History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 9

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 9

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EDMUND TROWBRIDGE, who was a judge of the Su- preme Court from 1767 to 1772, has already been re- ferred to.

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A list of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas during the life of the Province and during the Revo- lution has been already given in the preceding chap- ter, but some special mention of each should be made in a sketch of the Bench and Bar.

JOHN PHILLIPS, commissioned a judge of the court December 7, 1692, and remaining on the bench until 1715, was born in Charlestown in 1631, and died March 20, 1725. He was also judge of the Admiralty Court, treasurer of the Province, and from 1689 to 1715 colonel of a regiment. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1683 to 1686, and at the time of the Revolution was one of the Com - mittee of Safety.

JAMES RUSSELL, judge of the Common Pleas Court from December 5, 1692, to 1707, has already been sketched as one of the Colonial Court of Assistants.

JOSEPH LYNDE, a judge of the same court from Dec. 7, 1692, to 1719, was born in Charlestown in June, 1636, and died January 29, 1727. It is doubt- ful whether he was ever, as stated by Washburn, one of the assistants under the Colonial charter. Under the charter of the Province he was named as one of the counselors, and previous to that had been one of the Committee of Safety in 1689, after the deposition of Andros.

SAMUEL HAYMAN, also one of the judges of the court at its organization, Dec. 7, 1692, continued on the bench until 1702. He was born in Charlestown, but probably removed to Watertown after his ap- pointment to the bench. He had been a representa- tive to the Colonial General Court and a member of the Provincial Council. It has been noticed by the writer that the surname Hayman has been corrupted into Heman, and in that form has been often used as a Christian name by persons connected with the Hay- man family.

JONATHAN TYNG, a judge from July, 1702, to 1719, was the son of Edmund Tyng, and was born in 1642. He had been a member of the Councils of Dudley and Andros, and received his commission from Dud- ley when he came into power in 1702. He lived in Woburn, and died January 19, 1724. It is stated by Washburn, erroneously, that Edmund Tyng was the ancestor of the families of that name in New Eng- land. Rev. Dr. Stephen Higginson Tyng, of New- buryport and New York, Rev. Stephen Higginson Tyng, Jr., of New York, and Rev. Dr. Dudley Atkins Tyng were the sons and grandsons of Dudley Atkins Tyng, a distinguished lawyer of Newburyport, who was the son of Dudley Atkins, and a descendant of Governor Dudley. He changed his name on his in- heritance of the estates of James Tyng, of Tyngs- borough, and has been well known as the reporter of the Supreme Judicial Court and editor of seventeen volumes of the reports, covering a period from Sep- tember, 1804, to March, 1822.

FRANCIS FOXCROFT, judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas from 1707 to 1719, and judge of Probate

from 1708 to 1725, was born in Cambridge in 1658. He was a commissioned judge under Andros, and opposed to the Revolution of 1688, maintained his. opposition to the new order of things until he was finally rewarded by Dudley by a seat on the bench. He died in Cambridge Dec. 31, 1727.

JONATHAN REMINGTON, who was judge from 1715 to 1733, has already been sufficiently referred to as a judge of the Superior Court.

JONATHAN DOWSE, a judge of the court from 1713 to 1741, was a Charlestown man, and a graduate at Harvard in 1715. For many years he was prominent in town affairs. He was one of a committee of eleven to build a new meeting-house in his native town in 1716, and in 1717, when a motion was made in town-meeting " to have the lecture at Charlestown begin an hour sooner than heretofore," he was ap- pointed, with Michael Gill, a committee "to treat with the ministers, and to signify to them the town's consent." Little is known of Judge Dowse, and the year of his death is unknown to the writer.

CHARLES CHAMBERS, who was judge from 1719 to 1739, was the grandfather of Chambers Russell, already alluded to as a judge of the Superior Court. He was a resident of Charlestown, and held his seat on the bench until his resignation, in the year above mentioned.

FRANCIS FULLAM, a judge from 1719 to 1755, was a resident of Weston, and besides presiding as chief justice on the bench of this court, he was a colonel in the militia and a member of the Council. It is inter- esting to observe how many of the judges of the courts during the Provincial period were military men. It is not uncommon in our own day to find on the bench men who have, before receiving their com- mission, been in active military life, but none ever continue in the service after entering on their judicial duties. Chief Justice Wigham, of our Superior Court, and Chief Justice Bigelow, of the Supreme Judicial Court, were at one time one a captain and the other a colonel in the Massachusetts Militia, and Judge Devens, of the Supreme Court, if not a mili- tia officer, was at least in the volunteer service dur- ing the War of the Rebellion. Judge Fullam died Jan. 18, 1758, at the age of eighty-seven.

