History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 12

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 12

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

And now, with an affectionate reverence inspired by personal association, and cultivated from boyhoood through the changing years, until the writer was him- self launched upon his professional career, it becomes my delicate duty to speak of one who, for more than fifty years of progress in the science of the law, kept ever abreast of change and improvement, and whom death found still faithful to his choseu calling, as when, with youthful ardor, he first essayed its arduous pathway.

PETER CHILD BACON was born in Dudley in 1804. His father, Jeptha Bacon, though not a lawyer by profession, was, in his day, when every town had not its resident attorney, resorted to by his neighbors for advice in their affairs, wherein his judgment and ex- perience were recognized as valuable assistance. Like many other justices of the peace, he was often called upon to draft conveyances and wills, and in the obser- vation of his father's really considerable practice, it is probable that Mr. Bacon acquired his first inclination towards his life-work. After graduating at Brown in 1827, the latter entered the New Haven Law School, and supplemented his studies there by reading in the office of Davis & Allen, iu Worcester, Judge Barton, in Oxford, and George A. Tufts, in Dudley.

During these preparatory years it was his practice to devote sixteen hours of the twenty-four to his books. Blackstone he read and re-read with earnest attention, and for years after he had entered the bar he annually reviewed the classic pages. For these commentaries he always entertained the highest opinion as a groundwork for a thorough knowledge of the law, placing it first in the hands of each of his students, commending them to learn its definitions ipsissimis verbis, and failing not to test their obedi- ence to the injunction by his questions. For two years he kept his office in his native town and for twelve years more in the adjoining town of Oxford. In 1844 he removed to Worcester and there, till with- in four days of his death, with an interval of only one year of rest, devoted himself exclusively to the law.

It will be noticed that he came to the har seven years before the death of Benjamin Adams, of Ux- bridge, whose professional life carried us back to the time of Judge Sprague, and thus connected the story with the earliest stages of the county's progress.

Upon coming to Worcester Mr. Bacon formed a partnership with his former instructor, Judge Barton, who had just resigned the probate judgeship. Levi Lincoln was then occupied with the duties of the gubernatorial chair. Pliny Merrick and Emory Washburn had just taken seats on the bench of the Common Pleas. Charles Allen, from the same bench, in that year resumed his practice. Rejoice Newton and Samuel Burnside were still at the bar. Isaac Davis had begun to interest himself more extensively in other than professional employments. Alexander H. Bullock, Henry Chapin and Francis H. Dewey

had recently established their offices. Of those now in active practice only Joseph Mason, Esq., was then admitted, and he was then in Templeton. Mr. Bacon preferred to associate with himself in business some brother lawyer to share the responsibilities of the trial of causes, and especially after 1865, on his re- turn from a needed rest in Europe, he left to younger partners the transaction of the business before the courts. After Judge Barton retired from the firm of Barton, Bacon & Barton, in 1849, he was for a short time connected with the late Judge Dwight Foster.

For eighteen years the firm of Bacon & Aldrich carried on business in the most uninterrupted har- mony and friendship between the partners, until the junior member accepted his present position in the Superior Court. W. S. B. Hopkins and Mr. Bacon's son made up the firm of Bacon, Hopkins & Bacon, which existed at the time of the veteran lawyer's death.

When he came to the bar the whole number of Massachusetts Reports was but twenty-five. Making himself familiar with these, he read with care each new volume as it was published, and his one hundred and forty volumes are filled with marginal notes and hieroglyphics, showing where his eye had marked an important decision or a questionable dictum. He made it a practice, which he recommended to his students, to read the statement of facts in cases in- volving vexed questions, work ont his own solution by investigation of earlier authorities, and then com- pare his result with the reasoning of the opinion. No question of law ever was suggested to him that he did not endeavor to solve either at the time or at the next leisure hour. He loved nothing better than to sit with his students posing them with legal conun- drums, or listening to the problems which perplexed them and arguing out their moot cases. His office thus became a model law-school, to whose instruc- tions multitudes of lawyers still look back with affec- tionate gratitude.

