Norfolk County, Massachusetts - Chapter 70, 1884 (part 1 of 2)

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The Puritans and the Pilgrims had no choice but to adopt such a system that they might hold their possessions as they acquired them by purchase or otherwise, and preserve their authority as they had means to establish it with an increasing population. was recognized as a part of their community without The terms first adopted were modified from time to time, according to their growing importance. Under the monarchy of Great mustered at Boston." Evidently the phrase "in the bay" "then excluded soldiers who belonged to what was afterwards called Essex County. Hence regiment at these dates denoted an equal number of gen- when Hyde Park was taken from Dorchester, Dedcounties, in 1643, it appears to have had such divisions, designated by the term regiments. Under the date of Oct. 7, 1641, in General Court records is the ham, and Milton, and incorporated April 22, 1868. Norfolk was taken from Wrentham, Franklin, Medway, and Walpole, and incorporated Feb. 23, 1870. Norwood was taken from Dedham and Walpole, and incorporated Feb. 23, 1872. Holbrook was taken from Randolph, and incorporated Feb. 29, 1872. Wellesley was taken from Needham, and incorporated April 6, 1881.

Danes, he found the kingdom in the most wretched condition; desolated by the ravages of those barbarians and thrown into disorders which were calculated to perpetuate its misery.

"That he might render the execution of justice strict and regular, he divided all England into counties; these counties he subdivided into hundreds, and the hundreds into tithings. Every householder was answerable for the behaviour of his family and slaves, and even of his guests if they lived above three days in his house. Ten neighboring householders were formed into one corporation, who, under the name of a tithing,

County town, Dedham. Number of towns, 27, less Dorchester and Roxbury, annexed to Boston, viz.: Bellingham, Braintree, Brookline, Canton, Cohasset, Dedham, Dorchester, Dover, Foxborough, duct, and over whom one person, called a tithing-man, headbourg, or borsholder, was appointed to preside. was punished as an outlaw who did not register himself in some tithing. And no man could change his habitation without a warrant or certificate from the horsholder of the tithing to which he formerly belonged." - Hume, vol. i. pp. 70, 71.

Bellingham was set off from Dedham and incorporated as a town in 1719. It lies eighteen miles southwest from Dedham, seventeen north by west from Providence, R. I., and twenty-eight southwest from Boston.

Braintree formerly included Quincy and Randolph, and was at first called Mount Wollaston, the first settlement of which was in 1625. Braintree was incorporated in 1640. It lies ten miles south by east from Boston, and twelve east by south from Dorchester.

Brookline, before its incorporation in 1705, belonged to Boston. It is four miles southwest from Boston, and five miles north-northeast from Dedham.

Canton was originally the south precinct of Dor- - chester, the first parish of Stoughton, called Dorchester Village. It was incorporated in 1797. It is fourteen miles south by west from Boston, and six miles southeast from Dedham.

The settlement of Dedham commenced in 1635. Dedham is the shire-town of the county, and lies ten miles southwest from Boston, thirty-five east from Worcester, thirty-five northwest from Plymouth, twenty-six north by west from Taunton, and thirty north-northeast from Providence."

Medfield was originally a part of Dedham. It was incorporated in 1650. It lies eight miles southwest from Dedham, and seventeen southwest from Boston.

Medway was originally a part of Medfield. It was incorporated in 1713. It lies twenty-four miles southwest from Boston, and fourteen southwest from Dedham.

The Indian name of Milton was said to have been Uncataquisset. The town of Dorchester in 1662 voted that Unquety should be a township, and it was incorporated in 1662. It lies seven miles from Boston, and six east from Dedham.

Needham was originally a part of Dedham. It was incorporated in 1711. It lies five miles northwest from Dedham, and by Worcester Railroad thirteen miles southwest from Boston.

Quincy was originally the first parish in Braintree. It was first settled in 1625. It lies eight miles south by east from Boston, and ten east from Dedham.

Randolph was originally a part of Braintree. It was incorporated in 1793. It was named in honor of Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, the first president of the American Congress. It lies fourteen miles south from Boston, and twelve southeast from Dedham. :

Sharon was originally the second parish of Stough- It was incorporated in 1765. It was first named Stoughtonham, but it was soon changed to Sharon. from Boston, and nine south from Dedham.

and embraced within its limits the towns of Canton, Sharon, and Foxborough. 1726. It lies eighteen miles south from Boston, and ten southeast from Dedham.

Walpole was originally a part of Dedham. It was incorporated in 1724. South Village is three miles from the Kast Village, and the East is nine miles south by west from Dedham, and nineteen southwest from Boston.

Introduction

It is a beneficent provision of Providence that society is divided and subdivided into circles, whether of a political, industrial, moral, domestic, social, or religious nature. Each circle has its centre, from which emanate its own peculiar influences, and which are reflected back from its circumference. This is true of the county, although the political organization of a county affords but few opportunities to its inhabitants to distinguish themselves either officially or as citizens. extent, and character. And yet, if we turn to history, we find numerous examples of remarkable events within the smaller circles leading to great results in the larger. This truth was fully exemplified in the action of committees, town-meetings, and can Revolution. Such action was natural, easy, convenient, and practicable, party-men acting together in the same neighborhood, town, or county. Some the county convention." Several of the counties of Massachusetts held conventions, and some of the most spirited and patriotic resolutions were passed. The Provincial Congress was recommended by these

At this critical and alarming period no county distinguished itself for intelligence and patriotism more than the inhabitants of Norfolk County.

"Ata meeting of the Delegates of every Town and District | of the County of Suffolk [which embraced the towns now Nor- | folk County], on Tuesday, the 6th of September, 1774, at the |

The committee reported nineteen resolutions, reciting the grievances of the colonies and recommending uncompromising action, and boldly appealed to the people to defend their constitutional rights.'

"At a Meeting of Delegates from several Towns and Districts in the county of Suffolk, held at Milton, on Friday, the 9th of September, 1774.

* Voted, that Dr. Joseph Warren and Dr. Benjamin Church, of Boston; Deacon Joseph Palmer, Germantown ; Captain Lemuel Robinson, Dorchester ; Colonel Ebenezer Thayer, Braintree ; Captain William Heath, Roxbury; William Holden, Esq., Dorchester; Colonel William Taylor, Milton; Captain John Homans, Dorchester; Isaac Gardner, Esq., Brookline; Mr. Richard Woodward, Dedham; Captain Benjamin White, Brook- Nathaniel Sumner, Esq., Dedham; and Captain Thomas Aspinwall, Brookline, be a Committee to wait upon his Excellency, the Governor, to inform him that the people of this county are alarmed at the fortifications making on Boston Neck, and to remonstrate against the same; and the repeated insults offered by the soldiery to persons passing and repassing into that town, and to confer with him upon these subjects.

The committee prepared a communication to Governor Gage, and he replied to it, but his reply was deemed unsatisfactory, and it was voted to insert the correspondence in the public papers.°

In August, 1774, the grand jurors of this county and the petit jurors unanimously refused to be sworn because of the late tyrannical acts of the British Parliament, and publicly gave their reasons. Of the twenty-two in number, six were from Boston, and sixteen were from the towns, now Norfolk County, VIZ. : so that they may live nearer the sanctuary, and be able more conveniently to attend on its religious services." 2 In his letter to the Abbé De Mably, John Adams says, - "The consequences of these institutions have been, that the inhabitants having acquired from their infancy the habit of discussing, of deliberating, and of judging of public affairs, wealth, and the ambition of its officials is to make reports of the people not only favorable to themselves, but creditable by comparison with other counties. It has a natural ambition and a commendable pride in its courts and institutions to see that justice is promptly administered, the criminal secured, the wicked reformed, the weak defended against the strong, the widow wisely advised, the orphan protected. authority adjusts the highways from town to town, builds the bridges, and decides upon the convenience and interests of the people who have occasion to travel within its boundaries. 'The farmers and the learned professions associate within county limits to perfect themselves, each class in its own way, by making common stock of individual experience, and by discussing doubtful questions. The fruits of such associations in due time are extended to the commonwealth and to the nation, either by the press or conventions.

Norfolk County can boast of one organization, such as cannot be found in New England, viz., " The Stoughton Musical Society." It was organized by leading men of Norfolk County, Nov. 7, 1786, and it is said to be, of the kind, the oldest in the United States.

"Bvery member shall behave with Decency, Politeness, and Dignity; and whosoever behaves disorderly shall be punished according to the nature of his offence, as the society shall order.

"There shall be a Committee chosen, who shall examine all persons who shall wish to join the Society, and no one shall be admitted without their approbation."

At this meeting it was voted to purchase the " Worcester Collection,' a book which had been recently published by Isaiah Thomas, - the first type music published in America. The society issued its tion," from the press of Marsh & Capen, Boston, which passed through several editions, and was the text-book for practice by the society for many years." The second publication of the society was "The Centennial Collection,' published by Oliver Ditson in 1878.

Esquire Dunbar, as he was universally called by way of honorable distinction, remained president of the society until 1808, and was succeeded by Capt. Talbot, who held the office until 1818.

