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 42
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
JOSEPH HAINES JOHNSON.
This person, said to have been a native of Newbury, Vermont, studied law in Keene, and practiced in Lyme five or six years from 1811. He then removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and became a merchant of wealth and standing. A gentleman in manners, with fine intellectual endowments, his death revealed the fact that he led a dual life, and was also a skillful burglar and thief. In the pursuit of plunder, he entered in disguise a wholesale store by night, and fell through an open hatchway, where his dead body was found the next morning, and subsequently recognized. It was discovered on examination that his place of business had been fitted up with every convenience for the concealment of stolen goods.
HALE ATKINSON JOHNSTON.
Son of Captain Michael and Sarah (Atkinson) Converse Johnston ; born, Haverhill, June 19, 1801 ; Dartmouth College, 1825 ; admitted, 1829 ; prac- ticed, Haverhill ; died there, January 27, 1831.
One year after graduating from college, Mr. Johnston taught in an academy in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, and then entered upon the study of the law, first with James McKeen of New York, and finally with Joseph Bell of Haverhill. In the latter place he opened an office, in 1829, after his admission, with en- couraging prospects of success, when his health gave way, and he died of consumption, unmarried.
DANIEL JONES.
Son of Colonel Elisha and Mary (Allen) Jones ; born, Weston, Massachu- setts, July 25, 1740 ; Harvard College, 1759 ; practiced, Hinsdale ; died there, 1786.
There is little doubt that Mr. Jones was the first lawyer who settled westerly of the Merrimac River, in New Hampshire. It
463
ALPHABETICALLY.
has not been ascertained where he was prepared for his profes- sion, but he was taxed rather heavily in Hinsdale in 1764, was town clerk in 1766, and in the commission of the peace in 1768. In 1771 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for the newly constituted county of Cheshire. From that time to the beginning of the Revolution he was per- haps the leading man in the county. There is evidence that he did not favor the popular movement for independence, and he lost his judicial office in 1775, and much of his influence, though he was not molested.
He came somewhat to the front again, when, in 1780, some of the western towns of the State attempted to unite themselves with Vermont. He was a delegate to a convention called for that purpose, and the next year acted as a representative of Hinsdale in the Vermont legislature. He continued in the practice of his profession as long as he lived. The last act of his which appears upon the public records is his subscription to a petition to the General Court for the grant of a right of ferry over the Connecti- cut, in January, 1786.
He was married, and left four children.
JOSIAH JONES.
Son of Colonel Elisha and Mary (Allen) Jones ; born, Weston, Massachu- setts, 1745 ; practiced, Hinsdale ; died, Annapolis, Nova Scotia, 1825.
This was a brother of Judge Daniel Jones of Hinsdale, and is set down as an attorney practicing at that place in 1775. Their father was a man of wealth and position, and a zealous loyalist. He had fifteen children, of whom but one was a daughter; and she became the wife of Rev. Asa Dunbar, afterwards a lawyer in Keene. The father died about the time hostilities commenced, and several of the sons entered the British service. Josiah was one of these, and after the war he settled in Nova Scotia, and was made a Judge there.
Another son, Simeon Jones, was also at Hinsdale in 1775, and for two or three years previously, and was clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Cheshire County, of which his brother Daniel was Chief Justice. He became a lieutenant in the king's Ameri- can dragoons ; and after peace was declared received a grant of land in New Brunswick, but subsequently removed to Nova Scotia.
464
DECEASED LAWYERS
ICHABOD GOODWIN JORDAN.
Son of Captain Ichabod Jordan ; born, Saco, Maine, October 6, 1806 ; Bow- doin College, 1827 ; admitted, 1830; practiced, Milton and Somersworth ; died, Berwick, Maine, February 21, 1873.
Mr. Jordan was trained for his profession under Judges Shepley and Goodenow in Maine, and soon after his admission proceeded to Milton to begin practice. His stay there was short, and he next established himself in Great Falls Village in Somersworth, until 1864, when he removed across the river to Berwick in Maine for the rest of his life. His practice before and afterwards, how- ever, was divided between that State and New Hampshire, and he attended courts in both.
In New Hampshire he was a member of the state Senate in 1853 and 1854, and in Maine a representative, at a later date. He was a zealous Freemason, and two years presided over the Grand Lodge of this State. As a lawyer he maintained a good standing, was prudent and careful, though not rapid in his mental operations, and had an excellent practice.
He was married, in 1833, to Sarah, daughter of Hon. Jeremiah Goodwin of Alfred, Maine. Of their six children, two daughters outlived their father.