During his professional life almost the whole of onr system of equity jurisprudence was brought to its present advanced condition. By piecemeal equity powers were conferred by statute on the Supreme Court, but it was not until 1857 that full jurisdiction was granted, according to the nsage and practice of Courts of Chancery, and since that time, by the slow process of judicial decisions and supplementary stat- utes, great advances have been made in this most in- teresting and valuable method of legal procedure. Mr. Bacon was an equity lawyer, and owned and read a valuable library of text-books on the subject long before there was opportunity in our courts to avail himself of most of its remedial processes.

Three times hesaw the statutes of the State codi- fied after growing to unwieldy proportions, and his copies of the Revised, General and Public Statutes each show his careful noting of subsequent amend- ments. "Always consult the statutes; never give an

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opinion without seeing what the statutes say," was his frequent admonition to his students. His learn- ing covered every branch and phase of the wide field of legal doctrine. Perhaps the law of real property in general, and especially the Massachusetts doctrine of the rights of mill-owners in the streams which turn their wheels, and the law of corporations, may be mentioned as having attracted a large share of his attention.

During the operation of the United States Bank- rupt Law, from 1867 to 1878, Mr. Bacon was register in bankruptcy for this district. Its complicated du- ties he thoroughly mastered, and with patient fideli- ty discharged its functions, which were principally of a judicial character. It was the habit of his mind to cautiously weigh the arguments on each side of a question on which his opinion was sought, and so many were the possible objections which his wide knowledge suggested to either view that his final de- cision was long in maturing, and generally given with some reservation of a possible modification. Like Lord Eldon, he knew so much law that he knew how little of it was absolutely uncontro- verted.

His most valuable services were rendered as coun- sel in chambers, where the whole wealth of his learn- ing and experience were at the service of his clients. Yet, as an advocate before juries in the first thirty years of his practice, he obtained a large influence by the thoroughness of his preparation, and by that evident sincerity which characterized his every utter- ance. His arguments on questions of law were sure to bring to the aid of the court all that could, by research and logic, be found to sustain his posi- tions.

Notwithstanding his enthusiastic devotion to his profession, Dr. Bacon, as we loved to call him,-for no man more worthily bore the title of Doctor of Laws,- was interested in all that goes to make up a broad and liberal citizen. His studies in metaphysics, in history, in mathematics were the enjoyment of his leisure hours. With the latest advances in modern thought he kept himself familiar, and the writer re- members listening with some surprise to remarks which showed profound reflection on the latest de- velopments of the theory of evolution.

For public office he was not at all ambitious, and one term in the State Legislature and two years as mayor of the city left him with a desire to do his duty as a private citizen, and this he conscientiously performed. During the war his patriotism was lofty and courageous. Three sons he gave to the service of his country, of whom but one returned. Deeply as his affectionate nature felt the loss, he was never heard to murmur at the sacrifice. His nature was singularly open and kind. It did not seem that the thought of the possibility of adopting any but the straightforward course ever occurred to his mind. Duplicity and cunning were with him simply impos-

sible. His strong emotional tendencies he kept in check by seldom speaking of the topics that aroused them ; but when he did have occasion to allude to a friend who was no more, or any of the deep convic- tions of his heart, it was evident that his feelings were warm and tender as a woman's. In 1883, with only a few hours interval, the Nestor of our law passed from his busy office to the rest that remain- eth for such righteous mortals. With firm and ra- tional faith, he had never shrunk from the last great change, and, whatever that change betokens, no man's life gave greater cause for calmness in await- ing it than his whose kindly face in portraiture now lends its silent inspiration among the books he loved.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN THOMAS.1-The subject of this sketch was a grandsou of Isaiah Thomas, the patriot-printer of the Revolution, and was born in Boston, February 12, 1813.

He was educated at Brown University, where he graduated in 1830, at the early age of seventeen. He studied law in Worcester, and was admitted to the bar in 1834, acquiring, while still young, a large and excellent practice and growing influence in the county.

