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 29
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He married, May 13, 1827, Belinda K., daughter of Hon. Sam- uel Quarles of Ossipee, and had four sons, one of whom, Samuel Q. Dearborn of Effingham, is of his father's profession.
NATHANIEL DEARBORN.
Son of John Sanborn and Mary (Emerson) Dearborn ; born, Chester, June 15, 1781 ; admitted, 1806 ; practiced, Pembroke, Deerfield, and Northwood ; died, Northwood, September 12, 1860.
Mr. Dearborn's father was an innholder and farmer, and gave him the advantage of instruction at Atkinson Academy, under the famous Master Vose. He then pursued the study of the law in the office of Amos Kent in Chester, and of George Sullivan in Exeter, and was admitted an attorney in Rockingham County.
He began practice at Pembroke. For a time he was quite suc- cessful in obtaining such business as is usually intrusted to young practitioners, but in a year or two a competitor, Boswell Stevens, came into the place, who secured the lion's share of the town's practice. Mr. Dearborn removed to Vermont, and subsequently to the western part of New York, where it is said he supported himself by teaching. At length he returned to New Hampshire, and after a brief further stay at Pembroke removed to Deerfield, where he continued in practice for ten or twelve years; and in 1831 settled in Northwood for the remainder of his life.
Mr. Dearborn never made a great figure in his profession. His talents and legal learning were not sufficient to command suc- cess, and his knowledge of men was not such that he could obtain it by inspiring their confidence and regard. He could not be said to be popular either with the bar or with the people. For this, however, he was evidently more unfortunate than blameworthy.
Mr. Dearborn married in early life Abigail, daughter of Cap- tain Newman of the United States Navy, and was the father of three children.
BAILEY DENISON.
Mr. Denison is said to have been a native of Connecticut. His father was Eleazer Denison, who removed to Jefferson in this
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State, and was a selectman and town clerk of that place from 1809 to 1812. He was the agent of Colonel Joseph Whipple, a large land-owner there.
The son studied law with Samuel A. Pearson of Lancaster, and was admitted an attorney in Essex County in Vermont, in 1818, and the next year served as State's attorney for that county. He removed to Northumberland in this State about 1821, and died there in 1822, unmarried, at the age of twenty-eight years.
THOMAS DENISON.
Of this early practitioner, in the northern county of the State, little has been learned. He studied his profession with Seth Cushman of Guildhall, Vermont, and was without much question a native of that State. There he was admitted to the bar of Essex County in 1812, and was in practice in Barnet. He removed to Lancaster, his future home, in 1822, and was the first lawyer settled in the town. By the year 1835 he had withdrawn from the profession, but lived until about 1845. His age at the time of his decease was sixty or more.
JOSEPH DENNIE.
Born, Boston, Massachusetts, August 30, 1768 ; Harvard College, 1790 ; admitted, 1794 ; practiced, Charlestown and Walpole ; died, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 7, 1812.
This gentleman was more noted as a writer than as a lawyer, but he studied for the legal profession, and for more than five years practiced it, nominally at least, in this State ; and here too he made those first essays in literature, which gave him a national reputation. He was rusticated from college, and degraded for some youthful misconduct, but was afterwards restored upon mak- ing acknowledgment of his fault. But he was mortified and ever after indignant at his treatment by the college authorities. Grad- uating in 1790, he began the study of the law with Benjamin West at Charlestown. He was said to be disinclined himself to the profession, but chose it on the urgent advice of his friends. While a student he appears to have eked out his resources by attending to "justice cases," and for a time by acting as lay reader in the Episcopal Church in Claremont.
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He was admitted to practice in the Court of Common Pleas, in March, 1794, and opened an office in Charlestown, but in the fol- lowing year removed to Walpole. He found a little law business, and this, together with what he received for writing for the press, barely kept him from want. His constitution was slender, he was inclined to convivial habits, he was fond of dress, and he made no pretensions to a greater knowledge of the law than the little that he was conscious he possessed. It is said that he never appeared in any court higher than that of a justice of the peace, except in a single case. His experience on that occasion was afterwards described by his friend Royall Tyler in a very amusing newspaper sketch. He desired a continuance for his client, who was sued on a promissory note and had no defense. The presiding judge was a farmer, of good sense, probably, but of no education. Dennie addressed him in a speech full of the flowers of rhetoric, tinctured, no doubt, with the quaint legal phraseology of Plowden, of which the Court comprehended not one syllable. Roger Vose, who must have hugely enjoyed the scene, came to the rescue, and informed his Honor that what Dennie wanted was a continuance of the cause. " Why didn't he say so, then ?" said the Judge, with some not very complimentary epithets on the elaborate forensic effort which had been wasted on him. Dennie retired from the temple of justice disgusted, and never set foot there again.
