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 65
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Mr. Wheeler was a well-read lawyer, and studied his cases with care and fidelity. He was consulted and retained in a large proportion of the most important suits arising in his county and vicinity, and was the general attorney of several corporations. His business in the law courts was carefully prepared, and ably presented, but he was at his best in trials before the jury. He had a thorough acquaintance with the points of view and modes of judgment of the mass of the people. He could adapt him- self to their prejudices, and understood well how to make the
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most of the accidents of a trial, a word indiscreetly dropped, the refusal of the adverse party to grant an accommodation, and the like. A distinguished judge remarked that no other lawyer in New Hampshire understood a jury so well as Mr. Wheeler. His political aspirations were never fully realized. He was again and again a candidate for a congressional nomination, and twice believed that he had the prize within his grasp, but on each occasion was defeated by a majority of a single vote. He was undoubtedly soured by his want of success, and perhaps was in part led by it into an irregularity of habits which grew upon him toward the close of his life.
He married, December 31, 1848, Priscilla E., daughter of Joseph W. Clement of Franklin. His wife and a daughter out- lived him.
WILLIAM PLUMER WHEELER, LL. D.
Son of Colonel Nathaniel and Huldah (Whipple) Wheeler ; born, Croydon, July 31, 1812 ; admitted, 1842; practiced, Keene ; died, Brooklyn, New York, May 10, 1876.
Mr. Wheeler learned, and for several years practiced, the trade of a harness maker; but feeling that the law would be a more congenial calling, he resolved to educate himself for that profes- sion. He studied in the academy at Newport, and at the Kimball Union Academy at Plainfield, some three or four years, and then went into an office at Keene, and attended lectures at the Harvard Law School, where he had the degree of LL. B. in 1842.
He established himself in practice at Keene. When he had been at the bar but three years, he was complimented with the office of solicitor of Cheshire County, and at the end of his five years' term was reappointed. In 1851 he was named one of the justices of the state Court of Common Pleas, but declined the appointment, as at a later date he did also the offer of a seat upon the bench of the Superior Court. In 1855 and 1857 he was the candidate of his political party for representative in Con- gress, but his party being in the minority, he was not elected.
In 1849 he received as a partner Francis A. Faulkner. The two gentlemen were peculiarly fitted for this connection. Mr. Faulkner preferred to take charge of the office business, and act as junior in trials in court, - a department which his faithful and
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accurate habits and professional knowledge enabled him to ad- minister with complete success. Mr. Wheeler was equally pains- taking and attentive to business, and was a learned lawyer, the ablest advocate in his county, and one of the first in the State. For nearly thirty years the firm enjoyed a remarkably extensive and successful practice, and were engaged in nearly every case of importance tried in Cheshire, if not also in Sullivan, County.
Mr. Wheeler was of quiet manners, and averse to display. His excellent judgment and business capacity called him to many positions of trust, private and public. He was particularly inter- ested in the State Agricultural College, served as one of its trus- tees, and obtained for it valuable donations.
From Dartmouth College he received the degree of A. M. in 1850, and that of LL. D. in 1872. His death occurred while he was absent from his home on business.
He was married, November 19, 1849, to Sarah D. Moulton of Randolph, Vermont. They had two children.
JAMES RIPLEY WHEELOCK.
Son of James and Abigail (Kinsman) Wheelock ; born, Hanover, March 30, 1790 ; Dartmouth College, 1807 ; practiced, Hanover ; died, Boston, Massa- chusetts, November 24, 1841.
This grandson of the first president of Dartmouth College re- ceived his preliminary education, doubtless, in Moor's Charity School, and after he left college studied law and settled, first, in Royalton, Vermont. In 1813 he was admitted to the bar of Grafton County, and opened an office in Hanover. There he re- mained until 1817, and then decided to change his profession. He studied divinity under Rev. Thomas A. Merrill at Middle- bury, Vermont, and was settled as a minister in several places in this and other States until 1839, when he went to Boston, Massa- chusetts, in the hope to restore his shattered health, a hope which was never realized.
He married, first, Delia, daughter of Dr. William Boss of Mid- dlebury, Vermont, February 11, 1819 ; and, second, Laura Hale of Norwich, Vermont.
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GEORGE ALBERT WHEELWRIGHT.
Born, Bangor, Maine, January 3, 1818 ; Bowdoin College, 1837 ; practiced, Seabrook ; dicd, Wells, Maine, September 8, 1882.
