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duties of life. He was an eminent member of the Senate 

 of Massachusetts for several years, during the war of 1812- 

 1815. He was elected a member of the Congress of the 

 United States from the Essex North District, in 1814, his 

 residence being then in Newburyport, but did not take his 

 seat under that election, having, in the meantime, been 

 appointed to the office of Judge of Probate for this County, 

 which he continued to hold with great honor and usefulness, 

 for the period of nearly forty years. In this office, so inti- 

 mately and largely connected with the interests of the entire 

 community — bringing the incumbent into a near sympathy 

 with the bereavements and afflictions of life — with the widow 

 and the orphan, — how he bore himself, with what dignity, 

 gentleness, learning, and impartiality, the whole County 

 were the witnesses for more than a generation. He was the 

 universally trusted magistrate — the pure and incorrupt 

 Judge. In connection, and with the aid and co-operation, 

 of, that most excellent and model officer, — the late Nathaniel 

 Lord, Jr., Esq., Register of Probate, — during almost the 

 whole term of his office, both under appointment from 

 Governor Strong, he reformed the probate practice of the 

 Commonwealth to a large extent, and in this respect 

 rendered a most useful as well as much needed service. His 

 learned and excellent Treatise on Probate Jurisdiction and 

 Practice, published a few years after of his entering on his 

 office as Judge of Probate, inaugurated important changes 

 in this department of the public service. 



His heart and hand were always ready for every good 

 word and work. How he moved about among us in a 

 .serene and beautiful old age, still intent on the liberal stud- 

 ies of his life, and still watching for any and all means of 

 usefulness to his fellow men, beloved and venerated by the 

 whole community, one of the last links connecting us with 

 former generations ; how deeply he was interested in all 

 that concerned the character and dignity of his native and 

 ibeloved Commonwealth ; how he watched for the College, 

 his ever honored Alma Mater, and for all Colleges and 

 schools of good learning ; how ardently he loved his country 

 and her institutions of government, and with what a true 

 and patriotic heart he grasped the Union and Constitution, 

 of his country in the last days of her imminent peril, we are 

 all witnesses, and here and now desire to give and bear our 

 united testimony. 



