History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 19

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 19

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Of these, John, the subject of this sketch, received

his early education in the public schools of his native town and at Phillips Academy. In 1842 he entered Yale College, but on account of ill health was obliged to leave his class in its senior year and thus failed to receive a degree in regular order. At a subsequent period, however, the degree of Master of Arts was conferred on him. The education which he finally secured was due chiefly to his own love of learning and his indomitable energy and perseverance. While working on his father's farm he was only able to at- tend school during eight or ten weeks in the winter, and the instruction thus received was supplemented by voluntary study during evenings and rainy days at other seasons of the year. At the age of seven- teen he had prepared himself for teaching school, and for a short time pursned that occupation with eminent success. With strong health, great self-reliance and precocious will and energy, but with inadequate finan - cial aid he succeeded in obtaining a liberal education. In 1850 he graduated at the Dane Law School, in Cambridge, and, after a period of study in the law-of- fice of George Frederick Farley, of Groton, was ad- mitted to the bar in 1851. By his own unaided ef- forts he entered on his professional career, and having paid his own way, he opened an office in Groton, owing no man a dollar and with a small sum securely in- vested in profitable railroad stock.

While in the office of Mr. Farley he was placed in charge of cases in the Magistrates' Court and thus ac- quired some experience in the trial of cases before he launched his own professional bark. In this way he. secured a class of business which, after he began practice on his own account, naturally fell into his hands-a practice which gradually extended even be- yond the borders of Middlesex County, and which, skillfully managed as it was, secured to him at a very early period a prominent and lucrative standing in his profession.

His settlement in Groton was made in response to the request of many prominent citizens, who were anxious to have a young, active lawyer in their town, and they not only provided him with an office as an inducement for him to remain with them, but their continned encouragement and aid were of essential service to him in getting a firm foothold at the bar. Mr. Spaulding remained in Groton abont ten years. When the south part of that town became a promi- nent railroad centre he followed the popular wave and practiced in that section until 1872, when he removed to Boston. It was largely due to his efforts and influ- ence that Groton Junction as it was called, and a part of the town of Shirley were incorporated, in 1871, as a new town under the name of Ayer.

While practicing in Middlesex County the District Courts were established, and when the First Northern Middlesex Court was established Mr. Spaulding de- clined the appointment of judge, but accepted the po- sition of special justice, which he now holds. The necessary sacrifice of a large portion of his Incrative

John Spaulding

Jappnew Wentworth

BENCH AND BAR.

Ixxiii

practice would scarcely, in his opinion, be justified by the honor which such a judicial position would bestow.

Judge Spaulding now resides in Boston Highlauds, and is in the enjoyment of a well-earned and lucra- tive legal business, which is not likely to be soon im- paired by any failure of his strong mental and phys- ical powers. He married, in 1802, Charlotte A., daughter of Alpheus Bigelow, of Weston, who died June 24, 1889, leaving no children.

Judge Spaulding has, until now, well advanced in life, devoted himself assiduously to his professional pursuits, neither seeking nor accepting office, believ- ing that in our country few higher positions can be attained than that of a well-read, sound, successful lawyer.

ARTHUR P. BONNEY, the son of Isaac and Abi- gail (Stetson) Bonney, of Plympton, Massachusetts, was born in that town July 9, 1828. He attended the common schools of his native town and afterwards those in Lowell. He also attended the Dracut Acad- emy, and in the study of the languages had the advan- tages of a private tutor. He first studied medicine for a time, but finally entered as a student the law- office of Seth Ames & Thomas Hopkinson, then in full practice in Lowell. After his admission to the bar in 1848 he opened an office in Lowell and prac- ticed alone until he entered the firm of his old instruc- tors, which assumed the name of Hopkinson, Ames & Bonney. In 1849 Mr. Hopkinson was appointed a justice of the Common Pleas Court, and the firm con- tinued under the name of Ames & Bonney until 1859, when Mr. Ames was appointed one of the justices of the Superior Court established in that year. Since that time Mr. Bonuey has continued in a gradually enlarging business until his practice, now chiefly con- fined to corporations, has placed him in the front rank of Lowell's most prominent and wealthy citizens. In 1855 he was city solicitor, and in 1857, 1858 and 1861 he was a member of the State Senate. In 1858 the writer was with him at the Senate board, and remem- bers him, though the youngest, yet one of the ablest, members. From 1864 to 1880 he was president of the First National Bank of Lowell, and from 1880 to the present time has been president of the Merchants' Na- tional Bank. He has been also a director in the Lowell and Andover Railroad Corporation. He is a · Republican in politics and a Unitarian in religion, and a prominent and active member of both organi- zations. He married Emma A., daughter of Dr. Royal Hall, of Lowell, and has one child, a daughter.

