Volume 1 — SKETCHES OF ALUMNI AT THE DIFFERENT COLLEGES IN NEW ENGLAND.

HON. WILLIAM CRANCH OF WASHINGTON, D. C.

Judge Cranch was born at the house of his mother's father, the Rev. William Smith, of Weymouth, Ms., July 17, 1769; and was baptized by him the Sabbath following, as appears by the church records.[31] He had no brother, but two sisters, and these were older than himself. The elder sister, Elizabeth, married the Rev. Jacob Norton, who succeeded Mr. Smith in the pastoral office. The other sister married Mr. John Greenleaf, who resides at Quincy, Ms. Mrs. Greenleaf died Feb. 18, 1846.

His father, Richard Cranch, was born in Kingsbridge, near Exeter in Devonshire, England, in November, 1726, and was the son of John, the son of Andrew, the son of Richard, all of Devonshire. He was one of six sons, and was bound as an apprentice to a maker of wool-cards; but, at the age of 20, purchased the remainder of his time, and came to this country in 1746, with General Joseph Palmer, who had married his sister. Being fond of books, he became a learned man, received an honorary degree of M. A. from Harvard University, was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, sustained several important public offices, and was for many years a member of the Legislature and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He died in 1811, in his 85th year.

His mother was Mary, the eldest daughter of the Rev. William Smith of Weymouth, and granddaughter of Col. John Quincy of Mount Wollaston, in that part of Braintree since incorporated by the name of Quincy, in honor of his memory. There is now no lineal descendant from him of the name of Quincy. The next daughter of Mr. Smith was Abigail, who became the wife of the late President John Adams; and the other daughter was Elizabeth, who married the Rev. John Shaw of Haverhill, Ms., and after his death, the Rev. Stephen Peabody of Atkinson, N. H. She died April 9, 1815, aged 65. She had three children by her first husband, William Smith, Elizabeth Quincy, and Abigail Adams. The son was the principal founder of the Boston Athenæum. He was born Aug. 12, 1778, graduated H. C. 1798, and died 1826. The first daughter was born May 26, 1780, and died Sept. 4, 1798, aged 18. The last daughter is the wife of Rev. Joseph B. Felt of this city.

The great-grandmother of the subject of this sketch, the wife of Col. John Quincy, who died July 13, 1767, was Mary Norton, the daughter of the Rev. John Norton of Hingham, whose genealogy is distinctly traced back to the time of William the Conqueror.

We cannot trace the ancestors of Judge Cranch's father back further than his grandfather's grandfather. They all appear to have been Dissenters, firm republicans, and honest men, but in humble life. His grandfather, John Cranch, was a farmer and a freeholder; the others seem to have been manufacturers of woollens. John Cranch, the naturalist, who was, at the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, sent out in the expedition to Egypt, where he died, was his second cousin. His father's mother was Elizabeth Pearse, daughter of Christopher Pearse and Margery Triste.

In April, 1775, his father removed from Boston to that part of Braintree now called Quincy, where he resided until his death. He died on the 16th, and his wife on the 17th, of October, 1811, and both were buried on the same day, the 19th. A sermon was delivered on the occasion by the Rev. Peter Whitney, which was printed.

Judge Cranch prepared for college under the instruction of his uncle, the Rev. John Shaw of Haverhill, and entered the Freshman class, six months in advance, in February, 1784. Having graduated at Harvard College, he, July, 1787, entered the office of Judge Dawes of Boston, who was then a practitioner in the courts of Massachusetts, where he read law three years, and in July, 1790, was admitted to practice in the Court of Common Pleas. He opened an office in Braintree, now Quincy, but at the close of the first year, upon the death of his relative, John Thaxter, Esq., who had been in the practice of the law at Haverhill, Ms., he was induced by his friends to remove to that place, and take his office, and complete his unfinished business; which, with the confidence reposed in him by the Hon. Nathaniel Peaslee Sergeant, then one of the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, who appointed him sole executor of his will, introduced him into practice, and enabled him to support himself and pay all demands held against him. For three years, he attended the courts in Essex county in Massachusetts and Rockingham county in New Hampshire, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Judicial Court in July, 1793.

