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 40
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69
JOHN BOYNTON HILL.
Son of Rev. Ebenezer and Rebecca (Bancroft) Hill ; born, Mason, Novem- ber 25, 1796 ; Harvard College, 1821 ; admitted, 1825 ; practiced, Dunstable; died, Temple, May 3, 1886.
Mr. Hill's father was a faithful country clergyman ; his grand- fathers, maternal and paternal, were soldiers of the Revolution, the former an officer of some rank and note. From them he in- herited in a marked degree the qualities of conscientiousness and courage. For a time after he left his alma mater he was em- ployed as the principal of the Garrison-Forest Academy, near Baltimore, Maryland. He then pursued the study of the law at the Harvard Law School, and in the office of Benjamin M. Farley of Hollis. He practiced in Dunstable, now Nashua, two years ; then in Townsend, Massachusetts, about four years ; in Exeter, Maine, five years ; and finally in Bangor, Maine, the scene of his chief legal labors, thirty years. There he was a partner of John Appleton, afterwards Chief Justice of Maine. Their firm was engaged in much of the most important law business of the time.
Mr. Hill was a born reformer, - an original anti-slavery man, and a prohibitionist. He was repeatedly a member of the state legislature, and had the honor of being the draughtsman of the first Maine liquor law.
In 1866 he retired from legal practice, and returned to his native place. He was at no loss for occupation, as his love for historical and antiquarian studies never flagged. In 1858 he published a history of his native town, and a memoir of his father. In 1868 he delivered a centennial address in Mason, and brought its history up to that date. Ten years later he furnished much valuable historical matter for a volume printed for Mr. E. H. Spalding of Nashua, upon "Old Dunstable." Besides these pub- lications he prepared several pamphlets and many articles for the newspaper press, all marked by his characteristic thoroughness and accuracy.
439
ALPHABETICALLY.
Mr. Hill married, in early life, Mrs. Rachel Parker, but was left a widower in 1832. They had one daughter, who died in infancy.
ABRAHAM HINDS.
Son of Benjamin and Rebecca Hinds ; born, Shrewsbury (now West Boyl- ston), Massachusetts, c. 1778 ; admitted, 1805 (?) ; practiced, Lancaster and Hinsdale ; died, Hinsdale, January 20, 1832.
Mr. Hinds studied his profession in the office of Roger Vose in Walpole. He was, as early as 1806, in practice in Lancaster. The succeeding year he received the appointment of postmaster of the town, and was chosen recorder of deeds for the county of Coös. He continued to fill both offices for about four years.
In 1820 Mr. Hinds removed his residence to Hinsdale. There he resumed the practice of his profession, and also carried on a farm. From that place he was sent as representative in the legis- latures of 1825, 1826, and 1827. He was not in the leading ranks of his profession, but he must have possessed a respectable position, if we can judge from the action of Williams College, which conferred the honorary degree of A. M. upon him in 1812, and of Harvard College, which paid him the same tribute nine years later. There are indications that he preferred political office to the hard drudgery of the law.
ELISHA HINDS.
Son of Benjamin and Rebecca Hinds ; born, Shrewsbury (now West Boyl- ston), Massachusetts, February 7, 1784 ; Williams College, 1805 ; admitted, 1809 ; practiced, Littleton and Hinsdale ; died, Brooklyn, New York, 1854.
The first half of Mr. Hinds's college course was passed in Har- vard, and he migrated to Williams for the remainder. Shortly after his graduation he accompanied his older brother, Abraham, on a horseback journey to Kentucky, and took charge of a high school near Lexington for a winter. Returning, he studied law with his brother in Lancaster. The first two years of his profes- sional life he spent in Essex County, Vermont. About 1811 he settled in Littleton. He was the postmaster of the village for a number of years. As a lawyer he was careful, sharp, and untir- ing. He was one of the most exact and particular men in all his
440
DECEASED LAWYERS
business, taking receipts for the most trifling sums of money paid, and noting down when and from whom he received every bank bill that he took. He had accumulated a considerable property, but about the year 1825 he undertook the management of an estate consisting of a farm and mills, without experience; he incurred debt for the first time, his affairs fell into confusion, and his savings were dissipated. He left Littleton about 1834 and removed to Hinsdale, where his brother had died about two years before. Whether he relied upon his profession in his new home is not known, but he became the keeper of a hotel there, in which he was not successful. He left the State about three years after- wards, and resided for brief terms in Troy, New York, and else- where, and at length settled down with his sons in the vicinity of New York city.
He married Susan, daughter of Samuel Learned of Littleton, and left five children.
NATHANIEL PIERCE HOAR.
