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 23
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Many anecdotes are related of Mr. Carrigain. While he was secretary, a letter was received by the governor, from the cele- brated John Randolph of Roanoke, upon the seal of which was impressed the motto "Fari que sentiat." The governor and council, all ignorant of Latin, called upon the secretary, as a " college learned " man, to translate the mystic words. It is to be feared that he comprehended the meaning of the motto no bet- ter than they, but he had a ready wit and was not to be posed ; so he rendered the phrase "God and our country," which was duly admired by his auditors, being not only patriotic but religious as well.
Being frequently called upon for his signature to recommenda- tions to the state authorities for appointments to office, his prac- tice was to affix his beautifully executed autograph to every such paper that was laid before him ; but he wisely had an understand- ing with the powers that be, that his signature was to go for nothing unless it was supplemented by a flourish beneath it, repre- senting an eagle's beak.
Mr. Carrigain's numerous poetical effusions were never gath- ered into a volume, and indeed, though temporarily popular, were hardly worth preservation, in general. As a matter of curiosity, however, some stanzas of one of the best of them are here given. They were written on occasion of the reception of General Lafay- ette in Concord, June 22, 1825, and are remarkable as applying to New Hampshire the expression "the Granite State," for the first time.
LAFAYETTE'S RETURN.
North and South, and East and West, A cordial welcome have addressed Loud and warm, the Nation's Guest Dear Son of Liberty ; Whom tyrants cursed when Heaven approved, And millions long have mourned and loved, He comes, by fond entreaties moved, The Granite State to see.
Bliss domestic, rank, wealth, ease, Our guest resigned for stormy seas And for war's more stormy breeze, To make our country free ; And potent Britain saw dismayed, The lightning of his virgin blade
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To Freedom flash triumphant aid But death to tyranny.
Now in his life's less perilous wane, He has recrossed the Atlantic main,
Preserved by Heaven to greet again The land he bled to save ; And those who with him, hand in hand,
Fought 'neath his mighty sire's command, -
Alas, how thinned that gallant band, Band of the free and brave !
Such were the men our land did save, Nor e'er can reach oblivion's wave (Though booming o'er the statesman's grave), Our deep, redeemless debt. No ! Merrimac may cease to flow,
And our White Mountains sink below ;
But naught can cancel what we owe To them and Lafayette.
BUEL CLINTON CARTER.
Son of Sanborn B. and Marie A. (Frost) Carter ; born, Sanford, Maine, Jan- uary 4, 1840 ; Yale College, 1862 ; practiced, Wolfeborough and Dover ; died, Rollinsford, December 11, 1886.
Mr. Carter was fitted for college at the Phillips Exeter Acad- emy, and immediately after completing his collegiate course en- tered the thirteenth regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers as a first lieutenant, and proceeded to the seat of war. He was severely wounded at Fredericksburg, Virginia, was afterwards promoted to be captain, and subsequently brevetted major. After honorably serving to the close of the war he returned to New Hampshire, and prepared himself, under the direction of his father, Sanborn B. Carter of Ossipee, for admission to the bar. He first established himself at Wolfeborough about 1870, and remained there ten years, taking a position of prominence as a sound and successful lawyer. While there he held the appointment of bank commissioner from 1872 to 1875, and that of county solicitor from 1876 to 1878.
In 1880 he removed his home to Rollinsford and his office to Dover, where he became the partner of William F. Nason. There he was again appointed bank commissioner in 1882, and a third
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time in 1885. This post of course interfered with his professional practice, but he did enough to demonstrate his capacity and relia- bility.
He married Ellen Frances, daughter of Hon. James M. Bur- bank of Saco, Maine, May 16, 1866, and left no descendants.
SANBORN BLAKE CARTER.
Son of Daniel and Betsey B. (Blake) Carter ; born, Rochester, February 20, 1819 ; practiced, Ossipee ; died there, July 8, 1881.
Mr. Carter received his education at the academy in Alfred, Maine, and read law with John T. Paine, afterwards of Bos- ton, Massachusetts, and with Charles W. Woodman at Dover. He established himself in practice in Ossipee about 1841, and there remained throughout his life. During the greater part of that time he was an occupant of some official station. For years he was moderator, clerk, or school committee of his town ; he represented it in the state legislature in 1850 and 1851, and in 1869 and 1870, and was also a delegate to the constitutional conventions of 1850 and 1876. He was solicitor of the county from 1845 to 1850; school commissioner from 1850 to 1854 ; reg- ister of Probate from 1851 to 1856, and register of Deeds from 1874 to the time of his decease. He is described by one who knew him as " a lawyer of good repute ; courteous and agreeable in his manners ; personally popular ; and in probate matters once regarded as the leading lawyer in the county."
