History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 7

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538

USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 7

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his office, July 1, 1853, in his seventy-eighth year, but with his physical and mental powers unabated, nearly every estate in the county had passed under his care, and his fidelity and justice in the adminis- tration of his duties had been crowned with universal respect and honor. The opportunities of leisure which his judicial position afforded enabled him to meet the demands for those services which naturally devolve on a public-spirited citizen holding such a position in the community. He was one of the founders of the Essex County Lyceum, the pioneer in the system of public lectures which promised and, for a time, fulfilled the promise to he potent among the educational and moral influences of the time, being its president, and also the first president of the Salem Lyceum. Of the Essex Institute he was pres- ident from its formation, in 1848, until his death. Addresses on public occasions, as at the dedication of Harmony Grove Cemetery, and the eulogies on Dr. Bowditch, in Salem, and Hon. John Pickering, in Boston, were given by him. Harvard College he served with unwearied devotion for many years in the board of overseers and on various committees, receiving from the university in 1843 the honorary degree of LL.D., and in 1844 delivering the address before its Association of Alumni. But his delight was in his noble library, rich especially in the ancient classics, historical works and English belles-lettres, where his happiest hours were spent in his favorite studies. These bore fruit especially in his writings concerning theological subjects and congregational polity. His early bent had been to the profession of the Christian ministry, from which he had been de- terred by the difference of his convictions from those of his honored parents, who were earnest members of the Baptist communion, while his own sympathies were with the liberal Christian movement, which took form in the Unitarian denomination, in which he became one of the most prominent laymen ; and his special interest in studies more congenial to the sacred profession than to that of the law never waned. In the earnest debate between the two branches of the Congregational body he took part with his pen, publishing in 1832 an elaborate work, marked by much learning, entitled "Correspondence Between the First Church and the Tabernacle Church, in Salem, in which the Duties of Churches are Dis- cussed, and the Rights of Conscience Vindicated," and the studies of many years were gathered up by him in his old age in his volume on "New England Congregationalism in its Origin and Purity," pnb- lished in 1861, just before his death. In these studious labors, however, he was no recluse, but his fine old mansion was the seat of a large and wide hospitality to friends and kindred and strangers. This had be- come his home when, after his removal to Salem, he had married, August 1, 1819, Mrs. Eliza Wetmore, daughter of William Orne, Esq., a prominent mer- chant, whose early death, March 27, 1821, again

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darkened his domestic happiness. His subsequent marriage, January 22, 1824, to Mrs. Ruth Rogers, daughter of Joseplı Hurd, Esq., of Charlestown, placed once more at the head of his home a refined and charming lady, who shared and graced its hospi- talities, surviving him to die November 28, 1874, at the age of more than ninety years.

In such serene and happy occupations the closing years of Judge White's life were spent after the resig- nation of his judicial office, which he continued able to have filled, if he had so chosen, to his death, March 30, 1861, near the close of his eighty-fifth year, with undimmed powers of body and mind, and with a spirit ever young. His brethren of the Essex bar expressed the feeling of the community in reso- lutions adopted at a meeting called for the purpose after the death of Chief Justice Shaw and of Judge White, which recorded their "appreciation of" his " fine intellectual and moral traits, of that elegant and varied scholarship, and that thorough and exact learning of which a brilliant university career gave promise, and which the experience of so long a life did not disappoint; of his fidelity to his professional and judicial duties ; of the services which he has rendered to the probate law by his faithful adminis- tration and his published treatise; of the pure and simple course of his daily life; of the unswerving integrity, the exquisite religious sensibility, the large philanthropy and the unbounded and generous sym- pathy for all around him, which ennobled his life, even to its extremest close," and commemorating, "with affectionate pride," "the influence of his ex- ample." Two enduring memorials in gifts ampler than are often bestowed by men of far larger estate remain to perpetuate his memory. The first is that by which he bestowed on the Essex Institute, in Salem, the greater part of his library, amounting in all to over eight thousand books and ten thousand pamphlets. The other is the noble White Founda- tions in the city of Lawrence, which now covers the green fields of what was his father's farm in Methuen. In selling to the Essex Company his portion of this territory, he had reserved six acres, including a fam- ily burial lot, with the restriction that it should not be built upon without the consent of that company. With this consent, in 1852, he vested this property in three trustees, who were directed to make proper provision for the burial-place, after which the pro- ceeds of sales of the land were to be invested and the income applied to the establishment and support of an annual course of lectures and in the purchase of books for the Public Library, any further surplus to be used "in such manner as they, in the exercise of a sound judgment and discretion, shall consider best adapted to promote the moral, intellectual and Chris- tian advancement and instruction of the inhabitants of the town of Lawrence, earnestly requesting the said trustees constantly to bear in mind that the great object intended to he promoted and accomplished is.

