Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol III, Part 21

Author: Green, Samuel A. (Samuel Abbott), 1830-1918
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Groton
Number of Pages: 1026


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol III > Part 21


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39



242


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


of Harvard University, where he remained during two terms ; and for the two following years he appears in the annual cat- alogues as a Resident Graduate. lle was admitted to the bar, on May 12, 1849, in Boston, where he opened an office at No. 47 Court Street, though living in Cambridge. About the year 1852 he removed to Pepperell, which at that time was without a lawyer.


On October 4, 1870, Mr. Lewis was married, in Boston, to Catharine, daughter of Jonas Haskins and Catharine (Mar- shall) Titus, and a native of Detroit, Michigan.


In the year 1874 Mr. Lewis opened an office at Ayer, while still living at Pepperell ; but during the autumn of 1875 he removed with his family to Groton, where he remained for five years. At the end of this period he returned to his native town, still keeping an office at Ayer. He died at Pepperell, on November 26, 1882. In December, 1881, his wife ob- tained a divorce from him on the ground of cruelty ; and she was married, secondly, on July 11, 1882, to Warren Havilah Atwood, Esq., a lawyer of Ayer.


Mr. Lewis's father was a native of Billerica, and a graduate of Dartmouth College in the Class of 1807, having fitted for that institution at Groton Academy. The father afterward studied law in the office of the Honorable Samuel Dana, of Groton. The grandfather, Major James (6. 1761, d. 1828), for many years the postmaster of Groton, removed to this town from Billerica, with his father James (b. 1735, d. 1810), in the spring of 1796. Representatives of three generations of the family in succession were named James, and all at some period of their lives were residents of Groton.


JOHN QUINCY ADAMS GRIFFIN was a son of James and Hannah ( Richey) Griffin, and born at Londonderry, New Hampshire, on July 8, 1826. At an early age he was living in Pelham, New Hampshire, and from that town in the year 18.14 he came to Groton, where he was a clerk in the post- office, living in Mr. Butler's family. He began at once to attend school at Groton Academy, and in the autumn of 18446 entered Amherst College with the Freshman class, but he


243


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


remained there only for one term. He used to say that he stayed as long as they could teach him anything. After he left Amherst he came back to Groton, and began the study of law in the office of George F. Farley, Esq., and was admitted to the bar in October, 1849. During the political canvass of 1848, for a young man Mr. Griffin was quite conspicuous, on the side of the Free-soil party, both as a writer and public speaker ; and about this time, perhaps a little later, he was the editor of a Free-soil newspaper in Lawrence, though still living at Groton. In the year 1850 he removed to Charlestown, and opened an office in that city. The following card is printed in the " Bunker Hill Aurora and Boston Mirror " (Charles- town), January 27, 1855, where it appeared for more than six months :-


Farley & Griffin, ATTORNEYS AND COUNSELLORS, Office No. 25 City Square, CHARLESTOWN.


GEO. F. FARLEY. J. Q. A. GRIFFIN.


Mr. Griffin, while a resident of Charlestown, took an active part in opposing the annexation of that city to Boston. On April 29, 1854, an Act was passed by the General Court consolidating the two cities, and duly accepted by a popu- lar vote. Owing to his exertions, the question of the validity of this Act was carried up to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, where it was pronounced unconstitutional. He was the author of two anonymous pamphlets opposing the union of these cities, entitled respectively: "A Candid Review of the Project of Annexation, by a Charlestown Man" (Charlestown, 1854, pages 12) ; and " Some Fresh Sugges- tions on the Project of Annexing Charlestown to Boston. By a Bunker Hill Boy " ( Charlestown, 1855, pages 18).


He also wrote, under the pseudonym of Azariah Bumpas, four articles, which appeared in "The Carpet Bag " ( Boston). They were entitled " Reports of Cases argued and decided in


m


٠


244


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


the Old Fogey Court during Hilary and Michelmas terms, A. D. 1849," and they contain allusions to events that were familiar to all Grotonians forty years ago. The first article, or " Vol. 1," was printed in the issue ( No. 18) of that weekly paper for August 2, 1852, and the last number, or " Vol. 4," in the issue (No. 25) for September 20, the other two articles appearing in Numbers 20 and 22 of the paper. The Court consisted of a Chief Justice and two Associate Justices, whose real names can be made out easily through a thin disguise ; and the Reporter was " Azariah Bumpas, of Boynton's Temple, Barrister at Law." While a resident of Gioton, Mr. Griffin was an inmate of John Boynton's boarding-house.


