USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to September, 1836 : with various notices relating to the history of Worcester County > Part 26
USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to September, 1836 : with various notices relating to the history of Worcester County > Part 26
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
He practised successfully, as a lawyer, for thirty years. He was a good classical and general scholar, and possessed taste for mathe- matical science. Deep and conscientious regard to sincerity and truth was manifested in his whole transactions. However errone- ous he might have been considered, by those who differed from him, none doubted his honesty. He was of ardent temperament, and warm in attachment to friends, and the opinions or party he adopted. His love of nature was enthusiastic, and he contemplated her works with intense admiration. His leisure was devoted to the cultivation of a garden, ornamented with singular elegance, and filled, by his care, with rare exotics, beautiful native plants, and choice fruits.
He possessed taste for poetry. Although he did not distinguish himself for that talent, some of his compositions were extensively circulated in the journals of the day. A humorous song, called ' the Somerset on shore,' attained considerable degree of popularity. His odes for public festive occasions were of respectable merit.1
WILLIAM SEVER, H. U. 1778, son of Hon. William Sever, was born
1 Edward Bangs m. Hannah Lynde, d. of Joseph Lynde, Esq., sometime of Charles- town, afterwards of Worcester, Sept. 18, 1738. He left two children. 1. Edward Dillingham. 2. Anna L. b. 1800: d. Feb. 11, 1823.
The ancestor of the family was Edward Bangs, a native of Chichester in England, who arrived in Plymouth in July, 1623, by the Ann, the third ship which brought the pilgrim emigrants, having been preceded by the Mayflower and the Fortune. In the division of the live stock, to 12 companies, that to which Edward Bangs belonged re- ceived ' The great white backed cow, which was brought over with the first in the Ann ; also two she goats.' In 1627, he was member of a commission with Gov. Bradford, to make a new division of lands. Ile was a shipwright, and is said to have superintended the construction of the first vessel built at Plymouth. He removed with Gov. Prince, and others to Eastham, in 1641, where he died in 1678, a. SG. 2. His son Jonathan, born at Plymouth, 1640; m. Mary Mayo, July 16, 1664; d. at Harwich, now Brews- ter, 1728. 3. Edward, son of Jonathan, b. at Eastham, Sept. 30, 1665: d. May 22, 1746. 4. Edward, son of Edward, b. 1694; d. June 3, 1755. 5. Benjamin, son of Edward, b. 1721 ; m. Desire Dillingham, d. 1769. He was father of Judge Edward Bangs. Farmer's Genealogical Register. Willard's Address, 90. MS. of Edward D. Bangs, Esq.
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LAWYERS.
in Kingston, in Plymouth county. He studied with Levi Lincoln, sen. was called to the bar in 1781 : practised two years in Kings- ton : in 1785, removed to Worcester : where he died, October 31, 1798, leaving the reputation of fine talents, which with greater as- siduity, might have given high professional distinction.
Nathaniel Paine, H. U. 1775, son of Hon. Timothy Paine of Worcester, studied with Ilon. John Sprague of Lancaster. Imme- diately upon admission, Aug. 1781, he commenced practise in Gro- ton, Mass. and after four years residence there, returned to Worces- ter. He succeeded Daniel Bigelow, Esq. as County Attorney. In 1798, 1799 and 1800, he represented the town in the Legislature. He was appointed Judge of Probate, Jan. 24, 1801, and held that office thirty five years. His resignation was accepted Jan. 18, 1836.
TIMOTHY GREEN, B. U. 1786, a native of Worcester, was son of the first Dr. John Green, and grandson of Hon. Timothy Ruggles. He studied with Levi Lincoln, sen. and practised two years in Wor- cester. He then removed to the city of New York, where he enga- ged successfully in land trade. After a visit to the South, his pre- parations had been completed for an overland journey home, when he was prevailed on to take passage by sea. He embarked, in 1812, on board a privateer built vessel at Charleston, in company with Mrs. Alston, the accomplished lady of the governor of South Caroli- na, and daughter of the celebrated Aaron Burr. The ship sailed, and no tidings of her fate were ever afterwards heard.
JOSEPH ALLEN, H. U. 1992, eldest son of Hon. Joseph Allen, born in Leicester, commenced practise in Worcester, removed to Wes- tern, Mass. now Warren, where he remained to 1805. Ile after- wards went to Charlestown, N. H. and died in that town.
SAMUEL A. FLAGG, II. U. 1794, was born in Mendon, Mass : studied with Hon. Nathaniel Paine : established himself in Worces- ter, 1797, and died here, March 5, 1825, aged 50.
