Bristol County, Massachusetts - Chapter 3: Bench and Bar.i, 1883 (part 1 of 2)

Chapter 3: Bench and Bar.i

Among the prominent agencies which give shape and order in the early development of the civil and social condition of society, the pulpit, press, and bar are perhaps the most potential in moulding the institutions of a new community ; and where these are early planted, the school, academy, and college are not long in assuming their legitimate position, and the maintenance of these institutions secures at the start a social and moral foundation upon which we may safely rest the superstructure of the county, the State, and the nation.

The establishment of courts and judicial tribunals, where society is protected in all its civil rights under the sanction of law, and wrong finds a ready redress in an enlightened and prompt administration of justice, is the first necessity of every civilized community, and without which the forces and press of society, in its changeable developments, even under the teachings of the pulpit, the directions of the press, and the culture of the schools, are exposed to peril and disaster from the turbulence of passion and conflicts

1 The editor acknowledges his indebteduess in the preparation of this chapter to Hon. W. W. Crapo, ex-Attorney-General Geo. Marstou, Hon. E. L. Barney, Thomas M. Stetson, Hon. Lincoln F. Brigham, Charles W. Clifford, Esq., and Rev. S. Hopkins Emery.

of interest ; and hence the best and surest security that even the press, the school, or the pulpit can find for the peaceful performance of its highest functions is when protected by and intrenched behind the bulwarks of law, administered by a pure, independent, and uncorrupted judiciary.

The Bristol County bar has from its beginning numbered among its members able jurists, talented advocates, and safe counselors. Here many have lived, flourished, and died, while others still are upon the stage of action who have been prominent in the advancement of the interests of the county and figured conspicuously in the councils of the State.

New Bedford. - One of the earliest members of the Bristol bar, and a leading lawyer of his day in the State, was Timothy Gardner Coffin, who was born in Nantucket in 1790 of humble Quaker parentage. He early developed a remarkable degree of intelligence, brightness, and activity of mind. He was educated at Brown University, studied law in the office of Kilburn Whitman in Plymouth County, and was admitted to the bar in 1811. He opened an office in New Bedford, and very quickly became a leading lawyer in the county of Bristol, and in the counties of Nantucket, Dukes, Barnstable, and Plymouth, and for more than forty years was engaged in almost every case of importance before the courts of these counties. His contemporaries were Marcus Morton, of Taunton, William Baylies, of Bridgewater, L. Eddy, of Middleborough, Charles Holmes, of Rochester, and N. Marston, of Barnstable, all of whom were eminent and skillful lawyers, and Mr. Coffin was an equal of either of them. He was very quick to observe the weakness of his opponent's cause and to present his client's best points. At times he was eloquent. He was a very sharp cross-examiner of witnesses, and few witnesses could evade his keenness. He was very ready at repartee, and quick to answer every inquiry of counsel or court, and his arguments were difficult to answer.

He was married to Betsey, daughter of the Hon. John Avery Parker, of New Bedford, a leading merchant of that city, and at his death the richest man in New Bedford.

Mr. Coffin never held office of any particular consequence, but confined his attention, time, and skill to his profession, and at his death, September, 1854, he was without question the ablest lawyer in Southern Massachusetts. It is said that Daniel Webster, after a hard-fought case at Nantucket, in which Mr. Coffin was engaged against Mr. Webster, speaking afterwards about the case, and in answer to a question, " Who is Tim Coffin?" said, "He is the ablest lawyer in the United States. He is one I should prefer not to meet of all others I know of."

It is said that he once, after a very able argument before the Supreme Court, in answer to the inquiry of the court (Chief Justice Shaw), "If he had any au- thority to cite to the court to sustain his view and legal points?" replied, "No, your honor, that is for the court to be responsible for its decision. I should prefer not to." He was a very generous and liberal man, with a very kind heart. He was very strong in his likes and dislikes, so that he was a most ardent friend and a very disagreeable enemy. His body lies in the South Cemetery, New Bedford, and where a fine monument was erected to his memory by his children.

John S. Russell was born in New Bedford in 1797, and was the son of Charles Russell and Martha Tillinghast. He studied law in the office of Lemuel Williams, at New Bedford. After his admission to the bar he practiced law in Taunton. He afterwards moved to New Bedford, opened a law-office, and continued in practice until his death in 1834. He was a well-read lawyer and well grounded in the principles of his profession. He was a Quaker. He acquired the reputation of being an honest lawyer ; by that I suppose he was slow to advise men to go to law, acting out his religious convictions as well as his professional observation. To this day, nearly fifty years since his death, whenever spoken of he is mentioned as one that maintained the honor of his professional life. He died in 1834, much esteemed and regarded by his neighbors and fellow-townsmen.

Lemuel Williams was a lawyer who practiced in New Bedford some fifty years ago. He was at that time one of the leaders of the bar. He was at one time collector of customs in New Bedford, but many years ago he removed from New Bedford to Worcester, and so much of his professional life was spent out of the county, we have not thought it proper to say more about him, as he more properly belongs to Worcester County than to Bristol.

Charles H. Warren was also one of the early lawyers in New Bedford. He occupied a very honorable position, was an able advocate, was for several years district attorney before 1836, afterwards was made judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and was an upright and faithful judge. After he returned from the bench he was made president of the Boston and Providence Railroad, which office he held until his death.

Ezra Bassett was born in Rochester, in the commonwealth of Massachusetts. His parents were poor people. He studied law with his brother, Anslem Bassett, Esq., at Taunton, and commenced the practice of the law in Taunton. He also for a short time had an office in Attleborough. In 1834 he came to New Bedford, and there remained, having a considerable share of the law business until his death, in December, 1843. He was a good lawyer, had considerable admiralty practice, and was earnest, energetic, and faithful in his client's interest. He had a large and well-selected law library, perhaps the best law library at the time of any lawyer in New Bedford. He is frequently spoken of by the present members of the bar in the city of New Bedford with much respect. There is now only one member of the bar (Judge Prescott) at New Bedford who was practicing law at his death.

Hon. H. G. 0. Colby1 was the son of Rev. Philip and Harriet (Sewall) Colby, born 1807 in Hallowell, Me. His father was born in Sanbornton, N. H., July 30, 1779, and he was the son of Isaac Colby, a farmer of great industry and strong mind, strict integrity, stern common sense. The maiden name of the wife of Isaac Colby was Phebe Hunt, daughter of Philip Hunt, of Newburyport, Mass., very domestic in her habits, and of a very tender, loving heart. They had nine children. In the year 1800, Philip, the father of Judge Colby, went to Portland, Me., as a merchant's clerk, and afterwards established himself in mercantile pursuits in Hallowell, Me., which he followed for eight years. Six of these years he had been married to his first wife,Miss Harriet Sewall, daughter of Mr. Thomas Sewall, of Vassalborough, Me. They were married the 28th of June, 1804. They had two children. On the 24th of October, 1810, the eldest, a lovely boy of five years, died. "A very remarkable boy," writes Miss Caroline, a daughter of Judge Colby ; " his name Hamilton Van Renssalaer." In February of the following year, the 28th, 1811, the mother also died. "A woman of very fine and most lovely character," writes again Miss Caroline, adding, " these, the mother and the son, are buried side by side at Augusta, Me."

This was the beginning of the Christian life of the father of Judge Colby. He joined himself to the church of Rev. Mr. Gillett, Hallowell, with his wife in her sick-room, and dedicated not only himself but his family to the Lord. He soon relinquished his secular business, and removing to Salem, Mass., spent nearly four years studying with Rev. Dr. Worcester, of the Tabernacle Church, and secretary of the American Board of Missions. This course of study additional to his academic course in Gilmanton, N. H., and supplemented by a large acquaintance with men and things in a long mercantile life, above all, aided and enforced by the teaching which comes from above, well furnished him for a successful and most useful pastorate with the church in North Middleborough, Mass., continuing from the summer of 1817 to the time of his death, Feb. 27, 1851, thirty-four years.

Harrison Gray Otis Colby, the subject of our present notice, was the only surviving child of the first marriage of the minister. He gave promise even in his boyhood of future eminence. So scholarly was he that his mother's brother, the eminent Dr. Sewall, of Washington, took charge of his education and saw him through college.

Taunton. Subsequently he removed to New Bedford, having married his wife there, a daughter of John Avery Parker, Esq. Mr. Colby easily took rank among the foremost of the lawyers of the commonwealth. It was no surprise when he was promoted from the bar to the bench. He was of a tall, commanding figure, resembling in this respect his father, and, like this father, he was dignified, courteous, " every inch a gentleman."

His daughter Caroline, in 1876, writes : " My father died Feb. 22, 1853, and is buried in New Bedford. Four children, three daughters and a son, survived him, the latter being the youngest child, and now an officer in the United States navy. I have the honor and privilege of being the eldest of the family, and my mother has all her daughters with her, except the beloved sister next to myself, who died ten years since, leaving a daughter, the only grandchild, as none of the others have ever married."

I will add, the widow of Judge Colby became the wife of Rev. Dr. Lambert, a distinguished clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Charlestown, Mass.

