USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 1 > Part 5
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the Reserve Corps, were not credited to any county or other particular sec- tion, as the members were taken without regard to their residence. Such other units were as follows: Fifth Deck Division (Company F, Naval Brigade), Massachusetts Naval Militia, with headquarters at Fall River, and officered by Lieutenant John W. Flannery, Lieutenant (J. G.) Frank- lin H. Richardson, and Ensign Edward Korzeneski. Sixth Deck Division (Company G, Naval Brigade), Massachusetts Naval Militia, with headquar- ters at New Bedford, and officered by Lieutenant Homer J. Parent, Lieu- tenant (J. G.) John S. Silvia, and Ensign Andrew N. Bruckshaw. Eighth Deck Division (Company I, Naval Brigade), Massachusetts Naval Militia, with headquarters at Fall River, and officered by Lieutenant Clinton M. Smith, Lieutenant (J. G.) Charles A. MacDonald, and Ensign Richard F. Whitehead.
CHAPTER IV.
BENCH AND BAR
The judiciary of Bristol county is its legal bulwark, both by force of ability and numbers fulfilling the requirements in the courts of a polyglot population that for the past thirty years at least have offered their various causes to be debated. When the late Hon. John S. Brayton, forty years ago, wrote his treatise and history of the beginnings of the bar, and when, a little later, Hon. Arthur M. Alger wrote his sketches of prominent jus- tices, the native American attorney and bench leader found the "old régime" in the full possession that had existed for two centuries. Very soon afterward the urge of the immigrant began to bring itself into notice in the courts, as well as in all other departments of the activities of com- munities; so that the present era, both as to personnel and potentiality, is one in which the voice of the law advocate makes its appeal for the repre- sentatives of many races.
The business of the law in the county has now become manifold and cosmopolitan ; the causes at issue have increased beyond the prophecies of the former justices. Bench, bar, jury and laymen now hear the interpre- tation of the law, commensurate with the needs of the new conditions; and all jurists have more and far greater problems to solve than had their predecessors.
Just how soon after the incorporation of the county, in 1685, the courts were in operation here is not recorded, but the late Rev. Samuel Hopkins Emery, author of the "History of Taunton," made the discovery in the basement of the old court-house of a document entitled "Records of the Courts in 1696" and onwards, the first that had been found before that hav- ing been referred to as of 1702 by the late Hon. John S. Brayton, of Fall River. The former document began: "At his majesties Court of Common Pleas at Bristol, July 14th, in the year of his majesties reign Annoque Dom. 1696, John Saaffin, esq. Presiding. Justices Present, Captain John Brown, Captain Thomas Leonard, Captain Nicholas Peck, esqrs." Other Bristol county court records referred to are of 1698 and 1699.
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Taunton became the shire town in 1746, and the first session of the Court of Common Pleas was held there December 9, 1746, Hon. Seth Will- iams, George Leonard and Stephen Paine presiding.
Very brief biographical sketches of the "old Guard" are herewith given, following which there is a list for the first time published of attor- neys and justices of the county for more than a century, with the dates of their admission; and finally, the names of those now in practice in the county. Thanks are due Attorneys Frank L. Tinkham and George R. Williams, for much aid in these matters.
Taunton .- Since Taunton has been known as the shire town and the county seat from the year 1746, and since from that year to the present, men learned in the law have made Taunton their home and the forum of their activities, it is desirable to glance retrospectively and in brief to their times and associations that we may thus perceive by what substantial founders the judicial beginnings of the county were laid.
All historians honor Judge Samuel White as the first barrister at law who resided in Taunton. Few that have followed him have proven more thoroughly representative students of the law. He was born in Wey- mouth, Massachusetts, April 2, 1710, and graduated at Harvard College in 1731, in his twenty-first year. Eight years later, in 1739, he took up his residence in Taunton, and in 1744 was commissioned a justice of the peace for Bristol county. He received the appointment of king's attorney of the Court of Sessions in the year Taunton was made the county seat (1746), holding that office for the remainder of his life. His adopted town elected him to the General Court for the years 1749-53-56-59, and 1764-65; he served as speaker of the House in 1759, 1764-65, and was a member of the Governor's Council in 1767-69.
