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 3
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He was twice married ; first, probably, to Abigail Follett, Sep- tember 2, 1697 ; afterwards to Rachel - -. He had seven chil- dren, of whom five were daughters.
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DECEASED JUDGES
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NATHANIEL WEARE.
J. 1730-1738.
It is said that this gentleman was the son of Peter Weare, and was born in Newbury, Massachusetts. He afterwards lived in Hampton, in that part of the township which was incorporated as Hampton Falls. In 1727 he was a member of the Assembly from Hampton Falls, and was elected and served as Speaker. Relations between the House and Lieutenant-Governor Went- worth and his council had become somewhat "strained," and when in 1728, on a new election of the House, nearly the same per- sons composed it, and Mr. Weare was again chosen as Speaker, the lieutenant-governor refused to approve the choice. The House demurred to his authority so to do, and it was nine days before another Speaker, agreeable to Wentworth, was chosen in his stead. For a number of years after this Weare was reelected a representative. He was evidently a leader of the popular party.
He is understood to have held the commission of Judge of the Superior Court from 1730 to 1738. His will was made in 1738, and he probably died about 1740.
He was twice married. The Christian name of his first wife was Theodate. His second, Mary Wait, he married August 24, 1703. He had five sons and eight daughters. His youngest son, Meshech Weare, became the Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and first President of New Hampshire under the republican government.
NICHOLAS GILMAN.
J. 1732-1740.
This was a son of Councilor John and Elizabeth (Treworgye) Gilman, born in Exeter, December 26, 1672, and of that town a life-long resident. He was a farmer and merchant, and was a rep- resentative in the Assembly in 1732. In 1729 he was made a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and filled the position about a year, when he resigned it to give his attention to his pri- vate business. But on receiving the commission of Judge of the Superior Court in 1732, he accepted it and performed the duties satisfactorily till 1740, when he retired, his son Samuel Gilman succeeding to the post. He was a man of large property for the time, and died in 1749.
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CHRONOLOGICALLY.
He married Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel Clark of Newbury, Massachusetts, and had six sons and three daughters.
HENRY SHERBURNE.
C. J. 1732-1742.
Henry Sherburne was born in Portsmouth, February 16, 1674, and appears in his earlier years to have followed the sea. At a later period he was engaged in merchandise, and had dealings for many years with the province in furnishing supplies for the In- dian wars, and in the issue and redemption of bills of credit. He was styled captain, and later colonel, and saw some active service during the intermittent hostilities of his time. He was a repre- sentative from Portsmouth in the General Assembly in 1720 and probably afterwards, and a councilor from 1728, for nearly thirty years. In 1732 he was named Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and retained the position for ten years. He was also treasurer of the province in 1732, and for some years after.
He was a gentleman of intelligence and high standing. He died in Portsmouth, December 29, 1757.
His wife was Dorothy, daughter of Samuel Wentworth, and they had several children, among them Henry Sherburne, who became Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.
BENJAMIN GAMBLING.
J. 1733-1737.
Benjamin Gambling was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, and graduated from Harvard College in 1702. In 1709 he was of Portsmouth, and Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1717 he was made sheriff of the province, and appears to have offici- ated in that capacity till his successor was appointed in 1728. He was a representative in the House of Assembly in 1727 and 1728; and in 1732 was advanced to the council, where he served till his decease. He was made Judge of Probate in 1731, and was placed upon the bench of the Superior Court in 1733. His commission terminated only with his life. He was a man of property and of uncommon business capacity. Governor Belcher characterized him as "knowing and honest." He died September 1, 1737, at the age of fifty-six years.
His wife was Mary, daughter of Samuel Penhallow.
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DECEASED JUDGES
JOSEPH SHERBURNE.
J. 1739-1740.
Joseph Sherburne was a wealthy citizen of Portsmouth, who paid in 1727 a tax the fifth in amount in that town. He held the commission of lieutenant-colonel in 1734, when he entered the provincial council, and served as councilor throughout the residue of his life.
He was appointed special Justice of the Court of Common Pleas repeatedly between the years 1733 and 1738, and is under- stood to have held the permanent commission of Judge of the Superior Court in 1739-1740.
He died in Portsmouth in the latter part of December, 1744, at the age of sixty-four.
ELLIS HUSKE.