Mr. Griffin, during the session of 1855, was one of the representatives to the General Court from Charlestown, and the Free-soil candidate for Speaker of the House, when he received twenty-nine votes ; and, during the sessions of 1859 and 1860, he was also a representative from Malden, whither he had previously removed, though still keeping his office in Charlestown. On May 1, 1852, he was married to Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of James and Rispah (Farmer) Wood, of Concord ; and they have had four children, of whom two now survive. His wife had previously taught the District School No. 1, in Groton, during the winter term of 1849 and the summer term of 1850 ; and it was in this town that he became acquainted with her.


Mr. Griffin died of consumption, at Malden, on May 22, 1866, deeply lamented by a wide circle of friends among all classes of people. The " Boston Evening Transcript," May 23, pays a short but just tribute to his character.


JOSIAH KENDALL BENNETT was a son of Josiah Kendall and Lucinda (Nutting) Bennett, and born at Groton, on February 4, 1831. He pursued bis preparatory studies at Lawrence Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1853, though his Junior year was passed at Yale College. As a student he took high rank, and at Commencement received an honorable part. Immediately after his graduation he was chosen the Master of Hopkins Classical School at Cambridge,


245


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


where he filled the position for one year, when it was merged under certain conditions, on August 28, 1854, in the Cam- bridge High School. During his stay in Cambridge he attended the Law School for two full years (1854-1856), receiving the degree of LL.B. in 1856. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar on November 22 of the following autumn, and began the practice of his profession in Boston, having an office at No. 20 Court Street, where he remained about three years, when he returned to his native town.


Mr. Bennett was an excellent scholar, and highly useful in all the public affairs of the town. He was an able writer, and a frequent contributor to the columns of the press. His articles have appeared in the " Bibliotheca Sacra," and in "The Con- gregationalist " (Boston), and other newspapers. In the Bibliotheca (XIII. 564-574) for July, 1856, is an article from his pen, entitled " Aliens in Israel." On June 29, 1863, he was chosen one of the Trustees of Lawrence Academy, and he continued a member of the Board until the time of his death. During the whole of this period he was the Secretary of the Board, and an active member of several important committees. On March 6, 1865, he was elected one of the School Committee, in which capacity he served for eight years ; and during this time he was the author of several annual reports. In the earlier part of his life he taught school at Groton, where his gentle and winning ways always inspired love and respect among his pupils. For many years he was a member of the Groton Musical Association, and a communicant of the Union Congregational Church, where he had been clerk of the parish, and Superintendent of the Sunday-school. On May 15, 1872, he was appointed Standing Justice, First District Court of Northern Middlesex, a tribunal at that time just organized. About two months before his death, in order to be near the field of his judicial labors, he removed to Ayer, where he died on January 23, 1874. Judge Bennett was never a robust man, and during his later years the germs of consumption were developing in his system, until finally he fell a victim to the disease.


Mr. Bennett was married, on June 29, 1865, to Abby Ann,


0


246


THE LAWVERS OF GROTON.


daughter of Reuben Lewis and Lucinda (Hill) Torrey, of Groton. His widow still resides at Groton.


EDWARD ALBERT KELLY is the eldest child of Albert Livingston and Caroline (Peirce) Kelly, and was born in that part of Frankfort, Maine, which is now Winterport, on May 30, 1831. He attended school at Ellsworth, Foxcroft and North Yarmouth, and in 1846 entered the Freshman class at Bowdoin College, where he remained until the middle of his Junior year. In 1851 he began the study of law in the office of George F. Farley, Esq., of Groton, and after his admission to the bar on May 21, 1853, he practised in part- nership with his preceptor until Mr. Farley's death, which took place on November 8, 1855. He remained at Groton until the year 1861, when he removed to Boston, where he continues to live. In his practice he makes a specialty of will cases and the care of trust property.


Mr. Kelly was married, on November 15, 1854, to Mary Adams, daughter of George Frederick and Lucy (Rice) Farley; and they have one child, Elizabeth Farley Kelly. He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Bowdoin College at the Commencement in 1869.


ANDREW JACKSON CLOUGH was a son of Winthrop and Susan (Bryant) Clough, and born at Montpelier, Vermont, on August 3, 1831. His parents were natives of New Hamp- shire and of Scotch descent, and they had a family of five children, of whom Andrew was the third son and the fourth child. His mother died when he was three years old, and he was brought up by his paternal grandmother, then living at Strafford, Vermont. His father, who had been a soldier in the United States Army for many years, in 1834 removed to the State of Ohio, where he died in 1877 at an advanced age. When fourteen years old, Andrew came to Massachusetts in order to live with an elder brother.


