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 23
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31, 1857, secondly, to Adeline Rutter, daughter of Walter and Elmira (Griffin) Reeves.
JOIN GOVE was the eldest child of Dr. Jonathan and Mary (Hubbard) Gove, and born at Groton, on February 17, 1771. According to the church records, he was baptized on June 2 of the following summer. His father was born in that part of Weston which is now Lincoln, and was a graduate of Harvard College in the Class of 1768 ; and his mother was a native of Groton. John graduated at Dartmouth College in the Class of 1793, having probably pursued his preparatory studies under the tuition of the Reverend Dr. Chaplin, of Groton, who at that period fitted young men for college. He read law with the Honorable William Gordon, of Amherst, New Hampshire, and practised at Goffstown in that State, until about the year 1800, when he removed to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he died in 1802. He was never married.
All my efforts to find the exact date of Mr. Gove's death have proved unavailing. The Honorable Rodney M. Stimson, Librarian of Marietta College, writes me, under date of Janu- ary 8, 1892 : -
At Columbus [Ohio], Col. John C. Entrekin, of Chillicothe, told me that he had searched every source thoroughly for information about John Gove, and had failed to find any trace that such a man ever lived there. The name does not appear in the Journals of the Court, and there is no record whatever that any such lawyer was ever in Chillicothe.
SAMUEL LAWRENCE GRAVES is a son of John Jackson and Lucy (Pollard) Graves, and was born at Groton, on July 18, 1847. He pursued his preparatory studies at Lawrence Academy, and graduated at Amherst College in the Class of 1870. Immedi- ately after his graduation he began the study of law in the office of Wood ( Nathaniel) and Torrey (George) at Fitch- burg, and was admitted to the bar in January, 1873. Since that time he has lived in Fitchburg, where he has been en- gaged in the successful practice of his profession. While taking a deep interest in politics and city affairs, he has rarely
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accepted public office, though he served on the School Board from the year 1874 to 1879 inclusive. On December 2, 1890, as the candidate of the Citizens' Temperance party, he was chosen Mayor of the city, and re-chosen the next year, which position he holds at the present time.
On December 5, 1878, he was married to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of James Batcheller and Abby Esther (Merriam) Lane; of Fitchburg.
HARRIS COWDREY HARTWELL was a son of Benjamin Franklin and Emma ( Whitman) Hartwell, and born at Groton, on December 28, 1847. His mother was a daughter of Dr. Charles Whitman, of Stow. He fitted for college at Lawrence Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1869. He studied law under the tuition of the Honorable Amasa Norcross, and was admitted to the bar at Fitchburg in November, 1872, when he associated himself with his instructor under the style of Norcross and Hart- well. He served on the School Board during the years 1874, 1875, 1876, and 1877, and was city solicitor of Fitchburg from 1877 to 1886 ; a member of the House of Represen- tatives in 1883, 1884, and 1885 ; and a member of the Senate in 1887, 1888, and 1889. During his last term in the Senate he was chosen, by a unanimous vote, President of that body. In 1885 he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on the part of the House, and in 1887 and 1888 Chairman of the Judiciary Committee on the part of the Senate. After a short illness he died in Fitchburg of rheumatic fever complicated with pneumonia, on December 9, 1891.
On October 23, 1877, Mr. Hartwell was married to Effie Frances Marion, daughter of Colonel Daniel and Caroline Augusta (Ilall) Needham, of Groton; and there is one son, Norcross Needham, born on December 15, 1880.
AMOS KENDALL was a son of Deacon Zebedee and Molly ( Dakin) Kendall, and born at Dunstable, on August 16, 1787. His father had nine sons, of whom six grew to manhood, and all were living in the year 1858. Amos passed his boyhood on a farm doing hard work, though from an carly period in his life
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he showed a marked fondness for books. He fitted for college partly at New Ipswich Academy and partly at Groton Acad- emy, at that time under the preceptorship of Caleb Butler. On September 16, 1807, after an examination by Professor John Hubbard, then on a visit at Groton, with five other young men, he was admitted a member of the Freshman class of Dartmouth College. In his Freshman year he " chummed" with Thomas Champney Gardner, a former schoolmate at the Academy. During his college course he taught school for several winters in his native town, and he graduated at Dartmouth in iSir with the highest honors of his class. On the fourth day of the following September as a law-student he entered the office of the Honorable William M. Richardson, of Groton, at that time postmaster of the town. Occasionally it devolved on him to receive and make up the mails as well as to deliver the letters and newspapers, and here he acquired his first knowledge of postal duties. His first political vote was thrown at Groton in March, 1813, a time when a property qualification was needed in this Commonwealth ; and as he lacked the necessary amount, the sum was made up to him for the time being by Mr. Richard- son, and immediately afterward returned to the rightful owner. Of this transaction he wrote in his journal : "If I had had time for reflection, I know not what I should have done under the circumstances ; but I am satisfied I ought to have declined."
