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 32
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He was a warm politician, and favored the war of 1812. In 1819 he was a candidate for Congress, and in 1822 and the two years following he was a representative in the state legislature.
In 1818 he made a journey on foot from New Hampshire to the West, and to New Orleans. He was clad in furs, carried a long rifle, and was attended by two dogs. He published an account of it under the title of " A Pedestrious Tour," etc. In 1829 he removed to Washington, and spent the rest of his life there, in the practice of the law, and as a clerk in one or another of the departments.
Mr. Evans had the instincts of a soldier. He volunteered in the war of 1812, but had no opportunity to serve. He yearned to join the patriots of South America in their struggle for inde- pendence. He actually made a voyage to Greece to offer his ser- vices to the revolutionists against the tyranny of the Turks, but the battle of Navarino, accomplishing what he desired, had been fought before his arrival. In the great civil war of 1861 he would fain have taken the field in behalf of the Union, had not his age forbidden. But his pen was busy in the patriotic cause. He was a frequent contributor to the columns of the "National Intelligencer," and put forth a pamphlet early in the war, in favor of the national banking system.
He married, in 1820, Eliza L. Wade of Milford, and had four sons and two daughters.
RICHARD STUART EVANS.
Son of Hon. Richard and Ann W. (Penhallow) Evans ; born, Portsmouth, February 5, 1811 ; Bowdoin College, 1829 ; admitted, 1833 ; practiced, Ports- mouth ; died, Hyattsville, Maryland, 1891.
Mr. Evans was assigned a poem for his part at graduation. He read law under Richard Wallach, in Washington, District of Columbia, and practiced one year in Portsmouth, then in Wash- ington, and in New York city for nearly twenty years. From 1865 he occupied a position in the Treasury Department in Washington ten years, and then resumed legal practice there in company with his son, Richard P. Evans.
He possessed a mind of untiring activity, and gave attention to many subjects outside his profession. He wrote largely for the newspaper press, and lectured widely on literary, patriotic, and
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philosophical themes. He mastered several European languages, and advertised himself as " translator of foreign literature." He retained his powers to a good old age. .
He married, in 1850, Catharine E. Roland, and had one son and three daughters.
DAVID EVERETT.
Son of David and Susanna Everett ; born, Princeton, Massachusetts, March 29, 1770 ; Dartmouth College, 1795 ; practiced, Amherst ; died, Marietta, Ohio, December 21, 1813.
This gentleman, before he entered college, and while a teacher of a grammar school in New Ipswich, in 1790, wrote some lines to be recited by one of his pupils of seven years of age, which proved a happy inspiration and will outlast our time. They begin, -
" You'd scarce expect one of my age, To speak in public on the stage,"
and have often been attributed to another and more distinguished Everett. Moreover some of the lines have been altered. The couplet -
"May not New Hampshire boast as great, As any other Federal State ?"
has had Massachusetts foisted into it, to suit a different latitude.
The little poem was welcomed as a gem, and has been repeated times without number at school exhibitions since.
Mr. Everett studied law with John M. Forbes, and went into practice in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1801, but the next year came to Amherst, where he had for a student Lemuel Shaw, afterwards Chief Justice of Massachusetts. Though Mr. Everett adhered to the law some years, he was obviously more inclined to literature than litigation. He wrote poems and orations for pub- lic occasions, and published in the "Farmer's Museum " at Wal- pole a series of papers entitled "Common Sense in Dishabille," filled with wit and wisdom.
In 1807 he went to Boston, Massachusetts, and made jour- nalism his chief profession afterwards. He was connected, edi- torially, with several publications ; he established the "Boston Patriot," and in 1813 proceeded to Ohio, with the design of establishing a newspaper there, but before this was accomplished was struck down by death.
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Among Mr. Everett's productions, which are said by competent authority to be entitled to higher commendation than they have received, are an essay on the rights and duties of nations, and a tragedy entitled "Daranzel, or the Persian Patriot," which was performed on the stage.
He married, in 1799, Dorothy, daughter of Deacon Isaac Ap- pleton of New Ipswich. He left no children.
GEORGE WASHINGTON EVERETT.
Born, New London, November 19, 1819 ; admitted, 1847 ; practiced, New London ; died, Cincinnati, Ohio, August 27, 1863.
