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 51
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She was Sarah C., granddaughter of Judge Noah Tibbets of Rochester, and married Mr. Peavey, October 5, 1858.
GEORGE PEIRCE.
Son of Nathaniel and Ann (Jaffrey) Peirce ; born, Portsmouth, 1760 ; Dartmouth College, 1780 ; practiced, Portsmouth ; died there, May 26, 1788.
Mr. Peirce studied his profession in the office of John Picker- ing in Portsmouth, and was in practice there as early as 1786. It is said to have been the intention of his uncle, George Jaffrey, the last treasurer of New Hampshire under the royal government, to make him his heir, though it is to be hoped not on the absurd condition upon which he afterwards devised his estate to George Jaffrey Jeffries, - that he should never follow any profession ex-
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cept that of " being a gentleman." Mr. Pierce, however, did not survive his uncle, and died unmarried.
HAMILTON ELLIOT PERKINS.
Son of Roger E. and Esther (Blanchard) Perkins ; born, Hopkinton, No- vember 23, 1806 ; admitted, 1832 ; practiced, Hopkinton and Concord ; died, Concord, January 6, 1886.
Mr. Perkins received his educational training at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and at the Military Academy in Norwich, Ver- mont. He studied his profession with Matthew Harvey of Hop- kinton and Samuel Fletcher of Concord, and completed it at the Harvard Law School in 1831. He entered into practice in Hop- kinton, and continued about twenty-two years. In 1849 he was appointed postmaster of Contoocook for one administration. He gave considerable attention to lumbering, and built several mills at Contoocook. Having removed, in 1853, to Concord, he re- ceived in July, 1856, the commission of Judge of Probate for Merrimac County, and held it till 1871.
Judge Perkins was a lawyer of good talents and competent pro- fessional knowledge, but with no great fancy for the drudgery of the law. He was agreeable in conversation and a genial com- panion. Through his long life he enjoyed good health, up to within a short time before his decease, and he passed away in the order of nature, rather than from the effects of disease.
He married, in 1833, Clara B., daughter of John George of Concord, who survived him, with their four children. One of his daughters is the wife of Judge William L. Foster of Concord.
MATTHEW PERKINS.
Son of Jonathan and Hannah (Taylor) Perkins ; born, Sanbornton, June 17, 1788 ; practiced, Sanbornton ; died, New York city, August 17, 1826.
The information obtained in regard to this gentleman is very limited. He appears to have practiced in Sanbornton Square from about 1812 to near the close of his life, when he removed to the city of New York. It has been said that he lived for a time in the county of Coos, and was quite successful there, but this has not been verified. He is described as a lawyer of decided talent, but of rather limited business while in Sanbornton. In 1813 he
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delivered an oration on the 5th of July before the Washington Benevolent Society. He was a man of handsome appearance, and filled the position of brigade inspector in the militia in 1821.
He married Jane, daughter of Wallis Little of Shirley, Massa- chusetts, and had two sons, one of whom survived him.
NATHANIEL GILMAN PERRY.
Son of Dr. William and Abigail (Gilman) Perry ; born, Exeter, October 28, 1826 ; Harvard College, 1846 ; admitted, 1853; practiced, Exeter ; died at sea, June 2, 1855.
Mr. Perry had his preparatory instruction at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and studied for his profession at the Harvard Law School, and in the office of Gilman Marston of Exeter. He was a representative of that town in the legislatures of 1852 and 1853. He had made arrangements to become the partner in practice of Mr. Marston, and already entered his office in pursuance thereof, when symptoms of pulmonary disease demanded his removal to a milder climate. He accepted the appointment of clerk to Com- modore John C. Long, and sailed, in 1853, to the Mediterranean. His health, however, continued to fail, and after nearly two years he took passage for home, which he was destined never to reach alive.
He was unmarried.
NICHOLAS PERRYMAN.
Born, Devonshire, England, December 24, 1692 ; practiced, Exeter ; died there, August 9, 1757.
Mr. Perryman was the first educated lawyer of Exeter. He came to this country in his youth, after the death of his parents, and made his home in Exeter, where he was a teacher of the grammar school in 1716, 1717, and 1718.
