History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1, Part 45

Author: Cook, Louis A. (Louis Atwood), 1847-1918, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: New York; Chicago, The S.J. Clarke publishing company
Number of Pages: 644


USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 45


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OLD COLONY RAILROAD


The Old Colony Railroad Company was chartered in 1844 and built its first line from Boston to Abington, the line passing through Braintree and South Wey- mouth. The road was opened for travel on November 10. 1845. Two years later a branch was built from Dorchester to Milton, with stations at Mattapan and East Milton. A little later another branch was built from this line to East Milton and West Quincy.


On March 26, 1846, the South Shore Railroad Company received a charter and built a line of road through the northern part of Weymouth, the charter


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authorizing the road to extend from Boston to Plymouth. It was opened for business as far as Hingham on January 1, 1849. At first it connected with the Old Colony line at Braintree and from that point used the tracks of the Old Colony to Boston. In May, 1877, this road became a part of the Old Colony system, which in turn passed into the hands of the New York, New Haven & Hartford in July, 1893.


NORFOLK COUNTY RAILROAD .


In 1847 the Norfolk County Railroad Company was incorporated to build a road from Dedham to Blackstone, a distance of twenty-six miles. It was com- pleted in two years and trains began running in the spring of 1849. To connect with this road, the Boston & Providence constructed a new branch through West Roxbury to Dedham. In the meantime another railroad from Boston to Woon- socket, Rhode Island, had been projected. It was known as the "Air Line" and was built through Needham and Dover. A few years after it was completed the Norfolk County Railroad passed into the hands of other corporations and a new road constructed through Dorchester connected with it about a mile and a half south of Dedham. The effect of this change was to leave Dedham without any direct railway connection with the southerly and westerly portions of the county.


OTHER RAILROADS


A railroad called the "Charles River Railroad" was projected in the latter '40s and a few miles were constructed. In 1855 it was merged with the New York & Boston Railroad. Ten years later it became a part of the Boston, Hart- ford & Erie, and when that company failed it was reorganized as the New York & New England Railroad. On August 1, 1861, the first train ran from Boston to Medfield on the Charles River Branch of this system.


In the spring of 1870 trains commenced running on the Framingham & Mans- field Railroad, which passes through Medfield, Walpole and Foxboro, and in 1877 the Rhode Island & Massachusetts Railroad was completed, connecting Franklin and Providence via Valley Falls, and in 1883 the Milford & Franklin Railroad began running regular trains. These roads are now all branches of the New York, New Haven & Hartford.


ELECTRIC RAILWAY LINES


With the development of electricity as a motive power in the latter part of the last century, it came into use to operate short lines of railway and street car systems in cities. One of the first railways of this class in Norfolk County was the Needham Street Railway, a franchise for which was granted by the selectmen of that town in the spring of 1893. The franchise provided for a line from the Wellesley boundary to the Dedham line over Great Plain avenue and Webster street, with a branch on Highland avenue from the Needham postoffice to the Newton line. The franchise was accepted by the directors of the company on April 8, 1893.


The Newton & Boston Street Railway Company received its franchise to


FORE RIVER SHIP BUILDING COMPANY, QUINCY


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operate lines in Norfolk County on February 2, 1897, and on November 1, 1897, the Natick & Cochituate Street Railway Company was granted the right to extend its line into Wellesley and Needham. The first car on this line from Wellesley to Needham was run on April 9, 1899, leaving the former town at one o'clock P. M.


A franchise was granted to the Norfolk & Western Street Railway Company on September 1, 1899, but the name was afterward changed to the Medfield & Medway Street Railway Company. This company operates the line from Dedham to Franklin, passing through Westwood, Medfield, Millis and Medway.


As the advantages of electric lines were made manifest, other roads were con- structed, among them the Norfolk & Bristol, which runs from Norwood to Mans- field through Walpole and Foxboro; the Norwood, Canton & Sharon; the Mil- ford, Wrentham & Attleboro, and a few others. Since the beginning of the present century the Old Colony Street Railway Company has gradually extended its lines into the county, until Dedham, Westwood, Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Weymouth, Cohasset, Randolph, Holbrook, Avon, Norwood, Walpole and Need- ham are all connected with Boston by electric lines.