Thomas Dawes Eliot was born March 20, 1808, in Boston. His father, William Greenleaf Eliot, was of a Boston family, though a resident of Washington for the latter part of his life. His mother's family for many generations were also of Boston. He was named for his grandfather, Judge Thomas Dawes, of the Supreme Judicial Court, whose father was Col. Thomas Dawes, of the Boston Committee of Safety in the Revolutionary period. Mr. Eliot married in 1834, Frances L. Brock, of Nantucket. His brother, Dr. William G. Eliot, is chancellor of the Washington University, at St. Louis, and has been long known as a distinguished Unitarian clergyman in that city. His youngest brother, Capt. Frank A. Eliot, of Philadelphia, was killed at the battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.

Mr. Eliot was graduated in 1825 from Columbia College, in the District of Columbia, and delivered the Latin salutatory address. He soon after commenced his law studies with his uncle, Chief Justice Cranch, of the Circuit Court of the district, and devoted himself to a profession which never lost its charms to him. About 1830 he went to New Bedford, completed his studies with Judge Charles H. Warren, then in full practice, and upon his admission to the bar was invited to a partnership by Mr. Warren. Alter Mr. Warren went upon the bench, Mr. Eliot's practice became very large, comprising common law causes in Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, and the island counties, also an extensive equity business, and employment in admiralty causes, then becoming very numerous in Southern Massachusetts. He was for about thirty years a regular attendant at all the jury terms in this part of the State, and in addition to his business as senior counsel, kept up his own office business in all branches except criminal practice. He was a thorough legal scholar as well as practitioner, master both of the great principles of the law and of its development by the decisions of the court, fully equipped and ready in the varying aspects of a trial by jury, and also in the statelier and more scientific debates in banc.

Among the causes which attracted public attention in which he was engaged we note the great litigation between the two divisions of the denomination of Friends, where the title to the Quaker meeting-houses in Massachusetts and Rhode Island was at risk, and in which the usages and faiths of the respective sects underwent legal investigation ; also the contests in this county, where he maintained the chartered powers of the Massachusetts Medical Society on issues raised by physicians of the homoeopathic school. We note also a private suit, but which from its novelty and magnitude drew general professional and public attention, as the result depended upon the execution, force, and effect of mutual wills. This was the suit of Hetty H. Robinson vs. Thomas Mundell, involving an estate of three millions. The subject of marine insurance was of great and growing importance during his practice. The whaling fleet of New Bedford alone contained about four hundred vessels, and we find his name in the reports of nearly all the causes which grew out of the losses of this great fleet, and the curious peculiarities of whaling-ships and whaling. His tastes were so professional that he twice declined an appointment to the bench. He had no desire for office-holding as such, and after serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate, as the young lawyers were expected to do, kept aloof from political action for many years, devoting himself to practice in the courts, where his reputation for skill, force, and honorable methods was an enviable one. He was of great industry, close application, and conscientious fidelity to his clients, and never lost their confidence.

In 1854 he was invited by the Whigs of the First Congressional District to become their candidate for Congress for an unfinished term. His election followed, and he took his seat in the Thirty-third Congress, in the midst of the intense excitement attendant upon the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, took part in the debate, and his printed speech was circulated by the Whig party to prove its concurrence with the growing anti-slavery sentiment of the State. The next year the Whig party went down before the Native American organization. Its State ticket and all its members of Congress were defeated, and the party never again appeared in political action.

The slavery issues were now engaging political attention. The "Conscience Whigs," so called in Massachusetts, deemed their old party useless for the situation, and sought, with the aid of the Free-Soil organization and practical anti-slavery men of all schools, to organize anew. The result was the Republican party. Mr. Eliot was greatly interested in its formation. He organized the first meeting of the new party in this county. He was unanimously nominated as its candidate for attorney-general of the commonwealth, but declined the nomination, and later presided at its State Convention. After he had been absent from Congress for two congressional terms, the First District again elected him by an immense majority. From this re-election he continued in Congress without opposition till his refusal of further service in 1869. He was early identified in Congress with the anti-slavery spirit of the North. In 1854 he made the first effort for repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law by offering a bill for that purpose. In the session of 1861-62 he urged the adoption of views by the government that should enforce its loftiest authority, and his speeches and debates show how little he regarded all forms and traditions which stood in the way of the safety of the people, which is the suprema lex. He insisted that the protection of the endangered national life justified the strongest measures. He ridiculed the idea of war upon peace principles, and the notion then prevalent of protecting rebels in their slave property when those slaves were wanted for the national defense. In this session he introduced a resolution declaring the right and duty of military commauders to emancipate the slaves of rebels, and supported it by a speech. In 1862, as chairman of the Select Committee on Confiscation, he reported two bills, one for the confiscation of rebel property and one for the emancipation of slaves of rebels. The former was passed, but the latter passed the House only. In 1864 he was chairman of the Committee on Emancipation, and reported and advocated the bill establishing a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs, which became a law. It was in the conception, formation, and passage of this bill, and in his watchful care of the interests of the bureau when organized, that he performed a service which places his name not only among far-seeing statesmen, but among the wisest and best philanthropists. It is one of the enduring honors of the nation's statutebook, a high-water mark of the humanities of civilized legislation. It was vetoed by President Johnson, and was only carried over his veto by the unflagging zeal and devotion of Mr. Eliot.

He was the author of the Coolie Bill, and its passage was due to his efforts. The system of importation of Chinese coolies bound by labor contracts was leading to a system hardly less abominable and degrading than actual slavery. Under his lead the Thirtyseventh Congress enacted a stringent law prohibiting American vessels from engaging in this trade, a result deemed by the anti-slavery sentiment of England and America as second only to the abolition of the African slave trade.

At the end of the war Mr. Eliot desired to leave j Congress, but the urgent call of the district prevented, | and he remained in failing health till 1869, and then absolutely declined a renomination after a service of

Eminent as he was in forensic and parliamentary debate, he was not less so in conscientious fidelity to duty, for unselfish patriotism and his noble advocacy of human rights. He had the well-won esteem of the bar and bench. In public life, too, he was completely trusted by his associates and respected by his political opponents. His position was never doubtful ; he felt it the duty of statesmen to try to lead the people where they should go, and was willing to take the risks of such a course. An anecdote may be in place here showing how the astute head and kindly heart of President Lincoln recognized the same qualities in Mr. Eliot.

A citizen of Massachusetts of good character was indicted for embezzlement from a post-office. The trial was a difficult one upon evidence mainly circumstantial, and the result a conviction and heavy sentence.

An application for pardon was made to the President by the neighbors of the defendant, who had long known him and could not believe him guilty.

Mr. Lincoln referred the topic to the Law Department, and this led to an adverse and positive report from the United States attorney who had tried the case. Mr. Lincoln was not satisfied. He had acquired doubts of the propriety of the conviction, partly from his own examination of the case and partly from the zeal of the prosecuting officer, which he said was praiseworthy but might be too partisan. At last he wrote upon the papers " referred to Hon. T. D. Eliot. - Abraham Lincoln." Mr. Eliot made a careful investigation, was convinced that the verdict was wrong, and so reported to the President.

A pardon followed with a promptness that surprised and rather provoked the prosecuting officers. When Mr. Eliot next met Mr. Lincoln the latter advanced with both hands extended and face full of satisfaction, " Well, Eliot," said he, "we've got our man clear."

" Mr. Eliot was pure-minded, kind-hearted, of sterling integrity, and of a most catholic spirit. In our unreserved intercourse with him, we can recall no instance in which he indulged in any unkind, uncharitable, or disparaging remarks about even those who had maligned him. He spoke no ill of his neighbor, but evinced a spirit of charity as beautiful as it is rare.

" He was a deeply religious man, always ready with good words, and as ready with good works. Of his labors in the Sunday-school of the Unitarian Church, where for years he was superintendent, many of our readers have grateful recollections. His heart was in the work, and he deeply regretted the necessity of its relinquishment. Thousands will call to mind his invaluable services as president of the National Conference of Unitarian Churches and also of the American Unitarian Association, his admirable tact in the chair, his hearty zeal and enthusiasm, and his earnest and successful exertions for fraternal union. He was a generous man, prompt to give to every good object, and foremost in his contributions of money or of labor to sustain all benevolent enterprises. Better than any triumph at the bar or the highest honors won in political life is the simple record of his unselfish Christian life. He rests from his labors, and his works do follow him."

John Ham Williams Page1 was born at Gilmanton, N. H., and was graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1826. In September of that year he took charge of Friends' Academy at New Bedford, where he continued until the spring of 1829, when impaired health compelled him to resign that position. After a brief season of rest he commenced the study of the law, and was for a time at the Dane Law School in Cambridge. He was admitted to the bar in June, 1832, and at once opened an office at New Bedford, where he soon acquired a remunerative practice. His vigorous mind and capacity and method of application had mastered the principles of legal science, and his quickness of apprehension and practical industry soon made him familiar with the details of business. His vigor, earnestness, and evident ability attracted and retained clients, who never had occasion to regret their selection of counsel. If he excelled in any one branch of professional service more than another it was in the application of the law to the affairs of active business. He had grown into ripeness of experience and preparation when the disturbed condition of practical affairs, before and in the year 1837, before there was any insolvent law or bankrupt law, furnished abundant occupation for bright, energetic, and capable lawyers. Mr. Page had at this time a large clientage, and no one was more faithful and indefatigable than he was in his employment. He maintained a leading position at the bar of Bristol County, practicing also in the counties of Plymouth, Barnstable, Nantucket, and Dukes County, until he removed to Boston to assume the duties of treasurer of the Lawrence machine-shop, a large manufacturing establishment, in which place he continued for many years.

