USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Our county and its people : A history of Hampden County, Massachusetts. Volume 1 > Part 27
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Oliver B. Morris, who died in 1871, in his eighty-ninth year, for many years was one of Hampden's leading citizens and prom- inent lawyers. He was born in 1782, and was the son of Edward
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Oliver B. Morris Of the old Hampden Bar
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Morris, an early settler and a patriot of the revolution. Oliver graduated at Williams college in 1801 and read law with "Mas- ter" George Bliss, whose daughter he subsequently married. He came to the bar in 1804 and practiced until 1835, combining with professional work a long service in public life. From 1809 to 1811, and again in 1813, he was representative in the general court, and from 1813 to 1829 he was register of probate. Again, from 1829 to 1858, he was judge of the Probate court. In the meantime, from 1820 to 1832, he likewise served as county attor- ney, under the old statute relating to that office. He also was a member of the constitutional convention of 1820. Politically, Judge Morris originally was a federalist, later a whig and finally a republican ; and it goes without saying that he was a prominent figure in political circles, as his long service in official station clearly indicates. Judge Morris was a native of South Wilbra- ham.
John Mills is remembered by the older members of the Hampden bar as a lawyer of much prominence and a successful practitioner in the inferior courts. After his removal to Spring- field he engaged in various commercial enterprises outside of the profession, and he had the misfortune to lose a great share of his property. Mr. Mills was born in Sandisfield about 1790. He read law with Judge John Phelps and was admitted to practice in 1815. He was in the senate in 1826-8.
Justice Willard, the noted special pleader, began his career as a lawyer in 1816, and when Judge Morris was appointed judge of probate, Mr. Willard succeeded him as register. He is re- called as a lawyer of ability, and also as an uninteresting public speaker, for he was too logical in his arguments to attract listen- ers. It was he who once declared in a public assemblage that some of his hearers would live to witness the running of a train of cars from Springfield to Boston "between sun and sun." But notwithstanding his peculiarities Mr. Willard was an honored member of the bar and a respected citizen.
Caleb Rice is recalled as one of the leading counsellors of his time rather than as a strong trial lawyer and advocate. He was born in 1792, and graduated at Williams college. He read law
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William B. Calhoun
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in Westfield, with William Blair, and was admitted to practice in 1819. He settled in West Springfield, but upon his election to the office of sheriff, which he held from 1831 to 1851, he removed to Springfield. He served also in both houses of the state legis- lature and was one of the early mayors of Springfield. Mr. Rice was a popular citizen and one who enjoyed the confidence of the people. He died in 1873.
William B. Calhoun probably received his early legal train- ing from "Master" George Bliss; and while that schooling was thorough and he gave much promise for future advancement in professional life, he afterward drifted away and became absorbed in other pursuits. It was not that he loved the law less but that he loved politics more, hence the best of his years were spent in public life, and when he finally laid aside the cares and duties of office he retired to the quiet of his farm. He was speaker of the Massachusetts house of representatives from 1828 to 1835, and was president of the senate in 1846 and 1847. He served several years in congress, and from 1845 to 1851 was secretary of state for Massachusetts. Mr. Calhoun came to the bar in 1821.
William Gelston Bates was aptly called the "father of the Hampden bar," for he more than any of his contemporaries care- fully watched the passing of the one and the succession of another generation of legal lights in the county. Best of all, he remem- bered and stored up for future use all that he witnessed in pass- ing years, and it is by recourse to his reminiscences of the old bar that we still know something of the character and works of those who "served the law" three-quarters of a century ago. Mr. Bates was born in Westfield in 1803, and died in 1880. He grad- uated at Yale college in 1825, and read law with his father, Elijah Bates, and also with Mr. Mills, Judge Howe and John H. Ash- mun. He was admitted to practice in 1828 and soon afterward was appointed master in chancery. He was appointed a member of the state board of education in 1839 and served eight years. He was in the senate in 1841; in the governor's council in 1844- 45 ; district attorney in 1853, and in the house of representatives in 1868.
Erasmus D. Beach was born in Sandisfield. He read law with his uncle, John Mills, and came to the bar in 1823, locating
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William Gelston Bates, Westfield "Father and Historian of the Hampden Bar"
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in Springfield. He was a lawyer of much strength and had a large practice. Among his legal associates were James W. Crooks, William G. Bates, Edward B. Gillett and Ephraim W. Bond, all of whom are now dead.
