History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 3

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

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Blodgett, upon his return, sent the offenders a note

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

saying that at the request of many of their number he had made a journey to Portsmouth and obtained leave to settle the complaints in a manner easy to the trespassers, informing them he was appointed a dep- uty of the surveyor, and calling upon them to settle with the King.

A settlement was effected with all the owners of logs excepting those at Clement's Mills, in Weare ; they would make no compromise. Accordingly, com- plaints were made out against them and put into the hands of Benjamin Whiting, of Hollis, the sheriff of the county, for service.

On the 13th of April, 1772, Mr. Whiting and his deputy, Mr. Quigley, proceeded to serve their warrants. One of the defendants was a Mr. Mudget, residing in Weare. Whiting arrested Mudget, who agreed to give bail next morning. Mudget, instead of getting bail in the usual way, collected a company of his friends during the night, and very early in the morning called upon the sheriff and told him his bail was ready. Mudget's friends were disguised. The officer had not dressed himself for the day when they rushed upon him in his bed-chamber. He attempted to fire upon them, but was seized, disarmed and severely beaten.

A more desperate encounter preceded the capture of Quigley. The horses of both were disfigured by the cropping of their ears, manes and tails. For a time the officers refused to mount these sorry-looking animals, and were helped into their saddles in no ceremonious way.

Whiting and Quigley repaired at once to Colonels Goffe and Lutwyce, who at their request ordered out the posse comitatus, and the force thus raised marched back to Clement's Mills. The rioters had taken to the woods and not a man of them could be found. One was afterwards arrested and lodged in jail; others gave bail for their appearance at court. Mudget and seven others, all citizens of Weare, were indicted, pleaded nolo contendere, and were fined by the court for this assault on Whiting. It was an un- justifiable resistance to an officer in the discharge of his duty, and although the action of the government was oppressive, it was not the proper way in which to inaugurate a revolution.

From this time forth the county was in a state of continual political excitement until the opening of the Revolutionary War. The last court record, made upon a half-sheet of erown foolscap, is as follows :

" Anno Regni Regis Georgii Tertii.

"July session, 1775. Justices present, John Shepard, Jr., Moses Nichols, Esqs.

"Grand Jurormen present, William Bradford, Samuel Robey, William McQuistin.

" Al his Majesty's Court of General Sessions of the Peace, held at Am- herst, in and for the county of Hillsborough and Province of New Hampshire, on the first Thursday next following the first Tuesday in July, 1775, sald Court elected Moses Nichols, Esq., Clerk pro lem, and adjourned said Court of General Sessions of the Peace to the first Thurs- day next following the first Tuesday of October next.

" MOSES NICHOLS, Clerk pro tem."

Only two justices present,-one presides, the other is clerk pro tempore. The court is adjourned to meet upon a certain day in his Majesty's name, but the coming of that day found the patriotic justices with business to their hands more congenial than holding court in the name of George III.

CHAPTER II.

THE BENCH AND BAR. .

PRIOR to the War of the Revolution there were but three members of the legal profession residing within the present limits of Hillsborough County. These were Hon. Wiseman Claggett, of Litchfield; Hon. Ebenezer Champney, of New Ipswich; and Hon. Joshua Atherton, of Amherst.

HON. WISEMAN CLAGGETT was born at Bristol, England, in the month of August, 1721, and received an early and liberal education in that country. Hav- ing finished his academical studies, he became a stu- dent at the Inns of Court, qualified himself for the profession of the law, and after going through a regu- lar course of preparatory studies, was admitted a bar- rister in the Court of King's Bench.

A few years after his admission to the bar he crossed the Atlantic to the West Indies, settled in Antigua under very flattering circumstances, and was cordially received by the principal inhabitants of the island, particularly by a gentleman of fortune, who, as an inducement for him to remain there, settled on him a handsome annuity for life. He was appointed a notary public and secretary of the island. He dis- charged the duties of these offices with fidelity, and pursued his professional business there with success for several years, until the decease of his particular friend and patron. He then embarked for this coun- try, and settled in Portsmouth. He was admitted an attorney of the Superior Court at the next session after his arrival, and was soon after appointed a jus- tice of the peace. In the exercise of this office he was strict, severe and overbearing. For many years he was the principal acting magistrate in Portsmouth, and his name became proverbial. When one person threatened another with a prosecution, it was usual to say, "I will Claggett you."

