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 43
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JOHN KIMBALL.
Son of John and Mehitable (Carlton) Kimball ; born, Haverhill, September 30, 1796 ; Dartmouth College, 1822 ; admitted, 1828 ; practiced, Plainfield and Claremont ; died, Putney, Vermont, February 23, 1884.
Fitted for college at Kimball Union Academy, Mr. Kimball prosecuted his legal studies with Moses P. Payson of Bath. In
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1828 he settled in practice in Claremont, and remained there ten years, excepting a short time that he was in Plainfield. In 1838 he removed to Putney, Vermont, his home thereafter. He was a representative in the legislature of New Hampshire in 1838, and in that of Vermont three years, as well as state senator from 1847 to 1849. From 1843 to 1846 he was state's attorney of Wind- ham County, in Vermont.
He was a lawyer of superior qualifications, and possessed social attractions that endeared him to a large circle of acquaintances, old and young.
He married, September 4, 1834, Frances Mary, daughter of Hon. Phineas White of Putney, Vermont. Of their three chil- dren, one son survived him.
RICHARD KIMBALL.
Son of Nathaniel and Mary (Horne) Kimball ; born, North Berwick, Maine, March 1, 1798 ; practiced, Dover, Somersworth, and Rochester ; died, Dover, March 2, 1881.
Mr. Kimball studied at the Phillips Academy in Exeter and entered Harvard College, but afterwards changed from the aca- demical to the law department of the university ; and there and at the Northampton Law School he fitted himself for his admis- sion to the bar.
In 1828 he was in the practice of his profession in Dover, and also the first editor of the "Enquirer " newspaper established in that year. In 1829 he removed his office to Great Falls Village in Somersworth, and remained until 1836. He then changed his residence to Rochester, to take the agency of the Norway Plains Company, in the manufacture of flannels. He combined with this employment the practice of the law until 1848, when he returned to Dover and resumed his law business, at the same time giving considerable attention to agriculture. In 1856, upon the adoption by Dover of a city charter, he received the appoint- ment of Judge of the Police Court, and performed the duties of the office with great acceptance until 1868, when he reached the age of seventy years. He was a representative of Somersworth in the legislature of 1834, and of Rochester in those of 1846 and 1847.
As a lawyer he was a thorough student of his profession. His
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abilities were excellent, his methods were logical, his judgment was sound, and he was conscientious in his desire to reach correct conclusions. His opinions as a counselor commanded general respect. He was a religious man from conviction.
He was three times married, first, to Margaret Jane, daughter of George Pendexter of Dover ; second, to Elizabeth, daughter of Moses Hale of Rochester, and last, to Elizabeth W., daughter of Samuel Hale of Portland, Maine. He had six children, five of whom survived him.
SAMUEL AYER KIMBALL.
Son of Deacon John and Ann (Ayer) Kimball ; born, Concord, March 3, 1782 ; Dartmouth College, 1806 ; practiced, Dover and Concord ; died, Con- cord, October 16, 1858.
Mr. Kimball was the preceptor of the Gilmanton Academy a year after his graduation, studied law under the direction of Samuel Green of Concord, and was admitted a counselor of the Superior Court at Portsmouth in 1812, having previously acted two years as an attorney, it is presumed. He began practice in Dover in 1810, and removed to Concord five or six years after- wards. He was deputy Secretary of State in 1813, 1814, and 1815 ; clerk of the state Senate in 1813 and 1814, and a repre- sentative in the legislature in 1832.
He was a careful, prudent practitioner, and his business was mainly a collecting one ; he had little part in litigated causes. For some time he was a partner in the printing-house of Roby, Kimball, and Merrill, by the failure of which he lost much of his property. During the last twenty years of his life he did not keep a regular office, but was somewhat employed in the duties of a magistrate ; his principal occupation being the cultivation of his farm.
He married Eliza, daughter of John Hazen, at Burton, New Brunswick, October 1, 1822. They had three sons and two daughters.
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WILLIAM AUGUSTUS KIMBALL.
Son of Nathaniel and Mary (Horne) Kimball ; born, Shapleigh, Maine, 1814 ; admitted, 1837 ; practiced, Milton, Sandwich, and Rochester ; died, Rochester, January 9, 1892.
