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 24
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Judge Champney had for many years a considerable business, being the only lawyer in an extensive tract of country, and for some time, in connection with his son Benjamin, kept an office in Groton, Massachusetts, as well as in New Ipswich. The late Charles H. Atherton described him as "a man of great good sense and judgment, and a good lawyer, but who never exercised himself as an advocate .... Such was his intuitive clearness of thought that his decisions carried great sway. He was particu- larly distinguished for the technical accuracy and conciseness of his professional draughts. They always contained whatever was necessary, without one word to spare."
He was married, first, in 1764, to a daughter of the Rev. Caleb Trowbridge of Groton, Massachusetts ; second, in 1778, to Abigail, daughter of Samuel Parker ; and third, in 1796, to Susan Wyman. By his first marriage he had seven children, and by his second four.
LUTHER CHAPMAN.
Son of Samuel and Eleanor (Belden) Chapman ; born, Keene, December 28, 1778 ; Dartmouth College, 1803 ; admitted, 1806 ; practiced, Swanzey, Fitz- william, and Troy ; died, Fitzwilliam, August 15, 1856.
Mr. Chapman was the son of a farmer. He pursued the study of the law with John C. Chamberlain of Charlestown. In 1806
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he located himself in Swanzey, but after remaining there about two years removed to Fitzwilliam, where he resided twenty-eight years. In 1816 and 1817 he represented the town in the state legislature. In 1836 he established himself in Troy, being the only legal practitioner who ever settled there. After a residence of nineteen years in Troy he returned to Fitzwilliam, where, about a year later, his death ensued.
Mr. Chapman is described as having in his best days tried causes to some extent, before the jury. An anecdote shows that if he was not eloquent, he had the wisdom not to waste words. An action which he brought, when it came on for trial, appeared to him on the evidence to be so perfect that he did not incline to weaken it by bolstering it up by a long speech. "Gentlemen," said he, " this is nothing more nor less than a question of common sense." Short but sufficient. The jury applied the test, and returned their verdict for his client.
Mr. Chapman cultivated music, and played upon an instrument which has of late fallen rather into disuse among amateurs - the German flute. He was an ardent politician, too, though it does not appear that he figured in any public position beyond that of representative.
In later life it is said his docket dwindled, until it consisted of only a single action, in which he, personally, was the defendant. The wits of the bar used to interrogate him, at the beginning of every term, how matters stood between the plaintiff and himself. At length he informed them that there was a prospect of the suit being ended, " for," said he, "I told the plaintiff he might take fifteen dollars and go to hell, and I guess he will do it ! "
He was married, February 9, 1808, to Sally, daughter of Samuel King of Chesterfield, who outlived him. They had no children.
ARTHUR CHASE.
Son of Bishop Carlton and Harriet (Cutler) Chase ; born, Bellows Falls, Vermont, October 21, 1835; Norwich University, 1856 ; practiced, Clare- mont ; died there, November 20, 1888.
Mr. Chase read law in the office of George Ticknor in Clare- mont, and took his degree of LL. B. at Harvard Law School in 1859. Admitted to the bar the same year, he set up in practice in Claremont, but by reason of his slender physical constitution
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he soon relinquished that pursuit, and gave his chief attention to the cultivation of the soil. He was possessed of intellectual ability which, had his bodily powers been equal to the labors of the law, would have insured him a high place in his profession. In 1868 he purchased the " National Eagle " newspaper, and for three years was its editor and publisher. He died at the age of only thirty-three.
His wife was Garafelia, daughter of Charles Davis of Roxbury, Massachusetts, and he left four children.
BARUCH CHASE.
Son of Dudley and Alice (Corbet) Chase ; born, Sutton, Massachusetts, March 27, 1764 ; Dartmouth College, 1786 ; practiced, Hopkinton ; died there, March 7, 1841.
The Chase family of New Hampshire boasts many members of note, both in and outside of the learned professions. Baruch Chase had one brother, Philander, who was a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, two others, Dudley and Salmon, who were lawyers of note, one of them also a senator, and Chief Justice of Vermont, and a fourth brother who was an executive councilor, and the father of Salmon P. Chase, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
The subject of this notice was prepared for college at Moor's Charity School in Hanover, and became preceptor of the same one year after his graduation. Twenty-seven young men are said to have been fitted for admission to college under his instruc- tion, so great was his reputation for classical scholarship. His professional studies were pursued with Messrs. Bradley and Buck in Vermont, and Aaron Hutchinson of Lebanon ; and he com- menced practice in Hopkinton in the year 1790, the second lawyer settled in that town.