Before this he was a member of the House of Representatives, and was chairman of the Railroad Committee. During his service there a charter was granted for a railroad from Middleborough to Sandwich, as the Cape Cod Branch Railroad, in which Mr. Page took a strong interest, and a few years later he was chosen president of that railroad corporation, and remained as such until his death. He supervised the financial affairs of the railroad company daring the extension of the road from Sandwich to Hyannis, and assisted largely to maintain its credit and make it finally successful. He was vigilant to understand all the details of the affairs of the company, and was thoroughly informed in railroad management.

He took a deep and practical interest in agriculture, and was for a number of years the president of the Bristol County Agricultural Society, which was never more successful than while under his efficient management.

While Mr. Page showed great capability in all the various matters with which he was concerned, in none was he more conspicuous than as a lawyer. It was an evident mistake that he left a profession the duties of which he was so well suited to fill and adorn to enter quite late in life upon the more uncertain field of business, and in which he was not wholly successful. Mr. Page was an excellent scholar as well as lawyer, and his social qualities endeared him closely to those who knew him best and understood him best.

John Henry Clifford,2 the sixth of thirteen children of Benjamin and Achsah (Wade) Clifford, was born in Providence, R. I., on the 16th of January, 1809, and graduated at Brown University in 1827. He was admitted to the bar of Bristol County in 1830, after completing his course in the study of law, under the direction of Hon. Timothy G. Coffin, at New Bedford, and of Hon. Theron Metcalf, afterwards one of the judges of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts at Dedham, Norfolk Co., Mass. On the 16th of January, 1832, he married Sarah Parker Allen, daughter of William Harland and Ruth (Parker) Allen, the latter a daughter of Hon. John Avery and Averie (Standish) Parker, who was a descendant in the sixth generation from Capt. Miles Standish.

He practiced law in New Bedlord from the time of his admission to the bar to the day of his death, at first, for a brief period, as the partner of Hon. Timothy G. Coffin, subsequently, for nearly ten years, as the partner of Harrison G. O. Colby, Esq., his classmate in college. From 1845 to 1853 his student of law, Lincoln F. Brigham, now chief justice of the Superior Court of Massachusetts, was his junior partner, and after 1853 he had no partner in the practice of law.

His first appearance in public life was in 1835, when he was a representative of New Bedford in the Legislature of Massachusetts. It was the year of the revision of the statutes of the commonwealth, and he did good and faithful service on the large committee which had that subject in charge. In 1836 he became one of the aides-de-camp of Governor Everett, and retained that position until, by a single vote out of a hundred thousand votes, Mr. Everett's chief magistracy was brought to a close in 1840.

whom he had the highest confidence, the appointment of district attorney for the Southern District of Massachusetts, an office in which he served the commonwealth assiduously and successfully for nearly ten years.

Meantime, in 1845, the county of Bristol had elected him a member of the Senate of Massachusetts, where he gave renewed evidence of his ability and accomplishments as a debater and a legislator.

In 18-19 he entered upon the duties of an office which was to be the field of his longest and most distinguished public service. In that year he received from Governor Briggs the appointment of attorney-general of the State.

Early in the following year it fell to his lot to conduct a memorable trial, with which his name will be always most prominently and honorably associated. No trial in the history of our country for many generations, if ever, has excited a deeper interest or challenged a more anxious and critical attention than that of Professor John W. Webster for the murder of Dr. George Park man.

In Blackwood's Magazine for June, 1850, in an article on " Modern State Trials," being one of a series of articles from the pen of the eminent barrister, Samuel Warren, the author of " Diary of a Physician" and of " Ten Thousand a Year," occurs the following passage:

" It was our intention to have included in this paper a sketch of a great American trial for murder, that of the late Professor Webster for the murder of Dr. Parkman, a fearful occurrence, a black and dismal tragedy from beginning to end, exhibiting most remarkable indications, as it appears to us, of the overruling Providence which sometimes sees fit to allow its agency in human affairs to become visible to us. All we shall at present say on the subject is that the reply of Mr. Clifford for the prosecution cannot be excelled in close and conclusive reasoning, conveyed in language equally elegant and forcible. Its effect, as a demonstration of the guilt of the accused, is fearful."

In the autumn of 1852 a convention of the Whig party of Massachusetts nominated Attorney-General Clifford for Governor of the State. He accepted the nomination with reluctance, and although he received nearly twenty-five thousand votes more than either of the opposing candidates, he was not elected by the people. On the meeting of the Legislature, however, he was chosen by the votes of the two branches, and was inaugurated as Governor of Massachusetts on the 14th of January, 1853.

"The law is our only sovereign. The loyalty which in other countries is rendered to the mere accident of birth is here due to that invisible but omnipresent power which we have voluntarily enthroned and established for our protection and guidance under the majestic name of Law."'

Governor Clifford discharged the duties of the chief magistracy with great fidelity and dignity, and it was only for him to say whether he should remain in the office for a second year. But his interest in his profession determined him to decline a renomination, and on the election of Governor Emory Washburn as his successor he was at once called on by him to resume his place as attorney-general of the commonwealth. He continued to hold that office - by executive appointment for one year, by legislative election for another, and again for a third by the choice of the people of the State - until 1858. He had thus served the commonwealth as its highest law-officer for a full term of seven years in all, and in that capacity had certainly rendered his best public service and acquired his greatest public distinction.

In retiring finally from his position he did not abandon his professional labors, but was frequently to be found in the highest courts of the commonwealth and of the nation in the argument of important cases. During the terrible civil war which soon afterwards afflicted the country he omitted no efforts in his power to sustain the cause of the Union according to the convictions of his own conscience. More than once he was summoned to Washington to hold council with cabinet officers in regard to measures in contemplation. At home, too, he spared neither time nor money in encouraging the soldiers who went out from his own city or county. In 18G2 he accepted an election to the State Senate, and was at once chosen president of that body, in that capacity rendering conspicuous service to the commonwealth at the most critical period of the war. In 1868 he was one of the electors at large, and united in giving the vote of Massachusetts to President Grant.

In the previous year, however, 1867, he had entered upon a line of life which was finally to separate him from further professional or political service, and to confine him to the routine of practical business. Assuming the charge of the Boston and Providence Railroad corporation as its president, he devoted himself to its affairs with all his accustomed earnestness and energy.

He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society. But he rendered larger services to Harvard University at Cambridge, of which he was for many years one of the overseers and repeatedly the president of the board, in which capacity it became his duty to officiate at the induction iu 1853 of the late Rev. Dr. Walker, and in 1869 of Charles W. Eliot, Esq., as presidents of the university. He received the degree of LL.D. from Brown University and also from Harvard University.

Governor Clifford was also one of the original board of trustees of the great education fund established by the munificence of George Peabody, his personal friend, for the impoverished and desolated States of the South. No one was more faithful to that noble trust, and no one will be more affectionately and gratefully remembered by all who were associated with him in its labors and responsibilities.

In the spring of 1873 he was compelled to abandon all occupation and fly to the salubrious airs of Florida. In the spring of 1875 a visit to Europe was recommended to him, and he sailed for Liverpool on the 24th of April of that year.

Before Governor Clifford embarked for Europe he had declined appointments as United States Minister both to Russia and to Turkey, which had been successively offered to him by the administration at Washington. He had, however, previously accepted an appointment as United States Commissioner on the Fisheries under the arbitration treaty with Great Britain, and had always contemplated fulfilling that appointment.

But his work was ended, public and private. Indeed, he had hardly reached his home in New Bedford, after a brief stay in Boston, where he arrived, and was but just beginning to receive from his old friends and neighbors the tokens of welcome which had awaited him, when a disease of the heart, which had given mysterious indications in former years, was now unmistakably manifested. A very few weeks sufficed to bring it to a crisis, and on the morning of the 2d of January, 1876, he died at New Bedford, in the house in which he had enjoyed for more than forty years the rarest domestic felicity, although from it again and again beloved children, in the most endearing stages of their lives, had been taken by the angel of death. His wife, two daughters, and three sons_Charles Warren Clifford, Walter Clifford, both members of the bar of Bristol County, and Dr. Arthur Clifford, since deceased - survived him.

The following tribute to Governor Clifford was offered by a distinguished statesman of Virginia (the Hon. Alexander H. H. Stuart) when his death was announced at the annual meeting of the Peabody trustees at the White Sulphur Springs, in Virginia, in August, 1876 :

"There was a quiet dignity and grace in every movement, and his countenance beamed with intelligence and benignity. To a mind of great power he united a heart which throbbed with generous impulses, and a happy facility of expression which gave a peculiar charm to his conversation. There was a frankness in his bearing and a genial urbanity about him which at ouce commended confidence and inspired good will. Every one who approached him felt attracted by a species of personal magnetism which was irresistible."

This biography of John Henry Clifford would be inadequate as a testimonial of his life and career if it did not include a statement of the following public demonstrations in memory of him which upon his death emanated from the political, charitable, literary, commercial, and professional institutions in which he had exercised conspicuous and beneficent functions :

" Washington, Jan. 3, 1876. " The announcement of the death of your most excellent father is received with the deepest regret. The country loses a good and pure man. The President tenders his sincere condolence. Be assured of my sympathy and sorrow.