SAMUEL DANFORTH, son of Rev. John Danforth and great-grandson of Nicholas Danforth, the family ancestor, was born in Dorchester Nov. 12, 1696, and graduated at Harvard in 1715. He removed to Cam- bridge in 1724 as a schoolmaster, and lived on the easterly side of Dunster Street, between Harvard and Mt. Auburn Streets, as Mr. Paige states. He was selectman in Cambridge from 1633 to 1639, represent- ative from 1634 to 1638, a Councilman from 1639 to 1674, register of Probate from 1731 to 1745, judge of Probate from 1745 to 1775, and judge of the Court of Common Pleas from 1741 to 1775. He died in Boston Oct. 27, 1777.

THOMAS GREAVES, judge of the Common Pleas

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS

Court from 1733 to 1747, with the exception of one year when he sat on the bench of the Superior Court, has already been referred to in connection with that court.

FRANCIS FOXCROFT, the second son of Judge Fox- croft, above mentioned, and judge of the Common Pleas Court from 1737 to 1764, was born in Cambridge, January 26, 1694-95. He graduated at Harvard iu 1712, and was judge of Probate for Middlesex as well as Common Pleas judge. He died March 28, 1768.

Next in order to be mentioned are the judges of the Supreme Judicial Court who were residents of Mid- dlesex County, or who by birth may properly be con- sidered Middlesex County men.

FRANCIS DANA was appointed judge of this court in 1785, and in 1791 was made chief justice, and held that position until his resignation in 1806. He was the son of Richard Dana, of Charlestown, and was born in that town June 13, 1743, and graduated at Harvard in 1762, in the class with Elbridge Gerry, Andrew Eliot, George Partridge and Jeremy Belknap. He studied law with Edmund Trowbridge and was admitted to the bar in 1767. He was a delegate to the Provincial Congress in September, 1774, a mem- ber of the Executive Council from 1776 to 1780, a del- egate to Congress in 1776, 1778 and 1789, a member of the Board of War in 1777, secretary of legation with John Adams in Paris in-1779, and Minister to Russia from 1780 to 1783. He died at Cambridge April 25, 1811.

GEORGE TYLER BIGELOW, son of Tyler Bigelow, was born in Watertown October 6, 1810, and gradua- ted at Harvard in the famous class of 1829, which contained among its members William Brigham, Wil- liam Henry Channing, James Freeman Clarke, Fran- cis B. Crowninshield, Benjamin R. Curtis, George T. Davis, Joel Giles, William Gray, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Samnel May, Benjamin Pierce, Chandler Robbins, Edward D. Sohier and Joshua Holyoke Ward. He received the degree of Doctor of Laws from his Alma Mater in 1853. He was admitted to the bar in Cambridge, and for a number of years practiced law in Boston in partnership with the late Manlius Clark. In the early days of his professional life he was active in the militia and at one time com- manded the New England Guards of Boston, and was colonel of one of the Boston regiments. In 1847-48 he was a member of the Massachusetts Senate, and in 1848 was appointed one of the justices of the Common' Pleas Court. He held this position until 1850, when he was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Jndi- cial Court. On his accession to that bench his asso- ciates were Lemuel Shaw, chief justice; Charles Au- gustus Dewey, Theron Metcalf and Richard Fletcher, associate justices. On the resignation of Lemuel Shaw in 1860 he was made chief justice, and resigned in 1868. During his service on the bench of this court his various associates included Judge Dewey, who died in 1866; Judge Metcalf, who resigned in

1865; Judge Fletcher, who resigned in 1853 ; Caleb Cushing, who was appointed in 1852 and resigned in 1853 ; Benjamin Franklin Thomas, appointed in 1853 and resigned in 1859; Pliny Merrick, appointed in 1853 and resigned in 1864 ; Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, appointed in 1859 and resigned in 1869 ; Reuben At- water Chapman, appointed in 1860, appointed chief justice in 1868 and died in 1873; Horace Gray, Jr., ap- pointed in 1864, appointed chief justice in 1873 and resigned in 1882; James Denison Colt, appointed in 1865, resigned in 1866, reappointed in 1868 and died in 1881; Dwight Foster, appointed in 1866 and resigned in 1869; John Wells, appointed in 1866 and died in 1875. After his resignation Judge Bigelow was appointed actuary of the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, and continued in that office until his death in 1878.

EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR, son of Samuel and Sarah (Sherman) Hoar, was born in Concord, Febru- ary 21, 1816, and graduated at Harvard in 1835, re- ceiving a degree of Doctor of Laws in 1868. Among his classmates were George Bemis, Thomas M. Brewer, Amos Adams Lawrence, Charles W. Storey and Francis M. Weld. He was admitted to the bar in 1840, and though always living in Concord, he has from the beginning of his career occupied an office in Bos- ton, practicing, however, in Middlesex as well as Suf- folk County. In 1849 he was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, remaining on the bench until his resignation in 1853. In 1859 he was ap- pointed judge of the Supreme Judicial Court, finding as associates at his accession to the bench, Leonard Shaw, chief justice ; and Charles Augustus Dewey, Theron Metcalf, George Tyler Bigelow and Pliny Merrick. He remained on the bench until 1869. During his incumbency, Chief Justice Shaw resigned in 1860 and was succeeded by George Tyler Bigelow, who resigned in 1868, and was succeeded by Reuben Atwater Chapman, who had been appointed to the bench in 1860. Charles Augustus Dewey died in 1866 and was succeeded by Dwight Foster; Theron Met- calf resigned in 1865 and was succeeded by James Denison Colt, who resigned in 1866 and was suc- ceeded by John Wells, and was reappointed in 1868. In 1869 Mr. Hoar was appointed by President Grant Attorney-General of the United States, and remained in office until July, 1870. In 1871 he was appointed joint high commissioner to treat with the British commissioners. He was elected from the Middlesex District to Congress in 1872, and served but one term. During his service he was largely instrumental in pro- curing the publication of the Revised Statutes of the United States, a work of great labor and of immense use to this country. Since that time he has closely followed his profession, only mingling in politics and attending conventions at the call of the Republican party, to whosc cause he has been and is de- voted. His learning in the law, his incorrupti- ble spirit, his fidelity to clients and his ability

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to present a case either to court or jury with force, have won for him a rich reputation and a large prac- tice ; while his puugency of speech and simple clear- ness of statement have always made him an attractive speaker in the political arena. His remark that he had no objection to the Mugwumps going out of the Republican party, but that they need not slam the door after them, illustrates the sayings which charac- terize his conversation and speech. He has always been a faithful son of Harvard, and while a member of the Board of Overseers was the president of the Board. He is or has been the president of the National Unitarian Conference, and has always been an active member of the denomination which that conference represents.

CHARLES DEVENS was born in Charlestown April 4, 1820, and graduated at Harvard in 1828, in the class with George Bailey Loring, James Russell Lowell and William W. Story. He read law at the Harvard Law School, and in the office of George T. Davis, of Greenfield, where, after his admission to the bar, he continued in practice uutil 1849, representing Franklin County in the Senate iu 1848. From 1849 to 1853 he was United States marshal for Massachusetts, and in 1854 returned to the law, settling in Worcester, in part- nership with George F. Hoar, now United States Sena- tor. In April, 1861, he commanded a rifle battalion and was stationed, during three months' service, at Fort McHenry, in Baltimore Harbor. At the end of the three months' campaign he was made colonel of the Fifteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers on the 24th of July, 1861, enlisted for three years. He was at the battle of Ball's Bluff, and after the death of Colonel Baker, in command, and exhibited on that occasion rare bravery and good judgment. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers April 15, 1862, and was engaged in the battles of Williamsburg, Fairoaks-where he was wounded-South Mountain and Antietam. At the battle of Chancellorsville he commanded a division of General Howard's corps (the Eleventh), and was severely wounded. In the Virginia campaign of 1864-65 he was attached to the Eighteenth Corps, recognized as the Third Division of the Twenty-fourth Corps. In December, 1864, he was in temporary command of the Twenty-fourth Corps, entered Richmond April 3d, and April 15, 1865, was made brevet major-general. He remained in the service commanding the district of Charleston until June, 1866, when, at his own request, he was innstered out. In 1862 he was the candidate of what was called the People's party for Governor of Massa- chusetts, in opposition to John A. Andrew, but was defeated. In 1867 he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court, and remained on the bench until his appointment to the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1873. When he took his seat on the Superior Court bench his associates were Seth Ames, chief jus- tice, and Julius Rockwell, Otis Phillips Lord, Marcus Morton, Jr., Ezra Wilkinson, Heury Vose, John

Phelps Putnam, Lincoln Flagg Brigham and Chester Isham Reed. During his incumbeucy, Seth Ames resigned as chief justice on his appointment to the . bench of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1869, and was succeeded by Lincoln Flagg Brigham ; Marcus Morton, Jr., was appointed to the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1869, and was succeeded by Henry Austin Scudder, who resigned in 1872, and was succceeded by William Allen and Chester Isham Reed, who resigned 1871, and was succeeded by John William Bacon.

