USA > Maine > Biographical encyclopedia of Maine of the nineteenth century > Part 50
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N.D.4 ablock
Medva, tân Hạt ương & Engrowing do Boston Hats son Phora
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OF MAINE.
of January, 1865, admitted an attorney and counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, and subsequently was admitted to the Federal courts in the District of Maine; and continuing his legal studies, in the fall of that year he went to New Orleans, and there studied civil and maritime law under the direction of the late eminent jurist Christian Roselius. In the following spring he returned to Bucksport and commenced practice, and was engaged there until the spring of 1868, when he made an extended tour through the West, and at Omaha was admitted to practice in the State and Federal courts of Nebraska, and was engaged in several cases. Returning East in the autumn, he was, on the 7th day of October, 1868, at Boston, admitted an attorney and counsellor of the Supreme Judi- cial Court of Massachusetts, and commenced practice in that city.
In the spring of 1869 Mr. Hadlock was called to New York on professional business, remained until the next fall, and while there was admitted to practice in the courts of New York.
In the fall of 1869 Mr. Hadlock returned to Boston, and continued there in practice until 1871. In the spring of that year, the construction of the Bucksport and Bangor Railroad being contemplated,-an enterprise from which it was hoped new and enlarged business life would be given to Bucksport,-he resumed practice in that place, and con- tinued there for ten years, during which period of time he was engaged as counsel in some of the most important cases tried in Maine, and established his reputation as an eloquent and accomplished advocate.
In January, 1881, Mr. Hadlock moved to Portland, where he now resides in the active and successful practice of his profession.
Although, comparatively speaking, young in years, Mr. Hadlock has earned for him- self a leading position among the ablest men at the bar of Maine. His practice in that State has been in both Federal and State courts, and includes important cases in civil, criminal, and maritime law, as well as able opinions on constitutional cases. Among the criminal cases in which he has been engaged may be mentioned the defence of Azro B. Bartholomew at Boston, in March, 1872, who was tried for killing one Storer at Chelsea, in February of that year ; and the defence of Edward M. Smith at Ellsworth, in April, 1877, charged with the murder of the Trim family at Bucksport, in the fall of 1876: in this latter case Mr. Hadlock appeared alone for the defence, and his vigilance, ability, and eloquence called forth encomiums from the court, bar, and press.
Among the cases in maritime law in which Mr. Hadlock has been employed, may be mentioned that of Charles Sawyer et als. v. Samuel Oakman et al., argued in New York, February, 1870, and reported in the 7th of Blatchford's Reports. This case was first tried in the U. S. District Court of Massachusetts, and an opinion rendered by Judge Lowell in favor of the libellants. An appeal was then taken to the U. S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts, but for cause arising under the act of Congress (February 28,
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1839) it was certified into the U. S. Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York. In this court Mr. Hadlock appeared for the respondents. The case of Gould v. Staples, tried in September, 1881, in the U. S. Circuit Court for the District of Maine, and re- ported in vol. ix., "Federal Reporter," was to determine the limitations of the obligation of shipmasters to deposit the ships' papers with consuls on arrival in foreign ports.
His services have been required in some very important railroad cases, among which may be named those of Frederic Spofford, Petitioner for Certiorari, v. Bucksport and Bangor Railroad Company and the Railroad Commissioners of the State of Maine, argued June, 1875, and reported in 66 Maine Reports, p. 26; the ease of Bucksport and Bangor Railroad Company v. Inhabitants of Brewer, argued June, 1876, and reported in 67 Maine Reports, p. 295 ; the ease of Deasy, Administrator, v. Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada, tried in the U. S. Circuit Court at Portland, in October, 1883. The Bucksport and Bangor Railroad, of which Mr. Hadlock was a director, has in many important suits availed itself of his services as counsel. His thorough research of the law, - coupled with the accuracy and honesty of the conclusions drawn by him, has caused his opinions on constitutional law to be highly valued and sought after.
In the winter of 1879, the validity of some bonds that had been issued in 1873 by the town of Bucksport being questioned, the selectmen of the town requested Mr. Hadloek to submit an opinion, which he did, sustaining the validity of the bonds; and the town, at their next annual meeting in March, voted not only to raise money to pay the interest on the bonds, but also voted to raise a sum of money toward payment of the principal of the said bonds.
