History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 10

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 10

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ASAHEL STEARNS was born in Lunenburg, June 17, 1774, and graduated at Harvard in 1797, in the class with Horace Binney, William Jenks, William M. Richardson, John Collins Warren and Daniel Apple- ton White. He settled in Chelmsford in 1800, where be practiced until 1817, acting for a time as county attorney, and during the two last years of his resi- dence there he represented his district in Congress. In 1817 he was appointed professor in the Dane Law School, at Cambridge, holding that position until his death, February 5, 1839. In 1824 be published a volume of " Real Actions," and in 1825 received from Harvard the degree of Doctor of Laws.

SAMUEL DANA was the son of Rev. Samuel Dana, of Groton, and was born in that town June 26, 1767. He was the first postmaster of Groton, having been appointed in 1800, and held the office until July, 1804. He kept the post-office in his law-office in a building which has been removed from its original site, and in 1887 was standing near the railroad station. He was succeeded as postmaster by William Merchant Rich- ardson, afterwards chief justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. Mr. Richardson gradu- ated at Harvard in 1797, and became Mr. Dana's stu- dent and partner. Mr. Richardson was followed in the post-office by Abraham Moore, January 31, 1812, who was succeeded in 1815, on his resignation, by Caleb Butler and Henry Woods and George S. Boutwell, and again by Caleb Butler, who held the office until December 21, 1846.

He was a representative to the General Court from Groton in 1802-03 and 1825-27, and senator, 1805-13 and 1817, and president of the Senate in 1807, 1811, 1812. He was a member of Congress in 1814-15, and of the State Constitutional Convention in 1820. On the establishment of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Dana was made chief justice for the mid- dle circuit, comprising Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex, and held that office until the court was abolished, February 14, 1821. In 1808 he removed to Charles- town, but returned to Groton 1815. He was a popu- lar speaker and a man of pronounced abilities. He

married Rebecca Barrett, and died in Charlestown November 20, 1835, leaving several children, of whom the wives of Kelly Paige, of Boston, and John Seven, of Kingston, and his son, James Dana, of Charles- town, now living, aie remembered by the writer.

TIMOTHY BIGELOW, the son of Timothy and Anna (Andrews) Bigelow, was born at Worcester April 30, 1767. He graduated at Harvard in 1786, in the class with John Lowell and Isaac Parker. He fitted for college with Benjamin Lincoln and Samuel Dexter, and studied law with Levi Lincoln, the father of Gov- ernor Lincoln. He was admitted to the bar in 1789, and settled in Groton, where he married, September 3, 1791, Lucy, daughter of Dr. Oliver Prescott. His office was much sought by students reading law, and among these were John Harris, afterwards judge of the Superior Court of New Hampshire; Thomas Rice, of Winslow, Me., member of Congress ; John Locke, of Ashby, member of Congress; Joseph Locke, for thirteen years judge of the Police Court in Lowell ; John Leighton Tuttle; Professor Asahel Stearns; John Varnum, of Haverhill, member of Congress; Loammi Baldwin, who abandoned the profession and became a distinguished engineer; John Parke Little, of Gor- ham, Me .; Tyler Bigelow, of Watertown, the father of Chief Justice Bigelow; Luther Lawrence, of Groton and Lowell ; Augustus Peabody, of Boston, and Abra- ham Moore, of Groton and Boston. In 1806 Mr. Bigelow removed to Medford, and there died, May 18, 1821. He was a representative to the General Court from Groton and Medford fourteen years, senator from 1797 to 1801, councilor from 1802 to 1804, and again in 1821, and speaker of the House in the ses- sions of 1805-6, 1808-9, 1809-10, 1812-13, 1813-14, 1814-15, 1815-16, 1816-17, 1817-18, 1818-19, 1819-20. In 1796 Mr. Bigelow delivered the oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard. Katharine, wife of Abhott Lawrence, of Boston, Rev. Andrew Bigelow and John Prescott Bigelow, Secretary of the Commonwealth from 1836 to 1843, and mayor of Bos- ton from 1849 to 1851, were his children.