A newspaper called the " Farmers' Weekly Museum " had been established in Walpole about two years, when Dennie removed thither. To this paper, in 1795, he began to contribute a series of essays remarkable for their wit, their originality, and their literary merit, under the signature of the "Lay Preacher." So extraordinary was their popularity that they were copied exten- sively by the press throughout the country.
Dennie now felt that he had found his true vocation, and in six months' time became the editor of the "Museum." For two years he continued in charge of it, and with the aid of Royall Tyler and a brilliant staff of young writers, including Thomas G. Fessenden, David Everett, and Isaac Story, placed it as a literary periodical far above all rivals, and extended its circula- tion from Maine to Georgia.
Joseph T. Buckingham, who was at that time an apprentice in the printing-office of the "Museum," gives a graphic description of Dennie as he then appeared : " In person he was rather below
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than above the middle height, and was of slender frame. He was particularly attentive to his dress, which, when he appeared in the street on a pleasant day, approached the highest notch of the fashion. I remember one delightful morning in May, he came into the office dressed in a pea-green coat, white vest, nankin small-clothes, white silk stockings, and shoes, or pumps, fastened with silver buckles, which covered at least half the foot from the instep to the toe. His small-clothes were tied at the knees with ribbon of the same color, in double bows, the ends reaching down to the ankles. He had just emerged from the barber's shop. His hair in front was well loaded with pomatum, frizzled or craped, and powdered ; the earlocks had undergone the same pro- cess ; behind, his natural hair was augmented by the addition of a large queue (called, vulgarly, the false tail), which, enrolled in some yards of black ribbon, reached half way down his back."
Buckingham, as "printer's devil," often had occasion to call on Dennie for copy, and found him dilatory to the last degree. One of the best of his lay sermons was written in the village tavern, where he and his friends were engaged at cards, and was delivered piecemeal to the printer at the last moment.
Dennie became known also in political circles, and was sup- ported by the Federalists for a seat in Congress, but failed of an election. The publisher of the "Museum " was unsuccessful in business, leaving his editor in arrear, and the paper passed into other hands. In 1799 Timothy Pickering gave Dennie an ap- pointment in the State Department of the United States, with a respectable salary. Dennie performed the duties of the office for about a year.
In 1800, in company with Asbury Dickens, he began the pub- lication in Philadelphia of the " Port Folio," a periodical devoted largely to literature and the arts, which under his editorship ac- quired and maintained a high character. But Dennie's convivial habits increased upon him, and at length his health gave way, and he died after a lingering illness.
Jeremiah Mason says of Dennie that he was "the most aerial, refined, and sublimated spirit" that he had ever met with. Mason was especially charmed with his brilliant conversational powers. He was unquestionably a man of genius, with many of the failings which have too often accompanied exceptional intellec- tual powers. He attracted a wide circle of friends ; perhaps he was his own worst enemy.
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Daniel Webster asserted that no one ever did him more good than Joe Dennie. Some of Websters' early productions were reviewed by Dennie in the " Farmers' Museum." " He declared them full of emptiness, and it did me good," was Webster's frank admission.
Rev. Dr. Andrew P. Peabody rated Dennie as belonging to the first rank of our earlier American writers, and compared the " Lay Preacher" to the sermons of Sydney Smith.
ARTHUR LITHGOW DEVENS.
Son of Charles and Mary (Lithgow) Devens ; born, Charlestown, Massachu- setts, April 27, 1821 ; Harvard College, 1840 ; admitted, 1842 ; practiced, Walpole ; died, Boston, Massachusetts, July 22, 1867.
Mr. Devens was fitted for college at the academy in Framing- ham, Massachusetts, and under a private tutor. He studied his profession with William C. Aylwin of Boston, Massachusetts, with Henry Hubbard of Charlestown, and at the Harvard Law School where he was graduated LL. B. in 1843. His practice began in Walpole in 1843, and continued three years, at the end of which he removed to Northfield, Massachusetts. In about two years he went to Ware in the same State, where in 1849 he accepted the position of agent of the Otis Manufacturing Com- pany. A few years later he proceeded to Boston and there be- came treasurer of the Hamilton and Appleton Manufacturing companies of Lowell, Massachusetts. He did not afterwards resume the practice of his profession.