In 1842 he represented the town of Worcester in the State Legislature, and from 1844 to 1848 was judge of Probate for Worcester County. Next to Governor Washburn, he attained the largest practice of the Worcester bar, at the time when eminence at that bar was an exceptional distinction. Governor Lincoln and Governor Davis were still among the older members. Pliny Merrick, Charles Allen, Emory Washburn, Henry Chapin, Peter C. Bacon, Ira M. Barton were his contemporaries; while a score of younger lawyers, now achieving high distinction in professional and public life, were just entering into active practice.

Upon the resignation of Mr. Justice Fletcher, in 1853, Judge Thomas was appointed, when barely forty years of age, a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, holding that position for six years, and gaining a dis- tinguished reputation as an able and learned jurist.

In 1859 he resigned his seat on the bench on ac- count of the great inadequacy of the salary, and removed to Boston, where he practiced and held a position in the front rank at the bar. In 1861-63 he served one term in Congress, and in 1868, upon the retirement of Chief Justice Bigelow, he was nomin- ated, by Governor Bullock, to the Council for chief justice of the Commonwealth, but, after an unpleasant controversy, failed of confirmation.

This is but a slight outline of the relations Judge Thomas held to the public at large.

The greater part of his active life was spent in the discharge of professional duties which have small place in history, and will pass from memory to tradi-

1 By Delano Goddard.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

tion with the generation that knew and trusted and honored him.

He was particularly skilled in the law of wills and trusts, and in this branch of the law had no rival. On the bench he was distinguished for the tenacity with which he defended the constitutional privileges secured by the Declaration of Rights, and especially trial by jury.

His most celebrated opinion is the powerful dis- senting judgment delivered in the case of the Com- monwealth os. Anthes, 5 Gray, in which he vindicated the right of juries to determine, under the general issue, the law as well as the facts in criminal trials. His view was subsequently sustained by the Legisla- ture, which re-euacted the statute in 1860.

His studies, both in law and government, took a wide range, and he was well read in history and in English literature. With the bar he has ever been very popular.

His associates, and especially those younger than himself, were attracted to him not more by his varied learning and talents than by his pure and amiable character. The greatest regrets were expressed when he left the bench, and no man has ever been more highly respected at the bar.

In the heat of controversy excited by his nomina- tion as chief justice, he was opposed on grounds chiefly political, but also on the ground of a habit of dissenting, which at that time was looked upon as a serious disqualification.

But Governor Bullock, in justifying his nominatiou to the Council, replied that, of the nineteen hundred cases reported during the six years that Judge Thomas held a seat upon the bench, he dissented in only four, not by pride of opinion, but by the interests of truth and justice. And a member of the Suffolk bar, then and now one of its wisest and most learned members, writing upon the same objection, said :

" It is undoubtedly desirable that the court should stand together. Division is sometimes an indication of weakness. But it is a much greater weakness to insist upon this point to the exclusion of the question of what is right; and when a judge is held up to ridicule merely because he differs from his associates, it will he the saddest sign of all. We have yet to learn that the honest dissent of an able magistrate, although repeatedly exercised, is ever regarded with contempt by honorable associates, by the public, or by the legal profession."

This, however, was but a pretext brought up by zealous opponents to re-enforce the political and personal rea- sons on which their opposition was mainly grounded.

But it is not worth while to revive the memory of these forgotten strifes. The wounds inflicted then were long ago healed. And among those who followed Judge Thomas to the grave, there were none who did so with more siucere and unaffected sorrow than those who questioned the wisdom of his nomination, and joined in the effort to defeat it.

In politics Judge Tuomas was, in early life, a Whig, and when the dissolution of that party came, and the war suddenly presented grave problems of government for immediate solution, it was harder for him, than for most men in public life, to look with patience upon the torture to which the Constitution was exposed.

He was always conservative, with a tendency to the technical side of disputed questions, always re- strained and controlled by a quick moral sense and an unfailing love of justice.