LUTHER LAWRENCE was born in Groton Septem- ber 28, 1778. He was a son of Samuel Lawrence, of that town, and, with his brothers, Abbott, Amos, Wil- liam and Samuel, made up a family of rare ability and distinction. The only one of the family receiv- ing a college education, he graduated at Harvard in 1801, in the class with Tyler Bigelow, Timothy Fuller and Stephen Minot. He studied law with Timothy Bigelow, and married his sister Lucy, June 2, 1805. He was a member of the Legislature from Groton, and in 1822 speaker of the House of Representatives. He early secured a large practice, and among his students were Henry Adams Bullard, Royal Bullard, Jonathan Porter, George Frederick Farley, Augustus Thorndyke, Edward St. Loe Livermore, Jr., Norman Seaver and William Amory. He removed to Low- ell in 1831, five years after its incorporation, and in 1838 and 1839 was chosen its mayor. On the 16th of

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

April, 1839, sixteen days after entering on his second official term, while showing one of the factories to some visiting friends, he fell seventeen feet into a wheel- pit and was instantly killed. He was buried in Gro- ton, his place of birth.

EBENEZER CHAMPNEY, a descendant of Richard Champney, who came from Lancashire, England, and settled early in Cambridge, was born in Cambridge in April, 1744, and graduated at Harvard in 1762, in the class with Francis Dana, Andrew Eliot, Elbridge Gerry, Jeremy Belknap and George Partridge. In a class of forty seven his name is placed in the catalogue next to the last, and as until 1773 the names were placed in the order of family rank, it is presumed that the immediate origin of Mr. Champney was compara- tively obscure. He first studied for the ministry and then for the practice of law. In 1764 he was admit- ted to the bar at Portsmouth, and settled in New Ips- wich, New Hampshire. In 1775 he was appointed Judge of Probate for Hillsboro' County, and in 1783 removed to Groton. In 1789 he returned to New Ipswich, and died September 10, 1810. He married, October 9, 1764, Abigail, daughter of Rev. Caleb Trowbridge; in November, 1778, Abigail, daughter of Samuel Parker, of New Ipswich, and in March, 1796, Susan Wyman. His son, Benjamin Champney, born August 20, 1765, studied law in his office and practiced in Groton from 1786 to 1792, when he removed to New Ipswich.

ABRAHAM MOORE was born in Bolton January 5, 1785, and graduated at Harvard in 1806, in the class with Jacob Bigelow, Jonathan Cogswell, Joseph Green Cogswell, Alexander Hill Everett, Daniel Oliver and William Pitt Preble. He studied law with Timothy Bigelow in Groton, and opened an office.in that town. In 1812 he was appointed post- master of Groton and held office until his resigna- tion in 1815, when, in consequence of financial troubles, he removed to Boston, where he continued in the practice of law until his death, January 3, 1854. His wife, whose maiden-name was Mary Mills, had been twice married, to a Mr. Barnard and Mr. Wood- ham, and had been an actress on the stage. After the financial troubles of Mr. Moore she returned to the stage and appeared in Boston in 1816 as Lady Teazle. Mary Frances Moore and Susan Varnum Moore, two of his children by this marriage, married John Cochran Park, a distinguished member of the Suffolk bar, and Grenville Mears, a well-known and esteemed merchant of Boston. He married for a second wife, in 1819, Eliza, danghter of Isaac Durell, and had at least one son, whom the writer remembers as a member of the Boston bar. During the last few years of his life lie occupied an office on the easterly side of Court Square, the site of which is now covered by the billiard-room of Young's Hotel.