JOHN KELLY.
Son of Rev. William and Lavinia (Bayley) Kelly ; born, Warner, March 7, 1786 ; Dartmouth College, 1804 ; practiced, Henniker and Northwood ; died, Exeter, November 3, 1860.
Jeremiah H. Woodman of Meredith Bridge was Mr. Kelly's tutor in the law, and Henniker was the place of his earliest prac- tice in 1808. In a short time he migrated to Northwood. Noted in college for his habit of reading, and his facility for composi- tion in prose and verse, he early began to write for the public press, and was induced to take the editorship of the " Concord Gazette " for a year, but its strong partisan character was not to his taste. In 1826 and 1827 he represented Northwood in the state legislature, and in 1828 was clerk of the House. Though his occupation was the law, and he attended the courts with punctuality, and performed the business of his office with dili-
465
ALPHABETICALLY.
gence, his literary and antiquarian proclivity was well understood. Among his writings was a series of valuable sketches of the early clergy of New Hampshire, published in the "Historical Collec- tions " of Farmer and Moore.
In 1831 he was appointed register of Probate for the county of
. Rockingham, and changed his residence to Exeter. He never re- sumed legal practice afterwards, but after quitting the Probate office in 1842, was treasurer of the Phillips Exeter Academy until 1855. He was in 1845 a representative from Exeter in the General Court, in 1846 and 1847 a member of the executive council, and in 1850 a delegate to the constitutional convention. A year or two after coming to Exeter he assumed the editorial charge of the "News Letter," a weekly journal, and retained it upwards of fifteen years. Under his management it maintained a high character for accuracy and fairness ; its editorials were at- tractive in style, and abounded in humor ; and its columns were rendered valuable by his "Collectanea," the fruits of much his- torical and genealogical study and research. The work of the antiquary is apt to be repulsive to the many, but Mr. Kelly had the art to " sugar-coat " it with his genial humor and apt comments.
After inspecting the tombstones of a country burying-ground, containing generations of persons named " Hogg " and "Calf," he remarked to a neighboring rustic, -"I see that your people still bury their swine and calves in the cemetery !"
Mr. Kelly was an original member, and many years an officer, of the New Hampshire Historical Society.
He married, August 8, 1817, Susan, daughter of Andrew Hil- ton of Northwood, a descendant of Edward Hilton, one of the first settlers of New Hampshire. They had one son and four daughters.
JOHN KELLY.
Son of Simeon and Elizabeth (Knight) Kelly ; born, Plaistow, July 22, 1796 ; Amherst College, 1825 ; admitted, 1828 ; practiced, Plaistow, Chester, and Atkinson ; died, Atkinson, January 15, 1877.
Mr. Kelly had the advantage of the early instruction of John Vose at Atkinson, and Benjamin Abbot at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and became a teacher before and during his college course, thus aiding much to defray the expenses of his education.
30
466
DECEASED LAWYERS
His instructors in the law were Stephen Minot of Haverhill and Elijah Morse of Boston, Massachusetts. In January, 1829, he opened an office in his native town. After about three years he became the principal of the Atkinson Academy, and remained there six years, when in the spring of 1838 he removed to Derry to assume the charge of the Adams Female Academy. In the winter of 1841 he resumed the practice of the law in Chester. He returned to Atkinson in 1845, to spend the rest of his days as an attorney and land surveyor, being particularly noted for his accuracy and skill in the latter capacity.
With good attainments in his profession, Mr. Kelly had less liking for the practice of it, especially the contentious part. He rarely engaged in the controversies of the courts, but was a care- ful counselor, and was rather extensively employed in probate affairs, where his correctness and trustworthiness brought him much business.
His fondness for music was a source of profit to him in his youth and of great delight at all times. He was respected for his knowledge and integrity, and liked for his amiable and attractive personal qualities. He had a quick perception of the ludicrous, and excellent powers of imitation. His memory was stored with anecdotes, and he could always produce from it something appro- priate to any occasion. The stories he related came mended from his tongue by his inimitable manner of telling them.
He married, in 1829, Mary Chase of Plaistow. They had a son and two daughters.
AMOS KENT.
Son of Joseph and Jane (Moody) Kent ; born, Newbury, Massachusetts, October 16, 1774 ; Harvard College, 1795 ; admitted, 1798 ; practiced, Ches- ter ; died there, June 18, 1824.
Mr. Kent received his early education at Dummer Academy in Byfield, Massachusetts, and read law in the office of William Gordon at Amherst. In November, 1799, he settled in Chester.
