tor to succeed Senator Wadleigh, whose first election under the same occurs on term expires on the fourth of March the Tuesday following the first Monday next. The law of the United States pro- in November, when, in addition to the vides that the Legislature chosen at the officers heretofore chosen at our State election next previous to the expiration election, the people, in each of the severof the term shall elect the Senator. The al Counties, will make choice of Sheriff, Legislature which will then be in session, Solicitor and Register of Probate. This and whose members have just been cho- change, as well as that making the elecsen. will be the Legislature of the State tions occur biennially instead of anuntil the first of June, 1879-three months nually, tends to materially increase the after the expiration of Senator Wadleigh's general interest in the election itself, as term; yet members of the succeeding it adds to its importance. Legislature will have been chosen at the election in November previous, four months before the expiration of said term. The question, then, will be which is the "Legislature" contemplated by the United States law, that which is the actual Legislature of the State at the time the Senatorial term expires, or that which is at best prospective and unorganized, but whose members have been chosen by the people. Upon this question, as is already apparent, there will be a difference of opinion, and that entirely without reference to partisan bias, many good lawyers, of both parties, taking the ground that the Legislature which meets next June should elect, while others, not less entitled to respect, maintain the opposite view. The election recently holden in this State is the final one under the old Constitution. The amended Constitution, providing for biennial elections, goes into operation, by act of the last Legislature, on the first day of October next, and the After November next we shall escape all election excitement for the period of two years, and alternate years thereafter, unless the next Legislature sees fit to amend the act of last year, making our town and city elections occur biennlally, on the same day with the State election. There is a diversity of sentiment as to the propriety of such action on the part of the Legislature, many claiming that the local elections should occur at a different time from the State election, so as to remove the former, as far as possible, from partisan influences, while others maintain, with considerable force of argument, that the change suggested would effect nothing in the desired direction. However this may be it seems probable at least that the people of the State will find it practically necessary to the proper management of their town and municipal affairs, to hold their local elections every year, and that sooner or later the Legislature will be called upon to make provision therefor. The recent reappointment of Hon. Joshua G. Hall of Dover as U.S.District Attorney for the District of New Hampshire, by calling public attention to his name, renders a biographical sketch of this gentleman particularly appropriate at this time. Mr. Hall was born in the town of Wakefield, November 5, 1828, and is therefore in the fiftieth year of his age. He is a lineal descendant of that John Hall who was one of the early settlers of Dover, and a Deacon of the First Parish Church from 1655 to 1693. His grandfather, Samuel Hall, removed from Dover to what was soon after incorporated as Wakefield, about the year 1770, being among the first settlers of that town. His father (also named Joshua G. Hall), was engaged in mercantile life, and was long a prominent citizen of Wakefield, taking an active part in public and political affairs, and representing the town for a number of years in the General Court. His wife was Betsey Plumer, a daughter of Hon. Beard Plumer of Milton, who represented the Fifth District in the State Senate for the years 1810, 1811, 1812, 1813 and 1816, and a granddaughter of Hon. John Plumer of Rochester, one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas subsequent to the Revolution, and who died in 1816, at the age of 96 years. They had five children, the youngest of whom is the subject of this sketch. Two brothers and a sister, still living, all reside at Union Village in Wakefield. JOSHUA GILMAN HALL derives his middle name from his great grandfather, Jeremiah Gilman, (father of his grandmother Hall) who was a Captain under Stark at Bennington, and had previously held a similar commissson in the old French and Indian War-one of the historic family of Gilmans of Exeter, a native of that town, and one of the early settlers of Wakefield. He received his college preparatory education at the well-known Gilmanton Academy, then under the charge of Charles Tenney, and entered Dartmouth College in August, 1847, graduating from that institution in 1851. Among his classmates in college were George William Burleigh and Edward Ashton Rollins, Prof. Elihu T. Quimby, and ex-Congressman Willard of Vermont. Making choice of the legal profession he entered the office of the late Hon. Daniel M. Christie of Dover, where he remained several years, and through dilligent study and the wise instruction of his eminent preceptor, he laid the foundation for the substantial success which he has attained. He was admitted to the Strafford Bar in 1855, and immediately commenced the practice of the profession at Union Village in his native town, where he remained for three years. Here it may be remarked that Mr. Hall is not the only lawyer of distinction reared in the town of Wakefield. George Y. Sawyer of Nashua, formerly a Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, and one of the ablest members of the Hillsborough County Bar, is a native of this town-a son of William Sawyer, also a well-known lawyer of his time, who graduated at Cambridge in 1801, being a classmate of the late Chief Justice Shaw, of Massachusetts, studied law in Dover with Henry Mellen, Esq., and settled in Wakefield in 1804, subsequently