History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 8

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 8
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 8

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Judge Woodbury, in the various public positions he was so constantly called to fill, showed himself abundantly capable for the discharge of their duties. As a legislator he was painstaking and industrious, as a judge studious and indefatigable in his labors, and as a cabinet minister comprehensive and yet exact in his knowledge of details. His life was one of uninterrupted work, and his death at the age of sixty-one deprived the country of an upright judge and an eminent public man. Of his children, his only son is Charles Levi Woodbury, a prominent lawyer in practice in Boston, who retains the family mansion at Portsmouth. One daughter is the wife of Hon. Montgomery Blair, who was postmaster- general under President Lincoln, and another is the wife of Capt. Gustavus V. Fox, formerly of the United States navy, who rendered to the country such signal service by his practical knowledge as assistant secretary during the late war.

WILLIAM HENRY YOUNG HACKETT .- One of the last survivors of a school of lawyers who were at the bar when Jeremiah Mason and Daniel Webster ap- peared of counsel in important causes was William Henry Young Hackett, who, at the ripe age of seventy-eight, died at Portsmouth, Aug. 9, 1878, after a continuous practice of more than fifty-two years in duration. Mr. Hackett was born at Gilmanton, N. H., Sept. 24, 1800. Ilis ancestor was Capt. William Hackett, of Salisbury, Mass., probably the "Will Hackett" who had a grant in 1656, " touching Bel-

lemie's bank freshet" (now Dover). After receiving an education at Gilmanton Academy, Mr. Hackett studied law in his native town and at Sanbornton Square. In April, 1822, he came to Portsmonth, and entered the office of Ichabod Bartlett. IFe was ad- mitted to the bar in January, 1826, and soon acquired a good practice, which he steadily maintained up to the time of his decease. He tried many cases to the jury, was retained of counsel by corporations, and later in life was largely employed in the management of trust estates. He had an instinctive knowledge of how to apply legal principles, and a knowledge, too, of human nature. As a counselor, though he warmly espoused the cause of his client, he was prudent and inclined to discourage litigation. He had an excel- lent memory, and knew what had been decided in the New Hampshire courts and in those of the New Eng- land States generally ; but he is not to be termed a learned lawyer. Ile favored the extension of equity practice in New Hampshire, and he lived long enough to see some of his views in this regard adopted. In 1859 he declined a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court.

Portsmouth sent him repeatedly to the Legislature, where he rendered important service as chairman of the judiciary and on other committees. In 1861 he was chosen president of the Senate, of which body he had been assistant clerk in 1824 and clerk in 1828. He was eminently successful in the management of a bank. As early as 1827 he was made director of the Piscataqua Bank. When the Piscataqua Exchange Bank was organized in 1845 he became president, and held that office till 1863, when the bank became the First National Bank of Portsmouth, the presidency of which he assumed and held till his death. He was also president of the Piscataqua Savings-Bank, as well as a director in railroad and other corporations.

Mr. Hackett had some literary accomplishments, and excelled in writing brief biographies. A memoir of Andrew Halliburton, and a sketch of Charles W. Brewster, author of "Rambles about Portsmouth" (the latter being prefixed to the second series of that work), are from his pen. All his life long Mr. Hack- ett was public-spirited and devoted to the interests of the town. His name has thus been identified with the history of Portsmouth for more than half a cen- tury. A memoir of Mr. Hackett (written by his son Frank W.) was privately printed in 1879, and a copy sent to various libraries in New England.

HON. ALBERT RUYTER HATCH was born in Greenland on the 10th day of October, 1817. He entered Bowdoin College when quite young, and graduated in 1837. The late Governor John A. Andrew, of Massachusetts, was one of his classmates.

He immediately came to Portsmouth, and pursued the study of law with the late Ichabod Bartlett, who was then known all over the State as a great lawyer. Here MIr. Hatch, under the direct oversight of Col. Bartlett, saw a great deal of practice and hard work,

HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

and here he Jaid the foundation of those habits of industry and close attention to his chosen profession which for the past quarter of a century have made him one of the foremost lawyers of our State and a model practitioner.

In 1841 he was admitted to the bar, and was soon in active practice.

In 1847 and 1848 he was a member of the House of Representatives from Portsmouth, then a town, and in 1848 was appointed solicitor for the county of Rockingham, and also clerk of the United States Court for New Hampshire.

