USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Bristol County, Massachusetts > Part 69
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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- nate 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 Leonard, Dec. 7, 1692.
Nicholas Peck, Dec. 7, 1692.
Job Almy, Dec. 11, 1740. Stephen Paine, Feb. 8, 1745-6.
Ephraim Leonard, June 27, 1747.
John Browne, Dec. 7, 1692. Thomas Leonard, Dec. 7, 1692. Nathaniel Byfield, Aug. 7, 1701.
Samuel Willis, April 18, 1749.
Ebenezer Brenton, June 29, 1702.
Benjamin Church, Sept. 30, 1708.
James Williams, May 23, 1760.
Zephaniah Leonard, Jan. 24, 1761.
Nathaniel Payne, Aug. 24, 1710.
Elisha Tobey, June 18, 1766.
William Spooner, 1781.
Thomas Durfee, 1781.
Nathaniel Blagrove, Mar. 19, 1723-4.
Seth Williams, June 23, 1724.
Samuel Vyall, Dec. 2, 1724.
David Cobb, 1781. George Leonard, 1781.
The special justices of the Inferior Court appointed at various times were:
Perez Bradford, Dec. 11, 1740.
Nathaniel Hubbard, April 5, 1745.
Thomas Terry, June 27, 1747.
Samuel Willis, June 27, 1747. Thomas Bowen, Aug. 12, 1749.
David Cobb, of Taunton, 1781.
John Godfrey, Aug. 17, 1749.
Ezra Richmond, 1781.
Samuel Willis, Jan. 24, 1761.
Shubael Peck, 1781.
Samuel Tobey, 1781.
Apollos Leonard, 1781.
Samuel Willis, Nov. 24; 1761. Thomas Gilbert, Feb. 17, 1763. Thomas Durfee, 1775.
Benjamin Williams, 1781. William Baylies, 1781.
George Leonard 2d, Dec. 18, 1725.
Nathaniel Hubbard, June 18, 1728.
Thomas Church, Aug. 22, 1729. Seth Williams, Dec. 12, 1729.
Timothy Fales, May 23, 1760.
Henry Mackintosh, Dec. 28, 1709.
Simon Davis, Jan. 1, 1713-14. George Leonard, Dec. 10, 1715.
Job Almy, Jan. 9, 1735-6.
George Godfrey, 1775.
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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, 1796.
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. 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, 1692-1715.
Dr. William Baylies, 1783-1812.
Ebenezer Brenton, 1715-17.
Francis Baylies,1 1812-21.
John Cary, 1717-21.
David G. W. Cobb, 1821-33.
Stephen Paine, 1721-49.
Anselm Bassett,2 1833-51.
Henry Williams, 1851-53.
John Daggett, 1853-64.
Austin S. Cushman, 1864-69.
William E. Fuller, 1869 -. Arthur M. Alger, incumbent. ยท
The special justices of the Common Pleas Court were:
Elisha Morey, appointed in 1796. James Williams, 1799.
Alden Spooner, 1803 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 28, 1852.
2 Anselm Bassett was born in 1784 and graduated from Brown University in 1803. Having studied law and been admitted to the bar, he settled in Taunton and gained a large general prac- tice. He died September 9, 1863. He was father of Charles Jarvis Holmes Bassett, who was long cashier and president of the Taunton Bank and an excellent financier.
James Godfrey, 1807.
Gubelman Photo-Gravure Co.
Simeon Borden
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The judges of Probate and Insolvency for Bristol county have been :
Nathaniel Byfield, appointed October 23, 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.
Seth Padelford, 1793.
George Leonard 2d, Nov. 24, 1761.
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, 1733; 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, 1813; 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), 1863; 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 3 (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, Mass., November 25, 1806, 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 1835 and held the office until the court was abolished in 1859. In 1816 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.
2 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 1873. 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 1847 : in the following spring he set- tled in Taunton, forming a partnership with Nathaniel Morton, and later 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.
3 Samuel Fales was a native of Bristol, R. I., and graduated from Harvard in 1773, 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.
4 James Sproat (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, 1838.
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, 1831-2; Charles H. Warren, 1833-39. 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, 1852-53; Lincoln F. Brigham, 1854-59; George Marston, 1862-78; Hosea M. Knowlton, 1880-94; Andrew J. Jennings, 1895 to the present time.
In 1849 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.
The association was incorporated March 31, 1887. At the first meet- ing, held January 1, 1887, Arba Lincoln was elected temporary clerk. A code of by-laws was prepared and adopted on the 24th of January. The first board of officers was composed as follows: President, James M. Morton; vice-president, Jonathan M. Wood; treasurer, Arba N. Lincoln; executive council, Henry K. Braley, Milton Reed, John W. Cummings, James F. Jackson, H. A. Dubuque; secretary, John J. McDonough.