This gentleman, after leaving college, was employed as a teacher in Hampden, Maine, and in South Carolina. He spent some years in the Southern States, beginning the study of the law in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and is said to have been ad- mitted in the highest court in Kentucky. But his infirm health interfered seriously with his practice.
He came to Seabrook from Wells, Maine, about the year 1844, and was admitted to the bar in Rockingham County. He did little legal business, however, but was chiefly employed in teach- ing while in Seabrook, being particularly successful therein. He was also the superintendent of schools.
On leaving Seabrook, after two or three years' stay, he returned to Maine. A plan of establishing a private school in Portland he was obliged to relinquish on account of his uncertain health. He retired upon a farm in Wells, and there spent his later years.
His wife was Katharine Mckay, and he had no children.
THOMAS JEFFERSON WHIPPLE.
Son of Dr. Thomas and Mary (Tabor) Whipple ; born, Wentworth, January 30, 1816 ; Norwich University, 1839 ; admitted, 1840 ; practiced, Wentworth and Laconia ; died, Laconia, December 21, 1889.
Mr. Whipple was educated in the academies of New Hampton and Bradford, and at Norwich University, where he imbibed the military taste and knowledge which he exhibited in later life. It was characteristic of him that when he went into a neighboring town, after the fashion of New England youth, to earn a little money by teaching, he advertised for pupils in fencing and pen- manship. He began to read law when he was eighteen, with Josiah Quincy of Rumney, and finished his studies some years later with Salmon P. Wiers of Johnson, Vermont. The first five years of his practice he passed in Wentworth, and then removed to Gilford, afterwards Laconia, his subsequent home.
Five years afterward the Mexican war broke out, and young
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Whipple's soldierly predilections naturally carried him into the corps of volunteers. He was commissioned adjutant of the Ninth Regiment, commanded by Colonel Ransom. He had scarcely arrived in Mexico, when he was made prisoner by a party of guerrillas. He was treated kindly, and soon exchanged. He dis- tinguished himself in action, and was made assistant adjutant- general on the staff of General Lewis.
In the early part of 1848 he resigned from the army, and re- turned home to the practice of the law. He was assistant clerk of the New Hampshire House of Representatives four years, be- ginning with 1848, and was chosen clerk in 1852, but declined the office. Of the constitutional convention of 1850 he was the secretary, and in that of 1876 he sat as a delegate. But he was no office-seeker, upon principle.
The second opportunity for him to serve his country in a mili- tary capacity came with President Lincoln's first call for volun- teers in defense of the Union, in 1861. In the First Regiment of New Hampshire he served as lieutenant-colonel. When his term of three months was over, he was immediately promoted to the colonelcy of the Fourth Regiment. After some months' service in the field he resigned that position, and was tendered the com- mand of the Twelfth Regiment, which, however, he did not accept. He was every inch a soldier, brave, even to rashness, a strict disciplinarian, but ever attentive to the needs of the men of his command, all of whom held him in admiration and regard.
In Colonel Whipple's practice at the bar, the qualities he had inherited from his father, an eloquent member of Congress, of much independence of character, and a principal supporter in the legislature of the Toleration Act of 1819, were conspicuous. He had the same freedom of opinions, the same, and even greater, originality, power of illustration, and fluency and skill in public speaking. After his return from Mexico he served two or three years as county solicitor, and his facility in the conduct of cases in court brought him retainers in important suits, and for years he was a leading lawyer in his county, engaged in the trial of the principal matters in litigation, and being the general counsel of wealthy corporations, as of the Concord and Montreal Railroad, and the Winnepesaukee Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Com- pany. He was a good lawyer and a judicious adviser, but his greatest successes were won in the encounters of the forum.
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There his peculiar powers had full play. He was rapid, acute, adroit, with an exuberance of wit, and a power of marshaling epithets that was simply unsurpassable. At his humorous sallies the whole court-room, from the judge on the bench to the mes- senger at the door, sometimes lost their gravity and laughed in concert.
In an action of trespass qu. cl., where the question was con- cerning a boundary line, Colonel Whipple's client put in evidence a plan drawn by a common country surveyor. His sharp oppo- nent had employed to make his plan a civil engineer then engaged in laying out a railroad line in the neighborhood, and fancied he had scored an advantage by the operation. But Colonel Whip- ple stood up for his surveyor. " In cities," said he, " where land is very valuable, it may be important to use new-fangled instru- ments, theodolites and verniers, to locate the lines; but in the country, where land is plenty and cheap, a common box-trap with a spindle in it is just as good as anything !"
