History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 10

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168

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Mr. Sawyer held all important local offices of his town and city, served as Representative and Senator in the State Legislature, and from 1867 until July, 1876, he held the office of register in bankruptcy. On the 22d of July, 1876, he received from Governor Cheney his commission as associate justice of the Supreme Court, but failing health obliged him to resign his office within two years. In all the public trusts to which he was called, strength of character and fidelity of purpose marked his administration.

Mr. Sawyer married, first, Mary Frances Ingalls, of New York City ; second, Fanny, daughter of Francis and Almira (Stetson) Winch, of Nashua, September 12, 1855. Their children were Fanny Ingalls (de- ceased), Fanny Locke, Aaron Frank (deceased) and William Merriam.

Judge Sawyer was not only an eminent lawyer and jurist, but also a devoted laborer in the vineyard of Christ. For many years he was a member of the First Congregational Church of Nashua, a teacher in the Sabbath-school, active in the prayer-meeting and useful in all Christian work. About eight years be- fore his death he received from the Hollis Association a license to preach the gospel. In his discourses, which he prepared with great care, he possessed rare power. His subjects were patiently studied in the

light of Scripture, and, with the aid of the best ex- positors, thoroughly digested and assimilated in his own thoughts ; his sermons passed through the glow- ing furnace of his own experience and came before the listener rich, full and warm with religious fervor. Their delivery was marked by a certain tenderness of tone and manner which led each auditor to feel that the speaker was seeking the individual good of his hearers.

" If to have won for himself a proud position in the ranks of his profes- sion, the suffrages and approbation of his fellow-citizens to the full meas- ure of his opportunities and aspirations ; to have utilized superior intel- lectual power and endowments to the constant and wise solution of the abstruse problems and varied affairs of his profession ; to have gained, with" out pretension or ostentation, by the strength and force of character, the abiding confidence of his clients, and to have held that confidence through all tests and trials to the end ; to have become the favorite adviser of his younger and trustful brethren of the bar ; if to have constantly clothed his daily walk with the example of a pure life, whose morality, though firm and constant, never taught him to be morose or austere ; to have elevated that life of undeviating morality to its twinship with a Christian faith ; if to have adorned his domestic life with the enduring fidelity of the husband, the deep and constant affection of the father; to liave so cherished industry, frugality, temperance, that these virtues won for him, and for those who were his by the sweet and holy ties of nature and kindred, the boon of independence and fortune, and then to have met death without fear, and in the calm, triumphant hope of a glory beyond, -if these, and such as these, are the true and justly coveted fruits of human life and human exertion, we have their illustration and example in the life and death of Aaron W. Sawyer."

GENERAL AARON F. STEVENS .- Aaron Fletcher Stevens was born in Londonderry (now Derry), N. H., August 9, 1819. He was the only son of Captain John F. and Martha Stevens, both of whom were na- tives of Massachusetts. His father, who for many years had followed the sea, went to Londonderry a short time before the birth of his son, where the family lived till 1828, when they removed to Man- chester, then a small town in Hillsborough County, now the largest and most prosperous city in the State. Here the father, then in the prime of man- hood, tried the experiment of farming, but at the end of three years abandoned the pursuit, and took up his residence in Peterborough, the oldest manufacturing town in the State, attracted thither by the superior facilities presented for the education and employment of his children.

At Peterborough young Stevens found work in a fac- tory under the charge of Governor Steele, and for about four years alternated between that employment and attendance upon the district school. In the mean time, however, the united savings of the family en- abled him to return to his native town and attend, for a short time, the Pinkerton Academy. The means to defray the expenses of this schooling were furnished in part from the earnings of elder sisters, who still live to witness the fruits of their counsels and sacrifices for a brother. The parents, careful and fond of their children, sympathized with their aspira- tions for improvement, yet the limited means at their command enabled them to furnish little more than the facilities of a common-school education. The early aspirations of the son for liberal education

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

and professional lite were thus held in check, but he accepted with alacrity the alternative before him, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to the trade of a machinist. He worked at his trade several years as a journeyman, varying his employment, however, by attendance at the academy at Nashua, as well as by school-teaching, which occupied his time for several winters.

