History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 12

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706

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After the manner of those days, Greek and Latin ere taught, not so much for the grammar as for the iterature, and frequently his long daily walk of nearly our miles to his tutor's house was rewarded by hear- og a translation instead of giving one. The enthu- iasm for the beauties of Virgil, which made the utor forget that he was a tutor, resulted in a prepa- ation for college so insufficient that its effects were elt all through the course.

In 1829 he entered Brown University. There he het many men afterward distinguished on the bench nd at the bar of Massachusetts. One of the results f his college course was a life-long friendship with is classmate, the late senator from Rhode Island, Ion. Henry B. Anthony. He graduated in 1833, aring attained some distinction especially in mathe- atics. As was then the custom for poor boys, he aught school much during his college course and im- mediately afterward in Scituate, Bridgewater, Han- ver, and other Plymouth County towns.

After graduation he entered the office of Charles . Tillinghast, in Providence, R. I., and after the sual term of study he was admitted to the bar at Providence. During his law studies he served much s a newspaper reporter for the Providence Journal. Ie worked as a legislative reporter, and also as special orrespondent of several newspapers. For several months he also had full charge of a daily and weekly aper in Providence. Many and interesting were his xperiences as reporter, in his midnight rides across onntry before the days of railroads and telegraphs. Soon after his admission to the bar he formed a law artnership with L. C. Eaton, of Providence, and hey soon had a practice which bade fair to equal or xceed any in the city, but the progress of political vents shortly afterwards dissolved their business con- ection.

At this time the agitation for a constitution and an xtension of suffrage became strong in Rhode Island. in this movement Mr. Simmons took a leading part, oth with his pen and by addresses throughout the State. During the whole contest he was on intimate erms with Governor Thomas Wilson Dorr, and stood mong the leaders in the convention which formed what was known as the Free Suffrage, or People's Constitution.

The old charter government, which, through change n the population, had fallen into the control of the minority, refused to surrender its power and would not recognize this convention or its work. It was hen an almost universally recognized doctrine that the people of a State might, without the consent of the existing authorities, adopt a new constitution and

form a new government. The people of Rhode Island, acting under this doctrine, gave in their votes for the new constitution. Upon counting the ballots it was found that not only had a large majority of the male citizens of the State voted in favor of the new constitution, each voter indorsing his ballot with his name, but even a majority of the " freeholders," or legal voters under the old charter, had also voted in its favor.

At the next session of the Legislature of the old government proof of these facts was offered. The Legislature not only refused to receive this proof, but even passed an act providing that whoever assumed to act under the new constitution should be held guilty of treason and punished by imprisonment for life.

The first warrant for treason under this act was issued against Mr. Simmons, he having called to order the first Legislature under the new constitution, of which body he had been chosen a member from the Fourth Ward of Providence with but one dissenting vote.

At the urgent solicitation of his many friends and relatives in Providence, but against his own wishes, he left Rhode Island to avoid arrest upon this war- rant and came to Hanover. Finding, however, that the Governor of Massachusetts would surrender him upon requisition from the Governor of Rhode Island, he went to Maine, a State which gave recognition to the new order of things. He resided in Portland for several months, until a change of government in Mas- sachusetts brought about a change of policy. He then again returned to Hanover and took up the practice of law in the home of his childhood. It would seem to be an inauspicious place for a lawyer to settle in with the hope of getting practice, a small country village for years six miles away from the nearest railway. Yet Mr. Simmons soon gained a large practice, which he has carried on to the pres- ent day, and a reputation which, overstepping the bounds of his native county, has frequently called him to practice in the neighboring parts of the State. At one term of the court at Plymouth he was en- gaged in cvery case, both civil and criminal, which was tried at that term. During his forty years at the bar there are in the books few leading cases from his county where his name does not appear.

As a practitioner he has, by his fair dealings with his associates, obtained their highest regard. His indefatigable efforts in behalf of his clients mark him as a true lawyer. He boasts that no man, simply because he was poor, was ever refused his services, and certainly no lawyer ever thought less, while try-

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

ing a cause, of the fees he was to get. When thor- oughly aroused in a eause, Mr. Simmons was recog- nized by his professional brethren as a dangerous an- tagonist. One of the ablest of them, now deceased, onee said, "Simmons never knows when he is beaten ;" and another bore similar testimony in saying, “ When Simmons goes out to fight, he takes a pistol, bowie- knife, broad-axe, and club, and no one knows which weapon he is going to use."

