in the Legislature, and again in 1829 ; and acquired reputation in this department, so that in 1812 his name was proposed for one of the justices of the Court of Common Pleas, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the declension of Judah McLellan. He failed to obtain the appointment, not for want of the necessary qualifications, but the greater influence which was brought to bear in favor of another candidate, Ebenezer Thatcher. He was, however, soon after appointed chief justice of the court of sessions, and one of the commissioners for building a court- . house for the new county. He was also much employed in the financial and prudential affairs of the town, as agent, clerk, and selectman. In all these public employments, Mr. Selden sustained the character of an able, honest, and faithful servant, looking always carefully and judiciously after the public interests, and giving entire satisfaction in the numerous and various concerns intrusted to his man- agement. Mr. Selden was a many-sided man, and seems to have had wonderful facilities of adaptation to the different j)osi- tions which lie was called to fill, or to which lie gave liis energies. After successfully practicing law a few years, he formed a partnership with Mr. Fairfield, to wlioin the law business was gradually intrusted, while he engaged in trade as a partner in the prosperous house of Messrs. Ware & CALVIN SELDEN. 689 Fletcher, which was doing the most extensive business of any firm in that part of the country. Here he rapidly accumulated property, sufficient, it would seem, to satisfy his humble ambition ; for in about eight years he quitted mercantile and for most part his legal employments, and de- voted himself heartily and practically to the cultivation of the soil. In this primitive and most independent pursuit, he was no less successful than in the various other employments to which he had given his attention. He changed so readily from one staple pursuit to another that it would seem to indicate instability or fickleness of character ; but the suc- cess which attended each change justified his course, and helped him on in the career of usefulness and prosperity, and thus confirmed the soundness of his judgment. On the formation of the Agricultural Society of Somerset, in 1821, he was chosen its first president, and was the most efficient member in introducing improvements in the various depart- ments of agricultural labor. In 1812, Mr. Sclden formed a matrimonial connection with Harriet, a daughter of Mr. Sawtelle, the former part- ner of Mr. "Ware, by whom he had five children, two daughters and three sons. One daughter, Sarah S., married James McCobb, Esq., of Portland; the other, Mary "W. S., the Rev. Mr. Burgess of Portland, and is dead. Edward C, the oldest son, died in California in 18G2. Henry I. is commission merchant in New York, and James R., in San Francisco. This aged and respected man — the preceptor, minister, lawyer, merchant, magistrate, and farmer — facile princepSy died at the age of eighty years and nine months. The bar of Somerset, still holding on to him as a member of their fraternity, and valuing the traditions of his connec- tion with them, at a meeting held for the purpose, on the ensuing term of the court, adopted very complimentary 540 CALVIN SELDEN. resolutions in relation to their deceased brother, which were ordered to be placed on the records of the court. Mr. Hutchinson, one of the elders of the bar, and since dead, in announcing the death, spoke of him as the oldest member of the bar, and said that, although he had left the active duties of the profession for several years, " he was never wholly absent from the courts, up to the time of his death, but was with lis at every term." Among his classmates were Henry Hubbard, late M. C. from New Hampshire ; the distinguished physicians Drs. Mussey and Sliattuck, and Chief Justice Weston of our State. I cannot more fittingly close this brief sketch, than by adopting the language of Chief Justice Weston, written a few days after the death of Mr. Selden. He says : " We graduated at Dartmouth College in 1803 : Mr. Selden was a few years older than myself. * * In our junior year, we were both members of the Phi-Beta-Kappa Society. He was highly respected by the faculty and by his fellow students, for his application to study, and for the faithful discharge of his various duties. He maintained there, as iu after life, the character of a man eminent for prudence and discretion. While at college, he was a professor of religion, and I think never lost sight of the high and solemn duties the profession imposed. He steadily manifested, in his deportment and social intercourse, a strict attention to the proprieties of life, and a kind and friendly regard to others. He was modest in his deportment, but not wanting in self- respect, which no one in his presence would ever presume to invade. He was manly, but genial. He was not a man of display, seeking distinction as a scholar, and was, therefore, not stimulated to the severe labor and exertion with which it is generally purchased. Tlie same moderation in his aspirations attended him in after life. The path of ambition had few attractions for i^ lC>'-t/^^!^f' 1830 at thea^e o£ 46. <^^ CALVIN SELDEN: SAMUEL FESSENDEN. 541 him, either as a literary, professional, or political man. Few men have had a more prosperous career through a long life. Health, friends, ease, comparative affluence, and tiie respect of the community, were his. These were elements of happiness, the value of which he appreciated ; and with these he was satisfied. It is nearly two years since I saw him. He was then about eighty ; erect, vigorous, and very little changed in person from the period of our first acquaintance. I have never known a man so little marked by the hand of time for sixty years." SAMUEL FESSENDEN. 180 9 — The venerable Samuel Fessenden, now, with one excep- tion, the oldest resident member of the Cumberland Bar, was the early contemporary of Mr. Greenleaf, and a competitor, of equal ardor and ability, for the practice, in the interior of Cumberland County. Mr. Fessenden — or, as we shall call him. General Fessen- den, for he is universally known by that title — was the son of the Rev. William Fessenden, of Fryeburg, Maine, where the General was born, July 16, 1784. His father was descended from Nicholas Fessenden, who was born in England, in 1651, and came to Cambridge in New England, previous to 1674. John Fessenden, the first of the name who came to this country, was one of the first settlers in Cambridge, Massa- chusetts, and was admitted a freeman in 1641. He was by trade a saddler, and died without issue. Nicholas, his nephew, was his heir, and probably came over to settle and enjoy the estate : he had fourteen children by his wife, Mar- garet Cheney. His son Benjamin, educated at Harvard College, went to Sandwich, and is the ancestor of the Fes- 542 SAMUEL FESSENDEN. seiidens in that quarter. The branch in Maine descended from William, born in 1693, who married Martha Wyeth in 1716, and had eleven children. His oldest son, William, born December, 1718, and graduated at Harvard College, 1737, was a schoolmaster, and licensed to preach, but did not follow the vocation. He married Mary Palmer, March 31, 1740, by whom he had six children : one of whom was William, the father of Samuel, who was born November 3, 1747, old style, and graduated at Harvard College in 1768. He was settled the first minister of the first parish in Frye- hurg, October 11, 1775 ; in which office he continued about thirty years, to the time of his death. May 6, 1805. He was a man of sterling qualities, earnest and devout, and died deeply lamented. He was twice married : first to Sarah Reed of Dunbarton, New Hampshire, in 1771, who with one child early died. In August, 1774, he married Sarah Clement of Boscawen, New Hampshire, — the wise and genial woman who long survived him, and was the mother of nine children : several of whom have left the imprint of their honorable and useful lives upon the pages of the times through which they passed. Ebenezer, a farmer in Frye- burg, though dead, lives in a family of lawyers, merchants, and physicians, who descended from him and survive him ; Thomas was a respected lawyer in New York ; Joseph Palmer, the well-known clergyman of South Bridgton, died in 1861, at the age of sixty-eight ; Sarah was the wife of Dr. Oliver Griswold ; and Mary Palmer, the wife of our late esteemed brother of the bar, William Barrows, and mother of our no less esteemed brother and judge of pro- bate for Cumberland County. His distinguished son, Sam- uel, the subject of this notice, was born in Fryeburg, July 16, 1784 ; and was brought up at Fryeburg, receiving instruction in the fundamental principles of virtue and religion from his excellent parents, as well as the rudiments SAMUEL FESSENDEN. 643 of the education, afterwards pursued at Fryeburg Academy, au institution established in 1792, by the influence of his father and other gentlemen of that town. He afterwards taught school in his native town, before going to college ; and while in college, he pursued the same occupation at Paris and Boscawen, to help out the means of finishing his college course. Entering Dartmouth College, he devoted his time diligently to the acquisition of knowledge, and took his degree, with a high reputation as a scholar, in 1806. Among his classmates were his future brother-in-law, Wil- liam Jiarrows ; Judge Richard Fletcher of Massachusetts ; the late Governor Harvey of New Hampshire ; and the late Governor Parris of Maine. On leaving college, Mr. Fessenden entered the office of the late Judge Dana at Fryeburg, where he faithfully pur- sued his studies, and was admitted to the bar in 1809 ; when he opened an office in New Gloucester, where Judge Weston and Daniel Howard were then in practice. This was in the central part of the county, and was then the center of a considerable trade. Mr. Fessenden entered upon the practice with earnestness, and having a strong mind, well furnished by literary and legal study, and in the vigor of life, and with the advantages of a well developed and handsome person, he soon took the lead in the practice of his town and neighborhood. A fortunate concurrence of events or some trifling incident often gives a sudden turn to a man's life, and hastens on his advancement or decline. Such an incident happened to General Fessenden soon after commencing practice in New Gloucester. He was called to attend a trial before a magistrate in a neighboring town, in the course of which, one of the witnesses opposed to him, somewhat excited by li([Uor, was contradictory in his state- ments, and prevaricated, to favor the party by whom he was summoned. Mr. Fosscudcu, perceiving this, cross-examined 544 SAMUEL FESSENDEN. him so closely as to make him appear ridiculous, and to destroy the force of his testimony : this so provoked the witness that he determined to be revenged on the attorney ; and when Mr. Fesscnden vrcnt out of court, he found the bully waiting for him, and with his shirt sleeves rolled up, he made a sudden assault upon his adversary. The General coolly dealt him a left-handed blow, not a slight one, and at the same time dextrously applied his foot, so that the culprit was laid quivering on the ground. The General went to him, and quietly said, " If you are satisfied, I will go home, as I am somewhat in a hurry." The crowd raised a deafen- ing shout, and told the General he had vanquished the greatest bully in the town, and he should have their business. His popularity was thus secured, and the next term of the court he made thirty entries. His most powerful competitor was the late Prof. Green- leaf, who lived in the adjoining town of Gray, and who had already acquired popularity and reputation for his ingenuity and eloquence. The encounters of these two young men, struggling for mastery in the profession, and for an honora- ble livelihood, were often sharp and interesting, as they took place before country magistrates, as well as on the broader field of the Common Pleas and Supreme Courts. One anecdote of their country practice often amused the bar. Mr. Greenleaf usually brought his justice actions before 'Squire Perley of Gray, and Mr. Fcssenden was occasionally called there in the defense. In one of those trials, which had occupied the forenoon, and was contested with consid- erable feeling, the justice had thrown out intimations favorable to the plaintiff, which, Fessendcn perceiving, endeavored to avert by the most courteous treatment : they adjourned for dinner, after which the magistrate was to render judgment. On meeting again in the afternoon, to the surprise of all but General Fessendcn, and most of all SAMUEL FESSENDEN. 545 to Mr. Grcenleaf, the case was given in favor of Mr. Fessen- den's client. On their way home, the two counsel were commenting on the decision, in which Greenleaf expressed astonishment at the sudden change of opinion in the magistrate, and asked Fessenden if he could imagine the cause. The only reply Fessenden made, was to show Greenleaf a package of blank writs signed by Perley, which satisfied him that the prospect of getting a new customer had produced a striking development in the mind of the justice. The oft-repeated skirmishes of these sharpshooters on the outposts prepared them for the sterner conflicts on the larger arena of the courts. They were thus trained and disciplined : both ardent and ambitious, — Greenleaf keen, ingenious, insinuating, and fluent ; Fessenden solid, moder- ate in manner, pertinacious, and persevering, — and both having great weight with the jury, but by different ap- proaches. Their forensic encounters, from their rivalship and ability, were listened to by the bar and the court with much interest : in these were displayed cojuous resources of legal knowledge and cultivated powers of elocution. Green- leaf's manner was more plausible, Fessenden's more in- genuous: each having peculiar effect in his own way. Fessenden did not arrive at his points and conclusions so directly as Greenleaf: he had more circumlocution and repetition, but he reached his point, and every point, before he quitted his subject, and nothing was omitted that could give light to the jury. Greenleaf 's manner was extremely pleasant, his elocution easy and graceful, and his argu- ments more concise. In learning and ability, it was difficult to choose between them. For more than twenty years, this rivalry existed between them in a larger degree than with any other members of the Cumberland Bar, because their competition in tho country was brought to Portland, to 546 SAMUEL FESSENDEN: THOMAS A. DEBLOIS. which place they both moved, brhigiiig their clients, and retaining those local feelings and prejudices, which they had not escaped in their early practice. Gen. Fessenden moved to Portland in 1822 ; Mr. Greenleaf had preceded him four years ; their fame went before them, their business followed them ; and they advanced in both with a firm and steady step to the highest ranks in the profession, gaining and securing the confidence of their brethren of the bar and on the bench, and the respect of their fellow citizens. They were both men of high honor and integrity, professors of religion. Christian men, and Christian gentlemen. Such men were an honor to the bar, and a blessing to the com- munity in which they lived. When Gen. Fessenden moved to Portland, he formed a connection in business with Thomas Amory Deblois, who was born in Boston, the son of Stephen Deblois, and grand- son, by the mother, of the wealthy and respected merchant, Thomas C. Amory. lie graduated at Harvard College in 1813, and prepared for the bar in the office of Samuel A. Bradley at Fryeburg. He was admitted to the bar in 1816, and after practicing a short time in Windham, he moved to Portland. This professional partnership continued to 1854, a period of thirty-two years, and was one of the most suc- cessful ever established in the State. The junior partner had numerous friends in Boston, his native place, with which our State was largely connected in commercial transactions, which brought large accessions to the office ; while the senior's popularity in the country secured many clients from that quarter ; and the attention, promptness, and ability which they gave to their business, secured all the clients and correspondents whom they had once re- ceived. Gen. Fessenden was particularly familiar with the law of real estate, which formed much of the controversy, and the gravest part of it, that occupied our courts. He SAMUEL FESSENDEN : THOMAS A. DEBLOIS. 547 was largely employed in this branch of business, and man- aged it with skill, learning, and success. Both parties were able advocates, and held conspicuous rank, during this period, at the bar. He dissolved his connection with ^[r. Deblois in 1854, in order to take his son Daniel into partnership, and tlie new firm continued until his son was elected clerk of the courts in 1801, wlien, advanced in years, and with the honors and burdens of more than fifty years' professional life, and the re- spect of the community upon him, he retired from the courts and all active duty, to the repose of private and domestic life, which his enfeebled health imperatively demanded. He ha}> pily now survives at the age of seventy-eight, the oldest mem- ber, but one, of the Cumberland Bar, and for many years its honored president. And as he leaves with pain these scenes of his labors and his triumphs, he speaks emphatically of the high regard he carries with him, for the profession in which he was so long and honorably engaged. He found at the bar of Cumberland, when he entered it, Mellen, Whitman, Longfellow, Hopkins, Emery, Henry A. S. Dearborn, Potter, — all of Portland ; Orr of Brunswick ; Cutler of North Yarmouth ; Greenleaf of Gray ; besides other lesser lights : Freeman was clerk and Waite sheriff, time- honored attendants. Of all these whose names I have men- tioned, Whitman and Potter arc the only survivors, one in his eighty-sixth and the other in his eighty-seventh year, still enjoying the mellow fruits of temperance, moderation, and virtuous lives. General Fesscndcn's literary attainments were very re- spectable : in early life he had cultivated his classical taste, and stored his mind by a course of general reading witli copious knowledge, which he subsequently improved as the duties of his profession would admit. His standing in col- lege was among the best scholars, and this rank he sustained 5-18 SAMUEL FESSENDEN. in after life, and received a public acknowledgment, in his election in 1828 as a member of the Maine Historical So- ciety, and in 1846, by the degree of LL. D. conferred upon him by Bowdoin College. In 1828, he was spoken of as president of Dartmouth College, on the death of President Tyler ; but his aversion to change his mode of life, suspend- ed further effort in that direction. General Fessenden early took a deep interest in the polit- ical affairs of the country, as his father had before him, who had represented his town in tlie General Court. They were strong and undeviating federalists of the Washington and Hamilton school ; and the whole family being ardent, earnest persons, threw themselves zealously into the conflicts which occurred between the opposing parties in the early part of the century. The year after he settled in New Gloucester, ho was invited by the federalists there to deliver the 4th of July oration : Francis Eaton, another lawyer of the town, was the orator of the democratic party. The town was strongly federal, and that party erected a flag staff in front of the house in which their oration was to be delivered, on which they hoisted the national flag. Col. Foxcroft, the demo- cratic leader, sent word that the flag must come down ; which, when Mr. Fessenden heard, he stationed two men at the foot of the staff, first asking them if they would sec that the flag was not lowered during the delivery of the oration. They replied that it should not come down, unless they passed over their dead bodies. It is needless to say that the banner floated unmolested. It was on this occasion that Parson Mosely, the minister of the parish, and a high federalist, read the hymn oeginning thus : " Break out their teeth, Almighty God, Those teeth of lions dyed in blood." General Fessenden was a representative from New Glou- cester to the General Court in 1814, 1815, and 181G, and a SAMUEL FESSENDEN. 549 senator from the county in 1818 and 1819, in which year the State swung away from her ancient moorings by the side of the old commonwealtli into independent life. In these years, he steadily advocated the principles of the federal party, and often with great eloquence and power. It was in 1814, in the discussion of the proposition to send dele- gates to the Hartford Convention^ that he made his famous speech against the national administration, in which he uttered the memorable declaration, that he was " ready to take the constitution in one hand and a sword in the other, and demand at Washington the constitutional rights of the people." He held a high position iji the Legislature, and was considered during this period of public life, being but thirty years old when he entered it, one of the most promis- ing of the young men in the District of Maine. It was while he was senator, in the political year of 1818, that a sharp controversy occurred on the floor of the Senate iDctween him and General King, a senator from Lincoln county, which was subsequently continued before the people in the public papers, and had an influence on political events. It arose on the question of making a grant to the " Maine Literary and Theological Institution," now Waterville Col- lege. The trustees had petitioned the legislature for aid : at the same session, the subject was referred to a committee of which Oen. King was chairman, who made a report ac- companied by a bill granting four townships of land, and 13,000 a year for several years to the institution. The bill was postponed to the next session, an opposition being mani- fested to it. During the summer, the Baptist denomination was roused by Gen. King to an effort in favor of the passage of the bill, and printed petitions were prepared by General King, and sent through the State for signature. These were presented at the January session, and were so objec- tionable by their offensive language, that it had an uufavor- 550 SAMUEL FESSENDEN. able clTect upon the application and the object of the grant. They demanded the passage of the bill, and made dispar- aging reflections upon other literary institutions. When the subject came before the Senate, General Fessenden and others objected to the passage of the bill, on the ground that it granted too much ; and General Fessenden, in a speech on the occasion, in order to obviate the effect of the offensive language of the petitions, observed that they did not emanate from the board of trustees, nor have their assent. This was immediately denied in a very excited manner by General King, who pronounced the statement false. General Fessenden replied that the information had been given him by a member of the other house, who was also one of the trustees of the institution, and he had no doubt of its correctness. King re-affu-med, with great vehe- mence, that the statement was untrue, and that the petitions were submitted to the trustees, and approved by them, with one exception. After much angry discussion, the bill was defeated ; and the battle was renewed on the broader arena of the public press. The Eastern Argus threw itself warmly into the controversy, and sustained the position of General King with keenness of sarcasm, for which the editor of that paper, Mr. Ware, had acknowledged talent. And it was used as one of the arguments in favor of separation, that as Massachusetts and the federal party withheld a just favor and patronage from the literary institutions of Maine, the District should place itself in a situation to bestow a proper endowment upon her own institutions. The argument had great weight, especially in the Baptist denomination, to which the Waterville institution belonged. Gen. Alford Richardson, the representative from North Yarmouth, was the member who furnished the information to General Fessenden on which he made his statement : he and General King were both members of the board of SAMUEL FESSENDEN. 651 Trustees of the Waterville Seminary, and were thus brought in direct issue on the question of veracity. General Richardson, in 1822, published a pamphlet in which he thoroughly examined the whole subject, produced copies of the records of the trustees and various correspondence and facts, in order to vindicate himself from the charge of false- hood. He was a man of great purity of character and incapable of falsehood ; and now that the principal belliger- ents are dead. King and Richardson, and the party issues which gave interest and importance to the controversy, entirely effete, we may justly say, that General Richardson stands relieved from the imputation, hastily and harshly cast upon him. As for General Fesscnden, his vindication was made on the spot, and was triumphant and successful. The college, by this injudicious management, was the princi- pal sufferer. General Fessenden's powers, physical and mental, seemed peculiarly to qualify him for a prominent position in a deliberative assembly : his commanding figure, his full round voice, his emphatic and graceful elocution, could not but make a deep impression upon such an audience. He distinguished himself so much in the Legislature, that, in 1818, while holding the office of senator, he was elected by both branches, major general of the 12th division of the militia of Massachusetts. This office he held fourteen years, and took great pleasure in it. At that time, the militia was held in respect, and scarcely a year passed but he had reviews of different portions of his division, which embraced the whole county. He collected around him as his staff, gentlemen of high standing in the community, and his parades were brilliant and attractive. His figure and appearance were in a high degree military and com- manding. In a manuscript note of Mr. Williamson, the historian of Maine, who was his opponent in politics, wo 552 SAMUEL FESSENDEN. find these comments : " He is a man of very good intellec- tual powers, a thorough lawyer, an able advocate, and a safe and faithful counsellor. lie is in person above the usual size, has an expressive countenance, and his manners arc elevated, and his bearing military. Though he is a high-toned federalist, he was popular, for his principles were pure — a man of accredited piety. He was emulous to excel, and his example worthy to be imitated," The separation, and his removal to Portland, soon after, threw him for awhile out of public employment, especially as his strong party biases were obnoxious to the ruling power in the new State. But in 1825 and 1826, he repre- sented Portland in the Legislature, and did good service in that capacity : his colleagues the first year were Joseph Adams and Joshua Richardson ; the second year, Stephen Longfellow and Isaac Adams. After this, he became more engrossed in business which occupied all his time. He early became a member of the Masonic Order, and rose through its various grades to its chief position in the State ; for a number of years he was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Maine. General Fessendcn followed the federal party in its vari- ous changes ; to national republican, under John Quincy Adams, and to whig, when Clay led off the party. But, at length, when the anti-slavery power was acquiring force, and taking a firm stand for the emancipation of the African, race on this continent, General Fessendcn, with his accus- tomed ardor, and from sincere conviction, entered the ranks of that party, and did yeoman's service in its cause. For a long time, it was very unpopular in Portland : the municipal authorities refused the public halls for their meetings, and when they did assemble, they encountered an exasperated mob. The General became quite obnoxious for his earnest advocacy of the cause, but nothing intimidated or discour- SAMUEL FESSEXDEN. 553 aged, lie struggled on through evil report and good report, holding up the l)anner of freedom for all men, not whites alone, but blacks as well. It was a matter of principle with him, and he was regardless of what men might say, if it conflicted with his sense of right. He received colored persons into his house, he took them with him to church, he visited them in their families, and encouraged them in every way to give them self-respect and a place in society. In 184^:, he introduced a colored man, Macon B. Allen, into the court-house, while the District Court was in session, and moved the court that he be admitted to practice as an attorney and counsellor at law, under the law then existing in Maine, which rendered any citizen eligible to admission, who produced a certificate of good moral character. Allen was rejected on the ground that he was not a citizen. He afterwards applied to be admitted on examination ; he was thereupon called before the examiners, a committee of the bar, and having sustained a satisfactory examination, he was recommended and admitted. He, however, never entered upon the practice in Maine, but went to Boston, and made repeated applications for admission to the Suffolk Bar, but was uniformly rejected. General Fessenden has always been extremely popular with those people, not only from his great benevolence of character, but from the strong, undeviating interest he has taken in the race. One of them, to show his affection, at a festival which they held, gave the following toast : " General Fessenden — though he has a white face, he has a black heart." He has advocated the anti-slavery cause consis- tently and uniformly, from a deep conviction, but is far from entering into the ultra radical views of those who would sacrifice the Union and all other of our political blessings to this one issue. He is governed by enlightened views of freedom, not freedom from law and just restraints, 36 654 SAMUEL FESSENDEN. but a large liberty in ^ylucll man may exercise bis freedom of tbougbt and speeeb, under tbe salutary restraints of just laws, AYbicb guarantee tbe rigbts and give tbeir protection to otbers, as well as bimself. His maxim is, " Et scntirc qucc relit, et quce sentiat discere,^^ — be is willing to grant to otbers wbat he claims for bimself. In 1841, and several otber years, General Fessendcn was tbe candidate of tbe anti-slavery party for governor of tbe State ; and be has always enjoyed tbeir confidence, and stood high in tbeir esteem as a firm friend and wise counsellor. He has lived to see the sect wbicb Avas despised and rejected, come to be high in public consideration, and courted for its popular influence ; and its orators, who once encountered hisses and reproaches, now greeted with huzzas and applause, not tbe faintest of wbicb are bestowed upon those really gifted men who advance up from tbe ranks of tbe colored race itself. As might be inferred from the uniform benignity and kindness which have ever warmed tbe heart and guided the steps of this excellent man, tbe purest source of bis enjoy- ment, and tbe kindliest influences of his life, were to be found in tbe domestic circle. No man ever made a better husband or a better father than he ; and in response to this sentiment, bis cherished wife, and his eight living children, seven sons and one daughter, all respectably settled in life, will rise up with one accord, and do him homage. His child- ren numbered eleven, nine sons and two daughters ; two sons and one daughter are dead. Eight of the sons were educated at New England colleges, — five at Bowdoin and three at Dartmouth. Four of bis sons were educated for tbe bar, three for medicine, and one for tbe pulpit. Three arc now in Congress, — Samuel C, a representative from the third congressional district in Maine ; and William Pitt, tbe distinguished senator from our State ; and liis son Tiiomas WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN. 655 A. D., recently elected from the Oxford District, for the Tincxpired term of Judge Walton. William Pitt, the oldest son of the General, has had a splendid career : born in 180(J, he early manifested remarkably quick perceptions and strong mental power. He entered college before he was thirteen years old, and graduated in 1823, before he was seventeen. He studied his profession with Charles S. Daveis in Portland, whose kind and able counsel, and the peculiar line of his practice, cultivated and developed that activity of mind and those brilliant powers that carried him, with undeviating step, to the head of the bar in Maine, and to the leadership in the Senate of the United States ; and would have given him the highest seat on the bench of the Supreme Court of the State, if he would have been willing to sacrifice the noble aspirations of political life for the quiet and solid rewards of judicial office. His first appearance in public life was as a representative from Portland in 1832, at the age of twenty-five ; and being repeatedly elected to the House, where he distinguished himself by the keenness of his intellect and his graceful and powerful elocution, he was selected by the whigs of (/uraberland District, in the exciting campaign of 1840, to represent that district in Congress. In this first portion of the first whig administration, he at once took a prominent stand on the floor of Congress, and acquired a reputation that did honor to himself and the district which he ably represented. His professional engagements, which were numerous and important, and the claims of a young family, induced him to decline a re-election. After this, he was returned four times to the Legislature from Portland, and in 1853, was elected United States senator for a full term of six years, as successor to James W. Bradbury. During this term, he served on the finance committee, of which Mr. Hunter of Virginia was chairman ; much of the labor. 550 WILLIAM P. FESSENDEN. therefore, of this important committee devolved on Mr. Fessenden, and he signally distinguished himself during the ■whole of his term, embracing the administration of Frank- lin Fierce, and the first half of James Buchanan's, by wisdom in council and eloquence in debate. He resisted with iindeviating firmness and skill, the deep and insidious machinations of the slaveholding party to fasten their supremacy on the country, and with equal ability, illustrated the financial policy of the government, and the other varied and multifarious interests of the country. His merits and services were justly and handsomely acknowledged by a re-election for a second term of six years, in 1859. His large experience in political life, and especially on this broad field of national politics, engrafted on intellectual powers and resources of the highest quality, all united to a dialectic skill rarely equalled, have justly given him that prominence in the national councils, which the public award and his colleagues concede. h\ the exciting and deeply interesting discussions and measures which have grown out of the great rebellion, he has proved himself no less an unflinching enemy to treason, than friend to a sound and Avise conserv- atism, which seeks the re-establishment of the Union upon the basis of the old and venerable and venerated constitu- tion. As chairman of the committee of finance in the Senate, his labors, his rare powers and resources, in this period, when the highest financial ability of the country is put in requisition to meet the unparalleled demands upon the treasury, have proved equal to the emergency, and he has shown himself to be a chancellor of the exchequer admir- ably adapted to the urgent demands of the great republic. In addition to his own labors in council, three of his four sons, all educated at college, promptly entered the army. Two remain in the service ; but his youngest, Samuel, nobly perished on the field in the great battle near Centreville, in August, 1802, while serving as an aid to General Tower. SAMUEL FESSENDEN : WILLIAM A. HAYES. 557 The mother of his chilJreii was Ellen, the youngest daughter of James Dcering, Esq., of Portland : her lamented death in 1857 deprived him of a loved companion and a dearly cherished friend. In 1858, Senator ' Fessenden re- ceived from Bowdoin College the degree of LL. D. These are some of the claims which General Fessenden has to public gratitude, and had he given no more than his children to his native land, he would deserve the thanks of the present and future time. He has devoted to their education and support, the resources of a large income, which has been invested beyond the reach of casuality or depreciation, and become a large benefaction to his country. And should some envious, or superficial, or curious per- son ask, " Where are his jewels ? where is the pecuniary result of fifty years' professional labor ? " he would have more reason than the mother of the Gracchi, to point to his sons and say, " They are here." It is a source of unalloyed satisfaction to the venerable Fessenden, to have lived to this day, and to be a witness to the honors, the respect, and prosperity which have attended upon all of his surviving children, without a single exception. Standing upon the verge of life, he may well exclaim with the ancient seer, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." "WILLIAM ALLEN HAYES. 1809 — 1850. Mr. Hayes, who long filled places of honor and trust in the county of York, was the youngest of the three sons of David Hayes of North Yarmouth. He was born in that town October 20, 1783. The family was of Scotch descent : his first American ancestor, John, was in Dover, New Hampshire, as early as 1G80, and married there in 1C8G. The grandson of the first John having the samo'name, who 558 WILLIAM A. HAYES. was grandfather of the subject of our notice, was the first of the name who settled in North Yarmouth, and was among the early immigrants who went there on the revival of the town in the early part of the last century. Ilis mother died when he was nine years old, and his father when he was but twelve. Deprived of these guides and guardians of their early years, the three brothers were thrown upon their own resources, and manfully did they sustain themselves. The eldest son was but fifteen, yet they kept the household together, without assistant or domestic. William worked with the others on the farm in summer, and attended the district school in the winter ; and so well did he improve his opportunities, limited as they were, that at the age of fifteen, he was invited to become the teacher of the school. This encouragement and reward stimulated him to seek a liberal education : this determination was no sooner formed, than, with the energy which ever charac- terised him, he commenced and prosecuted tlie studies pre- liminary to a college examination, with the Rev. Tristram Oilman, the worthy pastor of the church in North Yarmouth. Mr. Gilman was a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1757, with Edward Brooks, his predecessor in the ministry, Judge Theophilus Bradbury, and other distinguished men. He was ordained in 1769, and died in the ministry in 1809. Under the guiding and friendly influence of this excellent man, young Hayes was well prepared for college, and was admitted to Dartmouth in 1801. He passed through his collegiate course with honor, and graduated in 1805, with the highest distinction of the class, although it contained such names as Francis Brown, afterwards president of the col- lege ; the Rev. Samuel Osgood of Springfield, lately deceased ; and the learned and Rev. Henry Coleman of Salem. With these gentleman he was ever on terms of intimate friend- ship ; and wc liave heard that this friendship, csi)ecially in WILLIAM A. HAYES. 