ANDREW MORTON, B. U. 1795, of Freetown, Mass. studied with Levi Lincoln, sen : practised in Worcester from 1802 to 1804 : then settled in Hampden, Maine, where he died, Oct. 26, 1805.
FRANCIS BLAKE, H. U. 1789, fifth son of Joseph Blake, was born October 14, 1774. His father, a native and eminent merchant of Boston, for several years anterior and subsequent to the commence- ment of the revolution, was engaged in extensive trade in Rutland, Mass. and removed to Hingham, in 1779. His son, was in the prin- cipal school of the town, then under the tuition of Rev. Joseph Thaxter, afterwards clergyman of Martha's Vineyard, and distin-
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LAWYERS.
guished for the eloquence of his address in prayer on the semi-cen- tennial anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill. Under the instruc- tion of this gentleman, of his successor, Mr. Howard, and of Dr. Barker, he was fitted for college. Although prepared for admission to the freshman class at the age of eleven, he did not enter the Uni- versity until 1787. After having graduated, he read law with the Hon. John Sprague, and was twenty years of age when called to the bar in 1794. He commenced practise in his native town of Rut- land, and his fine genius soon raised him to high professional stand- ing. In 1802, he removed to Worcester. In 1810, 1811, he was in the Senate of Massachusetts. In 1816, he was appointed Clerk of the courts, and held that office until his death, Feb. 23, 1817.
The highest efforts of the great advocate rear no enduring monu- ment to his name. The reputation of his eloquence is entrusted to the generation that witnesses its display. Few memorials of the splendid talents of Mr. Blake survive, except in the admiration of his cotemporaries. An Oration at Worcester, July 4, 1796; an examination of the constitutionality of the embargo laws ; and an oration at Worcester, July 4, 1812, are the only publications which preserve permanent testimonials of magnificent intellectual action.
His character is thus delineated by the elegant writer so often quo- ted. ' Mr. Blake possessed all the constituent properties of a great or- ator. He was of an ardent temperament, the usual companion of fine intellect, and of a character that dwelt with satisfaction and de- light upon whatever was lofty and honorable. His was the nicely mod- ulated voice, all whose cadences were musical ; and though like the harp of Memnon, in unrestrained inspiration, they sometimes breath- ed wildly, they breathed eloquently. His was the classic elegance of language, poured out in rich profusion from a never failing source. His was the vivid imagination, that threw over all, the crimson flush of light, and dazzled by its brilliancy. He brought to his aid the advantages of wide reading, and commendable scholarship, that ser- ved to increase his power of expression. He was often veliement and impassioned, and that, probably, was the prevailing tone of his elo- quence, especially when he detected and brought to light the hidden things of chicanery and deceit ; but his vehemence and his warmth never caused him to forget himself, nor to lose that harmony and measure of expression that were peculiarly his own.' 1
LEVI THAXTER, of Hingham, son of Jonathan Thaxter, studied with Levi Lincoln, sen. commenced practice in Worcester in 1803.
1 Willard's Address, 98.
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LEVI LINCOLN.
He was the first cashier of the Worcester Bank, which office he re- signed in 1805, and removed to Watertown, where he now resides. He was Senator of Massachusetts from 1822 to 1826.
LEVI LINCOLN, II. U. 1802, son of Levi Lincoln, sen. of Wor- cester, read law in the office of his father, then Attorney General of the United States, and necessarily absent in the discharge of official duty. He was admitted to the bar in 1805, and commenced prac- tice here. In 1812, he was member of the Senate of Massachusetts, and drew, and with Hon. Benjamin Crowninshield, presented, the answer of that body to the speech of Gov. Strong. In 1814, he was elected to the House of Representatives, and prepared and offered the protest of the minority against the act authorizing the famous Hartford Convention. In succeeding years, from 1814 to 1822, he represented the town, with the exception of three intervals, when he declined being candidate. In 1820, he was in the convention to revise the state constitution, and afterwards one of the Commission- ers, under the act for the separation of Maine, to make partition and apportionment of the public property. In 1822, he was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives, when a majority of that assembly differed from his political sentiments. He was Lieutenant Governor, in 1823, and, in February, 1824, appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. In April, 1825, upon the nomination of the two great parties, he was Governor of the Common- wealth, and continued in this office by nine successive reelections, until, having declined being candidate, he retired upon the induction of his successor, in January, 1835. In February of that year, he was elected to supply the vacancy in the representation of the dis- trict, occasioned by the transfer of Hon. John Davis to the Execu- tive Chair, and, in November following, was chosen member of the twenty fourth Congress.
