^ g ggg8s;tgttaa;tggiffl3tgsgseigc g 'i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. | i Chap. _...5..3„0.^...... Shelf ^^..^,Lh-i-A-\-^ ^ li UNITED STATES OF AMERJCA. ^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/edwardstloeliverOOabbo / EDWARD ST. LOE LIVERMORE. By Mrs. Caroline Livermore abbott. Written by request, for the Old 'Residents' Historical Association, of Lovoell : With Note by Alfred Gilinan. READ AT THE QUARTERLY MEETING OF THE ASSOCIATION, NOV. 12, 1879. riiblished by George M. Elliott, 48 Central St., Lowell, Mass., 1879. Edward St. Loe Livermore, the subject of this sketch, was born in Portsmouth, N. H., April 5, 1762. He was the son of Samuel Livermore, a former Chief Justice of New Hampshire, and his wife Jane, the daughter of the Rev. Arthur Browne, and was of the sixth generation, in lineal descent, from John Livermore, who emigrated to America in the bark "Frances," which sailed from Ipswich, England, during the year 1634. John Livermore settled first in Water- town, Massachusetts, where he lived until 1665, when he removed to Wethers- field, Connecticut. From Wethersfield he went to New Haven, where his name appears in the town records as one of the signers of the fundamental agree- ment ot the Colony of New Haven. In 1670 he returned to Watcrtown, where, after having filled many offices of trust, he died in 1685. His wife, Grace, died and was buried in 1686 at Chelms- ford, where visitors to the old rural grave-yard may still see an ancient, moss-covered stone "erected to her memory, by her dutiful children." Samuel Livermore, the great grand- son of John Livermore, inherited from his uncle Jonathan the homestead in Watertown now known as the "Lyman Farm," in Waltham, and "was much trust- ed in nmnicipal and church aflairs." He married the daughter of Deacon Brown of Boston and died at the age of seventy- one years in 1773, leaving four sons, all of whom became distinguished men. To his fourth son, Samuel, the father of the subject of this sketch, he left "The Homestead." Samuel Livermore, was born in 1732. At the age of twenty he was graduated at Nassau Hall in New Jersey, and af- terwards read law with Judge Trow- bridge at Beverly. Soon after being admitted to the bar he settled at Ports- mouth. New Hampshire, where, in 1759, he married Jane, the daughter of the Rev. Arthur Browne. Arthur Browne was the first Episcopal minister sev,'ed in New Hampshire. He was born ■., 1699 at Drogheda, Ireland and was a son of the Rev. Thomas Browne, a de- scendant of the Brownes of Colston. He was educated for the ministry at Trinity College, Dublin, and was or- dained by the Bishop of London. In 1729 he was settled at Newport, Rhode Island, as rector of Trinity Church under the auspices of "The British Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts." In 1733 he removed to Providence, Rhode Island, where he was for a few years rector of what is now known as St. John's church. In 1737 he was called to St. John's church in Portsmouth, of which he was rector until his death, which occurred while on a visit at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1773. He was a man of great learning, and of a genial and benevolent disposi- tion. Upon one occasion, as he was din- ing at the house of Governor Went- worth, where he was a frequent and wel- come guest, he was ordered by the Gov- ernor to perform the ceremony l)y which the maid-servant Patty became the gov- ernor's wife, Lady Wentworth — an inci- dent which has since been celebrated in verse by Longfellow. The silver tank- ard, engraved with the Wentworth coat of arms, which the Governor took from the table and gave to Arthur Browne at the conclusion of the cere- mony, is still in the possession of his de- scendants. Samuel Livermore soon became a sue cessful lawyer and was appointed Attor- ney General for the Province and King's Advocate in the Courts of Admiralty. In 1765 he removed to Londonderry, N. H., and in this town was born his son Arthur, who became a justice of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice of the Court of Com- mon Pleas and member of Congress. In 1769 Samuel Livermore removed to Hol- derness, near Plymouth. Here he lived until his death, in almost feudal state, on the banks of the Pemigewasset River. The huge house which he rebuilt there is still known as the "Old Livermore Man- sion," and is now used for the Episco- pal Seminary for the Diocese of New Hampshire. After the breaking out of the war of the Revolution he was made State Attorney General, and was several tim^ a delegate to the Continental Con- g/t^ss. In 1782 he was appointed Chief Justice of the State. He was a member of the convention for the adoption of the Federal Constitution, under which he was a representative in the first Con- gress, and, later, a senator for nine years. He was for several years Presi- dent pro tempore of the Senate of the United States. He died in 1803 and was buried at