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 66
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He was a diligent reader, and had a prodigious fund of infor- mation upon all subjects, especially those connected with political history. He never lost his acquaintance with his original calling, and his opinions upon legal questions were much relied on. By all classes he was highly respected.
He never married.
JAMES WHITTLE.
Son of William and Rachel (Parker) Whittle ; born, Weare, July 18, 1800; Dartmouth College, 1823 ; admitted, 1827 ; practiced, Bradford and Concord ; died, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, 1837.
The sum of this gentleman's practice in New Hampshire was not above two or three years. He studied law with Samuel Fletcher of Concord, and Richard Fletcher of Boston, Massachu- setts, where he was admitted and began practice in 1827. The
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next year he returned to New Hampshire, and went into practice at Bradford, Concord, and perhaps elsewhere, but about 1830 emigrated to Missouri, where he was an editor, and died at the age of thirty-seven.
DAVID FOLSOM WHITTLE.
Son of Thomas and Mary (Folsom) Whittle ; born, Deering, 1824 ; prac- ticed, Manchester and Nashua ; died, Medford, Massachusetts, January 27, 1887.
Mr. Whittle obtained his education at Henniker Academy, and was fitted for his profession at the Harvard Law School, and in the office of George Barstow at Manchester. He commenced practice at Manchester. After remaining there four years, he removed to Nashua. He took a fair stand as a lawyer, being sufficiently versed in the law, but was said to have lacked con- fidence in himself. Having continued in Nashua eight years, he determined to adopt farming as his future occupation, and re- moved to Deering in 1860. While there, in addition to his agri- cultural employment, he performed for a time the duties of assistant assessor of internal revenue.
He was married, in 1850, to Charlotte T. Nichols of Concord. They had three children.
ANDREW. WIGGIN.
Son of Zebulon and Mary (Odell) Wiggin ; born, Stratham, October 9, 1826 ; admitted, 1861; practiced, Exeter ; died, Stratham, February 5, 1893.
Mr. Wiggin probably received his education in the town of his nativity, and prosecuted his professional studies in the office of William W. Stickney at Exeter. In this place he commenced to practice in 1861, and remained five years, after which he opened his office in Boston, Massachusetts, and practiced there for the remaining twenty-two years of his life. He was said to be a lawyer of good attainments, and stood well in his profession.
He, was married, in Boston, to Elvira L. Hamlin, in March, 1866.
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JOHN H. WIGGINS.
Born, Pleasant Valley, New York, 1820 ; practiced, Dover ; died abroad.
This gentleman began to practice in Dover about the year 1844. Energetic, active, and acquainted with human nature, as well as sufficiently educated in the law, he secured a practice of some extent. In 1849 and 1852 he was a representative in the legislature, and in 1850 a delegate to the constitutional conven- tion. He appeared a good deal in the courts, and was rather a forcible advocate ; and at one time was associated with John P. Hale. Subsequently he was engaged in business schemes which required him to give up his residence in Dover. For some time he lived in Boston, Massachusetts ; in 1877 he was in practice as an attorney in London, England, and it is believed that his death took place in Paris, France.
His wife was Nancy D., daughter of Benjamin Wiggin of Dover. They had one daughter.
JEDUTHUN WILCOX.
Son of John and Eunice (Norton) Wilcox ; born, Middletown, Connecticut, 1769 ; admitted, 1802 ; practiced, Orford ; died there, July 18, 1838.
The family tradition is that the paternal ancestors of Mr. Wil- cox were sturdy Quakers. He spent his youth in the town of his birth, and learned the trade of a saddler. At the age of nearly thirty he pursued the study of the law under the direction of Benjamin J. Gilbert at Hanover, and established himself in prac- tice in Orford.
He was thoroughly read in his profession, and was especially noted for his knowledge of pleading, a study then pursued with more assiduity than now, when a "brief statement " does away with the whole beautiful structure of plea, replication, rejoinder, and so forth, and when the liberality of the law in granting amendments puts the tyro nearly on a level with the most accom- plished follower of Chitty. A good pleader was necessarily a good lawyer, and such was Mr. Wilcox. He possessed a logical mind, great readiness of speech, and an agreeable voice. For a number of years he was the leading lawyer of his town and vicinity.
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He had likewise an inclination towards political life, and was elected in 1809, 1810, and 1811 to the legislature of the State, and in 1813 to the Congress of the United States, where he was retained till 1817.
