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 55
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Obtaining his education at the academies in Haverhill and in Bradford, Vermont, this gentleman then entered the office of Josiah Quincy of Rumney, and completed his law studies in 1847. He chose Barnstead as his location for practice, and continued there about three years, in which time he formed a warm friend- ship with Franklin Pierce. Then, in 1850, being invited to Pat- erson, New Jersey, he went thither, first in the capacity of a teacher in the public schools, and afterwards as a legal practi- tioner. In 1854 he removed to La Crosse, Wisconsin, and prac- ticed till the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, holding in that period the office of district attorney and other public stations, and delivering lectures upon education.
He then enlisted and served two years in the Second Wisconsin Cavalry, from which he was discharged for disability; and in 1864 went to Bradford, Vermont, for three years. In 1869 he entered into partnership with his brother, James Rogers, in his law practice in Burlingame, Kansas, and so continued till his death from paralysis. He is described as " a man of good ability, genial in disposition, and a brilliant talker."
His wife was Fanny Clark of Paterson, New Jersey, and they had one daughter.
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DANIEL ALLEN ROGERS.
Son of Rev. Daniel and Phebe (Tibbetts) Rogers ; born, Columbia, Septem- ber 11, 1828 ; admitted, 1853 or 1854 ; practiced, Colebrook ; died, Newbury, Vermont, July 11, 1881.
Mr. Rogers received a good education at the academy in Farm- ington, Maine, and, while teaching schools in winters in the neighboring towns, prepared himself for the bar in the office of Lyman T. Flint in Colebrook, where he commenced in 1854 to practice with success. He was postmaster of the town for several years, and then, after a year's sojourn in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, settled in Wells River village, in Newbury in that State, where about the year 1861 he became the partner of C. B. Leslie. In 1872 he was chosen a representative from Newbury in the General Assembly of Vermont for two years ; he was also one of the selectmen of the town for a like period, and for several years before his decease one of the prudential committee of the graded school district of Wells River. In 1876 he was elected state's attorney of Orange County, and performed the duties of the office meritoriously, as he did those of the various stations he was called upon to occupy.
He married, in November, 1855, Sarah A., daughter of Samuel B. Cooper of Beloit, Wisconsin, whom he left with four children.
JOHN ROGERS.
Son of Nathaniel and Eunice (Allen) Rogers ; born, Orford, May 11, 1782 ; admitted, 1810 ; practiced, Orford ; died there, December 28, 1859.
Having labored upon his father's farm until his majority, Mr. Rogers by his own exertions succeeded in obtaining the instruc- tion needed for entering the legal profession, studied in the office of Jeduthun Wilcox of Orford, and in that town commenced to practice. He was a substantial though not a showy lawyer. The collection of claims constituted the bulk of his business, and he was very successful. After some years that source of income fell off, and his inclination for the cultivation of the soil returned. He abandoned the law and retired upon his farm. His townsmen availed themselves of his abilities and experience by electing him repeatedly to important town offices and as representative in the
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legislature. He also did some business in Probate matters, as guardian, etc. He was exemplary in all the relations of life, and joined the Methodist Church, after a critical examination of the tenets of the various denominations.
May 8, 1810, he married Lucy Swinnerton. Of their children, one son, William, was a lawyer in Boston, Massachusetts.
JOHN A. ROGERS.
This attorney is said to have been a native of Boscawen, and began to practice law in Gilford in 1837, as a partner of Lyman B. Walker. By 1840 he had removed from the county, and in 1846 he was said to be in South Hampton. He was not acting as a lawyer there, however, nor has it been learned that he practiced anywhere after he left Gilford.
NATHANIEL PEABODY ROGERS.
Son of Dr. John and Betsey (Mulliken) Rogers ; born, Plymouth, June 3, 1794 ; Dartmouth College, 1816 ; admitted, 1819 ; practiced, Plymouth and Concord ; died, Concord, October 16, 1846.
