USA > New Hampshire > The bench and bar of New Hampshire : including biographical notices of deceased judges of the highest court, and lawyers of the province and state, and a list of names of those now living > Part 13
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He was a believer in the gospel of work. His conclusions were not reached hastily, but were wrought out on the anvil of study and thought. When he had once got his grasp upon a subject, he did not part with it without learning it through and through. His upright character and steady poise gave confidence that he would not be hurried away by stress of passion, nor swayed by fear or favor. No more appropriate field for the exercise of his peculiar qualities could be found than the judicial bench. And the same qualities caused him to be frequently called on to act as arbitrator in questions of special nicety and importance.
As a practitioner he ranked with the best. In consultation he was reckoned a tower of strength. In matters of railway law, wherein he was much employed in later life, he became a recog- nized authority. He was more distinguished as a counselor than as an advocate. He had none of the readiness of speech that is sometimes mistaken for eloquence; nor the art of getting on the " blind side" of jurymen. His words came slowly and with apparent effort, but they carried weight, for there was thought behind them.
Judge Ladd was respected by all who knew him. He was positive, honest, outspoken, and did nothing in a corner. Where you found him to-day, you might be sure he would be to-mor-
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row. He was fond of books, and rare ones, and gathered many. He enjoyed the society of friends, and was a most agreeable com- panion. His nature was kindly, his disposition generous. He attached himself strongly to those who knew him best.
Dartmouth College granted him the degree of LL. D. in 1887.
He was married, July 1, 1860, to Mira B., daughter of Hiram A. Fletcher of Lancaster. They had two sons and a daughter. Fletcher Ladd, the elder son, is a practitioner of the law in Boston, Massachusetts.
EDMUND LAMBERT CUSHING, LL. D.
C. J. 1874-1876.
Son of Edmund and Molly (Stearns) Cushing ; born, Lunenburg, Massachu- setts, May 3, 1807 ; Harvard College, 1827 ; admitted, 1834 ; practiced, Charlestown ; died there, June 4, 1883.
This gentleman was connected with noted jurists ; Asahel Stearns, the author of the "Treatise on Real Actions," was his maternal uncle, and Luther S. Cushing, the author of the " Manual of Parliamentary Practice," was his elder brother. He was among the brightest and best scholars of his class in college, and upon his graduation was offered the post of tutor, which he filled for a time, though he afterwards regretted it, saying that " he wasted some very valuable years in teaching." He was not admitted to the bar till he was twenty-seven, and did not begin practice in New Hampshire till six years after that, when he settled in Charlestown, an eligible opening occurring there by the appointment of John J. Gilchrist to the bench in 1840. He had already found a wife there.
His thorough preparation and application to his profession, and his success in practice, soon brought him into prominence. In 1850, 1852, and 1853 he was chosen to represent the town in the legislature ; and in 1855 he was appointed one of the circuit justices of the Court of Common Pleas, an office which was soon abolished by a change of the judiciary system. He was then tendered a judgeship of the new Court of Common Pleas, but declined it. He returned to the bar, and practiced with great success and repute in the western counties of the State until 1874, when upon a reorganization of the courts by the political party to which he belonged, he was summoned to the post of Chief Justice
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of the Supreme Judicial Court. The reorganization, after sub- sisting only two years, was again changed, and Judge Cushing's judicial career abruptly ended. It is always unfortunate when the courts of justice become the subject of party contentions, and especially so when the effect may be to deprive the community of the services of officers of high character and qualifications. Judge Cushing undoubtedly possessed many of the requisites of a first-rate judge. He had, according to the description of an emi- nent member of his own profession, " a well-trained mind, a calm judgment, a keen power of analysis that never failed to throw light upon the matter that he had in hand. . .. And he has done what would satisfy the ambition of most men, - he has con- tributed largely to elevate and dignify the character of his chosen profession. . . . In the long line of our eminent chief justices, it is believed that no one has brought to the position a stronger desire to perform the high duties allotted to him with integrity and absolute impartiality." Though experience has shown that in this country, at least, appointees to the bench above the age of sixty have rarely become successful judges, yet it seems a pity that a man of Judge Cushing's accomplishments should not have had a longer trial.