In August, 1842, Mr. Stevens, at the invitation of Hon. George Y. Sawyer, then a distinguished lawyer. entered upon the study of the law at Nashua, and in August, 1845, was admitted to the bar. The same kind interest led Mr. Sawyer to propose a partner- ship with Mr. Stevens, who, in that relation, entered at once into a prominent practice before the courts. At that period Hillsborough County was greatly dis- tinguished for the ability of its bar, numbering on its roll, besides Mr. Sawyer, Benjamin M. Farley. Charles G. Atherton, George W. Morrison, Daniel Clark, Samuel HI. Ayer and others, all of eminence in the State, and some of wider legal reputation. It was into such a professional school that Mr. Stevens, sensible of his deficient carly culture. and peculiarly averse to all presumption, was thus carly thrown. The courage and the thorough preparation with which he entered upon his work, together with his power in grasping the substance of a case, and presenting it in a clear, logical manner, commanded the respect of both court and bar, and gave him a high professional reputation.

In the early part of his professional career Mr. Stevens was for five years solicitor of Hillsborough County. The absence of the attorney-general ordi- narily imposed upon Mr. Stevens the duties of prose- enting officer for that large county, thus bringing him into professional conflict with the most adroit and experienced practitioners, furnishing a rigorous test of his resources, and contributing essentially to his early distinction as a lawyer. He subsequently en- tered into a professional partnership with Hon. Aaron W. Sawyer, an old schoolmate and townsman.

Republican organization, of which he was an early and leading member in New Hampshire.

When, at the outbreak of the Rebellion, a call was made for men to defend the capital, Mr. Stevens was one of the first to offer his services, and on April 29th was commissioned by the Governor as major of the First New Hampshire (three months') Regiment of Infan- try. The regiment reached Washington, took part in the movement to Harper's Ferry, but was engaged in no battle.

Returning home with his regiment, he resumed the practice of his profession ; but the next year was, by the unsolicited tender of the Governor, commissioned as colonel of the Thirteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers. He promptly organized his. command and led to the field a superb regiment, made up of men from seven of the ten counties of the State. There was probably no regiment in the war of greater intelligence and high soldierly qualities.

Among the names inscribed on the standard of this gallant regiment are : Fredericksburg (its first battle), Suffolk, Swift Creek, Drury's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Battery Five, Petersburg and Battery Harrison, in all of which battles their colonel shared the conflict with them. During the siege of Petersburg, in 1864, Col- onel Stevens commanded a brigade. In the assault on Fort Harrison, September 29th, he fell severely wounded at the head of his regiment and brigade. He remained upon the spot, close to the fort, till the colors of his command were planted upon the cap- tured parapet and the victory won. In December following he was breveted brigadier-general. The official records of the war, as well as his companions- in-arms, bear witness to his courage as a soldier and his coolness and skill as a commander.

Having closed his military career and resumed the practice of his profession, General Stevens was, in December, 1866, unanimously nominated for Congress. In March, 1867, he took his seat as a Representative in the Fortieth Congress. He served in that Con- gress on the naval committee, and the "Treatment of Union Prisoners." Having been re-elected to the Forty-first Congress, he again served on the naval committee, and the committee on patents. During his Congressional service General Stevens did not often address the House in formal speeches. His chief efforts were given to the investigations of the committee room. But he occasionally spoke on na- tional subjects. The vital national interests which were identified with the political struggle in 1868 called forth from him a well-considered speech in the House in February of that year, in which he pre- sented the subject of reconstruction in its essential features. He also made a short but terse argument in favor of the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, in which he paid a merited tribute to the great war minister, Edwin M. Stanton. In February, 1870, he addressed the House on " Grant and the Administra-

Mr. Stevens entered upon active political life as a Whig, and followed the fortunes of that party with unswerving fidelity as long as it had an existence. His first effort in the political arena was in the mem- orable campaign of 1840. He was a member of the last Whig Convention in Baltimore in 1852. In 1849 he was a member of the State Legislature, represent- ing Nashua, and again in 1851, when the Democracy, after an unparalleled contest, was defeated in the Legislature and overthrown in the State. He was ngain a member of the Legislature in 1856 and 1857. His candor, judgment and forecast, united with dig- nity, clearness and condensation as a debater, gave him a commanding influence in the House, and justly made him one of the most popular speakers in the State. In the Whig party he belonged to that portion who were strong in their anti-slavery convic- tions, and he carried these ideas with him into the tion." in which he fully sustained the policy of the

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President and denounced repudiation and the expan- sion of the currency.