" Nor can you or I forget that even now the earth is receiving to its bosom the remains of a past chief magistrate of the commonwealth, who embodied in his character and exemplified in his life all that we recognize as highest and noblest in the name of Christian and scholar, statesman, gentleman, and friend."

"The committee on the death of ex-Governor Clifford, to whom was referred the communication of His Excellency the Governor, report the accompanying resolutions:

" ' Resolved, That in the death of John Henry Clifford, ex-Governor of Massachusetts, the commonwealth has lostone of its most useful, accomplished, and distinguished citizens. Whether his varied and well-trained powers were exerted in the cause of education or in the execution of the laws, or exercised in debate in either branch of the Legislature of this State, or tested in the responsible executive duties devolving upon him as the chief magistrate of this commonwealth, in all the positions of public trust he so worthily filled he illustrated the ardor of his patriotism, the vigor of his intellectual powers, and added to the fame of the State which now mourns his death and honors his memory.

"'Resolved, That his private, no less thau his public, life bore testimony to the wisdom, strength, beauty, ami grace of his personal character; dignified without austerity, firm and decided in his convictions, yet courteous and deferential to those of his associates, with a power to apply his varied attainments to the practical affairs of business life, he added to the prosperity and happiness of his fellow-citizens by his services and counsel, and thus exemplified the peculiar republican simplicity of our systems of government, which recognize all public positions as temporary trusts, conferring honor only upon those who by wise and pure administration prove themselves worthy the no less honorable duties of private life.'

"The following resolutions, proposed by Hon. A. H. H. Stuart, of Virginia, and seconded by Gen. Richard Taylor, of Louisiana, were unanimously adopted:

" ' Resolved, That we have heard with profound sorrow of the death, since our last annual meeting, of Hon. John II. Clifford, one of our original trustees, appointed by Mr. George Peabody to superintend the administration of his munificent donations to the cause of education in the Southern States. We feel that in the death of Governor Clifford we have lost the services and co-operation of one of the most useful, zealous, and efficient members of our body, and that we have been deprived of the society of a gentleman whose eminent talents, liberal attainments, dignified and affable manners, and genial temper were sources of constant pleasure to all who had the good fortune to be thrown into intimate association with him. As legislator, attorney-general, and Governor of Massachusetts, he gave abundant evidence of his wisdom, legal and administrative ability, and enlightened patriotism. As a sagacious, energetic, and public-spirited citizen, he contributed largely to the development of the material interests of his native State. And in his private life there was a continual exhibition of those manly virtues and attractive graces which dignify and adorn the character of the Christian gentleman.

" 'His seat at our board has been left vacant. The places that have known him will know him no more. He has gone to enjoy the reward of a well-spent life. All that is left to us is the memory of his talents, his eminent public services, and his many virtues.

" ' We bow with humble resignation to the will of Him in whose bauds are the issues of life and death, and with sorrowful hearts we now desire to inscribe on our records this imperfect tribute of reverence and affection for the memory of our deceased associate and friend.'

"In the death of our late associate, John H. Clifford, we recognize the interruption of an honorable, useful, and happy life. Born in another Stale, he attained the highest official station in our commonwealth; educated in another university, he presided for many years over the Overseers of Harvard ; trained to the law, he reached its high honors a quarter of a century before he retired from practice to gain equal precedence in another field of labor; trusted with high public offices, he held in private social station an equal rank ; and whether in public or in private, he held no place which he did not adequately fill. Administering the affairs of the commonwealth or the business of his corporation, he was wise in counsel, conservative in action, skillful in dealing with men. Presiding in the Senate or in this board, we well know his tact, his courtesy, his impartiality. In his profession, to the strength of a sound mind' in a sound body he did not disdain to add the grace of clear expression and of silver speech. As attorney-general, he gave a dignity to the office of public prosecutor, which in his hands partook of the nature of judicial service. In private life, welcome at every board, he welcomed bis friends to bis own with a broad, free hospitality. Success waited upon desert throughout his life. As a public man, no malice assailed, no envy touched him. In his profession, the successful prosecution of a great criminal in a cause ctJUbre gave him a name at home and abroad. In his later business career, he left the corporation which he had in charge at the head of its kind in prosperity, and gave to our city an ornament which may stand as a monument alike of his good taste and his good judgment. His grace of manner, the expression of a kind and genial nature, attracted hosts of friends, whom bis real worth retained ; and in the sacred circle of home love was given and returned without stint or limit. He carried into public and business life the high sense of honor which is too often left at the home threshold ; and the State-House, the court-house, and the railroad felt its presence and its influence.

" At a meeting of the directors of the Boston and Providence Railroad corporation, railed for Wednesday, Jan. 12, 1S76, owing to the death of the Hon. John Henry Clifford, the late president of the company, which occurred suddenly at his home in New Bedford, on Sunday morning, January 2d, in the sixty-seventh year of his age, the following resolutions wen- adopted and ordered to be entered upon the records. The actingpresident was requested to send a copy to Mr. Clifford's family :

"In the death of their president, his associate directors recognize the loss to the community - in which he had held so prominent and honorable a position during a peculiarly active and useful life - of a distinguished chief magistrate, of a pure, able, and eloquent public servant in the Senate and the forum, of a valued citizen, and of a most genial, cultivated, and courteous gentleman.

" His presence will be missed from the academic exercises and advising council of our neighboring university, of which he was an adopted and favorite son, and whose honors he so greatly valued ; from the list of the loyal living suns of his own cherished Alma Mater, and from the board of trustees who were charged with the liberal educational bequest of the late George Peabody.

"The general government, whose proffers of diplomatic life he felt obliged to decline, the commonwealth and the bar, with many learned bodies of which he was a member, have already offered their tributes to the memory of Mr. Clifford ; but, as intimately associated with him in his official position as president of this corporation, we wish to make some simple record of the attachment and bereavement of every person connected with it.

"Resolved, That by the death of President Clifford the stockholders of the Boston and Providence Railroad corporation have lost the services of one who gave of the best years of his life to their interests, and during whose administration, marked as it was by enterprise, discretion, and a conservative liberality, the prosperity of the road was so conspicuous." . . .

'" Resolved, That while we are saddened by the affliction which has removed from our sight our most eminent brother and leader, our recollection of his professional career affords the highest satisfaction. His love of the law, as the chosen pursuit of his life, was sincere, ardent, controlling, and unabated. His ability was unquestioned in every department of his profession. His learning was ample and his skill adequate to every exigency. The tone of his practice, whether in consultation or in his addresses to the jury or to the court, was always in accord with the purest ethics. His fidelity to his client and his cause was only equaled by his fidelity to the best standards of honor and duty. As the law officer of the commonwealth, he added dignity to the office and distinction to the State. The fame which he attained as a lawyer was illustrated by the noblest qualities of personal character.'"

The foregoing biography has been composed mostly by adopting, in substance and in words, parts of a memoir prepared - agreeably to a resolution of the Massachusetts Historical Society - by Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, who became, in 1836, one of the aides-decamp of Governor Edward Everett, and then formed with Col. Clifford ties which for more than forty years were maintained by constant correspondence and familiar friendship. The composer of this biography is one who regrets that the necessary limitations of his work do not permit him to do justice to the charming and endearing personality of John Henry Clifford, and to an experience of his abundant and delicate kindness of heart during more than thirty years of intimate professional and affectionate social intercourse with him.

Joseph Ricketson Williams, son of Richard and Rebecca (Smith) Williams, of New Bedford, Mass., was born on the 14th of November, 1808, and was a lineal descendant of Edward Winslow, the Puritan. Under the instruction of Luther B. Lincoln he was fitted for Harvard at the Sandwich Academy. He gained a high rank of scholarship, and graduated with distinguished honors at Cambridge in 1831. He then entered the law-office of Hon. John Davis in Worcester, with whom he completed his studies for the practice of law. After his admittance to the bar, he was offered a partnership with Hon. John H. Clifford, of New Bedford, which his uncertain state of health induced him to decline, and he relinquished his profession, and in 1835 he accepted the agency of an extensive New England company for investments in Western lands, and went to Toledo, Ohio. There he built the American Hotel, and, with Mr. Pierre M. Irving, laid the foundation of the Toledo Blade, and gave it its significant name. In 1839 he took up valuable lands on St. Joseph's River in Michigan, and built a fine flouring mill, which after a profitable business of several years was destroyed by fire.

From 1837 to 1853, Mr. Williams was largely identified with the political interests of the State of Michigan. Twice a candidate for the United States Senate against Gen. Cass, and three times a Whig candidate for Congress, owing to the overwhelming strength of the Democratic party, the Whigs were successively defeated. He was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention of Michigan in 1850. In 1853 he returned to Toledo, bought out the Blade, which then became the sturdy advocate of Republican principles. It nominated Salmon Chase for Governor of the State, and did more for the party in Northern Ohio than all the other papers in the State. After three years of editorial labor his health again failed him, and he accepted at the hands of the Michigan Legislature the presidency of the Agricultural College of Michigan at Lansing. Few men had written with greater ability on agricultural subjects, and he was marked as the most suitable person to inaugurate this experiment, the first of its kind in this country.