In September, 1794, he was employed to superintend the affairs of Morris, Nicholson, and Greenleaf, under their great contracts in the City of Washington, to which place he removed in October of that year, and has continued to reside in that place until the present time.

In April, 1795, he was connected in marriage with Nancy Greenleaf, daughter of the late William Greenleaf of Boston, and moved his wife to Washington, in May.

They have been the parents of 13 children, 3 of whom died in infancy. The names of the other ten were 1. William Greenleaf; 2. Richard; 3. Ann Allen; 4. Mary; 5. Elizabeth Eliot; 6. John; 7. Edward Pope; 8. Christopher Pearse; 9. Abby Adams; 10. Margaret Dawes. Richard was drowned in Lake Erie, while in the discharge of his duty as an assistant-engineer, surveying the harbor, in his 29th year, unmarried. Ann Allen died in April, 1821, of consumption, aged 22, also unmarried. Mary married Richard Cranch Norton, and died when her first child was one week old, in July, 1821, aged 20. Her husband died in October of the same year.

The other 7 children are still living. Elizabeth married Rufus Dawes, a son of the late Judge Dawes of Boston. Abby Adams married the Rev. William G. Eliot of St. Louis, Missouri, where they reside and have a number of children. William has been a clerk in the Patent Office. He was two years at Harvard University; but his delicate health and feeble constitution obliged him to leave his studies in his Junior year. The other sons were educated at the Columbian College in the District of Columbia. John spent three or four years in Italy, in drawing and painting, to perfect his knowledge of these branches, and now resides in Boston, where he pursues the employment of drawing and painting. Edward Pope is settled in Cincinnati as a lawyer. Christopher Pearse has been a preacher of the Gospel, but has lately turned his attention to portrait painting, and is now in Italy. Mrs. Cranch deceased Sept. 17, 1843.

In the year 1800, Judge Cranch was appointed one of the Commissioners of the City of Washington, which office he resigned in 1801, when he was, by President Adams, appointed the junior assistant Judge of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, under the act of Congress of Feb. 27, 1801; the late Governor Thomas Johnson of Maryland, who had been one of the Commissioners of the City of Washington, having been appointed Chief Judge; and Mr. James Marshall, brother of the late Chief Justice Marshall, having been appointed elder assistant Judge. Gov. Johnson refused to accept the office; and Mr. Jefferson appointed William Kitty, Esq., Chief Judge. Mr. Marshall resigned in 1803, and Nicholas Fitzhugh, Esq., of Virginia, was appointed in his place.

In 1805, Mr. Kitty having been appointed Chancellor of Maryland, Judge Cranch was appointed by Mr. Jefferson to the office of Chief Justice, which office he now holds; and by virtue of that office is sole Judge of the District Court of the United States, for the District of Columbia, which has the same jurisdiction as the other District Courts of the United States have.

He has published nine volumes of Reports of cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, a Memoir of the life, character, and writings of President John Adams, (70 pages,) read before the Columbian Institute, March 16, 1827, and an Address upon the subject of Temperance, in 1831, a small pamphlet.

Judge Cranch is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the American Antiquarian Society. He has received also the degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard College.

PROFESSOR EBENEZER ADAMS OF HANOVER, N. H.

Professor Adams was the son of Ephraim Adams of New Ipswich, N. H., who was a highly respectable man, having been a magistrate, an officer in the church, and a representative of the town. He was born in that place, Oct. 2, 1765. The father was a native of Ipswich, Ms., born in that part of the town which is now Hamilton. He was brought up on the farm which was first occupied by his ancestor, one of the eight sons of Henry Adams, who came to this country from Devonshire, England, and settled in that part of Braintree now called Quincy, about the year 1630. The father of Dea. Adams, whose baptismal name was Thomas, was either the grandson or great-grandson of this ancestor. The first wife of Dea. Adams was Rebecca, daughter of James Locke, who was a native of Woburn, Ms., and died in Ashby, Ms. The name of his second wife is not known. The children of Dea. Adams were fifteen in number.