His career, legal and political, was checked by the failure of his sense of hearing. He retired to his farm, on which he labored with his men, and rarely appeared in public, except on town-meet- ing days, when he took part in the discussion of any matters of importance that came up for consideration, with his former vigor and fluency, it is said.
He was married, at the age of about twenty-five, to Sarah Fisk of Braintree, Massachusetts. After her death he was united to Elizabeth Todd of Orford. By the former he had one son, who became a lawyer and a judge; by the latter six daughters.
JAMES McKEAN WILKINS.
Son of Jonathan and Susannah (Towne) Wilkins ; born, Amherst, Decem- ber 15, 1784 ; Dartmouth College, 1812 ; practiced, Bedford and Manchester; died, Manchester, January 18, 1855.
James Wilkins was apprenticed at an early age to George Mckean of Amherst, from whom he took his middle name. With him he removed into Maine, where he had no suitable opportunity for instruction, so that at the age of nineteen he was unable to write or read. Mortified by his ignorance, he formed the resolution to acquire an education, and applied himself to study. By perseverance and careful economy he succeeded in obtaining a collegiate degree. He then taught schools for a few years, and accomplished his term of legal study with Daniel Abbott of Nashua, and Asahel Stearns of Massachusetts.
He commenced practice in Piscataquog village in Bedford in 1819, and remained there twenty years. He was representative in 1836 and 1837; senator in 1838 and 1839, and president of the Senate in the latter year ; and councilor in 1842 and 1843. In 1840 he removed to Manchester.
He was a lawyer of very respectable talents and attainments, and acquired a large business, chiefly of the " office " character, which he made very profitable. At his death he bequeathed a liberal sum for establishing a reformatory for juvenile offenders, which, being supplemented by the needful appropriations on the
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part of the State, resulted in the formation of the present State Industrial School, a most useful and beneficial institution.
He never married.
ELIJAH WILLIAMS.
Son of Major Elisha Williams ; born, Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1746 ; Har- vard College, 1764 ; practiced, Keene ; died there, 1793.
This gentleman practiced in Deerfield, and in Mendon, Massa- chusetts, before he came, about the year 1771, to Keene. Shortly afterwards he received from Governor Wentworth the appoint- ment of justice of the peace, and in 1773 Dartmouth College conferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts, which was not improbably done at the suggestion of the same politic governor.
As the political ferment which preceded the Revolution in- creased, Mr. Williams's predilections all inclined to the royalist side. In the winter of 1774 he brought an action against a citi- zen of Keene, the writ running in the name of "George III., by the grace of God king," etc. This was looked upon by the liberty boys as an act of hostility to their cause, and a large body of the people of Keene and vicinity immediately assembled, seized Williams, and conveyed him to a solitary barn in the fields, where they compelled him to abandon the suit, and to promise that he would issue no more writs in the king's name.
Early in 1775 he took refuge within the British lines, and is stated to have become soon after the battle of Lexington an officer in the royal army. He was afterwards proscribed, and his estate confiscated by the legislature.
In the year 1784 he came back to Keene to settle his affairs. Some zealous Whigs, exasperated at his return, and not improb- ably instigated by his debtors, seized him and took him before a justice, who ordered him to recognize for his appearance at the next Court of Sessions. He was committed to the custody of the sheriff, who had some difficulty, even with the aid of the orderly citizens, in protecting him from violence. His opponents after- wards got him into their power, and barely refrained from admin- istering to him corporal chastisement with a couple of bundles of birch rods. Poor Williams, after a pretty severe hustling, man- aged to make his escape through the hostile crowd, on horseback.
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When he appeared at court, an order was made that he should remain in the keeping of the sheriff until he had transacted his business, and then " be permitted to leave the State on his good behavior, without further molestation." Having no desire to pro- long his stay here, he soon adjusted his affairs, and repaired to Nova Scotia. Shortly afterwards, his health failing, he returned to Deerfield, Massachusetts, and there died, a bachelor.
GEORGE CANNING WILLIAMS.
Son of Hon. Jared W. and Sarah H. (Bacon) Williams ; born, Lancaster, August 7, 1827 ; Dartmouth College, 1844 ; admitted, 1848 ; practiced, Lan- caster ; died there, December 10, 1865.
