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Gc 974.4 EL4b v.7 1198423
M. La.
ENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01100 5219
To. N. Shaldon.
Biographical History of
Massachusetts
Biographies and Autobiographies of the Leading Men in the State
SAMUEL ATKINS ELIOT, A.M., D. D. Editor-in-Chief
Volume VII
With opening chapters on THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSACHUSETTS BY HON. HENRY N. SHELDON
ENSE PET
MASSACHUSETTS BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 1917
Copyrighted, 1916, by MASSACHUSETTS BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY All rights reserved
Special Notice - These Biographies are fully protected under the copyright law, which imposes a severe penalty for infringement.
1198123.
CONTENTS. VOL. VII.
BIOGRAPHIES AND FULL PAGE PORTRAITS ENGRAVED ON STEEL
ADELBERT AMES FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES GILBERT BROWNELL BALCH
ROSWELL STORRS BARROWS THOMAS DAVID BARRY
FRANCIS BARTLETT SIDNEY BARTLETT
HENRY BARTLETT
EDWIN ALLEN BAYLEY
FRANCIS BLAKE
ELMER JARED BLISS
LEONARD CARPENTER BLISS
JOHN DUNNING WHITNEY BODFISH
DANIEL WEBSTER BOND
WILLIAM LINCOLN BOOTH
JOHN BOWMAN, 3RD WILLIAM DAVIS BRACKETT
HEZEKIAH ANTHONY BRAYTON
EDWIN PERKINS BROWN
GEORGE WASHINGTON BROWN
HENRY BILLINGS BROWN
SAMUEL CARR
EARLE PERRY CHARLTON
JOSEPH HODGES CHOATE
ALEXANDER COCHRANE
JOHN CRAWFORD CROSBY
HENRY HAVELOCK CUMMINGS
WILLIAM AIKEN DAVENPORT EBEN SUMNER DRAPER GEORGE DRAPER
WILLIAM RAYMOND DRIVER
FREDERICK LINCOLN EMERY
RUFUS BENNETT FOWLER JOHN ELBRIDGE GALE
NATHANIEL LINCOLN GORTON
JOHN ROBERT GRAHAM ROBERT GRANT HORACE GRAY JOHN CHIPMAN GRAY CHARLES PRENTISS HALL
EDWARD KIMBALL HALL FRANK OSGOOD HARDY WILLIAM AUGUSTUS HARDY HENRY HOWARD EDWARD PAYSON HURD JAMES FREDERICK JACKSON LEWIS JEROME JOHNSON JAMES MURRAY KAY GEORGE ELDON KEITH SHERMAN WILLIAM LADD CHESTER WHITIN LASELL EDWARD HOWARD LATHROP JOHN LATHROP JOHN BEAVENS LEWIS ARTHUR THEODORE LYMAN EDWIN TYLER MARBLE HORACE EUGENE MARION JAMES CROMBIE MELVIN JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS NATHANIEL CUSHING NASH KILBY PAGE THEOPHILUS PARSONS BENJAMIN WARREN PORTER LLEWELLYN POWERS WALTER AVERILL POWERS WILBUR HOWARD POWERS JAY BIRD REYNOLDS ALEXANDER HAMILTON RICE WILLIAM BALL RICE WILLIAM ELLIS RICE HENRY HUDDLESTON ROGERS DAVID FOSTER SLADE WILLIAM LAWTON SLADE
CHARLES SUMNER SMITH FRANCIS SMITH FRANK WEBSTER SMITH JONAS WALDO SMITH FRANK BULKELEY SMITH HARRY WORCESTER SMITH LOUIS CARVER SOUTHARD LAROY SUNDERLAND STARRETT BOWEN TUFTS THEODORE NEWTON VAIL JOSEPH VAN NESS HENRY MELVILLE WHITNEY
JAMES SCOLLAY WHITNEY WILLIAM COLLINS WHITNEY GEORGE BROWNING WILBUR CLARENCE WEST WILLIAMS WALTER PELLINGTON WINSOR JOHN WOOD
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSA- CHUSETTS
HE members of the bench and bar of Massachusetts are properly commemorated in the pages of this work. Their names stand, as they should stand, with those of other citizens who by their distinguished services have done honor to the Commonwealth and to themselves. Indeed, much of the good work that has been done by the great lawyers whose biographies and portraits are here published has been outside the limits of merely professional work. Very many of the men under whose leadership and inspiration the people acted during the later colonial times, in the Revolution, and throughout the critical period which imme- diately preceded the adoption of our national Constitution, were lawyers; not a few of them served upon the bench; yet a larger number gained their first repute in the practice of the law, or devoted the wisdom of their riper years to promoting the attainment of jus- tice before the courts. And after our nation had become a federal union instead of a mere confederacy, the bar of Massachusetts re- mained true to its earlier traditions. During the Civil War a great number of those who were not incapacitated from rendering mili- tary service served in our armies. Indeed, it has been said, although I have not the means of verifying this, that the bar of Massachusetts, in proportion to its numbers, was more strongly represented in the volunteer regiments than any other of what are called the learned professions. There was afterwards a time when many of the mem- bers of our two higher courts were men who had borne arms in that war; even now, forty-five years after its termination, such a list would include at least two of the present members of the Supreme Judicial Court and three justices of the Superior Court.
