Chapter 5 (Part 2 of 2) - Bench and Bar from History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by MLM, Volunteer 0000130. For the current email address, please go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00001.html#0000130 Copyright. All rights reserved. ************************************************************************ Full copyright notice - http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm USGenWeb Archives - http://www.usgwarchives.net ************************************************************************ Source: History of Rockingham County, New Hampshire and Representative Citizens by Charles A. Hazlett, Richmond-Arnold Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill., 1915 Page 64 (continued) EXETER Nicholas Ferryman. The first educated lawyer in Exeter was Nicholas Perryman, a native of Devonshire, England, born December 24, 1692. He came to this country young, after the death of his parents, married Joanna, Page 65 daughter of Stephen Dudley, about 1717, and was in practice in Exeter between 1720 and 1730. His name appears pretty frequently in suits after that date, and he did much of the conveyancing of his time. In 1744 and 1746 he appeared in behalf of Exeter in divers contested matters wherein the town was interested. He was evidently a leading man, and took a promi- nent part in the affairs of the community. He had several children, only one of whom arrived at maturity, Joanna, who married Noah Emery, Esq. Mr. Perryman died August 9, 1757. Noah Emery was a son of Daniel Emery, of Kittery, Me., and was born December 23, 1725. He studied law with Nicholas Perryman, Esq., whose son-in-law he became, and was in practice in Exeter before 1769. Dur- ing the Revolutionary war he occupied important and confidential positions in the new government. He was repeatedly chosen delegate from Exeter to the Provincial Congress, and was made clerk thereof, and acted on the committee to draw up a form of government for the colony. He was appointed clerk of the Court of Common Pleas in 1776, and continued to hold the office till 1787, near the time of his death, and was succeeded in the office by his son, who bore the same name. William Parker, Jr., was the son of Hon. William Parker, of Ports- mouth, an eminent judge of the Superior Court. He was born in 1731, graduated from Harvard College in 1751, and was admitted to the bar in 1765. Commencing practice in Exeter, he succeeded his father as register of probate in 1776, and discharged the duties of the office until his death in 1813. He was also appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1790, and served in that capacity until 1807. Judge Parker was respectably learned in his profession, and through his long life did much business in it, but on account of constitutional diffi- dence appeared little in the courts. It is said he never argued a cause to the court or jury, but he was an excellent conveyancer and a safe and judicious counselor, and found abundant professional occupation outside the courts. He was a man of bright parts and unbending integrity, and though he looked after his clients' interests faithfully, was very easy towards his own debtors. He died June 5, 1813. Oliver Peabody, eldest son of a farmer of the same name, was born in Andover, Mass., September 2, 1753, graduated at Harvard College at the age of twenty, studied law with Hon. Theophilus Parsons, of Newbury, Mass., and settled in Exeter about 1781. He was soon brought into public notice. He received the appointment of solicitor August 6, 1789, was elected state senator in 1790, and the same year was constituted judge of probate for the County of Rockingham, which office he filled until June, 1793. In 1793 and 1794 he was again a member of the State Senate, and in the latter year president of that body. Being chosen state treasurer he resigned the office of senator, and continued in the former office for nine years. In 1805 he was appointed sheriff of the County of Rockingham, and discharged the duties of the position for five years. In 1813 he was again chosen to the Senate, and was its presiding officer, and the same year was made a justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the Eastern Circuit, holding the position until 1816. Three times he was chosen an elector of Page 66 President of the United States, viz., in 1796, 1800, and 1808. He died August 3, 1831. Judge Peabody was gifted with excellent natural advantages, improved by study and cultivation. In all the various official positions which he sus- tained he exhibited the capacity and qualities needed for their satisfactory administration. He was not a contentious lawyer, and rarely took part in, the trial of causes in court, but he drew many writs and conducted a large office business to the contentment of his clients. He was formed by nature for popularity. Handsome in person, graceful in manner, with a mild temper and a social disposition, he won the regard and conciliated the good will of all. He could not have an enemy. His name naturally suggested itself for new positions of trust, and while few objected, he attracted warm friends and zealous partisans, who easily carried his election or appoint- ment, so that a large portion of his active life was spent in the service of the public. He was the father of an interesting and gifted family, on whose education he spared no expense, and in whose society he enjoyed the chief happiness of his later years. Nathaniel Parker, son of Judge William Parker, Jr., was born in East Kingston, October 22, 1760, and studied law in the office of his father, settling in practice at Exeter. He represented that town in the Legislature, and after performing the functions of deputy secretary of state for some years was then made secretary in 1809. He died in 1812, leaving no descendants. George Sullivan, a native of Durham, and a son of Gen. John Sullivan of the Revolution, was born August 29, 1771, and was a graduate of Harvard College, of the class of 1791. He prepared himself for his pro- fession under the tuition of his father, and made Exeter his home. He was appointed solicitor for Rockingham County in 1802, and held the office till 1805. In 1811 he was elected a member of Congress for two years, and in 1814 and 1815 he was chosen to a seat in the New Hampshire Senate. Before this time, in 1805, he had received the appointment to the state attorney-generalship,--which for three generations has been held long and creditably in the Sullivan family,--and occupied it for two years. After- wards, in 1815, he was reappointed and administered the office for twenty years more. He resigned the place in 1835, on the passage of a law increas- ing the salary but prohibiting the incumbent from engaging in practice in civil causes. Mr. Sullivan's services were in too much demand by suitors to allow him to confine his attention solely to the criminal business. He died April 14, 1838, highly respected throughout the state. His private, professional, and public character were alike unblemished. His intellectual capacity, his legal acquirements, and his honorable course of practice placed him in the foremost rank of New Hampshire