the education and training up of the young in habits of industry, morality and piety, and in the exercise of true Christian principles, both in thought and action." From the income of this fund annual courses of lectures since 1864-65 have been given in Lawrence, free to the industrial classes, and filling the largest hall in the city to overflowing, and since 1872 a regular appropriation of one thousand dollars annually has been applied to the purchase of care- fully-selected books for the Public Library, while it is estimated that the principal of the fund will event- ually amount to one hundred thousand dollars,-a worthy fulfillment of a wise and comprehensive plan for enduring public benefit. The two daughters of Judge White by his first marriage were married to Hon. William Dwight, of Springfield, and Hon. Caleb Foote, of Salem, while two sons survived him, the children of his second and third marriages,- Rev. William Orne White and Dr. Henry Orne White. All of these children have descendants.

SIMON GREENLEAF was born in Newburyport December 5, 1783, and educated at the Latin school in that town. While he was a boy his father re- moved to New Gloucester, Maine, where he received his early education at the common schools. Without the advantage of a college career, at the age of eighteen he entered the law-office of Ezekiel Whit- man, of Portland, and after a five years' course of study was admitted to the bar of Cumberland Coun- ty in 1806. He began to practice at Standish, Maine, removing, after a short time, to Gray, and from thence, in 1818, to Portland.

In 1820 he was appointed reporter of decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, and held office twelve years, during which time he issued nine vol- umes of reports, which laid the foundation of his reputation and future distinguished legal career. He published at an early day a volume of "Overruled Cases," and later in life a treatise on the " Law of Evidence." This work, with his "Reports," assures him a lasting fame.

In 1817 he received from Bowdoin College the de- gree of Master of Arts, the degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard in 1834, and from Amherst in 1845. In 1834 he was appointed Royal Professor of Law in Harvard University as the successor of Professor Ashmun, and after the death of Judge Story he was appointed to the Dane Professorship in 1846. He was induced by ill health to resign in 1848, when he was honored with the title of Emeritus Professor of Law in the University. He died at Cambridge Octo- ber 6, 1853.

ASA WALDO WILDES was horn (1786) in Topsfield and graduated at Dartmouth in 1809. After leaving col- lege he taught school in Newburyport and Washing- ton, and finally returned to Newburyport and entered as a student the law-office of Stephen W. Marston. He was admitted to the bar in 1820, and began in Newburyport the practice of law, which he continued

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

until 1826. In that year that part of the duties of the Court of Sessions which related to highways was transferred to a new board, " called commissioners of highways," consisting of five members appointed by the Governor. Mr. Wildes was appointed by Gov- ernor Lincoln a member of the board, with Robert Rantoul, of Beverly ; Stephen Barker, of Andover ; Joseph Winn, of Salem ; and William B. Breed, of Lynn, as his associates.

In 1828 the Board of Highway Commissioners was abolished, and the Board of County Commissioners establi-hed. Mr. Wildes was appointed by the Gov- ernor chairman of the new board, and held office by successive appointments until 1835, when the office was made elective ; and again by election until 1856, with the exception of one term of three years, from 1842 to 1845.

Mr. Wildes was peculiarly fitted for the place he so long occupied, and his prolonged incumbency was as creditable to the people of Essex County as to himself. They appreciated his legal knowledge and sound judgment, and did not hesitate to call him into their service. He died in Newburyport, Decem- ber 4, 1857.

STEPHEN W. MARSTON was born in Fairlee, Vt., in 1787. He graduated at Dartmouth, and after com- pleting his law studies with Judge White, of Salem, settled in Newburyport. He was well read in the law, and at an early day took high rank at the Essex bar. He was one of the junior counsel in the cele- brated Goodridge robbery case, in which Daniel Webster was senior. Had it not been for the mas- terly management and skill of Mr. Webster, aided by the thorough work of his assistants, the Kenistons, Jackman and Pearson, the defendants would doubt- less have been convicted of a crime which had never been committed. There had been no robbery, but Goodridge had been so ingenious in the arrangement of his plot and of the evidence to sustain it, that the proof against the parties charged seemed almost con- clusive. An account of this trial, perhaps the most remarkable one in the annals of the State, was pub- lished in a pamphlet, and is worthy of examination by all who are interested in the administration of criminal law.

