History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 138

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1714

USA > New Hampshire > Strafford County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 138
USA > New Hampshire > Rockingham County > History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 138

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Young is a quiet, unostentatious man, of ster- ling integrity and honest purpose, never stooping to trickery or deceit to advance his interests, but ob- serving strictly the golden rule in his intercourse with his fellow-men. He is a man of whom it may be said, "he dares to do right." Would there were more such men !

Mrs. Young comes of an old and respectable family. The Gilcreasts came originally from Dracut, Mass. Iler father, David G., was a blacksmith and farmer. He continued to work at his trade until about fifty years of age, when he gave up blacksmithing, and devoted himself exelusively to farming. Mrs. Young was educated at Pinkerton Academy, at Derry. They have no children, but they have by their harmoni- ous and united efforts succeeded in surrounding themselves in their old age with all the comforts of a pleasant home, and have a sufficiency of this world's goods to insure them a comfortable and independent old age.

SAMUEL MANTER.

Charles & young

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HISTORY

STRAFFORD COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

CHAPTER LXXXVII.'

GEOGRAPHICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE.

STRAFFORD COUNTY lies in the southeastern part of the State, and is bounded as follows: on the north by Carroll County, on the east by York Co., Me., on the south by Rockingham County, and on the west by Rockingham and Belknap Counties.

The surface of the southern part of the county is generally level and the soil fertile, while the northern towns are rugged and better adapted to grazing. The county is watered by the Lamprey, Bellamy, Cocheco, Isinglass, and Salmon Falls Rivers, which furnish an abundance of water-power.

Organization of the County .- Strafford County was organized by an act of the Colonial Legislature, passed March 19, 1771, and embraced in addition to its present territory the present counties of Belknap and Carroll. Conway, from Grafton County, was annexed to Strafford in 1778. The county retained its original territory until Dee. 23, 1840, when Belknap and Carroll were set off, the former taking eight towns and the latter fourteen. The county consists of thirteen civil subdivisions, as follows : Barrington, Dover, Durham, Farmington, Lee, Madbury, Mid- dleton, Milton, New Durham, Rochester, Rollins- ford, Somersworth, and Strafford.

CHAPTER LXXXVIII.2

CIVIL LIST.

JUSTICES OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

John Wentworth, 1773-73; George Frost, 1773-03; Otis Baker, 1773- 85; Jolın PInmer, 1773-96; Mows Carr, 1776-54; Ebenezer Smith, 1784-87; Thomas Cogswell, 1784-1810; Ebenezer Thomson, 1788-93; Joseph Pierce, 1793-94; Samuel Hale, 1794-1813; Daniel Beede, 1795-99: Ebenezer Thompson, 1706-1802; Nathaniel Hoitt, 1796- 1813; Aaron Wingate, 1803-13; William Badger, 1816-20; Richard Dame, 1×17-19; Valentine Smith, 1819-20; Samuel Quarles, 1820; Henry Y. Simpson, 1833-41; Ilenry B. Rust, 1833-38; Ezekiel Hurd, 183%; Hiram R. Roberts, 1840-53; George L. Whitehouse, 1841-53; James 11. Edgerly, 1853-55.

REGISTERS.

Thomas W. Waldron, 1773-85; John Smith (3d), 1785-91 ; William Smith, 1791-93; John P. Gilman, 1793-1803; J. C. March, 1803-11 ; Domin- icus Ifanscom, 1811-16; Moses L. Neal, 1816-29; Josephi Cross, 1829- 33; George L. Whitehouse, 1833-39; Thomas T. Edgerly, 1839-41; J. B. Edgerly, 1841-43; Charles Young, 1843-45; S. Varney, 1845-51; Charles Young, 1850-51; Elijah Wadleigh, 1851-55; Andrew H. Young, 1855-59; D. W. Parshiley, 1859-63; Jolin S. Ilayes, 1863-68 ; N. Yeaton, 1868-72; E. H. Twombly, 1872-78; Joseph A. Jackson, 1878-79; John S. Tompkins, 1879.

CLERKS OF THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

Ebenezer Thompson, 1773-88; Benjamin Thompson, 1788-1814; Daniel Waldron, 1814-18; Andrew Pierce, 1818-23; Francis Cogswell, 1833- 41 ; John I1. Smith, 1841-53; Reuben Hayes, Jr., 1853-57; John R. Varney, 1857-66; George H. Niebuhr, 1866; Daniel Hall, 1866-75; James M. Folsom, 1875-76; George E. Durgin, 1876.

SHERIFFS.