After the close of the Forty-first Congress, General Stevens again gave his attention to professional busi- ness. In June, 1879, he lacked but two votes of being the Republican candidate for United States Senator -the nomination being equivalent to an election.

In 1861 he married Miss Adelaide M. Johnson, of Lynn, Mass., an educated and accomplished woman. For several years they have passed their winters in Florida, having an orange grove on the River St. Johns, three miles north of Palatka. General Stevens' home, however, is at Nashua.

Aside from his well-known ability as a lawyer, his graceful manner and fluency of utterance make him welcome on all public occasions in New Hampshire.

BENJAMIN M. FARLEY, son of Benjamin and Lucy (Fletcher) Farley, and grandson of Lieutenant Sam- uel Farley, one of the first settlers of Hollis, was born April 8, 1783, in that part of Hollis afterwards set off to Brookline. Mr. Farley prepared for college at the academy in New Ipswich ; graduated at Harvard Col- lege in 1804; read law with Hon. Abijah Bigelow in Leominster, Mass. ; admitted to the bar and settled in his profession in Hollis in 1808, and continued to re- side in Hollis till 1855, when he removed to Boston. Upon being established in his profession he soon rose to a high rank in it, and for many years he had no superior at the Hillsborough bar, of which he was for several years president. He died September 16, 1865. SAMUEL T. WORCESTER, son of Jesse and Sarah (Parker) Worcester, born August 30, 1804, prepared for college at the academies in Pembroke, N. H., and Andover, Mass., and graduated at Harvard College in 1830. After leaving college, taught an academy for one year at Weymouth, Mass., and also for one year at Cambridge. Read law in the office of Hon. B. M. Farley, in Hollis, and also at the Law School in Cam- bridge ; settled in his profession in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1835, and continued in the practice of the law in that place till the summer of 1867, when he removed to Nashua, N. H., where he still resides (1879). May 13, 1835, married Mary F. C. Wales, daughter of Samuel Wales, Esq., of Stoughton, Mass., who de- ceased at Nashua, April 29, 1874. Was a member of the Ohio Senate in the years 1849 and 1850; elected district judge of the Tenth Ohio Judicial District in October, 1859, and while holding that office was elected a member of the United States Congress in the spring of 1861. Publications : 1831, "Sequel to the Spelling-Book ;" 1833, " American Primary Spell- ing-Book ;" 1871, revised editions of "Worcester's Comprehensive and Primary Dictionaries ;" 1871, "Old and New; or, the School Systems of Ohio and New Hampshire compared." He died Dec. 5, 1882.

JOSEPH W. FELLOWS, son of John and Polly Hilton Fellows, was born at Andover, N. H., January 15, 1835.

He was educated in the district schools of his na-

tive town and at the Andover Academy. He entered Dartmouth College in July, 1854, and graduated in 1858.

He taught school in Bradford and Concord, N. H., and in Upton, Mass., during his college term. He was also a teacher in the Brownwood Institute, in La Grange; also, the Marietta Academy, in Marietta, Ga., in 1859-60.

He studied law in the office of Hon. John M. Shirley, of Andover, and of Pike & Barnard, of Franklin, N. H., and subsequently graduated from the Albany (N. Y.) University Law Department, class of 1861.

He was admitted to the bar in August, 1861, and commenced the practice of the law in Manchester in 1862, where he has since resided.

He was appointed judge of the Police Court of Manchester in 1874, and resigned the position in 1875. Judge Fellows was elected clerk of the Con- cord Railroad corporation in 1873, and was re-elected each year until 1884. He has been one of the trus- tees of Proctor Academy, at Andover, and of the Unitarian Educational Society of New Hampshire since its organization.

Politically, Judge Fellows is a Democrat and an able and fearless exponent of the principles of that party.

In religions matters he is a Unitarian of the liberal class.

Although in the active practice of an arduous pro- fession, Judge Fellows has found time to indulge his taste in literary pursuits and has prepared many life sketches of his neighbors and friends, and in this branch of literary labor is not easily surpassed. He has also given much attention to the Masonic history of Manchester, and the able article which appears in this work is from his pen. Judge Fellows is a promi- nent and active member of the Masonic fraternity and has been through all grades and held many posi- tions. Judge Fellows has been twice married-first, to Miss Frances Moore, who died in 1874, and second, to Mrs. Lizzie B. Davis, October 8, 1878.

