USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Barre > Memorial of the one hundredth anniversary of the Incorporation of the town of Barre, June 17, 1874 ... > Part 10
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Some account of the members of the learned pro- fessions, other than ministers, who from time to time have been in practice in this town, should have a place in a memorial discourse; but necessity compels me to pass them with only a hasty glance. We have had seventeen lawyers, and still exercise ourselves "to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward man!" An equal number of doctors; and, it is enough to say, "We still live!" Of the lawyers, eight were graduates of colleges; namely, four of Harvard University, two of Yale, one of Dart- mouth, one of Brown University. Of the doctors, four are academical graduates; namely, three of Har- vard University and one of Dartmouth College. In the legal profession, of those still alive, one, the Hon. P. E. Aldrich, after attaining to eminence at the bar of the county, has recently been appointed a jus- tice of the Superior Court of the State, and has al-
* Palfrey's History of New England, II. 262.
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ready made himself " a terror to evil-doers." The others - let their own works praise them! Of the dead, three only, on account of the length of the term of their practice and their reputation and influence as citizens, demand a brief reference. Eleazar James was the first in time, having opened an office here in the year 1793. He was a native of Cohasset, and a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1767. His ap- pointment as Tutor is proof that he was a scholar of no ordinary rank. During the period of eight years he discharged the duties of that office in such a manner that he was regarded as the ruling spirit in the faculty of instruction and government. Whilst living at Cambridge he studied for the ministry and preached a few Sundays. But an insufficient voice and hesitating manner soon discouraged him, and he abandoned that profession. Entering the law-office of the first Levi Lincoln, of Worcester, he was ad- mitted, in due time, to the bar of this county, and opened an office at Rutland. He remained there only a year, and then removed to this town, where he mar- ried a daughter of Dr. Brooks, and resided till 1838. Mr. James's scholastic attainments were probably not exceeded by those of any man in this part of the State. He was a gentleman of taste, refinement, and general culture. He loved books. He loved culti- vated society. He brought with him the manners and habits of the best circles in Cambridge and Bos- ton. He always dressed with neatness and elegance. He took much pains in the education of his children,
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and by his example stimulated others. A lover of the church and its ordinances, he held up the hands of its minister. He had no gift for public speaking, no fluency. His points in argument were generally well taken, and he managed to make them well under- stood; but it was in a jerkey, laborious way. His practice, however, was extensive, and he was much respected by the courts. His influence in improving the tone of society was very considerable. When superior taste and refinement appear in one or two leading families in a town, the example becomes con- tagious, and reaches many others. Mr. James had one son, who was graduated at Harvard University in the class of 1821,- a very promising youth, dying young, the victim of an overtasked brain. Besides this son, he had three daughters, one only of whom survives, my own wife; and the others are repre- sented here to-day by a son of the late Rev. Dr. Young, of Boston, and by daughters of the late Chief Justice Allen, of Worcester, his grandchildren.
A very different man was Mr. Seth Lee, born in this town Sept. 13, 1770, and a lawyer of reputation. He began life a farmer with only the scant education of our common schools, and not until he was married and had a family did he enter on a course of study for his profession. This was pursued under many embarrassments; but he had great courage and perse- verance, and in August, 1809, was admitted an attor- ney of the C. C. P., and at once opened an office in this town. An inhabitant by birth, everybody was ac-
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quainted with him, and his practice soon became considerable. A man of a rugged nature, an iron will, with strong common-sense and much shrewd- ness, with clear perceptions and a good grip, with a talent for raillery and sarcasm, at that time deemed indispensable in an advocate, though unlettered and without the slightest faculty for rhetorical expression, he grew to be an advocate of no mean rank, and in the various wrestling-matches of the bar was an antagonist hard to throw. His family added greatly to the attractions of our town. Three of his sons be- came prominent merchants in New York, and one of his daughters, Mrs. J. G. Thurston, remembered by many here with affection, is a highly esteemed resi- dent of Lancaster. Mr. Lee, late in life, during the progress of a "revival of religion," became warmly interested, and united with the Evangelical church. An amusing anecdote is told of him in this connec- tion, the truth of which I do not vouch for. It is said that in a conference-meeting, soon after his conver- sion, his minister asked him if he would offer prayer. It was a tight place for the old lawyer; but after removing the contents of his mouth and clearing his throat, he replied, " I don't care if I make you a short one." Rising and closing his eyes, he began, as if addressing the court: " May it please your Honor!" but instantly corrected himself, and almost as quickly sat down, greatly to the consternation of the meeting.