In 1787 a new constitution was adopted. In the preamble the value of the cultivation of vocal music by man, "who is of that elevated rank of beings capable of sounding forth the praise of God," was asserted, declaring it a recognized duty "to study to promote that harmony which is pleasing to our Maker, and so delightful to ourselves."

In 1801 another constitution was adopted, in which the members pledged themselves anew to the duty of the study and practice of vocal music as a "Divine institution, promotive of friendship and sociability."

The constitution was again revised in 1872. Since 1825 the annual meeting has been held the 25th December, Christmas afternoon and evening; dinner at five o'clock, and a grand concert in the evening with a selected programme from ancient and modern authors.

The society now numbers about five hundred members, resident chiefly in Stoughton, Canton, Sharon, Randolph, Braintree, Weymouth, Milton, Abington, Brockton, Easton, and Quincy. The attendance of members at these annual meetings is often above

The Bench And Bar

Not to notice such a society in this introduction would be an unpardonable omission. Some of its leading members, from its organization to the present time, are numbered as among the most distinguished citizens of Norfolk County.

and in the honorable success of its citizens, however and wherever engaged. This is natural. Beginning with the family, what mother could find children superior to her own, a medical adviser more skillful than her physician, or a religious teacher more attractive and eloquent than the minister of her own parish ?

It is in the constitution If we do not care for our own, or our surroundings, who could be found to care for us? But, in boasting of what is personal, selfish, or local, let us not narrow the habits of the mind. Let us

Gen. Joseph Warren, James Bowdoin, William Eustis, Edmund Quincy, Josiah Quincy, Capt. Roger Clapp, John Capen (the first in the colony to contribute money to public schools), Roger Sherman,' Rey. |

H. Robbins, Daniel Fisher, John Wells, ete. write the names as they occur to us and without order as to date, but to include all would too much extend the list for this place.

To all the sources of gratification which are to be found in society, it may be added that the people of a county, whether by birth, residence, or association, become attached to one another, and have a common pride in all that is done within its limits, of duty, our affections and generous considerations, from the smaller to the larger circles, from the town to the county, from the county to the commonwealth, and from the commonwealth to the great republic, the American Union." To this broad and commendable pride is to be attributed the production of the following pages, giving to the world a just estimate of the character and distinction of some of the men who have lived to honor Norfolk County.

"?Tis not the affair of a city, a county, a province, or a kingdom, but of a continent, - of at least one-eighth part of the habitable globe."

"Tn this extensive quarter of the globe we forget the narrow limits of three hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England) and carry our friendship on a larger scale; we claim brotherhood with every European Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the sentiment.

"Tt is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations we surmount local prejudices as we enlarge our acquaintance with the world." - Common Sense, pp. 33, 35.

By Erastus Worthington

THE county of Norfolk was incorporated by an act of the General Court which passed March 26, 1793, and took effect June 20, 1793. All the territory of the county of Suffolk, not comprehended within the towns of Boston and Chelsea, was then erected into an entire and distinct county, with Dedham as its shire-town. The towns of Hingham and new county extended from the line between Boston and Roxbury, southwesterly to the Rhode Island line, and from Middlesex on the north, to the Old Colony line, excepting Hingham on the south. It was composed chiefly of towns with farming communities, having but few compact villages, except in the lower parts of Dorchester and Roxbury, which were immediately contiguous to the large town of Boston. The formation of a new county had been the subject of petitions to the General Court from the towns for

J several years, based upon the obvious grounds of convenience to the people in transacting the public business. Dedham was selected as the shire-town on northerly and westerly towns of the county. Medfield had been proposed, with the idea of uniting sev- | eral towns of Middlesex. At this time Dedham had

As there was no court-house, the records of the Supreme Judicial Court from 1794 to 1796 continued to be kept in Boston, and the records for 1797 and 1798 are imperfect. The first term of the Court of Common Pleas, then a county court, was held in the meeting-house in Dedham, Sept. 24, 1793, and the first case was committed to a jury at the April term, 1794. At the same term the number of actions entered was one hundred and sixty-six. The first term of the Supreme Judicial Court was held in August, 1794. A court-house and jail were ordered to be built in 1794, but they were not finished until 1795. Both structures were of wood and have long since disappeared.

Fisher Ames, in a letter to Thomas Dwight, dated Sept. 11, 1794, writing of Dedham, says, '" Our city is soon to be adorned with a jail and courthouse, provided a committee of the Sessions can be persuaded to hasten their snail's gallop. I think I have mentioned in a former letter, that the Honorable Supreme Court was to sit here in August. They did sit, and in tolerable good humor. 'Two days and a piece finished the business. 'The jurors could not but feel relief from the former burden of attending fifteen, sometimes thirty days in Boston." he allusion to the humor of the judges is made more emphatic in a letter written several years later, where he speaks of Judge Ursa Major, R. T. Paine, and

Ames once said, with reference to his deafness, that | '""no man could get on there unless he came with a club in one hand and a speaking-trumpet in the other." At the beginning of the separate existence of Norfolk County, the number of lawyers practising in the dozen lawyers in the town of Boston. Fisher Ames and Samuel Haven of Dedham, Horatio Townsend of Medfield, Thomas Williams of Roxbury, Edward | Hutchinson Robbins of Dorchester Lower Mills, Asaph Churchill of Milton, were the only attorneys | practising in the courts at this period. Members of | the bar in Suffolk, Middlesex, Worcester, and Bristol | then and for some years afterwards were in the habit | of attending the courts of Norfolk County, and of course had a considerable share of the practice. The profession was then regarded with much jealousy and suspicion, which found expression in the records of the towns of that period. Among the instructions given to the representative from Dedham in 1786 occurs the following:

"Tue Orper or LAwyers. - We are not inattentive to the almost universally prevailing complaints against the practice of the order of lawyers, and many of us too sensibly feel the effects of their unreasonable and extravagant exactions; we think their practices pernicious and their mode unconstitutional. You will therefore endeavor that such regulations be introduced into our courts of law that such restraints be laid on the order of lawyers as that we may have recourse to the laws and find our security and not our ruin in them. If, upon a fair discussion and mature deliberation, such a measure should appear impracticable, you are to endeavor that the order of lawyers be totally abolished, an alternative preferable to their continuing in their present mode."

Among the reasons urged for the division of the county was the belief that if the court was held in a country town "the wheels of law and justice would move on without the clogs and embarrassments of a numerous train of lawyers. The scenes of gayety and amusement which are now prevalent at Boston we expect would so allure them as that we should be rid of their perplexing officiousness." With such a distrust existing in the country towns, the number of lawyers was no doubt kept conveniently small.

Samuel Haven, who acted as secretary, Thomas Williams, Horatio Townsend, and Asaph Churchill of the county, and Seth Hastings from Worcester, Laban Wheaton from Bristol, and Artemas Ward from Middlesex. The only business done at this meeting was to establish a schedule of prices for writs. No other meeting was held until 1802, when the additional names appear of William P. Whiting, Henry M. Lisle, Jairus Ware, John 8. Williams,

It would seem from the attendance at this meeting, that the number of lawyers was rapidly increasing. In 1803, the bar adopted an elaborate code of regulations relating to the practice of law in the courts. From this time forward, excepting intervals of a few years, the bar of Norfolk County held its stated annual meetings down to 1853. These meetings were held generally for passing upon the qualifications of candidates for admission as attorneys to the different courts and of counsellors to the Supreme Judicial requisite for admission. In a few instances they administered discipline upon members who had brought disgrace upon the body by their intemperance or evil practices. There were also many resolutions passed at these meetings to provide against the infringement of the rights of one of the brethren by another in encroaching upon his field of practice.

A very curious and suggestive record, illustrative of their scrupulous care upon this matter, was entered at the meeting held September, 1805, which shows in a striking manner how this practice of having offices in two places was then viewed.

"Voted, unanimously, that the bar discountenance and will by no means sanction any gentleman of the profession having more than one office at any time in the same or different towns; and understanding that Perez Morton, Esq., now has an office in Boston, and another in Dedham, further voted that the secretary of the bar furnish Mr. Morton witha copy of this vote, thereby requesting him to immediately relinquish and discontinue, both directly or indirectly, either one or the other of said offices, The secretary is desired, if the above request to Mr. Morton is not complied with, to make a communication on the subject to the Suffolk bar."

There is a tradition in the county, that one of the justices of the County Court of Common Pleas once overruled a motion made by a Suffolk lawyer on the ground that he was an interloper. The records of bar meetings show, that a careful scrutiny was made not

At this time there was but one court of general common law jurisdiction in the commonwealth, which was the Supreme Judicial Court, established July 3, 1782. Court of Common Pleas, also established July 3, 1782, whose powers and jurisdiction and number of the General Court. fined to cases where the ad damnum was over £4. By statute 1798, chapter 24, the court was made to consist of a chief justice and three other justices. In 1803 the powers and duties of the Court of General Sessions and of the Peace were transferred to the Court of Common Pleas, except as to jails and county build- into six circuits, and Circuit Courts were established, | to consist of a chief justice and two associate justices. | "son, one of the first members of the bar, admitted

This court was known as the Circuit Court of Common Pleas, and it continued until 1820, when the Court of Common Pleas for the commonwealth was established, and which existed until 1859, when the Superior Court was created.