lawyers, while the charms of his sweet voice, his graceful gesticulation, and his eloquent periods gave him a great advantage over his less favored competitors. Though of ardent temperament, and never shunning a contest, he was as ready to forgive as to take offense; the only unpardonable sin in his eyes was mean and under- hand dealings. He was above all tricks and artifices. The traditions of Page 67 his career that yet linger in the bar are all as creditable to his high sense of professional honor as to his mental force and moving eloquence. Solon Stevens, born in Charlestown, October 3, 1778, graduated from Dartmouth College in 1798, read law with Hon. Benjamin West, and settled in Exeter in 1804. He remained there but a few years, when he removed to Boston, and soon returned to his native town, where he died August 29, 1809. Jeremiah Smith, a son of William Smith, was born in Peterborough, November 29, 1759. He entered Harvard College in 1777, and about the same time served for two months in the army, being present and wounded at the battle of Bennington. He afterwards migrated to Rutgers College, in New Jersey, and graduated in 1780. He was for a time engaged in teaching, and then studied law, entering the bar in 1786, and establishing himself in his native town. He was sent as representative to the Legisla- ture in 1788, 1789, and 1790, and as delegate to the State Constitutional Convention in 1791-92. In 1790 he was chosen representative in the United States Congress, and served until he resigned his seat to accept the appoint- ment of United States district attorney for New Hampshire in 1797. The same year he changed his residence to Exeter. In 1800 he was commis- sioned judge of probate for Rockingham County, and discharged the duties of the position about two years. In 1801 he received from President Adams the appointment of United States circuit judge and entered upon its duties, but in a few months the law which established the court was repealed and his office terminated. In 1802 he was elevated to the dignity of chief justice of the Superior Court of the State, and administered the office with eminent ability until his resignation, on account of ill health, in 1809. The next year he was elected governor of New Hampshire, and held the office for one year. He was replaced as chief in 1813 upon the bench of the highest state court, and continued as such until 1816, when a radical change of the judicial system of the state resulted in the removal of all the judges. For a few years after this Judge Smith returned to the bar, and then about 1820 retired from active practice. The honorary degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College in 1804, and by Harvard in 1807. He continued to live in Exeter till 1842, and then removed to Dover, where he died September 21St in the same year. Judge Smith's intellect was vigorous, his learning great, and his per- ceptions keen. He was an admirable lawyer, and enjoyed a large and lucra- tive practice in four counties for some years; but he studied and trained himself for the judicial office, and there he shone conspicuous. He had abundant professional learning, patience, and sound sense, besides fine dis- crimination and a sense of justice that was rarely at fault. Some of his opinions have been recently published in a volume, and, though mere skele- tons and without revision, they constitute a valuable addition to the juridical literature of the state. Many anecdotes of Judge Smith's ready wit are told by those who remember him. It was keen as an arrow, but left no sting behind. As a citizen and a neighbor his society was greatly valued. He manifested an interest in everything that made for the benefit and credit of his town. He Page 68 was a trustee and treasurer of the Phillips Academy for many years; he was active in promoting the formation of a lyceum, and prepared lectures for it; he delivered an interesting and valuable historical discourse on the occasion of the two hundredth anniversary of the settlement of Exeter. Few men have left the record of a long life so unsullied. Joseph Tilton was born in East Kingston in August, 1774, and graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1797. Studying law with Hon. Jeremiah Smith, he commenced practice in Wakefield soon after 1800, and removed to Rochester about 1805. In 1809 he opened on office in Exeter, where he thenceforward resided. For nine years in succession, from 1815 to 1823, inclusive, he represented Exeter in the General Court, a fact which is significant of the trust reposed in his ability and honesty by his fellow- citizens. He practiced his profession in the days of Mason and Webster, Sullivan and Bartlett, and other men of mark in the law, and maintained among them a creditable standing for learning and capacity. He was esteemed and respected by all, and his social qualities were highly valued by those who knew him best. Judge Richardson, who had a keen appreciation of humor, maintained the pleasantest relations with Mr. Tilton, and enjoyed many a hearty laugh at his quaint stories and bright repartees. Mr. Tilton died March 28, 1856, at the advanced age of eighty-one years. Jotham Lawrence was a son of David Lawrence, of Epping. He received his early education at the Phillips Exeter Academy, which he entered in 1793, and prepared himself for admission to the bar in the office of Hon. George Sullivan. He lived to be the oldest member of the Rockingham bar, and died in Exeter, November 6, 1863, aged eighty-seven years. Jeremiah Fellowes was a native of Exeter, and a graduate from Bow- doin College in the class of 1810. He went through his preparatory studies under the eye of Hon. George Sullivan, and opened an office in Exeter in 1813. He was a young man of talents, and was the author of a volume of poems of some merit. He became in early life the victim of mental disease, from which he never recovered. George Lamson, a son of Gideon Lamson, of Exeter, was a graduate from Bowdoin College in 1812, and began to practice in his native place three years after. He became interested in the publication of a newspaper and of some law books, and was the proprietor of the Exeter Watchman from 1819 to 1821. He subsequently engaged in the business of a book- seller in New York, and died there in 1826, aged thirty-two years. William Smith was a son of Hon. Jeremiah Smith, and was born in Exeter about 1800. He graduated from Harvard College in 1817, and com- menced the practice of the law in Exeter in 1821. He was chosen a repre- sentative of the town in the Legislatures of 1822, '23, '24, and 1825. He was a young man of high promise, of fine literary taste, and of many accomplishments. He was the author of two pamphlets of merit, one "Remarks on the New Hampshire Toleration Act," the other "On the Assas- sination of Julius Caesar." His health failed at an early age, and he sought for relief in a milder climate, but in vain, for he died unmarried March 29, 1830. Oliver William Bourne Peabody was a son of Hon. Oliver Peabody, born Page 69 in Exeter, July 7, 1799, and educated at the Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1816. He was for a while a teacher in the academy