Besides his distinction at the bar, Judge Cushing was noted for his literary and scholarly tastes. He edited an edition of his brother's " Manual " with original notes, and is said to have done other literary work. His gift as a musician was especially notable. From early life he was a performer upon the organ and piano, of wonderful skill. He had a peculiarly light and airy touch ; and his performance has been characterized as " pic- turesque." In his own church he always played the organ at religious meetings, except when he was absent on professional business.
Harvard College gave him the degree of Doctor of Laws in 1875.
His first marriage was with Laura E., daughter of Vryling Lovell of Charlestown, April 1, 1835 ; his second to Martha R., daughter of Captain James Gilchrist of Charlestown, November 24, 1858. By the former marriage he had four children. His eldest son, Edmund H. Cushing, prepared himself for a lawyer's life, but early left the profession.
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CLINTON WARRINGTON STANLEY.
J. 1874-1884.
Son of Horace C. and Mary Ann (Kimball) Stanley ; born, Hopkinton, De- cember 5, 1830 ; Dartmouth College, 1849 ; admitted, 1852 ; practiced, Hop- kinton and Manchester ; died, Manchester, December 1, 1884.
Mr. Stanley, at the age of fourteen, had at the district school and the academy in his native town fitted himself to enter college. Graduating therefrom at nineteen, he applied himself for two years to the study of the law under the direction of Hamilton E. Perkins of Hopkinton. The last year of his apprenticeship he passed in the office of George W. Morrison of Manchester. After one year, of practice in Hopkinton, he was received as a partner by Mr. Morrison, who recognized the value of an association with the young lawyer of such cool business habits and untiring in- dustry. Thenceforth Mr. Stanley lived in Manchester, and was identified in interest and reputation with that city. The firm of Morrison and Stanley (which also included two or three other mem- bers at different times) was a peculiarly strong one, and for about twenty-three years had perhaps the largest practice in Hills- borough County, besides no insignificant amount in Merrimac and Rockingham. Mr. Morrison was an advocate of wide re- nown, and Mr. Stanley was a thorough business lawyer, who not only knew about his own cases, but his opponents' also, and never let an advantage go unimproved. Their practice embraced a great variety of matters, in almost every department of the law. They had so many irons constantly in the fire that nothing but the systematic attention and industry of Mr. Stanley could have prevented some of them from being burned, occasionally. But he was always calm and collected, never hurried, never flurried, and everything was cared for in its due season. Of course, as the managing partner of a large office, he could not have successfully conducted the business, had he not been also a good "all-round " lawyer. He had little time to devote to any study, however, out- side of the questions that arose in his own practice, but those were never neglected. He was also amply endowed with that clear common-sense and sound judgment, without which all book- learning is unavailing.
A business of such extent and so conducted must be profitable,
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pecuniarily, and Mr. Stanley acquired property, to the investment and management of which he brought the same care and fore- sight. His financial ability was seen and called into requisition by others. Upon the organization of the City National Bank in 1865, he was chosen its president, and for fourteen years con- tinued to fill that office. And in 1881, upon the death of Judge Ira A. Eastman, he was elected one of the trustees of Dart- mouth College. To that board he was an acquisition of great worth, on account of his deep interest in the institution, his wise discretion, and his advice upon legal and prudential questions.
In 1874, when the judiciary system of the State was remodeled and a Circuit Court established, Mr. Stanley was made one of the judges. So satisfactorily were his duties performed that, two years afterwards, when the opposite political party restored the former system, he was retained on the Superior Court bench, as the senior associate Justice. There he remained to the close of his life. He was an eminently useful and acceptable magistrate ; especially so when holding trial terms of the court, where his. remarkable power of dispatching business with promptness and accuracy had scope for its exercise. He had the reputation of being able to bring causes to a conclusion more rapidly than any other judge, and it may be added, with equal contentment to. suitors.
Judge Stanley made no pretensions to brilliancy or to excep- tional legal talents. His strength lay largely in his clear head, his well-balanced judgment, and his power and disposition for mental labor. His bodily health was sound, his vigor had never been sapped by disease or indulgence, and he loved to work. In his judicial duties he found his recreation not less than his occu- pation. His long experience in the courts gave him great readi- ness in disposing of all interlocutory questions. His knowledge of the state of the docket at every term seemed almost an intui- tion. After the first calling over of the list of actions, he ap- peared to know, better than the counsel, almost, what and how much there was in every case to occupy the attention of the Court.
