USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive and Biographical Record of Bristol County, Massachusetts (Volume 2) > Part 2
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Foster and John Shephard, was appointed to that service in the third section of the act establishing the new county seat.' Following is an account of the bill of expenses of the committee in going to Bristol " By order of the Great and General Court, and removing the records from Bristol to Taunton, November, 1746 " :
Cash pd. at mr. Robins ye Tavern, by Shepard 0
d
6 6 Cash pd. at Bristol at potters ye Tavern by Foster 0 6 6 pd. at Do. at mr. troup's by Col. Leonard. 1 0 0
pd. at Child's ye Tavern at Swansey by Col. Leonard - 16 0 pd. at harden's in Do. by Sheppard 1 2 8
pd. at Capt. wheeler's in Rehoboth
pd. at hill's in Do. by Sheppard ..
0 8 6
pd. at Brig's ir Do. by Sheppard 0 18 8 pd. by Shepard 29s by Foster 1 5 0
Given on ye Road by Capt. Sheppard
8 , 0 15 2 6
By Col. Leonard 2 -)3 7 0
1 18 6
Appended is the following report of the committee:
Nov. 18th, 1746, Delivered the Records of ye County, viz. of Deeds, &c. to mr. Thomas Troop, the Late Registre of Deeds, at ye house of ye Honorable Seth Will- iams, Esqr. at Taunton, & have taken bonds with Surtys for his keeping ye books & his offce also at Taunton till ye further order of ye General Court, or till a Registre be chosen. ye Same day Committed the Books of Record and papers belonging to ye Probate Register to Stephen paine, Esqr., at the house of Samuel white, Esqr., and have taken Bonds with Surties for ye Safe keeping sd. Books & papers in sd. Town.
ye same day appointed mr. Nathaniel Fales Clerk of ye Inferior Court of Comon Pleas & Court of General sessions of ye peace, who yus sworn to ye faithful dishard of sd. office & Committed ye Books & papers belonging to sd. Courts to ye sd. Nath'll Fales, at ye house of ye Honorable Seth Williams, Esqr., & have taken Bonds with Surtys for his Safe keeping sd. Books in the Town of Taunton, &c., the same day appointed James Williams, Esqr., Treasurer for sd. County, who has Rec'd the pa- pers & all accounts, & was Sworn to ye faithful discharge of sd. office."
On the 9th day of December, 1746, was held the first session of the Court of Common Pleas in Taunton, the Hon. Seth Williams, George Leonard and Stephen Paine, presiding.
The Court of Sessions, then consisting of all the justices of the peace,
1 They, "or the major part of them, shall cause them [the records] immediately to be con- veyed to the said town of Taunton, and there safely deposited under the care of the same persons as heretofore, or others, as said committee shall judge best."-Section 8 of act creating the county seat.
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sat on the same day, the following justices being present: Seth Will- iams, Thomas Terry, George Leonard, Timothy Fales, Samuel White, Thomas Bowers, Stephen Paine, Ephraim Leonard, John Foster, Ed- ward Hayward, Samuel Howland, Samuel Leonard, John Godfrey, Stephen White, Sylvester Richmond, jr .- fifteen in all. Timothy Fales was appointed clerk of both courts and took the required oath. As will be seen a little further on, about the first business of the court was to provide the county with a jail and a court house.
The proceedings in the early courts are replete with interest to the student of history, but they cannot, of course, be followed in detail in these pages. In a chapter prepared by John S. Brayton, for a former historical work on Bristol county, is found the following quotation from writings of John Adams, in which he refers in somewhat strong lan- guage to one of the chief justices, which is worthy of further preserva- tion :
8th day of June, 1762. Went to Taunton Court, the land of Leonards, three Judges of the Common Pleas of that name, each of whom has a son, who was bred at college. The Hon. George Leonard, the first Justice, seems to be arbitrary. He committed two old gentlemen, who were nearly eighty years old, to the custody of an officer only for speaking loud, when they were both deaf and not conscious that they did speak. A check, a reproof, an admonition would have been enough.
