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 27
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He was married in 1822 to Harriet, daughter of Professor John Hubbard of Dartmouth College.
NOAH COOKE.
Son of Noah and Keziah (Parsons) Cooke ; born, Hadley, Massachusetts, October 8, 1749 (O. S.) ; Harvard College, 1769 ; practiced, Keene ; died there, October 15, 1829.
Mr. Cooke was fitted for college at the grammar school in his native town. He became a resident-graduate and student of divinity at Cambridge, and was licensed as a preacher on the day when he attained the age of twenty-two years. In October, 1775, he joined the American forces stationed at Winter Hill as a chap- lain, and was commissioned and performed his duties as such first
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in the regiments of Colonels John Stark and Enoch Poor, and afterwards in the hospital of the eastern department of the Conti- nental army. In 1780 he retired from the military service.
It is alleged that his pay as chaplain was received by Colonel Stark, who for some cause refused to turn it over to Mr. Cooke, so that a suit was necessary to recover it ; and that Stark's pop- ularity was so great that the jurors only with great reluctance agreed upon a verdict against him.
Mr. Cooke then determined to adopt the profession of the law ; not from any disinclination to that of the ministry, but because of the poverty of the country after the war, and the scanty support that could be afforded to the clergy, imposing upon them the necessity of manual labor, which in his case was impossible by reason of lameness and bodily infirmity. He read in the office of Daniel Newcomb of Keene,1 and was admitted an attorney in Cheshire County in January, 1784.
He commenced to practice in New Ipswich, where he built a dwelling-house and remained till 1791, when, after Mr. Newcomb received the appointment of Judge, he removed to Keene which was then without any other lawyers. There he continued to prac- tice his profession to quite an advanced period of his life, until disease disabled him from appearing abroad.2 .
The physical infirmity under which he labored gave him an aversion for employments that would require much active exertion, and he was mainly an office lawyer, but had the reputation of being an upright and safe counselor, and a judicious and skillful manager. Both in New Ipswich and in Keene he was noted for his interest in town affairs, and particularly in the public schools. He was described as " a good citizen, a kind neighbor, and an indulgent parent."
1 While he was with Mr. Newcomb, on April 19, 1783, an agreement was made between them that Mr. Cooke should " have as perquisites all writings except original writs and processes." This method of dividing the business of a lawyer with a well qualified student was probably not unusual.
2 As evidence of the extremely modest professional charges of the early days of Mr. Cooke's practice, the following bill of his is introduced : -
" March 27, 1799, Abijah Wilder to Noah Cooke, Dr. To drawing writings between him and Prentiss, 15 cents."
The Prentiss referred to was John Prentiss, the founder of the New Hamp- shire Sentinel, who lived to be the oldest editor and publisher in the State ; and the transaction which gave occasion for the " writings " was the sale of the office at which the paper was first printed.
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He was married in 1784 to Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Rock- wood of Winchester. By her he had four children, of whom two, Josiah P. and Noah R., entered the profession of the law. After the death of his wife in 1801 Mr. Cooke was married in 1805 to Eliza, widow of Dr. Abraham Moore of Bolton, Massachusetts. She died in 1836.
NOAH ROCKWOOD COOKE.
Son of Noah and Mary (Rockwood) Cooke ; born, Keene, June 17, 1792 ; admitted, 1816 ; practiced, Rindge and Keene ; died, Keene, July 21, 1872.
Mr. Cooke was a student in Chesterfield Academy, and com- pleted his preparation for college under the tuition of Rev. Mr. Sabin of Fitzwilliam, but never undertook a collegiate course. He went into his father's office and there finished the required legal reading for admission as an attorney, after which he took up his residence in Rindge. There he remained until the death of his father in 1829, and then returned to Keene.
Apparently he had little taste for the work of his profession, and not being driven to exert himself, fell into the dissipated fashions of the time, like many others ; but unlike many others he had the resolution to shake off the habits before they proved ruinous. He reformed, and lived to a good old age with the respect of all those about him. He died in the house where he first saw the light.
He was married in 1850 to Maria L. Mead of Walpole ; and had no children.
SAUNDERS WELCH COOPER.
Son of Jesse Cooper ; born, Connecticut, March 4, 1791 ; admitted, 1822 ; practiced, Lancaster ; died there, c. 1865.