No matter how hard pressed he was, he always came to the duties of the new day with a smile on his face. Nothing dis- turbed his equanimity. Even down to the latest period of his life he maintained the same serene composure. His death was a seri-
9
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ous loss to the bench, to the college for which his interest was constant and deep, and to the city of his home, where he was especially esteemed and valued.
He was united in wedlock, December 24, 1857, to Lydia A. Woodbury of Weare, who outlived him. He left no children.
AARON WORCESTER SAWYER.
J. 1876-1877.
Son of Aaron F. and Hannah (Locke) Sawyer ; born, Mont Vernon, Octo- ber 11, 1818 ; admitted, 1844 ; practiced, Nashua ; died there, August 23, 1882.
Mr. Sawyer acquired his academical instruction at the semina- ries in Hancock, Derry, and Nashua, and his professional training in the office of his father. He had also several years' experience in teaching district schools, no bad preparative for a legal career, accustoming him as it did to habits of patience, accuracy, and thoroughness, and acquainting him with human nature in the child, " the father of the man." He was the partner of his father in practice in Nashua from 1844 to 1847, when his father's death put him in possession of the business and a homestead. A year . afterwards he formed a partnership with Charles G. Atherton, which lasted until Mr. Atherton's death in 1853. Mr. Sawyer continued in business alone until 1858, and then became the part- ner of Aaron F. Stevens. In 1874 he withdrew, in a great mea- sure, from practice, but in 1876 was commissioned a judge of the Supreme Court. He retained his seat on the bench, however, less than two years, when he resigned it on account of ill health. An insidious disease, from which he had suffered for some years, af- fected his bodily, and to some extent his mental powers, so that he felt it was imprudent for him to retain his judicial responsibil- ities longer.
He had in early life connected himself with the Congregational church, and as he advanced in years felt a desire to exert himself more actively in the work of religion. In 1874 he obtained from the Hollis Association of Ministers a license to preach, and dur- ing the later years of his life he gave a great portion of his time to public religious exhortations, and to lectures on temperance.
Judge Sawyer was moderate in speech and in manner, and inherited much of the good judgment and conscientious feeling
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that characterized his father. He was fond of his profession ; stu- dious, with a large library ; untiring in mastering every question that arose in his business. His cases were prepared with thor- oughness, and tried with care and deliberation. When his opin- ion was required, he scorned to encourage with unfounded hopes or too sanguine views of the law, but with conscientious fidelity disclosed the worst as well as the best, to his clients.
His manners and disposition were winning, and his friendships were many and lasting. The community in which he lived gave him their esteem and confidence. He served his town for a con- siderable time as superintending school committee, and after- wards as chairman of the board of selectmen ; and when Nashua became a city, he was made city solicitor and mayor. He was also representative in the legislatures of 1865 and 1866, and state senator in 1857 and 1858. From 1867 to 1876 he administered the office of register in Bankruptcy under the laws of the United States. Dartmouth College attested his merits by conferring upon him in 1863 the honorary degree of Master of Arts.
Judge Sawyer was twice married ; first, to Fanny Ingalls of Merrimac, who died after a few months ; second, to Fanny, daughter of Francis Winch of Nashua, who survived him. He also left a daughter and a son.
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON ALLEN.
J. 1876-1893.
Son of Rev. Joseph and Lyna (Abbott) Allen ; born, Winhall, Vermont, December 10, 1829 ; Dartmouth College, 1855 ; admitted, 1858 ; practiced, Newport ; died, New York city, April 26, 1893.
Mr. Allen in his youth made himself familiar with the labors of the farm, and afterwards with the duties of a master of " win- ter schools." In college he is reputed to have been the second in rank of a class which contained several scholars of mark. After three years spent in teaching and in diligent study of the law under the direction of Messrs. Wheeler and Faulkner of Keene and Messrs. Burke and Wait of Newport, he was qualified to open his own office in the latter town in 1858. He was soon after appointed clerk of the courts in Sullivan County, and served acceptably until 1863, when he was made a paymaster in the army of the United States. In this capacity he was stationed for
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upwards of a year in Washington, District of Columbia, and afterwards and until his discharge, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
In December, 1865, he settled his accounts, and returned to his law practice in Newport. He was soon again called upon to serve the public by his appointment as Judge of Probate for his county in January, 1867. In the seven years and a half that he filled that post he was so successful that not one of his decisions was set aside by the Supreme Court.
