CHAPTER II.
BENCH AND BAR.

Page 4

WILLIAM LAWRENCE FOSTER is the only son of John and Sophia (Willard) Foster. His father was one of thirteen children of the Rev. Edmund and Phoebe (Lawrence) Foster.

Edmund, the grandfather of Judge Foster, was born at Groton, Mass., in 1754. He graduated at Yale College, studied for the ministry and became quite prominent as a preacher. He was settled over the church in Littleton, Mass., and continued to be its pastor until his death, in 1825, a period of more than forty years. He was at one time a member of the Massachusetts State Senate. In 1783 he married Phoebe Lawrence, of Littleton. She was the daughter of Colonel William Lawrence of Littleton. Through his paternal grandmother Judge Foster traces his descent from Robert Lawrence, of Lancashire, England, who was born about the year 1150. Attending his sovereign, Richard Coeur de Léon, in the war of the Crusades in the Holy Land, he so distinguished himself in the siege of Acre that he was knighted Sir Robert, of Ashton Hall.

The sixteenth in descent was John Lawrence, who came to America in 1635, and settled at Watertown, Mass.

The great-grandfather of Judge Foster was Abraham Foster, whose father came from England about the middle of the seventeenth century, and settled in Groton, Mass., where Abraham, Edmund and John Foster, the ninth child and third son of Edmund, was born. John Foster, in early life, removed to Westminster, Vt., where he married Sophia Willard, and where his only son, William Lawrence Foster, was born, June 1, 1823.

John Foster removed to Fitzwilliam, N. H., in 1825, and from thence to Keene, N. H., in 1834, where he died February 7, 1854. He was a captain in the old New Hampshire Militia, and was for many years high sheriff of the county of Cheshire. While residing in Keene, John Foster was many years a trader, and his son assisted him in his store.

Judge Foster, when a boy, attended the common schools and afterwards studied in the Keene and Walpole Academies. When about seventeen years of age he commenced the study of the law in the office of Levi Chamberlain, Esq. In 1844 and 1845 he attended the Law School at Cambridge. In 1845 he was admitted to the bar in Keene, and for a short time sustained a partnership with John N. Baxter, and afterward with Mr. Chamberlain. From 1845 to 1849 he was postmaster at Keene. From 1849 to 1853 he was clerk of the New Hampshire Senate. He was a member of Governor Dinsmore�s staff, with the rank of colonel, by whom, in 1850, he was appointed State reporter, holding that office till 1856. During his term of office he edited Vols. 17-19, 21-31 inclusive, of the New Hampshire Reports.

In January, 1853, he married Harriet Morton, daughter of Hon. Hamilton E. Perkins, of Hopkinton, N. H., and in April of that year he removed from Keene to Concord, where he entered into partnership with Colonel John H. George. Hon. Charles P. Sanborn subsequently became a member of the firm, and upon Colonel George�s retirement therefrom, in 1867, the partnership was continued by Messrs. Foster & Sanborn till October, 1869.

In 1854, Colonel Foster was appointed commissioner of the Circuit Court of the United States, which office he held until his election to the New Hampshire House of Representatives, in 1862. He was a member of the Legislature in 1862 and 1863. In 1863 he received from Dartmouth College the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

He was appointed a judge of the Supreme Judicial Court October 1, 1869, and held that office till October 1, 1874, when, upon the reorganization of the courts, he was appointed chief justice of the Circuit Court, with the late Judges Stanley and Rand as his associates. October 1, 1876, he was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court. He resigned that office July 1, 1881, and resumed the practice of the law. In 1884 he was reappointed an United States commissioner.

Judge Foster was very highly esteemed while a member of the court, and, as a lawyer, is noted for his legal attainments. He is a graceful writer a and an eloquent orator, and has frequently been called upon to preside at public meetings and to deliver commemorative addresses. His post-prandial speeches have been especially happy. He is a strong advocate before a jury.

JOHN HATCH GEORGE^[1]The man who makes his way to the front rank at the bar and in politics, and holds his position without dispute for more than a quarter of a century, must be a person of ability, energy and sagacity. Especially is this true in New Hampshire, which, from the earliest period of our national history, has produced some of the ablest lawyers and the keenest politicians known to the country. Such a man is Colonel John Hatch George, of Concord, whose name has long been a household word at every Democratic fireside in the State, and whose eminent legal position is recognized throughout New England.

He was born in Concord, where he has ever since resided, November 20, 1824. His parents were John and Mary (Hatch) George, the former a prominent, respected and energetic citizen, who, though a native of Hopkinton, located in Concord in early manhood; the latter, a daughter of Samuel Hatch, a leading citizen of the town of Greenland, among whose grandchildren are included the Hon. Albert R. Hatch and John S. H. Frink, Esq., both also known as eminent lawyers and leading Democrats.