George M. Stearns, the brilliant pleader and able and suc- cessful lawyer, the acknowledged leader of the Hampden bar in his time, senior member of the well known law firm of Stearns, Knowlton & Long, and with all his varied accomplishments an ardent lover of good horses, was the son of a clergyman of the Unitarian church. Mr. Stearns acquired his early legal educa- tion in the office of Judge Wells, in Chicopee, and after his admis- sion to the bar, in 1852, he became his law partner. He made his home in Chicopee several years, yet his practice, and his fame as a lawyer, extended almost throughout the state, particularly after he joined the Springfield bar. As an advocate before the jury Mr. Stearns was almost without a rival, and as a stump speaker his mental resources apparently were boundless, his wit and pathos at times being inimitable. He was a democrat of the old school, yet the district attorneyship was about the extent of his political holdings. His counsel, his voice and his influence were ever at the service of his party. Mr. Stearns died in 1894.
George B. Morris, the younger son of Judge Oliver B. Mor- ris, was born in Springfield in 1818. He was educated at Am- herst college and Harvard law school and was admitted to the bar in 1840. He first practiced law in partnership with his brother, Henry Morris, and afterwards separately, when he held the office of commissioner of insolvency. In 1852 the Supreme judicial court appointed him clerk of the courts for Hampden county. In 1856 this office was made elective, and he was then chosen by the people every five years until his death in 1872. Mr. Morris was a quiet, retiring man, but very social with his intimate friends. He was an excellent lawyer, a great reader of general literature and was well informed on all subjects. William G. Bates, in writing of him, said he knew of no officer to whom the members of the bar were more justly attached, and the late Judge Gideon Wells said of him that he was never known to make a mistake.
Edward Bates Gillett, district attorney from 1856 to 1861, and recognized as one of the ablest lawyers of Massachusetts in
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his time, was born in South Hadley Falls in August, 1817, and died in his comfortable home in Westfield in February, 1893. His early education was acquired in the academy at South Hadley and also that in Westfield, and he graduated at Amherst college in 1839. (He was made a trustee of that institution in 1861, and in 1866 was honored with the degree of LL. D.) Mr. Gillett read law with his uncle, Isaac C. Bates, later attended Harvard law school and was admitted to practice in 1843. He began his professional career in Westfield and soon rose to a position of prominence in the ranks of the profession. He became partner with Mr. Bates, a relation which was maintained until 1852, and was followed by a partnership with Ephraim L. Lincoln, who
died in 1859. His next partner was Homer B. Stevens, with whom he continued until 1883, when he retired from active pro- fessional work. About the time of the organization of the re- publican party Mr. Gillett had gained an enviable prominence as a trial lawyer and advocate, and as an old-time whig it was only natural that he should be looked upon as the leader of the new party in this part of the state. He was a delegate to the first re- publican national convention that nominated John C. Fremont, and in 1860 he was a Lincoln elector. High political honors were temptingly offered him, but he resisted them and contented him- self with six years service as district attorney and a year in the Massachusetts senate. In the former office he succeeded Henry L. Dawes and was in turn succeeded by George M. Stearns. In
speaking of Mr. Gillett's conduct of the office Mr. Stearns once publicly remarked that his predecessor was by far the ablest in- cumbent of the district attorneyship that Western Massachusetts ever had furnished. A seat in the senate of the United States might easily have been won by him had he inclined to political in- dulgences. In Westfield Mr. Gillett was in many ways identified with the best interests and history of the town. He was truly loyal to all its institutions and was honored by its people. He was a member of the Y. M. C. A., the American board of missions, and of the First church ; was a director and counsel for the B. & A. railroad company and attorney for the N. H. & N. company ; was president of the Hampden bank, the Westfield insurance
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company, the Atheneum, and a member of the board of trustees of the academy fund.