The subject of this sketch fitted for college at the Academy in New Ipswich, under the care of Hon. John Hubbard, who was afterwards Professor in Dartmouth College. Having graduated at that institution in 1791, with high reputation as a scholar, especially in mathematics and philosophy, he went immediately into the Academy at Leicester, Ms., where he spent fifteen years, fourteen of which he was the Principal. In 1806, he took charge of the Academy at Portland, Me., which he left after a year and a half, having accepted the Professorship of Mathematics in Phillips Academy, Exeter. In 1809 he was appointed Professor of the Languages in Dartmouth College, and in 1810, upon the death of Professor Hubbard, he was transferred to the department of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and continued in that office until 1833—twenty-three years—when he was induced by advancing age and infirmities to resign all active and responsible service in the College; his connection with it since being simply that of Professor Emeritus, which continued until his death.

Professor Adams possessed great constitutional energies, both physical and mental. These he carried into active life. As an instructor he was able and accurate. No one surpassed him in faithfulness, and hence it was proverbial that he made thorough scholars. In the Languages he was good, but in Mathematics and Philosophy he excelled as a teacher.

As would naturally be expected, he took a lively interest in all efforts made to promote the cause of literature, the sciences, and the arts, and was connected with several literary associations. He was an original Member of the Northern Academy of Arts and Sciences, and took an active part at the time of its formation, as presiding officer. He was also a Member of the New Hampshire Historical Society, the American Antiquarian Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Maryland Academy of Sciences and Literature, and the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, Copenhagen. He was a Trustee of Kimball Union Academy in Plainfield, and sustained the office of President of the Board of Trustees twenty years, and, for about as long a time, he was President of the New Hampshire Bible Society.

Professor Adams was twice married. His first wife was Alice Frink, daughter of Dr. John Frink, a distinguished physician of Rutland, Ms., by whom he had five children, Alice A., Adeline A., John, Charles A. and Harriet R., of whom John only is now living. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1817, and is now a practising attorney in Mobile, Ala. His second wife was Beulah Minot, daughter of Dr. Timothy Minot of Concord, Ms. By her he had two children, Eliza M. and Ebenezer. The daughter is now the wife of Prof. Ira Young. Ebenezer was graduated at Dartmouth College in 1831, and died in July, 1837. Of seven children, therefore, two only survive. The last Mrs. Adams still lives, and resides with her daughter, Mrs. Young.

Professor Adams "was one of the few remaining old school citizens and scholars of New England, and was hardly surpassed by any of that venerable class of men in intelligence, patriotism, and Christian virtue." He possessed a well balanced mind, "was judicious, magnanimous, and firm." He died calm and happy in the triumphs of religion, August 15, 1841, in the 76th year of his age, from ossification of the heart.

HON. JAMES SAVAGE OF BOSTON.

The subject of this sketch was born July 11, 1784, in Boston, where his progenitors since 1635 have always lived. His father was Habijah, and his mother, Elizabeth, daughter of John Tudor. Of eight children, five sons and three daughters, born before him, two sons died in infancy; the rest attained full age, as did also two sons younger than himself.

His mother died before he arrived at his fourth year of age; and his father, by reason of ill health, was unable to take charge of him in his early education. The Rev. Dr. Thacher preached on the occasion of his mother's death from Psalms xxvii: 10—"When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up."

The father of Mr. Savage was son of Thomas, by his first wife, Deborah Briggs, who was, it is believed, a granddaughter of John Cushing, one of the Judges of the Superior Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. John, his father's elder brother, was father of Thomas of York, Me., from whom descended the Savages in Bangor. His grandfather's second wife was Sarah Cheever, who survived him nearly fifty-one years. One of their children was the late Ezekiel Savage, Esq., of Salem, H. C. 1778, father of Rev. Thomas Savage of Bedford, N. H., H. C. 1813, and several other children, of whom one, Sarah, distinguished herself by the composition of some interesting books.