HON. TAPPAN WENTWORTH was born in Dover, New Hampshire, February 24, 1802, and died in Lowell, Massachusetts, June 12, 1875. The Went- worth family is one of the most prominent in the history of England, and Tappan Wentworth was a lineal descendant of Thomas Wentworth, the Earl of Strafford, whom the genius of Macaulay has made for- ever famous.

William Wentworth was the first immigrant of his

name to America, and was one of the Rev. Johu Wheelwright's company at Exeter, in 1638.

After that he resided at Wells and then in Dover, iu the church of which he was a ruling elder.

He was the father of four sons, from one of whom Governor John Wentworth was descended ; from an- other, the Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, and from the other two, by a union in the line, the Hon. Tappan Wentworth.

Three of the Wentworths were Governors of New Hampshire. Of these, John Wentworth was commis- sioned Lieutenant-Governor in 1711 ; Benning Went- worth was appointed Governor in 1741, and held the office until 1767; John Wentworth, his nephew and successor, held the same dignity until the com- mencement of the Revolutionary War. In that mem- orable struggle for human rights he conscientiously adhered to the Royal canse.

The Wentworth Governors had granted the charter of Dartmouth College, and had endowed it by giving the lands upon which its edifices now stand, and had fostered it so long as they had the power.

William Wentworth, the first American founder of the family, was twice married; was the father of ten children, and died March 16, 1696. Benjamin Wentworth, his youngest son, born in Dover, married Sarah Allen, in 1697, by whom he had eleven chil- dren, and died in August, 1728. William Wentworth, eldest son of Benjamin, was born August 14, 1698, and was twice married. Of his twelve children, Evans was born December 25, 1750, married Dorothy, daughter of Ezekiel Wentworth, March 19, 1772, and .died in August, 1826. Of his nine children, Isaac, father of Tappan, was born August 13, 1776; married Eleanor, daughter of Thomas Gowdey ; was the father of eleven children, and died in 1827.

Tappan Wentworth received his elementary educa- tion at the common schools and the classical school at Dover.

During his early manhood he spent about three years at Portsmouth, employed in a grocery store, from whence he went to South Berwick, Maine, and served successively in the stores of Benjamin Mason and Alphonso Gerrish, as clerk.

But Tappan Wentworth possessed abilities, force and ambition that demanded a wider field than that within the limits of a country store. He manifested deep interest in politics. A spirited article written by him, advocating the re-election of William Bur- leigh member of Congress from the York District, at- tracted that gentleman's attention, and induced him to offer his tuition in the study of law to Tappan Wentworth. The offer was accepted, the course of legal preparation finished, and he was admitted to the bar of York County in 1826.

Seven years of successful practice in South Berwick and Great Falls followed his admission. In Novem- ber, 1833, he removed to Loweil, with savings to the amount of about $7000 in his possession.

1xxiv

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Mr. Wentworth's first public service was rendered as a member of the committee which drafted the first city charter of Lowell in 1836. He was the Whig lawyer on the committee, and Joseph W. Mansur the Democratic. He was elected to the Common Council the same year, re-elected in 1837, '39, '40,'41, and offi- ciated as president the last four years. In 1848-49 he represented his fellow-citizens in the Senate of Massachusetts. In 1851 he was returned as represen- tative to the lower house of the State Legislature, and also in 1859, 1860 and 1863. In 1865-66 he was again representative in the State Senate. He was an active Whig advocate-a statesman of the Webster school throughout the best days of the Whig organization- and on the "stump " displayed the qualities of a prac- tical and an argumentative orator.

In the fall of 1852, Tappan Wentworth was elected as a Whig to the National House of Representatives, by a vote of 4341, as against 4240 cast for Henry Wilson, Coalitionist.

The Worcester Ægis, at the time of his election, said : "The election of this gentleman to Congress from the Eighth District over Henry Wilson, the master-spirit of coalition, has given great satisfaction to the Whigs in all parts of the State.

