History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 8

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

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As a lawyer, Judge Smith has throughout all his practice been characterized by a clear, penetrating judgment, unsparing industry, unbending integrity and fidelity to all trusts. The high reputation which he early acquired, built on solid foundations, has never been shaken. Upon the bench his well-known ability as a lawyer, the conscientious care and thor- oughness with which every case upon which he is called to express an opinion is examined, and the judicial poise and impartiality which he always main- tains, secure for his rulings and decisions a high degree of confidence and respect.

Judge Smith's personal interest in the affairs of his .Alma Mater has suffered no abatement as other cares and interests have multiplied. He was president of the Dartmouth Alumni Association in 1881-83, and of the Phi Beta Kappa Society in 1882-84. In college he was one of the charter members of the Dartmouth Chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi Society. In 1880 he delivered before the Alumni Association a eulogy upon the life and character of Hon. William H. Bartlett, late associate justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire. In March, 1885, he was elected

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY. NEW ITS.

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THE BENCH AND BAR.

one of the trustees of the college. He has found time amid the press of professional duties to indulge his taste for historical investigation, contributing his share to the researches of the New Hampshire Histor- ical Society, of which he has been a member since 1861. As early as 1849 he delivered an address, which was subsequently published, at the centennial celebration of the incorporation of his native town. His tastes in this direction gave a special zest and value to a visit which he made, in the summer of 1878, to several of the scenes of special historical in- terest in the Old World.

Politically, the sympathies of Judge Smith have been with the Republican party since its first organi- zation. He was an earnest advocate of the great principles which that party bore inscribed upon its banners in our terrible civil strife and in the period of reconstruction which followed it, and which are des- tined to go down to the future as the inspiring and plastic force in one of the great epochs in human his- tory. He was, in 1856, a delegate to the National Con- vention which nominated Fremont and Dayton as candidates for President and Vice-President.

Religiously, by education and by conviction, his sympathies are with the Orthodox Congregationalists. He early identified himself with the Franklin Street Congregational Society in Manchester, assuming his full share of its burdens and responsibilities, being called at different times to fill the offices of president, treasurer and director in it. In 1870 he became a member in full communion of the church with which that society is connected, and has always taken a warm and lively interest in its prosperity and in the advancement of the cause which it represents.

Judge Smith was united in marriage, August 16, 1854, with Amanda W., daughter of Hon. Hiram Brown, the first mayor of Manchester. Their chil- dren, eight in number, are Mary Amanda, born June 5, 1855; William Isaac, born February 22, 1857; Arthur Whitney, born March 9, 1860; Julia Brown, born January 17, 1862; Edward Clark, born October 24, 1864; Daniel Clark, born April 5, 1866; Jennie Patterson, born September 29, 1868; and Grace Lee, born September 10, 1870.

JAMES F. BRIGGS.1-John and Nancy (Franklin) Briggs were of that class of working Englishmen who had the courage to flee from hard surroundings which no strength could overcome, and seek in a new world, among strangers, a chance to improve their condition. They were factory operatives at Bury, Lancashire County, England, where their son James F. was born, October 23, 1827. When he was fourteen months old they took passage on an emigrant ship for America, and after a rough voyage of more than seven weeks landed in Boston, March 4, 1829. Going direct to Andover, Mass., the father found employment in a

woolen-factory there. From that place he removed to Saugus, where he worked a short time, and from thence to Amesbury, which was the family home until 1836. In the fall of that year the father, in company with two brothers, bought a small woolen- factory at Holderness (now Ashland), N. H., and, having established his home near by, commenced business on his own account, in manufacturing woolen cloths. But few operatives were needed to run this mill, and they were mainly the three pro- prietors and their children, among whom was the boy James, then a lad nine years old, who had begun to earn his living in a factory before the removal from Massachusetts, the family circumstances being such that all had to contribute to its support as soon as they were able. He was continuously employed in the mill for the next five years; but during this time he had learned enough of books to make him ambi- tious to know more; and, as the affairs of the family were fairly prosperous, at the age of fourteen he was sent to the academy at Newbury, Vt., and afterwards to the one at Tilton. Being an expert operative, able to take the wool from the fleece and convert it into cloth, by working in the factory a part of each year he earned the money to pay his expenses at these institutions one or more terms every year until 1848, when he arranged to commence the study of law with Hon. William C. Thompson, at Plymouth; but in February of that year his father died, leaving a family of eight children, six of whom were younger than James, in destitute circumstances. This affliction, which threw the care of the family largely upon the young man, compelled him to change somewhat his plans; but he did not for a moment lose sight of the object he had in view, and, as he could not enter the law-office at Plymouth, he borrowed books from it and pursued his studies during such time as he could get at home, for a year, when he entered the office of Hon. Joseph Burrows, then a practicing lawyer at Holderness.