J. 1739-1749. C. J. 1749-1754.
This gentleman was a brother of General Huske, who dis- tinguished himself at the battles of Dettingen and Culloden, and was no doubt of English birth. He resided in Portsmouth, and was honored with a place in the council in 1733, and kept it till his death in 1755. He seems to have been a punctual and busy councilor. His commission as a Justice of the Superior Court was dated 1739, and he held it ten years, and was then advanced to the Chief Justiceship.
Governor Benning Wentworth, in a message to the Assembly in 1754, asserted that during Huske's administration of the office the Court " was fallen into great disorder, and by repeated delays the course of justice was in a manner put a stop to." That ap- parently brought about Huske's resignation.
He married Mary, daughter of Ichabod Plaisted, October 25, 1720. They had two sons and three daughters. John Huske, one of their sons, removed to England, was elected to Parliament, and has the credit of being the originator of the "Stamp Act." He was the author of a pamphlet published in 1755, entitled " The Present State of North America."
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CHRONOLOGICALLY.
THOMAS MILLET.
J. 1740-1742.
Thomas Millet was of Dover, and was a stirring man, holding public position for more than a quarter of a century. He had the commission of captain, and was a representative in the House of Assembly from 1731 to 1758, with the exception of three or four years. He seems to have been especially active in the prep- arations for the expedition against Louisbourg in 1745. He was also a selectman of Dover for some twenty years, beginning with 1734.
He appears to have served as a Judge of the Superior Court from August, 1740, to August, 1741. It may admit of doubt, however, whether he was acting under a general commission, or a special one.
His wife was Love Bunker, and his daughter Abigail married Judge John Wentworth, October 16, 1750.
SAMUEL GILMAN. J. 1740-1747.
Samuel, son of Nicholas and Sarah (Clark) Gilman, was born in Exeter, May 1, 1698, and spent his long life in that town. In 1732 he was commissioned a captain, and in 1755 colonel, in the militia, and in 1740 he was made a justice of the peace, - all honorable titles then. His occupation was that of a taverner, and he was a man of means and the owner of a number of negro slaves.
His service on the bench of the Superior Court covered a period of seven years, from 1740 to 1747. He was a man of the highest character, and universally respected. For a long time he was the chief conveyancer of Exeter, and a great proportion of the deeds of land were in his neat and uniform handwriting. He died January 3, 1785.
He was married, first, September 2, 1719, to Abigail, daughter of Robert Lord of Ipswich, Mass. She died November 29, 1745, and he was married, second, February 19, 1746, to Mrs. Mary Woodbridge, who died in 1759. He had nine children, but out- lived them all.
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DECEASED JUDGES
JOTHAM ODIORNE.
J. 1742-1747.
Jotham, the son of John and Mary (Johnson) Odiorne, was born at New Castle about the year 1675. He engaged in the shipping business and prosecuted it with success, and during his active life exerted much influence as a leading public man. From 1715 he was a representative in the Assembly five or six years ; in 1719 he was commissioned a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and continued in the office till 1730. He was called to the provincial council in 1724. Governor Benning Wentworth appointed him in 1742 a Judge of the Superior Court, and he retained his seat upon the bench until the year before his death, which occurred in New Castle, August 16, 1748.
His wife was Sarah Bassum, and they had three sons and four daughters.
THOMAS WALLINGFORD.
J. 1747-1771.
He was a son of John and Mary (Tuttle) Wallingford, and born in Bradford, Massachusetts, July 28, 1697. He appears to have come early into New Hampshire, and rose from small begin- nings to be a merchant in that part of Dover which is now Som- ersworth. There he lived and throve, till he became one of the wealthiest men in the province. He owned lands in Portsmouth, and in 1767 generously gave to the town a lot for a schoolhouse. Being one of the original purchasers of Mason's patent, he ac- quired a great landed interest in various townships of New Hampshire.
For a long period he was intrusted with public affairs, as select- man of Dover for eight years, moderator four years, and represen- tative six years. He was also colonel of a regiment of militia.
He was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court in 1747 and by a second commission in 1749, and remained in the office to the time of his decease. He died in Portsmouth, where he had gone on business, August 4, 1771.
He was married three times. His first wife is supposed to have been Margaret, daughter of Job and Abigail (Heard) Clem-
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CHRONOLOGICALLY.
ents ; his second wife was probably Mary Pray ; his third wife was Mrs. Elizabeth (Swett) Prime. By these several marriages he had thirteen children.