In the carly part of 1814 Mr. Kendall left Groton for the distant West, and became a private tutor to Henry Clay's children ; but as it is not my purpose to trace his career in detail, I shall content myself with the briefest allusion to his public life. He was Postmaster-General under Presidents Jackson and Van Buren during the years 1835-1840. He afterward bought a large tract of land, two miles east of the Capitol in Washington, which became known as Kendall Green, and here he built a fine residence. He spent the later years of his life in works of charity and deeds of beneficence, and died at his home, surrounded by his family, on November 12, 1869.
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Mr. Kendall received the degree of L.L.D. from Dartmouth College in 1849; and he was well entitled to the distinction, as his public and private life always reflected credit on his Alma Mater. While living at Groton, during his younger days, one of those romantic attachments happened, which is apt to occur between two young people, and he became en- gaged; but for reasons satisfactory to the persons most interested, and equally honorable to both sides, the affair was broken off. For other particulars, see " The Autobiography of Amos Kendall" (pages 86-90). Mr. Kendall's youngest son, John, was married to a lady of Groton; and at one time a widowed daughter was a resident of the town.
On October 1, 1818, Mr. Kendall was married, first, to Mary Bullard, daughter of William Woolfolk, of Jefferson County, Kentucky, who died in Frankfort, on October 13, 1823 ; and, on January 5, 1826, secondly, to Jane, daughter of Alexander Kyle, of Georgetown, Kentucky. By these two marriages there were fourteen children, five sons and nine daughters, of whom all the sons and several daughters are now dead
RUFUS BIGELOW LAWRENCE was an only son and the youngest child of the Honorable Luther and Lucy (Bigelow) Lawrence, and born at Groton, on July 13, 1814. Hle pursued his preparatory studies at Groton Academy, and at Stow Acad- emy, then recently organized, and under the preceptorship of Jacob Caldwell, and he graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1834. According to the annual catalogues of that institution, he first entered college in 1829, with the Class of 1833, where he remained for two years. His name then drops out of the list, and at the end of another two years it appears among the Seniors in the Class of 1834. He studied law in his father's office, and was admitted to the Middlesex bar in December, 1837. In the year 1839 he opened an office in Boston, and had every promise of success in his profession ; but his health soon failed him, and he died of consumption at Pau, in the south of France, on January 13, 1841. It is stated in the " Memorials of the Class of 1834" ( Boston, 1SS4) : --
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He had a handsome person, sweet disposition and pleasant and graceful manners. These qualities gained him many friends and made him a general favorite (page 5).
JAMES LEWIS was a son of James and Lucy (Crosby) Lewis, and born at Billerica, on February 1, 1785. His father's family removed to Groton when he was eleven years old, and he fitted for college at Groton Academy. He gradu- ated at Dartmouth College in the year 1807, in the same class with Luther Fitch and William Nutting, both natives of Groton, who are mentioned in this Account. He studied law in the office of the Honorable Samuel Dana, of Groton, and in 1810 began the practice of his profession at Marlborough, where he remained two years. In May, 1812, he removed to Pepperell, which town he afterward represented in the House of Representatives during the sessions of 1827, 1830, and 1834; and he was also a member of the State Senate during IS28 and 1829.
On January 17, 1819, Mr. Lewis was married to Harriet, daughter of Samuel and Submit (Gilson) Parker, of Pepperell. He continued to reside at Pepperell during the remainder of his life, though he died in Boston, on February 6, 1845. Hc was the father of Samuel Parker Lewis, whose sketch has already been given in these pages.