In civil life, the members of the bar have always been among the leaders of the people. Their generally high education, the training which is a necessary result of the practice of their profession, and
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSACHUSETTS
the public spirit which must be fostered and developed in them by their communion with the great body of the people, are a sufficient explanation of this fact. And if it be true, as sometimes has been said, that our own age has seen a general advance in education and a general increase of wisdom and understanding such that there is no longer so great a supremacy of intelligence in the members of any profession as was once the case, and if this has resulted in a more widespread inclination of each individual to think for himself and to have less regard than before for the opinion of any set of men, this fact is neither to be regretted nor to be regarded as an indication that the ripened wisdom, deep learning and proved integrity of any to whom these qualities may rightly be attributed will fail in the long run to command and receive their due meed of attention. While these shall remain in the future, as they have been in the past, the distinguishing characteristics of the bar of Massachusetts, it need not be feared that they will not be properly appreciated. The great names of Parsons, Shaw, Bigelow, Morton, Field, Jackson, Wilde, Devens, Hoar, Wells, Story, Curtis, Dexter, Loring, Webster, Choate, and Bartlett, besides many others whose high careers are mentioned in these volumes, bind us, their successors, and those who shall follow us to the remotest generation, to emulate the service which they rendered to their State and their country.
A few distinguished names have been mentioned, and many more might be added. But it must not be forgotten that the standard of every profession and calling is determined by the conduct and charac- ter of the great body of its followers rather than by the special distinction attained by a chosen few out of their number. This circum- stance has been so well stated by Governor Long in his introductory chapter to the second volume of this work that it needs no further development or illustration. But he himself and Governor Andrew whom he mentions in that chapter are good examples of the traits which the practice of the law tends to create and foster in all upright and able-minded men, possessed of a fair education which has wrought its good work by producing an understanding heart. It is true that most lawyers and most judges live in comparative obscurity, that their work attracts but little attention, and that after their death their memory abides only in those with whom they have been espe- cially connected, and even in these can abide only for a few brief years. They have done their part in raising the general standard
-
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSACHUSETTS
of the community, and the individual share of each meets the common fate of being covered over with " the thoughtless growth of the decid- uous years." It is better, where so many have done well, not to attempt now to make special mention of any, to the seeming neglect of so many others equally deserving, but to be content, in the space that remains available, with a brief survey of the courts of the Com- monwealth.
During the colonial period the administration of justice was entrusted at first wholly and even later almost entirely to men of weight and standing in the community and not to trained lawyers. But the Constitution adopted in 1780, and with some amendments still in force, declared the necessity of providing for every subject a certain remedy by law for all injuries or wrongs by an impartial administration of justice, and of having the independence of the justices secured from influence by any other department of the gov- ernment. This Constitution also, besides recognizing the Supreme Judicial Court, granted to the General Court (or Legislature) full power "to erect and constitute judicatories and courts of record or other courts." Under this power the Legislature in 1782, by chapter 9 of the Acts of that year, established the Supreme Judicial Court, with a chief justice and four justices. This court, with some changes from time to time in its number and in the nature and extent of its jurisdiction, has continued to be the highest court of justice in our system and the tribunal of last resort in the Commonwealth for the determination of all questions of law. Its decisions have been pub- lished regularly and in increasing amount since September, 1804, and now constitute a body of law by which, more perhaps than by any other single instrumentality, the rights and obligations of all parties are determined and regulated. The past chief and associate justices of this court have so borne themselves in their responsible positions and have done their work with such learning and ability that the Commonwealth may well be proud alike of the excellent service which they have rendered and of the high reputation which they have acquired for themselves and the State which they served. Their successors are bound to exert themselves to the utmost of their powers to keep up so far as may be to the standard which has been thus set.