Contemporary with Mr. Lee was Nathaniel Hough- ton, Esq., a native of Sterling, who came here in the
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first decade of the century, a young man of prepos- sessing appearance and pleasing address. Soon after coming he married one of our most cultivated ladies, a daughter of Capt. Edmund Howes, a highly respect- able gentleman who, after following the seas till he had accumulated a handsome property, removed to this town from Cape Cod and purchased an estate, which, for beauty of situation, is almost unrivalled. Mr. Houghton's practice after a few years became quite lucrative. He had a musical voice, a flowing, " flowery " style of speaking, was good-tempered and affable, a popular and useful citizen. He was never an advocate, but in the common run of practice in a country town satisfied his clients. The two political parties of that time were known as Federal and Republican. Mr. Houghton was an ardent sup-
porter of the latter. This gave him an advantage as a lawyer; for the town was nearly equally divided, and both the other lawyers were of the opposite party. When his party had the ascendancy Mr. Houghton was often chosen as its representative in its various conventions; several times as a senator of the State, and once or twice as a member of the Executive Council. He was a kind neighbor and a friendly, agreeable companion.
There are other names in the legal profession, the mention of which would readily recall to some of your minds men of eminent gifts and brilliant accom- plishments. Christopher C. Baldwin was one of these. More remarkable still was Walter A. Bryant,
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who in a lifetime of a little more than thirty years attained to the foremost rank of counsellors and advo- cates in "the heart of the Commonwealth." All these names will have a proper place in some future his- tory of the town.
The name of W. A. Bryant suggests that of a kindred genius lodged in an equally frail tabernacle of flesh, his lamented nephew, the late George Bryant Woods, whom it would be unpardonable neglect to pass wholly unnoticed even in this cursory review. Mr. Woods was not a lawyer, but belonged to that noble and growing profession to which every other and all callings are indebted for a large part of their intellectual food and pleasure. I mean the profession of Journalism. His earthly career was short; but, like his uncle, he was well-nigh a full-grown man in intellect at eighteen. Though doomed to struggle from childhood with the enervating conditions of a feeble constitution and the encroachments of insidious disease, he lived long enough to develop powers of unusual force and brilliancy as a writer, and to earn an enviable reputation amongst the younger members of his craft. Mr. Woods was the son of Edwin Woods, Esq. He died on the 29th of April, 1871, aged twenty-seven years. A handsome volume, en- titled " Essays, Sketches, and Stories, selected from the Writings of George Bryant Woods," has been pub- lished since his decease, which fully sustains the high estimate his friends had formed of his versatile and extraordinary powers.
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In closing these brief notices, I am impelled by a profound respect for their memory to pay a tribute to two other sons of Barre who practised law and rose to distinction in other places. To one of these, Timothy Jenkins, allusion has been made before. He was born in this town, Jan. 29, 1799. Till he was eighteen years of age he worked on his father's farm. But not content with so monotonous a life, he left his home determined to make a career in some intel- lectual pursuit. Two years he devoted to study at academies in the interior of New York, fitting himself for school-teaching, to which employment he gave two or three years, improving all the time he could save from its duties by reading and study. During this period he conceived the idea of being a lawyer; and, giving up his school, he entered the office of Judge Beardsley, of Utica, where he gave undivided atten- tion to the studies of the profession. Establishing himself first at Vernon and then at Oneida Castle, he soon rose to distinction at the Bar; acquired fortune as well as reputation; was sent to Congress in four elections; and in Congress, though a Democrat, took strong ground by the side of the foremost in oppo- sition to slavery. " Mr. Jenkins, at the time of his death, enjoyed a wide professional practice," says one of the newspapers of the county in which he lived, " and was regarded as among the ablest of the mem- bers of the Bar in the State of New York." "No spot darkens his reputation, no shadow rests on his memory," said one of his eulogists of the Bar. . . " He
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was simple and unpretending in his manners, unos- tentatious in his tastes, fond of the quiet of the country, delighting in rural occupations. As a lawyer, he was distinguished for his careful and laborious research, his unwearied industry, his clear and orderly mind, his fairness and liberality in practice. With no pre- tensions to the graces of oratory or the charms of eloquence, he possessed an earnestness of thought and vigor of expression that always commanded the atten- tion of courts and juries." And, best of all, the Rev. Samuel J. May, in a funeral sermon, bears the strong- est testimony to his Christian faith and noble example as an avowed and loving disciple of Christ.