JUDGES OF PROBATE .- The following is a list of the judges of Probate for the county of Hillsborough from 1784 to the present time :

Jonathan Blanchard, from 1784 to 1789; Samuel Dana, from 1789 to 1792; Ebenezer Champney, from February 13, 1793, to May, 1810; Clif- ton Claggett, from 1811 to 1×12 ; John Harris, from August 10, 1812, to 1×23; Clifton Claggett, August 5, 1823, to January 29, 1829 ; Edward Parker, from 1829 to 1835; Luke Woodbury, from 1835 to 1851 ; William C. Clarke, from September 8, 1851, to July 10, 1856; David Cross, from July 14, 1856, to June 30, 1874; Lucien B. ('lough, from July 14, 1874, to July 20, 1876; Henry E. Burnham, from July 25, 1876, to June 3, 1879 ; Edward E. Parker, June 3, 1879, pres- ent incumbent.

CHARLES HENRY BURNS1 was born in Milford, N. H., January 19, 1835, of good old New England stock, which on both sides had been prominent in that town from its earliest settlement.

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HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

On his father's side he descended from that Scotch- Irish race which has given to New Hampshire and New England so many able men.

His ancestry on his father's side is as follows :

1. John Burns, of Scotch origin, born in 1700 : came to America from north of Ireland in 1736; set- tled in Milford, N. H., in 1746; died in Milford, N. H., in 1782.

2. Thomas, seventh child and third son of John. It is not yet known where or when he was born, but he was probably born in Milford. The date of his death, which occurred at Milford, is also unknown to the writer. He was, however, not far from eighty years of age when he died. He married Elizabeth Hartness, of Lunenburg, Mass.

3. Samuel, sixth child and third son of Thomas and Elizabeth, born at Milford, September 17, 1779, died at Milford, September 20, 1817. He was select- man in Milford from the age of twenty-one for ten years. He was a strong man and died of brain fever. His funeral was the largest ever held in Milford. He married Abigail Jones, February 12, 1801. She was a woman of great strength of mind and of most excellent character.

4. Charles A., fourth child and second son of Sam- uel and Abigail Burns, was born at Milford, January 19, 1809, and died of fever at Milford, January 25, 1857. He married, December 31, 1833, Elizabeth Hutchinson, of Milford. They were both people of the highest character and well known for their intel- ligence and worth.

5. Charles H., son of Charles A. and Elizabeth, born at Milford, January 19, 1835; married Sarah N. Mills, January 19, 1856, at Milford. They have four living children,-Charles A. Burns, Bessie Burns Gregg, Blanch Burns and Ben. E. Burns. They have buried one son, Arthur H. Burns, aged twenty years, and three infant children. On his mother's side, who was a Hutchinson, he is of English descent, and we here give a somewhat extended record of that old family. The antiquity of the Hutchinson family in England is very great, and was represented by Barnard Hutchinson, of Cowlan, in the county of York, in 1282. He was denominated esquire, and his wife was the daughter of John Bagville, one of the oldest fan- ilies of Yorkshire. They had children,-John, Rob- ert and Mary.

1. Richard was a direct descendant from John, the heir of Cowlan ; was born in England, and married, December 7, 1627, Alice Bosworth. He resided at North Markham, and about the year 1635 emigrated, with his family, to New England. The earliest men- tion made of him in this country is found in the town records of Salem, Mass., in 1636, when the town made him a grant of land. In 1637 the town made him an additional grant of twenty acres, "provided he would set up a plough." In 1654 and 1600 further grants were made. The land was situated in the vicinity of Hathorn's Hill and Beaver Brook, which

now runs through the town of Middlesex into the Ipswich River. He died about 1662.

2. Joseph, son of Richard, was born in England in 1633, and came with his father to New England and settled upon a portion of his father's estate, which was conveyed to him in 1666.

3. Benjamin, son of Joseph, died in 1733. He mar- ried Jane, daughter of Walter and Margaret Phillips. He married, second, January 26, 1714, Abigail Foster. Eleven children by Jane.

4. Benjamin, son of Benjamin, born at Salem, Janu- ary 27, 1693. He was a man of large wealth. He married, February 7, 1715, Sarah, daughter of John and Mary (Nurse) Tarbell. Seven children.