It was largely through the efforts of this association that Fall River now has a beautiful and costly court house, the site of which was se- lected by the association and recommended to the County Commission- ers. On the 14th of December, 1887, a fee bill was adopted, which has been of great benefit to the members of the bar. In September, 1890, Mr. Morton resigned the presidency of the association, and Jonathan M. Wood was elected on the 5th of the following February; Milton Reed was the second incumbent of the office of vice-president, succeed- ing Mr. Wood when he was elected president.
On the 22d of January, 1891, the association adopted a resolution recommending the appointment by the governor of Henry K. Braley to fill the vacancy on the bench of the Superior Court, caused by the promotion of Judge Lathrop to the bench of the Supreme Court. A committee of seven members was appointed to wait on the governor and urge the appointment; success attended these efforts, and a dinner was subsequently tendered Mr. Braley in Boston.
On the 14th of October, 1893, John J. DcDonough resigned the office of secretary and was succeeded by Arthur S. Phillips, who still holds the position. The officers of 1894 were as follows: President, Jonathan M. Wood; vice-president, Milton Reed; secretary, Arthur S. Phillips; treasurer, Arba N. Lincoln. At the death of Mr. Wood the office of president was left vacant. Otherwise the present officers are as above named. The association has been conspicuously identified with the
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
establishment of an excellent law library in the new court house, while its influence upon the bar at large has been salutary and elevating in a marked degree.
New Bedford Bar Association .- This association was organized April 16, 1894. The first officers chosen were as follows: President, E. L. Barney; secretary, F. A. Milliken, who still holds the office. Upon the death of Mr. Barney, Alanson Borden was elected president. The first vice-president was Charles W. Clifford, who is still in the office; treasurer, Lemuel Le Baron Holmes. Council, Thomas M. Stetson, William W. Crapo, Alanson Borden, Hosea M. Knowlton, Lemuel T. Wilcox, William C. Parker and Emanuel Sullivan.
On the 6th of May, 1895, the association established a fee bill. As an organization it has been instrumental during its brief existence in procuring the passage of the act of 1894, chapter 423, establishing a law library in New Bedford, which is now located in the court house and is supported by a county appropriation of $1,000 a year. The library comprises about 2,000 volumes. The association was instru- mental also in procuring full length portraits of Chief Justice Lincoln F: Brigham, Timothy G. Coffin and John H. Clifford, which are now in the Supreme Court room.
Court Houses, Houses of Correction, Jails, etc .- The first measures for providing Bristol county with a court house and jail were adopted in "his Majesty's Court of General Sessions of the Peace, begun and held at Taunton," on the 9th day of December, 1746. On that occasion the following orders were recorded :
Ordered by the Court that the School House in Taunton shall be for the present impressed for a Gaol and that Samuel Leonard, John Godfrey and Samuel White, Esqrs., be a committee to see that the said School House be made as secure as may be for the safe custody of all persons that may be committed thereto with the utmost dispatch, and that Seth Williams the second shall take care to secure the two prison- ers now in custody and all others that shall be committed in the meantime.
Ordered by the Court that Seth Williams, George Leonard, Samuel Leonard, John Godfrey, and Samuel White, Esqrs., be a committee to look out a suitable place for the standing of a Gaol and County House in the town of Taunton, & know what the land for erecting said houses on may be purchased for and make report of their doings thereon at the adjournment of this Court.
This committee found what they believed to be a suitable site for the buildings, which was described in their report made on the second Tuesday in January, 1747, as "towards the upper end of the old Train- ing Field a little below where they used to dig gravel and is to be
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sixty foot square." The report further stated " that the most suitable place for setting a Gaol and Gaol House be on the land of Samuel White and Mr. Simeon Tisdale at a place near the spring (so-called), adjoin- ing to the way that leads from said Tisdale's to Mr. Crossman's grist mill." The report was approved and accepted and John Foster, Syl- vester Richmond, jr., and John Godfrey were appointed a committee "to provide materials and build a County house and Gaol and Gaol keeper's house with suitable dispatch." These buildings were de- scribed in the order as follows:
The Gaol to be thirty foot long and fourteen foot wide two story high and four - teen foot stud, to be studded with sawed stuff of six inches thick to be framed close together with a chimney in the middle suitable for a Gaol. The house of the prison keeper to be seventeen foot wide and twenty-three foot long, two story high besides the entry between the Gaol and dwelling house and to be fourteen foot stud with a suitable chimney and cellar.
On the 28th of January, 1747, George Leonard, Ephraim Leonard and John Foster, esqrs., were appointed a committee to receive deeds from the proprietors of Taunton. In the court records of June, 1747, is found the following :
Upon the Court's receiving a subscription of many of the inhabitants of the Town of Taunton, amounting in the whole to the sum of nine hundred twenty-two pounds, fifteen shillings, old tenor, from the subscribers' committee, for building a Court House, ordered that the same shall be accepted, and that the committee appointed by this court shall be joined with the aforesaid committee of the subscribers in build - ing the Court house as projected by the subscribers, and what further may be sub- scribed on the land given by the proprietors and inhabitants of the Town of Taunton, and as has been accepted by the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, holden at Taunton, by adjournment in January last.
