USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Concord > History of Concord, New Hampshire, from the original grant in seventeen hundred and twenty-five to the opening of the twentieth century, Volume II > Part 32
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year he left Concord and sought a home in Wisconsin, where he be- came prominent iu civil affairs. His death occurred at Madison, the 7th of July, 1873.
Josiah Minot, after a few years' practice in Bristol, took up his residence in Coneord in 1844. Henceforth, for nearly half a century, he occupied a foremost place among the lawyers of his time; he was emphatically a lawyer to the lawyers, a source whence was derived many a successful brief and plan, and many a legal victory. In busi- ness, too, his shrewd, forestalling mind commanded ahnost unfailing success. He was born in Bristol the 17th of September, 1819. After graduation at Dartmouth, in 1837 he studied law with two eminent masters of the profession,-John J. Gilchrist and Samuel D. Bell, both chief justices. On coming to Concord, Mr. Minot at once went into partnership with Franklin Pierce. thus forming a firm of com- mingled genius and talent. This alliance continued until 1852, when the senior partner became president-elect of the Republic, and the junior went on the bench as a circuit judge. Three years in all com- prised his judicial career, for in 1855 President Pierce-feeling, per- haps, the want of Mr. Minot's sound counsel-appointed him United States commissioner of pensions, with residence at Washington. Pub- licity was poison to Judge Minot; he shunned a show as he would a pestilence ; self-effacement was a passion with him. His experience on the bench was incompatible to his nature, and so was practice before courts and juries and spectators ; he sought to avoid them all. He actually eliminated himself from professional activity, so far as the public knew it, yet behind the scenes he maintained the closest of relations with both bench and bar. Beyond all others that have practised at the Concord bar, Judge Minot, while a man of the closet, was the astutest legal manager of his day. His mental operations were dazzlingly rapid, penetrating the intricacies of every entangle- ment, and clearing away obseurities as by intuition. His services were constantly in demand. In the railroad questions of the period he took an active part ; in important business concerns he was a fac- tor, sometimes as umpire, sometimes as originator. Banking was peculiarly to his taste, and in its pursuit he gained a wide reputation for financial skill and wisdom. Timid he certainly was, and conserv- ative as well ; he was never the man to clear the wilderness, but fol- lowing the pioneers he discovered opportunities, and put himself in their way. Eminently successful in worldly affairs, he accumulated a large property.
No estimate of Judge Minot would be complete unless reference is made to the deep influence he exercised over his associates. Always surrounded by men of exceeding ability, some of them headstrong
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and aggressive, he nevertheless was their master mind. He bent them to his way of looking at things, and indoctrinated them with his views. Constitutionally retiring, society scarcely knew him, nor was his manner calculated to attract young men. His influence died with him, for he exercised it wholly among his contemporaries. In 1870 was formed the partnership of Minot, Tappan & Mugridge, whose personal and professional elements were certainly most dis- tinguished. This was Judge Minot's last law connection ; although, when Colonel Tappan retired from the firm, the judge continued for several years with Mr. Mugridge. Many were the anecdotes told of Judge Minot illustrative of his wit and humor, one of which was highly relished by members of the fraternity. It was this: A big, boastful, and somewhat impecunious attorney boasting of his attain- ments once said to the judge : " Judge, what do you say to our going into business together; I will furnish brains while you furnish the capital?" Quickly drawing a copper cent from his pocket, the judge replied, " All right, you cover that." For several years preceding his death physical infirmities compelled his abstinence from business, yet his intellect remained clear almost to the end. He died on the 14th of December, 1891.
As a lawyer of rare mental gifts, and as a man of remarkable attainments, William H. Bartlett afforded a conspicuous example. It is no exaggeration to say of Judge Bartlett that, with the possible exception of Ira Perley, he was intellectually the peer of any man known to the annals of Concord. He was a leader in college, at the bar, and on the bench. His life was a brief one, yet long enough to establish his fame. Born in Salisbury the 20th of August, 1827, he was graduated at Dartmouth twenty years later, the head man of his class. He at once came to Concord and studied law with Ira Perley and Henry A. Bellows, and at the time of his decease both these eminent lawyers were his associates on the bench. Beginning prac- tice in 1851, he soon attracted the choicest clients,-not only in the county but elsewhere. In 1853-'54 he served Concord as city solicitor, this being his one elective office. As an advocate he was not happy, for jury trials were not to his taste. But in the field of pure law and logic he was, indeed, pre-eminent. And so in 1861 when Asa Fowler resigned from the supreme court professional pride and public opinion alike pointed to Mr. Bartlett as his successor.