He received the appointment of King's attorney- general for the province in the year 1767. He took an early and decided part in opposition to the oppress- ive acts of the British Parliament at a time when a considerable portion of his property was in the con- trol of the government. Previous to the Revolution he removed to Litchfield, where he possessed a large and valuable estate on the banks of the Merrimack. He represented that town and Derryfield, classed

THE BENCH AND BAR.

with it, several years in the General Court. Being omitted one year, the towns of Merrimack and Bedford elected him for their representative, although not an inhabitant of either of those places. He always re- tained a grateful remembrance of this mark of confi- dence and respect, and frequently spoke of it with pleasure. He was for some time a member of the Committee of Safety, and was active, attentive and useful. He was influential in framing and carrying into effect the temporary form of government which was first adopted in New Hampshire, under which the office of solicitor-general was created, and Mr. Claggett was the only person who ever had that appointment; the office ceased at the adoption of the constitution, in 1784, a little previous to his death.

He possessed a great flow of wit, which, accompa- nied by his social talents and learning, made him an agreeable companion. He was also distinguished for his classical knowledge. He wrote the Latin language with ease and elegance and spoke it with fluency. He had a fine taste for poetry, and many jeux d'esprit, the productions of his pen, have been preserved by his friends. He did not possess a perfect equanimity of temper, but was subjeet at times to great depres- sion of spirits. He died at Litchfield the 4th of De- cember, 1784, in the sixty-fourth year of his age.

EBENEZER CHAMPNEY1 was born at Cambridge in 1743, and was educated at Harvard University, re- ceiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1762. He was at first designed for the ministry, and to that end studied divinity and preached two years. He re- ceived a call to settle in Township No. 1 (now Mason); this was declined, and soon after, he left this profes- sion for that of the law. He prepared himself for this vocation in the office of Hon. Samuel Livermore, and was admitted to the bar at Portsmouth, N. H., in 1768. In June of the same year he removed to New Ipswich, and entered upon the duties of his profes- sion. In the spring of 1783, Mr. Champney went to Groton, where he remained until 1789, was represent- ative in 1784, when he returned to New Ipswich. His first commission as justice of the peace was re- ceived from the celebrated Governor John Hancock, of Massachusetts.

In 1795 he was appointed judge of Probate for the county of Hillsborough. The duties of this office were appropriately discharged until his resignation, a few months before his death.

Judge Champney married, first, a daughter of Rev. Caleb Trowbridge, of Groton, in 1764, which con- nected him with the distinguished families of Cottons and Mathers. By this marriage he had seven chil- dren, three of whom died in infancy. He became a widower in 1775, and was married again, in 1778, to Abigail Parker, by whom he had four children. She died in 1790, and he was again married, in March,

1796, to Susan Wyman, who died the September fol- lowing.

Judge Champney was a man of very respectable talents, and exercised no inconsiderable influence in the vicinity. During the earlier years of his practice he was the only lawyer between Keene and Groton, and had offices both at New Ipswich and the latter place, in conjunction with his son. The labor of at- tending the courts at that period was very great, the circuit being extensive, and all journeys were neces- sarily performed on horseback.

During the controversy between the colonies and the mother-country the sentiments of Mr. Champney were adverse to those extreme measures that led to the Revolution. He was a moderate Tory, and dep- recating a resort to arms, believed that with prudent and moderate counsels all causes of disaffection might be satisfactorily adjusted. He wished to preserve his loyalty and the peace of the country ; but, like many others who forebore to take part in the contest, he lived to acknowledge the beneficent effects of that struggle which gave us our liberties and free institu- tions.

He died on the 10th of September, 1810, at the age of sixty-seven.

HON. JOSHUA ATHERTON 2 was born in Harvard, Mass., June 20, 1737. He numbered among his class- mates at Harvard, Elbridge Gerry, Jeremy Belknap and other distinguished men. While residing in Litchfield and Merrimack he was intimate with Colo- nel Lutwyche, a retired colonel of the British army, a man of means, of refined tastes, acquainted with the world and used to good society.