FORE RIVER IMPROVEMENT


For several years the great shipbuilding company located on the Weymouth Fore River has felt the need of widening and deepening the main channel of the stream. In the early part of 1917 Congress made an appropriation of $200,000 for this purpose. To this amount the State of Massachusetts added $75,000, the City of Quincy, $10,000, and the shipbuilding company, $15,000. The Boston Herald of May 5, 1917, says: "With a fund of $300,000 available, work will soon be commenced in widening and deepening the channel of Weymouth Fore River at Quincy. The channel will be made eighteen to twenty-four feet deep at mean low tide and 300 feet in width, the widening to commence inside Ped- dock's Island and follow the channel to the plant of the Fore River Shipbuilding


Company. . . The shipbuilding company has been unable to take contracts for the larger class of ships on account of the narrowness and shallowness of the channel, but when the proposed improvements are completed ships of any size may pass through Quincy Point bridge without difficulty."


Vol. 1-24


CHAPTER XLIII THE BENCH AND BAR


COLONIAL LAWS-BODY OF LIBERTIES-UNDER THE CONSTITUTION-NORFOLK COURT OF COMMON PLEAS-CIRCUIT COURT OF COMMON PLEAS-COURT OF SESSIONS- COURT OF PROBATE-DISTRICT COURTS-DISTRICT JUSTICES-THE BAR-SKETCHES OF EARLY LAWYERS-BAR ASSOCIATION.


COLONIAL LAWS


Although there were no professional lawyers "of national reputation"-if indeed there were any at all-among the first settlers of Massachusetts, the people managed to make laws under which they succeeded reasonably well, such laws being executed by vote of the town meeting, or by officials chosen for the pur- pose. In 1635 four magistrates were deputed "to frame a body of laws, which shall bear a resemblance to a Magna Charta." At the head of this commission was Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich, whom Bancroft declared to be "the most remark- able among all the early legislators of Massachusetts." Nearly six years elapsed before the code-called the "Body of Liberties"-was completed. It went into effect in 1641, and with amendments and additions from time to time, as occasion required, the "Body of Liberties" remained the fundamental law of the colony until the Revolution.


The principal features of this early code were as follows : 1. All general officers to be elected annually by the people. 2. The freemen in the several towns to choose deputies from among themselves, or elsewhere as they might judge fittest, to serve for one year in the General Court. 3. Life, liberty, honor and property to be at all times under the protection of law. 4. Every citizen was guaranteed equal justice under all circumstances. 5. Refuge was granted to shipwrecked mariners and their goods were protected. 6. Slavery was prohibited, except in case of "lawful captives taken in just war, and such strangers as are willing to sell themselves or are sold to us." 7. Wife-whipping was forbidden under severe penalties. 8. The death penalty was to be inflicted only in cases of murder, adultery, rape, man-stealing, and knowingly bearing false witness to deprive any one of life.


UNDER THE CONSTITUTION


On June 15, 1780, the constitution of the State of Massachusetts was ratified by the people and became effective. Under its provisions the Legislature enacted laws providing for the establishment of courts. By the act of July 3, 1782, the Supreme Judicial Court was established as the only one of general common


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law jurisdiction in the Commonwealth. On the same date an act was approved authorizing a Court of Common Pleas in each county in the state. This court was to consist of "four substantial, discreet and learned persons," to be appointed by the governor, and was to have jurisdiction in civil cases where the value of the property involved did not exceed a certain amount. Still another court established on July 3, 1782, was the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, to be held in each county of the state by the justices of the peace of such county. It was "empowered to hear and determine all matters relative to the conservation of the peace and the punishment of such offences as are cognizable by them at Common Law." This court also had jurisdiction in the matter of apportioning taxes, laying out highways, erecting public buildings for the county, etc. A Pro- bate Court was established in each county of the state by the Legislature in 1784. Such were the courts in existence when Norfolk County was organized in June, I793.


NORFOLK COURT OF COMMON PLEAS


On July 2, 1793, the governor appointed as justices of the Court of Common Pleas for Norfolk County Samuel Niles, of Braintree; Richard Cranch, of Quincy ; William Heath, of Roxbury; and Stephen Metcalf of Bellingham. Al- though the records do not show that any of these men declined to serve, such was evidently the case, as on September 3. 1793, Nathaniel Ames, of Dedham; John Read, of Roxbury ; and Ebenezer Warren, of Foxboro, were appointed justices, and Edward H. Robbins, of Milton, and Solomon Lovell, of Weymouth, special justices.


The first session of the court was convened in the meeting house at Dedham, on Friday, September 24, 1793, with Stephen Metcalf, Ebenezer Warren and James Endicott as justices, and Nathaniel Ames as clerk. James Endicott was a Stoughton man and received his appointment on the day the session of the court was commenced. The first case committed to a jury in the Court of Common Pleas for Norfolk County was in April, 1794, at which term 166 cases were entered for trial.