Mr. Hatch was in no sense a politician. He was a Democrat from principle, and could never yield his convictions of duty for the sake of policy or of tem- porary advantage. He preferred to be right rather than hold office. Had the Democratic party been in power in this State he would have been a Governor and a senator, but though his party was unable to bestow upon him the honors he deserved. it never ceased to respect and esteem him, and his advice and counsel were always heeded.

In 1864 he was a candidate for Presidential elector, and in 1868 he was a member of the Democratic National Convention.

In 1873 his extensive law practice, which had SAMUEL CUSHMAN was born in Hebron, Me., July 21, 1783. His father was Job Cushman, a descendant from Robert Cushman, who joined the Plymouth colony in 1612. After an academic education, he studied law under the tuition of John Holmes, of Al- ford, Me., and was admitted to the York County bar in 1807, and began practice of the law in Maine, where he was a postmaster during Madison's ad- ministration. In May, 1812, Mr. Cushman was mar- ried to Maria J., daughter of John Salter, of Ports- mouth, and in 1816 he removed to that place, where he resided up to the time of his death, May 22, 1851. He filled numerous municipal postions in Portsmouth be- tween the year 1824 and the time of his death. He was for five years county treasurer, and for two years a member of the Executive Council. He was a mem- steadily increased, required all his attention, and he resigned his position as clerk of the United States Court, having held it for twenty-five years. He then began to devote himself wholly to his profession, to which he was so firmly attached, but his friends urged him to accept again an election to the Legis- lature, and against his own judgment he was induced to yield to them, and that year he was a member of the House, and being again a member in 1874 he was elected Speaker, which position he filled under very trying circumstances to the general acceptance of all. Ile was again a member in 1875 and also in 1876. At the same time he was a member of the Board of Aldermen and of the High School Committee of this city, and taking a deep interest in city and school affairs he was scarcely ever absent from their meet- | ber of the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fitth Congresses ings. He was a hard worker everywhere he was placed. The various Masonic bodies of which he was a member also received a share of his time and attention, and he soon found himself overwhelmed under the accumulating burdens imposed upon him.

He was an active member of all the Masonic bod- ies, and to show the esteem in which he was held among them it is only necessary to say that he was elected and served as Commander of De Witt Clintou Commandery of Knights Templar for twenty-five successive years.

He was a director of the Portsmouth and Dover Railroad, the Portsmouth Bridge Company, and the Athenæum, and was held in great esteem by his asso- ciate directors. He was a vestryman and prominent member of the Episcopal Church of this city, and one of the trustees of the new Christ's Church, in the

erection of which he was greatly interested, and to which he gave much time.

In public life no man ever accused him of fraud, wrong, or dishonor. As a lawyer he was learned, ready, fortified at every point, quick to perceive and quick to apply, and of incomparable industry. He was ever true to his client, and no man employed him who did not receive the benefit of every faculty that he possessed as well as having every point in his case presented in the best shape.

As a scholar he was superior, and his knowledge of books and the best literature was remarkable. He had a large miscellaneous library of the choicest works, and his studious habits and retentive memory had made him familiar with its contents.

In social life he was a gentleman in the truest sense of the word. Dignified in his bearing, he may have appeared to those who did not know him well cold and indifferent, but to those who really knew him he was a delightful companion, a man to whom one could not fail to be attached, and from whom one always parted with reluctance. He had many friends, and those who could call him a friend had no need to go farther to find the truest friend that ever drew breath. He died March 5, 1882.

from New Hampshire, in the years 1835 to 1839, was postmaster under the Van Buren administration, and navy agent from 1845 to 1849. In March, 1850, he was appointed police justice of the city of Portsmouth, being the first magistrate under the new city charter. This office he held up to the date of his death. Mr. Cushman was at one time associated in the practice of the law with the late Charles B. Goodrich. He was conscientious in his profession. He discouraged litigation, and oftentimes filled the position of pacifi- cator rather than that of advocate. He was noted for his urbanity of manner, his kindness of heart, and his undeviating integrity. Of twelve children but two survive; one of these is Elizabeth S., widow of Hon. Samuel Tither, deceased, formerly of Sanburnton, and at one time United States Marshal for the District of New Hampshire.

BENCH .AND BAR.