Ephraim W. Bond, of the old law firm of Beach & Bond, and one of Springfield's foremost lawyers and business men for many years, was born in West Brookfield in 1821, and died in Spring- field in 1891. In 1826 his parents removed from Brookfield to the shire town of Hampden county, and in that city the greater part of his business life was spent; and during the course of his long and active business career he was in some manner identified with every important measure that had for its end the welfare of Springfield and its people. At the time of his death he was presi- dent of the Springfield Five Cents savings bank and of the city library and a director of the Pynchon national bank. He was one of the founders of the savings bank and outlived all of his co- workers in establishing that institution. He was selectman be- fore Springfield became a city, and was largely instrumental in securing the city charter. Under the city government he served both as councilman and alderman. He was in the house of rep- resentatives in 1852. He was a republican though not specially active in political affairs. Mr. Bond was educated in the Spring- field public schools and graduated at Amherst college in 1841. He then took a post-graduate course in Yale and afterward a law course in Harvard law school, graduating in 1844. He came to the bar in Springfield in 1845 and at once began practice. Six years later he became partner with Erasmus D. Beach, which re- lation was maintained until 1864. During that period the firm of Beach & Bond became well known in legal circles in this state. In 1867 the junior partner was chosen vice-president of the Mu- tual Life insurance company, and on the death of president Caleb Rice in 1873, he was elected his successor, thereafter being vir- tual manager of the affairs of the company until 1886, when he retired from active business life.
George Walker, the greater part of whose active life was de- voted to other pursuits than the practice of law, but who never- theless was a lawyer of ability as well as a banker and financier of national prominence, was born in Peterboro, N. H., in 1824 and died in Washington, D. C., in 1888. He was a graduate of
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Dartmouth, class of 1842, and acquired his early legal education in the office of Henry Morris and in Harvard law school. He was admitted to the Hampden bar in 1846; was in the senate in 1858 and '59, and a member of the house in 1868. After drop- ping professional work he turned his attention to banking, and was president of the Third national bank of Springfield. He achieved special prominence in financial circles, and in 1865 was sent to Europe by the national government to settle certain ques- tions in connection with the public debt. In 1869 he again was abroad at the request of the Massachusetts government to trans- act financial business, and in 1879 for a third time he visited Europe in behalf of the general government to investigate the subject of international bi-metallic monetary standard.
Nehemiah Allen Leonard, of the old law firm of Chapman, Ashmun & Leonard, and of the later firm of Leonard & Wells, district attorney in 1874-75 and again from 1878 to 1881, was born in New Bedford in 1825, and died December 15, 1890. He was the son of Capt. Nehemiah Leonard, who followed the sea for many years. He was a graduate of Brown university in 1848 and came thence to Springfield to read law with Chapman, Ash- mun & Norton, with whom he afterward was professionally asso- ciated. He was admitted to practice in 1850 and soon became partner with Mr. Ashmun. In later years he attained a high standing in the profession and was recognized as one of the lead- ing corporation lawyers of the state. So closely indeed did he become identified with corporation practice and interests that for several years he was counsel for the Connecticut river railroad, and in 1880 was elected president of the company. In 1874 he was appointed district attorney to succeed Mr. Stearns, and in 1877 he was elected to the same office. He also served six years as councilman in Springfield and was president of the board from 1860 to 1864.
William Steele Shurtleff, register of insolvency from 1857 to 1859, register of probate from 1859 to 1863, and judge of probate and insolvency from 1863 to 1896, was born in Newburg, N. Y., in 1830, and died in Longmeadow in January, 1896. He was the son of Roswell and Clara (Gleason) Shurtleff, and a
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Colonel William S. Shurtleff Forty-Sixth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry
BENCH AND BAR
descendant in the seventh generation of William Shurtleff, who came with the pilgrims in the vessel next following the May- flower. The family came to Springfield in 1839. Judge Shurt- leff was educated in the public schools, Williston seminary and Yale college, but was not graduated. He studied law with George Ashmun and in Harvard law school, and came to the bar in 1856. Soon after he began practice he formed a partnership with Henry Vose, and still later was partner with George Walker. In the early part of the war of 1861-65 he entered the army, enlisting as private in Co. A, 36th Mass. Vol. Inf., and on the organization of the company was elected lieutenant; and on the organization of the regimental field and staff he was likewise chosen lieutenant- colonel. Three months later he was promoted colonel, by which designation he afterward was generally known. On returning from the service Judge Shurtleff was appointed judge of probate and insolvency and served in that capacity until his death. He was a competent, faithful public official, loyal to every duty and loyal to his friends. He was closely identified with early city history and assisted in preparing the charter; was a prominent Mason ; was vice-president of the state board of public reserva- tions ; one of the founders of the Connecticut valley historical so- ciety and its vice-president; a member of the Massachusetts his- torical society ; a director of the city library association ; an influ- ential member of the G. A. R .; a member of the Winthrop club, and for two years vice-president of the Yale alumni association of Western Massachusetts.