"To any who know Mr. Wentworth, it is needless to say that his election is an important contribution to the talent and ability of the next Congress-as a clear-headed and forcible speaker, he will have no superior in the Massachusetts delegation, while as a working member he will be eminently useful."

While in Congress he was a member of the House Committee on Commerce, and introduced several im- portant measures. Among them was a resolution to see what legislation is necessary to regulate or pro- hibit the introduction into the United States by any foreign government or individual of any foreigners, either insane, blind or otherwise disabled. On this resolution he spoke at considerable length.

The matter was referred to the Committee on Com- merce, which subsequently reported a bill that passed into law, and that covers the entire subject. In 1854 he delivered a powerful and eloquent speech, in opposition to the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill.

The cordial relations which had so long existed be- tween Mr. Wentworth and President Pierce, and also between himselfand Attorney General Caleb Cushing, were of great advantage to him, although he was in the Whig opposition to their Democratic administra- tion. Through them he quickly established friendly relations with the several members of the Cabinet, and also with the Democratic Speaker, who showed his appreciation of Mr. Wentworth's abilities when he appointed the different Standing Committees. These relations with the chiefs of the existing administra- tion, which enabled him to serve his constituents more beneficially than he otherwise could have done, were used by his opponents to create distrust of his

fidelity, and to defeat him when a candidate for re- election.

The public life of Mr. Wentworth was closely iden- tified with the growth and prosperity of the city of Lowell, and he was already ready to assist in any public enterprise, and liberally supported all the city institutions.

He was projector and president of one of the State railways, and at the time of his death was president of the National Rubber Company, of Providence and Bristol, R. I.

His life-work, however, was his profession, and to that were given his talents, which were of a com- manding character.

He always received the careful attention of both judge and jury. His legal record was brilliant and successful, and his place in the profession was in the front rank.

Judge Nathan Crosby, in his eulogy on Mr. Went- worth, said : " He was not long in selecting Dartmouth as his donee. He was a New Hampshire man, his kindred had laid the foundation of the State, and had chartered and founded the college."

His will bequeathed all his property, which he said would not take long to reach $500,000 to Dartmouth College in the following words : " All my real estate stocks in corporations and debts due me, I give, devise and bequeath to Dartmouth College, in fee simple, and forever, to be used for the purposes of said Col- lege, in such manner as the proper officers who may have the management and control of the general funds of the College, may from time to time deter- mine .??

The bequest was charged with limited legacies and annuities, and will bear in all .coming time, one-half the expenses and reap one-half the benefits and glory of this college. " In all the relations of life," wrote an early friend familiar with him as husband, father, son and brother, " he most emphatically and nobly did bis duty, and his record is written on high."

" When he once gave his friendship, remarked Mr. John McNeil, his brother-in-law, " it was for life, and to the end. Even if the object proved unworthy, he let go with more reluctance and regret than most men."

A large portion of his law library was bequeathed to the city of Lowell, for the use of the bar of Lowell, practicing in the Police Court. Mrs. Wentworth after- wards furnished in good taste and fitness a library- case for the books, surmounted with the Wentworth coat-of-arms, with the superscriptiou " Wentworth library,' and also gave largely from her own library to fill its shelves.

After the death of Mr. Wentworth a largely attend- ed meeting of the Middlesex bar passed some highly eulogistic resolutions, expressive of their appreciation of his character and abilities, and of their sense of his loss.

Tappan Wentworth was married, on the 20th of January, 1842, to Anne, daughter of Genl. Solomon

1xxV

BENCH AND BAR.

McNeil, of Hillsboro', N. H., a granddaughter of Gov. Pierce, and a niece of President Franklin Pierce. In all respects she was a help-meet for him. An only child, a son, Frederick Tappan Wentworth, was born March 7, 1843, and died April 17, 1853, of a sudden illness. His death was a sore affliction to his parents.

Mrs. Wentworth, surviving her noble husband, has gracefully and touchingly completed the great act of his life.