In the fall of 1879 the action of Governor Garcelon and his Council in canvassing the returns of the State election just then held called forth much discussion from many able jurists, the question being finally referred for decision to the Supreme Bench of the State. The duties of the Governor and Council in canvassing election-returns in accordance with the constitution of Maine were fully and ably expounded in an article contributed by Mr. Hadlock to the Bangor Whig and Courier in December, 1879. His opinion on this question-which was one of vital importance, concerning, as it did, the maintenance of the will of the people expressed through the ballot-was heartily in accordance with that of all parties, excepting those who had in view the furtherance of personal or party ends, regard- less of such expressed will.
On January 26, 1865, Mr. Hadlock married Miss Alexene L. Goodell, eldest daugh- ter of Captain Daniel S. Goodell of Searsport, Maine. The issue of this union has been Inez Blanche, born September 6, 1866 ; and Harvey, born December 4, 1870.
N. M. Bolster
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B OLSTER, WILLIAM WHEELER, of Lewiston, Maine. Born July 6, 1823, in Rumford, Maine. His ancestors were of the forceful, enterprising, English blood. Isaac Bolster, his great grandfather, emigrated to this coun- try soon after the attainment of legal majority ; settled in Sutton, Massa- chusetts, and thence removed to Hebron, Maine. Of military tastes and aptitudes, and withal a great lover of constitutional liberty, he enlisted in the Revolutionary army, and served as captain therein. He also did excellent service in the same rank during the War of 1812. His two sons Isaac and David settled in Paris, Maine. There Isaac espoused Hannah Cushman, a descendant of Robert Cushman, one of the immortal immi- grants of Mayflower fame. Alvan, eldest son of Isaac Bolster, married Cynthia, daughter of Colonel William Wheeler of Rumford, Maine, on the 4th of January, 1821. Eight children-three sons and five daughters-were the fruit of their union. Of these, William Wheeler is the eldest son.
Deriving the elements of physical and intellectual constitution from a remarkably vigorous source, and nurtured amid the rugged, mountainous scenery of his native State, young Wheeler early learned the value of self-denial, self-reliance, and sustained energy. Labor on the parental farm developed his muscular tissues, and imparted the controlled nervous energy so essential to victory in the subsequent conflicts of mature life. Intellec- tual culture was cared for both at home and in scholastic institutions. The common-schools of the neighborhood contributed what they could to his education; and the academies of Bethel, Maine, and Peacham, Vermont, completed his literary preparation for future activities. The winters of his two and a half years' residence in Vermont were occupied in the pursuit of school-teaching. The same honorable employment, imbedding acquired knowledges and imparting new and valuable ones, mainly engrossed his energies until he entered upon the practice of law in 1847.
The legal studies of Mr. Bolster began in February, 1845, in the office of Randall & Walton, at Dixfield, Maine ; and were completed-so far as preparation for practice is con- cerned-in the Harvard Law School, at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Entering the middle class, at the latter institution, on the 6th of March, 1846, he graduated honorably on the 25th of August, 1847.
Admitted to practice in all the courts of Maine on the 15th of April, 1846, at the April term of the Supreme Judicial Court in Portland, he next entered upon professional duties at East Rumford, and resided there until October, 1852. The following twenty years were spent at Dixfield. In October, 1872, he removed to Lewiston. Throughout this lengthened term of years, Mr. Bolster practised in the courts of Androscoggin, Cum- berland, Oxford, and Franklin counties,
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While thus busily engaged in professional affairs, he has found time to usefully fill the offices of Justice of the Peace and of the Quorum, Notary Public, and Dedimus Justice. Not only that, but while resident in Rumford and Dixfield he served for several terms in each township as a member of the superintending school committee, to which he had been elected by the citizens.