in his native town, then studied law and entered into practice there. He was a representative of the town in the Legisla- ture, from 1823 to 1830, eight years successively. In the latter year he took up his residence in Boston. In 1835 he was one of the representatives of that city in the General Court, and in 1836 was appointed register of pro- bate for the County of Suffolk. He afterwards studied for the ministry, and was settled over the Unitarian Society in Burlington, Vt., and died, unmarried, July 5, 1848. He was gifted with uncommon talents, and his literary acquirements were of the highest character. He was the author of several poems and addresses which were much admired. His character was singularly pure and amiable, and attracted to him a wide circle of friends. John Sullivan was a son of Hon. George Sullivan, of Exeter. He went through the course of studies at the academy in his native town, and pur- sued his law-reading under his father's direction. On being admitted to the bar, about 1822, he chose Exeter as his place of business. In 1828 he received his first appointment as county solicitor, and performed the duties of the office for two terms (ten years). He was then commissioned judge of probate for the County of Rockingham, and so remained till 1848. In 1849 the appointment of attorney-general for the state was conferred on him, and he retained that position as long as he lived. He died November 17, 1862, aged sixty-two years. Judge Sullivan had a great share of the hereditary talent that character- ized his family. He was a sound and careful lawyer, but he was particularly distinguished for his power as an advocate before the jury. He argued questions of fact with force, and frequently with eloquence, his well-rounded periods and musical voice reminding his elder hearers strikingly of his father. His feelings were quick and impulsive, but he was honest, honorable, and high- minded. The important and responsible offices which he filled for so large a portion of his life were ably and impartially administered. No man ever justly questioned his truthfulness or his integrity. Samuel Taylor Gilman, a son of Hon. Nathaniel Gilman, of Exeter, received his academical education at Harvard College, graduating in 1819. After studying law in the office of Hon. George Sullivan, he established himself in practice in Exeter about 1826. He delivered a Fourth of July address in his native town which gained him much credit; and he was a representative in the General Court from Exeter in 1829. He was a young man of fine capacity and amiable character, and the future seemed full of promise to him, but death cut short his career when he had attained the age of thirty-four years. James Bell, a son of Hon. Samuel Bell, was born in Francestown on the 13th of November, 1804,and graduated at Bowdoin College in 1822. Hav- ing prepared himself for his profession in the office of his brother, Hon. Samuel D. Bell, and at the law school in Litchfield, Conn., he entered into practice first at Gilmanton in 1825. After staying there about six years, he selected Exeter as his residence, where he continued for fifteen years, Page 70 enjoying a large, important, and lucrative practice in Rockingham and Straf- ford counties. During this period he was engaged in nearly every cause of magnitude which arose in that section of the state. His competitors at the bar were strong and learned men, but perhaps none of them--certainly none of his years--was his superior in all the qualities that go to make up an accomplished and successful lawyer. In 1846 he was a member of the Legislature, and in the same year received a valuable appointment which caused him to remove to Gilford, of which place he continued a resident until his decease. While living there he was chosen a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1850, and was one of its most prominent and influential members. In March, 1855, he was chosen a senator of the United States for six years, but he did not live to complete the term. His death occurred May 26, 1857. He was a man of unblemished character and of high and honorable attainments. John Kelly, son of Rev. William Kelly, and born at Warner, March 7, 1786, was a graduate of Dartmouth College in the class of 1804. After studying law he was admitted to practice in 1808, and chose Northwood as his home. He was a representative from that town in the General Court. In 1814 he resided for a year in Concord, and had editorial charge of the Concord Gazette. In 1831 he went to Exeter to live, having accepted the appointment of register of probate, which he held until 1842. In 1846 and 1847 he was a member of the Executive Council of the state. Mr. Kelly was for many years the editor of the Exeter News-Letter, and contributed to its columns a series of articles of much historical and genealogical value. He was distinguished for his antiquarian tastes, and his reputation ranks high among the New Hampshire scholars in that department of learning. He was a witty writer, and contrived to lend an interest to subjects generally to ordinary readers dry and forbidding. He died in Exeter, November 3, 1860. Amos Tuck was born in Parsonsfield, Me., August 2, 1810; pursued his preparatory studies at the academies in Effingham and in Hampton, and in 1835 graduated from Dartmouth College. He then became an instructor in Pembroke Academy, and subsequeutly the preceptor of the Hampton Academy, and at the same time devoted his leisure hours to law study, which he completed in the office of Hon. James Bell at Exeter, and on being admitted to the bar became his partner in business. The firm during the entire period of its existence enjoyed a large and important business in and out of the courts. Mr. Tuck began life as a democrat in politics, but came out into the free-soil party in the movement which brought Hon. John P. Hale into prominence. In 1847 he was elected to Congress by the whig and free-soil voters of his district, and was twice re-elected, serving six full years. When Mr. Lincoln became president, he gave to Mr. Tuck, an old con- gressional friend, the position of naval officer in Boston, and reappointed him in 1865. It was an important and lucrative office. Mr. Tuck, after Mr. Bell removed from Exeter, had formed a law partnership with Hon. William W. Stickney, and subsequently with his son-in-law, Francis 0. French, Esq., but after holding the office of naval officer gave up his law business and devoted his attention to other affairs. He received from the Page 71 directors of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad the appointment of selling agent of their lands, and for some years passed most of his time in the west in that employment; and he gave much attention to other enterprises away from his home. He also traveled in Europe considerably. He died in Exeter, December 11, 1879, of apoplexy. Mr. Tuck was of an active temperament, and felt an interest in many things. In his town he took a prominent part in every movement, religious, educational, and political. He was concerned as president of the board of trustees in the shaping of the Robinson Seminary, and he served many years as a trustee of the Phillips Exeter Academy and of Dartmouth College. He was liberal in his dealings, and kind and charitable to the poor and needy. As a lawyer he was ready, adroit, and familiar with human nature. Re was faithful to his clients, and mananged their business with sagacity and success. In his addresses to the court and jury he spoke pointedly, per- iuasively, and with effect. From early life he assumed a leading position, and throughout his three-score years and ten exerted a large influence about him. His death deprived the County of one of its best known and most important citizens. Samuel Hubbard Stevens was born in East Kingston, November 20, 1802. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1830, and after completing his professional study began practice in Bristol, and afterwards removed to Lawrence, and thence to Exeter, where he was cashier of the Granite State Bank from 1849 to 1858. Subsequently he took up his residence in Concord, having retired from active business, and made it his home for the remainder of his life. Timothy Farrar, Jr., was born in New Ipswich, March 17, 1778, and was the son of Hon. Timothy Farrar. In 1807 he took his bachelor's degree at Dartmouth College, and entered the office of Hon. Daniel Webster as a student-at-law. He began practice in Portsmouth about 1813 as law partner of his preceptor, and continued there after Mr. Webster's removal to Boston until 1822, when he went to Hanover to reside. In 1824 he was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and so continued until the abolition of that court in 1833. He then resumed his residence in Portsmouth till 1836, when he assumed the duties of cashier of a bank in Exeter. There he remained till 1844, and then removed to Boston, of which city he was a representative in the General Court of 1854. In 1867 he was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws from his Alma Mater. He died in Boston, October 27, 1874. It was said of Judge Farrar that he was "pre-eminently a safe adviser." He was a man of much learning, general as well as professional. A number of works were the product of his pen, chiefly upon legal and constitutional subjects. He edited the "Report of the Dartmouth College Case" in 1819. In later life he published a "Review of the Dred Scott Decision," and several other minor essays, but his chief work was the "Manual of the Constitutional," which has elicited the high commendation of some of our most eminent scholars and constitutional lawyers. Melburn F. Eldridge was in practice in Exeter as an attorney-at-law from about 1845 to 1849, a part of that time having an office at Newmarket. Page 72 He then removed to Nashua, and afterwards, it is believed, to Milford, where he continued till his decease, about 1854. John Sullivan Wells, a descendant of Gen. John Sullivan, of the Revolu- tion, was born in Durham, and passed his early childhood there. He first learned the trade of a cabinet-maker, and earned enough by it to enable him to acquire a fair education. He studied law in Vermont and began practice there, but removed to Lancaster. N. H., in 1837, where he at once received the appointment of county solicitor and retained it for ten years. From 1839 to 1842 he was a representative from Lancaster in the Legislature, and in 1841 was chosen speaker of the House. About 1846 he changed his residence to Exeter. In January, 1847, he was commissioned attorney-general of the state, but resigned the position after a few months. In 1851 and 1852 he was a member of the State Senate, and president thereof both years. In January, 1855, he was appointed by the governor United States senator to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Hon. Moses Morris, and occupied his seat until March 4th. He was subsequently a candidate for governor of the State and for senator in Congress. He died August 1, 1860, at the age of fifty-six years. Mr. Wells was gifted with many of the essentials of a successful lawyer and politician. He had a fine person, pleasing manners, readiness and fluency of speech, and a most melodiotts voice. In many of these respects he inherited the qualities which gave the Sullivans for several generations their prominent standing at the bar. Mr. Wells had the confidence of his party and of his clients in a remarkable degree. His professional business was large and lucrative, and but for the change that took place in the political complexion of the state at the period when his name was put forward he would have probably enjoyed more of her highest honors. Eben Franklin Tucke was a native of Kensington, born February 16, 1822. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College in 1843, and pursued his professional studies with Messrs. Bell & Tuck in Exeter and at the Harvard Law School, and began to practice in Exeter in 1846. His abilities were excellent, and his social qualities rendered him a general favorite. The later years of his life were shaded by illness, which put a period to his earthly existence May 30, 1857. Alva Wood was a native of Georgetown, Mass. He received an academ- ical education, and came to Exeter about 1847 and made it his lifelong home. He studied law in the office of Messrs. Bell & Tuck, and entered into practice about 1849. He was active and assiduous, and gathered a very considerable business, which continued up to about a year before his decease, when his health began to fail. He died suddenly, February 17, 1878. aged fifty-seven years. He was a man of talents, who had made his own way to respectability and competence; was public-spirited and gen- erally esteemed. Moses Norris Collins, a native of Brentwood, born in April, 1820, com- pleted his law studies in the office of Gen. Gilman Marston, and was admitted in 1857. He had previously, in 1855, represented Brentwood in the General Court. He remained in the same office with General Marston, and subse- quently became his partner. The considerable business of the office he Page 73 managed successfully while General Marston was absent in Congress and in the army. In 1861 and 1862 Mr. Collins was a representative from Exeter to the Legislature, and in the summer of 1863 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh New Hampshire Volunteers, and proceeded to the seat of war. He was shot dead in the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864. Gilman Marston is a native of Oxford; his ancestors lived in Hampton. He took his degree of A.B. at Dartmouth College in 1837; the same institu- tion conferred the degree of LL.D. upon him in 1882. He began practice in Exeter in 1841. In 1845, 1846, and 1847 he was a representative of that town in the State Legislature, and has been so a number of years since. He was a member of the Thirty-sixth, Thirty-seventh, and Thirty-ninth Congresses of the United States. In 1861 he was commissioned colonel of the Second New Hampshire Volunteers, and was severely wounded at the battle of Bull Run. In 1862 he received the commission of brigadier- general, and served nearly to the close of the war. He died July 3, 1890. Hon. William Weir Stickney was born in Enfield, N..H., June 24, 1801. He was the son of Daniel and Sarah (Morse) Stickney, and is a