RUFUS LIVERMORE was a son of Daniel and Abigail (Tuck) Livermore, and born at Groton, on November 1, 1839. Ile pursued his preparatory studies at Lawrence Academy, and, in the autumn of 1859, entered the Freshman class of Williams College, but remained there only one year. When the War of the Rebellion broke out, he enlisted in Company B of the Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts Militia, which made the memorable march through Baltimore on April 19, 1861. Subsequently, after the return of that regi- ment, he again enlisted in the Third Rhode Island Cavalry, Troop C, - of which company he became a sergeant, -and on October 13, 1863, was mustered into the United States service. On March 25, 1864, he was commissioned as Second
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Lieutenant, and as such mustered into the service June 15, doing duty in Troop L of that regiment. On March 20, 1865, he resigned his commission and was honorably dis- charged. He attended lectures at the Law School, Albany, New York, where he was admitted to the bar in the autumn of 1862. After the war he went to Orange, and became interested in the firm which at a later period was known as the Rodney Hunt Machine Company of that town. In poli- tics he was a Republican, and had served in the General Court during the session of 1879, and in the Senate during the sessions of 1883 and 1884. He was a prominent member of the Congregational Church, and for many years superin- tendent of the Sunday-school. He was also connected with a post of the Grand Army of the Republic. He died at Orange on July 8, 1891, leaving a widow and two daughters.
On January 22, 1863, Mr. Livermore was married to Martha Elizabeth, daughter of Jehiel and Melissa (Hildreth) Todd, of Worcester.
DAVID MCGREGOR MEANS is an only son of the Reverend James and Elizabeth Phebe (Johnson ) Means, and was born at Groton, on May 1, 1847. His father was then the principal of Lawrence Academy ; and the family removed from town in the year 1854. Ile fitted for college at Phillips Academy, An- dover, and graduated at Yale College in the Class of 1862. He passed two years (1872-1874) at the Theological Semi- nary, Andover, and a third year ( 1874-1875) at the Yale Theological Seminary, but was never ordained in the minis- try. From January, 1877, to the summer of 1880, he was the Professor of Mental and Moral Science in Middlebury College. He studied law in the city of New York, where he was admitted to the bar in May, 1882, and where since that time he has been in practice, though his place of residence is Summit, New Jersey.
On April 5, 1877, Mr. Means was married in Philadelphia to Laura Haven, daughter of Charles Edward and Ann ( Earp) Haven; and they have two daughters, Margaret Appleton Means and Elinor Haven Means.
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LEONARD MELLEN was the eldest child of Major Thomas and Eunice ( ) Mellen, and born at Hopkinton, on August 18, 1776. He graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1797, and on January 23, 1798, was appointed Pre- ceptor of Groton Academy, where he remained more than a year. Ile studied law and was admitted to the Middlesex bar in September, 1800. He went into practice at Charles- town ; but his professional career was short, as he died at Concord while attending the Court, on September 18, 1804. An obituary notice of him appears in the " New-England Palladium " ( Boston ), September 25, and also in the " Colum- bian Centinel " ( Boston), September 26, 1804.
WILLIAM NUTTING was a son of William and Susanna (French) Nutting, and born at Groton, on October 30, 1779. He pursued his preparatory studies at Groton Academy, and graduated with honor at Dartmouth College in the Class of 1807. Immediately after graduation he was offered a tutor- ship at the college, which he declined, as he preferred to take the position of principal of the Orange County Grammar School or Academy at Randolph, Vermont, then just estab- lished. At a later period his brother Rufus, a graduate of Dartmouth in the Class of 1814, was the Principal of this school for eleven years. In this institution William held the mastership for six years (1807-1813), and, meanwhile, he was engaged in the study of law under the instruction of the Honorable Dudley Chase, of Randolph, whose partner he afterward became. In 1813 he began the practice of his pro- fession in that town, where his ability and integrity soon gave him a high position at the bar. He was postmaster of Randolph from the year 1810 to 1816; a member of the Vermont Legislature during 1817, 1818, and 1819, and a member of the Council of Censors from March, 1820, to March, 1821, and State's Attorney for Orange County from 1823 to 1829. Mr. Nutting was a great reader, and in the latter years of his life read the Bible through in course a large number of times; and he always had at hand some favorite Latin or Greek classic, which he seemed to enjoy as
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much as he did in his younger days. He died at Randolph, on November 26, 1863.
On October 5, 1809, Mr. Nutting was married at Groton to Mary Barrett, daughter of David and Mary (Barrett) Hub- bard, of Concord, who died on September 7, 1847, aged sixty- one years. By this marriage there were eight children.
