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 41
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His death occurred while he was absent from his home on a business errand.
He was joined in marriage, November 17, 1845, to Charlotte Lock, daughter of Aaron F. Sawyer of Nashua, and left two sons.
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DANIEL HUMPHREYS.
Son of Rev. Daniel and Sarah Humphreys ; born, Derby, Connecticut, c. 1739 ; Yale College, 1757 ; practiced, Portsmouth ; died there, September 30, 1827.
Mr. Humphreys was the brother of Colonel David Humphreys, aide to Washington, and like him had various accomplishments, being described as "preacher, poet, grammarian, and district attorney." He probably acquired his professional education in Connecticut, and remained in practice there some years before coming to New Hampshire. In 1764 or thereabout he was in Boston, Massachusetts, and a deacon of the newly established religious society of Sandemanians. Not long afterwards he re- moved to Danbury, Connecticut, and officiated as elder of a simi- lar society in that place.
He was admitted to the Superior Court of New Hampshire in 1774, and settled in Portsmouth. He sat in the convention to revise the Constitution of the State in 1791-92. In 1804 he was given the appointment of United States District Attorney for New Hampshire, and continued in the discharge of its duties until his death. He was a lawyer of respectable learning, faithful and conscientious. For many years he was a principal member and preacher in the Sandemanian society of Portsmouth. One of the tenets of this sect of Christians was not to employ a hired minis- try. The society was considerable in point of numbers, and was composed in no small part of persons of intelligence. Mr. Hum- phreys carried his feeling against the paid clergy to such an extent that he would not remain in the court-room while the sala- ried minister made the prayer at the opening of the session of the court.
Most of his published writings were of a polemical character. In 1792 he issued an " American Grammar." His poetical com- positions, if any, are supposed to have appeared in the periodical press.
Mr. Humphreys's wife was a sister of George King (after- wards George Atkinson), and he had two sons, both of whom died before their father.
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SAMUEL HUNT.
Son of Colonel Samuel and Esther (Strong) Hunt ; born, Charlestown, July 8, 1765 ; admitted, 1790 ; practiced, Alstead and Keene ; died, Gallipolis, Ohio, July 7, 1807.
The subject of this sketch received a good education for his time and place. He pursued his law studies in the office of Ben- jamin West of Charlestown. He opened an office for a little time in Alstead, but soon removed to Keene, where he remained for about five years, which was the total of his professional life.
He then returned to Charlestown, and for a while became a con- tributor to " The Farmer's Museum," edited by Joseph Dennie, and supported by a club of young professional men of literary ability. For some cause not known he next went to Europe, and remained away nearly three years, passing most of the time in France. On his return he pursued the occupation of a gentleman farmer, which he mingled to some extent with politics, so that his townsmen sent him to the state legislature, from which he was transferred to a seat in the Congress of the United States in 1802. The next year he was reelected, and served through the Eighth Congress, but became disgusted with political life and refused any further candidacy. He had a controversy with Gid- eon Granger while he was in Washington, and sent him a chal- lenge which Granger sensibly declined ; thereupon Hunt posted him as a coward.
Mr. Hunt possessed good native capacity, and sufficient educa- tion, but he was eccentric, and had little control of his strong passions.
In politics he agreed with neither party, but held peculiar notions of his own. He formed a project of colonizing a tract of territory in Ohio, and induced a number of his neighbors to join in the enterprise. About the year 1805 they took their departure, Hunt on horseback, while others were obliged to walk, and all arrived safely at their destination, French Grant, as it was then called, now known as Gallipolis. The place proved unhealthy ; all were attacked by disease, and few ever returned to tell the tale. Hunt was one of the victims.
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NATHANIEL HUNTOON.
Son of Nathaniel and Hannah (Webster) Huntoon ; born, Salisbury, March 26, 1785 ; Dartmouth College, 1808 ; practiced, Portsmouth and Newmarket ; died, Portsmouth, July 2, 1816.
This is one of the numerous cases where early death has made the biographer's task a short one. Mr. Huntoon studied his pro- fession with Samuel Green of Concord, and established himself in Portsmouth about 1812. Two or three years afterwards he went to Newmarket, but his stay there was brief, for his death by a rapid consumption speedily followed.
JOHN HURD.
Son of John and Elizabeth (Mason) Hurd ; born, Boston, Massachusetts, December 9, 1727 ; Harvard College, 1747 ; practiced, Haverhill ; died, Bos- ton, Massachusetts, July 19, 1809.