Mr. Cooper's father, who is described as " a bitter Federalist," is understood to have emigrated from Connecticut to Vermont about the year 1812. The son, being naturally bright and ambi- tious, succeeded in qualifying himself for the practice of the law and was admitted in Essex County, Vermont. He proceeded to Colebrook, and passed a while there, doing some collecting busi- ness. He also practiced somewhat in Canaan, Vermont. Between 1830 and 1840 he came to Lancaster, and there remained as long as he lived.
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While he could not be called a learned lawyer, he could pre- pare a case well, and was "pretty keen in a trial." His appeals to the jury were well put, though he was rather inclined to verbosity and prolixity. It was while he was arguing a cause at much length to a jury, that the learned Chief Justice who was presid- ing, lost his patience and his balance, hitched his chair fairly off the platform of the bench, and measured his length upon the floor, The accident naturally created a sensation, and broke the thread of the counsel's harangue. Cooper lost his verdict, and afterwards complained of the interruption, saying it prevented him from arguing his case as he wanted to !
He had an inveterate prejudice against a former member of the Court. On one occasion his power of protracting his speech did him good service. The last day of term had come, the Court was about to adjourn, and the obnoxious presiding Judge was to leave in the stage at a given hour. A trial in which Mr. Cooper was counsel for the plaintiff was in progress, and the Judge vainly endeavored to hurry it along, that he might give it to the jury before he departed. But the counsel had no mind that he should have the charging of the jury. At that time the "side judges " had all the power of the Court, in the absence of the circuit jus- tice. Mr. Cooper was quite willing that they should submit his cause to the jury, and drew out his argument to such a length that the presiding Judge had to go off before it was finished. He then brought it to a close ; the county judges completed the case, and it is to be hoped that the counsel gained the reward of his ingenuity.
Mr. Cooper received the appointment of solicitor of Coos County in January, 1847, and held the office for one or two years.
In 1854 he was compelled by failing health to give up practice, and was never able to do any law business afterwards.
His wife was Mary Porter of Lancaster.
WILLIAM J. COPELAND.
Son of Rev. William H. Copeland ; born, Albion, Maine, January 24, 1841 ; admitted, 1862 ; practiced, Somersworth and Manchester ; died, Somersworth, August 1, 1886.
Mr. Copeland was educated in West Lebanon, Berwick, and Limerick academies in Maine, and studied law with Increase S.
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Kimball of Sanford in that State. He obtained the means to defray the charges of his education by his personal exertions, in teaching school in winter, and in laboring upon a farm in sum- mer. When admitted to practice he was under twenty-one years of age. He first settled in Presque Isle, Maine, till 1868, when he moved his office to Great Falls village in Somersworth. It was but a short time before his strength as a jury lawyer was noised abroad, and clients began to pour in upon him. For sev- eral years he was the leading advocate of his section of the State, and was retained in many weighty causes in other counties. He gained much celebrity by his defense of two persons indicted in Carroll County for murder, Joseph B. Buzzell in 1874, and Syl- vester W. Cone in 1876. The case of the former was peculiar and almost unprecedented, for after being acquitted of murder, he was again tried for being accessary before the fact to the same murder. In those cases Mr. Copeland showed his capacity for severe and long-continued intellectual effort, his power of keen analysis, his familiarity with the principles of evidence, and his masterful influence with witnesses and jurors. He was not distin- guished for culture, reading little, probably, beyond legal works and the news of the day. Nor was he noted for refinement, as he was negligent in his personal habits, and blunt of speech. He was a ready talker, and fond of intercourse with all sorts and con- ditions of men. He has been called " a master of the art of cross- examination." Quick in perception, ready and fertile in re- sources, he was not often taken at a disadvantage. His forte was his logical acuteness, joined with an earnestness and personal force that would take no denial.
In 1882 he opened an office in Manchester, and divided his time thereafter between that city and Somersworth, his practice in extent and value rivaling that of any other lawyer in the State. The last three winters of his life he spent in Florida, where he had purchased lands, and was extensively engaged in planting orange groves.
Mr. Copeland in 1862 married Ellen M. Wade, granddaughter of Colonel Benjamin Foster of Machias, Maine. She, with their three daughters, survived him.
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AMASA COPP.
Son of David and Margaret (Palmer) Copp ; born, Wakefield, October 8, 1788 ; Dartmouth College, 1811; admitted, 1815 ; practiced, Milton and Wakefield ; died, Wakefield, January 7, 1871.
