USA > Maine > York County > History of York County, Maine, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 23
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BENCHI AND BAR OF YORK COUNTY.
term ( [819) of the Court of Common Pleas for York County was admitted to the bar.
Always anxious to be at work, he felt that he must locate himself at once for business. Accordingly, having procured letters of introduction from Mr. Wallingford, IIon. Joseph Dane, and others to prominent men in the eastern part of the State, he set forth, believing that that section afforded a good field for practice. After looking over Kennebec County, he concluded to settle in the little town of Fairfax, now called Albion, there being no lawyer there, and came back to his home to make the necessary preparations. On his return to Fairfax he was surprised to find that an older lawyer had in the mean time stepped into the place which he had supposed to be his own by right of discovery. A practical view of the matter showed to him at once that the business of the place could not well support two of the pro- fession, and although assured by some of its citizens that he would have his full share of the patronage, he preferred to return to his native town and take his chance with three other lawyers then in practice, two of whom-Mr. Walling- ford and Mr. Dane-were prominent practitioners in the county. He opened an office, but had hardly commeneed business when Jeremiah Bradbury, then practicing in the town of York, was appointed clerk of the courts, necessi- tating his removal to Alfred, the county-seat. The death of Isaac Lyman, and the removal of Asa Freeman to Dover, N. H., at about the same time, left the ancient town of York without a resident legal adviser. Thither Mr. Bourne went, and took the office vacated by Mr. Bradbury in October, 1820. There, amidst pleasant surroundings, with fair busi- ness prospects, he would probably have remained, but IIon. Joseph Dane having been chosen to represent his district in the new State of Maine in the Seventeenth Congress of the United States, proposed to Mr. Bourne that he should re- turn to Kennebunk and occupy his office, tendering him the free use of his valuable library. This flattering offer he gladly accepted, and in the course of about two years be became so assured in his position as to feel justified in taking to himself a wife. He was married Oct. 31, 1822, to Mary H., daughter of Richard and Dorothy (Moody) Gilpatrick. Mr. Gilpatrick was a man of wealth and position, and engaged at that time in various business enterprises. He was the proprietor of what is now known as the " Factory Privilege" at the village, upon which he built an iron-manufactory, located below the lower dam, and a cotton-factory, in which he had a half-interest, standing on the site of the present saw-mill.
Mrs. Bourne died March 23, 1852, at the age of fifty- two. Of her Judge Bourne says, in his manuscript his- tory of the Bourne family, " She was naturally of a lively, animated, happy disposition, and in her deportment gentle, kind, and courteous, looking to the ease and happiness of all with whom she associated. Her soul yearned to do good, and, under the impulses of such a spirit, she was ever given to hospitality, ready to supply the needs of the poor who sought her aid, and on all occasions to do all in her power to lighten the burdens and sorrows of others."
Mr. and Mrs. Bourne had four children, viz., Julia M., Edward E., Lizzie G., and Mary Olivia Edward alone survives, and is now practicing law at Kennebunk. Mary 12
Olivia died in infancy. Julia M. died Nov. 18, 1851. Lizzie G. perished, overtaken by a sudden storm of wind, while ascending Mount Washington, in company with her uncle and cousin, Sept. 14, 1855.
Mr. Bourne was again married on Feb. 16, 1853, to Mrs. Susan II. Lord, widow of Capt. Tobias Lord, and daughter of the late Capt. Joseph Hateh, of Kennebunk, whose refined society and congenial tastes contributed in a large measure to the happiness of his home during all his remaining years.
Mr. Bourne in early manhood manifested a zealous in- terest in all the moral, social, educational, and political questions of the day. When the attention of the people was first called to the evils of intemperance, he enlisted in the cause with all his accustomed earnestness and vigor. During the entire winter of 1832, whenever the weather permitted, he was abroad with his co-laborers holding meet- ings in the several school districts of the town, endeavoring to impress his hearers with the importance of the subject, and the necessity of action upon it.
In 1824 the question of the removal of the courts from Alfred to Kennebunk was agitated. In this he naturally took great interest, writing frequent newspaper articles upon the subject ; and when, in 1859, the question of the re- moval to Saco was presented, he was called upon to repre- sent the petitioners before the Legislative committee. Ilis argument there was considered one of his most successful efforts.
