History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 21

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780

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Oct. 4, 1865, the Portland and Rochester Railroad Com- pany was organized, and suceceded to all the property of the York and Cumberland Railroad.

Feb. 19, 1866, the Legislature authorized the Portland and Rochester Railroad Company to change its location between the towns of Sanford and Berwick, so as to make a new location from some point in Sanford to the town of Rochester, N. Il .; and in accordance with this authority a new location was made, and the road was completed to Rochester in July, 1871.

The indebtedness of the road, Sept. 30, 1878, was as follows :

Capital stock ...

$636,011.06 Bonds, 1st mortgage, six per cent ...... .. $700,000.00 ..

.. seven per cent ...... 350,000.00

31 ..

150,000.00

1,500,000.00

$2,136,011.06

In February, 1877, the company having defaulted pay- ment of the interest on its bonds, the property was placed in the hands of a receiver.

The line of road as completed extends from Portland, Me., to Rochester, N. Il., fifty-two and one-half miles, and there connects with the Nashua and Rochester and Wor- cester and Nashua Railroads, making the shortest and most direct through route from Maine to New York and the West.

CUMBERLAND BENCH AND BAR.

Starting from the Grand Trunk Railway station in Port- land it connects at Morrill's Corners with the Maine Cen- tral Railroad ; at Cumberland Mills, in Westbrook, it con- nects with the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad; at Rochester it connects with the Nashua and Rochester Rail- road and with the Boston and Maine Cocheeco branch, and with the Portsmouth, Great Falls and Conway Railroad.

The track and bridges were materially improved in 1877. Three hundred lineal feet of trestle-bridge at Shaker Pond, Alfred, were filled with solid earth material, requiring some eight thousand cubic yards. The open stringer bridge near Hollis Centre station, over what is called " Cook's Brook," was replaced with a stone arch culvert. The number of tons of iron and railroad ties put into the track in 1877 equaled the amount put iu the two previous years.

A new station has been built in Portland, at the foot of Preble Street, for the accommodation of local passenger travel, and at the foot of Ilanover Street a new car-house and carpenter-shop, ninety-six feet long by thirty-six feet wide, has been built, affording much-needed facilities for repairing cars. The station at Gorham has been extensively repaired and remodeled inside, giving much-improved pas- senger accommodations. By consent of President Ander- son, of the Portland and Ogdensburg Railroad, the station building at Cumberland Mills, owned by that company, has been moved to the junction of the tracks, and the south end finished into a waiting-room for passengers, the north end being used for freight purposes. Hereafter the station will be occupied jointly by the two roads.

The cost of the foregoing improvements has all been paid, and charged to operating expense account.

Terminal Facilities .- The old depot at the foot of Myrtle Street, so long occupied by this company, had been for some years falling into decay, and at last became untenantable. The alternative was presented to either erect on Back Cove new station buildings for accommodation of the freight and passenger traffic, or to enter into arrangements with some other road to furnish the required accommodations. A con- tract with the Grand Trunk to furnish all the accommoda- tions required iu the management of the passenger and freight traffic, including wharf and street facilities, has been made, thus affording the patrons of the road increased facili- ties for doing business. The new arrangement went into effect April 8, 1878. Since that time trains have run to and from the Grand Trunk station, and the passenger and freight traffic have been marked with great regularity.

CHAPTER XV.

CUMBERLAND BENCH AND BAR.

Early Lawyers and Judges-Bench and Bar from 1725 to 1783- Aneedotes Illustrative of the Pre-Revolutionary Courts.

NOAIL EMERY, of Kittery, was for many years the only lawyer in Maine. He commenced practice about the year 1725, and, although not regularly bred to the profession, was a talented and successful practitioner. Mr. Emery was descended from Anthony Emery, who came from Rumsey, England, in the ship " James," in 1635, and first settled at 11

Newbury, whence be removed to Kittery about 1652, and settled in that part of the town which is now Eliot, where the subject of this notice was born on the 11th of Decem- ber, 1699. His father was Daniel Emery, and his mother's maiden name was Eliza Gowen. Hle had been brought up to the trade of a cooper, as had his ancestor who first came to this country ; but he exchanged that for the practice of the law, which he followed successfully till his death, in the year 1762.

His place was filled by his kinsman, Caleb Emery, who also lived in Kittery, and who quit the practice soon after the Revolution.