Judge Devens, as above stated, was appointed judge of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1873, and continued on the bench until 1877, when he was appointed by President Hayes United States Attorney General. On his retirement from the Cabinet, in 1881, he was re- appointed to the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court, to fill, with Walbridge Abner Field and Wil- liam Allen, the vacancies occasioned by the death of James Denison Colt and the resignations of Seth Ames and Augustus Lord Soul, and is still on the bench. Though never enjoying an extensive practice at the bar, Judge Devens has had a large judicial ex- perience, and has been emineutly successful in the administration of his judicial duties. He has estab- lished a wide reputation as an orator, and has been repeatedly selected to deliver centennial and other occasional addresses. . Not the least of his efforts on the platform was an oration delivered at the celebration of the anniversary of the battle of Bun- ker Hill, on the 17th of June, 1875. He has been president of the Bunker Hill Association, and has received the degree of Doctor of Laws from his alma mater. The connection of Judge Devens, then Uuited States marshal, with the extradition of Thomas Sims, a fugitive slave, is so well stated by "Taverner," of the Boston Post, in the issue of that paper of April 5th of this year (1890), that the writer takes the lib- erty of making the statement a part of this record :

"It is noticeable that the act which first brought Judge Devenus into prominence here in Boston, and was the means of exciting a certain odium against him, was the performance of an official duty which, though extremely painful to his feelings, he did not feel at liberty to neglect, and his subsequent conduct showed the noble spirit with which as a man he endeavored to counteract the effects of the policy which be enforced as an officer of the law. As United States marshal for the district of Massachusetts, from 1849 to 1853, he executed the process of the court in remauding Thomas Sims as a fugitive slave. But after the extradition be cudeavored to procure the freedom of Sims, offering to pay whatever sum was necessary for the purpose, though the effort was unsuccessful. Some time after- ward be wrote to Mrs. Lydia Maria Child, whom be heard was try- ing to raise money to purchase the freedom of Sims, requesting the returo of the sums she had collected for this purpose, and asking her to allew him the privilege of paying the whole amount. Theugh Mrs. Child assented to this proposal, it was prevented from being carried out by the Civil War, which blocked the negotiations. But the progress of the national armies at last brought freedom to Thomas Sims, and he was aided by Judge Devens in establishing himself in civil life, and was, in course of time, appointed by him, while Attor- ney-General ef the United States, to an appropriate place in the De- partmeut of Justice."

SETH AMES, the sixth of seven children of Fisher

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Ames, was born at Dedham, April 19, 1805, and died at Brookline, August 15, 1881. He was descended in the sixth generation from Richard Ames, of Bruton, Somersetshire, England, two of whose sons came to New England in 1640. His mother was Frances, daughter of Colonel John Worthington, of Springfield. He attended the schools of Dedham and Phillips Academy, and graduated at Harvard in 1825. His college room-mate was Augustus H. Fiske, late of the Boston bar, and both married daughters of Gamaliel Bradford, a descendant from William Brad- ford, of the "Mayflower." He read law in the Dane Law School and in the office of George Bliss, of Springfield ; and on January, 1828, entered the office of Lemuel Shaw, of Boston. He was admitted to the bar at Dedham in September, 1828, and opened an office in Lowell. In 1830 his wife, Margaret (Brad- ford) Ames, died, leaving four children. He was a short time the partner of Thomas Hopkinson, and represented Lowell in the General Court in 1832. He was an alderman in 1836, 1837 and 1840; Senator from Middlesex County in 1841, and city solici- tor from 1842 to 1849. In 1849 he was appointed clerk of the courts for Middlesex County, and mar- ried, for his second wife, Abigail Fisher, daughter of Rev. Samuel Dana, of Marblehead. In the same year he removed to Cambridge. In 1859 he was ap- pointed judge of the Superior Court ; chief justice of that court in 1867 ; and judge of the Supreme Judicial court, January 19, 1869. He resigned January 15, 1881. In 1869 he removed to Brookline. After his death, George Martin, Attorney-General, submitted in behalf of a meeting of the members of the Suffolk bar, the following resolutions to the full court :

" Resolved, That the death of Seth Ames, lately one of the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, and for thirty-two years honorably connected with the administration of Justice in this Commonwealth, is an event of which the bar desire to take notice by expressing their sense of the great value of his public services and their admiration for his just and unblemished character, and for those attractive personal qualities which endeared him to all who had the privilege of his friendship.