. From 1861 to 1867 Judge Bartlett illumined a bench already bright in accomplishments, and demonstrated beyond question that he pos- sessed a judicial genius of the rarest kind. And yet disease was upon him, gradually stealing away his strength but never touching his splendid intellect. Six years comprised his judicial career, a
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period full of brilliant achievements and judicial victories. During this time his relations with his associates were most agreeable, while to the lawyers and to the public he endeared himself as few had ever done. Socially Judge Bartlett was one of the most charming of men, and an hour in his company was a treasured memory in after years. His active mind did not stop at law, it explored the realms of litera- ture and was laden with riches. He died on the 24th of September, 1867, at his home on Pleasant street.
While the name of George G. Fogg appears as a practising attor- ney he really came to Concord as a journalist, for such was his calling, and in it he achieved reputation and success.
One of the most amiable and companionable lawyers at the bar was Abel Herbert Bellows. He was a member of the well-known family of that name, and his advantages were of the best. Born in London, England (where his parents were then on a visit), on the 28th of May, 1821, he was graduated at Harvard in 1842. Supplementing his course at the Harvard Law school with diligent study in the office of Frederick Vose of Walpole, Mr. Bellows came to Concord about the year 1850 and became a partner of his kins- man, Henry A. Bellows. He was distinctively a social leader,-a position merited by his fine education, his comfortable estate, and his knowledge of the amenities of life. In the organization of the celebrated Governor's Horse Guards, no one did more to make the organization a splendid success than Colonel Bellows. After leaving Concord he took up his residence in Walpole, representing that town twice in the legislature. He died at Boston on the 23d of March, 1889.
The record of the period would be incomplete without mention of a distinguished townsman who, while not giving his whole attention to law, was yet a member of the bar and a public leader as well. Nathaniel B. Baker was one of Concord's favored sons, and although his career in New Hampshire was a brief one, it challenged compar- ison for brilliancy and promise. Born in Henniker the 29th of Sep- tember, 1818, a student at Dartmouth, and a graduate at Harvard in 1839, he began studying law with Pierce and Fowler, finishing with Charles H. Peaslee in 1842. Given an inclination to politics, per- sonal association with party leaders was sure to bear results, so Mr. Baker became a proficient disciple of his instructors and an early aspirant for public honors. He did not have long to wait, for in 1850 Concord sent him to the legislature, where he was chosen speaker, and a more genial and a better-versed speaker New Hamp- shire had not known. The election of 1851 was a great surprise; for with three candidates for governor in the field-Dinsmoor, Sawyer,
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and Atwood- the vote was considerably confused, leaving the elec- tion to the legislature. Coneord, at that time, was entitled to seven representatives ; yet so fierce was the contest that one only was elceted, and that was Mr. Baker. Again he graced the speaker's chair. Few men were more companionable, and no man was more popular, henee his name remained prominently before the people. Political conditions, however, were beginning to change, and it so happened that the final change clustered about Mr. Baker. In 1854 the Democrats nominated him for governor, and he was elected. The next year he was renominated; and while no Democrat could have run better, victory was impossible, and in June, 1855, he returned to private life, followed by the good wishes of the public. The same year he took his departure for a home in the West, but his genius for popularity attended him. Iowa was as glad to welcome such a man as New Hampshire was sorry to lose him; and he was once more in public life as a member of the legislature, and during the Civil War as adjutant-general, discharging his duties to the utmost, and winning a name to be remembered in the state of his adoption. Governor Baker died in Des Moines the 12th of September, 1876.
From 1847 to 1853 Samuel M. Wheeler praetised his profession in what is now Penaeook. While Mr. Wheeler's fame is really the possession of Dover-where he went from Concord, and where, after a distinguished career, he died-he was a member of the loeal bar, and even then gave promise of future achievements. In 1869 and 1870 he was speaker of the house. He died at Dover the 21st of January, 1886.