It was while Otis, Adams and Thatcher were members of the House that he presided over its interests, and as Speaker he signed the letter that called for a Congress of the Colo- nies to protest against grievances. Judge White, it is likely, would have been one of the leaders in Colonial independence, but his death took place March 20, 1769. He married, in November, 1735, Prudence, daughter of Samuel Williams, of Taunton, and they had three children: Experience, born 1738, married Hon. George Leonard; Anna, born 1741, married Hon. Daniel Leonard; and Bathsheba, born 1746, married Hon. William Baylies. Judge White's sister Anna was the first wife of William Wilde, whose only child, Daniel, married Anna Sumner, and was the father of Hon. S. S. Wilde, native of Taunton, and long on the Supreme Court bench.
Robert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration of Independence, spent twenty of the years of his life in Taunton, though he was born in Boston, March 12, 1731. His father, Rev. Thomas Paine, was a native of Barn- stable, and a Harvard graduate, class of 1717. His mother was a grand- daughter of Governor Robert Treat of Connecticut, and of Rev. Samuel Willard, a vice-president of Harvard College. Robert Treat Paine grad- uated at Harvard College in 1749, and, being admitted to the bar in 1757, he commenced practice in Boston, but removed to Taunton in 1761. He was considered one of the most eminent attorneys in the Province, his professional business being very extensive. In 1770 he married Sally, daughter of Thomas Cobb, and a sister of General David Cobb. He was elected from Taunton in 1768 to the convention in Boston called to consult
1
HON. ROBERT TREAT PAINE, FOR TWENTY YEARS A RESI- DENT OF TAUNTON. SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDE- PENDENCE.
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upon the condition of the country; and in 1770, after the Boston Massacre, he was retained as prosecuting attorney by Boston against the British sol- diers. Judge Paine drafted resolutions in a Taunton remonstration against public wrongs. He was chairman of the committee on the impeachment of Chief Justice Oliver; and he represented his adopted town in the letter to Lord Dartmouth and in the address for the Governor's removal.
The Continental Congress assembled in 1774, largely through his in- strumentality, and he represented Massachusetts in that Congress. In the winter and spring of 1775 he attended the Second Provincial Congress at Cambridge, and was a member of the committee on the state of the Prov- ince. Without rest, now, he gave himself to the cause of the Patriots, being chairman of the Committee on Supplies in Congress, and providing equipments of every sort for the army. The crowning honor was that of July 4, 1776, when he became one of the signers of the Declaration, and on December 30 of that year he returned to Taunton. He took his seat in the . Legislature in 1777, and later was made attorney-general. He was a member of the Hartford Convention in 1778, and in 1779 a member of the Executive Council, as well as of the committee to draft a new State Con- stitution, under which he continued to serve as attorney-general. He removed to Boston in 1781, and in 1790 was chosen judge of the Supreme Court, serving until 1804, when he was again elected a member of the Executive Council. He died May 12, 1814, at the age of eighty-three years, the father of four sons and four daughters. To perpetuate the mem- ory of his having made Taunton his home, this city erected a statue by Brooks, sculptor, near its Church Green, and on the site of the first town house.
Hon. Daniel Leonard, at first Colonial Patriot, afterwards Loyalist, was born May 29, 1740, in Norton, son of Ephraim Leonard, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He graduated at Harvard College with the class of 1760, and became distinguished in the law. At first he was an ardent Republican, but it is supposed that he changed his views through the in- fluence of Governor Hutchinson. His unpopularity was assured when he defended the measures of the king and parliament in articles that were published in "Draper's Paper," of Boston, and that called forth reply in a noted article by John Adams, and signed "Novanglus." Taunton people took exceptions to his sentiments, and a mob assailed his house, that stood next to the court-house, and that was afterwards the residence of Judge Padelford. A shutter of that house is preserved at Historical Hall in Taunton, showing marks of bullets of the assailants. Daniel Leonard departed from his native country in 1776 to Halifax, thence to England, and was given the appointment of chief justice for Bermuda. After a stay in that island he returned to London, where he died in 1829, at the age of eighty-nine years. He left four grandchildren, each of whom mar- ried well.
Hon. Seth Padelford, LL.D., was born in Taunton, December, 1751, son of John and Jemima Padelford. He was graduated at Yale College with the class of 1770. He began the practice of law with Timothy Rug- gles, at Hardwick, but came to Taunton at the time of the Revolution, where he opened an office. He was appointed attorney-general of the county in 1776, and the next year occupied the Daniel Leonard house re-
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ferred to. He received the appointment of county treasurer in 1783, and of judge of probate in 1794, which he held sixteen years, or to the time of his death, in 1810. He was elected president of the Old Colony bar. He married Rebecca, daughter of Abraham Dennis, sister of the wife of James Sproat, esq., and they had eleven children.