The undertaking prospered, but after a year of laborious exertion he was forced to abandon the work and seek relief in Havana and the Bermudas.

He returned in 1860 improved in health, and was elected to the Senate of Michigan, which body elected him president. His speeches to the Senate at the outbreak of the Rebellion are models of patriotism and eloquence.

Mr. Williams was a writer of great power, his ideas comprehensive, and his words fitly chosen. He was a man of great heart, generous, and deeply sensitive to the misfortunes of his fellow-men. In social life he was a most agreeable companion, full of intelligence, with a large acquaintance with books and extensive literary acquirements, which served to adorn his natural powers as a conversationalist. The precarious state of his health prevented him from being one of the men of mark in his native State, and returning in a large measure to his Alma Mater the fruits of her planting.

His death at any time would have been felt as a calamity, but it happened at a time when the thoughts of such men were needed to give tone and character to the public acts and enterprises of the age, and was felt most keenly by his associates.

Mr. Williams died suddenly on the 15th of June, 1861, at his old home in Constantine, and was buried in New Bedford. He married in Buffalo, in 1844, Sarah Rowland Langdon, daughter of John Langdon, and grandniece of Gen. John Langdon, of New Hampshire.

Hon. Joshua Clapp Stone, a son of Henry B. and Elizabeth [Clapp) Stone, was born in Boston on the 28th of August, 1825. His father was cashier and president of the Suffolk Bank. He lived in Boston till 1838, and was there a pupil of Mr. T. B. Haywood. At an academy at Leicester, Mass., he prepared for Harvard College, which he entered in 1840. He was a diligent student, and his gentlemanly manners, honorable bearing, sympathetic nature, and genial ways won and retained the universal respect of the faculty and his fellow-students. After his graduation in 1844 he entered the Dane Law School of Harvard. In 1846 he entered the law-office of Col. J. H. W. Paige, of New Bedford, remaining there till 1853, when he associated himself with Judge Brigham, of the same city, remaining with him till Mr. Brigham was appointed to the bench, when he returned to Boston. The attractions of New Bedford for him led him back to that city in 1862, when he entered into partnership with Hon. W. W. Crapo, with whom he remained till his death. He was at one time justice of the Court of Insolvency for the county of Bristol. In 1866 and 1867 he represented the Eleventh Representative District in the Massachusetts Legislature.

Sept. 17, 1850, Mr. Stone married Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel and Anna Hatheway, of New Bedford. He died in that city Jan. 2, 1869, leaving a widow and five children, four sons and a daughter, all of whom are living. Mr. Stone was held in high esteem, and was a great loss not only to his family, but to the social and business community and to the legal profession. As a counselor, he was regarded as honorable and upright; as an advocate, convincing, persuasive, earnest, and logical ; as a legislator, public-spirited, zealous, and sincere. His associates ot the bar had a high appreciation of his legal knowledge and keen judgment ; judges before whom lie appeared showed their appreciation of his manliness, ability, and sincerity ; the Legislature felt his power, and was honored and strengthened by his presence.

Oliver Prescott is now the oldest lawyer practicing law in New Bedford. He was born in Middlesex County, Nov. 25, 1806, was educated at Harvard College, and, after teaching at the Friends' Academy in New Bedford, and studying law in the law school at Cambridge, in the office of Lemuel Williams, Esq., of New Bedford, was admitted to the bar at the June term in 1832. He was appointed judge of probate in 1835, and held that office until the court was abolished in 1858. He was in 1846 appointed judge of the police court of New Bedford, and held that office until 1858, when he resigned.

He has always been a careful, wise, and discreet adviser, and has had more experience in probate matters than any other lawyer in this county. He has always had the confidence and regard of his brethren at the bar, and is now held in much esteem by all classes of the citizens of New Bedford and adjoining towns.

Hon. George Marston. - When in the winter of 1868-69 the members of the New Bedford bar stood around the open grave of Joshua C. Stone, paying the last tribute of respect to one who from the first rank in the profession had just passed away in the fullness of his great powers, the thought must have passed through the minds of many, " Who will fill his place?" The older members of the bar had then all either passed away, retired from active practice, or gone upon the bench, and while others were distinguished in other branches of the profession the mantle of leadership in the courts had fallen upon

Stone and Stetson. To this high position made vacant by the death of Mr. Stone the name of no heirapparent appeared upon the roll of the New Bedford bar, which at this time was very limited in number, and it was evident that Mr. Stone's successor must be found elsewhere. The reputation which George Marston, of Barnstable, then district attorney for the Southern District, had already achieved throughout Southern Massachusetts determined the selection, and on Feb. 1, 1869, Mr. Marston removed to New Bedford and took the vacant chair.

Burn at Barnstable, Oct. 15, 1821, he was educated at the common schools of his native town, and completed his professional education at the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar at the September term, 1845. But no adequate conception of his opportunities in the preparation for his professional career would be gained without remembering that he had the good fortune to sit at the feet of Nynphas Marston, his uncle, whose influence, inspired by the respect and affection and confidence in which he was held by the people of his county, was said to be so great that a Barnstable County jury could not give a verdict against Nynphas Marston, and it was undoubtedly from this source that the nephew acquired those characteristics which, on a wide field, enabled him to repeat his uncle's experience. While a resident of Barnstable he was, from March, 1853, to December, 1854, register of probate, and judge of probate from 1854 to July 1, 1858. For nearly twenty years (January, 1860-79) he held the office of district attorney for the Southern District with such marked ability and conscientious devotion to its delicate and responsible duties that when, on his promotion to the office of attorney-general, he resigned this office to which he had been seven times elected, the bar of Bristol united in a public testimonial of their appreciation of his public worth and distinguished services. Entering on the discharge of his duties as attorneygeneral of the commonwealth, January, 1879, he was three times re-elected, and having in the fall of 1882 declined a renomination, he closed, in January, 1883, a service of a quarter of a century as a prosecuting officer with a record of unsullied integrity, great ability, and the affectionate regard of all classes of people rarely equaled. But it is not only as a public officer that he is known and respected. For the last fifteen years scarcely a cause of the first magnitude has been tried on the civil side of the court in which Mr. Marston has not been engaged, and in which his arguments to the jury have been masterpieces of forensic ability. Nor has his work been confined entirely to the strict line of his profession. As president of the Nantucket and Cape Cod Steamboat Company, director of the Old Colony Eailroad Company, the Citizens' National Bank of New Bedford, and the Quincy Mutual Fire Insurance Company, he has displayed business abilities of a high order.

that the question which was in their minds on that beautiful winter's day in January, 1869, has been fully answered, and that with untiring energy and pre-eminent ability, with marvelous resources and quickness in their use, with the keenest conception of the true relation of facts to each other, with an unlimited fertility of expression and effective and persuasive diction, all united with an impressive physique, and with all these great powers held in place and controlled by a fullness of heart which has won the affection, and a character of perfect integrity which has commanded the respect, of all, George Marston has worthily and completely continued the succession of the leaders of the bar of Southern Massachusetts.

Lincoln Flagg Brigham was born in Cambridge (Port), Mass., on Oct. 4, 1819, and was the youngest of six children, whose parents were Lincoln Brigham, son of Elijah and Ruth (Taylor) Brigham, of Southboro', Mass., and Lucy (Forbes) Brigham, daughter of Elisha and Hannah (Flagg) Forbes, of Westboro', Mass. Lincoln Brigham, father of the subject of this sketch, was a descendant of the sixth generation from " Thomas Brigham, who, aged thirty-two years, embarked at London for New England April 18, 1635, in the ship 'Susan and Ellyn,' Edward Payne, master," and was a " townsman" of Cambridge, Mass., where he died in 1853, leaving three sons, who upon the second marriage of their mother settled in Marlboro', Mass., and are supposed to have been the progenitors of all persons in the United States bearing the name of Brigham.

Lincoln F. Brigham, when partially fitted for college, entered the counting-room of Samuel Austin, Jr., a distinguished merchant of Boston, engaged in trade with Calcutta, and after remaining in this employment between two and three years, abandoned his commercial education and prepared for college under the private tuition of Rev. David Peabody, the husband of his eldest sister, and afterwards Professor of Belles-Lettres and Rhetoric in Dartmouth College ; entered in 1838, and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1842. He immediately upon leaving college entered the Dane Law School of Harvard University, and there remained until January, 1844, when he entered as a student of law the office of Clifford (John H.) & Colby (Harrison G. O.) at New Bedford, and there studied law until he was admitted to the bar in Court of Common Pleas, Bristol County, at New Bedford, June term, 1845. H. G. O. Colby having a month previously been appointed a justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Mr. Clifford, on July 1, 1845, received Mr. Brigham into a partnership with him in the practice of law, which continued until Mr. Clifford became Governor of Massachusetts in 1853, when he appointed Mr. Brigham to the office of district attorney of the Southern District of Massachusetts, comprising the counties of Bristol, Barnstable, Nantucket, and Duke's.

On Oct. 20, 1847, Lincoln F. Brigham married Eliza Endicott Swain, only daughter of Thomas Swain, of New Bedford, and son of Thaddeus and Ruth (Hussey) Swain, both natives of Nantucket, and Sylvia (Perry) Swain, of New Bedford, daughter of Dr. Samuel and Sylvia (Clapp) Perry, and their children are four sons.