Hopkinton, in his time, was a county seat, and a rival of Con- cord for the distinction of becoming the capital of the State, and was an important centre of law business. Mr. Chase had his full quota of employment, and in professional repute stood among the best in his county. He was commissioned county solicitor in 1808, and served as such for ten years. He was also the presi- dent of the Merrimac County Bank, - a good voucher for his correct business habits and his sound pecuniary condition.
,
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His wife was Ellen, daughter of Benjamin Wiggin of Hopkin- ton, who survived her husband more than a quarter of a century, dying in 1868 at the age of 92. They had three children, of whom two, sons, lived also to old age.
FRANCIS RUSSELL CHASE.
Son of Hon. Jonathan T. and Fanny M. (Bean) Chase ; born, Gilmanton, April 5, 1818 ; admitted, 1844 ; practiced, Conway and Northfield ; died, Northfield, March 12, 1876.
Mr. Chase, after an academical education, pursued his legal studies with Judah Dana of Fryeburg, Maine, and when ad- mitted to the bar, settled in Conway. There he remained above twenty years, until his removal, in 1866, to Northfield, after which his office was at Sanbornton Bridge, now Tilton. He was a popular man, prominent in political affairs, though not a bitter partisan, a representative in the legislature from Conway from 1852 to 1855, and elected speaker of the House the latter year. He also represented Northfield in 1871 and 1872. As a lawyer he was active, ready, and of respectable rank, though not given to delving in the lore of the profession. He was described with justice as a genial companion and a faithful friend. He was an active member of the Episcopal religious society.
Dartmouth College gave him the honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1871.
His wife was Huldah P. Fessenden of Fryeburg, Maine, and they had seven children.
FREDERICK CHASE.
Son of Professor Stephen and Sarah T. (Goodwin) Chase ; born, Hanover, September 2, 1840 ; Dartmouth College, 1860 ; practiced, Hanover ; died there, January 19, 1890.
The father of Mr. Chase was professor of mathematics in Dart- mouth College, and the son's preparatory studies were completed in Kimball Union Academy at Plainfield, and Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts. After his graduation he was assist- ant to the professor of chemistry at Dartmouth College for a few months, and then went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to teach ; but the political prospects were so stormy there that he soon returned
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to Hanover, and began the study of the law with Daniel Blais- dell. Receiving, in 1861, the appointment of clerk in the office of the Second Auditor of the United States Treasury, he proceeded to Washington, and in that position and as clerk to the office of the secretary, remained till 1869, in the mean time completing his preparation for the bar, and taking the degree of LL. B. in the Law School of the Columbian College in 1867.
He was at the head of the law firm of Chase, Hartwell, and Cole- man of New York and Washington, from 1869 to 1874, himself residing in the former city the first year, and the remainder of the time in the latter. He returned to Hanover in 1874 and entered into practice. The next year, on the decease of Daniel Blaisdell, he was chosen treasurer of Dartmouth College, and the year after was appointed Judge of Probate for the county. These positions he occupied up to the time of his decease.
Judge Chase was a man of thorough and exact knowledge, of prompt business habits, great executive efficiency, and sterling in- tegrity. He was a shrewd financier, and provided well for his own family, and gave generously to others who were in need. His public spirit and liberality were conspicuous, and his administra- tion of the important office of Judge of Probate was marked by wise discretion and a complete knowledge of his duties.
He manifested a natural liking for historical studies, and had projected and carried well towards completion a history of Han- over and Dartmouth College. The first volume had passed nearly through the press, when he was attacked by the peculiar influenza then prevalent, known as la grippe, and he was cut off in the prime of his powers.
He was married, November 9, 1871, to Mary F., daughter of Dr. Thomas F. Pomeroy of Detroit, Michigan, and left five sons.
HARVEY CHASE.
Son of Moses Chase ; born, Cornish, November, 1778 ; Yale College, 1800 ; practiced, Cornish ; died there, 1857.
