History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 3

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

USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 3

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The county officers at the present time are Jesse E. Keith, of Abington, judge of probate; Edward E. Hobart, of Bridgewater, register of probate and in- solvency ; Alpheus K. Harmon, of Plymouth, sheriff ; William H. Whitman, of Plymouth, clerk of the courts ; William S. Danforth, of Plymouth, register of deeds ; John Morissey, of Plymouth, treasurer ; Charles H. Paine, of Halifax, Jedediah Dwellcy, of Hanover, Walter H. Faunce, of Kingston, county commissioners ; Obed Delano, of Marion, Charles W. S. Seymour, of Hingham, special commissioners ; Hosea Kingman, of Bridgewater, Charles W. Sum- ner, of Brockton, Arthur Lord, of Plymouth, com- missioners of insolvency.

The sheriff, register of deeds, and county treasurer are elected by the people for a term of three years ; the register of probate and insolvency and clerk of the courts for five years ; commissioners of insolvency for three years ; county commissioners, one annually and each for three years; and the judge of probate is appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Council. The present term of the sheriff expires on the first Wednesday of January, 1887 ; those of the register of deeds and treasurer in January, 1886; those of the register of probate and insolvency and clerk of the courts in January, 1887 ; that of the commissioners of insolvency on the first Wednesday in January, 1887 ; and those of the com- missioners as follows: Walter H. Faunce, in Janu- ary, 1885; Jedediah Dwelley, in January, 1886 ; and Charles H. Paine, in January, 1887.

The only remaining courts, which may with any

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propriety be termed county courts, are the District Courts. The first of these, under the name of the First District Court of Plymouth, was established June 8, 1874, and under its establishing act was given jurisdiction in Brockton, Bridgewater, and West Bridgewater. By a supplementary act passed Feb. 19, 1875, East Bridgewater was included within its jurisdiction. Of this court Jonas R. Perkins, of Brockton, is the justice, and it holds its session at Brockton. Charles W. Sumner, of Brockton, and Hosea Kingman, of Bridgewater, are special jus- tices, and David L. Cowell is clerk. The Second District Court was established June 22, 1874, and was given jurisdiction in Abington, Rockland, Hing- ham, Hull, Hanover, South Scituate, and Hanson. On the 22d of April, 1879, Scituate was added to the jurisdiction of this court. Of this court George W. Kelley, of Rockland, is justice, and it holds its ses- sions at Abington and Hingham. Zenas Jenkins and James S. Lewis are special justices, and Otis W. Soule is clerk. The Third District Court was estab- lished by the same act, and was given jurisdiction in Plymouth, Kingston, Plympton, Pembroke, Duxbury, Marshfield, and Scituate. On the 22d of April, 1879, Scituate was withdrawn from the jurisdiction of this court. Of this court Charles G. Davis, of Plymouth, is the justice, and it holds its sessions at Plymouth. William S. Danforth, of Plymouth, is the special justice, and Benjamin A. Hathaway, of Plymouth, clerk. The Fourth District Court was established by the same act, and has always had jurisdiction in Middleboro', Wareham, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester. Of this court Francis M. Vaughan, of Middleboro', is justice, and it holds its sessions at Middleboro' and Wareham. Lemuel Le Baron Holmes and Andrew L. Tinkham are special justices, and William L. Chipman, of Wareham, clerk.

These District Courts have, concurrently with the Superior Court, jurisdiction of cases of assault and battery (except when committed in the commission of, or in the attempt to commit, some other offense ; or with a weapon dangerous to life, or where the life of the person assaulted is in danger, or such person is maimed), and in such cases may punish by im- prisonment in the jail or House of Correction, or if the defendant is a female above the age of seventeen years, in the reformatory prison for women for a term not exceeding one year, or by fine not exceeding one hundred dollars. They shall also concurrently, as aforesaid, have jurisdiction of offenses punishable by fine or forfeiture not exceeding one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment in the jail or House of Correction