By chapters 11 and 14 of the Acts of 1782 there were established in each county a Court of Common Pleas for ordinary trials and a
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSACHUSETTS
Court of General Sessions of the Peace to hear minor criminal cases; but the jurisdiction of the latter court was afterwards (Acts of 1803, c. 154) transferred to the Circuit Court of Common Pleas. In 1800 (c. 81 of the Acts of 1799, approved March 4, 1800), the Municipal Court of Boston was established for the trial of criminal cases in the County of Suffolk. These courts were continued with slight changes (see Acts of 1811, c. 33; of 1813, c. 173; and of 1820, c. 79) and with the substitution in Suffolk County of a Superior Court for the Court of Common Pleas (c. 445 of the Acts of 1855), until 1859, when the present Superior Court was established by chapter 169 of the Acts of that year. That court has ever since been the general trial court of the Commonwealth, its jurisdiction having been gradually ex- tended so as now to include, either exclusively or, as to proceedings in equity, concurrently with the Supreme Judicial Court, almost all original cases except writs of error and the so-called prerogative writs.
Probate Courts have existed in each county since 1784 (c. 46 of the Acts of 1783, approved March 12, 1784).
The jurisdiction of minor civil actions and of complaints for most misdemeanors and smaller criminal offences, with power to examine and hold for the action of the Superior Court persons accused of graver crimes, is now exercised by several police, municipal or district courts, each with a distinct local jurisdiction. The statutory provisions by which these courts are regulated are mainly to be found in Revised Laws, c. 160. Trial justices and justices of the peace still ยท have a more limited jurisdiction in cases which do not come under the control of these territorial courts. The Boston Juvenile Court, established by c. 489 of the Acts of 1906, has jurisdiction of complaints against children under seventeen years of age, with a view of guarding and preserving them as far as possible, but with the power of impos- ing penalties when needed.
It will be seen from this hasty review that an elaborate system of courts has been provided for the purpose of giving a prompt and efficacious remedy, by proceedings at law, to all who may stand in need of such relief. It is true, however, that the growth of business, the increasing complexity of affairs, the extension of railroads and street railways, the creation of huge manufacturing corporations, and the great aggregations of laborers and other employees working under a common employment, with other causes which do not need
THE BENCH AND BAR OF MASSACHUSETTS
to be specified, have caused an increase of litigation which has brought about delays in the trials of actions greater than ought to be allowed. This has been remedied in part, but only in part, by adding more justices to the Superior Court, so as to allow more sessions of that court to be held and a greater number of trials to be had. Other remedies have been suggested, which it would be beyond the scope of this chapter to consider. Under a resolve passed by the Legisla- ture in 1909, a commission was created to investigate this matter. That commission included one of the ablest and most practised members of the bar, a learned and experienced justice of the Superior Court, and a young lawyer, -each one of whom was known to have given considerable thought to the problem. They considered and investigated the matter long and carefully, without compensation, to the detriment of their private interests and the increase of labors which were already weighty, and made an elaborate report with many recommendations to the Legislature of 1910. Most of these recommendations, however, have not been adopted, and the existing evil has not been cured. But it is not doubted that this question will in the near future be grappled with, and that undue delays will then be obviated. Except for this minor blemish, which yet ought not to be minimized, it is believed that the administration of jus- tice in Massachusetts is satisfactory, that its bar is composed of upright, diligent and learned men, and that the standard of its bench, drawn from the bar, is attempted to be kept at the same level which has been reached by former justices in the history of the Commonwealth.
Benny H Skalaen
Adelbart Ames
ADELBERT AMES
T HIS distinguished soldier, magistrate, and statesman came of Massachusetts stock, but his ancestors early emigrated to that portion of the old Bay State which in 1820 became the State of Maine. He was born at East Thomaston (now Rock- land), on Penobscot Bay, October 31, 1835. His father was Captain Jesse Ames, a sea captain; his mother, Martha Tolman, daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Ingraham) Tolman.