In October, 1852, Mr. Carter was seriously injured by a colli- sion of trains on the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad, and never fully recovered from the effects of the accident.
He married, first, Marie Antoinette Frost, January 20, 1839 ; and second, Mary Abbie Sweat, September 30, 1868. The for- mer was the mother of his three children.
SAMUEL CARTLAND.
Son of Elijah and Abigail (Scales) Cartland ; born, Lee, March 15, 1791 ; Dartmouth College, 1816 ; admitted, 1822 ; practiced, Haverhill ; died, Exe- ter, Maine, February 24, 1852.
Mr. Cartland was connected with a family of Friends some- what noted for their intellectual capacity. He was educated at
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the Phillips Exeter Academy and Dartmouth College, and studied his profession with Joseph Bell, leader of the Grafton County bar at Haverhill. In that town he began practice, on his admis- sion in 1822, and was soon marked as a rising man, professionally and politically. In 1825 he was chosen a representative in the legislature, and in 1829, 1830, and 1831 was elected a member of the Senate of the State. In 1829, upon the resignation by Abner Greenleaf of the presidency of the Senate, Mr. Cartland was chosen to succeed him in the office. In 1831 he was again chosen president of the Senate, and as such became acting gov- ernor of the State, and presided in the council in that capacity for a couple of days, until the newly elected governor (Dinsmoor) was inaugurated.
Mr. Cartland resigned the office of president of the Senate in July, 1831, to accept the commission of Judge of Probate for the county of Grafton. The duties of that office he discharged with ability for about one year, and then relinquished it, owing proba- bly to the delicacy of his health, which soon after compelled him to resort to a milder climate. He was afterwards in Mobile, Ala- bama, for a time, employed in the business of the Southern Col- lecting Agency, and about 1840 he took up his residence in Baltimore for about ten years. Receiving then an appointment to a clerkship in the Treasury Department, he went to Washington, District of Columbia, for a year or two. In 1851 the consump- tive malady which had long hung over him induced him to seek the home of his relatives in Exeter, Maine, where he lingered until his death.
Judge Cartland possessed talents and attainments which quali- fied him for high position, nor was he lacking in ambition. But he had none of the craft of the politician, and he had the mortifi- cation to see inferior men distance him in the race for promotion, merely by continual pushing and adroit management. That he was disappointed in his political aspirations there can be no doubt. In his last sickness he gave directions for the disposal of his correspondence, and added, sadly, that " his life would proba- bly not go into history."
In every position he occupied, his ability was conspicuously dis- played, and he won universal respect by the sterling integrity of his character.
He never married.
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ASA PIPER CATE.
Son of Simeon and Lydia (Durgin) Cate ; born, Sanbornton (now Tilton), June 1, 1813 ; admitted, 1838 ; practiced, Sanbornton ; died, Northfield, De- cember 12, 1874.
Mr. Cate was educated at the academies in Sanbornton and in Boscawen ; and read law under the direction of George W. Nes- mith of Franklin. Upon his admission, in 1838, he went into practice in Sanbornton Bridge, a short distance from his resi- dence in Northfield.
Mr. Cate was of a slender constitution, and, as one of his stu- dents remarks, " hardly ever knew what it was to be well." Yet feeble as he was, he was always busy. He was colonel of a regi- ment of militia; moderator of the meetings of his town for thirty years and upwards ; representative in the legislature in 1839, 1840, 1864, 1865, and 1866 ; state senator in 1844 and 1845, and president in the latter year ; county solicitor from 1844 to his resignation in 1851; railroad commissioner from 1849 to 1851 inclusive ; delegate to the constitutional convention of 1850; can- didate for governor in 1858, 1859, and 1860; and Judge of Pro- bate from 1871 to within a few months of his death. In addition to this he was a trustee and secretary of the New Hampshire Con- ference Seminary for fifteen years; a director of the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad ; and president of the Citizens' National Bank at Tilton, from the time of its establishment, as long as he lived. Moreover he superintended the cultivation of his farm, which was well tilled and produced valuable crops.