Mr. Brigham held the office of district attorney of the Southern District, under his original appointment, until 1856, when, that office becoming elective, he was elected to and continued in it until he was appointed in 1859 by Governor N. P. Banks, upon the establishment of the Superior Court, to be one of its associate justices, and served in that office until on Jan. 28, 1869, upon the promotion of Seth Ames, chief justice of the Superior Court to the Supreme Judicial Court, Governor William Chaflin appointed Judge Brigham to the chief justiceship of the Superior Court, and he is now in that office. Judge Brigham resided in New Bedford from 1844 to 1860, in Boston from 1860 to 1866, and from 1866 to this time in Salem, Essex Co., Mass. Judge Brigham has never held or been a candidate for any political office.

Judge Brigham's career has been one of constant success; whether at the bar pleading for his client, or as public prosecutor enforcing the criminal laws of the commonwealth, or upon the bench holding with absolute impartiality the scales of justice, he has won the unqualified approval of all with whom he has been associated. But, better even than this, his perfect mental and moral integrity, born of a conscience which palliates no deviation from the highest and most exacting standard of duty, has won for his professional and judicial life the respect and admiration of every class of men ; while his courtesy and benignity, beaming from a face of wonderful attractiveness, have made Lowell's lines as true of him as they were of Agassiz, that

Alansen Borden, the present judge of the Third District Court of Bristol, holden at New Bedford, was born in Tiverton, R. I. (now Fall River) in 1823. He studied law in the office of Eliot & Kasson, in New Bedford, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1849. He has been one of the School Committee of New Bedford a number of years, was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, was assistant assessor under the internal revenue law in 1864, was judge of the police court, and became judge of the present District Court, which office he now holds. He was mayor of New Bedford in 1877 for one year.

Edwin Luther Barney was born in Swansea, in this commonwealth, on the 1st day of April, A.D. 1827. His father was Capt. Edwin Barney, son of the reputed ship-builder, Moses Barney. At a very early age his father died, and his mother was left with

At nine years of age Mr. Barney left his home to get his own livelihood, and from nine to sixteen years of age worked upon a farm for his living, goiug to school winters, some four months each year. After about sixteen years of age he worked upon a farm and went to academic schools in the fall with the earnings of the same, and in the winters went to school, doing chores for his board, and thus acquired a sufficient education to pass, in the fall of 1846, admission to Brown University. In March, 1849, he came to New Bedford, where he has since resided, and entered the law-office of the late Timothy G. Coffin, and in October, 1850, was admitted before the full court to practice law in the courts of Massachusetts. Mr. Barney soon afterwards entered into partnership with Mr. Coffin, and from November, 1850, to January, 1853, the firm was Coffin & Barney. Then Mr. Barney at his request withdrew from the firm and commenced the practice of the law alone, and from that date to this time has been engaged in all the various branches of his profession. He is now in the prime of life, with all the vigor of a man of thirty years of age. Democratic in politics.

Robert C. Pitman is a native of New Bedford. He came to the bar in 1847 ; was a partner for a number of years with Thomas D. Eliot, then a leading lawyer in New Bedford. He was a judge of the Police Court of New Bedford for several years ; then he went to the State Senate, where he proved to be a leading man. He was an active temperance worker and legislator, and then he worked his way to the appointment of a judge of the Supreme Court. He has an excellent judicial mind, and is in every way qualified for the highest court of the commonwealth. Judge Pitman is a hard student and honest thinker not only in law, but in all questions of interest to humanity.

He was educated at the public schools in New Bedford, prepared for college at Phillips Academy, Andover, and subsequently entered Yale, where he graduated in 1852. Having decided upon the legal profession as his life-work, he commenced the study of the law in the office of the late Governor Clifford at New Bedford, and also attended the Dane Law School at Cambridge. He was admitted to the bar in February, 1855, and commenced practice in New Bedford, where he has since resided. In April following his admission to the bar he was appointed city solicitor, which office he held twelve years.

In 1856, Mr. Crapo entered the political arena, making his first speeches for John C. Fremont, the first candidate of the Republican party for President. In the autumn of the same year he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and the

Bench And Bah

Not only did Mr. Crapo soon secure a leading position at the bar, but he won in an especial manner the confidence of the citizens of New Bedford. All movements tending to advance the interests of New Bedford have found in him an earnest supporter. He was chairman of the commission on the introduction of water, and from 1865 to 1875 was chairman of the water board.

In all positions where business capacity, good judgment, and executive ability are needed his services are always in request. As guardian or trustee for the management of estates, his high character and business talent brought to him the tender of more business than he could possibly undertake. In the larger field of business enterprise and the management of financial affairs, his peculiar endowments and his entire trustworthiness have been fully recognized for many years. He has been for twelve years the president of the Mechanics' National Bank of New Bedford, is a trustee in one savings-bank and is solicitor for several others. He is a director in the Potamska Mills and the Wamsutta Mills corporations and other manufactories, and is associated in the management of several railroad corporations. He is a prominent manufacturer of lumber, and has interests in shipping. In his profession he is preeminently a business lawyer, being familiar with large commercial transactions in all their bearings. With the insurance business he has been familiar from a boy in his father's office, and was for many years a director in one of the old New Bedford companies. He is also president of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad in Michigan, a part of which was organized and begun through his father's efforts.

Mr. Crapo is a scholarly man of great mental grasp, industry, and energy, which have enabled him to master and successfully carry through in all their detail the duties devolved upon him by so many varied interests.

He was elected as a representative to the Fortyfourth Congress to fill a vacancy, and was re-elected to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh Congresses, declining in 1882 to longer be a candidate. Mr. Crapo early took a prominent position in Congress, and in the Forty-fifth Congress was a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in the Forty-sixth was in the Committee on Banking and Currency.

In the Forty-seventh Congress he was chairman of the same committee, and excited the admiration of the business men of the country by his skillful management of the bill for extending the charters of the national banks, a bill which was successfully carried through under his leadership in spite of all obstacles. In the tariff legislation, through which the tax on the capital and deposits of banks and bankers was removed, Mr. Crapo's familiarity with the subject was of great service, and secured the direct application of the law to the national banks. Other prominent services might be recalled if the limits of this sketch did not prevent. It is sufficient to say that his value as a legislator was recognized and highly appreciated, not only by his constituents, who knew the man, but by the country.

P. C. Headley, in his "Public Men of To-Day," in speaking of Mr. Crapo, says, " At the age of fifty Mr. Crapo finds himself well started in political life, in the full maturity of his powers, and possessing what some politician has so neatly termed ' the pecuniary basis.' In person he strongly resembles his father, a man of keenly intellectual physiognomy. The family is of French origin, regarding which there is a romantic tradition. Both father and son have a type of face which is French rather than English. The strong mental as well as physical resemblance of the son to the father is a striking illustration of Galton's doctrine of heredity."

Politically, Mr. Crapo is a Republican, and his political instincts are liberal and progressive. He is an exceptionally able legislator, and one of the most honored citizens of the commonwealth.

Jan. 22, 1857, Mr. Crapo united in marriage with Sarah Ann Davis Tappan, daughter of George and Serena Davis Tappan, and their children are Henry Howland Crapo, born Jan. 31, 1862, now in senior class (1883) at Harvard University, and Stanford Tappan Crapo, born June 13, 1865, now in the freshman class (1886) of Yale College.

Thomas M. Stetson. - Mr. Stetson, son of the late Rev. Caleb Stetson, of Medford, Mass., was born in that town June 15, 1830. He graduated from Harvard University in 1849, and studied law at the Dane Law School, Cambridge, and in New Bedford. In 1854, immediately upon his admission to the bar, he was invited to join one of the oldest law-offices in the State, established more than half a century ago in New Bedford by the late Hon. Lemuel Williams and Judge Charles Henry Warren. Later the style of the firm was Warren & Eliot (the late Hon. Thomas D.), and in 1854 it was Eliot & Pitman (now Judge Robert C). Mr. Eliot's absence much of the time in Congress created the need of an additional partner, and the firm became Eliot, Pitman & Stetson, continuing a few years till the withdrawal of Judge Pitman, when it became Eliot & Stetson, and so remained until the death of Mr. Eliot in 1870. The firm now is Stetson & Greene (Francis B.).

Mr. Stetson at once took high rank at the bar. The law never had occasion to be jealous of him, for she never had a more faithful and devoted lover. Nothing has been allowed to interfere with his legal studies, and as a pure lawyer, in mastery of the law, great principles, in affluence of legal and other learning, in

Adam Mackie is a Scotchman by birth, and inherits a Scotch constitution. He is now about sixty years of age. He began life a poor boy, rose by his own exertions to become a lawyer, and for some twenty years had a large and lucrative law practice, especially in the admiralty courts. He often exhibited considerable skill in the conducting of cases before Judge Sprogen. His social qualities made him acceptable and welcome, and he was always so willing to aid another that none can say aught against him. He has not been in the practice for some ten years past, and has lost his health.

A. L. West was for some years in practice with Mr. Mackie, but died some fifteen years ago with consumption. He was a pleasant and agreeable man. He was a good lawyer and safe counselor.