The site thus chosen for the court house was land considerably in front of the site of the third court house, and that for the jail was land in rear of the site of the Bristol County Bank building. That this first court house was not a very substantial building is shown by an order made at the October term of 1753, which directed Seth Williams " to endeavor to secure the roof of the county house from leaking, by cov- ering the heads of the posts with sheet lead given for that purpose, or by any other way or means that may be effectual for the purpose afore- said." At that time it appears that the structure was not wholly com - pleted, for at the March term of 1754, Seth Williams, George Leonard and Zephaniah Leonard were appointed a committee "to finish the court house in Taunton and arch the court chamber overhead, fix the
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justices' seats on the north side of the chamber, and lath and plaster the same and alter the stairs, if the committee shall think best." This court house was occupied until 1772.
A court order of December 17, 1771, directed as follows:
That a court house be built, to be forty-eight feet square and twenty-four feet post, and George Leonard, jr., Benjamin Williams, Robert Treat Paine and Daniel Leonard, Esquires, or either two of them, are appointed a committee to proceed and erect a court house and to dispose of the now standing court house by sale thereof or by taking it down and disposing of the timber.
A town meeting was called to act upon the proposition of granting twenty feet more of land on the rear of the original site, and the grant was made. The committee then proceeded to erect the second court house, removing the old building across the street to the head of what is now Court street; there it was occupied as a dwelling for a time and was finally removed to Leonard street. The second court house was occupied for its purpose until 1826, when it was removed to Court street and became a tenement. On the site was erected the third court house, of brick, by Abieser Dean, in 1827. This was used for court purposes until its recent removal to Court street, leaving the site vacant for the erection of the present splendid granite structure, the corner stone of which was laid with Masonic ceremony on June 30, 1892.1
Under the court orders relative to a place of confinement for prison- ers, before mentioned, an order was made at the August court of 1749, " that eleven hundred pounds, old tenor, be paid to the committee for the gaol to enable them to complete and finish it." At the September term of 1751, the following order was made:
Ordered, that the committee for the jail deliver to the sheriff or to his order, the northwest room below and room above it and the southwest room below and room above it and the southeast room above, with one-half of the cellar under the other part of the house, together with the yard fenced in for the prison yard, and that the southwest room below and above with the southeast room above are determined for and shall be known to be his Majesty's Jail in Taunton in and for the County of Bristol and that the northwest room, below and above, with the liberty of using the stairs, be for the use of the keeper of said Jail, during the Court's pleasure.
At the December term of that year it was ordered "that the north-
1 There was a one-story brick "county building," so called, occupying about forty feet in length, in the rear of the second wooden court house, used as a registry building, where Colonel George Leonard, Dr. William Baylies, Hon. Francis Baylies, Capt. D. G. W. Cobb, and James Williams, the father and son, had their offices, which was taken down when the brick court house was built :- Emery's History of Taunton, p. 538.
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east room below and room above it, with the southeast room below, adjoining to the Jail and under the same roof be for the House of Cor- rection for the County of Bristol, till the further order of the Court." At the June term of 1753, George Leonard, Timothy Fales and Samuel White were appointed a committee to "endeavor the more thorough strengthening and securing the Gaol, that, if possible, prisoners may not be able to make their escape by reason of insufficiency thereof."
This jail, with such minor improvements as may have been made during the period, was used until 1785. In that year the court ordered the erection of a new jail and the Legislature authorized a county tax of $1,500 for the purpose. The second jail was built on the site of the first one; it was not very well adapted to its purpose and was in use only to 1817, when, on the second Monday in June, the Court of Com- mon Pleas, sitting in Taunton, ordered the erection of a stone jail. Seth Washburn and Apollos Tobey were appointed a committee to superin. tend "the business of its erection." The site is described in the deed (signed January 30, 1818) as "near Cobb's Slitting Mill." This jail was probably completed in 1819 or 1820. Gilbert Briggs, of Dighton, had charge of the stone work and Abiezer Dean 2d, of Taunton, the wood work. Abiezer Dean 1st was the first jailer and held the position until his death in 1826; he was succeeded by his son Abiezer for three years and he by another son, Joseph, until 1836; Jacob L. Porter to 1841; Elias A. Morse to 1854; Isaac G. Carrier to his death in 1886, when, on February 8, the sheriff, Andrew R. Wright, took the place. The stone jail stood at the junction of what are now Washington and Court streets, and was in use until 1873, when the present edifice was erected.
Previous to the completion of the court house in New Bedford all of the local judicial proceedings were held in the old market building, or town hall, on Second street, used in recent years as a police station. In June, 1828 (the same year in which New Bedford was made a half- shire town of Bristol county) the county commissioners purchased a piece of land belonging to the estate of Abraham Russell, with an area of about an acre and a half, for a site for the public buildings. It is the ground on which the old part of the present jail and house of cor- rection are situated, and at that time fulfilled the stipulated require- ments of being far enough "removed from the bustle and noise of the village, and yet sufficiently central for the general convenience of those having business at court."
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