descendant in the sixth generation of William Stickney, the emigrant, who came from Frampton, Lincolnshire, England, about 1637, to Boston, Mass., and became one of the first settlers of Bowley, Mass. Daniel Stickney was a farmer, a soldier in the Revolution, enjoyed to a marked extent the confidence of the community, and for years was justice of the peace. William W. received his preparatory education for college at Kimball Union Academy, and entered Dartmouth College in 1819, and was grad- uated from that institution in 1823. He read law with Hon. Henry B. Chase, of Warner, N. H., and was admitted to the bar at Concord, N. H., in 1826. After one year's practice of law in Concord, he removed to New Market, N. H., and established himself there as an attorney in July, 1827. Here he remained until October, 1847, when he moved to Exeter, N. H., and engaged in his profession in company with Hon. Amos Tuck. This copartnership continued until 1856. Since then he has been alone in prac- tice. In his profession no lawyer could have been more diligent, attentive, or faithful. During his exceptionally long period of practice he has missed attending but one term of court, and that was by reason of illness. Mr. Stickney has served four terms as representative in the State Legis- lature,--three from New Market (1839, 1840, 1841) and one from Exeter (1854). He was appointed United States district attorney for the district of New Hampshire by President Taylor, June 21, 1849, and held that position until the administration was changed by the election of Franklin Pierce in 1853. In 1857 he was appointed judge of probate for Rockingham County, and held that office until disqualified by age. He is president of the Bar Association of Rockingham County, and has held that position for a long term of years, being elected October 19, 1860, and is the oldest prac- ticing lawyer in this county, if not in the state. He has been connected with many business enterprises, is now president of Exeter Machine-Works, was chosen director of the Granite Bank in 1848, and was continued as such in its successor, the National Granite Bank. He has been a member of Page 74 the Masonic Order since 1829, and now holds membership in "Star in the East" Lodge in Exeter. Mr. Stickney married November 5, 1850, Frances A., daughter of Clark Hough, of Lebanon, N. H. Of their three children two daughters now survive. In private life Judge Stickney is especially characterized by modest and unassuming manners, strong social feeling, and warm friendship for a large circle of devoted friends. In public life he has ever been the courteous gentleman to all, and a faithful and devoted servant to public interests. As a lawyer he is thorough and painstaking, his attainments being rather solid than brilliant, and he is well regarded by, and enjoys the esteem of, the members of the bar for both ability and thoroughness. In his judicial office he was upright and conscientious, just in his decisions, and careful in his investigations. Charles Henry Bell was the son of Governor John and Persis (Thom) Bell, and the youngest of a family of ten children. He was born November 18, 1823, in Chester, Rockingham County. After acquiring the benefits afforded by the schools of his native town he entered the academy at Pem- broke, where, and at Phillips Exeter Academy, he fitted for college, and graduated from Dartmouth in 1844. On leaving college he commenced the study of law, first with Bell & Tuck in Exeter, and subsequently con- tinued with his cousin, Hon. Samuel Dana Bell, one of the most eminent lawyers in the state, and who for five years held the office of chief justice of New Hampshire. On his admission to the bar young Bell commenced practice in his native town of Chester, but the field of labor was far too small for a young man at all ambitious, and he began to look about him for an opening. He selected Great Falls, where he formed a partnership with Nathaniel Wells, a sound lawyer and a successful business man. The firm of Wells & Bell enjoyed a fair share of business, which was constantly increasing, but after several years' practice at the Strafford bar Mr. Bell removed to Exeter. Able lawyers were never scarce in Exeter, and to most young men the prospects of success would have seemed discouraging. As a student Mr. Bell had profited largely by association with the best lawyers Of the time. He entered actively into practice, and in 1856 he was appointed solicitor of Rockingham County. For ten years he continued to discharge the duties of this office, and to manage a large civil business besides. Governor Bell first entered politics as a member of the House of Repre- sentatives at Concord in 1858, and in his first term was made chairman of the Judiciary Committee, an honor that is rarely conferred on new members. He was re-elected to the Legislature in 1859, and again in 1860, in which latter year he was chosen speaker. In 1863 and 1864 he was elected to the State Senate, and during the latter year served as president of that body. In 1872 and 1873 he was again chosen to the House. Mr. Bell was president of the Republican State Convention of 1818, where his address proved the keynote to a successful campaign. In 1879 he was appointed United States senator for the special session of that year by Governor Prescott, to take the place of Mr. Wadleigh, whose term of office had expired. He was admitted to his seat April 10th, Page 77 after a long debate on the constitutional right of the governor to make the appointment. In the Republican State Convention of 1880 the delegates, with an unanimity never before equaled, selected him as their candidate for governor. Their opponents were preparing for an aggressive campaign with a most popular nominee for the presidency, and their prospective candidate fur gubernatorial honors was regarded as simply invincible. After a canvass probably never equaled for thoroughness on both sides, Mr. Bell was trium- phantly elected, receiving the largest number of votes ever polled for any candidate of any party at a New HampShire state election. Governor Bell devoted much time to historical research, and especially to the history of the state from its settlement. He was the author of a "Memoir of John Wheelwright," a work that is the only approach to a complete biography of this sturdy old Puritan pioneer yet written, the material being collected from every known source of information on the subject in this country and England, also author of "The Wheelwright Deed of 1629: Was It Spurious ?" "Exeter in 1776," "Men and Things of Exeter ," and "Biographical History of the Bench and Bar of New Hamp- shire." In the spring of 1871, Mr. Bell assumed editorial charge of the Exeter News-Letter, which he retained till 1875, about four years. He has occu- pied the grand master's chair of the Masonic fraternity of this state. For a dozen years or more he was president of the New Hampshire Historical Society, which has been instrumental in interesting the public in the history of the state, and has brought to light many important facts bearing on this subject. Dartmouth College at the commencement in June, 1881, conferred upon Governor Bell the degree