Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886, Part 12

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Company, Printers
Number of Pages: 1266

USA > New Hampshire > Grafton County > Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886 > Part 12

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In legal practice he was distinguished as an advocate. Gifted with an elegant diction and a convincing power of statement, he exercised a remark- able influence with juries. In this respect he had few peers at the bar of New Hampshire in his time. He was a life-long Democrat in politics, and though never an office seeker, and never a candidate before the people, his voice was often heard effectively upon the stump in advocacy of the cause and principles of his party. He cultivated his decided literary tastes, and some of the gems of thought and song that have fallen from his pen compare favorably with the best literary work of this generation. He died at Lisbon January 14, 1885, but he labored in his professson almost to the very last. In business he was prudent, honorable and successful, and in recreation he was genial, companionable and full of healthful entertainment.

John L. Foster has been in practice in this place about nine years. He was admitted to the bar at Nashua from the Manchester office of Morrison, Stanley & Clark in 1868. He then practiced his profession two years in that city, two-years in Boston, later on three years at Littleton, when he was justice of the Police Court, removing thence to Lisbon. He was born in Lyman, Sep- tember 15, 1837, a son of George and Phila (Hoskins) Foster. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1864, and about that time became a paymaster's clerk and served in that capacity some time at Hilton Head, S. C. Mr. Foster has had much to do with schools, baving been a teacher of large experience, and a member of the board of education, both at Lisbon and Littleton. He mar- ried Augustia L. Stevens, of Haverhill, a daughter of the veteran county sheriff, Grove S. Stevens, January 14, 1875, and three of there family of four children are living. Mr. Foster's relegious associations are with the Con- gregationalists. He has a considerable business in chambers, but owing to his assiduous attention to home demands is not an aggressive circuit rider.

Harry M. Morse was admitted to the bar after examination under the new

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rules, August 31, 1880. He has been in practice at Lisbon since that time, and until Judge Rand's death was in partnership with him. His law studies were with John L. Foster one year and two with Mr. Rand. He received an academic education and has been a careful student of literature. His parents resided at Haverhill many years and he was born at that place March 22, 1857, his father being John F., and his granfather Moses N. Morse. He suc- ceeded to the law business of the firm of Rand & Morse. With an excellent law library and connection with the most important litigation in the county, he has an honorable professional career before him. Few men are more agree- able companions or have more favorable social relations than Mr. Morse. He is not of strong sectarian predelictions but belongs to the Stalwart wing of the Republican party. He is one of the young Republican advance guard that stormed and carried the Democratic ranks in Grafton county. He evi- dently has no ambition in the line of political office, but performs his share in non-political official duties, and is particulary interested in educational mat- ters. He has for some years past held the principal school offices in town to the general satisfaction.

LITTLETON .*- The first settlers of Littleton were poor. In many instances, they did not hold a title to the land from which they wrung a scanty subsistance. The town seems to have been neglected for a long time by members of the learned professions. Nearly thirty years had elapsed from the date of the settlement before a doctor was established, thirty-seven, before a lawyer was habituated, and a full half century was rounded out ere the first minister was settled.

Joseph Emerson Dow .- In 1807, Joseph Emerson Dow, son of General Moses Dow, of Haverhill, then thirty years of age, came to Littleton and located at the north part of the town, at that time the principal seat of busi- ness. Mr. Dow does not seem to have possessed those peculiar qualifica- tions so essential in establishing a practice in a community long accustomed to the conduct of its own affairs without the assistance of members of the legal fraternity. He was gentle and unassuming in his manners, averse to the turmoil of business and inclined to drift with, rather than to direct the current of affairs. He remained four years, and though he failed to gain a professional lodgement, he discharged with fidelity the offices of good citizen- ship and gained the reputation, then rare in the profession, of being a lover of peace rather than a fomenter of strife. He was graduated from Dartmouth college in the class of 1799, read law with his father, and before coming to Littleton practiced at Haverhill. In 1811 he took up his residence at Fran- conia, and subsequently, for a few years, at Thornton, but in 1847 he returned to Franconia, where he continued to reside up to the time of his death, in- 1857. After leaving Littleton he gave his attention to teaching, and dis- charging the duties incident to the office of a magistrate, in which he rendered his townsmen valuable service.