He began the study of law in the office of the Honorable John Preston, of New Ipswich, New Hampshire, which he continued to pursue under the direction of Morse and Clark,


247


THE LAWVERS OF GROTON.


of Lowell. In September, 1856, he entered the Harvard Law School, where he remained one year ; and was admitted to the bar in 1858. Immediately afterward he opened an office in Woods's block at Groton Junction, now Ayer, which he kept as long as he lived, and on September 28, 1858, he was com- missioned as a Trial Justice. He made his home in Shirley, where he always took a deep interest in the welfare of the public schools, partly because he had been a teacher himself. He was a member of Saint Paul's Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, Groton.


During the War of the Rebellion he was active in raising a company of the Fifty-third Regiment of Massachusetts Militia, which was mustered into the service, as Company D of that or- ganization, at Camp Stevens in Groton, on October 17, 1862. It was recruited in Groton, Shirley, Townsend, and other neighboring towns, and on the day of the muster he was com- missioned as Captain. For his patriotic exertions in helping to enlist the soldiers, he was presented, by his fellow-townsmen of Shirley, with a sword, belt, and sash, as tokens of their esteem. Owing to physical disabilities, he was honorably dis- charged from the military service on January 23, 1863.


Mr. Clough was married, on March 6, 1860, to Mary Jane, daughter of Lewis and Almira Woods (Hartwell) Blood, of Shirley. Her father was a native of Groton, where he was born on March 15, 1805; and her mother a native of Town- send, where she was born on July 10, 1813. Mr. Clough died of consumption at Shirley, on June 14, 1868, after a lingering illness, and was buried with Masonic honors. He left a widow and three children to mourn his loss.


CHARLES JACOBS is the youngest son of Sylvester and Cynthia (Stearns) Jacobs, and was born at Groton, on June IS, 1832. He fitted for college at Lawrence Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1853. After leaving Cambridge he was engaged for nearly two years in overseeing his father's farm; and, on March 1, 1855, he began the study of law in the office of John Spaulding, Esq., of Groton, where with various interruptions he continued


248


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


during the years 1855 to 1858. In 1860 he was studying his chosen profession under the tuition of Bradford Russell, Esq., of Groton, and later, for a short time, in the office of his friend and classmate, Josiah K. Bennett, Esq., of Groton. In the spring of 1861, when he was intending to apply for admission to the bar, Mr. Russell gave him the following certificate, but it was never used : -


CAMBRIDGE, March 4, 1861.


I certify that Charles Jacobs, of Groton, is a inan of good moral character, that he has studied Law under my direction and in my office one year, commencing January 15, 1860 ; and that previously he had studied Law in the office of John Spaulding, Jr., Esq. ; and that since January 15, 1861, he has studied under the direction of J. K. Bennett, Esq., a counsellor at law. I therefore recom- mend Mr. Jacobs for admission to the Bar, upon examination or otherwise.


BRADFORD RUSSELL.


While Mr. Jacobs has never been admitted to the bar, he has had considerable experience in business of a legal char- acter, such as drawing up papers, documents, etc., for his neighbors and others. He is engaged in agricultural pursuits, owning one of the finest farms in Groton, which once be- longed to Dr. Oliver Prescott, Jr. He takes a deep interest in the cause of public education; and since the spring of 1866 has served continuously, with the exception of two years, as a member of the School Board, and part of this time Chairman. His father was born at Scituate, on Sep- tember 1, 1782, and his mother at Worcester, on September 13, 1792; and both his grandfathers served in the army during the Revolution.


SALMON WHITNEY was a son of Justin and Mary Cush- ing (Cotton) Whitney, and born at Harvard, on March 4, 1833. He passed his boyhood in his native town, and be- gan the study of law in the office of Isaac Stevens Morse, Esq., of Lowell, at that time District Attorney of Middlesex County. In the autumn of 1859 he entered the Harvard Law