Though this gentleman belonged to a family of which several members attained distinction in public position, it would appear that he lacked the ability or the ambition to emulate them, for he spent his life in his native town, and was little known outside of its limits. He is represented as a man of very moderate talents,
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and a " business " lawyer, giving attention to the collection of claims, to probate matters, and the like.
He was married, and left a son and two daughters.
HENRY BRIGHT CHASE.
Son of Caleb Chase ; born, Brookfield, Massachusetts, January 27, 1777 ; practiced, Warner ; died there, January 11, 1854.
The subject of this notice is understood to have been of kin to the Cornish family of Chase, in this State. He studied his pro- fession with Baruch Chase of Hopkinton, and was admitted in 1804. In December of the same year he located himself in War- ner. He was made clerk of the state Senate in 1810, 1811, and 1812, and was commissioned the first postmaster of Warner in 1813. He was also chosen representative from Warner in 1813, 1816, and 1817, in the last of which years he was elected Speaker of the House.
Upon the erection of the new county of Merrimac in 1823 Mr. Chase received the appointment of register of Probate, the duties of which he performed with much fidelity until his resignation in 1840. It is said that while he was in office the legislature at one time, by reason of political feeling, cut off the salary of the office of register in this and in Hillsborough County, the latter held by Charles H. Atherton, in the hope that they could induce the incumbents to resign. Mr. Chase and Mr. Atherton were two of the best officers in the State, and had no notion of surrendering on such a summons. They retained their places, and in due time were awarded their compensation.
Harriman's History of Warner states that while Mr. Chase was in the legislature, in 1816, he was associated on the part of this State with a committee of the General Court of Massachu- setts, appointed to carry out a scheme for connecting the waters of the Merrimac and Connecticut rivers by a canal, to pass through Sunapee Lake. The plan is said to have been brought to an ignominious conclusion by the rather tardy discovery that the elevation of the lake was some eight hundred feet greater than that of the rivers.
Mr. Chase was a man of superior abilities and professional qualifications, and stood high in the estimation of the community. His honesty and uprightness were conspicuous, and he reared
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his family in comfort and respectability. " His reputation as a lawyer," says a local historian, "was second to that of no man in the State."
He married Dolly, daughter of Nathaniel Bean of Warner. Four children were living at his death : a son, bearing his father's name, who studied law and practiced in Louisiana, and three daughters.
HORACE CHASE.
Son of Samnel and Molly (Stanley) Chase ; born, Warner, December 14, 1788 ; Dartmouth College, 1814 ; practiced, Goshen and Hopkinton ; died, Hopkinton, March 1, 1875.
Horace Chase studied his profession under Matthew Harvey of Hopkinton, and after a stay in Goshen of about three years, returned to Hopkinton in 1821, and entered into partnership with Mr. Harvey. He was a representative in the legislature of 1829, and the same year received the appointment of postmaster, which he held until 1850. From 1830 to 1832 he was assistant clerk of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. In 1833 he was commissioned Judge of Probate for Merrimac County, and administered the office until 1855. In 1845 he published the " Probate Directory," a convenient and useful manual of the law and practice of the court over which he presided.
Judge Chase was an enthusiastic Freemason, and for many years was the secretary of the Grand Lodge of the State, and of other Masonic bodies. He compiled and edited in 1860 the " Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire, 1789 to 1856."
As a lawyer he was well read and careful, not rapid in his men- tal operations, but reaching sound conclusions. He was a very good Judge of Probate, and thoroughly honest. Before accepting the office he had acquired quite an extensive practice.
He was a genial companion, full of amusing anecdotes, and highly valued and esteemed by his numerous acquaintances throughout the State.
He was thrice married. His first wife was Betsey, daughter of Stephen Blanchard of Hopkinton, whom he married December 24, 1818, and who left him four children ; his second, married June 5, 1844, was Lucy, her sister ; his last wife, married Novem- ber 15, 1849, was Mrs. Ruhamah, daughter of Joseph Cochran of
17
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New Boston, and widow of Daniel Clarke of Canaan. He had two sons in the legal profession.
THADDEUS S. CHASE.