The first regularly educated lawyer who settled in Maine is believed to have been William Cushing, who graduated at Harvard College in 1751, and established himself in that part of the ancient town of Pownalboro' which is now called Dresden, where he continued in the practice of law till he was elevated to the bench in 1772. Mr. Cushing resided with his brother Charles, who was the first sheriff of Lin- coln County, and for many years after the Revolution the clerk of the courts in Suffolk. His house stood near the old court-house in Dresden. At the time Mr. Cushing commenced practice there, there was no house on the Ken- nebec River from about two miles above the Dresden court- house to the settlements in Canada, except the block-houses at Forts Western and Halifax. The whole country, as a witness once said of it in court, was an " eminent wilder- ness." Mr. Cushing was appointed the first judge of pro- bate in Lincoln County. He was made chief justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in 1777, and was the first who held the office under the free government of that com- monwealth. He was transferred to the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1789, and died in 1810. He was the last chief justice who wore the large wig of the English judges, which gave him upon the bench an air of superior dignity and gravity. Modern customs have put both the wig and gown out of countenance.

David Sewall, of York, was the next regular practitioner who established himself in this State. He was a graduate of Harvard in the class of 1755, and immediately after reading law commenced practice in York, his native town. In 1777, Mr. Sewall was raised to the bench, and in 1789 was appointed judge of the United States Court for the district of Maine. During the twelve years in which he held the office of judge in the State court he usually trav- eled on horseback, and indeed this is the manner in which the judges and members of the bar were obliged to travel before and some years after the Revolution. Judge Sewall died Oct. 22, 1825, aged ninety, and so pure had his life been that he remarked to a friend that if he were to lead his life over again he did not know that he should wish to alter it.

In the manuscripts of Judge Sewall are preserved many interesting pre-Revolutionary reminiscences. We have room ouly for the following :

" The court consisted at this time of Benj. Lynde, Paul Dudley, Edmund Quincy, und Addington Davenport. Another anecdote is related of Mr. Emery, which I will venture to preserve as showing something of the early manners of the bar. It was anciently the custom when the business of the court was uearly completed, for the members of the court aud bar, made up of gentlemen from Massa-

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.

chusetts and New Hampshire, to assemble together at the tavern for n social meeting ; on which occasions they constituted a court among themselves, appointing one of their number chief justice for the trial of all broaches of good fellowship which had occurred during tho term. On one of these meetings Mr. Emery was accused of calling the high sheriff a foul. The fact being proved or admitted, the court Taking into consideration the time, manner, and occasion of the offonse, ordered said Emery to pay for this offense, one pipe of tobacco. And ordered the sheriff, who it is said was Samuel Wheelwright, to pay one mug of flip for deserving the appellation."

The two distinguished jurists above named, with Caleb Emery, were the only lawyers in Maine in 1760, when the counties of Cumberland and Lincoln were established. This event, by multiplying the sittings of courts in the district, and by establishing a seat of justice at Falmouth, held out encouragement for persons entering the profession to settle here. Accordingly, we find, in 1762, two persons,-The- ophilus Bradbury and David Wyer, entering upon the prac- tice in this town.

Mr. Bradbury was a graduate of Harvard College in 1757. He came from Newbury, and previous to his en- tering upon practice here was engaged in teaching. He ap- peared for the first time in court at the May term in 1762. Mr. Wyer was not admitted to the bar till the October term of the same year, although he appears to have been engaged in business of the court at the May term, in opposition to Mr. Bradbury. He was born at Charlestown, Mass., and graduated at Harvard College in 1758. Previous to this time there had been no lawyers in what is now Cumberland County. The courts had been attended when it was neces- sary, by practitioners from Massachusetts. In the great case between the Plymouth aud Pejepscot proprietors, tried at Falmouth in 1754, Jeremiah Gridley and James Otis, of Boston, attended for the partics. Justices of the peace were also in the habit of filling writs and attending to busi- ness in court. This practice continued after there were regular practitioners in every county, and those which were not settled they generally procured some attorney to man- age in court,-a custom which operated severely upon those who had spent much money and time to prepare themselves for the profession, and produced the adoption of a rule by the barristers and attorneys practicing in Maine in 1770, whereby they agreed that they " would not enter, argue, or in any manner assist in the prosecution of causes where the writs shall be drawn by any person not regularly admitted and sworn, except in cases of necessity." The reason assigned by the lawyers for this rule was that they thought it " detri- mental to the publie that persons not regularly admitted and sworn as attorneys should be countenanced." This rule produced great excitement among that class of persons who had been in the habit of doing this business, which was brought to a focus by the refusal of the Superior Court to admit a person who had drawn a writ in this manner for another to manage the cause which had been brought up by appeal, and the attorneys refusing, under their rule, to conduct it, the plaintiff was non-suited. Early in 1774, the subject was brought before the town at a public meet- ing, and a committee was chosen to " represent the lawyers' agreement to the General Court and pray for redress." The committee consisted of Enoch Freeman, Stephen Longfel- low, Benjamin Mussey, Jonathan Morse, and Richard Cod-

