spending one year at the Law School of Judges Reeve and Gould, at
Litchfield, Ct., and the residue of his preparatory course with Hon.
S. Dana of Boston, Judge Smith of Exeter, and James Walker, Esq., of
Francestown. In 1812 he opened an office in his native place, where he
remained till 1819. In 1816 he was elected Clerk of the State Senate,
and, in the year following, was appointed Judge of the Superior Court.
This appointment to the bench of the highest judicial tribunal of
the state, drew general attention to the manner in which the duties
were discharged. Ample testimony, however, of the qualifications of
Judge Woodbury may be found in the first two volumes of New Hampshire
Reports. In 1819, he removed to Portsmouth, the commercial capital of
New Hampshire, where he continues to reside. In 1823 he was chosen
Governor of the State, and when his term of office expired, he returned
to the practice of his profession. In 1825 he was chosen Representative
from Portsmouth, and on the meeting of the Legislature, he was elected
Speaker of the House. Among the last acts of the session was the choice
of Gov. Woodbury to fill a vacancy which had occurred in the Senate
of the United States. At the commencement of the session in 1825-6,
he took his seat in the Senate, and during the six years succeeding,
his name was connected with the most important measures discussed in
that body. His term of service expired on the 4th of March, and four
days after, he was chosen State Senator for the district in which he
resided. In April following, he was invited by President Jackson to
become Secretary of the Navy, which office he was induced to accept,
having declined that of State Senator. July 4, 1834, he was appointed
Secretary of the Treasury, in which capacity he served till March 3,
1841. During this time, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Superior
Court of New Hampshire, but declined the office. In 1841, he was again
chosen U. S. Senator from New Hampshire, which office he held till
September, 1845, when he was appointed an Associate Justice of the
U. S. Supreme Court. In the summer previous, the office of Minister
to England was tendered to him, but he refused it on account of the
situation of his family.
In June, 1819, Judge Woodbury was married to Eliza W. Clapp, daughter
of Hon. Asa Clapp of Portland, Me. They have five children: Charles
Levi, who is now an attorney in Boston, Mary Elizabeth, Frances
Anstris, Virginia Lafayette, and Ellen Carolina. The eldest is married
to the Hon. Montgomery Blair of St. Louis, Mo.
Judge Woodbury has published one volume of Law Reports in connection
with Judge Richardson, also speeches, pamphlets, and reports relating
to the various official duties he has performed, besides numerous
literary addresses. He has received the degree of Doctor of Laws at the
Wesleyan University in Connecticut, and at Dartmouth College in New
Hampshire. He is also a member of various literary societies.
The brothers and sisters of Judge Woodbury are Peter P. Woodbury, M.
D., of Bedford, N. H., now Vice-President of the New Hampshire Medical
Society; Rev. James Trask Woodbury of Acton, Ms., formerly an attorney;
Jesse Woodbury, Esq., who resides on the paternal estate; George
Washington Woodbury, M. D., Yazoo county, Mississippi; Mrs. Mary Howe,
widow of the late Luke Howe, M. D., of Jaffrey, N. H.; Mrs. Anstris B.
Eastman, wife of Hon. Nehemiah Eastman of Farmington, N. H., formerly
Member of Congress; Mrs. Martha W. Grimes of Quincy, Ms., widow of
the late Thomas Grimes, merchant, of Windsor, Vt.; Mrs. Hannah T.
Barnes, wife of Isaac O. Barnes, Esq., of Boston, U. S. Marshal for the
District of Massachusetts; Mrs. Harriet Dodge, wife of Perley Dodge,
Esq., an attorney at Amherst, N. H.; Mrs. Adeline Bunnelle, wife of
Edwin F. Bunnelle, Esq., of Boston, clerk in the Custom House.
HON. SAMUEL S. WILDE OF BOSTON.
SAMUEL SUMNER WILDE was born in Taunton, Feb. 5, 1771. His father's
name was Daniel, who was born in Braintree in 1718, and died in 1792.
_His_ father, if not born in England and brought over by his father
when a child, was born in Braintree.