Other justices of the Court of Common Pleas in Norfolk County, as it was originally established and before it was superseded by the Circuit Court of Com- mon Pleas, were : Oliver Everett, of Dorchester, who was appointed in 1799 and died on December 19, 1802, when his brother, Moses Everett, was appointed to the vacancy ; Horatio Townsend, of Medfield; Samuel Bass, of Randolph; Samuel Haven, of Dedham; David S. Greenough, of Roxbury; Thomas Williams, of Roxbury ; and Thomas Greenleaf, of Quincy.


CIRCUIT COURT OF COMMON PLEAS


By the act of June 21, 1811, the Court of Common Pleas in each county was abolished and a Circuit Court of Common Pleas established in its place. The state was divided into six circuits, the counties of Barnstable, Bristol. Norfolk and Plymouth constituting the "Southern Circuit." Under the provisions of the act, each Circuit Court was to consist of a chief justice and two associates. Thomas B. Adams, of Quincy, was appointed chief justice of the Southern Cir-


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cuit, and Jairus Ware, of Wrentham, and Nahum Mitchell, of Bridgewater, asso- ciates. On February 15, 1821, the governor approved an act abolishing the Circuit Court of Common Pleas and establishing a Court of Common Pleas for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It existed until 1859, when it was super- seded by the Superior Court, which was given jurisdiction in both civil and criminal cases. While the Circuit Court of Common Pleas was in existence, the following Norfolk County men served on the bench, in addition to the first appointees above named : Samuel Bass, Ebenezer Warren, Joseph Heath, Samuel Swett and Ebenezer Seaver.


COURT OF SESSIONS


The Court of General Sessions of the Peace, usually referred to as the "Court of Sessions," of Norfolk County held its first session on the last Tuesday in September, 1793. John Jones, of Dover, signed the record as presiding justice, but that record does not show who the other justices were. By the act of Febru- ary 27, 1787, six years before Norfolk County was organized, this court was given power over county affairs similar to that now exercised by the county commissioners.


On June 19, 1807, the structure of this court was changed so as to consist of a chief justice and four associates, to be appointed by the governor. Ebenezer Seaver, of Roxbury, was appointed chief justice; William Aspinwall, of Brook- line; John Ellis, of Medway; Joseph Bemis, of Canton; and Samuel Day, of Wrentham, associates. Mr. Aspinwall resigned soon after his appointment and Nathaniel Ruggles was appointed to the vacancy. Exactly two years later, the powers and duties of the Court of Sessions were transferred to the Court of Com- mon Pleas.


On June 25, 1811, a few days after the Circuit Court of Common Pleas was established, the Court of Sessions was revived by an act, Section I of which was as follows: "From and after the first day of September next an act passed June 19, 1809, is repealed and all acts before in force relative to the Court of General Sessions of the Peace are revived." Judges Seaver, Ellis, Bemis, Day and Ruggles were then reappointed.


Another change was made by the act of February 28, 1814, when the powers and duties of the Court of Sessions were transferred to the Circuit Court, except in the counties of Suffolk, Dukes and Nantucket. Section 4 of the act provided that : "The governor shall appoint two discreet persons, being freeholders, within each county, who shall be session justices of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas in their respective counties."


In accordance with this section, the governor on June 11, 1814, appointed as session justices in Norfolk County Ebenezer Warren, of Foxboro, and Samuel Bass, of Randolph. They were succeeded in 1816 by Samuel Swett, of Dedham, and Joseph Heath, of Roxbury. In 1819 Ebenezer Seaver, who had been chief justice of the Court of Sessions from its reestablishment in 1809, was appointed a session justice of the Circuit Court.


The Court of Sessions was again revived by the act of February 20, 1819, with a chief justice and two associate justices. On June 16, 1819, the governor appointed Jairus Ware, of Wrentham, chief justice, Ebenezer Warren and Samuel


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Swett, associate justices. Two justices were added to the court by the act of February 26, 1822, and in April Daniel Adams, of Medfield, and Samuel P. Loud, of Dorchester, were appointed as the additional justices. Jairus Ware was elected clerk of the courts on September 1, 1826, and William Ellis was appointed, Daniel Adams being made chief justice. The Court of Sessions came to its final end by the passage of the act of February 26, 1828, which created the board of county commissioners to "have, exercise and perform, except so far as modified by the provisions of this act, all the powers, authorities and duties which before and until the passing of this act, the Courts of Sessions or Commissioners of Highways have by law exercised and performed."