After his return home, in 1843 or 1844, Mr. Sim- mons was elected one of the selectmen, assessors, and overseers of the poor of his native town, and eontin- ued to hold these offices until compelled to relinquish them by pressing professional eares. Although for the greater portion of the time not in aeeord politi- cally with the majority of his fellow-townsmen, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Represen- tatives in 1852, and in 1853 he was sent to the con- vention to revise the constitution of the common- wealth, where he took an aetive part. In 1859 he was elected to the Massachusetts Senate, serving there as chairman of the judiciary committee. Among the important matters transacted at this session of the Legislature and coming before his committee was the abolition of the Court of Common Pleas and the establishing of the Superior Court. At this session he was named first on the committee to sit during the recess and act on the revision of the statutes of the commonwealth. He inaugurated and led in this committee the revolt against the wholesale ehanges in our statutes then proposed by Hon. Caleb Cush- ing, also a member of that committee. The General Statutes of Massachusetts were the result of this committee's work.

Mr. Simmons was prominent in the "Know- Nothing" movement in this State when it was first formed. When that party earried the election, he held by appointment the office of commissioner of insolveney for this eounty.

Mr. Simmons was married, May 3, 1846, to Ade- line, daughter of John Jones, a successful box- and trunk-maker, of South Scituate, in this county. They have had three children, a daughter and two sons, all of whom are now living. The oldest is John Franklin, a graduate of Harvard University and a lawyer of this eounty. The youngest is Moyses Rogers, a graduate of the Harvard Medical School and a physician. The daughter is Sophia Richmond, wife of Morrill A. Phillips, of Hanover.

HOSEA KINGMAN, son of Philip D. and Betsey B. (Washburn) Kingman, whose aneestors were among the early settlers of Massachusetts, and dis- tinguished for their sound judgment, mental and

moral integrity, was born April 11, 1843, in Bridge- water, Mass. His education was liberal, attending Bridgewater Academy, and afterwards Appleton Academy, at New Ipswich, N. H. He then entered Dartmouth College, but at the breaking out of the civil war, loyal to his principles of patriotism, he left college, enlisted in Company K, Third Regiment Mas- saehusetts Volunteers, was mustered into service Sept. 22, 1862, and accompanied his regiment to Newberne, N. C. In December of the same year he was detailed on signal serviee, and went to Port Royal, S. C., from there to Folly Island, in Charleston Harbor, and June 22, 1863, he was mustered out of service. In the fall of 1863 he returned to college, made up his junior year during the first term of his senior year (an achievement worthy of note), and was grad- uated with his class in June, 1864.

Having decided upon the legal profession as his life-work, he then commenced the study of law in the office of the late Williams Latham, with whom, after his admission to the bar, he became associated in practice, under the firm-name of Latham & King- man, which partnership continued until 1871, when Mr. Latham retired, Mr. Kingman still remaining in practiee.

Mr. Kingman married, June 21, 1866, Carrie, daughter of Hezekiah and Deborah (Freeman) Cole, of Carver. They have one ehild, Agnes Cole King- man.

Although a young man, yet the offices to which Mr. Kingman has been appointed serve to show the esteem and confidenee of the community. He is a trustee of Bridgewater Savings-Bank, also of Bridge- water Academy. He reecived the appointment of special justice of the First District Court of Plym- outh County, Nov. 12, 1878. He was elected eom- missioner of insolveney in 1874, and every year since. He has been prominently connected with Free- masonry. He was three years Master of Fellowship. Lodge (Bridgewater), of which he was a eharter member, and has been District Deputy of the Grand Lodge for three years. He was a charter member of Bridgewater Lodge, No. 1039, of Knights of Honor, of which he is Past Dictator.

Mr. Kingman's suceess as a lawyer is due not only to his natural and aequired ability, but to his vigorous and efficient action in the understanding of his causes, leaving no vulnerable point open to an attack. Pa- tient and persistent in searching for evidenee, he does not engage in a trial until thoroughly prepared. To a clear, diseriminating, and capacious mind, and the results of earnest study under the best of teachers, together with a cool, dispassionate temper, which has

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been of special service in the trial of sharply-contested causes, he adds an enthusiastic love of the law and scru- pulous fidelity to his clients in all emergencies. His legal business has tended to strengthen his naturally fine intellectual powers, and his standing is among the foremost of the Plymouth County bar. In the very prime of life, he has the prospect of a most prominent future in the line of his profession.

