History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 7

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 7

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BARTHOLOMEW BROWN1 was born in Danvers, Mass., Sept. 8, 1772, and died in Boston, April 14, 1854, aged eighty-one years, seven months, and six days. The immediate cause of death was apoplexy, which occurred during an attack of pneumonia that was contracted while he was on his return from New York during a severe storm. He was the son of John Brown, and his mother was Guiger Hutchinson, both natives of Danvers, Mass. Guiger Hutchinson was the daughter of Col. Israel Hutchinson, of Danvers, who was an officer in Gen. Washington's army. Mr. Bar- tholomew Brown was a graduate of Harvard College in the class of 1799. He was married in East Bridge- water, Mass., by the Rev. Samuel Angier, to Betsey, daughter of Gen. Sylvanus Lazell, Thanksgiving-day, Nov. 26, 1801. His children were Lucy Ann L., George Henry, and Harriet M. Lucy Ann L. Brown married the late Dr. A. K. Borden, of North Bridge- water, now Brockton, Mass. The only child now living is Harriet M., she residing in Cleveland, Ohio. He practiced law at the Plymouth County bar until a few years before his death; was at one time presi- dent of the Handel and Haydn Musical Society of Boston, being also one of its earliest members. He was composer of many pieces of music which were popular in those earlier years of our history, and had a fine tenor voice, with which he was enabled to ren- der the music of the oratorios in a most acceptable manner, being one of the society's soloists for a num- ber of years. The latter part of his life was spent with his children and relatives, during which time he wrote for several periodicals, and also furnished the calendars for the old " Farmers' Almanac" for a num- ber of years. He was a man of the most upright character, temperate in all things, and beloved by all who knew him.

- HON. WELCOME YOUNG2 was born in East Bridge- water, in 1792, and died on the spot of his birth, May 13, 1871. He was a son of Robert and Mary (Kingman) Young. His grandfather, John Young, was born in the shire of Renfrew, Scotland, and came to this country when quite young, and became an ap- prentice as a smith to Hon. Hugh Orr, his cousin, who came from Scotland, and settled in East Bridge- water in 1740. In 1752, John Young married Eu- nice Bass, a daughter of Capt. Jonathan Bass and a sister of Hugh Orr's wife.

Hon. Welcome Young fitted for college under the Rev. James Flint, the then pastor of the First Church in East Bridgewater, and who was afterwards settled

1 By H. F. Borden, M.D.

2 By Hon. B. W. Harris.

{ 2

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

in Salem, and who was a very distinguished Unitarian preacher and writer. Mr. Young graduated at Brown University in 1814. At that time, Hon. Bartholo- mew Brown had succeeded to the office and law practice of Hon. Nahum Mitchell, in East Bridge- water, and Mr. Young entered his office as a student- at-law. He was admitted to the bar at Plymouth in 1819, and immediately opened an office in Halifax, Mass., which was then a town of considerable impor- tanee as a manufacturing place, having large cotton- mills for that period, and other manufacturing inter- ests, and having considerable wealth. In 1826, Mr. Brown was appointed to an important position in the Massachusetts General Hospital, and gave up his practice to Mr. Young, who removed from Halifax to East Bridgewater, where he continued to reside ever after. Mr. Young continued in the active practice of his profession until 1859, when he met with a very serious accident, from which he never fully recovered, and which so far disabled him that he was never able to resume his practice. He had put into his well a new windlass, which was provided with a metal strap or band, instead of a rope or chain. While showing it to a friend, and explaining its operation, the bucket slipped and fell, and Mr. Young, in an attempt to arrest its fall into the well, took hold of this metal strap or band with both hands, but the weight and downward velocity of the bucket were so great that the sharp-edged ribbon of metal was drawn quickly through his hands, cutting deeply into the flesh. The consequent loss of blood was so great that for a long time he was prostrated and in a critical con- dition, and being of feeble constitution, he never so far recovered his strength as to be able to actively engage in business.

Mr. Young held numerous town offices, was a senator for Plymouth County in the years 1847 and 1848, was a justice of the peace and notary publie for many years, and held the office of commissioner of insolveney from 1841 to 1861, during which period all the insolvency business of the county eame before him.

Mr. Young was a man of strictly temperate habits and exemplary life. He was upright, just, and honest in all his dealings, and commanded the respect and confidence of the public. He was active and publie- spirited, and did much to promote the interests of the town and the church to which he belonged. He took deep interest in matters of education, and was one of the trustees of the East Bridgewater Academy, which for many years held honorable rank among the schools of that period.