He was unwilling that the Sessions should adjourn for an hour to take the verdict of the Jury, in a trial upon a presentment for a riot, but would have that jury kept together all night till the Court should set again next morning. No other Court in the Province, superior or inferior, would have thought of keeping the jury up. He broke in most abruptly upon Bob Paine: He did not think it was right to run out against the King's witnesses; for his part, he did not like. to hear it three or four times over! Thus the haughty tyrant rules the country!
The three judges named Leonard to whom Adams referred were George, his brother Ephraim, and his cousin Zephaniah, who were con- temporaneous judges of the Court of Common Pleas. This family was remarkable for the number of its membership in the judiciary, no less than seven having been elevated to the bench. These were Thomas, the son of James and the progenitor of the Leonards in this part of the country, who was followed by his son George, and he again by his son George, while still a third George was thus honored. Ephraim, great- grandson of the first James, was another; Zephaniah, also a great- grandson of James, and the father of Zephaniah, named Stephen.
Another somewhat peculiar cause was tried in March, 1773, which indicates that betting on election is not wholly an outgrowth of mod-
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ern times. Nehemiah Liscome, of Taunton, according to the record, sued Jerathmeel Bowers, of Swansea, in plea of trespass, " that where- as, on the 11th day of March last past, at Taunton, a certain discourse was had between the said Nehemiah and Jerathmeel concerning the election of the person who should be chosen to represent the town of Taunton at the next election." Bowers made a promise that if Liscome was elected representative he would give him one hundred gallons of Jamaica rum, and if Liscome was not elected, he was to give Bowers fifty dollars. Liscome was elected and demanded his quantity of the popu- lar beverage. Bowers refused to pay and the suit was brought to re- cover it or its value in money. The verdict was for the defendant.
When the fires of the Revolution swept over the country the colonial courts were dissolved and were not reorganized for more than a year. In some localities the absence of courts of justice was supplied by the establishment of local tribunals. For example, at a town meeting in Attleborough it was voted to have a Superior and Inferior Court in that town, and four men were chosen to serve as superior judges and seven as judges of the Inferior Court.
During the war of the Revolution, after the courts were reorganized, a large share of their business was in connection with the offenses of the class of persons called tories-those who showed by their acts that they were unfriendly to the colonists in the struggle for freedom. On the 12th of March, 1776, a large number of these loyalists gathered and prevented the court from meeting in the Taunton court house, and the court was compelled to seek other quarters. If a man was suspected of sympathizing with the enemy he would be brought before a Com- mittee of Correspondence and Safety, which was formed in every town. This committee would send the suspect before the Court of Sessions, where he would be ordered to enter into a recognizance in the sum of £200 not to join the enemy or render him any assistance. In 1777 the same Jerathmeel Bowers, who refused to deliver the promised rum to Liscome, and who was at that time one of the justices of the Court of Sessions, was convicted by the committee of "undervaluing the paper currency of the United States and refusing to take the same, and for saying that he would rather give one thousand dollars than to have any soldiers raised in Swansea." He was ordered to be committed to the gaol and there remain till he was discharged by the order of the State. At the next term of the Court of Sessions he was ordered discharged on his own recognizance. Bowers was elected representative from Swan-
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sea to the General Court in 1783, upon which the selectmen of Reho- both and other persons living in Swansea sent up a petition that he should be excluded from the seat, as "he had not shown himself friendly in the late struggle with Great Britain," and also that he was disqualified by a resolve of a former General Court. The matter being referred to a committee of the House it was reported that " by a resolve of the General Court passed April 7, 1777, the said Jerathmeel Bowers was disqualified from holding any post of honor or profit in the com- monwealth, which resolve in the opinion of the committee was still in force, and that Mr. Bowers was therefore disqualified from holding a seat." Bowers quitted his seat.
The foregoing will serve merely as an example of almost innumera- ble cases bearing the same general characteristics. The colonists in their struggle for independence were most jealous of any defection from their ranks and looked with suspicion upon even an appearance of neutrality.
The attack upon the courts of Bristol county, in Taunton, which has passed into history under the title of Shays's Rebellion, which took place in 1785, while the community was still smarting from the wounds of the Revolution, has been suffciently described in an earlier chapter and need not be further considered in this place. While directed against the courts, its causes may be sought not alone in the existence of those tribunals or their proceedings, but in various other directions wherein discontent was bred.