COURT OF PROBATE -


On July 2, 1793, William Heath, of Roxbury, who had served as major- general in the Continental army during the Revolution, was appointed judge of probate for Norfolk County, and also one of the justices of the Court of Com- mon Pleas. He continued to serve until his death in 1814, when Edward H. Robbins, of Milton, was appointed. He also served until his death, which occurred on December 29, 1829, and on January 26, 1830, Sherman Leland, of Roxbury, was appointed as his successor. Judge Leland died on November 19, 1853, and was succeeded by his son, William S. Leland, who continued in office until the Probate Court was consolidated with the Court of Insolvency in 1858, when George White, of Quincy, was appointed. The Court of In- solvency was created in 1856 and Francis Hilliard, of Roxbury, was judge until the court was merged into the Probate Court two years later. The present judge of probate is James H. Flint.


DISTRICT COURTS


As the population of the state multiplied and the business of the courts cor- respondingly increased, it became apparent that the Superior Court needed some assistance in the transaction of that business. The Legislature then estab- lished District Courts in such counties as stood in greatest need of additional tribunals. The first District Court was established in Berkshire County. On April 30, 1872, the District Court of Eastern Norfolk was created, to be held in Quincy and to have jurisdiction over the towns of Braintree, Cohasset, Hol- brook, Quincy, Randolph and Weymouth. In 1910 the Legislature authorized the erection of a courthouse for this district at Quincy.


The Southern Norfolk District Court was established by the act of April 30, 1891, to have jurisdiction over the towns of Avon, Canton, Sharon and Stoughton. The sessions of the court are held in Stoughton and Canton, but no courthouse has ever been erected in this district.


On May 27, 1898, the Northern Norfolk District Court was created, with jurisdiction over the towns of Dedham, Dover, Hyde Park, Medfield, Needham, Norwood and Westwood. Hyde Park has since been annexed to the City of Boston, otherwise the jurisdiction of the court remains the same. The sessions of this court are held in Dedham.


Another District Court, known as the Western Norfolk District, was estab-


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lished by the act of June 3, 1898. It has jurisdiction over the towns of Bel- lingham, Foxboro, Franklin, Medway, Millis, Norfolk, Plainville, Walpole and Wrentham. Sessions of this court are held in Franklin and Walpole.


DISTRICT JUSTICES


Under the provisions of the acts creating the several District Courts, each district has a justice and two special justices. At the beginning of the year 1917, the justices in Norfolk County were as follows : Eastern Norfolk -- Albert E. Avery, justice ; E. Granville Pratt and Louis A. Cook, special justices ; Lawrence W. Lyons, clerk. Northern Norfolk-Emery Grover, justice; Har- rison A. Plympton and James A. Halloran, special justices ; Clifford B. Sanborn, clerk. Southern Norfolk-Oscar A. Marden, justice; Henry F. Buswell and Gerald A. Healy, special justices ; Michael F. Ward, clerk. Western Norfolk- Orestes T. Doe, justice; Henry E. Ruggles and Elbridge J. Whitaker, special justices ; Harry L. Howard, clerk.


THE BAR


Davis' History of the Bench and Bar of Massachusetts (vol. II., p. 52) says : "At the first meeting of the Norfolk bar, held September 28, 1797, only eight were present, and before the next meeting, held in 1802, only six more had become members. The list at the latter date included Fisher Ames, Samuel Haven, of Dedham; Horatio Townsend, of Medfield; Thomas Williams, of Roxbury; Ed- ward Hutchinson Robbins, of Dorchester; Asaph Churchill, of Milton; William P. Whitney, Henry M. Lisle, Jairus Ware, John Shirley Williams, James Richard- son and Gideon L. Thayer."


A sketch of Fisher Ames, who was no doubt the leading member of the bar at that time, appears in another chapter of this work. Samuel Haven was a son of Rev. Jason Haven and was born in Dedham on April 5, 1771. He graduated at Harvard in 1789, studied law with Fisher Ames and with his cousin, Samuel Dexter, in Boston, and was admitted to the bar in Suffolk County. When the County of Norfolk was established in 1793 he was appointed register of probate, and in 1802 he was appointed a special justice of the Court of Common Pleas, serving until the court was abolished in 1811. In 1833 he removed to Roxbury and died there in 1847.