Theophilus Dame, 1773-1800; James Carr, 1800-10; Daniel Barker, 1810 -20; William Badger, 1820-30; John Chadwick, 1830-35; Benning W. Jeoness, 1$35-40 ; Ezekiel Hurd, 1840-45 ; G. W. Iloitt, 1845-50 ; George McDaniel, 1850-56; George W. Brasbridge, 1855-56; Na- thaniel Wiggin, 1856-61 ; John Legro, 1861-66; Luther Hayes, 1866 -71; Joseph Jones, 1871-75; John W. Jowell, 1875-76; Stephen S. Chick, 1876-79; John Greenfield, 1879.

SOLICITORS.

William K. Atkinson, 1789-1803; Stephen Moody, 1804-19; Lyman B. Walker, 1819-34; W. A. Marston, 1834-35; Warren Lovell, 1835-41 ; Charles W. Woodman, 1841-46; Samuel Clark, 1846 -- 5; Charles Doc, 1855-57; Wolcott Hamlin, 1857-12; Louis Bell, 1862; Joshua G. Hall, 1863-75; Thomas J. Smith, 1873-76 ; Charles D. Shackford, 1876-81 ; William R. Burleigh, 1881.

CLERKS OF THE SUPREME COURT.

George King, 1774-80; Samuel Sherburne, 1780-81; Nathaniel Adams, 1781-1817; Daniel Waldron, 1817-21; Andrew Pierce, 1821-34 ; Francis Cogswell, 1834-35. Same as clerks of Court of Common Pleas.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

BENCHI AND BAR.3

ONE of the earliest lawyers in Strafford County was JOHN WENTWORTH, JR., a native of Somers- worth, and second son of Hon. John Wentworth. He was born July 17, 1745. He was a graduate of

1 For military history of Strafford County see chapter iii., and for history of railroads, chapter vi. Rockingham County.

2 See chupter ii., History of Rockingham County.

3 The biographical notices in this chapter, except those of John P. Hale, Daniel M. Christie, Nathaniel Wells, John R. Varney, George W. Burleigh, John IT. White, and W. P. Copeland, aro by Governor Charles 11. Bell.

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HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

Harvard College in 1768; studied the profession of the law with Judge William Parker, of Portsmouth, and settled in practice in Dover in 1771. In 1773, on the organization of Strafford County, he was ap- pointed register of probate, and held the office as long as he lived. He was early known as a zealous Whig. In 1774 he was one of the town committee of correspondence, and in 1777-78 was a member of the State Committee of Safety. In December, 1776, he took his seat as a representative in the Legislature, and was retained in the office until 1781; from that time to December, 1783, he served in the Executive Council, and from June, 1784, to June, 1786, in the State Senate. In March, 1778, he was chosen dele- gate to the Continental Congress, and sat therein the greater part of the ensuing summer. On the 8th of August in that year he affixed his signature to the Articles of Confederation. He resigned his place on account of delicate health. and though he was twice re-elected to Congress, he did not again take his seat. He was a man of solid talents, and in his profession was a peace-maker. He always tried to prevent liti- gation and to bring parties who were at variance to an amicable adjustment of their differences. In this he was frequently successful, and saved money to others, though he gained little himself. But he had no desire for much property. He was upright and benevolent. With such a character it is not sur- prising that he was so constantly intrusted with im- portant public functions. He died of consumption, Jan. 10, 1787.

JONATHAN RAWSON, son of Rev. Grindall Raw- son, was born in Yarmouth, Mass., in 1759. In the Revolutionary army he held some subordinate posi- tion, and afterwards studied law with Peter Greene, E-q., at Concord, and began to practice first at Not- tingham, but in 1785 removed to Dover. He pos- sessed good talents and ready wit, and acquired some professional business, but had no great fondness for the law, preferring to read poetry and fiction. While he lived at Nottingham he delivered an oration .in commemoration of the capture of Burgoyne and his army, which was never printed. His taste for mili- tary matters was marked. He was an aide to Presi- dent Sullivan, and in 1793 published a work entitled "A Compendium of Military Duty" in an Svo vol- ume. He died in Dover at the age of thirty-five years.