Little is to be learned of his professional qualifications at this late day, but from the information accessible we may infer that he was an active man of affairs and well trusted. It was at his house in Exeter that a meeting of the proprietors of the township of Chester was held in January, 1722. His name appears upon the dockets of the Court of Common Pleas as an attorney, as early as 1730, and recurs pretty frequently for the next twenty
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years. He drew many of the conveyances of land in his vicinity, which evinced care and accuracy, and were especially noticeable for the neatness of their chirography.
Mr. Perryman was employed by the town in 1744 to defend it against the petition of certain inhabitants to the General Court for exemption from parish taxes; and in 1747 to oppose a peti- tion for a bridge between Stratham and Newmarket, upon the ground that it would prevent the passage of fish, and impede nav- igation. He was the only lawyer of Exeter till near the close of his life, when his son-in-law, Noah Emery, who studied with him, succeeded him in business.
Mr. Perryman was married, in 1717, to Joanna, daughter of Stephen Dudley, and was the father of four children. His daughter Joanna, the wife of Mr. Emery, alone survived him.
IRA BROWN PERSON.
Son of Rev. Ira and Sophia J. (Ballard) Person ; born, Barre, Vermont, June 14, 1817 ; practiced, Sutton ; died, Lowell, Massachusetts, August 23, 1858.
The subject of this notice received his education at schools in Chester and Ludlow, Vermont, and at the academy at New Hamp- ton. His profession he studied at Chester, Vermont, and in part with Edmund Burke of Newport. He was in practice in Sutton about the year 1842 ; after which he was in Chester, Vermont, and removed to Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1848. While in the latter place he edited the " Lowell Gazette," a Democratic paper representing the views of the anti-slavery wing of the party. His writings were said to be marked by terseness of style and clear- ness of logic, and he was regarded as an able and even eloquent debater. His paper was discontinued in 1849, and he afterwards settled in the city of New York. He apparently met with little success there, and gained his subsistence in part by writing visit- ing cards, being a fine penman., He subsequently returned to Lowell.
He married in New York, and became the father of a son, since deceased.
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THOMAS HALE PETTENGILL.
Son of Benjamin and Lydia (Sleeper) Pettengill ; born, Salisbury, Novem- ber 20, 1780 ; Dartmouth College, 1804 ; admitted, 1808 ; practiced, Canaan and Salisbury ; died, Salisbury, August 8, 1856.
Mr. Pettengill studied law with John Harris of Hopkinton, established himself first in Canaan, and there did a considerable legal business. He was a good scholar and an honest, upright man, in whom the people had confidence in spite of certain eccen- tricities that he manifested.
He was in his earlier years something of a politician, at first joining the Federal party. The citizens of Canaan made him their representative in the legislature in 1814, and the two years succeeding ; and in 1817 he published a little volume under the title of "The Yankee Traveller, or the Adventures of Hector Wigler," a burlesque upon Jefferson and his friends ; but later in life he changed his political opinions and, being ashamed of his literary venture, endeavored, it is said, to recall it from circulation.
In 1822 he took up his residence in Salisbury, and, with the exception of two years in the newly organized town of Franklin, made his home there thenceforth. After that he devoted less of his attention to the law. He owned a small farm on the Centre Road in Salisbury and carried it on himself. He exhibited some interest in the subject of education, and was superintendent of the town schools. If, however, his knowledge is to be measured by his language on occasion of an official visit to his charge, it is per- haps fortunate that his connection with the schools was no closer. While a recitation in geography was going on, in his presence, he remarked, "Some people say the earth is round, but I know it is as flat as a board !" We may charitably hope that his ill health had something to do with the hallucination.
On one occasion his pluck and muscle stood him in good stead. He had written a letter to a rough fellow against whom he held a note for collection, to call at his office and pay it. The man appeared, asked to see the note, and as soon as he got it in his hands crammed it into his mouth and began to chew it up. Pet- tengill seized him by the throat and compelled him to disgorge the paper, and it is to be hoped made him pay smartly for his attempted rascality.
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While he lived in Canaan he was applied to by an ignoramus to certify to his qualification as a teacher. It took Pettengill not long to produce the following : "The bearer is in my opinion fully competent to teach school in any district where there are no scholars."