559 the case of Dr. Brown, was transmitted to their children, two of whom, twenty-six years later, entered the same college as classmates, and graduated in 1831 : these were the Rev. Samuel G. Brown, professor of oratory at Dart- mouth College, and John L. Hayes, Esq., distinguished for his scientihc attainments. On leaving college, Mr. Hayes took charge for a year, of Moor's classical school at Hanover, an institution established by the elder Pres. Wheelock, in connection with the college. After that time, he devoted himself to the study of the law with his wonted ability and earnestness. He spent his first year with Ezekiel Whitman at New Gloucester, then a short time with Dudley Hubbard at South Berwick, and finished his course with Artemas Ward of Charlestown, a celebrated law- yer of the Middlesex Bar, afterwards chief justice of the Bos- ton Court of Common Fleas, who was a sound lawyer, with a very large practice. He was admitted to the Middlesex Bar in 1809, and immediately opened an office at South Berwick, which place for the remainder of his life became the field of his usefulness, his labor, and fame. Mr. Hayes, as might have been anticipated from his habits of industry and method, from his acquirements as a scholar and a lawyer, from his acknowledged ability and persever- ance, immediately took a prominent position in his profession and society. At the time he commenced practice, the only lawyers in Berwick, which then embraced a very large territory now divided into several towns, were Dudley Hubbard, whose business, by inattention, was fast receding ; Benjamin Green, who was more fond of politics than law ; and William Lambert, a very easy, quiet man, who made little effort for business. A good opening, therefore, existed in this thriving community for an enterprising lawyer, and Mr. Hayes was the man for the place and the time. He soon acquired a large business, which he managed success- 560 WILLIAM A. HAYES. fully, accumulated property, won the confidence of the public, and earnestly engaged in promoting the various interests of the community in which he had cast his lot. He succeeded not only to the business of Dudley Hubbard, who died in 181G, but to his elegant mansion and farm, and made it one of the most beautiful and highly cultivated spots in the county. He was a thoroughly experimental tarmer, and his experiments being in the line of intelligence and pi'ogress, were successful. "Whatever he did, in the different walks of life, he did well : the head always came to the aid of the hand, and working together, they produced the results which always must follow intelligent labor. God helps those who help themselves. The forty years of his busy life at South Berwick is well described in the following brief summary, which we take from an obituary notice of Mr. Hayes, published soon after his death. " During this period, he received repeated testimonials of respect and confidence from his brethren of the bar and fellow citizens. For more than twenty-five years he was President of the South Berwick Bank, about the same period President of the bar of York County : he was many years President of the Board of Trustees of the Berwick Academy, and for twenty years Judge of Probate for York County. (1828-1847.) In all these multiplied relations, he maintained the character of a faithful, upright, wise, and good man." He did not engage much in general politics : he was a representative to the legislature in 1822, and we do not know that beside" this he held any political oflice. His b.usiness and private affairs, and his numerous engagements, as indicated above, engrossed his time and thoughts. "When his cares and labors had greatly increased, he found a partner, and an able coadjutor, in a young man of fine talents and business capacity, whom ho took into his office, — Charles N. Cogswell. WILLIAM A. HAYES : CHARLES N. COGSWELL. £6i Charles Xortlicnd Cogswell, the son of Xorthend and Elizabeth Cogswell, was born in Berwick, April 24, 1797. He was educated at Bowdoin College, from which he gradu- ated in 1814, at the early age of seventeen. He became a student in the office of Mr. Hayes, and on being admitted to the bar in 1817, he entered into partnership with his teacher. And a most successful partnership it proved : both members of the firm were possessed of high intellect- ual and moral gifts, were endowed with a large capacity for affairs, and for many years more business was done in their office than in any other in the county. Mr. Cogswell, like Judge Hayes, enjoyed the confidence of the community, and was often selected to represent the town, as well as the county, in the Legislature. After an active and honorable course of life and practice, he died very suddenly on the eleventh of October, 1843, in the forty-seventh year of his age. Judge Goodenow, in reply to the application to place upon the records of the court the resolves of sympathy adopted by the bar, observed, " In a professional career of twenty- five years, few, very few, have accomplished it so well. His talents for business were indeed extraordinary, and he was most diligent in the employment of them. His memory was retentive, and he was exceedingly accurate in all his transactions in his office and in the courts. His whole demeanor was amiable and exemplary." Mr. Cogswell was twice married ; first, to J]lizabeth, daughter of Elisha Hill of Portsmouth ; second, to Margaret E. Russell, daughter of Edward Russell of Portland : by the latter he left one son, now a member of Harvard College. Judge Hayes survived his junior partner eight years, still finding active employment as president of the bank, in the management of his farm, and in ministering to his large family of twelve children, in the midst of whom ho moved with affectionate interest, truinij)g them to usefulness 662 EDMUND FLAGG. and honor. In these various and beneficent duties, and ■while fully competent to their discharge, he calmly, and without a struggle, sunk to his linal repose, April 15, 1851, in peace and charity with all men, at the age of sixty-seven years. EDMUND FLAGG. 1810 — 1816. FROM TUE PEN OF JOHN H.SUEPPARD, ESQ. Edmund Flagg of Wiscasset was born in Chester, New Hampshire, in 1786. He was the son of Josiah Flagg of that place, who was in the Revolutionary War, an adjutant, one year under Washington. On the return of peace, he went back to Chester, lived on a farm, and did much busi- ness as a justice of the peace. He died of consumption April 25, 1799, aged fifty-one ; his wife, Edmund's mother, died May 1, 1799, aged forty-nine. His uncle, Dr. John Flagg of Lynn, was a Cambridge graduate, a colonel in the Revolution, and an eminent physician, who died in 1793. His grandfather was the Rev. Ebcnezer Flagg, who was born in Woburn, 1701, graduated at Harvard College in 1725, was settled over the First Congregational Church at Chester, 1736, and, after a faithful ministry of sixty years, died, as the Columbian Centinel of November 26, 1796, has remarked, on the fourteenth of November, aged ninety- three ; leaving an example, " worthy to be imitated, of public, domestic, and social virtues." This venerable man lived in those days of conservative piety, when the pastor and his people were united by love, and he could look for- ward to a sepulcher among his kindred and friends. Edmund graduated at Dartmouth College in 1806, and was distinguished as a scholar. He was a classmate of the Hon. Richard Fletcher, LL. D., of Roston, an eminent counsellor, and recently one of the judges of the Supreme EDMUND FLAGG. 563 Judicial Court of Massachusetts, of Gov. Parris and Samuel Fesseiiden of this State. He studied law with Francis D. Channing, a lawyer of high rank in the Boston Bar, who died in 1810. After his admission to practice in 1810, he settled in Wiscasset, and within a year he had the good fortune to form a partnership with Silas Lee, District Attor- ney of the United States and Judge of Probate. He was immediately engaged in the lucrative business of collecting the debts of that able and successful practitioner, to whom the arrears of fees amounting to thousands of dollars were due. He was appointed Register of Probate for the county of Lincoln on the third of August, 1812, — an office not incompatible, and even favorable to a young man's prospects in the profession. He wrote a fair and ready hand, did his own recording, was a working man, industrious, persevering, and economical ; and in the harvest before him he beheld the harbinger of future independence. He now saw his way clear to connubial happiness, and in 1813, married Harriet, daughter of Colonel Payson of Wiscasset, a pretty woman, and one of the belles of a sea- port renowned for the beauty of her girls, her social circles, and well-conducted assemblies, in the days of her prosperity. He purchased a small cottage, and fitted it up prettily and neatly : it stood a little out of town on the Bath road, in the midst of rural scenery, where the distant water — which is the eye of a landscape — added to the picturesque effect of his white mansion among the trees. Here, with a flood tide of business, and growing reputation at the bar, lio appeared to be a happy man, destined to years of felicity. But Providence otherwise ordered. His parents died of a decline, and the son inherited this disease. He had a fair and florid complexion, indicating, too often, a hectic tem- perament. On the fourth of July, 1815, ho was suddenly attacked 564 EDMUND FLAGG. Tvitli a foTcrisli cough, rapidly fell sick, and >Yas confined to his room. He was advised to seek a warmer and more salubrious climate, and in October following, left his family, and sailed in a packet for the West Indies. It was a voyage of hope in pursuit of health. I saw him shortly before his departure : his large blue eyes had the well-known brilliancy of consumption ; his cheeks were deeply flushed, and his voice, naturally so clear and cheerful, could only whisper through his hoarseness a parting word. It was a sad sight to see him there, as he reclined his slender form on the sofa, and looked round on his once happy home, his fond partner, his little playful daughter, Harriet, with a trem- bling hope that seemed bordering on despair ; and I came away from the house remembering that the leaves of autumn were dropping, and the fir tree of the north would soon wear its mourning verdure on the snowy hills ; but where would he be then ? Alas ! " Linquenda tellus, et doraus, et placens Uxor." He reached a foreign port in safety ; but in the Colum- bian Centinel of February 7, 1816, was this melancholy notice among the obituaries : " On the island of St. Croix, on the fourteenth of December last, Edmund Flagg, Esq., late of Wiscasset, counsellor at law, aged thirty. In the hope of a restoration of health in a climate more mild, he left his family and friends last autumn. He was a member of the church of Christ, a good citizen, and a kind and affectionate husband." The loss of this amiable and talented young man was much lamented. He was a member of the church of the late Rev. Hezekiah Packard, D. I)., of Wiscasset. As a lawyer, he was well read, and familiar with our reports. He conducted a suit skillfully, was gifted with fluency of ideas and words, and grew fast in reputation. He left a ^^ .^' Z^T^Z At tlie a6e or 60 EDMUND FLAGG : ALBION K. PARRIS. 665 widow and two children, — Harriet, who died in 1860, and Edmund, born in 1815, soon after his father left home. It would have been a source of the purest joy could he have lived to see his name ennobled by this virtuous and excel- lent son, who is now a writer of no mean rank among the literati of our country. Young Edmund graduated at Bowdoin Collage in 1835, and I have understood, went south and studied law with the witty and renowned George D. Prentiss, in Louisville, Kentucky, where he was admitted to practice. With Mr. Prentiss he was connected in editing the Louisville " Liter- ary News Letter : " he also edited other papers, and wrote several books, — " The Far West " in two volumes, "Carrero," and a number of novels. He went to Berlin as secretary of the Hon. Edward A. Hannegan, Minister to Prussia, in 1848, and on his return in 1850, was appointed United States Consul at Venice. In that place of such time-hon- ored memories, his pen was not idle ; he gleaned from the Italian literature — that sweet and exquisite language — a rich mass of historic facts, and gave, as the fruit of his studies on the shores of the Adriatic, *'• The City of the Sea" in two volumes; which is highly spoken of as a reliable history of " glorious old Venice." If the manes of our departed friends have ever been permitted to look down from tlie unknown world upon those dear kindred they have left below, what must be tlie joy and gladness of the father to see such a son, cheering the declining days of his widowed mother, and adorning society by the light of his genius, and the labors of his pen ? ALBION KEITH PARRIS. 1809 — 1857. The life of Judge Purris was one of uniform success : his aspirations in every department seemed to have been 5G6 ALBION K. PARRIS. promptly answered. He was born at Hebron, Maine, the only child of Samuel Parris and Sarah Pratt of Middlcbor- ough, Massachusetts. He descended from Thomas Parris of London, who had four sons living in that city in IGGO, viz., John, Thomas, Samuel, and Martin. John was a minister of the Reformed church at Ugborough, near Plymouth, England. Samuel was the unfortunate minister of Salem village in New England, in whose family the witchcraft tragedy commenced. Thomas, son of John, the minister, sailed from Topsham in Devonshire, for New England, June 28, 1683. He went first to Long Island, New York, where he married, and afterward moved to Boston, and there losing his wife, he moved to Pembroke, Massachusetts, and married a Miss Rogers, by whom he had four sons and three daughters. He died in 1752. His son Thomas, born May 8, 1701, married Hannah Gannett of Scituate, by whom he had four sons, and died September 7, 1786. Ben- jamin, one of these sons, born August 27, 1731, married Milliccnt Keith of Easton, Massachusetts, July 4, 1753, and had five sons and three daughters. He lived in Pembroke, Massachusetts, and was much employed as an instructor of youth : he died November 18, 1815. Samuel, the eldest son of Benjamin, was born August 31, 1755: he entered the army in 1775, and performed much service as an officer both on land and at sea. On the close of the war, he mar- ried Sarah Pratt, and had one child only, Albion Keith, the subject of the present notice, who was born in Hebron, Maine, January 19, 1788, and was, as it thus appears, in the seventh degree of descent from Thomas of London, through John, Thomas, Thomas, Benjamin, and Samuel, his father. Samuel had a brother Martin, a graduate of Brown University in 1790, who settled in the ministry at Marshficld, and died in 1739. After the Revolutionary War, Samuel, the father of Albion, moved to Hebron, then ALBION K. PARRIS. 567 an incorporated plantation, and was one of the first settlers of the town. He held the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Oxford County, several years ; was repeatedly chosen a representative from Hebron ; and in 1812, he was chosen by the Federal party one of the Electors of President, and united with the other Electors of that State in casting tlie vote of Massachusetts for DeWitt Clin- ton. He died in Washington at the residence of his son, September 10, 1847, aged ninety-two. Governor Parris worked on his father's farm until he was fourteen years old, when he began to prepare for college, and entered in advanced standing at Dartmouth in 1803. He graduated in 180G, in the class with AVilliam Barrows and General Fessenden of our State, John Harvey of New Hampshire, and Judge Fletcher of Massachusetts. He soon after commenced the study of law with Chief Justice Wliitman, who was then in practice at New Gloucester, and who next winter removed to Portland. He pursued his studies with great diligence, and was admitted to the Cum- berland Bar in September, 1809. He immediately estab- lished himself in the practice of law at Paris in the county of Oxford : from that period, his course was one of unin- terrupted success. In 1811, he was appointed county attorney for Oxford. In 1813, he was elected to the General Court in Massachu- setts from Paris. In 1814, he was chosen a senator for the counties of Oxford and Somerset ; and in November, 1814, he was elected to the Fourteenth Congress of the United States, for the years 1815 and '16, and again to the Fifteenth Congress ; and while holding this oflice of representative to Congress, he was appointed Judge of the District Court of the United States for Maine, in 1818, at the age of thirty, as successor to the venerable Judge Sewall, who had held the office from the organization of the government. 568 ALBION K. PARRIS. On receiving this appointment, lie moved to Portland, from which place, the next year, 1819, he was chosen a member of the convention to form a constitution for the new State, then seeking admission into the Union. This body was composed of the most able and prominent men in the State, over which William King was called to preside. Judge Parris took an active part in its proceedings and debates, and was a member of the committee which drafted the constitution, Mr Holmes being chairman. Among the members of this important committee, were Messrs. Dane of Wells, Whitman of Portland, General Wingate and Chandler, Judge Bridge and Judge Dana. Mr. Parris was also appointed treasurer by the convention. On the adoption of the constitution, and the admission of the State into the Union, of which it became the twenty- second member, Mr. Parris, then holding the office of District judge, was appointed Judge of Probate for Cum- berland County, under the new dynasty, succeeding the venerable Samuel Freeman, who had held the office sixteen years as successor to Judge Gorham. While in the enjoy- ment of these honorable and responsil)le trusts, public opinion designated him for the highest office in the State as successor to Governor King, who having been appointed in 1821, one of the commissioners on Spanish Claims, resigned the office. This nomination was not unanimously accepted by the democratic party, some of whom preferred General Joshua Wingate, and a triangular contest resulted of con- siderable harshness and asperity. Governor Parris was elected, and entered upon the discharge of the duties, before he had quite attained the age of thirty-three years, and was continued in the office by successive elections, five years. In his annual message in 1826, he peremptorily declined another nomination. Governor Parris administered the government with ability and faithfulness : it was a period ALBION K. PARRIS. 569 of repose — there were no excitinj^ questions to irritate the public mind. The most important subjects calling for attention were those relating to the common property owned with Massachusetts, and the disputed northeastern boundary. The latter subject was, toward the close of his administration, becoming of serious import, and had begun to create alarm as to the final result. In his annual mes- sage in 1826, Gov. Parris called the attention of the Legis- lature to the subject, as one unexpected, and for the discussion of which, the government needed the evidence contained in documents, reports of commissioners, and maps, and recommended that copies of such needed papers should be procured. Immediate action was taken by the Legislature, and Reuel Williams, chairman of the committee in the Senate, made a clear and able report on the subject, concluding with resolves authorizing and requesting the Governor to procure " all such maps, documents, publica- tions, papers, and surveys, relating to the northeastern ])oundary of the United States, as he may deem necessary and useful for the State to be possessed of." The interests of education, religious culture, and tem- perance were often and earnestly urged by Gov. Parris upon the attention of the Legislature, and received respect- ful consideration. In 1825, Lafayette visited the State, where his reception was most cordial, and where he found some of his old companions in arms to welcome their illus- trious ally and friend. He was warmly greeted and entertained by the Governor. His visit to the State extended as far as Augusta. He was the guest of the State by invitation of the executive, under a resolve of the Legislature expressed in cordial and complimentary terms. The report on the subject was signed by the most respectable gentlemen of the Legislature, — James Campbell, James W. Ripley, Robert P. Dunlap, General Fessenden, Timothy 570 ALBION K. PARRIS. Boutcllc, Daniel Goodenow, Parker McCobb, and others. His journey was a triumphal progress, and he was received everywhere witli the warmest expressions of gratitude and respect. Governor Parris was not permitted to enjoy repose from oflicial life. The last year of his administration had not expired when he was elected to tlic United States Sen- ate in place of John Holmes, whose term of service ended on the 3d of March, 1827. But he had scarcely become familiar with his new posi- tion, when in June, 1828, he was a])pointcd Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of our State, in the room of Judge Preble, who resigned the office on his appointment as Min- ister to the Hague. Judge Parris having been for several years withdrawn from practice, and never having had much experience in the routine of his profession, on account of his early and steady employment in the public service, found himself somewhat rusty in regard to the decided cases and the progress of legal science. But with his ac- customed industry and facility, he applied himself to the study of the reports and the learned elementary treatises, until he thoroughly qualified himself for the arduous and important duties of the bench ; and it is but justice to say, that he received unqualified testimony from the bar and the community, of the al)ility, promptness, and impartiality which graced his judicial life. He was not, liowever, destined to grow old upon tlie bench, for he had hardly ripened his judicial powers and opened the way to judicial fame, before he was transferred, I cannot say to a higher sphere — but to one of more emol- ument and ease. In 1836, by the favor of Mr. Van Buren, he found an honorable position and a salary of three thou- sand dollars a year, as Second Com])trolIcr of the Treasury of the United States. This office ho held thirteen years ALBION K. PARRIS. 571 until 1849, and discharged its duties with the utmost fidelity and promptness, through tlie administrations of Mr. Van Burcn, Gen. Harrison, John Tyler, and President Polk. On retiring from this station, he returned to Portland, of which city he was chosen mayor in 1852, declining a second nomination. This was the last public office he held, and for the remainder of his life he reposed quietly upon his many and well-won laurels. This career of public duty, continued through a period of thirty-six years, never for an hour interrupted, is extraordi- nary, not to say unparalleled in recent times — offices, too, of the highest importance and responsibility. A member of Congress at the age of twenty-eight. Judge of the United States Court at thirty, Governor at thirty-three, prove him to have early acquired an unusual popularity. Without brilliant talents, or a large accumulation of knowledge, he proved himself equal to every office he was called to fill, and to every emergency which required his action. The secret of his success lay in his industry and close application to the duties of every office confided to him, his promptness and fidelity, his sagacity, his general suavity of manners, and an easy adaptation of himself Jto every situation : in sliort, it may with truth be said of him, that he faithfully and acceptably filled all the offices, however varied their duties, to which he was successively called. For several years previous to his death, he had been troubled with difficulty of breathing and sharp pains in the region of his heart, when making any considerable exertion : this increased the last year, and terminated in his sudden death on the morning of February 11, 1857. The City Council of Portland and the Bar of Cumberland promptly expressed their sense of their own and the public loss, and their sympathy on the occasion ; and a general and honora- l)le ientiment went up from the press of IMaine, and from 572 ALBION K. PARRIS : HIRAM BELCHER. our citizens througliout the State, in honor of this faithful public man. In 1810, Governor Parris married Sarah, eldest daughter of the Rev. Levi Whitman, of Wellflcet, Massachusetts, who, with three daughters and two sons, survives him. Governor Parris always led a regular and exemplary life : punctual at church as he was at his office, he gave the en- tire influence of his example to the observance of the Sab- bath and all moral duties. On his return to Portland from Washington, he became a consistent member of the High Street Congregational Church, took his place as a teacher in its Sunday school, and was observant of all the practical duties of religion. He died at the age of sixty-nine, in the full assurance of a higher and better life. HIRAM BELCHER. 1812 — 1857. Among the most worthy and honored members of the Kennebec, and of the Franklin Bar, after the division of the county in 1828, was Hiram Belcher of Farmington. Ho was the son of Supply Belcher, who was of Stough ton, Mas- sachusetts : he served in the war of the Revolution, and claimed to be of the Governor Belcher branch of that fam- ily. Soon after the close of the war, he came to Augusta in this State, where his son Hiram was born in the winter of 1790. In the next winter, while the son was yet in his mother's arms, the enterprising father sought a still more remote region, and pitched his tent in the wilderness of Sandy River, now Farmington, forty miles from Augusta. This settlement was commenced by Stephen Titcomb of Topsham, who built the first log house there in 1780, and lived to see a rich and productive country rise up under the hand of intelligent lal)or and persevering industry, until it has become a garden in Maine. HIRAM BELCHER. 573 Here Hir^m Belcher's early and latter days were spent ; the former in honest labor on the farm, which expanded his body and gave him a vigorous and muscular frame ; the latter in a higher range of exertion. His father rose to posts of honor in his town, was a magistrate, and repre- sented the town in 1798, 1801, and 1809, was the first town clerk and selectman, and died respected, at the age of eighty-four, in 1836. Wlien young Belcher was old enough to appreciate the value of an education, he was sent to the excellent academy at HallowcU, where he attained the first rank in his class, among competitors over whom victory was a distinction. Among them were William Clark, "William C. Wilde, and Dudley Norris. After receiving a good academical education, he entered the office of Wilde and Bond of Hallowell, and devoted himself earnestly and steadily to the pursuit of a profession which was to become the source of his future emolument and honor. He was admitted to the bar in 1812, well prepared to enter on the work of his life. Ho immediately established himself in Farmington, where he continued to reside until his death, which took place May 6, 1857, at the age of sixty-seven. That country was very prosperous : its fertile valleys and intervales had invited an energetic class of immigrants, who, by their operations in the forests and the fields, and in trade, had rapidly transformed the whole region from a state of nature to a fruitful, tliriving, and well-settled country. Its busi- ness gave encouragement to numerous traders, and the lawyers partoolc of the general prosperity. At that time, there were but two lawyers besides himself in all tliat part of Kennebec County which now constitutes the county of Franklin : these were Nathan Cutler and Elnathan Pope. There had been in the town for about six years, a lawyer named Zachariah Soule, a man of line promise and brilliant 574 IlIRAM BELCUER : Z. SOULE : E. rOPE. •vvit : he was from Halifax in Plymouth County, a graduate of ]>rown University in the class of 1799 : he tried his for- tune first at Paris, then at Farmington, where he settled in 1806 ; but his habits became very dissolute, and he returned to Massachusetts, in 1812, a wreck, and subseiiuently died in a poor-house. Of Mr. Cutler we have before spoken : Mr. Pope was from Freetown, Massachusetts. He opened an office in Farmington in 1809, where he continued in the practice until 1828, when he moved to New Sharon. About 1810, he became a preacher and farmer, and died in 1861, aged eighty years. He was honorable and respected in his profession, of sound judgment and good common sense. Into this field Mr. Belcher entered with the ardor of youth, and with the confidence of well-cultivated powers. He was a zealous federalist, while Mr. Cutler espoused the demo- cratic side, and this had some influence on the division of business, as parties at that time ran high : both the town and county were democratic by a small majority. Mr. Belcher soon took a prominent position at the bar ; his ability and integrity carried him steadily forward; there was no cessation to his onward progress ; he was a good lawyer, a successful advocate, and above and beyond all, an honest man. He was faithful and true to his clients, and well-grounded in the solid learning of his profession : he never stooped to any doubtful, or dishonest, or disreputable course, to win a cause or to gain or gratify a client. A friend who knew him well through his whole life, thus speaks of him : " He was no time-server nor demagogue, watching the weather-cock ; but in his public and private life, he formed his opinions with an honest mind, and carried out his convictions with a courageous independence and un- wavering fidelity. He made no pretensions ; but secured without artifice or profession, the respect and friendship of all, by his solid qualities and unquestioned integrity." He HIRAM BELCHER. 675 had a quick apprehension of the vain, assuming, and absurd in men, which he had a happy faculty of showing up by his keen and quiet wit, of which many instances occur to the memory of his friends. The venerable William Allen of Norridgewock, from whom we derive these facts, adds, " Happy in his domestic life, he lived among his neighbors and friends beloved for his Ciu-istian character and his social virtues, doing his duty as a citizen in all the relations of life." To this, we may add the testimony of Frederic Allen of Gardiner, whose practice with him at the bar enabled him to speak of his legal standing. In his brief notice in the sixth volume of the Maine Historical Collections, he says, " He possessed talents far above mediocrity. He was frequently employed as an advocate, and was not an unsuccessful one. He had an excellent and well cultivated mind, and much benevolence of disposition. He was remarkable for his amus- ing and quiet sallies of wit and dry humor, occasionally in- terspersed in his forensic discussions, as well as his private intercourse. He was a man of large stature, in height over six feet, rather thin and spare of flesh, and not very com- pactly formed." Mr. Belcher held the office of town clerk of Farmington from 1814 to 1819, and represented the town in the Legisla- tures of 1822, 1829, 1832 : in 1838 and 1839, he was a mem- ber of the Senate of Maine. In 184G, he was chosen a rep- resentative in the Thirtieth Congress, and served the two years, 1817 to 1849, during the last half of President Polk's administration. Mr. Belcher supported the measures of the whigs, and of the seven representatives and two senators from Maine, he was the solitary wliig member of the whole delegation in both houses of Congress. During this term, the ]\[cxican war was closed by a treaty which largely increased the territory of the United States, and opened new issues for 676 HIRAM BELCHER. party strife. It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Belcher was opposed to the Mexican War and an increase of ter- ritory, and all schemes whose tendency was to enlarge the area of slavery, of which he was an earnest opponent. Mr. Belcher would probably have been re-elected had not his health failed, which induced him to withdraw from active duty. lie had received his son Hannibal, who was admitted to the bar in 1839, into partnership with him, who now took the principal charge of the business of the lirm. Mr. Belcher, after a life of great purity, usefulness, and honor, died on the sixth of May, 1857, at the age of sixty- seven, lie married a niece of Judge Daniel Cony of Au- gusta, by whom he had five children : Hannibal, an only son, and four daughters ; viz., Charlotte, who died young ; Abi- gail, married to John L. Cutler, son of Nathan Cutler of Farmington, who died in 1845 ; Susan, wife of Joseph Fair- banks ; and Mehitabel, wife of Mr. Abbott, the accomplished principal of the excellent school at Farmington. The mem- ory of Mr. Belcher is held in fresh regard and consideration by his numerous friends in the town and county in which his useful life was passed. CHAPTER XX. CHARLES S. DAVEIS — CHARLES SHAW — LUTHER FITCH — WIL- LIAM P. PREBLE — SAMUEL E. SMITH — ETHER SHEP- LEY — PELEG SPRAGUE — ASHUR WARE. CHARLES STEWART DAVEIS. 1810 — Among the best read and most highly cultivated lawyers in Maine, we may justly rank the gentleman whose name we have placed at the head of this article. For many years, he was a leader in the admiralty and equity practice of the United States courts, and with the earliest who labored to introduce the equity system, as it now exists, into the courts of our State. Mr. Daveis was born in Portland, May 10, 1788. His father, Captain Ebenczer Davis, was an officer in the army of the Revolution, and became a member of the Society of Cincinnati : ho was a native of Haverhill, Massachusetts, and came to Portland on the close of the war, where he died in 1790, leaving but this one son. He was a large and well- proportioned man, with a military air, and the easy man- ners which the officers of the army either possessed or ac- (juired in the profession. His mother was Mchitabcl Griffin, a daughter of Deacon Ebenczer Criilin of Bradford, Massa- 678 CHARLES s. daveis. cliusetts, whose grandmother was the second child of Richard Hazcn, a descendant of Edward Hazen, the first American ancestor of the name, who came from England and settled at Rowley, Massachusetts, as early as 1650. Hazeu's son Richard married Mary Peabody of Boxford, whose daugh- ter Priscilla was the great-grandmother of the sul)Ject of our notice, by her marriage with Benjamin Kimball of Bradford ; and thus he bears the blood of Hazen, Peabody, Kimball, Griffin, and Daveis, flowing through honored chan- nels from the foundations of the country, — ah iirbc condila. Mr. Daveis received the rudiments of his education at the common schools in Portland ; but in 1802 he was sent to the Phillips Academy at Andover, of which Mark Newman was then, and many years after, the accomplished preceptor, and John Abbot the assistant : Mr. Abbot being afterwards, dur- ing the residence of Mr. Daveis, translated to a professor- ship at Bowdoin,was succeeded by Samuel Greele, Harvard College, 1802, who has lately died. Mr. Daveis was des- tined for the twin academy at Exeter ; but there being no vacancy in that celebrated institution, he proceeded to An- dover. In 1803, he became a member of Bowdoin College, in the second class which had entered that institution. His class consisted of but two others besides himself, who were Rob- ert Means from Westbrook, and Setli Storer, then of Saco and now of Scarborough. The first, or prior class, which entered in 1802, graduated seven, only one of whom, Mr. O'Brien of Brunswick, now survives. The college was then under the instruction of the learned and excellent Dr. Mc- Kecn, who had been called from his pastorate in Beverly to take charge of the infant institution ; and John Abbot as Professor of Languages and Librarian. But while Mr. Da- veis was passing through his curriculum, and as new classes entered, numbering six in 1804, live in 1805, and twelve in CHARLES S. DAVEIS. 579 1806, the corps of instruction was enlarged by the accession of very able men, who afterwards occupied prominent places in the community : in 180-i came Samuel Willard, subse- quently the venerated pastor of the church in Deerfield ; Parker Cleaveland, clarum et venerabile nomen, as Professor of Mathematics, subsciiucntly of Chemistry ; and Nathan Parker, the respected and beloved pastor of the first church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. These instructors, as well as Professor Abbot, were all graduates of Harvard. President McKeen received his education at Dartmouth, the college of his native State. But this excellent guide, teacher, and friend did not live to preside at the graduation of this second class : his sudden death, a short time ])revious to the commencement of 1807, cast a gloom over the halls of the college and the community, where his name was greatly venerated and beloved. Mr. Daveis faithfully improved his time and opportunities at Brunswick, and always, in after life, fondly cherished the kind and constant attentions of the President, Professor Cleaveland, and Tutor Willard, in directing his studies and moulding his character. In the exercises of Commence- ment, each of the three scholars had two parts, — Storer the Latin salutatory, and a forensic with Means ; Means also had an English oration ; Daveis delivered upoeDi on " Tradition," and the valedictory oration. He left college well furnished with the apparatus for en- larged and useful application, and immediately entered the office of Nicholas Emery, who had recently removed to Port- land from Parsonsficld, with a high reputation as a lawyer and advocate. Here he pursued his legal, with the same assiduity that he had his literary studies. Yet he didn ot deny himself to the muses, nor cease to yield to the blan- dishments which literature lends to the graver lessons of the law. In his recreations from Coke and Blackstone, he wrote 680 CHARLES S. DAVEIS. poetry and poetical prose ; and what talented young man ever passed through the formative processes of life without wooing the muses, and getting up poetry that has made him blush in after years to find in print or the albums of friends ? Mr. Daveis was a frequent contributor to the " old Portland Gazette," both in the grave and serio-comic style ; while the staple of his time was devoted to his preparation for the bar. It was during this period of preparation for the stern realities of life that he laid the foundation of a literary fame whicli never forsook him. This was in an oration delivered before a literary society of Bowdoin College. The subject was Greek Literature. Dr. Jenks, now the venerable antiquary of Boston, but who was then a minister in Bath, and con- nected with the college, was so much pleased witli the per. formance that he procured its publication in the " Monthly Anthology," then the leading literary periodical in the coun- try. It appeared in the June, July, and August numbers of that review. It was brilliant and classical, rather over- loaded with classical allusions and illustrations. The editor of the Anthology thus introduces the article : " The follow- ing communication upon Greek Literature we have received from the District of Maine, a part of the country which, in our local pride, we have supposed to be nearer Boeotia than our own ; but after perusing this charming rhapsody, we were forced to suspect, that in obedience to the call of the motto, lomen eis Athenas, the young author of this piece would have less ground to traverse tlian some of us who fancy that we live within sight of Athens." A few brief extracts from the address must suffice. It thus commences : " In the evening tlie Grecian exiles used to sing, ' Let ks return to Athens.' Let us return to Athens this evening, for we are exiled from Greece by two great seas, and two thou- sand years." " It is possible that in Greece we shall lind a great many CHARLES S. DAVEIS. 