In the various public trusts thus showered upon him he ac- quitted himself to the satisfaction of all reasonable men. He was not brilliant, but rather a dealer in facts, and of sound prac- tical judgment. As a Judge of Probate he was especially the right man in the right place.
Colonel Cate was a good lawyer and an upright man. By nature he had no taste for contention, and rather avoided the trial of causes in court, but liked the office employment of con- veyancing and counsel. Yet, if occasion required, he showed that he could hold his own in a contest. He had a good voice, was a ready speaker, and his words "always fitted the thought."
The historian of Sanbornton represents him as a " genial gen-
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tleman, who enjoyed the confidence of his townsmen to a large degree, and who lived and died a conscientious Christian."
Colonel Cate was united in marriage, in 1840, to Clara Proctor of Franklin, who, with two daughters, survived him.
JOHN COLBY CAVERLY.
Son of John S. and Nancy J. Caverly ; born, Barrington, August 3, 1852 ; admitted, 1879 ; practiced, Dover ; died there, June 4, 1891.
Mr. Caverly attended the academy at New Hampton, and finished the prescribed course in the seminary at Northwood. His legal study he pursued in the office of Josiah G. Hall of Dover, whose partner he afterwards for a time became. A man of more than ordinary talents, and of a good legal mind, the chief draw- back upon his advancement in his profession was the infirmity of his health. For a year or two he was city solicitor, and for a longer period a trustee of the Public Library. He was a well- informed, sensible, and practical man, and in the trial of causes and the cross-examination of witnesses showed especial skill. In the midst of his busy life disease disqualified him for active exer- tion, and after two years' suffering he sank beneath it.
He left a wife and one or two children.
JOHN CURTIS CHAMBERLAIN.
Son of Deacon John and Mary (Curtis) Chamberlain ; born, Worcester, Massachusetts, June 5, 1772 ; Harvard College, 1793 ; admitted, 1796 ; prac- ticed, Alstead and Charlestown ; died, Utica, New York, December 8, 1834.
Benjamin West of Charlestown superintended Mr. Chamber- lain's legal studies until he was admitted an attorney. He first settled in Alstead, in 1796, and there passed eight years, when he went back to Charlestown as the partner of Mr. West. This relation continued until Mr. West's death in 1817. Mr. Cham- berlain lived on in Charlestown till 1826, and then left the State, going first to Honeoye Falls, Monroe County, New York, and thence to Utica, where his career terminated.
Mr. Chamberlain, like his law instructor, had little ambition outside of his profession. He was a few times pressed into the office of moderator of town meetings; was once a representative in the General Court, and once a representative in Congress, and
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probably had no desire to repeat his experience in either position. But he liked his profession, especially the exciting public portion of it. He aimed to be a popular advocate, and was highly suc- cessful. He did not accomplish his purpose so much by diligent preparation and study, but depended largely upon his innate resources, which seldom failed to rise to the requirements of great occasions. He had a winning and flexible voice, capable of tak- ing his audience into his confidence by its conversational tones, and of rousing enthusiasm in his passages of impassioned decla- mation. His command of language was complete ; the apt word and the felicitous expression came at his call. It rather detracted from his standing, in the estimation of judicious men, that he was studiously negligent of his dress; but he thought it added to his popularity with the masses. Others, in later times, have made the same mistake.
For many years he was one of the leading advocates of his sec- tion, in causes of magnitude and consequence. His retainers ex- tended beyond his county, and he followed the circuit in probably one half of the State, but he had little taste for the tame labors of the office.
One of the causes célèbres in which Mr. Chamberlain ap- peared was that of the State v. Ryan, tried in Cheshire County, in 1811. Ryan was a handsome, intelligent young Irishman, but extravagant and dissipated. In a fit of desperation and reckless- ness he armed himself one day, and bade a quiet traveler " stand and deliver" on the highway. He could not have expected much booty, and he got nothing but some small silver. But he had technically been guilty of highway robbery, a crime at that time punishable with death. Apprehended at once without resistance, and secured in jail, it is no wonder that the fearful dispropor- tion of the penalty to the offense excited wide sympathy for the culprit.