From Ware he was sent as representative to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1848. He was a bright and keen man, an agreeable speaker, tried his cases well, and had the reputation of a high-minded, able young lawyer. The few cases he argued in the higher law tribunals are said to have shown a vigorous legal intellect. He is described as a singularly attractive man in private, witty and bright in conversation, and generous in tem- perament. He was a brother of Charles Devens, Attorney-Gen- eral of the United States.
He married Agnes Howard White of Watertown, Massachu- setts, July 20, 1852, and was the father of four children.
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DAVID DICKEY.
Son of Hanover and Lydia (Osgood) Dickey ; born, Epsom, October 5, 1806 ; Dartmouth College, 1835 ; practiced, Newport and Haverhill ; died, Lowell, Massachusetts, October 30, 1877.
Mr. Dickey was of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and the earliest col- lege graduate from Epsom. He was three years preceptor of the academy in Hopkinton, all the while improving his spare hours in the study of the law. He finished his legal preparation in the office of Albert Baker of Hillsborough, and in that of Richard Fletcher of Boston, Massachusetts.
In 1840 he commenced practice in Newport, and two years later removed to Haverhill, to take the business of David Collins, whose health had given way. His practice became extensive, and he made considerable purchases of real estate, and at length was involved in lawsuits of his own. He was an able man, but appar- ently not so ambitious for distinction in his own profession as for carrying on large business operations, with a view to pecuniary profit.
In 1858 he gave up the practice of law and removed to Tewks- bury, Massachusetts, where he remained till 1874, and then took up his final residence in Lowell, Massachusetts.
On December 25, 1849, he was married to Lois Leverett, daughter of John Nelson of Haverhill. They had nine children.
DAVID WOODBURN DICKEY.
Son of Robert and Hannah (Woodburn) Dickey ; born, Londonderry, De- cember 25, 1792 ; Dartmouth College, 1818 ; admitted, 1821; practiced, Londonderry and Salem ; died, Salem, January 26, 1837.
Mr. Dickey, a descendant of some of the earliest families of Londonderry, was probably prepared for college at the Pinkerton Academy in that place. He read law in the office of John Porter, and entered into practice in 1821, in that part of the town which is now Derry. In 1831 he removed to the adjoining town of Salem. He is understood to have been a man of respectable abil- ities, though he never took a specially prominent position. He deceased at the early age of forty-four years.
His wife was Mary Davis of Haverhill, Massachusetts.
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DANIEL STARK DINSMOOR.
Born, Laconia, September 23, 1837 ; admitted, 1864 ; practiced, Laconia ; died there, March 24, 1883.
Mr. Dinsmoor inherited on his mother's side the blood of Gen- eral John Stark. He was fitted for college at the Institute in New London, in the class of 1860, and then prepared himself for the bar under George W. Stevens and O. A. J. Vaughan of Laco- nia. He opened his office in Laconia in 1864, and a year after- wards he was chosen cashier of the Laconia National Bank, then just organized. From that time he practically relinquished the practice of law.
He was register of Probate from 1871 to 1878; representative in the legislature in 1875; a member of the governor's mili- tary staff in 1875 and 1876; and also county treasurer. At the time of his decease he was state senator elect from the fifth dis- trict. The surviving members of that body adopted resolutions on the occasion of his death, in which they described him as an "able and upright gentleman, a faithful and respected citizen, and a generous and just man."
He was married in 1865 to Amelia M., daughter of Hon. Amos Whittemore of Bennington.
SAMUEL DINSMOOR.
Son of William and Elizabeth (Cochran) Dinsmoor ; born, Londonderry, now Windham, July 1, 1766 ; Dartmouth College, 1789 ; practiced, Keene ; died, Keene, March 15, 1835.
Samuel Dinsmoor, until he was seventeen, assisted his father in carrying on his farm. He then proposed to his father to furnish him help to enable him to fit for and work his way through col- lege, promising him that he would call upon him for nothing fur- ther. His father consented, and young Dinsmoor pursued his studies under the tuition of Rev. Simon Williams, taking for the purpose a daily walk of eight miles. In 1785 he entered college, having traveled thither in a cart drawn by oxen, and by a circui- tous course, as there was no pretense of a direct road from Lon- donderry to Hanover. He maintained himself while in college by teaching school in the winter months, and by keeping a store for the sale of merchandise.
