History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 14

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 14

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scure his calm watchfulness of every manœuvre. His arguments seldom appealed to the emotional nature, but were admirably lucid in their logical pre- sentation of the facts. From the very outset of his career he boldly confronted every adversary, however more ample his experience, and learned even in defeat to reserve for his client whatever of advantage there remained to him. In social life he was a most genial comrade. Especially towards younger members of the profession were his manners and expressions of friend- ship cordial at all times. The writer well remembers many words of kind encouragement which helped to make his student-days and first years of practice more hopeful and less irksome. Mr. Verry did not hold many public offices. In 1872 he was mayor of the city of Worcester. The problem of the proper assess- ment of the expense of a great system of sewers had long been deferred; with characteristic energy he sought a solution. Principally under his direction, a plan was adopted which was finally sustained by the courts, though opposed by leading citizens and able counsel. His acceptance of this responsibility cost him his re-election the next year, but stands as an evidence of his independence and sagacity. He served two terms in the State Senate, the second year as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. As a Demo- crat during the last ten years of his life, he was most frequently in the minority in the State, and though several times a candidate, held no other elective office.

In 1883 he died, leaving, it is believed, only friends among the members of the bar, and only firm ad- herents among his host of clients.

The death of Judge ADIN THAYER is still so deeply felt, not only in the community where he lived, but in the councils of the leaders of the State, where his presence had become well-nigh essential, that it seems unnecessary in so brief a sketch as is here pos- sible to rehearse the well-known story of his life. But neither the history of our bar nor that of the Commonwealth for the past forty years can properly be written without the mention of his share in the progress of each. He was the son of Caleb Thayer, a farmer of Mendon, not rich in material possessions, but with a sturdy independence and an innate love of liberty, which evinced itself in the early espousal of the anti-slavery cause when the uupopularity of its adherents amounted to ostracism. His grand- father was a Revolutionary soldier, and the combative tendencies of the descendants seem to have come by right inheritance. Born in 1828, his early life was spent upon the farm, with only the occasional oppor- tunities for education afforded by the district schools. Later on he attended the Worcester Academy, and, with some thought of adopting the profession of a teacher, he took a course in the Normal School at Westfield. After short trial of school-room life, how- ever, he made up his mind that he could not be satis-

Den qu t! Verry

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with Henry Chapin, whom he was destined to suc- ceed upon the bench. In 1854 he entered upon his practice in the city of Worcester, and attained a good success as an adviser, especially in the management of business concerns. His judgment was clear and reliable, and marked by the plainest common sense. As an advocate he did not appear with great fre- quency before the courts, but his management of causes entrusted to him was careful and intelligent, tenacious of his clients' interests and mindful of de- tails.

Though he gave diligent attention to his profes- sional pursuits and acquired a lucrative clientage, it was in political life that he found his greatest useful- ness and rose to his greatest eminence. IIe was an early and influential member of the Free-Soil party, eager in his opposition to the encroachments of the slave-power, and roused to indignation by the pro- ceedings under the Fugitive Slave Law on the soil of his native State. With Charles Sumner and John A. Andrew he formed an intimate friendship, and was their active co-worker and enthusiastic supporter throughout their political contests. In his devotion to the principles which he believed should govern the State and Nation he was unselfish and consistent. Though undoubtedly he would have been gratified by the evidence of the appreciation of his services and abilities, which an election to important office would have afforded, he never faltered in his exertions for the success of his party because others were assigned to more conspicuous stations. He enjoyed the pos- session of influence over the minds of his fellow- citizens, and to that influence he was justly entitled, since it was always exercised in the cause of what he believed to be the truth. He was the friend and ad- viser of all the prominent leaders of the Republican party from its formation, and to his powerful assist- ance the State owes in a large degree the fact that she has been able to retain in her service some of her ablest representatives. In the best sense of the term he was a partisan. Thoroughly convinced of the righteousness of his cause, conscientionsly believing that it was the duty of every good citizen to take part in the decision of public questions, he threw himself into a canvass with the spirit of a soldier, determined that failure should not result from any lukewarmness on his part. He was a great believer in the necessity for organization in political work. The campaigns which he directed were marked by the most thorough attention to details and by the seizure of every hon- orable method of securing victory. He did not often appear as a public speaker, but when he did his lan- guage was forcible, clear and charged with his earnest convictions. Some of his addresses upon general political topics are admirable in style and logical completeness.