The family of Rogers, to which this gentleman belonged, has been a very distinguished one for talents and learning, especially in the early history of this country. Nathaniel P. Rogers inher- ited the talents and acquired the learning which entitled him to scarcely a second place among the best of his name. His three years of legal study he passed in Salisbury, in the offices of Rich- ard Fletcher and of Parker Noyes, and settled in practice in Plymouth. He was a brilliant and successful lawyer, looking jealously after the interests of his employers, leaving no stone unturned to promote their advantage; a ready and accurate draftsman, a sound pleader, and an eloquent and effective advo- cate. He might have placed himself at the very summit of reasonable legal ambition in the State, had he devoted his life to his profession. But he was born for the role of a philanthropist. The feeling of abhorrence of the cruelty and wickedness of Afri- can slavery began to show itself in the Northern States while he was a young man, and readily found entrance into his tender and chivalrous heart. He became an abolitionist, and was too consci- entious and outspoken a man to hide his convictions. He wrote
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trenchant articles for the press, and was soon in sympathetic com- munication with Garrison and the other pioneers in the anti- slavery movement. In 1838 he left his valuable law practice in Plymouth and went to Concord to take the editorial charge of the " Herald of Freedom," a newspaper established there in 1835 to advocate the emancipation of the negro slave. To that journal he had been a contributor from its foundation. He wrote with rapidity and ease, and was master of a most pure and natural style. Many of his descriptive articles had appeared in New York and other journals, and were widely copied and admired. His editorials in the " Herald of Freedom " were original, fresh, elo- quent, and logically unanswerable. But the cause he championed was unpopular, the circulation of his paper was small, he was row- ing against the current and made little headway. His reward was to be posthumous.
Besides his abolition sentiments, he took advanced ground on the subject of temperance, the rights of women, the unjustifiable- ness of war, and personal non-resistance ; none of which doctrines were at that time palatable to the masses. In 1840 he was sent by the abolitionists of the State as a delegate to the World's Anti- Slavery Convention in London, England. Learning that several American women who went as delegates were not to be allowed their seats in the convention, he withdrew, and would have no further part in it. On his return to America he found his name at the head of the " Anti-Slavery Standard " of New York as its editor. He declined the position, though he furnished contribu- tions for a year to its columns. He was also solicited in 1846 to edit the " Pioneer," an anti-slavery paper in Lynn, Massachu- setts, but the condition of his health obliged him to abandon the idea. He had literally worn himself out by unremitting labors, of which he could as yet see but little fruits. As the autumn drew on his life powers decayed, and he sank gradually to his final rest, expressing the wish that no stone should be set up at his grave so long as slavery should continue to exist in the land. He needed no monument, for his memory will live with those of the other pioneers in the great cause of universal freedom with whom he was associated.
All who knew Mr. Rogers were united in attributing to him the highest ability and the most admirable personal qualities. He was fond of nature, and knew all varieties of trees and birds and
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fishes. He took delight in all manly exercises, as of wrestling and football. He was a great reader of the choicest works in literature. His voice was sweet, and he sang, and played upon the violin delightfully. Before he gave his life to the cause of philanthropy he had written charming articles for the press, de- scriptive of the scenery of his native region. His signature was " The Old Man of the Mountain," a term which he had applied to the Profile, at Franconia. It was said of him that he manifested " the genial humor of Lamb, and more wit." Some of his writings are preserved in print in a small volume issued in 1849, with a biographical introduction by Rev. John Pierpont. He was pecu- liarly happy in his domestic relations. His wife was Mary Por- ter, daughter of Hon. Daniel Farrand of Burlington, Vermont. They were married January 31, 1822, and had daughters.
STEPHEN SEWALL ROGERS.
Son of Rev. John Rogers ; born, Leominster, Massachusetts, October 5, 1760 ; practiced, Loudon (and Dunbarton ?) ; died, Dunbarton, December 23, 1794.
Few particulars have been learned of this gentleman, whose stay in this State was but brief. He was evidently somewhat acquainted with Latin, and probably had taken a classical course of study, though he was not a college graduate. He read for admission to the bar with Peter Green of Concord, and settled in Loudon, probably not far from 1786. The duration of his legal practice could not have been above eight years.
His wife was Martha, daughter of Dr. Philip Carrigain of Concord.
EDWARD ASHTON ROLLINS.
Son of Hon. Daniel G. and Susan B. (Jackson) Rollins ; born, Wakefield, December 8, 1828 ; Dartmouth College, 1851 ; admitted, 1854 ; practiced, Somersworth ; died, Hanover, September 7, 1885.