Son of Hon. Samuel Hoar ; born, Lincoln, Massachusetts, September 2, 1784 ; Harvard College, 1810 ; practiced, Portsmouth and Deerfield ; died, Lincoln, Massachusetts, May 24, 1820.
This gentleman received his legal training under his brother, Samuel Hoar of Concord, Massachusetts, and Jeremiah Mason of Portsmouth, and was admitted an attorney in Rockingham County, in 1813, and settled at Portsmouth. He remained there till about. 1819, when he removed to Deerfield, but stayed there only a little time, and then returned to Massachusetts.
Little has been learned of his professional qualifications or work, but an obituary notice published in the " Portsmouth Ora- cle " states that he was well read in his profession, was a gentle- man of taste and vivacity, with many attached friends ; that his judgment was sound, and his energy and decision marked ; that in his later years he had to contend with trouble and disappoint- ment which he bore with fortitude, and in which he enjoyed the consolations of religion.
441
ALPHABETICALLY.
GEORGE FRANK HOBBS.
Son of Josiah H. and Rhoda D. (Chapman) Hobbs ; born, Wakefield, May 6, 1841 ; Dartmouth College, 1862 ; practiced, Wakefield and Dover ; died, Somerville, Massachusetts, October 7, 1891.
Mr. Hobbs obtained his preparatory education at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and read law with Charles Chesley at Wake- field, and with Jordan and Rollins at Somersworth. In Septem- ber, 1864, he thought it his duty to enter the military service of the Union, and enlisting as a private, was at once appointed adju- tant of the Eighteenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers. He proceeded to the front, but was compelled by illness to resign his commission in April, 1865. He completed his law studies, and began the next year to practice as an attorney in Wakefield. He was at the bar but a little time before he manifested that he had in him the qualities for making a lawyer of the first order. In 1870 he removed to Dover. The two years succeeding, he was city solicitor ; also in 1878 and 1879. He was a member of the school board also, a couple of years.
In the celebrated trial of Joseph B. Buzzell in Carroll County, for murder, he was associated with the attorney-general for the prosecution, and bore a prominent part. His reputation became extended, and his practice grew large and engrossing, until dis- ease, occasioned by exposure while he was in the military service, prostrated his physical powers and at length caused mental aliena- tion, so that he was compelled in 1879 to enter an asylum for the insane. He lived twelve years afterwards, but never recov- ered the light of reason.
It was said of Mr. Hobbs that he " flashed into distinction like a meteor in the starry midnight." In person and manners he was exceedingly prepossessing. His intellectual powers were strong, clear, discriminating, and ready for instant action. He handled the most intricate questions, and drew the most subtle distinctions, with lucidity and the ease of a master. He was styled " the first lawyer in New Hampshire of his years."
His amiable disposition, his modesty and generosity, his com- plete uprightness, his high sense of honor, and his lofty profes- sional ideal, endeared him to all who knew him, and invested his fate with a melancholy interest.
442
DECEASED LAWYERS
His wife was Emma J., daughter of Daniel M. Christie, LL. D., of Dover.
JOSIAH HILTON HOBBS.
Son of Benjamin and Sally (Hilton) Hobbs ; born, Effingham, November 2, 1795 ; Bowdoin College, 1820 ; admitted, 1824 ; practiced, Wakefield ; died there, June 18, 1854.
This gentleman fitted himself for college " mainly at home, and without help from anybody," and entered the sophomore class in Dartmouth University in 1817. On the discontinuance of that institution, in the spring of 1819, he joined the junior class of Bowdoin College. There he is said to have been in the foremost rank.
He entered the office of William Sawyer of Wakefield as a student, and on being admitted, became his law partner. Wake- field was his home as long as he lived, and the law his profession. He had a liking for the " black-letter " learning of the law, and was probably more familiar with it than any of his contempo- raries in the State except Peyton R. Freeman.
He was fond of equity practice, and had much experience in it. He was not of those who would reform the ancient precedents by any change of their antique and redundant phraseology; the sonorous reduplicate diction of the early conveyancers and plead- ers was music to his ear. His tastes and his favorite sphere of practice gained him the sobriquet of " Chancellor " Hobbs, which was given not in derision, but as a pleasant characteristic designa- tion ; and he accepted the title in good part.