RICHARD SULLIVAN was the grandson of John Sullivan, who came from Ireland in 1723 and died July, 1795, at the age of 104. James Sullivan, born

in Berwick, Maine, April 22, 1744, and deceased in Boston, December 10, 1808, and General John Sulli- van were the sons of the American ancestor. Richard, the subject of this sketch, was the son of James, and was born in Groton, July 17, 1779. His mother was Mehetabel Odiorne. He graduated at Harvard in 1798, in the class with William Ellery Channing, Stephen Longfellow, Joseph Story and Sidney Willard. His father hegan practice in Georgetown, Maine, from which place he removed to Biddeford. In February, 1778, he changed his residence to Groton, and in 1782 to Boston. Richard, the son, was fitted for college at the Boston Latin School and after Jeav- ing college studied law with his father and was ad- mitted to the Suffolk bar in 1801. He was a State Senator from 1815 to 1817, inclusive, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1810, councilor in 1820- 21, and one of the overseers at Harvard College. He married, May 22, 1804, Sarah, daughter of Thomas Russell, of Boston, and died in Cambridge, December 11, 1861.

WILLIAM PRESCOTT, thongh never a member of the Middlesex bar, was a native of Middlesex County. He was a descendant of John Prescott, of Lincoln- shire, England, who early came to New England and settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts. Judge Benjamin Prescott, son of John, was the father of Colonel William Prescott, of Bunker Hill memory, who was the father of the subject of this sketch, who was born in Pepperell, Angust 19, 1762, and died in Boston, December 8, 1844. He graduated at Harvard in 1783, in the class with Harrison Gray Otis, his brother and Artemas Ward. He studied law with Nathan Dane, of Beverly, and practiced in that town and in Salem. He removed to Boston in 1808 and in 1818 was appointed a justice of the Common Pleas Court for Suffolk County. William Hickling Pres- cott, the historian, and Edward Gordon Prescott, Episcopal clergyman in New Jersey, were his sons. He received a degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard in 1815 and from Dartmouth in 1826.

JAMES PRESCOTT, JR., was the son of Col. James Prescott, of Groton, and was born in that town April 19, 1766. He graduated at Harvard in 1788 and studied law in Westford, where be practiced ten years. He returned to Groton and was appointed judge of Probate, to succeed his uncle, Oliver Prescott, and was afterwards chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He married Hannah, daughter of Ebenezer Champney, and died October 14, 1829.

JONATHAN SEWALL was, for a time during his professional career, a resident of Middlesex County. He was born in Boston, August 24, 1728, and grad- uated at Harvard in the class of 1748 with only twenty-three associates. He was son of Jonathan Sewall and great-nephew of Stephen Sewall, chief justice of the Superior Court of Judicature. After leaving college he taught school in Salem until 1756, when he prepared himself for the law and settled in

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Charlestown. He advanced rapidly in his profession, and in 1767 was a barrister and had been appointed Attorney-General for Massachusetts. In 1775 he re- moved to St. John, New Brunswick, where he was judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court until his death, which occurred at that place September 26, 1796.

HOMER BARTLETT was born in Granby, in Hamp- shire County, July 19, 1795 .. He fitted for college at Westfield Academy and graduated at Williams in 1818. He read law with Daniel Noble and Charles A. Dewey, of Williamstown, and was admitted to the Berkshire bar in 1821. After a residence of three years in Williamstown, after his admission, he re- moved to Ware in 1824, where he continued until 1832 in the practice of his profession, in which year he was appointed agent of the Hampshire Manufactur- ing Company. In 1839 he was made manager of the Massachusetts Cotton-Mill, of Lowell, incorporated in that year, and removed to that city, entering on the duties of his new position on the 18th of October in that year. Iu January, 1849, he was appointed treasurer of the company, which position he held until his resignation, January 22, 1872. He was a representative from Ware in 1832, and from Lowell in 1849, Presidential elector in 1844, and a member of the Executive Council in 1854. Mr. Bartlett mar- ried, February 6, 1823, Mary, daughter of William Starkweather, of Williamstown, who died in Lowell, October 3, 1850. He removed to Boston while he was treasurer of the Massachusetts Mills, and married, June 4, 1861, Mrs. Louisa (Fowler) Hubbell, of Albany, who died May 27, 1873. He survived his second wife only a year and died March 29, 1874, and was buried at Mount Auburn.