MESHECH WEARE.
J. 1747-1775. C. J. 1776-1782.
Meshech, a son of the second Judge Nathaniel Weare, was born in Hampton Falls, June 16, 1713. He was graduated from Harvard College in 1735, and prepared himself at first for the pulpit, it is said, but afterwards devoted a considerable portion of time to the study of the law, and made proficiency therein which afterwards proved valuable to himself and to the public. In 1745 he began to represent Hampton Falls in the provincial legislature, and continued so to do most if not all the time until 1776. For several years he was also clerk of the House, and in 1752 was chosen Speaker, in which office he was retained till 1755. Of most of the principal committees during his connec- tion with the legislature, his name appears as a member. In 1754 he was a delegate to the Albany Congress, and as early as 1766 was colonel of a regiment of militia.
He was decidedly opposed to the measures of the British min- istry which brought on the Revolution, and from 1775 to 1784 was a member of the provincial and state Committee of Safety, which was invested with legislative and executive power in the recesses of the legislature. In 1776 he was elected a member of the council under the people's government, and also president, and those offices he continued to fill till 1784, when the people by their suffrages chose him the first President of the State. The next year he resigned that and all his other public trusts, on account of the infirmities of age.
He was commissioned a Judge of the Superior Court in 1747, and performed the duties till 1775. In 1776 he was preferred to the position of Chief Justice, and served till 1782. During the Revolution, therefore, he administered simultaneously the highest offices in the State, legislative, judicial, and executive, a conjunc- tion of powers which under other circumstances, and in a man of less principle and patriotism, would have been hazardous in the extreme. But he was never suspected of abusing his power. He was a reading and thinking man, of sound judgment, industry,
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DECEASED JUDGES
discretion, and integrity. "He served his country and was poor." He was modest and unassuming, and when he surrendered office, did it with clean hands.
He sat thirty-five years upon the bench of the Superior Court, where his father and his grandfather had sat before him, - a re- markable succession, never paralleled since. He died at Hampton Falls, and the State, of which he was an early pillar, erected to his memory a monument bearing this inscription : -
HERE LIE THE REMAINS OF HIS EXCELLENCY MESHECH WEARE A. M. & A. A. S. LATE PRESIDENT OF
THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
WHO DIED JAN. 14, 1786, ÆT. 73.
President Weare was twice married; first, July 20, 1738, to Elizabeth, daughter of Deacon Shaw of Hampton ; second, Decem- ber 11, 1746, to Mehitable Wainwright. He had nine children.
JOSEPH BLANCHARD.
J. 1749-1758.
Joseph Blanchard was a son of Captain Joseph and Abiah (Hassell) Blanchard, and was born in Dunstable, now Nashua, February 11, 1704. He was a man of intelligence and much exec- utive force, and was for many years the leader in his section of the province in things civil and military. It is stated that he was appointed a councilor by mandamus in 1741, but it does not appear that he acted as such. He was chosen the first moderator of his town upon its organization under the laws of New Hamp- shire in 1742; and in 1744, and again in 1748, was elected repre- sentative from Dunstable and its vicinity, but was not allowed by the House to take his seat, upon the ground that his election was by virtue of the governor's writ only, and not authorized by former usage or by the House.
He was in command of a regiment of militia as early as 1744, and was the correspondent of Governor Benning Wentworth in
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CHRONOLOGICALLY.
regard to the Indian incursions in the western parts of the prov- ince. In 1754 he was ordered to send detachments from his command to protect those frontiers, and the next year, when the expedition against Crown Point was determined on, was placed at the head of a regiment for that purpose. He joined the forces under (Sir) William Johnson near Fort George, and one of his companies was distinguished for contributing largely, under the command of Captain Nathaniel Folsom, to the defeat of Dieskau ; while another company acted as Rangers under the famous Robert Rogers and John Stark.
Colonel Blanchard is said to have been the agent of the Mason- ian Proprietors in respect to their great land-purchase in 1746. In 1749 he was placed upon the bench of the Superior Court, and is supposed to have held his commission till his death, April 7, 1758, though he appears not to have attended court after 1756.
His wife was Rebecca Hubbard or Hobart, and bore him thir- teen children. His oldest son, Joseph, was a noted land-surveyor, and in conjunction with Rev. Dr. Samuel Langdon, published in 1761 a map of New Hampshire which gained them much credit.