He was really more of a man, more of a lawyer, and more of a scholar than the foregoing details would indicate. With many oddities, he was generally respected and confided in by those who knew him. A letter of his in relation to his two early friends, Daniel and Ezekiel Webster, published in the " Correspondence of Daniel Webster," shows him to have had a practiced pen, a good memory of his classics, and an intelligent discrimination of character.
He was united in marriage to Aphia Morse of Cornish, in Feb- ruary, 1810. They had one son and two daughters.
THOMAS PEVERLY.
Son of Thomas Peverly ; born, Northumberland, 1797 ; Dartmouth College, 1818 ; practiced, Northumberland ; died there, April 18, 1829.
Joseph Bell of Haverhill directed the law studies of Mr. Pev- erly, who began to practice in Northumberland in 1821. In November of the succeeding year he was appointed register of Probate for Coos County. In 1827 and 1828 he was elected to the state legislature to represent Northumberland and the towns classed therewith, and is said to have taken an active part in the business proceedings of the House. His opening professional and political life was of a most promising character, but it closed sud- denly by his unexpected death. He was struck down by apo- plexy in his office, while attending to professional business, and never recovered consciousness.
His wife was Almira, third daughter of Richard C. Everett. They had a son and a daughter.
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GEORGE MOREY PHELPS.
Son of Samuel and Lydia (Morey) Phelps ; born, Orford, January 2, 1788 ; admitted, 1817 ; practiced, Lyme, New Chester afterwards Hill, and Bristol ; died, Hill, c. 1845.
Mr. Phelps was a law student in the office of Abiathar G. Britton in his native town, and made his first essay in practice in Lyme, about the year 1819. From that place he removed to New Chester, not far from 1827. In October, 1834, he changed his residence to Bristol, but after a short stay there returned to New Chester, which, in 1837, received the name of Hill, by legislative sanction.
In 1834, 1837, and the two succeeding years, he was a repre- sentative in the state legislature. He is described as not remark- able for his legal acquirements, but as a pretty good business man, with a fair amount of practice. It is hinted, however, that his standing was not of the highest.
His first wife was Sarah W. Fitch, who died in March, 1834. For his second he married Lydia Thurston of Boston, Massachu- setts, in the May following. By one marriage he had six chil- dren, and one child by the other.
THOMAS PHIPPS.
This gentleman was probably a native of England. He was employed from 1697 to 1701 by the selectmen of Portsmouth as a schoolmaster. As early as 1704 he was a justice of the peace, and in 1709 he was the provincial high sheriff. He took the oath of an attorney in 1716, and was appointed one of a committee to " supervise the laws and collect them in a body to be printed." In 1727 he appears to have acted in court as attorney-general, - perhaps by a temporary appointment. His name appears for several years after this date as attorney for various petitioners. He was an active man of affairs, but apparently had little ac- quaintance with the law.
He died in Portsmouth in 1738.
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JOHN PICKERING.
Son of John Pickering ; born, Portsmouth, 1640 ; died there, May, 1721.
The subject of this sketch never had the opportunity of a regular legal education, but qualified himself so far that he was enabled to practice in the courts with success and credit. He was a leading man in the province, reflecting the ideas and feelings of the people. In 1680 he was a deputy from Portsmouth in the first assembly held after New Hampshire was erected into a separate province, and in 1684 was reelected.
A transaction in which he was a prominent actor was strikingly characteristic of the man. Robert Tufton Mason had, during the governorship of Cranfield, brought a number of suits of ejectment against landholders, to which no defense was made, because, no authority being found for the proceedings in Cranfield's commis- sion, the judgments were considered as coram non judice, and because they were tried by and before judges, sheriffs, and juries prejudiced and interested. Under these circumstances it was determined by the people that the books of records which were the primary evidence of the rendition of the judgments should not be left where they could be used to distress the inhabitants, and Pickering at the head of an armed party went to Richard Cham- berlain, the late secretary of the province, and demanded the books, and when he refused to deliver them up, took them from him by force. They were then carried out of the province to Kittery in Maine ; and there, probably, the twenty-four leaves on which were extended the judgments of Mason against the land- holders were cut from one of the volumes. Two years afterwards, when a new government was established by the crown for New Hampshire, Pickering was summoned before Lieutenant-Governor Usher, and the books were demanded of him, under threats of imprisonment. He at length was constrained to give them up, and they were delivered over to the new secretary, Henry Penny.