In 1867 he was also made a United States register in bank- ruptcy, and he continued to exercise the duties of that office, also, until 1876, when upon the general request of the bar of Sullivan, he was raised to the bench of the Supreme Court of the State. His appointment was highly satisfactory. He was endowed with many engaging qualities. He was genial and obliging, and com- manded the good-will and confidence of all. Of scholarly tastes and habits, he excelled particularly in mathematical science. His knowledge of the law was ample and exact, and among his printed opinions are to be found some that are models of legal discus- sion and statement. In the determination of questions of law he was especially useful to the Court.
In his practice at the bar he had had little experience in the trial of causes before the jury, and for that reason, perhaps, did not fully realize and make allowance for the difficulties that beset counsel, and impede progress at nisi prius. Active and ready himself, he was inclined to remonstrate against delays, and even sometimes to almost take the functions of the lawyer into his own hands ; a proceeding which usually tends very little to promote real satisfactory progress. Trifling as were these blemishes upon a spotless judicial character, it is probable that they were the first visible effects of the disease which at length obliged him to resign his commission.
He fully comprehended the obligations of his station, and was always ready to meet them. The good fame of the profession to which he belonged was dear to him, and he would not see it sullied by the misconduct of any of its members. The zeal with which he pursued certain alleged violations of the attorney's oath, in one instance, was most commendable as well as salutary in its effects.
After remaining upon the bench more than seventeen years, the failing state of his health admonished him that he must re-
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frain from further severe application. He sought a warmer clime ; and it was on his return from Cuba, where he had spent the winter, that he suffered a relapse, which terminated his life.
From the year 1868 his home was in Claremont, where he was highly esteemed. Chosen often to town offices, he cheerfully accepted them. His legal knowledge, his practical good sense, and his superior business capacity he willingly put at the service of his townsmen on all occasions.
He was first married in 1856, to Ellen E., daughter of John Joslin of Surry. She died in 1873. In October, 1874, he was again married, to Sally S., daughter of Dr. John Sabine of Straf- ford, Vermont. He left seven children by his first marriage.
LIVING EX-JUDGES.
JEREMIAH SMITH, Dover, J. 1867-1874. ELLERY A. HIBBARD, Laconia, J. 1873-1876. WILLIAM L. FOSTER, Concord, J. 1869-1874. GEORGE A. BINGHAM, Littleton, J. 1876-1880; 1884-1891.
PRESENT JUDGES.
CHARLES DOE, Rollinsford, J. 1859-1876. C. J. 1876- ISAAC W. SMITH, Manchester, J. 1874- LEWIS W. CLARK, Manchester, J. 1877- ISAAC N. BLODGETT, Franklin, J. 1880- ALONZO P. CARPENTER, Concord, J. 1881- WILLIAM M. CHASE, Concord, J. 1891- ROBERT M. WALLACE, Milford, J. 1893-
MEMBERS OF THE BAR WHO HAVE LIVED AND PRACTICED IN THE STATE.
DECEASED LAWYERS.
DANIEL ABBOT.
Son of Timothy and Sarah (Abbot) Abbot ; born, Andover, Massachusetts, February 25, 1777 ; Harvard College, 1797 ; admitted, 1802 ; practiced, Lon- donderry and Nashua ; died, Nashua, December 3, 1853.
MR. ABBOT was descended from George Abbot, one of the early settlers of Andover, Massachusetts. He was prepared for the bar in the office of Ichabod Tucker, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and of Thomas W. Thompson, in Salisbury, where he is said to have been a fellow student of Daniel Webster. In September, 1802, he offered himself as an attorney at Londonderry, but after a short stay there, fixed his residence in Dunstable, afterwards Nashua. Where now the city of Nashua stands, the unbroken forest then stood. There the ambitious young lawyer on July 4, 1803, delivered an oration on our National Independence, which received the honor of print.
It was some years before any other lawyer appeared in Dun- stable to share the limited business of the place. But in about twenty years began the growth of manufactures which have since brought Nashua into the front rank of our prosperous cities. Mr. Abbot's fortunes advanced pari passu. He became a consider- able owner, and the president of the Nashua Manufacturing Com- pany during its early years ; the president of the Nashua and Lowell Railroad from its inception in 1837 for some fourteen years, and also president of the Wilton Railroad from its organi- zation to within a short time of his death.