The other bore the same name, being the eldest son of our late intelligent and esteemed fellow-citizen, Capt. James W. Jenkins. This young man pursued much the same course with his cousin, stimulated probably by his example. In his office he studied law, and on his removal from Vernon to Oneida Castle succeeded in part to his practice. He, too, by patient industry and a sound judgment, with excellent qualities of heart, rose to eminence in his profes- sion and in the confidence of the community in which he lived. But his upright, benevolent, large-souled character was his highest distinction. He was not merely respected, but universally beloved. The basis of that character, its guiding motive, its controlling force, was religion; and to all the institutions of religion he gave hearty support. The Rev. Mr. Emmons, his minister, speaking at his funeral, cries:
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" And who of us, brethren and friends, are not mourners? Who in all this community has not felt that a blow has fallen, which has touched his own sympathies and moved his sorrow? The presence of this large representation from all the bounds of our town, the feeling depicted on every countenance, the tone of anxious inquiry and of desponding grief, tes- tify that a man of no common mark has fallen. Not his family alone are mourners, not this religious soci- ety alone, not the circle, large as it was, of personal friends, are they whom grief and sorrow pervade; but all classes, all interests, share deeply in a sense of loss. What great interest was there of this commu- nity that he did not aim to promote? What circle, from the home of the poor to the dwelling of the affluent, did not welcome the sunshine of his presence ? What sick or afflicted or needy soul has wanted for sympathy or friendly offices, that he has known and not rendered ? "
Coming now to the Physicians, the notices must be still more brief. The first, Dr. Brooks, has already been spoken of. Dr. Ebenezer Rice, who was also a magistrate, was a graduate of Harvard of the class of 1760. He came here rather late in life, and is be- lieved to have been occupied chiefly in agricultural pursuits. He is characterized by Dr. Thompson, in his half-century sermon, as "a ripe scholar," an " ac- complished man," " a sound Christian," "dignified and urbane in manners," and "highly respected in all the relations of life." Dr. Asa Walker was here in full
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practice before the end of the last century, and con- tinued to be a popular physician till his retirement at an advanced age. Dr. Anson Bates, a young man from Fair Haven, after a course of professional study at Hanover, N. H., established himself in this town, and in a short time proved to be a man of much skill both in medicine and surgery. Of fine personal ap- pearance, of great energy and power of endurance, cheerful and hearty in social relations, easily gaining the confidence and attachment of his patients, his range of practice became very large; and at all times of night and day, in fair weather and foul, in heat and cold, he was on the drive. His practice was of the kind called "heroic." Is it because it required so much heroism on the part of the patients to endure it? Oh, how much of the best blood of Barre did he draw off ! Phlebotomy, ipecacuanha, calomel and jalap, salts and senna, each according to the circum- stances, did the business! When a very sick patient got well, nothing saved him but the extraordinary skill of the doctor; when he died, it was the will of God! The doctor's saddle-bags were the only apothe- cary shop in town; and the problem seemed to be how most expeditiously to dispose of the contents. It may be presumed that Dr. Bates prescribed more physic in a single case of fever than either of his emi- nent sons, now in practice, would deem necessary in fifty. So great has been the change in the treat- ment of disease during the last thirty years! How- ever, on the Darwinian principle of the "Survival of
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the fittest," or some other, a few of us remain to tell the story! Dr. Bates was a man of marked points, entertaining in conversation, decided in opinion, at- tached by early education and the convictions of his mature life to that branch of the church known as " orthodox," and lending to its support the whole weight of his character and influence. He died, greatly lamented, in the peace of the Christian faith, on the 14th of July, 1836 .*
To this sketch of a few of our departed physicians, I could not excuse myself if I failed to add some memorial of one who, born amongst us, and known with affection by many here, rose to the highest rank in his profession in the city of Boston. I refer to Dr. Marshall Sears Perry, grandson of that heroic woman of whom I spoke early in the discourse. Dr. Perry was from the same neighborhood and of the same age with the younger Mr. Jenkins, the lawyer. They were intimate friends, and not unlike in the ele- ments of their character. Both worked hard during most of their youth on their fathers' farms. Both were early fired with an ambition to be something
* The elder of Dr. B.'s sons (Dr. J. N. Bates, of Worcester) would seem to have gone quite to the opposite extreme of his father's practice, if he may be judged by an anecdote which has been told me since the delivery of this discourse. A certain deacon of the town, an excellent but rather austere Christian, suffering grievously from rheumatism in his limbs, met the doctor one day, and, stopping his carriage, asked him, with many grimaces and contortions, if he could tell him of any thing that would help him. The doctor reflected a moment, and answered he thought he could. " Well, what is it?" cried the deacon in agony. " Fear God and keep his commandments, deacon," answered the doctor, and drove on. At last accounts the deacon was trying the prescription and doing well.