٠


1


249


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


School, where he remained during one term. In the year 1860 he was admitted to the bar at the March term of the Middlesex Court at East Cambridge, and soon afterward opened an office at Groton Junction, where at one time he was associated in professional business with James Gerrish. On the breaking out of the Rebellion, he enlisted in Co. B of the famous Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts Militia, which company was made up for the most part of Groton soldiers. He was mustered in on April 22, 1861, and discharged on August 2, at the expiration of his term of service. Again, during the next year, he enlisted in Co. C. (another Groton company) of the Fifty-third Regiment of Massachusetts Militia, where he was mustered in on November 6, 1862. This regiment, while its ranks were recruiting, was encamped at , Groton, on the banks of the Nashua River, and subsequently it embarked for New Orleans. While in that city Mr. Whitney lay in a hospital for several months, sick with con- sumption, and on June 6, 1863, he was discharged from the army for disability. After reaching home he continued to decline, and died at Leominster, on July 26, 1864. During his last illness he bore cheerful testimony to the support he received from a strong faith in the Christian religion. An obituary notice in the " Boston Daily Journal," August 10, 1864, under " Deaths," pays a just tribute to his character.


WATSON KENDALL BARNARD is a son of William Kendall and Nancy (Denny) Barnard, and was born at Dorchester, on September 26, 1838. He attended school at Lawrence Academy, Groton, from the year 1849 to 1855, when he en- tered Dartmouth College, graduating at that institution in the Class of 1859. He studied law in the office of Edward A. Kelly, Esq., of Groton, and in November, 1860, was admitted to the bar of the Lane County ( Oregon) District Court. On October 22, 1863, he was married to Rebecca l'hillips, daughter of William Henry and Mary Elizabeth (Hayes) Prichard, of Groton, who was born in New York. Mr. Barnard is now a resident of Atlantic, Cass County, lowa.


,


1


250


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


FRANCIS MARION BOUTWELL is an only son of Governor George Sewall and Sarah Adelia (Thayer) Boutwell, and was born at Groton, on February 26, 1847. He received his early education at the public schools in his native town, and was a member of the class that comprised the High School, when it first opened in the Town House, on December 5, 1859, a few months after the building was finished. In the year 1864 he was a scholar at Leicester Academy, but the last two terms of his schooling were passed, in the autumn of 1865 and the following winter, at Lawrence Academy, Groton. During his boyhood, like many other country lads, he worked on his father's farm ; and in the summer of 1862, he drove, as a part of his daily duty, a milk wagon. The regular delivery of milk at the customers' houses each morning was then a new business in Groton, where it was begun a year or two previously.


On April 2, 1866, Mr. Boutwell entered the wholesale woollen house of Messrs. Burrage Brothers and Company, No. 35 Franklin Street, Boston, where he remained for four years. On July 1, 1870, he went to Chicago, and was em- ployed in the woollen department of John V. Farwell and Company, a large mercantile house. After the great fire in that city, on October 9, 1871, he returned home and entered the railroad-supply store of Norman C. Munson in Boston, where he remained until the financial crisis of 1873, when he was compelled to seek other employment.


In October, 1874, Mr. Boutwell began the study of law in his father's office at Boston, and, though he has not been admitted to the bar, since the year 1877 he has made a specialty of soliciting patents. During this period he has had his office in Boston, while living at Groton and for a large part of the time taking charge of the farm. He was clerk of the Committee on the revision of the Laws of the United States, in the winter of 1876-77, during the Forty-fourth Congress, and after the adjournment of that Congress he helped his father for a short time in revising the Statutes at Large of the United States. From November 20, 1883, to April 1, 18844, he was one of the assistants to his father, who


٦


251


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


was the counsel for the Government, before the French and American Claims Commission. At the date last named the Commission, having completed its work, ceased to exist.


Mr. Boutwell is much interested in agricultural matters as well as in the history of his native town. Ile has been an officer in various organizations for promoting the welfare of the farmers, and he is also the author of several pamphlets on antiquarian subjects.


THEOPHILUS GILMAN SMITH is a son of Theophilus Staniells and Mary Burley (Gilman) Smith, and born at Stratham, New Hampshire, on December 29, 1848. He pursued his preparatory studies at the Somerville High School, and grad- uated at Harvard College in the Class of 1871. He studied law in the office of Judge E. Rockwood Hoar, Boston, and also attended lectures at the School of Law connected with the Boston University, where he received the degree of LL.B. on June 3, 1874. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar on April 13, 1874, at which time he was a resident of Somerville, and since then has had an office in Boston. In the autumn of 1887 he removed with his family to Groton, where he bought a farm in the southerly part of the town, which he manages in connection with his professional busi- ness at Boston.


On May 11, 1875, he was married at Somerville to Julia Warton, daughter of George and Marie (Warton) Kaan, who is a native of New York City. Her father was born at Nagy Canizsa, Hungary, on April 23, 1812, and her mother at Iglau, Austria, on March 23, 1824.