THEODORE ATKINSON.
C. J. 1754-1775.
Son of Theodore and Mary Atkinson ; born, Newcastle, December 20, 1697 ; Harvard College, 1718 ; died, Portsmouth, September 22, 1779.
The father of Judge Atkinson is known as the third Theodore, and was a native of Boston. He removed to Newcastle in 1694, was a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and clerk for several years of the Superior Court, and died in 1719.
The fourth Theodore, the subject of this sketch, soon after he quitted college received a commission as lieutenant of " the Fort," and in 1720 was appointed clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, and continued in the office several years. During that time he acquired a familiarity with the forms of legal proceedings, and as early as 1731 was admitted an attorney.
While he was yet a young man, Lieutenant-Governor John Went- worth, whose daughter he afterwards married, appointed him col- lector and naval officer and sheriff of the province. But Governor Belcher, who was unfriendly to Wentworth, removed Atkinson in 1730 from the first two offices, and appointed another person
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DECEASED JUDGES
to perform jointly with him the duties of sheriff. This naturally aroused the resentment of Atkinson, who wittily and characteris- tically manifested it soon afterwards to his Excellency. The Governor, being about to visit Portsmouth, and being fond of parade, ordered that a troop of cavalry should meet him as an escort, and required the officers of the government to accompany the cavalcade. Semi-Sheriff Atkinson appeared, tardily, and car- rying only a moiety of his sheriff's official wand. The Governor angrily inquired why he was so late. " Because I had only half a horse to ride," was the answer.
When Mr. Atkinson was but twenty-eight years of age, he was appointed a commissioner to proceed in company with a gentle- man from Massachusetts to Canada, to procure the release of prisoners, and to remonstrate with the governor there against his violation of the treaty, by inciting the Indians to war. The mis- sion was conducted faithfully and with a successful result ; and upon Mr. Atkinson's return the Assembly of the province voted him their thanks and compensation for his services.
In 1731 he was appointed by the King a member of the council of New Hampshire, but Governor Belcher contrived to prevent him from taking his seat until 1734, during which interval Mr. Atkin- son was elected a representative, and maintained a constant oppo- sition in the House against Belcher.1 He held the office of coun- cilor from 1734 up to the dissolution of the royal government in 1775.
He was sent as a delegate to the Albany Congress of 1754, in which he was a member of the committee who reported a plan for a union for the defense of the colonies. This plan had the singu- lar fortune to be rejected at home because it gave too much power to the King, and in England because it gave too much authority to the colonial assemblies.
Immediately after his return from Albany he was commis- sioned Chief Justice of the Superior Court, and presided over that tribunal until superseded by the formation of the Revolution- ary government in 1775. He had been made secretary of the province in 1741, and after holding the place several years relin- quished it in favor of his son, Theodore Atkinson, Jr. The latter died in 1769, upon which the father was replaced in the office, and
1 Belcher querulously wrote that he was informed that Atkinson's mandamus as councilor cost him above one hundred guineas.
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CHRONOLOGICALLY.
retained it till 1775. Pluralism in temporal offices excited small apprehension, it would appear, in colonial and Revolutionary times.
Judge Atkinson was opposed on principle to the Revolutionary movement, and when a committee of the people's convention called on him for the records of his office of secretary, he refused to deliver them up, "as against his oath and his honor," but yielded to force. In all cases of difficulty and doubt his counsel and cooperation were the mainstay of the little coterie who ruled New Hampshire in the later colonial years, and he has been well termed the "soul of administration of the government of the province." He was a man of much general information, withal, and had a genuine appreciation of a joke. It is said that he cul- tivated the acquaintance of certain persons much below him in social position for the purpose of enjoying their witty sayings.
One repartee which tickled the Judge, though it was uttered at his own expense, is on record. While he was in the council, he inquired of a facetious member of the House what had become of a certain bill which had been sent down for their action. The member replied that there were objections to it in the House, and he did not think it would pass. The councilor was a little net- tled, and exclaimed, "I wish you were all in Heaven !" "I should have no objection," responded the representative, " only that it would be an eternal separation from his Majesty's council !"