5. Nathan, son of Benjamin, baptized February 10, 1717. He was a farmer, and remained with his father at Bedford, Mass., until 1734, thence to Amherst (now Milford), where he died January 12, 1795 ; mar- ried Rachel Stearns ; six children. He was one of the first settlers in the territory of Milford.

6. Nathan, son of Nathan, born in Amherst (now Milford), February, 1752, died December 26, 1831. He was a farmer. Married, 1778, Rebecca Peabody, daughter of William and Rebecca (Smith) Peabody. She was born January 2, 1752, died February 25, 1826; seven children.

7. Abel, son of Nathan and Rebecca, born at Milford, August 8, 1795, died February 19, 1846; married, Janu- ary 22, 1816, Betsey, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Bartlett. She was born in Amherst (now Milford), October 26, 1796, died at Milford, August 23, 1873; nine children.

8. Elizabeth, daughter of Abel and Betsey, born at Milford, June 18, 1816, now living ; married, Decem- ber 31, 1833, Charles A. Burns ; nine children.

9. Charles H., son of Elizabeth and Charles A., etc. Betsey Bartlett, wife of Abel, was also a descendant of the first Richard, through Joseph, third son of Joseph (first). The three races above named-Burns, Bartlett and Hutchinson-are of the highest character and respectability. This is also true of the Peabodys.

Mr. Burns spent his early years upon his father's farm, and there developed that strength and good constitution with which he is so admirably equipped for the battle of life. He early evinced a desire for an education, and after getting what assistance he could from the common schools of Milford, which were always of a high order, he entered the Appleton Acad- emy, at New Ipswich, N. H., at that time under the management of Professor Quimby, from which insti- tute he graduated in 1854.

For some time he had entertained the purpose of entering the legal profession, for which he had already exhibited an aptitude. He read law in the office of Colonel O. W. Lull, in Milford, and subse- quently attended the Harvard Law School, where he graduated in the class of 1858. In May of the same year he was admitted to the Suffolk bar, in Massachu- setts, and in October following he was admitted to the

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New Hampshire bar. In January, 1859, Mr. Burns commenced the practice of the law at Wilton, N. H., where he has since resided, although of late years his extended practice through Hillsborough County and the State has necessitated the removal of his office to Nashua. He commenced his professional labors, as every young man must who has no one to rely upon but himself, with the smaller and more ordinary kinds of legal work; but by slow degrees he has risen, until to- day he is one of the most successful lawyers in New Hampshire, and his practice includes the highest order of cases. Mr. Burns, although a good lawyer in all the branches of his profession, especially excels as an advocate. His advocacy is of a high order. He is what most of our lawyers, and public speakers even, are not, a natural orator. The whole bent and incli- nation of his mind has, from his earliest years, always been in this direction. He has given himself a thor- ough training and practice at the bar, on the stump and on all those varied occasions when a public speaker is called upon to address the people. This natural talent, thus trained, has made him a clear-cut, incisive and polished orator, who never fails to hold and impress his audience.

It can be said of him, what can be said of very few men, he excels in advocacy and general oratory. His arguments before juries best illustrate his power as a speaker, while his public addresses exhibit his peculiar charm as an orator. As an advocate he ranks among the first in the New Hampshire bar. As an ora- tor he compares favorably with our best public speak- ers. He has held various important offices in the line of his profession. In 1876 he was appointed by Governor Cheney county solicitor for Hillsborough County, and was subsequently re-elected twice to that office by the people, the constitution in the mean time having been changed so as to make the office elective instead of ap- pointive. He held this office in all seven years, and dis- charged the difficult and delicate duties of a prosecu- ting officer in a large county ably and satisfactorily.

In February, 1881, he was appointed United States district attorney for New Hampshire, and in Febru- ary, 1885, was reappointed to that office, which he still holds, bringing to the performance of its duties the same zeal and fidelity which he does to all his professional labors.

Mr. Burns has been a life-long Republican. His father, Charles A. Burns, was an active and prominent anti-slavery worker in that little band of anti-slavery agitators which existed in Milford. Young Burns when a boy was brought in contact with such men as Parker Pillsbury, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison and Fred Douglass, and imbibed the senti- ments with which they were animated, so that by force of these influences he was naturally a Republican, welcoming this party as the means to carry out the principles of emancipation and freedom.

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 10

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1885 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1168

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1885
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1168