His offices were few. For several years under Lin- coln, and again under Grant, he was collector of internal revenue [for this district. For two years he

served in the State Senate. Perhaps his most promi- nent political service was as chairman of the Repub- lican State Committee in 1878, when, with all his power, he successfully combated what he believed to be a great danger to the welfare of the State.

Upon Judge Chapin's death, in 1878, he was ap- pointed to succeed him in the Probate Court. The nomination excited some opposition among those who had become accustomed to regard Mr. Thayer as solely a politician. But by his ten years of impartial, faith- ful discharge of the duties of the office, he approved the wisdom of the selection, and earned the approha- tion of the bar and the public.

His natural disposition was genial and sympathetic. A fund of quiet humor made him a most agreeable companion in hours of relaxation. Towards the latter part of his life ill-health from time to time clouded the usual brightness of his temper, and induced periods of depression, through all of which, however, he preserved his kindly interest in others and his affection for his friends. He had interested himself in several of the business enterprises of the city, where his foresight had been of great service. But these cares, added to his other activities, were too great a strain upon his physical and mental powers. He was oppressed by the thought of gradually losing his capacity for usefulness on the stage where he had filled so honorable a part. In the summer of 1888, when his friends were looking forward to his restora- tion to health as the result of a contemplated season of rest and travel, in a moment of aberration he died by his own hand. Massachusetts has lost no more devoted lover, no more staunch defender.

In several instances to which our attention has been attracted the honors of the profession, together with the mental traits befitting the wearers of those honors, have seemed to be transmitted from father to son as a natural inheritance. Others, from the most unpropitious antecedents, have achieved success and high position. In truth, the pathway is open to all ; to all it presents difficulties hard to overcome. Few have had to contend with greater obstacles, or have done it with so good courage, as MATTHEW J. McCAF- FERTY. Born in Ireland in 1829, his parents brought him to this country during his infancy. They were poor, hard-working people, and at an early age the lad must assist in his own support. In 1841 the family moved to Lowell, and Matthew began as an operative in the great mills there. Later on he learned the trade of a machinist. While so employed he was inspired with the ambition to become a law- yer, and devoted his evenings and spare moments to reading such law-books as he could obtain. In 1852, having saved some little capital from his trade, he entered the office of Brown & Alger, in Lowell, and regularly devoted himself to study. After two years he found it necessary to replenish his funds, and be- took himself once more to his trade in Worcester. With his determination still unchanged he spent his

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

evenings reading in Mr. Bacon's office. A fellow- student at that time was Hamilton B. Staples, now an associate justice of the Superior Court.

For a short time Mr. McCafferty tried the role of an actor, but soon found it neither agreeable nor remu- nerative, and returned to rely upon his shop to fur- nish him the means of living until better times. His generous, filial disposition is illustrated by the fact that, after having with some difficulty saved money enough to carry him through college, he gave it all to his mother, whom he visited in Lowell and found lacking some of the comforts to which her age and infirmities entitled her. Soon after this Benjamin F. Butler became interested in the young man's sturdy struggle, and assisted him through a partial course in the College of the Holy Cross at Worcester. In 1857 he was admitted to the bar in Lowell, and soon after opened his office in Worcester. He was a natural orator, warm-hearted, impulsive, sympathetic, and came to be regarded as the special champion of his race in the city of his adoption. When the call for volunteers was issued in 1861, he enlisted as second lientenant in the Emmet Guards, a company com- posed of men of Irish descent, in which he had pre- viously served as captain. After its three months' service had expired, he received the commission of major in the Twenty -fifth Massachusetts Regiment. With this command he rendered gallant service in several battles until March, 1862, when he resigned on account of some difference with his colonel which could not be adjusted. Returning home, he con- tinued to support the government by his eloquent specches on public occasions. He served four terms in the Legislature, and one as alderman of the city. In 1883 his early friend and constant political ally, Governor Butler, appointed him an associate justice of the Municipal Court of Boston. In this capacity his impartiality and his kindness of heart made him an excellent police magistrate. In the short time before his death, in 1885, he had approved himself to the profession in his new sphere of action, where at first there had been a disposition to cavil at the ap- pointment of a judge from another county.

