Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 38

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790

USA > Maine > Kennebec County > Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892 > Part 38

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After two days' confinement to the house, he died of heart failure October 24, 1890. He left a widow and a daughter, who is the wife of Frederic C. Thayer, M. D., an eminent physician and surgeon in Waterville. Two of his children died in 1862, during his absence in the army. The following is quoted from resolutions of members of the District bar: "Called to the bench of the Police Court as its first judge, peculiarly fitted by temperament and education for the dis- charge of its laborious duties, he there won our admiration and re- spect, as well as the gratitude of the entire community. An able lawyer, having the courage of his convictions, he was at the same time charitable and gentle. His life is a record of spotless integrity and honor; the outcome of a Christian character." The resolutions of the Bowdoin College Alumni of the District recorded the fact that, " His success in life, whether as a lawyer or a judge, was but the fairly expected sequence of a college life singularly pure, exceedingly studious, and true to the highest purpose of the scholar and the man." Other organizations to which he belonged, also recognized him as an "able, upright and impartial judge;" and commended his example of a well-ordered and upright life to the young men, and the com- munity in which he lived.

Jonathan G. Soule read law with E. F. Webb, was admitted in 1874, and began practice at Waterville, where he ripened into a trial justice, and also served efficiently on the school board until his death.

Frank E. Southard was born in 1854, at Exeter, Me. He was two years at the Maine State College, read law with Baker & Baker at Augusta, and was admitted in March, 1882.

Albert M. Spear, mayor of Gardiner since March, 1889, was born in 1852 in Litchfield, where his father, Andrew P., and his grand- father, Thomas, lived. He was educated there, and at West Gardiner and Monmouth Academies; also at Waterville Classical Institute. He

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graduated in the class of '75 at Bates College, and taught in Anson Acad- emy two of the three following years while reading law under A. R. Savage, the present mayor of Auburn. He was admitted to the bar in 1878, and practiced until 1885 in Hallowell, where he was twice chosen to the state legislature. Removing to Gardiner, he has continued in practice there, and is the present state senator from that district.

M. S. Spear, brother of Albert M., was born at Madison, Me., August 9, 1850, and died at Hallowell January 13, 1892. He was edu- cated at Litchfield and West Gardiner Academies, devoted four years to teaching, and then turned his attention to the study of law. After reading with E. L. McFadden for two and one-half years, he was ad- mitted in 1881. He practiced law five years in Winthrop, and then came to Hallowell, where he was judge of the municipal court from May, 1888, until his death in 1892.

Stephen Stark, born in 1803, at Conway, N. H., was a son of Samuel Stark. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1827, and after spending three years in the study of law, he opened an office at Clinton, Me., in October. 1830. Seven years later he came to Water- ville, where he died in November, 1855.

H. W. Stewart, born in 1852, graduated from Colby University in 1874, and read law in Waterville and Bangor. He was admitted to the bar in 1875, and was twelve years judge of the Waterville munic- ipal court.

Asbury C. Stilphen, of Farmingdale and Gardiner, is descended in this country from Michel Stilphen, a Huguenot refugee, and son of a French nobleman. Michel married an English lady, and they, with their children-George, born in 1744, and Cornelius, born in 1747- arrived at Boston on the ship Priscilla, in 1751. They came at once to Frankfort, now Dresden, and there settled. All of the name in this section are descended from George, Cornelius having removed to New Hampshire. George married Mary Ridley, of Pownalborough. Their eldest son, Francis, was born in 1773, and his son, Francis, father of Asbury C., was born December 6, 1813. Asbury C. was born in Dresden March 21, 1842. He attended the district schools, Lincoln and Monmouth Academies and Maine Wesleyan Seminary, and re- ceived his classical education under Reverends Edwin W. Murray and Frederick Gardiner, and Rt. Rev. George Burgess; but failing health compelled him to forego a college course. He was for three years (1865-8) deputy and acting collector of internal revenue for the Third Maine District, after which he read law with N. M. Whitmore and Judge Artemas Libbey, and was admitted to practice in 1869. Aug- ust 6, 1865, he married Annie M., daughter of Alexander S. Chadwick, and has one daughter, Annie E.

Amos Stoddard, born in 1759, came from Boston to Hallowell about

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

1793, and opened the first law office in the town. He was killed in the war of 1812.

