Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men Part 11

7. Ebenezer, son of Peter, born in April, 1768.

8. JONATHAN EVERETT SARGENT, was born at New London, October 23, 1816.

He lived at home, working upon the farm until he was seventeen years of age, and, being the youngest child, his father had arranged for him to live at home and take care of his parents, and have the farm at their decease. The son, however, had little love for the farm, and, as soon as the care and support of his parents could be provided for in another way, he arranged with his father that he was to have the remaining four years of his time till twenty-one, was to clothe himself, and pay his own bills, and call for nothing more from his father. He fitted for college at Hopkinton Academy, and at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, and in 1836 entered Dartmouth College, having paid his way by teaching school winters and laboring in vacations. By teaching school every winter and two fall terms in Canaan Academy during his college course, he earned enough to pay all his expenses in college with the exception of $200, which he borrowed of his father, and repaid the same, with interest, within two years. Though out of college two terms, besides winters in teaching, and another term on account of sickness, yet he was always ready at each examination to be examined with his cla.s.s. He was elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and graduated, in 1840, among the first in his cla.s.s.

Mr. Sargent had long before this made up his mind to turn his attention to the law as a profession, and he accordingly began the study of the law at once with Hon. William P. Weeks, of Canaan, and remained with him till the spring of 1841, when he was advised by his physician to go South for his health. He went first to Was.h.i.+ngton, soon after to Alexandria, D. C., where he taught a high school, then to Maryland, where he remained a year in a family school, when, having regained his health, he returned to New Hamps.h.i.+re in September, 1842. He had, upon his arrival in Was.h.i.+ngton, entered his name as a law student in the office of Hon. David A. Hall of that city, and continued the study of the law under his direction, while engaged in teaching, and he was admitted to the bar in the courts of the District of Columbia in April, 1842, only about twenty months after leaving college. By the rule of that court any one might be admitted upon examination, without regard to the length of time he had studied; and he was examined in open court by Chief-Justice Cranch and his a.s.sociates upon the bench, and was admitted.

After returning home, he continued his legal studies with Mr. Weeks until the July law term, in Sullivan county, in 1843, when he was admitted to the bar in the superior court of judicature in this state.

He then went into company with Mr. Weeks at Canaan, where he remained till 1847, when he removed to Wentworth and opened an office there. He had been appointed solicitor for Grafton county in November, 1844, while at Canaan, and he at once commenced a lucrative business at Wentworth; was re-appointed solicitor in 1849 for five years more, thus holding the office for ten years, to 1854, performing the duties to the entire acceptance of the county and the people. He declined a re-appointment.

In 1851 he was first elected a member of the legislature from Wentworth, and served as chairman of the committee on incorporations. The next year he was re-elected, and was made chairman of the judiciary committee; and in 1853 he was again a member, and was nominated with great unanimity and elected speaker of the house of representatives. He served with ability and impartiality and to the general acceptance of the members.

The next winter a new man was to be selected as a candidate for senator in his district, and he was nominated, and was elected in March, in a close district, by about three hundred majority. He was elected president of the senate in 1854. He was renominated in the spring of 1855, but the Know-Nothing movement that year carried everything before it, and he was defeated, with nearly all the other Democratic nominees in the state.

On April 2, 1855, he was appointed a circuit justice of the court of common pleas for the state. But in June of that year the old courts were abolished, mainly upon political grounds, and new ones organized, and new judges appointed. Judge Sargent received a request from Gov. Metcalf that he would accept the second place on the bench of the new court of common pleas. This offer had not been expected, but upon consultation with friends it was accepted, and Judge Sargent was appointed an a.s.sociate justice of the court of common pleas. He acted as judge of the new court of common pleas for four years, until 1859, when, by a statute of that year, that court was abolished, and one new judge was to be added to the supreme judicial court, making the number of supreme judges six instead of five, as before. Judge Sargent was immediately appointed to that place on the supreme bench. He was then the youngest member of the court in age, as well as in the date of his commission. He remained upon the bench of that court just fifteen years, from 1859 to 1874. In March, 1873, upon the death of Chief-Justice Bellows, Judge Sargent was appointed chief-justice of the state, which place he held until August, 1874, when the court was again overturned to make room for the appointees of the prevailing political party. Chief-Justice Sargent, at the time of his appointment as chief-justice, had become the oldest judge upon the bench, both in age and date of commission. His written opinions are contained in the sixteen volumes of the New Hamps.h.i.+re Reports, from the 39th to the 54th, inclusive, numbering about three hundred in all. Many of these are leading opinions upon various subjects, and show great learning and research.

