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 35
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He was possessed of fine abilities, was a great reader in general literature, and a capital converser on subjects in which he was interested. He was understood also to have been at times a dili- gent student of the law, having something of the black-letter tastes of his uncle, Peyton R. Freeman of Portsmouth. But a lack of steadiness and of regularity of habits stood in the way of his success, and he never made of himself what nature intended.
He was unmarried.
JAMES OTIS FREEMAN.
Son of Colonel Otis and Ruth (Bicknell) Freeman ; born, Coventry, Con- necticut, September 29, 1773 ; Dartmouth College, 1797 ; practiced, Plym- outh, Sandwich, and Moultonborough ; died, Moultonborough, March 30, 1815.
This gentleman studied law under Aaron Hutchinson of Leba- non. About the year 1800 he opened his office in Plymouth, but only remained there two or three years, when he transferred his home to Sandwich. There he resided five or six years, and then removed to Moultonborough, where he spent the rest of his life.
He is said to have been, next to Joseph Tilton, the earliest lawyer in that part of Strafford County, which is now Carroll County. Little has been definitely ascertained of his character or standing in the profession. Tradition, however, represents him as
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a man of brilliant promise, " who under more favorable circum- stances might have been a great leader in his profession."
He married Susanna, daughter of Ezekiel French, a prominent citizen of Sandwich, and was the father of several children. One of his daughters became the wife of a lawyer, Robert T. Blazo.
PEYTON RANDOLPH FREEMAN.
Son of Hon. Jonathan and Ruth (Huntington) Freeman ; born, Hanover, November 14, 1775 ; Dartmouth College, 1796 ; practiced, Hanover and Ports- mouth ; died, Portsmouth, March 27, 1868.
Mr. Freeman studied law with William Gordon of Amherst and Benjamin J. Gilbert of Hanover. From the latter, familiarly known as " Baron " Gilbert, he may have derived his taste for out- of-the-way legal studies. Beginning practice at Hanover, he re- moved in 1803 to Portsmouth. In 1816 and 1817 he was deputy Secretary of State, and from 1817 to 1821 clerk of the United States District Court. In 1810 he delivered a Fourth of July address, and in 1816 he wrote a pamphlet on the Dartmouth Col- lege case, both of which were printed.
He was an able counselor, high-minded, true, faithful, and not afraid of hard work. He was the confidential adviser of many of the leading families of Portsmouth, and in cases involving the title to real property his opinions were received with special respect and confidence. He excelled as a draughtsman of legal instru- ments ; the more complicated they were, the better they suited him. In process of time he became known as a black-letter law- yer, and was resorted to for the solution of questions especially unusual and recondite. In court his practice became confined, in later life, to the argument of complicated questions of law, and of equity cases. As he is now remembered, he appeared more like the typical denizen of the London inns of court of a century ago, than like a modern American lawyer.
He was a bachelor.
PHILANDER CHASE FREEMAN.
Son of Benjamin Freeman ; born, Plainfield, August 27, 1807 ; Kenyon College, 1829 ; practiced, Claremont ; died there, April 20, 1871.
Mr. Freeman pursued his legal studies with J. H. Hubbard at Windsor, Vermont, and for a while afterwards was his partner in
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practice. He came to Claremont in 1835. In 1844 and 1845 he was chosen a representative in the state legislature, and in 1850 a delegate to the convention for revising the Constitution of the State. Upon the establishment of a Police Court in Claremont, he received the appointment of first Justice ; and for many years he was the clerk of the Sullivan Railroad Corporation.
His business was quite a considerable one, and his abilities were respectable. He was fair-minded and upright, and a pru- dent and safe adviser. His docket contained a good number of actions, but in trials of importance he usually employed the aid of some leading counsel. After the death of his last partner, Milon McClure, Mr. Freeman retired from active practice.
He was twice married ; first, to Sarah Norton, at Plainfield, April 30, 1838 ; and second, to Martha Smith Norton at Clare- mont, June 4, 1846. His first wife bore him two sons.
BENJAMIN BROWN FRENCH.
Son of Hon. Daniel and Mercy (Brown) French ; born, Chester, September 4, 1800 ; admitted, 1825 ; practiced, Hooksett and Sutton ; died, Washington, District of Columbia, August 12, 1870.