Clarence L. Tanner, city clerk of Augusta [see page 1062], was born in Sidney in 1865. He was educated at Oak Grove Seminary and Haverford College, Pennsylvania; read law with Baker, Baker & Cornish, and was admitted to the bar in 1887. He was clerk with E. W. Whitehouse until 1891, and has since been his partner.

SAMUEL TITCOMB, late of Augusta, was of the fifth generation in line of descent from William Titcomb, who emigrated from Eng- land and settled at Newbury, Mass., in 1635. Samuel Titcomb, of the fourth remove from William, was born at Kennebunk in 1756. He was by profession a surveyor, and removed to Hallowell in 1783, where he was appointed surveyor to the American joint commissioner charged with defining the boundaries between Maine and the British provinces in 1784. About 1787 he removed to Augusta, where he was postmaster (1806-1810). He married Chloe Cummings, of Dedham, Mass., and in 1815 removed to Belgrade, where he died, September 18, 1849.

In Belgrade Samuel, the lawyer, was born, July 19, 1820. He was educated in the common schools of the town and at Titcomb Bel- grade Academy, founded by his father and John Pitts, of Belgrade. He completed his early education at Waterville Liberal Institute, studied law with Richard H. Vose, of Augusta, and was admitted to the bar in 1842. He then attended Harvard Law School for a year, graduating in 1843, and at once began practice in Augusta, which he thenceforth made his home. He served five years as a member of the common council, one year as a member of the board of aldermen, several years as city solicitor, and two years as mayor of the city. He was appointed judge of the municipal court by Governor Joseph H. Williams in 1858, and was elected to the same office continuously until 1866. He represented the city in the legislature five years, and rendered valuable service in the committees on the judiciary, banking, claims and legal reform.

The confidence of the community was his in a larger measure than falls to the lot of most men. He had the care and conduct of large. estates, and an immense amount of probate business was committed to his hands. He was actively interested in financial affairs, and for thirty-three years was one of the trustees of the Angusta Savings Bank, and for many years a director of the old Freemen's Bank. At the time of his death, January 13, 1892, he was president of the Augusta National Bank. Judge Titcomb was an upright man, simple in his ways of living, helpful and sympathetic to all in need or trouble, and always pleasant and courteous in his business as well as in his social relations. His loss was widely felt and genuinely mourned.

February 20, 1845, he married Julia A., daughter of Artemas Kim-

Samuel Detcomb

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ball, of Augusta. Mrs. Titcomb died in 1889. Their children were: Everett, born March 28, 1846, died May 9, 1856; and Lendall, born March 14, 1848, who was his father's law partner from 1872, and is his successor in business.

Dudley Todd, the first lawyer to settle in Winthrop, was a native of Rowley, Mass., and a graduate in 1795 of Dartmouth College. In 1801 he was chosen town agent. In 1809 he removed to Portland.

Hilton W. True, who was judge of the municipal court of Augusta for sixteen years, was born in 1834 at Litchfield, where he attended the academy, and, after reading with the late Judge Samuel Titcomb, was admitted in 1858 .. After practicing two years in Gardiner, he located in Augusta.

Gardiner C. Vose was born in 1835, graduated from Bowdoin in 1855, studied law with his father, Hon. Richard H., was admitted to practice in 1858, and formed a professional connection with his father, which lasted until the latter's death in 1864. G. C. Vose practiced at Augusta until his death in 1889.

Frederick A. Waldron, son of James N. and Sarah (Anson) Wal- dron, was born in 1841 at Buckfield, Me. He spent his boyhood on the farm of his father and in the district schools of his native town. At eighteen he began teaching school winters, and fitted for college at Hebron Academy. He graduated from Colby University in the class of '68, began reading law in 1870, and was admitted the follow- ing year. In December, 1871, he opened an office in Waterville, where he has since been in practice. He married Adelia R. Leech. Their children are: Lenton Edson and William Linscott.

George Warren, son of General Warren and the celebrated Mercy Warren, daughter of James Otis, of Barnstable, was one of the lesser lights of the Kennebec bar, which was extinguished before the open- ing of the present century. He possessed fine natural talents, but led a dissipated life, dying at Augusta in penury. He practiced for a short time in Winslow, which then included Waterville.

Samuel S. Warren, a nephew of General Warren, of Bunker Hill fame, practiced in Hallowell prior to 1825 until about 1835. He then removed to China, from there to Albion, whence, about 1844, he re- moved to Massachusetts.

Ebenezer T. Warren, brother of Samuel S., practiced at Hallowell about 1824, and afterward became president of a bank in that city.