581 memorials of Greece. We shall be able to discover strong traits of her ancient genius, and some remains of her former greatness." " What if we first search the modern Greeks for some to- ken of their descent ? It will take but a moment, and they arc living monuments. It will then be in our power to re- ply to them, who taunt us, as the Corinthians taunted Themistocles, with the ruins of Athens, that though Ath- ens is destroyed, there arc Atlienians alive." " It is hard to discover the son of a Greek in the slave of a Turk. And there is a long time to redeem since the tak- ing of Athens ! Yet we are willing, like Caesar, to spare the living Greeks for the sake of the dead." Mr. Daveis took his Master's degree in 1810, on which oc- casion he delivered an oration on " tlie Genius of our Politi- cal Liberties," of which the Portland paper thus spoke : "The oration by Daveis happily a^nd novelly blended the exube- rant fancy of the poet with the deep research of the states- man and lawyer." Thus trained and furnished, with a reputation going be- fore, Mr. Daveis was admitted to the bar in 1810. He com- menced practice in his native town, which has ever been the scene of his labors, his triumphs, and his trials. He devoted himself to study and the duties of his profession. Not con- tented, as too many young lawyers are, with the prelim- inary studies and admission to the bar, he made continual additions to his stores of legal knowledge and general litera- ture. Mr. Daveis was among the first to engage in equity practice in the State. The system was unpopular both on the bench and at the bar. The old lawyers were prejudiced against it, principally, pcrliaps, because they were unac- quainted with its forms and principles : they had been brought up in the common law practice, witli which they 582 CHARLES S. DAVEIS: EQUITY PRACTICE. ■were familiar, had found it to work well with them, and they desired no change : they were afraid of the large dis- cretionary power which was supposed to belong to equity jurisdiction. There was no equity practice in the courts of Massachusetts, prior to the separation, except in cases of mortgage ; and bills of equity under them were rare. The statute of 1817 gave jurisdiction to the Supreme Court in cases of trusts arising under deeds, wills, and the settle- ment of estates. This power was adopted by the statute of Maine in 1821, to which was added, " and all cases of con- tract in writing, where a party claims the specific perform- ance of the same, and in which there may not be a plain, adequate, and complete remedy at law." As late as 1821, 17th Massachusetts Reports, the court say that they had no jurisdiction in bills of discovery, previous to the statute of 1817, and by that statute they had jurisdiction of trusts created by deed or will. They also say in the same case, that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction in equity, except sucli as has been given by statute. The same court also decided as late as 1839, 22d Pickering, that no equity jurisdiction to reform or rectify contracts had been conferred upon the court. The practice in equity worked very slowly : I think no bills in equity were commenced in Massachusetts before the sep- aration except on mortgage : in 1823, equity jurisdiction was given to the Supreme Court of that State in cases of copartnership and tenants in common, and in 1827, it was extended to nuisances, &c. Maine followed Massachusetts in these improvements. How slow the progress was, may be seen by reference to Greenleaf's nine volumes of reports, where, in the space of twelve years, we find but five or six cases arising under the equity powers of the court, aside from mortgages and the relief in chancery against penalties and forfeitures, a power which has always existed in the CHARLES S. DAVEIS: EQUITY PRACTICE. 583 court. In the Circuit Court of the United States, that jurisdiction had long been exercised, and was encouraged by Judge Story, who was partial to the system. Into this practice and that of the admiralty court, Mr. Daveis introduced himself, and became an adept, which ex- tended his business and his reputation so much, as that his services were eagerly sought by those who were unfortunate enough to desire tlie aid of the law and the courts in their emergencies. He was a very close student of law and equity, and probably no person in the State was more fa- miliar with the science in equity and admiralty and the forms of practice in those courts, than he was, until that department of jurisprudence had attained sufficient impor- tance to attract other lawyers to its study. He brought to the discussion of his causes all the learning of the books, and his arguments were amply freighted with authority and precedent. He presented his causes to the jury and the court with great minuteness of detail, leaving nothing to conjecture or imagination, and great fullness of illustration. If there was fault in his arguments, it was in their overfuU- ness and minuteness, overloaded, indeed, with illustration and citation. He was not, therefore, an eloquent advocate in the popular sense, for his object was to convince, rather than persuade. In lighter efforts and occasional speeches outside of the forum, he displayed amplitude of resources, and variety and beauty of illustration from classical literature ; and these were also abundantly displayed in conversation, for which he had great readiness and facility. His playful wit was often summoned to the amusement of the bar in their hours of recreation. It was on one of these occasions that he penned the following ye «* tV esprit. Mr. Longfellow, when opposed by a remark or statement from the court, adverse to the position he was arguing, would attempt to parry its force, by admitting the principle as stated by the 684 CHARLES S. DAVEIS. court, and saying, " But, your Honors, there is this distinc- tion between the case you state and the one before us." This often occasioned a laugh at the bar, and once when a dull argument was going on by a prosy member, the idlers busied themselves writing epitaphs on one another. Mr. Daveis, prompt on such occasions, thus hit Mr. Longfellow's peculi- arity : " Here repose The mortal remains of Stephen Longfellow, born , died . But there is this distinction, That such a man never dies." For many years, Mr. Daveis was a most skillful and suc- cessful practitioner in the admiralty and equity courts, where he came in competition with the best lawyers and advocates at the Cumberland Bar, as AVhitman, Longfellow, Orr, Greenleaf, Fessenden, and others, as well as several strong men from bars of other counties and States. Nor was his practice confined to these departments of the law : he was no less learned in the principles of the common law. His practice in this branch was very respectable, as frequent re- currence of his name in our early reports sufficiently prove. For the ability which he manifested, we need only to refer to the reports, and especially to the exhaustive argument submitted by him in the case of Fosdick v. Gooding and al, in the first volume of Greenleaf 's Reports, on the subject of Dower, in which he was opposed by Mr, Whitman, after- wards chief justice. Probably no argument in the volumes of Greenleaf shows more labored research into the funda- mental principles and autliorities than this. Mr. Daveis has lived to see the equity system become part of our code, cultivated as a science by our lawyers, and be- come a favorite system for exposing frauds, correcting mis- takes and reaching the couscicncc, where remedies at com- CHARLES S. DAVEIS. 685 mon law would fail. He had the aid, the friendship, and sympathy of Judge Story, who had a high opinion of his sagacity and learning. Mr. Daveis was not so much ahsorhed by his professional pursuits as not to indulge in the genial recreations of liter- ature. He kept up fully with the rapid progress which literature was making among us, and his associations with cultivated persons in different parts of the country gave tone and freshness to his mind. He was a copious writer : our newspapers and periodicals attest the vigor of his pen, and the sprightliness of his style. He was a fre- quent contributor to the public journals, and was often called upon for occasional addresses. Among these, was an address before the Portland Benevolent Society in 1813, of which he has for many years been one of the managers : in 1825, he delivered a long, able, and interesting historical discourse at Fryeburg, to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Lovewell's battle with the Indians, which was published. In 1826, he was selected to pronounce the funeral oration on Adams and Jefferson, whose death taking place on the same day, July 4th, 1826, produced a profound sensation throughout the country: this also was published. In 1839, he delivered a Latin address at Brunswick on the inauguration of Dr. Woods as President of Bowdoin College. Some years after, he prepared a long and very able histori- cal discourse at the dedication of the new chapel at the college, in which he embodied many interesting facts and incidents relating to the origin, progress, and history of the institution. This was read by the Rev. Mr. Abbot, the health of Mr. Daveis not permitting him to deliver it him- self, as part of the services of dedication. This occurred in September, 1854. About the same time, he prepared a biography of Governor Oilman of New Hampshire, in the form of an address, delivered at Exeter, which is a part of 88 586 CHARLES S. DAVEIS. the transactions of the Historical Society of that State, which the subject of the memoir long adorned by his life and counsels. In 1845, Mr. Daveis's good friend, Judge Story, ended his life and usefulness on earth, at the age of sixty- six, deeply and universally lamented. Of this learned judge, a writer in the Law Reporter of October, 1845, says, " A greater than Sir Samuel Romilly has fallen in the midst of us. The death of Mr. Justice Story will create a void in the judiciary, in the professor's chair, and in the social lit- erary circle, which no living man can fill." The bars of several counties and States honored the memory of this dis- tinguished judge by grateful tributes. In Cumberland County, the resolutions were drawn up by Mr. Daveis, and presented at a meeting of the bar of the Circuit Court of the United States, at which Mr. Longfellow presided. They were full of sympathy, grateful acknowledgment, and classical purity. We will present in one of them a single specimen. " We rejoice that it was eminently his fortune to carry out so near to its natural close, a career rarely equalled in the judicial life of a single individual, rewarded by so many results, and crowned with such celebrity. The sun knoweth his going down. And although painful and unexpected, we may not feel it to be otherwise than a fuial harmonious felicity, in keeping with his signal lot, that he should have breathed his last before he retired from the bench. Felix non vitcc tanlum r/aritate, sed ctiam opporlu- nitate mortis.''^ To the resolutions, Judge Ware made au elegant and feeling rej)ly. In 1855, Mr. Daveis was a})pointed by the mayor and aldermen of Portland on a large committee, to investigate the causes of a serious riot which occurred in Portland in June of that year, and which resulted in tlie death of John Robljins, one of the rioters. It grew out of the enforce- ment of the liquor law by Mayor Dow. The committee CHARLES S. DAVEIS. 587 was engaged several days in this delicate duty, and their report was published in a pamphlet of fifty pages. Mr. Daveis, in a very elaborate article published iu the Law Reporter, vol. 18, p. 361, reviewed in a clear and able manner, not only the pamphlet, but the whole subject, in all its bearings of morals, philosophy, and law. In 1859, Mr. Daveis prepared the article on the Society of Cincinnati, which occupies several columns of the American Encyclo- pedia, and presents in a clear and concise form, and in the best manner of Mr. Daveis, a history of this renowned in- stitution, of which he is a member, as successor of his father, and president of the Massachusetts branch. These are some of the literary labors for which the public are indebted to the industry of this learned gentleman. Nor does this comprise the whole of their obligation to him, for in his many-sided character and pursuits, he did not shun politics, — a favorite field of American lawyers and scholars. He early engaged with ardor in the discussions relating to our northeastern boundary in the conflict with the Brit- ish government, and pursued the investigation with the skill and research of a lawyer, and presented the results in clear and able arguments. In 1827, Mr. Daveis was ap- pointed by Governor Lincoln, under a resolve of the Legis- lature, agent of the State to inquire into facts relating to aggressions upon the rights of the State and individual citizens, by inhabitants of the Province of New Brunswick, In pursuance of this commission, he proceeded to New Brunswick in 1827, and having attended to the arduous duties assigned him, embodied the result of his inquiries in a report to the Executive which occupies twenty-five octavo pages in the documents of the Legislature. In consequence of his familiarity with the subject, and the useful information he had acquired in examining this perplexing question, he was sent, in 1829, with dispatches from the United States to 588 CHARLES S. DAVEIS. Judge Preble, who then represented the government at the Hague, the king of Holland having been appointed arbiter in the dispute between the two countries on that subject. This gave Mr. Daveis a favorable opportunity to enlarge the sphere of his observation by foreign travel. In 1838, the services of Mr. Daveis were again invoked, and he was ap- pointed a special agent " to co-operate with our delegation in forwarding the views of the Legislature and the people, and in urging our claims and our determination upon the attention of the government." Of the manner in which this mission was conducted. Governor Kent's message will tell. It thus speaks : " Mr. Daveis immediately repaired to Washington, and performed the duties required with great zeal, discretion, and ability, and to my entire satisfaction, with equal honor to himself, and benefit to the cause." In 1841, Mr. Daveis was a senator from Cumberland in the State Legislature, and was appointed chairman of a joint select committee upon the northeastern boundary. In this capacity, he submitted a report on the thirtieth of March, which occupies fifty-five octavo pages in the printed copy of the resolves of that year. It is a clear, calm, thorough, historical and legal argument in support of the justice of the claim of Maine to the whole of the territory under the just and fair construction of the treaty of 1783, and em- braces a justification of the conduct of the State in vindi- cating her lawful rights against the hostile acts of the people of New Brunswick. The merits of Mr. Daveis in the various capacities in which we have presented him, have not passed unnoticed by an observant and appreciating community. In 1828, he was chosen a member of the Maine Historical Society, and more recently, an honorary member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. In 1814, he was chosen a member of the Phi-Beta-Kappa Society of Harvard College, the privi- CHARLES S. DAVEIS. 689 legos of the society not having then been extended to Bowdoin. In 1830, he was appointed one of the trustees of Bowdoin College, having been several years prior, one of the overseers, and has served the institution which nourished hira, with most devoted assiduity and affection : the honor she conferred upon him in 1844, of the degree of Doctor of Laws, was no less due to him for his literary and scientific position in the domain of learning, than his ardent love for his literary mother. He has stood by her in season and out of season, joying in her prosperity and sorrowing in her trials, for more than half a century. He has felt with her, and labored for her, during the whole period of her exist- ence — now sixty years. We have to look at Mr. Daveis in one phase more before we take leave of him, and that is in his interior life — his life of life. He had got well under way in business ; the war of 1812, which had prostrated Portland, was fully over, and the star of peace was shining through the broken clouds, when he united himself to the excellent and lovely woman who became his dear and cherished companion for nearly forty-five years that she remained by his side. He was married in June, 1815, to Elizabeth, a daughter of Governor Gilman of New Hampshire, whose three other daughters were married to Nicholas Emery, the Rev. Dr. Nichols of Portland, and Dr. John G. Cogswell, late of the Astor Library — all highly distinguished in their several walks in life. Their wives, coming from a fine ancestral stock, the aristocracy of New Hampshire, — and the genuine republi- canism, too, — were distinguished for their refinement, their purity and elevation of character, and the highest typo of womanly virtues. They are all dead ; Mrs. Cogswell being the first, and Mrs. Daveis the last to leave the earth her lamented death having taken place April 3d, 1860. Four children, survived her, two sons and two daughters, 690 CHARLES S. DAVEIS: CUARLES SIIAW. all ill prosperous circumstances in life, the sons educated, one to medicine, the other to the law. Mr. Daveis, thus left alone, with a system enfeebled by an attack of paralysis, pursues his solitary way, looking upward and onward, with the hope and trust which are a perpetual benediction to the human soul. Tiiis attack occurred in 1851, and im- paired the use of his limbs on the right side, and affected his speech. He did not sufficiently recover to engage again in the duties of his profession ; but he was not disabled from enjoying society : the genial play of his mind contin- ued to interest and gratify his friends. His habit of writing, too, was a source of enjoyment: he not only kept up a copious correspondence, but, as will be perceived by our previous statements, some of his best and most matured articles were written after his bodily prostration. Our best "wishes attend this accomplished gentleman through the re- mainder of his declining years, which, we trust, in the midst of his genial family of children and grandchildren, will cheerfully and calmly pass on, until the leaves fall gently, at last, from the ripened stock. CHARLES SHAW. 1810 — 1828. John H. Sheppard of Boston, who long practiced in Lin- coln County, having been a student of Judge Wilde and Thomas Bond of the Kennebec Bar, and who has furnished me many interesting materials for the legal antiquities of the Lincoln Bar, has contributed the essential portions of the following tribute to the accomplished Shaw. He says : One gentleman, once a member of the Lincoln Bar, who left us and went South, you do not mention. If he comes witliin the circle of deceased Maine lawyers of some note, perhaps an account of him may not be superfluous. I refer to Charles Shaw, once more known as a ripe scholar and fine writer than as a lawyer. CHARLES SHAW. 591 Charles Shaw was born in Bath, February 20, 1782, the soil of Major Joshua Shaw, a respectable merchant of that town, who was born in Braintree or Weymouth, Massachu- setts, in 1755, and came to Bath with his father, Elisha Shaw, a young man. After being thrice married, and hav- ing by his three wives a large family of children, he died at Phippsburg, in 1809. One of his sons was Dr. Moses Shaw, a physician, an active politician, and Collector of Wiscasset under the administration of President Harrison : he died in Wiscasset, in 1847. Charles, the oldest son, was educated at Harvard College, and took his first degree in 1805, having the distinction of the salutatory oration, which is the second assignment in order of scholarship in that college. He afterwards studied law with Nathaniel Coffin at Bath, and then opened an office in Jefferson, about 1810 or '11, an obscure village at the head of Damariscotta Pond, where there were some mills — then thought to be the Ultima Tlmle of civilization. Mr. Shaw was an elegant belle-lettre scholar, a man of refined taste, and a practical master of music ; but though married, he found his lot dreary enough in this hamlet of woods, waters, and grog-shops, — among lumberers and mill- men, — where the piano of his beautiful wife astonished, but never could tame the rough natures around him. Yet the location was a hot-bed of suits, — with Nat. Bryant, a noted magnate of Nobleboro', for his client, — and would have been eligible if he could only have got his pay. A few years he struggled and suffered in this situation, and then removed to Montgomery, in Alabama, where he was appointed a judge of one of their courts, and died in 1828. I knew him well : he was one of the best Latin scholars I ever saw, and was among the very few who could scan the odes of Horace, and reduce their prosody to sweet and melodious cadences of the voice. He wrote iu college, 692 CHARLES SUAW : LUTHER FITCH. an elegant elegiac piece or ode on the death of President Willard, for which he received the triple mark of Professor Pearson : it was published and much admired. He wrote a book called, " An Historical Description of Boston," which was published in 1817 ; and, in its day, was much valued both for its style and matter. He was a man of great read- ing and pleasing manners ; too modest to make his merit known at the bar, and too refined to enter the arena of mental gymnastics in a court of law ; but his talents and education were of a high order. He was a member of tho Antiquarian Society of Worcester. LUTHER FITCH. 1810 — The Fitches, Ffytche, as the name was spelled, in at least one branch of the family in England, came to this country from the county of Essex, England. There were several branches in that county, whose coats of arms were similar, with slight variations. They all bore on the shield a leopard or a leopard's head, and the crest was a leopard's head, or, or cabossed ( full-faced ) or. Two brothers, Thomas and James, established themselves in Connecticut in 1G38, and were the ancestors of a numer- ous race in that State. Others of the name came to Mas- sachusetts as early as 1635 : among these, was Zechary or Zechariah, of Reading, who was made freeman September 7, 1638. He had a large family, seven sons and one daugh- ter, whose names are mentioned : among these was Zechary, who was born March 6, 1647. From this stock, descended the sul)ject of our memoir, wliosc father and grandfather both bore the name of Zechariah. His father was ))orn in Bedford, formerly a part of Billerica, in 1732, and moved in early life into Groton. He, with his brother William, were members of the celebrated corps of Rangers, under "1^.'^ fe ^lasBi'' ■^ .. ^^ W^^^^^^.^^::^ At tLe a^e of ^. LUTHER FITCH. 593 Major Rogers in the French War, and made successful raids on the frontier, in which William lost his life. Zechariah rose in his military service to the rank of captain. In 1707, lie married for his third wife Sybil Lakin, a descendant of Sergeant Lakin, one of the original proprietors of Groton. By his three wives, he had a large family of sons and daugh- ters, several of wliom migrated to Maine in the early part of this century, or near the close of the last, and became enterprising and useful citizens. By his fourth wife, whom he married at tlic age of seventy-five, he had no children. He died in 1820, in the eighty-eighth year of his age. His son Luther, the subject of the present notice, was born in Groton, Massachusetts, January 28, 1783, and was the youngest son of his third wife. Having received his pre- liminary education in the good schools of his native town, and especially at the Groton Academy, of which Mr. Rich- ardson, afterwards chief justice of New Hampshire, was the preceptor, he entered Dartmouth College, from which he took his degree in 1807. His class contained men who after- wards became distinguislied in life, — Joseph Bell, LL. D. ; Timothy Farrar, treasurer and librarian of the college ; Col. Thayer, formerly chief of the Military Academy at West Point ; and the learned George Ticknor of Boston. Dartmouth has furnished many eminent lawyers to the profession in Maine : we need only mention Wilde, Salmon Chase, Dana, Eincry, McGaw, Fcssenden, Farris, Orr, Brad- ley, Herbert, and Shcpley. Mr. Fitch commenced the study of his profession with Dudley Chase, brother of the honored Salmon Chase of Portland, and the late Bishop Chase of Illinois. Mr. Chase lived in Orange County, Vermont, was ten years senator in Congress, and chief justice of the Su- preme Court of his State. Mr. Fitch continued with him eight months, and then completed his term of study in the ollice of Dana and Richardson in Groton, and was admitted to the bar of Middlesex in 1810. 694 LUTHER FITCII. Having friends and relatives in the county of Camber- land, he came immediately to Westbrook, then a part of Falmouth, but incorporated in 1814, and opened an ofticc in the village of Saccarappa. This was then a very flour- ishing place, lying on the Prcsumpscot River, about half way between its mouth in Casco Bay, and its large and unfailing reservoir in Sebago Pond. From the first settle- ment of the country, the village and the falls of the river over which it spreads, have been improved for manufactur- ing purposes ; first, in all the processes of converting the abundant and beautiful growth which covered the surround- ing country, into various descriptions of lumber, and afterwards, in manufacturing the more valuable fabrics of cotton, and wool, and paper. It was an admirable station for a lawyer, for in such a population, especially devoted to the irregular operations of lumbering and milling, the habits of the people, particularly in that period, were apt to be wild and disorderly, and led to litigation, and the final arbitra- ment of the courts. Saccarappa was no exception to the rule. Mr. Fitch was, at the time he commenced practice, the only lawyer there. He succeeded Peter Thacher, a son of the Rev. Josiah Thacher of Gorham, who studied his profession with William Symmes, was admitted to prac- tice in 1804, and opened an office in Saccarappa. He remained there about five years, when he returned to Gorham, leaving the field entirely open to the new comer. Mr. Fitch was well trained, thoroughly furnished, of ripe age and matured powers, and well calculated to enter upon the rugged duties which the practice, in such a community, required. He was intelligent ; he was persevering and resolute ; and he steadily pursued his practice, commanding the business of the village and its vicinity, and drawing towards him from the interior parts of the country, business relating to lumbering operations ; for the practice of which, LUTHER FITCH. 695 lie had, by study and experience, acquired much skill. Ho had well studied the peculiarities of this branch of business, and had the tact effectively to apply his knowledge. Tliere are good real estate lawyers, and there are good commercial lawyers : we have given striking examples in the foregoing sketches, of eminent and successful practitioners in these important branches ; as Bridge, Wilde, and Williams in real estate, and Whitman, Greenleaf, Longfellow, and Hubbard as commercial lawyers. The law regulating the cutting, hauling, driving, and sawing of timber is quite dif- ferent from either of the others, and trains another class of minds ; and it is especially pursued by lawyers living by the side of our water-falls, where this kind of business centers. Among lawyers thus situated and disciplined, were Mellen from the Saco, Orr from the Androscoggin, and Boutelle from the Kennebec. In this line of practice, Mr. Fitch, living in the midst of a very busy and thrifty lumbering population on the Presumpscot, was very successful, and accumulated property, which was considerably increased by a fortunate marriage and prudent management. He was not an eloquent advocate, but he was a shrewd, discriminat- ing lawyer, comprehending the strong points of his own causes and the weak ones of his opponent, and he pressed both with vigor and perseverance during tlie fifteen years that he was in the practice. In 1820, on the organization of the new State, he was appointed attorney for the county, by Governor King ; and in 1825, the Municipal Court for Portland, the first of the kind introduced into our State, having been established, he was appointed the first judge. By a special provision in the law, constituting this tribunal," The judge shall not, in any case, act as counsellor or attorney in any court : " he was thus, by the acceptance of this office, withdrawn from the practice. He soon after transferred his residence from 590 LUTHER FITCH. Westbrook to Portland, which was ever after to bo the scene of his labors. xVsajudge, Mr. Fitch was faithful, strictly scrupulous and conscientious ; his decisions were well considered, sound, and approved ; he listened attentively and calmly to evidence, patiently investigated the facts, and deliberately arrived at conclusions, generally correct and satisfactory. His court had, besides its civil matters cognizable by justices of the peace, jurisdiction also in the worst and most vexa- tious cases on the criminal side, — all simple larcenies under twenty dollars, all offenses against the by-laws of the city, complaints for keeping houses of ill-fame, riots, drunkenness, &c., — which brought before him the lowest characters in the community, with whose disorders and irregularities he had often very sharp contention. The manner in which he discharged the disagreeable duties of this responsible office, cannot be better proved than by the fact that he held it by successive appointments, through all changes of administration, for a period of twenty-nine years, to 1854, at which time he had arrived at the age of seventy- one years. Mr Williamson, the historian, in a manuscript note to a list of lawyers prepared by him, says, " Luther Eitch was a good lawyer, and a worthy, well-esteemed man ; was city judge of Portland, and filled the office to his own credit and the public satisfaction." The remark we know to be true, for we had occasion to appear in his court often during the whole term of his official life, and can add, that he was an honest and impartial judge, and that his uniform endeavor was, in every cause, to render a just and impartial judgment. Judge Fitch married Almira Titcoml), June 23, 1816. She was a daughter of Andrew Phillips Titcomb, tlie oldest son of Deacon Benjamin Titcomb, an old and most respected citizen of Portland, Avho died October 15, 1798. Her ^' \ % # .-^ 4/1r^ ^^^^ LUTHER FITCH : WILLIAM P. PREBLE. 597 mother was Mary Dole, a daughter of Daniel Dole, also a citizen of Portland, whose wife, as also Benjamin Titcomb's, was a daugliter of Moses Pearson, the first sheriff of Cum- berland County. They all, Pearson, Titcomb, and Dole, im- migrated to that part of Falmouth which is now Portland, many years before the Revolution, from Xcwbury, Massachu- setts. Judge Fitch and his wife, and their eight cliildren, five daughters and three sons, arc all living. The eldest daughter married Dr. Josiah Blake of Harrison ; another, Samuel F. Pcrlcy of Naples ; a third, Henry E. Perley ; and the youngest, Henry Willis, both of Portland : one daughter is unmarried. Of the three sons, one is a physician in California, another a surgeon in the army. WILLIAM PITT PREBLE. 1811 — 1857. The first of the Preble family in Maine, and the ancestor of all of the name in the State, was Abraham Preble, who came to Scituate in Massachusetts, prior to 1G37, from Eng- land, and was one of the first settlers of that town. He was in this State as early as 1642, in which year he pur- chased of Edward Godfrey, the agent of Gorges, a tract of land in Agamenticus, now York, and continued to reside in that town until his death, which took place in 1663. Ho sustained during his residence in Maine, some of the most considerable and responsible offices in the Province : in 1645, he was one of the councilors of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, and continued to hold the office as long as the government of that proprietor was maintained. He was a member of the General Court of the Province ; one of the commissioners to hold county courts ; treasurer sometime ; and the chief military officer of the Province. His descend- ants have been distinguished in our history since that time : his son Benjamin filled many important offices ; and his 598 WILLIAM P. PREBLE. great-grandson, Brigadier-General Preble of Portland, was not only conspicuous for half a century in our annals as a military officer and magistrate, but was the father of the renowned Commodore Edward Preble, and also of Ebenczer and Plenry, distinguished merchants, and Enoch, an able shipmaster. Judge Preble, the subject of our present notice, was in the same degree of descent from the common ancestor as Commodore Preble, — the fifth or great-grcat-gran 'son, — his grandfather, Samuel, being the son of the second Abra- ham. His father, Esaias, was a whig of the Revolution, a captain in the service, and a member of the convention of Massachusetts to ratify the Constitution : he voted against it. Judge Preble was born in that part of the town of York which is called Scotland Parish, from its being settled principally by Scotch people, November 27, 1783. He was fitted for college by the Rev. Rosewell Messinger of York, for many years the blind preacher ; and graduated at Har- vard in 1806, in a very distinguished class, — containing such names as Dr. Bigelow of Boston ; Dr. Burroughs of Portsmouth ; Dr. Cogswell of the Astor Library ; Alexander II. Everett ; Prof. Oliver ; and Ebenezer Everett of our own State. Among these scholars, Mr. Preble took high rank, especially in the mathematics, — which led, in 1809, to his appointment as tutor in that branch at Harvard, — suc- cessor to the late Dr. Ichabod Nichols. This situation he retained for two years, associating in the duty of instruction and the intercourse of literary fellowship with Professor Farrar, Professor McKcen, Professor Willard, and the ac- complished scholars. Tutors Frisbie and Ware. Mr. Preble having pursued the study of law, partly in the office of Benjamin Ilascy in Topsham, and ])artly in that of Mr. Orr in Brunswick, commenced practice, first in York, whence, in a short time, ho moved to Alfred, and was WILLIAM P. PREBLE. 699 there appointed, in 1811, County Attorney for York. In 1813, he moved to Saco: in 1814, he received from President Madison the appointment of United States Attorney for the district, as successor to Silas Lee, who died in that year. In 1818, he moved to Portland, which ever after continued to be his place of residence. He entered ihe profession with a clear, discriminating mind, and high logical powers, and con- sequently made rapid progress to its higher eminences. He had a faculty of presenting his cases both to the jury and the court, in a concise and perspicuous style, which left no doubt on their minds as to his meaning : in this respect, he caught the manner of his teacher, Mr. Orr, whom he resem- bled in his mode of argument. He aimed to convince the judgment, rather than by persuasive eloquence to seduce the passions. In a few years, he rose to the front rank of the profession in Maine, and became a competitor with the distinguished men who then honored the bars of the several counties, — Dane, McUen, Whitman, Holmes, Longfellow, Wilde, Allen, Greenleaf, Fesscnden, Crosby, McGaw, and many others. And so prominent had he become, that on the separation of the State, in 1820, from Massachusetts, he was selected, although only nine years at the bar, as one of the three judges of the highest judicial tribunal of the new State. Judge Preble continued on the bench but eight years. The decisions of the court of which he was a member, are contained in the first five volumes of Greenleaf's Reports. The majority of the opinions were drawn up by Chief Justice Mellon : those which appear in the name of Judge Preble exhibit the soundness of argument and perspicuity of state- ment which characterize all Judge Preble's written com- munications. Ho was undoubtedly a learned, clear-minded judge : his defects on the bench were those of the temper : he was hasty and irritable, which rendered him impatient GOO WILLIAM P. PREBLE. occasionally, and disturbed the calmness and equanimity of mind which arc high qualities in the judicial oOice. The Supreme Court of Maine was never more able than during the eight years in which Judge Preble was a member of it, with Chief Justice McUcn at its head. Its decisions wero learned, and commanded the respect of judicial tribunals in all parts of the country. Judge Preble retired from this honorable position in 1828 to enter upon a diplomatic service. The state of the country was alarming from the agitation of the northeast- ern boundary question : the governments had agreed to submit the controversy to the arbitration of the King of Holland, and Judge Preble was associated with Mr. Galla- tin, who was the American Minister at London, to prepare the case for a hearing ; and the same year, he was appointed by Gen. Jackson Minister Plenipotentiary to the Hague, to represent the interest of the country in that important case. It is well known that the King of Holland made his award in January, 1831, and instead of deciding the controversy upon its merits and the proof, recommended a compromise line, to follow the course of the river St. John to its tribu- tary, the St. Francis, thence to the source of the southwest branch of that river, thence on a line due west to the agreed boundary line. The question submitted, was to determine the highlands of the treaty, which the Dutch king seems not to have been able to find, except in the bed of a river. Judge Preble made a very severe protest against this award, in January, 1831, and returned the same year to his own country to resist its acceptance by our government. The protest, after quoting from the treaty the description of the boundary line to be adjusted, observes, " The manner of carrying this exceedingly definite and lucid description of boundary into effect, by running the line as described, and marking the line on the surface of the earth, was the sub- WILLIAM P. PREBLE: NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 601 ject, the sole, exclusive subject, submitted by the conven- tion of September 1827, in pursuance of the treaty of Ghent, to an arbitrator." Again it says, " In the present case, especially, as any revision or substitution of boundary whatever, had been steadily, and in a spirit of unalterable determination, resisted at Glient and at Washington, they had not anticipated the possibility of there being any occa- sion for delegating such powers." Judge Preble was sus- tained in his opposition to the decision of the arbiter, by the government and people of Maine : John G. Deane, on behalf of a committee of the Legislature, drew an able argument against the reasoning and principles of the award, concluding with a recommendation that the United States " will not consider themselves bound on any principle to adopt it." Judge Preble returned to Maine in 1831, and was ap- pointed an agent of the State to proceed to Washington, for the purpose of enforcing her rights. There was a disposition on the part of the government to accept the award : they were embarrassed by the controversy, and wished to have it closed. The subject was long agitated in executive session of the Senate ; and it was proposed, that, to relieve the government and save the honor of our State, Maine should cede the territory lying north and east of the line of demar- cation by the King of Holland, to the United States for an indemnity, and thus enable the United States Government to settle the matter on the basis of the award. Commis- sioners were appointed l3y Maine in 1832 to negotiate with the United States on the sul)ject : these consisted of Judge Preble, Reuel Williams, and Nicholas Emery. Under this appointment, an agreement was entered into between the commissioners and the agents of the United States in July, 1832, by which Maine was to cede to the United States tho jurisdiction and territory of the land in controversy, and to 89 602 WM. r. PREBLE : Atlantic & st. Lawrence r. r. receive a grant of a million acres of land in Michigan. In the meantime, renewed negotiations were opened with Great Britain for the establishment of the line upon the basis of the treaty of 1783. These were protracted ; irrita- tion increased to exasperation on both sides of the line, until it broke out in what was called the Aroostook War in 1839 : the difficulty was not finally settled until the English government, in 1841, sent over Lord Ashburton with full powers to adjust by compromise or otherwise the vexed question : this resulted in the Webster- Ashburton treaty of August, 1842, and the establishment of a conven- tional line ; for which the British government paid an equivalent money consideration. Judge Preble's agency in this difficult and perplexing question did not terminate imtil the controversy was thus closed : his last act in it was as one of four commissioners chosen by the Legislature in 1842, to adjust the terms of settlement with this State. This was his last political act. In 1844, Judge Preble engaged with youthful ardor in a great work, which he considered one of the most important of his life : this was the grand project which was to connect by railway the waters of the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes with the sea at Portland. Those who enjoy or observe the advantages which that magnificent work is now conferring upon the two countries which it connects, can have no conception of the toil, the care, the exhausting efforts which were required to give it motion and continue its progress. After the completion of the railroad to Ports- mouth from