Mr. French acquired his education in the public schools of his native town and in the academy at North Yarmouth, Maine, and studied law with his father. He opened his office in Hooksett and then at Sutton, each for a year. Upon being made clerk of the courts in the newly constituted county of Sullivan, he changed his residence to Newport.
He became, in 1829, the editor and proprietor of the " New Hampshire Spectator," published in that place. In 1826 and the two following years he was assistant clerk of the state Senate, and in 1831 and 1832 represented Newport in the legislature. In 1833 he received the appointment of assistant clerk of the United States House of Representatives, and removed to Washington, District of Columbia, ever afterwards his home. In 1845 he was promoted to be chief clerk of the House, during the Twenty-Ninth Congress. He was for a number of years president of the Mag- netic Telegraph Company, and at a later period was United States commissioner of public buildings.
Major French, as he was usually styled, was the author of numerous addresses and poetical compositions, one of the more
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extended of which was published in a volume in 1844, entitled " Fitzclarence." He was a gentleman of much humor and a genial companion, and was extremely popular among the mem- bers of Congress and the people of Washington during the period of his official service and subsequently. He was an enthusiastic Freemason, and as Grand Master officiated at the laying of the corner-stone of the extension of the capitol in 1851, and on that occasion wielded the gavel which George Washington had used in laying the corner-stone of the original edifice.
Major French's first wife was Elizabeth S., daughter of Chief Justice William M. Richardson of Chester. She bore him two children, of whom one pursued the legal profession. After her death Major French married Mary Ellen Brady of Washington, District of Columbia, who survived him.
BENJAMIN FREDERIC FRENCH.
Son of Frederick and Grace (Blanchard) French ; born, Nashua, October 2, 1791 ; Dartmouth College, 1812 ; practiced, Nashua ; died, Lowell, Massa- chusetts, May 16, 1853.
Mr. French prepared himself for admission to the bar in the office of Charles H. Atherton of Amherst, and began to practice in Nashua in 1817. He was representative in the General Court in 1825, 1826, and 1829. When the water power of Nashua began to be utilized for manufacturing purposes, and the Jackson Manufacturing Company was formed, in 1831, Mr. French was selected for its first agent. He had no practical acquaintance with the business, but developed just the qualities needed for the management of the establishment, and the fabrics of the Jackson company became very desirable in the market. He was soon after invited to the growing town of Lowell, Massachusetts, to take charge of the Boott mills. After some years' experience there, he entered into the business of banking, which he pursued for the remainder of his life.
Mr. French was not without interest in the important political questions of the time, and is said to have been the author of a work entitled " Views of Slavery."
He married Mary Southgate, daughter of Hon. Joseph Leland of Saco, Maine, November 15, 1819.
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DANIEL FRENCH.
Son of Gould and Dorothy French ; born, Epping, February 22, 1769 ; admitted, 1796 ; practiced, Deerfield and Chester ; died, Chester, October 15, 1840.
Mr. French was educated at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and at Dover under the instruction of Rev. Robert Gray. He studied law in the office of William K. Atkinson of Dover, and immedi- ately on his admission proceeded to Deerfield and practiced at the "Parade " two years. A favorable opening then occurred at Chester, and Mr. French took advantage of it by removing to that place. In 1808 he was appointed county solicitor, and in February, 1812, attorney-general of the State, which office he re- signed in 1815. He was commissioned postmaster of Chester in 1807, and retained the place through all the changes of adminis- tration till 1839.
Mr. French is described as a lawyer of considerable skill and talent in the management of business, and faithful to his clients. It was charged that he was rather sharp in his practice, a thing not uncommon in his time; but one who encountered him many times in trials and hearings declares that he always found him fair. He was undoubtedly a lawyer of more than ordinary ability and attainments.
He owned lands and was interested in cultivating them, but continued to practice his profession and to attend the courts with regularity till within a few years of his death.
Mr. French's first wife was Mercy, daughter of Benjamin Brown, whom he married September 15, 1799. She died in 1802, and he married Betsey V. M., daughter of Josiah Flagg, June 30, 1805. Upon her decease he married her sister, Sarah W. Flagg (Bell), widow of Jonathan Bell, November 6, 1812. By these several marriages he had eleven children, of whom two were of the legal profession.
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EBENEZER FRENCH.
Son of Josiah and Rhoda (French) French ; born, Kensington, April, 10, 1802 ; Dartmouth College, 1824 ; admitted, 1828 ; practiced, Sutton and Sea- brook ; died, Bangor, Maine, January 16, 1868.