In 1821 the judicial system of Massachusetts was organized substan- tially as it exists at the present time, and the Court of Common Pleas for the Commonwealth was established. The governor was to. ap- point " four meet persons " to be justices, who, in the quaint language of the statute, "shall be men of sobriety of manners and learned in the law." Of the four justices first appointed, John Mason Williams, of Taunton, was appointed associate in 1820, and chief justice in 1839; Charles Henry Warren, of New Bedford, appointed in 1839, and Har. rison Gray Otis Colby, appointed in 1845. Judge Williams was on the bench twenty-four years, during five of which he was chief justice. He was a man of great legal learning, unimpeachable integrity and purity, great dignity of demeanor, and unfailing in courtesy. Judge Colby re- mained on the bench only two years.
For eighty-two years all the courts of Bristol county were held in Taunton. In the old records of the town of Dartmouth are found fre-
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quent petitions to the General Court praying that certain terms of the court might he held in Dighton or some place farther south, giving as reasons that the distance to be traveled by the inhabitants of Dart- mouth to reach the courts was so great as to cause much inconvenience and hardship. Finally in 1828 a petition for this purpose was success. ful. The act establishing New Bedford as a half-shire town passed the Senate February 29, 1828, and the House on March 13 of that year. The first term of the Court of Common Pleas in New Bedford was held on June 9, 1828; it sat in the town hall on Second street, no court house having yet been provided. Judge Williams presided, and the following cases on the criminal docket were disposed of :
Samuel P. Martin and six others, for a riot in Seekonk; verdict, not guilty. Simeon 'Tisdale, for larceny in Taunton; verdict, not guilty.
All the courts in New Bedford continued to be held in the town hall until the court house was completed, as described a little farther on. The last term of the Court of Common Pleas for Bristol County was held in New Bedford, the term closing on the 27th day of June, 1859. Regular sessions of that court had been held either at Taunton or New Bedford for 113 years, with the exception of the brief interval before noticed. At the time of its organization the Court of Common Pleas was distinctively a county court, its three justices being residents of the county. All of the justices were present at the sessions of the court and shared in its business. In 1810 the State was divided into circuits, the Southern circuit being composed of the counties of Nor- folk, Plymouth, Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes and Nantucket. This con- tinued until the reorganization of 1821, under which this court became a State Court. On the 1st day of July, 1859, the Court of Common Pleas was abolished, and was succeeded by the present Superior Court. No other change was made until March 19, 1877, when the justices of the Superior Court were authorized by statute to adjourn any of the established terms of that court from Taunton to Fall River. The first session of this court was held in that city on June 27 of that year.
JUDICIAL OFFICERS OF BRISTOL COUNTY.
Of the judges of the Provincial Superior Court of Judicature, three- John Walley, John Saffin and Nathaniel Hubbard-were at some time citizens of Bristol county prior to the decree of the royal commission made in 1741, appointed to determine the line between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, before mentioned. John Walley removed to Bris-
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tol from Boston in 1680, was appointed judge in 1700, and died in Bos- ton in 1712. John Saffin was a native of England and settled in Scit- rate about 1650; he afterwards removed to Boston and about the year 1688 settled in Bristol. He was appointed judge in 1701 and died in Bristol in 1710. Nathaniel Hubbard belonged in Bristol, and was ap- pointed judge in 1745; he died there probably in 1747.
Of judges of the Supreme Judicial Court, Marcus Morton, of Taun- ton, was appointed in 1825, and James Madison Morton, of Fall River, in 1890.
Of the Superior Court for the Commonwealth, Lincoln Flagg Brig- ham, of New Bedford, was appointed associate in 1859, the chief jus- tice in 1869; Chester Isham Reed, of Taunton, was appointed in 1867; Robert Carter Pitman, of New Bedford, was appointed in 1867; Henry King Braley, of Fall River, appointed in 1881.
'The judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for Bristol county were as follows:
John Saffin, appointed Dec. 7, 1692.
Thomas Church, Aug. 22, 1729.