He had a vigorous constitution and powerful physique ; nothing pleased him so much as the most fatiguing and athletic exercises and boisterous and mirthful sports. When he had become master of some property by the death of his father, he devoted his energies to agriculture, and purchased lands largely, which he
467
ALPHABETICALLY.
cultivated to his great pecuniary disadvantage. He was an en- thusiastic patron and an officer of agricultural societies, state and county.
In 1814 and 1815 he was chosen to the state Senate. In 1816 Governor Plumer gave him the appointment of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but the political feeling engendered by the reorganization of the courts in that year induced him to decline the office.
He had the reputation of being a well-read lawyer, though he failed as an advocate. His mental powers were naturally strong and discriminating, but the confinement to study and to his office was irksome to him. He was " excellent company." Having a remarkable eye for the weak and ridiculous qualities in others, he could set them out in colors that challenged the gravity of the most sedate. He was of a convivial turn, which unfortunately led him into injurious habits, in the end. His death occurred at the age of forty-nine.
He was married, in 1799, to Abigail, daughter of Hon. Joshua Atherton of Amherst, and left a large family of children.
GEORGE KENT.
Son of William A. and Charlotte (Mellen) Kent ; born, Concord, May 4, 1796 ; Dartmouth College, 1814 ; admitted, 1817 ; practiced, Concord ; died, New Bedford, Massachusetts, November 8, 1884.
The life of this lawyer, cashier, poet, and journalist was a varied one. Studying law with Samuel Green of Concord, and William. Sullivan of Boston, Massachusetts, he opened an office, first a brief time in Boston, then in Concord, where he remained till 1840 in the practice of law; he was twenty years also cashier of the Concord Bank, and six years associate editor of the " New Hampshire Statesman." In 1828 and 1838 he was a representative in the state legislature. He next went to Indianapolis, Indiana, and edited the "State Journal " there in 1833-34. Returning then to Boston, he remained ten years, as editor, law practitioner, and custom-house officer. In 1854 he went to Bangor, Maine, and was seven years the law partner of his brother, Edward Kent. President Lincoln in 1861 conferred upon him the post of United States consul at Valencia in Spain. Four years after, he returned to Bangor, and resumed practice till in 1869 he was given a
468
DECEASED LAWYERS
clerkship in the Treasury Department in Washington. When at length he found that his powers were yielding to the infirmities of age, he went to live with a daughter in New Bedford, Massachu- setts, and there tranquilly awaited his end.
Of the house in which Mr. Kent was reared, Daniel Webster said it was there that he first met intelligent and cultivated society, and that it was always adorned, enlivened, and made agreeable to all its guests by its admirable mistress. Mr. Kent was gifted with brilliant powers of mind, and the art of winning popularity and confidence. If he had concentrated his efforts upon any one of the callings that he undertook, he was capable of becoming eminent in it. But he was a rover from one place and occupation to another, and left little besides the memory of a very able and versatile man.
He was an early abolitionist, and entertained in his house George Thompson, who was then stigmatized as "the foreign emissary, paid to assail the institutions of our country." His wife was in perfect sympathy with him, was president of the Concord Female Anti-Slavery Society, and took a colored woman to sit beside her in her pew in church. This would be but a mark of eccentric taste at this day, but sixty years ago it was regarded as flat political heresy.
Mr. Kent was a man of mark in every situation, admired for his talents and excellencies, the friend and associate of scholars and persons of culture. His social qualities made his company most acceptable, and his literary accomplishments graced many public occasions. As early as 1832 he delivered an address be- fore the Phi Beta Kappa society of Dartmouth College. Belong- ing in right of his mother to a family of poets, he may be said almost to have "lisped in numbers." He contributed a poem 1 to the exercises on the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of New Hampshire ; and to the celebration fifty years later he sent an ode, in no way lacking the vigor and vivacity of youth. From his boyhood to his old age he was ready to pour forth metri- cal effusions whenever called for, -always neat and appropriate, and often showing the gleam of poetic genius. His contributions to the periodical press in prose and verse must have been suffi- cient to fill volumes.
1 The title and the date of this poem prove that Philip Carrigain was not the first to apply to New Hampshire the designation of the " Granite State," in 1824.
-
469
ALPHABETICALLY.
Throughout his life he was remarkable for his cheerful temper and kindly heart. The death of his dearly beloved wife and of his only son rendered his life lonely, but never soured his sweet disposition. He was not harassed by ambition ; his life was a well-ordered one, and he accomplished many things well.