General Ames's Pilgrim and Puritan ancestors came to America before 1640. The first of his paternal ancestors was Anthony Eames of Hingham. Finishing his course in the town schools, young Ames attended first an academy at Bucksport, Maine; then one at Farmington; and was prepared to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point, as a Cadet from July 1, 1856. He graduated at West Point in due course and was appointed Second Lieutenant, Second Artillery, United States Regular Army, May 6, 1861. His army record is as follows: May-July, 1861 (First Lieutenant, 5th Artillery, U. S. Regular Army, May 14, 1861), in the Manassas Campaign of July, 1861, being engaged in the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, where he was wounded; on sick leave of absence, disabled by wound, July 22, to September 4, 1861 (Brevetted Major July 21, 1861, U. S. Regular Army, for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Bull Run) ; in the Defenses of Washington, D. C., September, 1861, to March, 1862; in the Virginia Peninsular Campaign, commanding Battery (Army of Potomac), March-August, 1862, being engaged in the Siege of Yorktown, April 5-May 4, 1862, Battle of Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862, and Battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862 (Brevetted Lieutenant-Colonel U. S. Regular Army July 1, 1862, for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Malvern Hill, Va.) ; in command of Regiment, 5th Corps (Army of the Potomac), in the Maryland Campaign, September-November, 1862 (Colonel, 20th Maine Volunteers, August 29, 1862), being engaged in the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, and March to Falmouth, Vir- ginia, October-November, 1862; in the Rappahannock Campaign (Army of the Potomac), December, 1862-June, 1863, being en- gaged in the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1863, and Battle of Chancellorsville, as Acting Aide-de-Camp to Major-Gen- eral Meade, May 2-4, 1863, and combat of Beverly Ford, in com-
ADELBERT AMES
mand of first Brigade, 11th Corps, June 9, 1863 (Brigadier- General, U. S. Volunteers, May 20, 1863); in the Pennsyl- vania Campaign (Army of the Potomac), June-July, 1863, being engaged in the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863 (Bre- vetted Colonel July 1, 1863, U. S. Regular Army, for Gallant and Meritorious Services at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa.), and pur- suit of the enemy to Warrenton, Virginia, July, 1863; in operations in the Department of the South, August, 1863, to April 19, 1864; in command of Division or Brigade, 18th Army Corps, in Opera- tions before Petersburg, April 25 to September 17, 1864, being engaged in the Action of Port Walthall Junction, May 7, 1864, and Battle of Cold Harbor, June 1, 1864; on leave of Absence, September 17, to October 10, 1864; in command of Division, 10th Army Corps, October 10 to December 2, 1864, before Petersburg, Virginia (Captain 5th Artillery, U. S. Regular Army, June 11, 1864), being engaged in the actions of Darbytown Road, October 13 and 27, 1864; in command of Division, 24th Army Corps, De- cember 2, 1864, to April, 1865, being engaged in the first Expedi- tion to Fort Fisher, N. C., December 7-28, 1864, and on the second Expedition, January 2-15, 1865, participating in the assault and capture of Fort Fisher, January 15, 1865 (Brevetted Major-Gen- eral, U. S. Volunteers, January 15, 1865, for Gallant Services in the Capture of Fort Fisher, N. C.), and in Operations in North Carolina, January-April, 1865 (Brevetted Brigadier-General, U. S. Army, March 13, 1865, for Gallant and Meritorious Services in the Field during the Rebellion) ; in command of the Division of 10th Corps, April-May, 1865, and of 10th Army Corps, May 12-July 28, 1865, in North Carolina, and of the District of Western South Carolina, September 5, 1865, to April 30, 1866; on leave of absence (Mustered out of Volunteer Service April 30, 1866) ; com- missioned Lieutenant-Colonel, 24th Infantry, U. S. Regular Army, July 28, 1866.
General Ames was appointed Provisional Governor of Missis- sippi by President Grant in 1868, from which State he was United States Senator from 1870 to 1873. He was Governor of Mississippi from 1873 to 1876, when he resigned, and removed to New York City. From there he removed to Lowell, Massachusetts, which is his present place of residence.
General U. S. Grant said of General Ames: "Butler as a gen- eral was full of enterprise and resources and a brave man. If I had given him two corps commanders like Adelbert Ames, Mac-
ADELBERT AMES
kenzie, Weitzel, or Terry, or a dozen I could mention, he would have made a fine campaign on the James, and helped materially in my plans. I have always been sorry I did not do so."
General Ames resigned from the Army February 23, 1870. He was awarded a Medal of Honor by the United States Congress, September 1, 1893 (this medal was issued June 22, 1894), by the War Department, for remaining in action after being severely wounded at Bull Run, Ist, where he remained upon the field in command of a section of Griffin's Battery, directing its fire after being severely wounded and refusing to leave the field until too weak to sit upon the caisson where he had been placed by men of his command.