Mr. Chamberlain was retained to defend him. The evidence that the prisoner committed the act was overwhelming. The defense of insanity, which the counsel boldly set up, and which has been so much overworked in later times, was a novelty then. Under the scrutiny of scientific alienists of our own time the defense would have melted away like a morning vapor. But the youth of the accused and the hardship of his case pleaded in his favor, and there was no lack of witnesses who were willing to testify to their opinion that the culprit was "out of his head."
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His counsel's argument to the jury was most effective, draw- . ing tears from the strong men of his audience, and rousing indignation against the Draconian law which would doom so slight an offender to the gallows. The prisoner was triumphantly acquitted.
Mr. Chamberlain had one bad habit, which was not uncommon in his generation, and unfortunately has survived to our times, of indulging rather overmuch in strong drink. On one occasion he was employed to try a critical cause arising in Grafton County, and his client stipulated beforehand with him that he should abstain from all liquor until the trial was over. Mr. Chamber- lain agreed to do so, and kept his word. But the client had reason to regret his precaution, for the counsel, missing the stimu- lus to which he was accustomed, became tame and spiritless (in a double sense), blundered through his task in a perfunctory man- ner, and failed to win his verdict in the end.
In his early life Mr. Chamberlain gave considerable attention to the cultivation of literature, and was the writer of the " Narra- tive of the Captivity of Mrs. Johnson," which has been several times republished, in this country and in Great Britain.
He was married, December 25, 1797, to Nancy, daughter of Hon. John Hubbard of Charlestown, and sister of Hon. Henry Hubbard. They had nine children. His oldest son, bearing his name, was a lawyer in western New York.
LEVI CHAMBERLAIN.
Son of Deacon John and Mary (Curtis) Chamberlain ; born, Worcester, Massachusetts, May 14, 1788 ; practiced, Fitzwilliam and Keene ; died, Keene, August 31, 1868.
Mr. Chamberlain entered Williams College, and remained there two years ; and then without completing his course took up the study of the law, at first with his elder brother, John C. Cham- berlain of Charlestown, and afterwards with Levi Lincoln of Worcester, Massachusetts. He was admitted at the latter place in December, 1813, and came at once to Keene, and remained there about five years, in the mean while acting for a time as assistant clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1819 he changed his place of residence to Fitzwilliam. He was repeatedly chosen to the office of moderator, and of school committee there,
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· and represented the town in the legislature of the State eight con- secutive years, from 1821 to 1829. In 1827 he was commissioned solicitor of Cheshire County, and served through his term of five years; and was state senator in 1830 and 1831.
He returned to Keene in 1833. In 1849 and 1850 he was the candidate of his party for the governorship of the State, but the party was in a hopeless minority. In 1861 he was appointed a delegate to the "Peace Congress " which attempted vainly to avert the great civil strife which was too certainly impending.
Mr. Chamberlain has been justly termed "one of the leading lawyers of the State." He was well read in his profession, sensi- ble and judicious in counsel, and tried his causes in court with ability. His manners were quiet and dignified, and well com- ported with his tall and rather aristocratic figure. In his inter- course with others he was genial, and he always had something bright and pertinent to say. His witty remarks were abundant, but always kindly, and never left a sting behind. It was he who originally invited his brethren of the bar to visit the site of the new court-house, by quoting to them the lines of the old hymn, -
" Ye living men come view the place Where you shall shortly lie !"
Many of his witticisms are still remembered, but they are apt to lose their aroma when transferred to the printed page. One, how- ever, is so genuine a Hibernicism that it especially deserves to be recorded. Mr. Chamberlain, at an evening party, was one of the last to go to the dressing-room to resume his hat. Knowing that exchanges of head-gear were sometimes made on such occasions, he had taken the precaution to wear his very worst tile. Perhaps he had amused himself with the idea that some other guest might have made an involuntary and disadvantageous "swap." But he found his own property safe. " What rascal has carried off his good hat, and left me my poor one!" he exclaimed.
Mr. Chamberlain was a good lawyer, a good citizen, a good man, and left behind him none but pleasant memories.
His wife was Harriet A., daughter of Dr. Josiah Goodhue of Hadley, Massachusetts. They were married in April, 1835.
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RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN.