In 1849 the family removed to Fisherville, in order that the younger children might obtain employment in the factory there, and he completed his studies in the office of Judge Butler, from which he was ad- mitted to the bar in 1851. A few months later he commenced the practice of law at Hillsborough Bridge, whither he went a perfect stranger, without money or reputation. But he had ability and energy, was willing to work, knew how to live within a small income until he could make it larger, and little by little he gained clients and friends, who gave him a lucrative practice, accepted his counsel, followed his leadership and established his reputation as the most popular and influential man of the town. In 1856, 1857 and 1858 he was sent by a nearly unanimous vote to represent Hillsborough in the Legislature, where he was at once accorded a prominent position as a member of the judiciary committee, and the third year was honored by the nomination of his

1 By Henry M. Putney, from Clark's "Successful New Hampshire Men."

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

party for the Speakership. At this time he acted with the Democratic party, and continued to do so until the War of the Rebellion, when he felt that all loyal men should unite to save the Union and main- tain the national authority, and, having been nomi- nated by the Democracy of his district for councilor upon a platform which enunciated peace-at-any-price doctrines, to which he could not assent, he declined the nomination, and from that day has been an ardent, active and enthusiastic Republican.

While the Eleventh Regiment was being recruited he tendered his services to the Governor of the State, and was appointed quartermaster on the staff of Col- onel Harriman. In this capacity he served through the battles of Fredericksburg, the military operations in Kentucky, and the Mississippi River expeditions which resulted in the capture of Vicksburg and Jackson, for about a year, when he was prostrated by the malaria of the southern swamps, and compelled to resign and return to his home in Hillsborough.

During his absence in the field and the illness which succeeded his return his legal business had become somewhat demoralized, and on the recovery of his health he concluded to start anew in a wider field of action in Manchester, to which city he re- moved in 1871, forming a partnership with Hon. Henry H. Huse, which still exists. Manchester gave him a cordial welcome. Her mill operatives and other mechanics greeted him as an honored graduate of their school, who in his after triumphs had never forgotten the hard road by which he had journeyed to success; her lawyers and clients were already well acquainted with his professional abilities; her sol- diers recognized him as an old companion-in-arms, and her politicians as an earnest Republican who could and would be a tower of strength in every campaign. Under these circumstances he did not have to wait for business or political preferment. Soon after opening his office he was appointed city solicitor, and in 1874 he was elected to the Legislature from Ward Three. Two years later he was chosen Senator from the Manchester District, and in the same year was sent to the Constitutional Convention.

In all these positions he won reputation and friends to such an extent that in 1877 he was nominated for Congress withont substantial opposition, and elected by a large majority. At the expiration of his first term he was unanimously renominated, and after an exciting campaign was re-elected by a majority of eight hundred and forty-nine over the combined Democratic and Greenback vote. Two years after- wards it became a question whether he should be returned. The traditions and prejudices of the dis- triet were strongly again-t a third term. Four other able and deserving men were ambitious to succeed him, and he declined to push for the nomination, but accepted a call to take the stump in Maine, leaving it for his friends to determine whether his name should be used in the convention. To one of these, who

wrote him that he ought to return from Maine and attend to his canvass, he replied: "I am assured that I can be of considerable service here, and, as it is of vastly more importance that the cause shall triumph in this State next Monday than that I shall be re- nominated, I must remain and trust to you and others to decide whether it is best to send me back to Wash- ington. Whatever that decision may be, I shall be satisfied." The convention met just after the disas- trous defeat of the party in Maine, and when it appeared that there was only a desperate chance for its nominee to be elected. It decided that if any man could succeed he could, and a few days after he took the stump. Manchester, which was counted a doubtful city when the convention assembled, gave him more than eight hundred majority, and the rest of the district swelled this to fourteen hundred and eighty.