The career of FRANCIS T. BLACKMER compressed within less than twenty years an amount of profes- sional labor which might well have formed the em- ployment of an additional decade, and would then have left him but little of that leisure he so much neglected. He seems to have felt that his time for work was short, and that in the days allotted him he must accomplish what would suffice for the years of a longer pilgrimage. He was born in Worcester in 1844, hut passed his boyhood in the towns of Prescott and Hardwick, where his father carried on the oc- cupation of a farmer at successive periods.

In the district schools and at Wilbraham Academy he received all the instruction which he obtained be- fore beginning his legal studies. In later life he keenly appreciated the advantages bestowed by a

more extended course of education, and expressed his regret that he was unable to receive a college training. Yet the reflection is inevitable that it is not the schools that make the man. We cannot be sure of the effect of the same discipline upon differ- ent minds, and Mr. Blackmer certainly profited ad- mirably by the limited facilities which he enjoyed. When twenty years of age he returned to Worcester, and entered the office of William W. Rice. During his studies, and for some years after his admission to the bar, he was employed by Mr. Rice, on terms con- tinnally more advantageous, as he demonstrated his capacity for work and his mastery of the law. Sub- sequently a partnership was formed under the name of Rice & Blackmer, which continued until after Mr. Rice's Congressional duties called him away from regular attention to professional employments.

Mr. Blackmer had a remarkable facility in forming acquaintances. There was not the slightest formality or diffidence about him. In the same easy, off-hand manner he met every new-comer, and inspired him with confidence in his own ability to conduct his business. His addresses to the jury were marked by the same familiar style. Brought np like many of them, in a farming region, familiar with the habits of thought of our New England country people, he talked to them as a friendly adviser, citing homely incidents of country life to illustrate his meaning, and in language and accent showing clearly that he was one of them. It was here that he achieved his principal success. Day after day during the sessions of the court he appeared on one side or the other, of almost every case, and probably became personally known to more of the inhabitants of the county than any other of the advocates at the bar during his later years.

His arguments did not pursue a logical order; but neither did the usual train of thought of the majority of his hearers in the jury-hox. He went over the story of the evidence as it arranged itself in his mind, and when he had finished, there was no point which he had forgotten, no inference which had not been suggested. In his examination of witnesses he showed a remarkable knowledge of human nature and an adroitness which was rarely matched. Never losing his temper, he was prepared to meet any sur- prising development of testimony with unruffled composure and the best resources at his command. His profession thoroughly interested him. He loved to talk over his cases with students or brother law- yers, and was ever ready to receive new suggestions or to state his own views when they were called for. Before the Supreme Court he argued questions of law with care and skill, thoroughly appreciating the valne of the distinctions on which he relied and the effect of earlier decisions upon the point in issue.

In 1875 he was chosen city solicitor, and so con- tinned nntil 1881, when he resigned, to take the place, as district attorney, of Judge Staples, then

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promoted to the bench. In both these capacities, calling for the exercise of quite different talents, he acquitted himself with credit.