Mr. Bolster's career as a civic official commenced in 1877, in which and in the succeed- ing year he served as alderman in the city government of Auburn. For three years after that he rendered valuable services as the city solicitor. His practical acquaintance with State legislation dates from the month of May, 1848, when he received the appointment of clerk in the office of the Secretary of State. This office he held by annual appointment until 1858, with the exception of a single ycar. During two sessions of the Legislature he discharged the duties of miscellaneous clerk, and throughout six other sessions had charge as engrossing clerk of the engrossing department. This latter period was inclusive of the year 1857, when the statutes of Maine were subjected to revision. The engrossment of the revised code was entrusted to his care. For a year and a half he also served as com- mission clerk. This post he resigned, because of failing health, in May, 1858.
In September, 1861, Mr. Bolster was elected County Attorney for the county of Oxford ; was again elected to the same office in September, 1864, and retained it for six years. In September, 1868, he was returned to the State Senate from Oxford County ; again returned in September, 1869, and served in that body during the years 1869 and 1870. In the first of these years he acted in the committees upon the Judiciary, Claims, Governor's Message, Appropriations, and Engrossed Bills. In 1870 he received the honor of election to the presidency of the body. On the 15th of January, 1873, he was ap- pointed State Bank Examiner, was reappointed on the 2d of February, 1876, and held the office for six years in all. When the State Legislature assembled in January, 1883, ex-Senator Bolster was elected for the Third Councillor District to the Executive Council of 1883-84, and served in the standing committees on Warrants, Taxation and Expendi- tures, the Reform School, the Insane Hospital, Indian Affairs, and the Library.
The forces of Mr. Bolster's constitution are multifold, and have naturally sought exer- cise in different directions. The ancestral characteristics have revealed themselves in his addiction to military affairs. On the 17th of February, 1849, he was elected and commis- sioned to the first-lieutenancy in Company A of the riflemen of Rumford, which belonged to the Second Brigade of the Sixth Division of Maine Militia. On the 12th of July, 1851, he was promoted to the captaincy, which he resigned, and from which he was honorably discharged on the 16th of April, 1852. His next appointment, dated October 3, 1864, was to the office of division advocate on the staff of Major-General W. Wirt Virgin, who commanded the Third Division of the State Militia. This post he held during General Virgin's term of office, and up to the reorganization of the citizen soldiery of Maine.
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Wartare against the ills that afflict humanity in its purely social condition has also engaged and still engages his powers. In 1846 he identified himself with the Sons of Temperance, and has since manifested lively and appreciative interest in all that pertains to the Temperance reform. Freemasonry too has commanded his sympathies. On the 9th of December, 1856, at Livermore, he was admitted to the third degree in the Oriental Star Lodge, No. 21, under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Maine.
Business undertakings and literary compositions are familiar to his busy life. Since August, 1878, he has been president of the Little Androscoggin Water-power Company, which is the proprietor of a cotton-mill of twenty-two thousand spindles, and a large real estate, situated in Auburn. In 1871 he compiled the " Tax Collector and Form Book," and in 1880 the "Tax Collector and Town Officer." Both are in general use throughout the State, and are highly prized by town officers and by members of the bar. In connec- tion with these valuable works, he compiled an " Invoice and Valuation Book," an " As- scssment Book," a " Tax Collector's Book," and a " Highway Surveyor's Book," for the use of town officials. All these compilations have been generally adopted as standards in the discharge of duty by the town officers of Maine. Since the adoption of the Revised Statutes of 1883, they have been revised and harmonized with extant statutory law.
In respect of religious belief Mr. Bolster is a Universalist. In politics he is a Repub- lican. Up to the time when the great Republican Party was organized, he had been affili- ated with the Democrats; but prior to that epoch he was virtually Republican. He had taken an active part in the memorable county convention, composed of antislavery Democrats, Free-soilers, and Whigs, which met at Norway in August, 1852, and which formed a party that adopted the title of Republican, and that nominated a full set of county officers. From that time onward his adhesion to Republican principles has been marked by inflexible consistency.
William Wheeler Bolster was married on the 15th of October, 1848, to Martha Hall, daughter of Joseph Adams, M.D., of Rumford. Mrs. Bolster died on the 20th of August, 1866, leaving three sons and two daughters. One son preceded her into the invisible world, and one followed her. On August 17, 1868, Mr. Bolster espoused Florence Josephine, daughter of Colonel Lewis Reed of Mexico, Maine. One son and one daughter are the issue of their nuptials.
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ORTH, JAMES W., was born in the old town of Clinton, Maine, now Benton, on the Sebasticook River, February 12, 1810, at which place his parents then resided. His father died when he was but two years of age, and within two weeks after the death of his father his mother died, leaving him to the care of an aunt, the wife of Hon. James Bridge of Augusta, who was appointed his guardian, and in whose family he resided during his minority. At twelve years of age he was entered as a student at the Gardiner Lyceum, an institution cstablished through the munificence of the late Hon. Robert H. Gardiner of that city, in 1822. This institution was designed to be in all respects a college without the ancient languages, and it is notable as one of the first attempts in this country to found a school of technical and scientific cducation, which have in recent years become so popular. Rev. Benjamin Hale was principal; the late Dr. Ezekiel Holmes, so well known in this State for his scientific . attainments, instructor in chemistry and mineralogy ; and Ebenezer F. Dean tutor in mathe- matics and French. After a threc-years course at this institution, North entered his name with Judge Bridge of Augusta as a student at law; and in 1827 entered the office of the late Frederic Allen at Gardiner, one of the most learned and scholarly members of the Maine bar, who, although not himself liberally educated, was yet so thorough and polishcd in his legal and mental acquirements as to receive from Bowdoin College the honorary degrees of A.M. in 1820 and LL. D. in 1847. Having completed his studies, Mr. North was admitted to the Kennebec bar in 1831, in the fall of which year he commenced the practice of law at Augusta. His health having become impaired in consequence of over- application to studies, he passed his time during the year 1832 partly in Augusta and partly in Clinton, without close application to business ; and in 1833, having real-estate interests in Clinton demanding his attention, he established himself in that town, and in 1834 mar- ried Phobe Upton, daughter of David Upton, Esq., of Danvers, Massachusetts, by whom he had four sons, three of whom are living. She deceased September 13, 1876. His health was much improved by active dutics in out-of-door pursuits, among which were the building of a dam and mills on the Sebasticook River, and lumbering and milling operations. In 1845, wishing a larger field for the practice of his chosen profession, he removed to Augusta, which has since been his home, and where for a period of twenty years he was actively engaged in the practice of law either alone or in copartnership with others. His removal to Augusta, and the leading position he had reached as a lawyer and successful business man, naturally brought him into prominence for public offices ; and in 1849 he represented the town of Augusta in the State Legislature, and the city with George W. Morton in 1853, with Hon. Joseph H. Williams in 1874, and with Gardiner C. Vose, Esq., in 1875. For a period of seventeen years he was a commissioner of the sinking-fund of the Ken-
James W North
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nebec and Portland Railroad, being for the larger part of the time associated with Hon. Joseph H. Williams. For many years he was a director in the old Granite Bank while it existed under the State laws, and subsequently occupied for many years the same position as director in the Granite National Bank. He was also for fifteen years a trustee of the Augusta Savings Bank, where his accurate and careful judgment was always of great service to the active managers of that large banking institution. In 1878 he was elected President of the First National Bank of Augusta, which position he held until failing health caused him to resign in July, 1881. Mr. North was Mayor of Augusta for six years, having been successively elected to that office from 1857 to 1860, and again in 1874 and 1875. He was also for four years City Solicitor.
Having long manifested a love for historical investigation and study, the Maine His- torical Society in 1861 clected him a resident member of that body. Subsequently the Wisconsin State Historical Society conferred upon him the honor of corresponding mem- ber ; and one of the learned societies of Massachusetts, the Prince Society, devoted to anti- quarian and historical studies, also made him a member.
In 1846 Mr. North erected a large block of four brick stores on Water Street, Augusta, and in 1856 added two more stores to the original block. These were all burned in the great fire of 1865, which laid a large part of the business portion of the city in ashes. The following year, however, he rebuilt the six stores, of enlarged dimensions and improved architectural proportions, in which is Mæonian Hall. In 1877, in connection with the late Benjamin G. Davis, Mr. North erected on the same street a brick block, containing five stores and a large and finely appointed hotel known as " Hotel North." These several blocks are an ornament to the city, and add to its value and reputation as possessing one of the finest business streets in Maine.