not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments. They shall also have concurrent jurisdiction, as afore- said, of larcenies, of offenses of obtaining property by any false pretense, on privy or false token, or by any game, device, sleight of hand, pretended fortune-tell- ing, trick, or other means, by the use of cards or other implements or instruments ; and of offenses of buy- ing, receiving, or aiding in the concealment of stolen goods or other property, where the property alleged to be stolen, or so obtained, bought, received, or the. concealment of which is so aided, is not alleged to exceed the value of fifty dollars; and in such cases may punish by imprisonment in the jail or House of Correction not exceeding two years, or by fine not ex- ceeding one hundred dollars. They have also con- current jurisdiction, as aforesaid, of all nuisances and complaints for defective highways, and may in such cases punish by fine not exceeding one hundred dol- lars, or imprisonment in the jail or House of Correction not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments. And they may in their discretion decline to exercise final jurisdiction of a case in which the Superior Court has concurrent jurisdiction. Their civil juris- diction is the same as that of trial justices, for a full description of which the reader is referred to the 155tlı chapter of the Public Statutes. Any person aggrieved by the judgment of a District Court has the right of appeal to the Superior Court.

It would be futile to attempt within the limits of this narrative, to present to the reader with any de- gree of justice, all who have been conspicuously con- nected with either the bench or the bar of the courts of the county. WILLIAM BRADFORD, the first judge of probate, was so intimately connected with the Plymouth Colony that his character and the incidents of his life are well known to every careful reader of colonial history. By the province charter, the Gov- ernor and Council had jurisdiction of the probate of wills and granting of administrations, and conse- quently without the authority of any special law they ordered the appointment of a judge of probate, and Mr. Bradford was appointed. He was a son of Governor Bradford, was born in Plymouth, had dis- tinguished himself in the Indian wars, and was the last Deputy Governor of the Old Colony. He resigned his office in 1702, and died in 1704. NATHANIEL THOMAS, who succeeded him, was a grandson of William Thomas, who was one of the merchant ad- venturers, and who came from England in 1637. He had been a member of the Provincial Council under the charter, and resigned to accept the office of judge of probate, which he held until his death, in 1718. He was also a judge of the Inferior Court of Common

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

Pleas, and in 1812 was appointed judge of the Supe- rior Court of Judieature. Mr. Thomas was sue- eeeded by ISAAC WINSLOW, of Marshfield, son of Governor Josiah Winslow, who held the office until 1738. Mr. Winslow had also been a member of the Couneil during a period of thirty-two years. He was appointment judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1712, and afterwards its chief justice. He died Dee. 14, 1738, and was succeeded by JOHN CUSHING, of Scituate, who was also chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards judge of the Superior Court. Mr. Cushing was succeeded by WILLIAM SEVER, of Kingston, who held the office about three years. Mr. Sever was a graduate of Harvard in the elass of 1745, the first president of the Plymouth Bank, organized in 1803, and died in 1809, at the age of seventy-nine. He was the father of the late Capt. James Sever, of Kingston, post-captain in the United States navy. The successor of Mr. Sever, -Joseph Cushing, of Scituate,-a graduate of Har- vard in 1731, was succeeded in 1793 by JOSHUA THOMAS, of Plymouth, a graduate of Harvard in 1772. Mr. Thomas was a son of Dr. William Thomas, of Plymouth, and a descendant from William Thomas, one of the merchant adventurers. He served in the Revolution as an aid of his kinsman, Gen. John Thomas, of Kingston, and accompanied him in 1776 to Ticonderoga and Crown Point. He was represen- tative and senator to the General Court, and the first president of the Pilgrim Society. He died in 1821, and was succeeded by WILKES WOOD, of Middle- boro', a lawyer in full practice, and mueh esteemed as a man of high character and sterling attainments as a lawyer. Mr. Wood was the father of William H. Wood, who succeeded him, after an interval, in the same office, and of Joseph T. Wood, a late com- missioner of the county. Mr. Wood's successor in 1844, AARON HOBART, of East Bridgewater, will be remembered by many readers as a man of judicial traits and gentle deportment, and a mueh-respected judge. In 1858, WILLIAM H. WOOD succeeded Mr. Hobart, and died in 1883, beloved by all who came within the sphere of his influence, either as a judge, a lawyer, a neighbor, or friend.