For twenty-five years he had a very large share of

the legal practice of the town in which he lived, and much of that in the neighboring towns; did a great part of the conveyancing and probate business, and was much consulted at his office. He was a safe and careful adviser, and held confidential relations with a large circle of clients, and their secrets were never betrayed. He was not fond of controversy, nor fitted by nature for the conflicts of the court-room. He was a peacemaker, and not a promoter of litigation in the courts, and in this respect his example is worthy of emulation, for the true office of the attorney-at-law is to adjust and harmonize differences, rather than to promote, inflame, or pander to them. He never went into court with a ease which he could honorably ad- just and settle out of court, but he never knowingly or intentionally sacrificed a client's interests for fear of controversy. He was often associated in impor- tant causes with such distinguished men as William Baylies, Hon. John H. Clifford, and Ellis Ames, Esq., and others

The office which Mr. Young occupied stood upon the land now a part of Henry Hobart's homestead. It was first occupied by Judge Mitchell, then by Mr. Brown, then by Mr. Young for several years, then for a time by Hon. Aaron Hobart, and again by Mr. Young up to 1856. It was removed soon after the fire of that year, which destroyed the hotel near which it stood. Among the men who studied law in that office were Hon. N. M. Davis, of Plymouth ; Ezekiel Whitman, afterwards chief justice of Maine ; Hon. Elijah Hayward, of Ohio, a member of Jack- son's cabinet for a while ; Hon. Jesse E. Keith, now judge of probate for the county of Plymouth ; and B. W. Harris, who was a partner with Mr. Young for one year up to July, 1851.

Mr. Young was twiee married .. His first wife was Jennett Orr, daughter of Deacon William Harris, to whom he was married in 1816. By this marriage he had one child, Mary A., now the wife of J. S. East- man, Esq., of Boston. She died in 1821, and he then married Rolinda Sturtevant, of Halifax. By this marriage he had Samuel A., Elizabeth C., Rob- ert, Josiah, and Charlotte. His widow, Elizabeth, and Robert only survive him.

HON. AARON HOBART, son of Aaron, who was a direct descendant of Edmund Hobart, who settled in Hingham in 1635, was born in what is now South Abington, June 25, 1787. His mother was Su- sanna, daughter of Elihu Adams, who was a brother of President John Adams. He fitted for college with the Rev. Mr. Gurney, and at the carly age of fourteen years entored Brown University, where ho graduated in 1805. At the close of his collegiato

THE COURTS AND BAR.

course, having decided upon the law as his life-work, he entered the office of Hon. Nahum Mitchell, at East Bridgewater, and was admitted to the bar in 1809. He then spent one year in Europe, and upon his return commenced the practice of his profession in Hanover, in about the year 1811, and remained there until 1824. when he settled in East Bridge- water, where he ever afterwards resided.

Judge Hobart early took a leading position at the Plymouth bar, and very soon became prominently identified with the political interests of Plymonth County. While residing in Hanover he was chosen to the State Senate in 1820, and in the same year also was elected to Congress to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. Zabdiel Sampson, of Plymouth. He was probably the youngest member of Congress at that time, being only thirty-three years of age. He entered upon his Congressional career with a comprehensive idea of the demands of the section which he represented, and so satisfactorily did Judge Hobart discharge the dnties of the position that he was re-elected for three successive Congresses, remaining until 1827, when in consequence of ill health he resigned, and resumed the practice of law in East Bridgewater.

Judge Hobart's Congressional career covered one of the most interesting periods of our country's his- tory. He was in Congress with Webster, Calhoun, and John Randolph of Roanoke, whose withering sarcasm and invective has never been equaled in the halls of Congress. He witnessed the presentation of Gen. Lafayette to Congress, and was also a partici- pator in the vote which made John Quincy Adams President. His journal, kept by him during these years, wherein he sketches, with a graceful pen, men and scenes in Congress, is in the possession of his son, Aaron Hobart, Esq., of East Bridgewater, and covers seven large manuscript volumes. A consider- able portion of these volumes, however, contains cor- respondence with his constituents and others. He was in Congress also during the struggle over the " Missouri Compromise." He was subsequently and for many years a member of Governor Lincoln's Council. He was appointed judge of probate for Plymouth County, and held the office until it was abolished. He was also a member of one of the Con- stitutional Conventions.

Notwithstanding Judge Hobart was engaged in the active practice of an arduous profession, he found time to indulge in literary pursuits, and his " History of Abington," a volume of one hundred and seventy- six pages, published in 1839, is an invaluable contri- bution to the historic literature of the commonwealth.

He was a constant attendant of the Unitarian Church, and a Democrat in politics.