On the recommendation of the president of his college, Mr. Rollins after his graduation became tutor in a private family in Baltimore, Maryland ; and in that city, in the office of Wells and Bell in Somersworth, and at the Harvard Law School, he prepared himself for the bar. He practiced in Great Falls Village in
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Somersworth from 1854 to 1863, except a year or two when he was cashier of the Somersworth Bank. In 1860 and the two fol- lowing years he was a representative in the legislature, and was twice elected to the Speaker's chair. In the spring of 1863 he received the appointment of Cashier of the Internal Revenue, and took up his abode in Washington, District of Columbia. The next year he was promoted to the office of Deputy Commissioner, and the year following to that of Commissioner of the Internal Revenue, which position he filled till his resignation in 1869. He then removed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was appointed vice-president, and afterwards president, of the National Life Insurance Company. He resigned the post in 1874, and spent a year or more in traveling in Europe with his family. On his return he was instrumental in establishing the Centennial Na- tional Bank in Philadelphia, and in 1876 became its president. That position he held up to the close of his life.
Mr. Rollins performed the multifarious and difficult duties of the various stations which he filled with great efficiency and credit. He had the faculty of turning off his work with little friction. His cheerful disposition endeared him to those associ- ated with him. He was a lover of reading, and surrounded him- self with good books. His home was the abode of well-doing and well-being. His gratitude to the institution in which he was edu- cated was manifested by his noble gift to Dartmouth College of the beautiful chapel which bears his name.
His wife was Ellen, daughter of Josiah H. Hobbs, Esquire, of Wakefield. They were married September 26, 1855, and three of their six children survived their father.
JAMES SAMUEL ROWE.
Son of Samuel and Olive (Rundlet) Rowe ; born, Exeter, October 20, 1807 ; Bowdoin College, 1826 ; practiced, Dover ; died, Bangor, Maine, March, 1884.
Mr. Rowe was a pupil of Dr. Abbot at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and after the completion of his collegiate course studied law with George Sullivan in his native town. He began to prac- tice in Dover as early as 1830, and remained there six or seven years. He then removed to Bangor, Maine, his future home. In the almost half a century that he pursued his profession there he acquired the highest reputation, as " one of the best-read lawyers
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in the State, a fine advocate, of unquestioned integrity and worth." Volumes could scarcely add to these condensed words of high commendation. In social life he was most courteous and affable.
He was married in 1857 to Miss Goss of Bangor, Maine.
IRA ST. CLAIR.
Born, Gilmanton, August 9, 1796 ; admitted, 1824 ; practiced, New Hamp- ton and Deerfield ; died, Deerfield, April 5, 1875.
Ira St. Clair (or Sinclair, as his name was originally spelt) had not the advantage of a collegiate education. He studied his profession with Stephen Moody of Gilmanton and Stephen C. Lyford of Gilford, and began practice in 1824 in New Hampton. After a few months he changed his residence to Deerfield. He was chosen representative in the legislature, and, at a later date, received the appointment of bank commissioner. In 1848 he was commissioned Judge of Probate for the county of Rockingham, and filled the office eight years.
He was a lawyer of more than average ability and attainments. He laid much stress on technical points, and his administration of probate business was quite in contrast to the loose manner in which it has sometimes been conducted. But he was thoroughly honest, and no complaint was ever heard that his decisions were influenced by improper motives.
The historian of Deerfield describes him as " a man of upright character and sound judgment, a safe counselor and firm friend."
His first wife was Anna S., daughter of Thomas Jenness of Deerfield, who died in 1845. In the following year he married Eliza E., daughter of James B. Creighton of Newmarket. He left no children.
CHARLES PRESCOTT SANBORN.
Son of James and Lydia N. (Prescott) Sanborn ; born, Concord, September 12, 1834 ; admitted, 1860 ; practiced, Concord ; died there, June 3, 1889.
Mr. Sanborn was three years in Yale College, which he entered in 1852; but for some reason he never graduated. For a few years afterwards he was a teacher, and then prepared himself for the bar in the office of Henry A. Bellows of Concord. On
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his admission he was received at once as a partner of John H. George and William L. Foster, in a practice which became large and remunerative.
He was elected a representative from Concord in the legisla- tures of 1862 and 1863, and in 1875 and 1876, in both which last- named years he was chosen Speaker of the House. From 1871 to 1880 he was city solicitor. Several years he was a member of the board of education, and for a long period and up to his decease held the position of clerk of the Concord and Claremont Railroad.
He possessed uncommon intellectual powers. His legal learn- ing was sufficient, accurate, and ready to his hand, and in its application he lacked neither sagacity nor judgment. Taking part in many trials, not seldom the leading part, he conducted his cases ably and skillfully. While city solicitor he was employed in the work of codifying the ordinances ; and subsequently he edited a new issue of the " New Hampshire Justice and Sheriff."