forming a partnership with Josiah H. Hobbs, father of Frank Hobbs now of Dover, another of the sons of Wakefield who has attained eminence in the legal pro fession. In December, 1858, Mr. Hall removed from Union Village to Dover, and entered into partnership with Hon. Samuel M. Wheeler, remaining in company with that gentleman in the practice of the law until 1867, when the co-partnership was dissolved. Since then he has been alone in practice, and has devoted himself untiringly to the duties of hls profession, winning an enviable reputation as a sound lawyer, and substantial success as a practitioner. In politics Mr. Hall is a Republican of Whig antecedents, and decided convictions, but has never been a politician in the usual acceptation of the term, and has never sought political preferment, though he has frequently been chosen to official positions of honor and trust. He was elected Mayor of Dover in November, 1865, and so acceptably discharged the duties of the office that he was reelected the following year by a nearly unanimous vote, only five ballots, in all, being cast against him. His administra tion of the city government, throughout, defended the public interests, and faithwas distinguished by a thorough devotion to the public interests, regardless of the schemes of iudividuals or combinations, thereby securing and retaining the confidence of the citizens, irrespective of party. In 1871 he was elected by the Republicans of his District (No. 5) to the State Senate, and was re-elected the following year. He served as a member of the Judiciary Committee and was also Chairman of the Committee on Education, and, although one of the minority during the first year of his service, he was recognized from the first as one of the ablest and most sagacious members of the senatorial body, and contributed as largely as any other, at least, in shaping and directing the practical legislation of each session. In 1874 he was chosen a member of the House of Representatives from his Ward, and from his known abil. ity, as well as his pervious service in the Senate, was accorded a position among the leaders of his party in that body. Yet, in the House, as in the Senate, he was never so zealous a partisan as to subordinate the public welfare to mere party interests, so that while known as an earnest supporter of Republican principles, he secured and has retained the retained of the public at large, as a faithful servant of the people. Mr. Hall was appointed Solicitor for Strafford County in June, 1862, and was twice reappointed, serving in that capacity until June 1874, when the Democratic party secured full control of the State government and there was a general change of officials, on partisan grounds. He was also City Solicitor for the City of Dover for the years 1868, 1869 and 1870. In April. 1874, he was appointed by Gen. Grant, Attorney of the United States for the District of New Hampshire, succeeding Hon. Henry P. Rolfe of Concord, and upon the recent expiration of his commission, was reappointed by Mr. Hayes for another term. In the different posisitions which he has occupied as attorney for the people Mr. Hall has zealously fully labored for the impartial administration of justice, with what success his various reappointments, meeting, as they have, general public approbation, sufficiently demonstrate. Mr. Hall has been for many years connected with the banking interests of the city of Dover-was one of the Directors of the old Dover Bank, for a time a Director of the Cocheco National Bank, and has been since 1874 a Director of the Dover National Bank. He is also one of the Trustees of the Franklin Academy, and has been, for the past twelve years, attorney for the Boston & Maine Railroad. As a lawyer Mr. Hall has long taken rank among the foremost members of the bar in his section of the State. A prudent and cautious counselor, an adroit and sagacious manager of causes, a close and logical reasoner in argument to the jury, he is eminently a safe man for his client, and a correspondingly dangerous one for his opponent. While never resorting to any questionable expedients to promote his cause, by his skillful management-never betraying his own purposes in advance and adroitly unmasking the plans of the opposition-he often gains success where others would signally have failed. As a citizen he is public spirited, and sustains, heartily, all measures calculated to promote the welfare of the community, in all directions, moral, social, educational and material. His religious association are with the Congregational Church, although he is not a member of the organization. With his family he worships at the First Parish Church in Dover, with which his ancestors were prominently connected. Mr. Hall was married, Nov. 16, 1861, to Susan Elisabeth Bigelow, daughter of Isaac and Harriet (Warren) Bigelow of Boston-a relative of the late Chief Jnstice Bigelow-by whom he has three children,-Grace Bigelow, born Sept. 9, 1862; Susan Gertrude, born Oct. 28, 1866, and Dwight, born April 13, 1871. WASHINGTON. BY WILLIAM C. STUROC. Oh Patriot Sage! Columbia's dearest son! How homage bring, To deck the memory of the noblest soul Oh mighty soldier! First in war's alarms Throughout the land, For Home and Freedom, 'gainst oppression's power. Thou God-appointed Chief, our guide and stay; Our firm reliance in the midnight hour That stood the strongest mid the bloody fray. Oh matchless Statesman! first and best in peace! Still calm and mighty when red war's surcease Claimed hands deep skilled To plan and build Far from the despot's or the anarch's grasp― Oh first within the bosom of thy countrymen! To millions dear. The silent circumspection of thy heart Did slander's shafts full oft but vainly try; Thy faith no tempest shock could part; Thy ark and anchor, Human Liberty! Long may we guard, as with a flaming sword, Shall pass away, Our children's children, to the latest hour, Shall peal their anthems, down from sire to son, As now, we grateful, bless the Heavenly Power That gave our own, Immortal Washington! |