Gaining his preliminary education in the excellent public schools of his native town and in the old Concord Academy, Colonel George entered Dartmouth College in 1840, being then fifteen years of age, where he diligently pursued his studies for about three years, until the death of his father compelled his return home and the non-completion of his college course. The faculty subsequently conferred upon him his graduating degree, which was followed by that of Master of Arts. Among his classmates at Dartmouth were several who became prominent at the bar and in public life, including the late Hon. Harvey Jewell, and Hons. A. A. Ranney and Horatio G. Parker, of Boston, and ex-Governor Charles H. Bell.

If young George was unfortunate in the loss of his father, and in the failure to complete the college course consequent thereon, he was especially fortunate in being favored with the kindly regard of that brilliant son of New Hampshire, General Franklin Pierce, who, as a friend of the family, had become conversant with his qualities and characteristics, and readily discerned the line of action best calculated for the development and successful exercise of his powers. Fortunate as he was, however, in the enjoyment of the friendship of General Pierce at this time, it may safely be assumed that he never would have been the recipient of such favor had he not given evidence of the possession of abilities above the common order. The really great lawyer has a lofty regard for his profession, and will never be found influencing any one to enter upon its pursuit who is not likely to honor the profession and bring credit to himself. When, therefore, upon the invitation of General Pierce, young George entered upon the study of the law in the office of the former,--as he did soon after leaving college, and at the time when that distinguished man was in active practice,--it was under circumstances every way propitious to that ultimate success creditable alike to each. During his three years of legal study under such tutelage, he made that rapid progress which characterizes the advance of the ambitious and enthusiastic young man, well equipped, mentally and physically for the work in hand, thoroughly in love therewith, guided by wise counsel and inspired by brilliant example; and when, in 1846, he was admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice of his profession in his native city, it was with unusual thoroughness of preparation.

At the opening of his professional career, Colonel George was again particularly fortunate. General Charles H. Peaslee had long ranked among the most careful lawyers of the State, and had acquired an extensive practice. He was a warm friend of General Pierce, professionally and politically, and, like him, an intimate friend of the George family. Entering largely into public life, its engrossing duties withdrew his attention more and more from professional engagements, rendering desirable a partnership alliance with some active and competent young man. Such alliance was offer to and promptly accepted by young George, who thus suspiciously commenced his professional career.

The limits of this sketch will not permit a detailed account of the progress and success of its subject; but it may be stated, that from his entrance upon legal practice to the present time, all his energies and faculties have been heartily devoted to the labors and duties of his profession, in whose performance he has won a high measure of fame, as well as a fair amount of that substantial reward which the world largely regards as the prime object of human effort. His connection with General Peaslee continued about five years, and was followed by a professional alliance of a similar character with Sidney Webster, Esq., then a young lawyer of fine abilities and brilliant promise, who has since become distinguished in legal and diplomatic circles. This partnership continued till Mr. Webster left Concord to become private secretary to General Pierce, upon the accession of the latter to the Presidency, in 1853. Soon afterward, Colonel George formed partnership relations with Hon. William L. Foster, who subsequently became, and long remained, a judge of the Supreme Court of the State, and with them Hon. Charles P. Sanborn was also for a time associated.

Not only in behalf of an extensive private clientage have the professional services of Colonel George been employed, but for many years, also, in behalf of the public,--he having been appointed solicitor for Merrimack County in 1849, and re-appointed in 1854, discharging the duties of the office until 1856, when he was removed for partisan reasons, the Republican party signalizing its ascendency by a clean sweep of Democratic officials. From 1853 to 1858 he was United States attorney for the district of New Hampshire, appointed by President Pierce.

There are, undoubtedly, many men at the bar, in this and other States, as well grounded in legal principles as Colonel George, and even more familiar with the text-books, who have fallen far short of the success he has attained. It is one thing to be able to state abstract legal principles, and quite another correctly to apply those principles to the facts in any given case. It has ever been the habit of Colonel George, in the conduct of a cause, to thoroughly familiarize himself with all the facts and circumstances connected therewith. The master of the case itself leaves little difficulty in the determination of the law bearing thereon, and it is the strongest guaranty of success in its management before a jury; and it is in the conduct of jury causes that Colonel George has won the greater measure of his success. Gifted with great perceptive powers and a ready knowledge of men, and familiar as he ever is with the cause in hand, in all its bearings, he is never taken at a disadvantage, no matter how able or alert the opposing counsel. In handling witnesses, and especially in cross-examination, he has shown unusual tact and ability. He reads the mind of a witness almost intuitively, and understands how to bring out the essential facts even from the most reluctant, and to do so in the manner best calculated to make the desired impression upon the minds of the jury. As an advocate, he is equaled by few and excelled by none of our New Hampshire lawyers; yet his power in this regard consists in the systematic, logical and intensely earnest presentation of all the facts which go to make up and strengthen his cause, and to destroy or weaken that of his opponents, rather than in the oratory which abounds in eloquently rounded periods and impassioned appeals. In this connection may well be quoted the words of one who, knowing Colonel George from youth, has written of him as follows:

   "Intense earnestness, and a faculty of an immediate and powerful concentration of all his mental faculties on any subject which interested him, were the predominant peculiarities of the early manhood of Mr. George. When he came to the bar, he manifested a power of felicitous language, and a largeness of vocabulary, which were rarely to be seen even in the most practiced speakers. He never prepared beforehand the words of his spoken utterances, either at the bar, in the committee-room or on the stump. Whatever he could see and understand at all, he saw and understood clearly. The strength of his feelings, the enormous power and range of his vocabulary, added to this clearness of vision, made mere verbal preparation unnecessary for him. His speaking was made up of a clear perception of the turning-point of his case, and then of pungent epigram, sparkling paradox, rattling attack, vivid repartee, hearty humor and, when occasion called for, of a fearlessness of denunciation of what he believed to be wrong or unjust or unfair, which made him, even at the outset of his brilliant career, a dangerous antagonist for the most practiced and powerful members of the New Hampshire bar."

Though not retiring from general practice, Colonel George has devoted his attention largely to railroad law for many years past, having accepted, in 1867, the position of solicitor for the Boston and Lowell Railroad, and established an office in Boston for the transaction of business in connection with that position. He retired from this position in 1884. For nearly twenty years previous to that date he had served as clerk and counsel of the Concord Railroad corporation, and had already become familiar with the law of railways and their general relations to the public. To-day there is no higher living authority upon railroad law in New England than Colonel George,--no man who understands more thorougly or can state more clearly the respective rights, duties and obligations of railroad corporations and the people in relation to each other, a general understanding of which is becoming more and more essential to the fullest measure of our national prosperity. His public addresses upon the subject, his arguments before legislative committees, courts and juries, are models of clearness and cogency, admirable in construction and convincing in effect.

Notwithstanding his uninterrupted devotion to the law, Colonel George is no less generally known in politics than at the bar. Well grounded in the faith of the Democratic party in his youthful years, his intimate association with Pierce, Peaslee and other distinguished leaders of that organization in his early manhood served to intensify his feelings and convictions in that regard; so he has ever been a ready and zealous exponent of Democratic principles and a champion of the Democratic cause, contributing his services without stint in conventions, in committee work and upon the stump, doing able and brilliant service in the latter direction in all parts of the State, and in almost every campaign for the past thirty-five years. He long since came to be regarded as one of the most powerful and effective political debaters in the State. His efforts upon the stump are characterized by the same earnestness, the same sledge-hammer logic and the same comprehensive array of facts as at the bar. His mode of warfare, political as well as legal, is of the Napoleonic order. He never assumes the defensive, and if placed in such position by any combination of circumstances, he soon transforms it into one of active aggression.

From 1851 to 1853, inclusive, Colonel George served as chairman of the Democratic State Committee, and again in 1856. In 1552 he was also selected as the New Hampshire member of the Democratic National Committee, and he was especially active in the campaign, both in the State and the country at large, which resulted in the election of his friend, General Pierce, to the Presidency. His service upon the National Committee continued until 1860. He was a member of the Democratic National Convention in 1856, and chairman of the State delegation in the National Convention at Cincinnati, in 1880. At the State Convention of his party, in September of that year, he presided, delivering, upon assuming the chair, one of the ablest addresses ever heard upon a similar occasion.

His party having been in the minority in New Hampshire for the past twenty-five years, he has been comparatively little in public office. Aside from the non-partisan positions heretofore mentioned, he was for three years--in 1847, 1848 and again in 1850--clerk of the State Senate. In 1853 he was chosen a member of the Legislature, but resigned his seat to accept the office of United States attorney. In this connection it may be mentioned that in 1855 he was tendered, by President Pierce, the office of secretary of the Territory of Minnesota, which he at first was inclined to accept, but, after deliberation, determined to forego the chances for political promotion ordinarily involved in an appointment of that character, and remain with his friends and his law practice in his own State. In 1859, Colonel George received the Democratic nomination for Congress in the Second District, and again in 1863, when he made a vigorous canvass, and was defeated by a very close vote. In 1866 he received the votes of the Democratic members of the Legislature as their candidate for United States Senator. Had he deserted his party and allied himself with the majority when the Republicans came into ascendency, he might readily have commanded the highest honors in the gift of the state, as others less able than himself have done; but his position in the honest regard of the people, irrespective of party, is far higher today for having remained true to his convictions and steadfast and active in their maintenance.