Mr. Kingman is Republican in politics, but has been too much absorbed in his work to take a very active part in the local affairs of the town, yet his influence has ever been favorable to whatever tends to promote its best interests.

ELIAB WARD, the son of Ephraim Ward and Priscilla Hammond (daughter of Capt. George Ham- mond. of Carver). was born in Carver, July 1, 1805, and lived there until the April following, when his father, Ephraim Ward, removed to Middleboro', now Lakeville.

Eliab Ward attended the common schools of the town and worked on the farm with his father until eighteen years of age, when he went from home and attended school at Amherst Academy, in Amherst, Mass., for two years, teaching school during a part of the year. He entered Amherst College in 1828, and graduated in 1831. He then studied law with Jacob H. Loud, Esq., of Plymouth, and in 1836 was ad- mitted to the bar in Plymouth, and commenced the practice of law in Middleboro', where he has remained until the present time. In 1852, October 17th, he married Prudence K. Holmes, the daughter of John Holmes, of Middleboro'. She died on the 17th of September, 1875.

He served his father as aid when he was brigadier- general, and also served as aid to Brig .- Gen. Henry Dunham. He was lieutenant-colonel of the Third Regi- ment of Infantry, and was afterwards colonel of the same regiment, and was subsequently promoted to brigadier-general.

He represented the town of Middleboro' in the Legislature of Massachusetts in the years 1838, 1839, 1842, and 1852, and was a member of the State Senate in 1843.

JACOB B. HARRIS was a native of Winchester, in this State, and in 1861 and 1862 gained a consider- able reputation in the Legislature as a parliamentarian and legislator. He was a man of fine abilities, but labored under the physical disability of a discased limb. He prepared his cases with great care, and handled them in court with equal shrewdness. He defended Sturtevant, the Halifax murderer, and al- though that inhuman wretch was convicted of his atrocious crime, it was the opinion of all who heard

Mr. Harris' defense that it was conducted with as much ability as possible.

The district court was established in September, 1874, and Mr. Harris was appointed justice. The new judge sat on the bench scarcely more than a month, when he was compelled by his failing health to retire, and he died early in the following year of Bright's disease of the kidneys.

In February, 1875, Jesse E. Keith, then the only lawyer in what is now the town of Abington, was ap- pointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by Judge Har- ris' death. Mr. Keith had practiced law in Abington for about twenty-five years at the time of his elevation to the judgeship of the District Court, and had held numerous offices of public trust. He had been post- master in Abington during Pierce's administration, served on the school board for one year, and during the hot times immediately preceding the division of the town (1873 and 1874) was the able exponent and tireless worker of the people of Abington who favored union, and by whom he was elected to the State Legislature for the two years above named. He is a native of East Bridgewater, was educated at the public schools and at Phillips' Andover Academy. He studied law in the office of Welcome Young, Esq., and, after leaving there, went to the Harvard Uni- versity Law-School, where he was a classmate of Hon. B. W. Harris for ten years, a congressman from Massachusetts.

In 1883 he was appointed by Governor Butler judge of probate and insolvency, to succeed Judge Wood, who died in March of that year. Upon taking the judgeship of the District Court, Mr. Keith associated with himself John F. Simmons, Esq., a son of Hon. Perez Simmons, of Hanover. .Mr. Simmons was then in the Harvard Law-School, and in February, 1875, the second lawyer who ever practiced in Centre Abington opened business under the firm-name of Keith & Simmons. The latter is a native of Hanover, was educated at Phillips' Exeter Academy and Harvard University, graduating in 1873. He stands well to the fore in the ranks of the younger members of the profession who are rap- idly gaining prominence in Southeastern Massachu- sctts. He is now practicing in Abington with Har- vey H. Pratt, Esq., under the firm-name and style of Simmons & Pratt.

HON. SOLOMON LINCOLN.1-Mr. Lincoln was born in Hingham, Feb. 28, 1804, and died there at the residence of his son, Francis Henry Lincoln, on the first of December, 1881, aged seventy-seven years

1 By George Lincoln.

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

and nine months. He was a son of Solomon and Lydia (Bates) Lineoln, and a descendant in the sixth generation from Samuel Lincoln, who settled in Hingham in 1637.