Henry Goodwin, born in Boston, son of Benjamin and Hannah Good- win, began his legal career in Taunton, upon his graduation at Harvard College in 1778. He became attorney-general of the State of Rhode Island, and died at Newport, Rhode Island, May 31, 1789.
Hon. Samuel Fales, a native of Bristol, Rhode Island, and son of Nathaniel and Sarah Fales, graduated at Harvard in 1773. He married a daughter of Colonel John Cooke, of Tiverton, Rhode Island, and they had eleven children. For many years Judge Fales was clerk of the courts, and later received the appointment of justice of the then Court of Common Pleas. His son Nathaniel succeeded him in the office of clerk. Judge Fales died in Boston, January 20, 1818, but his burial-place is in Taunton.
James Sproat, Esq., was the son of Ebenezer Sproat, of Middleboro, and was born there December 7, 1758. He settled in Taunton, where he married Ann, daughter of Abraham Dennis, and sister of the wife of Judge Padelford, and they had ten children. His wife Ann was an intellectual woman, and wrote some of the first illustrated books for children in this country. Mr. Sproat died November 12, 1825.
Hon. David Leonard Barnes was a native of Scituate, Massachusetts, son of Rev. David Barnes, D. D., and Rachel, daughter of Colonel George Leonard, of Norton. David graduated at Harvard in 1780, and married Joanna Russell. He practised law in Taunton ten years, 1783 to 1793. He then removed to Rhode Island, where he was appointed district judge of the United States Court. He died in 1812.
Nicholas Tillinghast, Esq., was a native of Providence, Rhode Island, son of Judge Nicholas and Mary Tillinghast. He was one of Taunton's leading lawyers of the time, and received the honorary degree of Master of Arts from Brown University in 1793, and from Harvard in 1807. He married Betsey, daughter of Amos M. Atwell, and they had ten children. He died April 24, 1818, and his wife, March 10, 1834.
Hon. John Mason Williams, LL. D., was the son of Brigadier James Williams. He graduated at Brown University and started to practise law in New Bedford. Later he made his home in Taunton, and was Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas many years. He received the hon- orary degree of LL. D. from Brown University in 1842, and from Harvard in 1845. He married Eliza Otis Williams, daughter of Hon. Lemuel Wil- liams, and they had five children.
Hon. Marcus Morton, LL. D., son of Nathaniel Morton and Mary Carey, was born in Freetown, February 19, 1784. Graduating from Brown University in 1804, he began to practise law in Taunton in 1807. He was three times Governor of the State; he was a judge of the Supreme Court of the State fifteen years, and was representative from his district in Con- gress four years. Judge Morton, who was also collector of the port of Boston four years, received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Brown University in 1826, and from Harvard University in 1840. He married Charlotte, daughter of James Hodges, of Taunton, December 23, 1897,
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and they had twelve children. Governor Morton died February 6, 1864.
Hon. Francis Baylies was born in Taunton, October 16, 1784, son of William Baylies, M. D., and grandson of Hon. Samuel White, the first lawyer of Taunton. He began to practise law in Taunton in 1810, and succeeded his father as register of probate, filling the office nine years. He was the author of "Memoirs of Plymouth County" and many historical and biographical articles. Mr. Baylies was a member of Congress six years, and was a consul at Buenos Ayres during the administration of President Andrew Jackson. He married Elizabeth Deming of Troy, New York, and their daughter Harriet married Nathaniel, son of Governor Mar- cus Morton.
James Ellis was born in Franklin, Connecticut, May 23, 1769, and graduated at Brown University in 1791. He commenced to practise law at Seekonk, but afterwards removed to Taunton, and was appointed district attorney. He was three times a Senator.
Anselm Bassett was born at Rochester, Massachusetts, in 1784, son of Thomas and Lydia Bassett. Graduating at Brown in 1803, he married (first) Rosalinda, daughter of Abraham Holmes of Rochester; (second) Mrs. Lucy Smith, of Troy, New York. He was register of probate from 1833 to 1851.
Horatio L. Danforth was born in Taunton in 1801, son of William and Sally Leonard Danforth. Graduating at Brown University in 1825, he studied law with Hon. Francis Baylies; was county treasurer twelve years, 1829-1841; and was high sheriff in 1844. He died July 21, 1859.