The youngest of his class in college, and as a scholar among the best third of it, Mr. Williams had everything in his favor for success in the world. He studied law in his father's office, and commenced practice in Lancaster. He was thoroughly qualified for his vocation, and served some years as solicitor of the county ; was well started in political life as clerk of the state Senate, as representative from Lancaster in 1859 and 1860, and as commis- sioner of state lands in 1858. He was a trustee of Lancaster Academy, Grand Master of the Odd Fellows of the State, and a prominent Freemason ; was popular, and apparently had the ball at his feet. But the very qualities which gave him his popularity led him into temptation, and he yielded to convivial habits which but too surely in later life degenerated into intemperance.
He never married.
JARED WARNER WILLIAMS, LL. D.
Son of Captain Andrew Williams ; born, Woodstock, Connecticut, Decem- ber 22, 1796 ; Brown University, 1818 ; practiced, Lancaster ; died there, September 29, 1864.
Mr. Williams studied law with Governor Stoddard and at the Litchfield Law School in Connecticut, and went into practice in Guildhall, Vermont, in 1822. Two years later he removed to Lancaster. He early evinced an inclination for political life. He was a register of Probate from 1829 to 1837, representative in the legislature from Lancaster in 1830 and 1831, and in 1836 and 1837; state senator in 1832, 1833, and 1834, and the last two of
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those years president of the Senate; member of Congress two terms, serving from 1837 to 1841; governor of the State in 1847 and 1848; Judge of Probate, 1852-53; senator of the United States by appointment of the governor, 1853-54.
Though he was not impelled by necessity to slave at the law, as he inherited property, yet he was a persistent, painstaking prac- titioner. He had peculiar skill in drawing affidavits, so that he rarely failed to obtain a continuance of a case that was not ready for trial. One of the wits of the bar, when the Miller infatuation of the immediate coming of the end of the world was at its height, remarked that if Mr. Williams were employed to attend to it, he would be sure to get a continuance of it !
Governor Williams was possessed of very marked abilities, and of rare qualifications for a political career. His personal charac- ter was unblemished, his social qualities were winning, and he was an adroit manager. In his long course of public service he made few mistakes and few enemies. The honorary degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College in 1825, and that of LL. D. by his Alma Mater in 1852. He accepted the honors, official and literary, which time brought him, without ostentation and without vanity.
He was married, in 1824, to Sarah Howes Bacon, of Wood- stock, Connecticut, and had two sons, both bred to the law.
ALONZO BOWMAN WILLIAMSON.
Son of Frederic and Mary (Darling) Williamson ; born, Woodstock, Ver- mont, December 20, 1815 ; admitted, 1837 ; practiced, Claremont and Cor- nish ; died, Claremont, March 19, 1860.
Mr. Williamson was educated at the academy in his native town, and studied law under the direction of Philande. C. Free- man in Claremont. He practiced in Claremont from 1842 to 1844, and then transferred his office to Cornish; but a year after- wards, upon receiving the appointment of postmaster at Clare- mont, he returned there, and administered the office four years. In 1850 he was commissioned solicitor for Sullivan County, and served his term of five years. He was elected a member of the state Senate in 1852 and 1853.
He was a person of good ability and a respectable advocate, but of intemperate habits, it is said. He was quite a politician,
-
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though not to the neglect of his business. He appeared not in- frequently in the courts, but had rather a preference for the man- agement of " justice cases."
He married Sarah Ann Blake of Bellows Falls, Vermont, in 1844, and had three children.
ARCHELAUS WILSON.
Son of Captain Asa (?) Wilson ; born, Nelson, May 18, 1817 ; Yale College, 1844 ; practiced, Manchester ; died, New Britain, Connecticut, February 26, 1862.
Kimball Union Academy furnished Mr. Wilson his preparation for college. He fitted himself for his profession in the Harvard Law School and that at Hartford, Connecticut, and practiced in Manchester from 1847 to 1852. From that city he proceeded to Boston, Massachusetts, for some six years, and then to New York, where he was in practice to near the time of his decease. He is remembered in New Hampshire as a highly respectable practi- tioner, with a moderate business.
He married Julia H. Andrews, at New Britain, Connecticut, October 9, 1848.
HUBBARD WILSON.
Son of Colonel Stephen Wilson ; born, Lancaster, c. 1790 ; Middlebury Col- lege, 1813 ; admitted, 1817 ; practiced, Lancaster ; died there, c. 1820.
Mr. Wilson qualified himself for entrance to the bar in the office of Samuel A. Pearson of Lancaster, and settled in that town in practice about 1817. He lived but a few years after- wards, adding another to the many victims of that scourge of northern climates, - consumption.