His military title comes from his service as chief of the staff of Governor Dinsmoor from 1848 to 1850. He was also for several years commander in the brilliant and popular organization known as the �Governor�s Horse-Guards.� As a popular orator, outside the domain of law and politics, Colonel George also takes high rank. His oration upon Daniel Webster, at the centennial celebration of the birth of that most illustrious son of New Hampshire, under the auspices of the Webster Club of Concord, is surpassed in power and felicity of expression by none which the event anywhere called forth.

Colonel George was united in marriage, in September, 1849, with Miss Susan Ann Brigham, daughter of Captain Levi Brigham, of Boston, who died May 10, 1862, leaving five children, three sons and two daughters,--viz.: John Paul, Charles Peaslee, Benjamin Pierce, Jane Appleton, Anne Brigham. In July, 1864, he married Miss Salvadora Meade Graham, daughter of Colonel James D. Graham, of the United States engineers, by whom he has one child, Charlotte Graham.

The family residence of Colonel George is the old paternal mansion on North Main Street, in Concord, wherein he was born. He has also an excellent farm a few miles out of the city, in Hopkinton, where he makes his summer home, and where, in his little leisure from professional labor, he indulges a fondness for rural pursuits, and especially for the breeding and care of domestic animals, which was one of the characteristics of his boyhood. Incidental as this may be, his farm is known as one of the most highly cultivated in the section where it is located, and his horses and Jersey cattle are the admiration of all lovers of good stock.

As a citizen, Colonel George is public-spirited, and freely devotes his time and energies to the furtherance of every movement and the advocacy of every measure which he believes calculated to promote the material or educational welfare of the community. No man in Concord has done more than he to advance the prosperity of the city in every essential regard. The efficiency of the public schools has ever been an object of deep interest to him; and as a private citizen, as a member of building Committees and in the Board of Education, he has given his services freely in perfecting the admirably-equipped public-school system, which is far from the least of the attractions which render our capital city one of the most desirable places of residence in New England.

The general extension of the railway system of the State, to which most that has been accomplished in the development of its material resources for the last twenty-five years is due, has ever found an enthusiastic supporter in Colonel George, who has been and still is directly connected with several railroad enterprises in different sections, which have proved of great local and general advantage.

Few men have more or warmer friends than Colonel George. A man of positive opinions, frankly and honestly declared, he commands the sincere respect of those with whom he comes in contact in all the relations of life, private, social, public and professional. Formidable as an opponent, he is nevertheless fair and honorable, as he is true and faithful as a friend and ally. He is a prominent member of the Masonic order, having attained the rank of Sovereign Grand Inspector-General of the Thirty-third Degree, and a member of the �Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of the Northern Jurisdiction of the United States.�

This brief sketch can, perhaps, be no more appro[pri]ately concluded than in the following language of the gentleman (Sidney Webster, Esq. heretofore quoted:

   "Years of incessant toil, while they have diminished somewhat the energetic temperament and the exuberant animal spirits of Colonel George's youth, and have naturally softened his once blunt and almost brusque manner in debate, have not diminished the real force and strength of his genuine character, for character is just what Colonel George has always had. As the ripples of his experience spread over a wider and wider area, he may have less and less confidence in the infallibility of any man's opinions, and less belief in the importance to society of any one man's action; but Colonel George has reached and passed his half-century with his mental faculties and his moral faculties improving and strengthening year by year. New Hampshire has to-day very few among her living sons better equipped to do triumphant battle for her in the high places of the world."

HON. DANIEL BARNARD.--1. John Barnard was among the earlier settlers of Massachusetts. He came to this country in 1634, in the ship "Elizabeth," from Ipswich, England, and settled in Watertown.

2. John Barnard, son of the pioneer John Barnard, had two sons,--Jonathan and Samuel.

3. Jonathan Barnard, inn-holder in Amesbury, who kept �The Lion�s Mouth� in provincial days, was a captain in the colonial militia, and was prominent in the affairs of the town in which he lived. His name heads the list of the sixty original grantees, in 1735, of the township of New Amesbury, or �Number One,� which was afterwards granted, in 1767, by the Masonian proprietors, as Warner.

4. Charles Barnard, son of Jonathan, was a soldier in the patriot army of the Revolution, and settled in Warner.

5. Thomas Barnard, son of Charles Barnard, was born in Warner in 1782; married, first, Ruth Eastman, of Hopkinton; second, Phebe, his first wife�s sister. In the fall of 1826 he removed, with his family, from Warner to Orange. He died January 29, 1859. His wife, Phebe, died June 30, 1845.