In 1817 an artillery company was formed in Wells, em- bracing several members from Arundel. It was organized by choice of Barnabas Palmer, Captain; William W. Wise, Lieutenant; Edward E. Bourne, Ensign ; and Davenport Tueker, Clerk ; and when afterwards Capt. Palmer was elected major, Mr. Bourne was appointed adjutant.
Mr. Bourne was elected one of the selectmen of his native town in 1828, and continued in that capacity until 1833. He represented the town in the State Legislature from 1826 to 1831, inclusive. While there he took an active part in the debates, always advocating what he be- lieved to be right, regardless of party dictation. This characteristie was strongly apparent in the course taken by him in the proceedings in filling the several vacancies oc- curring by the death of Governor Lincoln, who died in office during the year 1829. On the assembling of the Senate in January following, it appeared that only sixteen out of the twenty senators were elected by the people, and those sixteen were equally divided between the two political parties. After occupying several days in unsuccessful attempts to elect a president,-each party voting for its own candidate,-the National Republicans, with whom Mr. Bourne was in sympathy, gave way so far as to take a new candidate from the opposing party, voting for the Rev. Joshua Hall, senator from Waldo County, which, with the aid of his individual ballot, secured his election. The constitution provides that whenever the office of Governor shall become vacant, by death or otherwise, the President of the Senate shall exercise the duties of Governor until another shall be " duly qualified," and that " his duties as President shall be suspended, and the Senate shall till the vacancy until his duties as Governor shall cease."
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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.
It was supposed that President Hall would at once vacate his office and assume the duties of Governor ; but, contrary to expectation, he remained, voting with his party in their declared purpose of preventing a convention with the House to fill the vacancies.
This state of things continued through the month of January, when, at a private consultation of the Nationals, it was determined that a convention of the two branches should be formed by the House appointing the hour and giving notice to the Senate, and if the Senate refused to concur, or act upon the proposition, then all the Republi- can senators should meet the House, and, as a convention, the two branches should proceed to fill the vacancies. Against this proposed action Mr. Bourne protested, declar- ing that it was illegal, and contrary to the provisions of the constitution. He stood alone. All his political asso- ciates accepted the proposition. The two branches met in that manner, and thus filled the vacancies. But when after- wards (Feb. 15, 1830) the opinion of the justices of the Supreme Court was taken by Governor Hunton, it was held by the court that the vacancies were illegally filled, thus sustaining the position taken by Mr. Bourne. (See Opin- ion of Justices, " Greenl. Rep.," vol. vii. page 489.)
Early the next session a bill was introduced, called a " Healing Act," to confirm and legalize this illegal pro- ceeding. This measure Mr. Bourne opposed for the same reason. He would not lend his aid in favor of his own party to an attempt to legalize a proceeding which he be- lieved to be illegal, and which was unauthorized by the con- stitution as construed by the Supreme Court of the State.
The following year Mr. Bourne declined a renomination, and from that time devoted himself to his profession. His business increased until he was engaged in a large propor- tion of the litigated eases in his county. As a lawyer he was faithful to his clients, giving to each individual case his best effort. While he was untiring in his labor when once enlisted in a cause, he always remembered the oath taken on his admission to the bar,-" I will not wittingly or wil- lingly promote or sue any false, groundless, or unlawful suit, nor give aid or consent to the same,"-and would on no account lend his services to the prosecution of' a claim not well founded in law or fact.
In 1818 he was appointed by the Governor State's attor- ney for York County. In this office he was superseded by a political opponent the following year, but was re-appointed in 1841, and when afterwards the office was made subject to the popular vote he received the nomination, but, his party being in the minority, failed of an election.
By an amendment of the constitution in 1856 the office of judge of probate became elective. Mr. Bourne received the nomination for his county, and was elected by a large majority. Such was his popularity and acknowledged fitness for the position that, contrary to the usual party custom, he was four times elected,-holding the office sixteen years,- when failing health rendered it necessary for him to retire from the public service.
Upon his retirement the members of the bar presented him with a valuable gold watch as a token of their respect for the faithful and impartial manner in which he had dis- charged the duties of his office during his long term. It
may be remarked in passing that it was regarded as a good practical joke by his most intimate friends, who well knew his marked punctuality upon any and all oceasions, impor- tant or otherwise,-so marked that, as one of the family play- fully said, it had become one of his " greatest failings,"- that the members of the bar should select a watch, and the teachers of the Sunday-school of which he was superin- tendent, a few years previously, a mantel-clock, as a token of regard.