Zebah Washburn, a son of Zalmunah, was born in Wayne in 1797, and practiced law in China until he was seventy years old. After many years of usefulness in the Universalist Society, he became a local preacher in the Methodist church, holding that position until his death in 1888. He was cashier of a bank at China and subsequently of the Canton Bank at South China.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

Lot Myrick Morrill®, son of Peaslee and Nancy (Macomber) Morrill (Peaslee', Peter3, John3, John1), was born in Belgrade, this county, May 3, 1813. He was educated in the common schools, at Waterville Col- lege, now Colby University, studied law and commenced practice at Readfield. In 1845 he removed to Augusta, and soon afterward formed a law partnership with James W. Bradbury and the late Judge Richard D. Rice. He was a sound lawyer and an able and elo- quent advocate, and the firm to which he belonged had a large and lucrative practice. In 1854 he represented Augusta in the Maine legislature. In 1856 he was elected senator for Kennebec county, and by the senate was chosen president. He had heretofore acted with the democratic party, but he now became a republican, and as such was elected governor in 1858, and was twice reelected. In 1861 he was elected United States senator to fill out the unexpired term of Hannibal Hamlin, who had been elected vice-president. In 1863 Mr. Morrill was reelected for the term of six years. He was a candidate for reelection in 1869, but was defeated in the caucus by a single vote, and Hannibal Hamlin resumed his old position in the senate Upon the death of Senator William Pitt Fessenden, Mr. Morrill was ap- pointed by the governor to fill out the unexpired term, ending March 3, 1871. On the assembling of the legislature Mr. Morrill was again elected for the full term of six years. Before this term expired, at the earnest solicitation of President Grant, Mr. Morrill resigned his seat in the senate to accept the position of secretary of the treasury. At the close of his term he returned to Augusta, and in 1877 was ap- pointed collector of the port of Portland, which position he held until 1882. His health had been failing for some time, due largely to over- work while holding the portfolio of the United States treasury, and returning to his home in Augusta, he continued to weaken until Janu- ary 10, 1883, when he died. Mr. Morrill married Charlotte H., daugh- ter of William Vance, and besides two sons who died early, he had four daughters, who survived him. Mr. Morrill was a man of great ability and of the strictest integrity. During his long and distin- guished public career he enjoyed the entire confidence of his con- stituency, whether of his town, county, state or the nation. In Au- gusta, where he was best known, he never had an enemy, and the death of no man was ever more sincerely regretted and mourned by all classes.

Edmund Fuller Webb, second son of Joseph and Sarah (Fuller) Webb, was born in 1835, in Albion. He was educated in the schools of his native town and at Freedom, China and Waterville Academies. He entered Colby University in 1856, and remained there two years, when he began the study of law in Portland, and was admitted to the bar of that county in March, 1859. After practicing one year in Albion, he came to Waterville, where he now lives. In 1867 he was

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Edmund. 7. Webb

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admitted to the U. S. district bar, and, in 1876, to practice in the United States circuit courts; and the same year he was appointed commissioner of the circuit courts of the United States. In 1866 he received the honorary degree of A. M. from Colby University, and in 1883 was made trustee of the institution. He was for two terms a member of the house of representatives, and was its speaker in 1873. He served two terms as state senator, and the second year was presi- dent of the senate. He also served three years as county attorney. He married Abby E. C. Hall October 30, 1860, and has one son, Apple- ton, who was admitted to the Somerset bar in 1882, and is now a mem- ber of the firm of Webb, Johnson & Webb, of Waterville.

Francis Everett Webb was admitted in 1855, and practiced at Win- throp from 1856 until his death, in 1869.

Henry S. Webster, judge of probate, was born in Augusta. Sew- all Lancaster was his preceptor, and until 1881 Mr. Webster practiced in Gardiner, where he became well known in his relations to banks and banking. In 1884 he was elected judge of probate, and in 1888 reëlected for the term ending with December, 1892. His wife is Mary C., daughter of William T. Johnson, the Augusta banker. Their only child is Martha T.

George E. Weeks, born in 1837, removed to Augusta in 1861, studied law with Joseph Baker, and was admitted in 1863. In 1861 he began the adjustment of war claims and subsequently formed the firm of Weeks & Blanchard. He served in the lower house of the legislature four years, was speaker in 1880, and was afterward senator for four years. He was mayor of Augusta in 1885. Since 1870 Mr. Weeks has been chiefly interested in the ice business at Augusta, with the Consumers' Ice Company, of New York.