Pickering's zeal in the people's cause did him no injury in the popular estimation. In 1690 he was chosen a member from Portsmouth of the Assembly of Massachusetts, and sat therein till December, 1691; and in 1692 he was elected to the same position in the Assembly of New Hampshire, and was retained there by
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succeeding elections most, if not all of the time, until 1709. Several of those years he was Speaker of the House, and at all times was one of the foremost members. In February, 1696-97, the president and council of New Hampshire, by a singular coin- cidence, appointed Pickering to take possession of the identical books of records which he had himself illegally seized and put in concealment seven or eight years previously.
There is no doubt that Pickering fully merited the description given of him by our historian Belknap, -" a man of a rough and adventurous spirit." In 1706, when he had reached an age which ordinarily cools the blood, in an action in the Superior Court, he got into an altercation with the judges about his right to the possession of a paper, which they forbade him to take. But the doughty captain paid small heed to their commands, and pocketed the document in dispute, and marched off with it. "On which contemptuous carriage," the Court very properly forbade "his future pleading as an attorney in this court." But before the next term the good sense of the disbarred attorney showed him the folly of his conduct, and " having beg'd pardon and humbled himself, the Court admit him again to plead."
Mr. Pickering was appointed king's attorney in 1697; in 1702 he received a commission as attorney-general, and he was acting as such in August, 1715. The most important suit in which he was employed was that of Allen v. Waldron, tried in 1707. It was a leading case, involving substantially the title to all the soil of New Hampshire.
Mr. Pickering's wife was Mary, daughter of Anthony Stanyan of Hampton, whom he married January 10, 1665-66. They had five children, of whom some were married and left issue ; but only one was living at the time of her father's death, - Mary, the wife of John Plaisted.
WILLIAM PICKERING.
Son of William and Abigail (Fabyan) Pickering ; born, Greenland, 1778 ; Harvard College, 1797 ; practiced, Greenland and Concord ; died, Greenland, July 1, 1850.
Mr. Pickering was a student in the Phillips Exeter Academy, and read law with William K. Atkinson at Dover. He was pri- vate secretary to Governor John Langdon awhile, and afterwards
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deputy Secretary of State. In the year 1816 he was chosen state treasurer, and fixed his residence in Concord. In that office he continued until 1828, and was again elected to it in 1829. In the latter year he built a house in Greenland, and on relinquishing the treasurership, removed thither. He was appointed soon after- wards collector of the port of Portsmouth, and acted as such till his resignation in 1833.
He had qualified himself for the practice of the law, but it is doubtful whether he ever gave any considerable time or attention to it, though his name appeared on the list of the attorneys, both at Greenland and at Concord.
He is described as " of very stately and dignified mien, tall and slight. He had scholarly tastes, and was a man of far more than ordinary literary attainments, and devoted his latter days very largely to his books. He had quite a comprehensive library for those days, and was a great reader."
He married, February 14, 1826, Susan B., daughter of Charles Walker of Concord. Their son, Charles W. Pickering, is of the legal profession, and practiced for a time in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
CHARLES WARREN PIERCE.
Son of Jerediah and Deborah (Heath) Pierce ; born, Fairlee, Vermont, August 6, 1837 ; admitted, 1863 ; practiced, Orford ; died there, February 1, 1881.
Mr. Pierce received his education mostly in Orford, and read for his profession with David R. Lang of that place. Entering into practice there in 1863 for a while as the partner of Mr. Lang, he gained a favorable standing with the people, and was much employed as trustee and confidential adviser. He was not so much a court as a business lawyer, and his reputation for integrity and sound judgment was deservedly high. He was repeatedly chosen to the position of treasurer of the town, and was elected representative in the legislatures of 1873 and 1874.
He was married, first, October 2, 1866, to Sarah C. Dimmick ; and second, December 12, 1876, to Martha A. Howard. By his first marriage he had two children, and one by his second.
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FRANKLIN PIERCE, LL. D.
Son of General Benjamin and Anna (Kendrick) Pierce ; born, Hillsborough, November 23, 1804 ; Bowdoin College, 1824 ; admitted, 1827 ; practiced, Hillsborough and Concord ; died, Concord, October 9, 1869.