There was also another county court called the Court of Sessions of the Peace, which was established in 1782. This court consisted of the justices of the county, and determined all matters relative to the preservation of the peace and punishment of offences cognizable by them. In 1803 the powers and duties of this court were transferred to the County Court of Common Pleas, except those relating county buildings, allowing and settling county acto jails and counts, estimating, apportioning, and issuing warrants for county taxes, granting licenses, and highways. In 1807, this court was made to consist of one chief justice and four associate justices in this county. By another act of the same year, the name of this court was changed to the Court of Sessions, and in 1809 this court was abolished, and its powers and duties transferred to the Court of Common Pleas. In 1811

1813 it was abolished, and its powers and duties transferred to the Circuit Court of Common Pleas. This last act was repealed in 1818, and the Court of Sessions again established. After some further legislation in 1819 and 1821, finally in 1827 the Court of Sessions was abolished, and the Court of County Commissioners established.

These changes effected in the courts are remarkable and perplexing, and can only be understood with the explanation that they were made as one political party or another had the control of the Legislature. In 1807, Dr. Nathaniel Ames, the clerk, records that after passing sundry accounts, 'an eternal adjournment of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace is made according to law." But the Court of Sessions was afterwards twice restored and twice abolished.

Fisher Ames died July 4, 1808. Although he spent the last fifteen years of his life upon his estate in Dedham, and had a law-office near the court-house, yet the state of his health was such during much of the time as to prevent his engaging in constant practice, but he tried many causes before the jury, and was retained in some important causes in other counties. His fame as a statesman, orator, and political writer completely overshadowed his reputation as a lawyer. His name does not appear upon the bar records after 1804. He had for his law partner James Richard- with Mr. Ames, and was admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court in 1803. He always lived in Dedham, where he practised his profession until the infirmities of age withdrew him from active life. He at one period engaged in manufacturing business, which somewhat interfered with his practice. He before the members of the Norfolk bar, at their request, on the " antiquity and importance"' of the legal profession, its ''duties,and responsibilities ; the evils pher Webb, of Weymouth. All these had been admitted as attorneys to one of the courts prior to 1820. Ashur Ware, afterwards judge of the United States District Court in Maine, had an office in Milton, where he lived from 1815 to 1824. At a later period, John W. Ames and Jonathan H. Cobb began practice at Dedham, Aaron Prescott at Randolph, was a man of excellent attainments in law and let- | ters, and on Feb. 25, 1837, he delivered an address |

Probably no member of the Norfolk bar ever exercised a stronger influence in elevating its professional standard and in making it a body deserving of respect and confidence, than Theron Metcalf. came to Dedham in 1809, having had unusual advantages for the time, in pursuing his preparatory justly celebrated for the eminence of its teachers. period of thirty years. While nearly all his contemporaries in practice at Dedham embarked in manufacturing enterprises or adopted other callings, Mr. Metealf steadily devoted himself to the study and the bar association adopted a resolution expressing their estimation of his learning, integrity, and professional character ; and while they regretted " his loss to their fraternity, they had reason to rejoice that he had been called to exercise his pre-eminent talents and distinguished learning in a sphere more extended in usefulness, where the profession might be equally benefited."

Among the earlier members of the Norfolk bar who were contemporaneous with Mr. Richardson and Mr. Metcalf, may be mentioned Asaph Churchill, of Milton; Thomas Boylston Adams, the third son of President John Adams ; Thomas Greenleaf, of Quincy; Daniel Adams, of

Warren Lovering at Medway, and Jonathan P. Bishop at Medfield. In 1827, Horace Mann began practice at Dedham, and in 1826 John J. Clarke began practice in Roxbury. In 1834, Ira Cleveland began practice in Dedham, occupying the office recently vacated by Horace Mann. Ezra W. Sampson had an office in Braintree for twelve years, until 1836. Ezra Wilkinson came to Dedham about 1835, and occupied the office with Mr. Metcalf, which was formerly that of Fisher Ames, opposite the courthouse. -

The court-house, which forms the south wing of the present building, was finished and occupied for the first time in February, 1827, the full bench being Chief ner to the justices of the Supreme Court, reporter, attorney-general, solicitor-general, and the architect, Solomon Willard. The new court-house was a Gre-' cian building, with porticoes at both ends, like that on the south wing at present. It was considered a fine houses in the commonwealth, designed by the same architect, which bore a resemblance to it in its architecture. The extensive enlargements of the court-house on the northerly end were completed in 1861.

The county in 1835, had been established upwards of forty years, during which period it had grown in wealth and population, and by the introduction of manufactures had ceased in some degree to be an exclusively agricultural county, as at its beginning.

ering, Erastus Worthington, and John B. Derby, of Dedham ; Williams, John Samuel J. Gardner, and David A. Simmons, of Roxbury; Samuel P. Loud and Abel Cushing, of Dorchester; Josiah J. Fiske and Meletiah Everett, of Wrentham ; John King, of Randolph; and Christo- tirement, or had removed or died. The trial of cases in court was about to pass into the hands of another generation of lawyers. In important causes in the Supreme Court eminent counsel from other counties, - among whom were Pliny Merrick of Worcester, Rufus Choate and Franklin Dexter of Boston - were a large majority of the cases were tried by Mr. Wilkinson on one side, and Mr. Clarke on the other. For more than twenty years they were the leaders of the Norfolk bar. Mr. Wilkinson had acquired the reputation of being an able, upright, and learned lawyer, and thoroughly devoted to his profession. Mr. Clarke also stood deservedly high in his profession, and was especially successful in the trial of cases before the jury, and had a large practice. The influence of both these gentlemen upon the character of the members of the bar during their professional career was marked and exemplary. Mr. Wilkinson retired upon his appointment as a justice of the Supreme Court in 1859, and Mr. Clarke a few years later left practice in Norfolk County, - Roxbury having been annexed to Boston in January, 1868. Besides these leaders, there were other good triers of causes at the bar. Among these were David A. Simmons, Ellis Ames, Francis Hilliard, and Asaph Churchill, the younger of that name. :

The successors to the leadership of the bar, after the retirement of Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Clarke, were William Gaston, of Roxbury, and Waldo Colburn, of Dedham. Mr. Gaston was not admitted to practice in this county, but he studied law with Mr.

practice. He had removed to Boston prior to the annexation of Roxbury. Mr. Colburn always practised in Dedham until he was appointed an associate justice of the Superior Court in 1875. He attained a high position in his profession as a wise counsellor, an able trier of causes, and a lawyer in whose hands the interests of his clients were always safe.

In the decade from 1865 to 1875 the course of legislation and events had tended to diminish the legal business of the county by transferring it to the county of Suffolk. allowed actions to be brought in the county where either party had a place of business, had encouraged the members of the bar in all the towns near Boston,

In addition to these incidental causes, for several years the project of annexing the city of Roxbury to Boston had been agitated, and petitions presented to to the county, and in nowise was the loss more seriously felt than in the removal of some of its best practitioners at the bar and the consequent withdrawal of their business. Mr. Clarke, Mr. Gaston, and Mr. John W. May, all having a good practice in Norfolk County, in course of time ceased to practise here altogether. In 1870 the old town of Dorchester, one of the best towns in the county, and in 1874 West Roxbury were both annexed to Boston and taken from the county. The inevitable results of the removal of such a large proportion of the territory, valuation and business of the county, were to materially diminish the business of the courts, and to deprive the bar of many of its best members.

The last recorded meeting of the bar but one, was held Oct. 15, 1852, when resolutions were passed with reference to the decease of Daniel Webster, requesting the court to adjourn, and that the bar attend the funeral in a body, and that John J. Clarke offi- suitably drape the court-room in mourning. The last meeting was held in February, 1853, and was a business meeting relating to the purchase of books for the library. This is the last recorded meeting of the Norfolk bar as an organized fraternity. An attempt was made to reorganize it some years afterwards, but without success.