Judge Harrison Gray Otis Colby was born in Hallowell, Maine, in 1807, son of Rev. Philip and Harriet (Sewall) Colby. He graduated at Brown University in 1827, in the class with Governor John H. Clifford. Admitted to Bristol county bar, he at first lived in Taunton, but after- wards removed to New Bedford, and there married the daughter of John A. Parker. He was appointed judge while in New Bedford.
Hon. Henry Williams was born in Taunton, November 30, 1805, son of Benjamin and Lydia Williams, and descendant of Richard Williams, one of the first settlers. He graduated at Brown University in 1826, and attained a wide knowledge of general jurisprudence, and for a number of years was associated with Judge Edmund H. Bennett, and later with his nephew, George E. Williams. He was a member of the House of Repre- sentatives in 1833, and of the Senate in 1835-36. He represented his dis- trict in the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-eighth Congresses. He was appointed register of probate in 1851, and in 1853 served as a member of the Consti- tutional Convention to amend the Constitution of the State.
Hon. Horatio Pratt, son-in-law of Chief Justice Williams, graduated at Brown University in 1825. He was one of the leading attorneys of the county bar, district attorney and a member of the Massachusetts Senate.
Nathaniel Morton, son of Governor Marcus Morton, was born in Taunton, December 3, 1821, and died February 12, 1856. He graduated at Brown University in the class of 1840, and from Harvard Law School in 1843. He took high rank in the practice of his profession in his native
town.
He was the first president of the Old Colony Historical Society.
Hon. Chester I. Reed was born in Taunton, November 23, 1823, son of William and Elizabeth Dean Reed. He received the honorary degree of
Bristol --?
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A. M. from Brown University, and served several years as attorney general of this State. He was also elected a judge of the Superior Court. He removed from Taunton to Dedham, and died at White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, September 2, 1873.
Samuel R. Townsend was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, April 10, 1810, son of Samuel and Abigail Townsend. He graduated at Harvard with the class of 1829. He taught at Bristol Academy in Taunton from 1846 to 1849, and after studying law in the office of Hon. Horatio Pratt was admitted to the Bristol bar in 1850. He was chosen county treasurer in 1853, and a judge of the police court in 1858. He served in the city council, and as city solicitor.
Major James Brown was born in Swansea, Massachusetts, Septem- ber 19, 1828, son of Jonathan R. and Sally Mason Brown. He graduated at Brown University with the class of 1850, and was admitted to the bar in 1852. He represented his town in both House and Senate, and served in the Civil War, returning with the rank of major. He married Eliza W., daughter of Thomas Clark and Sally (Carver) Brown, and they had four children.
David G. W. Cobb, son of General David Cobb, was a member of the Bristol bar, and served as register of probate.
James and William A. F. Sproat served as clerks of the court.
James L. Hodges was in the State Senate in 1824 and 1825, and repre- sented his district in Congress, 1826-32.
Hon. Edmund H. Bennett was born at Manchester, Vermont, April 6, 1824, son of Milo L. and Adeline H. Bennett. He graduated at the Uni- versity of Vermont with the class of 1843, and from that institution re- ceived the honorary degree of LL. D. in 1873. He taught school in Vir- ginia, and was admitted to the Vermont bar in 1847. He settled in Taun- ton in 1848, and on various occasions was in partnership with Nathaniel Morton, Hon. Henry Williams and Henry J. Fuller. When Taunton was incorporated as a city in 1865, he was elected as the first mayor, and was re-elected in 1866 and 1867. He was a lecturer at the Dane Law School of Harvard in 1870-71-72, and in 1876 was chosen dean of the Boston Uni- versity Law School. He was writer and editor of many law books, that upon "Farm Law" receiving wide circulation. He was appointed judge of probate and insolvency for Bristol county in 1858. He was prominent in the Protestant Episcopal church.
Hon. William Henry Fox was born in Taunton, August 29, 1837, son of Henry Hodges and Sarah Ann (Burt) Fox. He graduated at Harvard College with the class of 1858. After teaching school at Myricks, he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar September 17, 1861. He was appointed justice of the old Taunton Municipal Court in August, 1864, and later first justice of the First District Court of Bristol county. His service as justice extended over a period of more than forty-eight years. He was mayor of Taunton in 1872; president of the Bristol County Savings Bank, treasurer of Wheaton College, and member of many other societies and organizations. He married, October 6, 1864, Anna M. Anthony, daughter of James H. and Harriet M. Anthony, of Taunton, and they had three children. He died May 14, 1913.