Mr. Bartlett was descended from John Bartlett and wife, Agnes (Bengan) Bartlett, of Cherington, Warwickshire, England, who died, one in 1613 and the other in 1615. Robert Bartlett, son of John, married, in 1603, Anne, daughter of Richard Livings- ton, and had nine children, of whom Robert, baptized March 8, 1606, came to New England in September, 1632, and settled in Cambridge. He afterwards re- moved to Hartford, and in 1655 to Northampton, where he lived until March 14, 1675-76, at which date he was killed by the Indians. Robert Bartlett had four children, of whom Samuel, born at Hartford in 1639, married, in 1672, Mary Bridgeman, and, in 1675, Sarah Baldwin, and had by the second wife twelve children. One of these children, Ebenezer, born in Northampton, September 27, 1685, married, Decem- ber 1, 1715, Martha Lyman, and had five children, of whom Ebenezer, born in Northampton, August 28, 1721, died in Granby in 1788. The last Ebenezer had seven children, of whom another Ebenezer, born in South Hadley in 1745, died in Granby, February 2, 1798. He married Betsey Barton, of Ludlow, and had ten children, of whom Asahel, born in Granby in 1758, married three wives-Hannah Burchard, Sally Bonner and Almira Mellen. By the first wife he had

six children and by the second five, and the first wife was the mother of the subject of this sketch.

JOSEPH LOCKE was born in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, in 1772, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1797 ; he studied law with Timothy Bigelow in Groton, and was admitted to the Middlesex bar in 1800. In 1801 he began the practice of his profession in Billerica, and there remained until 1833, when he removed to Lowell. While living in Billerica he presided eight years over the Court of Sessions, was Presideutal elec- tor in 1816, member of the Constitutional Convention of 1820, eight years a representative to the General Court, and in 1821-22 a member of the Executive Council. During his residence in Lowell he repre- sented that city one year in the General Court, and iu 1834 was made judge of the Lowell Police Court, which position he held thirteen years resigning, in 1847, at the age of seventy-five. His death occurred November 10, 1653. Judge Locke was a man of un- usual purity of character, and in whatever community he lived he always inspired reverence and love.

EDWARD ST. LOE LIVERMORE was born in Ports- mouth, New Hampshire, April 5, 1762. He was the son of Samuel Livermore, chief justice of the Superior Court in that State, and his wife Jane, daughter of Rev. Arthur Browne. He was descended from John Livermore, who came to New England about the year 1634 and settled in Watertown, whence he removed in 1665 to Wethersfield, Connecticut, and later to New Haven. In 1670 the ancestor returned to Watertown and there died in 1685. Samuel Liver- more, a great-grandson of John, born in 1732, graduated at Nassau Hall, New Jersey, and read law at Beverly, Massachusetts, with Edmund Trowbridge and settled in Portsmouth, and hecame Attorney-General of the Province. His son Edward was educated at London- derry and Holderness, New Hampshire, and read law with Theophilus Parsons at Newburyport. He began the practice of law at Concord, New Hamp- shire, and married Mehetabel, daughter of Robert Harris. He afterwards removed to Portsmouth, and was appointed by Washington district attorney, which office he held until 1798, and became chief justice of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. In 1799 he married Sarah Crease, daughter of William Stackpole, of Boston. In 1802 he removed to New- buryport, and while a resident there was a representa- tive to the General Court, and a member of Congress from Essex North District. In 1811 he removed to Boston, and on the 4th of July, 1813, delivered the usual annual oration in that city. At the close of the War of 1812 he removed to Zanesville, Ohio, but soon returned to Boston, and in 1816 took up his final residence in Tewksbury. He purchased there the Gedney estate of about 200 acres, which he called Belvidere, and there died September 15, 1832, his body being deposited in the Granary burial-ground in Boston.