The large family and limited means of Mr. Kimball's parents forbade his acquiring the liberal education which he coveted. He studied at the Phillips Exeter Academy in 1835, and fitted him- self in the offices of his brother, Increase S. Kimball of Sandford, Maine, and Daniel M. Christie of Dover, for admission as an attorney in York County, Maine. He began practice in Milton in 1840, three or four years later removed to Sandwich, where he continued till 1847, and then became a partner of his brother, Richard Kimball, at Rochester. In the latter place he devoted his attention to his law business until 1854, when he disposed of it to Cyrus K. Sanborn, but retained his residence there as long as he lived. For some years he taught the high school, and never lost his zeal for the cause of popular education, nor his interest in the young people of the town, whom he attracted to him by his kindness of heart and sympathetic disposition.
Mr. Kimball was a careful and correct lawyer, of entire integrity.
He was married, in 1841, to Nancy H. Nutter of Milton, and was the father of three children.
EDWARD CORNELIUS DELAVAN KITTREDGE.
Son of Hon. Jonathan and Julia (Balch) Kittredge ; born, Lyme, Decem- ber 29, 1834 ; Dartmouth College, 1857 ; practiced, Concord ; died, Demorest, New Jersey, June 20, 1879.
Kimball Union Academy gave Mr. Kittredge his preparation for college, and in the office of his father at Concord and that of Cross and Topliff at Manchester he qualified himself for entrance to the bar. He did not, however, linger long in New Hampshire. After one or two years of practice in Concord he removed to New York city, and in its vicinity spent the rest of his life.
He is said to have been a stout, easy-going man, and did not obtain much law business in Concord, though he was more suc- cessful afterwards.
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His wife, to whom he was united March 9, 1871, was Rosalie Homans of New York.
JONATHAN KITTREDGE, LL. D.
Son of Dr. Jonathan and Apphia (Woodman) Kittredge ; born, Canterbury, July 17, 1793 ; Dartmouth College, 1813; admitted, 1817 ; practiced, Lyme and Canaan ; died, Concord, April 8, 1864.
The father of Judge Kittredge was a physician by profession, and, later, an occasional preacher also. The son upon his gradu- ation acquired in Albany, New York, and in the city of New York, his legal preparation for admission to the bar. In the lat- ter city he commenced practice, and though he was quite success- ful there, he fell into habits of dissipation, and returned to New Hampshire in 1823. He lived three years in Canaan, and then moved to Lyme. The habit of strong drink had so fully mas- tered him that clients left him, and his reform seemed hopeless ; but by the exercise of his strong will he was enabled to break the chains of habit and to stand up a free man. In 1827 he published an address upon Temperance, which attracted so much notice by its cogency and power that it was not only widely read in this country, but was republished in England, in France, and in Germany. He followed it by two other powerful pieces on the same subject.
The State Temperance Society appointed him its agent in 1832, and he became the editor of the newspaper which was its organ in 1834. During several years his time was largely given to this work. In 1836 he returned to Canaan and took up his legal practice. He was much interested in political affairs, and besides holding sundry local offices, was five times elected a rep- resentative in the state legislature, and was the postmaster of the town.
He was a well-read, strong, and able lawyer. His mind was of a logical cast, and his opinions were accepted with confidence. He was honest and true to his clients, and gave his faithful, con- scientious attention to their interests. An upright and downright man, he was positive in his convictions and emphatic in asserting them. Though his manners were not calculated to win him popu- larity for courtliness or affability, yet none who knew him ever questioned the honesty of his motives, or his entire sincerity. He
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tried his causes with thoroughness and power. Without the graces of oratory, his addresses to the jury were forcible and effective. Upon the establishment of the state Court of Common Pleas in 1856, he was commissioned its Chief Justice, and re- ceived from his Alma Mater the honorary degree of LL. D. The court, however, proved unacceptable for various reasons, and after an existence of only two years was abolished. Judge Kit- tredge after his appointment changed his residence permanently to Concord.
He was married, in 1829, to Julia Balch of Lyme, who outlived him ; they had several children, one of whom was a lawyer, and in practice for a time in New Hampshire.
ELIJAH KNIGHT.
Repeated inquiry has elicited little information respecting this gentleman. It is presumed that he was a practitioner in Essex County, Vermont, in 1803 and 1804, whose residence was said to be in Lunenburg, Vermont, and Lancaster, New Hampshire. He appears as an attorney in Surry from 1821 to 1823, and he was postmaster of that town from 1822 to 1832. He could hardly have been a lawyer of much note.
THOMAS RICKER LAMBERT.
Son of William and Abigail (Ricker) Lambert ; born, South Berwick, Maine, July 2, 1809 ; practiced, Somersworth and Portsmouth ; died, Boston, Massachusetts, February 4, 1892.