Nathan Weston, eldest son of Chief Justice Weston, was born February 28, 1813, graduated from Bowdoin in 1833, studied law with Reuel Williams, wasadmitted to the bar in 1836, and then removed to Penobscot county.

Daniel C. Weston, second son of Judge Weston, was born Febru- ary 24, 1815, graduated from Bowdoin in 1834, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Augusta five years. He afterward studied theology, and was ordained deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church in 1851.

Wallace R. White, born in Dixfield, Me., in 1849, is a son of Drury N. White. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1871, and then graduated in law at Ann Arbor, Mich. He began practice in Win- throp, where he remained until 1881, when he went to Idaho as U. S. district attorney.

WILLIAM PENN WHITEHOUSE .*-- The first of this family to settle in America was Thomas Whitehouse, who became a citizen of Dover,

*Birthplace shown at page 1137; portrait at page 297.

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HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

N. H., in 1658, married the daughter of William Pomfret, an early clerk of that town, and died December 3, 1707. From Thomas was descended John Roberts Whitehouse, who married Hannah Perci- val. He was the son of Edmund W. Whitehouse, a peaceful follower of George Fox; she a descendant of John Percival, of Barnstable, Mass., and a devout disciple of John Wesley. John R. and Hannah made their home at South Vassalboro and there raised their family of seven children. On their own land, two plain, unassuming marble slabs, within a substantial iron fence, mark their graves and record the close of their plain, unassuming lives: hers, November 29, 1876, and his, April 16, 1887.

There on the 9th of April, 1842, was born their youngest child, William Penn, now known to the bench and bar of Maine as Judge Whitehouse, of Augusta. His early education was obtained in the district school and at the China high school, but the scantiness of the knowledge there acquired served chiefly to develop a desire for larger intellectual growth. In February, 1859, he began a course of classi- cal instruction at Waterville Academy, and by close and incessant study was enabled in September of the same year to enter Waterville College, now Colby University, without conditions. From this insti- tution he was graduated in 1863, with the first honors of his class; and three years later he was one of two selected to deliver a master's oration, on which occasion he received his second degree, that of A. M.

On leaving college in 1863, he became principal of Vassalboro Academy; but in December of that year he began the study of law with Sewall Lancaster, of Augusta, and until December, 1865, con- tintied his studies at Ellsworth, Me., with Eugene Hale, now United States senator. He was admitted to the bar in December, 1865, and began the practice of his profession with Lorenzo Clay, of Gardiner, with whom he remained one year. In December, 1866, he formed a law partnership with George Gifford, afterward United States consul at New Rochelle, France, and now consul at Basel, Switzerland, and opened an office in Augusta, in which city he still resides. June 24, 1869, he married Evelyn Maria, daughter of Colonel Robert Treat, of Frankfort, Me. Of their three children only one survives-Robert Treat Whitehouse, born March 27, 1870.

Reared on a farm, and possessing the plain, practical directness which such a life inculcates, combined with the discriminating tastes of the scholar, and the keen, analytical methods of a mind trained to an exacting profession, Judge Whitehouse speedily won an enviable standing as a man and a lawyer, and became a prominent figure in the public life of his adopted city. In 1868 he was elected city solici- tor, and in October of the following year he was appointed county attorney, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Samuel C.

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Harley. His efficient and impartial administration of this trust was so marked that he was subsequently twice elected to the office, serv- ing in all over seven years. In 1873 he was chairman of "The New Insane Hospital " commission, and wrote the report, which the state afterward published. In 1875 he was a powerful advocate of the effort to secure the abolition of the death penalty, and eight years later, in a convincing speech before the state judiciary committee, he opposed the restoration of capital punishment.

His mind, of an eminently judicial order, insisted upon taking · cognizance of both sides of the prospective case in its equitable and legai bearings as it was brought to his knowledge, and his advice to clients was deemed useful to them even though against their theory of the proposed action. This trend of mind, though it may have somewhat militated at first against a large practice at the bar, brought him friends and clients, and success in due time, and quali- fied him in the highest degree for the grave and important duties of the bench, to which he was called, when a county court auxiliary to the supreme judicial court was established in Kennebec in 1878. Al- though known to the records as the superior court, it was better known among the people as " Judge Whitehouse's court " and became in the eleven years of his magistracy a very useful and important branch of the state's judiciary. The splendid record made by him in this court, in which he fully justified the wisdom of liis selection, was his best recommendation for appointment in 1890 to the position he now fills on the bench of the supreme judicial court. In this latter tribunal he also, by his profound knowledge of the law, wise decis- ions and independence of character, won not only the confidence of the general public but the highest respect and esteem of the bar. His able and scholarly decision handed down from the superior court in the celebrated Burns " original package " case is the corner stone upon which rests the entire fabric of prohibition in Maine.