The foregoing are sketches of lawyers who have been prominent in profession or political position. There were many of them of perhaps less celebrity as law- yers, but of whom we can only make mention, of them were R. Cutts Shannon, clerk of the Federal Courts from May 1, 1804, to 1814; Leverett Hinbbard, at one time judge, who died in 1793; Samuel Hale, Oliver Whipple, who at one time lived in Maine; George Pierce, who died after a short practice ; John Hale; Henry S. Langdon, afterwards a bank cashier ; George W. Prescott, clerk of the United States Courts from 1814 to March, 1817, and who died in 1817 ; Isaae Lyman, who also practiced in York ; John P. Lord, in practice from 1809 to 1819; Thomas L. Elwyne, who practiced but little from 1813 to 1816; James Smith, Jr., who lived in Portsmouth and Newington, and was more or less in practice from 1820 to 1869 ; Ertwich Evans; Hamp- den Cutts, who removed to Hanland, Vt .; Ichabod Bartlett Claggett, son of William Claggett, who gradu- ated at Dartmouth College, read law with Ichabod Bartlett, and died March 12, 1861; Horace Webster, son of Hon. Samuel Webster, of Barnstead, who gradu- ated at Dartmouth College, read law with Albert R. Hatch, and died Aug. 7, 1867, and John Scribner Jenness, son of Richard Jenness, who graduated at Harvard College, was a student in the office of Icha- bod Bartlett, practiced a few years in Portsmouth, removed to New York, and died in Portsmouth, Aug. 10, 1879.

ATKINSON.

Atkinson's only lawyer was JOHN KELLY. He was a native of the neighboring town of Plaistow, the son of Deacon Simeon Kelly, and was horn July 22, 1796. He was educated at Atkinson and Exeter Academies, and at Amherst College, where he gradu- ated in 1825. He began the practice of the law in Plaistow in 1829. In 1832 he took the charge of the Atkinson Academy, and retained it till 1838 ; thence he removed to Derry, and was principal of the Adams Female Academy for nearly four years. In 1841 he removed to Chester, and resumed the practice of his profession until 1845, when he returned to Atkinson, and there resided until his death, in January, 1877.

Mr. Kelly was a lawyer of good capacity, but had none of the enthusiasm for his profession that would have led him into the contests of the courts. He preferred teaching, and was a good deal employed, especially in later life, as a land surveyor, in which he greatly excelled. He was a genial man, fond of social intercourse, and possessed a fund of entertain- ing anecdotes. He was also passionately fond of music, and entered into the spirit of it with his whole soul. Honest and upright in all his dealings, he de- served and won the sincere respect and trust of the community.

CHESTER.

JOHN PORTER, a graduate of Dartmouth College in the class of 1787, practiced law iu Chester from 1790 to 1793, and then removed to Canada.

ARTHUR LIVERMORE was the second lawyer of Chester. He was the son of Judge Samuel Liver- more, and was born in Londonderry about the year 1766, came to Chester about 1793, and remained there not far from five years. He was a representative from Chester in the General Court in 1794 and 1795, and was appointed solicitor for the county of Rocking- ham in 1796. In the latter part of 1798 he was made a justice of the Superior Court, and about that time removed to Holderness, to which place his subsequent history belongs. He held other important offices, civil and judicial, and died July 1, 1853, at the age of eighty-seven.

Judge Livermore's mental endowments were of a high order, and must have been so regarded by his contemporaries to have placed him in the positions of trust and responsibility in which a large share of his active life was spent. And this is the more appa- rent from the fact that his manners were not of a popular character, and he took little pains to ingra- tiate himself with the people. Ile was a man of keen wit and quick temper, but he was honest, and en- deavored to discharge his official duties acceptably. He belonged to a family which long took a distin- guished part in public affairs in the State.

DANIEL FRENCH was born in Epping, Feb. 22, 1769, a son of Gould French, a farmer there. Ile received his education at Phillips' Exeter Academy, and after studying law with IIon. W. K. Atkinson commenced practice at Deerfield, but after two years removed to Chester, as successor to Arthur Livermore on his appointment to the bench. In June, 1808, he was appointed solicitor of the county, and in Feb- ruary, 1812, was commissioned attorney-general of the State, which office he resigned in 1815. He held the office of postmaster thirty-two years, from 1807 to 1839. In addition to his legal pursuits he took con- siderable interest in agriculture.