In his early life he attended the private school kept by Miss Sally Stowell, on what is now South Street, near Hobart's bridge, where he continued until the autumn of 1809, when he became a pupil in the public school of the North Ward, of which the late most respected Artemas Hale, of Bridgewater, was at that time the teacher. Mr. Hale was suc- ceeded by William Brown, Jerom Loring, Abel Cushing, and John Milton Reed, of whom, and especially of Mr. Hale, the deceased often spoke in after-life in words of kindness and respect as his early instructors in the public school. On the 2d of No- vember, 1813, while yet a lad under ten years of age, he had so far advanced in his studies as to be admitted into Derby Academy. Here, with Rev. Daniel Kimball (H. C. 1800) as the preceptor, his progress was rapid, and in April, 1819, he left the academy to pursue a course of classical studies under the tuition of Rev. Joseph Richardson (D. C. 1802), of Hingham. In September following, when but fif- teen years of age, he entered the Sophomore class of Brown University, and was graduated in 1822. His commencement part was "The Family of the Me- dici."

Among his college classmates were Rev. Alexis Caswell, LL.D. (who became president of Brown University), Hon. Isaac Davis, Hon. Samuel L. Crocker, and Hon. Jacob H. Loud, the latter a native of Hingham.

On leaving college Mr. Lincoln taught a grammar school for about eight months at Falmouth, Mass., spending his leisure hours in reading and in study. After he left Falmouth he returned to Hingham, and, Nov. 21, 1823, commenced the study of law in the office of Ebenczer Gay, Esq.,-Jacob H. Loud and Benjamin Fessenden being also students with Mr. Gay at that time. Nov. 21, 1826, he was admitted to practice as an attorney at the Court of Common Pleas, in Plymouth, Judge Strong presiding.

Aside from his professional duties, however, he found time to write tho history of Hingham, and this work of itself is a lasting monument to his mem- ory. His inherited taste for genealogical studies, for the recording of conversations held with the aged, and for collecting ancient documents and antiquo relics, aided him in a great measure, no doubt, in gathering the material for this history ; and its carc- fully prepared pages attest the scholarly attainments as well as the well-matured mind of the compiler,

who, it should be borne in mind, was but twenty- three years of age when the book was published.

It was through his instrumentality, while a mem- ber of the school committee in 1828, that a radical change in the whole school system of Hingham was effected. He was repeatedly chosen moderator at the town-meetings and other gatherings of the citizens, and he always presided with dignity and impartiality. Whenever there was a demand for literary work, or when new measures were contemplated or intricate cases were to be brought before the courts, his services were invariably called into requisition.

Mr. Lincoln represented the town at the General Court in 1829, also in 1841, and in 1830-31 was elected senator. He was not what we should term a politician, but as a firm supporter of the Whig party he wrote many able articles for the local newspaper in support of the principles advocated by that party.

March 17, 1841, he was appointed United States marshal. He also was a master in chancery for the county of Plymouth, which position he resigned March 10, 1843. He received the appointment of bank commissioner in 1849, was cashier of the Web- ster Bank, in Boston, from 1853 to 1869, and its president from 1869 to 1876. He was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and also of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and fre- quently contributed to the publications of both.

In local affairs he held many positions of trust and responsibility, which he filled with great satisfaction to the public and with credit to himself. He was a director of the Hingham Mutual Fire Insurance Company from 1833 to 1864, and president of the company from 1846 to 1864. He also was a director for many years and president of the Hingham Ceme- tery corporation, of the trustees of Loring Hall, of the Hingham Public Library, and of the Hingham Agricultural and Horticultural Society.

Mr. Lincoln was a ready and efficient writer, and his pen was never long idle. In years past he was a constant contributor to the columns of the Hingham Gazette, the Patriot, and the Journal, and many of thesc articles, especially those written over the signa- turc "Bentley," in the Gazette, were argumentative and scholarly. As an orator, a correspondent of the Christian Reflector, in giving an account of the pro- ccedings at the commencement at Brown University, in 1846, spoke of him as follows :

" The closing exercise was the oration before the Phi Beta Kappa, delivered by Hon. Solomon Lincoln, of Hingham. The subject of his oration was happily chosen : 'The present aspect of historical studies, and the duty of American scholars te eul- tivate them.' . . . The style of the eration was chaste, lucid, and classicnl, the delivery simple and earnest. He was heard

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with interest to the close .- an interest in no respect diminished by the unassuming and suggestive manner in which he ani- madverted upon the opinions of distinguished authors."