In 1833 Mr. Marston was appointed justice of the Police Court at Newburyport, and continued in office until 1866, when the increasing feebleness of age in- duced him to resign. His duties on the bench were conscientiously performed, and his decisions, which were rarely reversed, were always marked by a sound judgment as well as an exact perception of legal prin- ciples. Ile was a member of the Legislature in early life,and the Whig candidate for Congress in opposition to Caleb Cushing in that gentleman's first great con- test for the national legislature. He died at his resi- dence August 27, 1873.

SAMUEL L. KNAPP was a native of Newburyport. He was graduated at Dartmouth College, and studied

law at Newburyport with Theophilus Parsons, and became a practicing lawyer in his native town. He afterwards removed to Boston, where he edited the Boston Galaxy, and for a short time the Commercial Gazette. He again removed to Washington, where he was engaged as editor of the National Journal, and finally to New York, where he edited the Commercial Advertiser. He was one of the junior counsel with Daniel Webster in the famous Goodridge robbery case, and would have attained high rank at the bar had not a fondness for general literature enticed him away from his profession. He died at Hopkinton Springs in July, 1838.

HENRY ALEXANDER SCAMMELL DEARBORN, son of General Henry Dearborn, of the Revolution, was born in Exeter, N. H., March 3, 1783, and died in Portland, Me., July 29, 1851. He graduated at the College of William and Mary in 1803, and studied law with Joseph Story, in Salem, where he entered into practice, having been admitted to the bar in 1807. He was brigadier-general in command of troops in Boston harbor in the War of 1812, collector of the ports of Boston and Charlestown from 1812 to 1829, a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1820 and a member of Congress from 1831 to 1833. In 1834 he was made adjutant-general of Massachu- setts by Governor John Davis, and removed, in 1843, by Governor Marcus Morton, for loaning the State arms to Rhode Island to suppress the rebellion. He was mayor of Roxbury from 1847 to 1851, the year of his death. He was the author of several works which added materially to an already well-established repu- tation.

GAYTON PICKMAN OSGOOD was born at Salem, July 4, 1797, and was the son of Isaac and Rebecca T. (Pickman) Osgood. He graduated at Harvard in 1815, and studied law with Benjamin Merrill. He began practice in Salem, and afterwards removed to Andover, at which place his parents had, while he was young, taken up their residence. He was in the Legis- lature, and was a member of Congress from 1833 to 1835. He married, March 24, 1859, Mary Farnham, of North Andover, and died in that town June 26, 1861.

RUFUS KING, son of Richard and Isabella (Brag- don) King, was born in Scarboro', Me., March 24, 1755, and graduated at Harvard in 1777. His father had removed to Scarboro' from Watertown, Mass., in 1746. He studied law with Theophilus Parsons, of Newburyport, whose office was on the corner of Green and Harris Streets, and commenced practice in that place.

From 1784 to 1786 he was a member of Congress, and it is said that in consequence of his disappoint- ment at the selection of Tristram Dalton for United States Senator in 1788, removed to New York. His career there is well known, and forms no part of the history of Essex County. He died at Jamaica, Long Island, April 29, 1827. William King, the first Governor of Maine, was the son of Richard King, by

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his first wife, Mary, daughter of Samuel Blake, of Scarboro', and half brother of Rufus.

NATHANIEL COGSWELL, son of Thomas Cogswell, was born in Haverhill January 19, 1773, and gradu- ated at Dartmouth in 1794. He studied law with Ebenezer Smith, of Durham, N. H., and began prac- tice iu 1805. In 1808 he established himself at New- buryport, and died at the Rapids of the Red River August, 1813.

ICHABOD TUCKER was born at Leicester April 17. 1765, and graduated at Harvard in 1791. He re- ceived a degree from Yale in 1804, and from Bowdoin in 1806. He began the practice of law in Haverhill, having been admitted to the bar in 1795, and re- moved to Salem, where he held the office of clerk of the courts for Essex County for many years. He was the son of Benjamin and Martha (Davis) Tucker, of Leicester, and was twice married,-first, September 16, 1798, to Maria, daughter of Dr. Joseph and Mary (Leavitt) Orne, and second, October 13, 1811, to Esther Orne, widow of Joseph Cobat and daugh- ter of Dr. William and Lois (Orne) Paine. He died at Salem October 22, 1846.