His friend and classmate, Philip Eastman of Saco, Maine, thus summarized his character : "Professionally he loved and sought the less-traveled paths of legal knowledge. He was inde- fatigable in the investigation of vexed questions and knotty cases. No object engaged his attention which he did not pursue with enthusiastic ardor and perseverance. As a lawyer he had the reputation of being sound and skillful. He was thoroughly read in equity principles and practice, and as a solicitor in chancery was thought by many to be primus inter pares, the field of his practice extending over the most populous and active business portion of his State. He was impulsive in his feelings and rather eccentric in some respects, but he possessed many generous and
443
ALPHABETICALLY.
honorable traits of character, and at his death left many sorrow- ing friends."
Mr. Hobbs married, July 19, 1825, Rhoda, daughter of A. M. Chapman of Parsonsfield, Maine, and they had a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters.
ALBERT ELISHA HODGDON.
Son of Charles and Betsey (Adams) Hodgdon ; born, Barnstead, April 22, 1822 ; Dartmouth College, 1842 ; practiced, Barnstead ; died there, May 20, 1847.
Mr. Hodgdon studied his profession with Moses Norris at Pittsfield, and with Ira Perley at Concord, and entered into prac- tice at Barnstead in 1846, but lived only a single year afterwards. He never married.
GEORGE ENOS HODGDON.
Son of Charles A. and Sophia J. (George) Hodgdon ; born, Barnstead, March 4, 1839 ; Dartmouth College, 1861 ; practiced, Portsmouth ; died there, June 11, 1891.
Mr. Hodgdon entered the office of John S. H. Frink of Ports- mouth, as a student at law, immediately after leaving college. His patriotic feeling soon impelled him to enter the military ser- vice of his country. He was commissioned lieutenant in Com- pany G of the Tenth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers, August 20, 1862, and a month afterwards proceeded to the field. His health suffered from the exposure of camp life so that he resigned, February 24, 1863. In June, 1864, he was appointed second lieutenant in the Veteran Reserve Corps, and in Novem- ber was promoted to be captain. A lieutenant-colonelcy of a colored regiment was offered him, which he declined, and resigned from the service, March 29, 1866.
Returning to Portsmouth, he became a lawyer and a citizen of popularity and prominence. He was chosen city solicitor in 1875 and 1876 ; representative in the legislature in 1875, 1887, 1889, and 1891; alderman and member of the board of education in 1886 ; and mayor of the city in 1888 and 1889.
He was a fine scholar, particularly in Greek, and became much interested in his later years in history and genealogy. He pub-
444
DECEASED LAWYERS
lished in the "Portsmouth Journal " a series of notes and addi- tions to the text of Adams's " Annals of Portsmouth," and had prepared for publication histories of one or more families of early prominence. He was very popular in the ranks of the Grand Army of the Republic, and filled several of the chief offices in the association, state and local. In the law he was said to have been capable of doing more than he did, if he had been ambitious for distinction.
He was twice married, and by his first wife had two daughters.
MOSES HODGDON.
Son of Captain Shadrach Hodgdon ; born, Dover, 1774 ; admitted, 1801 ; practiced, Dover and Exeter ; died, Dover, October 9, 1840.
Mr. Hodgdon entered Harvard College, and nearly completed his undergraduate course, when for some cause not known, he left without taking his degree. He became a student at law in the office of William K. Atkinson of Dover in 1796, and about 1801 began practice in his native town, where, with the exception of a brief experimental residence in Exeter, he spent the remainder of his life.
He is said to have been a very careful, strong lawyer. He was not an advocate, and made no show in court, but he was sensible, thoroughly upright, and universally trusted. He was one of the few practitioners of this State who have contributed to the litera- ture of the law. In 1806 was published in Dover, under his edi- torial charge, "The Complete Justice of the Peace," conformed to the practice and statutes of New Hampshire. It was a manual of real utility, and creditable to its editor, who with characteristic modesty veiled his identity under the description of "a gentleman of the profession."
Mr. Hodgdon was a representative of Dover in the General Court, and in 1801, at the invitation of the inhabitants of Dover, delivered a Fourth of July address, which was published.
He was a confirmed celibate, and by his irreverent juniors was commonly styled " Lord Bacon." As he grew older, he shrank from publicity. Hence, when Henry Mellen, the wit and rhyme- ster of the bar, alluded to him in a poem called " The Old Bache- lors," in these words, -
" And Moses, Lord Bacon, by Hymen forsaken,
Is never mistaken, but firm as an oak," -
445
ALPHABETICALLY.
it is perhaps not to be wondered at that Mr. Hodgdon found little to relish in such a description of himself.
ARTEMAS LAWRENCE HOLMES.
Son of Nathaniel and Sally (Horr) Holmes ; born, Peterborough, July 9, 1814 ; Dartmouth College, 1835 ; admitted, 1838 ; practiced, Peterborough ; died, New York city, November 29, 1871.