The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Williams Col- lege and by Harvard University. He was for several years mem- ber of the Board of Trustees of Leicester Academy, some time its Treasurer, and afterwards President : President of the Worcester Agricultural Society from 1823, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, member of the Board of Overseers of Har- vard College, and Councillor of the American Antiquarian Society.
WILLIAM E. GREEN, B. U. 1798, son of the first Dr. John Green, studied with Judge Edward Bangs, was admitted in 1801, and practic- ed in Grafton to 1805. He then returned to Worcester, and was in partnership with Mr. Bangs until the appointment of that gentleman
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to the bench in 1811, and afterwards, until 1817, connected with Edward D. Bangs, Esq.
JOSEPH B. CALDWELL, H. U. 1802; son of William Caldwell, Esq. sheriff of Worcester County from 1793 to 1805, was born in Rutland ; studied with Hon. Nathaniel Paine ; practiced in Grafton to 1809; Worcester in 1810; Rutland to 1812. He returned to Worcester in 1813, and died here in that year.
Samuel M. Burnside, D. C. 1805, son of Thomas Burnside, was born at Northumberland, Coos co. N. H. His early education was in the common schools of a new planted country, except nine months at an academy preparatory to admission at college. After having graduated, he passed two years in superintending a female academy at Andover, Mass. In October, 1807, he commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Artemas Ward, the present Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. No one was more able or willing to afford aid to his students. Familiar acquaintance with the prin- ciples of the common, merchant, and statute law, unsurpassed skill as conveyancer and special pleader, with uniform kindness and liberality, justified their affectionate reverence for the character of that able jurist and excellent man. His business was immense. He was, consequently, much from home at this period, and his pupils were left to follow principally the dictates of their own judg- ment in regard to their course of reading. Mr. Burnside was admit- ted to practise in March, 1810, and was first sworn at the bar of the Supreme Judicial Court upon examination, being one of the few persons who have been suffered to pass to that court without having previously been admitted at the lower tribunal. He commenced business in Westborough in the spring of 1810. In the autumn of that year, he removed to Worcester, and has since resided here.I
1 His father, Thomas Burnside, was a descendant of that colony of Scots, settling in the north of Ireland about 1650, many of whom emigraled to New England in 1719. Among them, was Rev. James MeGregoire, his maternal grandfather, ordained first min- ister of Londonderry, 1719, who died March 5, 1729, leaving three sons ; 1. David, succeeding in the ministry in 1737; 2. James, who became merchant in Londonderry ; and 3. Alexander, who settled in Warwick, R. I. Susannah, only daughter of Alexan- der, on the death of her father, was adopted and educated by her uncle James, himself childless ; inherited with her brother his considerable estate ; and married Thomas Burnside.
Thomas Burnside was brought up in Londonderry as a merchant; took active part in the French wars from 1755 to 1763; was in many bloody battles on the frontier ; and fought by the side of Wolfe on the plains of Abraham. On the restoration of peace, he was engaged several years in mercantile pursuits. He yielded to the flattering over- tures of Gov. Wentworth, to establish settlements in the northern parts of New Hamp- shire, within the valley of the Connecticut, whose fertile intervals had been traversed in
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NEWTON. ELIOT. HEYWOOD.
Rejoice Newton, D. C. 1807, a native of Greenfield, Mass. son of aac Newton, commenced his studies with Hon. Richard E. New- mb at Greenfield, which were concluded with Hon. Elijah Mills, Northampton. Ile was admitted attorney in Hampshire county, . 1810: immediately formed connection in professional business ith Hon. Francis Blake of Worcester, which continued until April, 814. On the decease of William C. White, he was appointed Coun- Attorney, having discharged the duties a year previous. This of- ce he resigned in 1824. He represented the town in the General ourt in 1829, 1830 and 1831, and was elected Senator of Massa- husetts in 1834. Since 1826, he has been connected in business ith William Lincoln.
JAMES ELIOT. He was Representative in Congress from Ver- ont from 1803 to 1809. He was invited to Worcester to assume e editorial management of the Spy, in October, 1810, which he elinquished in February following, and soon after removed. He as since been Clerk of the Courts of Windham County, Vt. and esides at Newfane.