He was united in marriage, November 2, 1820, to Lucia Ann, daughter of Hon. Daniel Farrand of Burlington, Vermont. They had one son and one or more daughters.
MOODY KENT.
Son of Joseph and Jane (Moody) Kent ; born, Newbury, Massachusetts, April 22, 1779 ; Harvard College, 1801 ; admitted, 1804 ; practiced, Deerfield and Concord ; died, Pittsfield, February 1, 1866.
Moody Kent read law in the office of Charles H. Atherton of Amherst, and established himself in practice in Deerfield, at the Parade. He remained there five years. In 1809 he took up his residence in Concord, which he felt to be a more congenial and promising professional field. It was not far from this time that he inherited from his father what was then considered a handsome sum of money, the nucleus of the large fortune that he afterwards accumulated.
For twenty-three years Mr. Kent continued in the diligent prac- tice of his profession in Concord. He was a thorough lawyer, but had no ambition to make a display. A gentleman who remembers him at this period describes him as an acute, logical practitioner, and recalls a cause which Mr. Kent tried and managed well be- fore a referee, against no less an antagonist than George Sullivan.
Mr. Kent had a good share of business, and was moderate in his charges. His wants were few and his expenses light, and his gains from his profession, with the income of his patrimony, were gradually making him wealthy. He had money to lend on good security, and made large loans.
He was never married, nor was he ever a householder. He usually boarded in some quiet family, where his regular habits, moderate wants, and courtesy and good temper made him a wel- come inmate. Being a very Spartan in the simplicity and fru- gality of his habits, he had evidently laid down rules of living, from which he never departed.
He was fond of reading and writing and conversation. He
470
DECEASED LAWYERS
maintained his familiarity with the ancient classics by habitually reviewing them, and regarded this practice as indispensable to a complete literary equipment.
At the age of fifty-three he retired from the practice of his pro- fession with a competency of property. The later years of his life he passed partly in Concord, but chiefly in Pembroke and Pittsfield.
His large property of more than two hundred thousand dollars he gave by his will, after legacies of about one third of that amount to his relatives and family friends, to the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane.
JOHN ADAMS KILBURN.
Son of George T. and Abigail (Tilton) Kilburn ; born, Boscawen, Septem- ber, 1826 ; Williams College, 1852 ; practiced, Alton and Concord (Fisher- ville) ; died, Fisherville, November 20, 1860.
Mr. Kilburn's professional career was a brief one. He prac- ticed in Alton from 1856 or 1857 to 1859, and then removed to Fisherville on the borders of Concord and Boscawen, where, in the second year of his stay, his earthly life was terminated.
He married Frances M. Brickett of Fisherville, and had two children, one of whom, a daughter, survived him.
BENJAMIN KIMBALL.
Son of Jethro and Mary (Belding) Kimball ; born, Swanzey, March 1, 1778 ; Dartmouth College, 1803 ; practiced, Winchester and Keene ; died, Keene, September 18, 1832.
Mr. Kimball was admitted a counselor of the Superior Court in 1809, and must by the rules of the bar have already been two years an attorney of the Common Pleas. Beginning practice in Winchester as early as 1808, he remained there nearly or quite twenty years, and then changed his abode to Keene.
He is described as a good, sound lawyer, and very consci- entious, always counseling his clients to settle their disputes, if possible, without recourse to the courts. Apparently he had little to do with political matters, and was not ambitious to crowd him- self into notice in any capacity.
His first wife was Lucy Conant, who bore him one son. He
471
ALPHABETICALLY.
married for his second wife Mary, daughter of Dr. Thomas Edwards of Keene. Four sons and a daughter were the issue of his second marriage.
FRANK KIMBALL.
Born, Salem, Massachusetts, February 26, 1842 ; admitted, 1861 ; practiced, Andover ; died, Big Rapids, Michigan, April 27, 1871.
This lawyer received his education in Massachusetts, and was there admitted to the bar. Soon after he entered the military service of the government, and served as lieutenant and captain of the Third Regiment of United States colored troops. Leaving that position in 1864, he proceeded to Indianapolis, Indiana, and for a year or two acted as assistant clerk of the Supreme Court. His health requiring a change of climate, he then came to New Hampshire, and was associated in practice about two years with John M. Shirley in Andover. In 1868 and 1869 he was ap- pointed engrossing clerk of the legislature, and one of the bank commissioners in 1870. The next year he went to Michigan to prepare himself a new home, when his death took place.