Mr. Holmes studied law in the office of Samuel D. Bell in Con- cord, and practiced only a short time in his native town before taking his final leave of New Hampshire. He went to Galena, Illinois, about 1839, and there engaged in mercantile business. At a later date he removed to St. Louis, Missouri, and subse- quently to New York city.
He married, first, Eliza Bloomer of Galena, Illinois, and after her decease, Emily Bloomer, her sister. He had three children. Two of them are lawyers in New York.
ASA HOLTON.
Son of Jonathan and Hannah (Olcott) Holton ; born, Charlestown, Novem- ber, 1786 ; admitted, 1815 ; practiced, Lempster and Claremont ; died, Clare- mont, March 4, 1841.
Mr. Holton received an academical education in the place of his birth, and studied law there, in the office of Henry Hubbard. Immediately upon his admission as an attorney he proceeded to Lempster, and remained two years. He then removed his home permanently to Claremont. As a lawyer the evidence is that he ranked well, and was regarded as a safe counselor, though in advocacy he did not specially excel. His practice was good, and he was very much respected as a man.
He was married in October, 1818, to Orra Evarts, and had eleven children, several of whom are still living.
JOSIAH HOUGHTON.
The birthplace and parentage of Mr. Houghton have not been ascertained. He fitted himself for his profession at the Connecti- cut Law School, and in the office of Boswell Stevens of Pembroke. He was admitted an attorney in Rockingham County in 1820,
446
DECEASED LAWYERS
and a counselor of the Superior Court in February, 1821, and set- tled as a practitioner in Deerfield in 1819 or 1820. As a lawyer and a member of society he appears to have been held in high regard. His life was brought early to a close by a pleuritic fever, caused by fatigue and excitement in the search for and recovery of a child that had wandered away from home. He died at the age of forty-three years.
He was married to Mary, daughter of Nathaniel White of Deerfield, and left one or more children.
LUKE HOWE.
Son of Dr. Adonijah and Sarah (Ripley) Howe ; born, Jaffrey, March 28, 1787 ; Dartmouth College, 1811 ; practiced, Jaffrey ; died there, December 24, 1841.
This gentleman's history belongs rather to the medical than to the legal profession, and may be found in Williams's "Biography of American Physicians." He qualified himself for the practice of the law under the instruction of Samuel Dakin of Jaffrey and of Samuel C. Allen and Nathan Dane of Massachusetts, in which State he was probably admitted to the bar in 1814. He began practice in his native town, but could have continued it but a year or two, as he changed his profession and took the degree of M. D. at Dartmouth Medical School in 1818.
He became, a distinguished physician, and was chosen presi- dent of the Medical Society of New Hampshire, and an hon- orary member of that of Massachusetts. He published essays on scientific subjects, and introduced many improvements in surgical instruments.
His wife, whom he married in 1819, was Mary H., daughter of Hon. Peter Woodbury of Francestown, and widow of his brother, Dr. Adonijah Howe. He left a son and a daughter.
PHINEAS HOWE.
Son of Deacon Jonathan and Mary (Kimball) Howe ; born, Hopkinton, c. 1776 ; Dartmouth College, 1798 ; admitted, 1805; practiced, Weare and Deerfield ; died, Marcellus, New York.
For five years after his graduation from college, Mr. Howe taught school in Deerfield, and during that time probably com- pleted his legal studies under the direction of Edmund Toppan.
447
ALPHABETICALLY.
In the following year, and in 1808, he was a school teacher in Weare, and in that town practiced as a lawyer from 1808 to 1811. He thence returned to Deerfield, and there continued prac- tice for three or four years, and then quitted the State. It is said that he went first to Maine, and then to Marcellus, New York, or its vicinity, where he died.
On the Fourth of July, 1801, he delivered an oration before the inhabitants of Deerfield which was deemed worthy of publica- tion. His history in New Hampshire indicates that he was more successful as a teacher than as a jurist.
His wife was Jemima Brown. They had one son, born in Weare, February 13, 1807.
AARON BEEDE HOYT.
Son of Dr. Moses and Anna (Beede) Hoyt ; born, Ossipee, July 10, 1802 ; Dartmouth College, 1822 ; practiced, Sandwich ; died there, July 12, 1880.
This gentleman prepared himself for the law in the offices of Ira A. Bean of Sandwich, Daniel M. Christie of Dover, and Samuel Emerson of Sandwich. With Mr. Emerson he associated himself in business, and practiced about four years ; but teaching being much more congenial, he became an instructor in the Chauncy Hall school in Boston, Massachusetts, for five years, and director and corresponding secretary of the American Institute of Instruction. Thence he went to Baltimore and established a private academy, which he conducted for ten years, and then returned to Sandwich and settled on a farm, teaching occasionally.