His interests outside of his profession were few, for he gave himself little time for other pursuits. In local political contests he took part from time to time. The parish to which he belonged was always an object of his attention. In his brief hours of social relaxa- tion he showed himself an affectionate and sunny- tempered friend. But his constitution was not strong enough to endure the strain to which he subjected it. In 1883 he was obliged to give up work, and seek in absolute rest the reinvigoration of his enfeebled energies. During the fall he returned to his office, and was so far encouraged to believe in his restora- tion to health as to accept a re-election to the district attorneyship. The apparent improvement was but temporary, however. His tasks were done, as his brethren at the bar sadly noted when he appeared among them at the opening of the December term of court. Again he left his clients, and, hopeful to the last, took his way toward a Southern climate. But his disease had taken too firm a hold while he had refused to leave his post of duty, and in January of 1884 he died in the city of Washington.

He came to the bar the latest of those whom we have mentioned. Many who saw his earliest efforts are still in the full vigor of their usefulness, but as we close these records with his name, let it be said that none among them all more diligently followed the injunction : " Work while the day is, for the night cometh."

In these imperfect sketches an attempt has been made to preserve some memorial of a few of those who have completed their life-work and are to be re- membered as representatives of that ability and in- tegrity which has characterized the administration of justice in this county and Commonwealth. Neces- sarily the names of many who have largely contrib- uted to the establishment of this reputation are omitted. The records of a lawyer's life are too often written in water. The writer has mainly selected those who have seemed to him to leave some lasting impression on their times and to furnish examples for the edification of their successors in the same field of enterprise. To learn that the qualities which secured their successes are still exhibited among us, it needs only to glance over the honored list of names which now adorns the roll of this bar. A Senator of the United States, a justice of the Supreme Court of the State, two justices of its Superior Court and one of the United States District Court, and two recent members of Congress figure in the list. In active prac- tice are advocates as skillful and eloquent, counsel as sagacious and learned as any who have gone before.

LIVING LAWYERS.

CHARLES DEVENS.1-Prominently identified with

1 By the Editor.

the military and judicial history of the State of Massa- chusetts is the Hon. Charles Devens, one of the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court. General Devens was born in Charlestown, Mass., April 4, 1820. He graduated at Cambridge in 1838. Hestudied law at the Harvard Law School, and subsequently with Messrs. Hubbard & Watts, in Boston, and was admitted to the bar in 1840. He first commenced practice at Northfield, where he remained until 1844, when he removed to Greenfield and formed a co-partnership with Hon. George T. Davis, which continued until 1849, when he was appointed by President Taylor United States marshal for the district of Massachu- setts. This office he held until his resignation in 1853. While residing at Greenfield he represented Franklin County in the State Senate. Upon resigning the office of marshal, he located in Worcester and resumed the practice of his profession, formning a partnership with Hon. George F. Hoar and J. Henry Hill. Soon after Mr. Hill retired, and the firm of Devens & Hoar continued until 1861. During his residence in Wor- cester he served as city solicitor in 1856, 1857 and 1858.

Upon the breaking out of the Rebellion, Mr. Devens promptly responded to the President's call for troops, and entered the service as major of the Third Battalion of Infantry. He soon after became colonel of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment, and from this date until the close of the war he was iu active service. He received his baptism of fire on the disastrous field of Ball's Bluff, and in 1862 was made a brigadier- general for gallantry on this memorable field of car- nage. From the very beginning General Devens saw severe service. In the battle of Fair Oaks he was severely wounded, also at Chancellorsville, in 1863, and at Antietam his horse was shot under him. His distinguished bravery before Richmoud was especially commended by General Grant, and he was commis- sioned major-general for gallantry at the capture of the city. At the close of the war he was appointed military governor of the Eastern District of South Carolina. This position General Deveus held until June, 1866, when he was mustered out of the service.

Civil honors seemed to await him upon his return to his native State, and in the following year, 1867, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court, and in 1873 became an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, and remained upon the bench until 1877, when he was appointed Attorney-General of the United States by President Hayes. At the expiration of four years he returned to Massachusetts, and in 1881 was re-appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court. Notwithstanding the exacting duties of a judicial life Judge Devens finds time to manifest his interest in military affairs, and has been president of the Society of the Army of the James; president of the Society of the Army of the Potomac, and of the Sixth Army Corps. He has been National Com- mander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

for nine years Commander of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion for Massachusetts.