Hon. William E. Fuller, son of Jabez and Sarah Hudson Fuller, was
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born in Bridgewater, Vermont, June 30, 1832. He graduated at Harvard College in 1856, and was for a while principal of the Taunton High School. In 1863 he was admitted to the bar, and October of that year he became associated with his classmate, Charles Warren Sproat, under the firm name of Sproat & Fuller; he was register of probate and insolvency for Bristol county in 1868, and upon the retirement of Judge Edmund H. Bennett he received the appointment of judge of probate. He married, November 20, 1859, Anna Miles Corey, and they had two children. He died November 9, 1911.
Hon. Arthur M. Alger was born in Boston, September 23, 1854. He graduated at the Boston University Law School in 1886, and was admitted to the Suffolk county bar that year. He entered the law office of Judge William H. Fox in Taunton, and in 1879 was appointed clerk of the district court. He filled that office until 1893, when he was chosen register of probate. He was twice mayor of Taunton, in 1890 and 1900, and was author of a number of law and genealogical books. He died June 2, 1921.
Hon. Lloyd E. White was a native of Norton, where he was born De- cember 12, 1849. He came to Taunton in 1873, where he studied law in the office of Major James Brown. He was appointed justice of the Su- perior Court in 1904, from which office he resigned in September, 1921. He died October 2, 1921. A son, Everett S. White, Esq., is by Judge White's second wife, Esther S. (Baylies) White. 1128653
New Bedford .- Timothy Gardner Coffin, born in Nantucket in 1790, was one of the earliest members of the Bristol county bar. He was edu- cated at Brown University, and was admitted to the bar in 1811. For more than forty years after opening his office in New Bedford he was a prominent leader in all cases of importance. At his death he was con- sidered the ablest attorney in Southeastern Massachusetts, and was at one time engaged in a case against Daniel Webster. He married Betsey, daughter of Hon. John Avery Parker, of New Bedford. His death occurred in September, 1854.
One of the early Quaker lawyers was John S. Russell, who was born in New Bedford in 1797, the son of Charles Russell and Martha Tilling- hast. At first he practised law in Taunton, but, removing to New Bedford, continued his practice there until his death in 1834.
Lemuel Williams was one of the leading members of the New Bedford bar in 1820, and he was at one time collector of customs there. The latter part of his life was spent in Worcester.
Charles H. Warren was one of the able advocates in New Bedford a century ago. Before 1836 he was district attorney, and afterwards was chosen judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Retiring from the bench, he was chosen president of the Boston & Providence railroad.
Ezra Bassett, a brother of Anselm Bassett, who was born in Rochester, studied law with his brother in Taunton, and began practice there; then for a time had an office at Attleboro. He went to New Bedford in 1834, and it is stated that his law library was the best selected in that city. He died in December, 1843.
Hon. Thomas Dawes Eliot, one of the leading lights of the bar in his generation, was born in Boston, March 20, 1808, descendant of Colonial and Revolutionary ancestors. He married, in 1834, Frances L. Brock, of
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Nantucket. Mr. Eliot graduated from Columbia College in 1825, and began his law studies with his uncle, Chief Justice Cranch of the Circuit Court. He went to New Bedford in 1830, and entered into partnership with Judge Charles H. Warren. He was for thirty years a regular attendant at all the jury terms in this part of the State, and was a thorough legal scholar as well as practitioner. In 1854 he represented his district in the Thirty- third Congress; and he organized the first meeting of the Republican party in this county. After an absence from Congress for two Congressional terms, he was again elected, by an immense majority, and he remained in Congress until 1869. In 1854 he made the first effort for repeal of the Fugitive Slave law by offering a bill for that purpose. In 1864 he was chairman of the Committee on Emancipation, and reported and advocated the bill establishing a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs, which became a law. He was author of the "Coolie" bill, and under his lead the Thirty-seventh Congress enacted a stringent law prohibiting American vessels from engag- ing in the Chinese coolies trade. His death occurred June 14, 1870.
John Ham Williams Page, a native of Gilmanton, New Hampshire, graduated at Harvard College with the class of 1826, and until 1829 was in charge of the Friends' Academy at New Bedford. For a while he studied law at the Dane School at Cambridge, and being admitted to the bar in June, 1832, opened an office at New Bedford. He was a member of the House of Representatives, and of its railroad committee, and later became president of the Cape Cod Branch railroad. He was at one time president of the Bristol County Agricultural Society. In later life, he removed to Boston to assume the duties of treasurer of the Lawrence Machine Shop.
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