Habijah, father of Mr. Savage's grandfather Thomas, was educated at Harvard College, where he received his first degree, in 1695. He married Hannah, who had been a short time widow of ---- Anderson. She was a daughter of Samuel Phillips, distinguished among booksellers in Boston one hundred and fifty years ago, as John Dunton mentions in the entertaining account of his visit to our country, published in his "Life and Errors." Arthur, a younger brother of his great-grandfather, married another daughter of Mr. Phillips, and one of their children was Samuel Phillips Savage, father of the late Samuel Savage, H. C. 1766, of Barnstable.

Thomas, father of the last named Habijah, born 1640, was second child of Thomas, who emigrated from England. His mother was Faith, daughter of William and the celebrated Ann Hutchinson, who was a speaking if not a ruling elder in the First Church in Boston. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Joshua Scottow, author of two curious tracts in the latter part of the 17th century. With two of his brothers, Ephraim, H. C. 1662, and Perez, he served at various times and places in King Philip's war, in the early part of which, their father was in the chief command of the forces of the Colony of Massachusetts. Ephraim gained some reputation in command of one of the vessels of the fleet, in the daring but disastrous expedition from Boston against Quebec, by Sir William Phips, in 1690, and Thomas was at the head of one of the three regiments engaged in it, and wrote a brief and modest account of the service, published the following year at London. He died July 2, 1705.

Mr. Savage's great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas, was a man of high public spirit. Disgusted with the treatment of the majority towards Wheelwright and other friends of Sir Henry Vane, whom he had perhaps accompanied from England, he, with Gov. Coddington and others, removed in 1638, and purchased Rhode Island. He soon returned, however, to Boston, recovered his former standing with early friends, and was often one of the representatives of the town, and, in the trying times of 1665, was respected for his moderation. He was one of those who undertook, in 1673, to erect a barricade in the harbor, for security against a fleet then expected from Holland. Out of this barricade grew, in less than forty years, the Long Wharf, a small portion of which has continued ever since the property of some members of the family. He was Speaker of the Deputies in 1659, and again after an interval of eleven years, and in 1680 was chosen by the colony one of the Assistants, in which station he died, Feb. 14, 1682, aged 75. A funeral sermon on that event is among the printed works of Rev. Samuel Willard, pastor of the third church, of which Major Savage was one of the founders, at the secession occasioned by the coming of Davenport from New Haven to the first. The text was, Isaiah lvii: 1.

The eldest son of this ancestor of most who bear the name on this side of the ocean, Habijah, H. C. 1659, died in a few years, but left children by his wife, daughter of Edward Tyng, one of the Assistants. A grandchild of these parents removed from Boston, early in the last century, to Charleston, S. C., where he is commemorated by Dr. Ramsay, in his History of the Independent Church in that city. Descendants have been known in different parts of South Carolina and Georgia. The late Judge Clay of the latter state, afterwards pastor of the first Baptist Church in Boston, married one, and his son, Thomas Savage Clay, H. C. 1819, is highly respected for his Christian philanthropy.

In the catalogue of the sons of Harvard are numbered eleven lineal descendants of the first Thomas, of whom six have been noticed. John, 1694, was son of Ephraim; Habijah, 1723, was either son or nephew of Habijah; John, 1810, and James Rodon, 1812, were sons of William Savage, Esq., of Jamaica, son of Samuel Phillips Savage, before mentioned.

Of the progenitors of Mr. Savage, no means are possessed by which to trace the line before the arrival of his ancestor in this country; but a family tradition, committed to writing many years since, makes him to have been a brother of Arthur, an English dean.

Mr. Savage fitted for college at Derby Academy, Hingham, under the tuition of Abner Lincoln, and at Washington Academy, Machias, Me., instructed by Daniel P. Upton.

After graduating at Harvard University in 1803, he studied law under the direction of the late Chief Justice Parker, Hon. Samuel Dexter, and Hon. William Sullivan, and entered upon its practice January, 1807.

Mr. Savage has been Representative and Senator in General Court, a Counsellor, and a Delegate to the Convention in 1820 for amending the Constitution of the State. He has been also in the City government as one of the Common Council and an Alderman, as well as one of the School Committee.

In April, 1823, he married Elizabeth O., widow of James Otis Lincoln, Esq., of Hingham. She was daughter of George Stillman of Machias, Me., an officer in the war of the Revolution. Their children are Emma, Harriet, Lucy, and James.