The father of the subject of this sketch, soon after arriving at the
age of 21, settled in Taunton, where he continued until the time of his
death. He was a farmer and a pious man, and for many years was one of
the deacons of the only Congregational Church then in that town. He was
very fond of sacred music, and had a fine voice, well cultivated, and,
for those days, he had a competent degree of skill and knowledge of the
science to render him an acceptable leader of the choir in the church,
and was a leader long before he was chosen deacon. In his family
devotions he always read a chapter in the Bible, sung a hymn in which
some of the family joined, and concluded with a prayer. He was twice
married. His first wife was the daughter of Deacon Staples of Taunton,
grandfather of Mr. Staples, a lawyer of considerable eminence in New
York.
His second wife, the mother of Samuel S., was the only child of Deacon
Samuel Sumner, also of Taunton. Dea. Sumner was well educated for one
who had not received a collegiate course of instruction, had a taste
for study, and thought much of learning and learned men. He died
when Samuel S., who was his only grandson, was two years old, and
bequeathed to him a lot of land, which he authorized his father to
sell, and to expend the proceeds in giving him a college education,
if he should, at a proper age, manifest any taste and talents, which
would probably render such an education useful to him. He was a warm
Whig and a friend to the liberties of the people; and it was probably
owing to discussions about the Stamp Act and other difficulties with
England, and his reflections on the inalienable rights of man, that he
emancipated a female slave, about the year 1769 or 1770. She, however,
always continued in the family upon wages, until her death. Dea. Sumner
was a distant relation of Gov. Sumner and also of the Rev. Dr. Sumner,
long the minister of Shrewsbury in the county of Worcester.
The mother of Samuel S. was a most excellent woman, and distinguished
for her mental endowments, piety, and zeal in the cause of religion.
The subject of this sketch fitted for college under the direction
of Rev. Ephraim Judson, the minister of Taunton, and entered the
Sophomore class at Dartmouth College, in 1786, where he graduated
in 1789. He read law in Taunton with David L. Barnes, Esq., who was
afterwards Judge of the District Court of the United States for the
state of Rhode Island. In September, 1792, he was admitted to the
bar, and the same year was married to Eunice Cobb, a daughter of the
late Gen. Cobb of Taunton. He immediately removed to Maine, and first
commenced practice in Waldoborough in the county of Lincoln, where
he remained only two years, and then removed to the adjoining town
of Warren, where he resided five years, when, in 1799, he removed to
Hallowell. He represented the town of Warren two years in the House of
Representatives; but after his removal to Hallowell, he devoted himself
wholly to his profession. He was, however, twice chosen one of the
Electors of President and Vice-President of the United States, and in
1814 was elected a State Counsellor. He was also one of the Delegates
to the famous Hartford Convention. In June, 1815, he was appointed
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, which office
he now holds. He was a member from Newburyport of the Convention for
revising the Constitution of the state, having removed from Hallowell
to that place in 1820. In 1831 he removed to Boston, where he still
resides.
The wife of Judge Wilde deceased June 6, 1826. Their children were
nine, of whom only four survive. The two eldest sons died unmarried.
The eldest daughter, Eunice, married Hon. William Emmons of Augusta,
Me., a son of Rev. Dr. Emmons of Franklin, Ms. She died in 1821,
leaving two daughters, one of whom has since deceased, and the other
is the wife of Rev. Mr. Tappan of Hampden, Me., son of Rev. Dr. Tappan
of Augusta, Me. The second daughter, Eleanor Bradish, married I. W.
Mellen, Esq., son of Rev. Mr. Mellen of Cambridge. They are both dead.
Mrs. Mellen died in March, 1838, leaving three children. The third
daughter, Caroline, married Hon. Caleb Cushing of Newburyport, and
died in 1832. The eldest surviving son, George Cobb, Esq., an attorney
at law, is Clerk of the Courts in Suffolk county, is married, and has
two children. The second surviving son, Henry Jackson, is married, and
has two children, and is now settled in Washington, D. C. The youngest
son is unmarried. The only surviving daughter was first married to
Frederick W. Doane of Boston, and is now the wife of Robert Farley,
also, of Boston.