This gentleman has been regarded as a lawyer, though it is not known that he was bred to the profession. He appeared in New Hampshire about the time of the last royal governor, of whom he was a favorite. His residence was erelong fixed at Haverhill, which, mainly by his exertions, was made a shire town of Grafton County. In 1772 he was made Chief Justice of the Inferior Court of the county. Friendly though he was to Governor Went- worth, he was a decided Whig when the Revolution began. He was a prominent member of the fourth and fifth provincial Con- gresses, and held high civil and military offices under the peoples' government, among them that of first Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of his county. In fact, he wielded for a time the chief authority in his section of the State. The jealous hostility towards the " Exeter government," which prevailed awhile in the towns along the Connecticut River, disappointed and disgusted him, and about the year 1777 he returned permanently to Boston.
In 1773 Dartmouth College gave him the degree of A. M.
His wife, Elizabeth, died in Boston in 1779. He had two sons.
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HENRY HOWARD HUSE.
Son of Thomas M. and Elizabeth (Scobey) Huse ; born, West Fairlee, Ver- mont, May 31, 1839 ; admitted, 1864 ; practiced, Pittsfield and Manchester ; died, Concord, September 7, 1890.
A graduate of the high school in Lowell, Massachusetts, Mr. Huse studied law with John J. Pillsbury in Pittsfield. In 1861 he was mustered into the military service of the country as a cap- tain in the Eighth Regiment of New Hampshire Volunteers. In July, 1863, he was promoted to the majority, but in September following was compelled to leave the army by illness, and was honorably discharged. He settled in practice in Pittsfield in 1864, and in 1868 removed to Manchester as partner of Lewis W. Clark, and afterwards of James F. Briggs. He was a repre- sentative in the legislature in 1877 and the two succeeding years, in the latter of which he was chosen Speaker. His interest in political matters, and his administrative qualities, led to his ap- pointment to the responsible post of chairman of the Republican State Central Committee, for several years. In 1888 he was appointed state insurance commissioner, and filled that position until his decease.
He was a man of popular personal qualities, an excellent offi- cer, military and civil, and of much native ability. One of his business associates describes him thus : "He had a good legal mind, managed a witness skillfully, and argued causes well ; and if he had applied himself closely to his profession, and had not allowed his attention to be diverted to politics, he would have been a very successful lawyer."
He was married, in 1869, to Frances A. Rich of Hollis. She died in 1873, and he married Irene A. Poole of Rockland, Massa- chusetts. He had six children, of whom three survived him.
ARTHUR EDWIN HUTCHINS.
Son of Chester C. and Jane (Swan) Hutchins ; born, Bath, September 2, 1838 ; Dartmouth College, 1857 ; admitted, 1860 ; practiced, Bath ; died, " Wilderness," Virginia, May 6, 1864.
Mr. Hutchins prepared himself for the bar by study in the office of Alonzo P. Carpenter in Bath, and at the Harvard Law
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School, and opened his office in his native town in 1860. But soon the drums beat to arms the country through, and he quitted his profession and entered the Eleventh Regiment of New Hamp- shire Volunteers as a first lieutenant. When the bloody battle of the Wilderness was fought in Virginia, May 6, 1864, Lieutenant Hutchins was serving upon the staff of General Simon G. Griffin, and gave the final proof of his devotion to his country by meeting his death bravely in the field.
GEORGE WASHINGTON HUTCHINS.
Son of Colonel James Hutchins ; born, Bath, 1809 ; admitted, 1835 ; prac- ticed, Bath ; died there, August 4, 1839.
Mr. Hutchins was of feeble bodily constitution, and left Dart- mouth College after two years' study there, without completing the course. He read law in the office of Goodall and Woods at Bath, and on his admission, entered into partnership with Jona- than Smith, then in practice in that place. But he lacked the health and vigor to perform the hard work of a country practi- tioner, and succumbed early to disease.
HAMILTON HUTCHINS.
Son of Abel and Elizabeth (Partridge) Hutchins ; born, Concord, July 10, 1805 ; Dartmouth College, 1827 ; practiced, Concord ; died there, April 6, 1851.
It was with Samuel Fletcher of Concord, and with Richard Fletcher of Boston, Massachusetts, that Mr. Hutchins acquired his preparation for the bar. He began practice in Boston in 1830, but returned shortly to Concord as partner of George Kent, for a time. He was not much in the courts, but he per- formed his professional duties with skill and correctness, and was esteemed for his probity and amiable disposition. The last ten years of his life he was the treasurer of the New Hampshire Mutual Fire Insurance Company.