man. Nothing further appears to have been done, and it is probable that the political concerns of more absorbing interest, then beginning to arise, diverted attention entirely from the subject, and when the war was over the actors in the scene had new parts to perform. Still, prejudice against lawyers was not extinguished by the Revolution ; in many places it was very strong after the war, and continued so for many years.

Mr. Bradbury and Mr. Wyer were the only resident law- yers in Falmouth till 1774, and consequently were invaria- bly employed upon opposite sides. They were both admit- ted to the Superior Court in 1765. They kept their offices in their houses,-Mr. Bradbury's at the corner of Middle and Willow Streets, and Mr. Wyer's nearly opposite the north school-house on Congress Street. In character these two attorneys were very dissimilar. Mr. Bradbury was grave and dignified in his deportment, while Mr. Wyer was full of gayety and wit, the shafts of which did not always fall harmless upon his adversary. The life of the former was marked by steadiness and uniformity ; that of the lat- ter was desultory and irregular ; one was distinguished by genius, the other by method ; both had qualities to elevate them in society, and give them fair rank in the courts. Bradbury was more of a special pleader, and by the weight of his character and manners had great influence with the court and jury ; but Wyer often carried his point by the vigorous sallies of his wit, and when he lost the jury he frequently gained the laugh and the audience .*

They were also opposed in religious sentiments, and at a time when the community was divided very strongly by a line between Episcopalians and Congregationalists, and legal questions were arising on the subject of taxes and the rights of the two societies, Wyer was advocating the claims of the Episcopalians while Bradbury was sustaining the for- tunes of the old parish. Wyer was upheld by the Royalist party ; Bradbury received his patronage from the Whigs.

Notwithstanding these two were all the resident lawyers at this period, other eminent counselors were called from abroad in important causes. Previous to the Revolution Daniel Farnham, of Newbury ; John Chipman, of Marble- head; William Cushing, of Pownalsboro'; David Sewall, of York ; Samuel Livermore and William Parker, of Ports- mouth, James Otis, Jeremiah Gridley, Jonathan Sewall, and John Adams, of Boston, attended courts in Falmouth.

Mr. Farnham graduated in 1739, at Harvard College. His practice here before the Revolution was quite large. HIe left one son, William, who lived in Boston. Mr. Chip- man was the son of Rev. John Chipman, and father of Ward Chipman, of Brunswick, agent for the British gov- ernment in the controversy with the United States respect- ing the boundary-line. While attending court at Falmouth, in July, 1768, he was attacked in the court-house with an apoplectic fit, of which he died in a few hours. He was a graduate of Harvard in 1738. Samuel Livermore was judge of the Superior Court of New Hampshire in 1792, and was several years chief justice. He was also United States Senator for eight years, from 1793. His sons, Edward St. Loe and Arthur Livermore, were each judges of the Su-

* Willis.

CUMBERLAND BENCH AND BAR.

perior Court of New Hampshire, and the latter chief justice. Mr. Gridley was attorney-general of Massachu- setts, and died Sept. 10, 1767. Mr. Sewall succeeded Mr. Gridley as attorney-general in 1767. He became a loyalist, and retired to Bristol, England, in 1775. Of John Adams, the last mentioned of those distinguished lawyers who at- tended court here, it only remains to give a few reminis- cenees.