He was unmarried.
JAMES WILSON.
Son of Major Robert and Mary (Hodge) Wilson ; born, Peterborough, August 16, 1766 ; Harvard College, 1789 ; admitted, 1792 ; practiced, Peter- borough and Keene ; died, Keene, January 4, 1839.
Scotch-Irish blood filled the veins of James Wilson. He owed his education to his mother, a superior woman, it is said. At Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, he pursued his
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preparatory studies, and he qualified himself for the bar in the office of Levi Lincoln of Worcester, Massachusetts, and that of Jeremiah Smith in Peterborough. Beginning to practice in that town in 1792, he remained till 1815, when he removed to Keene, having an office also at Stoddard for a little time.
He had some experience in political life, serving as representa- tive in the state legislature from Peterborough between 1803 and 1814, nine years, and as representative in Congress from 1809 to 1811. He cared little for office, however ; he looked out, first of all, for his own interests. He was particularly fortunate in the acquisition of property. He was sometimes styled the "Earl of Stoddard," he owned so large a part of the land in that township. But he was capable of generosity. When Amasa Edes was a lad in his office, Wilson urged him to get a collegiate education, offer- ing to lend him the necessary means for it. "But what if I should never be able to repay you ?" inquired Edes. "I don't care," replied Wilson, "I'm able to lose it."
He was a very able lawyer, and an eloquent advocate. His preparation of his cases was thorough, and he was sometimes charged with "drilling" his witnesses. John C. Chamberlain was his frequent opponent. On one occasion Chamberlain was fairly sworn out of a case by testimony unexpectedly produced by Wilson. "Your witnesses swore well," said Chamberlain, " can't I hire them for my next case ?" "Can't spare them myself," was Wilson's reply.
He used to tilt with Jeremiah Smith occasionally. Once while they were journeying together, on horseback, Wilson rode on ahead, and meeting a stranger passed himself off to him as Smith, then a member of Congress. When the two attorneys stopped for the night, Wilson related, in the presence of some friends, what a great dignitary he had been mistaken for. "Oh, no," said Smith. "The man knew better; he said, 'You Jerry Smith ? Why, he's a respectable man !'"
A man of the name of Smith being arraigned in court for a criminal offense, Wilson asked Smith how it was that so many offenders happened to have his name. "Easily explained," re- plied the other. "They want an honest name to be tried by, and so give the name of Smith, but on inquiry it will generally turn out that their true name is Wilson ! "
Mr. Wilson's perception was quick and keen, and his feelings
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were easily moved. He is said to have had the art of exciting the emotions of his auditors and swaying them at pleasure; he could make them laugh, and at a turn of his hand he could move them to tears. It was through this gift that he was most success- ful in his appeals to the jury. John C. Chamberlain inquired of him why he did not address the reason instead of the feelings of jurors. "Too small a mark," replied Wilson, -" too small a mark for me to hit ! "
His wife was Elizabeth Steele, who became the mother of sev- eral children, the eldest of whom followed his father's calling.
JAMES WILSON, JR.
Son of Hon. James and Elizabeth (Steele) Wilson ; born, Peterborough, March 18, 1797 ; Middlebury College, 1820 ; admitted, 1823; practiced, Keene ; died there, May 29, 1881.
Young Wilson was sent from home to study at various acade- mies, from the age of nine to sixteen. He then longed to enter the military service, in the war of 1812, but could not obtain his father's consent. Disappointed, he began to work in the cotton factory at Peterborough. On his father's removal to Keene in 1815, he resumed his studies and completed his education. He read law with his father. Being vigorous, bodily and mentally, his father was soon ready to resign to him the chief of his law practice. He attended the courts of Sullivan, Grafton, and Coos counties, as well as Cheshire, tried causes and carried on a large business ten or twelve years, till the failing strength of his father required his presence at home. After that he confined his busi- ness to Cheshire County alone.
He was fond of military pursuits, and rose from the rank of the captain of the Keene Light Infantry to that of major-general of militia. Politics presented a strong attraction to him. He was chosen representative in the legislature every year from 1825 to 1832, and from 1834 to 1837, and four years at later dates. In 1828 he was Speaker of the House, and in 1838 and 1839 he was the unsuccessful candidate for the governorship. In 1840 he was a delegate to the convention which nominated William H. Har- rison for the presidency, and during the succeeding political cam- paign proved himself to be one of the most eloquent and effective popular speakers of his time. His qualifications for this were
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unequaled. His physique was on a majestic scale ; his voice was sonorous ; his language was the purest vernacular ; his logic had the grip of a vise ; he was always prodigiously in earnest. His illustrations and witty sallies were irresistible, and he often broke out in strains of bold and moving eloquence. The common peo- ple like a pet name for their favorites ; they called him "Long Jim." Throughout New England and the Middle States he was known and welcomed with enthusiasm " on the stump."