His court was holden monthly, and although held in several towns in the county, oftentimes requiring a long ride in an inelement season, he never but onee failed to be present promptly at the hour during the sixteen years. That one exception occurred during the winter of his last year of service, when, on account of the sickness of the judge, the register adjourned the court two days. That term being holden at Saco, and the Supreme Court being at the same time in session, but little inconvenience was occasioned to the members of the bar in attendance there.
Judge Bourne never allowed personal convenience to in- terfere in the slightest degree with a prompt discharge of duty. Once when the court was holden at Alfred, a dis- tance of twelve miles from his home, he started in a snow- storm, with his son, in his private conveyance, and by shovelling through the drifts arrived in due time, opened his court, and continued the session all day, although but one other person (besides the register living in town), a resi- dent lawyer, was present during the court. It was a source of satisfaction and a sufficient reward to him that he had been able to be present in his place, although he only waited the entire day.
" They also serve who only stand and wait."
Early iu life Judge Bourne manifested an interest in his- torieal matters. In 1831 he wrote a history of his town, which was presented by him (in manuscript ) to the library of the First Parish Sunday-school. This was designed more especially for the children. He afterwards, at the re- quest of the Maine Historical Society, prepared an elaho- rate history of the towns of Wells and Kennebunk, down to 1820, when the latter town (before that time a part of Wells) was incorporated, which was published by his son soon after his decease.
In 1834 he was elected a member of the Maine Histori- cal Society, and on the resignation of the Hon. William Willis of the presidency was chosen in his place. He con- tributed many valuable papers to the society. With his accustomed promptness he was uniformly present at the meetings, many of which were holden at a long distance from his home, and it was his practice always to prepare two or more papers to be read in case others who were expected to address the meeting failed. Several of these were left nn- used at his decease. Prof. Packard, in a letter to his widow, written shortly after his death, says of him, " The success of the ' Field Days' of the society was largely due to his energy, and at the close of a recent one it was a common remark, 'We owe our success and enjoyment of the day to Judge Bourne.'"
In 1866, Judge Bourne was elected a member of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. He was an
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BENCHI AND BAR OF YORK COUNTY.
occasional contributor to the Historical and Genealogical Register, and also to the Historical Magazine. In the language of C. W. Tuttle, Esq., in his remarks before the New England Historic Genealogical Society relative to the death of Judge Bourne, " Ile kept pace with the progress of historical investigation and discovery in all directions."
From early youth he was a devout believer in the Chris- tian religion. In April, 1829, he united with the church of the First Congregational Parish of Kennebunk ( Unitarian), and from that time to the day of his death was an earnest working member. He was a regular attendant upon the services of the Sabbath, as well as the week-day evening meetings, where he was always ready to assist in the ser- vice by words of exhortation and encouragement.
He was the originator of the Wednesday evening prayer- meeting, established in 1830, the first meeting being held at the house of Capt. Levi P. Hillard.
He was connected with the Sunday-school of the parish more than half a century,-a teacher in 1819, and super- intendent from 1826 to his death, excepting a short time when the school was in charge of his brother, George W. Bourne.
His religion regulated and controlled his daily life. To use a homely expression, " he lived up to it." As an in- stance of the practical nature of his religious sentiments, we advert to the fact that one of his first official acts, upon as- suming the office of judge of probate, was the changing of the day of holding his court from Monday to Tuesday, that there might be no necessity of traveling on Sunday.
Judge Bourne was for seven years a member of the board of trustees of Bowdoin College, and in 1872 received from that institution the degree of Doctor of Laws. President Chamberlain, in a letter written not long after his death, says, "Judge Bourne was one of my truest and most valued friends. He was one of the few I have known the ardor of whose attachments to person or party never im- paired the soundness of their judgment, nor obscured their sense of justice. He could be a warm friend and a cool judge ; he could be true to each and just to all. I honor his memory, and shall still cherish his friendship." . He died Sept. 23, 1873.
The writer is aware that the design of this book will not admit of any extended individual biography, and perhaps he has already occupied his full share of the space allotted to biographical sketches; but he hopes that he will be par- doned for adding the following quotation from the memoir of Judge Bourne, by Hon. Edwin B. Smith, published soon after his death by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, detailing some interesting facts connected with his last hours, and bearing upon his distinguishing character- istics.