The subject of this sketch, upon taking his collegiate degree, entered the office of Daniel French of Chester, and with him and with Joseph Tilton of Exeter read law until 1827, when he went to Sutton as successor to Benjamin B. French. He remained in Sutton but a few months, and then opened an office in Seabrook, and continued in practice about twelve years. He afterwards lived a few years in Amesbury, and then in Boston, Massachu- setts, where he held an appointment in the custom house eight years. He finally proceeded to Bangor, Maine, and engaged in business there.
FRANCIS ORMOND FRENCH.
Son of Benjamin B. and Elizabeth S. (Richardson) French ; born, Chester, September 12, 1837; Harvard College, 1857; admitted, 1860 ; practiced, Exeter ; died, Tuxedo, New York, February 26, 1893.
Mr. French was a practicing lawyer only about two years, and all in New Hampshire. He was prepared for college at the Phil- lips Exeter Academy, and took his course of legal study at the Harvard Law School, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Laws in , 1859. In 1860 he became the partner in practice of Amos Tuck at Exeter. Mr. Tuck became naval officer of the port of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1861, and Mr. French was appointed his dep- uty the year following, and deputy collector in 1863. In 1865 he entered the banking firm of Samuel A. Way, in the same city. Thence in 1870 he removed to New York and became a partner of Jay Cooke and Company. In 1874 he acquired a valuable interest in the First National Bank of New York, which was largely concerned in the operations of funding the United States loans. This probably laid the foundation of Mr. French's large fortune. He retired from business in 1880, but in 1888 accepted the presidency of the Manhattan Trust Company, for two or three years.
He was distinguished in college for his mathematical faculty,
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to which he probably owed much of his success in his business operations in later life. He was extremely systematic, and always kept thoroughly conversant with all the details of every under- taking with which he was concerned.
He inherited a taste for literature, and was the poet of his college class. He was liberal, polite, and well-informed; he had traveled much, and was an accomplished man of the world.
He was united in marriage, in 1861, to Ellen, daughter of Hon. Amos Tuck of Exeter, and left three children.
GEORGE ATHERTON FRENCH,
Son of Ralph H. and Elizabeth W. (Atherton) French ; born, Marblehead, Massachusetts, January 17, 1823 ; practiced, Manchester ; died, Bangor, Maine, October 27, 1886.
Mr. French, a grandson of Joshua Atherton of Amherst, was educated in the public schools of Salem, Massachusetts, and took his degree of Bachelor of Laws from the Harvard Law School in 1843. He practiced three years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then came in 1847 to Manchester. He gave his attention to his profession, there, until about the year 1865, when he abandoned legal business and became a traveling agent and adjuster for various insurance companies. He was remarkably expert and successful, being aided, no doubt, by his familiarity with legal principles. His death occurred while he was absent on a tour of business.
His wife was Louise M. Fabens. They were married Septem- ber 21, 1853, and had one daughter.
HENRY FLAGG FRENCH.
Son of Hon. Daniel and Sarah W. (Flagg) Bell French ; born, Chester, August 14, 1813 ; admitted, 1835 ; practiced, Chester, Portsmouth, and Exe- ter ; died, Concord, Massachusetts, November 29, 1885.
Mr. French was educated at the academies in Derry and Pem- broke, and at Hingham, Massachusetts. He prepared himself for the bar in his father's office in Chester, and at the Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Chester till 1840, and then removed to Portsmouth, but after a year changed his residence to Exeter. He held the appointment of county solicitor from 1838 25
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to 1848, and that of bank commissioner from 1848 to 1852. In 1855, on the creation of the state Court of Common Pleas, he was commissioned a Justice thereof, and served until the abolition of the court in 1859. He then removed to Massachusetts. From 1862 to 1865 he was assistant district attorney for the county of Suffolk, and then for a year president of the Massachusetts Agri- cultural College. From 1876 to 1885 he was second assistant secretary of the United States Treasury at Washington.
He returned in impaired health to Concord, Massachusetts, where he remained until his decease.
Judge French was a man of ability and sense, of great readi- ness, and superior professional attainments. His knowledge was always at his tongue's end. It was said of him that his opinion given at sight was as much to be relied upon as if he had taken days for consideration. He was prompt in all his business meth- ods. While he occupied the bench, he never left questions over to be decided in vacation, but had every transfer drawn out, submitted to counsel, and settled, before the term ended. His sense of humor was keen, and he uttered many a bright saying to enliven the tedium of long trials. He never lost his balance, whatever happened. On one occasion, in a hearing before a jury, his opponent introduced a crushing piece of evidence. With per- fect presence of mind Judge French turned to his associate coun- sel and in a whisper inquired, " Had we better be surprised ?"