President Wheelock said that New Hampshire could not pro- duce another so brilliant young man as Amasa Copp. Prepared for his profession under William K. Atkinson of Dover and Amos Kent of Chester, Mr. Copp began practice in Milton, but soon removed to Wakefield. From that town he was chosen a repre- sentative in the legislature in 1832, 1833, 1834, and 1838, 1839, and 1840. He was fonder of hunting foxes than of the law, and preferred to trust to the inspiration of the moment rather than to submit to the drudgery of systematic study. Though by native powers he was a leading man, yet he never grew to be a lawyer of great learning. He is said to have made for a time more writs than any other practitioner in the county, and was a ready and strong speaker. He was tall and large in person and of high courage, and as the trials before justices and arbitrators used occasionally to degenerate into contests of physical strength, his services in such encounters were very desirable. He used to boast that he was captain of the swamp law as Jeremiah Mason was of the common law. Of great natural powers, only applica- tion was needed to make him the equal of the best lawyers of his generation.
He married, December 31, 1813, Charlotte K., daughter of William K. Atkinson of Dover. She died November 4, 1815, and he married, December 13, 1821, Eliza L., daughter of John Remick of Milton. He had four children, a son and three daughters.
DAVID COPP, JR.
This was a son of David Copp of Wakefield. He was at the Phillips Exeter Academy in 1784, and afterwards pursued the study of the law in the office of William K. Atkinson of Dover. In that place he was settled as a lawyer as early as 1797, and lived seven or eight years. He is said to have quitted New Hampshire under a cloud, and went to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he died in 1803.
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He appears to have been a man of much ability, but with the moral side of his character less developed than the intellectual.
His wife was a Miss Watson of Dover.
HENRY CRAWFORD.
Son of Theophilus and Annis Crawford ; born, Westminster, Vermont, Sep- tember 22, 1793 ; Middlebury College, 1815 ; practiced, Walpole ; died, Aurora, New York, 1836.
This gentleman sojourned in New Hampshire only about two years, and little has been learned respecting him, at this late day. He studied law with William C. Bradley of Westminster, Ver- mont, and was in practice in Walpole from 1820 to 1822, while he was still a tyro in his profession, and afterwards removed to Buffalo, and thence to Aurora, New York. He had, in Walpole, the reputation of being a promising young lawyer.
He married Wealthy Wales, December 10, 1819, and had one daughter.
JABEZ CROOKER.
Born, Easton (or Pembroke), Massachusetts, c. 1786 ; admitted, 1816 ; prac- ticed, Chester ; died, Coosawhatchie, South Carolina, November 27, 1823.
This gentleman was a twin or younger brother of Stephen Crooker. He was an inhabitant of Chester in 1814, while he was a student-at-law with Daniel French, and in September of that year was sergeant and clerk of the militia company which was mustered into the service of the United States for sixty days, and stationed at Portsmouth. In August, 1816, he was admitted an attorney of the Common Pleas, and from that time to about 1820, he was in practice in Chester. He removed afterwards to South Carolina.
In September or October, 1817, he was married to Susan Sar- gent Foss, a granddaughter of Judge Nathaniel P. Sargent of Massachusetts.
STEPHEN CROOKER.
Born, Easton (or Pembroke), Massachusetts, 1786 ; admitted, 1816 ; prac- ticed, Merrimac ; died there, April 2, 1824.
Stephen Crooker was a student at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1809, and his residence was then Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is said
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to have been an attorney in Plymouth County before 1815, and made application in that year for admission to the bar of Rock- ingham County, without success. In August, 1816, however, he received their approbation to practice here.
He opened an office in Merrimac in 1814, and lived there about ten years. He was chosen moderator at one or more meet- ings of the town, and, so far as appears, maintained a creditable standing in his profession.
His wife was Mrs. Sarah (Gage) Conant, daughter of Deacon Aaron Gage of Merrimac, and they had five children.
ALBERT HARRISON CROSBY.
Son of Dr. Dixi and Mary J. (Moody) Crosby ; born, Gilmanton, April 23, 1828 ; Dartmouth College, 1848 ; practiced, Francestown ; died, Exeter, Sep- tember 5, 1886.
Dr. Crosby (by which title he was known the greater part of his adult life) was a lawyer not above six years in all, only about two of which he lived in this State. He studied with his uncle Nathan Crosby of Lowell, Massachusetts, at the Harvard Law School, and with Samuel Fessenden of Portland, Maine. He practiced between 1851 and 1853 in Francestown; afterwards in Connecticut and in New York city. Somewhat discouraged at the tardiness of success in the legal profession, and perhaps feeling that he was better fitted for the vocation in which his father and grandfather had distinguished themselves, he gave up the law and became a physician ; studying with his father, and taking his degree of M. D. in 1860. After practicing medicine four years at Wells River, Vermont, he removed to Concord, and resided the rest of his life there as a physician and surgeon, enjoying an extensive business, and a high reputation for science and skill.