*By James R. Jackson.

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Mr. Dow was twice married. His first consort was Abigail, daughter of Hon. Jonathan Arnold, of Rhode Island, a lady of high character and many accomplishments. She bore him five children, Catherine, who died in infancy, James Barber, Moses Arnold, George Burrill and Charles Marsh. His second wife was Nancy Bagley, of Thornton.

Elisha Hinds. - The second lawyer was Elisha Hinds, who came soon after Mr. Dow's departure and located at the village on the Ammonoosuc, to which he and Dr. Burns were to give the name of Glynville. Mr. Hinds was born at Shrewsbury, now West Boylston, Mass., February 7, 1784. He was once a student at Harvard, but was graduated from Williams college in 1805. He was admitted to the bar in 1809, and was prac- ticing in Essex county, Vermont, before coming to Littleton in 1813. Mr. Hinds was something of a contrast to his predecessor. He was sharp, even to cunningness, was fond of business and much given to interesting him- self in the affairs of others. He was fairly successful in his paractice, and it is said that in the first ten years of his residence he accumulated a moderate fortune. In 1825 he took upon himself the management of an estate which was eventually to result in his ruin. His business affairs became complicated, and the attempt to extricate himself dissipated his entire fortune. In 1834 he went to Hinsdale where he kept a hotel a few years. Failing in this business, he went to Brooklyn, New York, where he died in 1854, aged sixty-nine years. He married a Miss Lawrence and had no children. He was the first postmas- ter at the village and held many town offices. Up to the time he became in- volved in the matter of the Curtis estate, he seems to have been held in es- teem by his neighbors.

Henry Adams Bellows .- The lawyers of Littleton have generally stood well at the bar. Prior to 1830, Bath and Haverhill monopolized the legal business of Northern Grafton. Payson, Swan, Goodall and Woods were the legal luminaries of this section. The entire valley of the Ammonoosuc poured its tribute into their coffers. They waxed strong and accumulated great wealth. When Henry A. Bellows opened an office in Littleton in 1828, it was with men like these that he had to contend. He made his way, slowly at first, but with steady strides, to the front rank at the bar. He succeeded in estab- lishing a lucrative business, and gradually drew to Littleton it full share of legal patronage, a tendency which has continued until the condition of things has been reversed to a large extent, and her clientage is now larger than that of any other town in the county.

Henry Adams Bellows was born in Rockingham, Vt., October 25, 1805. His father was Joseph Bellows, of Walpole, N. H., of a family long distinguished in the history of the town. He was educated in the schools at Walpole, and was admitted to the bar in 1826. For two years after his admission he was located at Walpole ; but in 1828 he began the practice of his profession in Littleton. At that time the title to the lands in Lisbon, Littleton, Bethlehem, and other towns in this section were largely in dispute, and in the litigation

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growing out of this condition of affairs he was constantly employed for nearly twenty years. In 1850 he removed to Concord, where he enjoyed a consid- erable practice until he went upon the bench of the Supreme Court, in 1859. He was chief justice from October, 1869, until his death, March 11, 1873. While a resident of Littleton he embarked in a number of enterprises other than those incident to his profession. In partnership with Truman Stevens and others he engaged in business and made a considerable investment in timber lands in Canada. He was largely instrumental in building the woolen factory, and gave his countenance and money in aid of every enterprise which promised to advance the material, intellectual and moral welfare of the town. He married, about 1836, his cousin, Catharine Bellows, of Walpole, N. H., and had four children, Josiah, John Adams, Stella and Fanny, all of whom were born in Littleton. Mrs. Bellows died in 1849. Of the children, Josiah is now a clerk in the treasury department at Washington, John A. is a cler- gyman at Portland, Me., Stella became the wife of Charles P. Sanborn, Esq., of Concord. She died some years ago, and Mr. Sanborn subsequently mar- ried her sister, Fanny.