Asaph Churchill was born in Middleboro on May 5, 1765, and graduated at Harvard in 1789. He studied law with John Davis in Boston and was admitted to the bar the year Norfolk County was organized. A little later he removed to Milton. From 1810 to 1812 he was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Mr. Churchill was recognized as one of the leading attorneys of Norfolk County and had a large number of clients. He died at his home in Milton on June 30, 1841. Two of his sons-Asaph and Joseph Mckean-both studied law, were admitted to the bar and became prominent in political affairs. The former was born on April 20, 1814; graduated at Harvard in 1831 ; was admitted to the bar before he was twenty-one years of age; was state senator from Norfolk County in 1857; was a director of the Dorchester and Milton Bank (later the Blue Hill Bank) for more than twenty-five years, part of which time


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he was president of the institution; and was president of the Dorchester Mutual Fire Insurance Company. Joseph McKean Churchill was born in Milton on April 29, 1821 ; graduated at Harvard in 1840 and at the Harvard Law School in 1845; began practice in Boston; was representative to the General Court from Milton in 1858; was a member of the constitutional convention in 1853; served in the Executive Council in 1859-60; was captain of Company B, Forty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry in the War of the Rebellion; was county commissioner from 1868 to 1871. He was then appointed associate justice of the Boston Municipal Court, in which he had been special justice since 1867. He died in Milton on March 23, 1886.


Horatio Townsend, one of the lawyers who attended the first meeting of the Norfolk bar, was born in Medfield on March 29, 1763, and graduated at Harvard when he was twenty years old. He then studied law with Theophilus Parsons of Newburyport and upon his admission to the bar began practice in Medfield. In 1799 he was appointed special justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and about the same time was appointed clerk of the courts. He was removed from the clerk's office in 1811 by Governor Gerry, but was reappointed the following year by Governor Strong and held the office until his death, which occurred at Ded- ham on July 9, 1826.


Edward H. Robbins was born in Milton on February 19, 1758, and was there- fore forty-four years of age when he attended the bar meeting in 1802. He graduated at Harvard in 1775; studied law with Oakes Ames of Bridgewater; began practice in his native town in 1780; was speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1793 to 1802; was elected lieutenant-governor in 1802 and held the office for four years; was one of the early justices of the Norfolk Court of Common Pleas ; was appointed judge of probate for Norfolk County in 1814 and held the office until his death on December 29, 1829.


John S. Williams was born in Roxbury on May 3, 1772 ; graduated at Harvard in 1797 ; practiced law in Roxbury and Dedham; was an attorney of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1803; was appointed clerk of the courts by Governor Gerry in 1811, but was removed the next year by Governor Strong ; held the office of county attorney for a time, and died at Ware, Massachusetts, in May, 1843.


James Richardson was a native of Medfield, where he was born on October 12, 1771. After graduating at Harvard in 1797 he entered the law office of Fisher Ames in Dedham as a student, and was admitted to the bar in 1799. He then formed a partnership with Fisher Ames, which lasted until the death of the latter in 1808. In 1803 he was made an attorney of the Supreme Judicial Court; was elected state senator in 1813; was a member of the constitutional convention of 1820; was one of the presidential electors in 1832; was president of the old county Bar Association for a number of years; and was president of the Norfolk Mutual Fire Insurance Company at the time of his death in May, 1858.


Jairus Ware was born in Wrentham on January 22, 1772 ; graduated at Brown University in 1797; practiced law in Wrentham; was representative to the Gen- eral Court from 1809 to 1816 and again from 1818 to 1823; was a member of the Executive Council in 1825-26; was appointed justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas in 1811, and chief justice of the Court of Sessions in 1819. Upon


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the death of Horatio Townsend in 1826, he was appointed clerk of the courts and held that office until his death at Dedham on January 18, 1836.


Gideon L. Thayer was born in Braintree on September 24, 1777, and was a son of Gen. Ebenezer Thayer. He graduated at Harvard in 1798; studied law with Benjamin Whitman of Plymouth, and with Richard Cranch of Quincy, and was admitted to the bar in 1803 or 1804, though the records show that he attended the bar meeting of 1802. He had a high standing as an attorney and became a counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1808. He died on July 17, 1829.


Thomas B. Adams, one of the early lawyers of Norfolk County, was the third son of President John Adams, and was born in Quincy on September 15, 1772, while that town was a part of Braintree. He graduated at Harvard in 1790; was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania; returned to Quincy soon after Norfolk County was incorporated; was representative to the General Court from that town in 1805; was appointed chief justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas in 1811; became a member of the Executive Council the same year ; was made counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court in March, 1808, and died at Quincy on March 12, 1832.




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