In speaking of the Norfolk bar as it now exists, reference could be made only to those members resident within the county and who practise in it. The number of such gentlemen is not larger than it was fifty years ago, although the number of attorneys who reside elsewhere and practise in the county is much greater. The profession has everywhere changed in its character during the last half-century. The fraternal feeling, the jealous watchfulness that no unworthy applicant should be admitted to the profession, the old-time distinctions as to leadership have all passed away, and nowhere is this change more clearly to be seen than in Norfolk County. In former times members who had offices in Boston and in the town of their residence, were censured by their brethren at bar meetings in formal votes. At the present time there is scarcely a member of the bar who has not two offices, one in Boston and another in the county. The old organization with all its traditions has passed into history, but beyond this it has ceased to have any influence upon the present time. Of the new era in the profession, of the character of its members, of its methods in the conduct of causes, of its emoluments,

Justices of the Judicial Courts. - THERON METCALF was the son of Hanun and Mary Metcalf, and was born in Franklin, Oct. 16, 1784. He and his ancestors for five generations belonged to the county of Norfolk. At the age of seventeen years - he entered Brown University, where he was graduated in 1805. After graduating, he studied law with Mr. Bacon, of Canterbury, Conn., and in April, 1806, he entered the law-school at Litchfield, then a celebrated institution, and the only law-school in the United States. Here he remained until October, 1807, when he was admitted to the bar in Connecticut. After studying a year with Hon. Seth Hastings, of Mendon, he was admitted as an attorney of the Cireuit Court of Common Pleas in this county at the September term, 1808, and as counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court at the October term, 1811. He practised law for a year in Franklin, and removed to Dedham in 1809.

In 1817 he became county attorney, and continued to hold that office for twelve years, until the office was abolished by the statute establishing the office of district attorney. He was representative to the General Court from Dedham in 1831, 1833, and 1834, and a senator from the county in 1835.

In October, 1828, he opened a law-school, and began a course of lectures upon legal subjects in Dedham. He had many students, among whom were the late Hon. John H. Clifford, of New Bedford, and the Hon. Seth Ames, the son of Fisher Ames, and afterwards a justice of the Supreme

In December, 1839, he was appointed reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court, and removed from Dedham to Boston. He held this office until Feb, 25, 1848, when he was appointed a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. He remained upon the bench until Aug. 31, 1865, when he resigned after over seventeen years of service.

years. Although Judge Metealf had removed from the county, and was in no way identified with it during the last forty-six years of his life, yet the thirty years during which he had resided and practised in Dedham comprehended nearly the whole of his professional law books, among which were " Yelverton's Reports," "Starkie on Evidence," '" Russell on Crimes,"' 'Maule and Selwyn's Reports,' " Digest of Massachusetts Reports," and with Horace Mann supervised the publication of the Revised Statutes of 1836, the index to which was made by him.

Of his reputation and influence while at the bar some mention has been made. There were probably few lawyers in the commonwealth of his time who had such a full and accurate knowledge of the principles of the common law as Judge Metealf. His reputation as a writer upon legal subjects is well ports, it has been said, are the "model and despair of his successors." His opinions as a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court are remarkable for their precision of statement and their familiarity with the decisions, both English and American, as well as with the principle and maxims, of the common law, of which he was master. He never concealed his distrust of the changes effected in the administration of the law by legislation, especially the statute giving full equity jurisdiction to the Supreme Judicial Court.

He was an accurate scholar, and occasionally wrote articles for the reviews on other than legal subjects. He was in person below the average height, and of great gravity of demeanor, although he had a quaint He was a keen and intelligent critic upon many subjects, and his pithy sayings will be long

SrerH AMES was the youngest child of Fisher Ames, and was born in Dedham, April 19, 1805, and was but three years of age when his father died.

studied law with Theron Metcalf in Dedham, and was admitted as an attorney of the Court of Common Pleas at the September term, 1828, being the same never practised law in this county, but removed to Lowell, where he practised law for twenty years. In 1849 he was appointed clerk of the courts for the county of Middlesex. In 1859 he was appointed a justice of the Superior Court, then established, and in 1867 was appointed chief justice of that court. In 1869 he was made an associate justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, which office he resigned Jan. 15, 1881. He died at his residence in Brookline, in this county, Aug. 15, 1881.

The Bench And Bar

the courts here, he may be claimed as a son of Norfolk County. He well sustained the illustrious name he bore. Of great simplicity and modesty of character, he possessed an admirable judicial mind, and was the master of a pure and concise style as a writer, qualities which make his legal opinions worthy of imitation. In the language of Chief Justice Gray, "he was a diligent student, a good lawyer, a safe counsellor, a faithful and useful public servant, a Christian gentleman."

Ezra WILKINSON. - He was born in Attleborough, Feb. 14, 1801, and was graduated at Brown University in 1824. He began his professional studies with Hon. Peter Pratt, of Providence, R. 1, where he remained about a year,and he completed them in the office of Josiah J. Fiske, in Wrentham. He was admitted as an attorney of the Court of Common Pleas, at Dedham, at the September term, 1828. He was admitted as a counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court, at Taunton, at the October term, 1832. practice at Freetown, and subsequently removed to Seekonk, in Bristol County. In 1835 he removed to Dedham, and had an office in the same building formerly occupied by Fisher Ames, and then by Theron Metcalf. He was employed to collate and complete the records of the court, which had fallen into some confusion through the prolonged illness of Judge Ware, the clerk, who had then recently deceased. In 1843 he was appointed by Governor Morton as district attorney for the district then composed of Worces- . ter and Norfolk Counties. 1855. In 1859, upon the establishment of the Superior Court, he was appointed one of the associate justices, being then nearly sixty years of age, and he held the office until his death, Feb. 6, 1882, being He had been in active practice for thirty-one years, so that his professional

He was always a Democrat in politics. He was representative to the General Court from Dedham for three sessions, and was the candidate of his party against John Quincy Adams for Congress. He was also a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1853.

He died in Dedham, but his remains were interred in Wrentham. At his funeral in St. Paul's Church, Dedham, a large number of members of the bar from Resolutions of respect for his memory were presented in the quirements of his judicial position without any interruption by illness, or asking any time for relaxation. Within a month before his death he held a term of court at Salem, and rendered decisions which commanded respect and confidence. In person he was very tall and erect, even to the last days of his life. He was scrupulously neat in his attire, and bore himself with dignity without affectation. easy or fluent in speech, but he was concise and accurate in his use of language.

court, and entered upon its records. These resolutions, with the remarks by Mr. Justice Colburn, embody the high estimation and profound respect felt by

They were presented by Asa French, Esq., district attorney, and addresses followed from Ellis Ames, John Daggett, Asaph Churchill, Nathaniel F. Safford, Samuel B. Noyes, Frederick D. Ely, and Erastus Worthington. The following are the resolutions:

'"Wuereas, On the sixth day of February last the Hon. Ezra Wilkinson, a justice of the Superior Court, departed this life at the age of eighty-one years, the members of the bar practising in the county of Norfolk, where he was born, and for twentyfive years was a leading practitioner, at the first term of that court held for civil business since his decease, would express their high appreciation of his character and services as a counsellor, as a prosecuting officer, and a judge, in the following resolutions :

" Resolved, That we hold in grateful memory the high sense of professional duty and obligations, and the thorough devotion to the study of jurisprudence, which characterized Judge Wilkinson from the beginning to the end of his long career; that we would recognize his accurate and ample learning both in the common and statute law, his unswerving integrity, which tolerated no suggestion of any indirect or questionable method in advancing his client's cause, his power of clear statement and convincing argument to the jury upon which he relied, rather than upon appeals to passion or prejudice, and his constant desire to maintain the honor and dignity of his profession.

'"'That asa district attorney from 1843 to 1855 for the district of which the county of Norfolk formed a part, he acquired a deserved reputation of strict fidelity to the duties of that responsible office, and for learning and skill in criminal pleading and practice, and for his performance of the highest duties of a prosecuting officer in ten capital trials from 1843 to 1849, that being the period during which the office of attorney-general was abolished in this Commonwealth.

"That as a judge of the Superior Court during a period of more than twenty-two years - 1859 to 1881 - we recall his judicial patience in the trial of causes, his readiness and aptness in applying legal principles to the facts of the case, and in which he rarely erred, and his capacity to discern the real points in issue, which enabled him to bring to the minds of the jury the exact questions they were called upon to decide.

"That by his death has been removed one of the few survivors of the latest generation of lawyers who were trained in the school of the common law before its essential modification by the statutes, and we regard Judge Wilkinson as a remarkable example of a jurist who kept himself fully informed of the decisions and statutes made and pussed during half a century, and at the age of more than fourscore years, and scarcely more than a month prior to his death, was able to preside at the term of his court in the county of Essex, and to render decisions which commanded the respect and confidence of those before him."

"Gentlemen of the Bar, - The life of Judge Wilkinson exthose well acquainted with him knew, and as his notes in the volumes of his extensive library and various memoranda show.

"Though always deeply interested in public and political affairs, he was never a politician or desirous of political advancement, his political services having been limited to three sessions of the Legislature and the Constitutional Convention of 1853. He thoroughly despised all hypocrisy, cant, and insincerity, and never hesitated to express his convictions on all proper occasions, but never obtrusively, however much they might conflict with the prevailing sentiment of the times. All kinds of dishonesty, oppression, and injustice excited his indignation, and as prosecuting officer, though pursuing offenders he believed to be guilty with all his strength, he has been known or gradually contracted habit, going but little into society, he early learned 'to scorn delights and live laborious days,' not from a desire for fame or fortune, but from a pure love of knowing all that could be learned upon all subjects which excited his

From his admission to the bar to his appointment to the bench he had an extensive and varied practice. ney, and during the first half of this time, there being no attorney-general, he had the sole management of all capital trials and the argument of all exceptions in criminal cases in his district. As soon as appointed he began to especially qualify himself for his new duties; he went to the fountain-head; he acquired all the English criminal reports and leading treatises and books of precedents, and became one of the most accomduties of his chosen profession.