John Mills Stebbins, mayor of Springfield in 1877, and other- wise for many years identified with the history of the city, was born in Hinsdale, December 27, 1826, the son of Elihu and Mary (Hooker) Stebbins. He graduated at Dartmouth college in 1848, read law with Beach & Bond and came to the bar in 1851.
William H. Haile, late president of the Hampden loan and trust company, lieutenant-governor from 1890 to 1893, and once the nominee of the republican party for the governorship of Masachusetts, was born in Chesterfield, N. H., in 1833 and died in Springfield in 1901. He fitted for college in Kimball union academy and also in Meriden, N. H., in an institution of similar
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rank. He entered Amherst but left in his sophomore year for Dartmouth, where he was graduated in 1856. He read law in Springfield and came to the bar in 1859. He practiced for a time in Boston and then returned to Hinsdale to engage in manufacturing enterprises. He was in the lower house of the legislature in 1865-6, and again in 1871. The next year he came to Springfield and afterward was identified with the best inter- ests of the city, devoting his attention more closely to business pursuits than to the practice of law. He was mayor of the city in 1881; was in the senate in 1882 and '83, and lieutenant- governor of Massachusetts from 1890 to 1893. In 1882 he was the unsuccessful candidate of his party for the governorship.
Gideon Wells, who during his active professional career was partner with such strong lawyers as George Ashmun and Nehe- miah A. Leonard, and who was known in legal circles in Hamp- den county as a learned and safe counsellor, was born in Wethers- field, Conn., August 16, 1835, and died in Springfield in March, 1898. His young life was spent on a farm, and he was educated in the once famous East Windsor Hill school, Williston seminary and Yale college, graduating at the latter in 1858. He then came to Springfield and read law with Chapman & Chamberlain, and was admitted to practice in 1860. He at once associated with Ashmun & Leonard in the general practice of law, but soon after- ward enlisted in Co. A, 46th Mass. Inf., serving as first lieutenant in that command and also in the 8th Inf. Judge Wells is remem- bered as a good lawyer, though the latter years of his practice were given to the affairs of the Massachusetts Mutual Life, for which company he was general counsel. He was register in bankruptcy from 1869 to 1876, and in the latter year he succeed- ed Judge Morton as the head of the police court of Springfield,
holding the office until 1890. He also for several years was at- torney for the Springfield street railway company, and for the First, Second and Third national banks. He was a director of the John Hancock and Third national banks, and at one time was president of the Holyoke water power company. These special interests occupied much of his time and naturally drew him away from the general practice.
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Timothy Manning Brown, register in bankruptcy from 1875 to 1880, city attorney for Springfield in 1879-80 and from 1881 to 1885, president of the Hampden bar association at the time of his death, March 13, 1897, was born in Williamstown, May 8, 1838, the son of Manning Brown and a grandson of Caleb Brown, a Rhode Island Quaker and an early settler in Cheshire. He prepared for college at Swan's school in Williamstown, and graduated at Williams in 1859. The next year he came to Springfield and began the study of law with Chapman & Cham- berlain, and came to the bar in 1862. Soon afterward he formed a law partnership with James A. Rumrill, and about the same time was appointed assistant assessor of internal revenue, later being made assessor, vice Major Emerson of Pittsfield. During his active life as a lawyer, Mr. Brown was attorney, director and president pro tem. of the Agawam national bank, and a trustee of the Hampden savings bank. For nine years also he served as member of the school committee. From 1885 until his death he was president of the Hampden bar association, and also for a time was chairman of the board of bar examiners.