All his life long Judge French manifested his fondness for the cultivation of the soil. He traveled in Europe for a year on an agricultural mission, and communicated the results of his observa- tions in addresses, letters to the "New England Farmer," and in a volume which he published on Farm Drainage.
He was a man of amiable disposition and even temper, and ful- filled his public and private duties with equal fidelity.
His first wife was Anne, daughter of Chief Justice Richardson of Chester. They had four children, two sons and two daughters. His second wife was Pamela M., daughter of John Prentiss of Keene.
PETER FRENCH.
Son of Moses French ; born, Sandown, 1759 ; Harvard College, 1781 ; prac- ticed, Durham ; died, Berwick, Maine, June 14, 1785.
Mr. French's father is said to have been one of the leaders of the insurrection fomented with the purpose of dragooning the legis-
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lature of New Hampshire into the issue of a legal tender paper currency, while in session in Exeter in September, 1786. His son manifested eccentricity of character while in college, and after taking his degree was in a quandary which of " the three black graces - law, physic, and divinity," he should elect. He chose the last, and it is said even became a preacher, but soon renounced that profession for the law. He studied at Durham, in the office of General John Sullivan, was admitted and practiced for a little time in New Hampshire, and then removed to Maine, where his life terminated.
It was from Mr. French that Dr. Jeremy Belknap, while he was writing his History of New Hampshire, received the amplified account of "the Devil's den" in Chester, as published in his third volume. This cave is in fact a mere rift or fissure in a rocky hillside, through which a man can barely squeeze himself, and contains none of the lofty apartments which the good doctor was hoaxed into describing.
Mr. French's character was summed up in the following notice, written by one of his classmates, and published in the " Political Repository and Strafford Recorder," June 30, 1791: "His tem- per and disposition no man could comprehend. Good and bad were so blended; the shades of virtue and vice so nicely inter- mixed ; principle and practice so often at war ; possessed as he was of great self-command, he appeared alternately an angel or a demon."
SCOTT FRENCH.
Son of Abraham and Frances (Huston) French ; born, Pittsfield, December 8, 1838 ; Dartmouth College, 1859 ; practiced, Pittsfield ; died there, October 30, 1863.
This young man, who died at the age of twenty-four, had scarcely set out upon the professional career in which his friends hoped for him a marked success. On leaving college he was the principal of the Pittsfield Academy for above a year, and then studied law with George, Foster, and Sanborn of Concord, and at the Harvard Law School in 1861 and 1862. He was in practice only a little over a year, when the end came.
He was married, January 15, 1862, to Abbie, daughter of Dr. R. J. P. Tenney of Pittsfield.
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SAMUEL WORCESTER FULLER.
Son of Francis E. and Martha (Worcester) Fuller ; born, Hardwick, Ver- mont, April 25, 1822 ; admitted, 1849 ; practiced, Claremont ; died, Chicago, Illinois, October 25, 1873.
This descendant of Noah Worcester of Hollis was educated at the academy in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and studied his profes- sion with Philander C. Freeman in Claremont. He engaged in practice in that town, immediately after his admission, and spent about three years there, giving decided promise of the prominence which he subsequently attained. From Claremont he proceeded in 1852 to Pekin, Illinois, and from Pekin in 1856 to Chicago in the same State. In the seventeen years which intervened between his arrival in Chicago and his decease, he gained a very large practice both in the Supreme Court of Illinois and in that of the United States. The judges of the latter tribunal bore the highest testimony to his ability and learning. Justice Miller declared that " no abler man came before us," and Justice Field, that " no man instructed the Court more."
He was a member of the Illinois Senate from 1857 to 1860, but his health was so delicate that he had no strength for work or business outside of his profession.
The maiden name of his wife was Lavinia Culver. She died childless, September 4, 1889.
TIMOTHY P. FULLER.
This gentleman was a resident and presumably a native of Hardwick, Vermont. He was a lawyer of note in that town, had represented it in the legislature in 1823, 1824, and 1834, had been a delegate to the constitutional convention of Vermont in 1828, and an assistant Justice of the court of the county of Cale- donia in 1823, 1826, 1831, and 1834. He came to Hancock, in this State, to reside, not far from the year 1850, and was the last of the three lawyers who have settled in Hancock. He was some- what advanced in years, and probably neither expected nor de- sired much practice. Both he and his wife died there, in 1854.