Holderness in the shadow of the church which he built and for many years had supported. He and his wife were noted for their loving charities. Edward St. Loe Livermore received his early education at Londonderry and Holderness, where his fother's chaplain, the Rev. Robert Fowle, was his tutor. He studied law at Newburyport in the office of that distinguished jurist, Chief Justice Parsons. Upon being admitted to the bar, he began the practice of law at Concord, New Hampshire, where he soon acquired a high position in his pro- fession. Here, while still very young, he married his first wife, a daughter of Robert Harris, Esquire. She died in 1795, leaving five children, all of whom are now dead. She was a highly edu- cated, refined and agreeable woman. Judge Livermore's eldest son by his first marriage, Samuel, was educated at Harvard College. He was a friend of Captain Lawrence, of the "Chesapeake," under whom he served as a volunteer in the celebrated sea-fight with the British frigate "Shannon," where he was wound- ed and taken prisoner. He afterwards practised law in New Orleans, where he amassed a considerable fortune. He was the author of several treatises upon different branches of the law, which are still referred to as authorities. At his death he left to Harvard College his li- brary of some thousand volumes, which was then, if it is not still, the richest in America in works relating to the Civil Law. His sister, Harriet, was widely known and respected as a traveller in the Holy Land. Soon after the death of his first wife Mr. Livermore removed to Portsmouth, where in a short time he became distin- guished in professional and political life. He was appointed by President Washing- ton United States district attorney for New Hampsiiire, an office which he held until 1798, when he was made a justice of the Supreme Court of New Hamp- shire. In 1799 he married Sarah Crease, the daughter of William Stackpole, a distinguished merchant of Boston. She has been well described as "a woman of sweet and amiable temper with an en- tire absence from her character of envy, hatred and uncharitableness." Her consistent Christian life and deportment warmly attached her to all who knew her, or came within the sphere of her gentle, winning influence. Well might it be said of her " None knew her but to love, None named her but to praise." Judge Livermore was a Federalist of the old school. Living at a time when something more than partisanship was required of men in public life, although he belonged to the party which was in the minority, his gentlemanly and cour- teous bearing and the urbanity of his manners gave him much personal popu- larity, even with his political opponents. After a faithful discharge of his duties as judge, he resigned and resumed the practice of law. In 1802 he removed with his family to Newburyport, where he soon became a leading man, and represented the town in the General Court of the State. "His course there was so wise and judicious that he was selected to represent the Es- sex North District, then so-called, in Congress." On the 22nd of December, 1S07, Congress, upon recommendation of President Jetferson, passed the famous "embargo" act which was intended "to countervail Napoleon's Berlin and Mi- lan decrees, and the British orders in council." Judge Livermore took an active part in the debates of the House upon the passage of this act, and, later, used all his endeavors to have it repeal- ed. He made in particular one very forcible and eloquent speech upon this subject, which won for him many laurels. In 1811 he declined a re-election to Congress, and soon afterwards removed to Boston. About this time he caught the so-called "Western fever" and took his large family to Zanesville, Ohio, which was at that time looked upon as the "far west," with the intention of set- tling there. The comforts of civiliza- tion had not yet spread through that part of the new world. It was before the daj's of railways, and the long and tedious journey from the East had to be performed in carriages suited to the rough roads of the country. Judge Liv- ermore and his family could not bring themselves to submit to the many de- privations and hardships necessarily at- tending a residence in the West at that time, and consequently they soon re- turned to the East. Upon his return. Judge Livermore, de- sirous of passing the rest of his days re- moved from the bustle of city and politi- cal life, selected ftir out in the country, in the town of Tewksbury, a quiet home farm, of about two hundred acres, call- ed the "Gedney estate." The mansion house upon this estate, was beautifully situated at the confluence of the Concord and Merrimack rivers. Standing at an elevation of from forty to fifty feet above the level of the water, it commanded a "clistant and lovely view of both the streams. Back of the house, upon tlie opposite side of the Merrimack, rose Dracut Heights, looming up as if to shield the spot from the north winds. The house itself was a large, old ram- bling building, and the tradition was, that all its beams and wood work were prepared in England and brought to this country for a Mr. Brown, who once owned the estate. However this might be, it was certainly a lovely old man- sion ; a fit residence for the new owners, who brought to it high culture and good breeding. Some of tlie older residents of the goodly city which has since sprung up about it maj- still remember the house as it then stood, with the lawn in front, bordered on one side by a long avenue of Lombardy poplars. "Here," to quote the words of one of Lowell's dis- tiuguished citizens, "lived the Hon. Ed- ward St. Loe Livermore, whose per.son- al talents, public reputation, and fire- side hospitality gave eclat to the place." For many years Judge Livermore had associated with men prominent in letters and politics in tiiis and other countries, and had taken an active part in the po- litical transactions of tlie times, so tliat being endowed with a comprehensive memory, lie had a large fund of anec- dotes at his command, and his conver- sation was agreeable and instructive to all with whom he came in contact. When he bought the Gedney estate in Tewksbury he called it "Belvidere," a most appropriate name for so beautiful a place. Until 1820 the nearest place of public worship was at Pawtucket Falls, about two miles from "Belvidere," where the Rev. Mr. Sears, a Presbyterian minister, preached for many years, and here the Livermore family were constant attendants. When the Merrimack Man- ufacturing Company was organized, they built for Mr. Kirk Boott, his family and otiier f]piscopalians, a church, intending it simply for the use of the persons con- nected with the manufacturing establish- ment. At the first church meeting of the new parish, a pew was kindly placed at the disposal of Judge Livermore. He and his wife continued to occupy this pew until their deaths, and it is still oc- cupied by their eldest daughter, the only member of the family wlio now lives in Lowell. The Kev. Theodore Edson, the beloved pastor who still fulfils his duties with unwearied zeal, was the first cler- gyman installed in this church — sympa- thizing with the afflicted and rejoicing " with those who do rejoice." Judge Livennore lived to see a large and flourishing city spring up around the lonely spot he had selected for a quiet home, and to gatlier round his fire side neighbors wlio would have graced society in any city in the world. At Judge Liverniore's death, wliich occurred on the 15th of September, 1832, he left seven children, four of whom are now living, viz : Elizabeth Browne I^iv- ermore, who lives in Lowell. Caroline, Avife of Judge J G. Abbott of Boston, Sarah Stackpole, wife of John Tatter- son, Esq., of Southbridge, and Mary Jane, wife of Hon. Daniel Saunders, of Lawrence, also several grand and great- grand children. Judge Livermore, although of a quick and hot temper, was a just, upright, hos- pitable man, with "a tear for pity, and a hand open as day for melting charity." The poor man never turned from liis door empty handed, or tlie af- flicted without sympathy. He died in the sure hope of the resurrection of the dead and a life to come. "The mem- ory of the just lives with the just." September 14, 1S79. NOTE. The Old Tellotv Hotise. — Timothy Brown pin-ehased the farm in that neighborhood of Samuel Hunt about the year 17.53. Hunt's Falls took the name from him. Brown built the yellow house about the jear 1770 ami sold it to" Woodward in 1800. Woodward sold it to Gedney in 18I0-'H; Gedney to Whittemore in 1815-'l(i ; Whittemore sold it to Livermore. Timothy Hrown's house wa* a noted tavern. His daus'liter, Dorcas, married Parker Var- num, of Dracut. They had fifteen children. Hon. John Varnuni, of Haverhill, whograilu- ated at Harvard College, 1798, and repi-esented that district in C'<^ngress, married Mary Cook Saltonstall, born Sept. '20, 1781, a daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Saltonstall, of HaverhiU. Dorcas Varnum married Oliver Stearns, a lawyer, of Amesbury. A daughter of theirs married William H. Hull, who resides in what was Dracut, now Lowell. Mrs. Caleb Butler, of Groton, was a daugh- ter of Parker Varnum and Dorcas Brown. The late Peder Anderson married her daugh- ter f >r his first wife. Mrs. Butler's eldest ditughter married the late Rev. T. Atkinson, formerly pastor of the High Street Church, who built the stone house, on Andover Street, now occupied by Mr. D. W. C. Farrington. The youngest daughter married F. A. Brooks, Esq.i of Boston, president of the Nashua and Lowell Railroad. Mrs. William F. Brazer, of Groton, another daughter, has descendants in Lowell, the 1am- ilv iif our wortliv citizen William P. Brazer aiid Mrs. S. B. Eaton. Mrs. B. S. Coburu, of Dracut, was another tlaughter whose descentlants I have been un- able to trace. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS IIIIIH