LEVI HEYWOOD, D. C. 1808, son of Seth Heywood, was born in Gardner, Mass. June, 1784. The study of law, commenced with Ion. Nathaniel Paine of Worcester, was finished with Hon. Elijah Tills of Northampton. Admitted to the bar in 1811, he began prac- ise here in that year. In October, 1818, he removed to Pinckney- ille, Louisiana, where he engaged in teaching school. Having kept n office in New York for a short period, he became Principal of the Academy in Hackensack, N. J. He again resumed practise in the ity of New York, where he died, Nov. 22, 1832.
is military campaigns. Animated by a bold spirit of enterprise, he left lucrative busi- tess and devoted friends, removed sixty miles above Haverhill, then the most northern culement, into the wilderness, inhabited only by the red man its ancient proprietor, and became the first planter of Northumberland, then called Stonington. For two or three years, he had no neighbor within sixty miles, and no direction to an English village but he line of spotted trees. In 1775, while busied in the labors of harvest, a friendly Indian came running into the field in urgent haste, to warn him to flee for life, assuring him bat a body of hostile savages were within two or three hours march. Immediately, he and his family were on horseback, hastening to a place of safety. The mother, then unaccustomed to hardship, rode with her infant in her arms, swam her horse across the Connecticut in the flight, and after extreme difficulties reached Haverhill in safety. Within the short time mentioned by his savage friend, the house, buildings, and crops of Mr. Burnside were destroyed by the enemy. Undiscouraged by such perilous escape, with the courage of a soldier, he soon returned to his desolaled farm, and until the close of the war, divided his time between the peaceful avocations of the husbandman, and the martial enterprises required for the defence of the country. He died Nov. 3, 1798. MS. of S. M. Burnside, Esq.
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LAWYERS.
WILLIAM CHARLES WINTE, player, poet, advocate, and author, pos- sessed versatility of talents, which gave some distinction in each of his various occupations. ITis father, William White of Boston, ex- tensively engaged in commerce and trade, destined his eldest son to mercantile pursuits. His education for business was commenced, as the clerk of Mr. Joseph Cooledge, and diligently followed for a few years. At length, avocations more congenial to the taste of the young man, seduced his attention from the employments of the coun- ting house, and the journal and ledger gave place to books of light- er literature. In 1796, at the age of nineteen, he had written ' Or- lando', a tragedy, subsequently printed with the head of the author. The father, a formal and correct person, devoted to practical mat- ters, seems to have contemplated the intellectual acquisitions of his son with little satisfaction.1 Of the theatre, he entertained pro- found horror, regarding its pretensions to be the school of virtue as the mask of profligacy, and its occupations as the lowest degradation. His mortification was extreme, ou finding the attachment of young White for the drama, growing into a passion, too strong to be con- trolled by reason, and when excited by opposition, becoming so in- tense as to affect the sanity of mind and health of body. In the winter of 1796, the elder White found it necessary to make a long visit in the city of New York. He writes to a friend at home, ' Wil- liam had, for some time, discovered his propensity for theatric exhi- bitions, and by all opportunities, I discountenanced in him this in- ordinate passion. During my absence from Boston last summer, he wrote a play, which, on my return, some of the family mentioned to me. Although I was not pleased with his study and writings in this style, yet I supposed it a good opportunity to turn his attention, and destroy gradually his predilection for the stage. About a month previous to my leaving Boston, he grew sick, and was, apparently, in a decline. I was very anxious, and postponed my journey for some time. A few days before I left home, he seemed to be in better spir- its, and declared himself to feel essentially better than he had been, and when I came away, opened himself, in a very dutiful and respect- ful manner, by observing, that his illness arose from his insatiable thirst for the stage, but that his resolution had gained the ascendan- cy of his desires, and entreated me not to have the least uneasiness respecting him in that particular, for he had determined not to give way to that inclination.' However sincere was the promise, it was
1 ' A son his father's spirit doomed to cross, By penning stanzas while he should engross.'
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WILLIAM C. WHITE.
soon broken. The conflict of filial duty with passionate desire was so violent, as to bring its victim to the verge of distraction. Unable to resist his dramatic love, he made his first appearance at the Fed- eral Street Theatre, Dec. 14, 1796, in the character of Norval, in the tragedy of Douglas, and was received with great applause, by an audience of indulgent friends. In a letter of apology, written the next day, to his father, he says, ' I am sorry I was compelled by vi- olence of inclination, to deviate from my promises to you ; but life was one series of vexation, disappointment and wretchedness. Pray let this consideration have some weight with you. But, for Heaven's sake, for your own sake, and for my sake, do not tear me from a pro- fession, which, if I am deprived of, will be attended with fatal con- sequences.' Never did parent mourn more inconsolably for the worst follies or darkest crimes of his offspring, than did the father of the ac- tor, over this example of perversity in his family. His epistles are filled with expressions of distress, so extravagant, that they are only redeemed from being ludicrous, by the deep sorrow they breathe. He thus addresses the tragedian : ' Dear William ! for so I will still call you : my beloved son ! stain not the memory of your amiable and ten- der mother by your folly : break not the heart of your father : bring not down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave : but rouse your- self, from this seeming state of insanity. . .. Your youth will ex- cuse you for once. . . . . But, for God's sake, and every thing you hold dear, I pray you to refrain , and be not again seen on a common stage.' The temporary success of the aspirant for theatric fame, al- leviated the sufferings of the distressed parent, and he reluctantly yielded to the advice of friends, and consented that Charles might occasionally tread the boards, but only in the elevated walks of tra- gedy. ' Let me enjoin it upon you,' he writes, ' never to appear, no, not for once, in any comic act, where the mimic tricks of a monkey are better fitted to excite laughter, and where dancing, singing and kissing, may be thought amusement enough for a dollar. No, Will- iam, I had, much as I love you, rather follow you to the grave, than to see you, and myself, and my family, so disgraced.'