Judge Bellows possessed rare social qualities. In the family circle, among his friends and associates, at the bar and upon the bench, he won and wore without offense the "grand old name of gentleman." He was master of him- self. In the midst of domestic afflictions and financial distress, when credi- tors were importunate and business associates even more troublesome, his equanimity was unruffled. At the bar his cases were prepared with skill and presented to the court and jury with precision and logical sequence. He had perfect command of every detail,and seldom had occasion to refer to his notes. He knew the law thoroughly and stated it with convincing force. His treat- ment of a witness upon the stand could hardly be surpassed. He had in a remarkable degree the art of compelling an unwilling witness to disclose the whole truth. He was never arbitrary nor brow-beating, but to the candid, the opinionated, and the untruthful witness his courtly and polished manner was the same. He knew little and cared less for the arts of oratory. He was an elo- quent man-eloquent in the simplicity, directness, candor and earnestness of his address. If he could not convince a jury of the correctness of his posi- tion, it must have been hopeless from the start. Upon the bench, the high attainments which distinguished him at the bar shone with the same lustre. His industry and capacity for labor were great. He posessed unlimited pa- tience, was courteous to the bar and to suitors. He presided with great dig- nity, and his impartiality was such that the defeated party could not ascribe his want of success in any measure to the presiding justice. His opinions, found in the New Hampshire reports, from volume 39 to 52 inclusive, illus- trate his learning and judicial acumen. His rulings at the trial term were seldom over-ruled by the law court.

Judge Bellows was a firm and consistent member of the Whig and Repub- lican parties, but his refined sensibilities rendered him averse to the activities

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of politics. He was elected a member of the General Court from Littleton in 1839, and in 1847 was the candidate of his party in the old Fourth district for Congress against Harry Hibbard. After his removal to Concord he repre- sented.his ward in the legislature in 1856 and 1857. He discharged his pub- lic duties with the same fidelity which characterized every act of his life, and he possessed a wide influence over his associates.

A member of the Unitarian church, he was catholic toward the religious opinions of others, but tenacious of his own. While he did not hold to the Evangelical doctrine of the divinity of Christ, he was surely one of the most exemplary followers of His teachings. His pure and candid soul was never stained by selfishness or the corroding influence of gain. In the calm at- mosphere of the home circle he was a devoted husband, a fond father, an effectionate brother, and a valued, trusted friend. He was always happy- tempered, ever helpful, never selfish. In his death the state lost one of her most noted and valued citizens, and the bench and bar sustained an irrepar- able loss.

Edmund Carleton was of Haverhill, where he was born October 29, 1797. He was educated in the common schools of his native town, at its academy, and graduated from Dartmouth college in 1822. The same year he began the study of the law with William Garnett, of Tappahannock, Essex county, Va., where he was at the time residing and engaged in teaching. He returned to New Hampshire and finished his studies in the office of Hon. Joseph Bell, and in 1826 was admitted to the bar. Poor health precluded his entering upon active practice for some years ; but he continued to reside with his father and transact such business as he could, until 1831, when he opened an office in Littleton. As a lawyer, Mr. Carleton was well founded in the prin ciples of jurisprudence, a safe adviser, who always endeavored to satisfy his clients that a peaceable adjustment of differences was preferable to a contest in the courts. Ill health induced him to abandon his profession and engage in more active pursuits. In 1836 he built a saw-mill at the scythe factory vil- lage, and for about a dozen years was engaged in the lumber business. Mis- fortune attended this enterprise, and it was abandoned. Mr. Carleton was a member of the Congregational church. One of the early members of the Abolition party, he was always active in its affairs, and his home was a sta- tion on the Underground railroad to Canada. On two occasions he made an attempt to induce his church to take an advance position on the question of slavery, but with only partial success. His stand on this question disturbed his business, ruptured old friendships, placed him in an attitude of hostility to the dominant party in his church, and largely deprived him of his influence in the community. Still he kept the course marked out and approved by con- science, his guide through life. November 30, 1836, he married Mary Kil- burn Coffin, of Boscawen, N. H.