Having received the appointment of register of Probate for Hillsborough County, Mr. Atherton re- moved from Merrimack to Amherst in the summer of 1773, and was soon busily engaged in the practice of his profession. In a short time, however, as the dis- pute between the mother-country and her American colonies increased in bitterness, as he was an open and avowed Loyalist, he fell under the popular dis- pleasure.

In common with many other well-informed men of his time, he was not insensible of the wrongs inflicted upon the colonies by the British government, but saw no prospect of their redress by an appeal to arms. His profession, too, was an unpopular one, and it was an easy matter for the leaders in the new movement to excite the people against him. It is also notice- able that much of the persecution to which he was subjected had its origin in towns adjoining Amherst, rather than among his townsmen.

In 1788 he was chosen a delegate to the convention to ratify or reject the proposed constitution of the United States. Acting upon his own convictions of right and the instructions of his constituents, he op- posed its ratification.

1 From " History of New Ipswich."

2 Condensed from Secomb's " History of Amherst."

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

In 1792 he was appointed a delegate to the conven- tion called to revise the State constitution adopted in 1783. After several sessions the work of this con- vention resulted in the amended constitution adopted by the people in 1792, which remained unchanged for nearly sixty years.

In 1793 and 1794 he served as Senator in the State Legislature, and in the latter year received the ap- pointment of attorney-general of the State. At this time many young men resorted to his office for in- struction in their chosen profession, William Plumer, William Coleman (afterward of the New York Even- iny Post) and William Gordon being among the num- ber.

After the new administration of the affairs of the country under the Federal government had gone into operation, and had exhibited proofs of a steady, wise and firm rule over the whole country, he became one of its firmest supporters.

In 1798 he was appointed a Commissioner for the county of Hillsborough, under the act passed by Con- gress 9th July of that year, providing for the valua- tion of lands, dwelling-houses, etc., in the United States, with a view to levying and collecting direct taxes for the support of government. This act was an exceedingly unpopular one, and his acceptance of office under it revived all the old ill-will against him. He, however, discharged the duties of the office, and had the honor of being hung in effigy at Deering. His health and mental vigor becoming impaired, he resigned the office of attorney-general in 1800, and thenceforth devoted himself to the pursuits of a pri- vate citizen.

HON. CLIFTON CLAGGETTI studied law under the direction of his father and commenced practice in Litchfield in 1787, whence he removed to Amherst in 1811. While residing in Litchfield he represented the town in the General Court several years. In 1802, 1816 and 1818 he was elected a Representative to Congress. In 1810 he was appointed judge of Probate for Hillsborough County, and held the office until September, 1812, when, having been appointed one of the judges of the Superior Court, he resigned. From this last office he was removed, upon the reorganiza- tion of the court, by the Federal party the following year.

In 1823 he was appointed judge of Probate for the county of Hillsborough, and held the office until his death.

Dr. John Farmer wrote of him : " Without any com- manding powers, but with the possession of respecta- ble attainments, Judge Claggett gave his constituents, and the public generally, that satisfaction which has not always been imparted by those of higher acquisi- tions, or by those of the most popular and splendid talents."

HON. SAMUEL DANA was born in what is now

Brighton, Mass., January 14, 1739. He graduated from Harvard, and in 1781 was admitted to the Hills- borough bar. He resided in Amherst.

In November, 1782, he was chosen a delegate to the convention which framed the constitution of the State. Shortly after the adoption of the constitution he was appointed a justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, but declined to accept the office. In 1785 he was appointed register of Probate for Hills- borough County, and held the office until January 9, 1789, when he was appointed judge of Probate. This office he resigned December 21, 1792, saying, in the letter conveying his resignation, that "for the sup- port of my family I am obliged to practice as an attorney, and there is danger that I may not always be able to distinguish between a fee to the attorney and a bribe to the judge."

In 1793 he was chosen to the State Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of Hon. Joshua Atherton. He died April 2, 1798.