The father of Franklin Pierce was a soldier of the Revolution, who fought his way up from the ranks to the command of a com- pany. The son from his boyhood had the art of winning the strong attachment of his companions. He was prepared for his profession under Levi Woodbury of Portsmouth and Edmund Parker of Amherst, and at the law school in Northampton, Mas- sachusetts. Commencing practice in Hillsborough, he was ex- pected by his admiring associates to carry all before him, without effort. His very first trial, however, resulted in failure. His antagonist counsel was a ponderous, loud pachyderm, who by sheer assumption and bluster overbore all Pierce's fine-spun rea- soning, and carried off the judgment. Ashamed and indignant, the young lawyer returned to his office. His friends condoled with him, and some suggested that there were other lines in the law besides the trial of causes ; but here the ambitious young fellow broke in : "I want you to understand that I will try causes, and I will win them yet. The next case I have I will try, and if I lose it, the next after it, and so on as long as any one will intrust me with their cases, if I lose them every one." Pluck and resolution like this were sure to prevail. He removed to Concord in 1838, and formed a partnership with Asa Fowler, and after- wards with Josiah Minot. True to his determination, he devoted his study, his thought, and his efforts to accomplish himself in the trial of causes. His style of speaking, which had been meagre and costive, he had by assiduous practice and preparation enriched and improved, until he became in the opinion of one of our foremost lawyers, "probably the most brilliant advocate ever known in New Hampshire. His fascinating grace, eloquence, and power were unequaled, and his success as a jury lawyer was unattained by any other member of the profession."
He had not the ambition to become an erudite lawyer. He left questions of jurisprudence to his associates, and was content with such a knowledge of principles as would sustain the case in hand. In general he had no disposition to immure himself in his office,
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but during the terms of the court he was there early and late, sedulously employed in preparing his causes for trial. He be- lieved that no person should be called to the stand to testify until his knowledge had been verified by personal examination by coun- sel, and he was in the habit of repeatedly putting his witnesses through their statements, until they were proof against attack or surprise. Though excelled by many others in the knowledge of the law, yet he was quick to seize on the strong points, and could state them clearly. On one occasion he returned home just in season to take part in a hearing upon a petition for partition, in which several legal points were involved, and Ira Perley was his opponent. All that Mr. Pierce knew of the case he gathered from a whispered consultation with his associate in the court-room, and from Mr. Perley's speech ; but he immediately rose and replied with one of his most brilliant and effective harangues.
He was remarkable for his adroitness, tact, and art in dealing with witnesses and jurors. It was natural for him to seem every one's friend. He was the master of those little attentions, and that deference of manner, which secured good-will towards him- self and his clients. His friends had no half confidence in him. If any of them, and they were many, happened to serve on the jury, his weakest cause could never be lost. The officers of the court, who do so much to create the atmosphere of the court-room, were always his backers. His good temper and suavity were notable. One of his partners states that in their connection of six years no word of disagreement ever passed between them.
He was strong in the examination of witnesses. He had an intuitive sense of how best to approach them, and how much they would bear. The only law books he gave much study to were treatises on evidence ; with them he was familiar. His great ambition was to win his verdicts, and he made the utmost of every means that would contribute to that end. He prepared his- arguments with care, and never pressed a point which he could not hope to completely establish; what was doubtful he let alone. His forte lay in appealing to the feelings of his hearers, rather than to the cool reason. He could unloose the springs of sympa- thy or indignation, and on them float men far away from the moorings of logic.
Mr. Pierce's political life began shortly after he went to the bar. He was representative of Hillsborough in the legislatures
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from 1829 to 1832, and the last two of those years occupied the chair of the House. In 1833 he was elected to the lower House of Congress, and in 1835 reelected. In 1837 he was chosen a senator of the United States, a position which he resigned in 1842. He was soon after appointed district attorney for New Hampshire, and declined a cabinet appointment tendered him by President Polk. In both Houses of Congress he was "an able and much valued member." He was ready and strong in debate, and though outspoken and thorough in his political opinions, he never gave offense to his party opponents. When he quitted the Senate to resume his professional labors, one of his associates declared that "it needed only a few years to give him the front rank for talents, eloquence, and statesmanship."
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