Mr. Hoyt was a man of marked individuality, a reformer of strong religious convictions, a tenacious memory, and vast infor- mation, and a born and most successful educator.
He was twice married ; first, in 1827, to Catharine H., daughter of Augustus Blanchard of Sandwich, who died in 1866 ; second, in 1873, to Sarah A., daughter of . Augustus Doeg, who survived him.
HENRY HUBBARD.
Son of John and Prudence (Stevens) Hubbard ; born, Charlestown, May 3, 1784 ; Dartmouth College, 1803; admitted, 1806 ; practiced, Charlestown ; died there, June 5, 1857.
Mr. Hubbard studied law with Jeremiah Mason of Ports- mouth, and opened his office in his native town in 1806.
448
DECEASED LAWYERS
A good measure of success attended him from the first. His manners were courteous and attractive, his powers were ready at his command, and as a native of the town he was known and trusted. Chosen moderator of the annual town meeting in 1810 (an office that he held many times subsequently), he was elected to the legislature in 1812, and ten other years out of the succeed- ing fifteen. The last three of those years, 1825, 1826, and 1827, he filled the Speaker's chair. In 1823 he was appointed solicitor for Cheshire County, and served until he was commissioned Judge of Probate in 1827. Two years after he was elected a represen- tative in Congress, and retained his seat by successive reëlections until 1835. In that year he was advanced to the United States Senate, and sat there his full term of six years. In 1842 and 1843 lie was governor of the State. From 1846 to 1849 he was assistant treasurer of the United States at Boston, after which he returned to his home in Charlestown, and to private life.
He was highly successful at the bar. He was indefatigable in his profession, and never spared the midnight oil. His temper was mild, and he treated all parties, even in the stress of oppo- sition, with uniform courtesy. His legal knowledge was ample and always available. He was a ready speaker, and adapted his appeals skillfully to the audience he addressed. In law and in politics he made the most of his abilities and his opportunities.
He was married to Sally Walker Dean of Charlestown, Novem- ber 30, 1813, and had several children. His eldest son was a lawyer, and a daughter was the wife of Chief Justice John J. Gilchrist.
HENRY HUBBARD, JR.
Son of Hon. Henry and Sally Walker (Dean) Hubbard ; born, Charlestown, June 21, 1817 ; Harvard College, 1837 ; practiced, Charlestown ; died, Bed- ford County, Virginia, June 11, 1876.
Mr. Hubbard pursued the study of the law in the office of his father in Charlestown, and attended the Harvard Law School, where he took his degree of LL. B. in 1840. He opened his office in Charlestown, and there remained in successful practice for more than a quarter of a century. He was solicitor of Sulli- van County from 1845 to 1848. In 1867 he was compelled by failing health to seek a more moderate climate, and removed with his family to Bedford County in Virginia, where he spent the
449
ALPHABETICALLY.
remainder of his life. He was highly esteemed as a competent and trustworthy counselor and a public-spirited citizen.
His wife, to whom he was united June 6, 1850, was Louisa, daughter of Deacon Benjamin West. They had six children.
AARON P. HUGHES.
Son of Barnet and Jane (Wilson) Hughes ; born, Windham, May 7, 1815 ; admitted, 1843 ; practiced, Nashua ; died, Worcester, Massachusetts, Febru- ary 23, 1864.
The father of Mr. Hughes was a carpenter, and sometimes acted as the local auctioneer ; tonguey, witty, and clear headed. The son was bred to his father's trade, and practiced it until by an accident he lost his left arm. He was a member of a debating society, and, evincing much readiness in public speaking, deter- mined to become a lawyer. For this he prepared himself in the office of Aaron F. Sawyer of Nashua, and on completing his studies, settled in business in that place.
He was greatly interested in political affairs, and was a member of the national convention which nominated Zachary Taylor for the presidency. He was postmaster of Nashua and Nashville from 1849 to 1853. In 1854 he was an influential member of the state legislature. Being a " Webster Whig," when the Republi- can party was formed in 1856, he took sides vigorously with its opponents. In 1860 he was a delegate to the national Demo- cratic convention, in which he gave his support to Stephen A. Douglas. Two years' service in the legislature, in 1861 and 1862, completed his political career.
Mr. Hughes was a successful man of business, of probity and good morals, and an excellent public speaker. His strength lay largely in his rhetorical faculty, as he was not remarkable for the depth of his reasoning, nor for profound legal learning. He was a zealous Freemason, and held the office of Grand Master of the State.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.