"Upon the formation of the Superior Court, in 1859, Judge Wilkinson was appointed to that bench, and continued uninterruptedly, ably, and acceptably to discharge his judicial duties during the remainder of his life. For the adequate performance of these duties his legal acquirements and extended civil and criminal practice qualified him in an unusual degree. His independence of his surroundings rendered absence from home at long terms of the court in distant counties less irksome to him than to other men. He seemed always to have some subject which occupied his mind and furnished him with all the recreation he required, exempting him from that feeling of impatience which sometimes results from protracted labor away from home and friends. His stores of learning, his knowledge of unfamiliar matters of practice and procedure, the results of wide studies and long experience, were always at the service of his brethren of the bench, and the starting of an inquiry, which he could not readily answer, would lead him to an investigation to be leading to certain conviction, having become satisfied from his previous conferences that his witnesses, through excessive zeal or pride or opinion or some worse motive, were testifying more strongly against the defendant than their actual knowledge would warrant, and fearing that injustice might be done. And I have heard him say that, in sentencing defendants, he had never imposed more than the one day of solitary imprisonment absolutely required in certain cases; that nothing but a

"Descended from a long line of New England yeomanry, he derived from them many of the best characteristics of that branch of the Anglo-Saxon race, which has so largely influ-

For twelve years he held the office of district attor- | illustrating their early struggles and peculiarities, and an unusual knowledge of their local and municipal histories. As age advanced his fondness for rural quiet and retirement increased ;

| summer leisure among their rocks and woods, brooks and fountains, which had been familiar to him in youth and early manhood. Though he appeared to those who did not know him well reserved and unsocial, this was not his natural disposition, but resulted from circumstances and his self-reliance, which induced habits of life not readily changed. He was at times a most instructive and entertaining companion. No man who has lived eighly-one years can be said to die untimely ; but the strength which extended his years so far beyond the allotted we failed to realize how much our senior he really was. A learned lawyer, an upright judge, a high-minded, honorable man, in the maturity of years and the full vigor of his powers, has passed away, leaving the burdens he bore so long and well to be taken up and carried by younger men, until they in their turn shall be called upon by the great Disposer of the destinies of men to lay them down, to be again assumed by others.

"Tn accordance of the request of the bar their resolutions, with a memorandum of these proceedings, will be entered upon the records of the court." power of application, and a willingness to give his entire time and attention to any subject he had in charge, which more than compensated for the most brilliant talents without these qualities. He had read appreciatively all the leading authors in English literature, some of whom he especially admired, as

"English Department and Teachers' Seminary," | which at that time was entirely distinct from the - classical course. In the following year (1843) he en- |

May 13, 1847, he entered the law-office of Ira Cleveland, Esq., at Dedham, where he pursued his studies with diligence and attention, and May 3, 1850, was admitted to the bar. In the mean time, however, he had spent some time in the Harvard Law- School. He at once commenced the practice of law in his native town, and very soon took a leading position at the bar. He continued practice here until May 27, 1875, when he was appointed by Governor Gaston one of the justices of the Superior Court, a position virtually thrust upon him, as he knew nothing of the intention of Governor Gaston to appoint him until the day his name was proposed to the Council, and he was promptly confirmed.

in the State Senate, and served on the Judiciary Committee, and had charge of drafting the wellknown corporation act. Judge Colburn was also for several years the candidate of the Democratic party for attorney-general. He was chairman of the board of selectmen, assessors, and overseers of the poor of Dedham for nine successive years, beginning in 1855. He is also president of the Dedham Institution for Savings, and a director in the Dedham National

Politically, Judge Colburn was a member of the old Whig party, but upon the death of that organization he became a member of the Democratic party, He is a kind and of the Supreme Court, a position which he occupies at the present time. by Governor Gaston, a writer says, '' The comprehensive knowledge of affairs, the wisdom, tact, and ability, the legal culture and judicial grasp of mind displayed by Judge Colburn, clothe his appointment to the bench of the Superior Court with special fitness and propriety, and make it one of the salutary acts of Governor Gaston's administration." One of the leaders of the Suffolk bar, in speaking of Judge Colburn, says, " He is one of the ablest, most successful, and popular judges in the commonwealth."

Nov. 21, 1852, he united in marriage with Miss Mary Ellis Gay, daughter of Bunker Gay, of Dedham. She died Oct. 22, 1859, leaving two daughters, - Mary and Anna F., - who are still living. Aug.*5, 1861, he married Elizabeth C. Sampson, daughter of Ezra W. Sampson, a lawyer, and for thirty years clerk of the courts of Norfolk County. There was one son by this marriage, who died in childhood.

Judges of Probate.\ - WILLIAM HEATH was born in Roxbury, March 2, 1737, on the estate settled by his ancestor in 1636, and was bred a farmer. His fondness for military exercises led him, in 1754, to join the interests of his native town, and has filled many positions of trust and responsibility within the gift of his townsmen. He was a member of the Legislature in chairman of the Committee on Railroads and Canals. During these years he earnestly opposed loaning the State's credit to the Hoosac Tunnel scheme.

Boston newspaper, signed " A Military Countryman," on the importance of military discipline and skill in the use of arms. He wasa member of the General Court in 1761 and in 1771-74, engaged with zeal in the Revolutionary contest, was a delegate to the Provincial Congresses of 1774-75, and was a member of the Committees of Correspondence and of Safety. Appointed a Massachusetts brigadier-general Dee. 8, 1774; major-general, June 20, 1775 ; brigadier-general (Continental army), June 22, 1775; major-general, Ait oe Miniilsy pursuit of the British troops from Concord, April 19,

1775, and in organizing the rude and undisciplined army around Boston, and with his brigade was stationed at Roxbury during the siege of Boston. After its evacuation he accompanied the army to New York,

In 1777 he was intrusted with the command of the eastern department, and had charge of the Saratoga (convention) prisoners. In June, 1779, he was ordered to the command on the Hudson, where he was stationed till the close of the war. Returning to his farm, he became a delegate to the convention that adopted the Federal Constitution in 1788, State senator in 1791-92, and in 1806 was chosen Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts, but declined the office. July 2, 1793, he was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the new county of Norfolk, and the same day was appointed first Judge of Probate for the county. He died Jan. 24, 1814, aged seventy-seven years.

Epwarp Hurcntnson Roppins was born in Milton, Feb. 19, 1758, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1775. He studied law with Oakes Angier, of Bridgewater, and commenced practice in his native town. He was chosen a Representative from Milton in 1781, and Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1795, which office he held for nine successive years. In 1802 he was chosen Lientenant-Governor, and held the office until 1807. In 1793 he was appointed Special Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Norfolk County, and in 1799 was appointed Chief Justice of the same court. In 1808 and 1809 he was a member of the Executive Council. He also held many other positions of trust and responsibility. On the decease of Gen. Heath, in 1814, he was appointed Judge of Probate for the county of Norfolk, which office he held until his death, which occurred Dec. 29, 1829."

study of the law, employing the winter months of that and the three succeeding years in teaching. was admitted to the bar at Worcester in December, 1809, and commenced practice at Eastport, Me., January, 1810. Oct. 11, 1811, he was appointed prosecuting attorney for the county of Washington.

genial manners, and great kindness of heart. He was emphatically the friend of the widow and orphan, and his death was regarded as a great public loss. He lived and died on the fine estate on Brush Hill, now the residence of his son, Hon. James lature of 1812, and in December of that year was appointed first lieutenant, and served under that appointment in the army of the United States upon the eastern frontier until April, 1813, when he received the appointment of captain in the Thirty-fourth Regiment of Infantry in the United States army, and served until June 5, 1814, when he resigned his commission and resumed the practice of his profession. In July he removed to Roxbury, Mass., and in the year 1815 opened an office in Boston, and commenced practice in both the counties of Suffolk and Norfolk. He was a Representative from Roxbury in the Massachusetts Legislature for the years 1818, °19,'20,and'21. He was also a delegate from Roxbury in the Constitutional Convention of 1820. He was a member of the Senate of Massachusetts from the county of Norfolk for the years 1823 and 1824, and, during the temporary absence of the president, was elected president pro tem. He was again a member of the House of Representatives in the year 1825, and was chairman of the committee on the judiciary. In 1824 he was a candidate for Representative in Congress for the Norfolk District, but, after several trials, his competitor, Hon. John Bailey, was elected by a small majority. He was again elected a member of the Senate from Norfolk County for the years 1828 and 1829, and was president of the Senate for the year 1828, and chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary for 1829. On the 26th of January, 1850, he was appointed Judge of Probate for the county of Norfolk, in place of Judge Robbins, deceased, and immediately entered upon the discharge of the duties of the office, which he continued to perform until his death, which occurred Nov. 19, 1853, at the age of seventy years.