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LUCIAN GALE.
Son of Stephen Gale ; born, Meredith, May 25, 1818 ; Dartmouth College, 1844 ; practiced, Laconia ; died there, April 13, 1878.
Adventurous, and probably not easy of control, the subject of this notice, while a lad, ran away from his home and went to sea. His voyage took him to New Orleans, and thence he went up the Mississippi on a steamboat, and returned home after a year's absence.
He studied diligently in college to make up for the deficiencies of his preparation, and then fitted himself for the bar in the office of Stephen C. Lyford of Meredith. He began his professional life in Boston, Massachusetts. After the delays common to young practitioners, he became interested in one or more suits involving the title to a large amount of real property, and turning upon a nice question which he believed was settled in his favor in the English tribunals. But after long and anxious waiting the court in Massachusetts determined the question against him. His dis- appointment appears to have completely unsettled him. He quitted Boston, and sought for practice in New York city and in Chicago, Illinois, each awhile, but without success, and about 1860 returned to New Hampshire, and settled in Laconia.
The habits that he acquired in his early wandering life grew upon him, and at last stifled his ambition and powers of useful- ness.
February 10, 1853, he was married to Sarah E., daughter of Alexander S. Chadbourne of Farmingdale, Maine.
ALEXANDER GARDINER.
Son of James and Emeline (Grahame) Gardiner ; born, Catskill, New York, July 27, 1833 ; admitted, 1856 ; practiced, Claremont ; died, Winchester, Virginia, October 8, 1864.
Mr. Gardiner was educated in this State, at the Kimball Union Academy in Plainfield, studied his profession in the city of New York in the office of Shea and Richardson, and was there ad- mitted an attorney. He went soon afterwards to Kansas, then the theatre of bitter strife between the abettors and opponents of negro slavery, and spent two years there. He is said to have
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taken the first printing-press thither, which was afterwards de- stroyed by the " border ruffians," and he bore an active part in the struggle for human freedom in that Territory.
In the spring of 1859 he came to Claremont, and engaged in the business of the law in company with Edwin Vaughan. Soon the great Rebellion took his interest from his profession, and in the summer of 1862 he busied himself in recruiting men for the military service. He was commissioned lieutenant and adjutant of the Fourteenth New Hampshire Volunteers. He manifested such soldierly qualities that in 1863 he was promoted to the majority, and a year later to the colonelcy of the regiment. The very day after he was mustered under the latter commission occurred the battle of Winchester, in which his command bore a conspicuous part and lost heavily. Among the mortally wounded was the colonel.
He was an admirable officer, fully conversant with his duties, and holding his command up to the highest condition of efficiency. He never courted popularity, but by his ability, his courage, his careful attention to duty, and his devotion to the welfare of his regiment, he won the respect of all.
He was married, November 17, 1859, to Mary P., daughter of Hon. Samuel P. Cooper of Croydon. They had a son and a daughter.
FRANCIS GARDNER.
Son of Rev. Francis Gardner ; born, Leominster, Massachusetts, December 27, 1771 ; Harvard College, 1793 ; practiced, Walpole and Keene ; died, Rox- bury, Massachusetts, June 25, 1835.
Mr. Gardner was admitted an attorney of the Court of Com- mon Pleas in Cheshire County in 1796, and went at once to Wal- pole to commence practice. He stayed there twenty years, and then removed to Keene, where he passed about five years, and finally took up his residence near Boston, Massachusetts.
He was a lawyer of prominence, and possessed competent pro- fessional learning, but is said by reason of some eccentricities not to have been very successful in attracting business or popularity. He was elected a member of Congress one term, from 1807 to 1809, and though it is stated that he offended his party by his independence, he only shared the fate of the remainder of the
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state delegation in not being reelected. In 1807 he assumed the position of solicitor of Cheshire County, and retained it by suc- cessive appointments until 1820, administering the office with honesty and ability.
Mr. Gardner was not fortunate in the acquisition of property. At his death he committed his wife and daughters to the care of his son, Francis, who had hoped to follow the profession of his father, but changed his plans of life on assuming this sacred charge, and became afterwards widely known as the master of the Boston Latin School.
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