BENJAMIN KINSMAN PHELPS was an only child of the Rev- erend Dudley and Ann (Kinsman) Phelps, and born at Haverhill, on September 16, 1832. The family removed to Groton in the autumn of 1836, when the father was installed over the Union Congregational Church. The son pursued his preparatory studies at Lawrence Academy, and graduated at Yale College in the Class of 1853. Soon after his graduation he made a trip around the world, and, on his return, studied law, first, with his relative, Benjamin M. Farley, Esq., of Hollis, New Hampshire, and then in New York City. In July, 1856, he was admitted to the bar at Poughkeepsie, New York, and during the same year began the practice of his profession in New York. He soon entered into partner- ship with his classmate Knevals, and so continued until 1866, when he became Assistant District Attorney of the United States for the Southern District of New York. He kept this office until 1870, when he returned to private prac- tice, and became a partner of the late President Arthur, a connection which lasted for ten years. In November, 1872, he was chosen District Attorney of the city and county of New York, receiving the support of the Republicans and of the " Committee of Seventy," which represented the citizens' movement, organized to oppose the "Tweed Ring." At the end of his three years' term of office he was re-elected to the same position upon a fusion ticket made up of Republicans and Independent Democrats, receiving a majority of about twenty-seven thousand votes. For a third time he was chosen upon a similar ticket in 1878, and continued in office until his death, which occurred from internal hemorrhage, on December 30, 1880.
In his professional career Mr. Phelps proved himself a
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lawyer of great ability and judgment, while those who best knew him appreciated equally the strength and nobleness of his character. For many years the writer of these lines sat at school in the same class with him, and recited from the same bench, and they were as intimate as two boys ever are ; and yet in the lapse of time, living in different cities and fol- lowing different professions, they drifted apart never to meet. No scholar at the Academy in my time left a pleasanter mem- ory than Ben Phelps.
On October 21, 1857, Mr. Phelps was married to Anna Maria, daughter of the Honorable Julius and Mary ( Fisher) Catlin, of Hartford, Connecticut ; and there have been three children, two daughters and a son, Dudley, who graduated at Yale College in the Class of ISS3. Mrs. Phelps died after a long illness, on December 20, 1880, ten days before her hus- band, who was already ill, and unable to withstand the shock caused by her death.
DUDLEY FARLEY PHELPS is an only son of the Rev- erend Dudley and Lucretia Gardner (Farley) Phelps, of Groton, and was born in the house of his grandfather Farley, at Hollis, New Hampshire, on August 8, 1845. His father was the minister of the Union Congregational Church at Groton, where he died on September 24, 1849; and soon afterward his mother removed to her father's home at Hollis. The son was educated at Norwich University, Vermont, where he took the degree of S.B. in the Class of 1864, and also at the Harvard Law School, where he took the degree of LL. B. in 1867. On March 5, 1864, he was commissioned as First Lieutenant in the Twentieth Regiment, United States Col- ored Infantry, and served until that regiment was mustered out, on October 7, 1865. After graduating at the Harvard Law School he continued his professional studies in the office of the late President Arthur at New York, and was admitted to the bar by the General Term of the Supreme Court for the First Judicial District of New York in December, 1869. Subsequently he was appointed Assistant United States At- torney for the Southern District of New York, in which posi-
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tion he remained for three years. Later he was made Chief Law Officer of the New York Custom-House, and served in that capacity during General Chester Alan Arthur's term as Collector. He subsequently served as Assistant District Attorney of the County of New York, after which he re- sumed private practice until the year 1889, when, under Collector Erhardt, he again became Law Officer of the Custom-House, which place he now holds.
On November 16, 1872, Mr. Phelps was married in Bos- ton to Louisa Lander, daughter of Dr. William Henry and Elizabeth Lucretia Bullard (Parker) Prince, of Salem ; and they have four children, - two boys named Dudley Farley and William Henry, and two girls named Katherine Elizabeth and Louisa Lander.