JOSIAH G. ABBOTT, now living in Boston, is de- scended from George Abbott, of Yorkshire, England, who came to New England about 1640, and settled at Andover, in 1643. The ancestor married, in 1647, Hannah, daughter of William and Annie Chandler, and died December 24, 1681. His widow married Rev. Francis Dane, the minister of Andover, and died June 11, 1711. William Abbott, son of the ancestor, born November 18, 1657, married, June 2, 1682, Elizabeth Gray, and had a son Paul, born March 25, 1697, who removed from Andover to Pom- fret, Connecticut, about 1722. Paul had a son Nathan, born in Andover April 11, 1731, who mar- ried, in 1759, Jane Paul, and had a son Caleb, who married Lucy Lovejoy, and for a second wife, Debo- rah Baker. Caleb had a son Caleb, born February 10, 1779, who was a merchant in Chelmsford, and married Mercy, daughter of Josiah Fletcher. The children of the last Caleb were-Mercy Maria, born January 24, 1808, deceased August 21, 1825; Lucy Ann Lovejoy, born Sept. 16, 1809; Caleb Fletcher, born Sept. 8, 1811, who graduated at Harvard in 1831, and settled as a lawyer in 1835 in Toledo, Ohio; Josiah Gardner, the subject of this sketch, and Evelina Maria Antoinette, born Sept. 14, 1817.

Josiah Gardner was born in Chelmsford, Novem- ber 1, 1815, and attended the Chelmsford Academy, at one time under the care of Ralph Waldo Emer- son, principal. He recalls with special interest the impression which Mr. Emerson, then unknown, by his gentle seriousness and great purity, made on his youthful mind. He graduated at Harvard in 1832, in the class with Henry Whitney Bel- lows, Charles T. Brooks, George Ticknor Curtis, Estes Howe, Charles Mason, Albert Hobart Nelson, Samuel Osgood, George Frederick Simmons and many others who acquired position and fame. In such a class, though the youngest member, Mr. Abbott secured a creditable rank. After leaving college he read law with Nathaniel Wright and Amos Spaulding in Lowell, and at the Dane Law School in Cambridge. He was prepared for admission at the bar in September, 1835, but a serious illness delayed his admission until December of that year, when, barely twenty years of age he entered on his profess- ional career as a partner with Mr. Spaulding, one of his instructors. After a business connection of two years with Mr. Spaulding he practiced alone until 1840, when he became connected with Samuel Apple- ton Brown.

On the 21st of May, 1855, the Common Pleas Court, so far as Suffolk County was concerned, was discontinued by law, and the Superior Court for the County of Suffolk was established. The judges com- missioned for this court by Governor Gardner were, Albert Hobart Nelson, chief justice, and Judges Hunt- ington, Nash and Abbott, the subject of this sketch, associates. On the resignation of Chief Justice Nel- son, who died in 1858, Chiarles Allen was appointed by Governor Banks as his successor. Judge Abbott resigned in June, 1858. In 1859 both the Common Pleas Court and the Superior Court for the County of Suffolk were abolished, and the Superior Court for the Commonwealth was established. It was dne to the manner in which he and his associates adminis- tered the Superior Court that the Court of Common Pleas was abolished and courts on the same basis as the Superior Court established for all the State. Judge Abbott, on his return to practice, still lived in Lowell, but had his office in Boston, and engaged, however, in a law business which extended into many of the counties of the State. In 1860 he deciined a seat on the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court, and in 1861 removed to Boston, where he has since that time lived.

In 1837, at the age of twenty-two he was a member of the House of Representatives and in 1842 and 1843, member of the Senate. In the latter year he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, an unusual honor for one who had served so short a time, and was also editor of a tri-weekly paper in Low- ell for the year 1840, the year of the hard cider cam- paign. He was also a member of the staff of Gov- ernor Marcus Morton. In 1853 he was à delegate from Lowell to the convention for the revision of the Constitution, and in 1875 and 1876 was a member of Congress. While in Congress he was a member of the commission to determine the election of President, and has been the Democratic candidate for Governor several times and repeatedly the Democratic candi- date in the Legislature for United States Senator. He has been a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions of 1844, '64, '68, '72, '76, '80 and '84; a delegate at large, and chairman of the Massa- chusetts delegation at all but that of 1844. He has been at various times intimately connected with corporations and business enterprises, having been president of the Hamilton Manufacturing Company of Lowell, of the Atlantic Cotton-Mill of Lawrence, of the Hill Manufacturing Company and the Union Water-Power Company of Lewiston, Maine, and of the Boston and Lowell Railroad Company. He has also been a director of the North American Insurance Company of Boston, and vice-president of "several savings institutions. Throughout his career, how- ever, he has always made politics and financial and other occupations subservient to his professional voca- tion, and never permitted them to distract his mind from his legitimate professional studies and pursuits.