George Dexter Robinson, representative for Chicopee in the house of the general court in 1874, state senator in 1876, repre- sentative in the United States congress from 1877 to 1884, and governor of Massachusetts in 1884, '85 and '86, was born in Lex- ington, January 20, 1834, the son of Charles and Mary (Davis) Robinson. His early education was acquired in the public schools, Lexington academy and the Hopkins classical grammar school in Cambridge, where he fitted for college. He graduated at Harvard in 1856, with the degree of A. B. He then became principal of the Chicopee high school, which position he filled until 1865, when he began the study of law with his brother, Charles Robinson, of Cambridge. The next year he was ad- mitted to practice and at once started upon his professional career in Chicopee, where he maintained a residence until the time of his death. He soon rose to a position of prominence among the leading lawyers of the county bar, and at the same time time his participation in political affairs gave him a wide ac- quaintance throughout the state. He justly deserved all the
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George Dexter Robinson
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political honors which were awarded him, and in every public capacity he acquitted himself with entire credit to his constitu- ency as well as to himself. As a lawyer in active practice he was associated as attorney of record or as senior counsel in some of the most important civil and criminal cases ever tried in the courts of the state, and as a republican of unquestioned integrity of character his counsel was frequently sought by the leaders of his party in the nation. In 1887 he was offered by President Cleveland an appointment as inter-state civil service commis- sioner, which he declined, and in 1889 he also declined President Harrison's offered appointment as commissioner to the civilized Indian tribes.
Thus might these reminiscences be continued almost indefi- nitely did the policy and scope of our chapter permit, but now having passed the allotted space we are admonished to desist. The successors to the old bar were equally worthy and honorable, but many of those who entered the profession subsequent to 1850 are still living and it is contrary to the design of our work to review the lives of those whose career is unfinished, except as they may have attained to positions on the bench. However, that the rec- ord of the bar of the county may be made as complete as possible, the writer has availed himself of county records, old newspaper files, public and legal documents, old court calendars and, in fact, all reliable sources of information, and has compiled therefrom the appended chronological register of the bar. The claim is not made that the list is in all respects perfect, or that it shows the name of every lawyer who has practiced in the county since 1812, for many have come from other counties after admission, and of that class no special record is kept. However, the "ros- ter" shows for itself and may be regarded as reasonably accu- rate, showing names of attorneys and the year in which each was admitted to the bar in this county.
1812-Patrick Boise.
1813-John Hooker, George Hinckley, John Howard.
1814-Solomon Lathrop.
1815-Charles F. Bates, Benjamin Day, George Bliss, jr., Eli B. Hamilton.
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1816-Gorham Parks.
1817-Alfred Stearns, Caleb Rice.
1818-William B. Calhoun, John B. Cooley.
1819-Epaphras Clark, Erasmus Norcross, Heman Stebbins, Asa Olmstead.
1820-Josiah Hooker.
1822-William Bliss, Joel Miller, Richard D. Morris.
1824-William Crooks, Norman T. Leonard.
1825-Reuben Atwater Chapman.
1827-Matthew Ives, jr.
1828-William G. Bates, William M. Lathrop, Joseph Knox, George Ashmun.
1829-Chauncey B. Rising, William Dwight.
1830-Francis Dwight, William Hyde.
1831-Joseph Huntington.
1832-William Bliss, William C. Dwight.
1833-Erasmus D. Beach.
1834-Richard Bliss.
1835-Henry Morris.
1836-H. H. Buckland, George Baylies Upham.
1837-Russell E. Dewey.
1839-William W. Blair.
1840-George B. Morris.
1841-Henry Vose.
1842-Edward Bates Gillett.
1843-Otis A. Seamans, Lorenzo Norton, William O. Gor- ham, Lorenzo D. Brown.
1845-Allen Bangs, jr., Wellington Thompson, Ephraim W. Bond, Lester E. Newell, Albert Clarke, William Allen, jr.
1846-P. Emory Aldrich, Thomas B. Munn, George Walker, Bernard B. Whittemore, Lester Williams, jr., Charles C. Hay- ward.
1847-Samuel L. Flemming, Elbridge G. Bowdoin, James H. Morton, Samuel Fowler, Edwin M. Bigelow, Charles K. Weth- erell.
1848-Fayette Smith, Charles R. Ladd, George L. Squier, Reuben P. Boies, Charles H. Branscomb.
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1849-Joseph M. Cavis, William B. C. Pearsons, Augustus L. Soule, Henry Fuller, John Munn, Edward P. Burnham.
1850-Timothy G. Pelton, Charles A. Winchester, Asahel Bush, Franklin Crosby.
1851-Charles T. Arthur, John M. Stebbins, William How- land, Oramel S. Senter, Nehemiah A. Leonard, James C. Hins- dale.
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