Thomas Leonard, Dec. 7, 1692.
Seth Williams, Dec. 12, 1729.
Job Almy, Dec. 11, 1740.
Nicholas Peck, Dec. 7, 1692. John Browne, Dec. 7, 1692.
Stephen Paine, Feb. 8, 1745-6.
Thomas Leonard, Dec. 7, 1692.
Ephraim Leonard, June 27. 1747.
Nathaniel Byfield, Aug. 7, 1701.
Samuel Willis, April 18. 1740. Timothy Fales, May 23, 1700.
Ebenezer Brenton, June 20, 1702.
Benjamin Church, Sept. 30, 1708. Henry Mackintosh, Dec. 28, 1709.
Zephaniah Leonard, Jan. 24, 1761.
Nathaniel Payne, Aug. 24, 1710.
Elisha Tobey, June 18, 1766.
Simon Davis, Jan. 1, 1718-14.
William Spooner, 1781. Thomas Durfee, 1781.
George Leonard, Dec. 10, 1715.
Nathaniel Blagrove, Mar. 19, 1723-4.
Seth Williams, June 23, 1724.
Benjamin Williams, 1781. William Baylies, 1781. David Cobb, 1781.
Samuel Vyall, Dec. 2, 1724. George Leonard 2d, Dec. 18, 1725.
George Leonard, 1781.
Nathaniel Hubbard, June 18, 1728.
The special justices of the Inferior Court appointed at various times were:
Perez Bradford, Dec. 11, 1740. Job Almy, Jan. 9, 1785-6.
Nathaniel Hubbard, April 5, 1745.
Thomas Terry, June 27, 1747.
George Godfrey, 1775.
David Cobb, of Taunton, 1781.
John Godfrey, Aug. 17, 1749.
Ezra Richmond, 1781.
Samuel Willis, Jan. 24, 1761.
Shubael Peck, 1781.
Samuel Willis, Nov. 24, 1761.
Samuel Tobey, 1781.
Thomas Gilbert, Feb. 17, 1768. Thomas Durfee, 1775.
Apollos Leonard, 1781.
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Samuel Willis, June 27, 1747. Thomas Bowen, Ang. 12, 1749.
James Williams, May 23, 1760.
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The chief judges of the Common Pleas Court, established in 1782, were:
Samuel Tobey, appointed in 1795.
Laban Wheaton, chief justice, 1810.
Stephen Burbank, 1795.
Samuel Fales, 1810.
Edward Pope, 1790.
Seth Washburn, 1810.
Samuel Fales, chief justice, 1805.
Samuel Guild, 1811,
Elihu Slocum, 1807.
Seth Washburn, 1819.
Daniel Perry, 1807.
Apollos Tobey, 1819.
Samuel Guild, 1807.
Jonathan Ingall, special justice, 1822.
James Godfrey, 1807.
Elihu Slocum, special justice, 1822.
The judges of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas were:
Seth Washburn, sessions justice, appointed in 1814. Apollos Tobey, sessions justice, appointed in 1814.
REGISTERS OF PROBATE.
In Bristol.
In Taunton.
Stephen Burton, 1686-92.
George Leonard, 1749-83.
John Cary, 1602-1715.
Dr. William Baylies, 1783-1812.
Ebenezer Brenton, 1715-17.
Francis Baylies, 1 1812-21.
John Cary, 1717-21.
David G. W. Cobb, 1821-83.
Stephen Paine, 1721-49.
Anselm Bassett,' 1833-51.
Henry Williams, 1851-53.
John Daggett, 1858-64.
Austin S. Cushman, 1864-69.
William E. Fuller, 1869 -. Arthur M. Alger, incumbent.
The special justices of the Common Pleas Court were: Elisha Morey, appointed in 1796. James Williams, 1799.
Alden Spooner, 1808 Samuel Fales, 1804.
The judges of the General Sessions of the Peace, after its reorganiza- tion in 1807, and of its successor, the Court of Sessions, were:
Josiah Dean, chief justice. appointed in 1807. Nathaniel Morton, jr., 1807.
Seth Washburn, 1811. Elihu Slocum, 1811.