After the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and the attempt to make Kansas a slave state, Judge Sargent acted with the Republican party.

Upon leaving the bench, in August, 1874, he was solicited to go into the practice of the law in Concord with William M. Chase, Esq., whose late partner, the Hon. Anson S. Marshall, had recently been suddenly removed by death. Judge Sargent accepted this offer, and thus at once stepped into an extensive and lucrative practice. This arrangement was made for five years.

In 1876 he was elected a member of the const.i.tutional convention of this state. In this convention he acted a prominent part. He was made chairman of the judiciary committee, the same place held by Judge Levi Woodbury in the convention of 1850. He took an active part in the debates and discussions of that body, and wielded an influence probably second to no one in the convention. He was also elected, by his ward in Concord, a member of the house of representatives for the years 1877 and 1878.

Early in 1877 steps were taken for a revision of the statutes, and Judge Sargent was appointed chairman of a committee, with Hon. L. W. Barton of Newport, and Judge J. S. Wiggin of Exeter, to revise and codify the statutes of the state. Their work was completed and the statutes enacted by the legislature, to take effect the first of January, 1879. The volume was prepared and printed by the committee before the day appointed. It is the largest volume of statutes ever printed in the state, and it is believed not to be inferior to any other in any important particular.

In the fall of 1878, Judge Sargent was invited by a committee of the citizens of New London to prepare a centennial address, to be delivered on the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town. He at once accepted the invitation and set about the work, and on the 25th day of June, 1879, he delivered his address, and the occasion was distinguished by a larger collection of people, probably, than ever met in the town upon any former occasion. The address was published in the _Granite Monthly_, in the numbers for July, August, and September, 1879, and has been favorably noticed as a work of great labor and research.

Dartmouth College conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts, in course, three years after graduation; also, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, at its centennial commencement, in 1869. In compliance with a request from a committee of the trustees, he prepared and delivered at the commencement of 1880 at Dartmouth College a memorial address upon the late Hon. Joel Parker, formerly chief-justice of this state and afterwards professor of law in Harvard College. This duty Judge Sargent performed in a manner creditable to himself and satisfactory to the friends of the late Judge Parker. His address has been printed with other similar addresses in memory of other deceased judges, graduates of Dartmouth, by other distinguished sons of the college.

In 1864 he was elected grand master of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons for the state of New Hamps.h.i.+re, and was re-elected the next year. After this he declined a re-election. He has for many years been an active member of the New Hamps.h.i.+re Historical Society, and for the last five or six years has been one of its vice-presidents. For some years past he has been connected with the National State Capital Bank as one of its directors. The Loan and Trust Savings Bank at Concord commenced business August 1, 1872, and in the nine years since then its deposits have increased to over a million and a quarter of dollars.

Judge Sargent has been president of this bank, and one of its investment committee since its commencement, and has given his personal attention to its affairs. In 1876 the New Hamps.h.i.+re Centennial Home for the Aged was organized and incorporated, and January 1, 1879, a home was opened in Concord. Judge Sargent has been president of this inst.i.tution four years, and has taken a deep interest in its prosperity and success.

About the 1st of September, 1879, at the end of five years from the commencement of his partners.h.i.+p in business, he retired from the practice of law. Since he commenced the practice of the law, in 1843, his residence has been as follows: In Canaan four years, to 1847; in Wentworth twenty-two years, to 1869; and in Concord since. The judge has acquired a competency, has one of the finest residences in the city, and is enjoying life with his friends and his books.

Judge Sargent married, first, Maria C. Jones, of Enfield, daughter of John Jones, Esq., November 29, 1843, by whom he had two children. John Jones Sargent, the elder, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1866, and died in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, October 3, 1870, just as he was ready to commence the practice of the law. The second, Everett Foster, died young. For his second wife, he married Louisa Jennie Paige, daughter of Dea. James K. Paige, of Wentworth, September 5, 1853, by whom he has had three children,--Maria Louise, Annie Lawrie, and George Lincoln. The second died young; the eldest and youngest survive.

Judge Sargent is a leading member of the South Congregational church in Concord, and, while decided in his own opinions, he is liberal and tolerant in judging of the faith, and charitable in judging of the conduct, of others. As a lawyer, he was always faithful and true to his clients, a wise counselor and an able advocate. As a legislator, he has been conservative and safe. As a judge, he always studied to get at the right of the case, to hold the scales of justice evenly, to rule the law plainly, and to get the questions of fact, and the evidence as it bore upon them, clearly and distinctly before the jury. Any one who attended the courts where he presided as a judge could see at once that he was patient and painstaking, industrious and persevering, vigilant and discriminating, impartial and fearless; and any one who reads his written opinions will see that they exhibit great research, learning, and ability.