Abundance of anecdotes illustrating Colonel Whipple's quaint humor have gone the rounds of the bar, but they cannot do him justice, separated from their original setting, and lacking the pe- culiar personality, the flash of the keen blue eye, and the meaning intonation that gave them so much of their flavor.
With all his readiness and offhand wit, he was said to be a painstaking attorney, and he managed a large practice for many years with great success. At all gatherings, legal, political, and social, he was a marked and well-known character. He was usu- ally the centre of a circle of admirers, loth to lose any of the keen and original expressions that fell from his lips.
Colonel Whipple was possessed of wide information, conversed interestingly, and was a most genial comrade. Indeed, his failings were on the side of his boon companionship and conviviality. His friends would gladly forget his frailties in view of the many manly and lovable qualities which adorned his character. He was strictly upright in his dealings, he was honest and truthful, a good and generous friend and neighbor. With a wide acquaint- ance, he had few enemies, and a great many sincere admirers and well-wishers.
He took to wife, in 1842, Belinda Hadley of Rumney. They had one child, a daughter.
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JOHN WHIPPLE.
Son of Benjamin and Sarah (Tuttle) Whipple ; born, Hamilton, Massachu- setts, January 21, 1789 ; Dartmouth College, 1812 ; practiced, Dunbarton, Hooksett, Hopkinton, and Concord ; died, Concord, August 28, 1857.
Mr. Whipple was a teacher in Gloucester, Massachusetts, for a year and a half, and then studied law with Baruch Chase at Hopkinton. He made his first essay in practice in that part of Dunbarton which is now Hooksett, in 1817, and continued there, holding the office of postmaster, a year after Hooksett was incor- porated, and then removed to Hopkinton. While there he was chosen assistant clerk of the state Senate from 1829 to 1832. In 1833 he went to Concord to live, being elected register of deeds for Merrimac County. That position he filled till 1836. In 1834 he received the appointment of county solicitor and served through- out his term of five years. He was also for a time Secretary of State, was for several years treasurer of the New England Fire Insurance Company, and at the time of his death had been justice of the Police Court about two years.
His office practice was considerable, but he probably did not attempt to deal with legal questions of difficulty. His library contained few volumes beyond the statutes of the State and the usual handbooks of practice.
He married, October 1, 1818, Hannah R., daughter of Ithamar Chase of Keene, and sister of Salmon P. Chase. She died, leav- ing him two daughters. He again married in November, 1856, Mrs. Means of Boston, Massachusetts.
OLIVER WHIPPLE.
Born, Rhode Island, c. 1743 ; Harvard College, 1766 ; practiced, Ports- mouth and Hampton ; died, Georgetown, Maryland, April, 1813.
When Mr. Whipple was proposed for admission in Portsmouth, the other lawyers of the town, it is said, made him promise that he would not begin practice there, for fear, doubtless, that there was not sufficient business to support another member of the pro- fession. But once admitted, he gave notice in the newspaper to " the gentlemen of Portsmouth " that he would open an office there for the transaction of law business, etc. At the instance of
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Major Hale, Wyseman Clagett answered his advertisement in the next issue of the paper, in the following strain : -
" ' Your advertisement won't prevail, Friend Oliver,' quoth Major Hale, ' Though worded nice as may be, You advertise that now and then You do law jobs for " gentlemen," But not a word of " lady."
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" Like me extend your generous aid From Mother Hicks to Joan her maid, And set it down in print, sir. The ladies then will you surround, In business you will soon abound, And thank me for the hint, sir.'"
Mr. Whipple received employment as attorney of Dr. Sylvester Gardiner of Boston, in connection with his extensive landed property in Maine. The handsome young lawyer was taken cap- tive by the charms of his client's daughter Abigail, and an attach- ment quickly grew up between them. Shortly before the Revolu- tion they were married. Dr. Gardiner's family was one of wealth and position, and distinguished for intense loyalty to the crown of England, and the newly wedded pair received calls from Admiral Graves, Secretary Flucker, General Gage, Mr., afterwards Sir, William Pepperell, and various other persons of the highest social standing in Boston, all identified with the royal cause.
When hostilities opened, and the lines began to be strictly drawn between the friends and the opponents of the popular movement, Mr. Whipple was naturally suspected of belonging to the latter class. It appears that he and fourteen others, residents of Ports- mouth, were apprehended by order of the committee of safety of that town as notoriously disaffected to the American cause, and were escorted by a squad of Colonel Langdon's light infantry, under the command of a sergeant, to the provincial committee of safety at Exeter, by whom they were examined and required to give bonds to remain good and peaceable subjects of the State, and not to do anything in opposition to the cause of America.