He had numerous warm and constant friends. With the self- command to abstain from stimulants, there was almost no position in the law to which he might not have aspired.
He was married, May 26, 1862, to Stella L., daughter of Hon. Henry A. Bellows of Concord, who died a few years later; and May 20, 1872, he married her sister, Frances A. Bellows, and left her a widow with two sons and a daughter.
CHARLES WILLIAM SANBORN.
Son of Hon. John W. and Almira J. (Chapman) Sanborn ; born, Wakefield, December 19, 1849 ; Dartmouth College, 1872 ; practiced, Wakefield ; died there, January 17, 1886.
Mr. Sanborn was prepared for college at the Phillips Exeter Academy, and for some years after his graduation was a lumber dealer and surveyor in his native town. He was admitted to the bar in 1880, having studied under the direction of Luther D. Sawyer of Wakefield, George W. Burleigh of Somersworth, and Charles Doe of Dover. He practiced in Wakefield until his decease. Several years he was superintending school committee of the town. In natural endowments and general culture he was excelled by few, and a distinguished career was predicted for him. But he had scarcely begun to show the early fruits of his cultiva-
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tion when he was attacked by consumption, against which no treatment could avail.
He married, December 29, 1872, Addie E., daughter of Samuel H. Smith of Wakefield, who outlived him.
CYRUS KING SANBORN.
Son of Ezekiel and Abigail (Chamberlain) Sanborn ; born, Brookfield, October 30, 1818 ; admitted, 1849 ; practiced, Wakefield and Rochester ; died, Rochester, October 11, 1886.
Mr. Sanborn obtained a substantial education at the academies in Wakefield and in Limerick, Maine, and became a school teacher in his native town and vicinity until he began the study of the law with Josiah H. Hobbs of Wakefield, about 1846. In 1848 and 1849 he continued his studies at the Harvard Law School, and upon his admission began to practice in Wakefield, as a partner of Mr. Hobbs. In about two years he removed to Rochester, his subsequent home. He was chosen in 1846, while a law student, assistant clerk in the state House of Representatives ; from 1858 to 1861 he was a bank commissioner; and in 1867 and 1868 representative from Rochester. Having in his younger days a great interest in military matters, he was advanced to the command of a militia regiment, and bore the title of colonel.
He was a careful, sagacious, painstaking lawyer. The operations of his mind were not rapid, and he did not move without taking full time for consideration. He was a persistent, tireless worker ; his day was not limited to eight hours, but extended well into the night. His opinions were matured and commanded respect. Though he had the power of clear, strong statement, he was not ambitious to appear as an advocate. He was frank and straight- forward in his intercourse with all, pleasant in his temper, but tenacious of the rights and interests of his clients. In social life he was always ready to contribute his share to the amusements of the hour. For the observances of religion he manifested much respect, and not long before his death united with the church.
Colonel Sanborn's first marriage took place in 1851, with Sarah H., daughter of Josiah H. Hobbs of Wakefield. She died in 1879, and he married in 1881 Mrs. Mary S. Sargent, who survived him. By his first marriage he had a son and two daughters.
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AARON FLINT SAWYER.
Son of Nathaniel and Jerusha (Flint) Sawyer ; born, Westminster, Massa- chusetts, April 24, 1780 ; Dartmouth College, 1804 ; admitted, 1807 ; prac- ticed, Mont Vernon and Dunstable (Nashua) ; died, Nashua, January 4, 1847.
This was a younger brother of William Sawyer of Wakefield, and endowed with like sound moral and intellectual fibre. He was trained for the law as a clerk of Charles H. Atherton of Amherst, and opened an office in Mont Vernon, where he prac- ticed for near a quarter of a century. He was highly esteemed as a thorough and reliable lawyer and a worthy citizen. He was chosen to represent the town in the legislatures of 1827, 1828, and 1829.
In 1831 he moved to Dunstable, then rising into importance as a manufacturing place. There he fully maintained his leading position, socially and legally. He is described as "a gentleman of the old school, of warm and generous impulses, and a devoted and active Christian." The year before his death he was a repre- sentative in the legislature from Nashua.
April 20, 1811, he was married to Hannah, daughter of Dr. Samuel Locke of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, a woman of very superior traits of character. They had four children, of whom the two sons, Samuel L. and Aaron F. Sawyer, became judges, the one of the highest court in Missouri, the other in that of New Hampshire.
LUTHER DEARBORN SAWYER.