A fellow student described young Lambert at the academy in South Berwick, Maine, as full of vivacity, and the master of a facile pen, in which respects the child was truly the father of the man. An appointment as a cadet in the Military Academy at West Point took him for a while to that institution, but he was prevented by ill health from finishing the course there. He ap- plied himself to learn the business of a printer, but relinquished it to enter the law office of Nicholas Emery of Portland, Maine. In that State he gained his admission to the bar, about 1832. He commenced practice in Somersworth, but after a little stay migrated to Portsmouth. The first case he had for trial was an action for a breach of promise of marriage; he argued it to the
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jury, and obtained a verdict. Promising, however, as were his professional prospects, he was induced by the solicitations of friends, in 1833, to change his calling and study divinity.
He was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church in 1836. He had obtained, in 1834, the appointment of a chaplain in the navy, and for the succeeding twenty years he officiated in that capacity.
In 1855 he resigned the chaplaincy, and became for the suc- ceeding twenty-eight years rector of St. John's Church in Charles- town, Massachusetts. In 1863 he was honored with the degree of S. T. D. from Columbia College. He was a zealous Free- mason, long chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and a recipient of the thirty-third degree.
Dr. Lambert, as a clergyman and a man, had the friendship and high esteem of the numerous officials and others with whom he was associated in the course of his varied life. He was com- panionable, genial, considerate of the feelings of all, kind and helpful to the poor, in short, a true brother of humanity.
In 1845 he became the husband of Mrs. Jane Standish Colby, widow of Hon. H. G. O. Colby of New Bedford, Massachusetts, and daughter of Hon. John A. Parker. They had one son.
GEORGE LAMSON.
Son of Gideon Lamson ; born, Exeter, 1794 ; Bowdoin College, 1812 ; ad- mitted, 1815 ; practiced, Exeter ; died, New York, August 4, 1826.
Mr. Lamson entered Phillips Exeter Academy at the age of twelve ; pursued his law studies in the office of George Sullivan, and located himself in his native town. He was "a good scholar, an insatiable reader, and a ready writer." In 1819 he became the publisher of the " Exeter Watchman," a weekly journal, and con- ducted it about two years. He also commenced the publication In
of law-books at Exeter, but that proved unremunerative. 1823 he bade adieu to his profession, removed to New York city, and undertook the business of bookselling, but met with little success. After three years' struggle with adverse circumstances there, his life was brought to a premature close.
He left a widow and three children.
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FARNUM FISH LANE.
Son of Ezekiel and Rachel (Fish) Lane ; born, Swanzey, March 15, 1816, admitted, 1843 ; practiced, Winchester, Walpole, and Keene ; died, Keene, June 18, 1887.
Mr. Lane attended the academies at New Ipswich and Han- cock, studied his profession with Thomas M. Edwards of Keene, and began practice in Winchester in 1843. In 1846 he removed to Walpole, and in 1849 to Keene. He served in the legislature in 1847 and 1848 from Walpole, and in 1862 and 1863 from Keene ; and also held the office of county treasurer. For ten years he was solicitor for the county of Cheshire.
He was a careful, studious lawyer, and enjoyed a very con- siderable practice, including many causes of magnitude and diffi- culty. His standing was of the best among his brethren of the bar, and in the community at large. A seat upon the bench is said to have been within his reach, but he did not care to ac- cept it.
He married, in 1846, Harriet Locke Butler of Winchester, and left two children.
DAVID RICKER LANG.
Son of Sherburne and Mehitabel (Ricker) Lang ; born, Bath, May 6, 1830 ; Dartmouth College, 1854 ; practiced, Bath and Orford ; died, Orford, August 30, 1875.
Mr. Lang was fitted for college at the academy in Newbury, Vermont ; and prepared himself for admission to the bar in the office of Harry Hibbard at Bath, and at the Albany Law School. He practiced in Bath from 1857 to 1864, and then removed his office to Orford. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1859 and 1860 from Bath, and in 1867, and three years subse- quently, from Orford. In 1870 he was commissioned Judge of Probate for Grafton County, and discharged the duties of the office until 1874.
Judge Lang was an excellent lawyer, and a man of sterling character. "He filled the office of Judge of Probate with signal ability and propriety. The community lost by his death a good man, and a judicious and influential citizen." He possessed in a
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high degree the poetic temperament; in college he was assigned the class poem, and it is understood that throughout life he in- dulged in metrical compositions, but was too modest to allow them to see the light in print.
He married Josephine R., daughter of Asa P. Smith of Bath, March 24, 1859, and left five children, one of whom is a lawyer in Orford.