WiLLiAM SHERMAN LELAND was born in Roxbury, Oct. 12, 1824. After leaving the public schools in his native town, he entered the law-office of his father, Hon. Sherman Leland, then Judge of On the death of his father, in November, 1853, he was appointed to fill the vacancy, which position he continued to occupy until 1858, when, under the administration of Governor Banks, the law concerning Courts of Probate and Insolvency was changed, and he failed to receive the appointment as judge of the new court. He resumed the general practice of law, and soon acquired a large and lucrative practice. He was for many years one of the directors of the People's Bank of Roxbury, and was at one time its active president. He was one of the projectors of the Elliot Five Cent Savings-Bank, and was chosen its president, which office he continued to hold until his death, which

Cornell, LL.D., and at the Phillips Academy, in Exeter, N. H. He was graduated at Yale College in 1848, and began his professional studies in the Dane Law-School at Cambridge, and received the degree of LL.B. from Harvard College in 1850. He completed his studies with Hon. Robert Rantoul, Jr., and upon his admission to the Suffolk bar, in 1851, he became a partner with Mr. Rantoul, having an office in Boston. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention from Quincy in 1853. He was appointed Judge of Probate and Insolvency in 1858, and he has held the office since that time. He now resides in Wellesley, having an office in Boston. (See notice of Judge White in history of Wellesley.) the bar in Suffolk in 1781. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1774, and studied law with William Tudor in Boston. He had an office in Boston member of Congress until 1797. ever, failed in 1795, and while he continued to practise in the courts to some extent, he gradually withdrew towards the close of his life. evidently found the trial of ordinary cases very irksome, and his time and attention were taken up by his farm and politics. His fame asa lawyer was completely overshadowed by his eminence as a statesman and political writer. An account of his life and character will be found in the history of Dedham in this volume.

1783 ; studied law with Theophilus Parsons at Newburyport, and began practice in Medfield. he was appointed special justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and about the same time was appointed clerk of the courts, which office he held until 1811, when he was removed by Governor Gerry. He was reappointed the following year, and continued in office until his death, which occurred at Dedham, July 9, 1826, at the age of sixty-three years.

ter, of Boston. He was the first Register of Probate of this county. In 1802 he was commissioned a Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and in 1804 was appointed Chief Justice, and continued in that office until the court was abolished, in 1811. He was in the office of Register of Deeds until 1833, a period of forty years, and almost wholly retired from the practice of law. He then removed to Roxbury, where he continued to reside until his death, Sept. 4, 1847, at the age of seventy-six years.

The mother of Judge Haven was the sister of Samuel Dexter, Sr., and daughter of Rev. Samuel Dexter, minister of Dedham. He built the fine house near the court-house, on the corner of Court His office stood upon his grounds, and was the first office occupied by Waldo Colburn, who began practice in 1850, but It was in this office probably the first meeting of the bar was held. He was interested in theological questions, and wrote an elaborate pamphlet upon the case of the Dedham Church He was the father of Samuel F. Haven, of Worcester.

THOMAS GREENLEAF. - He was a member of the bar before the incorporation of the county. He was born in Boston, May 15, 1767, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1784. He removed to Quincy early in the present century. He was a representative to the General Court from 1808 to 1820. He was a member of the Executive Council from 1820 to 1822. of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Norfolk. He died Jan. 5, 1854, aged eighty six years and seven months.

ASAPH CHURCHILL, of Milton, was a member of the bar at the formation of the county. He was born in Middleborough, May 5, 1765, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1789, having a disputation

He was one of few attorneys, prob- Boston. Having continued his office in Boston for several years, he removed to Milton, where he purchased an estate on Milton Hill of Edward H. Robbins. He had a large practice in Norfolk County. He died in Milton, June 30, 1841, at the age of

1797. In 1811 he was appointed Clerk of the Courts by Governor Gerry, but was removed the next year by Governor Strong. He was also County Attorney. He died at Ware, Mass., while on a journey for his health, in May, 1843, aged seventy-one years.

Henry Maurice Lisir. - Attorney of Supreme Judicial Court, 1802. He was an Englishman who practised law in Milton. He was a man of ability, but little is known concerning him. 'There is a tradition that he went to the West Indies.

2, 1771, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1797. He studied law in the office of Fisher Ames in Dedham, and was afterwards his partner in business until the death of Mr. Ames. He was a learned lawyer, and had a taste for literature. He was a senator from the county in the session of 1815-14, and a member withdrew from active practice. He continued to be president of the Norfolk Mutual Fire Insurance Company until his death, which occurred in May, 1858. Jainus WARE. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, March, 1808. Jan.

of Common Pleas; and in 1819 Chief Justice of the Court of Sessions. He was appointed Clerk of the Courts Sept. 1, 1826, and held the office until his death, which occurred at Dedham, Jan. 18, 1836, at the age of sixty-four years.

Tuomas B. ApAMs. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, March, 1808. He was the third son of President John Adams, and was born in Quincy, then Braintree, Sept. 15, 1772; was graduated at Harvard College in 1790; was admitted to the bar in the State of Pennsylvania, and returned to the commonwealth after the incorporation of the county. justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas in 1811, Representative to General Court from Quincy in 1805, and in 1811 was a member of the Executive Council. He died March 12, 1832, Mr. Adams took an interest in the

GiprEoN L. THAYER. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, 1808. He was the son of Hon. Ebenezer Thayer, and was born in Braintree, Sept. 24, 1777. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1798, and studied law with Benjamin Whitman, of Plymouth He practised in that part of Braintree which is now Quincy, and also in the easterly part of the town near Weymouth Landing. He had a high standing in his profession. He died July 17, 1829, at the age of fifty-two years.

WittiAM DunBar. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial-Court, 1809. He was born in Stoughton, now Canton, Aug. 15, 1780, and never received a collegiate education. He practised law in Canton for a time, and then went West or South, and was gone many years. He returned to Canton a few years before his death, which took place May 6, 1848, and did some office work.

DanieL ApAMS. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, 1809. He was born in Watertown, March 26, 1779 ; was graduated at Harvard College in 1799, and commenced the practice of law at Medfield. He was

1820, excepting one year, and again in 1841. He was appointed Judge of the Court of Sessions of Norfolk County in 1822, and upon the retirement of Judge He died Sept. 2, 1852, at the age of seventy-three years. JABEZ CHICKERING. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, 1809. He was the son of the Rev. Jabez born Aug. 28, 1782. and continued it for many years. engaged in manufactures, and was cashier of the Dedham Bank. He removed in 1823 to Monroe, Mich., where he died Oct. 20, 1826.

Roxbury. He had an office in Boston, and was partner with George Gay, who was admitted at the same time, for many years, and afterwards with James M. He always lived at Roxbury, and had a good practice in Norfolk County. He was a man of remarkable energy, and conducted his cases with zeal and ability. He died in Roxbury, Nov. 20, 1859, at the age of seventy-two years. He

SamueL P. Lovup. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, 1811. He was born in Weymouth, March, 1783 ; was graduated at Brown University in 1805; studied law in the office of John Quincy Adams, and began the practice of law in Dorchester. He was a representative from Dorchester and senator from Norfolk County for many years; was a member of the Executive Council in 1841 and 1842, and represented the town in the Constitutional Convention of 1853. He was for six years a justice of the Court of Sessions for the county, and from 1828 to 1853, a period of twenty-five years of continuous service, he was chairman of the county commissioners. He died at Dorchester, July 11, 1875, at the age of ninety-two years and four months.

Judicial Court, 1813. He was graduated at Brown University in 1803 and resided in Weymouth, and was a representative to the General Court from that the county from 1827 to 1834. He was county attorney for the county, and in 1826 was commissioner of highways. He died in Baltimore in February, 1848, aged sixty-seven years.

EBENEZER F. THAyER. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, 1813. He was a brother of Gideon L. Thayer, and was born in Braintree, June 12, 1784. He studied law with H. M. Lisle, of Milton, with James Sullivan and Gideon L. Thayer. In company with Samuel K. Williams, he practised in Boston some six or eight years, and afterwards in Braintree. He died Feb. 15, 1824, at about forty years of age.

THOMAS GREENLEAF, JrR. - Counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court, 1814. He was a son of Thomas Greenleaf, of Quincy ; was graduated at Harvard College in 1806, and died in 1817.

Cyrus ALDEN. - Counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court, 1815. He was born at Bridgewater, Mass., and was graduated at Brown University in 1807, and studied law at Litchfield, Conn., and with William Baylies, at West Bridgewater. He was admitted to the bar first at Plymouth. He began the practice of the law at Wrentham, where he remained for six years and then removed to Fall River, from which town he was Representative to the General Court in 1837. In 1819 he published a work entitled, ""An Abridgement of Law, with Practical Forms." He was a worthy man and had a good reputation in his profession. He died in 1855.