1xxvi

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

His business in the courts has brought him in con- tact with the ablest men of the Massachusetts bar, including Choate, Curtis, Bartlett and Whiting, of the Suffolk bar, and Farley, Butler and Sweetser, of the Middlesex bar, and in the contests with these giants in the law in which he has engaged he has shown himself their peer. With General Butler in his earlier years he was often associated as his se- nior, and in later times he has often been pitted against him in the legal arena. With Mr. Choate he was obliged to exert all his powers, and make use of all his learning. With Mr. Butler it was necessary to be armed at all points and be constantly on the alert against surprises while Mr. Farley at times dis- played a wonderful keenness of logic which needed all his legal and forensic strength to meet and if pos- sible overcome. No man at the bar in our Common- wealth has been more industrious in his profession or performed more unremitting labor. It is safe to say that during fifteen years of his career he was engaged in the trial of causes before the courts or referees or auditors or committees of the Legislature three hun- dred days out of the three hundred and sixty-five in the year. The writer has had the opportunity of ob- serviug his skill in the management of important causes, and has discovered in him a faculty, not com- mon among lawyers of tersely and concisely selecting and treating the strong points in his case before a jury, making them the means of a counter-attack against the strong points of his opponent, and, like a skillful general, piercing the centre of his antagonist's line of battle while the movements against his wings were left unopposed.

Judge Abbott married, July 18, 1838, Caroline, daughter of Edward St. Loe Livermore, chief justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, and has had two daughter and seven sons. His two daughters were Caroline, who married George Perry, son of the late Dr. Marshal S. Perry, of Boston, and Sarab, who married William P. Fay. Of his sons, Edward Gard- ner was born September 29, 1840, and graduated at Harvard in 1860. At the breaking out of the war of 1861 he raised the first company of three years' vol- unteers for the Second Regiment of Massachusetts, and as brevet major was killed at the battle of Cedar Mountain. Henry Livermore, born January 21, 1842, also graduated at Harvard in 1860, at the age of eigh- teen years, and while major of the Twentieth Regi- ment of Massachusetts and brevet brigadier-general was killed in the Wilderness. Fletcher Morton, born February 18, 1843, was commissioned captain in the Second Regiment of Massachusetts and served on the staff of General William Dwight. Though in many battles, in which he exhibited conspicuons gallantry, he served three years in the war without a scratch. He afterwards studied medicine, but is not in prac- tice. Samuel Appleton Browne was born March 6, 1846, and graduated at Harvard in 1866. He enlisted at the age of sixteen in the New England Guards

Regiment, but was not called into service, and entered college. He is now engaged in the profession of law. Franklin Pierce, the fifth son, attended the Dane Law School at Cambridge, and is now practicing law. Grafton St. Loe graduated at Harvard in'1877 and is also in the law. Holker Welch Abbott, the seventh son, is an artist. Judge Abbott received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Williams College in 1862. He is now living in Boston, and at the age of seventy- four assiduously engaged in the labors of his profes- sion, with mind and body unimpaired and with the promise of years of labor for his own honor and credit and for the community in which he is held in uni- versal respect.

THEODORE HARRISON SWEETSER was born in Wardsboro', Vermont, in 1821, but attended the com - mon schools of Lowell and Phillips Academy in his youth and entered Amherst College. He left college before graduation and taught school in Lowell and afterwards entered as a student the law-office of Tappan Wentworth, in that city. After his admission to the bar he was associated for a time with Mr. Wentworth in business and afterwards at different times with Benjamin Poole and William Sewall Gardner. He was in the Common Council of Lowell in 1851, city solicitor in 1853, '54, '59, '60 and '61, in the Legislature from Lowell in 1870, and the Demo- cratic candidate for Governor and member of Con- gress. In 1879 he removed to Boston and there died May 8, 1882. His mother was a sister of Solomon Strong, one of the judges appointed to the bench of the Common Pleas Court when it was established, in 1821. Mr. Sweetser was recognized by the members of the bar as one of the ablest in their ranks, and his ability and reputation drew to him a large and lucra- tive business. He married a Miss Derby, who died before him, and their only daughter, the wife of Willis Farrington, lives in Lowell.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 19

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