SAMUEL JACKSON PRESCOTT was the youngest son of Dr. Oliver and Lydia (Baldwin) Prescott, and born at Groton, on March 15, 1773. He pursued his preparatory studies at Phillips Academy, Andover, and graduated at Harvard Col- lege in the Class of 1795. Ile studied law in the office of his cousin, the Honorable William Prescott, of Boston ; but soon after his admission to the bar, on account of a partial deafness, he gave up the practice of his profession. He then became engaged in business at Boston, where he was associated with Aaron P. Cleaveland, under the style of Prescott and Cleave- land; but owing to the embargo of 1807 and the political troubles of that period, the firm met with failure. Mr. Pres- cott had a natural taste for genealogical and statistical in- vestigations ; and he prepared an index to the triennial catalogue of Harvard College, which was first published in the catalogue of 1830. For more than thirty years he was a Notary-public for Suffolk County. To his physical infirmity of deafness was now added the loss of sight, and his in- tellectual faculties also became clouded ; and he passed the closing years of his life at the home of a son in Brookline, where he received every care which filial affection could bestow, and where he died on October 7, 1857.
On November 13, 1804. Mr. Prescott was married to Mar-
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garet, daughter of Major Joseph and Margaret ( Cleveland) Hiller, of Salem ; and they had five children, two sons and three daughters. Mrs. Prescott was born on July 29, 1775, and died on August 4, 1841.
WILLIAM HAUGHTON RICHARDS was the eldest son of Henry Augustus and Julia Augusta (Haughton) Richards, and born at Uncasville, a village in Montville, Connecticut, on June 5, 1825. In April, 1841, his father's family removed to Groton from New York City, and during the same year the son was attending school at Groton Academy, where he pursued his preparatory studies. He graduated at Yale College in the Class of 1850 with the highest honors, and passed the next two years at Cincinnati, Ohio, engaged in teaching, and at the same time studying law. He was admitted to the bar in June, 1852, and during the following November opened an office in New York City. In the autumn of 1853 his health became impaired, and for a year or so he continued to be an invalid. In April, 1855, he was again taken ill, and died suddenly in Brooklyn, New York, on May 17, 1855. Mr. Richards was a brilliant scholar, and while in college took several prizes for proficiency in various departments.
NORMAN SEAVER was the younger son of Heman and Elizabeth (Weeks) Seaver, and born at Groton, April 7, 1802. His father at that time lived in the house which, by considerable enlargement, was afterward made into Emer- son's tavern. It stood near the site of Milo II. Shattuck's store, and was opened as a public house about the year 1812. While Norman was very young, the family removed to Mon- treal; and here the son pursued his preparatory studies, entering first at Middlebury College, where he remained one year, and immediately afterward took a four years' course at Harvard College, graduating in the Class of 1822. Ile then began the study of law in the office of the Honorable Luther Lawrence at Groton, and was admitted to the Middlesex bar in October, 1827. He was an attorney-at-law in Boston as early as 1826, according to the City Directory for that year.
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Ile was a member of the Common Council from Ward No. 9 in 1828, when the Honorable John P. Bigelow was a colleague from the same ward. Owing to ill-health, about the year 1834, he gave up his profession and became engaged in mercantile business at Boston, where he was a member of the house of Stone, Seaver, and Bush ; but he never fully regained his strength. He died in St. Louis, Missouri, on May 12, 1838, while travelling for his health.
On December 1, 1829, Mr. Seaver was married to Anna Maria, eldest child of the Honorable Luther and Lucy (Bigelow) Lawrence, of Groton. Mrs. Seaver was born in the house at the north corner of Main and School Streets, only a short distance from the birthplace of her husband. She is now living, at an advanced age, in Rutland, Vermont, on Main Street, or the "Great Road," which is the same thoroughfare that passes under the same name through the village of Groton, leading from Boston to Northern Vermont and Canada.
ETHER SHEPLEY was the second son of John and Mary (Gibson | Therlow) Sheple, and born at Groton, on Novem- ber 2, 1789. His given name was taken from the Old Testa- ment (Joshua xix. 7), and in Hebrew means " a stone." The surname was originally written Sheple, though pronounced Shepley. He prepared for college at Groton Academy ; and many years later, under date of July 1, 1854, he wrote to his old friend and schoolmate, Abbott Lawrence, of the advan- tages he derived from that school during his boyhood, and of the benefits accruing to other lads, like himself, living in the neighborhood. After graduating at Dartmouth College in the Class of ISHI, he began the study of law in the office of Dudley Hubbard, Esq., at South Berwick, Maine, where he continued for two years. Subsequently he returned to Mas- sachusetts, and passed several months in studying his chosen profession under the guidance, successively, of Zabdiel Boyl- ston Adams, Esq., of Lunenburg, and Solomon Strong, Esq., of Westminster, and was then admitted to the bar. On July 4, 1814, he opened an office at Saco, Maine, where he soon
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