6. Daniel Barnard, son of Thomas and Phebe Barnard, was born in Orange, N. H., January 23, 1827.

This town, though received some settlers under its original name of Cardigan as early as 1773, was in 1826, for the most part, still an unbroken wilderness. When Thomas Barnard went up there and planted his home on his lot of three hundred acres on the highlands dividing the waters which flow into the Pemigewasett from those which flow into the Connecticut, the whole territory was still covered by the primeval forest. The church and the district school stood together more than three miles off; and so continued till the subject of this notice, the fifth child of the family, was fourteen years old, no regular school being established nearer till he was eighteen years old. But the father being a man of sense and intelligence, and the mother an uncommonly bright, capable woman, they not only made the utmost exertion to give their children the full benefit of the meagre chances of the district school, but also systematically supplemented these opportunities with regular study and teaching in the long winter evenings at home. The father, a good mathematician, managed the flock in arithmetic, and the mother handled them in other branches. At the age of seventeen Daniel was at the academy in Canaan, several miles from home, during the winter, and subsequently continued to work on the farm in the summers and study at the academy in the winters till he became of age.

During this time he was anxiously endeavoring to secure the advantages of a college education, and with this end in view, pursued his preparatory studies at the Canaan and Boscawen Academies, and at the Normal Institute at Reed�s Ferry, under the tuition of Professor William Russell, teaching during the winter seasons.

When he arrived at man�s estate he took his stand with the Free-Soil Democrats, and was elected to represent the town of Orange in the popular branch of the Legislature in the years 1848, �49, �50 and �51.

Mr. Barnard was well known in the House from his first appearance in that body, not merely because so youthful in appearance, but because, also, of the uncommon capacity, the sincerity and sagacity with which, in unassuming, almost diffident ways, he met all his duties; and in the latter sessions of the four years� service he became a leader of the Independent party in the House, an influential member of that body. At home during the same period he was sleepless in his vigilance contriving by sagacious management to hold the little band of Free-Soil Democrats in a solid column, and annually to carry the town till he left, in the autumn of 1851.

His legislative experience causing him to materially change his plans for the future, he decided to enter at once upon the study of law, and at the close of the legislative session of 1851 he entered the law-office of Nesmith & Pike, in Franklin.

In 1854, on admission to the bar, he became at once the junior partner with Mr. Pike in the office in which he had read his profession, Mr. Nesmith at that time retiring from the office and extensive business which he had so honorably founded and built into its large proportions. In 1863, Mr. Barnard withdrew from the firm and established himself alone in his profession in the same village, rapidly rising into the very large, wide and lucrative business which for more than fifteen years has allowed him not so much as a week or scarcely a day of vacation in the year. During this period he has had as many students in his office constantly as the circumstances of his office would admit, and has nearly all the time had a partner in a temporary way. His partner now is his eldest son, who was graduated at Dartmouth College, with superior rank, in 1876, at the age of twenty years, studied his profession in his father�s office and at the Boston Law School, and was admitted to the bar and into partnership with his father in 1879. In relation to the business of the office, it is perfectly safe to add that there has been no time within the last ten years in which there has not been a formidable amount of business piled up awaiting attention, notwithstanding the most sleepless, indefatigable industry which Mr. Barnard has brought to his duties. For many years he has not only regularly attended all the courts in the counties of Merrimack, Belknap, and the Plymouth sessions of Grafton, but has constantly attended the United States Circuit Courts, practicing in bankrupt, patent and revenue cases. The reports of the courts fully support the statements here made on this subject.

The esteem in which Mr. Barnard is held by the immediate community in which he lives has been casually mentioned. Though never seeking office, he has been often chosen to places of responsibility by his townsmen. In 1860 and 1862 he represented the town in the Legislature, and in all political contests in the town in which he has been candidate for the suffrages of his townsmen he has always run much ahead of the party ticket. In 1865 and 1866 he was a member of the State Senate, presiding over that body in the latter-named year; in 1870 and 1871 he was a member of the Governor�s Council, and in 1872 was a member of the National Republican Convention at Philadelphia. He was solicitor of Merrimack County from 1867 till 1872, when he declined a reappointment, again declining the position in 1877. He was a firm, earnest supporter of the homestead-exemption law of 1850, which was opposed by most of the legal profession in the Legislature, and introduced the resolution in the House which first gave the members a daily paper. As a member of the Senate in 1867 he took a profound interest in the amendment of the Federal Constitution prohibiting slavery, making an able and effective argument, which was published at the time, in its support in that body. In the cause of education he has always been a foremost friend in Franklin and throughout the State. His own early struggles have doubtless contributed to make him peculiarly a friend of the common school, and his experience as a teacher in his early years gives him practical wisdom in the cause. While studying his profession in Franklin he was, from year to year employed in the teachers� institutes, which did a large work in awakening higher ideas of the mission of the common school in New Hampshire during that period, and in that business he was in nearly every county of the State. Sensible of his own personal misfortune in having so little early chance for schooling, his voice and his open hand are always on the side which aims to give enlargement to the education of the masses of the people, and in his own family is seen his appreciation of the higher grades of education. In 1867 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Dartmouth College.