Of the few educated lawyers who appeared in the province of New Hampshire in the seventeenth century, Richard Chamberlain was one. He was a son of William Chamberlain of London, gentleman, and was entered a student at Gray's Inn, May 3, 1651. He arrived at Portsmouth, in this country, in December, 1680, with the royal appointment of secretary of the province. By the commission which created Edward Cranfield governor, Chamber- lain was made a member of his council ; and, October 23, 1682, the governor appointed him recorder of deeds and clerk of all the courts of judicature within the province. These offices he kept, together with those of clerk of the council and justice of the peace, until 1686, when Governor Dudley recommissioned him clerk of the courts of the province of New Hampshire. Not long after this his name disappears from our records, he having returned to England, without doubt.
The last link which connects him with New Hampshire was the issue of a pamphlet of thirteen pages in London in 1698, en- titled " Lithobolia, or the Stone-throwing Devil," containing an account of the alleged persecution of the family of George Wal- ton at Great Island, by the flinging of stones and other missiles by unseen hands, which was attributed to diabolic agency. It purported to be written by "R. C., who was a sojourner in the same family the whole time, and an ocular witness of those dia- bolical inventions." R. C. was undoubtedly Richard Chamber- lain. He evidently believed that poor Walton was the victim of the spite of the infernal powers ; but modern incredulity accounts for the phenomena which he related as the work of neighbors whose ill-will Walton had provoked, and of mischievous young- sters whose pranks have deluded older and wiser heads many times before and since.
BENJAMIN CHAMPNEY.
Son of Ebenezer and Abigail (Trowbridge) Champney ; born, Groton, Mas- sachusetts, August 20, 1764 ; admitted, 1786 ; practiced, New Ipswich ; died there, May 12, 1827.
The early educational advantages of Mr. Champney were lim- ited to the common schools and occasional instruction from his
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father. He entered his father's office as a student, and in 1786 began to practice at Groton, Massachusetts. In 1792 he removed to New Ipswich.
He filled the office of selectman many times, and was postmas- ter twenty years. He was one of the projectors and original proprietors of the first cotton factory built in the town. His judgment was sound, and his advice and opinions commanded gen- eral confidence. He was fairly well read in his profession, and had a respectable acquaintance with English literature. Unfor- tunately some of his business plans were unsuccessful, so that he lost much of his property late in life.
Charles H. Atherton described him as " a dapper, lively man ; not much of a lawyer, but obliging and clever, and stood well with the bar. He had a great taste for music, and often attended meetings for the performance of music; and when at home was generally singing or fiddling."
His first wife, whom he married in 1792, was Mercy Parker. She died in 1795, after having borne him three children. In 1809 he was again married, to Rebecca Brooks of New Ipswich. By this union he had seven children, nearly all of whom lived to maturity.
EBENEZER CHAMPNEY.
Son of Solomon and Elizabeth (Cunningham) Champney ; born, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 3, 1744 ; Harvard College, 1762 ; practiced, New Ips- wich ; died there, September 10, 1810.
This gentleman was said to have been a good scholar, partic- ularly in the Latin tongue. After his graduation from college he first studied divinity with the Rev. Caleb Trowbridge of Groton, Massachusetts, and preached for a time, receiving a call to settle as a minister in Township No. 1, now Mason, which he declined. He decided afterwards, perhaps from a change in his religious opinions which is said some time to have occurred, to become a lawyer, and studied with Samuel Livermore at Londonderry, and was admitted in 1768. In June of the same year he settled in New Ipswich, and remained there till 1783. In the difficulties which occurred with the British government, and through the early stages of the Revolutionary war, he was what was termed a " moderate Tory," believing that the peace might and ought to
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remain unbroken by mutual concessions of both parties. But he never became very obnoxious to the active Whigs, and was well satisfied with the result of the war.
From 1783 to 1789 he resided in Groton, Massachusetts, and while there represented that town in 1784 in the General Court of that commonwealth. He then returned to New Ipswichi, and there continued through life. He was appointed county solicitor in 1789, and Judge of Probate in 1793. The latter office he held till his resignation on account of ill health, a short time before his decease. The bar of Hillsborough County passed a vote in 1802 that Clifton Clagett should present an address in their behalf to Mr. Champney, advising him to accept the office of Chief Justice, presumably of the Superior Court. Though he did not comply, he was well adapted to a judicial station by his scholarship, his legal learning, his soundness of judgment, and his personal dignity. But of course he was not the equal of Jeremiah Smith, who accepted and adorned the place in question.
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