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 15
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JOSHUA ATHERTON.
Son of Peter and Experience (Wright) Atherton; born, Harvard, Massa- chusetts, June 20, 1737 ; Harvard College, 1762 ; admitted, 1765 ; practiced, Litchfield, Merrimac, and Amherst ; died, Amherst, April 3, 1809.
Mr. Atherton might probably have followed the calling of his father, who was a blacksmith, if his constitution had not been early shattered by a bilious fever, which led to his being educated for a profession. At the age of twenty he was placed under the tuition of Rev. Timothy Harrington of Lancaster, Massachusetts, and at twenty-one entered college. After his graduation he studied law first with Abel Willard of Lancaster, and afterwards with James Putnam of Worcester, Massachusetts, and was there ad- mitted to the bar, and opened an office for a short time in Peters- ham, in the same county. In the fall of that year, however, he removed to Litchfield. He made two other changes of residence ;
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in 1768 to Merrimac, and in 1773 to Amherst, on receiving the appointment of register of Probate to the newly constituted county of Hillsborough.
He had already met with some success in his profession, but the stormy appearance of the political horizon boded little good to those of his sentiments. He was a staunch loyalist, as were many of the professional men, officials, and well-to-do people of mature years, of that time. Mr. Atherton was aristocratic in his feelings, high-tempered, and unyielding, and though advised by his fellow loyalists to quit the country, he refused to do so. No doubt he then believed the attempt at revolution would prove a failure ; and it was not till after the capture of Burgoyne and the conse- quent alliance with France that he abandoned the expectation of seeing the rebellion crushed by the arms of Great Britain.
Meantime his opinions involved him in serious troubles. Im- mediately after the battle of Bunker Hill, the liberty boys sur- rounded his house, and marched him to a neighboring tavern, where they refreshed themselves bountifully at his expense. In 1777 he was apprehended and committed to jail in Exeter, upon the charge of being inimical to the liberties of America. He was subsequently allowed "the liberty of the yard," upon the ground that the air of the prison was injurious to his health. The next year he was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in counter- feiting the paper money of the State. This was an offense frequently imputed at that time to prominent loyalists. Men who were above being suspected of forgery for mere gain were thought capable of taking that method of throwing discredit upon the currency of the "rebels," in order to destroy confidence in the solvency and permanence of the governments set up in oppo- sition to the Crown. The British officials in New York gave countenance to this view. Counterfeits of the paper currency issued by the Continental Congress were openly offered for sale there at the cost of paper and printing, upon the assumption that it was a legitimate mode of waging war to undermine the finances of the enemy.
Mr. Atherton was acquitted of the charge, and was liberated on giving bond with sureties that he would be a good and faithful subject of the State, etc.
In January, 1779, being by that time probably convinced that it was of no avail further to withstand the tide of public senti-
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ment, he took the oath of allegiance to the new government, and at the same time the attorney's oath, and was admitted to prac- tice in the courts of the State. He soon apparently outgrew any prejudices caused by his loyalty to the Crown, and in 1783 was chosen as a delegate from Amherst to the convention to revise the Constitution of the State.
After the establishment of peace, the courts, which had been practically closed, were again opened, with accessions of new busi- ness. Mr. Atherton obtained his full share of it. There were plenty of suits to be brought and defended, and he was quite successful as an advocate, for though he hardly possessed the gift of eloquence, he was a ready and forcible speaker. About this time William Plumer, the elder, went into his office for a short time as a student. His experience there gives us an insight into the requirements of that time preliminary to the study of the law. Mr. Atherton, who had the best law library outside of Ports- mouth, first put into his student's hands Coke upon Littleton, no easy reading for a tyro, all lawyers will admit. After three or four weeks of this regimen, he informed young Plumer that he must study Latin, so as to read Cicero in that language, before he could be fitted for the bar. The Latin grammar of that day proved too tough a morsel for poor Plumer, who soon turned his back on Amherst, and at a later day found a less discouraging entrance to the legal profession.