" The common expression 'he will be missed' has a peculiar signification when applied to Judge Bourne. Not only as the historian, the judge, the safe and prudent coun- selor shall we miss him, but as the bright, cheerful Chris- tian gentleman. Perhaps it was this quality, more than any other, that peculiarly endeared himu to his friends. His cheerfulness under all the dispensations of the Heavenly Father (and he was called to endure severe afflictions in the removal of all, save one, of his immediate family, to whom he was tenderly attached ) was remarkable. It was a cheer-
fulness founded on full faith in Divine Providence,-a faith which rendered the blessings of life more joyous, while it sent a bright gleam through the deepest affliction. It did not fail him at the last.
" Contrary to the expectation of himself and his friends ( who had supposed a sudden death probable), he was for the last three or four weeks a great sufferer. He was obliged to sit in his chair most of the time, day and night, and could get but little sleep. His disease was of such a nature that some effort was required for respiration, and when for a moment he was overpowered by sleep, and, losing consciousness, ceased to make the unusual effort re- quisite, he was immediately awakened by the most excru- ciating suffering,-probably caused by partial strangulation. Yet, when he was permitted to enjoy temporary relief, he was inclined to talk, and conversed with his friends in his old cheery way, seldom alluding to himself or his suffer- ings, but showing the same interest as formerly in others, their pursuits and enjoyments. He kept up his participa- tion in spirit in whatever interested the community. Only a day or two before his death, he reminded his pastor that the one hundredth anniversary of the occupancy of the old church in which he had so long worshiped would occur on the second Sabbath of January next (1874). He thought there should be some commemoration of the event, and remarked that he had contemplated preparing an ap- propriate address for the occasion. He referred his pastor to some minutes of facts in his possessiou compiled for that purpose, and requested him to prepare an address.
" Judge Bourne seldom spoke of his religious feelings, even to his most intimate friends. It was a sacred subject to him,-too sacred to be talked about on ordinary occasions. In his last hours, when suffering intensely, and when he knew that he could live but a few hours at most, he several times expressed the wish that he might soon be released ; but as to the untried scenes upon which he was conscious he was about to enter, he said but little. He felt no appre- hension. He merely said to a clerical friend, with whom he had lived on terms of great intimacy for many years, ' I have no anxiety about the future.'
"' His was a faith sublime and sure.'
" It is very seldom, indeed, that the name of any citizen is so closely and thoroughly identified with every interest, civil and military, religious, moral, and social, commercial, business, and personal, of the community in which he lives, as Judge Bourne's has been for the last half-century with those of the town of Kennebunk, where he spent a life use- ful and happy to its close, without reproach, and where his death is universally lamented."
CHAPTER XXIV.
BENCH AND BAR-(Concluded).
Biographical Sketches-Brief Mention-List of the Present Members of the York County Bar.
JOSEPH BARTLETT.
IN 1803 came to Saco Joseph Bartlett, an eccentric man, and one of the wits of the bar. He was born June
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HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, MAINE.
10, 1762, in Plymouth, Mass., and graduated, with honor- able standing, at Harvard in 1782; his scholarship being such as to entitle him to membership in the highest literary society of the college,-the Phi Beta Kappa. He pursued the study of law for a while at Salem, but at the close of the Revolution went to England, where he led a wild, irregular life with boon companions, in whose society his wit and reckless manners made him acceptable. He passed his time in London in gambling and dissipation, and, getting into debt, was thrown into prison, from which he procured his release by writing a play, in which he appeared as one of the actors. He then proenred, upon credit, a cargo of goods, with which he set sail for America, but his vessel was wrecked ou Cape Cod. We next hear of him among the forees of Massachusetts raised to put down the Shays rebellion, where he appears as a captain of volunteers, but returning to the law again after the war. He com- menced practice in Woburn, whence he removed to Cam- bridge in 1796, and became zealous in the affairs of the town and the college. He seems to have been still honored by the Phi Beta Kappa, for in 1799 he delivered a poem before that society, which was considered a talented per- formance, in his peculiar vein of wit and satire. In a trial at Plymouth between a mother and a son, during the time of his residence in Cambridge, he delivered a speech, or rather a serio-comic argument, some passages of which well illustrate his manner of mingling the pathetic and the ri- diculous. He commented upon the sadness of such a quarrel between a parent and a child, and, said he, " It is a shame that such a thing should oceur here in the old town of Plymouth, under the shadow of the hill on which were the graves of the forefathers, and on which I have myself often picked huckleberries."