" Resolved, That in the successive Judicial stations which he held as Justice and Chief Justice of the Superior Court and Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, he commanded the respect and esteem of the bar and the community. He administered the criminal laws with firmness, tempered by discretion and humanity, without unnecessary harshness and without vindictiveness. In his intercourse with the bar, and when presidiog at trials he was a model of fairness and courtesy ; never forgetting, and therefore never finding it necessary to assert arrogantly or offensively his personal dignity. His opinions were characterized by adegnato learning and by a simplicity and purity of English style which he seemed to have inherited from his distinguished father."

Chief Justice Gray responded, and the resolutions were ordered to be placed on the files of the court.

WILLIAM SEWALL GARDNER was born in Hal- lowell, Maine, October 1, 1827, and graduated at Bowdoin College and studied law in Lowell. He was admitted to the Middlesex bar in 1852, and entered into partnership with Theodore H. Sweetser of that city. In 1861 he removed his office to Boston, where he continued practice until 1875, when he was ap-

pointed one of the justices of the Superior Court for the Commonwealth, which office he held until Octo- ber 1, 1885, when he was appointed a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Waldo Colburn. On the 7th of September, 1887, he resigned his seat on account of ill health, and died at his residence in Newton, April 4, 1888. On the 27th of November, 1888, reso- lutions passed at a meeting of the Suffolk bar were presented to the full court by Andrew J. Waterman, the Attorney-General, and on that occasion addresses were made by the Attorney-General, Edward Avery and Charles Levi Woodbury, which were responded to by Chief Justice Marcus Morton. The resolutions were as follows :

"The members of the Suffolk bar desire to place on record their sense of the loss which the Commonwealth has sustained in the death of William Sewall Gardner, a former Justice of this court.

" His was a nature that endeared him to those who knew him well, and secured for bim the respect and esteem of the community, and the regard and confidence of those who were brought in contact with him at the bar or on the bench.

" His experience at the bar, for many years closely associated with one of the ablest lawyers of his day, who studied the law as a science and tested it by the severest rules of logic, and his long service on the bench of the Superior Court, laid a substantial foundation for the successful discharge of the accurate and discriminating investigations demanded of the members of this court.

" While the kindliness of his nature might have tempted him at times to take counsel of his sympathies, his keen appreciation of the right constrained him always to exercise the severe neutrality of an im- partial judge."

TIMOTHY FARRAR was the son of Deacon Samuel Farrar, and was born June 28, 1747, in that part of Concord which, by the incorporation of Lincoln, in 1754, was included within the limits of the new town. He graduated at Harvard in 1767, in the class with Increase Sumner. He read law in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, and settled permanently in that town. In 1782 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention of New Hampshire. He was a judge of the Common Pleas Court of that State under a tem- porary Constitution in January, 1776; was a Coun- cilor in 1780, '82, '83; judge of the Superior Court from 1790 to 1803 ; judge of the Common Pleas Court in 1803-4, and afterwards chief justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas. He was a Presidential elector in 1792, '96, 1800, 1808, and a trustee of Dart- mouth College. In 1847 he received a degree of Doc- tor of Laws from his alma mater, and died at Hollis, New Hampshire, Feb. 21, 1849.

NATHANIEL WRIGHT, the oldest son of Thomas and Eunice (Osgood) Wright, was born in Sterling, February 13, 1785, four years after the incorporation of that town. He fitted for college with Rev. Reuben Holcomb, of Sterling, and graduated at Harvard, in 1808, in the class with Walter Channing, Richard H. Dana and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and read law with Asahel Stearns, then practicing in that part of Chelmsford which is now Lowell, and there lived until his death, which occurred November 5, 1858. He was admitted to the bar in 1814, and first opened

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an office in Dracut. He was the first representative from Lowell to the General Court, in 1826, and chairman of the first Board of Selectmen, and in 1842 was chosen, on a citizens' ticket, the fourth mayor of the city, succeeding Dr. Elisha Huntington in that office. In 1843 he was re-chosen by the Whig party. He was chosen representative four years, and in 1834 was a member of the State Senate. He was president of the Lowell Bank from its organization, June 2, 1828, until his resignation, October 2, 1858. He mar- ried, March 3, 1820, Laura Hoar ; and two sons grad- uated at Harvard-Nathaniel, in 1838, and Thomas, in 1842. Thomas entered the profession of law, set- tling in Lawrence, and represented, one or more years, Essex County in the Senate. He died in Lawrence in 1868. Nathaniel, a lawyer in Lowell, died September 18, 1847.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 9

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