He married, in 1869, Sarah, daughter of Zenas Clement of Stamford, Connecticut, who survived him.
GEORGE KIMBALL.
Son of Benjamin and Nancy (Wilder) Kimball ; born, Harvard, Massachu- setts, 1787 ; Dartmouth College, 1809 ; admitted, 1813 ; practiced, Canaan ; died, Hamilton, Bermuda, 1858.
Mr. Kimball studied his profession with Stephen Moody at Gilmanton. In March, 1813, he opened his office in Union, Maine, but removed the next year to Warren, Maine. He then became a successful school teacher in Concord, in Richmond, Virginia, and in the island of Bermuda, where he went in 1815, and probably lived some years. In May, 1824, he came to Concord, and took charge of a weekly newspaper, the " Con- cord Register," as publisher and editor. Being a writer of no mean ability, he might have done well in his new calling but for his lack of industry, and his propensity to dream when he should have been wide awake and at his work. He had some good friends to render him aid, among them the ready and bright
472
DECEASED LAWYERS
George Kent, whose pen was often in requisition to complete the vacant columns of the " Register."
About the year 1826 Mr. Kimball resumed his profession in Canaan. He was not lacking in knowledge, and was a pleas- ant speaker, but he was unacquainted with practice and inapt to learn what is obtainable by plodding industry. He was guilty of mistakes which not only caused him annoyance, but had to be amended " on terms " which were generally costly. He had little turn for business, and paid the debts he owed, without collecting payment from those who owed him. Naturally he fell into diffi- culties, in which he was fortunate in having the aid and counsel of Nathaniel P. Rogers of Plymouth. They were both anti- slavery men of the most pronounced type, and Rogers, as the stronger and wiser, acted as a second father to Kimball, in giving him advice and assistance.
Mr. Kimball was a born reformer. He was instrumental in procuring the erection of the Noyes Academy in Canaan, which was open for the reception of colored pupils ; he was a prominent supporter of the temperance movement, new in his day ; and active in the crusade against Freemasonry.
About 1838 he went to Alton, Illinois, for the purpose of enter- ing into trade. For that he had little aptitude, and after a short time he returned, without having bettered his fortunes.
In 1840 he returned to Bermuda, and passed the rest of his life there as a lawyer and a teacher.
He married in Bermuda, about 1817, a lady of some property.
JABEZ KIMBALL.
Born, Hampstead, January, 1772 ; Harvard College, 1797 ; practiced, Ches- terfield ; died, Haverhill, Massachusetts, March 19, 1805.
Prepared for college under the tutelage of the Rev. Gyles Mer- rill of Haverhill, Massachusetts, Mr. Kimball was a faithful stu- dent and a superior scholar. He applied himself to the study of the law under John Prentice of Londonderry, by whom he was much esteemed. In 1800 he was appointed a tutor in Harvard College, but after a year's performance of the duties proceeded to Chesterfield to enter upon the practice of the law. He re- mained there two years. In this time a great misfortune befell him : the young lady to whom he was tenderly attached, and
473
ALPHABETICALLY.
whom he hoped to marry, was taken away by death. To change the scene he quitted Chesterfield and removed to Haverhill, Mas- sachusetts ; but he appears never to have fully recovered from his disappointment. His constitution had, from his youth, been delicate, and his promising life was cut short at the age of thirty- three years.
JACOB KIMBALL.
Son of Jacob (?) Kimball ; born, Topsfield, Massachusetts, February 15, 1761 ; Harvard College, 1780 ; admitted, 1795 ; practiced, Rindge ; died, Topsfield, Massachusetts, July 24, 1826.
In the practice of music rather than of law, Mr. Kimball gained his reputation. He studied law with William Wetmore of Salem, Massachusetts, and was admitted in Strafford County fifteen years after leaving college. The intervening time he was a teacher and composer of music. There was published in Boston in 1793 a collection of original tunes entitled " Rural Harmony," of which he was the author. His voice was sweet and powerful, and he was an enthusiastic and popular musical instructor, and taught singing-schools in many places. The pieces he composed were many of them in the minor key, with fugue successions, according to the taste of the time, and were much admired.
He is set down as a lawyer in Rindge in 1797 and 1800, but the profession had no attraction for him, and of course he did little or nothing in it.
He belonged to a family of more than ordinary intelligence, and was possessed of no mean literary talent. His version of the 65th Psalm was of sufficient merit to be included in Belknap's " Collection." The life of a musician is a trying one, and per- haps led him into habits which in later life proved ruinous. It is stated that he died in the almshouse.
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.