Judge Atkinson was married, September 4, 1732, to Hannah (Plaisted), daughter of Lieutenant-Governor John Wentworth. She died in 1769. He had one son and one daughter, who both died before him. By his last will he made a provision which has kept his memory green until our own time, - he gave a legacy of two hundred pounds sterling to the Episcopal church in Ports- mouth, the interest of which is expended for bread to be distrib- uted on Sundays to the poor of the parish.
LEVERETT HUBBARD.
J. 1763-1784.
Son of Hon. Nathaniel Hubbard; born, Rhode Island, 1723 ; Harvard Col- lege, 1742 ; practiced, Portsmouth; died there, January 2, 1793.
Leverett Hubbard's father was a Judge of the Superior Court of Massachusetts. Rev. William Hubbard, the historian, and Gov- ernor John Leverett were among his ancestors. The son quitted
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DECEASED JUDGES
college with the reputation of a good scholar, but being disap- pointed at having no part assigned him at Commencement, de- livered from the church gallery a severe philippic in Latin against the president. This would have cost him his degree but for the intervention of his friends. He studied law in Rhode Island, and came to Portsmouth about 1760 to practice his profession. In 1762 he was made controller of the customs, and in 1763 a Judge of the Superior Court. He was sometimes extravagant in his expressions, as when he declared, in summing up to the jury in the trial of a cause, that he would willingly give the five hundred acres of land in controversy, if covered with money, to be able to argue a cause as Mr. West had done it ; but added, " I check myself in the thought, for it appears to me like the impious wish of Simon Magus to purchase the Holy Spirit with money !"
Judge Hubbard was said to be benevolent, friendly, and of courteous manner, but he never was eminent as a lawyer, nor excelled as a judge. On the revision of the state Constitution in 1784 he was not reappointed, but was left in somewhat straitened circumstances. Some time before his death his mental powers became weakened.
He married, December 6, 1769, Anne, daughter of George Jaffrey and widow of Nathaniel Pierce, and left no descendants.
WILLIAM PARKER.
J. 1771-1775.
Son of William and Zerviah (Stanley) Parker ; born, Portsmouth, December 9, 1703 ; admitted, 1732 ; practiced, Portsmouth; died there, April 21, 1781.
The father of this gentleman was a tanner, and it has been stated that his mother was a daughter of the noble house of Derby, in England, but this has been disproved. The descend- ants of Judge Parker have no occasion to go beyond himself in pursuit of ancestral honors and true family worth. He was taught only in the public schools of Portsmouth, and being de- signed for his father's trade, was apprenticed to him when he reached the age of fifteen. He made himself acquainted with his calling, but must have studied privately during his apprenticeship, as he became a master of one of the schools of the town, and in his intervals of leisure gave his attention to the perusal of the works essential to the qualification of a complete lawyer. The bar
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CHRONOLOGICALLY.
of the province had so few trained members, when he entered it, that he was received with every mark of encouragement and ap- proval.
When in 1737 the commissioners assembled to settle the bound- ary line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, they ap- pointed Mr. Parker as their clerk. And Governor Belcher gave him the place of Register of Probate, where his legal knowledge was of course of much service. He was also Surrogate Judge of Admiralty, and long the only notary public in the province. In 1765 he was chosen a representative to the General Assembly, and held his seat by annual reelections until 1774.
In 1771 he was appointed one of the Judges of the Superior Court of the province,1 and he officiated as such until the open- ing of the Revolution put an end to the royal authority here. He was able to attend to no business, regularly, after that time, on account of a hereditary gout, which confined him to his house. Taking no part in the political differences of the time, he gave his chief attention to the concerns of his family during the few years that remained to him on earth.
Judge Parker was not only a self-made man, but cherished a high ideal. In his profession he was not content with superficial or mere practical knowledge, but he made himself master of the law as a science. In his practice his thoroughness was the cause of his employment by clients of discernment in all their important concerns. He was retained, and his opinion chiefly relied upon, in the principal cases in the courts, and by common consent he was allowed to be at the head of his profession in New Hampshire. Moreover, his ambition prompted him to become something more than a mere lawyer. He gave no little attention to classical lit- erature and belles-lettres, and made himself, as far as his defective early training allowed, a man of general and liberal culture. His proficiency was recognized by the authorities of Harvard College, who in 1763 awarded him the degree of A. M. " pro meritis suis, and although he never had a public education," as it was ex- pressed in his diploma.
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