HENRY SHERBURNE LANGDON.
Son of Hon. Woodbury and Sarah (Sherburne) Langdon ; born, Ports- mouth, 1766 ; Yale College, 1785 ; admitted, 1792 ; practiced, Portsmouth ; died, Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 21, 1857.
Mr. Langdon pursued his course of legal study under John Pickering of Portsmouth, and began to practice in that place in 1792. In 1801 he was elected a representative in the state legis- lature. His talents apparently adapted him better to a business position than to the practice of the law. When the New Hamp- shire Union Bank of Portsmouth was chartered in 1802, he be- came its cashier, and continued so until 1815. He then received the appointment of navy agent at Portsmouth.
It was not long after this that he left New Hampshire, and went into Massachusetts to live. It is not known that he at- tempted to practice his profession afterwards.
His wife was Ann, sister of Hon. William Eustis of Roxbury, Massachusetts. They had children, one of whom graduated from Harvard College in 1812.
JOTHAM LAWRENCE.
Son of David and Lydia (Sias) Lawrence ; born, Epping, February 7, 1777 ; admitted, 1803 ; practiced, Epping, Brentwood, and Exeter ; died, Exeter, November 6, 1863.
Mr. Lawrence was educated at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and received his professional training in the office of George Sul- livan of Exeter. He began as a practitioner in Epping in 1804, after a few months opened an office in Brentwood, and thence removed to Exeter in March, 1809, to spend the rest of his days. He was a representative in the legislature in 1831, and a bank commissioner in 1840.
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In point of learning and capacity he was a respectable lawyer, though he did not appear much in the trial of contested causes. In later life he was considerably employed as the trial justice of the town. At his death he was the oldest member of his profes- sion in the county.
He married, February 21, 1803, Deborah Robinson of Exeter. His second wife, whom he married December 25, 1810, was Car- oline, daughter of Benjamin Conner of Exeter. He had nine children, eight of them by his second marriage. One of his sons, Alexander H. Lawrence, was a lawyer.
JAMES ALLEN LEACH.
Son of Lebbeus and Julia A. (Steele) Leach ; born, Hudson, October 9, 1861 ; admitted, 1887 ; practiced, Nashua ; died there, September 23, 1888.
This youthful practitioner was educated at the Nashua Literary Institute, and acquired his professional training in the offices of Messrs. W. W. Bailey, Royal D. Barnes, and Henry B. Atherton at Nashua, and at the Law School of the Boston University. His practice was wholly in Nashua, and continued a period of a year and six months.
He was a young man of good promise ..
He never married.
HENRY B. LEAVITT.
Son of Moses Leavitt ; born, Chichester, c. 1825 ; admitted, 1853 ; prac- ticed, Barnstead and Pittsfield ; died, Charleston, South Carolina, July 22, 1863.
Mr. Leavitt received a good academic education, and taught school some years. He studied law under Charles H. Butters of Pittsfield, and passed the first two years of his practice, 1853 and 1854, in Barnstead: He then returned to Pittsfield, and con- tinued there until November, 1861, when, having recruited a company of volunteers for the Seventh New Hampshire Regi- ment, he was commissioned its captain and ordered to the front. He showed himself a competent and brave officer. In the second assault on Fort Wagner, near Charleston, South Carolina, he was struck down by a serious wound. Removed to the city, it was found necessary to amputate his leg, and he survived the opera- tion only three or four days.
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Captain Leavitt manifested in his law business a good deal of energy and push, though he was not distinguished for learning or accuracy. He was rather indolent and heavy, and it required some special incentive to rouse him to do his best. But when a sufficient occasion arose he is said to have surprised even his most intimate acquaintances by his latent power in debate or in the line of his profession.
He never married.
CHARLES LELAND.
Son of Thomas and Cynthia B. (Hastings) Leland ; born, Windsor, Ver- mont, July 28, 1817 ; practiced, Claremont ; died there, March 28, 1884.
In the schools of Windsor, Vermont, young Leland received his chief instruction, and in the office of his father in Claremont he prepared himself for the bar. He practiced in Claremont until about the year 1850, but having no particular attachment to his profession, and his law business after the death of his father somewhat dwindling, he decided to make a change. He obtained employment as a salesman for a druggist in New York, and spent the last twenty years of his life in that occupation.
He married Ellen M. Mills at St. Johnsbury, Vermont, Decem- ber 11, 1809. They had one child, who died in infancy.
. THOMAS LELAND.