Notwithstanding that his father-in-law cast his fortunes with the mother country so that he lost by confiscation his extensive estates, 1 it does not appear that Mr. Whipple was ever again
1 His heirs, however, by reason of some informality in the proceedings, re- covered them.
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suspected of want of attachment to his country's cause. It is possible, however, that his wife and himself did not entertain like feelings in regard to the change of government, for they were divorced, and for a time lived apart. But as they were strongly attached to one another, the cause of their estrangement, what- ever it was, afterwards passed away, and they were remarried.
On this event a well-known wit and versifier of that day, Jon- athan M. Sewall, produced these lines : -
" Divorced, like scissors rent in twain, Both mourned the rivet out ; Now whet and riveted again, You 'll make the old shears cut."
Mr. Whipple resided in Portsmouth above twenty years, and then removed to Hampton, where he made his home for about twelve years more. He represented the latter town in the legis- lature five years, and during his stay there published two poems in pamphlet form, entitled "The Confessional Tears of a Louis d'Or," 1794, and " The Historic Progress of Liberty," 1802.
He was well educated, with more than usual literary taste, and was a lawyer of considerable practice. He was courteous, agreeable, and interesting. When he quitted Hampton he is understood to have taken up his abode in Washington, District of Columbia, or its vicinity. He left descendants.
DAVID S. WHITCHER.
Son of Samuel and Emily (Quimby) Whitcher ; born, Landaff (now Easton), November 30, 1846 ; admitted, 1876 ; practiced, Littleton ; died there, March 14, 1881.
The time of the subject of this sketch was given until the age of nineteen to the work of the farm and the mill. Then, with only the instruction of the district school, he attended the New Hampshire Conference Seminary at Tilton, and the New Hamp- ton Literary Institution till his graduation in 1871. In the offices of the brothers Rand and of Bingham and Mitchell of Lit- tleton he 'completed his law studies, and in that town he began practice. He was at the bar only five years. His health had suffered from overwork as a student, but he pursued his profes- sion undauntedly to the last. He was a growing lawyer, with no large business, but what he had was well done. Only time and strength were wanting to him.
He was unmarried.
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JOHN HUBBARD WHITE.
Son of Amos and Sarah White ; born, Dover, November 30, 1802 ; Bow- doin College, 1822 ; practiced, Dover ; died there, September 7, 1882.
At Wakefield Academy Mr. White completed his preparation for college ; and with James Bartlett and Charles W. Cutter, at Dover, he fitted himself for admission to the bar, which was effected in 1826. He then commenced in Dover his practice of fifty-six years. In 1828 he was appointed postmaster, but was removed the next year for political reasons. In 1833 and 1834 he was a representative in the legislature. He was appointed register of Probate in 1849, and so continued till 1857; and for the last five years of that time he filled also the office of judge of the Police Court. He was for many years a trustee of the Frank- lin Academy and librarian of the Dover public library.
Judge White was a wise and prudent counselor, though his re- tiring disposition held him aloof from the conflicts of the court- room. He was a well-read lawyer, and, especially in the depart- ment of probate law, with which long experience had given him special familiarity, had few superiors.
He was a great reader, and no little of an antiquary. His appreciation of all that was quaint and humorous in conduct or character was keen, and his memory was tenacious and exact up to the close of his life. The writer is indebted to him for reminiscences of several of the lawyers of his early acquaintance, whose memory had otherwise almost passed into oblivion. He was a thoroughly upright man, and led a life of honor and usefulness.
He was married, April 30, 1828, to Rebecca E. W., daughter of Hon. Andrew Pierce of Dover. They had six children.
JOSEPH WARREN WHITE.
Son of Rev. Broughton and Ruth (Sabin) White ; born, Chesterfield, Octo- ber 18, 1799 ; admitted, 1826 ; practiced, Portsmouth.
The father of this gentleman became somewhat noted as a revivalist, and was at the time of his son's birth the preceptor of the academy in Chesterfield. The son studied law with Abra- ham B. Story in Washington, where his father was at that time the settled minister, and completed his preparation for the bar with Levi Woodbury of Portsmouth, whose partner he afterwards became.
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Mr. White had been in Portsmouth only two years after his admission when he sailed for England, as agent to recover an estate which, for want of nearer heirs, was thought to devolve on the Slade family of Portsmouth.