Mr. Adams attended the court here twelve successive years prior to the Revolution, and boarded with Jonathan Webb. Jonathan Sewall and Mr. Adams were intimate friends until the crisis in American politics took place. Finding they could not change each other's views, they determined not to discuss the subject any more. This resolution was taken in this town when the court was sitting in July, 1774. They were walking upon Munjoy Hill before breakfast, and earnestly discussing the great questions which were then agitating the country. The conversation terminated by Mr. Adams saying, " I see we must part ; and with a bleeding heart I say it, I fear for- ever ; but you may depend upon it, that this adieu is the sharpest thorn on which I ever set my foot." After their parting here they did not meet again until Mr. Adams called upon him in London, in 1788, as the ambassador of the free American States .*

In 1768 there were but six attorneys in Maine, viz., Caleb Emery, William Cushing, David Sewall, James Sul- livan, ; Theophilus Bradbury, and David Wyer. Of these not one was in practice in the country at the close of the Revolutionary war. Cushing, Sullivan, and Sewall were on the bench, Caleb Emery bad retired, Bradbury had re- moved to Newburyport, and Wyer was dead. Mr. Brad- bury was appointed attorney for the State in 1777, and so from year to year till his removal from the county, which took place in 1779. In 1796 he was chosen member of Congress from Essex, and was appointed judge of the Supreme Court in 1797. He died Sept. 6, 1803, aged sixty-four. His son, George, subsequently moved to Port- land, and practiced law, was chosen member of Congress from Cumberland, and Senator to the State Legislature. He died Nov. 17, 1823, aged fifty-three years.

Mr. Wyer was appointed king's attorney for the county frequently before the Revolution. On the destruction of the town by Mowatt Mr. Wyer removed to Stroudwater, where he died Feb. 29, 1776, aged thirty-five.

The next attorney who settled here was Theophilus Par- sons, who was admitted to practice in this county, July, 1774. He graduated at Harvard College in 1769, pursued his legal studies with Mr. Bradbury, and at the same time kept the grammar school on the Neck. He soon came into full practice, and was often employed in opposition to his legal instructor. While keeping school, and after his ad- mission to the bar, Mr. Parsons was unremitting in his studies, devoting to them his whole time. lle was one of the committee of inspection in Falmouth in 1775, although but twenty-five years old, and took an active part in the

measures adopted by the Whigs during his residence here. Ile moved to Newburyport in the latter part of 1775.

Mr. Parsons was born in that part of Newbury now called Byfield, in 1750, his father being the minister of that parish. He boarded about three years with Deacon Codman, on the corner of Temple and Middle Streets ; in April, 1775, he went to board with Dr. Deane. On his removal from Fal- mouth, be established himself in Newburyport, and subse- quently in Boston. He was appointed chief justice of Massachusetts in 1806. It is unnecessary to give here a further notice of the life of this great man and unrivaled lawyer; a brief and interesting view of it may be found in Chief Justice Parker's address on the opening of the court in Suffolk, November, 1813, shortly after his decease. IIe died in Boston, September, 1813, aged sixty-three, in the full strength of his intellectual faculties.

After the death of Mr. Wyer, Mr. Bradbury was the only attorney in the county until the October term in 1778, when John Frothingham was admitted to practice in the Common Pleas. The latter was soon left alone by the re- moval of Mr. Bradbury to Newburyport in 1779. The business at that time was exceedingly small, so much so that Mr. Frothingham was induced to unite with his prac- tice the charge of a school, which he kept several years after the Revolution. The whole number of entries in 1778 was but nineteen ; in 1779, twenty-six ; and in 1780, twenty. In the March term, 1780, Mr. Frothingham was appointed by the court attorney for the State in this county ; he continued in practice, enjoying the confidence of his clients and friends, until he was appointed a judge of the Common Pleas in 1804.

Mr. Frothingham was born in Charlestown, Mass., in 1750, and graduated at llarvard College in 1771. He kept a school in Greenland, N. HI., a short time before he came here. He held many important offices, and faithfully discharged all their duties to the satisfaction of the public. He was inspector of the excise for the district of Maine, secretary of Bowdoin College on its first organization, rep- resentative from the town in 1786, town clerk, thirty-four years clerk of the first parish, twelve years register of pro- hate, and eight years judge of the Common Pleas. In the latter part of his life he was deprived of his sight, but bore his affliction with great patience. In 1784 he married Martha May, of Boston, by whom he had a large family of children, four of whom survived him. Ile died Feb. 8, 1826, aged seventy-six, leaving to his posterity his well- merited reputation.

The next lawyer who came to Falmouth was Royal Tyler, son of a gentleman of that name in Boston, who was one of the king's counselors, and active in the first stages of the Revolution. Graduating at Harvard College in 1776, Mr. Tyler came here in 1779. He had an office on Middle Street, near the head of Plumb Street, but remained only about two years. During his practice he commenced an action against an officer of a privateer then lying in the harbor, and went with the sheriff to arrest him; the officer not liking the process, turned upon the deputy and attorney, carried them both to sea, and landed them at Townsend, now Boothbay. Mr. Tyler afterwards became chief justice of the Supreme Court of Vermont.