Mr. French was a man of talents and ample profes- sional learning, and manifested no small share of skill and tact in the management of his business. He was faithful to the interest of his clients, even to the extent, as was the fashion of his time, of being some- times pretty sharp to his adversaries. He was the father of a large and most respectable family of children.

AMOS KENT was born at Kent's Island, in Newbury, Mass., in October, 1774. He was fitted for college in part under the celebrated Master Moody, of Byfield Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in 1795. He read law with Hon. William Gordon, and was admitted to the bar in 1798. The next year he opened an office in Chester, where he continued to reside until his death in 1834.

Mr. Kent was gifted with a fine personal appearance and excellent powers of mind. He is said to have been a good counselor, but was not successful as au advocate. IFe was much fonder of active, ontdoor employments than of the practice of his profession. A born athlete, he was much given to rough, boister-

HISTORY OF ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

ous sports, shooting matches, etc. He had some ap- titude for political life, and was chosen to the State Senate in the years 1814 and 1815. But he gave much more time to his farm and to the promotion of agri- culture than was good for his law business or profit- able to his pocket.

SAMUEL BELL was the son of Hon. John Bell, of Londonderry, where he was born Feb. 9, 1770. He was employed upon his father's farm until the age of eighteen, and then commenced his classical studies. Afterwards he attended the academy at New Ipswich, under the tuition of Hon. John Hubbard. From Dartmouth College he received his bachelor's degree in 1793, and then pursued his law studies under the direction of Hon. Samuel Dana, of Amherst, whose daughter he subsequently married. He rose early to distinction in his profession.

In 1796 he began practice in Francestown, and in 1812 he removed to Chester, which afterwards was his home. A large part of his life be passed in public employment. In 1804 he became a representa- tive in the State Legislature, and the two following years was Speaker of the House. In 1807 he received the appointment of attorney-general of the State, but the salary attached to the office at that time was so inadequate that he declined it. In 1807 and 1808 he was a member of the State Senate, and both years president of that body. In 1816 he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court, and so continued till 1819, when he resigned the place to accept the office of Governor of the State, which he held by successive elections until 1823. So fully were the people satis- fied of his ability and integrity that on his fourth election to the gubernatorial chair he received in a vote of nearly twenty-four thousand all but about one thou- sand of the whole number of ballots cast. While he held the office of Governor, Bowdoin College conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Laws.

Upon quitting the office of Governor Mr. Bell was elected to the United States Senate for six years, and upon the expiration of that term re-elected for a like term. Upon leaving his seat in the Senate he retired from public life, and passed his remaining years upon his farm in Chester, where he died Dec. 23, 1850.

Mr. Bell was a man of good natural powers, culti-

lous integrity. The long-continued and honorable public positions conferred upon him are the best proof of the confidence reposed by his fellow-citizens in his honesty and capacity. He was a tall, erect, and slender man, of a naturally delicate constitution, which he fortified by exercise and temperance. His manners were dignified and impressive. His profes- sional learning was ample, and his judgment in pub- lic affairs was regarded as peculiarly sound. It was he to whom Mr. Webster, just before he delivered his celebrated reply to Hayne, applied to know if the sentiments which he proposed to enunciate in that speech were in accord with the views of his party at

the North. Senator Bell assured him that they were. "Then, by the blessing of God," replied Mr. Webster, " the country shall know my views of the Constitution before this day is over."

SAMUEL DANA BELL was the son of Hon. Samuel Bell, and was born Oct. 9, 1798. He graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1816, read law in the office of Hon. George Sullivan in Exeter, and com- menced practice in 1820. Hle lived in Chester from 1820 to 1830, and thence removed to Exeter, where he held the office of cashier of the Exeter Bank till 1836, and in 1839 he established himself in the grow- ing town of Manchester, and there remained until his decease, July 31, 1868.

While a resident in Chester he twice represented that town in the General Court, and in 1823 was ap- pointed solicitor for Rockingham County, which office he filled until 1828. In 1830 he was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the statutes of the State, and afterwards received a similar appointment in 1842, and again in 1867. He was commissioned a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1848, and justice of the Superior Court in 1849. IIe held the latter position till 1859, when he was elevated to the chief justiceship, which office he resigned in 1864. In 1854 he received from Dartmouth College the degree of Doctor of Laws.