of LL.D. Edwin G. Eastnwn was born in Statham, N. H., November 22, 1847. Graduate of Dartmouth College. Began practice of law at Exeter, N. H., in 1876, was associated with Gen. Gilman Marston and became his partner in 1878. A member of the New Hampshire Senate in 1889 and Constitutional Convention in 1901. Solicitor of Rockingham County four years and attorney-general of New Hampshire since 1902. GREENLAND John Samuel Hatch Prink was a resident of Greenland with office in Portsmouth. Born at Newington, N. H., November 9, 1831, the son of Simes and Sarah Hatch Frink. He prepared for college at Hampton Academy and graduated at Bowdoin College in 1851. He married Lucretia Morse Frink in May, 1859. He was admitted to the bar in 1855, was county solicitor of Rockingham County in 1874-75. He was appointed judge of the Supreme Court in 1871 and again in 1878, but declined both appointments. He was United States district attorney for New Hampshire 1885-90 and president of Portsmouth Savings Bank in 1895-1905. He died August 31, 1905. Page 78 At the January, 1906, term of the Supreme Court of Rockingham County a lawyer, who was better acquainted with Mr. Frink than perhaps any other man, said in part of him "You all know how extensive and varied his prac- tice was; no lawyer ever loved his profession more than Mr. Frink. He was wedded to it for better or worse and he never allowed any other busi- ness to interfere with his practice. No lawyer ever loved his brother lawyers better. His generosity was without ostentation and almost unbounded. He was a man of many sides, to be judged by no one of them but taken altogether, they made him one of the noblest of men, one of the most delightful companions and one of the best lawyers, it has ever been my good fortune to know. William Pickering, a son of William Pickering, was born in Greenland, and received his academica] education at Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard College, from which he graduated in 1797. He pursued his legal studies in the office of Hon. William K. Atkinson, of Dover, and com- menced practice in his native place. He served for a time as deputy secretary of state, and was in 1816 chosen state treasurer, an office which he retained until 1828, and again held in 1829. The next year he was appointed collector of the United States revenue at Portsmouth, and removed to his former home in Greenland. The office of collector he resigned in 1833, and continued to reside in Greenland until his decease in 1850. He also represented that town in the Legislature of the state. Isaiah P. Moody originated in York, Me., and in 1820, at the age of fifteen, attended the Phillips Academy at Exeter. He took his degree at Bowdoin College in 1827, and in 1834 set up practice as a lawyer in Hamp- stead. He appears to have remained there until 1841. Oliver Whipple practiced law in Hampton from about 1794 to 1806. He had previously resided in Portsmouth for more than twenty years, and his biography more properly belongs to that place. He went to Maine after leaving Hampton, and an interesting account of him is to be found in Willis' "Law and Lawyers of Maine." HAMPTON Edmund Toppan was the only son of Hon. Christopher Toppan, a man of note in the history of Hampton. He was born September 25, 1777, and graduated from Harvard College in 1796. He studied law under the direc- tion of Hon. Theophilus Parsons, then of Newburyport, and after a short stay at Portsmouth commenced business in Deerfield, his father having built him a house there and presented him with an expensive library. He practiced there till about 1804, when his house and library were accidentally destroyed by fire, and then he returned to his native place, and there remained until his death in 1849. His business in Hampton was necessarily somewhat limited, but he was acceptable to the people, and represented the town in the State Legislature. Mr. Toppan is said to have possessed by nature rather a brilliant than a logical mind. His learning in his profession and generally was consider- able, he spoke readily and gracefully, and his manners were courteous and attractive. Page 79 KINGSTON Francis Peter Smith, son of Rev. Isaac Smith, was born in Gilmanton, August 22, 1795. He read law with Hon. Jeremiah H. Woodman and others, and began practice in Boston in 1819. He was in practice in King- ston in 1822, and afterwards in Ossipee for ten years. He then studied divinity and became a clergyman, having settlements successively in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. John Edward Stanyan was a native of Pembroke; the time of his birth was May 17, 1816. For two years or more after his graduation from Dartmouth College in 1840 he was preceptor of an academy, and then studied law. He practiced at Pembroke, Epping, and Kingston, in this state, and at Haverhill and Ashby, in Massachusetts. He was emphatically a rolling stone, and though a man of no little ability, was too irregular and erratic to acquire and retain the respect of those whose good opinion is of value. William Colcord Patten was a Kingston man by birth, education, and residence. He was gifted by nature with superior powers of mind and a fine and pleasing address. He began life as a teacher and land surveyor, but gradually acquired a taste for the law, and prepared himself for its practice. His aptitude for political life gave him rather a remarkable succes- sion of official positions. He was a representative in the Legislature of 1857, state senator in 1861 and 1862, councilor in 1867 and 1868, and again representative in 1871 and 1872. He died in January, 1873, at the age of about fifty years. Mr. Patten entered upon the practice of the law rather late in life, but from his experience brought with him much acquaintance with practical affairs and knowledge of human nature. His business was conducted with promptness and sagacity, and he acquired much credit as a practitioner. His ambition ran much in the line of politics, where his popularity was such that he was repeatedly elected to office by his townsmen when the majority was clearly against his party. Had he lived, there was every reason for believing that he would have achieved higher political honors. His death was sudden, and, occurring while he was in the prime of lifc and apparently of sound constitution, caused a severe shock to the community. LONDONDERRY John Prentice, born in Cambridge, Mass., and a graduate of Harvard College in 1767, read law with Hon. Samuel Livermore, and established himself in business in Londonderry, having purchased the place where his instructor lived, and erected a large mansion thereon. His wife brought him a handsome dowry, and he was thus enabled to live thorough the period of the Revolution when the law business was at a standstill. Having been an "addresser of Hutchinson" in Massachusetts, he was not intrusted with public business by the friends of liberty, though at their instance or insistance he published a complete recantation of his "loyal" sentiments, both in that colony and in New Hampshire. Page 80 But upon the return of peace and the revival of ordinary business Mr. Prentice began to receive a fair share of professional