Judge Wilde has been in his present office nearly thirty-two years, a
longer time it is believed than any individual ever held that office
before,[32] and his judicial career has uniformly been characterized by
legal learning and stern integrity. His personal character is marked by
uncommon frankness and great simplicity of manners.
He has received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Bowdoin and Harvard
Colleges, and he is also a Member of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, and some other literary associations.
NATHANIEL WRIGHT, ESQ., OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
NATHANIEL WRIGHT was born Jan. 28, 1789, in the east parish of Hanover,
N. H. The family residence was on the highlands adjoining the western
base of Moose mountain, over which his father's farm extended. From
some of the fields can be seen, spread out in the distance, nearly half
the state of Vermont, rising in regular gradation from the Connecticut
river, with every variety of cottage, field, woodland, and hill, to the
summits of the Green Mountains, Killington Peak, and Camel's Rump, in
the distant horizon. His parents, Nathaniel Wright and Mary Page, were
originally from Coventry in the state of Connecticut. The name of his
paternal grandfather was the same with that of his father; but we are
not able to trace back the genealogy further. They were all farmers by
occupation. His father was one of the first settlers of Hanover, and
took possession of his farm there, while it was a perfect wilderness,
the occupancy of which he had to contest with wild beasts. The sylvan
adventures of that period were, no doubt, the topic of many a fireside
tale of his childhood. His mother was sister of the father of Harlan
Page, distinguished for his active piety, and of tract-distribution
memory.
Mr. Wright began fitting for college in 1806. The larger part of his
preparatory studies were with the Rev. Eden Burroughs, D. D., the
parish minister, long one of the Trustees of Dartmouth College, and
celebrated as the father of the notorious Stephen Burroughs, who
died in Canada, a Catholic priest. He entered the Freshman class of
Dartmouth College at the commencement of 1807, and graduated in 1811.
After graduating, he spent three years or more in teaching, being part
of that time in charge of the Portland Academy, Maine, and part of the
time in charge of a select class of boys in the same place; and began
there the study of law. He then spent a year as private tutor in a
family in Virginia, reading law in the mean time, and was admitted to
the bar in that state. In July, 1817, he went to Cincinnati, where,
after spending some time in an office to familiarize himself with
local practice, he was admitted to the bar in November, 1817, and
commenced the practice in 1818. For a few years, he practised in the
Federal Courts, and in different parts of the state; but finding the
city practice the most profitable, as well as most pleasant, he soon
confined himself to that, and continued it with so much labor and
assiduity, that, in 1839 and 1840, he found his health giving way under
the effects of it, and in the latter year, withdrew from the practice.
Of his success in the practice, he has had no reason to complain. And
in talents and legal acquirements, he has ranked with the first in the
state.
He has been solicited at different times to become a candidate for
Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, and for Member of Congress; but has
uniformly refused all nominations for political office, preferring a
private life to all others.
In April, 1820, he married Caroline Augusta Thew, a niece of the Hon.
Jacob Burnet of Cincinnati. Her mother was a daughter of Dr. William
Burnet of Newark, N. J., a surgeon in the army in the Revolutionary
war, and a man of distinction in that state. Her parents being both
dead, she went from Newark to Cincinnati with Judge Burnet's family, in
1815.
The children of these parents are eight in number: Mary Thew, Caroline
Augusta, Daniel Thew, Eliza Burnet, Augusta Caroline, Louisa,
Nathaniel, and William Burnet. Of these, Caroline Augusta and Augusta
Caroline died, the former at five, the latter at three years of age.
Mr. Wright has published nothing, that can properly be called a book;
yet many of his writings have appeared in public print in various
forms. His name appears at the head of some important arguments in the
Law Reports of Ohio, during the period of his practice; and some of his
occasional addresses have been printed. In early life he was a lover of
poetry, and not unfrequently attempted to honor the Muses; and this he
did always with applause.