JOHN HATCH GEORGE.

BY H. H. METCALF.

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 Hamps.h.i.+re, 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 Col. 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.

Born in Concord, where he has ever since resided, November 20, 1824, Col. George is now fifty-seven years of age. 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, Col. 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 cla.s.smates 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 the present governor of this state, Hon. 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 Hamps.h.i.+re, Gen. 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 friends.h.i.+p of Gen.

Pierce at this time, it may safely be a.s.sumed 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 Gen. 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 circ.u.mstances 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: John H. George]

At the opening of his professional career, Col. George was again particularly fortunate. Gen. 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 Gen. 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 partners.h.i.+p alliance with some active and competent young man. Such alliance was offered to and promptly accepted by young George, who thus auspiciously 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 Gen.

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 partners.h.i.+p continued till Mr. Webster left Concord to become private secretary to Gen. Pierce, upon the accession of the latter to the presidency in 1853.

Soon afterward, Col. George formed partners.h.i.+p 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 a.s.sociated. Since the recent resignation of Judge Foster, his connection with Col. George has been resumed.

Not only in behalf of an extensive private clientage have the professional services of Col. 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 all Democratic officials. From 1853 to 1858, he was U. S.

attorney for the district of New Hamps.h.i.+re, appointed by President Pierce.

There are, undoubtedly, many men at the bar, in this and other states, as well grounded in legal principles as Col. 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 Col. George, in the conduct of a cause, to thoroughly familiarize himself with all the facts and circ.u.mstances connected therewith. The mastery of the cause itself leaves little difficulty in the determination of the law bearing thereon, and is the strongest guaranty of success in its management before a jury; and it is in the conduct of jury causes that Col. 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 Hamps.h.i.+re 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 impa.s.sioned appeals. In this connection may well be quoted the words of one who, knowing Col. 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 Hamps.h.i.+re bar."

Though not retiring from general practice, Col. George has devoted his attention largely to railroad law for many years past, having accepted, in 1867, the position of solicitor for the Boston & Lowell Railroad, and established an office in Boston for the transaction of business in connection with that position. 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 Col. George,--no man who understands more thoroughly 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, Col. 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 a.s.sociation 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 a.s.sumes the defensive, and if placed in such position by any combination of circ.u.mstances he soon transforms it into one of active aggression.

From 1851 to 1853, inclusive, Col. George served as chairman of the Democratic state committee, and again in 1856. In 1852 he was also selected as the New Hamps.h.i.+re 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, Gen. 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 a.s.suming the chair, one of the ablest addresses ever heard upon a similar occasion.

His party having been in the minority in New Hamps.h.i.+re 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 1850, Col. George received the Democratic nomination for congress in the second district, and again in 1863, when he made a vigorous canva.s.s, 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 to-day for having remained true to his convictions and steadfast and active in their maintenance.

His military t.i.tle comes from his service as chief of the staff of Gov.

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, Col. George also takes high rank. His oration upon Daniel Webster, at the recent centennial celebration of the birth of that most ill.u.s.trious son of New Hamps.h.i.+re, under the auspices of the Webster club of Concord, is surpa.s.sed in power and felicity of expression by none which the event anywhere called forth.

Col. George was united in marriage, in September, 1849, with Miss Susan Ann Brigham, daughter of Capt. Levi Brigham, of Boston, who died May 10, 1862, leaving five children, three sons and two daughters. In July, 1864, he married Miss Salvadora Meade Graham, daughter of Col. James D.

Graham of the United States engineers, by whom he has one child, a daughter. His eldest son, John Paul, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1878, entered the Harvard Law School, and is now a student-at-law in the office of George & Foster. His second son, Charles Peaslee, graduated in June, 1881, at the naval school at Annapolis, and is now a mids.h.i.+pman in the U. S. navy. His third son, Benjamin Pierce, is a member of the soph.o.m.ore cla.s.s in Dartmouth College. His eldest daughter, Jane Appleton, is the wife of Mr. Henry E. Bacon, and resides in Portland, Me.; his second daughter, Anne Brigham, is at home; while the youngest daughter, Charlotte Graham, is at school in Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C.

The family residence of Col. 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, Col. 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 Col. 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 Col. 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 33d 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 appropriately concluded than in the following language of the gentleman (Sidney Webster, Esq.,) heretofore quoted: