Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-08-02
RARE. VOLUME.
Is Discovered in an Augus-
ia Junk Shop.
Co 1tairs Much Of Earliest Law
History in Maine.
Is RepIste with Matter OF Interest
To Augusta People.
Ea!1i {. I

aSt to the historian ana lover of auto
yrapbs. How it came to be thrown
away is not known but it had probably
ain many years in some dusty attic
md been considered of no value. /
The title page of the book has been !.
orn out, but the second page begins /
State of Massachusetts Bay IN New
England, Suffolk, SIS. at the Superiori I
'ourt of Judicature, Court of Assizel
md General Coal Delivery begun and
,eld at Boston within and for the Coun-
" of Suffolk on the third Tuesday of
February, 1873 by the Hon. William
'ushing. Esq, chief justice. Jedediah
J. Foster. Nathaniel =. Sargent, David
scwall, Jonathan Sullivan, Esq, JUS
tees"
Then follow rules of the superior
curt as established from year to year.
Following these are rules established
" the supreme court of the Common
Health of Massachusetts, beginning in
7s1. The last rule entered is dated
he third Tuesday of February. 1886
Turning the book over and opening on
he other side will be found the official
,erms fer all kinds of writs and pre-
.epts issued by the court, the last
aeine dated 1906.
The most interesting part of the book.
1owever, occurs near the middle, the
Jules of Court as established at term
+ court held at Cambridge in ISL, for
he admission of attorneys are first Civ
m Following these are the form of
oath of an attorney and the oath of al
egiance to the Commonwealth of Mas
sachusettS, signed by all attorneys ad-
nitted toSpractice law in the district |
# Maine from 1902 to 1920. The second
name on the list admitted at the Au
s,lst term, 1902, is that of Reuel Will
liams of Augusta, one of the carly at
torneys in this city, and who afterward
became partner of James Bridge, one
of the leaders of the Kennebec bar, and
whose original office was in the old
Fort Mr.. Williams afterward became
very prominent in the history of our
State. as United States Senator. Com
missioner for the building of the State
| House, and for the building of the In
| sane hospital
Following are names of such we'll
| known men as Gerham Drummer OF
| Haliowell. Juiah Mcclellan, Sylvester
| G. Whipple, n. Weld Fuller OF Angus
the olden time Sanford I<ingsbury,
| Jr.. of Gardiner later a judge of the
| court of common pleas. and State treas
urer: Nathan Weeks. Thomas Bond Jr.,
of Hallowell Alexander Belcher enc
Of the most prominent attorneys of
Farmington Thomas Hill, jeremiah
Perley, Lemuel Paine of Winslow.
Henry H. Greeley, Jonathan G. Hunton
f,t Of flaD
State; John II. Sheperd. Daniel Kidder
of Skowhegan, later representative to
Congress: Hiram Belcher of Farming
| ton, later representative to Congress,
James L. Childe Edward Fuller and
DE- MEL Winslow of Augusta S. Thaycr
of Waterville, George Evans of Gardi-
ner, later United States Senator and
one of the ablest lawyers Maine ever
produced, Asa Redington, Jr., of Wat
erville and John s. Tenney of Nor
r.dgeMoek. later Il Judge of the supreme
judicial court, one of the last to sign
the rolls, being admitted at the Au
gust term, 1870.
Following this few pages later is
an oath to support the Constitution
the United States, the first signature
being that of George Evans who was
Lnot admitted to the bar until 1878. This
would appear as an afterthought. the
original oath of allegiance being solely
t. the Commonwealth of Massachu
sets 'Ehis aoath is signed by only ten
of the attorneys, including Daniel Will
liams, Charles Drummer of Hallowell.
Stephen Benson and Edmund T.
Bridge of Augusta.
1t Will be interesting to know that in
1900 when the first of these attorneys
were admitted to practice law, there
were IN the district of Maine but a law
yers. of whom 10 were in KennebeC
county. Among these We're James Bridge
of Augusta. the leader of the bar, Will
liam Lithgow, Jr Nathan Weston o
Augusta, who married the daughter o
Judge Daniel Cony and was appointed
chief Justice of the court of common
pleas at the age of 30. Nathan Bridge Of
Gardiner and Samuel S. Wilde. a very
able advocate of Hallowell, appointed a.
Judge of the supreme judicial court in
1915. and who moved to Massachusetts
soon after. of the 81 lawyers in Maine
40 were natives of other states. In 1873,
the first date i'm this book, there were
but eight attorneys in Maine. 1t is not
surprising. however, that the number
should be so small, for in 1900 there
were but 81 practicing attorneys at
the Suffolk bar In 1920, when the dis
trict of Maine became an Independent
State and the record in this book ceas
ed there were POI attorneys in Maine,
of whom kennebec county had 50.
The original signatures of attorney |
in this book include attorneys in Ken
nebec, Somerset and Franklin counties, |
as these were all included in this ju
dieial district. Some of these attor-
neys were admitted at terms of the cir
cult court of common pleas as well as
the supreme judicial court. The circuit
court of common pleas was abolished
in 1852 There were originally six cir
cults in the Commonwealth of Massa-
chusetts of which three were in the
district of Maine. In each circuit there
were a chief justice and two associate
justices. In 1872 this was changed to
chief justice and two associate JUS
tees for the whole State The compen
saton of these judges was so small
and the attorneys in Maine We're so few
Ia. Of