He was a medical officer in the military service of the govern- ment nearly three years, during the civil war ; was physician of the state prison sixteen years ; was one of the board of examining surgeons of the pension bureau for a number of years, and was an active member of the New Hampshire Medical Society, and at one time its president. His private practice was large; he was fre- quently called in consultation outside of Concord, and to perform surgical operations, for which he had special fitness. He likewise gave many lectures before lyceums and literary societies, and con- tributed numerous articles to medical journals and the press.
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His wife was Rebecca, daughter of Moody Moore of Wells River, Vermont. They were married November 20, 1860, and had one daughter.
DANIEL AVERY CROSBY.
Son of Dr. Josiah and Olive L. (Avery) Crosby ; born, Gilford, July 16, 1836 ; Dartmouth College, 1857 ; practiced, Manchester ; died there, Decem- ber 5, 1866.
Mr. Crosby divided his three years of legal study between the offices of Samuel Upton and of Clark and Smith in Manchester, and began practice there in 1860. In two years he left New England, for the benefit of his health, and went to San Francisco, California, where he opened an office. He was chosen librarian of the city, but after a stay of four years was compelled by the decline of his health to return to Manchester, the home of his parents. His disease was consumption, and he survived his return but a few months.
The historian of the Crosby family says "he was a careful scholar, methodical in his acquisitions, sincere and pure in his life, habits, and influences."
The beginning he made in his profession was respectable, and gave good promise for the future, had life and strength per- mitted.
He was unmarried.
NATHAN CROSBY, LL. D.
Son of Dr. Asa and Rebecca (Holt) Crosby ; born, Sandwich, February 12, 1798 ; Dartmouth College, 1820; admitted, 1823 ; practiced, New Chester and Gilmanton ; died, Lowell, Massachusetts, February 11, 1885.
Mr. Crosby had for his instructors Dudley Leavitt at Mere- dith, and Samuel I. Wells at Salisbury Academy, both eminent teachers. He studied his profession at Gilmanton, in the office of Stephen Moody. He first practiced in New Chester, now Hill, but after a short time returned to Gilmanton, and became a partner of Mr. Moody. In 1826 he removed to Amesbury, and in 1829 to Newburyport, Massachusetts. There he accepted the position of under agent of the Salisbury Manufacturing Com- pany the succeeding six years. He moved to Boston in 1839, as agent of the Massachusetts Temperance Union, and for five years
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traveled through the State in behalf of the great reform. In 1843 he resumed the practice of the law in Lowell, Massachu- setts, and in 1845 and 1846 went to New Hampshire as the agent of the manufacturing corporations of Lowell and Lawrence, for the purchase of the lakes as reservoirs of water for the steady supply of the Merrimac River, on which their mills were situated. In May, 1846, he was commissioned Judge of the Police Court of Lowell, which office he filled more than thirty-eight years, and almost to the day of his death.
Judge Crosby was not only a discreet, learned, and able magis- trate ; he was also a useful and influential citizen, and an author noted alike for his literary and his historical excellence. A pioneer in the anti-slavery movement, when the great Rebellion arose he was the first to propose a scheme for the sanitary relief of the Union soldiers, and subscribed one hundred dollars to inaugurate an association for the purpose, of which he became the first president. Many other benevolent and philanthropic objects received his support through the public press and by pecuniary donations.
He edited several temperance journals, and published two volumes of obituary notices in 1857 and 1858; eulogies upon Judge Wilde and Tappan Wentworth, and notices of distin- guished men of Essex County. An address he delivered on the first half century of Dartmouth College and his history of a Crosby family are full of valuable information. His Alma Mater worthily conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. in 1879.
He was married to Rebecca M., daughter of Stephen Moody of Gilmanton, September 28, 1824, and to his second wife, Matilda (Pickens) Fearing, May 19, 1870. He had nine children, all by his first marriage.
OLIVER CROSBY.
Son of Major Oliver Crosby ; born, Billerica, Massachusetts, March 17, 1769 ; Harvard College, 1795 ; practiced, Dover ; died, Atkinson, Maine, July 30, 1851.