His brief term of political service happened to fall upon a period of intense and exciting feeling, when constitutional scruples were looked upon with little patience, and were indulged at much persoual peril. But no man ever took the unpopular side of grave public questions under a more commanding sense of public duty than Judge Thomas took his upon the constitutional questions forced upon him by the ex- igency in which he was placed.

As an orator, Judge Thomas seemed born to high distinction, if his ambition in that direction had been equal to his rare gifts.

His formal addresses on anniversary and other mem- orial occasions, are of a very high order of excellence ; but, besides these, there are many among us who will remember the brilliant and sometimes electric elo- quence with which, in his earlier days, he took part in the political and other public interests of the time. His command of language was always pure, rich and abundant ; his manner was spirited, fervent and stim- ulatiug ; and when he finished there was always, among those who listened, regret that one endowed with such gifts was so little inclined to exercise them.

Judge Thomas received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Brown University in 1853, and from Harvard College in 1854. He was, at the time of his death, September 27, 1878, vice-president of the American Antiquarian Society, a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Our county has been singularly fortunate in the character and ability of the gentlemen who have presided in its Probate Court. In 1858, the year of Judge Kinnicutt's death, the offices of judge of the Court of Probate and of the Court of Insolvency were, by act of the Legislature, united in one person in each county. To this double trust HENRY CHAPIN was ap- pointed, and for twenty years most admirably dis- charged its functions, He was born in Upton in 1811, and left at fourteen to provide largely for his own sup- port. For some months he was engaged in learning a trade. The necessity for such an occupation of course reudered it difficult for him to procure an education, but he was not driven from the undertaking, and succeeded iu fitting for college, and in graduating from Brown in 1835. After gaining some exper- ience and a small financial capital as a teacher in the commou schools of Upton, he began his legal

alexander N. Bullock

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studies with Emory Washburn, and followed them at the Cambridge Law School. On admission to the bar he chose Uxbridge for his opening career, and remained there till his removal to Worcester in 1846, when Rejoice Newton made him a junior partner. As an advocate he obtained a large and profitable prac- tice. He possessed a shrewduess, a homely, kindly method of address, and an entire absence of stiffness or formality which procured him great influence with juries. For the duties of Probate judge he was ex- ceptionally fitted. His fund of patience seemed iuexhaustible. In that court no strict rules of pro- cedure are maintained ; much of the business is trans- acted without the aid of counsel, and by persons who come to the judge to learn what they ought to do, and how to do it. For all such he had a kindly reception, listened to their statements (generally involved, and often incoherent), and let them feel that they had found a friend as well as a help out of their difficul- ties. Towards members of the bar also, and especially the younger element, his manners were courteous, and commanded in turn respect. In the law governing the cases under his consideration he was thoroughly versed, and his decisions stood the test of appeal, with but a small proportion of adverse rulings by the higher court. Although for the last six months of his life he was unable to attend in the court-room, his courage did not permit him to surrender, and up till the very day before his death, in 1878, he con- tinned occasionally, at his house, to attend to matters of routine, hoping constantly that his usefulness was not yet to end, and determined that it should con- tinue with his life. Mr. Chapin was a public-spirited citizen, alive to the importance of the performance by every man of his political duties. He was an early member of the Free Soil party, and an effective speaker during the anti-slavery agitations. For one year he represented Uxbridge in the General Court, and in 1853 he was its delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

Worcester made him its mayor in 1849 and 1850, and would have had him serve again had he not declined the honor. In 1870, when, by the sudden death of Mayor Blake, a vacancy occurred during a term, the City Council turned at once to him as the man most suitable to fill the emergency, and he consented so to do until a successor could be chosen by the usual methods of election. He was not ambitious for political office, and declined to stand as a candidate when nominated by the Republicans for Congress in 1856. As a speaker on public occasions he was fre- quently in demand, and his quaint humor and well- told stories interested his audiences and impressed his meaning on their minds.