But the work by which Mr. North will bc longest remembered, and which will stand in the libraries of the country an honor to his painstaking literary ability, his love for the city of his adoption, and his personal liberality, when the large blocks which he has built shall be no more, is his " History of the City of Augusta," published in 1870. This is an octavo volume of one thousand pages, illustrated by thirty-four maps, plans, and engrav- ings, and twenty-one full-page portraits of distinguished citizens. For more than ten ycars Mr. North was engaged in collecting materials for this work, during which much time was devoted to extensive investigations of original sources of information, the State archives of Massachusetts and Maine, the records of the Plymouth Company, and other ancient MSS. Mr. North, in the preface to this history, says : " At the commencement of his work a wide and unexplored field for historical investigation opened before him, traverscd by scarcely a discernible pathway. The footprints of an explorcr had not to any considerable extent marked its surface ;" but patient investigation systematically pursued brought to light the rich details of a local history, over which posterity frequently delights to muse. This work
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was completed by persevering labor during bricf intervals of timc not required for morc pressing duties, which with many business men are allowed to pass unimproved. Carefully written, accurate and full in its historical and personal details, it has received merited com- pliments from competent critics as one of the most deserving of its class published in New England.
On account of infirm health Mr. North is now retiring from active business pursuits, still holding a lively interest in matters which have cngagcd and at times engrossed his attention.
NOTE .- Mr. North died quite suddenly in 1883.
W
EBSTER, MOSES. Born in the town of Pelham, New Hampshire, November 17, 1817.
John Webster, the first American ancestor of this branch of the Webster family, emigrated from Ipswich, county of Suffolk, England, to Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1634, and was a freeholdcr in 1635.
John Webster, the sixth in line of descent of this family, and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Pclham, New Hampshire, December 25, 1791. Hc married Hannah Cummings, daughter of Eleazcr and Sally (Hale) Cummings of Nottingham West (now Hudson, New Hampshire), August 22, 1815.
Scrving in Captain Haynes's company of New Hampshire militia in the War of 1812, he received an honorable discharge, drawing a land-warrant of 160 acres, and a pension from February 14, 1871, to the date of his death, at Hudson, March 1, 1883. Remaining upon the homestead farm after his marriage, he cared for and supported his parents until their death, and by the industry and cnergy which characterized his ancestors, was enabled not only to provide for his large family the comforts and advantages of a prosperous house, but to insure to himself a comfortable support through life. Of his wife, and the mother of Moses Webster, it should be cnough to say that she was a faithful, Christian wife and mother, industrious and frugal in her care for the temporal welfare of her family, and imparting to her children, more by example than prccept, a knowledge of true Christian character. She died in Hudson, New Hampshire, February 3, 1871.
Inheriting the independent spirit of his ancestors, Moses Webster at a very early age chose to be thrown upon his own resources, and to seek a livelihood with his own hands. The trade of shoemaker, which he first followed, failing to satisfy the demands of his cnergy and industry, at the early age of eighteen he had learned the trade of stonecutter.
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Metropolitan Publishing & Engraving Co. Boston.
Moses Mabster
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After his marriage he resided in Amherst, New Hampshire, until 1844, when he removed to Hudson, New Hampshire, and to Pelham, New Hampshire, in 1846, where he first engaged in the business which has since made him prominent.
After a short residence in Methuen, Massachusetts, he removed to Vinalhaven, Mainc, then a small hamlet situated on Fox Island, in the Penobscot Bay. Here he formed a copartnership with the Hon. Joseph R. Bodwell, formerly of Methuen, Massachusetts, now of Hallowell, Maine, and engaged in the business of quarrying and cutting granite. Mr. Webster's experience and sagacity contributed largely to the success of the firm of Bod- well & Webster ; until, from the humblest beginning, it soon assumed a position second to none in the business, and its products were found in nearly every State of the Union.
In 1871 was formed the corporation known as the Bodwell Granite Company, for the purpose of increasing the magnitude of the business, which, through the energy and industry of Messrs. Bodwell & Webster, had grown to such vast proportions. From the date of the organization of the company, Mr. Webster has held the position of its vice-president ; his ability and practical knowledge of the business contributing in no small degree to its success, until it has taken rank as the first of its character in the world.
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