In Saco he took the popular side in politics, being an ardent Democrat. By his long experience, his readiness as an advocate, his fastidious and agreeable manners, he became very popular, and for a while had a great run of business. He was elected to the Senate of Massachusetts in 1805. He afterwards attempted to set up Daniel Cleaves as a can- didate for Congress, in opposition to Col. Richard Cutts, who was first clected from that district in 1800, and held the office, by six successive elections, through the adminis- tration of Mr. Jefferson and part of that of Mr. Madison. In attempting thus to usurp the management of the party against such leaders as Col. Cutts and Dr. Thornton, he overestimated his personal strength vastly, and in the rash and egotistical attempt was the chief sufferer. The organs and leaders of the party opened upon him with great severity, and withered him and his business together into insignificance. Although he brought an action against Nathaniel Willis, of the Eastern Argus, for libel and im- prisoned him and recovered damages, it did not help his eause ; while it put money in his pocket it ruined his busi- ness in Saco, and he was obliged to move out of the town. He left the State in 1809 or 1810, and lived afterwards on his desultory literary labors. Ile drifted about from place to place, and finally turned up in Boston, where, on the 4th of July, 1823, he delivered an oration in the hall of the Exchange Coffee-House, and recited an ode entitled the " New Vicar of Bray," which are mentioned by Mr. Lor-
ing in his " Hundred Boston Orators." The same year he published an edition of poems, dedicated to John Quincy Adams, to which he appended " Aphorisms on Men, Prin- ciples, and Things." While living in Saco he edited a paper called The Freeman's Friend, and on the 4th of July, 1805, delivered an oration at Biddeford. In 1827, at the age of sixty-five, he wrote the following epitaph upon him- self:
" 'Tis done ! the fatal stroke is given, And Bartlett's fied to hell or heaven ; His friends approve it, and his foes appland, Yet he will have the verdict of his God."
WILLIAM B. SEWALL.
" No name," says Mr. Willis, " was more honored at the bar and in the courts of Massachusetts and Maine, for more than a century, than that of Sewall. From 1692 to 1819 -a period of one hundred and twenty-six years-one of the family had a seat upon the bench of the highest courts for one hundred years, about twenty-five of which as a chief justice : these were Samuel, Stephen, David, and Samuel, all descendauts from Henry, the first American ancestor, who came to Newbury, Mass., from Coventry, England, in 1634. Besides these were Jonathan, attor- ney-general before the Revolution, and Daniel and Henry, in this State, clerks, time out of mind. They seem to have had a prescriptive right to the bench and bar and places in court, nor were they much less prominent in the church, whose pulpits they have filled with eminence, all along the course of our history. Few names in our annals have had a higher rank and distinction than theirs."
William Bartlett Sewall was the only son of Daniel Sewall, the time-honored elerk of the courts in York County, who descended from the first Henry, through his second son, John. He was born in York, Dec. 18, 1782. His mother was Dorcas Bartlett, daughter of Johu H. Bartlett, of Kit- tery. He was prepared for college at a grammar school in York, and entered Harvard in 1799, where he was a class- mate of Benjamin Ames, Dr. Asa Eaton, of Salem Church, Boston ; Prof. John Farrar, of Harvard College; Rev. Na- than Parker, of Portsmouth ; Rev. Dr. Payson, of Portland ; James Savage, of Boston ; and Samuel Willard, D.D., of Deerfield. He was a member of the highest college society. Ou taking his degree he entered the office of Judge Isaac Parker, of Portland, in December, 1803, and, on account of the retirement of Judge Parker, in 1806, completed his legal studies with Edward St. Loc Livermore, at Portsmouth, and was admitted to the bar in Essex County. He returned to Portland, where he opened an office, was admitted to the Supreme Court in Cumberland County, and soon became a partner with Chief Justice Mellen. On the 26th of No- vember, 1816, he married Betsey Cross, of Portland, who lived about three years after their marriage; and Mr. Sewall, upon her death, in 1819, removed to Kennebunk, and re- occupied, with his aged father and sisters, the old home- stead. He assisted his father in the duties of his offices, as clerk and register of probate, during the remainder of the time he continued to hold them. In 1823 he returned to Portland and took charge of the editorial department of the Advertiser, which he continued to conduet several years, adding in the mean time a semi-weekly edition. In 1837 he
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