From this time forward his history is enveloped in obscurity. Rumors that he had committed some crime for which he had suf- fered the severest penalty of the law were at one time in circula- tion, but were apparently disproved by authority when inquired into. The latest opinion appears to be that his habits had become extravagant and dissipated, and that he deserted his wife and family.
He was married, August 29, 1826, to Letitia, daughter of Abraham B. Story of Washington. They had a son and a daughter.
SAMUEL WHITING.
Son of Samuel and Anstress (Barker) Whiting ; born, Amherst, 1797 ; Dartmouth University, 1818 ; admitted, 1821 ; practiced, Mason ; died there, September 24, 1829.
Mr. Whiting was a descendant in the seventh generation from Rev. Samuel Whiting of Lynn, Massachusetts. His father was a trader in Amherst who died when this son was about eight years old. He completed his law education in the office of Aaron F. Sawyer at Mont Vernon, and set up practice in Mason, but lived only a few years afterward.
He married, July 3, 1827, Hannah, daughter of Hubbard Rus- sell of Mason, who outlived her husband several years.
ZACHARIAH GARDNER WHITMAN.
Son of Hon. Benjamin Whitman ; born, Providence, Rhode Island, Febru- ary 10, 1789 ; Harvard College, 1807 ; practiced, Boscawen ; died there, 1840.
The father of Mr. Whitman was a lawyer in practice in Boston, Massachusetts, where probably the son's preliminary education was obtained. He studied law under his father's direction, and for a number of years practiced with him in Boston. In 1831 he came into New Hampshire and established himself in the west parish of Boscawen as the successor of Francis Cogswell.
He possessed respectable talents and a good education, and
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had seen cultivated society. He had a fair practice, though he usually employed some other counsel to assist him in the trial of contested cases. In one important action, however, for the flow- age of land, which he brought, and which was long and sharply contested, the brief and written argument which he furnished the law court are said by tradition to have been particularly creditable. He was chosen a member of the New Hampshire Historical Soci- ety in 1838.
Had his habits been those of sobriety, there is no doubt that he had qualities which would have raised him to some distinction at the bar ; but it is said that he was inclined to dissipation.
He was married in Boscawen.
AARON WHITTEMORE, JR.
Son of Hon. Aaron and Arianah S. (Barstow) Whittemore ; born, Pem- broke, January 18, 1849 ; admitted, 1870 ; practiced, Pittsfield ; died there, May 4, 1885.
Mr. Whittemore obtained his education at Pembroke in the Blanchard Academy, and read law with John M. Shirley of Andover and at the Harvard Law School. He opened his office in Pittsfield in 1870, and in the fifteen years of his residence there, acquired an extensive practice. His inclination for military exercises led him to join a company of the National Guard, of which he was chosen captain and was in command for five years. He was then appointed a major on the staff of the brigadier- general. Entering actively into political affairs, he was elected in 1883 a member of the state Senate, and made himself prominent there.
He joined to his legal training sound discretion and business sagacity, and his integrity commanded no less confidence than his judgment and clear-sightedness. He was a trustee of the Farm- ers' Savings Bank and of the Aqueduct Company of Pittsfield. He possessed qualities that gave him much popularity with the large circle of his acquaintance.
He was married, and left a widow, two sons, and a daughter.
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BERNARD BEMIS WHITTEMORE.
Son of Bernard and Jane (Holmes) Whittemore ; born, Boston, Massachu- setts, May 15, 1817 ; Harvard College, 1839; admitted, 1842 ; practiced Amherst ; died, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 5, 1893.
It was at the Phillips Exeter Academy that Mr. Whittemore was prepared for college. He studied for the bar with Charles G. Atherton and with George Y. Sawyer at Nashua, and at the Harvard Law School. His professional practice was substantially begun and ended at Amherst, between 1842 and 1846. In the latter year he moved to Nashua to take the charge, in connection with his brother, F. P. Whittemore, of the " Nashua Gazette," a political weekly journal. In the conduct of this paper, which was subsequently enlarged, improved, and issued also in a daily edi- tion, he spent the succeeding forty-three years. This was really the work of his life, and to it he devoted his best powers. He was a pleasant and forcible writer, an uncompromising exponent of the principles of his party, and an upright and honorable man. He served as a member of the state Senate in 1852 and 1863, as an alderman of Nashua in 1860, as city treasurer in 1861, and as a trustee of the public library from its foundation till his decease.
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