Mr. Everett attended the schools, and afterwards the academy, in New London, and then began his law studies in the office of Walter P. Flanders of that place. He was diligent in applica- tion, and depended upon his own exertions for his support. He began his professional life among his own townspeople, by whom he was chosen a representative in the legislatures of 1852 and 1856. He acquired credit as a man of business and a debater. In 1856 he was commissioned solicitor of Merrimac County, and duly completed his five years' term.
When, in 1862, the Ninth Regiment of New Hampshire Volun- teers was organized, he became its major. Being then ill, he did not accompany his command to the front, but joined it as soon as his health permitted. In several battles and skirmishes he proved himself courageous and skillful. As the regiment, in August, 1863, was ascending the Mississippi from Vicksburg, he was taken dangerously ill, and was compelled to pause at Cincinnati, Ohio, where he hoped a little rest would restore him ; but it proved otherwise, and he breathed his last there.
His wife was Ellen T. Lane of Gloucester, Massachusetts.
JONATHAN C. EVERETT.
Mr. Everett was born and died outside of this State, and so long ago that he is scarcely remembered by even the oldest in- habitant. He was a native of Tyngsborough, Massachusetts, and studied his profession with Clifton Clagett of Litchfield. Ad- mitted an attorney in 1811, he appears to have practiced two or three years in Meredith, about the same period in Hillsborough,
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then in Sandwich about four years, again in Meredith five or six years, then in Plymouth, and finally in Tamworth, each about two years. This closed his career in New Hampshire, and he re- moved to Dover, Maine, near the year 1831, and is supposed to have died there.
In spite of his many changes of domicile, the historian of Car- roll County represents him as traditionally a man of much ability.
RICHARD CLAIR EVERETT.
Son of Captain Richard and Drusilla Shurtleff (Clair) Everett ; born, Attle- borough, Massachusetts, March 28, 1764 ; Dartmouth College, 1790 ; ad- mitted, 1793 ; practiced, Lancaster ; died there, March 22, 1815.
Mr. Everett was an orphan lad obliged to seek a home with an aunt, from whom he ran away, enlisted in the Revolutionary army, and remained therein about two years. The tradition is that his forlorn appearance attracted the notice of General Wash- ington, who took him into his personal service, where he fared better.
On quitting the army he came to Lancaster, and there entered the employ of Major Jonas Wilder, one of the principal settlers ; with him he lived two years.
In 1784 he began to study in Moor's Charity School in Han- over, and thence entered Dartmouth College. He could pursue his course there only by dint of careful economy and by occasional school teaching. But about that time he learned that he was entitled to some property which his father had owned, unknown to the family, so that his circumstances became much improved.
He studied law in Albany, New York. In 1793 he returned to Lancaster, and began the practice of his profession. Having still some means from his fortunately discovered patrimony, he purchased lands about the village of Lancaster, which, with others subsequently inherited by his wife, made him a large proprietor. Being the only lawyer, he had substantially all the legal business of the vicinity to do. He was chosen to represent in the legisla- ture the class of towns to which Lancaster belonged, six years, between 1796 and 1802. He was in command of a regiment of militia for some years. In 1805 he exchanged his title of colonel for that of judge, upon being appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the new county of Coos. In 1813 he was
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made Justice of the state Court of Common Pleas for the West- ern Circuit, and as such he acted during the residue of his life.
Judge Everett is described as possessing legal knowledge suffi- cient for his time and purpose. He had good sense and unques- tioned honesty. It is said his decisions were rarely appealed from. Judge Nesmith said of him : " Judge Everett, though dying early, had deservedly gained a good solid reputation as a citizen in private life, and a jurist of much eminence, always exerting a salutary influence upon the community while living, and leaving a memory to be cherished, when dead."
He married, in 1793, Persis, daughter of Major Jonas Wilder. He left five daughters, two of whom were married to lawyers.
STEPHEN FALES, JR.
Born, Boston, Massachusetts, May 3, 1790 ; Harvard College, 1810; ad- mitted, 1814 ; practiced, Portsmouth ; died, Cincinnati, Ohio, September 3, 1854.
Before completing his professional studies, Mr. Fales occupied the position of tutor in Bowdoin College during the years 1811 and 1812. He then finished his term of legal study in the office of Jeremiah Mason, in Portsmouth, while a teacher in his family. He practiced in Portsmouth until about the year 1819, and then removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he became a part- ner of Francis A. Blake, a distinguished lawyer. In 1821 he changed his residence to Dayton, Ohio, and remained there ten years. While there he was chosen a state senator. He then returned to Cincinnati.