The following is a partial list of Mr. Lincoln's publications :

An Oration delivered before the Citizens of Hing- ham on the Fourth of July, 1826. Hingham, Caleb Gill, Jr. 1826.

History of the Town of Hingham, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Hingham, Caleb Gill, Jr .. and Farmer & Brown. 1827.

An Historical Sketch of Nantasket. Hingham. Printed by Jedediah Farmer. 1830.

An Oration pronounced at Plymouth, at the re- quest of the young men of that town, on the Cen- tennial Anniversary of the Birthday of George Washington. Plymouth, Mass. Printed by Allen Danforth. 1832.

An Oration delivered before the Citizens of the Town of Quincy on the Fourth of July, 1835, the fifty-ninth Anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America. Hingham, Jedediah Farmer. 1835.

An Address delivered before the Citizens of the Town of Hingham on the twenty-eighth of Septem- ber, 1835, being the Two hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of the Town. Hingham, Jedediah Farmer. 1835.

Notes on the Lincoln Families of Massachusetts, with some account of the family of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the U. States. Reprinted from the Historical and Genealogical Register for October, 1865. Boston. David Clapp & Son, printers. 1865.

Memoir of the Rev. Charles Brooks. Reprinted from the proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Cambridge. John Wilson & Son. University Press. 1880.

Mr. Lincoln married, Nov. 13, 1837, Mehitable Lincoln, a daughter of Welcome and Susanna (Gill) Lincoln. She died Sept. 21, 1873, having had three children, all of whom were born in Hingham, and survive their parents, viz. : Solomon (H. C. 1857), Arthur (H. C. 1863), and Francis Henry (H. C. 1867). Mr. Lincoln in his social life was one of the most engaging of men. His remarks upon all the questions of the day were interesting and cdify- ing, and his general culture made him a brilliant con- versationalist.

WILLIAM HENRY OSBORNE was born at Scituate, Mass., Sept. 16, 1840, and is the son of Ebenezer and Mary (Woodman) Osborne. His paternal an- cestor was George Osborne, of that part of Pembroke now Hanson, and his maternal ancestor was Richard

Mann, of Scituate, who was one of the Conahassett. proprietors of that town. His great-grandfathers, John Mann and George Osborne, were both soldiers in the Revolution, and the last named was borne upon the alarm-list at Lexington, April 19, 1775. Two of his great-uncles were on board the ship with Capt. Luther Little, in the war of the Revolution.

Mr. Osborne removed with his parents to East Bridgewater in the year 1850, and lived afterwards in Bridgewater about three years, returning to East Bridgewater in 1854, where he has since that time made his home. He was educated at the public schools in East Bridgewater and Bridgewater, at the East Bridgewater Academy and State Normal School at Bridgewater, where he graduated in July, 1860. He taught a public school during the autumn of 1860 and the winters of 1860 and 1861.

In the spring of 1861, Mr. Osborne's patriotism was stirred by the excitement of the times, and he resolved to serve his country in the war of the Re- bellion: On the 18th day of May, 1861, he enlisted at East Bridgewater as a private in Company C, which company formed a part of the Twenty-ninth Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. His regi- ment remained in the department of Southeastern Virginia till June, 1862, during which time he was in the engagement of the 8th and 9th of March, 1862, at Newport News, and was with his regiment in the expedition at Norfolk and Portsmouth. On the 9th day of June, 1862, his regiment joined the Army of the Potomac at Fair Oaks, Va., and made part of the famous Irish Brigade under Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher. This regiment was at the front nearly every day for several weeks and constantly under fire. Mr. Osborne, with his company, was en- gaged in a sharp skirmish with the enemy June 15, 1862, when his company suffered its first loss in battle. He was in the battle at Gaines' Mill, one of the bloodiest engagements of the campaign, June 27, 1862, in that at Peach Orchard and Savage Station, June 29, 1862, at White Oak Swamp Creek, and Charles City Court-House, June 30, 1862, and in the battle of Malvern Hill, July 1, 1862. At the last-named battle he was struck by a musket-ball in the chest, and was carried off the field insensible, and left as dead. By the efforts of surgeons, however, he was restored to consciousness, when he seized the gun of a dead soldier, and in the darkness found his way to the front, and joined an Irish regiment of the brigade. He had been in the ranks, however, but a short time, when he was struck in the left leg by a fragment of shell and severely wounded. The field was a scene of terror and excitement. Large bodies

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 12

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 1706

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 1706