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more than ordinarily good and useful men. Both were of a serious cast of thought, high-toned, clean- hearted, conscientious, open to good impressions. Both were obliged to struggle with uneasy circum- stances, to form their own plans, and make their own way in life. Both qualified themselves for teaching, and made their first efforts, in an independent way, as school-masters. Dr. Perry began on Cape Cod, where he had influential kindred. But his predilection from the start was for the medical profession, in which some of his father's 'relatives had distinguished them- selves; although, for a short time, there was a debate in his mind between this and the ministry. In one sense he was a born physician; he had a natural taste and aptitude for its delicate offices. Returning from his winter of school-keeping on the Cape, he made the acquaintance of Dr. Doane, then a physician of extensive practice in Boston, who listened to the story of his wishes with the utmost kindness, and at once made it easy for him to prosecute his studies through their entire course. On receiving his di- ploma, he opened an office on the corner of Washing- ton and Eliot Streets in Boston, put out his sign and waited anxiously for his first patient. At that time he supported himself on three dollars a week, exclusive of rent. He waited-but not long. The call came, and others in quick succession, insomuch that the vessel of his prosperity in two or three years was fairly under sail with a favoring breeze. Continuing the nautical figure, he took for his mate one who
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" knew every rope in the ship," her father being a physician of eminence, the late Dr. Stimson, of Ded- ham. In this choice he was singularly fortunate. When the wife, an admirable and attractive woman, made new friends, or introduced him to old ones, he was sure to keep them. There was no halting now in his onward march. From a doctor on foot he became a doctor in his chaise, and from one horse he advanced to two and three; and before he had reached the fiftieth year of his age his practice, em- bracing families in the highest walks of life, had become the most lucrative of any physician's in the city. But in the high noon of his fame and his use- fulness he was overtaken by a fatal disease, and re- moved from the world, to the great grief of thousands who loved him and who felt that his loss as their physician and friend could never be made good. I transcribe for preservation in these pages two or three obituary notices, which none who knew him will deem extravagant. The first is from a newspaper published in Dedham, where he spent the spring and summer previous to his death : -
" Dr. Marshall S. Perry, of Boston, who, during the past sum- mer, resided in this town, died at his residence in Chauncy Street, Boston, at twelve o'clock, on Friday night, November 18, 1859. Dr. Perry was a native of Barre, and his age was about 54 years. He leaves two daughters and four sons. His medical studies were principally pursued with the late Dr. Doane, and he com- menced practice in Boston about twenty-five years ago.
"Dr. Perry was the physician who attended Senator Sumner during the early stage of the illness which resulted from the
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assault by Brooks; and, there is little reason to doubt, was the providential means of saving his life at that critical moment.