Laban Wheaton, chief justice, 1819.
1 Francis Baylies was a son of Dr. William Baylies and grandson of Samuel White, the first Taunton lawyer ; he was born October 16, 1784, and began practice in Taunton in 1810. Besides his incumbency of the office of register of probate (which his father filled before him), he served in Congress six years, and during Jackson's administration was appointed on a mission to Buenos Ayres. Mr. Baylies was noted as a historical writer and the author of a Memoir of Plymouth Colony in two volumes, and other valuable works. His death took place October 98, 1858.
" Anselm Bassett was born in 1784 and graduated from Brown University in 1808. Having studied law and been admitted to the bar, he settled in Taunton and gained a large general prac- tice. He died September 9, 1808. He was father of Charles Jarvis Holmes Bassett, who was long cashier and president of the Taunton Bank and an excellent financier.
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The judges of Probate and Insolvency for Bristol county have been :
Nathaniel Byfield, appointed October 28, 1702.
Nathaniel Byfield, Dec. 9, 1715. Benjamin Williams, 1778.
Nathaniel Blagrove, Sept. 27, 1729.
Benjamin Williams, 1780.
Nathaniel Hubbard, April 5, 1744.
George Leonard, 1785.
George Leonard, Feb. 16, 1747-8. George Leonard 2d, Nov. 24, 1761.
Seth Padelford, 1793.
Hodijah Baylies, 1811.
George Leonard, 1775.
Oliver Prescott,1 1836.
George Leonard, 1776.
Edmund H. Bennett,' 1859.
Nathaniel Paine, Aug. 24. 1710.
William E. Fuller, 1884.
Sheriffs .- Nathaniel Paine, May 27, 1692; Samuel Gallop, from December 22, 1692, to June 30, 1710; William Troop, December 10, 1715; Seth Williams (Taunton), March 31, 1718; Charles Church (Dighton), April 16, 1718, to June 22, 1783; Sylves- ter Richmond (Dighton), January 14, 1746, to November 24, 1761; Zephaniah Leon- ard (Raynham), 1774; Horatio Leonard (Raynham), 1809; Noah Claflin (Attle- borough), 1812; Horatio Leonard, 1818; Horatio L. Danforth (Taunton), 1845; Lyman W. Dean (Attleborough), 1852; Robert Sherman (Pawtucket), 1853; George H. Babbitt (Taunton), 1855; Chr. B. H. Fessenden (New Bedford), 1868; William S. Cobb (New Bedford), 1869; Andrew R. Wright (Fall River), 1878; Edwin H. Evans, incumbent.
Clerks of Courts .- Timothy Fales, 1702; Timothy Fales, 1746; Samuel Fales' (Taunton), 1774; from October, 1897, to October, 1804, John Tucker signed records of the Supreme Judicial Court; October, 1804, Nathaniel Fales; 1813, Nathaniel Fales; 1816, James Sproat (Taunton); October, 1822, James Sproat " (son of the
1 Oliver Prescott was born in Middlesex county, Maxx., November 25, IHM, was educated at Harvard and after teaching for a time in the Friends' Academy in New Bedford, he studied law in the Cambridge Law School and in the office of Lemuel Williams, New Bedford, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1832. He was appointed judge of probate, in 185 and held the office until the court was abolished in 1850. In 1846 he was appointed police court judge of New Bedford and held the office until 1858, when he resigned. He was a good lawyer and enjoyed the entire con- fidence of the bar and the public.
" Edmund Hatch Bennett was born in Manchester, Vt., April 6, 1824, and was educated in the academies of that State and the University of Vermont ; from the latter institution he received the degree of LL.D. in 1878. After a short period of teaching in Virginia he studied law in Bur- lington in his father's office, and was admitted to the bar in 1817 ; in the following spring he set- tied in Taunton, forming a partnership with Nathaniel Morton, and Inter with Henry Williams, and finally with Henry J. Fuller. He was elected the first mayor of Taunton city in 1865 and was twice re-elected. He was a thorough and persistent student of law as a science, and in the years 1870, 1871 and 1872, lectured on various subjects in the Dane Law School of Harvard University. From 1872 he was connected with the law school in Boston University, and in 1876 was chosen its Dean. He edited law books to the number of about one hundred volumes, and for several years was one of the editors of the American Law Register.