A well-known attorney, whose active career, beginning about 1850, continued for many years, was Henry P. Rolfe. Boscawen was his native place, his birthday being the 13th of February, 1821. Teach- ing school, as so many lawyers have done, he prepared himself for college. His class at Dartmouth was that of 1848. Studying law with Asa Fowler, he was admitted to praetiee in 1851. He soon formed a partnership with Anson S. Marshall, a college elassmate, with whom he remained until 1859. Mr. Rolfe was prominent in party affairs, and as a Democrat represented his ward in the legisla- ture of 1853. The Civil War, however, changed his political senti- ments, causing him to enter zealously into the Republican party, where he remained the rest of his days. In 1863-'64 he again was in the legislature, where he took a leading part and an important one in those turbulent and almost revolutionary sessions. In 1869 Pres- ident Grant appointed him United States district attorney, and for five years he discharged the duties of his office. After this time he was gradually withdrawing from practice when a savage injury ended
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his professional relations completely. Agriculture was always his delight, and he tilled his few acres with exceeding pleasure. He died on the 29th of May, 1898.
By the time Henry A. Bellows came to Concord his repute as a successful lawyer had preceded him. For more than twenty years he was a leader at the Grafton bar, then comprising a remarkable number of able lawyers, and this leadership he at once assumed in the wider field about Concord. Born at Rockingham, Vt., the 25th of October, 1803, his education was wholly that of the preparatory academies. He began practice at Littleton in 1828, coming to Con- cord in 1850. While his activity at the Concord bar continued but nine years, his engagements were many, his cases important, and his emoluments satisfying. He was a peer among gentlemen, a deeply conscientious man, without guile, abounding in good deeds and clean thoughts. Brilliant he was not, nor was he dramatic or severe. Cour- tesy was a part of his being, yet he sacrificed no right of his clients. Those who knew him best used to criticise his imperturbable prolixity in the conduct of his cases. To hurry him was impossible, for he regarded time as an ally and moved accordingly. An amusing story illustrates his peculiarities. He was cross-examining a witness on handwriting, the genuineness of which was in dispute. The name beginning with the letter A, Mr. Bellows asked a string of questions all pertaining to the various shades and slants of the letter, how the pen was held and the fingers applied with their touches and pressure, the formation of its curves, its termination, and its relativity to the following mark ; in fact, a score of questions was asked. Then he went to the next letter in the same manner. After half an hour of this method the presiding judge, growing nervous, exclaimed,- " Brother Bellows, don't you think that this line of examination has gone far enough?" "Perhaps so, your honor," responded the bland lawyer; " if it has, we will now take up the next letter."
The Free Soil movement appealed strongly to Mr. Bellows, and he became a Republican, representing Ward five in the legislatures of 1856 and 1857. Like Asa Fowler, he was skilful in framing legisla- tive bills, and his services were in constant demand. In 1859 he became an associate justice of the recently created supreme judicial court, and thenceforth to his decease the bench was his place of labor. Judge Bellows, while holding conservative views on jurisprudence, was free from dogmas ; he revered common law and strove to keep it undefiled. Startling originality was foreign to his nature,-he pre- ferred the lights of well-considered precedents. Deeply read in law, his varied and extensive practice, close investigations, and robust common-sense qualified him admirably for his new position. More-
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over, his mind was well balanced, his disposition sweet, and his man- ner conciliatory. Complete and perfect justice was always his aim ; prejudice had no standing in the forum of his conscience. . Socially, the judge was a great favorite, popular alike with old and young. His lameness and his white hair alone marked his years, for his clear and rosy face and sprightliness of wit attended him to the grave. In religious sentiments a liberal, he was, like his distinguished relative, the Reverend Henry W. Bellows, a lifelong and prominent member of the Unitarian denomination. On the retirement of Chief Justice Perley in 1869, Governor Stearns at once appointed Judge Bellows to the vacancy, and there he remained an exemplar of goodness and wis- dom and an honor to his state until his sudden death in March, 1873. During nearly all his residence in this city Judge Bellows lived on the corner of Pleasant and State streets, now the site of Fowler block.