Mr. Fales is described as a fine classical scholar, who habitually carried a copy of the Greek Testament in his pocket, and often perused it. He was esteemed and loved by his associates in Bowdoin College, and left behind him many pleasant memories when he quitted Portsmouth. His professional career was not very successful. He was probably engaged in teaching to some extent in Ohio. The late Hon. George H. Pendleton is said to have been his pupil.
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BENJAMIN FRANCIS FARLEY.
Son of Hon. Benjamin M. and Lucretia (Gardner) Farley ; born, Hollis, November 20, 1808 ; Yale College, 1832 ; practiced, Hollis ; died, Worcester, Massachusetts, January 14, 1892.
This was the only son of his distinguished father, and was in- tended by him to succeed to his legal practice. In his office the son was qualified for admission, and for a time practiced in com- pany with him. But the young man preferred other occupation, though he is said to have often gratuitously given the aid of his legal knowledge to those in need.
He spent a few years in mercantile pursuits in Louisville, Ken- tucky, and afterwards in Boston, Massachusetts, after which he retired to the country, for which he had great fondness, and gave the greater part of his life to the pursuits of agriculture. In 1870, and subsequently, he lived in Worcester, Massachusetts.
" He was a man of unswerving integrity and most kindly sym pathies, and was held in high regard by all who knew him."
His wife was Mary E. White, and he left children.
BENJAMIN MARK FARLEY.
Son of Benjamin and Lucy (Fletcher) Farley ; born, Hollis, now Brookline, April 8, 1783 ; Harvard College, 1804 ; admitted, 1808 ; practiced, Hollis ; died, Lunenburg, Massachusetts, September 16, 1865.
Mr. Farley pursued his law studies with Abijah Bigelow of Leominster, Massachusetts. Hollis was the scene of his legal labors for forty-seven years ; from 1808. He was endowed with qualities which early brought him clients : untiring industry, a clear head, devotion to the interests of his employers, and strict integrity. His constitution was sound and his health vigorous, and he grudged no amount of time or labor in the pursuit of his calling. Every question submitted to him was thoroughly studied and considered. His opinions carried great weight and authority. The business of his office was systematically conducted, and grew to be among the most extensive in his section. The dockets of the courts in his own and the adjacent counties show the extent of his practice in the higher tribunals, and the success which attended it.
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He was especially distinguished for his skill in preparing and dealing with the testimony in his causes for trial. His careful and minute examination of the statements of those whom he in- tended to call upon the stand to testify caused him to be accused of " drilling " his witnesses. In cross-examinations he was keen, severe, and sometimes, perhaps, overbearing. He assuredly got his evidence before the jury "for all it was worth."
He became an advocate of wide repute, and for years argued numerous important causes before the jury and the law courts. He was no orator in the accepted sense of the term ; his speeches were distinguished by plain, severe logic. But they were so clear that the dullest could not fail to get the whole force of them. He knew the vulnerable points of his auditors, and his arrows were rightly directed and seldom went wide of the mark. As a lawyer he deservedly ranked among the best that the State has produced. He would have added strength to the bench at any period. He was a sound classical scholar, too.
He was never at a loss for an illustration. Some one asked him how circumstantial evidence could be more convincing than positive testimony. "I can show you," replied Mr. Farley. "I buy a can of milk which the seller assures me he took directly from the cow, strained it into a clean can, which he knows was not opened afterwards. If, when I take the stopper from the can, a bullfrog leaps out, the frog is more credible evidence than the man."
The successful lawyer used to be the banker in a country neighborhood. Mr. Farley had money to lend, but unlike some others, he never took usurious interest. He invested his gains in the good old-fashioned security of note and land-mortgage. He is said never to have owned a share of stock in a bank or a manu- facturing corporation.
He was much esteemed by the people among whom he lived. He discouraged litigation, and they rarely appeared as suitors in court. They chose him repeatedly to town offices, and made him their representative in the legislature from 1814 to 1818, and from 1824 to 1829, inclusive, eleven years in all. Though in a political minority, his legal learning and weight of personal character gave him great influence as a law-maker.