Among the early judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas may be mentioned, in addition to those already referred to as having had seats on the beneh of that court, Ephraim Morton, of Plymouth, in 1692, a grandson of George Morton, who came in the " Ann" in 1623; John Wadsworth, of Duxbury, in 1692, a descendant from Christopher Wadsworth, who appeared in tho Plymouth Colony in 1632; Isaae Little, of Marshfield, in 1696, son of Thomas Little,

who appeared in Plymouth Colony in 1630; James Warren, of Plymouth, in 1700, a grandson of Rich- ard Warren, of the " Mayflower," who had been in the previous year sheriff of the county ; John Otis, of Seituate, in 1723, who had been sheriff in 1700; Nathaniel Thomas, Jr., of Marshfield, in 1715, who was also register of probate; Isaae Lothrop, of Plymouth, chief justice in 1738, who had also been sheriff ; Josiah Cotton, of Plymouth, in 1729, a grad- uate of Harvard in 1698, and son of Rev. John Cotton, of Plymouth, who was also register of pro- bate, and had been elerk of the courts; Nieholas Sever, of Kingston, in 1731, a graduate of Harvard in 1701; Peter Oliver, of Middleboro', in 1747, a graduate of Harvard in 1710; Thomas Foster, of Plymouth, in 1756, a graduate of Harvard in 1745, and afterwards a conspicuous loyalist; and John Winslow, of Plymouth, in 1762, distinguished for his military services at an earlier period.

Among the justices of the Circuit Court of Comn- mon Pleas may be mentioned Kilborn Whitman, of Pembroke, in 1811, a lawyer, who stood in the front rank of his profession and divided the honors with Franeis Baylies, of West Bridgewater, who for many years stood at the head of the Plymouth bar. Mr. Whitman was a graduate of Harvard in 1785 and, after a short service on the bench, was for many years attorney for the county. Nahum Mitchell, of East Bridgewater, was also an associate justice in this court in 1814, and for several years before and after. He was a graduate of Harvard in 1789. For many years before his death, which took place in 1853, he devoted himself to antiquarian and historieal pursuits, and published a history of Bridgewater, which per- formed valuable pioneer service in the study of gene- alogy and the preparation of town histories.

Since the adoption of the Constitution no inhab- itant of Plymouth County has occupied a seat in one of the higher courts of the commonwealth. There have been lawyers practicing in the county worthy of such a position, such as Francis Baylies of West Bridgewater, Kilborn Whitman of Pembroke, Charles J. Holmes of Rochester, Nathaniel M. Davis and Joshua Thomas of Plymouth, Thomas Prince Beal of Kingston, and Zachariah Eddy of Middleboro', all of whom would have filled to the credit of the county a seat on the beneli of either of the highor courts. It is not unlikely that they were at various times withiu the vision of the Executive in his search for incuul- bents of judicial posts. Mr. Baylies, Mr. Whitman, Mr. Eddy, and Mr. Thomas, with their largo praetiee and engrossing oeeupations, wore, nevertheless, men to whom higher stations, with their more pressing labors

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and unremunerative salaries, furnished no temptations to entice them away from the placid current of a country life. Mr. Davis, a graduate of Harvard in 1804. and Mr. Holmes, similar in their mental en- ; and a member of the American Philosophical Society. dowments and temperament and tastes, abundantly able to grace any position which they would accept. with large resources of comfort and enjoyment in the satisfaction of their literary tastes, would have been strongly disinclined to assume the burdens of a labor- ious office. Mr. Beal, a graduate of Harvard in 1806, was too shrewd a man not to see himself as others saw him .- a skillful, effective, and successful jury lawyer, whose great gifts as an advocate would have been lost in the position of judge.

But Plymouth County blood has found its way to seats on the bench, though not in the veins of those who were inhabitants of the county at the time of their appointment.

JOHN DAVIS. who in his early professional career was a member of the Plymouth County bar, should be remembered in this record. He was the sou of Thomas and Mercy ( Hedge) Davis, and was born in Plymouth, January 25, 1761. His father was a suc- cessful merchant, and son of Thomas Davis, who mar- ried Katharine Wendell, of Albany. He was fitted for college in the schools of his native town, and graduated at Harvard in 1781, in the class with Sam- uel Dexter, afterwards United States senator, and Isaiah Lewis Green, Nathan Read, and Nathaniel Ruggles, all of whom became members of Congress. He studied law in the office of Oakes Angier, of West Bridgewater, and Benjamin Lincoln, of Boston, and was admitted to the bar in 1786, at Plymouth, where he at once settled in practice. In 1788 he was chosen a delegate to the convention which adopted the Con- stitution, and was its youngest and last surviving member. He represented his native town several .years in the Legislature, and in 1795 was chosen senator from Plymouth County. In 1795 he was appointed by Washington United States comptroller of the currency, and shortly after United States dis- trict attorney, when he removed from Plymouth to Boston, after nearly ten years' connection with the Plymouth bar. In 1801 he was appointed by Presi- dent Adams judge of the United States District Court, and served on the bench until July, 1841. From 1800 to 1810 he was one of the Fellows of Harvard University ; from 1810 to 1827 its treasurer ; and from 1827 to 1837 one of its board of overseers. In 1802 he received the degree of Doctorate of Laws from Dartmouth College, and in 1842 from his own Alma Mater. In 1791 he became a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, and served as its

president from 1818 to 1835, when he declined a re- election. He was for many years secretary and coun- selor of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,