His wife was Mary, daughter of Daniel Chandler of Lexing- ton, Massachusetts. They were married October 30, 1835.
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WILLIAM WALLACE HUTCHINS.
Son of William and Martha (Newell) Vance Hutchins ; born, Bath, July 12, 1824 ; Dartmouth College, 1845 ; admitted, 1848 ; practiced, Bath ; died, Concord, November 3, 1857.
Mr. Hutchins is remembered as being while in college an ami- able rather than a specially studious young man. He was a student at law in the offices of Samuel Ingham of Essex, Con- necticut, and of Harry Hibbard of Bath. In the latter place he began practice, and with the exception of a short period of service at Haverhill as assistant clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, remained there during the active portion of his life. Be- fore his decease he was removed to Concord on account of mental alienation.
AARON HUTCHINSON.
Son of Rev. Aaron and Margaret (Carter) Hutchinson ; born, Connecticut, 1755 ; Yale College, 1770 ; admitted, c. 1781 ; practiced, Lebanon ; died there, April 24, 1843.
Mr. Hutchinson was a Bachelor of Arts at the age of about fifteen. He studied for the ministry and preached awhile, among other places at Antrim in 1778; but by reason of the failure of his voice, as is said, he gave up the idea of a clerical life, and turned his attention to the law. It is stated that he first prac- ticed a short time in Grafton, Massachusetts, where his father had long been pastor, and afterwards in Norwich, Vermont, before he came to Lebanon in 1783. His name appears among those of the attorneys who attended the Court of Common Pleas in Cheshire County in July, 1782.
He was at first almost the only lawyer in Grafton County. For some years he regularly attended the courts in Cheshire County, as well as in his own, and also in the adjoining county of Orange, in Vermont. He was appointed the first solicitor of Grafton County in 1789, and represented Lebanon in the legislatures of 1802, 1803, and 1805. He was accounted a good lawyer, and had an extensive practice. His method, as was that of his time, was to try causes upon their merits, to make as much as possible of the equities of his clients, without much regard to technicalities.
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In fact, few of the judges of the courts in which he appeared had any idea of technicalities.
In addition to his law business Mr. Hutchinson carried on farming, and was successful in accumulating property, so that he lived handsomely, and was enabled to give his sons a collegiate education. When he changed his profession he lost none of his zcal for religious things, but all through life, as was quaintly said, " would have disbursed half his estate to erect the house of the Lord." It is stated of him, too, that he believed in the existence of witches, - a curious fact, considering he was a man of educa- tion, and lived into the nineteenth century.
Mr. Hutchinson was quite a gentleman of the old school, in dress and manners. He was well bred and courtly, and to the last of his life constantly wore knee-breeches and a ruffled shirt.
He married Eunice Bailey of Lebanon, in 1784. She died a number of years before him, and for some time afterwards he lived alone in his house, like a hermit.
Two of his sons were of their father's profession.
EUGENE HUTCHINSON.
Son of Benjamin and Susan (Peabody) Hutchinson ; born, Milford, 1784 ; admitted, 1814 ; practiced, Pelham, Goshen, and Milford ; died, Milford, Feb- ruary 7, 1854.
Little has survived to be narrated of this gentleman. He was a member of Dartmouth College awhile, but without graduating. He studied his profession with Nathaniel Shattuck of Milford, and practiced first in Pelham, afterwards in Goshen, and finally returned to his native town, and there divided his attention be- tween law and agriculture during the remainder of his life. He is said for some time to have been given to convivial habits.
His wife was Susan, daughter of David Danforth. They had a son and two daughters.
HENRY HUTCHINSON.
Son of Aaron and Eunice (Bailey) Hutchinson ; born, Lebanon, March 20, 1785 ; Dartmouth College, 1804 ; admitted, 1807 ; practiced, Hanover ; died, New York city, September 15, 1838.
Mr. Hutchinson pursued his legal studies in the office of his father in Lebanon, and was admitted to the bar of Grafton County. He opened an office in Hanover about 1807.
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His business was not large, and he obtained the position of clerk of the state House of Representatives in 1813, 1814, and 1815. Some years afterwards he lost his wife by death, and was left with the care of five young children. Somewhere about the year 1826 he removed to the city of New York, in the hope of bettering his condition, and was, for a time, in the office with Charles Walker, a son of Charles Walker, Esq., of Concord. It has been said that he was more successful in his practice in New York, being one of the few lawyers who remained in the city dur- ing the epidemic of cholera in 1836.