Portland in 1842, public attention was called to similar improvements which should affi)rd facilities for transportation from the interior to the seaboard at Portland. Incipient measures were taken to explore routes to the northward and westward, and communications a})pcared in the papers, showing the advantages and feasibility of a rail- WM. P. PREBLE : ATLANTIC & ST. LAWRENCE R. R. 603 road extending in that direction to the St. Lawrence. In September, 1844, a very large and enthusiastic public meeting was held in Portland on the subject, which re- sulted in the appointment of Judge Preble and Josiah S. Little as a committee to proceed to Montreal to procure, if possible, the concurrence and aid of the government and people of Canada to open between the two countries an international highway. They made their report on the eighteenth of October, to a very large public meeting in Portland, giving a favorable account of their reception, and of the encouragement tendered to the project. This was followed up by a reconnoisancc of a route by James Hall, an engineer, and a charter for a company, styled the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Company, which was incorporated February 10, 1845, with a capital of three millions of dollars. While this bill was being carried through the Legislature, John A. Poor proceeded to Mon- treal, to stir up the public mind there, and was followed by Judge Preble on the twelfth of February, with the charter, in the depth of winter, by express teams, through untried paths of wilderness and forests. These extraordinary efforts were deemed necessary, because of incessant exer- tions and misrepresentations of persons interested in rival routes, having their termini in Massachusetts. These movements of the committee were conducted with great skill, and were crowned with entire success. A charter was granted by tlic Canadian Government to a company, for a connecting road dated March 18, 1845, with a copy of which Judge Preble and Mr. Poor returned to Portland. In June, subscription books were opened for the stock, and on the first of September, it was announced that the sum requisite for organization was subscribed. On the twenty-fifth of September, the shareholders, representing six hundred and twelve thousand five hundred dollars, GO-1 WM. p. PREBLE : ATLANTIC & ST. LAWRENCE R. R. assembled at the City Hall in Portland, and organized the company. Judge Preble was unanimously chosen presi- dent. On the thirtieth of November, 1845, Judge Preble sailed for England to advocate the interests of the company. There he had to encounter the same malign influences ■which he had met in Canada. Emissaries were in London to create a prejudice against the route to Portland, and to divert it to Boston ; incredible efforts were made for this purpose ; and it was with great difficulty that Judge Preble could get a hearing. The minds of leading men there had been prejudiced by misrepresentations, which it required the presentation of solid facts and able argument to refute and remove. In this mission, he was greatly assisted by Mr. Gait, the able representative of the Canadian road, and their exertions were partially successful. He returned in February, 1846, and the next movement in this grand enterprise was to settle the terms of union with the Canada company. This was accomplished to mutual satisfaction in April, by which a uniform gauge of five feet six inches was agreed upon, together with the points of termination of the two roads, the place of junction, and other conditions necessary for a harmonious and united action of the two companies. The convention was signed by George Moffatt, Augustin N. Morin, and Samuel Brookes, on behalf of the Canada Company ; and by William P. Preble, John Musscy, and John B. Brown for the American Company ; and con- stituted the basis of their mutual action. Proposals were now issued for contracts, wliich were closed on the first of July, 184G, and on the fourth of July, ground was broken at Fish Point in Portland harbor, amidst an immense assemblage of persons, who filled the air with shouts of gratulation as Judge Preble threw out the lirst spadeful of earth to inaugurate the work which was thence- WM. P. PREBLE : ATLANTIC & ST. LAWRENCE R. R. 605 forward to go on to a liappy and successful consum- mation. He accompanied liis act by words well suited to its importance. In the evening', there was a beautiful display of fireworks, in honor of the occasion. Among the papers wliich Judge Preble wrote in connec- tion with his services for the railroad, were, " An Address to the Citizens of Montreal," in 1845 ; " An Address to Mr. Gladstone, the English Colonial Secretary," 1846, and " A Memorial to the Governor General of Canada," in 1847 ; all able state papers. Judge Preble, in his report to the shareholders, July 22, 1848, remarks, "It is now just two years since the first shovelful of earth was moved in the ceremony of breaking ground. You will remember that the first twelve miles of our road, including the depot grounds, extending into the deep waters of Portland harbor, present more obstacles to be overcome, and require a greater outlay by nearly a hundred per cent., than any other like number of consecu- tive miles of the road between Portland and the Canada line. These obstacles, however, have been overcome, and your road is now in successful operation to the town of North Yarmouth." He states that the road was in good advancement to Minot, thirty-six miles from Portland, and would be opened in the fall. He then gives the following sketch of the features of the road : " As we pass on north- erly from Portland, we gradually ascend a gently inclined plane, about one hundred miles in length, attaining at its northern termination an elevation of eleven hundred and fifteen feet above the tide waters of Portland harbor : thence by an almost imperceptible descent, we fall into the valley of the Connecticut, losing in a distance of some twenty odd miles about two hundred feet only of elevation, where we reach the l)ank of the main stream. Strictly speaking, with this single exception, we pass in our whole COG WM. p. PREBLE : ATLANTIC & ST. LAWKENCE R. R. course, no dividing ridge separating waters flowing in dif- ferent directions." With this report, Judge Preble's connection witli the raih'oad ceased : the great exertions he had made, and the exposure he had endured, in the inception and progress of this grand enterprise, had broken down his health, and he found that he needed repose from all active employment ; he therefore retired to private life, still retaining a deep interest in the prosperity of an improvement which he had effectually labored to accomplish. He made frequent and urgent appeals through the newspapers to arouse the public mind to the importance of the undertaking, and to induce the people to come forward to aid the work ; and he lived to see it fully achieved, and bearing tlie fruits of a large and successful o])eration, extending from the Atlantic Ocean at Portland eleven hundred miles, passing on the northern shores of the St. Lawrence, of Lake Ontario, of Lake Erie, to the far off Lake of the Hurons. The road was opened to South Paris, January 1, 1850, and to Island Pond, its point of connection, early in 1852 ; and the whole line to the St. Lawrence was completed early in 1853. Mr. Little, the president of the road, in a report in March, 1855, observed, "The act incorporating the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad Company was approved by the governor, February 10, 1845. At that time, not a dollar of capital had been raised, or pledged, for the prose- cution of the enterprise ; nor had a spade been put into the ground on account of it. Now, we have more than four hundred miles of railroad in actual and successful opera- tion, connecting the waters of the Atlantic Ocean at Portland, with the waters of the St. Lawrence at Montreal, and also at Quebec. Add to this, that in tliis wliole distance of continuous rail, there is no gradient in eitiier direction, exceeding sixty feet to the mile, even for the shortest space." WILLIAM P. PREBLE : SEPARATION OF MAINE. 607 Judge Preble was one of the most prominent and influen- tial politicians of the State. He began life as a zealous federalist ; but with many other active and intelligent young men, Holmes, Parris, "Ware, and others, previous to the sep- aration from Massachusetts, he veered into the democratic ranks, and ])ecame as ardent on that side of the question as he had before been opposed to it. He advocated the cause of his new friends with the zeal and ability which characterized all his other efforts, and sustained the cause of the national administration by an efiicient service, which made him a successful candidate for the office of attorney of the United States for the district of Maine, to which he was appointed in 1814, when but three years in practice. His political efforts were especially directed to effect a separation of Maine from Massachusetts ; and no person labored more ardently and effectually to accomplish that object than he did. The attention of leading men had been devoted to this subject from time to time, ever since the peace of 1783 ; and conventions had been held to pro- mote the object. The people were nearly equally divided on the subject, and in the last movements it had become a party question. The old commonwealth was strongly fed- eral, while Maine was democratic ; consequently the federal party bore sway : it was the policy, therefore, of the demo- cratic party, to establish a separate government, that they might iiave the benefit of official patronage. There were many men, however, independent of party, who believed the affairs and interests of the district would be better managed by a local government than by the more remote one in Massachusetts ; and these cast their influence into the scale of the friends of separation. During the session of the Legislature in 181G, numerous petitions were pre- sented to that body, praying for the separation, which were referred to a committee, who reported in February, rcc- 608 WILLIAM P. PREBLE: SEPARATION OP MAINE. ommeudiiig that the question be submitted to the people. The act ou the subject was not passed until the June session : in this, the terms on which the separation was to take place were specifically set forth. Among the condi- tions was that determining the majority required : the inhabitants of the towns in the district were to assemble on the first Monday in September then next, to give their votes on the question, wliether it is expedient to form the district into an independent State, which votes were to be returned to a convention, to assemble on the last Monday of the same September, delegates to which were to be chosen at the same time that the vote was taken. The act proceeds to say, " If it shall appear that a majority of five to four, at least, of the votes so returned, are in favor of separation, the convention is to proceed in forming a constitution, and not otherwise." During the intervening time, the discus- sion was very animated. Judge Preble wrote strongly and earnestly in favor of the measure ; the papers in Massachu- setts, as well as those in Maine, entered zealously into the conflict ; for it cannot be disguised that the old Common- wealth was very reluctant to lose so valuable an appendage to her sovereignty, her territory, and her political rank in the Union. The vote of Saco was two hundred and fifteen for separation, and sixteen against it, and Mr. Preble was elected one of the delegates. But the vote of the county was not so decisive ; there were one thousand seven hund- red and twelve in the negative. Wells and Lyman, strong federal towns, gave large majorities against separation, viz., "Wells three hundred and seventy-four to forty-seven, Lyman one hundred and seventy-nine to six. The federal towns were generally opposed to the measure, but Lincoln and Hancock Counties were the only ones which gave a majority of votes in opposition : Hancock stood four luind- red and seven for, and one thousand two hundred and fifty- WILLIAM P. PREBLE: SEPARATION OP MAINE. 609 seven against, separation; and Lincoln, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-two in favor, and two thousand three hundred and fifty-seven against it. The whole vote was nearly divided, and was eleven thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven in the affirmative, and ten thousand five hundred and thirty-nine in the negative : evidently, the measure was not carried, and the convention met under this disheartening cloud. But the mind of Judge Preble was fruitful in expedients, and with more casuistry than force of logic, he endeavored to show that the five-ninths majority had been obtained. John Holmes was chairman of the committee to examine ihe votes, and submitted the report, which is understood to have been drawn by Judge Preble, and came to the result that the requisite majority had been obtained. We quote the following passage, as a specimen of the ingenuity of the report. " By recurring to the second and third sections of the act concel'uing the separation of the District of Maine from Massachusetts proper, and forming the same into an independent State, we find that the convention is authorized to form a constitution, provided a majority of five to four, at least, of the votes returned, are in favor of the measure. Tlie meaning of the word majority is doubtful. This word is sometimes understood to mean the excess of one number over another, and sometimes the excess of half the whole number. Exclude the words ' a majority of in the second and third sections of the act, and no doubt remains but five yeas to four nays, or five-ninths of the votes returned, would be required. But your committee do not feel authorized to say that these words have no meaning." " In the report of the committee prefixed to the act, it appears to have been the intention, that the expediency of separation should have been decided by an assembly of men, charged with the most solemn duties, moaning, no doubt, a convention of 610 WILLIAM P. PREBLE : SEPARATION OF MAINE. delegates chosen by toivns. Here the delegates would have been in proportion to the number of majorities in each cor- poration, and not in the aggregate majority of all the votes returned." It then draws the following conclusion : " As the delegates must be apportioned according to the respec- tive majorities of their towns, so on the question of separa- tion, the majority of yeas in the towns and plantations in favor must be to the majority of luiys in those opposed, as five to four of the votes returned. * * * Xn this way only can your committee give a meaning to the word majority as contained in the second and third sections of the act." After having rejected the votes of Lyman, which, as wo have seen, were one hundred and seventy-three majority against separation, because the meeting called to have tlie house polled before voting, the committee thus state their sum: Whole number of votes, 22,316. The yeas are, 11,969. The nays are, 10,347. The whole aggregate majority of yeas in the towns and plantations is six thousand and thirty-one. Tlie whole ag- gregate majority of nays in the towns and plantations op- posed is four thousand four hundred and nine. Then, as five is to four, so is six thousand and thirty-one to four thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, the nays required, but the majority of nays is four thousand four hundred and nine only. Hence it appears that upon this construction of the act, there is a majority of five to four, at least, of the votes returned, in favor of said District's becoming an in- dependent State." So earnest was the majority of the convention to ac3om- })lish the work which they had assembled to do, that they adopted the report of the committee, and proceeded to WILLIAM P. PREBLE: SEPARATION OP MAINE. 611 perform the other duties consequent upon the act. But the minority, consisting of seventy-one members, among whom were some of the most honored names in the District, were not convinced by this ingenious ciphering, and al- though some of them were favorable to separation, they entered into a solemn protest against the report, its reason- ing, and its principles, and against further proceeding on the subject. Judge Stebbins of Alna presented the protest, which is supposed to have been drawn by him. After stating the facts which show, by a reasonable construction, that the requisite majority had not been obtained, it says : " Nothing, therefore, remains to be done by tlie convention. The only duty in this event, assigned to them by the Legis- lature and their constituents, here terminates. The exer- cise of further powers by this convention we are constrained to consider as usurpation. To proceed to form a constitu- tion, is, in our view, at once a violation of express law, and an invasion of the rights of our constituents." Tiie Legislature of Massachusetts took the same view of the law and the powers of the convention which the pro- testors did, and declined proceeding further in the matter. So this attempt, like former ones, failed from a sufficient unanimity of the people in accomplishing the object. Judge Preble and Messrs. Holmes of Alfred and Davis of Augusta were appointed a committee to publish an ad- dress in answer to the protest. Judge Preble was also one of the committee to make application to the Legislature of Massachusetts to carry into effect the act of separation. This latter committee presented a memorial to the Legis- lature which held a session in November, 181(3 ; and it was referred to an able committee, on which were Messrs. Otis, Pickman, and Pickering. Numerous remonstrances were also presented against separation from different parts of Maine, as were, also, petitions for it. The committee made 612 WILLIAM P. PREBLE. a long report adverse to the application, accompanied by- two resolutions : one was, that the contingency upon which consent was given to the separation had not happened, and that the powers of the Brunswick Convention have ceased ; second, that it was not expedient for the present General Court to adopt any further measures in regard to the separ- ation. The report and resolves were adopted. After this, the subject of payment to the members of the convention for their travel and attendance was introduced and referred : the committee reported that it was not expedient to take any action on the subject ; and thus, for that time, the movement for a separation was suspended, only to be re- vived with new ardor the following year, with a successful result. In the convention of 1819, which prepared the constitu- tion, Mr. Preble was a delegate from Portland, where he then resided, and took part in the debates, especially on the subject of apportionment of senators and representatives, in which his mathematical talent was again invoked. He was chairman of the committee on the name of the State. Of the seven delegates from Portland, he and Judge Parris only signed the constitution : the other five declined signing it, because they believed the apportionment of representa- tives to have been unequal and unjust to Portland and other large towns. In 1820, Judge Preble was chosen one of the trustees of Bowdoin College, the duties of which he promptly dis- charged for twenty-two years, until his resignation in 1842. In 1829, the college bestowed upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. Judge Preble was twice married : his first wife, to whom he was united in September, 1810, while he was a tutor at Camljridgc, was Nancy Gale Tucker, the second daughter of Joseph Tucker of York, who was at one time the collec- WILLIAM P. PREBLE. SIS' tor of that port. Her only sister, Mary Ann, married, the same year, Louis A. DcCreney, a French gentleman, con- nected with a considerable family in France. ^ By this mar- riage. Judge Preble had two daughters and one son : the son bears the same name with himself, and now resides in Portland, and is Clerk of the District Court of the United States. The eldest daughter married Stephen Longfellow, Jr., a lawyer in Portland ; the youngest married Lieut. Allen of the United States Army. Mr. Preble's second wife was Sarah A. Forsaith, a daughter of the late Thomas Forsaith of Portland, by whom he had one son, who with his mother survives. The constitution of Judge Preble, considerably shattered by hard use, at last gave way, and he closed his busy, unquiet life October 11, 1867, at the age of seventy- three. The following summary of his cliaracter was furnished by John A. Poor, in an obituary notice, which appeared in a Portland paper soon after Mr. Preble's death, — " All his published writings display the most marked exhibition of labor and care of preparation. He never allowed anything from his pen to appear without sub- jecting it to the most elaborate preparation. But little, however, remains that will serve as an enduring record of his labors. His reported opinions as a judge do not give any adequate idea of his power as a lawyer. He had a reputation for intellectual power far beyond any measure of success that he obtained ; and those who knew liim best, were aware of his peculiarities of temperament and of temper tliat were drawbacks to popular favor. He appeared to best advantage in the oral argument of legal questions. He stated his propositions with a clearness and force rarely 1 Mr. DeCreney died in 1818, his widow in 1836 ; having had three sons and one daughter : the daughter married Henry C. Lovell of Portland, and is dead : one son is living in Portland, another in France. 614 "WILLIAM P. PREBLE: SAMUEL E. SMITH. equalled. When all his faculties were raised into activity by the excitement of a great occasion, his mind worked with the greatest ease, and he was capable on such occa- sions of bringing out an argument, that by its strength of reasoning, force of illustration, and eifective eloquence, gave him the mastery over others." SAMUEL EMERSON SIMITII. 1812 — 18G0. Samuel Emerson Smith died at Wiscasset, March 3, 1860, aged within nine days of seventy-two. He was the seventh child and third son of Manasseh Smith, a native of Leo- minster, Massachusetts, and Hannah Emerson, a daughter of Daniel Emerson of HoUis, New Hampshire, at which place he was born, March 12, 1788. His father was born in 1719, a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1773, and was for a while a chaplain in the army : he after- wards pursued the practice of law in Leominster and HoUis, and subsequently at Wiscasset in Maine, to which place he moved in 1788. Before this time, he had been clerk of the Supreme Court in Massachusetts. He died in 1823. A more full account of him is given in preceding pages of this work. We may infer that Manasseh Smith, the father, was entirely satisfied with the college in which he was himself educated, and the profession which gave him his living, by the fact that his four sons were graduates of Harvard, and became lawyers. Manasseh, the eldest, Harvard College, 1800, established himself at Warren, where he died a prominent citizen in 1822 ; Joseph E., Harvard College, 1804, long a respected lawyer in Boston, and died there in 1837 ; Edwin, the only survivor. Harvard College, 1811, is still living in Warren. Samuel, with whom wc have now to do, pursued his SAMUEL E. SMITH. 615 preparatory studies at Groton Academy, and received his degree at Harvard in 1808, iu the class with Rev. Ralph Sanger, recently deceased, Benjamin Rand, the distin- guished lawyer of Boston, and other prominent men. He studied his profession, partly with Samuel Dana of Groton, and partly with his brothers, Manasseii and Joseph ; and was admitted to the Suffolk Bar, February 25, 1812. The same year, he established himself in practice at Wiscasset. Mr. Smith early took a prominent position at the bar, as a sound and discriminating lawyer. His mind was clear and acute : he had disciplined it well in mathematics and metaphysics, studies which he cherished and pursued through life, and devotion to which was the act of his last hour : he left his study at eleven o'clock at night, after having been several hours engaged in solving a problem in algebra, and an hour later he had ceased to breathe. He also engaged earnestly in politics : his father and all the members of his family were zealous adherents to the old democratic party, and he was early brought into public life. In 1819, the last year of our connection with Massa- chusetts, he was elected a representative from Wiscasset to the General Court, and the next year to the Legislature of Maine. On the separation of the State from the old com- monwealth, he was removed from the sphere of political action by his appointment, in 1821, as chief justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas for the second circuit, as successor of Judge Weston, who had been raised by the new government to a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court. He had then been but nine years at the bar, and there were in his circuit much older })ractitioners ; as Stcbbins, Ames, Allen, Wheeler, Bridge, Fuller, Williams, Bond, Cutler, Belcher, cfcc. In the reorganization of this court in 1822, by which the circuit system was abolished, he was appointed an associate judge of the new court, with 616 SAMUEL E. SMITH. Ezekiel Whitman as chief justice. He continued to dis- charge the duties of this office with great fidelity, intelli- gence, and to iiublic acceptance, until 1830 ; when, having been elected governor of Maine, he resigned it. The decisions of Judge Smith were impartial and wise ; and I have heard it said by competent authority that his judg- ments were rarely overruled by the ultimate tribunal. He held the office of governor, by annual elections, three years, — 1831, 1832, and 1833. During his administration, the public mind was greatly excited on the subject of the northeastern boundary. The question in controversy, after inefifcctual negotiation, had been submitted to the King of the Netherlands. Our fellow citizen. Judge Preble, had been sent by the general government to the Hague to man- age the cause. That umpire, in January, 1831, rendered his award ; and, instead of determining the question sub- mitted to him, viz., what was the true boundary line by a fair construction of the treaty of 1783, determined that the line ought to extend north from the source of the St. Croix River to the middle of the channel of the St. John River, thence up that river to the St. Francis, and through the middle of that river to the source of its southwest branch. This singular departure from the terms of the submission , and the plain language of the treaty, which placed the line upon a ridge of highlands and not in the bed of a river, gave just indignation to the people of this State, and led to an entire repudiation of the award. A long correspondence and discussion took place on the subject l)ctween the executive of this State and the author- ities in Washington, in which were distinguished Governor Smith, and our fellow citizens, — Judge Preble, John G. Deane, Charles S. Daveis, Governor Evans, and Governor Kent. The United States Government was desirous of having the award accepted, and was willing to conciliate SAMUEL E. SMITH. 617 Maine by an equivalent in money or land for tlieir loss of territory. Much historical research and ability were dis- played on the part of the persons in Maine who warmly engaged in the discussion. The messages and communica- tions of Governor Smith were sound and judicious, and met with public approbation. The agitating and unpleasant controversy was not finally arranged until 1842, when Maine, through her commissioners, assented to a conventional line, established by the Ashburton treaty, yielding a large portion of territory, for which she received an inconsiderable remuneration : the treaty provided that the general govern- ment should satisfy Maine and Massachusetts for the expenses incurred by them in protecting the disputed territory, and making a survey thereof, and to pay them the further sum of three hundred thousand dollars in equal portions, " on account of their assent to the line of boundary." Another measure of importance occurred in the adminis- tration of Governor Smith ; that was the removal of the seat of government from Portland to Augusta. The Legislature commenced its first session at Augusta, in January, 1832 : on which occasion, the chief magistrate, in his annual message, congratulated the people " upon the possession of a capitol, which is an ornament to the State, and in beauty of materials and style of execution, inferior to no building for a similar purpose among our sister States." The building and furniture cost something over one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars ; but to raise this sum ten townships of land had been appropriated, seven of which were sold for forty-five thousand two hund- red and thirty dollars, sixty cents, or an average price of twenty-nine and a half cents per acre. The other three sold at a less price : the whole fell far short of meeting the expenditure, or even the estimate of its cost by the 40 618 SAMUEL E. SMITH. architect, Charles Bulfiiich of Boston, which was eighty thousand dollars. Mr. Buliinch was the architect wlio planned and constructed the Boston State House, having for his model St. Peter's Church at Rome, which he had visited. Our State House was a copy of that of Massachu- setts, on a smaller scale. In the third and last year of Governor Smith's adminis- tration, the country was greatly disturbed by the nullification movements of South Carolina, and agitations concerning the charter of the United States bank, and a modification of the tariff. In regard to the .nullification, the governor took firm ground in support of the national executive. In his annual message of 1833, he says, " In this alarming crisis of our national affairs, we ;(cannot but rejoice that the executive department of the national government, sustained, as it is, by a vast majority of the American people, has announced its determination to support and carry into effect the constitution and laws of the United States." At the expiration of his third term of office. Governor Smith returned to private life ; but in 1835, his services were again required by the State, and he was restored to the bench of the Common Pleas. He continued to dis- charge the duties of the office until 1837, when he finally withdrew from the bench. In October of the same year, he was appointed with Chief Justice Mellen and Ebenezer Everett, Esq., one of the commissioners to revise and codify the public laws : the first edition of the Revised Statutes was the result of the labors of this commission. In 1832, while Governor Smith was residing in Augusta as chief magistrate, he married Louisa Sophia, a daughter of Henry Weld Fuller of that city. By lier, he had five sons, who, with their mother, are now living. Governor Smith was one of the forty-nine corporate f!S». ■^•tN # .^g :.. o SAMUEL E. SMITH : ETHER SHEPLEY. 619 members of the Maine Historical Society, of whom, after a period of forty years from its organization, ten survive. Tlieir names are worthy to be placed on. record, viz., William Allen, late President of Bowdoin College, now living at Nortli Hampton, Massachusetts ; Rev. Jonathan Cogswell, professor in a college of New York ; Robert H. Gardiner of Gardiner ; Dr. Isaac Lincoln of Brunswick ; Jacob McGaw of Bangor ; Judge Sprague of Boston, the youngest of the number ; Chief Justice Shepley and Judge Ware of Portland ; the Rev. Benjamin Tappan and Chief Justice Weston of Augusta. The remainder of Governor Smith's life was passed in literary ease and retirement, and in the enjoyment of an independent estate. And it closed calmly, and without sickness or pain, when threescore and twelve years had been nearly completed. He was a genial, pleasant compan- ion, and freely commnicated with the young, as well as old, from the ample stores of his richly furnished mind. ETHER SHEPLEY. 1814 — Cliief Justice Shepley was the second son of John Shepley of Groton, Massachusetts, and Mary, widow of Captain Therlow of the Revolutionary army, a daughter of Deacon Gibson of Stowe ; was born in Groton, November 2, 1789. The family was early settled in Groton ; we find it there as early as 1700, in which year a son of John and Lydia Sheple, as the name was written all through that century, was born. From that ancestor, Judge Shepley was of the sixth degree. As early as 1G37, a John Shepley, as Farmer informs us, was in Salem, and was probably the ancestor of the John who established himself in Groton. He had a son John born in 1G37, and moved to Chelmsford. The family always 'maintained a prominent position in that 620 ETHER SHEPLEY: JOHN SHEPLEY. ancient and respectable town, which contained such names as Ames, Bancroft, Farwcll, Fiske, Lawrence, Prescott, Parker, Sawtelle. In the History of Groton, Captain John Sheple, the ancestor above named, appears to have been a representative to the General Court six years, between 1716 and 1728 : in 1718, we find his name as one of the select- men of the town. His son, Jonathan, was town clerk in 1730, and from 1734 to 1744. Joseph, another member of the family, in 1773, was on a committee with Oliver Prescott, Amos Lawrence, and others, to consider the grievances under which the colony was laboring by an infringement of their rights and liberties, and to instruct their representative. He was also a member of the con- vention of 1788, for adopting the constitution of the United States, and, with his colleague, opposed it. In Worcester County, there was a very strong opposition to the constitu- tion : of its fifty delegates, forty-three voted against it. Judge Shepley's father was an only son of John and Abigail ( Green ) Sheple ; he was an orderly sergeant and clerk of a company in the Revolution ; he held several town offices in Groton, was a farmer, fond of reading, and a man of general information. He had three sons : John, the eldest, born October 16, 1787; Ether, November 2, 1780; and Stephen, in 1791. John is remembered as reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Maine for many years, contained in volumes thirteen to thirty-one, from 1836 to 1849. He entered Harvard College in the class which graduated in 1806, but left college, with a portion of his class, in his senior year. He afterwards practiced law in Rutland and Fitchburg in Worcester County, and, in 1825, came to Maine. He had been a senator in the Legislature of Massachusetts, and a member of the convention for amending the constitution of that State. lie formed a partnership with his brother on his coming to Maine, and ETHER SHEPLEY. 621 they conducted a very extensive business in the profession. He died in 1858, leaving, Ijy his wife Abigail, a daughter of Nathaniel Fellows Cunningham of Lunenburg, Massachu- setts, two daughters and one son, a graduate of Bowdoin College, and now in the practice of law in Minnesota. This branch of the family restored the original orthogra- phy of the name : they found on examination of English registers and documents, that the name was early, and al- most invariably, spelled with a final y, as it was pronounced. As early as 1316, a record appears, in wliich " John de Shepley " signed a certificate as " Lord of the township of Shcpley in the county of York." Being satisfied that such was the correct mode of writing the name, it was then adopted, and has ever since been retained. The christian name, Ether, was adopted from Joshua xix. 7, the designa- tion of one of the villages of the Canaanites in the south of Judah, allotted to Simeon. The word in Hebrew means a stone. Mr. Shepley received his elementary education at Groton Academy, under the instruction of Caleb Butler. Thence he proceeded to Dartmouth College, from which he took his degree in 1811. Among his classmates were Professor Nathaniel H. Carter, Bczaleel Cushman, and Nathaniel "Wright, who were all instructors in Portland after leaving college ; Mr. Cushman, for thirty years, having had charge of the academy. Dr. William Cogswell ; Daniel Poor, the celebrated missionary ; Professor Parker of the Law School at Harvard ; Amos Kendall, Postmaster-General under President Jackson ; and other distinguished men, — were members of that class. . On leaving college, Mr. Shepley entered the office of Dudley Hubbard in South Berwick, where he remained two years, under very favoral^le circumstances. The large col- lection business of Mr. Hubbard was sulforing for want of 622 ETHER SHEPLEY. attention : Mr. Shcpley took serious hold of it, and by his activity and intelligence, revived it, and left it in a favorable condition. He was urged by Mr. Hubbard to continue his services, but he preferred a change, and successively read in the offices of Zabdiel B. Adams in Worcester County, and Solomon Strong in Hampshire. On being admitted to the bar, he came immediately to Saco, where he commenced practice in July, 1814. With the experience he had gathered, and the habits of business he had acquired, he was more than usually advanced over young practitioners in the knowledge of his profession, and in the use of its machinery ; and early entered upon a successful and lucra- tive practice, which his industry, close application, and practical ability made secure, and gave to him a prominent place in the community in the midst of which he resided. In 1819, the subject of the separation from Massachusetts was earnestly discussed in this State, and Mr. Shepley zealously entered into it : he was elected to represent Saco that year in the General Court, and the same year was chosen a member of the convention which formed the constitution of Maine. In February, 1821, he was appointed United States attorney for the District of Maine, as suc- cessor to William P. Preble, who was placed on the bench of the Supreme Court of the State. This office he held until his election as one of the senators in Congress from Maine, in 1833. The duties of that office, in connection with his very extensive practice, he discharged with great promptness and fidelity, of which no better evidence can be adduced, than the length of time he was permitted to retain it, — through the four closing years of Mr. Monroe's admin- istration, the whole of Mr. Adams's, and four years into General Jackson's, and left it at last, only for a more exalted station. In 1833, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, as successor to John Holmes. In this ETHER SHEPLEY. 623 body, lie sustained the administration of General Jackson by his votes and his voice. On tlie great and exciting question of removing the deposits from the United States Bank, he made two earnest and able speeches in January, 1834, vindicating the course and policy of the President. In one of these, he paid a glowing eulogium to his class- mate Amos Kendall, who was then the agent of the govern- ment in relation to those deposits. But the office of sena- tor, however favorable and agreeable, the good opinion en- tertained by the government of Maine of his legal ability, did not permit him long to retain ; for in September, 1836, a vacancy having occurred on the bench of the Supreme Court, by the resignation of Judge Parris, who had been appointed by President Van Buren, second comptroller of the treasury, he was immediately appointed to that place. It was apparent from the studies and habits of Judge Shepley, that the quiet pursuits of professional duties, and especially in their highest forms as an expositor of the law, were more suited to his tastes than the turmoil of politics. As a judge, both at nisi prius, and in the law department, his ability, his industry, and integrity fully justified the partiality and good judgment of the administration of Governor Dunlap, by which the appointment was made. In 1848, he was appointed chief justice, as successor to Chief Justice Whitman, with the general concurrence of the bar and public sentiment. His long experience as a jurist and a judge, and the fidelity and legal acumen which he had displayed in his long judicial service, placed him promi- nently before the public, as a fit successor of the eminent judge who had preceded him. He continued in this high office until the autumn of 1855, when his constitutional term of seven years having expired, he retired from the bench, his ermine unsullied, and closed his long judicial life. No judge ever more faithfully or more promptly 624 ETHER SHEPLEY. discharged the duties of the bench than Judge Shepley ; and the ability which characterized his judicial career is amply illustrated in tlie twenty-seven volumes of the Maine Reports from the fourteenth to the fortieth inclusive. His opinions are drawn with clearness, directness, and force ; and no one can ^mistake the point which he endeavors to establish. That Judge Shepley was devoted to his profes- sional and judicial life, and clung witli strong attachment to his domestic joys, we can have no better proof than the firmness with which he resisted the allurements held out to him to accept positions under the general government : while on the bench, he was urged to accept olHcial stations by authorities at Washington, which he uniformly declined, preferring the comforts of his home, and the steady and calm pursuits of the duties of a judge, which he could not but feel were useful to his fellow citizens, to offices of more notoriety and higher compensation, which would interfere with his domestic arrangements. The last public office Judge Shepley was called to per- form, was that of sole commissioner to revise the public laws, to which he was appointed by Resolve of April 1, 1856. And notwithstanding the injudicious instruction to complete, and cause his report to be printed, on or before the fifteenth day of Npvember following, he accomplished the almost herculean task, and prepared a very full index of the whole body of the public statutes, which constitutes what is now cited as the "Revised Statutes of Maine," published in 1857. If more time had been allowed, we should, of course, had a more complete and perfect work, with the benefit of the wise and learned suggestions of an experienced and sensible judge, upon the discrepancies inconsistencies, and im})crfcctions in the great body of our law. Defects and contradictions undoubtedly exist, which can only be remedied by the most careful investigation and ETHER SHEPLEY. 