ELISHA GLIDDEN was born in Unity, New Hamp-

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shire in 1789, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1815. He read law in Dover, New Hampshire, and with Samuel Hubbard in Boston, and was admitted to the bar in 1818 or 1819. In 1820 he went to Townsend to take charge of the legal business of Colonel Walter Hastings, where he remained until 1823, during which time Colonel Hastings died. Mr. Glidden afterwards married Mrs. Hastings, and after a short residence in Boston removed to Lowell, where the writer believes he was associated at different times with Luther Law- rence and with Thomas Hopkinson, who had been one of his students. He was a director in the Railroad Bank, and president of the Lowell Institution for Savings, and died April 2, 1835.

LOAMMI BALDWIN was a descendant of Henry Baldwin, one of the first settlers of Woburn. His father, Col. Loammi Baldwin, was an officer in the Revolution, and sheriff of Middlesex County. The subject of this sketch was born in Woburn, May 16, 1780, and graduated at Harvard in 1800, in the class with Lemuel Shaw. He was admitted to the Middlesex bar in 1803, but abandoned his profession and became a distinguished engineer. The dry-dock at the Charlestown navy-yard was built by him. He died at Charlestown, June 30, 1838.

WILLIAM EMERSON FAULKNER was the son of Francis Faulkner, and was born in Acton, October 23, 1776. He graduated at Harvard in 1797, and read law with his brother-in-law, Jabez Upham, of Brook- field, with whom he was afternards associated until his death, which occurred October 1, 1804.

JOSIAH ADAMS, theson of Rev. Moses Adams, was born in Acton, November 3, 1781, and graduated at Harvard in 1801. He read law with Thomas Heald, and after his admission to the bar in Juue, 1807, set- tled in Framingham. He died in 1854.

AARON KEYES was born in Westford in 1791, and read law in Bridgewater. He was admitted to the bar in 1822 and settled at Townsend Centre, where he was postmaster from 1826 to 1835. He married, in 1824, Martha, daughter of Moses Warren, and died in 1842.

SAMUEL JACKSON PRESCOTT, son of Dr. Oliver Prescott, of Groton, was born in that town March 15, 1773, and graduated at Harvard iu 1795, in the class with Nathaniel Bradstreet and Benjamin Gorham. He read law with William Prescott, but left the pro- fossion and embarked in business with Aaron P. Cleveland. Having suffered serious loss in conse- quence of the embargo, he finally retired from busi- ness and was for many years a popular notary public in Boston. He died in Brookline, February 7, 1857.

JONATHAN PORTER was born in Medford Novem- ber 13, 1791, and graduated at Harvard in 1814, in the class with Benjamin Apthorp Gould, Francis William Pitt Greenwood, Alvan Lamson, Pliny Merrick, Wil- liam Hickling Prescott and James Walker. He studied with Luther Lawrence in Groton, and died in Medford, June 11, 1859.

JOSHUA PRESCOTT was born in Westford November

15, 1780. He read law with James Prescott in Gro- ton and died at Reading, January 1, 1859.

THOMAS RICE was born at Pow nalborough (now Wiscasset), Maine, March 30, 1798, and read law with Timothy Bigelow at Groton. He died at Winslow, Maine, August 24, 1854.

SAMUEL EMERSON SMITH was born in Hollis, New Hampshire, March 12, 1788. He studied at the Gro- ton Academy and graduated at Harvard in 1808. He read law with Samuel Dana at Groton and died at Wiscasset, Maine, March 3, 1860.

AUGUSTUS THORNDIKE was born in Beverly, July 8, 1797, and graduated at Harvard in 1816, in the class with Samuel Dana Bell, George Frederick Far- ley, Oliver William Bourn Peabody and Joseph Wil- lard, and gave the college twenty thousand dollars. He read law at Groton with Luther Lawrence and died at Boston, July 8, 1858. He married Henrietta Stewart, of Annapolis, Maryland, and had four chil- dren, of whom two sons, James Stewart and Charles, graduated at Harvard in 1848 and 1854.