He studied law in the office of Eliot & Stetson, in' the city of New Bedford, and was admitted to the bar in I June, 1862. He quickly rose in his profession, and was early in good position, and is now a leading lawyer at the bar of this county. His addresses to the I jury and the court are always full of fine sentences, | clothed in the most polished words. He is now in active practice, and in the very prime of life.

Charles W. Clifford, son of John H. and Sarah Parker (Allen) Clifford, was born Aug. 19, 1844, at New Bedford, Mass., where he was fitted for Harvard College at the old " Friends' Academy," then in charge of the late T. Prentiss Allen.

Entering college at the age of seventeen, he soon won the respect and esteem of his instructors, as well as his fellows, and after having borne a prominent part in all the literary and social enterprises of his time, graduated with full honors in July, 1865.

Never, from his earliest years, having had a doubt as to the choice of a profession, he at once began the study of the law, which he pursued under instruction from Hon. E. H. Bennett, of Taunton ; Hon. John C. Dodge, of Boston, and at the Harvard Law School, and after being admitted to the bar in New Bedford at the June term, 1868, began practice in the office formerly occupied by his father. Here he practiced alone until February, 1869, when the firm of Marston & Crapo was formed, of which he continued a member until its dissolution in April, 1878, since when he has been an active partner of the firm of Crapo, Clifford & Clifford, one of two firms formed principally from the members of the old firm of Marston & Crapo. On May 5, 1869, he married Frances Lothrop, daughter of Charles L. and Elizabeth T. Wood, of

New Bedford, who died April 28, 1872, and on March 15, 1876, he married Wilhelmina H., daughter of the late Governor Crapo, of Michigan, and sister of his partner, Hon. William W. Crapo.

While a member of the firm of Marston & Crapo, he was constantly associated as junior counsel with Hon. George Marston in the trial of important causes, the preparation of which was frequently intrusted to him, and the training and valuable experience derived from this association soon bore its fruit in the recognition of a legal ability of a high order, and a maturity of thought and judgment which rendered him a wise and valued counselor, and which led to his appointment as one of the commissioners to revise the judiciary system of the commonwealth in 1876, an appointment received by the profession as one eminently fit to be made.

Loyal to the principles of the Republican party, and earnest and energetic in maintaining its integrity and influence, he has ever been found in the front rank of its active supporters, and several times as chairman of the Republican City Committee of New Bedford, as delegate to and assistant secretary of the Republican National Convention at Chicago in 1880, later as a member of the Republican State Central Committee of Massachusetts, and as manager of the campaign of Hon. William W. Crapo for the gubernatorial nomination in 1882, has shown a readiness and ability to do whatever should be required of him as a supporter of Republican principles, and in these various positions has rendered valuable service to his party.

His association with the late Charles L. Wood, his father-in-law and one of the leading merchants of New Bedford, following upon an early inculcation of business habits and methods by his distinguished father, enabled him to obtain a practical education in affairs such as is acquired by few lawyers, and this, coupled with a natural aptitude for business questions, has not only secured for him many clients among the business institutions of New Bedford, but has been the means of his aid and counsel being much sought for in the organization of new enterprises and in the conduct and direction of those already established. He has also charge of many public and private trusts, and his position at the bar and in affairs of business is thoroughly established and secure.

Mr. Clifford's success as a lawyer is due not less to his natural and acquired ability than to the fact that his sphere of life was determined by himself and his parents from the beginning, and it may be truly said that he commenced the study of his profession in his earliest boyhood. To a clear, discriminating, and capacious mind and the results of earnest study under the best teachers he adds an enthusiastic love of the law, most vigorous and efficient action in the understanding of his causes, scrupulous fidelity to his clients in all emergencies, and a chivalrous sense of professional and personal honor.

Among the younger members of the bar he preserves all the freshness and humor of boyhood, and among the seniors he sustains the dignity of a recognized equal, and his social qualities render him a most delightful companion and friend.

Wendell H. Cobb was born at Sandwich in 1838. He is the son of the Rev. Asahel Cobb, was educated at Dartmouth College, and graduated in 1861, and was admitted to the bar in 1865. He was a law partner with Marston & Crapo until that firm was dissolved. He is now associated with Mr. Marston, the firm being Marston & Cobb. He is a good lawyer and safe counselor.

Hosea M. Kjtowltox, the present district attorney for the Southern District of Massachusetts, was born in Durham, in the State of Maine, May 20, 1847. He was educated at Tuft's College, graduating in the class of 1867. He studied law in the office of the Hon. Edwin L. Barney, in New Bedford, and at Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the bar upon the motion of Mr. Barney at the Supreme Court in June, 1870. He had an office in Boston for one year, and in 1872 returned to New Bedford and entered the office of Mr. Barney, and from the year 1872 to 1879 was a partner with Mr. Barney. He was in 1876 elected to the House of Representatives of Massachusetts from New Bedford, and also for the year 1877, and the following years, 1878 and 1879, was a member of the State Senate. In February, 1879, he was appointed district attorney (to fill the place of the Hon. George Marston, who had been elected to the office of attorney-general), which office Mr. Knowlton now holds. He is an excellent advocate and wise counselor.

Taunton.1 - Hox. Samuel White, the youngest of eight children of Samuel anrl Ann (Bingley) White, was born in Weymouth, April 2, 1710, and graduated from Harvard College in 1731, at the age of twenty-one.

He was a great-grandson of Thomas White, early at Weymouth, whose son Joseph married, Sept. 19, 1660, Lydia Rogers, and was the father of Samuel, born Feb. 14, 1666. Anna, sister of Samuel, the subject of this notice, was the first wife of William Wilde, whose only child, Daniel Wilde, married Anna Sumner, and was the father of Hon. Samuel S. Wilde, justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.

Hon. Samuel White has the honor of leading the profession of law in Taunton in the order of time certainly. No other name is recorded before him. Rev. Mr. Dauforth " was no contemptible lawyer" in the opinion of Mr. Baylies, and there were other men in all the generations who could do " law business," but to Mr. White has generally been assigned the proud position of the " first Taunton lawyer." His contemporaries, as Mr. Alger suggests in a valuable article in the " Collections of the Old Colony Historical Society," 1879, were Elkanah Leonard, of Middleborough ; Stephen Paine, of Bristol, some years judge of the Court of Common Pleas ; Timothy Ruggles, of Sandwich, and James Otis, of Barnstable, the father of the distinguished patriot bearing that name. It is not quite certain when Mr. White commenced practice in Taunton, but probably not far from 1739. In 1744 he was commissioned as justice of the peace for Bristol County. In 1746, when the courts first began their sessions in Taunton, he was appointed king's attorney of the Court of Sessions, holding the appointment till death. Mr. White represented Taunton in the General Court in the years 1749-53, 1756- 59, 1764-65 ; acted as Speaker of the House in 1759, 1764-65, and was chosen a member of the Council in 1767-69.

He had the honor of presiding over the House during the period of the Stamp Act, when Otis and Adams were members and made their names famous in American history. It was the circular signed by him as Speaker which led to the first Congress, assembled at New York in 1765. Thus the initiatory steps towards the American Revolution were taken by him, whose death occurred the 20th of March, 1769. The following inscription is found on the slab which marks the place of his burial on the " Plain :"

Mr. White married in November, 1735, Prudence, daughter of Samuel Williams, of Taunton, and had the following children: (1) Experience, born 1738, and married to Hon. George Leonard, LL.D. ; (2) Anna, born 1741, and married to Hon. Daniel Leonard; (3) Bathsheba, born 1746, and married to the Hon. William Baylies, M.D.

Madame Prudence White lies buried by the side of her husband, with the following affectionate tribute to her memory : " In early life she was a firm believer in the Christian religion, and lived in the practice of its precepts. By her amiable disposition she secured the esteem of all that knew her. With a conscience pure, and a constitution rendered excellent by temperance and regularity, she reached the ninety-eighth year of her age, and relying on the mercy of her God, she calmly fell asleep in Jesus, June VIII., Anno Domini 1808."

Hon. Robert Treat Paine, LL.D., adistinguished Taunton lawyer, was born in Boston, March 12, 1731. His father, Rev. Thomas Paine, was born in Barnstable, graduated at Harvard College, 1717, and ordained at Weymouth, but in consequence of ill health removed to Boston in 1730, and afterwards resigning the ministry, engaged in mercantile affairs. His mother was the daughter of Rev. Samuel Treat, of Eastham, the son of Governor Robert Treat, of Connecticut, and granddaughter of Rev. Samuel Willard, vice-president of Harvard College.

Mr. Paine fitted for college in the Boston Latin School, and entering Cambridge at the age of fourteen, graduated in 1749. To this time, as an only son, he had been well supported by a father with abundant means, but this father losing his property, the son was thrown upon his own resources, and after keeping school for a year, made three voyages to North Carolina, acting as master, and in the last going to Fayal and Cadiz, afterwards going as master to the coasts of Greenland on a whaling voyage. On his return, in 1755, he commenced the study of law with his relative, Judge Willard, of Lancaster, giving also his attention to theology. During his law studies he supplied the pulpit at Shirley. Mr. Willard receiving the appointment of colonel of a regiment to be raised for an expedition to Crown Point, Mr. Paine was appointed chaplain, and his sermons, both at Shirley and the camp at Lake George, are still preserved. He was admitted to the Boston bar in 1757, and removed his office to Taunton in 1761.