Calvin Ainsworth, Jr., was a native of Littleton, and a son of its first phy- sician. He was born August 22, 1807, was educated at the academies at

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Concord Corners, Vt., and at Meriden, N. H. He read law with Jonathan D. Stoddard, at Waterford, Vt., and with Hon. Henry A. Bellows, at Little- ton ; was admitted to the bar at Plymouth, in November, 1835, and opened an office in Littleton soon after. In 1845 he went to Concord and formed a partnership with Ira Perley. During his residence in Concord he was regis- ter of probate for Merrimack county five years, and, in 1852, was one of the commissioners to compile the laws of the state, his associates being Hon. Ralph Metcalf, of Newport, and Hon. Samuel H. Ayer, of Manchester. He was justice of the Police Court at Concord for a year. In 1854 he took up his residence in Madison, Wis. In 1862 he was elected police justice of that city, and discharged the duties of the position with great credit. Judge Ains- worth was a man of strict integrity, of amiable manners, a learned lawyer, but lacking sufficient force to render that learning available in the conflict at the bar. He won and retained the confidence and friendship of all with whom he came in contact. He was twice married, first, to Eliza Bellows, sister of Hon. Henry A. and William J. Bellows, and second, to Mrs. Letitia (Stinson) White, who survives him. He died at Madison, Wis., July 7, 1873. " William Burns* was born at Hebron, in Grafton county, on the 25th day of April, 1821. His father was Robert Burns, a man of decided mental vigor and persistency, who displayed in his successful struggle with fortune the characteristics that enabled his son to attain the acknowledged eminence ac- corded him. As the name indicates, the paternity was thoroughly Scotch. In early life the father, with his brother William, labored with their hands for daily wage. William accumulated a large estate. Robert went to New York, and after each day's labor was completed, devoted himself to the study of such books as he could procure, sleeping in a barn in warm weather and poring over his work with the earliest and latest light. He returned to New Hampshire, became a physician of distinction, accumulated a handsome estate, was a representative in the Federal Congress, and died at an ad- vanced age at Plymoutlı.

" His son William fitted for college at the academies at Plymouth and New Hampton, entered Dartmouth at the early age of sixteen years, gradu- ating in the class of 1841. He was a close student, and stood high among his associates. Choosing the law as the profession to which he was to de- vote himself, he entered as a student the office of Judge Leonard Wilcox, of Orford, from whence he became a member of the law school at Harvard university, graduating there in the autumn of 1843. Selecting Littleton as his future home, he there opened an office and soon after was married to Miss Clementine E. Hayes, of Orford, on the 23d anniversary of his birth, and immediately repaired to his new home. Remaining at Littleton but a year and a half, a new field attracted him in Coös; and in May, 1846, he succeeded to the business of John S. Wells, of Lancaster.

* Extract from the memorial address of Henry O. Kent, delivered before the Grafton and Coos Bar Association, at Lancaster, N. II., January 29, 1886.

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" Mr. Burns was appointed, in 1847, by Governor Williams, a member of his personal staff, with the rank of colonel, and also by him solicitor for the county of Coös, which latter position he held with credit for the ensuing five years. During this time he retained the large and valuable business and clientage to which he succeeded, and won new successes at the bar. In 1854 occurred an event that had a controlling effect upon his subsequent life and career : an event that was the commencement of that long physical martyr- dom which he bore with such uncomplaining fortitude for over thirty years. The first railroad that became an accomplished fact in Coos was the Atlantic & St. Lawrence, since leased to and known as the Grand Trunk. Mr. Burns, with Mr. Fletcher, his partner, was its attorney ; and on the ist day of De- cember, 1854. he started for Portland, the then headquarters of the com- pany, on professional business. At Stark there was a collision-catastrophe dominated the hour, cars were overturned, stoves set the wreck on fire, and from the horrors of the scene mutilated bodies and shattered victims were extricated. Mr. Burns was one of these, with a leg and arm so badly frac- tured that they were never restored to strength, and with serious internal in- juries he was conveyed to Lancaster, where for months his life trembled in the balance, only to be preserved by the most devoted nursing. From the effects of this disaster he never recovered. Actual physical pain was ever present to the day of his death, a resultant of these injuries, and it was only his indomitable will that enabled him again to take up his profession and sus- tain that reputation as a lawyer, which is so readily accorded him by the pro- fession. In 1876 he finally relinquished the practice, his state of health ab- solutely demanding this, to him, great sacrifice, and although his counsel was thereafter sought even to within a few months of his decease, his active pro- fessional career then ended. During this time Mr. Burns was for a brief period associated in business with Benjamin F. Whidden on his first arrival in Lancaster, the firm being Burns & Whidden ; for a much longer time, and during the greater part of his active practice with Hiram A. Fletcher, as Burns & Fletcher ; and later with Henry Heywood, under the firm name of Burns & Heywood.