In 1788 Mr. Atherton was chosen as a delegate to the conven- tion called to act upon the question of the adoption of the Consti- tution of the United States. The delegates were nearly equally divided in numbers, though not in ability, for most of the ablest speakers in the convention favored adoption, while Mr. Atherton was the chief of its opponents, and one of the few who had any skill in addressing a public assembly. He took a large share, therefore, in the debates, as the principal spokesman of his party, and naturally made himself obnoxious to the supporters of the Constitution. He habitually wore a cloak, which he was in the habit of folding about him when he rose to speak, and hence they styled him the "cloak orator." No doubt he rehearsed at full length all the arguments that the press had already presented against the ratification of the proposed Constitution ; but he cer- tainly struck the vulnerable point of the instrument, when he denounced it as sanctioning slavery and the traffic in human chat-
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tels, in the clause which put it out of the power of Congress to prohibit the slave trade until the year 1808.
Mr. Atherton was also a delegate to the convention called in 1791 to revise the state Constitution of 1783. It resulted in the improved and durable Constitution of 1792. In 1792 and 1793 he was chosen both a representative and senator, and ac- cepted the latter election, but resigned his seat after the sum- mer session of 1793, on being appointed Attorney-General of the State by Governor Josiah Bartlett.
In the year 1797, when he had reached the age of sixty, Mr. Atherton's health began to fail, by reason of an organic affection of the heart. He accepted, however, the appointment by Presi- dent Adams of commissioner for the valuation of lands and buildings in Hillsborough County for the levy of a direct tax. This was found a most unpopular method of collecting a public revenue, and the law was soon repealed. He retained the office of Attorney-General till 1801, and upon his resignation of it, his son- in-law, William Gordon, was chosen in his stead.
This was about the close of his active life, although he survived to the age of seventy-three. The state of his health forbade him to attempt arduous business, but he had the satisfaction to see that his clients had recourse to the assistance of his son and his son-in-law. He continued social and hospitable to the last, and presided with grace over his well-covered table.
His wife was Abigail, daughter of Rev. Thomas Goss of Bol- ton, Massachusetts. They had a large family, and a son and six daughters outlived him.
DANIEL CLARK ATKINSON.
Son of Phineas and Phebe (Clark) Atkinson ; born, Boscawen, September 8, 1785 ; Dartmouth College, 1806; admitted, 1809; practiced, Sanbornton ; died there, April 5, 1842.
The father of Judge Atkinson was a farmer, who, discerning in- dications of superior intelligence in his son in childhood, placed him under the charge of Rev. Dr. Wood to be fitted for college. In due time he was entered at Hanover, and passed through the collegiate course with diligence and credit. He began to read law with Daniel Webster, it is believed, at Boscawen, but on Mr. Webster's removal to Portsmouth, he entered the office of Parker Noyes, and there finished his studies.
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The same year he settled in Sanbornton, first at the Square, and a few months later at the Bridge. He acquired a handsome business, built a large dwelling-house, bought mills, and became a prosperous and public-spirited citizen. He interested himself in the establishment of the academy, and in the various improve- ments of the village where he resided. He was chosen moderator of the town meetings six years, and was a member of the super- intending school committee three years. In 1819 he was chosen a state senator, and in 1823 and 1824 one of the Executive Council.
December 20, 1824, he was commissioned Judge of Probate for the old county of Stafford, and continued in that office during the rest of his life. Though not what would be called eminent as a lawyer, his qualifications were highly respectable, and he dis- charged his official duties with credit and to the general satisfac- tion. Early in his professional life he was active and aspiring, and obtained a large share of the law business of his vicinity, but as he increased in years his zeal is said to have somewhat relaxed, and he was contented to lead an easier life. He was distinguished for his benevolent and charitable disposition, and was esteemed and respected by his neighbors and townsmen, as well as by his brethren of the profession.
Judge Atkinson married, in 1818, Mahala, daughter of Jere- miah Tilton of Sanbornton, who died in 1820. In 1828 he mar- ried for his second wife, Mehitable Tilton, her sister, who survived him. He left four children, a son and three daughters.
THEODORE ATKINSON.
Son of Theodore and Anne L. (Tufts) Atkinson ; born, Madbury, October 14, 1818 ; practiced, Dover ; died, Boston, Massachusetts, March, 1891.
Mr. Atkinson was a descendant of the old New Hampshire family of that name, and was born in the house of his grand- father, William K. Atkinson, on the corner of three towns, Dover, Madbury, and Durham. He was educated in the Dover Academy, and read law with John H. White in Dover, in which town he also passed his three or four years of practice, from about 1843 to 1847. He then changed his profession to that of a civil engineer, and in that capacity was employed in railroad surveys in Maine, Massachusetts, and in some of the Western States. His experi- ence in railroads and like works extended over a period of more
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than twenty years, and resulted in his health being seriously affected by malaria.