HENRY MELLEN, a son of Rev. John Mellen, and a brother of Chief Justice Mellen, of Maine, was born in Stirling, Mass., Oct. 24, 1757. He was brought up on a farm, but his native taste for study led him, at the age of twenty-two, to prepare bimself for college, and he received his degree at Harvard in 1784. Ilis legal studies were carried on under the eye of Peter Greene, Esq., of Concord, and in the autumn of 1786 he established himself as a practitioner in Dover. He built up an excellent professional business, though he excelled as a counselor rather than as an advocate. 1

But his literary taste was predominant. In 1798 he delivered an oration before the Freemasons, which was published. His facility for witty and ready versification gained him much applause, and his ser- vices in that field were much in request. One of the best of his poetical effusions, prepared for some fes- tive political gathering, was entitled " The Embargo," and was issued on a broad sheet, with a picture of a turtle and the motto, "I'm retiring within myself." He was the wit and poet of the Federal party, as Moses L. Neal, Esq., was of the Republicans. Mr. Mellen was of a social disposition, and was a promi- nent member of the Masonic fraternity, whose mect- ings in his time partook more of a convivial character than at present. He died of a paralytic attack July 31, 1809.

WILLIAM KING ATKINSON was a son of William King, of Portsmouth, where he was born in 1764. He had his name changed to Atkinson by act of the Legislature, that being the condition of a devise to him by an uncle of a valuable estate. He graduated at Harvard College in 1783, and entered the office of Judge John Pickering, of Portsmouth, as a law student. In 1786 he opened an office in Berwick, Me., and the next year removed to Dover. In 1788 he received the appointment of register of probate, and retained the office more than thirty years. In 1789 he was commissioned solicitor of Stratford County. IIe en- joyed for many years a very large and lucrative law practice. In 1791 he delivered an address on the Fourth of July, which was published. In 1803 he was appointed a justice of the Superior Court, but, after holding the office about two years, he resigned it upon the ground of the inadequacy of the salary. In 1807 the Governor and Council conferred upon him the office of attorney-general, which he held until 1812.

Judge Atkinson died in Dover, September, 1820. He had fallen in his later years into lax and irregular habits, but by nature, and in early life, he was well qualified for his profession. He was of large stature and good looks, and possessed a superior share of ability ; moreover, he was industrious, attentive to business, and had the capacity to accomplish a good deal of work. He argued causes with force, and had an unusual amount of professional learning.

CHARLES CLAPHAM was English by birth, and is said to have served as a midshipman on board a mast- ship. He received his legal instruction in the office of Jonathan Rawson, Esq., in Dover, and was ad- mitted to practice in 1788, choosing Dover as his resi- dence. He had previously taken a wife. It is prob- able that he formed a professional connection with Mr. Rawson, as in 1789 they were elected together as attorneys of the town. He probably lived in Dover less than ten years, and is said to have re-entered the naval service, and to have died an officer of a man- of-war.

DAVID COPP, JR., was a son of David Copp, of

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Wakefield, and was born about 1770. IIe was edu- cated at Phillips' Exeter Academy, and received his law tuition in the office of Hon. W. K. Atkinson, of Dover, in which place he lived from about 1797 to 1804. He is said to have emigrated subsequently to New Orleaas, where he assumed another name, and afterwards died.

DANIEL MESERVE DURELL was a son of Nicholas Durell, of Lee, and was there born July 20, 1769. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College, in the class of 1794, and after reading law with Henry Mellen, Esq., established himself in Dover in 1797. Hle was a mem- ber of Congress from 1807 to 1809, and represented Dover in the State Legislature in 1816, in which year he received the commission of chief justice of the Cir- cuit Court of Common Pleas, which he held until 1821, and then resumed his legal practice. He also held the post of district attorney of the United States for New Hampshire from 1830 to 1834. Ilis death occurred at Dover, April 29, 1841.

OLIVER CROSBY was born at Belleriea, Mass., March 17, 1769; his father bore the same name. He graduated from Harvard College in 1795, and went through his course of professional study under Judge William K. Atkinson's direction. He entered upon the practice of the law in Dover about 1798, and con- tinued there near a quarter of a century. He did a handsome business in collections, etc., but could not be called eminent as a lawyer. lle and Judge At- kinson being interested in lands in the new town of Atkinson, in Maine, he went there to live about the year 1821, and practically gave up his profession. He became the owner of large quantities of lands in that vicinity, and died in Atkinson July 30, 1851, much respected for his integrity and usefulness.

SAMUEL TEBBETS was the son of Maj. Ebenezer Tebbets, of Rochester, and was born in 1780. After passing through the preparatory studies at Phillips' Exeter Academy, he entered Ilarvard College in 1795, and graduated in course. In 1802 he began as an attorney to practice in Dover, but was destined to a short life. He died, unmarried, of consumption, in 1810.

Henry Mellen, in one of his poems, alluded to bim as " courteous and neat as a newly-made glove."