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He was employed after his graduation in instruction for two or three years, and then began the study of the law under Peleg Sprague at Keene, who became much interested in the energetic young fellow. In 1795 Mr. Dinsmoor was admitted to practice in the Court of Common Pleas, settled in Keene, and at once began to gather in business.
He was forward in the organization of the Keene Light Infan- try, a military company of much repute in the old militia days, and became its commander ; from which post he rose through various grades to be a major-general.
In 1808 he was appointed postmaster of the town, and in 1811 he was chosen to the Congress of the United States. In 1812 he voted with the majority of the representatives in favor of the war with England. The election of 1813 restored the Federal party to power in the State, and Mr. Dinsmoor was not returned to Congress. He afterwards received the appointment of collector of the direct tax. In 1821 he was chosen a member of the execu- tive council, and in 1823 was the regular candidate of his party for the office of governor of the State. Levi Woodbury, how- ever, a popular member of the same party, was a third candidate, and there being no choice by the people, secured the election by the legislature.
The new governor the same year appointed Mr. Dinsmoor Judge of Probate for the county of Cheshire. In 1830 Judge Dinsmoor was again nominated for the governorship, and was elected in 1831, and reelected in each of the two succeeding years.
In 1833, upon the organization of the Ashuelot Bank, Governor Dinsmoor was chosen its president, and so continued during the remainder of his life. He was a prudent, careful lawyer, not gifted with the eloquence which captivates juries, but honest and re- liable. He began practice at a time when everybody ran in debt, and nearly everybody got sued in consequence. His justice docket is said to have shown the issue of a thousand writs, in a single year. He was gentlemanly, and had something of the old school in his manners, but was easy, unassuming, and generally liked. He is said to have had no particular fancy for public life, but it suited the leaders of his party to put forward a gentleman of education and standing for office, and he allowed his name to be used. His administration of the affairs of the State was marked by honesty, discretion, and ability.
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He married in early life Mary Boyd, daughter of General George Reid of Londonderry, who bore him four children, and died two months before him. Their oldest child was a lawyer, and also governor of the State.
SAMUEL DINSMOOR, JR., LL. D.
Son of Governor Samuel and Mary B. (Reid) Dinsmoor ; born, Keene, May 8, 1799 ; Dartmouth College, 1814 ; practiced, Keene ; died there, Feb- ruary 24, 1869.
The younger Dinsmoor was a precocious boy, and was said to have completed the preparatory studies then required for admis- sion to college when he was only ten years of age. His father allowed him to enter at eleven, placing him under the special charge of Professor Shurtleff. The latter gave him as a chum a heavy, steady-going student of thirty. The youthful freshman had then much of the sportive humor that distinguished him in after life ; and on being asked how he liked his room-mate, re- plied : " Well, in every respect, but one. He says his prayers at night, 'Now I lay me down to sleep,' etc., which is all very proper ; but in the morning he says the same ; now I don't think that prayer appropriate for morning !"
He read law with his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1818. The next year he accompanied Colonel James Miller, who had been appointed governor of Arkansas, to that territory ; but returned to Keene, and entered into practice about three years after. His popular manners and beautiful handwriting led to his election to the clerkship of the state Senate in 1826 and 1827, and again in 1829 and 1830. In 1828 he was chosen to go to France to look after the property of an uncle who had deceased abroad. He thus gained an opportunity to see foreign countries, and to acquire the French language, then a much less common accomplishment than it is to-day. "
In 1833 he was appointed cashier of the Ashuelot Savings Bank, of which his father was president. This position he filled till his father's decease in 1835, when he was chosen to the vacant presidency.
In 1849 he was elected governor of the State, and again in 1850. He then declined to be considered a candidate for reëlec- tion, but circumstances induced him to reconsider his determina-
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tion, and he was chosen for the third time. His administration was clean, and in all ways eminently respectable.
Governor Dinsmoor's abilities and acquirements would unques- tionably have enabled him to take a high position at the bar, had he applied himself assiduously to his profession. But his circum- stances did not compel him to buckle down to hard work, he had no fondness for the contests of the courts, and quite willingly gave up the law for banking. He inherited a large property, and much of his time in later life was given to the care of it. He is described as " possessing superior education, affable manners, and a dignified deportment." His disposition was genial, and his social qualities were eminent. He had through life the respect of the community, and the warm regards of those who knew him best. Dartmouth College conferred upon him the honorary de- gree of Doctor of Laws in 1851.