When Mr. Wright went to Cincinnati, then having five or six thousand
inhabitants, he sat down patiently with the young at the foot of the
bar, went on through a generation of the profession, till he stood
at its head; and saw the city grown up to a population of 80,000,
himself standing among a few _old_ respectable inhabitants, easy
in circumstances, with a very happy family around him, and highly
respected by the community.--The late Rev. Chester Wright, a graduate
at Middlebury College in 1805, and of Montpelier, Vt., was his
half-brother.
HON. WILLIAM D. WILLIAMSON OF BANGOR, ME.
WILLIAM DURKEE WILLIAMSON is supposed to be a descendant, in the sixth
generation, of one who was among the earliest settlers in the Plymouth
Colony. For as the Annalist tells us,[33] when Gov. Winslow went to
make his first treaty with Massasoit, March 22, 1621, he was preceded
by "Captain Standish and _Mr. Williamson_," and attended by a file
of "musketeers." Nothing farther appears, in the printed narratives
of those times, concerning the man last mentioned; nor is there any
positive knowledge of his immediate posterity; though it is a report
of tradition, that one of his name had command of a company in King
Philip's war, in 1675-6, who might have been his son. But, however
this may have been, certain it is, that men of his name in succeeding
generations have exhibited a predilection for military tactics; and
that in Major Benjamin Church's fifth expedition eastward, 1704,
Captain _Caleb Williamson_ commanded a company of volunteers from
Plymouth Colony. He had one brother, whose name was _George_, and the
place of their residence was Harwich, in the county of Barnstable. It
is said there was another of the family, or kindred, perhaps a brother,
by the name of _Samuel_, who settled at Hartford in Connecticut, but as
he left no son, his name at his death sank into oblivion.
George Williamson, above named, married, at Harwich, the daughter of a
Mr. Crisp; and they had two sons, George and Caleb, and five daughters.
The elder son was murdered by a highwayman, and left no child; the
younger, born at that place, 1716, married Sarah Ransom, and settled at
Middleborough in the county of Plymouth; whose children were six sons
and three daughters. Though five of the sons were married, only two of
them, Caleb and George, left issue. The latter, being the fifth son,
born in 1754, who was the father of the subject of this sketch, removed
with his father's family at the commencement of the Revolutionary war,
to Canterbury, Ct., and married Mary Foster of that place, a niece of
Rev. Jacob Foster, formerly a minister of Berwick, Me. Their children
were four sons and four daughters. The sons are William D., the subject
of this sketch; George, a farmer at Pittston; and Joseph, a lawyer
at Belfast, a graduate at Vermont University, and President of the
Senate, in the Legislature of Maine. Their father was a soldier in the
Revolution, and a captain of artillery, some years after the peace.
In 1793, he removed from Canterbury, where his sons were born, to
Amherst, Ms., and finally died at Bangor, in 1822, aged 68 years.
William D., his eldest son, entered Williams College, in 1800; but
finished his studies at Brown University, R. I., where he was graduated
in 1804. As his father was a farmer in moderate circumstances, and
himself the eldest of eight children, he was under the necessity of
teaching a school several winters, to defray his college expenses.
He read law with Hon. S. F. Dickinson of Amherst, till the spring of
1807, when he took up his residence in Bangor, Me., where he completed
his professional studies with J. McGaw, Esq., being admitted to the
bar in November of that year. Jan. 14, 1808, he was commissioned by
Gov. Sullivan Attorney for the county of Hancock, an office held by
him about eight years, when the county was divided. In 1816, he was
elected to the Senate of Massachusetts, Maine being then a part of the
Commonwealth; and received successive elections, till the separation in
1820. Though as a political man, his sentiments were of a democratic
character, adverse to the majority in each of the legislative branches,
he was Chairman of the Committee of Eastern Lands, three years. He
was President of the first Senate in the new state of Maine; and the
appointment of Gov. King as a Commissioner on the Spanish Claims,
brought him into the Executive Chair, about six months of the political
year. In the meantime, he was elected a Member of Congress. After he
left the field of legislation he was appointed a Judge of Probate for
his county, a Justice of Peace through the state, and President of
Bangor Bank.