" Few men have ever lived who have accomplished more real good in their lives, and in their death have been more sincerely mourned. The profession has lost in him one of its brightest and noblest examples, and the sick and the poor a steadfast and sympathizing friend. At the close of a discourse delivered last Sunday morning in the First Church in this town, the pastor, Rev. Dr. Lamson, made the following feeling and truthful allu- sion to his life and character : -
""""The world passeth away," and we are all passing on to judgment. When I began the preparation of this discourse, I little thought that before its delivery intelligence would come that one, eminently entitled to be called the " beloved physician," who had passed the summer and early autumnal months among us, though in the chamber of the invalid and visible to but few, had entered the eternal world. I had trusted, at least hoped, for the sake of the living, that he would be spared to be the instrument, under Providence, of extending to multitudes the benefit of his inspiring counsels, his soothing words, and his skill in the healing art. But Heaven had ordained a different result.
""' He bore with Christian fortitude and patience a long and painful illness ; he was resigned to the decrees of Providence, and murmured not at their seeming severity. As was said of another, a great man, who, a little more than half a century ago, passed away, an occupant of the same dwelling, " He had many reasons for wishing to live. The summons came to demand of his noon of life the residue of a day which had been bright and fair ; ... of his parental tenderness, the surrender of his children to the chances and vicissitudes of life without his counsel and care." * Yet, like that other, " with composure and dignity, he saw the approach of his dissolution," and bowed in calm submission to the will of Heaven. Entering on his profession in the capital of New England, he rose by gradual and sure steps, and, in the extent of his practice at the time of his attack by the malady which proved fatal, stood, I believe, foremost among his professional brethren in the city. This is the more remarkable and the more to his
* Dr. Kirkland's Life of Fisher Ames.
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credit, as his early advantages were not great ; he had difficulties to struggle with ; he had no powerful patrons ; he was eminently what is called a self-made man. But he had peculiar merits. To his industry and correct habits and a youth unspotted, he added the strictest conscientiousness, sincerity, truthfulness, and a manner in a marked degree kind and affectionate. This was evidently not put on, was not assumed for effect; it cost him nothing to appear kind, because he was kind at heart; his sym- pathies had their fountain there, and flowed out as naturally as streams from the head-spring. He was gentle, yet firm and decided, - an example of one who offended not in word, though to win favor he never compromised truth. Over all there was, in his intercourse with his patients, an undefined charm, an inde- scribable something, which instantly won confidence and inspired a warmth of affection which I have never seen equalled in any similar case. His presence and counsels accomplished as much as his prescriptions. They gave courage to the heart ; the spirits rallied ; and I do not know that I express myself extravagantly when I say, that as a visitant in the sick-room his influence seemed that of a being of another sphere. Yet he was modest and humble ; he was an instrument, as he regarded himself, in the hands of Providence. He had self-respect, but none of the arro- gance which sometimes attends great success. There is no one who will be more missed in the community ; uncounted tears will be shed in secret chambers over his early removal. May He, whose prerogative it is to educe good out of evil and bring light out of darkness, cause all to turn to a happy issue, bind up the broken-hearted, and heal the bruised in spirit.
"' To the young, I know of no example more precious than that of him who has thus passed away amid tears which fall " fast as rain." It shows what steadfastness of purpose, industry, Chris- tian conscientiousness, and a kindness of heart, to which no one, and especially no sufferer, can remain insensible, may accomplish. In such a presence, how fade into nothingness all the gorgeous shows of things which so dazzle the unthinking world ! God help the young to profit by the lesson.'"
Of his religious character, let his revered pastor, the late Dr. E. S. Gannett, bear witness: -
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" He did not become a communicant in this church till he had settled the momentous questions on which the soul's peace rests. He read religious books, and thought much on points of Christian evidence and Christian doctrine. He was a believer from convic- tion. And how true and practical was his faith, we saw, not only in the spotless integrity of his life, the blameless consistency of his whole course, the unchanged temper with which he met the perils of prosperity, the high honor and the generous courtesy which he always maintained, but also in the submission with which he received the terrible blow that, two years and a half since, deprived him of her who, with every wifely and womanly virtue adorning her character, had shared with him the earlier trials and the later responsibilities of life ; in the uncomplaining spirit with which he endured the sharp pains which were consuming a vitality that resisted them to the last moment; and in the calm- ness with which he anticipated his departure from all the pros- pects of usefulness that had opened upon him ; and, what was still harder to bear, from them who seemed, to him and to us, to need his presence in the household of which he had become sole head. . . .
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