* Willis' History of Portland.

+ Mr. Sullivan had recently commenced practice at Arrowsic Island, a part of Georgetown, whence he removed to Biddeford.

HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, MAINE.

The next attorney who established himself here was Daniel Davis, who started from Boston on horseback, " the world all before him where to choose," to seek some prom- ising place wherein to commenee practice. Hle arrived and fixed his abode on the Neck, in the autumn of 1782. At this time there were but five lawyers in Maine besides Mr. Davis, viz., George Thacher, who then lived in York, but next year removed to Biddeford; John Frothingham, of Port- land; Timothy Langdon, of Wiseasset ; Roland Cushing, youngest brother of Judge William Cushing, at old Pownal- boro'; and William Lithgow, at Georgetown. Mr. Davis continued in practice here until 1803, when he removed to Boston. Ile was an eloquent and popular advocate, and had an extensive practice. In 1833 he was the only sur- vivor of the lawyers who were in practice at the time he came here, and of all who came to the town within fifteen years after him .*

Mr. Davis was appointed in 1796, with William Shep- herd and Nathan Dane, commissioner to treat with the east- ern Indians, and in the same year suecceded William Lith- gow in the office of United States attorney for the district of Maine. Ile was repeatedly chosen Representative by the town, and Senator by the county to the Legislature of Mas- sachusetts, and while he was Senator, in 1801, he received the appointment of Solicitor-General for the State of Massa- chusetts, which he held till 1832, when that, with the office of Attorney-General, was abolished. In 1786, Mr. Davis married at Quebec, Louisa Freeman, by whom he had a large family of children.

As we are leaving the history of the ante-Revolutionary lawyers, we cannot omit one anecdote preserved by Judge Sewall, illustrative of the manners of those days. It was the custom, as I have before observed, for the members of the court and bar at the close of the session to hold special courts at the tavern, which were made the occa- sion of festivity and wit. At one of those seasons, when the Inferior Court was held at Biddeford, Hill, Spara- hawk, Jordan, and Moulton being on the bench, the court sat at the public-house of one Ladd, there being no court-house in that town. The late Judge Lowell, of Newburyport, arrived on Monday evening to attend the court, and called upon landlord Ladd to accommodate him during the session. Ladd told him his house was full and he could not accommodate him. Mr. Lowell was obliged to seek lodgings elsewhere, but supposing Mr. Ladd would take care of his horse, if he could not receive him, left him tied at the post in front of the house. It so happened that the horse was overlooked, and remained tied at the post, where Mr. Lowell left him, all night. On Friday evening a special court was held at Ladd's for the hearing and de- termining of small causes of omission and commission that had occurred during the week. Daniel Farnham, Esq., was appointed judge; among other causes landlord Ladd was called upon to answer his negleet in not taking care of Mr. Lowell's horse, and for suffering him to stand all night at the door of his tavern. The fact was not denied, but in excuse he said that he had told Mr. Lowell that he could not give him entertainment, as his house was full before he

applied, and he did not recolleet that Mr. Lowell, when he went away, said anything about his horse. Upon this evi- dence the judge ordered the landlord to pay a single bowl of good puneh for his neglect in not taking proper care of the horse, and that Mr. Lowell should pay twice as much for suffering the poor animal to remain all night at the door. The sentence was carried into immediate execution for the benefit of the company convened.

MOSES PEARSON was judge of the court of Common Pleas for several years before the Revolution. He was born in Newbury, in 1697, and was by trade a joiner. He came to Falmouth about the year 1728, and early took an active part in the affairs of the town. Within the first ten years of his residence he filled the offices of town clerk, selectman, and town treasurer. In 1737, 1740, and 1749 he represented the town in the General Court. In 1745 he raised a company in this neighborhood, and joined the army for the siege of Louisbourg, where he gained the con- fidence of the commanding officers, and was appointed agent of Sir William Pepperell's regiment, and treasurer of the nine regiments employed in the siege, to receive and dis- burse the spoils of vietory. Ile remained at Louisbourg through part of 1746, superintending the construction of barracks, a hospital, and the repairs of the fortifications, and was sent home by Governor Shirley to procure materials to complete the works.

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History of Cumberland Co., Maine, Part 21

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 780

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 780