Little remains to show his proficiency in the law, but he cer- tainly had the readiness and sense of humor which are valuable allies to the practitioner.
There was in the older part of Dover a square called by the name of Washington, on one side of which were the offices of most of the members of the bar of the town, and on the other the margin of the river, where the fishermen used to land with their fares. On this Mr. Atkinson pronounced the following jeu d'esprit : -
" In Washington square the lawyers abound, At the foot of the square the fish boats are found, Fly, honesty, fly to a safer retreat,
For there 's craft in the river and craft in the street." 1
Mr. Atkinson married, October 25, 1849, Martha P. H., daughter of Barnabas H. Palmer, and had two sons, one of whom outlived him.
CLINTON SPALDING AVERILL.
Son of Calvin and Eunice (Spalding) Averill ; born, Milford, September 22, 1827 ; Norwich University, 1849 ; admitted, 1858 ; practiced, Milford ; died there, December 18, 1891.
Before entering the military institution from which he gradu- ated, Mr. Averill had attended the academies at Hancock and at Pembroke. For four years after taking his bachelor's degree he continued in the Norwich University as tutor and professor. His interest in education and his peculiar qualifications as an instruc- tor would perhaps have led him to spend his life as a teacher, had not his impaired health warned him that he must seek a change.
He then entered the office of Oliver W. Lull of Milford, as a student at law. He did not at once attempt practice, upon re- ceiving his certificate as an attorney, but in 1861, when the war of the Rebellion broke out, yielded to the desire of his alma mater that he should return thither to aid in giving the military instruc- tion that was so widely and urgently called for by those who were eager to volunteer for the defense of the Union. This emergency
1 If it should appear that this was not original, it was certainly well ap- plied.
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having been met, he returned to Milford, and in 1862 opened his office there. His capacity for business and his agreeable man- ners enabled him soon to build up a considerable practice, not of the showy, but of the substantial, paying character. His interest in education never flagged, and he was made superintendent of schools in Milford for a number of years. Nashua in 1873 gave him the same office in that city, which he filled acceptably for two years. He was then chosen treasurer of the savings bank in Milford, of which he had been a trustee from its incorporation, and returned and made his home in that place, up to the time of his decease.
In 1882 he was chosen president of the Souhegan National Bank ; and for twenty years he was the treasurer of the Unitarian Society. His integrity and uprightness were proverbial.
He was married, March 10, 1852, to Catharine F., daughter of Dr. James Hutchinson of Milford. She, with their only child, died a few years before him.
WILLIAM L. AVERY.
Born, Pittsford, Vermont, 1814 ; practiced, Laconia ; died, Mount Clemens, Michigan, March 27, 1891.
The father of Mr. Avery was a Revolutionary soldier, who was with Washington at Valley Forge; his mother was a sister of Lyman B. Walker, Attorney-General of New Hampshire. Their son was reared in Brandon, Vermont, and while a little lad was a school-fellow of Stephen A. Douglas. At the age of eighteen he was principal of the large high school of Brandon. He studied for three professions : first, the ministry, next medicine, and finally the law, and when afterwards he was admitted to the Supreme Court of Illinois, it was done on the motion of Mr. Douglas. After some years' residence in Illinois, he removed in 1845 to Saratoga, New York, and was master in chancery and police Judge in that place. In 1852 he was living in New York city, prominent in politics, it is said, and president of one or more insurance companies.
It was about the year 1857 that he came to Laconia. In May, 1858, he was made register of Probate, and continued such for a little over three years. Soon after the expiration of his term of office, he was named by President Lincoln a member of
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a tribunal, composed also of commissioners from France and England, to decide questions connected with the slave trade, and proceeded to Cape Town, South Africa, and resided there five years. Then, returning to this country, he did not resume pro- fessional employment, but in 1868 was actively interested in rail- road enterprises in the South, some of which were very profitable. He built a hotel and an opera house in Atlanta, Georgia. In the course of his operations he had occasion to pass some time in Europe.
In 1874 he went to the West. A severe attack of rheumatism in 1879 determined his future residence. Hearing of the virtues of the mineral springs at Mount Clemens, Michigan, in ailments like his own, he went thither, and was cured. He built the Avery House thére, became the leading citizen, and was active in de- veloping the place and popularizing the waters.