Mr. Barnard has been prominently identified with all the leading industries which have been established in Franklin, and which have so remarkably built up the town within the last twenty years. He procured the charters, and helped organize all the corporations; has been a continuous trustee of the Franklin Library Association since its establishment, more than fifteen years ago, and a trustee of the Franklin Savings-Bank since its establishment, in 1865; legal counsel of the Franklin Falls Company from its organization, in 1864, and for many years its local agent, and is, and has been from the first, a director and vice-president of the Franklin National Bank, organized in that town in 1880.

As a lawyer, Mr. Barnard ranks very high in the profession, his advice being eagerly sought by all classes, but no person, however poor, with a meritorious cause was ever turned away from his office to make room for a richer or more powerful client. His client�s cause becomes his, and his whole energy is directed to winning for him what he believes he should have. His terse and logical arguments are especially powerful before a jury, and his eloquent voice has often been heard in legislative halls, leading and guiding the law-making assemblies, and in political meetings sustaining the motives and policy of his party.

In the social, humane and religious work of the community he has always been active and efficient, generous almost to a fault in every good enterprise, and in these spheres of duty he has ever had the efficient co-operation of a cultivated and, it is not too much to add, a model Christian wife,--Amelia, only child of Rev. William Morse, a Unitarian clergyman, of Chelmsford, Mass., at the time of the marriage,--to whom he was married November 8, 1854. Mr. Morse, now deceased, was one of the pioneer clergymen of the Unitarian faith in this country, was many years pastor of the Callowhill Street Church, Philadelphia, and an able and excellent minister. His wife was Sophronia, daughter of Abner Kneeland, of Boston, an able and upright man, whose trial on the technical charge of blasphemy, but really for the publication of heretical religious doctrines, was a most noted episode in New England forty years ago. Mrs. Morse was a noble woman. Mr. Morse and his wife resided during the last years of their pleasant lives in Franklin, near their daughter, who watched with singular tenderness over the closing years of the parents to whom she is indebted for superior trainings, as well as superior ability.

Their union has been blessed with seven children, six of whom--four sons and two daughters--are now living.

William Morse, the eldest son, has been mentioned.

James Ellery, the second son, entered Dartmouth College, but left at the end of his sophomore year, and is in business in Boston.

Charles Daniel and Frank Eugene are both at school, the former being a student at Phillips Exeter Academy.

Emma Sophronia, the elder of the two daughters, is married to Captain Samuel Pray, of Portsmouth, N. H.

Mary Amelia was graduated at Smith College in 1881, and lives at home.

JOSEPH B. WALKER is the son of Captain Joseph Walker, and the great-grandson of Rev. Timothy Walker, the first minister of Concord. He was born on the paternal farm June 12, 1822. He was fitted for college largely at Exeter, and graduated at Yale in 1844. He studied law in the office of Hon. Charles H. Peaslee, of Concord, and at the Harvard Law School, and was admitted to the New Hampshire bar in March, 1847.

A year or two after his admission to the bar he relinquished his profession, and has since been devoted to general business.

He inherited the family farm, one of the largest in Concord, which he has greatly improved by working, draining, fertilizing, etc., thereby trebling its productiveness.

From 1845 to 1866, when its third charter expired, Mr. Walker was a director of the Merrimack County Bank. This was a State institution, and its managers not caring to continue it as a national bank, its existence ceased with its third charter, after a successful career of sixty years. In 1865 he was elected president of the New Hampshire Savings-Bank, in Concord one of the oldest institutions for savings in New Hampshire, and remained at its head until 1874. Upon its organization in 1880 he was elected one of the directors of the Mechanics' National Bank, and is still a member of that board.

About 1847 he was elected clerk of the board of directors of the Northern Railroad and, a few years later, a director, which two offices he held for several years. Some twelve or fifteen years ago he became a director of the Concord and Portsmouth Railroad, a position which he still holds.

Mr. Walker took an early interest in the New Hampshire Asylum for the Insane, and became one of its trustees in 1847 and its secretary in 1848. These positions he still occupies, having held them for nearly forty years. Being a resident trustee, he has had much active service in connection with the outside business of that institution. Since his connection with it, its accommodations for patients have increased from those for ninety-six patients to ample ones for three hundred and fifty.

He has ever taken an active interest in the New Hampshire Historical Society, of which he became a member in 1845 and has since served it in various ways, acting as its librarian from 1845 to 1850, its recording secretary from 1849 to 1853, its second vice-president from 1860 to 1861, its first vice-president from 1861 to 1866, and its president from 1866 to 1868. He was also active in the successful efforts to procure for it a permanent habitation of its own and in fitting this to meet the wants of the institution.

He also took a deep interest in the founding of the New Hampshire College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. He was chairman of the special committee of the House of Representatives, in 1866 to whom this subject was committed, drew and reported the bill establishing it, which, with some modifications, passed both branches of the Legislature, and after its organization was for a year or two one of its trustees. His name now stands upon its catalogue as Lecturer to its students upon the subjects of drainage and irrigation.