SamuEL J. GARDNER. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, 1814. He was born in Brookline, July 9,1788. He entered Harvard College in 1803, He left

"An Essay on the Kstablishment of a Chancery Jurisdiction in Massachusetts," which is believed | upon competent authority to have been the first ar- | gument published in favor of an equity jurisdiction in the commonwealth. In 1827 he wrote and published a " History of Dedham from its Settlement in 1635 to May, 1827." He died June 27, 1842.

he received an honorary degree from the college. He studied law with Judge Fay, of Cambridge, and attended lectures at Philadelphia. He began practice in Roxbury in 1810. His office was on Boston Neck, and was a well-known landmark for twenty years. He acquired considerable property in his practice, and retired from active practice after a time. He was active in public affairs, being secretary and treasurer of the Roxbury Grammar School, and manager of the Roxbury Benevolent Society. He was a Representative to the General Court, president of the Norfolk County Temperance Society, and Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Freemasons in Massachusetts.

He subsequently lost much of his property, and in 1838 he removed to Newark, N. J., where he engaged in literary pursuits and in the education of his In 1844 he removed to New York. He was for eleven years editor of the Newark Daily Adchildren.

vertiser. He was an accomplished scholar and able writer, and under his editorial administration his paper held a high position among the leading journals of the country. In the discussions preceding the war of the Rebellion he was a vigorous supporter of the party of the Union. seventy-two in 1861. He died in the White Mountains, July 14, 1864, at the age of seventy-six years. After his death a selection of his writings, written for

ABNER LorinG. - Attorney of the Supreme Judicial Court, 1813. He was born in Hingham, July 21, 1786, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1807. He studied law with Ebenezer Gay. He began practice at Dorchester, and was well read in his profession, devoted to business, and of unexceptionable character. He died, deeply lamented, July 18, 1814, at the age of twenty-eight years.

Tuomas Totman. - Counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court, 1820. He was born in Stoughton, Feb. 20, 1791, and was graduated at Brown University in 1811. He practised law in Canton until 1837, and then removed to Boston and had an office there. He was a Representative to the General Court from Canton in 1828 and 1836. He was afterwards a member of the Executive Council. He died in Boston in 1869.

Joun B. Derpy. - Counsellor-at-Law of Supreme Judicial Court, 1821. He practised law in Dedham for some years, and afterwards removed to Beston, where he died. He was the father of Lieut. Derby, well known as a humorous writer under the nom de plume of " John Phoenix." uated at Brown University in 1816, and studied law with Josiah J. Fiske, at Wrentham. He afterwards opened an office at Wrentham, where he lived until his death, April 20, 1827.

Joun W. AmeEs. - Attorney of Supreme Judicial Court, 1820. He was the eldest son of Fisher Ames, and was born Oct. 22, 1793. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1813, and studied law with Theron Metcalf. He had an office in Boston for a short time, but soon removed to Dedham. He was Representative to the General Court from Dedham in

ABEL CusHi1na. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, 1818. He was graduated at Brown University in 1810, studied with Ebenezer Gay, of Hingham, and practised law in this county for a number of years, having an office in Dorchester. He was afterwards appointed a justice of the Justices' Court in Boston, which office he held until his resignation, shortly before his death, in 1866. He was a Representative to the General Court from Dorchester for three years, and also a Senator from Norfolk County.

MeLerian Evererr. - Counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court, 1820. He was born in Wrentham, June 24,1777. He was graduated at Brown University in 1802. He studied law with Hon. Laban Wheaton, of Norton, and began practice in Foxborough, where he resided until about the year 1832, when he removed to Wrentham. He was a Representative to the General Court from Foxborough in 1831, and was a Senator from the county in 1841 and 1842. He was a safe and prudent counsellor. He died in Wrentham in 1858. The Hon. Horace Everett, of Vermont, was his brother.

Ezra Weston Sampson. - He was probably admitted to the bar in the county of Plymouth. He was born in Duxbury, Dec. 1, 1797, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1816. He had an office in Braintree, where he practised law about twelve years. Upon the decease of Judge Ware, he was appointed in 1836 Clerk of the Courts for the county, and held the office until January, 1867. During the last year of his life he was unable to perform the duties of his office by reason of illness. He died in Dedham, Jan. 15, 1867, at the age of sixty-nine years.

WARREN LOvERING. - Counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court, October term, 1825. He was graduated at Brown University in 1817. He had an office in Medway for many years, and at one time had

He held several important offices, and was a prominent member of the Whig party. The last years of his life were spent in poverty and obscurity. He died in 1876.

JONATHAN PARKER BisHoP was born in Killingly, Conn., April 10, 1792. Jonathan Parker Bishop, a well-known physician, and Hannah (Torrey) Bishop. He commenced the practice of law in Medfield about the year 1818, having been admitted to the bar in another county, and was prominently identified with the affairs of the town during his life. He represented the town in the Legislature in 1848 and 1851, and was actively interested in the election of Charles Sumner to the | United States Senate, which first took place in the latter year. He was largely instrumental in the build- | ing of the Charles River Railroad, which was opened through the town in 1861. He died July 10, 1865.

AARON PreEscortr. - Attorney of Supreme Judicial Court, 1820. He was graduated at Harvard | College in 1814. He practised law for many years | in the county, and had an office in Randolph. He died in 1851.

JoNATHAN H. Coss. - Counsellor of Supreme Judicial Court, 1824. He was born in Sharon, July 8, 1799, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1817. He began the study of law in the office | of William Dunbar, of Canton, where he remained | until Oct. 9, 1818, when he went to Charleston, S. C., and opened a classical school. In 1819 he returned to Massachusetts, and completed his legal studies in the office of Jabez Chickering, of Dedham. He was editor of the Village Register, in Dedham, and had an office in Boston. In 1831 he was active in the formation of the Dedham Institution for Sayings, of which he was the first treasurer. In 1831 the Legislature requested the Governor to procure the compilation of a manual on the mulberry-tree and the manufacture of silk, which was prepared by Mr. Cobb, of which several editions were published, and afterwards republished by order of Congress. In 1837 he established a manufactory of sewing-silk in Dedham, of which he was superintendent and principal proprietor, but which was burned in 1845. In 1833 he was appointed register of probate for | Norfolk County, which office he held until 1879. He was for thirty consecutive years the town clerk of Dedham, declining re-election in 1875. He was | deacon of the First Church for more than forty years, and for the same period an active magistrate of the county. He died March 12, 1882.

GrorcE ©. WiLtpE. - Attorney of the Supreme Judicial Court, October term, 1826. He was the son of the Hon. Samuel S. Wilde, a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. His professional life was a brief one, but he practised law in Wrentham until about the year 1835, when he was appointed Clerk of the Supreme Judicial Court in the county of Suffolk, an office which he held for about forty years.

born in Franklin, May 4, 1796. He was graduated at Brown University in 1819. He entered the office of Josiah J. Fiske, at Wrentham, but soon after became a tutor at Brown University for two years. He then studied a year in the law-school at Litchfield, Conn., and completed his studies with James Richardson, at Dedham. He opened an office in Dedham, being the same lately occupied by Jabez Chickering, on the corner of Court and Church Streets. He was a Representative to the General Court from Dedham for four years, 1827- 31. In 1833 he removed to Boston, and entered into a partnership with Edward G. Loring. He was a member of the Senate from Suffolk four years, and in 1837 was president of that body. He was chairman of the committee for the revision of the statutes of 1836, and prepared the marginal notes and citations of cases, as editor with Theron Metcalf. He was appointed secretary of the Board of Education upon its organization, June 29, 1837. Of the great distinction and influence to which he attained in this office it is unnecessary to speak in this notice, or of his career as a member of Congress from 1848-52, which though brief was memorable. He died while president of Antioch College, Ohio, Aug. 2, 1859.

The brief period of practice in his profession at Dedham is naturally overlooked by reason of his having become so widely known as an educator and philanthropist, yet he was remembered by his contemporaries who knew him as a lawyer as a man of brilliant parts, and was a successful advocate. He was fond of controversy, and wielded an extremely He had many admirers in Norfolk County, and years after his removal from Dedham, when he was an independent candidate for Congress, the popularity and influence gained while at the bar, aided materially in his election.

JoHN JONES CLARKE. - Counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court, Nov. 5, 1830. He was born Feb. 24, 1803; was the son of Rev. Pitt Clarke (H. C. 1790), of Norton, Mass., and Rebecca (Jones) Clarke, of Hopkinton. He was at school at the Norton Academy, and was fitted for college partly at the Framingham and Andover Academies and partly by his father, who was, for his time, a distinguished scholar and teacher.