" Of pronounced opinions, consequent upon profound convictions, it was natural that Mr. Burns should engage in those political duties so naturally the complement of legal work in New Hampshire. With the graces of the orator he early developed the ability for effective public speaking, which was thereafter one of his chiefest gifts and most potent influences. For nearly forty years he was a favorite speaker at all convocations of his party, and the echoes of his silver speech linger among the hills and valleys of his native state. He was twice a member of the Senate, in 1856 and 1857, from the old twelfth district, then practically comprehending the counties of Coos and Grafton. He was the candidate of his party for Congress in the former third district in 1859, 1861 and 1863, the campaign of the latter year being a me- morable one, in which he came within less than two hundred votes of an

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election. In 1876, by unanimous vote of the people of all parties, he was one of the members from Lancaster of the constitutional convention. In all gatherings of his party-at local, state and national conventions, his was a familiar voice and figure, always welcomed and always influential. He died after a long and trying illness, at the Pemigewasset House, Plymouth, April 2, 1885. He is buried in the old Livermore church-yard at Holder- ness, in the family lot of his father, among his kindred and his boyhood friends.

" In the pantheon of our hills are enshrined the bodies and the memories of eminent men, who, during more than an hundred years, strengthened the state, illustrated the law, and honored themselves and the people of their vicinage. Am I not justified in saying that these venerable shades may admit to their august presence without derogation and without reproach our brother, who did his work so well? whose virtues we now commemorate.

" Farewell, manly soul ! we dismiss thee, not to the tomb of forgetfulness and death, but to a blessed memory, an unclouded fame and to a limitless life."

Charles White Rand, son of Hamlin Rand, a prominent business man of Grafton county, was born in Bath, July 5, 1819. He was graduated at Wes- leyan university, in 1841, standing second in his class, his brother, the late Judge E. D. Rand, having the first place. After leaving college he entered the office of Hon. Henry A. Bellows, in Littleton, and was admitted to the bar three years later. He opened an office in Littleton where he continued in the prctice of his profession up to the time of his death. Hon. John Farr was for a short time his partner, and when his brother Edward D, returned from the south, where he bad been in practice, they formed a partnership which was to endure until dissolved by the advent of the Dread Messenger, whose actions and demands can not be "continued." Mr. Rand came to the bar thoroughly equipped for his work. He was uncommonly well grounded in the principals of the law, and he had acquired in college and as a student of law, habits of industry which were to last through life. His mind was cul- tivated and enriched by constant and varied reading, of the best authors, and he retained to the end, and found opportunities to gratify, his fondness for general literature to an extent quite uncommon among those whose time is largely engrossed by the demands of professional business. His practice was remunerative from the start, and, after the firm of C. W. & E. D. Rand was thoroughly in harness, it was large in the number of cases and important in amounts involved. To Charles W. was assigned, by a division of the labor of · the firm, the duty of preparing cases for trial and the argument of questions of law to the court. His work was always well and conscientiously done. He was among the foremost equity lawyers at the bar of the state. He was ap- pointed, by President Lincoln, United States district attorney for New Hamp- shire, and he held the position nearly two terms. During his administration, the business of the position was increased by reason of the large number of

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cases growing out of the violations of the internal revenue laws, and involved great labor in their investigation and the construction of the statute. He brought to the discharge of these duties such industry, patience and knowl- edge of constitutional law as to facilitate the dispatch of business and secure the rights of the government which he represented.

In his domestic and social relations, Mr. Rand was particularly fortunate and happy. He married, June 24, 1847, Jane M., daughter of the late Otis Batchelder, who survives him. He was very companionable, fond of a good story, and delighted in the discussion of his favorite authors. He seldom, if ever, lost a friend, and won and retained the confidence of all who came in contact with him. He died August 3, 1874.

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Gazetteer of Grafton county, N. H. 1709-1886, Part 12

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Company, Printers Number of Pages: 1266

Author: Child, Hamilton, 1836- comp. cn
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Syracuse, N. Y., Syracuse Journal Company, Printers
Number of Pages: 1266