Judge Devens is eminently an orator, and his public addresses and eulogies have been many and varied. He is a member of various societies and clubs, and as statesman, judge and general ranks among Massachu- setts' most distinguished citizens.

GEORGE FRISBEE HOAR1 was born in Concord, Mass., Angust 29, 1826. His ancestors, from the early days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, were men of action and courage, humane, and always in advance of their times, but not so radical as to be parted in sympathy from their contemporaries, and to lose the influence which their character, talents and pub- lic spirit deserved. John Hoar, Senator Hoar's ear- liest ancestor in Massachusetts, was one of three brothers who came, with their widowed mother, from Gloucestershire, England, among the early colonists.

He was a friend and co-laborer of Eliot, the apos- tle to the Indiaus, and after the massacre at Lancas- ter, in King Philip's War, followed Philip's band into the wilderness with a single Indian guide, and ran- sowied Mrs. Rolandson, one of the Lancaster captives.

His brother, Leonard Hoar, was one of the early presidents of Harvard College. Senator Hoar's father, Samuel Hoar, was one of the great Massachu- setts lawyers, contemporary with Mason, Webster and Choate. His aspect inspired reverence, which was increased by knowledge of his character. He was a Representative in Congress, and was chosen by Mas- sachusetts to protect in the courts of South Carolina her colored citizens unjustly imprisoned there. He was expelled from the State by force, and was not allowed to discharge his mission ; but his conduct throughout was marked by dignity, firmness and courage. Senator Hoar's mother was the youngest danghter of Roger Sherman, of Connecticut.

The village of Concord, where Mr. Hoar's boyhood was passed, was full of fine influences. No place could have been better for the forming of character and preparation for a life of public or private useful- ness. After his school-days there he entered Harvard College, and was graduated in 1846. Choosing the law for his profession, he studied at the Harvard Law School and in the office of the late Judge Thomas, in Worcester. Upon his admission to the bar in 1849, he began practice in Worcester, and this city has ever since been his home.

He was for a time associated in practice with the late Hon. Emory Washburn, and later with the Hon. Charles Devens and J. Henry Hill, Esq. Mr. Hoar rapidly rose to a very high rank in his profession. The native capacity of his mind, disciplined by edu- cation and superbly equipped by study, was supple- mented by uncommon industry and assiduous devotion to the business of his clients.

His practice when he entered Congress in 1869,

after twenty years at the bar, was probably the largest and most valuable in the State, west of Middlesex County. Mr. Hoar married, in 1853, Miss Mary Louisa Spurr, whe died a few years after, leaving a daughter and a son, both of whom are now living. He married, in 1862, Miss Ruth Ann Miller.

Mr. Hoar's first appearance in political life was as chairman of the committee of the Free-Soil party for Worcester County in 1849, which was more efficiently organized here than in any other county of the United States. In 1851, at the age of twenty-five, Mr. Hoar was elected a representative to the General Court. He was the youngest member in that body, but became the leader of the Coalitionists in law matters, and to him was given the task of drawing resolutions, protesting against the compromise meas- ures of the National Government in 1850.

So manifest at this time to the people of this dis- triet was Mr. Hoar's fitness for public service that the way was open to him to succeed the late Hon. Charles Allen as the Representative of this district in Con- gress.

But he put aside all suggestions tending that way, because it seemed to him that to enter Congress then would be to make politics instead of the law his pro- fession. If his decision had been otherwise, his ener- gy, courage, eloquence and firm grasp of constitu- tional principles would doubtless have placed him in the very front rank of the statesmen of the civil war and reconstruction period. Although refusing Con- gressional service, he did not decline such duty in the State Legislature as was pressed upon him. In 1857 he was a member of the Senate, and chairman of its Judiciary Committee. In that capacity he drew a masterly report, defining the boundaries of the exec- ntive and legislative authority.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 14

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