During the decade following 1850, Concord became the residence of two eminent jurists, already on the bench, one occupying the posi- tion of United States district judge for New Hampshire, the other that of associate justice of the supreme judicial court,-Matthew Harvey and Ira A. Eastman. Both had been prominent in the poli- ties of the state. Both had been speakers of the house and members of congress, and Mr. Harvey had been governor. Matthew Harvey was a native of Sutton, his birthday being the 21st of June, 1781. After graduation at Dartmouth, in 1806, he began practice in Hop- kinton. He soon acquired a wide clientage, for in those days Hop- kinton was a place of considerable importance, the courts sitting there and sometimes the legislature. He early became interested in poli- tics, and preferment followed rapidly. In his own words he gives an epitome of his career : " In 1814 I was chosen representative to the legislature and continued for seven years successively, the last three of which I was speaker. During the last year I was elected to con- gress, and served four years. When I returned home I had been elected to the state senate, and so continued three years, being president all that time ; then chosen councilor two years, and then in 1830 elected governor of the state. During that year I received the appointment of judge of the United States district court from President Jackson, and have held that office to the present time [1864]-a period of fifty years of officeholding, not omitting a day."
His record was certainly remarkable, and probably unparalleled in New Hampshire. His career in one respect was without precedent, for he was the only governor of New Hampshire who ever resigned his office to be succeeded by the president of the senate. Judge Har- vey remained on the federal bench thirty-six years, again making for himself a record of judicial tenure almost unsurpassed.
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He failed in nothing, though he was not a brilliant man nor a very deep lawyer, but he possessed a stout understanding, a solid character, and a genuine interest in his work. Altogether, his career reflected the greatest credit on his profession. Judge Harvey also deserves mention for his efforts while governor to abolish imprisonment for debt and for certain other measures of prison reform. His private life was charming, and his residence was often the scene of hospitality. His nature was kindly, his generosity free, and his public spirit pronounced. He came to Concord in 1850, and lived at the time of his death, in 1866, on North State street near Court.
Ira A. Eastman, although a resident of Concord only a few years, never lost his interest in the city and its people, and in the last years of his life, notwithstanding he lived at Manchester, few lawyers were seen more frequently on our streets than Judge Eastman. Born in Gilmanton on the 1st of January, 1809, graduating at Dartmouth twenty years later, he began practice in his native town. In respect to office-holding, Mr. Eastman had much the same record as Judge . Harvey. There was scarcely a year from 1834 to his leaving the bench in 1859, when he was not in some public position. Representative, speaker, register of probate, and congressman were among his honors. His judicial temperament was recognized, so in 1844 he became a circuit judge, holding that place for five years, when he was promoted to the superior court. Of this tribunal and its successor, known as the supreme judicial court, Judge Eastman con- tinued a member until 1859, when he resigned and returned to active practice. In 1853 he moved to this city, making his home here until about the time of his leaving the bench, when he took up his residence in Manchester. The judge was a very courteous man, dignified yet simple, easy of intercourse and conciliatory in disposi- tion. During his service on the bench he was certainly industrious, for no judge wrote a greater number of well considered and more researchful opinions than he. He died on the 21st of March, 1881.
Along in the early fifties a trial took place in Concord full of interesting incidents and personal settings that attracted large audi- ences and furnished a lively theme for current talk. It was the case of Spinster A. vs. Mr. and Mrs. X., for slander. The proceedings lasted a week, during which more than a score of witnesses, nearly all of whom were females, were called upon to testify. This of itself imparted an unusual liveliness, which resulted in more or less bitter recrimination. Judge George Y. Sawyer, a jurist of remarkable attainments, held the term and contributed largely to controlling the passions and moderating the sharp testimony of that class of
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witnesses. The case had been so thoroughly talked over by those interested that the entire population of Loudon, the home of the parties, was arrayed either on one side or the other, thus making the court-room seem like a beehive, despite the menaces of the sheriffs. Moreover, the positiveness and self-assertion of the witnesses often bordered on contempt of court, for many of them were distinguished for well-seasoned impertinence and unrestrained loquacity. These traits showed forth on the least provocation, and once let loose all but defied suppression. The rules of evidence were cast aside, for neither judge nor counsel could stem the flood of irrelevant opinions and hearsay testimony that swept over the trial. Sometimes the judge, the counsel, and the witness were all speaking at the same moment ; again, the witness would finish her say regardless of the combined protest of judge and counsel.