In 1813 he was united in marriage with Mary, daughter of Professor Bezaleel Woodward of Dartmouth College. She bore him five children.
JAMES HUTCHINSON.
Son of Aaron and Eunice (Bailey) Hutchinson ; born, Lebanon, December 2, 1786 ; Dartmouth College, 1806 ; practiced, Lebanon ; died, Haverhill, April 25, 1877.
Mr. Hutchinson studied law, probably in his father's office, and went into practice about 1809 in the town of his birth. He was handsome, bright, and accomplished, and a great favorite of the ladies. Being the presumptive heir to a good property, he had no ambition to work, and fell into habits of dissipation. Twenty years after his marriage his wife separated from him, presumably on account of his irregular habits. The next year he went to New York city, where his brother Henry was in practice. But his mode of life was never corrected, and at length brought him to actual destitution. Finally he returned to New Hampshire, and was supported at the public expense during the remaining years of his life.
He married, in September, 1815, Eunice Marsh, daughter of Richard Kimball of Plainfield.
JOTHAM PATTEN HUTCHINSON.
Son of David and Lucinda (Patten) Hutchinson ; born, Sidney, Maine, February 29, 1824 ; Waterville College, 1846 ; admitted, .1853 ; practiced, Laconia, Nashua, and Lake Village ; died, Laconia, May 22, 1892.
Mr. Hutchinson prepared himself for college at the academy in East Machias, Maine, and read law with Thomas J. Whipple, his
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brother-in-law, at Meredith. On his admission as an attorney he opened an office in Meredith Bridge, now Laconia, and remained there nine years. In 1862 he removed to Nashua, and practiced there until in 1872 he received the appointment of corporation counsel and agent of the Winnepesaukee Lake Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company, which controlled a great extent of water power in and about Lake Winnepesaukee, for the use of divers manufacturing companies in this State and Massachusetts. This important and responsible post he administered for ten years, having his residence in Lake Village, now Lakeport, until he was disabled by an attack of paralysis, and resigned in 1883.
While in the pursuit of his profession, he was fully employed in the various state and United States courts, and acquired an excellent reputation as a jurist and a man of affairs.
He was actively public-spirited and patriotic. In the early days of the great Rebellion he voluntarily took charge of the recruiting in Gilford, and raised two full companies of volunteers for the army, being prevented from accompanying them in person to the front only by reason of military disability.
He was married, in June, 1851, to Abigail E. Hadley of Rum- ney. Their only son is a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts.
WILLIAM H. JAMES.
Son of William and Elizabeth (Huntress) James ; born, Somersworth, 1821 ; admitted, c. 1847 ; practiced, Somersworth ; died there, May 15, 1854.
The subject of this notice was brought up in Great Falls Vil- lage in Somersworth, and educated in its schools. Gifted with a good capacity, he aspired to join the legal profession, prepared himself in the office of Ichabod G. Jordan of Somersworth, and entered into practice there in 1847. He lived but a few years afterwards, and died unmarried.
THOMAS JAMESON.
Son of Hugh and Jane (Barr) Jameson ; born, Dunbarton, 1771 ; Dart- mouth College, 1797 ; practiced, Goffstown ; died there, June 10, 1813.
Mr. Jameson studied his profession with John Harris of Hop- kinton, and was admitted in 1802 or 1803, and settled in Goffs- town in the latter year. He came of Scotch-Irish stock, of a
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family somewhat prominent, and is represented as a brilliant man of large promise. From the few particulars that have been gleaned respecting him we learn that he was successful in the practice of his profession, and was cut off in the midst of his career, leaving a family of young children, for whom he had for- tunately secured a sufficient pecuniary provision, for those days.
He married Isabella, daughter of Robert McGaw of New Bos- ton, September 24, 1805, and had five children.
RUSSELL JARVIS.
Son of Samuel G. and Prudence (Davis) Jarvis ; born, Boston, Massachu- setts, 1791 ; Dartmouth College, 1810 ; practiced, Claremont ; died, New York city, April 17, 1853.