Mr. Farley was cool and rather distant in his demeanor, but behind his mask of reserve and coldness is said to have had a
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warm and generous nature. He retained his mental and bodily powers to a remarkable extent to the end of his life. His later years he spent in Massachusetts with his relatives.
He was married first to Lucretia, daughter of Rev. Francis Gardner, who bore him six children, and died in 1819. Septem- ber 18, 1828, he married Lucretia, daughter of Rev. John Bal- lard, and widow of Lemuel Barker of Pepperell, Massachusetts. One of his sons, and the husbands of two daughters, were of the legal profession.
GEORGE FREDERIC FARLEY.
Son of Benjamin and Lucy (Fletcher) Farley ; born, Dunstable, Massachu- setts, April 5, 1793 ; Harvard College, 1816 ; admitted, 1820 ; practiced, New Ipswich ; died, Groton, Massachusetts, November 8, 1855.
Mr. Farley read law in part with Luther Lawrence of Groton, Massachusetts, but chiefly with his elder brother, Benjamin Mark Farley of Hollis. Settling in practice in New Ipswich in 1821, he acquired, during his ten years' residence there, an extensive business. In 1831 he was a member of the state legislature, and later in the same year changed his residence to Groton, Massa- chusetts, where he practiced with great success for near twenty years. During the latter part of his life he had also an office in Boston.
The testimony to his accurate knowledge of the law, his judg- ment in the application of it to the cases before him, his keenness and readiness in the emergencies of trials, and his forcible presen- tation of his clients' claims, is abundant from all who were acquainted with him in his mature years.
Like many of the great verdict-winners, Scarlett, Mason, and others, he made no pretensions to oratory ; his arguments were plain talking, right on a level in point of diction with his audi- ence, but thoroughly logical. When he had finished one of his demonstrations, it was as if he had said, "Get away from that if you can." He fully understood the value of allowing his oppo- nents to put themselves in the wrong. In the trial of a railroad case, the counsel for the road produced some expensively executed plans. Mr. Farley for the plaintiff asked for the loan of them to explain his case to the jury. They had not yet been put in evidence, and the opposing counsel rather cavalierly refused to let
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him see them. Later in the trial they were introduced, and Mr. Farley might of course have used them, but as the jury sympa- thized with his client when the refusal was made, he preferred not to lose the favorable impression. When he came to make his closing argument, he said to the jury : "Has any one of you a piece of chalk in his pocket ?" A juror at once produced one, and Mr. Farley chalked out on the floor before the jury his plan, gaining probably all the more attention from the novelty of the proceeding, and then went on to argue the cause to a favorable conclusion. He " fairly chalked us out of the case," said the pres- ident of the railroad; and very wisely gave him a general re- tainer, when it was over.
Whatever ingenuity could do in the way of explanations and suggestions, which was much in his day when the lips of parties were sealed, was sure to be done in every trial which Mr. Farley conducted.
Governor Boutwell declared that "Mr. Farley often encoun- tered, in important causes, the best practitioners in New Hamp- shire and in Massachusetts, and in his contests with them never suffered a defeat which was not inherent in the case."
He married, November 25, 1823, Lucy, daughter of John Rice of Ashby, Massachusetts. One of their daughters became the wife of Edward A. Kelley, a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts.
EVARTS WORCESTER FARR.
Son of John and Tryphena (Morse) Farr ; born, Littleton, October 10, 1840 ; admitted, 1867 ; practiced, Littleton ; died there, November 30, 1880.
Before he had finished his sophomore year in college, young Farr volunteered for the defense of the Union, and was commis- sioned a lieutenant in the Second Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers. Six months later he was a captain. While in com- mand of his company at the battle of Williamsburg, Virginia, May 5, 1862, he was shot in the right arm so severely that it had to be amputated. He returned to the front as major of the Eleventh New Hampshire Regiment ; served at Vicksburg, under Grant, and elsewhere throughout the war, and was mustered out of service June 4, 1865.
He then studied law with his father in Littleton, and engaged in practice there till his decease. He was appointed assistant
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assessor of internal revenue in 1865, and assessor in 1869, hold- ing the office until 1873. In the latter year he was appointed solicitor of Grafton County, and resigned in 1879 to accept the office of representative in Congress, which he filled two terms. He was also chosen councilor in 1876.