ETHAN SHEPLEY was born in Groton November 2, 1789, and received his education at the academy in that town. He studied law in South Berwick, Maine, and in 1814 began practice at Saco, from which place he removed to Portland. From 1821 to 1833 he was United States district attorney of Maine, from 1833 to 1836 United States Senator, from 1836 to 1848 asso- ciate justice on the bench of the Supreme Court of Maine, and from 1848 to 1855 chief justice. He re- ceived a degree of Doctor of Laws, from Colby Univer- sity in 1842 and one from Dartmouth in 1845, and died in Portland, January 15, 1877.

WILLARD HALL was born in Westford, December 24, 1780, and was the son of Willis and Mehetabel (Poole) Hall, of that town, and grandson of Rev. Wil- lard Hall, the first minister of Westford. He gradu- ated at Harvard in 1799 and read law with Samuel Dana at Groton, and was admitted to the bar of Hills- boro' County, New Hampshire, in 1803. Immediately after his admission he went to the State of Delaware and settled in Georgetown, from whence he very soon after removed to Dover, in the same State. In 1812 he was Secretary of State, holding the office three years ; from 1816 to 1818 he was a member of Congress, in 1821 again Secretary of State and in 1822 a member of the Delaware Senate. On the 6th of May, 1823, he was commissioned United States judge for the Dela- ware district, holding the office forty-eight years, and resigning in 1871. He was actively interested in the cause of education, and created and perfected the pres- eut educational system of his adopted State. He was forty-eight years president of the Delaware Bible So- ciety, many years president of the Wilmington Sav- ings Funds Society, president of the Delaware His- torical Society and au elder of the Presbyterian Church from 1829 to his death, which occurred May 10, 1875.

JOHN ABBOT, the oldest son of John Abbot, of West-

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ford, was born in that town January 27, 1777. He graduated at Harvard in 1798, and for a time was preceptor of the Westford Academy. He read law in his native town and there began practice He was a trustee and treasurer of the academy, State Senator and member of the Constitutional Convention in 1820. He was active and prominent in the Masonic order and officiated as Grand Master at the laying of the corner-stone of Bunker Hill monument June 17, 1825. He died April 30, 1854.

JOHN WRIGHT was born in Westford November 4, 1797. He fitted for college at Phillips Academy and graduated at Harvard in 1823 in the class with Wil- liam Amory, Francis Hilliard, Daniel Putnam King, William Parsons Lunt and George Ripley. He stud- ied law in Groton and after a short season of practice hecame interested in manufactures and the agent of the Suffolk Mills of Lowell. He died in Lowell in 1869.

JOHN MERRICK was born in Concord February 7, 1761, and graduated at Harvard in 1784 in the class with Prentiss Mellen, Benjamin Pickman and Samuel Webber. He read and practiced law in Concord and died August 15, 1797.

WILLIAM JONES, son of Samuel Jones, of Concord, was born in that town September 15, 1772, and grad- uated at Harvard in 1793, in the class with Charles Jackson, John Pierce and Samuel Thatcher. He read law with Jonathan Fay, of Concord, and after practicing a short time in that town removed to Nor- ridgewock, Maine, about 1801. He was appointed clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Somerset County June 29, 1809, and on the 23d of April, 1812, clerk of all the County Courts. June 22, 1809, he was made judge of Probate. Aside from his civil offices he was brigadier-general in the Maine Militia. On the 4th of July, 1795, only two years after leaving college, he was selected to deliver the oration in his native town. He died at Norridgewock January 10, 1813.

SAMUEL PHILLIPS PRESCOTT FAY, son of Jonathan Fay, of Concord, was born iu that town January 10, 1778, and graduated at Harvard in 1803, in the class with John Farrar, James Savage and Samuel Wil- lard. He was admitted to the Middlesex bar in 1803 and first settled at Cambridgeport. He was a coun- cilor in 1818-19, member of the Constitutional Con- vention of 1820, and an overseer of Harvard College from 1825 to 1852. On the 12th of May, 1821, he was appointed judge of Probate and afterwards lived in old Cambridge until his death, May 18, 1856.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 10

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034