His father was a birthright Quaker and an abolitionist, his mother a Methodist, and in logical, or at least chronological, sequence we find Judge Whitehouse a zealous Unitarian and a staunch supporter of the cardinal principles of the republican party.

Eugene W. Whitehouse, born in Vassalboro, July 9, 1839, is a son of Edmund, and grandson of Edmund Whitehouse, whose parents came from New Hampshire. He was a graduate of Kents Hill Sem- inary, and entered Yale College in 1860, but the following year he enlisted as a soldier, serving three years. After the war he read law with Judge Libbey from 1865 to 1867, and in March of the latter year was admitted to the bar. He opened an office in Augusta in 1868, in which city he is still in practice.

NATHANIEL M. WHITMORE', the veteran financier of Gardiner, and with the exception of James W. Bradbury, the oldest and the

HISTORY OF KENNEBEC COUNTY.

longest in practice of any lawyer in Kennebec county, was born in Bowdoinham, Me., October 1, 1812. He comes from primitive New England stock. Francis Whitmore', his ancestor, born in England in 1621, was a Boston dealer in masts and ship timber for Englsh mar- kets, and was a member of the old Plymouth Land Company. The male line of descent is through John2, born at Cambridge, Mass., 1654; John3, born in Medford, Mass., 1683; Francis4, born there in 1714; Stephen®, born there in 1739; and John®, born at Bowdoinham in 1771. Stephen® was educated at Harvard, married Mary Whittemore in 1763, and in 1768, while yet a young man, became a farmer on the banks of the Kennebec, two miles south of the village of Richmond, on a tract of land owned by Francis4. Here they raised their eleven children: Stephen, lost at sea in 1787; Samuel and William, twins; Francis, John, Jonathan W., Benjamin, Betsey, Mary, Sally and Rhoda.

John® bought a farm two miles north of Bowdoin village, and in 1804 married Sarah McClellan, of Richmond. Their nine children were: Amherst, born in 1805, a trader; Philena, born 1807, died 1892; John, 1809; Hannah S., 1810, died 1884; Nathaniel M., 1812; Stephen, May 9, 1814; Sarah M., 1816; Chadbourn W., 1818, who became a prominent physician in Gardiner; and Samuel, 1820, a farmer and investor, whose son, Stephen C. Whitmore, was educated at Kents Hill, read law with his uncle, Nathaniel M. Whitmore, was admitted to the bar in 1876, and practiced his profession in Gardiner until 1890.

Nathaniel M. remained at home until thirteen years old, when he was transferred from the farm and the district school to the Mon- mouth Academy, where he spent two years in fitting for Bowdoin College, from which he graduated in 1833. Of that class but five are living. The same year he went to Boston and began reading law with Colonel Arthur W. Austin, boarding in Charlestown, near where Edward Everett then lived, on Bow street. An acquaintance sprang up which resulted in an unexpected proposition from Mr. Everett to Nathaniel, offering him either of two positions, for which Mr. Everett had been requested to select suitable persons. One was for a pro- fessor of mathematics in William & Mary's College in Virginia, and the other for an instructor in nautical astronomy and mathematics for midshipmen, on board United States war and training vessels. Mr. Whitmore chose the latter, going at once on board the sloop of war St. Louis, which belonged to the West India squadron under Com- modore Hanley, and was bound on a trip to the Caribbean sea.

The change was a novel one, and this first introduction into an entirely new sphere of activities was opportune for a young man who could profit by its advantages and resist its temptations. But one year of such life brought the desire for a change from sea to land. Resigning the position, he took charge of the Monmouth Academy

M. M. Whitmore

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THE KENNEBEC BAR.

for two years, and then accepted the principalship of the Waterville Liberal Institute, and filled it with signal ability for two years, when failing health compelled him to seek rest.

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Illustrated history of Kennebec County, Maine; 1625-1892, Part 38

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York, Blake Number of Pages: 1790

Author: Kingsbury, Henry D; Deyo, Simeon L., ed
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York, Blake
Number of Pages: 1790