In the Harrison campaign, as he was about to begin an outdoor harangue, a shower came up and threatened to disperse the audi- ence. He deliberately pulled off his coat (as usual) and began : "The only rain that I have any fear of is the reign of Martin Van Buren !" He had hearers enough after that. In some of the States farther west it was the fashion for both parties to hold public meetings on the same day, and to have their speakers' stands not far apart; but this was found bad for his opponents, for he captivated the entire crowd, and on one occasion left not a solitary listener for the other side.
He was elected a representative in Congress in 1847 and 1849, and resigned his seat in 1850 to emigrate to California, in the hope of finding his fortune there, but returned in 1861 no richer pecuniarily than when he went away. President Lincoln offered him a brigadier-general's commission, but he was then sixty-seven, and he wisely determined that he could aid the cause of the Union more with his voice and influence than with the sword. His re- ception by the new generation of his native State was marked by the highest enthusiasm, and he rendered yeoman service to the country in filling her armies with young men of character and intelligence.
Again he visited California, and then returned to pass the evening of life among his family, in the home of his youth. He is remembered less as a lawyer than as a popular orator. Yet for years he was at the head of the bar in his section of the State. In the court-room, on the hustings, before any assembly, he could always touch the feelings of his audience. At the first festival of the Sons of New Hampshire in Boston in 1849, he was assigned to respond to the sentiment, -" The families which we left be- hind." The speeches, thus far, were excellent, but rather formal. But when General Wilson rose to speak, the tones of his hearty, sympathetic voice roused. the feelings of his audience, and his
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touching picture of the " old folks at home " stirred every heart to its depths. " We will go back," said he, " and tell the inothers and sisters how well the boys behave when they go away from home !" It was like the notes of the " Ranz des vaches " to the exiled Switzer, - it was the speech which gave voice to the genu- inc feeling of all hearts, and was welcomed with cheering, earnest, prolonged, and again and again renewed.
General Wilson was united in marriage, November 26, 1823, to Mary L. Richardson of Montpelier, Vermont. She died in 1848. They were the parents of eight children, of whom a son and three daughters survived him. One of the daughters is the wife of Francis S. Fiske, who was bred to the legal profession.
JOHN McNEIL WILSON.
Son of James and Mary (McNeil) Wilson ; born, Francestown, November 12, 1802 ; practiced, Bedford ; died, Chicago, Illinois, December 7, 1883.
This gentleman, after preparatory study at the Francestown Academy, entered Dartmouth College in 1819, and left it in a year on account of ill health. After a short interval he was persuaded to spend awhile in Bowdoin College, but with a like result. He then tried trade, which he found irksome, and he qualified himself for the bar in the office of Edmund Parker at Amherst, and at the law school in New Haven, Connecticut. Two years he prac- ticed in Bedford, 1829 and 1830, and then removed to Lowell, Massachusetts, to become a partner in practice with John A. Knowles for about four years. Thence he went to Illinois, first to Joliet, with the design of following some active employment, but his talents for the law inevitably carried him to Chicago. There he became a noted counsel of a few railroad corporations ; and in 1853 was elected Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Cook County, and six years later, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Chicago. He retired from active business in 1868. He was regarded as a lawyer of the highest ability ; and it was said that he had no superior, if an equal, on any bench in Illinois.
He married, in 1838, Martha A. Appleton of Lowell, Massachu- setts. Of their five children, one is a member of the Chicago bar.
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JOHN WINGATE.
Born, Ossipee, October, 1831 ; Bowdoin College, 1855 ; practiced, Wolfe- borough ; died, St. Louis, Missouri, November, 1881.
After his graduation Mr. Wingate was for a time a teacher in Wolfeborough, and then turned his attention to legal study. He was in the practice in Wolfeborough from about 1862 to 1866, and then proceeded to Washington, District of Columbia, where he was appointed to a clerkship in one of the departments. He after- wards removed to St. Louis, Missouri, to resume the practice of his profession. He is said to have been prominent in Free- masonry.
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