At various times he was called upon to deliver oc- casional addresses, among which were an address be- fore the Massachusetts Charitable Fire Association, in 1799 ; a eulogy on Washington, before the Academy of Arts and Sciences; an oration at Plymouth on the anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, in 1800; and an address before the Historical Society in 1813. Among his other literary productions are the Pilgrim Ode, "Sons of Renowned Sires," and an cdi- tion of Morton's "New England's Memorial," enriched with copious and profound historical notes, which have performed an invaluable service in extending the horizon and enlarging the vision in the field of Pil- grim history. The Pilgrim Ode, written for the cele- bration of the anniversary of the landing in 1794, was an inspiration, and, like the missionary hymn of Bishop Heber, was the creation of an hour, and made the name of its author immortal. On the evening before the celebration he was told that an occasional hymn, which had been expected, had failed, and was asked by the committee to prepare onc. He neither yielded to the request nor declined it, but on retiring to his chamber for the night, he revolved the thought in his mind, and as it unfolded itself in satisfactory measure, he paced his chamber unmindful of the re- pcated calls of his wife, who at waking intervals be- came solicitous on account of what seemed to her his strange behavior, evolving linc after line and stanza after stanza until the work was complete. It was stored, however, in his memory until the next morning, and then took shape and form on paper to be remem- bered and repeated and sung as long as the memory of the Pilgrims shall live.

But these literary pursuits-to which must be added continuous studies of botany, astronomy, mineralogy, and conchology, in which his attainments were far from limited-were avocations only, affording him re- laxation and rest from his arduous judicial labors. These labors were specially arduous. They were begun at a period when expounders of admiralty law were compelled accedere fontes, as was said by Mr. Franklin Dexter, the representative of the bar, in ad- dressing Judge Davis at the time of his resignation, and found little aid in the draughts of others. Ques- tions, too, arising under the embargo laws were pecu- liarly perplexing and embarrassing, for these laws, as oppressive as they were even to his own kinsmen, he was required to impartially enforce. The following language uttered by him on the bench illustrates the

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HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

difficulties surrounding him, and his conscientious de- termination to perform his duty : " I lament the pri- vations, the interruptions of profitable pursuits and manly enterprise, to which it has been thought neccs- ' sary to subject the citizens of this great community. I respect the merchant and his employment. The disconcerted mariner deserves our sympathy. The sound of the axe and of the hammer would be grate- ful music. Ocean in itself a dreary waste, by the swelling sail and floating streamer becomes an exhilar- ating object ; and it is painful to perceive by force of any contingencies the American stars and stripes van- ishing from the scene. Commerce, indeed, merits all the eulogy which we have heard so eloquently pro- nounced at the bar. It is the welcome attendant of civilized man in all his various stations. It is the . nurse of arts; the general friend of liberty, justice, and order; the sure source of national wealth and greatness ; the promoter of moral and intellectual im- provement, of generous affections and enlarged philan- thropy. Connecting seas, flowing rivers, and capacious havens equally with the fertile bosom of the earth suggest to the reflecting mind the purposes of a bene- ficent Deity relative to the destination and employ- ments of man. Let us not entertain the gloomy ap- prehension that advantages so precious are altogether abandoned ; that pursuits so interesting and beneficial are not to be resumed. Let us rather cherish a hope that commercial activity and intercourse, with all their wholesome energies, will be revived, and that our merchants and our mariners will again be permitted to pursue their wonted employments consistently with the national safety, honor, and independence."

It is easy to see that a judge, who displayed the spirit suggested by this language, would have admin- istered the laws, however distasteful they might be, to the satisfaction and with the approval of even those on whom they imposed the heaviest burdens. So mild and gentle and sweet was his invariable deport- ment, and yet so firm and stern and unanswerable was his expressed conviction, that it was said by one of his eulogists that he was a living illustration of the words of Malebranche, " Truth loves gentleness and peace." It was said of him by the late Hon. George S. Hil- lard, " His was the pure and lofty spirit of the Pil- grims softened by the influences of a milder age and a creed less stern. In him were seen the prisca fides, the ancestral faith of Marcellus, and the mites sapientia, the gentle wisdom of Lælius. He was wisc and good, tender and true; the calmn of age was in his youth, and the freshness and hopefulness of youth was in his agc."