625 comparison, by a sound and experienced jurist. But in this, as in many other cases, — an American fault, — our people seem to regard more the having things done quickly, than well done. They had better follow the Shakespearian rule, " If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done quickly ;" — we add, but not otherwise. Judge Shepley has uniformly, through his long life, been the firm friend and supporter of good order, and a just administration of law : he has given substantial aid to the cause of religion, good morals, and general education, and has himself practiced upon the rules he has prescribed for others. He has been thirty-three years a trustee of Bowdoin College, having been chosen in 1829 ; and he has been a careful observer of its affairs, and a faithful counsel- lor in its emergencies. He has fulfilled all the numer- ous trusts, private and public, intrusted to him, uprightly, diligently, and well, for the good of the people and the individuals in whose service he has been employed. And after a well filled public life of thirty-six years, and at the age of seventy-three years, he may very properly lay aside the armor, which has been worn worthily and with honor, through the conflicts of political contention, the sharp strifes of the forum, and the calmer struggles with the subtleties and nice discriminations of legal investigation, where the arms are reason and judgment, against the keen logic of the masters of rhetoric. He has received from Dartmouth College the honorary degree of LL. D. In 1816, Judge Shepley married Anna Foster, with whom he has lived in the most affectionate relations to the present time. By her, he has had iivQ sons ; three of whom, only, survive : John 11., educated at Bowdoin College in the class of 1837, and now a prominent lawyer in St. Louis, Missouri ; George Foster, a graduate of Dartmouth in 18o7, well known as a distinguished lawyer in Maine, who 626 ETHER shepley: peleg sprague. entered the army as colonel of the twelfth regiment of Maine volunteers, and is now acting brigadier general and military governor of Louisiana. The third son is Leonard D., a merchant in Portland, Maine. Tliey all have families. The Chief Justice, too far advanced to take a part in active hostilities in support of the government of his coun- try, sustains the cause by his words, and co-operation in its efforts to put down the rebellion. And to enable his son to fight freely, and unencumbered by his numerous engage- ments at home, he has taken his place anew in the courts, and burnished up the forensic armor for fresh contests on the field of his former struggles. " E'en in his ashes live his wonted fires." PELEG SPRAGUE. 1815 — 1835. Among the lawyers who rapidly acquired eminence in politics, as well as in law, in the county of Kennebec, was Peleg Sprague, now the distinguished judge of the District Court of the United States for the District of Massachusetts. Judge Sprague was the son of Seth and Deborah Sprague of Duxbury, Massachusetts, where he was born, April 28, 1793. His first American ancestor was William Sprague, who is supposed to have come over in the fleet with Rev. Mr. Higginson to Salem, in 1629. His elder brothers, Ralph and Richard, of Charlestown, certainly arrived with that company. William settled in Hingham, and for a time lived in Marshfield. The descent was through Sam- uel, son of William, born in 1640, and his son Samuel, born in 1674. Mr. Sprague was educated at Harvard College, from which he took his degree in 1812. His class contained men who have since become distinguished in civil life : among them were, — Franklin Dexter ; James H. Duncan ; AT THE AGE OF 51. PELEG SPRA.GDE. 627 Dr. Homans ; Charles G. Loring ; the late Bishop Wain- wright of New York ; George Downes and Dr. Nourse of Maine. Judge Sprague maintained a high rank in college, was a member of its brightest literary society, and grad- uated with prominent honor. His performance at Com- mencement was a dissertation " on the Superiority of Modern Europe." Loring had the salutatory oration ; and Henry Ware, Jr., a poem on the pursuit of fame. On leaving the halls of the university, he, with some others of his classmates, proceeded to the law school of Judges Reeve and Gould, in Litchfield, Connecticut, which then offered advantages, under those distinguished lawyers, superior to any other in the country ; for, at that time, none of the colleges had introduced into their courses of study, a depart- ment for legal instruction. After leaving Litchfield, he spent the remainder of his term, partly with Judge Hub- bard in Boston, and partly with Levi Lincoln in Worcester : he was admitted to the bar in Plymouth County, in Au- gust, 1815. He immediately opened an office in Augusta, where he remained about two years, when he removed to Hallowell. The bar of Kennebec contained at that time able lawyers and advocates : among them were Judges Bridge and Fuller, Reuel Williams, Frederic Allen, Thomas Bond, and Timothy Boutelle. It required industry, perseverance, and a high ambition, as well as intellectual powers, to compete successfully with such men, who had acquired the confi- dence of the communities in which they lived, by ability and honorable practice. But Mr. Sprague, nothing discour- aged by such an array of talent, but rather stimulated by it, steadily and patiently waited for the success which was sure to follow a persistent and earnest endeavor to attain the higher ranks and honors of the profession. His agree- able and eloquent manner as an advocate, and his ackuowl- G28 PELEG SPRAGUE. edged ability as a lawyer, soon introduced liim to a profitable business ; and within five years from the commencement of his practice, we find him taking his position in the reports as the manager of causes at the law term of the Supreme Court, lie appears in the first volume of Greenleaf in 1820 ; and each subsequent volume of the Maine Reports contains his arguments, while he remained in the State, showing a steady progress in the magnitude and importance of his business. The death, in 1827, of Mr. Bond, of the same town, who was enjoying the entire confidence of the people, in his profession, gave an accession to the engage- ments of Mr. Sprague, and a more prominent position. Mr. Sprague's style of speaking, both at the bar and in public assemblies, was so entirely different from what the people in the county had been accustomed to hear, that it attracted them by its novelty, and interested them by its beauty. The addresses at the bar in that county had been particularly plain and simple ; the great lawyers there — Wilde, Bridge, Bond, Williams, and Allen — made no pre- tensions to oratory ; they did what they undertook to do, presented their cases to the jury and the court in a brief, comprehensive, unvarnished manner, bringing out every material point in the case, and laboring solely for that pur- pose. But a young man came among them, highly edu- cated and cultivated, ambitious of distinction, and capable of making a figure, and introduced a style of elocution, showy and rather declamatory, accompanied by gesticu- lation which attracted by its gracefulness as well as pecu- liarity, and rendered the advocate extremely popular. And his popularity was not confined to the bar, but ex- tended through the community, and made him a desirable candidate for public office. He had come into Maine a democrat, sustaining the principles and traditions of his family ; — he joined the dominant party in the State in favor PELEG SPRAGUE. 629 of separation : his adopted town threw a strong vote in favor of the measure, three hundred and forty-four to ninety-six ; and he was elected a representative from Hallowell to the first Legislature, in 1820, of the new State, and re-elected the subsequent year. His political course was now onward. In the severe presidential contest of 1824, he gave his con- currence, but not very hearty exertion, in favor of the elec- tion of John Quincy Adams : parties, it is well remem- bered, were strangely divided in tliis quadrangular contest between the four great candidates, who had their partisans in their respective portions of the country. Maine cast her whole electoral ballot for Adams. Mr. Sprague was elected to Congress the same year from the Kennebec District, and then, through the whole of the administration of Mr. Adams, gave to it his hearty and valued support. He was again elected to the Twentieth Congress. During both of these terms, he engaged in debates on important questions, and always attracted attention by his able and eloquent ad- vocacy of the measures which he espoused. So acceptable were his services in Congress during these four years, and so popular had he become in the State, that on tlie resignation of General Chandler, to accept the col- lectorship of Portland in 1829, Mr. Sprague was chosen his successor, and was succeeded in the House by George Evans, who had commenced, in his own State, a brilliant political as well as legal career, which was continued through eight- een successive years in Congress, twelve as a representative and six as a senator, to 1847, a period of political life in Congress unparalleled in our State. In the Senate, Mr. Sprague took a very prominent position as an opponent of the administration of General Jackson. On the protective system and on the measures of hostility to the national bank, he stood by Mr. Clay, and made able speeches on the subjects. Ho defended General Jackson's 630 PELEG SPRAGUE. policy on the nullification scheme of South Carolina, and •with Mr. Webster, sustained the administration in its prompt and vigorous action against that rebellious move- ment. In January, 18o4, he made an eloquent speech on Mr. Clay's resolutions adverse to tlie removal of the deposits from the bank of the United States. In speaking of what he denounced as the arbitrary acts of President Jackson, he said, " A king of England or France, who should, at this day, disregard the acts of the Legislature or the de- crees of the Judiciary, would not only shake their thrones to their foundations, but might soon behold in their stead, the bloody scatlblds of Louis and of Charles ! Shall a republican president have prerogatives over both ? " Again, he says, " Such are the delusions which have placed the iron scepter in the hands of the Caesars and Bonapartes of past ages, and overwhelmed or jeopardized all the free govern- ments of the earth." His reputation stood high as an able and eloquent states- man ; but the friends of President Jackson had acquired asceadaucy in Maine, although, on his first election, he had received but one out of the nine electoral votes of the State. A quarrel soon arose between the majority party in the Legislature and our senators in Congress, — Messrs. Holmes and Sprague, — on the subjects of national dispute which were agitating the country. This was gentle at first, but increased in the four years of its continuance to a storm. The first movement on the part of the Legislature was a resolution, approved February 23, 1832, instructing the senators, and requesting the representatives, to vote against the renewal of the charter of the United States Bank. This monition was unheeded, the members follow- ing their own predilections on the subject. Early in the next session of the Legislature, January, 1833, a scries of resolutions was passed, denouncing the United States Bank PELEG SPRAGUE. 631 and a protective tariff, and declaring " that the people of Maine disapprove of tlie conduct of both their senators in the Congress of the United States, relative to the renewal of the charter of the bank of the United States, and rela- tive to the tariff; and in consequence of the utter disregard by said senators of the instructions of the last Legislature," * * * " each of said senators has forfeited the confidence of his constituents." They further declared the right of the Legislature to instruct their senators, and " to exact of them a strict observance of such instructions." They close with a resolve that the governor transmit " a copy of the resolutions to the president of the Senate, and to both of the delinquent senators from Maine." This blast, too, was ineffectual to move the senators from their places, or to change their votes, founded on their own convictions. Mr. Sprague ^wrote a long and explicit letter to the Legislature, explaining his views and motives of action, and the reasons on which his votes were based. The letter was laid before the body to which it was addressed, but never published. Mr. Holmes also wrote a letter which he caused to be published in the National Intelligencer, and which the speaker of the House in Maine undertook to read ; but it reflected so severely on the members, that the further reading was dispensed ivith, and both documents went to the tomb of the Capulets. The next year, 183 i, the Legislature renewed the attack among the first business of the session ; repeating their hostile expression against the national bank, and again instructing the senators, and requesting the representatives, to oppose the restoration of the deposits, and the renewal of the charter. Still in vain, as regarded Mr. Sprague and the whig members of the House, who sat quietly in their scats, while the storm was fiercely raging witliout, and casting their votes according to the convictions of their own minds. 632 PELEG SPRAGUE. Mr. Holmes, whose term expired in 1833, was succeeded by Judge Shepley, a firm supporter of General Jackson's measures. Mr. Evans was the only whig member of the House from Maine, at that time. In February, 1835, the Legislature again adopted a series of resolutions on the same subject, approving of those before adopted, and giving similar instructions. Mr. Sprague, having, in the meantime, been defeated as the whig candidate for governor, and having determined to move to Boston, then resigned his office as senator, and established himself in the profession in Massachusetts, pre- vious to the expiration of his term. While he held the office of senator, he faithfully discharged his duty, main- taining a high rank in that distinguished body, and gave entire satisfaction to his political friends. The mooted questions of obedience to instructions, according to the varying phases of political ascendancy, in the ever-shifting and transitory state of parties, remains unsettled, and I must leave it to the casuist to decide. Subsequently, in the case of Mr. Williams, the card was changed, and instructions as fierce were hurled against him, by the party which had sustained Judge Sprague. It is a political game of shuttlecock, which is adopted to get rid of an opponent from an influential sphere, for the purpose of supplying the place with a friend of the ruling party. Mr. Sprague continued in the practice at Boston until 1841, when in July of that year, the venerable and honored Judge Davis, having retired from the bench of the District Court of the United States, which he had occupied over forty years, Mr. Sprague was at once appointed to the office. We have before noticed the remarkable similarity in tho history of the District Courts in Massachusetts and Maine. Tlicy were both created by the same law of Congress, passed in September, 1789, and their first judges were appointed at PELEG SPRA.GUE. 633 the same time, viz., John Lowell for Massachusetts, and David Sewall for Maine. Since that period, but three judges have filled the seat of either court. Judge Lowell was succeeded by Judge Davis, in 1801 ; and he, after an illustrious service of forty years, resigned the office, which has since been filled by the present incumbent. In Maine, Judge Sewall held the office twenty-nine years, until 1818, and was succeeded by Judge Parris, who relinquished it in 1822, to take the governor's chair: since which time the place has been honorably filled for over forty years by the present occupant. Judge Ware — in each court, three judges filling the space of seventy-three years ! It is but justice to say, that the judges who are now occupying those important positions, will not suffer in comparison with their distinguished predecessors. Judge Sprague has exhibited through his judicial course of more than twenty-one years, great clearness of judgment, sound discrimination, and legal acumen and accuracy, combined with unquestioned purity and integrity of principle, and urbanity of manners. In a commercial community like Massachusetts, the princi- ples of admiralty law are in constant requisition, and of large magnitude, creating a demand for legal talent, and deep and varied research in the solution of intricate and perplexing questions. The business of that court is very large, taxing almost to excess the physical and mental powers of the judge. Judge Sprague has conducted it most ably through difficulties which would have discour- aged many a man of less firmness, perseverance, and intelligence. When it is considered what wise and learned opinions this eminent judge has delivered, notwithstanding his eyes have for years been overshadowed in darkness, our admiration of the judge can only be exceeded by our regard for the man ; and constrains us to utter the wish that his judicial life may not fall short of that of his learned prede- cessor. 41 634 PELEG sprague: ashur ware. No volume of reports has issued from the District Court of Massachusetts ; although we cherish a hope that for the sake of the profession and the mercantile community, the judge himself, or some other able hand, will collect the opinions of the court as prepared by that able judge, scattered, as they are, like the leaves of the sybil, and give them a permanent place by the side of the learned decisions of the Circuit Court, with which he is connected. Many of his opinions have appeared in the Law Reporter and other periodicals, and may be studied by lawyers and students as models of reasoning and of judicial style. In 1847, Harvard College justly and properly bestowed upon Judge Sprague its highest honor, that of LL. D. In August, 1818, Judge Sprague married Sarah Deming of Utica, New York, but a native of Berlin, Connecticut, by whom he had three sons and one daughter. Charles F., the eldest son, died in 1840, aged twenty-one. Seth Edward is clerk of the United States District Court in Massachusetts, a graduate of Harvard, 1841, and of the Law School, 1843. The youngest son is Francis Peleg, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, in the class of 1857. His daughter Sarah is the wife of George P. Upham, a merchant in Boston. ashur ware. 1817 — In the class at Harvard, of 1804, graduated Aslmr Ware, the time-honored Judge of the District Court of the United States for Maine. His class was a brilliant one : it contained sixty-one names, among which were tliose of Colonel Aspinwall, who lost an arm in the war of 1812, and was long consul at London ; Rev. Samuel Carey, loved and early lost ; Rev. Dr. Chapin, late President of Watcr- ville College ; General Eustis ; William Freeman, son of ASHUR WARE. 635 the late Judge Freeman of Portland ; the late Benjamin Merrill of Salem ; Andrews Norton, the Christian scholar; and Rev. Samuel C. Thacher of Boston. In this talented company, Mr. Ware gained high honors as a scholar, a place on the rolls of the Phi-Beta-Kappa Society, and a forensic at Commencement with Joseph E. Smith. Such was the foundation on which his future labors and fame were to rest. The subject of his forensic seems to point to a study which he afterwards pursued to high results : it was, " Whether the law of nature be equally applicable to individuals and nations." Tliacher, a beautiful and polished scholar, had the first part, an English oration ; Norton, an English oration on "Duelling;" and Freeman, a poem on " Credulity." Judge Ware's first American ancestor ^was Robert Ware, who came to Dedham, Massachusetts, about 1640. He was a Puritan of the " Round-head " party ; and for his zeal in that cause, tradition leads us to believe that his safety ren- dered it necessary or convenient for him to leave the mother country. He came from the eastern part of England, near Boston. I think the family is from Ireland : the family in Devonshire and Essex Counties has the same coat of arms as that of Ireland. Robert Ware of Dublin, at the close of the last century, was great-grandson of Sir James Ware, Knight, the eminent Irish historian and antiquary. Judge Ware was the sixth degree from Robert of Dedham, through John, second, Joseph, third, John, fourth, Joseph, fifth, Ashur, sixth. His grandfather, John, moved to Sherburne, Massachusetts, where he had ten children, of whom Joseph, the father of the judge, was the eldest, and Henry, for forty years the eminent and learned Professor of Divinity at Harvard, was the youngest. Joseph, the father of Ashur, was a man of note in his native town : he held many municipal offices, was in the army of the Revolution, and 636 ASHUR WARE. lost an arm in the battle of White Plains. He had two brothers in the battle of Bunker Hill, George and Benjamin. He died in 1833, aged eighty-four. He had three sons, Alpheus, Ashur, and Henry ; and two daughters, Betsey and Patty, by his wife Grace Coolidge of Sherburne. Judge Ware was born in Sherburne, February 10, 1782 : he was fitted for college, partly by his father, who had passed through the preliminary studies for admission to college, and finished with the Rev. Mr. Brown of Sherburne, and was admitted in 1800. It may be mentioned, in this connection, and as a fact worthy of preservation, that the college and the country are indebted to the liberality of Joseph and John, the father and uncle of Judge Ware, for the education of their younger brother, Henry ; whose learned labors and devout life have adorned the college and blessed the country, not only by the many pupils who have received his particular care and instruction, but by his excellent and learned sons, Prof. Henry, Jr., Dr. John, Rev. William, and Charles ; and his many daughters, who have transmitted the blood and the Puritan principles, received from this beloved progenitor, to their posterity. His father, being in narrow circum- stances, could not afford the means of accomplishing this work, which was happily undertaken by the affectionate brothers. Of the class of Mr. Ware, we have briefly spoken. After leaving the venerable halls of the university, he spent one year at Exeter, as assistant in the academy, under charge of the distinguished Dr. Abbot. He then returned to Cambridge, where his uncle Henry had, in the meantime, been appointed professor of theology, to succeed Professor Tappan, who died in 1803, and entered his family as a private tutor. He remained in that situation about a year, when, in 1807, he was appointed tutor in Greek at tho ASHUR WARE: HIS COLLEGE CONTEMPORARIES. 637 college ; and in 1811, raised to a professorship in the samo language, which he continued to hold until 1815. As a teacher in Greek, he was thoroughly furnished : he had an ardent love of the language, and a critical knowledge of it, which he retains by repeated recourse to his classics. During this period, between four and five hundred pupils received instruction from him ; among whom, we may number eminent scholars : the late Governor Smith of Maine, Francis C. Gray, Judge Phillips, Octavius Pickering, Edward Everett, Judge Sprague, Charles G. Loring, Bishop Wainwright, Charles Polsom, William H. Prescott, Presi- dents Sparks and Walker, Dr. Palfrey, George Bancroft, and Caleb Cushing. And as one of the Faculty, he was in the midst of a constellation of bright particular stars : the genial Kirkland, the grave Ware, the brilliant McKean, Professors Willard and Farrar, the late Dr. Nichols and Judge Preble of Portland, the copious Frisbie,the polished Everett, and the beloved Samuel Cooper Thacher. At that time, commons were held in a hall on the first floor of old Harvard : its well sanded stone floor grated under the tread of the busy feet, as they rushed to the pine, red-painted tables, which extended from the walls on each side of the hall to the aisle which passed from the door to the end of the room. At the upper end of the room were elevated tables for the tutors and officers, who lived in commons ; and the classes were ranged in order of seniority from these tables of honor to the door, and were divided into messes, — sixteen, I think, occupied each table, constituting two messes. To each mess were assigned two pewter mugs for drinking vessels, which contained cider or water, and the provisions were served and eaten on pewter dishes : crockery and glass were luxuries unknown at that primitive time, and during the whole period of my college life. These were introduced 638 ASHUR ware: commons hall. when the commons were transferred, in 1814 or '15, to University Hall. The cooking was carried on underneath, in the basement ; and if there was not enough on the table, we could size, as it was called, that is, send to the kitchen for more bread or butter, and it was made an extra charge. Such was the style of living in college to as late a period as 1815. But this did not mar the hilarious enjoyment, which made the old commons hall ring with fun and laughter : no dinner tables outside of a college hall ever exhibited more pranks or jokes than did those of Harvard ; and these were accompanied often by missiles, — potatoes, or crusts of bread, not to say sometimes a whole pudding, which proved too solid for the teeth and stomachs of the guests. These were not always harmless, as was proved in the case of Prescott, of the class of 1814, whom I happened to see hit with a crust of bread, which nearly destroyed the sight of his eye; but which probably contributed to make the great historian, who has gone to an undying fame. It was at the high table, or dais, that the officers sat to control the exuberant excitement raging below ; and here, at one time, were seated Ware and Frisbie,Thacher, Preble, Nichols, and Norton ; and as the elder ones dropped out for other stations in life, came in a younger set, Sanger, Everett, Phillips. Among these wits was a table talk, equal, perhaps, to that which gave Holland House, and that of Samuel Rogers in London, their peculiar grace and celebrity. The sparkling wit, the sharp discussion, the learned criticism, not only gave eclat to the repasts, but quickened the faculties for the larger encounters of life. Here Nichols and Frisbie initiated, or cultivated, their splendid gifts in conversation ; and Ware and Preble, in graver discussions, polished their armor for the political controversies wliich largely engaged their attention when they left the college walls. It was Frisbie, whose conversa- ASHUR WARE. 639 tioii was easy and flowing, like the monologue of Coleridge, who, at the inauguration of Kirkland, gave the classical toast, so apt and appropriate, " Jam^ ja^n, reg-nat noster Apollo,^' wliicii was received with unbounded applause. It was Frisbie, wlio, when the beef upon the commons table was too strong even for a school boy's stomach, allayed the storm by his gentle words, closing with the expression, " Such accidents, young gentlemen, sometimes occur in the best regulated families." This brilliant scholar died in the service of the college, as Professor of Moral Philosophy and Civil Polity, in 1822. Judge Ware, when he returned to Cambridge in 1805 or 1806, under the influences which prevailed in his uncle's family, had concluded to pursue the study of divinity, and prepare himself for the ministry. But, after a brief experi- ment, finding the study not congenial to his tastes, he entered his name as a student-at-law in the office of Loam- mi Baldwin at Cambridge ; and, on resigning his professor- ship in 1815, he moved into Boston, and finished his studies in the office of his classmate, Joseph E. Smith, who had attained an honorable standing at the Suffolk Bar. While in Boston, he took quite an active part in politics as an advocate of democratic principles ; and, in company with Henry Orne, another prominent democratic politician, he edited the " Boston Yankee." He was selected by his party to deliver the 4th of July oration in 1816, in which he attacked the measures and policy of the federalists with extreme severity and sharpness of satire. Tlie next year, he delivered another 4th of July oration in Portland, char- acterized by the keenness and sarcasm which a man of ardent feelings and brilliant genius could array against his adversaries in times of high party excitement. Loring, in his " Boston Orators," thus speaks of these performances : " His brilliant talents displayed iu the two orations, show 640 ASHUR ware: john anderson. him a devoted champion for the war with Great Britain, and a decided opponent to the Hartford Convention. Tlicy are valuable records of the party feeling of the day. He said of Samuel Dexter, that he indignantly frowned on all attempts to impair the Constitution, or sever the Union." He was particularly severe upon Fisher Ames, and expressed sentiments, under the influence of party excitement, which he does not cherish, I think, at the present day. Judge Ware was admitted to practice in Suffolk County, in 1816 : the next year he came to Portland, and was admitted to the Cumberland Bar. Here he found, besides the elders, whose names have appeared in the preceding pages, a class of young men, destined to uphold the high character of that bar, and to adorn the profession. Among these, were Ebenezer Everett of Brunswick ; Joseph Adams of Gorham ; William Barrows, Jr., of North Yar- mouth, whose early death was greatly lamented ; Thomas A. Deblois ; Bellamy Storer, now Judge of the Supremo Court in Cincinnati ; and John Anderson, whose successful career, both at the bar and in political, life, was signally marked. Mr. Anderson was a graduate of Bowdoin College, in the class of 1813 ; studied his profession with Stephen Longfellow, and was admitted to the bar in 1816. He entered at once into an encouraging business ; was ardent, impulsive, uniting the Celtic and Saxon blood : he entered actively into politics ; and embracing from conviction and tradition the democratic principle, he soon came into politi- cal life, and was elected in 1824, a representative to Con- gress, in opposition to Mr. Longfellow, and held the seat by repeated elections until 1833. From this position, he suc- ceeded without#pause, to the office of mayor of Portland, which he held two years. He was very active and efficient in securing the construction of the Atlantic and St. Law- rence Railroad, by his counsel, his eloquence, and money. ASHUR WARE. 641 and was several years a director. His useful life terminated at the age of sixty-one years, in 1853. He left tlirec sons : one a prominent engineer and agriculturist ; a second, who takes his place at the bar ; the third, deceased, was a physician. Mr. Ware immediately tooic charge of the " Eastern Argus," which was the principal inducement of his coming to Portland ; and, by his vigorous pen, gave it a character, which it had never attained before, nor has kept up, since he left it. The subject of separation was then the most interesting topic which engaged the public mind, and he advocated it with consummate ability. On this great event being accomplished, Mr. Ware was rewarded by the office of secretary of state, which he' held, until the election of Judge Parris to the office of governor ; who having resigned his seat on the bench of the District Court of the United States for Maine District, Judge Ware became his succes- sor, in 1822. Judge Ware had been but six years at the bar, and was a lawyer without briefs ; his business in the courts had been very limited ; he had devoted himself to politics, which had superior attractions for him, over the law ; his taste and his ambition had been turned in this direction ; he had not the ease and freedom of public speaking requisite to make a good advocate, although he had the learning and ability to make a good lawyer ; and happily for him and the public, he fell into the right place. Or we may more pro})erly say, being tin the place, he most amply and happily qualified himself for it. He has now steadily, faithfully, and with great ability, filled this honorable station forty years ; and the learned opinions which he has published tlirougli this long period, and the two volumes of reports whicli have preserved in part the decisions of his court, give abundant and satisfactory tcs- 642 ASHUR WARE. tiuioiiy to his profound research, his amplitude of learning, and the clearness and extent of his judicial powers. The admiralty law in this State, when he entered upon his office, was in a crude and imperfect condition : there were no settled rules established in regard to it, and no published decisions to determine the law applicable to it, among us. He went to work at once to investigate its principles, and to establish a code of procedure based upon maritime law and usages as promulgated by the leading writers and standard author- ities, from the earliest days of commercial enterprise. His numerous decisions on all branches of law and practice, in the department of an obscure and difficult science, have given a permanent form to the law, and placed him among the most eminent jurists of this or any age. The first volume containing the decisions of Judge Ware from 1822, was published in 1831), pp. 510 : the second volume was published in 1819, pp. 413. Besides the opinions contained in tliese volumes, there were others published from time to time, in the Law Reporter and other periodicals. Amidst these learned labors. Judge Ware has never lost the relish for classical studies and general literature : he is an indefatigabte student ; reading and study n re his meat and drink ; he gives himself to them and is absorbed in them. No young man is more engrossed by pleasure, than he is by study : at the age of eighty, his devotion to it seems to increase, and with it, the accumulation of his store of knowledge and erudition. His pen is constantly employed, and upon subjects of the deepest interest to the community. Tlie new edition of Bouvicr's Dictionary, now in course of publication in Philadelphia, will contain several articles prepared by Judge Ware. Among them is a treatise on " Admiralty Junsdiction," a subject wliich no man in the country can treat with more abiHty ; another on the " Duty of Masters of Vessels ; " another on " Frivi- ASHUR WARE. 643 leged Debts." We have reason to believe that these important questions are discussed in a thorough and exhausting manner. Another paper recently written, not suited perhaps to the spirit or region of that publication, we hope to see go into a wider circulation than it could have between tlie covers of a law book : it is a discussion of the limitations of the government of the United States under its constitutional powers. In this essay, the power in regard to slavery receives a calm, judicious, and careful consideration. Judge Ware is a clear and forcible writer ; his style is of classical purity ; his newspaper communica- tions have been numerous, and attractive from their brilliancy and point. In 1831, he prepared the "Introduc- tory Remarks," to the first volume of the Maine Historical Collections, a beautiful specimen of his style and thouglit ; he was one of the publishing committee of the society : in 1827, he delivered the Phi-Beta-Kappa oration at Bruns- wick, which was published. This was an argument in favor of classical learning. I may be indulged in introducing some specimens of this beautiful production. " If," he says, " there be a principle in the human mind, which leads us to hold in reverence what is ancient, there is another original instinct of our nature, by which it is limited and controlled. It is that self-love, that complacency, with which we contemplate our own accomplishments ; which easily inclines us to the belief, that in no period of time could human attainments have been carried to a higher pitch of perfection than in the age in which we live. Without taking much trouble to examine, we are ready to believe that there is an inferiority, where there is only a difference." Again : " Tlie manly sense, and the natural and graceful beauties of the ancient writers, took the place of the quibbling pedantry and fantastic conceits of the schoolmen. The intellect of mankind, which had long been 644 ASHUR ware: classical literature. held ill cliains, was set free, and received an impulse, of which it still feels the force. Tlie Grecian and Roman writers became the established models of taste. They still continue to be so. If, in some things, they have been surpassed, it has been in following the path which their example had pointed out. And when we consider the intimate connection, the social character, if I may be allowed the expression, of the liberal arts, it may be said without much exaggeration, that they have been our instruct- ors in all the arts which are tributary to the comforts or the elegancies of life, — which elevate its dignity or enlarge its enjoyments." Again : " It may be said without a metaphor, that in Greece, poetry was the daughter of music. Her infant accents were formed in song, and her voice was modulated to harmony by the melting notes which were awakened from the harp, by the hands of Orpheus or Musseus." " Plato stands as far above all rivals in this particular, as his countryman and disciple, Demosthenes. The easy and graceful movement of his dialogue, the splendid amplifica- tion and harmonious numbers of his declamation, and the warm and animated glow of moral enthusiasm which he has thrown over his mystical speculations, render his works the most perfect specimens of philosophical eloquence ever yet produced." We cannot dwell much longer among the beauties of this classical discourse : the whole of it is an illustration of the deep influence which the studies of this learned scholar had, in forming his own taste and style ; but I think my readers will not tire, if I add two more brief extracts from the address. " In an age of so much intellectual activity as the present, all sorts of new opinions are received with favor. The most extravagant have their hour of triumpli, until they arc chased from the stage by some new absurdity, ASHUR WARE: CLASSICAL LITERATURE. 