This gentleman, whose name was originally Joseph Russell Jarvis, studied his profession with William C. Jarvis in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and at the law school at Litchfield, Connecticut, and as early as 1818 was in practice in Claremont. He had appar- ently little liking for the law, but preferred journalism, and wrote much for the "New Hampshire Patriot." He left Claremont after four or five years for Boston, Massachusetts, and practiced law about six years in that city ; then went to Washington, Dis- trict of Columbia, and entered into company with Duff Green in the publication and editorship of the "United States Telegraph." In 1836 he was in Philadelphia as the editor of the "Public Ledger," and did much to give it the popular character which it has maintained. In 1839 he established the " World," which had but a short existence. He then took up his residence in New York city, where his principal occupation was journalism. He was the reputed author of the " Biographical Notice of Commo- dore Jesse D. Elliott."
He was married, in 1820, to Caroline, daughter of Hon. Judah Dana of Chelsea, Vermont. She died within two or three years, leaving an infant daughter. In 1824 he married, in Boston, Eliza, daughter of Thomas Cordis. She with their two children per- ished in the burning of the steamer Lexington in Long Island Sound, January 13, 1840.
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JAMES JEFFREY.
This gentleman appears to have acted as an attorney in the Superior Court of the province from 1717 to 1720. He was an inhabitant of Portsmouth, June 26, 1696, on which day a child of his was killed by a sudden incursion of the Indians. In 1711 he was a captain in the expedition against Canada. Five years afterwards he was appointed by the provincial Assembly clerk of the committee appointed to run the dividing line between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In 1717 he appears to have been the subject of bankruptcy proceedings, and the same year was appointed coroner and notary public for the province. In 1721 he was chosen clerk of the Assembly, and continued in the office all or most of the time until January, 1744. It is probable that his death occurred soon after that date.
His wife, perhaps not his first one, was Anne, widow of Andrew Brock, mariner, of Portsmouth. He married her before 1720.
MOSES NOBLE JENKINS.
Son of James and Mary Jenkins ; born, Portsmouth, January, 1846 ; ad- mitted, 1868 ; practiced, Portsmouth ; died there, August 5, 1872.
Mr. Jenkins undoubtedly obtained his education in his native place, studied law with Samuel H. Goodall there, and there opened his office for practice in October, 1868. He is described in an obituary notice as a " most promising young attorney, and a genial and beloved companion and friend."
JOHN SCRIBNER JENNESS.
Son of Hon. Richard and Caroline (McClintock) Jenness ; born, Deerfield, April 6, 1827 ; Harvard College, 1845 ; practiced, Portsmouth ; died, New Castle, August 10, 1879.
Mr. Jenness studied his profession at the Harvard Law School in 1847 and 1848, was in practice in Portsmouth the two succeed- ing years, and then removed to New York city. He became a prominent lawyer there, and remained in practice about twenty years, when, being the possessor of a large fortune, he retired from
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his profession. This he was induced to do by his inclination for literary and historical pursuits.
His studies in this direction produced their first fruit in a " Historical Sketch of the Isles of Shoals," written about 1873, and afterwards enlarged into a volume of which the second edi- tion was published in 1875. Valuable as correct history, the work secured popularity by the picturesque and interesting style in which it was written. In 1876 he edited a volume of "Tran- scripts of Original Documents relating to the Early History of New Hampshire," containing some new and important papers, which Mr. Jenness had discovered in his researches among the public offices in England. In 1878 he printed a tract on the " First Planting of New Hampshire and on the Piscataqua Pa- tents," and at the time of his decease he had partially completed a historical romance founded on events of the early period of Acadia. The value of his contributions to historical literature was recognized by several learned societies, which elected him to membership.
His fondness for music, poetry, and natural scenery led him to extensive travels in Europe. It was through his instrumentality that a permanent memorial of John Mason, the founder of New Hampshire, was erected, by himself and others, citizens of this State, at Portsmouth in England.
He left a widow and three young daughters.
CHARLES D. JOHNSON.
Son of Marcus D. and Maria (Marshall) Johnson ; born, Stratford, June 13, 1835 ; admitted, 1858 ; practiced, Stratford ; died there, October 29, 1860.
Two years of law practice and one of journalism constituted the adult life work of Charles D. Johnson. Upon his admission to the bar, he immediately started in his profession in (North) Strat- ford. The next year the "Coos County Democrat," a weekly newspaper, was removed from Lancaster to that place, and put under the editorial charge of Mr. Johnson. Before the close of another year consumption had numbered him among her victims.
CHARLES W. JOHNSON.
Bedford was the birthplace of this young member of the legal guild. He was not college bred, but he had a fair education, and
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much industry. He became a partner in practice with James U. Parker in Manchester about the year 1859, and is said to have died in that city two or three years afterwards. His professional standing was respectable, and he had acquired a good practice.
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