Mr. Walker has always felt a deep interest in the welfare of his native city. Twice--in 1866 and 1867 he has represented it in the Legislature, and for two years he was a member of its Board of Aldermen.

The educational interests of the city have also received his earnest support. Up to about 1850 the schools of Concord had been as poor as those of any other large town in the State. The consolidation of the three districts in the central part of the city into one, since known as Union School District, was the first important step in their improvement. The second was the establishment of a Board of Education in this district. These two steps subsequently secured a new interest on the part of its people in the welfare of their schools. A systematic grading of the schools and a rebuilding of all its school-houses, with such additional buildings as the wants of the schools required, were the third and fourth in this important work, which required large expenditures of money by the district and large expenditures of time, skill and patience on the part of the Board of Education. The result has been the elevation of the schools to a level with that of the good schools of New England, and the placing within the reach of all the children of this district the means of attaining a respectable English or classical education.

Mr. Walker was one of the original members of this Board of Education, and by successive election, was continued such for thirteen years, at the expiration of which period he felt that he had contributed his share of work in this direction, and retired. Mr. Walker was one of the original members of the committee appointed by the city for the purchase of a new cemetery, and took an active part in laying out the grounds of Blossom Hill Cemetery, in 1860, and in securing a proper ordinance for the regulation of its affairs. After a service of ten years he retired from this position, in 1870.

He has ever been a good deal interested in agricultural and historical subjects; from time to time has written papers, and on various occasions has delivered addresses upon these. All the fourteen volumes of �Reports of the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture� contain one or more of these, with the exception of the thirteenth. Before the New Hampshire Historical Society and the New England Historic Genealogical Society he has repeatedly read papers upon historical and biographical subjects; many of these latter have been printed.

ANSON SOUTHARD MARSHALL^[2] was born in Lyme, New Hampshire, December 3d, 1822, and died in Concord on the morning of July 5th, 1874. His father was a farmer, and young Anson's boyhood was passed on the farm, where his naturally delicate constitution became strong and vigorous and thus enabled him, in the succeeding years of his busy life, to bear its fatigues and worriments without seriously affecting his health. At an early age he inclined towards reading and study; and, although he did not neglect the sports incident to his gleeful disposition, young Marshall found time to indulge in a course of reading somewhat unusual for one of his years. With an ambition like this, it was but natural that he should turn his eyes towards that venerable seat of learning only a few miles distant from his father�s homestead.

Accordingly, he entered Dartmouth College at the age of twenty-one, having fitted himself in the space of eighteen months while at the academy at Thetford. Among his classmates were the Hon. James W. Patterson, now superintendent of State instruction, the Hon. Henry P. Rolfe, Albert H. Crosby, M.D., and many others since distinguished in their various walks of life. He was graduated in the class of 1848, and, like many a young graduate of that time, sought his immediate livelihood in the vocation of schoolteacher. In this he was singularly fortunate. About the year 1849 the town of Fitchburg, Mass., established a High School, and the committee having the selection of teachers in charge chose Mr. Marshall from a large number of applicants. To the wisdom of this choice the old people testify to this day, and his name is held in most affectionate regard by those who attended the school during his principalship. As a teacher, he was remarkably successful; his method of instruction was such as to interest the scholar without the tediousness of an unchanging routine.

As an illustration of his originality as a teacher, he once dismissed his class and went with it to a circus, in order, as he said, that his scholars might see the exceeding suppleness and perfection of the human body as shown by the performers. As a practical lesson in anatomy, this deviation from the truly orthodox regulation may have proved productive of much good.

While in Fitchburg, Mr. Marshall entered his name in the law-office of Wood & Torrey, but his school duties must have prevented any serious or deep researches in the literature of that profession, to which he afterward dedicated his life.

He often referred to the time he spent in Fitchburg as one of the pleasantest of his life, and whenever, in after-years, business called him in its neighborhood, he was sure to visit the old scenes and to receive the hearty welcome of those of his old friends who yet remained.

In 1851 he left Fitchburg and came to Concord, where he lived to the day of his death. Entering the law-office of President Pierce and Judge Josiah Minot, he made good progress in his studies, and the next year was admitted to the bar.

A partnership was formed with his former classmate, Mr. Rolfe, which continued until 1859, and was then dissolved, Mr. Marshall remaining alone until 1863, when William M. Chase, Esq., became associated with him under the name of Marshall & Chase.

There is, probably, no State in the Union where politics are more assiduously cultivated than in New Hampshire, and especially by the lawyers; so, when Mr. Marshall found himself again in his native State, his active mind inevitably turned to party questions. He came from a stanch Democratic family, and his later associations were of the same political faith. One of the eminent lawyers with whom he had studied was President of the United states, the other was one of the wisest counselors in the Democratic camp, and it is not surprising that the young man just entering into life should take an active part in the management and detail of the campaigns.