WILLIAM CRANCH, son of Richard Cranch, who was born in England in November, 1726, was born in Weymouth, Mass., July 17, 1769, and graduated at Harvard in 1787, receiving the degree of LL.D. from his alma mater in 1829. After his admission to the bar he practiced first in Braintree, and after- wards in Haverhill. In October, 1794, he removed to Washington, and was appointed in 1801, by Presi- dent Adams, associate judge of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, of which he was chief jus- tice from 1805 to his death, which occurred Septem- ber 1, 1855. He published nine volumes of reports of the United States Supreme Conrt, and six volumes of reports of the Circuit Court of the District of Col- umbia.

JOSEPH E. SPRAGUE was the son of William and Sarah (Sprague) Stearns, and took his mother's maiden-name. He was born at Salem September 9, 1782, and graduated at Harvard in 1804. He studied law, and was postmaster of Salem from 1815 to 1829. In September, 1830, he was appointed sheriff of Es- sex County, and continued in office until 1851. He was, at various times, Senator and Representative in the State Legislature, and died February 22, 1852.

JOSEPH STORY was born in Marblehead Septem- ber 18, 1779, and was the son of Dr. Elisha Story, a native of Boston and a surgeon in the Revolution. He graduated at Harvard in 1798, and received de- grees of LL.D. from Brown (1815), Harvard (1821) and Dartmonth (1824). Among his classmates were Wm. Ellery Channing, John Varnum, and Sidney Willard. His education before entering college was received in Marblehead, under the direction of Rev. Dr. William Harris, afterwards president of Columbia College. He began his law studies in the office of Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, in Marblehead, but on his appoint-

ment to the bench he entered the office of Judge Samuel Putnam, and was admitted to the bar of Essex County in July, 1801. He was a Democrat in politics, and as such stood almost alone among the lawyers of the county. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1805, '06, '07, a member of Congress in 1808, again a member of the Legislature from 1809 to 1812, and was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives in Janu- ary, 1811.

In 1806 he advocated in the Legislature an increase of the salaries of the Supreme Judicial Court in op- position to the prejudices of his party against high ju- dical salaries, and more especially against Theophilus Parsons, whom it was proposed to place on the bench, but who could not afford to relinquish a prac- tice of ten thousand dollars for a position having at- tached to it the paltry salary of twelve hundred dol- lars. Mr. Parsons was especially obnoxious to the Democrats, but Mr. Story, with that sturdy indepen- dence which always characterized him, advocated and carried a bill to increase the salary of the chief justice to two thousand five hundred dollars, and of the associates to two thousand four hundred dollars, and Mr. Parsons was appointed and accepted the ap- pointment. In 1809 he advocated and was largely the means of securing a further increase of the sal- aries of the chief justice and the associates to three thousand five hundred dollars and three thousand dollars, respectively.

On the 18th of November, 1811, he was appointed by Madison associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of William Cushing, which occurred on the 13th of September, 1810. The appointment had been previously offered to John Quincy Adams, who de- clined it. Mr. Story was then only thirty-two years of age, and his appointment reflects credit on the sa- gacity of Mr. Madison, who discovered in so young a man the signs of promise which his career afterwards fully verified. In 1820, at the time of the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, he was a delegate from Salem to the Constitutional Convention. In 1828 Nathan Dane, who, in founding the Law School at Cambridge, had reserved to himself the appointments to its professorships, appointed Judge Story Dane professor of law and John Hooker Ashmun, Royal professor of law, and in the next year, 1829, he re- moved from Salem to Cambridge, where he continned to reside until his death, on the 10th of September, 1845.