Judge Williamson was thrice married. He was first connected in marriage
with J. M. Rice, an orphan, the niece of Gen. Montague of Amherst,
whose home was hers. Five children were the fruits of this marriage,
one of whom, an only son, a promising youth, died in 1832, at the close
of his Junior year in Bowdoin College. His second wife was the eldest
daughter of Judge Phinehas White of Putney, Vt., and his third was the
only surviving daughter of the late E. Emerson, Esq., York, Me.
Judge Williamson was fond of literary pursuits generally, but
particularly of historical research. He wrote and published a number of
articles on various subjects, in different periodicals. His great work,
however, which cost him many years of labor, was his History of Maine,
in two large octavo volumes. He died May 27, 1846.
FOOTNOTES:
[31] His parents' residence at that time was in Boston.
[32] Judge Benjamin Lynde was on the bench about the same length of
time, from 1712 to 1744.
[33] See Prince's Annals, 101.--Purchas' Pilgrims, B. X. chap. 4.--Vol
VIII. Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., 229.
THE FATHERS OF NEW ENGLAND.
"They [the Fathers of N. E.] were mostly men of good estates
and families, of liberal education, and of large experience;
but they chiefly excelled in piety to God, in zeal for the
purity of his worship, reverence for his glorious name, and
strict observance of his holy Sabbaths; in their respect
and maintenance of an unblemished ministry; the spread of
knowledge, learning, good order, and quiet through the land,
a reign of righteousness, and the welfare of this people; and
the making and executing wholesome laws for all these blessed
ends."--_Rev. Thomas Prince's Election Sermon_, 1730.
GOVERNOR HINCKLEY'S VERSES ON THE DEATH OF HIS SECOND CONSORT.
[Thomas Hinckley was the last Governor of the Plymouth Colony,
which office he held, except during the interruption by
Andros, from 1680 to 1692, when that colony was joined to the
Massachusetts colony. He was a man of worth and piety. The
following lines, composed by him on the death of his second
wife, are copied from one of three volumes of the manuscripts
of Rev. Thomas Prince, which are now in the possession of the
Rev. Chandler Robbins of this city.
It is hardly necessary to inform our readers, that Thomas
Prince, colleague pastor of the Old South Church in Boston
from Oct. 1, 1718, to Oct. 22, 1758, was a most diligent and
careful collector of public and private papers, relating to
the religious and civil history of New England, and that many
of his valuable books and manuscripts have been deposited
by the church to which he ministered, in the library of the
Massachusetts Historical Society.
The following brief sketch of the connection between Thomas
Prince and Gov. Hinckley, and of some of the descendants of the
latter, may be appropriate as an introduction to this poetic
effusion.
In the manuscript volume above referred to, Rev. Thomas Prince
has recorded a genealogical table prepared by himself, in which
he states that he was "the fourth son of Samuel Prince, Esq.,
of Sandwich, who was the son of Elder John Prince, who came
over in 1633, and settled first at Watertown and afterwards
at Hull, who was the eldest son of Rev. John Prince of East
Shefford, in Berkshire, Eng., who was born of honorable
parents, educated in the University of Oxford, and was one of
the Puritan ministers of the Church of England who _in part
conformed_."
The father of Rev. Thomas Prince, Samuel Prince, Esq., married
in 1686, for his second wife, Mercy Hinckley, the eldest
daughter of Governor Hinckley by his second wife.[34] They had
ten children; namely, Thomas, Mary, Enoch, John, Joseph, Moses,
Nathan, Mercy, Alice, Benjamin.
Thomas married Deborah Denny. One of their daughters became the
wife of Lieut. Governor Gill.
Mary married the Rev. Peter Thatcher.
Moses married Jane Bethune. Their daughter, Jane Prince, was
consort of the Rev. Chandler Robbins, D. D., of Plymouth, Ms.,
grandfather of the Rev. Chandler Robbins of Boston, of whom we
have obtained this relic of antiquity.]
* * * * *