Mr. Chase was a native of Maine, and came to Gorham about the year 1867, apparently on a " prospecting " trip. He remained there but a few months, and then, as he could not decide to make it his permanent home, he returned to North Windham, Maine, where he died not long afterwards.
CHARLES GILMAN CHENEY.
Son of Moses and Abigail (Morrison) Cheney ; born, Holderness, July 8, 1826 ; Dartmouth College, 1848 ; admitted, 1851 ; practiced, Peterborough ; died there, November 13, 1862.
Mr. Cheney studied law in the office of Messrs. Nesmith and Pike in Franklin, and began practice in Peterborough in Septem- ber, 1851. Upon the organization of the Peterborough State Bank, in 1855, he became its cashier, and continued in that em- ployment until in consequence of sickness he resigned, May 16, 1862. The last two or three years of his life he suffered much from disease. He was a man of amiable and correct character, and strongly attached to him those with whom he had dealings. His early decease disappointed the high hopes that had been formed of his future influence and usefulness.
He married Sarah E. Smith of Holderness, October 25, 1851, and had one child.
DANIEL MILTIMORE CHRISTIE, LL. D.
Son of Samuel and Zibiah (Warren) Christie ; born, Antrim, October 15, 1790; Dartmouth College, 1815; admitted, 1818 ; practiced, Dover ; died there, December 8, 1876.
Mr. Christie was the son of a tiller of the soil, and without ex- traordinary advantages was successful in obtaining a collegiate training, and the necessary legal instruction in the office of James Walker of Peterborough. At the age of twenty-eight years he seated himself in the town of York, Maine, to wait for clients. The first five years they could not have been numerous, for he made two removals, first to Berwick, Maine, and then, in 1823, to
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Dover. He was neither a showy nor a pushing man, and it took time for his sterling merits to become appreciated. As he be- came better known, his virile powers of mind, his fondness for professional labor, and his sense of responsibility to his employers indicated him as one worthy of trust, and destined to succeed.
His work and his play were both found in the law. He in- dulged in no sports and in no idleness ; he read little, if any- thing, unconnected with his profession ; he had no fancy for society ; he never speculated ; he had no " fads." He held only two public offices in the course of his long life, that of United States district attorney, which President Adams gave him in 1828; and that of representative in the General Court, to which he was chosen in 1826, and eleven years, at intervals, afterwards. His great interest in life was centred in his profession. His daily habit, for half a century and more, was to repair to his office as soon as breakfast was over, and to spend the day, and the evening until ten o'clock, in it, unless summoned elsewhere by his business.
Thoroughly grounded in the principles of the law, and untiring in research, he was rarely at fault in his legal opinions. The instances in which his advice was found to be erroneous were few indeed. He relied not merely upon decided cases, he examined carefully into the reasons of decisions. If he could not fully justify a ruling to his own understanding, with his proverbial caution he was shy of trusting to it.
He may be said to have been a growing man through life. It was remarked that in his addresses to the court and jury after he had passed the age of seventy his diction was more copious and his illustrations were more various than ever before. For a quarter of a century at least he was the acknowledged leader of the bar in his section of the State. He was a contemporary of two genera- tions of practitioners, from the prime of Mason and Bartlett and Woodbury to that of Bell and Hale and Marston ; and was no unworthy match for the strongest of them in his youth not less than in his age.
Mr. Christie in his management of his business acted fully up to the spirit of Lord Brougham's definition of the duties of an advocate. He spared no effort to forward the interest of his client, and entered into his cause with all his heart and soul. But he never construed the obligations of counsel, as some law-
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yers are thought to have done, to mean that he should sacrifice truth or honor for the sake of victory ; nor was he ever so carried away by the gaudium certaminis, though he gloried in a hard fight, as to forget for a moment his sterling principles. But he never granted an indulgence, and, to do him justice, he seldom asked one. He fought every inch of ground.
He was always thoroughly well prepared. He studied the law diligently, he examined the testimony carefully. Every danger was foreseen and discussed, and the best method of avoiding it was settled in advance. His clients, at the prior conferences of counsel, were amazed to learn how many difficulties their causes presented, and were apt to think that Mr. Christie was too timid and full of apprehensions. But when he got into court all this was changed. No more doubts ; no more uncertainty ; he pre- sented his points with boldness and perfect confidence. The objections which had been mountains in consultation became molehills in the court-room.