CHARLES HUMPHREY ATHERTON, son of Joshua Atherton, born in Amherst, graduated at Harvard College in 1794; read law with Joshua Atherton and William Gordon ; commenced practice in 1797; Re- presentative in Congress 1815-17 ; register of Probate 1798-1837 ; died January 8, 1853.

He occupied a prominent place in the Hillsborough County bar for nearly fifty years. He was a prudent and judicious counselor and a faithful advocate. As a Probate lawyer he had few equals and no superiors in the State.

He represented the town of Amherst in the General Court in 1823, 1838 and 1839, and served many years on the superintending school committee of the town, ever manifesting a deep interest in the prosperity of its common schools.

FRANKLIN PIERCE? was born at Hillsborough, N. H., November 23, 1804. His father, General Ben- jamin Pierce, served throughout the Revolutionary War, and in 1827 and 1829 was Governor of New Hampshire. The early youth of Franklin Pierce ex- hibited great mental promise, and it was the aim of his family that his education should be thorough. His initiatory and academical courses took place at Hancock, Francestown and Exeter, and in 1820 he entered college at Bowdoin, Me., where Rev. Dr. Stone, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John P. Hall, James Bell and others no less celebrated subsequently, were lis classmates. He took his degree in 1824 and spent the three following years in the study of law, at North Hampton, Mass., and Amherst. In 1827 he was admitted to the bar, and opened his office in his native town, where his success was speedy and great, largely because his application was equal to his ability. It was carly seen in his career that he would attain the very highest local celebrity,-a con- viction that was ultimately fully realized. While so

" By Colonel Frank 11, and Kirk D. Pierce.

1 By Daniel F. Secomb.

HISTORY OF THIS VI

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THE BENCH AND BAR.

earnestly applying himself to his duties as a lawyer he espoused himself with great zeal to the cause of Democratic principles, and during the second year of his legal practice, and for two subsequent years, he was chosen to represent Hillsborough in the State Legislature. In 1832 and 1833 he was also Representa- tive and Speaker of the House. This and associate honors were not won by any underhand action, but by a firm adherence to political principle, eloquence in debate, unquestioned capacity for public business, uniform courtesy and an exhibition of frankness and manliness of character. In the second year of his incumbency as speaker, being then in his twenty- ninth year, he was elected to represent his native district in the United States Congress, which he did in that and the succeeding Congress with much ability and credit.

In 1837 he was chosen by the Legislature to repre- sent New Hampshire in the United States Senate, and his statesmanship was such as to be the subject of universal encomiums among men of all parties. Though one of the youngest, he was one of the most influential of that then most distinguished body. Few public men had such power as he in making friends, and very few had a wider circle of admirers. From causes of a purely personal and domestic nature, Senator Pierce resigned his office in 1842, and came home to Concord, where he had removed his family some years previously, and resumed his profession as a lawyer. In 1845, owing to the vacancy in the United States Senate caused by the appointment of Hon. Levi Woodbury to the Superior bench, the successorship was offered by Governor John Steele to Mr. Pierce, but was gratefully declined. IIe also declined the nomination for Governor of the State and a seat in the Cabinet of President Polk. In his declinatory letter to the President he said that when he left the Senate he did so with the fixed pur- pose never again to be voluntarily separated from his family for any considerable time, except at the call of his country in time of war. When the Mexican War broke out, in 1847, a battalion of soldiers was called for from New Hampshire, and Mr. Pierce was among the very first to enlist as a private soldier, and one of the most earnest in the ranks at drill. He was com- missioned March 3, 1847, as brigadier-general, and sailed with a detachment from Newport, R. I., and landed at Vera Cruz on the following 28th of June. He left Vera Cruz with his brigade for the Mexican interior the succeeding month to reinforce General Scott. On the way, with his two thousand four hun- dred men, several severe skirmishes with guerrillas took place, in all of which the enemy was defeated. He carried his force, losing very few men, to Pu- ebla, where they joined the army of the command- ing general. Contreras, Cherubuseo, Molino and Chapultepec were hard-fought fields, on which he liberally shared the honors of victory, as the official reports of these actions abundantly and