He married, September 11, 1844, Ann Eliza, daughter of Hon. William Jarvis of Weathersfield, Vermont, by whom he had two children. After her death he married in May, 1853, Catherine Abbott (Pickman), daughter of Hon. Daniel Abbott of Nashua, and widow of Charles J. Fox.
OLIVER A. DODGE.
Son of Hon. George H. and Mary Dodge ; born, Hampton Falls, November 17, 1838 ; practiced, Dover ; died there, April 21, 1891.
Mr. Dodge was a resident of Georgia when the Southern Rebellion broke out, and was probably driven into the ranks of the Confederate army, but is said to have afterwards voluntarily borne arms for the Union. After the war was over he returned to the North, and studied law with his brother, William H. Dodge, then an attorney in Dover ; and on being admitted, be- came his partner in practice.
On account of certain irregularities for which his brother was chiefly responsible, they were both expelled from the bar, but he was soon after restored again, on a re-hearing. He returned to practice, with the good-will of his legal brethren, and it is said that no one conducted his business more honorably than he there- after. He was a man of excellent powers of mind, and acquired a good practice and a creditable standing in society.
He left a widow.
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PERLEY DODGE.
Son of William and Rachel (Poland) Dodge ; born, New Boston, May 17, 1799 ; Union College, 1824 ; admitted, 1828 ; practiced, Francestown, New Boston, and Amherst ; died, Amherst, March 31, 1888.
Mr. Dodge was fitted for college at the Francestown and Pin- kerton academies, and under the instruction of Rev. E. P. Brad- ford, and entered Dartmouth College in 1820. After partially completing the course in that institution, he migrated to Union College, from which he took his bachelor's degree. He was pre- ceptor. of the Francestown Academy for a year or more, and then pursued the study of the law with Titus Brown of Francestown, and with Nehemiah Eastman of Farmington. He began practice as a partner of Mr. Brown at Francestown, but in 1829 removed to New Boston, and in March, 1832, to Amherst. He remained in practice over half a century, and attended every term of the court held in Hillsborough County during that period. In 1839 he was appointed clerk of the courts, and served as such for eighteen years, diligently and satisfactorily. In 1837, 1853, and 1854, he represented Amherst in the legislature. For the thirty- four years prior to his death he was a trustee of the Nashua Sav- ings Bank. He was repeatedly moderator of the town meetings, and chairman of committees appointed to promote the interests of his townsmen.
Though not distinguished as an advocate, he was known as a prudent, accurate lawyer, averse to needless controversy, and was trusted implicitly by his clients. His faithfulness and honor were above suspicion. His courtesy and social disposition made him welcome in every company ; his chief enjoyment was in his family and his home.
He married in 1831 Harriet, daughter of Peter Woodbury of Francestown, and thus became brother-in-law of Levi Woodbury of Portsmouth, of Nehemiah Eastman of Farmington, and of Isaac O. Barnes of Barnstead. He was the father of two sons and one daughter.
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JOHN PHILBRICK DOE.
Son of Jeremiah and Dolly (Norris) Doe ; born, Pembroke, February 20, 1805 ; Dartmouth College, 1825 ; practiced, Loudon ; died, Pembroke, Jan- uary 29, 1829.
The record of this lawyer is a very brief one. He studied law with Boswell Stevens of Pembroke, and was received into the profession but a few short months before his early decease. He opened an office in Loudon, but could have done little more. He was unmarried.
JOSEPH EMERSON DOW.
Son of Hon. Moses and Phebe (Emerson) Dow ; born, Haverhill, December 28, 1777 ; Dartmouth College, 1799 ; admitted, 1802 ; practiced, Littleton, Franconia, and Thornton ; died, Franconia, August 24, 1857.
Mr. Dow studied law with his father, and for four or five years " held himself out " as a practitioner in Haverhill. In 1807 he became the earliest lawyer in Littleton. One of the wits of the bar illustrated his legal qualifications by the statement that " on his examination he answered one question aright. He was asked what was the highest title to real property, and replied that " he did n't know !" Apparently he kept no place of business, for it was the saying of the time that " he carried his office in his hat."
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