He entered Harvard College in 1819, with a class in which, at the end of the course of four years, a famous rebellion occurred, on account of which a large majority of the class were refused their degrees, and it was not until 1841 that Mr. Clarke received from the college the degrees of A.B. and A.M.

study of law in the office of Hon. Laban Wheaton, of Norton, for a year; he then' entered the office of James Richardson, Esq., at Dedham, where he remained two years; he was then, in 1826, admitted to the bar of the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards, in 1830, to the bar of the Supreme Court.

law in Roxbury, where he has ever since resided, having an office on Washington Street, nearly opposite Eustis. Here his business gradually increased, and in 1830 he married Miss Rebecca Cordis Haswell, a daughter of Capt. Robert Haswell, formerly in the navy, and afterwards in the mercantile service, and step-daughter of John Lemist, Esq., a prominent

Mr. Clarke early became one of the leaders of the bar of Norfolk County, and he was frequently retained in important cases in Plymouth and Bristol Counties.

On the acceptance in 1848 of a seat on the bench by Hon. George T. Bigelow, Mr. Clarke formed a partnership with his brother, Mr. Manlius S. Clarke, who had to that time been Judge Bigelow's partner. The principal office of the firm was in Boston, but Mr. Clarke retained his office in Roxbury for some years after this, and continued to attend to business in Norfolk County, in addition to attending to a portion of the large business of the firm of J. J. & M. S. Clarke in Suffolk County and elsewhere.

M. S. Clarke in 1853, and for a few months Mr. Elias Merwin was associated with Mr. Clarke, and aided in winding up the unfinished business of the old firm. In April, 1854, he took as a partner Mr. Lemuel Shaw, Jr., who had been a student in his office. This partnership continued until 1863, when in consequence of the increasing personal responsibilities of both partners it was dissolved, and from throp Bank of Roxbury, was one of the founders and the first president of the Roxbury Gas Company, and in the early history of the Metropolitan Railroad

Mr. Clarke was in early life a zealous member of the Whig party, but since the dissolution of that party he has not taken an active part in politics, though always doing his duty as a good citizen in voting at every election. He has always taken a great interest in the suppression of intemperance, and has for many years been a total abstainer from all intoxicating agents.

Mr. Clarke continues to occupy an office at 27 State Street, Boston, where he has been in practice since 1848, but of late years his time has been devoted principally to the care of estates of which he is trustee.

Joun Mark GourGas. - Attorney of the Supreme Judicial Court, November term, 1830. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1824. He practised law in this county during his life, having an office in Quincy. He died in 1862, and was never married. He was a careful and accurate lawyer.

NATHANIEL FostER SAFFORD was born in Salem in 1815, and was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1835. He studied law with Asahel Huntington, of Salem, where he was admitted to the bar. He began practice in Dorchester in 1839, where he acted as period of jurisdiction under the insolvent laws. He was Representative to the General Court from Dorchester in 1850 and 1851. In 1853 he was nominated by the Whig party to succeed Samuel P. Loude, who had declined further service as county commissioner, but there having been no choice by the people for Norfolk County in 1853, and when Roxbury was incorporated in 1846 he was chosen its first mayor, and rendered efficient service in organizing the new city government, but declined to hold the office for more than one year.

He was elected chairman of the board, a position which he continued to fill by successive re-elections until Jan. 1, 1868. He was again elected county commissioner in 1872, and from Jan. 1, 1873, to January, 1879, he was chairman of the board. He now resides in Milton, but has an office in Boston.

WitirAm 8S. Moron practised law at Quincy for many years, but he was not admitted in this county. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1831, and died at Quincy in 1871. some years.

Fisoer A. KINGsBuRY was a native of Norfolk County, and practised many years at Weymouth. He died many years ago. He acted as magistrate in Weymouth. He was admitted as counsellor of the Supreme Judicial Court in 1831.

ASAPH CHURCHILL, JR. - Attorney and counsellor, September term, Court of Common Pleas, 1834. He was born in Milton, April 20, 1814. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1831; studied law with his father at Milton, and in the Harvard Law-School. He was admitted to the bar before he was twenty-one years of age, and had an office at the Lower Mills, in Dorchester, and Milton until 1857, when he took an office in Boston, where he has since continued to practise, having had for his partner, from 1857 to 1870, Edward L. Pierce, and since that time his son, Joseph R. Churchill. He was a Senator from Norfolk County in 1857 ; wasa director and president of the Dorchester more than twenty-five years. He was also president of the Dorchester Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He has resided in Dorchester, and has had a large

ABNER L. CusHinG. - He was born in Dorchester, and was the son of Abel Cushing. He was graduated at Harvard College in 1838. He edited the Boston Republic a few years, and studied law with his father. He began practice in Boston, and subsequently removed to Randolph, where he had an extensive practice in this county for many years. In 1863 he removed to New York, where he is now engaged in the practice of law.

at Day's Academy, in Wrentham. ated at Brown University in 1838. He began practice in Wrentham, where he has continued to reside and practise law ever since. He was Representative to the General Court from Wrentham in 1843, 1848, and 1882. He was Senator from the county in 1851, and a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1853. He was land agent of the commonwealth from 1851 to 1854, and has been a trial justice since 1858.

Eviis WortHINGTON. - Attorney and counsellor, September term, Court of Common Pleas, 1842. He was born in Dedham, Feb. 11, 1816, and was the son of Erastus Worthington.

Brown University, but did not complete his college course. He studied law in the Dane Law-School at Cambridge, and in the office of Ezra Wilkinson at Dedham. He had an office in Dedham for a short time after his admission to the bar. He afterwards removed to Fort Wayne, Ind., and thence to Milwaukee, Wis., where he continued to practise law. He was afterwards the general agent of the Aitna Insurance Company of Hartford at Springfield, IIl., and was subsequently the vice-president of the Putnam Insurance Company of Hartford. He died in Palmyra, N. Y., Nov. 28, 1871.

Joun K1na. - Attorney and counsellor, April term, Court of Common Pleas, 1843. He is the son of John King, of Randolph, and was graduated at Har-

Hon. Wiii1AmM Gaston. - The subject of this sketch traces his ancestry to a family of France who were zealous adherents of the Huguenot cause. The direct ancestor of his branch of the family, driven from his native land, sought refuge in Scotland, from which place, between the years 1662 and 1668, his sons, being in great peril because of their firm adherence to the Protestant faith, fled to the north of Ireland for safety.

The forefather of Governor Gaston, with a younger brother, arrived in this country about 1730. He located in Connecticut, where his family remained for more than a century. Not only has Governor Gaston honored the family name and connected his name inseparably with the history of the old commonwealth, but North Carolina as well claims among her distinguished citizens one of the same name and family, William Gaston, an eminent jurist and statesman, judge of the Supreme Court of the State.

Governor William Gaston, son of Alexander and Keziah Arnold Gaston, was born in Killingley, Conn., Oct. 3, 1820. His father was a well-known mer- and strong force of character. The family removed from Killingley to Boston in 1838. Mr. Gaston was prepared for college at Brooklyn and Plainfield Academies, and at the early age of fifteen entered Brown University, where he maintained a high rank in his class and was graduated with honor in 1840. Having decided upon the legal profession as a life-study, he entered the office of Judge Hilliard, of Roxbury, where he remained for a time, and continued his legal studies with C. P. and B. R. Curtis, of Boston, with whom he remained until his admission to the bar in

1844. In 1846 he opened a law-office in Roxbury, and very soon took a leading position at the bar. continued his practice here with marked success until 1865, when, in company with Hawley Jewell and Walbridge A. Field, he formed a copartnership in Boston, under the firm-name of Jewell, Gaston & Field, which continued until Mr. Gaston's elevation to the gubernatorial chair of Massachusetts in 1874.

Governor Gaston is a Democrat in politics, and, although not an active politician, he has had many positions of trust and responsibility virtually thrust upon him, and his career in many respects has been In 1853 and 1854 he was elected to the House of Representatives as a Whig, and in 1856 was re-elected by a fusion of Whigs and Democrats against the Know-Nothing candidate. He was elected to the Senate in 1868, although his district was strongly Republican. He was also for a long time city solicitor of Roxbury, and mayor of Roxbury, 1861-62. his party's candidate for Congress, but was defeated. In 1870, after the annexation of Roxbury to Boston, he was elected mayor of the city, and re-elected in 1871. In this year a spirited contest ensued for the mayoralty, Mr. Gaston being the Democratic candidate and Hon. Henry L. Pierce the nominee of the Republicans. At first it was announced that Mr. Gaston was elected, but upon a recount of votes Mr. Pierce was declared mayor by a plurality of seventynine votes.

Mr. Gaston's popularity and strength was significantly shown in this contest, for only one month previously Gen. Grant had carried the city by five thousand five hundred majority.

In the fall of 1874 Mr. Gaston recceived the nomination for Governor, and entered the canvass in opposition to Hon. Thomas Talbot, at that time acting Governor of the commonwealth, and one of the strongest men in the Republican party. The result astonished and electrified the country. Mr. Gaston which was commended alike by both parties. declined the nomination for Governor in 1876, although a large majority of the convention was in his favor, and he also declined in the same year the congressional nomination from the Fourth District.

Harvard, and also from his Alma Mater, Brown University. In 1852 he united in marriage with Louisa A., daughter of Laban 8. Beecher, of Roxbury. Scholarly, with social attainments of a high charac-