employment. He was by no means a learned lawyer; he was not a student, and his pro- fessional library hardly contained fifty volumes; yet in those times an accurate knowledge of the law was perhaps less valuable to the practitioner, pecuniarily at least, than practical sense and abundant self-confidence. In these qualities Mr. Prentice must have excelled, for he occupied for a considerable period some of the highest positions in the state, and conducted a large and lucrative law practice besides. In 1785 he was elected a representative to the State Legislature, and was often re-elected. In 1787 he received the appointment of attorney-general of the state, and held the office until 1793. The next year he was chosen speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1793 he was appointed a justice of the Superior Court, but, perhaps conscious that his qualifications were hardly equal to the position, he declined it. The same year he was elected speaker of the House, and was annually replaced in that position until 1805. While holding that place he was supported by his party for election to the Senate of the United States, but failed to receive the honor. Mr. Prentice had many of the qualities needed for a lawyer of eminence. With more application and taste for the learning of his profession, he would have led in important causes where he hesitated to trust his own knowledge and judgment, and would have avoided many of the obstacles which beset his path. But he had an aversion to the use of the pen, and no inclination for book-learning so long as he found that his native powers enabled him to sustain himself respectably. He was fonder of his farm than of his office, and prided himself much on its products. It is a remarkable circum- stance that the place where he lived was the home of Hons. Samuel Liver- more, Arthur Livermore, and Charles Doe, an extraordinary succession of men prominent in the judicial annals of New Hampshire. Mr. Prentice died May 18, 1808. George Reid was a son of Col. George Reid, of the Revolution, born at Londonderry, January 29, 1774, and educated at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1797. He studied law, and opened an office in his native town, but removed two years afterwards into Massachusetts. He died in Boston at the age of seventy-four. Frederick Parker was a native of Bedford, who graduated from Dart- mouth College in 1828, and after the usual period of study of the law established himself, about 1832, in Londonderry, but in a year or two removed to Bangor, where it is understood that he became a teacher, and died May 19, 1834, at the age of thirty-four years. NEWMARKET Edward Parsons, a son of Rev. Joseph Parsons, of Bradford, Mass., was born in 1747, and received a collegiate education. He had commenced the practice of the law in Newmarket as early as 1773. He was a member from that town of the Provincial Convention which met at Exeter May 17, Page 81 1775, and afterwards became adjutant of Gen. Enoch Poor's regiment in the Continental army. He died at Ticonderoga, it is believed, in 1776. Nathaniel Huntoon was a native of Salisbury, and studied his profession with Hon. Samuel Greene. About 1802 he started in life at Portsmouth, and after remaining there about twelve years changed his residence to New- market. But he did not live long enough to accomplish much there, for he died about 1816. Atnos A. Parker was a son of Hon. Nahum Parker, of Fitzwilliam, He was a graduate of Vennont University in the class of 1815. He has led a varied and active life. He was settled as a lawyer for a time in Epping, then at Newmarket, afterwards at Kingston, and finally in his native town. For a year or two he resided in Exeter also. From 1823 to 1825 he was the proprietor of the New Hampshire Statesman at Concord. In 1835 he went on a tour to the West and Texas, and the next year published an account of his trip in a duodecimo volume, which ran through two editions. He also issued a volume of poems, and a thick pamphlet of reminiscences of Lafayette's visit to New Hampshire in 1824. William Tenney was the son of Capt. William Tenney, of Hollis, and born September 13, 1785. He attended the law school at Litchfield, Conn., and was admitted to the bar in Boston in 1811. He first practiced in Pepperell, Mass., then in Salem, N. H., and came to Newmarket in 1815, where he spent the remainder of his days. He is said to have been much interested in political matters, and to have been more ambitious for prefer- ment in that line than for professional advancement. In 1823 he was assistant clerk of the Senate, and in 1829 he received the commission of postmaster of the Lamprey River village. He died in 1838. William B. Small was a native of Limington, Me., and was born May 17, 1817. While he was a child his father removed to Ossipee, in this state, where William passed his youth. He was a pupil of Phillips Exeter Academy, and a student-at-law in the offices of Messrs. Bell and Tuck, at Exeter. During his education he taught school to eke out his narrow means, and showed himself to be diligent, capable, and independent. He commenced practice in Newmarket in 1846, and soon acquired a good position at the bar. In 1866 he was appointed solicitor of the County of Rockingham, and was again placed in the same position in 1875, holding the office up to the time of his decease. In 1870 he was elected a member of the State Senate, and while such received the nomination of representative to Congress, to which he was chosen in 1873. Mr. Small had little taste for political life, but loved his profession, and devoted himself to its study and practice. He was industrious, studious, and persistent, regarding his clients' interest far above his own convenience or comfort. His character for honesty and perfect uprightness was never questioned. He prepared his causes with conscientious care, and tried them ably and vigorously, and took a high rank as a counselor and an advocate. His death, while in the full tide of his usefulness and power, was regarded as a real loss to the community. He died from the effects of a fall, April 7 , 1878. Page 82 NORTHWOOD Abraham B. Story, born in Dunbarton, March 22, 1777, was the son of David Story, and graduated at Brown College in 1799. He studied his pro- fession with Hon. Charles H. Atherton, of Amherst, and practiced in 1802 and 1803 in Northwood, but then removed to Washington, where he lived till about 1830, in which year he died, in his native place. Nathaniel Dearborn was a native of Chester, a son of Deacon John Dearborn. He completed his legal studies with Hon. George Sullivan, and set up in practice in Pembroke, in 1806, remaining there till about 1820, when he migrated to Deerfield, and afterwards in 1831 to Northwood, where he lived ever after. He died September 12, 1860. He was an honest, painstaking man of fair abilities. SALEM Silos Betton, a son of James Bet ton, born at Windham, and a graduate of Dartmouth College in the class of 1787, was admitted to the bar in 1793 and settled in Salem. That town was represented by him in the General Court in the years 1797, 1798, and 1799, and in 1810 and 1811. In the years 1800, 1801, and 1802 he was a member of the Senate. In 1803 he was elected a representative in Congress, and served two terms. In 1813 he received the appointment of sheriff of the County of Rockingham, which he held until 1818. He died January 22, 1822, at the age of fifty-eight years. Mr. Betton married a daughter of Hon. Matthew Thornton, one of New Hampshire's three signers of the Declaration of Independence. He was a man of handsome talents, and much esteemed in the community. He was gifted with some literary taste; many of the poems of Robert Dinsmore, the "Rustic Bard," were addressed to Mr. Betton, and some poetical epistles of his own composition were included in the volume of Dinsmore's pub- lished pieces. David Woodburn Dickey was born in Londonderry, December 25, 1792, and educated at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1818. He entered upon the practice of law in Londonderry about 1821, and remained there until 1833, when he removed to Salem, where he died January 26, 1837. SEABROOK Ebenezer French was born in Newton, April 10, 1802. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1824, studied his profession with Hon. Daniel French, of Chester, commenced practice in Sutton in 1827, removed to Seabrook in 1828, and there continued about twelve years. Thence he went to Amesbury and to Boston, and served in the custom-house eight years. WINDHAM Isaac McGaw originated in Merrimac, his father's name being Jacob, as was that of an older brother, who was a lawyer of distinction in Maine. Page 83 Isaac was born May 25, 1785, and completed his college course at Dart- mouth in 1807. He opened his law-office first in Bedford, where he con- tinued from about 1811 to 1818, and then took up his residence in Wind- ham. There he was chosen a representative in the Legislatures of 1829 to 1833, inclusive, and of 1838. After a long period of respectable practice in his profession he removed to Merrimac, and passed his last years with his son-in-law, Edward P. Parker, Esq., and there he died November 6, 1863. William Merchant Richardson was born in Pelham, January 4, 1774, and died in Chester, March 23, 1838. He was a graduate of Harvard College in 1797. His father was Capt. Daniel Richardson, a soldier of the Revolution and a farmer, and William would probably have been brougnt up to the same employment but for an injury received to one of his hands, which incapacitated him for severe manual labor. After leaving college he was employed for a time as preceptor of Groton, Mass., academy, and afterwards entered the office of Hon. Samuel Dana here as a student-at- law. On being admitted to practice he settled in the same town. In 1811 he was chosen representative in Congress, and two years after received a re-election. But political life was little to his taste, and in 1814 he resigned his seat and removed to Portsmouth, N. H., and opened an office. He was at once recognized as a leading lawyer, and upon the reorganiza- tion of the courts in 1816 was appointed chief justice of the Superior Court. The propriety and excellence of the appointment were at once admitted, and never questioned during the twenty-two years of his service on the bench. Through his agency the publication of the series of judicial reports of New Hampshire was begun. He contributed very largely to many of the volumes, and his opinions have always been regarded as admirable in style and of high authority. His professional learning was first-rate, his perceptions were rapid, and his honesty and fairness above suspicion. By reason of his quickness of apprehension, he was sometimes charged with jumping to conclusions, but he had none of the pride of opinion which closes the mind to argument, and was always ready, for cause shown, to retract a hasty impression. In 1819, Judge Richardson changed his residence permanently to Chester. He was a good citizen, kind and public-spirited, and was greatly esteemed by his townsmen. His intellectual powers were highly cultivated. He was a great reader both in his own and in other tongues. He acquired several of the modern European languages after his accession to the bench, and the Spanish very late in life. Botany and mineralogy too he made himself master of in theory and by practice. He had always a taste for poetry. His graduation part at college was the English poem, and through- out his life he was accustomed to throw off poetical effusions, some of them of much merit. Dartmouth College conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. in 1827. New Hampshire has been fortunate in having secured for her highest judicatory a succession of chief justices of extraordinary learning, ability, and integrity, and among these Judge Richardson holds no secondary place. The senior members of the bar of this county have many of them made Page 84 up their records; those still left are soon to follow, and the juniors are to assume their places at the bar and on the bench; to them will soon be committed these great responsible trusts. The perpetuity of our free insti- tutions is committed to the guardianship and keeping of the bar and judic- iary of our free country, for the history of the world teaches, and all free governments illustrate, this truth, that to the profession of the law civil government is indebted for all the safeguards and intrenchments with which the liberties of the people are protected, that legislation is shaped, constitutions enlarged, amended, and adopted by the enlightened adminis- tration of the statesman, both of England and the United States, who have been in both, and are in all free governments, educated for the bar, and, ascending by the inherent force of their disciplined professional life, they become the directors of the destinies of states and nations. Military chieftains may spring into power, tyrants may for the hour dazzle with the glamour of military parade, the pomp of war, an oppressed and frenzied people, but they turn as the cannonade dies away to the states- manship of the country, and call to the parliaments and congressional halls for final debate the arbitraments of the liberties of the people. From the days of King John to the present hour the bar and the bench have furnished the statesmen who have erected the bulwarks of constitutional law, and extorted from tyrants the Magna Chartas which have secured to the oppressed the guarantee of free institutions. Imbued with the historical traditions of their predecessors, and tracing the paths they have trod, emulating their good example, it should become more and more the resolute purpose of the Rockingham County bar to so walk in the light of their professional teachings that when they are called to follow them to that upper court and file their judgment-roll of the great trial of life with that Supreme Judge from whose bar they can take no appeal,--- "Then go not like quarry-slave at night Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltered trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him and lies down to pleasant dreams." Sketches of the present members of the bench and bar are inserted in the chapters relating to city and towns. In the biographical section will found sketches of other eminent lawyers.