With various business organizations he was actively connected, and, by the exercise of a sagacious judg- ment in investment, added to his accumulated prop- erty. To the religious organization with which he was connected he gave earnest support and valuable

assistance in many ways. Flis religious convictions were deep and sincere, though rarely brought into notice, except with intimate friends ; but their fruit was shown in his discriminating and kindly benevo- lence and readiness to further charitable organiza- tions which commended themselves to his judgment. An exemplary citizen, an upright judge and an hon- est man.

ALEXANDER HAMILTON BULLOCK.1 - Governor Bullock stands conspicuous in the list of Massachusetts' chief magistrates ; even in the whole list, extending through Colonial, Provincial and Constitutional times; conspicuous in respect to patriotism, ability and conscientious devotion to the public interest. And for the very reason that he occupies so promi- nent a position in our history, the writer is spared the attempt at any extended delineation in this place, where space is so limited. But with the portrait, in which his l'eatures are so faithfully and so artistically presented, it is necessary that something should appear respect- ing his various characteristics and family connections, with allusions at least to certain passages in his pub- lic career.

He was born in Royalston, Worcester County, on the 2d of March, 1816, and was the son of Rufus and Sarah (Davis) Bullock. His father, who was born on the 23d of September, 1779, was a school-teacher in his early manhood, but soon became a country mer- chant. Quitting that vocation in 1825, he engaged in manufacturing, and in due time amassed a hand- some fortune. He was somewhat in public life ; was five years a Representative in the General Court, and two years a Senator; was a member of the conven- tions of 1820 and 1853 for revising the State Consti- tution ; and was Presidential elector in 1852.

Alexander H. Bullock, the subject of this sketch, entered Amherst College in 1832, was a diligent student, and on his graduation, in 1836, delivered the salutatory oration at commencement. In the cata- logue of his college contemporaries are found the names of Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, Bishop Huntington and others of wide reputation. After graduating he taught a school for a short period, but, partly by the urgency of his father and partly from his own inclination, he applied him- self to the study of law, entering Harvard Law School, then under the presidency of Judge Story. After leaving the Law School he spent a year in the law- office of the well-known lawyer, Emory Washburn, of Worcester, where he gained a good knowledge of the various details of legal practice. He was admitted to the bar in 1841, and soon began practice in Worcester. As a pleader he does not seem to have aimed to become conspicuous. Senator Hoar says : " He dis- liked personal controversy. While he possessed talents which would have rendered him a brilliant and persuasive advocate, the rough contests of the

1 By Hon. J. R. Newhall.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

court-house could never have been congenial to him. He was associated with Judge Thomas as junior coun- sel in oue important capital trial, in which he is said to have made an eloquent opening argument. He had a considerable clientage for a young man, to whom he was a safe and trustworthy adviser. But he very soon established a large business as agent of important insurance companies, and withdrew him- self altogether from the practice of law."

In 1844 Governor Bullock married Elvira, daughter of Col. A. G. Hazard, of Enfield, Ct., founder of the Hazard Gunpowder Manufacturing Company. Their children were Augustus George; Isabel, who married Nelson S. Bartlett, of Boston ; and Fanny, who married Dr. William H. Workman, of Worcester. The widow and all the children are yet living.

From early manhood Governor Bullock took a de- cided interest in politics, but did not allow it to ab- sorb an undue portion of his time till the period ar- rived when he could safely make it a leading object. In constitutional law he was particularly well versed, and that fact, in connection with his decided opinions on all public questions, gave him in debate and in action very great advantage. In party affiliation he was of the old Whig school.

A brief recapitulation of some of his efficient pub- lic services may here be given. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives for eight years : first in 1845, and last in 1865. In 1862, '63, '64 and '65 he was Speaker. And what Governor Hutchinson says, in his history of Speaker Burrill, may well be said of him, namely, that the House were as fond of him " as of their eyes ;" the historian adding, in a note, " I have often heard his contempo- raries applaud him for his great integrity, his ac- quaintance with parliamentary forms, the dignity and authority with which he filled the chair, and the order and decorum he maintained in the debates of the House."

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 12

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576