JAMES LAWRENCE is the eldest son of James and Elizabeth (Prescott) Lawrence, and was born in Boston, on March 23, 1853. He graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1874. and afterward entered Harvard Law School, where he passed two terms, though he never completed his professional studies. On his father's death he inherited the Lawrence homestead at Groton, and since that time has been extensively engaged in farming and raising stock.


1


252


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


On January 16, 1875, Mr. Lawrence was married to Caro- line Estelle, youngest daughter of Enoch Redington and Caroline Augusta (Patten) Mudge, of Boston ; and they have two sons and a daughter.


JOHN LAWRENCE is a son of Abbott and Harriette White (Paige) Lawrence, and was born in Boston, on April 27, 1861. He graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1885, and afterward passed more than two years at the Harvard Law School, though he never was admitted to the bar. In 1890 he became a resident of Groton, where he lives on Farmers' Row.


On June 16, 1887, Mr. Lawrence was married to Martha Endicott, only daughter of Samuel Endicott and Marianne Cabot (Lee) Peabody, of Salem ; and they have two daughters.


AMONG the lawyers, who have lived and practised in the town, are two Governors of the Commonwealth, one United States Senator, three members of Congress, besides a Dele- gate to the Continental Congress, a member of the President's Cabinet, various Justices and Chief Justices of different Courts, three Speakers of the Massachusetts House of Rep- resentatives, an Attorney-General of the Commonwealth, a President of the State Senate, and two members of the Executive Council.


253


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


MAJOR SWAN AND MR. ROWE.


SKETCHES of Major Swan and Mr. Rowe are here inserted, inasmuch as their work was largely of a professional char- acter, although they were not lawyers. They seem to deserve a place in this Account.


WILLIAM SWAN was a son of William and Levinah (Keyes) Swan, and born in Boston, on March IS, 1745. About the year 1774 he became engaged in trade at Groton, but owing to the political condition of the country and the pecu- liar state of the currency, he was soon compelled to give up business. In 1777 he belonged to a company of soldiers that marched from Groton to Saratoga in order to take part in the campaign against Burgoyne's army. During the Revolutionary period the courts were held at Groton ; and from May 28, 1783, to 1789, Mr. Swan was the clerk of the


Court of Common Pleas. On December 2, 1789, he was appointed Justice of the Peace, with authority to act as Trial Justice. On October 19, 1778, he was commissioned, by a majority of the Council of Massachusetts Bay as Captain in the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment, and was the first com- mander of the Groton Artillery Company ; and under this authority he did a large amount of official work. In 1793, when Groton Academy was incorporated, he acted as treas- urer of the institution; and in many other ways he was a useful citizen of the town. In August, 1794, Major Swan removed to Otisfield, Maine, where he remained until March, 1796, when he went to Gardiner, and thence in 1806, to Win- slow. He was a member from that town of the Convention that met at Portland in October, 1819, and framed the Consti- tution of the prospective State of Maine. He was a man of strict integrity and high character, and always a strong sup- porter of religious and educational institutions. Ile died at Winslow, on June 24, 1835; and his wife at the same place, on September 15, 1815.


254


THE LAWYERS OF GROTON.


In 1776 Mr. Swan was married at Groton to Mercy Porter, of Weymouth ; and they were blessed with ten children, of whom eight were born at Groton, and the others in Maine. He built the large house on the north side of School Street, now owned by Charles Woolley.


See the present volume (pages 96-98) of this Historical Series, for other particulars concerning Mr. Swan and his family.


SAMUEL WILLIAM ROWE was a son of Samuel Osburn and Martha (Woods) Rowe, and born at Groton, on June 13, 1803. In early life he was a carpenter by trade, but during many of his later years he performed so much judicial labor that I am constrained to notice him in this Account. On May 7, 1858, he was appointed Trial Justice, and his commission was many times renewed. His fellow townsmen gave him the title of Judge, which seemed to comport with his natural dignity.


Mr. Rowe was married, on December 23, 1832, first, to Amelia, daughter of Zechariah, Jr., and Amelia (Blood) Fitch, of Groton; on April 30, 1846, secondly, to Lucy, daughter of Rufus and Lucy (Sawtell) Moors, of Groton, who died on September 21, 1879; and, on January 19, 1881, thirdly, to Louisa, daughter of Alexander and Anna (Barrett) Lynch, of Mason, New Hampshire. There was a legal separation between Mr. Rowe and his first wife, who is still living. He died at Groton on January 15, 1884.




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.