MOSES HODGDON, a native of Dover, was a son of Shadrach Hodgdon. He entered Harvard College and nearly completed his course there, but never re- ceived his degree. Judge W. K. Atkinson was his law tutor, and he commenced practice in Dover not far from the year 1800. In 1801 he delivered a Fourth of July oration there, which was printed. For a short time after this he was in Exeter, but re- sumed his practice in Dover by 1808, and ever after remained in that place.

Ile was a counselor of no little learning, and of sense and sound judgment, but made no show in court. He was one of the first lawyers in this State to contribute to the literature of his profession. In

1806 he published a stout Svo volume, with the title " The Complete Justice of the Peace, containing Ex- tracts from Burns' 'Justice' and other Justiciary Pro- ductions," etc. The work was anonymous, but being well understood to be the production of a careful, painstaking lawyer, was in general use as a manual for professional purposes, until it was superseded by Chief Justice Richardson's " Justice."

Mr. Hodgdon is described as a very upright man, and a cautious and safe adviser. He was very nice and precise in his ways, being also a bachelor, and a little sensitive sometimes on that subject. He died Oct. 9, 1840, in Dover.

MOSES LEAVITT NEAL, a native of Hampton in 1767, was a son of John Neal. After his graduation from IIarvard College, in 1785, he taught schools and academies for some years, then read law with IIon. John Prentice, of Londonderry, and in 1793 com- menced practice in that town. Three years after he went to Rochester, where he stayed about ten years, and then, about 1806, took up his residence in Dover. There he taught a select school for two or three years. In 1809 he was elected clerk of the New Hampshire Ilouse of Representatives, and was annually re-elected to the office until 1828, with the exception of two years during the war of 1812. In 1816 he was ap- pointed by the court register of deeds for the county of Strafford, and continued to hold the position by successive elections till his death, Nov. 25, 182

Mr. Neal was no advocate, and could have done but a moderate share of business in his profession. He was sometimes harassed by creditors. Like most men who have depended chiefly upon political office for support, he found it a precarious resource, which con- duced neither to his happiness nor to his self-respect.

He had a ready talent of versification, which he employed much to the amusement of his own political party, and sometimes to the indignation of his oppo- nents. He was a zealous Republican or Democrat, and Henry Mellen was as earnest a Federalist, and they were the political champions of their respective parties in those times of strong political feeling. Neal dealt in personalities far more than Mellen, and consequently made enemies at a time of life when friends were most needed.

CHARLES WOODMAN, son of Rev. Joseph Wood- man, was born at Sanbornton, Jan. 9, 1792. At the age of five years he lost his right hand by an accident. In 1813 he graduated from Dartmouth College. Study- ing law with his brother, J. HI. Woodman, Esq., and with Hon. Christopher Gove, he opened an office in Dover, in 1816. He was a representative in the Leg- islature in 1820, 1821, and 1822, and in the last of these years was speaker. The same year he was a candidate for Congress, with every probability of be- ing elected had not death intervened. Ile died Oct. 30, 1822.

He was an industrious, persevering lawyer, shrewd, and acquainted with human nature. He had social,

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HISTORY OF STRAFFORD COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

generous qualities also, which secured him a wide circle of friends and admirers. His early decease was regarded as a serious calamity to the community.

ASA FREEMAN was born at Hanover, Jan. 9, 1788, and was a son of Hon. Jonathan Freeman. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1810, and then pursued the study of the law with his brother, Peyton R. Freeman, Esq., of Portsmouth, and with Isaac Lyman, Esq., of York, Me., and at first began practice in the latter place. Soon, however, he .changed his domicile to Dover, and there resided from 1818 to the time of his decease, Dec. 8, 1867. He was a member of the New Hampshire Constitu- tional Convention of 1850, a United States commis- sioner by appointment of Judge Story, and in 1862 received the position of register of probate, which he held so long as he lived. He was a lawyer of highly respectable talents, and a worthy and estimable gen- tleman of the old school.

DANIEL M. CHRISTIE,1 LL.D .- Daniel Miltimore Christie was born in Antrim, N. H., Oct. 15, 1790, of that Scotch-Irish race whose sturdy virtues have so distinguished that noble old town, and have been illustrated in the character and achievements of the men and women of southern New Hampshire. IIe labored on a farm in his earlier years, and without the aid of wealth or powerful friends, after overcoming the obstacles usually encountered by farmers' sons in that early day, he entered Dartmouth College in 1811, and was graduated there in 1815, at the head of a class of great distinction, of which he was the last surviving member.