645 or until the restless love of change is drawn off to some more startling paradox. This insatiable love of novelty is carried into literature as well as other things. But the principles of good taste are unchangeable. They have their foundation laid deeply in nature and in truth ; and the tide of time which sweeps into oblivion the sickly illu- sions of distempered imaginations, passes over these unhurt. The Bavii and Maevii of former ages, who, like those of later times, enjoyed for their hour the sunshine of fashion- able celebrity, have been long ago gathered to their long home ; but the beauties of Homer and Virgil are as new as they were at the beginning." We close our quotations with some passages of the conclusion. " The literature of antiquity, in its prevailing tone and character, is deeply impregnated with the free spirit of the age in whicli it was produced. Nothing can more powerfutly invigorate those generous feelings which are inspired by the consciousness of freedom, than a familiarity with the historians and orators of Greece and Rome. There is an uncompromising spirit of liberty breathing its divine inspirations over every page." " After the constitutional liberty of the country sunk under the weight of military despotism, its scattered flames still broke out at intervals, in the few great men who arose to throw a gleam of brightness over the surrounding gloom. It showed itself in the pathetic and affecting complaints of Tacitus, and burst forth in the bitter and indignant sar- casms of Juvenal. The venerable father of song declared in prophetic numbers that the first day of servitude robbed man of half his virtue ; and Longinus, the last of tho ancient race of great men, holds up the lights of fifteen centuries' experience to verify the words of the poet." These specimens will show that in literary taste and culture, tho scholar was scarcely inferior to the jurist. 646 ASHUR WARE. Ill 1820, Judge "Ware was appointed by the State one of the trustees of Bowdoin College, which office he held twenty-four years. In 1837, that institution very properly conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. In addition to the several offices above alluded to. Judge Ware was President, several years, of the Portland Athenajum ; President of the Androscoggin and Kennebec Railroad Com- pany ; the first President of Casco Bunk, in 1825 ; and many years a director in the Bank of Cumberland. But his tastes and pursuits were not of a financial character : they delighted most in law and in general literature, with both of which his mind and spirit were deeply imbued. In 1831, Judge Ware married Sarah Morgridge, who has ever since continued his cherished companion, and borne liim three children, a son and two daughters. The son wears the ancestral name, Joseph, is a graduate of Bowdoin College in the class of 1851, and is a lawyer by profession. APPENDIX. EARLY CLERKS AND SHERIFFS. Haviko treated largely of the gentlemen of the bar in the preceding pages, I deemed it not improper that those who attended upon them faith- fully in the courts for many years, should still accompany them in this his- torical procession. I therefore give brief notices of the early clerks and sheriffs. The clerks T\'ere strictly officers of the courts : they were the custodians of their decrees, their judgments, and records. They were uniformly, and by law, appointed by the respective courts. In the statute of 1639, estab- lishing the County Court, the court was authorized to appoint its clerk ; and so, when the Superior Court was constituted under the charter of 1G91, the same authority was given to that tribunal ; and all the courts, by the statutes creating them, were empowered to make rules and orders for the proceed- ings therein. They all continued to exercise the power of apijointing their own clerks until 1811, when that authority was transferred, for a brief period, to the governor and council. In January, 1814, it was restored by statute to the courts. On the organization of the State of Maine, the power was given to the Ex,ecutive, and continued in him until 1842, when the office was made elective for a term of years, — first, four years, and^by the last statute on the subject, 1855, it was limited to three years. CLERKS OF THE COURTS, DANIEL SEWALL SAMUEL FREEMAN JONATHAN BOWMAN WILLIAM ALLEN JOIIX II. SHEPPARD HENRY SEWALL OFFICERS OF THE COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THEIR ORGANIZATION. DANIEL SEWALL. There are few things so noticeable in the usages of our courts and of the past times, as the long periods for which the officers and the attendants upon the courts held their appointments. When once a man succeeded to an office, he felt secure of its tenure, and could make the arrangements of his business with a comfortable degree of certainty. And not only so, but the multiplication of offices in the same hands was a common fact, and indicated that the number of persons qualified for their discharge was quite limited, or else there were not so many persons ready to serve their countr}* as mod- ern times have turned up. For instance, in the county of York, John Wheel- wright was thirty years Judge of Probate and of the Common Pleas ; Simon Frost was Register of Probate, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and Register of Deeds twenty years, or thereabout, from the middle of the last century. Daniel Sewall was thirty seven years Register of Probate, and about thirty years Clerk of the Courts. Ichabod Goodwin was Sheriff twenty-seven years. In Cumberland and Lincoln Counties, the names of Freeman and Bowman as judges, clerks, and registers, and Cushing, Waite, and Bridge as sheriffs, are coeval with the establishment of the counties, and run into the present century. I propose to speak of these time-honored public servants, that the court and the bar upon which they so long attended, should still be accompanied by them in the retirement of these pages. Mr. Sewall was born in York, Maine, March 28, 1755, and was a descendant in the fifth generation, from Henry Sewall, the first of the name who came DANIEL SEWALL. 649 to America. That ancestor was the son of Henry, Mayor of Coventry, and arrived at Newbury in 1634, at the age of twenty years. The descent from him is derived throuf?h his second son, John, who married Hannah Fessen- den of Cambridge ; Nicholas, their son, wlio married Mehitabel, daughter of Samuel Storer ; and Henry, son of Nicholas. Henry was the father of General Henry of Augusta ; Daniel, the subject of our notice, and the Rev. Jothara, commonly called " Father Sewall; " — all these spent their lives and died in Maine at very advanced ages ; viz., Henry, in 1845, aged ninety-two ; Daniel, in 1842, aged eighty-seven ; and Jotham, in Chesterville, 1850, aged ninety. Their father was a brother of Stephen Sewall, the learned and honored Pro- fessor of Hebrew in Harvard College, from 1765 to 1785, and cousin of David, the upright judge of the District Court of Maine. He was by trade a mason, and carried on a farm on which his son Daniel labored, in connec- tion with his trade as a joiner, during his minority. The three brothers above mentioned were in the fifth degree of descent from the first Henry of Newbury. Daniel had great facility of application, which, united to a vigorous mind aud industrious habits, enabled him to accomplish a large amount of useful and honorable labor. He was a farmer, a joiner, a school teacher, and was awhile in the army of the Revolution, in which his brother Henry honorably served during the war. In all that he did, he was accurate and faithful: he did not slight himself in improving the opportunities which were offered him, meager though they were, to cultivate his mind : he made special ad- vances in mathematical studies, to whicli he was addicted through life. He became a practical surveyor, and his services were often employed in this branch. He devoted all his leisure hours to mental culture, and obtained a good knowledge of the most important English branches. Before the close of the war of the Revolution, he employed himself in making calculations for the astronomical department of almanacs. These were contained in the series published by John Melcher in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Sometimes he assumed the name of Isaac Bickerstaff, Jr., Bickerstaff being the name imder which a popular almanac had long been known. He continued this employment many years, and furnished to those invaluable annuals a large amount of useful mathematical information. What is condensed on a page required many hours of careful study to prepare. His son William acquired taste and skill in the same path, which he used at a future period. Mr. Sewall also engaged in the practice of law so far as to fill writs, and to attend to other duties of the profession outside of the court room. This was common in all the counties while regular lawyers were few and scat- tered : persons who were familiar with legal proceedings, , especially clerks and sheriffs, were employed in such cases : the regularly admitted attornies entered and took charge of the actions in court, until prevented by a strin- gent prohibitory law. 42 650 DANIEL SEWALL. In March, 1783, Mr. Sewall was appointed by Governor Hancock Register of Probate for York County, and held the office uninterruptedly until 1820, a period of thirty-seven years. While holding that office, he was appointed, in November, 1792, Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, having been an assistant to the i)revious clerk, Timothy Frost, eleven years. His first con- tract with Frost was to work for him, from sun to sun, for a shilling a day ; proof of the cheapness of labor and the dearness of money. When, by the law of March, 1797, the clerks of the Common Pleas were constituted, in most of the counties, recording clerks of the Supreme Court, he received that ap- pointment for York County, and held the offices until 1820, with the excep- tion of 1811, when a general sweep was made by Governor Gerry of all the old office-holders, and their places supplied with the supporters of his ad- ministration, Jeremiah Bradbury was appointed to the office, and held it one year, when Mr. Sewall was restored by Governor Gore. The separation of Maine from Massachusetts produced a general change in the incumbents of office, and the modes of administration. The tenure became more uncer- tain, as it was subject to the fluctuations of party, which was ever changing in the State : the doctrine of rotation acquired great popularity with those •who were out of office and seeking to be in : the outs constituted the ma- jority, and were incessant in pressing their claims to be in. The system, we cannot look upon but as mischievous to the best interests of the people, as tending constantly to introduce into the service persons without experience, and often with doubtful qualifications ; and M'hen they have acquired famili- arity with their duties, they must give place to others who are eager for the emoluments. In 1792, while holding the offices of register and clerk, he was appointed by the Postmaster General, the honored and honest Timothy Pickering, postmaster at York, an office which he held and faithfully filled about fifteen years, thus holding three good offices at the same time. But it must be re- membered that the compensation derived from office was much less at that period than the present, and the business much smaller. As an offset, how- ever, to that, the expenses of living were proportionably less, and the habits of the people were more frugal. Luxury and extravagance had not then manifested themselves to any considerable degree in our District. In 1815, Mr. Sewall moved from York to Keunebunk. In 1820, on the reorganization of the courts by the new State, the old incumbents of office were set aside, and their places filled by a younger generation. George Thacher of Saco, son of the judge, succeeded to the office of register of probate, and Jeremiah Bradbury of York to that of clerk of the courts. Mr. Sewall, now at the age of seventy-five, having occupied responsible offi- cial stations thirty-seven years, retired upon a competency to the calm en- joyments of his cheerful and happy family circle, and his books, which had DANIEL SEWALL: SAMUEL FREEMAN. 651 been the refreshment and strength of his youth and manhood, and were the solace of his old ajfe. Mr. Sewall married Dorcas Bartlett, daughter of John H. Bartlett of Kit- tery, by whom he had one son, William Bartlett, of whom we have before spoken, and seven daughters, one of whom married Mark Langdon Hill of Phippsburg. He died October 14, 1842, aged eighty-seven years and nearly seven months. His widow died within five months after, aged eighty-four. In a notice of this most worthy and venerable man, published in the Amer- ican Almanac of 1844, it is remarked : " The confidence constantly reposed in his ability, of wliich he received so many marks, was justified by the dili- gent and faithful performance of every trust. He was a man of remarkable industry and punctuality, of singular fidelity, probity, and perseverance ; possessed of great moral courage and firmness, not unmixed, perhaps, with some of those peculiar traits that strike the present generation as belonging to the character and manners of the old Puritan. To that constancy of self- reliance, energy, and determination which constituted such marked points in his character, he joined a firm and unwavering trust in the overruling ad- ministration of an all-wise and good Providence, which enabled him to over- come difficulties and ; obstacles, and carried him successfully through the course of a long, respectable, and useful life." SAMUEL FREEMAN. The case of Samuel Freeman^ was more extraordinary than that of Mr. Sewall, for he held more offices and held them longer. Mr. Freeman was born in that part of Falmouth which is now Portland, June 15, 1743 : and if his family was not so illustrious as the Sewalls, though sufficiently so, yet it was more ancient in America, being among the first settlers of Massa- chusetts, four years prior to the coming of Henry Sewall. His first Ameri- can ancestor, from whom he was of the fifth degree, came from Devonshire and settled in Watertown in 1630 ; and he was the great-great-grandfather of Samuel Freeman of Portland. The first Samuel moved from Watertown to Eastham in Plymouth County, and after his death his widow married Governor Thomas Prince of that colony. Enoch, the father of Samuel of Portland, was the eighth son and ninth child of Samuel, the grandson of the first immigrant, and was born in Eastham, May 19, 170G. He was educated at Harvard College, from which he took his degree in 1729, and in a short time after entered the house of Mr. Hall, a merchant in Boston, as clerk, and in 1732, became a partner. His employment called him occasionally to Maine, and his observation led him to choose Portland as the future place of his residence, to which ho moved about 1742. His education and enterprise soon gave him a prominent position in this infant community, and oflices ac- 652 SAMUEL FREEMAN. cumulated upon him with fearful rapidity, as we should consider at the present time. He was appointed in 1748 to the command of the forces on the eastern frontier, and in successive years held the offices of justice of the peace, naval officer, collector of the port, four years representative to the General Court, judge of the Court of Common Pleas on the organization of the county, and register of deeds, which two last offices he held together twenty- nine years, and in 1770, judge of probate ; and he also, by way of variety, practiced law, before any regular practitioners settled in the county. To illustrate my remark before made, relative to the multiplication of offices in the same hands, I cannot have a better example than that before me : Enoch Freeman, at one and the same time, held the following offices : judge of the Common Pleas, judge of probate, register of deeds, colonel of the eastern regiment, selectman, and representative to the General Court. What a day was that for office-Iioldcrs ! His son Samuel rivaled him in this respect, as we shall see before we con- clude our notice of hira. He received the best education the village afforded, and that is saying considerable, when we remember that the first Stephen Longfellow, who came to Portland, and who graduated at Harvard the year before Mr. Freeman was born, kept the grammar school from which he im- bibed his early lessons. After leaving school, he himself engaged in school keeping and also in trade, and connected with these the practice of law, which he pursued to a considerable extent, as his father and several other unadmitted gentlemen in different parts of the Province as well as in Massachusetts had been in the habit of doing. This annoyed the regular practitioners, who, having passed through a long and expensive course of preparation for the proper discharge of the duties of their profession, were not pleased to have their compensation abridged, or the honor of their profession degraded by the blunders of uneducated men. And they adopted restrictive rules in difTerent counties on the subject. At a term of the court held in October, 1770, at York, " by the barristers and attornies practicing in that county," the following rule was adopted : " We, the said barristers and attornies, thinking it detrimental to the public that persons, not regularly admitted and sworn as attornies, should be countenanced by us, do agree that we will not enter, argue, or in any manner assist, in the prosecution of causes where the writs shall be drawn by any person not regularly admitted and sworn, except in cases of necessity, which are to be judged of by the majority of the gentlemen of the bar present at term time." This rule, rigidly enforced and sustained by the court, had the effect to check, if not entirely stop, the outside practice, and seriously impaired the gains of Mr. Freeman and others who had been largely employed in the business in consequence of their fees being much less than those of the reg- ular lawyers. Mr. Freeman expressed his indignation through the public press : he said, " I am the more influenced to address the public in this man- SAMUEL FREEMAN : BAR RULES : COURT ENTRIES. 653 ner and on this subject, as I was employed at our last Superior Court to assist a widow, whose late husband's estate she emploj'ed me to settle, and on that account had an action there, which the lawyers refused to manage because I drew tlie writ. But what seems more hard and oppressive, their Honors would not allow me to plead the case myself, but even said I in- sulted them, when I requested permission to do it, in behalf of the widow." Bar rules were adopted in Essex County in 1768, and are contained in the records of the Suffolk County Bar, in the handwriting of John Adams, second Piesident of the United States, who took great interest in the subject, having been vexed, in his early practice at Braintree, by the evil generation of irregular practitioners. Tliey had been previously adopted in Boston, and contained one similar to that now quoted from York County. In the preliminary movements of the people previous to the commence- ment of hostilities with Great Britain, Mr. Freeman took an active part. In 1774, he was appointed one of the committee of correspondence of the town, and a general meeting of these committees was held in Falmouth in Sep- tember of that year, of which his father was appointed chairman, and him- self clerk. The next year, he was elected sole delegate from Falmouth to the Provincial Congress, and was appointed its secretary for that and the two succeeding years, at the same time representing his town in the Assem- bly for the years 1776 and 1778. In 1775, while holding a seat in the Congress and secretary of that body, he received the appointment of Register of Probate, and Clerk of the County Court for Cumberland County, in both which courts his father was judge. The office of register he held thirty years, and was then appointed judge of that court, which he continued to hold to the time of separation, being forty- six years steady service in that court. The clerkship of the Common Pleas Court he held to the same period, with the exception of 1811, when his place was filled by Joseph C. Boyd, appointed by Governor Gerry. The fees of the clerkship, as he himself stated, were very small at first : in 1776, they amounted to only fifteen dollars ; and for the first twenty years but to an average of one hundred and twenty-three dollars a year. The last fifteen years, the average was one thousand nine hundred and seventy-five dollars a year ; and in 1808, a year of extraordinary business, they were four thousand and eighty dollars. Tlie number of entries of actions in different years, dur- ing this period, were as follows ; viz., 1776, - - - 9. 1794, - - 267. 1814, - - 879. 1780, - - - 20. 1798, - - 468. 1818, - - 1224. 1783, - - 162. 1801, - - - 867. 1820, - - 1396. 1785, - - 106. 1803, - - 1277. 1831, - - 888. 1788, - - 52. 1808, - - 2293. 1810, - - 1389. The fees were divided. until the separation, between the judges of the Common Pleas, the clerk, and sheriff. 654 SAMUEL FREEMAN : POST-OFFICE AND MAILS. The same year, 1776, which was a memorable one iu his Hfe, as it was in the annals of the country, Mr. Freeman was appointed postmaster of Fal- mouth, which office he held twenty-nine years, and when he was removed by Mr. Jefferson, he thought it a most unrighteous decree, and loudly pro- tested against it, as did a majority of his townsmen. The mail was sent but once a week from Boston to Portland from June, 1775, to January, 1789, and was very irregular, being brought by a carrier on horseback : from 1789, it was sent three times a week. As late as 1790, a letter was sixteen days coming from Philadelphia, thirteen from New York, and three from Boston. Mr. Freeman's [income from the postoffice, for several years, was as follows : in 1776, two pounds, three shillings, six pence, lawful money ; in .1779, sixteen shillings, four pence ; in 1780, eight shillings, four pence ; in 1785, ten pounds, three shillings, which was the highest for the first eleven years ; the aggregate for the eleven years was forty pounds, two shil- lings, five pence. The first year, the letters did not average five a week ; in 1783, the number was fifty-seven, and continued regularly to increase : the postage ranged from five and a quarter pence to thirteen pence on a letter. The confidence of his fellow-citizens in this estimable man was no less than that of the government. In 1781, he was chosen deacon of the church of the First Parish, and continued in the office about forty-five years, to near the close of his life. In 1788, he was elected one of the selectmen of the town, and with the exception of one year, was chosen twenty-five years, in many of which he served as chairman. In 1802, on the establishment of the Maine Bank in Portland, the first, and for several years the only one in the State, he was elected its president, and continued several years faithfully and intelligently to discharge the responsible duties of the office. lie was also a number of years one of the overseers of Bowdoin College, and president of the board from 1816 to 1819 : he was, also, a trustee and treasurer of the college. In addition to these various and responsible occupations, he was actively employed as a magistrate in the trial of civil and criminal causes, performing the duties which are now devolved upon the Municipal Court. The following curious paper, drawn up by him in 1797, at the age of fifty- four, has come into my hands, and furnishes authentic information as to his offices : " Minutes of the diflerent kinds of business in which I am en- gaged, September, 1797. Official, as Justice of the Peace ; Register of Pro- bate ; Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas ; Clerk of the Court of General Sessions; Postmaster; Selectman; one of the School Committee ; Clerk of the Proprietors of Sufferers' Townships ; one of the Committee of the Pro- prietors to settle the towns, ditto to purchase land for settlers ; Treasurer of Bowdoin College ; Committee to sell townships granted to said college ; Clerk of four eastern townships, [Narraguagus lands] ; Agent for ditto ; Com- mittee for building the jail ; Parish Connnittee and Assessor ; Secretary of the Portland Academy; Committee to sell lands iu Staudish ; Administrator and Guardian in several cases." SAMUEL FREEMAN. 655 Who ever held so many and such a variety of offices at one time, before 1 Yet we are assured, and partly know, from our own observation, that no duty in any of them escaped his attention or was neglected. He was the most industrious of men, and the most exact and faithful. Long experience had given him great versatility and facility; and a firm constitution, regular habits, and persevering labor enabled him to discharge all his responsible and arduous duties with fidelity and correctness. And at this time he em- ployed himself in preparing works for publication, which his office showed him to be needed, and which proved to be exceedingly useful to the profes- sion and others. These were the Town Officer, Clerk's Assistant, a Probate Manual, and Justice's Assistant, At tliat time, there were no books of forms suited to the wants of our community ; and these works, skillfully prepared by Mr. Freeman, and adapted to tlie various business of the day, had a very extensive circulation, and passed through several editions. His last work, undertaken when he was near eighty years old, was the editing the journal of his venerable pastor, the Rev. Thomas Smith, who was his minister fifty years, whose deacon he was fourteen years, and his devoted friend. The journal passed through a period of sixty-eight years ; was written in a small hand, often with abbreviations, the study of which, and the copying and preparation of accompanying statistics, would liave been a severe task for a young man, yet was well and ably accomplished, and published in a duodeci- mo volume in 1821. To show the facility he had acquired in the execution of his varied tasks, I have been told that in his probate duties and clerk duties, he would add up a long column of figures with accuracy almost as rapidly as he could run his eye over it ; and he would pass from one kind of business to another without pause and without any relaxation of his mind, as if pur- suing the same current of mental operation. In his private and domestic life, he was distinguished for uniform kindness and conscientiousness. It was based iipou religious principle, deeply in- grained by circumspection and habit. In 1773, he united himself with the church of the First Parish, at the age of thirty, and ever remained a con- stant and consistent member. In 1777, he married Mary Fowle of Water- town, Mass., by whom he had one daughter and two sons, — Samuel Deane and William. The sons were educated at Harvard, Samuel in 1800, and were good scholars. William graduated in 1804, was a member of the Phi-Beta- Kappa Society, and delivered a poem at Commencement, He studied law with Mr. Symmes in Portland, was admitted to practice, but was led oflf to other pursuits. He is a man of fine character, hterary taste, ability, and talents, and is still living at Narraguagus, where he originally was induced to settle by the large ownership of his father in lands there, Samuel be- came deranged, and died in 1831, Mrs, Freeman died in 1785, and the next year Mr, Freeman married Betty, daughter of Enocli Ilsley, and widow of Pearson Jones, by whom he had six children, three sons and three daughters. One daughter, Charlotte, the 656 SAMUEL FREEMAN: JONATHAN BOWMAN. wife of the Rev. John Boynton, only survives. Charles, first a law'yer, after- wards a worthy clergyman, was settled in Limerick, and died there in 1853. George was a very promising law student in Portland, and died in 1815, aged nineteen. They were both graduates of Bowdoin in the class of 1812. Not one representative of this old and most respected family remains in Portland, the seat, for near ninety years, of their usefulness and honor. Mr. Free- man died June 15, 1831, at the close of the eighty-eighth year of his age. He was tall and erect in his person, of a good figure, and a grave but be- nevolent countenance. His nose was large, considerably broad, and gave a dignified and manly expression to his face. His eyesight continued good to the last, never having had occasion to use spectacles. He continued to wear breeches and shoes and buckles, to the last, and the old-fashioned buckled stock around his neck : he discontinued the wig, cocked hat, and expansive coat and waistcoat when everybody else left them off. AVe find a memorandum on his father's account book, which shows that before he was ten years old, his head was shaved to receive the wig, the indispensable ap- pendage of that day. Mr. Freeman was an inveterate snuff-taker : he used to take immoderate quantities before he left the clerk's office, putting the favorite powder in his hand and stuffing it up his nose. One day. Solicitor General Davis called at the clerk's office for some papers, on which Mr. Freeman took out his snuff- box and began his usual draft, when Davis, impatient, cried out, " Come, come, Mr. Freeman, get me the papers and I'll shove up the snuff." In all his other duties and labors he never forgot the claims of charity : he was a leader in all the benevolent institutions as well as of education, in the town, as long as he was able to attend their meetings or aid their efforts. And he did not go with his hand and heart shut, but open as melting charity. He was not content to give his services only, but his money followed in the same direction. Take him for all in all, Portland never had a better citizen, and it might be said, " We shall never see his like again." • JONATHANBOWMAN. No place in Maine, previous to the Revolution, was so distinguished for Its able and talented young men as Pownalboro'. It was a large town, extend- ing from the Kennebec to Sheepscot ^River, and embracing what are now the towns of Dresden, Alna, Wiscasset, and Perkins, that is, Swan's Island. It was incorporated February 13, 1760, and named in honor of Governor Pownal, who was about retiring from the office which he had acceptably filled from 1757 to 1760.' Among these young men, who commenced life ' Samuel Bridge, a eon of Samuel and grandson of the old gherifl Bridge, has recently pro- Bented to his native town, Dresden, an admirable portrait of Governor Pownal for itn town hall. Ho has also made the liberal donation of a similar copy to the State, to be placed in the rotunda of the Capitol at Augusta. JONATHAN BOWMAN: POWNALBORO'. 657 in that remote part of civilzation, were Rev. Jacob Bailey, the " Frontier Missionary" of the Church of England; William, Charles, and Roland Cush- ing; Dr. Thomas Rice; Timothy Langdon ; Edmund Bridge, the time-honored sheriff; and Jonathan Bowman. When the county of Lincoln was organ- ized, in November, 17G0, William Cushing was made judge of probate, Charles Cushing sheriff, and Jonathan Bowman register of deeds and clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. The town then contained one hundred and fifteen families, and Mr. Bailey, who had been appointed a missionary to the people there, by the " Venerable Society for Propagating the Gospel" in America, was the only ordained minister in the new county. lie had been to London to take orders and receive ordination, Jonathan Bowman derives his descent from Nathaniel Bowman, who came from England in 1630, probably in the fleet with Winthrop. He settled in Watertown first, then moved to " Cambridge Farms," now Lexington, where he died January 26, 1682. By his wife Anne, he had seven children, two sons and five daughters. His eldest son, Francis, married Martha Sherman, by whom he had eight children, and died in 1687 : his, Francis's, fifth son, Joseph, born in 1674, died in 1762, at the age of eighty-eight, having had by his wife Phebe, thirteen children. Jonathan, the fourth of this large family, was the father of the subject of our sketch. He was born in Lex- ington, February 23, 1704 ; graduated at Harvard College in 1724 ; was set- tled in the ministry at Dorchester, Massachusetts, November 5, 1729, and died there March 30, 1775. His wife was Hannah, a daughter of the Rev. John Hancock of Lexington, grandfather of Governor John Hancock, by whom he had seven children. Two of his sons, Jonathan and William, grad- uated at Harvard College, Jonathan in 1755, and William in 1764 : the lat- ter, born in 1744, settled in Iloxbury, filling many useful and honorable- stations : he married Lucy, a daughter of Governor Increase Sumner, and sister of the late General William II. Sumner, and died in 1818. His son William, was an officer in Colonel Miller's regiment on the frontier, and dis- tinguished himself in the war of 1812. Jonathan was born in Dorchester, December 8, 1735 : in his class at col- lege were William Browne, the refugee judge of the Supreme Court of Mas- sachusetts ; John Wentworth, the refugee Governor of New Hampshire ; the patriot judge, David Sewall of Maine ; the still more distinguished Presi- dent, John Adams ; Charles Cushing, first sheriff of Lincoln ; and the ec- centric and unsophisticated missionary, Jacob Bailey. How singular the coincidence, that three classmates, Bailey, Bowman, and Cushing, ingenious and well educated, should have settleil at the same place, and near the same time, in the wilderness of Maine. One thing led to another, Bailey first went, William Cushing was already there, and the others followed as oflice was opened for them under the new county. When hostilities with the mother country commenced, Mr. Bailey adhered to tho royal cause, and a 658 JONATHAN BOWMAN: REVOLUTIONARY TROUBLES. bitter feud arose among these old friends, which led to recrimination and persecution. Bailey felt obliged to leave the country, and sought refuge in Nova Scotia in 1779. Charles Gushing was seized at night by a loyalist party, towards the close of the war, under John Jones, a violent tory, and hurried away to the British army at Castine. In July, 1777, Mr. Bailey, in a memorial signed by fifty-four inhabitants of Pownalboro', well affected toward the Church of England, which had been established there under Bailey, says, " Mr. Bowman came here in 17G1, invested with several places of profit under government: Colonel Cushing came and voluntarily joined with the church, became a communicant, and was chosen warden." They afterwards became hostile to the church, as Mr. Bailey asserts, charging Bowman and Cushing as the chief actors. He says in the memorial, " Our enemies are determined to ruin us. They have put every churchman in the list for transportation, even the captain of the militia, a most zealous friend for the country." He adds, " The occasion of this petition was briefly as follows : Mr. Bowman seized the land where the church and par- sonage were erected, as the property of Major Goodwin ; and Cushing, the sheriflP, coming suddenly with a number of men to turn me out of posses- sion, I, ignorantly, took a short lease under Mr. Bowman, which so offended Dr. Gardiner, that he declared that he would apply to the society for my removal. Upon which, our people agreed to send this petition to the society." Again he says, " I would further remark, that Colonel Cushing asserts that there are no church people in this place. This is very surprising, when by far the majority of the present inhabitants have been married, baptized, and received the other sacrament in this church." In another letter, dated August 26, 1778, Mr. Bailey says, " Colonel Cushing has declared, in the most positive terms, that I shall never officiate again in this place ; and if I attempt to transgress this mandate, that he will take me out of my house with an armed force, and commit me to jail." Mr. Cushing's letter to him of the same date does not sustain this charge so fully as stated : it says, " Sir, I am informed of your arrival, but have not heard what your conclu- sion is respecting the oath of allegiance to the United States of America. I trust you cannot think of residing here in the exercise of your functions, until you have complied in taking said oath." The persecution which Mr. Bailey suffered was evidently caused by his hostility to the Revolutionary government : he utterly opposed it, and his influence must have been considerable in keeping up an agitation among the people of the town. He would not take the oath of allegiance, nor abandon his loyalty to the king and the church, nor leave the country. Bowman and Cushing were officials whoso duty it was to preserve the peace, to sustain the cause of the new government, and enforce obedience to its laws. Whether they used more harshness in this case than was neces- sary, wo cannot determine until we hear from the other side : it is evident JONATHAN BOWMAN : LINCOLN COUNTY. 659 that Mr. Bailey was a pretty obstinate subject to deal with, judging from his own presentation of the case, as we find it iu his manuscript letters and papers in the hands of the Rev. William S. Perry, rector of St. Stephen's church in Portland, to whose kindness we are indebted for their use. They remind us of the wretched state of things now existing in this country, where the oath of allegiance finds manj' a recusant, even in loyal or semi- loyal States. Mr. Bowman, it appears, went to Pownalboro' in 17C0, with commis- sions in his pocket as register of deeds and clerk of the court: the register, by the act establishing the county, was to be appointed by tlie governor and council, to hold his office five years, from February, 17G1, afterwards to be elected by the people. The clerks of the courts were appointed by the respective courts. On the organization of the county, the officers were as follows: Judges of theComnwn Fleas, Samuel Denny, William Lithgow, Aaron Hinkley, and John North ; Judge of Probate^ William Gushing ; Register of Probate, Jonathan Bowman ; Sheriff, Charles Cushing ; Register of Deeds, Jonathan Bowman. He held the office of register of deeds until 1781. In 1772, lie was appointed judge of probate, as successor to William Cushing, who was promoted to the Superior Court. In this office, he was recommis- sioned by Governor Hancock in 1781, and continued in it until his death, in 1804, — a period of thirty-two years. It appears by the records of the courts, that Mr. Bowman was appointed clerk of the Court of Sessions, March 2, 1761, and held the office until January 12, 1796, — a period of near thirty-five years, when he resigned. On May 26, 1761, he was appointed clerk of the Common Pleas, and continued in the office until 1704 : in June 1791, his son, Jonathan Bowman, Jr., was appointed assistant clerk, and so continued until the resignation of his father, when he was made chief clerk: he continued in the office until September, 1801, when Alden Bradford, who had been the clergyman in Wiscasset, and was afterwards secretary of State of Massachusetts, was appointed. During part of the time, William Bowman, another son of the judge, was assistant of his brother, and after- wards chief clerk of the Court of Sessions, His son Thomas was the first register of probate in Kennebec County, 1799. It appears from the probate records of Lincoln, that Jonathan Bowman was register of probate in November, 1760, and held the office until Judge Cushing, who had been the judge of probate, was elevated to the bench of the Superior Court, in 1772, when Mr. Bowman became his successor. In 1791, his son Jonathan, who had graduated the year before, was appointed register of probate and held the office until 1803, when Bradford succeeded him. Mr. William- son, in a note on the organization of Lincoln County, says that William Bryant was the first register : this is not sustained by the records, which contain the name of Bowman as register at that time. Jud>;o Bowman accumulated a largo estate by his various offices and speculations. He 660 JONATHAN BOWMAN: CHARLES VAUGHAN. lived at a beautiful spot on the eastern bank of tlie Kennebec, about a mile below the court-house. His house remains a conspicuous object to those who sail by on this charming river, whose varied scenery furnishes ever new pleasure to the tourist. He was a man of tall and commanding figure. Jolm H. Sheppard, Esq., the learned librarian of tlie New England Genea- logical Society, to whom I am greatly indebted for my genealogical and many other facts, in this and my notice of Sheriff Bridge, thus speaks of Judge Bowman: "He was a man of tall and striking appearance: his prominent features, silvery locks, full black suit with small clothes, silk stockings, and large glittering shoe buckles, have left their portrait on the memory of one, who, when a small boy, accompanied his father on a visit to the mansion of Judge Bowman." His speculations were not always successful : he was concerned in the great project of Charles Vaughan, a wealthy merchant of Boston, and a large proprietor of land on the Kennebec ; who, in the latter part of the last century, perceiving the resources and advantages of the Kennebec valley, set about to improve them, and to give them an ample development. Like Bingham and numerous other persons, whose familiarity with the high prices of real estate in the old countries conceived the idea that the prices on this side of the Atlantic must greatly increase under the rapid immigra- tion and settlement of the country, he invested largely in the wild lands of Maine, and in building up towns and villages. They were greatly in advance of their age, and found, to their cost, that they could not force population, nor commerce, nor manufactures, out of the natural channels which they would gradually work for themselves, in the steady progress which American society was surely and gradually making. Mr. Vaughan and his associates, finding no commercial town on the Kennebec, determined to make one : they fixed upon Hallowell as the great city at the head of navigation, and selected Jones's Eddy as the seaport. They spared no expense to give vitality and success to their grand ideas : they built at Hallowell a distillery, a spacious brewery for malt liquor, an expensive flour mill with the most approved machinery, wharves, stores, and houses for the accommodation of these branches of industry. At Jones's Eddy, wharves, houses, and stores were constructed, suited to a large commercial business. But the business did not and would not come ; and no advance has been made at the Eddy for more than sixty years, and Hallowell is probably less i)rosperous than it was when the energetic and public-spirited Mr. Vaughan was striving to build it up as a great metropolis. Jones's Eddy is about nine miles above Hunnewell's Point at the mouth of the river, and about four miles below Bath : it is a snug and quiet nook, well suited by deep water and protecting arms for a safe harbor, but is unsupported by a fertile and productive country. Judge Bowman partook of the disappointment and losses of this premature enterprise. JONATHAN BOWMAN. 