At times letters have engaged the attention of Mr. Savage, but not to withdraw him from the proper duties of his profession or the service of the community in active life. He was during four or five years associated with the gentlemen who edited the (Boston) Monthly Anthology, and contributed articles for that work, as he has also for the North American Review. At the request of the municipal authorities of Boston, he delivered an oration, July 4, 1811. The compilation of the Colonial and Provincial Laws of Massachusetts, published under the title of Ancient Charters, according to direction of General Court, by the late Hon. Nathan Dane, Judge Prescott, and Judge Story, was by these gentlemen confided to his supervision while passing through the press. The Index to the work was prepared by him. He superintended an edition of Paley's Works; and the presswork of the ten volumes of American State Papers, selected by Hon. John Q. Adams, under authority of Congress. But Mr. Savage's greatest effort of this nature was his edition of Gov. Winthrop's History of New England, with notes.

This is a work of much labor and value. It is understood that he has in contemplation a new edition of Farmer's Genealogical Register of the First Settlers of New England.

Mr. Savage was more than twenty years Secretary or Treasurer of the first Savings Bank in Boston, and nineteen years Treasurer of the Massachusetts Historical Society, of which he is now the President. He is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has received the degree of LL. D. at Harvard College.

Forty-one years since, for the benefit of his health, he, in company with his relative and friend, William Tudor, Jr., visited the islands of Martinique, Dominique, St. Thomas, St. Domingo, and Jamaica. Since, he has been to Demerara, and five years ago, he went to England, with a view of visiting his fathers' sepulchres, and of enjoying himself in the father-land.

HON. LEVI WOODBURY OF PORTSMOUTH, N. H.

Levi Woodbury was born at Francestown, N. H., Dec. 22, 1789, where his father, the Hon. Peter Woodbury, resided. He was born in Beverly, Ms., in 1767, removed to New Hampshire with his father, and, when he entered upon the active business of life for himself, engaged in mercantile and agricultural pursuits, and was about fifteen years a Representative, and two years a Senator, in the State Legislature. He died in 1834. He was son of Peter Woodbury, who was born March 28, 1738, at Beverly, and married there, and in 1773 removed to Mont Vernon, then a part of Amherst, N. H. He spent the last twenty years of his life at Antrim, with his youngest son, Mark Woodbury, Esq., where he died, March, 1819, aged 85. His father was Josiah Woodbury of Beverly, who was born June 15, 1682, and lived in the Second or Upper Parish. The father of Josiah was Peter, who was born in 1640, made a freeman in 1668, and elected a Representative in 1689. He filled the office of deacon, and died July 5, 1704, aged 64. His father was Humphrey Woodbury, who was born in 1609, came to New England with his father, John Woodbury, in 1628, was admitted to the church in 1648, was a member of the First Church in Beverly, at its formation, was chosen deacon in 1668, and was living in 1681. John Woodbury, who was one of the original settlers of Beverly, came from Somersetshire, England, under the direction of the Dorchester company, which established itself at Cape Ann about 1624. He came to Salem in 1626, was made a freeman in 1630, and in 1635 was chosen a Deputy to General Court. He was an original member of the First Church in Salem. In 1636, he received a grant of two hundred acres of land on Bass river. He died in 1641.

Mr. Woodbury's mother was Mary Woodbury, daughter of James Woodbury, who was born in Beverly, but removed to Mont Vernon, N. H., in 1782. He was a subaltern in Col. Robert Rogers' regiment of Rangers, and was near Wolfe when he fell at the storming of Quebec. The sword he used in that service is now in the possession of a descendant. He had eight children, all daughters, and died at Francestown, March, 1823, aged 86.

The subject of this sketch was prepared for college in part at New Ipswich Academy, N. H., with Mr. Mulliken, but chiefly under the instruction of Hon. John Vose, the distinguished Preceptor of Atkinson Academy. In 1805 he entered Dartmouth College, where he remained till 1809, when he graduated with high reputation for talents and acquirements.

Immediately after leaving college he commenced the study of law, 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.

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