Judge Hobart was a man of fine legal training, great force of character, sound judgment, and one of Plymouth County's most honored and esteemed citi- zens. He died Sept. 19, 1858.

In 1814 he united in marriage with Maria Leach, daughter of Andrew Leach, of Belfast, Me., and their family consisted of the following: Susan, wife of Eliab Latham, of East Bridgewater ; Aaron, of East Bridgewater ; George, deceased ; Maria, wife of John Lane, of East Bridgewater; Edward, of New York; John, of East Bridgewater; and Catherine, wife of Oakes A. Ames, of North Easton, Mass.

DANIEL WEBSTER .- Though Mr. Webster was not, strictly speaking, a member of the Plymouth County bar, yet, as a resident in the county twenty- five years, he deserves a place in this record. It is not proposed to give a memoir of his life; that has been so often undertaken that it would be presump- tuous to enter upon so formidable a task. Neither is a sketch of his life in the most superficial form pro- posed to be included within the limits available to the author. It is his design merely to speak of him as a Plymouth County man, an inhabitant of Marsh- field ; a private citizen, not a statesman ; a neighbor, not a lawyer ; a friend, irrespective of his position in the nation as the grandest specimen of human devel- opment which the institutions of America have pro- duced. His biography has been written by Everett and Curtis, and to a very limited extent by himself; reminiscences of his life have been from time to time spread before the public eye ; his public and private correspondence has been published by loving friends ; his character has been analyzed by admirers on the one hand and unjust critics on the other ; but Daniel Webster, the plain, unpretending citizen and voter of Marshfield, the substratum of whose every-day life, on which the magnificent structure of Daniel Webster, the orator, the lawyer, the statesman, was built, has never been adequately presented and described.

The life of Mr. Webster is yet to be written. Exact justice has never yet been awarded him. Those who worshiped him as their idol have presented one side of his character, forgetful or neglectful of the other; those who have inherited prejudices from contemporary opponents of his political career have dwelt on his faults, and overlooked those grand traits in his character, which in the nature of man must necessarily be balanced by those which, to say the least, are less commendable and attractive. His char- acter was like his native State, showing on its sur- face the mountain peaks and the lower lands of the

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

valley. The mountain eannot exist without the in- tervale, nor ean extraordinary intellectual powers be found in man without eorresponding depressions to preserve the equipoise of a general level. Thus far those who have explored the eharaeter and life of Mr. Webster have been like sueeessive surveyors examining and mapping out the land where he was born. One brings to us reports of the snow-eapped peaks rising above the elouds, impressing the beholder with their extraordinary grandeur. Another, with short-sighted vision, rides through the gaps and notehes, and, seeing nothing above the level of his own eyes, reports a level country, an unproductive soil, and nauseous streams flowing from poisonous swamps. The surveyor has yet to make his appear- anee who will delineate with a just and impartial mind and hand those features of the landseape which must always exist as eomplements of each other.

In 1825, Mr. Webster was a member of the Nine- teenth Congress, having taken his seat for the first time the year before. He had already won a national reputation. He had then delivered at Plymouth the oration on the 22d of Deeember, 1820; he had made his great argument in Gibbon against Ogden, in which, in accordance with his views, the eourt deeided that the grant by the State of New York to the assignees of Robert Fulton of the right to navigate with steam the rivers, harbors, and bays of the State was uneon- stitutional ; and he had delivered his memorable oration at the laying of the corner-stone of the Bunker Hill monument. In the summer of that year, as had been his eustom for several years before, he went with his wife and son Fleteher to Sandwich, to enjoy a season of fishing for trout. Before leaving Boston, in a conversation with Mr. Samuel K. Wil- liams, Mr. Williams asked him why he did not go to Marshfield instead of Sandwich. What Mr. Wil- liams said to him about Marshfield impressed him favorably, and he determined to visit it on his return.

After he had taken all the fish he wanted, he bade his old friend Johnny Trout, the fisherman and guide at Seusset, good-by, and he and his wife, in an old- fashioned chaise, with a trunk lashed to the axle, and his son, Fleteher, mounted on a pony, started for home, with the determination to stop at Marshfield on the way. Mr. Williams had given Mr. Webster directions to see Capt. John Thomas, a respectable and intelligent Marshfield farmer, who would doubt- less be glad to entertain him, and give him all the information he might need about that part of the country. Capt. Thomas was then the owner and oe- eupant of a comfortable home, and a farm of about one hundred and sixty aeres. This farm was all that

was left of his aneestral estate, the remainder, while in the possession of his father, Nathaniel Ray Thomas, a eonspieuous loyalist, having been eonfiseated when he left New England, in 1776, and went with the British army, after the evaeuation of Boston, to Hali- fax, Nova Seotia. This portion was saved to his wife as her right in the estate of the husband. Capt. John Thomas was the only child who did not ac- company his father, and consequently the farm eame finally into his hands. Up to the time of the confis- eation the estate had remained intaet from the time of the original grant by the Plymouth Colony Court to the aneestor, William Thomas, on the 7th of Jan- uary, 1640/1. The following is a copy of the grant :

" At a Court of Assistants held the viith of January in the xiiith yeare of the Raigne of our Sovraigne Lord Charles by the Grace of God of England, Scotland France & Ireland, King Defender of the Fayth & C.