Mr. Crosby prosecuted his law studies in the office of William K. Atkinson of Dover, and was admitted about the year 1798. He chose Dover for his residence, and remained there in practice
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for more than a quarter of a century. He had a handsome busi- ness, and was regarded as a reliable counselor, though he could not be called eminent in his profession. His collections and office business brought him in good returns, and he invested his gains in lands in the township of Atkinson, Maine, so that at length he considered it for his advantage to remove thither to superintend his possessions. This was about the year 1821, and from that time he practically gave up professional engagements. He was highly esteemed in his new home for integrity and usefulness.
While a resident of Dover, the story goes, that he used to sing in church, though his style was rather vigorous than melodious. His brother lawyer, Charles Woodman (who was no vocalist), was observed one day lending the choir the aid of his powerful voice also. On being asked the reason of the unusual effort, he replied, "I am trying to drown Crosby."
Mr. Crosby's wife was Harriet, a daughter of Stephen Chase of Portsmouth.
JOHN WESLEY CURRIER.
Son of Rev. John and Martha (Foster) Currier ; born, Walden, Vermont, September 7, 1835 ; Middletown University, 1857 ; admitted, 1862 ; practiced, Alton ; died there, June 8, 1887.
The father of Mr. Currier was a minister of the Methodist de- nomination, whose home was often changed. His son fitted him- self for college in the towns where his father was stationed, and was in the Albany Law School in 1861. Entering the office of Lewis W. Fling of Bristol the next year, he was admitted to the bar in Belknap County, and established himself in Alton. Twice he was appointed county solicitor ; in 1867 and 1868 he was assistant clerk of the state Senate, and the two following years was the principal clerk. Eighteen years he was chosen town clerk of Alton, and for some time was connected with its schools.
He was a good lawyer, and dealt honestly and candidly with all who consulted with him. He never encouraged litigation where it could properly be avoided, and was essentially a peace- maker. He had, however, a sufficiency of business in the courts, and in some noted cases made his mark.
His reading was not confined to his profession. He was a man of culture, and the author of poetical articles of merit. In con-
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versation he was ready, entertaining, and witty. He gained an abundance of friends.
His wife was a daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel George D. Sav- age of Alton. She with their two sons outlived him.
THOMAS CURRIER.
Born, Dover, 1801 ; admitted, 1825 ; practiced, Portsmouth and Dover ; died, Conway, c. 1875.
This gentleman was by inheritance in easy circumstances. He was a student in the Phillips Exeter Academy in 1814, and pre- pared himself for the bar in the office of William Burleigh of South Berwick, Maine, and in that of Jeremiah Mason of Ports- mouth. His name appears among the lawyers of Portsmouth in 1825, and among those of Dover in 1826, and a number of subse- quent years. In fact, however, he is said to have had no office, and no regular business, though Dover was his home until 1840 or later. Afterwards for the residue of his life he resided in Conway.
Mr. Currier is reputed to have been a man of peculiar habits, a bachelor, and a dyspeptic. He traveled in this country exten- sively ; visited New Orleans and the far West. In Minnesota he bought land, but finding the taxes to be burdensome, he aban- doned it. He made no figure at the bar.
EDMUND HENRY CUSHING.
Son of Hon. Edmund L. and Laura E. (Lovell) Cushing; born, Charles- town, July 22, 1838; Harvard College, 1859; admitted, 1862 ; practiced, Charlestown ; died at sea, March 11, 1869.
This young gentleman had scarcely qualified himself for com- mencing professional life, when at the call of patriotism he entered the naval service of the United States, as secretary to Admiral Andrew H. Foote, and accompanied him in his various tours of duty up to the time of his death in 1863. Receiving then the commission of paymaster in the navy, he continued in active ser- vice until the close of his life, which was occasioned by yellow fever. His remains were buried at sea.
He is described as greatly beloved, and as having given prom- ise of a distinguished career. Unfortunately, his connection with
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the law was too brief to prove by experience what he might have accomplished.
He never married.
SAMUEL CUSHMAN.
Son of Job and Priscilla (Ripley) Cushman ; born, Hebron, Maine, July 21, 1783 ; admitted, 1807 ; practiced, Portsmouth ; died there, May 22, 1851.
Mr. Cushman's education was obtained at the common schools and academies within easy reach of his home. He studied his profession with that eccentric genius, John Holmes of Alfred, Maine, and in 1807 set up practice in Parsonsfield in the same State. There he remained nine years, doing no large legal busi- ness, for he was a " foe to all unnecessary litigation," but em- ployed considerably as an officer of the town, and as postmaster during the administration of President Madison.
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