As a soldier Major Farr distinguished himself both as a disci- plinarian and by his courage and endurance. Before the enemy he set the highest example of cheerful obedience to orders, and contempt of danger.
As a lawyer he stood among the most promising of the young men of his time. He was a facile and effective speaker, though he never could have been an assiduous student of books. Official stations were his for the asking, and his supporters were not lim- ited by party lines. The duties that devolved upon him he per- formed faithfully and well. Dartmouth College, in 1872, gave him the honorary degree of A. M.
He married, May 19, 1861, Ellen F., daughter of Augustus Burpee of New Hampton, who with several children survived him.
JOHN FARR.
Son of Noah and Lydia (Cobleigh) Farr ; born, Littleton, May 22, 1810; admitted, 1854 ; practiced, Littleton ; died there, October 12, 1892.
The son of a farmer, and of narrow means, Mr. Farr entered a store in his native town, at an early age, as a clerk. After attain- ing his majority he was for a number of years in the mercantile business. He was also a deputy sheriff five years ; a selectman of the town ; and was forward in undertakings, not always success- ful, for the increase of the prosperity of Littleton. At the age of about forty, he began to prepare himself for the bar, first in the office of William J. Bellows, and afterwards in that of Charles W. Rand.
Though Mr. Farr entered the profession at a late period of life, his diligence and business capacity gave him an excellent stand- ing. He had little to do, comparatively, in the judicial courts ; his employment was chiefly in his office. As a collector of claims, an adviser in the management of estates, and a draughts- man of instruments, he excelled, and was widely employed. He was president of the Littleton National Bank, and Savings Bank ; treasurer and member of the Board of Education ; five years
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Justice of the Police Court, and a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1876. He was also a County Commissioner in 1862, and a commissioner to report upon the affairs of the Win- nipiseogee Lake Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company in 1879.
Mr. Farr was an observing and reflecting man, and gifted with an accurate and retentive memory. From the recollections of his long life he contributed to the "Littleton Argus" a series of valuable sketches of the town and its people.
He was thrice married, first, in 1833, to Tryphena Morse ; sec- ond, May 5, 1852, to Mrs. E. M. Bowman; and last, October 8, 1862, to Mrs. Emma M. Woolson. Of his eight children, five at least were the fruit of his first marriage.
EDWARD FARRAR.
Son of Daniel W. and Eliza (Wright) Farrar ; born, Troy, November 14, 1822 ; admitted, 1847 ; practiced, Keene ; died there, February 11, 1888.
Mr. Farrar was a student of Dartmouth College during a part of the prescribed course, but was prevented from completing it by impaired health. He prosecuted his professional studies under Levi Chamberlain of Keene, and at the Harvard Law School, taking his degree of LL. B. in 1847. He then established him- self in Keene. After he had been there ten years, in December, 1857, he was appointed clerk of the courts for the county of Cheshire, and filled the office acceptably to the time of his decease.
He was elected a representative to the state legislature in 1871 and 1872 ; an alderman of the new city of Keene the two following years, and mayor the next two years after that. He was Justice of the Police Court from 1876 as long as he lived.
Mr. Farrar was of a pleasant and genial disposition, and was always ready to lend a hand for the relief of those in need of assistance. He devoted special attention to mechanical and scientific subjects. He is said to have invented a machine for reproducing by the aid of electricity, at a distant point, the sound of the voice or of a musical instrument, thus substantially anti- cipating the electric telephone. The instrument which he con- structed was thought worthy of a description in the "Scientific American," since the Bell telephone was perfected.
August 23, 1858, Mr. Farrar was married to Caroline, daugh-
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ter of Charles H. Brainerd of Keene. She, with two daughters, outlived her husband.
HUMPHREY FARRAR.
Son of Humphrey and Lucy (Farrar) Farrar ; born, Lincoln, Massachusetts, September 15, 1773 ; Dartmouth College, 1794; practiced, Canaan ; died, Hanover, July, 1840.
Humphrey Farrar, senior, came from Massachusetts to Han- over about the year 1790, presumably for the purpose of giving his four sons a collegiate education. Humphrey, junior, the eldest, became a lawyer, and established himself in Canaan, and may have remained there until the early years of the present century. Where he lived and how he was employed from that time to near the time of his death has not been ascertained ; but it is quite certain that he was not a practicing lawyer in this State. It was probably on account of his early associations there that he was led to return to Hanover about the close of his life.
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