He was elected assistant clerk of the House of Representatives, and, later, was appointed district attorney by President Buchanan, which office he held until the advent of the Lincoln administration. The fascination of politics never wore off, and he continued to render his party efficient service on the stump and in the council-room.

In 1867 he was chairman of the Democratic State Committee during one of the most exciting campaigns ever waged. Andrew Johnson had broken with the Republican party, and as New Hampshire then held its election in March, the great eye of the nation was fixed on the Granite State to see if she wavered in the fidelity to those principles which had so long guided her.

The fight was bitter and hotly contested, but Mr. Marshall and his party were beaten. His genial nature, however, did not suffer from the defeat, his cheery ways were not lessened, and there lurked in his generous mind no feeling of resentment or of revenge either toward his own party or his opponents.

In the spirited contest between the Northern and the Concord Railroads Mr. Marshall was an active factor, and about 1870 was elected clerk of the latter corporation, a position which he held at the time of his death.

But law was, most truly, Mr. Marshall's forte, and to it he devoted the best years of his life.

He was not a learned, nor was he even an unusually well-read lawyer, but few, indeed, excelled him in getting at the pith of the case or in applying the necessary legal principles. He possessed a confidence and courage that helped him to conquer difficulties which others might have deemed insurmountable, and, above all, a tact which never failed him. He was uniformly polite not only to the bench and to the bar, but to the witnesses arrayed against him. Nor was his manner of cross-examination severe except when he knew the truth was held back; and even then he depended more on worrying the witness than on vehement denunciation.

His knowledge of human nature was large, and he knew almost by intuition which juryman needed his particular attention.

But it was as an advocate that Mr. Marshall attracted the public notice, for he so invested his arguments with wit and humor that the court-room was sure to be filled whenever it became known that he was to address the jury. His manner of speech was quiet, but he never failed to indulge in invective and sarcasm if the cause demanded it, and with these weapons he was counted a most dangerous adversary.

He rarely, if ever, wrote out and committed his speeches, either political or forensic; but he carefully thought them out as he walked the streets, and this, together with his exceeding readiness, both of words and of apt illustrations, often misled his hearers as to the method of his preparation.

One element that distinguished him was his habit of putting himself in his client�s place; he seemed to feel his cause and to make it his own.

His law practice increased year by year, and at the time of his death had become one of the largest in the State.

Mr. Marshall was one of those happily organized men who enjoyed life and its blessings to the utmost; he could lock law cases in his office and go forth among society with a seeming forgetfulness of his morrow�s labors, and it was in this way that he found that temporary recreation so indispensable to the brain-worker.

He was exceedingly fond of nature and loved to roam round the beautiful drives of Concord, whose beauty he so keenly appreciated. Indeed, it was the love of such outings that led him to his terrible death.

He was one of the most charming conversationalists that ever lived, for his vast reading had made him a full man, and there was no subject upon which he could not entertain his hearers. His quick wit and readiness at repartee gave his conversation a sparkle and lustre that never failed to delight even those whose opinions were at variance with his own.

But one of his most beautiful traits was his liking for boys and young men. They were attracted to him by his politeness, for Mr. Marshall made it his habit to bow to everybody, no matter how humble, and aside from this, he often paused in his walks to inquire of them about their studies or their pastimes. He took much pleasure in recommending courses of reading to the young, and willingly lent his own books to encourage them.

His taste in reading was excellent, and his library contained the works of the great writers and poets.

It may not be out of place to say that his favorite author was Scott, and his favorite poem �Gray�s Elegy.�

He had a strong memory, and oftentimes, while in his company, I have heard him quote long passages from Shakespeare, Milton and others, and so accurately that he seldom halted for a word.

In religion Mr. Marshall entertained very liberal views of man�s duty and man�s reward, although for the last years of his life he was an attendant at the South Congregational Church, and his funeral services were conducted by its minister.

He retained the respect of his fellow-citizens, for he was active and full of public spirit, and it was with heavy hearts that those with whom he had lived so long learned of his tragic death.

On the bright morning of July 4, 1874, he drove with his wife and young son to the grove at the head of Lake Penacook, where he intended to lunch. A militia company, encamped on the grounds not many rods away, suddenly began firing at a target. Mr. Marshall heard the bullets whistle near and called out to the men to be careful. He then rose to his feet and was instantly shot in the abdomen. The wound was mortal, and death ended his agonies a few hours later.

His funeral was largely attended by all classes of society; the bench and the bar and the State government were all represented.

He lies in Blossom Hill Cemetery, on the ridge facing the north, and near him lie his friends Ira Perley, Charles C. Lund, George G. Fogg, John Y. Mugridge and Asa Fowler.

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