" Before Thom Prince gent Govnr

William Bradford John Alden

Edward Winslow John Atwood &

John Browne

Gent. Assists of the sd govnt

" Memorand; that the court hath graunted unto Willm Thomas gent all those lands layd out hy Mr. Edward Winslow Mr. John Alden and Mr. Willm Collyer, viz: all that whole neck of upland with all the poynts extending themselves into any the marshes as also those hammocks of upland called ilands in the marshes before the same from the upper end of the great fresh marsh called Greens Harbour River Marsh southward and from Greenes Harbour Freshett east and by south as it is marked forth hy the said Edward Winslow John Alden & Wm Collyer to the southwest corner of a swamp ahutting upon Cars- well Marsh neare the heigh way leading betwixt Duxborrow & Carsewell the easterly side thereof adjoyneing to Carswell being the lands of the said Edward Winslow ; the said Edward Wins- low his heires & assignes being allowed so muuch upland wood stuff or tymber as to set and mayntaine a fence betweene Cars- well Meddow or Marish and the npland of the said Willm Thomas; the northerly side of the said upland hereby graunted abutting upon Greens Harbour River Marsh and from the northwest poynt of upland between the said Edward Winslow & Willin Thomas to an iland graunted to the said Willm Thomas before their bounds upon a straight line to Green's Harbour River with the marsh land and meddow betweene that and a poynt of upland called the Eagles Nest; the westerne hounds of the said lands abutting upon Greens Harbour Fresh Marsh aforesaid; provided and alwayes reserved & accepted that if any meddow be graunted to any that abutteth upon the uplands hereby graunted the said Willm Thomas his heires and assignes do allow wood stuff or tymbor from conveyent places of the said upland to feuce and mayntaine the samo about the said meddowes; to have and to hold all and singular the said lands meddowes marshes and premises with all and every part and parcell thereof and theire appurtenances unto the said Willm Thomas his heiros & assignes forever (except the wood stuff or tyuber for fenceing bofore excopted) and to the onely propor use & behoofe of him tho said Willin Thomas his heires and as- signs forover."

William Thomas was one of the merehant adven- turers who furnished the Pilgrims with capital and

THE COURTS AND BAR.

vessels for their emigration to New England, and were partners in the enterprise. He was one of sev- eral of the adventurers who finally cast in their own fortunes with the Pilgrims, and he came in the " Marye and Ann" from Yarmouth, in 1637, and settled in Marshfield. Adjoining the lands of Mr. Thomas were those of Edward Winslow, bounded out to him by the court on the 4th of December, 1637, as follows :

" Mr. Edward Winslow having formerly a graunt of divers lands at or upon a neck of land called Green Harbour Neck (alis Carsewell , the said graunt was confirmed, together with all and singular the upland upon the said neck & severall branches thereof, bounded & marked by Mr. Thomas Prence & Mr. John Alden, Assistants to the gorment, viz., westward upon a marsh called Carsewell Marsh, and from thence with a small ridge of hills to the great marsh on Greene Harbour River, according to severall marks by them made & caused to be made, eastward abutting upon or neere the river called Greene Harbour River, and on the north and south side with great marshes, on either side the same, which lands so bounden are given and confirmed to the said Edward Winslow, his heirs and assigns, forever."

These two estates, including about two thousand seven hundred acres, had at the time of Mr. Web- ster's visit mainly passed out of the Thomas and Winslow families (except the acres held by Capt. John Thomas, a lineal descendant from the anecstor William Thomas), and to the farm-house standing on these acres. on a fine summer's day, Mr. Wehster wended his way. Capt. Thomas had never seen Mr. Webster, but he had read his speeches and orations, and. like every other New Englander even at that early day. had set him up as one of his idols. After leav- ing Duxbury Mr. Webster took the wrong road, and instead of approaching the farm by the direct route from the south, he made a detour, and fortunately approached it from the north. From the various points of view on this northerly road the farm, with its sunny meadows and placid lake and comfortable dwelling, nestling as if for protection under the spreading branches of the since famous elm, showed to the best advantage, and Mrs. Webster, with a woman's eye for beauty, was enthusiastic in her ad- miration of its attractive charms. As the chaisc, with its hanging trunk, followed by the pony, with Fletcher on his back, was driven down the avenue, Capt. Thomas, with his son, Charles Henry (now living in Boston), was sitting on the piazza. The hospitable farmer stepped out to greet his guest, whoever he might be, as he alighted from his chaise, and it is not difficult to imagine the feelings with which this modest, hard-working, home-loving Marshfield man received the outstretched hand of his visitor. "This is Capt. Thomas ?" said Mr. Webster. " Ycs," said the ' exhibit on the highway and in the streets of the city.