661 Judge Bowman was twice married; first, April 26, 1770, to Mary Emerson, daugluer of Ebeuezer Lowell of Boston; his second wife was Ann Goodwin of Dresden, to whom he was married January 1, 1798. She died in Dresden, January 26, 1856, at the age of ninety-one: he died September 4, 1804, in the sixty- ninth year of his age. By his first wife, he had four children, viz., Jonathan, William, Thomas, and Mary, who was bom Novem- ber 22, 1784, married to Dr, Jonathan B. Parker of Wiscasset, January 18, 1800, and died soon after. His oldest son, Jonathan, was born April 17, 1771, graduated at Harvard College, 1700, of which class the venerable Quincy is the only survivor^ and the oldest graduate. He qualified himself for the bar, and opened an office in Wiscasset in 1793, having the year before been appointed clerk of the Court of Common Pleas and Sessions in connection with his father, and register of probate, his father being the judge. He held the oflice of clerk of the Supreme Court and of the Com- mon Pleas until 1801, when Alden Bradford superseded him, but he con- tinued register of probate two years longer, when Bradford succeeded to that also. In 1803, his brother William was appointed clerk of the sessions. Jonathan, Jr., married, in September, 1798, Lydia Wood, daughter of General Abiel Wood of Wiscasset, who died, leaving a daughter, an only child. In 180G, he married Sally D. Clough, and died August 21,1808. His daughter, Louisa Lydia, had a fine taste for music. She married in 1818 Benjamin Sewall, a merchant in Boston, and died in 1828, leaving an only daughter, who married, in 1845, Charles D. Hubbard, a merchant in Boston. She died in 1854, leaving three children. Mr. Sheppard says of Mr. Bowman, Jr., that " he was a tall and hand- some man : he wore his hair powdered, with a queue tied with black ribbon, a fashion of that day. He was a man of high spirit, and fought a duel with Captain James Hodge, and wounded liim : the origin of the quarrel is not known at the present day. William, the second son of Judge Bowman, was born October 2, 1772 : he entered Harvard College, but did not graduate. He practiced law at Wiscasset, and in 1803 was appointed clerk of the Court of Sessions, which office he lield until 1811 : he was also postmaster of Wiscasset. He married Phebe, a daughter of Sheriff Bridge, and died in September, 1826, leaving a daughter born in 1802, wlio married James Jolmson of Dresden, in 1827 ; and one son, Edmund Bridge Bowman, born August 29, 1804. He gradu- ated at Bowdoin College in 1823, settled first in Bowdoinham as a lawyer, and now resides in Wiscasset, having been recently clerk of the courts for Lincoln County. By his wife Hannah D. Norris, whom he married in 1828, he had nine children. Thomas Bowman, the third son of Judge Bowman, was born May 20, 1774, a graduate of Harvard, 1794. A particular notice of this gentleman will be found in his appropriate place as a lawyer. He was also the first 662 JONATHAN BOWMAN: MULTIPLICITY OF OFFICES. register of probate in Kennebec County, and completes the remarkable and unique case, of a father and all his sons and a grandson having filled the office, for a series of years, of clerk or register of the courts, — the father having held the office of clerk, without intermission from the organi- zation of the county, in 17G0, to his death — forty-four years ; and always more than one office at the same time. As for instance, register of deeds and clerk of the court, and register of probate ; then judge of probate, register of deeds, and clerk ; and finally, judge of the Common Pleas and judge of probate, which two offices he filled at the time of his death, having held that of probate from January, 1772, to his death, thirty-two years. So that his family monopolized the offices of clerk of the several courts and register of probate, from 17C0 into the present century, and the head of the family passing from the clerkship of the two courts to the bench in each. He was register of deeds from 1760 to 1782. The following is a transcript of the first entry upon the records of Lincoln County. "Lincoln, so. Anno Regni Regis Georgii Tertii magnaj > Britannia) Franca) & Hibernia;, Primo. J At his Majesty's Court of General Sessions of the Peace, held at Pownal- borough within and for the County of Lincoln on the Second Tuesday of May, being the Twelfth day of said Month Annoque Domini 1761. His Majesty's Justices present are as follows, viz., Samuel Denny "j Patrick Drummondl Aaron Hinkley 1 ^ Joseph Patten i ^ William Cusliing f -^ i • James Howard | ^ Jonathan Bowman J John Stinson J At a meeting of the Justices of the General Sessions of the Peace for the said County, March the Second 1761 at Georgetown in said County, present Samuel Denny, Esqr., William Lithgow, Esqr., Aaron Hinkley, Esqr., William Gushing, Esqr., James Howard, Esqr., Patrick Drummond, Esqr., and Joseph Patten, Esqr, Jonathan Bowman, Esqr., unanimously appointed Clerk of said Court of Sessions. A True Copy from the Minutes of said Meeting, — Attest Samuel Denny. Sworn to the said office Before me, Aaron Hinkley, Justice of Peace." WILLIAM ALLEN. Mr. Allen, more familiarly known to the old lawyers in Somerset County, and whose name appeared on their writs for several years, as William Allen, Jr., was a native of Chilmark in Martha's Vineyard, where lie was born, April 16, 1780, on what was then the manor of Tisbury, by special grant to WILLIAM ALLEN. 663 his ancestor. In 1792, at the age of twelve years, he migrated with his father to the wilderness of Maine, to the place which is now the town of Industry, in the county of Franklin. He speaks of their location as " a log camp two miles beyond any human habitation, and forty miles beyond any incorporated town." To show what hardships the pioneer occupants of the beautiful valley of the Sandy River had to endure, I must use again his graphic description. " We resided in that camp five years, near a large swamp, tormented with musquitoes in summer, and covered with snow in the winter, secluded from society, without any school, and on unproductive land. We then removed four miles east to another log camp, where the land was good, and where by constant labor, we soon could raise corn and grain suflScient for the family, consisting of twelve persons, — father, mother, six Bous and four daughters. We lived comfortably till I became of age, when I commenced clearing up a farm for myself in the woods : we had no schools. I succeeded well, raised good crops, and, in 1802, when twenty- two years old, I was able to pay my board six weeks at Hallo well Academy." Such is a specimen of what the early settlers of our backwoods had to endure in opening those fair lands to the light of civilization and profitable culture. It may fairly be considered as the pursuit of the means of living under difficulties. In our notice of Frederic Allen, the distinguished lawyer of Gardiner, a relative of William, we made some reference to their origin. Their common ancestor in this country was James, .\vli() was born in England, in 1630, married to EHzabeth JP-«3tSe, anci died at Tisbury, July 25, 1714, aged seventy-eight. His' second son, James, married Mary Bourn, and died at Chilmark, on the Vineyard, 1724, aged fifty : his eldest son, Sylvanus, married Jane, a daughter of the Rev. William Homes of Chilmark, July 1, 1725, and died 1787, aged eighty-six. The Rev. Mr. Homes M'as a native of Scotland, born about 16G2, and settled in the ministry at Strabane, Ireland : after remaining there twelve years, he came to Martha's Vineyard and settled over the parish there, where he died in 1747. His diary, kept in a beautiful handwriting, has been this year presented to the Maine Historical Society, by the subject of this notice. The oldest sou of Sylvanus and Jane ( Homes ) Allen, was James, born in Chilmark. 1732, married to Mary Athearn, and died in 1815, aged eighty-three : their oldest son was William, who was born 1756, married Love Coffin, and was the father of William, our present subject: he moved to Industry, in 1792, and died in 1842, a^ed eighty-six. William Allen is, therefore, of the sixth descent from the first James, and the fifth from the Rev. William Homes. John Allen, the great grandfather of Frederick of Gardiner, and Sylvanus Allen, the great grand- father of William of Norridgewock, both married daughters of the Rev. William Homes ; and, therefore, they both center in that gentleman, as well as in the first James Allen, as their common ancestors. CG4 WILLIAM ALLEN. At the ago of t\ventj--two, Mr. Allen first had the benefit of a competent instructor to guide him in his studies : this was Samuel Moody, one of a family distinguished for its teachers ; and he entered upon the pursuit of knowledge with the earnestness with which a famished man rushes to food. Such was his ardor and such was his mental capacity, that he succeeded in six weeks in obtaining a knowledge of English grammar, plane trigonometry, geometry, and the theory of surveying. And though he did not receive a college diploma, he obtained from his instructor a certificate, which answered all the purpose to introduce him as a teacher to the towns in his county. It certified that " The improvement made in the several studies he pursued was answerable to my highest expectations. I recommend him to be a person of a judicious, penetrating mind, and so far as I am acquainted with him, of a good moral character. His knowledge in reading, writing, English gram- mar, and arithmetic is such as, I think, qualifies him for instructing in those branches of literature usually taught in a common English school." He says that this diploma was not without its effect, for " On my way home I had applications for teaching two of the best schools in the county, ragged as I was." Schoolmasters were not abroad then as they are now, and the services of a faithful one in that region were diligently sought and highly prized. The immigrants, principally from the old Bay State and New Hampshire, had received the benefit of good common schools, and they desired to impart it to their children. His continued progress I cannot better express than in his own simple style. On his way home from Hallo- well, he says, " I took a letter from a land proprietor to a noted surveyor, urging his completion of his surveys of three townships for which purchasers were waiting. I went out of my way to carry the message, with the hope that the surveyor would require my assistance. He did employ me two days at seventy-five cents a day, to complete the plan of one town, and I went home rejoicing, with a dollar in my pocket and ten dollars' worth of instruction in plotting lots fronting on a crooked river, so as to contain equal quantities, &c. I kept school in Farmington, under inspection of Henry V. Cham- berlain, who, in visiting the school, spoke encouragingly and in a very gentlemanly manner. I taught in Winthrop the two following winters, and worked on my land in summers. In 1803, the place where my farm was situated was incorporated into a town by the name of Industry. I was chosen first selectman, and served in that oflice every year that I resided there, until 1813. In the fall of 1805, I was employed by my good friend, Samuel Moody, an instructor in the English department of Hallowell Academy, where I remained two years with increased comjiensation, when the state of my health and the condition of my farm required my personal attention." When the county of Somerset was organiied in 1809, Mr. Allen was appointed one of the justices of the peace for the county, and living near WILLIAM ALLEN. 665 the border of the county, and but one mile from the line of Farmington, in which near half the county of Somerset did business, he became a popular magistrate for the neighboring towns. He tried the causes of the principal attornies there, and Messrs. Nathan Cutler, Elnathan Pope, Zachariah Soule, Hiram Belcher, and others brought their actions before him, so that in his capacity of judge of small causes, his transactions were quite large : in four years, their entries amounted to two hundred, all of which he recorded at full length. He was also appointed one of the special justices of the Court of Common Pleas, and oflSciated until that court was abolished in 1811. William Jones, a laAvyer of some repute in Norridgewock, had been appointed the first judge of probate and the first clerk of the courts in the new county, but dying in 1813, Mr. Allen was appointed clerk in his place by the Circuit Court, then consisting of Weston Chief Justice, Ames of Bath, and Thatcher of Thomaston : he had previously, in 1812, been ap- pointed temporary clerk during the sickness of Mr, Jones. The duties of this office he was well qualified to discharge, by his expe- rience as a practical justice and his service on the bench, as well as by his general habits of application and accuracy. He continued in the office twelve years, outliving the old Circuit Court several years, and retiring at last with the consciousness of having faithfully performed his trust, and given satisfaction to those immediately interested in the business of the courts, and all who had occasion to meet him on official business. During this period, he became intimately acquainted with all the lawyers who prac- ticed in that county, embracing those who earliest went there, through a period of more than fifty years, — Wilde and Bond, Boutelle, Rice and Kid- der, Chamberlain, Soule, Cutler, Williams, McLellan, Belcher, — besides those from distant counties, who occasionally illuminated that remote bar, — as Mellen, Orr, Greenleaf, &c. The variety of talent and character possess- ed by these counselors, many of them eminent, made an impression upon his vivid memory which will not be obliterated while reason and memory retain their power in his mind. After his appointment as clerk, Mr, Allen moved to Norridgewock, the shire town of the county, and the favor which he enjoyed in the town where he had lived for more than twenty years, followed him to his new residence. It was a popularity which followed as well as went before, for it was founded upon integrity of character, intelligence, and prompt business habits. We have mentioned his continued employment at Industry in municipal offices : he had not .resided long in Norridgewock before his services in the same line were sought for there. In 181G, he was elected one of the selectmen and assessors, and held the office, by successive re-elections, seventeen years, and five years subsequently, making twenty-two years that he held the office. In 1825 and 1828, he represented the town in the Legislature, and in 1816 and 1819, in the conventions which met at Brunswick and Portland 43 GGG WILLIAM ALLEN: JOHN H. SHEPPAKD. on the subject of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts. In botli the conventions, he was one of the committee to draft a constitution. The vote of Norridgewock, in 181G, was sixty-four in favor of separation and sixty- five against it ; but on the trial in 1819, a large majority voted in favor of the measure, leaders in both parties struggling to show their zeal, with a hope, probably, to partake of the patronage, as in this last attempt, the ac- complishment of the long sought-for end seemed to be a foregone conclu- sion. The confidence thus reposed in Mr. Allen by those who knew him best, through a period of more than forty years, sufiiciently testifies to his ability, his moral worth, and his capacity for business. And the confidence was well- bestowed and never, betrayed, and in the various responsible positions in which he was placed, he was always found equal to the trusts committed to his charge. And he still devotes himself with his accustomed industry, and as far as his health will permit, to the settlement of estates and other probate and legal business, for which his services are much required. In 1808, Mr. Allen married Hannah Titcomb, a daughter of Stephen Tit- comb, the first settler in Sandy River valley. Mr. Titcomb explored the country and took up a lot there as early as 1776, and in 1780 commenced his perilous journey of seventy miles through the forests from Topsham to the log hut he had erected in the woods, with a young wife and two young child- ren, one an infant daughter in her arms. The last habitation on the route was where Readfield Corner now is, a log cabin, twenty-two miles short of their destination. This then infant daughter became the wife of Mr. Allen, and for fifty-one years was the dearly beloved, most worthy, and cherished companion of her devoted husband. She died deeply lamented, March 26, 1859. By her, he had four sons and one daughter. The daughter became the wife of John S. Abbott, a prominent lawyer, and once the attorney gen- eral of Maine, now a resident in Boston: she died in 1858. Of the sons, William, Stephen, and Charles were graduates of Bowdoin College : the two latter are able and popular ministers of the Methodist denomination : William and Albert B. died while pursuing the study of law. Mr. Allen has not only given his two sons to the ministry, but has himself been a devoted and ex- emplary servant, member, and officer of the Methodist Church during his long life ; and still lives to give it his supimrt by the influence of his virtues, his labors, and his pecuniary means. JOUN n. SIIEPPARD REGISTER OF PROBATE. 1S17 — 1S34. Two lawyers of our State were natives of England : of one, Mr. Hopkins, M'o have spoken in previous pages. The other is the subject of the fol- lowing notice, who was also register of probate for Lincoln County seven- .'^ x^' N>" ■^^ orwL Jt*. it3 u la. ' i^id^ 1850. JOHN H. SHEPPARD. 667 teen years, under the excellent Judge Bailey. We are permitted to use on this occasion an autobiography, wliich cannot fail to prove interesting. I was born March 17, 1789, at Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England, — a town surrounded with a wall by Julius Caesar, portions of which, two miles in extent, are still visible. There my ancestors lived, and their genealogy, running some ages back, is in my possession. My father, John Sheppard, a merchant, was well educated at an English school, and served his time in a counting-house in London. He married my mother, Sarah Collier of that city, who had been two years under tuition at a convent in France, and ex- celled in music. They were both young, and emigrated to America about 1703. They went first to Philadelphia, and then to Hallowell on the Kenne- bec ; but I have no recollection of that period. For several years, my father was engaged in trade at the " Hook," so called, — a handsome bend in the river, — where " Sheppard's Wharf," almost at the head of navigation, still preserves his name, while the ancient house where we lived, has vanished from that beautiful spot. He was concerned in a large brewery with Charles Vaughan, Esq., and built a brig named, I believe, the Bermuda, which foundered at sea, uninsured. He was unfortunate, wound up his business, and went as supercargo on a voyage to the East Indies, in which he acquired such a knowledge of navigation and lunar calculations, that he afterwards took the command of a ship belonging to Stephen Higginson & Co., of Bos- ton. In the recent " Commemorative Discourse on the Death of Hon. Ed- ward A. Newton," by the Rev. Dr. Randall, page nineteen, it is remarked that Mr. Newton went to India, January, 1805, "in the capacity of assistant to the captain, who was supercargo." My father was that man ; and it is singular that Mr. Newton, a member of our Genealogical Society, on the 7th of February last, upon my being introduced to him at the rooms, should have mentioned the same fact to me. He spoke in the highest terms of my father as an English gentleman of fine figure and appearance, and of my mother, whose voice of music he remembered well, and whom he described as a woman of elegant symmetry and beauty. My father had many warm friends : among them was that finished classic scholar and man of genius, the late llev. John S. J. Gardiner, D. D., rector of Trinity Church, under whose care I was at college, and to whom I am indebt- ed for a love of choice reading and literature, which have been a jjerennial consolation and support in all the changes of fortune. The Hon. Benjamin Vaughan, LL. D., who settled in Hallowell soon after my father, was another friend ; and the friendsliip of such a man, to him and his family, and partic- ularly to myself, is among the halcyon recollections of early life. My father wrote a very handsome hand, and kept a journal when absent, in a style of ac- curacy, conciseness, and vigor : ho was a great reader, and had a fine taste. He died of the yellow fever at Point Petre, Guadaloupo, August 22, 1807, aged about forty, and was buried with Masonic obsequies. I was tlien a student 668 JOHN H. sheppard: hallowell academy. at law, and when the news reached us, and I thought of a widowed mother and seven children, of whom I was the eldest, being only eighteen, I was seized with a dangerous fever, which laid me on the bed of sickness for a long time, for I was greatly attached to my father. As to myself, I was seven years under the care of Samuel bloody, precep- tor of Hallowell Academy, since deceased, a thorough Dartmouth scholar, and superior instructor. I can see, in the visions of the past, his tall, majes- tic form, like an admiral on the deck of his frigate, treading the academic floor, arrayed in small clothes, the costume of the time, with his bright blue eye watching over his one hundred pupils at their desks. He was severe at times, but affectionate, and used the ferule as a scepter of righteousness. I loved him and was a favorite, for he let me study the Eclogues of Virgil in school hours under the groves of the Academy. His scholars turned out well in the world. Among them was my friend, General A. S. Dearborn late Mayor of Roxbury ; Nathan Weston, formerly chief justice of the Su- preme Judicial Court of Maine ; Hon. Ileuel Williams ; Charles Shaw, author of a history of Boston ; Alfred Johnson, late judge of probate at Belfast; Joseph M. Marsh, Esq., cashier of the Exchange Bank, Boston ; and many others, since of note in life. In 1804, I entered Harvard University. My chum was Lloyd Nicholas Rogers of Baltimore, a fine Greek scholar, who died November 30, 1860. My father had been unfortunate, and withdrew my connection in the middle of the junior j'ear ; up to which time my collegiate expenses had been gen- erously defrayed by the late George Higginson, Esq., of Boston, who, when I had finished my law studies, gave me a law library worth five hundred dollars. I entered the office of Wilde and Bond, Hallowell, the late distin- guished Judge Wilde, who was to me as a father, and whose honored mem- ory I shall ever cherish. Without a degree, the term of study was then four years, during which, in the office, I read all the law library, and at home, went through the Iliad and Odyssey and several Greek authors, acquired some IcQOwledge of French and more of Italian, es{jecially of the Divina Comedia of Daute, and the marvellous stj'le of Boccace. I endeavored to sleep but four hours a day, but my health suffered. I was admitted at the bar in August, 1810, opened an office in Wiscasset, and for a season almost lost my taste for literary pursuits in a struggle for support. Nil Besperandum is the .motto on my father's coat of arms, yet I found, for years, the truth of Juvenal's sad remark : " Hauil facilo omergunt, quorum virtutibus obstat Res angusta: domi." — Satire III., 164. In 1817, I was appointed register of probate for Lincoln County (Jere- miah Bailey, judge), by Governor Brooks. I held this office seventeen years, to April 1, 1834, and was also notary public. It enabled me to take care of my mother, three sisters, and young brother, whom I removed from JOHN H. SHEPPARD. 669 Portland in 1816. Slie had taught school since my father's death, and especially mus.c, in Hallowell, and afterwards in Portland under Judge Mellen's patronage. She gave an accomplished education to her daughters ; but I saw too plainly her health began to fail after the death of my sister Frances. This fond parent died November 6, 1818, and at the time I had the means to make her more happy, I honor her memory for the noble spirit with which she bore her sorrows and brought up a large family. She belonged to the Episcopal Church : her religion was noiseless, her spirits cheerful, and so prudent she seldom, if ever, spoke an unkind or disparaging word of any one. My sister, Harriet Helen, born 1791, died April 10, 1817, aged twenty-six ; my brother, George Albert, merchant in Calcutta, married a daughter of one of the directors of the East India Company, bom 1793, died 1834 ; Frances died of a rapid decline, 1814, in Portland, on the eve of a most flattering marriage; Ann Augusta married Dr. P, E. Theobald of Wiscasset, May 23, 1822, and died September G, 1824 ; Louisa, born 1806, married Major Samuel Page of Wiscasset, and died October 3, 1833, aged twenty-seven, leaving two children ; and Wm. W., born 1807, died of cholera, on the Mississippi, 1834. I was married to Helen, daughter of the late Abiel AVood, May 13, 1819. We had three children : Hannah Wood, born February 9, 1820, who was married to Dr. Stephen B. Sewall, and recently died, November 19, 1862, aged forty-two, leaving a daughter and son, Helen and Frederic ; John H., born March 7, 1822, graduated at Bowdoin College, 1845, and at Cambridge in 1849, M. D. ; and Abiel Wood, born March 30, 1827, educated as a mer- chant. They have long been in California. I received the honor of A. M. from Bowdoin College in 1820, and was one of the board of overseers for several years, from 1831 to 18-32. I was ap- pointed one of the general assignees in Maine, under the last United States bankrupt law, by Hon. Judge Ware. In 1842, on account of my wife's health, I removed to Boston, where this most affectionate partner was taken from me, June 26, 1843. Since that time, I have resided in that city and kept an office, but have never practiced in the courts. In Wiscasset, I had an extensive run of business ; at one term of the court, was engaged in al- most every jury trial. Before Metcalf's Digest of Massachusetts Reports ■was published, I had prepared one similar to it, which Judge Mellen exam- ined, and advised mo to publish, but after that more elaborate work came out, I was too late. November 13, 1846, 1 was again married, to Mrs. 0. B. Foster, daughter of the late Rev. Ezra Willmarth of Georgetown, Massachusetts. In January, 1861, I was elected librarian of the New England Historico-Gen- ealogical Society, whicli office I now hold, NOTE. AVo may add to this interesting memoir a few facts, which the author has modestly omitted. The notice of Mr. Sheppard would be incomplete if his 670 JOHN H. SHEPPARD : MASONRY. efforts anil his honors, as a prominent and leading member of the Masonic Order, should liave no place in it. Mr. Sheppard in early life, following the example of his father, entered the Order as an apprentice, and has ever since, with the ardor and energy which make part of his character, zealous- ly devoted himself, through good report and evil report, to its service. As early as 1820, he was a member of the Royal Arch Ciiapter, and was Royal Arch Captain of the New Jerusalem Ciiapter of Wiscasset. In that year, the Grand Lodge of Maine was incorporated, of which William King, Qov- ernor of the State, was made Grand Master, and Simon Greenleaf, Deputy Grand Master. And the Lodge inaugurated its establishment by a grand and gorgeous jubilee in Portland, which had never been exceeded in the State. Mr. Sheppard was present on this occasion, June 2i, 1820, and de- livered an address. He has delivered several other Masonic orations before the Grand Lodges of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, and on other public occasions, some of which were published, and well received by the Order and the community. The most prominent of these, perhaps, was his " Defense of Masonry," delivered at Wiscasset, June 24, 1831, at a time when the attacks upon the Masonic institution were incessant and severe. This address was published in Boston, and brought down upon its author a shower of crimination and abuse from all the auti-Masonic papers published in the land. Theaddresswasreceived with great favor by the advocates of Masonry: three editions, numbering three thousand copies, were published. Among those who attacked t!ie sentiments of the address, was no less a person than John Quincy Adams : his principal animadversion was against a statement of the address, that John Adams, father of Jolm Quincy, was a friend to Masonry. This his son denied, and made a personal attack in a Boston paper against the author of the address. To this attack, Mr. Sheppard re- plied in the Boston Gazette, and vindicated his allegation by quoting a letter from the first President Adams to the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, dated Philadelphia, June 22, 1798. His reply was conclusive, and was republished in other papers as far south as Charleston, South Carolina, and had an ex- tensive circulation. The Masonic institution survived the staggering, long-continued, and oft- repeated attacks upon it during a period of fifteen years, and is now in a more flourishing condition than it ever has been. This fact was demonstrated by the celebration which took place in Portland, June 24, 1862, in commem- oration of the one hundredth anniversary of the establishment of the Masonic institution in the State. Tiiis was the most elaborate and gorgeous display ever witnessed in Maine, calling together lodges, and chapters, and encamp- ments from our own and numerous other States. Mr. Siieppard was present, as a Knight Templar, and made an address in the evening to a large assem- blage. la 1835, Mr. Sheppard published anonymously an elegy in nine stanzas, JOHN H. SHEPPARD: HENRY SEWALL. G71 on the death of our late distinguished citizen, Dr. Benjamin Vaughan of Hallowell. This was repubhslied in the National Intelligencer and other papers, and had a wide circulation. Mr. Sheppard still continues to render good service to the cause of letters as well as to Masonry, His labors in the library of the Uistorlco-Genealogi- cal Society, and commuications at its meetings and to its periodical, the " Register," are of permanent value, and will place his name among the benefactors of that useful and respected institution. HENRY SEWALL. 1789 — 1818. The venerable Henry Sewall, who died in Augusta in 1845, at the age of ninety-two, was the oldest brother of Daniel Sewall, the ancient clerk of the courts in York County, and of the Rev. Jotham Sewall, long a valued missionary in Maine, whose labors ceased only with his protracted life of ninety years, in 1850. They were lineal descendants of Henry Sewall, of a highly respected family in England, the first of the name to these shores, which he reached at the age of twenty ; established himself at Newbury in 1035 ; married Jane, a daughter of Stephen Dummer ; and was the ancestor of all, or nearly all, of the name in the country. His daughter Ann mar- ried William Longfellow, and is the maternal ancestor of all the Longfellows among us. Henry Sewall, the clerk, at the head of our article, was of the fifth degree from the first Henry, who died in 1700, aged about ninety ; his second son, John, born in 1654, was the father of Nicholas, and Hannah who married Rev. Samuel Moody of York ; Nicholas, born June 1, 1690, married Mehitabel, daughter of Samuel Storer, was a tanner by trade, and died in 1740 : he had Henry, born March 20, 1727 ; Stephen, born 1734, the learned professor of Hebrew in Harvard College; and numerous other children. His son Henry was the father of the aged trio above mentioned, was a mason by trade, and cultivated, besides, a farm in York. Henry, the subject of this sketch, was born in York, October 24, 1752 : he was brought up to his father's occupation, working at intervals upon the farm. He must have received a good education, for he wrote a beautiful hand, and in his letters expressed himself with clearness and force. His relatives, including tlie Moodys, were among the most respected persons of the town : the Rev. Samuel Moody, the second minister of York, who married his grandfather's sister, was a learned and devoted man, of whom it was said that "his praise was in all the churches of that region: " Mr. Moody's son, Joseph, was the pastor of the second parish in the same town. When hostilities commenced with Great Britain, the Sewalls of York entered heartily into the cause of the colonies. Henry, at the age of twenty-three, joined the army as a private, and honorably served through the war, having risen through the intermediate grades to the rank of 672 HENRY SEWALL. captain, and was at one time an aid to General Heath, but without losing his rank of captain in the line. Under the act of 1828, granting pensions to the ollicers and soldiers of the Revolution, he was placed on the pension list, and drew the rate as a captain of infantry to the time of his death, four hundred and eight}' dollars a year. On the conclusion of peace he established himself at Augusta, where the remainder of his life was spent in labors useful and honorable, to the church of which he was a most honored member and officer, to the town, the county, and the nation. In 1789, General Sewall was at New York during the ses- sion of the first Congress in the summer of 1789. By his letters, from which we make some extracts, he appears to have been an attentive observer of the subjects which were then occupying Congress. On the first of Au- gust he writes : " The committee appointed not long since to bring in a re- port respecting amendments to the Constitution, have performed that service, and the draught of their report is in the enclosed scrap of a newspaper. These proposed amendments do not vary essential!}', and scarcely in form differ, from those proposed in June last by Mr. Madison. They are of such a general nature that it is thought they will meet the ready approbation of all parties. I3y a gentleman of character and information lately from , I am informed that there is no ground to expect that that Slate will come into the present Union. They are confident in the opinion that Congress cannot compel them, and that they can have what foreign alliance and assist- ance they may want for supporting their independence. " The prodigious quantity of copper coin which has been pouring in here from the eastward for more than a year past, has at length produced a revo- lution. About a week ago, they fell suddenly from twenty to forty-eight and sixty for the New York shilling, and now they are refused altogether. It is judged that there were between fifteen and twenty thousand pounds New York currency, in this city, of copper coin." Another letter to the same correspondent, Mr. Benjamin Shaw of Hallowell, dated August 18, 1789, contains some interesting facts, "For near a week past the attention of the House of Representatives has been engrossed on the subjects of amendments to the Constitution. They have taken up the report which was made by the committee of eleven, and have proceeded to pass upon the several articles without any material alteration. Those who were not very anxious for amendments consented that the matter should be brought on now, upon the principle of conciliation to which they seem to be disposed, and to give the subject a fair, open, and candid discussion. Mr. G of Massachusetts seems to be disposed to embarrass the House by multiplying not only his motions, but amassing together a crude variety of proposed amendments, which would seem rather to perplex than to facilitate the business. Mr. Tucker of South Carolina also introduced a long list of amendments, principally local, which were rejected by the House. The HENRY SEWALL: U. S. DISTRICT COURT. 673 subject of amendments being now passed upon, it is probable the judiciary bill will claim the first attention." The Mr. 0. mentioned by Mr. Sewall, was Elbridse Gerry, who was a member of the Continental Congress from 1776 to 1785, and signed the Dec- laration of Independence : he was a representative in Congress from 1789 to 1793, Governor of Massachu.setts in 1811, and Vice President of the United States, 1813-1817. The name of the State which was not then in the Union is unfortunately obliterated in Mr. Sewall's letter, but as North Carolina and Rhode Island were tlie two which were not represented in the early days of the session, it must have been one of them, — North Carolina adopted the Constitution in November, 1789, and Rhode Island, May 29, 1790. The judiciary act was passed September 24, 1789, by which Maine was constituted a separate District, and invested with jurisdiction of all causes cognizable in a Circuit Court, except appeals and writs of error, in addition to the usual powers of District Courts. This jurisdiction it retained untij the separation of the State from Massachusetts, Under this act, President Washington nominated, and the Senate confirmed, David Sewall as judge ; William Lithgow, Jr., of Augusta, as attorney ; and Henry Dearborn of Gardiner, as marshal : their commissions bear date September 26, 1789 The court assembled at Portland on the first Tuesday, being the first day of December, 1789, when the commissions of the judge, attorney, and marshal were read, and the oath prescribed by law w^as administered to Judge Sewall by four magistrates of Portland; viz., Samuel Freeman, Richard Codman, John Frothingham, and Daniel Davis. Whereupon Judge Sewall appointed his kinsman, Henry Sewall, clerk of the court by the following commission : " District of Maine, ss. To Henry Sctvall of Mallowell in the District of Maine, Esquire : [seal.] Pursuant to a commission from George Washington, President of the United States of America, to me, to be judge of the District Court of Maine, and by virtue of an act of Congress to establish the Judicial Courts of the United States, I do hereby appoint you, the said Henry Sewall, Clerk of the District Court of Maine, to have, hold, [exercise, and enjoy the said oflice, with the profits, perquisites, and emoluments to the same belonging, for and during pleasure. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Portland in the said District, the first day of December, A. D., 1789. David Sewall." The judge then administered the oath to the clerk, and he entered upon the duties of his oflice. The records kept by Mr. Sewall have all the neatness and beauty of cop- per-plate, and arc an extraordinary specimen of accuracy. They commence as follows : " Records of the District Court of the United States, begun and held at 674 HENRY sewall: u. s. district court. Portland, withia and for the District of Maine, on the first Tuesday of De- cember, in the year of our Lord 1789, being the first day of the same month ^ The court being opened, the commissionis following were read." Then follow the commissions to the ofiicers of the court before mentioned. After which is the following entry : " There being no direction as yet by the laws of the United States, as to the time or manner of serving original writs in the District Court, the court do now order and make a rule thereof. That the same regulations in that respect shall take place and be observed, as by the laws of Massachusetts are prescribed for the service of original writs in the Supreme Judicial Court thereof. And that all barristers and attornies duly admitted and sworn in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, p7-ior to this time, may practise in this court. And thereupon, on the same first Tussdaj"^ of December, being the first day of the same month, the court adjourned without day." Tlie next term was held at Pownalboro' on the first Tuesday of March, 1790, at which only two entries were made ; both by Stephen Smith, collec- tor of Machias, for breach of the revenue laws. The next, being the third term, was held in Portland on the first Tuesday in June, 1790, at which a grand jury and two petit juries were, for the first time, impaneled in this court. Several informations and libels were filed for breach of revenue laws, and a capital trial for piracy, the first that had occurred under the new government. The prisoners were Ttiomas Bird, who is styled late resident of Bristol, in Great Britain, and Hans Hanson, late resident of the kingdom of Norway. They were taken on the coast of Cape Elizabeth, where they had been trading from a small schooner of about thirty tons, commanded by Bird. They were first taken, under suspicious circumstances, before the Su- preme Court of Massachusetts, then silting in Portland ; and on examination, it appeared that the vessel they came in belonged to one Hodges of England, which had been trading on the coast of Africa under command of Captain Connor; that in a moment of resentment for abusive treatment, the crew, or a part of them, had risen upon the master and killed him, and then fled to America with the vessel and cargo. The case not falling under the jurisdiction of the court of Massachusetts, the prisoners were remitted to the District Court, where they were tried at the June term, 1790, on a bill of indictment duly presented. To accommodate the largo number of persons whom curiosity drew to the trial, the proceedings were held in the meeting house of the First Parisli, on Friday, the fifth day of June, when it being fully proved by the testimony of one of the crew and the voluntary confes- sion of Bird, he was found guilty, and Hanson was acquitted. Judge Sewall pronounced the sentence of death on Bird, to be carried into effect on the twenty-fifth day of the same June ; and he was accordingly executed on that day, in Portland. Marslial Dearborn presided. Mr. Lithgow, the district attorney, was the prosecuting officer, and the prisoners were HENRY SEWALL : JOHN MUSSEY. 675 defended by John Frothinghamand William Symmes, assigned by the court. Mr. Sewall continued to hold the oflice of clerk until 1818, about twenty- nine years, when he and the judge both retired, — the judge at the age of eighty-three, and the clerk at that of sixty-six. He was a most prompt, faithful, and accurate officer, and his records bear ample testimony to his intelligence, neatness, and accuracy. Mr. Sewall was succeeded in this office by John Mussey of Portland, who entered upon its duties January 1, 1819. On the establishment of the Circuit Court of the United States in Maine, which took place in 1820, under an act of Congress passed March 30, of that year, Mr. Mussey was appointed clerk of that court also, and held the two offices until 18-48, — a period of twenty-nine years and some months. Mr. Mussey was a son of Captain John Mussey of Portland, where he was bom, October 15, 1790. He graduated at Bowdoin College in 1809, of the fourth class which left the institution : in his class were President Lord of Dartmouth College, and the late Benjamin Randall of Bath. He studied law with Judge Whitman, and was admitted to the Cumberland Bar in 1812. Mr. Alussey was a most faithful, accurate, and punctual clerk : he did his work promptly and to the satisfaction of the courts, whose officer he was, and retired upon a compe- tency, inherited, and largely increased^by his industry and good manage- ment, and which he still lives to enjoy. In 1799, on the organization of the county of Kennebec, Mr. Sewall was chosen register of deeds for the county, and held the office until 1816 : for this place he was admirably qualified by the beauty of his handwriting, and his habit of correctness in everytiiing that he undertook. The military experience and talent of General Sewall were early called into exercise in his new place of residence. On the organization of the militia in Maine, there were two divisions estabhshed : one the sixth, em- bracing York and Cumberland, which was placed under the command of Major General Ichabod Goodwin ; the eighth division embraced the counties of Lincoln, Hancock, and Washington, of which William Lithgow, Jr., who had served in the Revolutionary army as major, was commissioned major general, and Mr. Sewall with the rank of colonel, " deputy adjutant gen- eral." Henry Dearborn was brigadier general of the first brigade, and Alexander Campbell of the second. After the death of General Lilhgow, in 1796, General Dearborn was promoted to the chief command of the division, and Colouel Sewall was made brigadier. And when General Dearborn left the State to enter upon his duties as secretary of war, in 1801. General Sewall succeeded him in the command of the division, — a post which he filled with zeal and intelligence twenty years, until the militia was reorgan- ized under the new State. On the news being received of the capture of Castine by the British, on the first of September, 1814, and the movement of a portion of the lleet up 676 HENRY SEWALL : OFFICERS OF THE U. S. COURTS. the Penobscot River, General Sewall called out a portion of his division, and proceeded with dispatch to the Penobscot. Here he found that the enemy- had preceded him, and by the disgraceful cowardice and want of combina- tion of the local militia, Hampden and Bangor had been captured, the sloop of war Adams abandoned and burnt, and possession of the river seized by the enemy. By these daring acts, the whole eastern country was aroused, and the militia was collected in large bodies on ^the river and the whole coast of Maine. General Sewall was strictly and thoroughly an upright, conscientious, and religious man : when he took office, and he did not accept any that he was not competent to fill, he had no other purpose than to discharge the duties with a single view to their true objects and ends; he was faithful to the letter ; he neglected nothing that belonged to the station, whether civil or military, whether in detail or a general principle • and when he re- tired from them, it was with a clear, unclouded retrospect of unequivocal endeavor to perform his entire duty to every intent. Such a retrospect, from the eminence he had attained in his onward march toward the end of his brilliant campaign of life, was a constant and unfailing source of comfort and joy, to the extreme verge of his ninety-three years' pilgrimage. He died September 4, 1845. General Sewall was tall, erect, grave, and dignified in person and manners. His step was firm and with a military air ; and as he reached old age, his venerable appearance attracted general attention, and presented an embodi- ment of our ideas of the ancient patriarchs. He was three times married : his first wife, Tabitha, was his cousin, a daughter of John Sewall of Georgetown ; his second, Rachel Crosby ; the third, Eliza Lowell of Boston. He had two sons, Charles and William, and several daughters. This seems to be a suitable place to make record of the officers of the District Court of Maine, from the beginning to the present day ; which is accordingly annexed. OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES COURTS IN MAINE. David Sewall, . . appointed Sept. . 2G, 1789; resigned Jan., 1818. Albion K. Parris, . . " . Feb'y, . 1818; . " . . .1822. AshurWare, . . . .". .April,. . 1822; OFFICERS OF THE U. S. COURTS. 677 CLERKS, Henry Sewall, . . appointed Dec. . 1, 1789 John Mussey " . Jan'y . 1, 1819 George F. Emery, Circuit Court, August . 4, 1848 Wm. P. Preble, Jr., Dist. Court, August . 1, 1848 resigned 1818. 1848. ATTORNEYS. William Lithgow, Jr., appointed Sept. . 26, 1789 Daniel Davis, ..,.". August 25, 1790 Silas Lee, " . July . 27, 1801 William P. Preble, . . " . April . . 5, 1814 Ether Shepley, . . . . " . Sept. . 12, 1820 John Anderson, ... " . April . 10, 1833 Joseph Howard, . . . " . . May . 9, 1837 John Holmes, ... " . February, 1841 Gorham Parks, . . , " . August 25. 1843 Augustine Haines, . . . " . April . 29, 1845 George F. Shepley, . . " . Nov. . 8, 1848 Thomas A. Deblois, . . " 1849 George F. Shepley, . . " 1853 George F. Talbot, ..." 1861 died, . removed died, . resigned, to . . died . . to . . resigned, to . . to . . . to . . 1796. 1801. 1814. 1820. 1833. 1837. 1841. 1843. 1845. 1848. 1849. 1853. 1861. MARSHALS. Henry Dearborn, . appointed Sept. . 26, 1789 resigned . . 1794. John Hobby, . . . . " . Jan. . 28, 1794 to . . . . 1799. Isaac Parker, . . i( . March . 6, 1799 removed . . 1803. Thomas G. Thornton, . " . Dec. . 21, 1803 died, . . . 1824. Benjamin Green, . (( . Sept. . 14, 1824 resigned . . 1830. Albert Smith, . . . (( . June . . 1 1830 ; to . . . . 1838. Gorham Parks, . . CI . April . 25, 1838 removed . . 1841. John D. Kinsman, . (( . February, 1841 IC . 1844. Virgil D. Parris, . tc .Oct. . 11 1844 resigned . . 1849. Rufus Mclntire, . . CI . Jan'y . 15, 1849 removed 1849. William Paine, . . , . " . June . 15, 1849 . " . . . 1853. George W. Stanley, . IC . April . 1, 1853 ; to . . . . 1857. William K. Kimball, CI . April . 2, 1857; to . . . . 1861. Charles Clark, . . . " 1861 SHERIFFS. JOHN WAITE ICIIABOD GOODWIN CHARLES CUSHINO EDMUND BRIDGE. JOHN W A I T E. 177 6-1809. The first sheriff of Cumberland County was Moses Pearson of Falmouth, appointed in 17G0, on the organization of the county. He held the office until 1768, wlien William Tyng was appointed, and continued to discharge its duties until 1775, when, joining the royalists, he left the country, and the office became vacant. On the establishment of the Provisional Government in Massachusetts, John Waite of Falmouth, now Portland, the shire-town, was appointed sheriff, and entered upon the duties of the office in 1776. Mr. Waite was the fourth child of John Waite, who was the son of Jonadab AVaite, and was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, in July, 1732 : his mother was Sarah, a daughter of John Kent of Newbury. His father was born February 6, 1702, married in 1724, and came to Falmouth about the year 1738 : his sixth child, Abigail, born February 6, 1739, was the first of his children born in Falmouth,. His prior children, all under age, accompanied him : he was an active and enterprising ship-master, Avas influential in the affairs of the town, and died, possessed of a good estate, in 1769. He had four sons and six daughters, who, in various relations, have contributed to the honor and prosperity of the town, among whose population his posterity is largely mingled. John, the fourth child, began life as a mariner, which employment gave occupation to, and formed the energetic character of many of the young men of the town and of the State : the Waites, Prebles, Weekses, Tuckers, Wood- burys, Greelys, Jordans, Pattens, and numerous others along our wliole sea h')rder, attest the energy and success of this large class of persons. From JOHN WAITE. G79 fore-mast-men they became masters, then prosperous ship-owners and mer- chants, In 1759, Captain Waite commanded one of the transports in the expedi- tion under General Wolfe, to Quebec. He sailed from Louisbourg, June 4, 1759, in a company of eight sail of the line, several frigates, and five ships, and about one hundred transports for the St. Lawrence. They arrived at the Isle of Orleans, June 25, and ^continued in the river, fronting and near Quebec, until after the fall of that city. In a brief diary which he kept, he gives some account of the movement of the troops and the ships. A few extracts may be interesting. " September 7, 1759. This day. General Wolfe marched from Point Levi, in order to join the forces above the town for some secret expedition. This evening passed the town, two ships, two sloops, and one schooner, which caused a very smart fire from both sides but without any damage on our side. 13th. This morning, about half a mile above Quebec, ensued the greatest battle that ever was fought in America ; in which we lost about six hundred killed and wounded, among which was the brave General Wolfe killed, and General Moncton wounded. The enemy left about thirteen hundred on the field, besides a great number taken, among whom was the second in comma nd : General Montcalm was ■wounded. 14th. We hear that General Montcalm died about seven hours after the battle. 17th. A flag of truce, sent from the town in order to capitulate. 18th. This morning our army took possession of the famous city of Quebec, after a long and tedious siege of near four months, — a day ever memorable to the English nation." His instructions for this voyage are now in his family, dated May 15, 1769, signed by " Charles Saunders," admiral, " on board of his majesty's ship, Neptune, in Louisbourg harbor." He successfully accomplished his voyage, and returned to Falmoutli in November of that year. Under November 13, 1759, the Rev. Mr. Smith, in his journal, says, " I was to see John Waite, who is returned from the river St. Lawrence, and who came away with the last of the fleet." After this, he continued to pursue his sea life in foreign and coastwise voyages to near the opening of the grand drama of the Revolution, mingling always in the aft'airs of the town, in which, from his ardent temperament, he was often found taking a prominent part. In 17G3, he and his father's family, becoming disaflected with the venerable Parson Smith, pastor of the only parish in what is now Portland, seceded, witli others, from the parish, and formed a new society, which, after a serious conflict, adopted the Ei)iscopal form, the first which had existed in the State since the early days of the colonial government. In this conflict, in regard to the form of worship. Captain AVaite and General Preble came to blows. Mr. Smith's journal says, •• This evening the signers for the new meeting-house had a meeting, when . and quarreled and fought in the street," and pertinently adds, " A foundation for a church was thus laid — the pillars tremble." The ven- G80 JOHN WAITE. enable annalist was no little troubled at this defection from his society : the AVaites were a large and iutliiential family, and drew olT much support from the old parish : in his grief, he exclaimed, " I have been discouraged about my enemies : they talk of a new meeting house." He was fearful of the consequences, but his wit did not forsake him — he said, " The parish is like a clock, when the JJ'aites are off, it will stop." Mr. Waite became one of the most efficient supporters of the Episcopal Church in Portland, which separated from the first parish, in 17G3, and jn 176i voted to adopt the Episcopal form of worship. The Rev. John Wiswall, in 1704, was sent by the society to England for ordination : in their invitation to him, they say, " We desire you would, as soon as may be, apply to his lordship, the Bishop of London, for ordination to qualify you therefor." In December of the same year, Mr. Wiswall wrote to the warden and vestry of the church, addressed to Captain Waite, who was one of the vestry, if not the warden, in which he says, " Your petition to the Venerable Society for propagating the Gospel, was laid before them, and the members were unanimously of the opinion that Falmouth is a very proper place for a church ; and they readily agreed to do something toward the support of a missionary there." Mr. Wiswall kept up the most friendly intercourse with Colonel Waite, until the opening scenes of the Revolution caused a final separation. Mr. Wiswall, in May, 1775, went on board the English man-of-war, Canceau, under Captain Mowat, then lying in Falmouth harbor, from which he wrote an earnest and persuasive letter to his friend Waite, urging him to abandon measures of opposition to the mother country, and apologizing for the course he took himself. He says, " I know the people are acting a very wrong part : I am determined never to join them in a rebellion. Now the sword is drawn, I must obey God rather than man ; and agreeable to the dictates of my conscience, though at the hazard of everything that is dear to me. Let me ask you, my dear friend, when you first joined Free- man, Preble, &c., did you suspect that they would ever draw tlie sword against their king? Why will you rashly engage in these measures which may prove the ruin of yourself, your family, and country 1 How unhappy shall I be, if the phrenzy of the times should dissolve that friendship between us, which I have thought not death itself would put an end to. Nor shall anything ever make me forget you, cease loving you, praying for you, and exerting my best ability, to promote the spiritual and temporal interest of you and yours." At the commencement of the troubles with Great Britain, Captain Waite espoused with ardor the cause of the colonies, and took a leading part in the measures of resistance adopted by the town of Falmouth. In 1772, he was one of a large and respectable committee, of which Enoch Freeman was chair- man, to prepare instructions to William Tyng, then the representative to the General Court. In 1774, he was chosen a memberof a convention, composed JOHN WAITE : REVOLUTION SCENES. 681 of delegates from the towns in the county, " to consider what measures it will bo expedient to adopt for the general interest of the county in the present alarming situation of our pubhc affairs." The convention met in September, and summoned Slieriff Tyng before them, who, after being interrogated and signing a declaration satisfactory to the convention, was discharged. They took a general supervision of the affairs and opinions of the people ; they were empowered to regulate intercourse and prevent the violation of the non- importation agreement; to check disorders and mob violence; and watch over the liberties and rights of the people. A committee of " inspection" was also chosen, of which Theophilus Parsons, afterwards the distinguished chief justice, was one, and clerk of the body : Captain Waito was one of the committee. I have before me an original record of two meetings of the committee in the handwriting and with the attestation of Mr. Parsons, bear- ing date in March and April, 1775. The power assumed and exercised by this body was of the most extraordinary kind, and not to be endured except in extraordinary emergencies. They were spies upon all the transactions of the people, and visited with public censure and indignation, and often some- thing worse, those who were found to transgress the rules of this tribunal. They were in constant correspondence with similar committees in Boston and elsewhere. Some of their votes will serve as an illustration : " Voted, that Captain P. [PoteJ bo ordered to go to the General Court by land, on or before Thursday next, to answer for his conduct with respect to his export- ing fish." " Voted, that a committee wait on Mrs. Ross concerning a letter sent her from Boston." " Voted, that be a committee to inspect inward and outward bound vessels." In these transactions. Captain Waite, by his intelligence and activity, ac- quired a high degree of popularity; and in 177G, honors and office were ac- cumulated upon him. In that year, he represented the town in the Provin- cial Congress; was chosen town treasurer, and annually re-elected to 1785 ; was apponited sheriff of the county, and colonel of the first regiment. He was also appointed under the absentee act of 1777, an agent for the estates of absentees in the county of Cumberland. Tristram Jordan was appointed to the same office in York County, and Rowland Cashing for Lincoln County. It is evident from the secret history of the times, which we get from pri- vate correspondence and other sources as it is slowly disclosed, that at the commencement of the war there were two parties among the whigs, one of which was determined to push matters to extremities for the independence of the colonies : another party, more conservative, was fearful of the issue, thought it presumptuous to make the attempt, and hoped for an accoramo« dation of the troubles. These persons Avere very cautious in the expression of their opinions, but their true feeling is exhibited in their confidential cor- respondence. One such letter we have before us, addressed to Colonel Waite by Theophilus Parsons, from Byfield, to which place he had retired after the 44 G82 JOHN waite: the revolution. burning of the town. It is dated March 12, '177G, and while it conveys a favorable impression of Colonel Waite, it gives us a little specimen of secret history. We make some extracts from it. " Some designing men among you have overshot their mark, and are now receiving the reward of their doings. I should bo resigned to the dispensation, if the innocent did not sutler with the guilty. I can acquit you of being an author of the troubles of the town. I now please myself that the aspect of our public affairs is a little brighter. I believe we shall have commissioners to try to settle the dispute. Most of the people are sick of it, and would gladly terminate it, if left to their own judgment." " I am fully persuaded that many of our pres- ent leaders will oppose any accommodation ; and some would choose rather to support the war alone, than accept any." lie ufges him to make interest to go to the next Provincial Congress, as they need conservative men there : he says: " You ought to stand forward — to make interest to go yourself, instead of your present member. I do not mean to flatter you. I suppose others are as capable as you are, but they have not interest suflicieflt to carry an election ; you have." Samuel Freeman was the " present member " referred to. At the next election, four members were returned from Fal- mouth ; viz.. Brigadier Preble, Joseph Noyes, Mr. Freeman, and Col. Waite. Besides discl-.arging the duties of the several offices which were conferred upon him in 177G, he was employed in looking after the defenses of the town, and making provision for the inhabitants who suffered in the confla- gration. In a letter of April 24, 1776, addressed to Mr. Freeman at Water- town, where he was in attendance upon the Congress, he says: " The select- men are preparing tools, agreeable to the militia act, as fast as possible, part of which are already made, and sent to the commanding officer for the men to work with. I need not mention the distress of the poor sufferers in this town which daily increases, and everything in our power ought to be done for their relief." In 1777, several of the inhabitants of Falmouth, " taking into considera- tion the glorious victory obtained by the army of the United States," sub- scribed " to procure a good beef ox to distribute to the families of the non- commissioned officers and soldiers " belonging to the town who were in that battle. [General Gates's victory.] Colonel Waite was chairman of the com- mittee to make the purchase and attend to the duty. They also celebrated the event by a public dinner. In Fehruary, 1778, he issued the following advertisement : " Whereas a subscription is opened for the soldiers who en- listed from this town into the continental army, and are now in camp desti- tute of shoes, stockings, and shirts, I make no doubt but every person who does not (like the Israelites of old) wish to return into bondage again, will contribute either shoes, stockings, shirts, or cash to be sent by Lieut. Lunt, for the immediate relief of said soldiers. Any of the above articles will be received by the subscriber's humhle servant, John Waite." Wc introduce JOHN WAITE ; COURT PROCEEDINGS. 683 these papers to show the interest and the part he took in the measures to establish the independence of the country. In 1779, his oldest son, Henry, then but seventeen years old, was a volunteer in the Bagaduce expedition. He was constantly employed in various important services of a public nature through the war, in correspondence with official persons at the seat of government and other places, in raising troops and in furnishing supplies. At the close of the war, he engaged in works for the improvement of his private estate, which was large, and in building up the desolate town. When he entered upon the office of sheriff, the Court of Common Pleas consisted of Enoch Freeman, who was appointed judge in 17G0, and held the office twenty-nine years ; Jeremiah Powell of North Yarmouth, appointed in 17G3, and held the office nineteen years ; Jonas Mason, 1773 to 1777 ; Solo- mon Loml)ard, 1776 to 1781, who took Moses Pearson's place, who retired in 1775, at the age of eighty. Samuel Freeman was the clerk. The business of the courts was very small : the whole number of entries for seven years, from 177G to 1782 inclusive, was only one hundred and ninety-eight. The last court in Cumberland County, held under royal authority, was July 25, 1775 ; it was the " Inferior Court of Common Pleas," and the record of the term thus commences, " Cumberland, ss. Anno Regni Regis Georgii tertii Mag- naj Britannia}, Francia;, et Hibernioi decimo quinto : " that is, in the fifteenth year of the reign of George III., King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland. The court consisted of Powell, Freeman, Mason, and Pearson ; — Stephen Longfellow, clerk. The following memorandum is made : "No jurors re- turned and empanelled this court. The sheriff nor crier did not attend this court." Tyng, the sheriff, had fled from town, and abandoned his duties. There were no actions entered, and but two continued actions on the docket, in which judgment was rendered. No Supreme Court was held in Maine that j'ear. All the judges were torios but William Gushing: they were Edmund Trowbridge, who remained in the country unmolested, but went out of office: he died in 1793; Foster Hutchinson, a brother of Governor Hutchinson, who left the country, as did also the fourth judge, William Browne of Salem. There are no records in our public offices of the Supreme Court in Maine, earlier than 1798 : prior to that time they were kept in Boston. The term was held in July. In 1798, ■when our records conmience, the term was held by Dana, chief justice, Robert Treat Paine, Theophilus Bradbury, Nathan Gushing, and Thomas Dawes, Jr. The first term of the Court of Common Pleas, held under the new govern- ment, was in October, 1770: the judges were Powell, Freeman, Mason, and Lombard : the latter had been a minister in Gorham. Samuel Freeman was clerk ; John Waite, sheriff; Timothy Cutler, crier. The record commences thus ; " Cumberland, ss. In the year of our Lord one thousand seven hund- dred seventy-six. At an Inferior Court of Common Pleas." The flrst judg- G84 JOHN WAITE. ment in a criminal cause in this court was rendered at the March term, 1778, and was in the name of the " Qovcrnment and People." At the Octoher term, 1782, Robert Treat Paine, as attorney general, entered complaints for forfeit- ure of land, against several former inhabitants of Falmouth, who were ref- ugees in the Revolution. The business of this court was very small at that time, the record of judgments from October term, 177G, to October term, 1782, inclusive, occupying only one luuulred and three folio pages. Colonel Waite held the office of sheriff until 180'.), a period of thirty-four years. During that time he led the venerable procession of the judges and the bar, which, at the opening of every term, proceeded with great formality to the court-house, and on the first day of the term to the public dinner, with which the occasion was invariably celebrated. It was at one of these dinners that Chief Justice Parsons gave the toast which Judge Mellen used to tell with a relish. " At a court dinner, composed of the judges and mem- bers of the bar, federalists and democrats. Chief Justice Parsons said : ' Gentlemen, before leaving the table I will take one glass of wine, and will give my old toast. I know it is a party one, but I can't help it, we live in party times. Gentlemen, my toast is, All honest men.' " We may place along side of this another toast, given by Judge Parsons at a social meeting of the Boston Bar: "The laws of the land, — the common law for the people ; the civil law for our friends ; and the cannon law for our enemies." Cob Waite's official life outlasted that of Gushing, the first chief justice, and those of Foster, Sullivan, Paine, Sargent, Nathan Gushing, Dawes, Bradbury, and Simeon Strong, and the judicial term of David Sewall on that bench. These were the firstjudges under the commonwealth a})pointed to 1801. lie at- tended upon the elegant and dignified Chief Justice Dana for twenty years, and his successor, Chief Justice Parsons, who was the sheriff's early com- panion and friend ; upon the dignified Sumner ; the severe and blunt Paine ; the wise and modest Samuel Sewall, successor to Parsons ; Thacher, Sedgwick, and Parker. This procession of eminent men, the .sheriff who led them off, the clerk who recorded their doings, and all but two of the members of the bar who followed in this march to the high seat of justice, have gone to a higher tribunal, in which an immutable and eternal Judge pronounces his just and irreversible decrees. The sheriff, as he appeared on these occasions, sixty years ago, stands before me; his venerable figure, which had weathered the storms of seventy years, still erect, of medium height and rather broad, crowned with a three-cornered cocked hat of the Revolutionary model, blue coat with bright buttons, a buff vest, and a sword by his side ; his countenance grave, not to say stern, as he seemed to the juvenile mind, which associated harsh duties with his ofHce ; heavy, over- hanging eyebrows, and his white staff, the badge of his office, in hand, had an imx)Osing effect upon all spectators, old as well as young. In July, 1800, Colonel Waite, having arrived at the age of seventy-seven, JOHN WAITE : ICHABOD GOODWIN. 685 after a correspondence on the subject ■with Chief Justice Parsons, placed in his hands a letter to be delivered to Governor Gore, resigning his office. In his letter to Judge Parsons, he says : " Infirmity incident to old age is the lot of man ; it creeps upon us insensibly. I shall continue to hold the office until a successor shall be appointed." His resignation was accepted, and Colonel Richard Ilunnewell was appointed his successor. Colonel Hunne- well had been the first sheriff of Hancock County : his wife was Miss Hall of Boston, a sister of Judge Parker's wife : the two young men commenced life in the new county of Hancock. He held the office there until 1798, when, having been appointed a colonel in the Oxford army under President Adams, he resigned the office, and after the war he follojved his brother-in- law, Parker, to Portland, where he died in 1823, at the age of sixty-five. Colonel Waite survived the resignation of his office several years, and died in Portland in 1820, at the age of eighty-eight. He married, January 15, 1759, Hannah, the second of the three daughters of Phineas Jones, one of the most enterprising and valuable citizens of Falmouth, who died at the early age of thirty-eight in 1743. She was born October 6, 1738 : by her he had thirteen children, nine sons and four daughters, the youngest of whom, a daughter, born in 1783, only survives, the widow of Captain Samuel Mc- Lellan. Another daughter was the mother of Thomas and Edward Motley, long-honored merchants in Boston, and grandmother of the distinguished historian of the Dutch Bepublic, — John Lathrop Motley. Of course, the sheriff was his great-grandfather. lie survived all his sons, and after a long and varied life, he went to the grave under the burden of many years and many sorrows. ICIIABOD GOODWIN. 1793 — 1820. Sheriff Goodwin, like Sheriffs Waite of Cumberland and Bridge of Lincoln, rendered good service to the cause of the country during the war of the Revolution ; and they received the reward of tlieir ^services in the offices which they held : tlie shortest being near a quarter of a century. It was an honored practice, on the restoration of peace, to confer upon those who had devoted themselves and their property to accomplish the independence of their country, the honors and emoluments of office, as a just acknowl- edgment of their services. Ichabod Goodwin, one of these deserving men, was born in what is now South Berwick, May 25, 1743. His father was Captain Ichabod Goodwin, born in the same town in 1700, who was the son of Thomas Ooo 334 Morgan Jonathan, . . 475 Practice, its difficulties, . 341 Moody Samuel, . 664, 668 Page Lucretia F., 463 Moody Rev. Saranel, . 671 Parsons, Professor, 527, 630 Munjoy George, 23, 25, 32 Parris descent, . 566 MuUins Priscilla, . . 229 Pemaquid Province, . 29 Mussey John, 604, 675 Pemaquid, Extent, 34 10 Pomaquid Inhabitants, . Pciiiaquid Title, remuquid Courts, . Pemuquid City, its trade, Perham David, Pleadings, . Perlcy Nathaniel, . Prentiss John, Prentiss Rebecca, . Preble Wm. P., . Peterboro', Pearson Moses, . Preble Abraham, . Preble Esaias, Penobscot River seized, 1814, Price Ezekiel, Pickering Timothy, Pittston, Pickwacket . Phillips Exeter Academy, Piracy, first trial, . Probate Jurisdiction, Plough Patent, Potter ^Ir., . Proceedings and Pleadings, Pond Samuel M., Probate Court, Pownal Gov. Thomas, Probate Judges, Probate Registers, Plowdin's Reports, Popham's Reports, Population, Poetical hvwyers. Politics, the dangers of, Potter Barrett, . Portland, its business, Poor Ebenezer, . Poor John A., Portland lawyers. Potter descent, Poor Debtor Law, Political Change, 1840, Political parties, Pope Elnathan, Portland Riot, INDEX. PAQB. PAOB. . 31 Pownalboro', .... 656, 692 82 Provincial Congress, . 682 . 32 Purchase Thomas, . 12 33 Puddington George, . 19 . 44 Putnam James, . 185 40 Putnam Henry, . 231 128, 198, 19i) Public Buildings com'r. . 451 104 Plymouth Proprietors, 449, 450 . 164 208, 597 Quebec, capture of, . 679 . 420 Quirke William, 17 473 Quincy Samuel, . 185 . 597 Quincy Josiah, . 296, 305 598 14, . 670 Randolph's sarcasm, 77, 280 182 Rand Benjamin, 175 . 234 Randolph J.'s Eulogy on Pickering, 236 271 li. R., Kennebec and Portland, 457 . 417 R. R., Androscoggin and Kennebec, 470 473 Revolution in England, 1642, 21 . 674 Redding Richard, . . 32 . 19, 20, 51 Records of Court, 41 22 Registers of Probate, 56, 60 32 Register of Deeds, 60 , . .46 Reports and Reporters, 63-74 50 Reports, American, . . 67-72 . 51 Reports, Massachusetts, . 69 . 53, 092 Reports, Maine, . 71 65, 00 Reports, Early Language of, . 73 . 56, 60 Read John, 77 . 64 Revised Statutes, . . 1.169 65 Readfield, .... 217 125, 128, 105 Revolution Scenes, 681, 691 171, 228 Riall William, . 13 . 228 Rigby Sir Alexander, 22,52 268, 388, 477 Richards John, . 38 . 301, 390 Rice Thomas, . 179, 181 , 330, 334 345 Rice Dr. Thomas, 182 345, 003, 613 Richardson Alford, . 55o 363, 390 Robinson Edward, 19 . 388 Robinson Francis, . . 19 441 Robes of Judges, 41 . 453, 455 Rules of Practice, 47,57 501 Ruggles John, 453 . 574 SbO Scadlock William, . 13 INDEX 711 454, 572, Sankej' Robert, . Small Edward, Shapleigh Nicholas, . Sagadahoc, .... Sargent Nathaniel P., Salaries of Judges, Salaries of Attornej' Generals, Stacey George, Savage James, . 136, 152, Shaw Cemuel, . . 176, Sparhawk Thomas S., Sparhawk Edward Vernon, . Sparhawk George, Squatters, Sprague, Judge John, Sprague Peleg, Sandy River, Shaw Charles, Shaw Joshua, Saccarappa, . Sprague William, Sessions Court, Sewall Samuel, . Sewall David, Selden Calvin, . Sheriffs in 1800, . Sewall Jonathan, Special Pleading, . Stebbins Josiah, Selfridge's Trial, . Sewall Chief Justice, Sewall William B., Sebasticook, Stebbins Rowland, Senate of United States Sewall Anne, Sedgwick Theodore, Separation of Maine, Shepley Ether, Shepley descent, Shepley John, Shepley George F., Sewall Daniel, Sewall descent, . Sewall Jotham, Sewall Henry, Sheppard John H., Sheppard John, . 40, 84, 123, 128, PAGE. 17 . 19 23 . 32 40 75,79 75 126, 146 489, 490 466, 496 206 . 209 209 . 237 243, 246 462, 626 663, 666 . 590 591 . 595 626 38,47 . 38, 176 633, 673 . 50, 537 . 60 89 118, 249 236, 613 . 134 135 136, 488 183 . 236 296, 455 . 360 426 . 607 453, 619 619 . 620 625 . 648 648, 671 . 649 647, 671 . 666 667 PAGE. Sheriffs in Maine, .... 678 Smith John, .... 16 Stirling Lord, .... 32 Smith Samuel E, . 44, 143, 169, 614 Smith Manasseh, . . 126, 141, 614 Smith Joseph E., ... 143 Smith Manasseh, Jr., . . . 143 Smith Edwin, .... 143 Smith's Journal, .... 655 Stocks, 13 Stoughton William, ... 38 Stockbridge Joseph, . . . 100 Social Customs of the Bar, . . 101 Stoddard Amos, . . . 180 Scotch-Irish, . . . 181, 340, 345 Story Isaac, .... 214 Story Joseph, . 215, 528, 530, 586 Southgate Robert, . . 232, 404 Storer Hannah, .... 235 ScoUay John, .... 244 Scollay Lucy, . . . 244, 246 Storer Woodbury, Sen., . 392, 473 Southgate Horatio, . . . 403 Somerset County, . . 409, 537 Skowhegan, 434 Storer Woodbury, . . .471 Storer familj', .... 472 Storer Ebenezer, .... 473 Soule Zachariah, . . . 573 Shurt Abraham, [. . . .30 Superior Court, . . . . 38, 39 Superior Court in Falmouth, . 39 Superior Court in Kittory, . 39 Sullivan James, . . 40, 95, 687 Sullivan John, . ... 97 Sullivan Ebenezer, . 126, 144, 150 Sumner Samuel, . . . 174 Sumner, Fort, .... ISO Symmes William, 126, 148, 474, 675 Symmes Zachariah, . . .148 Thacher George, Thatcher Samuel, Thatcher family, Thatcher Ebenezer, Thacher Peter, . Temple Inner, Middle, &.C., Tennev John S., 106, 116 128, 225 225 . 396 594 . 123 preface 3, 74 712 INDEX. PAOE. PAOE. Titcomb Ann, . 392 Waite family, . 678 Timber ship, Tapper's, 483 Weston Nathan, . 45, 203, 510, 540 Titcomb Andrew P., . 596 Wetmore William, 123, 125 128, 191 Titcomb Benjamin, . 597 Wrestling, . . . . 247, 397 Tisbury JIanor, . 662 Webster Daniel, . 260, 412 Titcomb Stephen, 666 Weston Jonathan D., . 325, 328 Thornton J. VVingate, 30 Weston family. . 510 Trowbridge Edmund, . . 39 Weld Habijah, . . 700 Thomas Joseph, . 50, 128, 186 AVilliams Thomas, 9 Tompson Rev. John, . 217 Williams Richard, . . . 19 Tliomas Elias, . 274 Winslow John, . 34 Toppan Richard, . . 359 Winthrop Wait, • . 38 Tuclver Richard, 20 Wigs of Judges, . 41, 124 Tucker Nancy G., . 612 Wigs of Barristers, 123, 124 Tuttle Charlotte, . . 432 Whitman E., 44,128,275,289 354 ,4.36,625 Tucker John, 42 Widgcry William, . 45, 187 272, 305 Tupper Dr., . . 483, 484 Willard Joseph, . 124 Tyng Edward, . 34 Wildes Sylvanus, . 126, 187 Tvng William, . 678 Wilde S.'S., 128, 166, 173, 204, 238, 349 Tyler Royal, 105 Williams Reuel, 156, 268 Williams Gen. Seth, 445 , 569, 601 . 697 Upton Daniel P., . . 323, 327 Wilde Daniel, . 173 Upton John, 324 White Samuel, . . 174 Upton George B., . . 324 Winslow (town). Wits of the Bar, 183, 197 202, 205 Vaughan Charles, 660, 667 Wiscasset, . . 221 Vaughan Benjamin, 667, 671, 695 Whitwell Benjamin, 242 Vines Richard, . . 13, 14 Willis Rev. Zephaniah, . Whitman famih', . 276 2S9 Wadsworth Peleg, . 107 Winslow John, . . 320 "SVallingford George W., 129, 252 White Daniel A., 362 Warren George, . 178 Willard Sidney, . 368, 376 Warren Mercy, • 178 Wilson John, 420 Waterville, . 197 Wilson James, . 421 Wallingford Lt. Samuel, 252 Williams Graduates, . 446 Washington County, . 151, 343 Williams Seth, . 446 Waterbury, Conn., 392 Whitman Benjamin, . . 480 Wadsworth Henry, . 404 Whipple Oliver, . . 486, 487 Ware Ashur, 416, 550, 634 Willard Samuel, . . 490, 479 Waterville College, . 469, 549 Wingate Joshua, . 500, 568 Waldoboro', 481 Wingate Mrs. Joshua, . . . 500 Wadsworth John, . . 490 Williamson William D., . 617 Walsh MichaeU . 524 Wotton Sir Henry, 202 Ware Robert, . 635 Wyer David, . 93, 123 Ware Rev. Henry, 635 Ware family, . 635 Year Books, 64 Ware's Reports, . 71, 642 York Co. Lawyers, 165 187 , 279, 401 Waite Colonel John, . 678 York County, 166 s) ^- .to ^«^ mi MAY 29 mf (4UN*«?^ c'o5f-p itf^ jf^ 71976 u (?ECDLO-UW AUG 2 1 1991 UKtVERSmr df cAl-lFOimiA LibKAKY 3 1158 00420 1678 UC SOUTHERN REGlOrjAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 001 029 354 6 university of California SOUTHErS REGIONAL UBBA^V^ACIUrr^^^ ^°= °'^2'anGe'lIs CAUFORN.A 90095-1388 AN 2 3 ZOOb'-^ l-Ni' \y\jS- 'A VVr vi^bfHOiViOA'itptCBVtD uclayrull UC^ ACCESS ieBVlCES ^nterlibrary Loarl 11630 UniversitUesearch Ubra.y 80x951575 .g^ ,575 Los Angeles C/^| 9-J-'J^ '-^ W LOS Ai-IGKLES LlBkAKY 3 1158 00420 1678 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITi' II m I Ml II III I AA 001 029 354 6