creditably show. An eminent military officer, in re- viewing the history of these struggles and the merits of the leaders therein, says: " I have reason to believe that every old officer in the army will sustain me when I say of General Pierce that in his service in Mexico he did his duty as a son of the republic, that he was eminently patriotic and gallant, and that it has added a laurel to his beautiful civic wreath." It would be unjust to his memory to neglect mentioning his remarkable regard for the comfort and health of the men under his command; with untiring vigi- lance and open hand he administered without stint or measure to the alleviation of their privations and their sufferings. In 1847, when peace with Mexico was assured, General Pierce returned home to meet the welcome of his many friends and to realize the highest honors they could bestow upon him. Among them was the presentation of a splendid sword by the State Legislature, as a token of esteem for him as a man and of his gallantry as a soldier. From the period of his return from Mexico up to 1852 he de- voted himself to his profession, his principal political action being his presiding at the Constitutional Con- vention of the State, which met at Concord in 1850. Some that are now alive, and were present in court at Manchester, in May, 1850, will never forget the won- derful eloquence, the powerful logic and the amazing legal skill which he exercised preceding the acquittal of both the Wentworths, of Saco, Me., charged with the murder of Jonas Parker, in Manchester, in 1845. As an orator, he presented his thoughts in a style that would do credit to any age or nation. His remarks on the death of Daniel Webster are unexcelled in the English language. In 1852 the New Hampshire State Democratic Convention recommended him as a candidate for the Presidency; but he declined, for reasons modestly assigned by himself, to allow his name to be used in that relation. However, the Na- tional Democratic Convention, which met in Balti- more in June of 1852, after forty-nine ballots, gave him the nomination by a vote of two hundred and eighty-two against eleven. The enthusiasm demon- strated all over the nation in favor of General Pierce was unprecedented, and the result of the campaign was his election over General Scott, the Whig candi- date, the Pierce electoral vote being two hundred and fifty-four and that for Scott forty-two.

President Pierce was inaugurated at Washington March 4, 1853, he being then in his forty-ninth year. He had called to aid him a Cabinet composed of men of rare ability. A member of that cabinet has truth- fully said,-

"The administration of Franklin Pierce presents the only instance in our history of the continuance of a Cabinet for four years without a single change in its personnel. When it is remembered that there was much dissimilarity, if not incongruity, of character among the members of that Cabinet, some idea may be formed of the power over men possessed and exercised by Mr. Pierce. Chivalrous, generous, amiable, true to his friends and to his faith, frank and bohl in his declaration of his opinions, he never deceived any one. And if treachery had ever come near him,

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

it would have stood abashed in the presence of his truth, his manliness and his confiding simplicity."

Among the more important events of his adminis- tration were the dispute respecting the boundary be- tween the United States and Mexico, resulting in the acquisition of Arizona; the exploration of the routes proposed for a railroad from the Mississippi to the Pacific ; the amicable settlement of a serious dispute with Great Britain about the fisheries ; the affair of Martin Kozta; the repeal of the Missouri Compro- mise; the organization of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska; the Ostend conference; the treaty negotiated at Washington providing for commercial reciprocity between this country and the Canadian provinces ; the treaty with Japan negotiated in 1854 by Commodore Perry; the dismissal of the British minister at Washington and the British consuls at New York, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. While much political agitation marked the term of his of- fice, still it was a period of remarkable prosperity to the nation. President Pierce's devotion to his coun- try and flag was never shaken or impaired by any misrepresentation or abuse on the part of his politi- cal enemies. In public and in private life his speeches and correspondence evince a sincere sympathy with the Union and a devotion to the principles of the Union, to which he had been from childhood a most earnest and sincere advocate.

On retiring from the Presidential chair, and after a brief sojourn at home, he visited Europe and trav- eled extensively over Great Britain and the continent. Everywhere he was received with marked attention and respect, although he eschewed all ostentation. He returned after an absence of about three years and devoted himself almost entirely to the duties of a common citizen. Socially, no man had more or deeper respect than he, during the period spent by him in political retirement. He was beloved by young and old, and there was no partisan limit to that affection.

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 3

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