Among the amusing peculiarities brought out was the precise and self-satisfied way the witnesses had of promptly seating themselves as soon as sworn, as if each had come to make a day of it. The lawyers connected with the case served to add interest to the pro- ceedings, for Franklin Pierce and Charles H. Butters had charge of the plaintiff's side, while Henry A. Bellows and Calvin Ainsworth appeared for the defendants. General Pierce, upon whose head was so soon to fall the highest of civil honors, was the central figure in this little drama of the courts. He was a few days past the age of forty-seven, a handsome, engaging man, then in the fulness of his powers, the unrivaled leader of the New Hampshire bar. The circum- stances of the case appealed strongly to his sense of gallantry and justice, and he threw himself without reserve into the prosecution of his client's cause. It was precisely the kind of contest to bring out his professional resources and to mould before the eyes of the jury the figure of a woman suffering from spite and wrong. For a full week he and his client sat side by side as if separation might invite harm. In the newspapers of the time Miss A. was thus described : "She is of slight figure, dark hair, sharp features, attired in good taste, with dark cloak and dress; she wears a fitch tippet and cuffs to match, a black silk bonnet and dark veil. It was remarked that she alone of all her sex remained in the court-room during the final arguments, and that her presence within the bar doubtless spurred her counsel to unusual devotion in his close to the jury. However that might have been, the twelve men were profoundly impressed with something, for it did not take long to render a verdict in her favor amounting to eight hundred and eight dollars and thirty-four cents, which, according to one of the jurymen, represented the quotient of twelve different scenes of healing balm."
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At the breaking out of the Civil War, the state register gave the names of thirty-four attorneys then practising their profession in Concord. Of this number no fewer than eleven were at the bar in 1850. Among the new names were: Anson S. Marshall, William L. Foster, John Y. Mugridge, Lyman T. Flint, William E. Chandler, Napoleon B. Bryant, Hamilton E. Perkins, Benjamin E. Badger, Samuel G. Lane, Jonas D. Sleeper, Jonathan Kittredge, Charles P. Sanborn, Samuel C. Eastman, Benjamin T. Hutchins, and Edward C. D. Kittredge. The last two spent but a brief time at this bar, and soon moved elsewhere.
As in 1850, so in 1860 the future held many distinctions in store for the new members of the Concord bar. A United States senator and secretary of the navy, four speakers of the house, one United States district attorney, a president of the senate, two judges of our highest court, a probate judge, a police justice, and two state report- ers comprised the list of honors.
During the fifties Concord was ably represented on the benches of the higher courts by such eminent lawyers as Perley, Fowler, East- man, Bellows, and Minot, with Bartlett soon to follow. Hamilton E. Perkins became judge of probate, and meanwhile Calvin Ainsworth, Josiah Stevens, John Whipple, and David Pillsbury filled the position of police justice. Three state reporters-William L. Foster, George G. Fogg, and William E. Chandler-divided the decade among them.
Lyman T. Flint was born in Williamstown, Vt., the 29th of Sep- tember, 1817, and was graduated at Dartmouth, 1842. In 1850 he moved to Concord, which was his residence ever after. Mr. Flint was a man of learning, and a careful lawyer. About the early seven- ties he became county solicitor, and being a man of conscience and entertaining strong convictions respecting the liquor laws, he did his utmost to enforce them. No official ever worked harder, and with less result. Public sentiment had not reached the plane of to-day, and a resolute official met with chilling response. To look back to those days is to see Mr. Flint a man ahead of his time working to bring about the impossible. Several years before his decease he withdrew from practice, and retired to a farm near St. Paul's School, where he died on the 14th of April, 1876.
From the nature of his office as judge of probate, few lawyers were better known, not only in Concord, but throughout the county, than Hamilton E. Perkins. Born in Hopkinton the 23d of Novem- ber, 1806, educated at Phillips (Excter) and at the famous military school at Norwich, Mr. Perkins studied law with Matthew Harvey and Samuel Fletcher, and also at the Harvard Law school, beginning practice in his native town. In 1853 he moved to Concord, and
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