Judge Avery had the reputation of being a lawyer of ability and a forcible advocate. Those who knew him well considered his natural capacity to be of a very high order.
He married, in 1852, the only daughter of Lyman B. Walker of Laconia, and left one son.
SAMUEL HAZEN AYER.
Son of Samuel and Sarah (Connell) Ayer ; born, Portland, Maine, 1819; Bowdoin College, 1839 ; admitted, 1842 ; practiced, Hillsborough and Man- chester ; died, Manchester, October 4, 1853.
The father of Mr. Ayer was a native of Concord and a brother of Richard H. Ayer. He was a physician, who practiced in Port- land, and died in Eastport, Maine, leaving a widow and young children. They removed to Concord afterwards. Samuel was prepared for college at Burr Seminary in Vermont. There, and in college, he sustained a good reputation for scholarship, and though of an ardent temperament, was generally beloved by rea- son of his kindly nature.
He studied law in the office of Pierce and Fowler in Concord, and began practice in Hillsborough in 1842, succeeding to the office of Albert Baker, deceased. He speedily made himself known as a zealous, trustworthy, and successful lawyer, and busi- ness began to flow in upon him. For five successive years, begin- ning with 1845, the people of Hillsborough sent their young
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townsman to represent them in the state legislature. He took and maintained a conspicuous standing there, and was elected Speaker the last two years of his membership. In 1847 he was appointed solicitor for the county of Hillsborough, and acted to the time of his death. In 1852 he was placed upon the com- mission to revise the laws of the State, in connection with Ralph Metcalf and Calvin Ainsworth. Their report, when finally com- pleted, was published in 1853 under the title of the "Compiled Statutes." To this work Mr. Ayer gave all the time he could take from his business, for many months. His constitution was slender, and could ill bear the long-continued strain of such engrossing and responsible occupation. Nothing but his resolute, courageous spirit would have kept him up under the pressure. It is not doubted that his premature death was the result of this overwork. He became liable to attacks which were relieved only by opium or some like narcotic, and it is apprehended that he might unwittingly have taken an overdose ; for soon after the task of revision was completed he was found one morning insensible in his bed, and died before night, of congestion of the brain.
Few men at the early age of thirty-three had attained so com- manding a position as he. His prospects of future distinction were apparently unclouded, and the delicacy of his constitution was scarcely realized, so great were his hopefulness and courage. He had endeared himself to a wide circle of companions by his engaging qualities, and it was with disappointment and sadness that they saw his sun go down at noon.
NATHAN GODFREY BABBITT.
Son of Dr. Nathan and Anna (Newcomb) Babbitt ; born, Norton, Massa- chusetts, February 12, 1787 ; Middlebury College, 1811 ; practiced, West- moreland and Walpole ; died, Beloit, Wisconsin, March 11, 1867.
Mr. Babbitt's father acted as a surgeon in the American Revo- lution, and his mother was related to Judge Daniel Newcomb of Keene. He came with his parents to Westmoreland as early as 1790. After his graduation from college he read law with Henry Hubbard of Charlestown, and began practice in Westmoreland. There he continued for about forty years, interrupting his resi- dence by a stay of three or four years in Walpole about 1850. He was selectman of Westmoreland in 1828, and town clerk
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1843 to 1845 ; and in Walpole he held the office of postmaster three years.
From January 17, 1842, until 1855, he was a county Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was a zealous member of the Masonic fraternity, and for several years officiated in the Grand Lodge of the State. He is said to have been a friend and associ- ate of Judge Joel Parker of Keene.
At the age of seventy Judge Babbitt quitted Westmoreland and went to Beloit, Wisconsin, to spend his last years with his son, Clinton Babbitt, a member of the United States Congress. As he took his final kindly look at the village which had so long been his home, he repeated : -
" Farewell, friends ; farewell, foes ! My love with these ; my peace with those !"
His declining years were passed very happily in his new home. He was elected a member of the city council of Beloit, and formed fresh friendships. It was a matter of course that he con- nected himself with the Masonic associations ; and when he died, at the age of fourscore years, he was borne to his rest by the hands of his brethren of the mystic tie.
His wife was Eunice, daughter of Edmund Brewster of West- moreland. They had three children.