Judge Bell possessed a sound understanding and unwearied patience and industry. Ile acquired not merely the learning of his profession in a degree rarely surpassed, but he made himself thoroughly conversant with every branch of useful knowledge. It was difficult to broach a subject of practical im- portance which he had not studied and had not at his tongue's end. It was a common remark of those who met with him that his information was inex- haustible.

He was notably instrumental in promoting educa- tion, good order, and good morals in Manchester, which he saw grow up from a village to a large and populous city. He was the professional counsel and adviser of the great companies that built up the place ; his recommendations were always heeded hy them, and were productive of much advantage.

Judge Bell was deeply interested in historical vated with diligence, and accompanied by scrupu- , studies, and contributed some valuable papers on the early persons and events of New Hampshire. He was a constant and stanch supporter of the New Hampshire Historical Society, of which he held the office of president, and collected much material for a work upon the history of the courts and bar of the province and State.

DAVID PILLSBURY, son of Benjamin Pillsbury, was born at Raymond, Feb. 17, 1802, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1827, studied law with IIon. Henry Hubbard and Hon. Samuel D. Bell, and be- gan practice in Chester in 1830, and remained there till 1854, when he removed to Concord, where he died May 25, 1862. He was representative two years from

BENCH AND BAR.

Chester in the Legislature of the State, and was police judge of Concord. He had a taste for military affairs, and rose to the rank of major-general of the militia.

He was a man of fair talents, of industry, and of considerable learning in his profession, but lacked acquaintance with human nature, and though he pre- pared his causes carefully, was very liable to be out- generated before a jury. He was a bachelor, and was sometimes made the butt of waggery, as is not unfre- quently the case with those in like forlorn circum- stances.

MOODY KENT was born in Newbury, Mass, in the year 1779, graduated at Harvard College in 1801, read law with Hon. William Gordon and Hon. C. H. Atherton, of Amherst, was admitted to the bar in .1804, and the same year settled in practice in Deer- field. He remained there until 1809, when he re- moved to Concord, in which place and in Pembroke he spent most of the remainder of his life. He died unmarried Feb. 1, 1866, leaving the bulk of his large fortune to the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane.

Mr. Kent acquired scholarship and great general information, and was industrious, methodical, and sagacions. He was a sound lawyer, but did not prac- tice for many of the later years of his life, his time being occupied by the care of his large property.

DEERFIELD.

PHINEAS HOWE was a native of Hopkinton and the son of Deacon Jotham Howe. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College, in the class of 1798, and after- wards was a teacher in Deerfield for five years, studied law, and opened an office for a short time in Weare, but returned to Deerfield in 1805, and continued in the practice of his profession there until 1809, when he returned to Weare. He is believed to have lived afterwards in Maine, and in the State of New York, where he died. He is understood to have shown capacity and some literary taste.

JESSE MERRILL was a native of Atkinson and a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1806. He studied law and was admitted in 1812, and commenced prac- tice in Deerfield immediately, but remained there but a short time. He lived afterwards in Bradford, Vt., and died there in 1864, at the age of seventy-five.

JOSIAH BUTLER was a son of Nehemiah Butler, of Pelham, and was born there Dec. 4, 1779. He grad- uated from Harvard College in 1803, and pursued the study of the law under the direction of Hon. Clifton Clagett, and afterwards in the State of Virginia, where he was admitted to practice in 1807. He then returned to his native town and pursued his profession there until 1809, when he removed to Deerfield. He began his political life the same year as representative in the State Legislature from Pelham. In 1810 he was appointed sheriff of Rockingham County, but in 1813, when the opposite political party attained the ascend- ency, he was removed by address from the office. This loss was naturally well made up to him by his political

friends when they afterwards came into power. He was appointed clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, in 1815 and 1816 he was chosen a representative from Deerfield to the State Legislature, and in 1817 he was elected a representative in the Congress of the United States, where he continued by successive re-elections until 1823. In 1825 he was appointed an associate justice of the State Court of Common Pleas, and held the office until 1833, when the courts were remodeled, and afterwards he received the commission of post- master of Deerfield, which he continued to hold until his death, Oct. 29, 1854.

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History of Rockingham and Strafford counties, New Hampshire : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 8

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