Son of Thomas and Lydia (Sherman) Leland ; born, Grafton, Massachu- setts, August 5, 1784 ; Middlebury College, 1809 ; practiced, Claremont ; died there, March 3, 1849.
Mr. Leland's legal studies were carried on in the office of Hon. J. H. Hubbard, at Windsor, Vermont, and there he received his certificate as attorney, and practiced his profession from 1812 to 1834. In the latter year he established himself in Claremont. While residing in Vermont he was a member of the state legisla- ture. He was considered an excellent lawyer, especially in equity cases, though not distinguished as an advocate. He gave careful attention to his business, and had his full proportion of it. He was in his day a leading man in the town. Outside of his profes- sion, his life appears to have been an uneventful one.
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He was married, October 2, 1816, to Cynthia B. Hastings, at St. Johnsbury, Vermont. They had two children, of whom the elder became a lawyer.
WILLIAM LEVERETT.
Son of John and Elizabeth (Salisbury) Leverett ; born, Windsor, Vermont, July 8, 1813 ; Yale College, 1834 ; admitted, 1839 ; practiced, Plymouth ; died there, September 18, 1874.
This was a descendant of Governor John Leverett of Massa- chusetts. He studied for the legal profession at the Yale Law School, in New York city, and with William Crafts of Utica, New York, where he was admitted to practice. He came to Plymouth in 1839, and was for a time a partner of Henry W. Blair. He is described as a very respectable and good lawyer. His death was the result of pulmonary consumption.
October 5, 1851, he was joined in marriage to Catharine R. Spaulding of Rumney. She and one of their three daughters were living at his death.
DANIEL LEWIS.
Son of Isaac and Mary (Epps) Lewis ; born, Francestown, September 25, 1775; Dartmouth College, 1797 ; practiced, Francestown ; died there, De- cember 15, 1827.
Mr. Lewis prepared himself for his profession under the tuition of William Prescott of Salem, Massachusetts, and was admitted in Hillsborough County in March, 1801. From that time for- ward he was a resident and practitioner in Francestown. His life was the uneventful one of a country lawyer of much worth but of no special eminence.
His wife was Mary, daughter of Samuel Epps of Salem, Mas- sachusetts, and they had three children.
MATTHEW LIVERMORE.
Son of Samuel Livermore ; born, Watertown, Massachusetts, January 14, 1703 ; Harvard College, 1722 ; admitted, 1731 ; practiced, Portsmouth ; died there, February 14, 1776.
Two years after his graduation from college, Mr. Livermore went to Portsmouth, upon the invitation of the selectmen of the
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town, to teach the grammar school. It was his intention to be- come a lawyer, but he took charge of the school until he quali- fied himself for his profession.
In 1731 he began to practice in the same town. A few years afterward the royal governor offered him the office of attorney- general, he being the only regularly educated lawyer in the prov- ince. In accepting it he stipulated for the appointment also of king's advocate in the Court of Admiralty, an office which by its avails compensated for the "hard work and poor wages" of the attorney-generalship. The latter office, and probably the former also, he appears to have retained for about twenty-nine years.
In 1752 he became a member of the legislature, and was chosen clerk thereof, and so continued till 1755. He was evidently a man of high character and influence, and had a prominent part in shaping the legislation and government of his time.
His legal practice is described as correct, and he was faithful to his clients. In the performance of his functions of attorney- general, it happened on three occasions to be his fortune to con- duct prosecutions for crimes punishable with death, a task which was extremely repugnant to his feelings ; but no intimation has reached us that he failed in any instance to perform his complete official duty.
His wife was Mary, daughter of Rev. Nathaniel Rogers of Portsmouth. Their only child is believed to have been a daughter.
SOLOMON KIDDER LIVERMORE.
Son of Rev. Jonathan and Elizabeth (Kidder) Livermore ; born, Wilton, March 2, 1779 ; Harvard College, 1802 ; admitted, 1806 ; practiced, Dover and Milford ; died, Milford, July 10, 1859.
Mr. Livermore's reputation for scholarship in college was high. He taught the grammar school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for one year, and then commenced the study of the law in the office of Oliver Crosby of Dover, in which town he began practice. After the lapse of a year, however, he changed his residence to Milford.
His capacity and attainments were ample, but it is said he did not make the mark he might, because of his lack of ambition. He tried causes in court with a good deal of power, and argued
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them forcibly, with no small infusion of wit and sarcasm ; but he was slow, and thus appeared at a disadvantage. He was thoroughly honest, and preferred to effect an amicable adjust- ment of controversies among his neighbors, rather than to benefit his own pocket by encouraging them to litigation.
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