Mr. White appeared as Orlando, in his own tragedy, Dec. 20; Tancred, in Thompson's Tancred and Sigismunda, Jan. 2, 1797. Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet, Feb. 6 : and Octavian, in the Moun- taineers, April 7, on the Boston stage. The ebb of popular favor ef. fected, what parental admonition and entreaty failed to accomplish. Controversy with the manager arose ; the applause which followed his first efforts grew fainter : the fit of romantic enthusiasm exhausted
31
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LAWYERS.
itself : and the earliest exertion of reflection, resulted in the determi- nation to adopt the profession of the law. In July, 1797, he enter- ed the office of Levi Lincoln, sen. in Worcester, as a student. In July, 1800, he removed to Providence, where he completed his pro- fessional noviciate, under the instruction of Judge Howell. When admitted to practise, in Rhode Island, in September following, a partnership was proposed by that gentleman, on terms which were declined. Mr White opened an office in Providence, but did not obtain employment or fees.
The want of business led directly to the want of money. The pressure of pecuniary embarrassment drove him again to the stage, in New York. 'On the 19th of January, 1801,' says Dunlap,1 'Mr. White, a young man from Worcester, Massachusetts, was brought out with some promise of success, in Young Norval. Curiosity was excited, and a house of $ 614 obtained. Ile had performed in Bos- ton, when quite a boy, with that applause so freely, and often so in- judiciously bestowed on such efforts : had since studied law, and was at this time a tall, handsome youth ; but not destined by nature to shine. . . . . He attempted Romeo, and gave hopes of improve- ment, but much improvement was wanting to constitute him an ar- tist.' He played Alonzo in Columbus; Aimwell in the Beaux Strat- agem : Theodore in the Court of Narbonne; Elvirus in the Chris- tian Suitor : and Altamont in the Fair Penitent. In the play of ' the Abbé de l'Epée,' he failed altogether in the part of St. Alme, was hissed, and withdrawn by his own consent, as it was announced to the public, on ' finding the character too difficult.' About this time, was begun and nearly completed, a drama, with the title, ' the Con- flict of Love and Patriotism, or the Afflicted Queen,' still preserved in manuscript, and never finished. A visit to Richmond, Va. where he played a few nights, was crowned with such success, that he con- templated devoting life to the theatre. The reverse of fortune in some of his efforts, again cured the dramatic mania. In the summer of 1801, he returned to the bar, and established himself in Rutland, in Worcester county, where some of his relatives then resided, and where his father, who had been unfortunate in business, soon after re- moved. He was married to Tamar Smith, daughter of a respectable farmer of that town. The degree of eminence and emolument he attained as counsellor, did not content his ambition, and he sought wider field. In May 1809, he had contracted to compile 'a Com-
1 History of the American Theatre, 281, 286.
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WILLIAM C. WHITE.
pendium of the Laws of Massachusetts,' printed in the same and the next following year ; a work useful at the day of its publication, but soon rendered useless by revisions of the statutes. More industry than talent was required for the compilation. 1 To superintend the execution of this work, Mr. White removed to Boston in 1810, and formed a professional connection with David Everett, Esq. of brief continuance. On the resignation of Judge Bangs, in 1811, he was appointed County Attorney which office he retained till his death. He established himself in Grafton, in 1812: the next year, he resid- ed in Worcester. In 1814, he removed to Sutton, where he married Susan Johannot, daughter of Dr. Stephen Monroe, Angust 13, 1815. He returned to Worcester, in 1816, and died May 2, ISIS. He had been long in declining health. An organic disease, the dropsy, during the last years of his life, spread 'mortal paleness' over his countenance.
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