Although residing in Taunton, his practice was not confined to any such narrow limits. His clients were in all parts of the commonwealth. Writes a descendant of his, " He constantly attended the courts at Boston, Taunton, Plymouth, Barnstable, Worcester, and other places. His great powers of mind, profound knowledge of law, and habits of thorough investigation brought him a large practice, which increased till it was probably not exceeded by that of any lawyer in the State." Bradford, in his " History of Massachusetts," ranks him " among the most eminent lawyers of the province." He was an intimate associate and friend of such men as James Otis and Samuel Adams.

In 1768, when a convention was called in Boston by prominent men to consult on the condition of the country, and the assembled wisdom of the people was needed, Robert Treat Paine was the choice of Taunton to that convention, and was at once one of its leading spirits. In 1770, after the Boston massacre, Mr. Paine was retained as prosecuting counsel by Boston against the British soldiers, and conducted the trial with signal ability.

This year he was married in Taunton to Sally, daughter of Thomas Cobb, Esq., and sister of Gen. David Cobb. His home was in the rear of what is now the Taunton Bank, afterwards the residence of Judge Fales.

Mr. Paine was not only a good lawyer, but a warmhearted, zealous patriot. Absorbed as he was with cases at court, he could not be spared in the public service. A large committee of the citizens of Taunton was appointed to attend to public affairs and remonstrate against public wrong, and there was no other man who could serve so well as chairman. He drafted the high-toned resolutions which were passed. He represented Taunton in the letter to Lord Dartmouth and in the address for the Governor's removal, and he was chairman of the committee on the impeachment of Chief Justice Oliver.

He was largely instrumental in securing a Continental Congress in 1774. He was one of the.Massachusetts delegation to that Congress. His associates were Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, James Bowdoiu, and John Adams. The Congress met in September and October. Mr. Paine, on his return to Taunton in November, received an ovation from the Sons of Liberty. In 1775, in the winter and spring, he attended the Second Provincial Congress at Cambridge, and was one of the Committee on the State of the Province. In April he attended the Congress at Philadelphia, which met in May. Mr. Paine was prominent in that Congress, chairman of the Committee on Supplies, and devoted himself for a year and eight months with ceaseless zeal and energy to the work of providing equipments for the army, powder, cannon, and fire-arms. He published an essay on the manufacture of gunpowder, which was very serviceable, and devoted himself, body and soul, to the busi- ness of making ready for the men in the field the sinews of war. He served on a committee to purchase clothing for the army, to establish a hospital, and was one of a committee, with R. R. Livingston and Governor Langdon, to visit the army on the northern frontier. On the 4th of July, 1776, he was one to sign the Declaration of Independence. He once more returned to Taunton, Dec. 30, 1776, crowned with honor in the eyes of his countrymen as a patriot who had not spared himself for his country's cause. Although elected to subsequent sessions of Congress, he declined the honor, and contented himself with a seat in the Legislature in 1777, of which he acted as Speaker, and afterwards accepted the place of attorney-general. In 1778 he was a member of the Hartford Convention ; in 1779 a member of the Executive Council, and a member of the committee to draft a new State Constitution, under which, when adopted, he continued to serve as attorney-general.

The duties of this office making his residence at Taunton inconvenient, he removed to Boston in 1781, purchasing the estate once owned and occupied by Governor Shirley, at the corner of Milk and Federal Streets. In 1790 he accepted the position of judge of the Supreme Court, which he had declined in previous years, and so served till 1804, when he was once more elected a member of the Executive Council. After one year he declined all further public duties, feeling that he had earned the quiet of home, till life's close, May 12, 1814, at the age of eighty-three. A most honorable and useful life was his, twenty years of which, in life's prime, were spent in Taunton. Judge Paine had eight children, four sons and four daughters. Three of the sons - Robert Treat, Thomas, and Charles - graduated at Harvard University and were educated for the bar. Robert died in 1798 of the yellow fever, and Thomas took his name, desiring, as he used to say, a " Christian" name. He died in 1811, having distinguished himself as a poet and writer for the stage. Charles was the father of Charles C. Paine, Esq., who married a daughter of Hon. Charles Jackson, judge of the Supreme Court from 1813 to 1824. Antoinette Paine married Deacon Samuel Greele, of Boston. Another daughter, Mary, married Rev. Elisha Clapp, also of Boston.

Hon. Daniel Leonard was the only child of Col. Ephraim Leonard (by his first wife, Judith Perkins), and was born in Norton, now Mansfield, in 1740. He graduated at Harvard University in 1760, and married, for his first wife, Anna, daughter of Hon. Samuel White. His second wife was Sarah Hammock. Mr. Leonard easily took high rank in his profession and made himself prominent in political matters. First he espoused the cause of the people, and advocated i republican principles, but afterward, as was supposed, through the influence of Governor Hutchinson, became a leading loyalist. Articles which he published in 1774 an 1 1775 in a Boston paper called Draper's Paper, defending the king, the ministry, and the Parliament, were considered very able and worthy of a reply from John Adams under the signature of "Novanglus." Of course, in the high state of political excitement, Mr. Leonard found it uncomfortable, if not unsafe, to remain in Taunton. The house he occupied, afterwards the residence of Judge Padelford, bore marks of mob violence. He sought shelter in Boston, proceeded to Halifax in 1776, thence to England, where, as a reward for his loyalty, he received the appointment of chief justice of Bermuda.

After discharging the duties of his office with ability several years he returned to London, where he died in 1829, at the advanced age of eighty-nine. He left no children, but four grandchildren, the children of his daughter Sarah, who married John Stewart, Esq., a captain in the British army and afterwards collector of the port of Bermuda. Leonard Stewart became an eminent physician in London. The oldest son, Duncan, on the death of an uncle succeeded to a lordship in Scotland. A daughter, Emily, married a captain in the service of the East India Company. The other daughter, Sarah, married a Winslow, a descendant of Governor Edward Winslow, of the Plymouth Colony, and was connected with Lord Lyndhurst as private secretary during his chancellorship.

Hon. Seth Padelford, LL.D., was a native of Taunton, son of John and Jemima Padelford. He was graduated at Yale College in 1770, and honored with the degree of LL.D. from Brown University in 1798. He married Rebecca, the daughter of Abraham Dennis, and sister of the wife of James Sproal, Esq. Their children were as follows:

Mr. Padelford was judge of probate. He was a highly dignified and polished gentleman, of great integrity of character, and he was favored with a wife who adorned the society in which she moved. Long after they ceased to be among the living of earth their praise was in the mouth of those who remembered their wide and commanding influence.

Judge Padelford died Jan. 7, 1810, aged fifty-eight years and one month. On the stone slab which covers his remains on the " Plain" is the following inscription:

The Padelford house still remains near the courthouse, although unoccupied. It belongs to the estate of Mrs. Richmond, and was owned by Hon. Daniel Leonard, the Tory lawyer, before it came into possession of the Padelford family.

Hon. Samuel Fales was a native of Bristol, R. I., and was born Sept. 15, 1750 (the son of Nathaniel and Sarah Fales, a graduate of Harvard University in 1773). He married Sarah, daughter of Col. John Cooke, of Tiverton, R. I. Their children were as follows :

(10) Ann, who married, first, Erastus Learned, son of Rev. Erastus Learned, Canterbury, Conn. ; second, Hon. Jonas Cutting, Judge of the Supreme Court, Maine.

Mr. Fales was for many years clerk of the courts, and afterwards was appointed chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He was succeeded in the office of clerk by his eldest son, Nathaniel. I have in my possession a letter from Judge Fales to Judge Davis, in 1816, in which he copies the inscription on Miss Poole's monument, and adds : " I observed to you in Boston that this monument was erected on a small knoll, between the Green and the meetinghouse, a little distance from the road. A few years since Dr. Swift, digging a cellar, found a part of a coffin, made of red cedar, under which were part of the bones, skull, and hair of a human body, unconsumed by time, all which were carefully collected and removed to the common burying-ground north of the Green, over which the stone was placed, bearing the inscription transcribed for you. The monument is of slate, and was procured by the late R. T. Paine, Esq., as agent for J. Borland, Esq."

Judge Fales died in Boston, Jan. 20, 1818, in his sixty-eighth year. He was buried in Taunton, where you may find the following record concerning him on the " Plain" : " Useful and honorable activity distinguished the progress of his life. Having sustained for many years various important offices in the legislative, judicial, and executive departments of the government with fidelity and honor, he died while attending his duties as a councilor of this commonwealth ; and though his tedious toils and hoary hairs seemed to demand a more peaceful succession of closing years, his friends are resigned and consoled in the hope of his resurrection to immortal blessedness."

Mrs. Sally, wife of Judge Fales, died Sept. 24, 1823, aged fifty-eight years. It is said of her, " Among the benevolent and liberal she ever shone conspicuous. The Christian spirit enlightened the path of her mortal pilgrimage, and at last sustained and blessed her with its holy peace and inspiring hopes."

The Fales mansion in Taunton was in the rear of what is now the " Taunton Bank" building, the former residenceof Robert Treat Paine, and which, after it was vacated by Judge Fales, was known as the " Washington Hotel."