He studied law in the office of James Walker, of Peterborough, three years, and commenced practice in York, Me. At York and South Berwick he prac- ticed till 1823, when he removed to Dover, N. HI., where he ever after resided.

Mr. Christie entered upon professional life with great zeal and energy, and rapidly rose in the estima- tion of the bench, the bar, and the public. He was a contemporary of Jeremiah Mason, Jeremiah Smith, Daniel Webster, Ichabod Bartlett, and George Sul- livan, being about twenty-five years the junior of Smith and Mason, and but few years younger than the others. In the early years of his professional life those great men not infrequently appeared in the trial of causes in Strafford County, and the old court- house still stands in Dover which witnessed the stir- ring struggles of these intellectual gladiators.

With such high examples before him and such high rivalries and contentions to stimulate him, he " must," in the language of Mr. Webster, "have been unin- telligent indeed not to have learned something from the constant displays of that power which he had so much occasion to see and to feel." That he profited much from this intercourse and contention of kin-

dred minds there is abundant evidence in his rapid and sure ascent to a high professional eminence. There are many proofs of the high respect with which all these great men, whose marvelous powers gave dignity and lustre to the bar of New Hampshire in its golden age, regarded him and his attainments. Mr. Christie continued in the full practice of the law in Dover for about fifty years, engaged in nearly every important case tried in the county up to the year 1870, many years after the great luminaries of the law-the contemporaries of his early life-had sunk below the horizon. Mr. Christie died Dec. 8, 1876, with faculties entirely unimpaired, and in the full enjoyment of the respect and veneration of the entire community. He had been successful in every respect, and acquired fame and an ample fortune. For many years before his death he was the undis- puted leader of the New Hampshire bar, and his widely-known and universally-acknowledged ability, integrity, and dignity of character conferred honor upon the State and city of his residence.

He had but little relish for public life and never sought political office, although his political princi- ples and convictions were of the most decided char- acter, and he took a deep interest in all great public questions. He was, however, elected to the Legisla- ture as early as 1826, and during the next forty years he was returned to that body eleven times from the town and city of Dover. This was about the full ex- tent of his holding public office. But since he never refused the summons of the public to any duty, and was more than once a candidate for high station, it must be said that his exclusion from the higher walk of official life was mainly due to his want of accord during nearly his whole life with the political senti- ments which controlled the State in which he lived. Though many regrets have been expressed that the doors of preferment were thus closed upon a man so highly fitted for public service, it is certain that this exclusion from the councils of the nation cost Mr. Christie no pangs of regret, and that never for one moment did it occur to him to secure that recognition which his great abilities merited by any subserviency to sentiments and methods which his reason and con- science did not accept. It was his constant aim, never forgotten, and his rule, never violated, to preserve his personal rectitude as the richest treasure any man can possess.

Mr. Christie's faculties were unfolded and his dis- tinetion gained by unremitting diligence and labor. He did not reach his ultimate greatness as some men of phenomenal genius do, at a bound, but his was a steady growth and laborious ascent to the table-lands of the law. Through a long series of arduous ex- ertions he "ever great and greater grew," until the leadership in the front rank of his profession was ac- corded to him by the universal voice of the bench and bar in New Hampshire. He was undoubtedly a man of extraordinary endowments, but these had been

1 Condensed from an address delivered by Col. Daniel Hall before the Supreme Court in Strafford County, April 24, 1877.

Daniel M. Christer.

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wonderfully cultivated, improved, and invigorated by the industry of a long life given to the law, with entire singleness of heart and purpose.

The degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon Mr. Christie by his Alma Mater in 1857, and his ac- knowledged eminence as a jurist is abundantly at- tested by the offer on two occasions of the chief jus- ticeship of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire, a court which can boast that a Smith, a Richardson, a Parker, and a Perley have occupied its highest seat. But he declined judicial station, although none can doubt that he would have filled and adorned it with consummate learning, wisdom. and integrity.

Any sketch, however brief, of Mr. Christie's char- acter would be imperfeet and unjust to his memory which should omit to call attention to the high ethical tone of his professional life. He was the very em- bodiment of a high professional morality. He had a profound reverence for the law, and a conscientious fidelity to his client and his cause. He had also a great respect and deference for the bench, and was above the meanness of attempting to influence courts or juries improperly, or to secure approval of his views by any other means than the soundness of his argument and the justice of his cause. No man ever more serupnlously kept the oath, and every part of it, which an attorney takes when he assumes the duties of his office.

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History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 138

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis Number of Pages: 1714

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis
Number of Pages: 1714