In Congress, Mr. Briggs was from the first a faithful, hard-working member, always in his seat, tireless in serving his constituents, especially the veteran sol- diers, and conscientiously devoted to the discharge of all his duties. In the Forty-fifth Congress he was a member of the committee on patents; in the Forty- sixth, of the committee on naval affairs; and in the Forty-seventh, chairman of the committee on expen- ditures in the War Department, and a member of the judiciary and reform in the civil service. No member of the House commanded a more perfect confidence in his associates, and few, if any, were able to accomplish so much. He succeeded at Wash- ington as he did at home, by quiet, patient, persistent work, and was satisfied with results rather than with brilliant outbursts and noisy exhibitions of his rhet- orical powers.

Mr. Briggs married Roxana Smith, the daughter of Obadiah and Eliza M. Smith, of New Hampton, and has had three children, all of whom are living. The oldest, a son, was educated at West Point, and served four years in the army, when he resigned, and is now engaged in the manufacturing business in Trenton, N. J. Two daughters reside with their parents in Manchester.

In concluding this brief sketch, written without the knowledge of its subject, the author feels that it will fail to satisfy those who have known Mr. Briggs inti- mately without some direct reference to the qualities which characterize him in all positions in life. Prom- inent among these are his perfect fidelity, industry, steady courage and thoroughness. It is natural for him to be true, impossible for him to be false. He is ambitious, and few prize more highly the honors they win; but he is incapable of the duplicity, demagogy and all the cheap artifices by which some men suc- veed. Ilis faithfulness to his convictions does not count cost or query about consequences to himself. He is as stanch and true a friend as ever lived, and he never cheats those whom he dislikes or despises. His generosity and devotion to his family are far-

David Gross

THE BENCH AND BAR.

reaching and untiring. He is a public-spirited citi- zen, a kind neighbor and a pleasant companion. He is always approachable, patient and considerate. In every cause in which he enlists he is a hard worker and a free giver. He knows how to wait and how to look beyond temporary reverses to the complete tri- umph which he always believes will crown and estab- lish the right. He never frets and never rests until the result is secure. His private life is without a stain, and the fierce light of the hottest campaign has disclosed no shadow of a blot upon his public record. His sympathies are with the people, and his head and hands are controlled by his heart. These qualities have made James F. Briggs what he is. They have supplied the place of early advantages, influential friends and fortune. They have carried him from the woolen-mill, working for a few cents a day, to the national House of Representatives, commissioned to speak and act for the largest and richest district in New Hampshire. They made him strong at the bar, popular at the polls and influential in Congress.

DAVID CROSS, one of the leading lawyers at the Hillsborough County bar, was born. in Weare, N. H., July 5, 1817. His father, David Cross, son of Abial Cross, was born in Salem, N. H., June 19, 1772, and died in Weare, March 7, 1856. His father was a farmer, a man of great energy, remarkably indus- trious and upright, kind and hospitable, and held in high esteem by all who knew him.

His mother was Olive Kimball, daughter of Thomas Kimball and Olive Lovejoy Kimball, of Pembroke; was born June 19, 1782, and died April 3, 1871. He fitted for college at Hopkinton and Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1841. He read law in the office of Willard Raymond, in Troy, N. Y., at the Harvard Law School, and office of Hon. Daniel Clark, in Manchester, and was admitted to the bar in December, 1844, and has continued in active practice to the present time.

In 1856 he married Anna Quackenbush Eastman, a daughter of Hon. Ira Allen Eastman, who was a member of Congress from this State for four years and one of the judges of the Supreme Court for fifteen years, and one of the most distinguished lawyers of the State. He died in Manchester in 1881. Her mother, a daughter of John N. Quackenbush, of Albany, N. Y., is living in Manchester.