STEPHEN COLBY BADGER.
Son of Benjamin and Naomi (Colby) Badger ; born, Warner, April 12, 1797 ; Dartmouth College, 1823 ; admitted, 1826 ; practiced, New London and Concord ; died, Concord, October 29, 1872.
The father of Mr. Badger was a forehanded farmer, and his son labored upon the soil until he was about twenty. His health then suffering from over exertion, as was supposed, he resolved upon a college education, and prepared himself under Rev. Dr. Wood of Boscawen and at Kimball Union Academy. For mathematics he evinced a special liking. He pursued the study of the law under Henry B. Chase at Warner, and set up in business as an attorney and land surveyor in New London in 1826. After eight years' experience he removed to Concord, and accepted the appointment of clerk of the courts for the county of Merrimac. In 1846 he returned to the general practice of his profession, combining with it the occupation of a practical and scientific engineer.
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In 1857 he was constituted Judge of the Police Court of Con- cord, and officiated as such for the succeeding ten years, till he reached the age of seventy. For a time he held also the appoint- ment of pension agent. In the several public employments in which a large share of his life was passed, he maintained a high character for honesty and faithful attention to duty.
He was united in marriage in June, 1830, to Sophronia W., daughter of Benjamin Evans of Warner. He left two sons, the elder of whom, Benjamin E. Badger, is a practicing lawyer in Concord.
DAVID H. BAILEY.
Son of Jesse and Sarah (Philbrick) Bailey ; born, Weare, January 10, 1790 ; Middlebury College, 1814 ; practiced, Unity ; died Weare, 1875.
After his graduation in 1814, Mr. Bailey was a student at law with Levi Woodbury in Francestown ; and about 1818 opened an office in Unity. He made there a stay of only two years, when he took his departure to Rochester, New York, where he tarried an equal length of time, and then lived eleven years in Oswego in the same State. In 1838 he returned to his native town, but did not resume, to any extent, the active practice of his profes- sion.
His wife was Sabra, daughter of Joseph Philbrick of Weare, who died the year before him. Their marriage took place in 1820, and they had six children.
FREDERIC WILLIAM BAILEY.
Son of Captain Edward and Sarah (Hayden) Bailey ; born, Jaffrey, August 15, 1838 ; Dartmouth College, 1862 ; admitted, 1865 ; practiced, Jaffrey ; died, Keene, April 27, 1870.
Mr. Bailey was prepared for college at the Appleton Academy in New Ipswich. After his graduation he was preceptor of the Richmond Academy, Maine, for a year, and then prosecuted his law studies in the office of Wheeler and Faulkner in Keene, and in the Law School at Albany, New York, until his admission. In 1864 and 1865 he was a representative from Jaffrey in the legislature. In 1866 he began practice in (East) Jaffrey, and remained there till 1870, when he removed to Keene, but had
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scarcely got settled in his new home when he was attacked by diphtheria, which speedily proved fatal.
He was a young man of much promise, and his friends pre- dicted for him a career of distinction, had his life been prolonged.
His wife, to whom he was united September 2, 1866, was Mary Perkins of Jaffrey, and they had one daughter.
LAWRENCE DUDLEY BAILEY.
Son of Dudley and Sarah (Woodman) Bailey ; born, Sutton, August 26, 1819 ; admitted, 1846 ; practiced, Washington, Milford, and Bradford ; died, Lawrence, Kansas, October 15, 1891.
Mr. Bailey worked upon his father's farm until the age of seven- teen, and then, after acquiring an academical education, com- menced the study of the law with Weare Tappan and Mason W. Tappan of Bradford, from whom he undoubtedly adopted, or at least intensified, the free-soil sentiments which influenced his sub- sequent course. His professional studies completed, he went into practice for a few months at East Washington, and then in March, 1847, at Milford, as a partner of S. K. Livermore. His talents and genial disposition gave him popularity, and he stayed in Milford until 1849, at which time he became one of the numer- ous throng of adventurers to California. In 1853 he returned to this State, and formed a partnership with Mason W. Tappan at Bradford. In March, 1857, he went to Kansas, and opened a law office near Emporia, and was elected to the legislature the two years following. Under the new free-soil Constitution he was chosen a Judge of the Supreme Court, and in 1862 re-chosen for a term of six years. In 1869 he was again a member of the legisla- ture.
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