' Samuel Fales was a native of Bristol, R. I., and graduated from Harvard in 1778, and besides the office above mentioned, was appointed chief justice of the old Court of Common Pleas. He was succeeded in the office of clerk by his son, Nathaniel. Judge Fales died in Boston January 20, 1818, aged sixty-eight years.
' James Spront (the second one above mentioned, and father of William A. F. Sproat) was born in 1758 and settled in Taunton. Aside from his position as clerk of the courts he was not in public life. His father (James) was a man of fine appearance, "an eminent practitioner at the bar," and noted for his ready wit. He died November 12, 1825.
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former); April, 1856, William A. F. Sproat, (Taunton); January 7, 1857, John S. Brayton, (Fall River); January 5, 1864, Simeon Borden, (Fall River); Simeon Borden.
REGISTERS OF DEEDS.
Thomas Troop, chosen before 1741.
James Williams, 1780.
Alfred Williams, 1822.
Alfred Williams, Northern District, 1838.
Benjamin T. Congden, Southern Dis- trict, 1888.
Charles C. Sayer, Northern District, 1862.
Benjamin K. Sayer, Southern District, 1859.
Joseph E. Wilbar, Northern District, 1862.
George B. Richmond, Southern District, 1885. Nathan D. Chace, of Fall River, 1894.
King's Attorneys .- Samuel Howland, 1702-46; Samuel White, 1747-69; Daniel Leonard, 1769 to the Revolution.
County and District Attorneys .- Marcus Norton, appointed 1812; Nicholas Tilling- east, 1818; John Mason Williams, 1819; James Ellis, 1821; Horatio L. Danforth, 1830; James Ellis, 1881-2; Charles H. Warren, 1838-39. During Mr. Warren's in- cumbency the State was divided in 1834, into four districts-Northern, Eastern, Southern and Western. John H. Clifford, 1840-49; Harrison G. O. Colby, 1850-51; Horatio Pratt, 1852-58; Lincoln F. Brigham, 1854-50; George Marston, 1862-78; Hosea M. Knowlton, 1880-94; Andrew J. Jennings, 1895 to the present time.
In 1840 a fifth district, the Middle, was added to the former four. In 1855 the sixth district was added, the Southeastern; in 1856, the Northwestern was added, and in 1859, the Suffolk district was added, making the present eight.
There are three District Courts in Bristol county, as follows:
First-William H. Fox, justice; Erastus M. Reed and Frederick S. Hall, special justices; and Albert Fuller, clerk; held at Taunton and Attleborough, with jurisdiction in Taunton, Rehoboth, Berkley, Digh- ton, Seekonk, Attleborough, North Attleborough, Norton, Mansfield, Easton and Raynham.
Second-John J. McDonough, justice; Benjamin K. Lovatt and George Grime, special justices; Augustus B. Leonard, clerk; held at Fall River, with jurisdiction in Fall River, Freetown, Somerset and Swansea.
Third-Frank A. Milliken, justice; A. Edwin Clarke and James L. Gillingham, special justices; Thomas J. Cobb, clerk; held at New Bed- ford, with jurisdiction in New Bedford, Fairhaven, Acushnet, Dart- mouth and Westport.
Fall River Bar Association .- This association has had an existence of over ten years, the date of its agreement being January 1, 1887. In that agreement its purposes are stated as the " prosecution of literary and educational pursuits and the establishment and maintenance of a
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place for a reading room and law library, and the promotion of the interests of the Fall River bar." The agreement is signed by Josiah C. Blaisdell, Jonathan M. Wood, James M. Morton, Andrew J. Jen- nings, Henry K. Braley, Milton Reed, James F. Jackson, Edward Hig- ginson, David F. Slade, Alfred H. Hood, John W. Cummings, Arba N. Lincoln, M. G. B. Swift, John J. McDonough, Dennis V. Sullivan, H. A. Dubuque, T. F. McDonough, S. W. Ashton and Nicholas Hath- away.
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