He represented the town in the state legislature in 1810, 1811,
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1812, 1821, 1838, 1839, and 1848; was chosen state senator in 1831, and declined a reelection in 1832; and in 1850 was a delegate to the convention to revise the Constitution of the State. He was a prudent, careful lawyer, who made little dis- play, but was successful in business, and won the respect of clients and townsmen. His standing among his professional brethren was of the highest, and he was long president of the bar of Hillsborough County.
In his domestic relations he was happy. His wife was Eliza- beth, daughter of William Pickman of Salem, Massachusetts, and they had four sons and a daughter. The latter was the accomplished wife of Charles J. Fox, after whose early decease she was again married to Governor Samuel Dinsmore, Jr.
JOSEPH B. ABBOT.
Son of a school-teacher, and a native of Pennsylvania, it is believed.
Of this gentleman, who made but a brief stay in the State, little has been ascertained. Farmer states that he was a student with Joseph Bartlett of facetious memory. He was admitted in the Court of Common Pleas of Rockingham County at the August term, 1815, and was in practice in 1816 at Portsmouth, in com- pany with Joseph Bartlett. The bar records show that in Janu- ary of that year certain " expressions used by Estwick Evans towards Mr. Abbot, a member of this bar, were highly indecorous, and an apology was due."
Mr. Abbot removed to Virginia, since which nothing is known of him.
SAMUEL ABBOT.
Son of Abiel and Dorcas (Abbot) Abbot ; born, Wilton, March 30, 1786 ; Harvard College, 1808 ; admitted, 1812 ; practiced, Wilton and Dunstable ; died, Jaffrey, January 2, 1839.
Receiving his early instruction from his brother Abiel, after- wards the distinguished clergyman, and at the public schools of his native town, Mr. Abbot entered Harvard College at the age of eighteen. His law studies he prosecuted in the office of Charles H. Atherton of Amherst, on whom, by his ability and conscien- tious improvement of his time, as well as by his classical learn-
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ing, he made a most favorable impression. He first went to Wilton to practice, but soon after to Dunstable, and remained there till 1817. He next tried Ipswich, Massachusetts, but at the close of 1818 returned again to Wilton, and quitted the prac- tice of his profession.
He had no liking for the practice of law, and his most satisfac- tory labors were in the field of physical and moral science, and general literature. He devoted himself especially to chemistry and the mechanic arts in their application to the useful purposes of life. He was the first to carry into practical operation the manufacture of starch from the potato. The process of extract- ing and clarifying the starch was his own invention, and as early as 1813, he, with the cooperation of his brother Ezra, erected a mill moved by horse power which accomplished the desired result. In 1821, with the encouragement of the Waltham Manufacturing Company, they established the first potato starch manufactory, on a considerable scale.
This valuable discovery led, singularly enough, to the accident which caused his death. Mr. Abbot was interested in a starch mill in Jaffrey, and was its superintendent. The establishment took fire, and Mr. Abbot attempted to save a trunk containing his accounts and securities, which was in the interior of the build- ing. He entered the door, but his retreat was cut off by a sudden outbreak of flame and smoke, and he fell, suffocated, never to rise again. The remains of his body were found amid the ruins.
He was one of the few men who habitually and systematically throughout life made the utmost of their powers. He was deeply religious, and acted in all things from conscientious motives, sub- ordinating his passions and desires to his sense of duty.
He never married.
JOHN FRINK ADAMS.
Son of Professor Ebenezer and Alice (Frink) Adams ; born, Leicester, Massachusetts, November 3, 1799 ; Dartmouth College, 1817 ; admitted, 1823 ; practiced, Lyme ; died, Baltimore, Maryland, May 10, 1883.
Mr. Adams's professional experience in New Hampshire was short. He was fitted for college at Moor's Charity School in Hanover, and after his graduation was a teacher a year in Massa- chusetts, a year in Virginia, and three years in Washington, Dis-
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trict of Columbia. He afterwards took a course of instruction at the Law School in Litchfield, Connecticut. He practiced two years at Watertown, New York, and then came to Lyme, where he stayed from 1825 to 1827, but probably finding it no encour- aging field, he removed to Mobile, Alabama, and pursued his profession there for twenty-six years. His appointment to a clerk- ship in the Pension Office then brought him to Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, where he held that position and afterwards a similar one in the Land Office, until his resignation in 1857. He continued to live in Washington for some time afterwards, and was for a while a Judge of the Court of Claims, and finally, before 1880, removed to Baltimore.
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