Aside from his learning in the law and that won- derful fluency in the use of language, both spoken and written, which made his learning available, nothing distinguished him more than his industry. With the labors of the judge constantly pressing upon him and the cares of his professorship, the press was kept busy in supplying the law libraries of the land with his commentaries and treatises and miscellaneous pro-

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ductions. His first publication seems to have been a poem entitled the " Power of Solitude," published in Salem in 1804. In 1805 appeared "Selection of Pleadings in Civil Actions with Annotations." In 1828 he edited the Public and General Statutes passed by Congress from 1789 to 1827, and in 1836 and 1845 supplements to these dates. In 1832 appeared "Commentaries on the Law of Bailments, with Illus- trations from the Civil and Foreign Law ;" in 1833, "Commentaries on the Constitution;" in 1834, " Commentaries on the Conflict of Laws, Foreign and Domestic, in Regard to Contracts, Rights and Reme- dies, and Especially in Regard to Marriages, Divorces, Wills, Successions and Judgments." In 1835 and 1836 appeared "Commentaries on Equity Jurispru- denee as Administered in England and America;" in 1838, " Commentaries on Equity Pleadings and the Incidents Thereto, according to the Practice of the Courts of Equity in England and America ; " in 1839, " Commentaries on the Law of Agency as a Branch of Commercial and Maritime Jurisprudence, with Oc- casional Illustrations from the Civil and Foreign Law;" in 1841, "Commentaries on the Law of Partnership as a Branch of Commercial and Maritime Jurisprudence, with Occasional Illustrations from the Civil and Foreign Law ; " in 1843, "Commentaries on the Law of Bills of Exchange, Foreign and Inland, as Administered in England and America, with Oe- casional Illustrations from the Commercial Law of the Nations of Continental Europe; " in 1845, "Com- mentaries on the Law of Promissory Notes." His decisions in the First Circuit, from 1812 to 1815, are in "Gallison's Reports ; " from 1816 to 1830, in " Mason's Reports; " from 1830 to 1839, in "Sumner's Re- ports ;" and from 1839 to 1845, in Story's " Reports." Among his numerons other publications were an " Eulogy on Washington at Salem," 1800 ; "An Eulogy on Captain James Lawrence and Lientenant Lud- low," 1813; "Sketch of Samuel Dexter," 1816; " Charges to Grand Juries in Boston and Providence," 1819; "Charge to Grand Jury at Portland," 1820; " Address before the Suffolk Bar," 1821 ; " Discourse before the Phi Beta Society," 1826; "Discourse be- fore the Essex Historical Society," 1828; "Address at his own Inauguration as Professor," 1829; " Ad- dress at the Dedication of Mount Auburn," 1831; " Address at the Funeral Services of Professor John Hooker Ashmun," 1833; "Eulogy on John Mar- shall," 1835; "Lectures on the Science of Law," 1838; " Address before the Harvard Alumni," 1842; and his " Charge to the Grand Jury of Rhode Island on Treason," in 1845. In addition to this long list of his works might be mentioned a large number of essays and articles in magazines and reviews, and three un- printed manuscript volumes, finished just before his death, entitled "Digest of Law Supplementary to Comyns," which are deposited in the IIarvard Col- lege library.

JOHN VARNUM was born in Dracut in 1783, and

graduated at Harvard in 1798. He practiced law in Haverhill, and there married, October 9, 1806, Mary Cooke, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall, of Hav- erhill. He represented Haverhill in the State Legis- lature, and was also a member of the Senate. He was a member of Congress from December 5, 1825, to March 3, 1831. His law studies, before admission to the bar, were pursued in the office of Judge Smith, of Exeter. He died July 23, 1836.

JOHN GLEN KING, son of James and Judith (Norris) King, was born in Salem March 19, 1787, and graduated at Harvard in 1807. He studied law with William Prescott and Joseph Story, and was admitted to the bar in 1812, at the November term of the Supreme Judicial Court, sitting at Salem. He was Representative and Senator and the president of the first City Council of Salem after its incorporation as a city, in 1836. Aside from legal attainments, which were universally recognized as of a high order, he was proficient in historical study, and was a mem- ber of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and one of the founders of the Essex Historical Society. He married, November 10, 1815, Susan H., daughter of Frederick Gilman, of Gloucester, and died July 26, 1857.

Mr. King's baptismal name was John King, but by an act of the Legislature passed June 21, 1811, it was changed to John Glen King. He was descended from William King, who came from England in the " Abigail " in 1635. Though he graduated in I807, he did not receive his degree until 1818, having been one of those engaged in the famous Commons Rebellion, which occurred in his senior year. While a member of the House of Representatives he was appointed in the Prescott impeachment case to make the impeach- ment at the bar of the House, in the name of the House and the people, and also one of seven members to conduct the impeachment before the Senate. He was chairman of the committee and made the opening argument.

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History of Essex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 7

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1 Publication date: 1888 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1538

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed. n 85042884-1
Publication date: 1888
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1538