He was equally thorough in all the stages of a trial. He never left a witness without having got from him the very last favorable word that he would utter. He was not loud or imperious in cross- examination, but he never failed to let the jury see the difference between his treatment of an honest witness and of a falsifier. In all the numerous questions that came up in the examination of witnesses, his discussions were ingenious and cogent. He con- trived that the jury should be fully impressed with the force of all the evidence that he offered, even if the Court ruled it inad- missible. But he did not offer evidence that was obviously improper, simply for the purpose of arguing for it in the jury's hearing.
His addresses to the jury were clear, logical, and powerful. At times, and especially in his later years, he indulged in bits of humorous description that caused much merriment. But in general he treated the jury as understanding men, and appealed to their reason and good sense. He never talked for buncombe, and never appealed to the passions or lower prejudices of men. He was somewhat noted for the prolixity of his forensic efforts, often repeating the same ideas in various forms of words. The humorists of the bar used to say that he was not satisfied until he had put each of his points into a dozen different shapes, one for each of the panel. In truth, he never felt that he had done
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justice to a proposition so long as he thought it might be ex- pressed more clearly or strongly.
He had a habit of dwelling upon any peculiarly striking expres- sion uttered in a trial that made in his client's favor. In an action that he brought for the breach of a warranty of a mare, one of the witnesses referred to the animal as the "fitty mare." Mr. Christie caught at the happy description, and in his argu- ment to the jury repeated it over and over, rolling it on his tongue with emphasis and unction until he made the defendant half wild with the " damnable iteration," and fairly pile-drove it into the jurors' memories.
An incident that occurred to Mr. Christie in another trial demonstrated his coolness and professional readiness under dis- concerting circumstances. It was at a time when the court was composed of three judges, a circuit justice who presided at trials, and two "side judges " whose real function was to adjust the county business, and who often left the court-room for that pur- pose. The trial referred to was going on before the presiding Justice, solus, and was stubbornly contested. Mr. Christie was anxious to introduce a piece of testimony which his opponents meant he should not, and promptly objected to every question put for that end. The Judge sustained the objection ; but the evi- dence appeared to Mr. Christie so important that he strove again and again by varying his questions to bring it out. The Judge at length intimated that there had been enough of that. Mr. Christie rose, apparently to fight the battle over anew, when the Judge directed him to take his seat. Mr. Christie's Scotch-Irish grit was roused by this, and he informed the Judge that he " pre- ferred to stand !" An awkward pause ensued ; evidently the next step must be the commitment of the contumacious counselor for contempt. But the instinct of the lawyer never left him. "If I may be allowed to speak," he said, " I would suggest that there is no quorum of the Court present." Neither of the two " side judges " was on the bench. The presiding Judge (probably to his no small relief) ruled that the point was well taken, and the trial was resumed.
Mr. Christie belonged to the stalwart generation who did not break down under intellectual labor. Week in and week out he breathed the vitiated air of the court-room, and underwent the strain of forensic contests, without detriment to his splendid phy-
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sique. Indeed, it happened more than once that he was in poor health when he began a term of the court, and recovered rapidly as soon as he got at work.
Take him for all in all, Mr. Christie was one of the very best lawyers that the State has produced. With almost no failings he had very many excellences. He was upright, honorable, straight- forward, clean. No man accused him of anything worse than obstinacy in his client's behalf. He was industrious, faithful, true, sincere. He pursued his ends by fair and honest means. All trickery and crooked ways were foreign to his nature, and would not have been tolerated by him. A lawsuit to him meant a square stand-up fight ; a fair test of strength and skill. Like Mrs. Battles he loved "the rigor of the game." He has been termed " the massive Christie," and not inaptly, for physically as well as mentally he towered above the average man.
When in 1857 he received from his alma mater the degree of Doctor of Laws, it was universally admitted that it was a tribute justly due to his great attainments and his spotless character.
Immersed though Mr. Christie was in professional engage- ments, he thoroughly enjoyed the pleasures of domestic life. He was married, December 1, 1827, to Dorothy D., daughter of Hon. John Wheeler of Dover, and the widow of Charles Woodman. They had six daughters, three of whom became the wives of lawyers.
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