...

farmer. "I am Mr. Webster," continued the visitor. " I thought so," said the captain, and this was the intro- duction to a friendship which continued to strengthen until broken by death, and which was as full of devo- tion and reverence and love as ever a friendship be- tween man and man eould boast. It is no fceble answer to the cavils of the critic,-to the eensures of exploring biographers, who scratch and scrape the burnished gold in search of a baser metal beneath, -- to the unjust and unjudicial strictures on the character of Mr. Webster, that he inspired the affection and esteem of an honest, clear-headed, intelligent, pure- minded man like Capt. Thomas, who for years had measured and weighed and sounded the man, the very fibres of whose heart he had touched, and whose inner- most life had been spread out daily before him.

The result of the interview was an invitation to stay over the night, and for two or three days Mr. Webster and his wife and son remained as welcome guests at the farm. During those two or three days he became acquainted with Seth Peterson and Porter Wright, the two men who were afterwards his right and left hand in his Marshfield life. He shot birds on the marshes, he fished for cod in the bay,-he was satisfied that at last he had found the right place for his vacation, recreation, and rest. From that time forth until he finally bought the cstate the recurrence of dog-days found him annually a guest at the Marsh- field farm. The interest which he felt in Capt. Thomas and his wife extended to his sons, Charles Henry and Nathaniel Ray. Charles was the elder son and his father's helpmate on the farm. Nathan- iel Ray, or Ray, as he was always called, was the younger, and still attending school under the care of Rev. George Putnam, then a teacher of one of the schools in Duxbury. The attractive deportinent of Ray, whose future course of life was as yet not marked out, especially interested him, and it was not long before he drew him to himself and directed his career. When Mr. Webster was about to start for Boston, at the close of his visit, Ray happened to be holding by the halter a handsome horse belonging to his father, which attracted Mr. Webster's attention. " Capt. Thomas," said he, " I like that halter ; I would like to buy it." The request was no sooner made than acceded to, and the boy was told to take the halter off and place it in the chaise. " Ah, but I want the halter with the head in it !" said Mr. Webster. And thus the horse was bought, and the purchaser started for Boston with it tied behind the chaise, form- ing, with Fletcher and the pony in the rear, a proces- sion which the statesmen of to-day would hesitate to

HISTORY OF PLYMOUTH COUNTY.

At a subsequent visit, on his return, he said to Ray, " Get into the chaise with me and go to Boston." The father was willing, and tlie son went with a glad heart, going to Mr. Webster's house on Summer Street, and remaining there during his stay in Boston. On the next day he was told to take Mr. Webster's law- satchel and accompany him to the Supreme Court, where he was to argue an important flowage case, in which parties in Lowell were the plaintiffs and defend- ants. For the first time in a great city, this country lad was launched at once from the quiet shades of a country farm, not to the novel sights and sounds of the streets of Boston, as many a country boy has been before and since, but into the great arena of life in which the foremost men of the day, Mason and Web- ster, were the contestants. Through the live-long day this boy of sixteen, with brown hands and tanned face, sat within the bar, listening and wondering if this was the world outside of which he had been born, and for the duties of which the schools whose irksome requirements he had been compelled to meet were the means of preparation. From this time Ray Thomas was practically the ward of Mr. Webster, and Mr. Webster was his guardian. He was placed at first in the store of Trott & Bumstead, wholesale grocers on South Market Street, and, after the Stephen White murder trial in Salem, in which Mr. Webster acted as assistant counsel for the State, in the count- ing-room of Stephen White, the nephew of the mur- dered man, and the father of the lady who afterwards became the wife of Mr. Fletcher Webster. But he remained in neither of these places long. Mr. Web- ster wanted him nearer to himself, and in the end he became his confidential secretary, the manager of his Western lands, and his other self in everything out- side of his professional duties and his business trans- actions at Marshfield, which were mainly conducted under the faithful and assiduous care of Mr. Charles Henry Thomas, the older son.

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History of Plymouth county, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 7

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