Judge Davis married, in 1786, Ellen, daughter of

William and Elizabeth (Marston) Watson, of Plym- outh, and had Ellen Watson, born 1787, who mar- ried Rev. Ezra Shaw Goodwin, of Sandwich; Eliza- betli Marston, born 1789, who married Hon. William Sturgis, of Boston ; Marcia, born 1790, who married Miles Whitworth White, of Boston ; John Watson, born 1792, who married Susan Hayden, daughter of Elkanah Tallman, of New Bedford ; and Sarah, born in 1794, who married Ashel Plympton, of Boston. Judge Davis resigned his seat on the bench in July, 1841, and died at his home in Boston, January 14, 1847, at the age of eighty-six years.

CHARLES H. WARREN, also a native of Plym- outh, and a Harvard graduate in 1817, an adopted son of New Bedford, after serving many years as the attorney for the Southcastern District of Massachu- setts, became judge of the old Court of Common Pleas. He was a district attorney who never pre- pared a brief nor lost an indictment, a judge who never took a note, nor ever failed in his memory of the minutest testimony. The brilliancy of his pro- fessional career was only equaled by the flashes of humor which illumined his conversation in social life.

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THOMAS RUSSELL, also a native of Plymouth, and a Harvard graduate in 1845, sought wider fields for legal practice thau his native town presented, and be- came also a judge of the Common Pleas Court, whose service was marked by accurate knowledge of law and its quick application, as well as by an indefatigable industry.

PELEG SPRAGUE .- Though never a member of the Plymouth County bar, Mr. Sprague, as a native of the county, deserves a placc on the roll of its dis- tinguished men. He was born in Duxbury, April 27, 1793, and was the son of Seth and Deborah (Sampson) Sprague, and a descendant from William Sprague, who came to Salem in 1629. It is said that the father and mother of the subject of this sketch lived together under the same roof sixty-four years. Mr. Sprague was the ninth of fifteen children, and the family blood, though shared by so many, was characterized by unusual strength and vigor. Seth Sprague, the father, lived to an advanced age, and was in his later years the patriarch of the town, which through a protracted period he had served and honored. He was forty years a justice of the peace and quorum, twenty-seven years a member of the State Legislature, and twice a member of the Elec- toral College. To the last he retained his mental clasticity and strength, and at a period of life when most men ride contentedly at the political and social anchors which they had cast in their earlier manhood, he boldly left his moorings and entered with enthu-

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siasm into the anti-slavery cause as one of its pioneers and trusted advisers.

Mr. Sprague, the son, graduated at Harvard in 1812, in the class with Charles G. Loring, Franklin Dexter, and Bishop Wainwright, and received the degree of Doctor of Laws from his Alma Mater in 1847. He studied law at the Litchfield School, and in the offices of Samuel Hubbard and Levi Lincoln, and was admitted to the bar in 1815. Soon after his admission he removed to Augusta, in what was then the district of Maine, and after a residence there of two years finally settled in Hallowell. He took an active part in the movement which resulted in the separation of Maine from Massachusetts, and was a member of the first two Legislatures of the new State in 1820 and 1821. In 1825 he was chosen representative to Congress, and served in the Lower House until 1829, when he was chosen United States senator. After a service of six years in the Senate, he removed in 1835 to Boston, where he continued the practice of law in a wider field for the display of his acknowledged ability and learning.

In July. 1841, after the resignation of John Davis of his seat on the bench of the United States District Court, he was appointed by Harrison to fill the vacancy, and performed the duties of that office-made pecu- liarly arduous by the novel cases in American juris- prudence arising during the war of the Rebellion- with distinguished ability until his resignation in 1865. It was said by one of his eulogists that during the war a distinguished practitioner in his court ex- pressed, in conversation, serious doubts whether the offense of treason could be committed in Massa- chusetts where no war existed. He replied, " Bring me a man who, here in Massachusetts, has by any act, however slight and however remote from the field of war, intentionally given aid to the rebels in arms, as by communicating to them information or advice, and I will not only show you that I can try him, but that I can have him hanged." This in- formal opinion had the flavor of a judicial decision, and was accepted as law.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 3

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