Son of Timothy and Sarah (Dearborn) Sawyer ; born, Wakefield, March 7, 1803 ; Bowdoin College, 1828 ; admitted, 1832 ; practiced, Ossipee, Sand- wich, Dover, and Wakefield ; died, Wakefield, July 10, 1884.
At the age of eighteen Mr. Sawyer was admitted to the Phillips Exeter Academy, and remained till 1825, when he entered college at advanced standing. One year he was engaged in teaching the academy in Belfast, Maine, at the same time reading law under the direction of Bohan P. Field ; he then finished his legal studies with Sawyer and Hobbs in Wakefield. His first venture in prac- tice was at Ossipee for a few months ; next he took the office of
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Ira A. Bean in Sandwich, while the latter went for a year into the Western country. From 1834 to 1859 he practiced in Ossi- pee ; then in Dover for four years ; afterwards in Massachusetts about the same period ; after which he returned to his native town, and spent the residue of his life there, in the old homestead of his father.
He was by nature of a brisk, stirring temperament, not averse to change or to new surroundings. His disposition was sanguine, and he preserved his youthful spirits and bodily activity to the end of his long life.
He held various public positions : was assistant clerk of the state Senate in 1846; solicitor of Carroll County from 1857 to 1862, and several times by special appointment afterwards ; rep- resentative from Ossipee in 1859 and 1860, and a member of the committee on the Judiciary ; and police justice of Watertown, Massachusetts.
Mr. Sawyer was a shrewd observer of men and character. He was a reader too, and, as his memory was tenacious and ready, was a most entertaining companion. He had seen and known in his prolonged experience many of the ablest men of the New Hamp- shire bar, and had "taken stock " of their peculiarities. Having made up his mind that the happiest were those who wore the har- ness to the last, he adopted that course himself, and attended ยท nearly every term of the courts in the county where he lived, from the time of his admission to the day of his death ; and con- tinued to do such business as offered, to the end.
He married, in 1843, Lydia Hanson of Sandwich. They had two sons, and she died in 1853. In 1857 he married Miss Cham- berlain of Marblehead, Massachusetts, with whom he lived till her death in 1876.
THOMAS SAWYER.
Son of Thomas and Betsey Sawyer ; born, Reading, Massachusetts, Decem- ber 31, 1781 ; Dartmouth College, 1805 ; admitted, 1809 ; practiced, Dover ; died, North Reading, Massachusetts, March 14, 1826.
This gentleman was a resident of New Hampshire but a short time after completing his legal education. About 1805 he entered the office of Henry Mellen of Dover as a student, and succeeded to his business in the year 1809. It is probable that he remained there little more than a year, if so long.
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He afterwards practiced his profession in Camden, Maine, and subsequently in North Reading, Massachusetts, where he died.
THOMAS ELLWOOD SAWYER.
Son of Stephen and Mary (Varney) Sawyer ; born, Dover, November 21, 1798 ; admitted, 1825 ; practiced, Dover ; died there, February 27, 1879.
The parents of Mr. Sawyer belonged to the Society of Friends. He probably obtained his early education in the schools of Dover, and pursued his legal studies under the direction of Charles Woodman and James Bartlett of that town. His life-long resi- dence was in Dover.
He began his political life in 1822, while yet a student at law, by serving as assistant clerk of the state House of Representatives. In 1830 and 1831 he was a member of the executive council, and in 1832 a representative in the legislature, to which he was sub- sequently reelected for nine, though not consecutive, years. In 1850 he was a delegate in the constitutional convention, and in 1851 and 1852 he was the candidate of the Whig party for the gubernatorial chair. In his own town he was for half a century a member of the superintending school committee, and for many years moderator of the annual town meetings ; and when Dover arrived at the dignity of a city charter, he served as mayor. In 1867 he was appointed register in bankruptcy, under the United States statute.
The chief characteristics of Mr. Sawyer were his honesty, his sound common sense, and his well-balanced judgment. As a pub- lic officer he was the object of no hostility and of little criticism, and as a lawyer his opinions were generally deferred to. He never allowed himself to be hurried or excited, and had a remark- able gift of seeing things as they were. He was diffident, rarely appearing in the higher courts, and blushed like a young girl when called upon to say anything in public. A large part of his legal business was that of auditor or referee, in which his qualifi- cations were of the highest character. He probably presided at a greater number of hearings in those capacities than any other member of the bar in his county. He was universally trusted and respected.
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