Of the five children of Mr. and Mrs. Cross, two died in infancy. Clarence Eastman Cross died Janu- ary 11, 1881, he being within eleven days of twenty-one years of age. He was a member of the junior class in Dartmouth College. The death of Clarence was a terrible grief to his parents and a disappointment of many cherished plans. He seemed to have inherited from his father and grandfather a taste and an ability for the law, and his character and talent gave high hopes of success. He seems abundantly qualified to assist his father in professional labor and to achieve for himself an honorable position. Of the two sur-

viving children, Allen Eastman Cross, born Decem- ber 30, 1864, is now a member of the senior class in Amherst College; Edward Winslow Cross was born July 21, 1875.

Judge Cross has always manifested an interest in all matters tending to advance the moral and mate- rial interests of his city and the State.

In 1852 and 1853 he was city solicitor. In 1848, 1849, 1856, 1876 and 1877 he was a member of the Legislature from Manchester.

In 1856 he was appointed judge of Probate for Hillsborough County, which office he held until 1874. He was United States pension agent from 1865 to 1872. During all the time he was judge of Probate and pension agent he continued in the active practice of law at Manchester,-the business of the pension agency being done by clerks under his supervision and direction. The labor in his profession from 1865 to 1872, with his other business, was severe ; he, how- ever, always worked with great cheerfulness, and filled every position creditably and honorably.

Judge Cross was one of the directors, from 1855 to 1865, of the Merrimack River State Bank, and has been one of the directors and vice-president of the First National Bank since its organization, in 1865. He has also, since 1861, been one of the trustees of the Merrimack River Savings-Bank. He is an active member of the Franklin Street Congregational Church. He has been associated as partner in the practice of law with Elijah Miller Topliff, Henry E. Burnham, Ira A. Eastman, and at the present time with D. Arthur Taggart. No office in the State probably for the last thirty-five years has had so many law students as that of Judge Cross.

That Judge Cross has been eminently successful in his chosen profession the records of the courts of New Hampshire and the testimony of his cotemporaries in practice abundantly prove. He came to the bar of Hillsborough County at a time when such men as Pierce, Perley, Daniel Clark, George Y. Sawyer and George W. Morrison were in the full tide of successful practice, constituting a galaxy that for ability and bril- liancy has seldom been seen at the same time in prac- tice before the courts of a single county or State. While not so richly gifted with oratorical powers as some of these men, he at once took a position, and has since maintained a reputation not inferior to theirs as a sound lawyer and a safe and prudent counselor.

The secret of Judge Cross' success seems to be largely due to causes over which he had no control ; he had the rare good fortune to be endowed naturally with strong and active mental powers, keen moral perception and a sound constitution. Careful disci- pline of these gifts and faculties has produced in him a broad and well-balanced mind, practical good sense and judgment, an even and cheerful temper, warm and deep sympathies, a cordial and engaging manner, a modest and unselfish disposition, a sturdy honesty

HISTORY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

that temptation assails in vain, and a capacity and love for the often laborious work and duties of his profession which make all burdens light and labor pleasant.

Judge Cross enters into the cause of his client with zeal and prosecutes it with energy, but never forgets the principles of justice, and is never unmindful of the rights of others, seeking in all his acts to aid the court and jury to reach just conclusions upon the law and evidence. By his candor and fairness in con- ducting the numerous causes before the courts he has won the confidence alike of court and jury, which fact has deservedly contributed largely to his success, and at the same time gained for him the warmest personal regard of his brethren at the bar. To the large number of younger men who in forty years have made Judge Cross's office a school in which to pre- pare themselves for the duties of professional life he has been more than an instructor. By his uniform courtesy, his upright, honorable conduct, fairness and unswerving rectitude, he has taught them not only the principles of law, but the principles that underlie high and manly character as well.

In the full vigor of his professional life, with a large and successful business, rich in the confidence and regard of his professional brethren and fellow-citizens in every walk of life, he seems to have reached the full fruition of his labors, and to be in the enjoyment of the pleasure that an honorable and unselfish career confers upon any man.

LUCIEN B. CLOUGH was graduated at Dartmouth College with the class of 1850.