General Terry's report of the capture of Fort Fisher is full of praise for General Ames who, he says, was "constantly at the front under fire directing his troops with coolness and good judgment." General Ames is known as the "Hero of Fort Fisher."
June 20, 1898, General Ames was appointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers for the Spanish War, and received his honorable dis- charge January 3, 1899.
General Ames is an active member of many fraternal and army associations. He is a Republican in politics, and is fond of the game of golf, in which pastime he finds both exercise and amusement.
General Ames married July 21, 1870, Blanche, daughter of General Benjamin F. Butler and his wife Sarah (Hildreth), and granddaughter of Captain John and Charlotte (Ellison) Butler, and of Dr. Israel and Dolly (Jones) Hildreth.
General and Mrs. Ames have six children: Col. Butler Ames, a former member of Congress from the Fifth Massachusetts Dis- trict, and extensively engaged in manufacturing in Lowell; Adel- bert Ames, Jr., a lawyer; and Edith, Sarah, Blanche, and Jessie.
Secure in the well-deserved honors won in his more active days, General Ames offers this thought to the generations who are soon to manage the affairs of the Republic, saved to them by the valor of their predecessors:
"In these days of gifts, munificent and petty, with their tend- ency to demoralize and pauperize, I would say to the young American : receive nothing without making an equivalent return- otherwise you become either a dependent or an ingrate, neither of which a true American should be."
Both the life and the work of General Ames show that they have been modeled upon these principles.
FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES
T HE life of Frederick Lothrop Ames exemplifies the sterling qualities and far seeing judgment of the type of men who have made Massachusetts greater, better, and more pros- perous. His service was primarily rendered in the development of great public utilities which have brought to light and use the re- sources of America, have combined the forces of man and nature, and have bound the different and distant parts of the land together by iron bands of communication and transportation. Such a career declares that the truest statesmanship is not necessarily displayed in political or diplomatic life; it is illustrated also in the industrial life of the country, in utilizing its resources and promoting the progress of civilization.
Frederick Lothrop Ames was born in Easton, Massachusetts, June 8, 1835. In the prime of mature life, in the height of his usefulness and activity, at the comparatively early age of fifty-eight, he died suddenly September 13, 1893. He was descended from one of the Old Colony families whose sturdy qualities have been the foundation of New England life. His father was Oliver Ames, of whom he was the only son, and his mother was Sarah (Lothrop) Ames, the daughter of Hon. Howard Lothrop of Easton, who in his day was prominent in public life and was a member of the Massa- chusetts Senate.
The original ancestor in America was William Ames who came from Bruton, Somersetshire, England, about the year 1635, and settled in Braintree, Massachusetts.
The Ames family has long been identified with the industries of Massachusetts. Capt. John Ames, the great-grandfather of Fred- erick, commenced the making of shovels in West Bridgewater in 1773. His son, Oliver Ames, succeeded his father in the labor at the forge and learned the trade by practical application of hand and head. He established the works at North Easton in 1803 and founded the house of Oliver Ames and Sons, which has maintained its name and reputation for more than a century. His sons, the
French Ame
Amet
FREDERICK LOTHROP AMES
other members of the firm, were Oliver, the father of Frederick, and Oakes Ames. They subsequently became prominent not only as manufacturers but as capitalists interested in the development of railroad enterprises, notably the Union Pacific, the pioneer of the great transcontinental railways. It was not only commercial enter- prise but a patriotic appreciation of the necessity of better com- munication between the eastern states of the Union and the growing states of the Pacific Coast that prompted this gigantic scheme. Its successful completion against the greatest obstacles is an enduring monument to the family name.
Mr. Ames was fitted for College at Phillips Exeter Academy. He entered Harvard College at the early age of fifteen years and graduated in the class of 1854. He was known in college to his classmates as a quiet, unassuming student, yet he was well liked and in after years was justly regarded as one of the marked men of the class.
On graduation from College his inclination was to study law. But his father desired him to follow the family business and to succeed him in the establishment so long identified with the name. With characteristic determination to obtain a knowledge of the business in all its details and work his way up by his merits he entered the office as a clerk in a subordinate capacity, and his pro- motion from grade to grade came through his capacity in managing the affairs in his charge.
After several years he was placed in charge of the Accountant's Department. Here he showed marked business ability and dis- played that knowledge of affairs outside the province of manufac- turing that was ultimately to guide him in the investments and operations that proved so successful in different parts of the country.
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