He commenced his legal study with Messrs. Morri- son & Fitch, of Manchester, in 1850, and afterwards pursued it with Raymond & King, of Troy, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar in Albany, N. Y., upon examination, in 1851.

In 1-53 he returned to New Hampshire and, after being admitted in this State, opened an office in Manchester.

In 1874 he was appointed judge of Probate for the county of Hillsborough, which office he held about two years.

In 1678, David F. Clark, Esq., who studied his profession with Mr. Clough, became associated with him as junior partner, under the style of Clough & Clark, which firm is still in practice.

CYRIS A. SULLOWAY, son of Greeley and Betsey 1. Sulloway, was born in Grafton, N. H., June 8, 1539. His boyhood was passed in his native town, where his opportunities for securing an education were very limited. He, however, improved such ad- vantages as were afforded by the common schools, and subsequently attended the academies at Canaan, An- dover, Franklin, and Colby Academy, at New Lon- don, N. H.

was admitted to the bar at Plymouth, in November, 1863, and soon after located in Manchester, forming a copartnership for the practice of law with Samuel D. Lord, under the firm-name of Lord & Sulloway. This partnership continued until September, 1873, when Mr. Sulloway associated with him Elijah M. Topliff, the firm being Sulloway & Topliff. Dennis F. O'Con- nor subsequently became a member of the firm, it now being Sulloway, Topliff & O'Connor.

Mr. Sulloway was a member of the Legislature in 1872 and 1873, in the former year being chairman of the committee on elections, and in the latter chair- man of the judiciary committee of the House. He was also deputy collector of internal revenue from 1873 to 1878. In 1878 he was opposed to the con- traction of the currency, and in that year was the Greenback candidate for Congress. He was a mem- ber of the Republican party down to 1880. In that year he cast his vote for Hancock, and in 1884 for President Cleveland.

May 31, 1864, he united in marriage with Helen M., daughter of Jonathan W. Fifield and Theodorah (Dickinson) Fifield, of Franklin, and their family consists of one daughter,-Belle H., born July 31, 1868.

Mr. Sulloway, upon his admission to the bar, at once displayed such energy, ability and adaptation to his profession that he soon surrounded himself with a large clientage, and rapidly rose to prominence.

To great keenness, penetration and power of ana- lysis he adds fluency, pungency and force in the pres- entation of a cause to a jury, and as an advocate, he espouses his causes fearlessly and leaves nothing undone, in the line of honorable warfare, to win suc- cess.

His prominence in the trial of the most important causes in his own county, and his constantly widening field of practice, now embracing a majority of the counties in the State, are conclusive proofs that his legal fame rests upon a solid and enduring basis.

HON. HENRY E. BURNHAM, son of Henry L. and Maria A. Burnham, was born in Dunbarton, N. H., November 8, 1844. He graduated at Dartmouth Col- lege in 1865, and was admitted to the Merrimack County bar in 1868. He began the practice of the law in Manchester, N. H., in September of same year. Hle was appointed judge of Probate for Hillsborough County July 25, 1876, and resigned June 3, 1879.

CHARLES HENRY BARTLETT was born in Sunapee, N. H., October 15, 1833. He is the fourth son of John and Sarah J. (Sanborn) Bartlett, and is a lineal descendant, in the eighth generation, of Richard Bar- tlett, who came from England to Newbury, Mass., in the ship "Mary and John," in 1634.

The original orthography of the name was Bartte- lot, which is still preserved by the family in Eng- land, whose ancestral home in Stopham, Sussex County, has remained in possession of the family for

Having decided upon the legal profession as his life- work, he began the study of the law, in 1861, in the office of Pike & Barnard, at Franklin, N. H. He ! nearly a thousand years, and the present occupant,

THE BENCH AND BAR.

Hon. Walter B. Barttelot, is the member of Parlia- ment from that county.

In the same ancestral line is found the name of Hon. Josiah Bartlett, who, as a delegate in the Con- tinental Congress from New Hampshire, was the first man to vote " yes " on the passage of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, and the second to affix his signature thereto. All the Bartletts whose names appear in the annals of New Hampshire trace their lineage to the same ancestry.

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History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Part 8

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