Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, 1860 – 1867
Children of George T. and Anna S. (Miller) Smith, all born Boston, Suffolk co, MA:
1692C.31 Caroline Miller, b 6 Sep 1840; d ____ ; m 27 Oct 1870 George Amory, son of Jonathan Amory.
1692C.32 Clara, b 7 Jan 1843; d ____ ; m 15 Apr 1867 Lewis S. Dabney, son of Fred and Roxana Dabney.(see below)
1692C.33 George Tyler, b 16 Dec 1845; d 12 July 1907; m Elizabeth V. Waters. (see below)
1692C.34 Marion Clyde, b 23 Apr 1850; d ____ ;
m 25 Nov 1875 Henry K. Horton.
Sources:
Bigelow Family Genealogy Volume. I page.349;
Howe, Bigelow Family of America;
obituary G.T. Bigelow.
From: Janice Farnsworth Farns10th@aol.com
06/22/06:
George Tyler Bigelow, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court,
1860 – 1867
George Tyler Bigelow, LL.D. (1810), a distinguished legist; Watertown,
Mass.
George Tyler BigelowBigelow, George Tyler
(died 1878)
Retirement
In December 1867, the intention of Chief Justice BIGELOW to resign the
office of Chief Justice at the close of the year having been informally
announced, a letter signed by three hundred members of the bar
of the Commonwealth was addressed to him in these words:
Letter to Chief Justice George Tyler Bigelow, 1867 signed by 300 members
of the Massachusetts Bar Association.
"Sir: We, the undersigned, have heard with regret that you contemplate
resigning the Chief Justiceship of the Commonwealth. Knowing how ably and
acceptably you have filled that high position, and feeling that your retirement
at this time would be a loss to the bench which the profession and the public
could ill bear, we hope that this expression of our earnest wish that you
should continue in office may have some influence on your determination."
To which the Chief Justice returned the following reply:
Boston, December 30, 1867.
Response from George Tyler Bigelow: To the Honorable Benjamin F. Thomas:
My Dear Sir:
In retiring from the office of Chief Justice of the
Supreme Judicial Court, I feel that some reply is due to the request of the
members of the bar, communicated to me several weeks ago, that I would reconsider
my determination of relinquishing the duties of the office. I can think
of no more appropriate mode of making such reply than by addressing it to
you, whose name stands at the head of the list of signatures.
For the expressions of confidence and regard which
are implied by the terms of the request from my professional brethren,
I beg to express my most grateful acknowledgments. If the step which I
propose to take were prompted by considerations of ease and personal comfort,
I should certainly have felt it to be my duty to surrender any wish of my
own for retirement and repose to the opinions of the members of the bar
that my continuance on the bench would be advantageous to the public interest.
But after twenty years of judicial life, seventeen of which have been passed
on the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court, I find that a radical change,
by which I can obtain permanent relaxation from constant and arduous labor,
has become necessary. I am admonished by my physicians that I cannot look
forward with any degree of certainty to a condition of health adequate
to the discharge of my official duties, if I continue to undergo the confinement
and incessant mental effort which are essential to their due performance.
Impelled by considerations of this nature, which seem to me to be paramount
over all others, I have been reluctantly forced to the conclusion that
I ought to relinquish the duties of the bench for those of a less constant
and exacting character.
I cannot forbear to add, that I am fully sensible how
much I am indebted, for any measure of success which may have attended
my judicial services, to the learning, ability and conscientious fidelity
to duty, which distinguish the members of the bar of Massachusetts; and
that I shall carry with me through life an abiding sense of gratitude for
the kindness and considerate forbearance which has uniformly characterized
their intercourse with me.
The Honorable GEORGE TYLER BIGELOW, a justice of this court from the twenty-first day of November, 1850, to the seventh day of September, 1860, and from that time until the thirty-first day of December, 1867, the Chief Justice thereof, died at his residence in Boston, on the twelfth day of April, 1878. A meeting, of the members of the bar of Suffolk County was held in Boston on the eighteenth day of April, at which resolutions were passed, which were presented by the Attorney General to the full court on the third day of May. Before presenting them the Attorney General addressed the court as follows:
May it please your Honors, -- We have assembled this morning by your kind permission to present to your honors and place upon the records of the court, our tribute of respect and regard for the memory of the Honorable George Tyler Bigelow, late Chief Justice of this court, with our appreciation of his character and the usefulness of his life. This has been done in resolutions which I am about to offer to the court, and so well done that I deem it superfluous to preface the resolutions with any remarks of my own, lest I should injure the effect and mar the beauty of the portraiture.
The Attorney General then presented the following resolutions :
Resolved, That the members of the bar, met together in a common grief at the death of George Tyler Bigelow, lately Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, would place upon record some formal expression of our appreciation of his judicial services and personal character. We are admonished by this event, and the fresh remembrance of his presence in this room as presiding justice, now ten years since, how rapidly those have passed away, who in former years have been accustomed to sit in these seats of judgment. The faces of Chief Justice Chapman, Justice Metcalf, Merrick, Dewey and Wells, have all been familiarly known, and their memories mourned, by those who have been at the bar less than fifteen years. Of those on the bench when Judge Bigelow became Chief Justice, in 1860, not one now remains in office, and but one survives.
Appointed to the Supreme Court to succeed Mr. Justice Wilde, who, by his voluntary retirement in 1850, closed the longest period of judicial service known in our history; advanced to the position of Chief Justice in 1860, upon the resignation of Chief Justice Shaw, that eminent magistrate, who in this Commonwealth can never cease to be honored with a peculiar veneration, -- Chief Justice Bigelow entered upon the different stages of his judicial career, with the necessity resting upon him to vindicate before the bar and public his title to fill such high positions. How well he succeeded in satisfying the expectations of those who expected the most from him is shown by the general regret which was felt at his resignation, and the formal appeal made by three hundred members of the bar that he would postpone his contemplated withdrawal from the bench.1
In the discharge of his judicial duties he showed quickness of apprehension, combined, nevertheless, with a good degree of patience in listening to evidence and arguments; rare judgment in the weighing of testimony; excellent capacity in arranging the facts of a case in order, giving to each a just proportion and significance; a great clearness of statement in charging the jury. Adding to these qualities promptness, a thoroughness in the dispatch of the business of the court, he early gained a high reputation for all that pertains to the practical administration of justice, as a nisi prius judge.
His more enduring monument, however, is to be found in his published opinions, covering all branches of the law that come up for determination in our state courts. Rarely exploring exhaustively the black-letter volumes, or the remote sources of our system of jurisprudence, he presented the law of our own time with such accuracy and precision, such amplitude and felicity of illustration, such cogency of reasoning, and such wise foresight and careful precaution against dangerous generalities, as to make many of his opinions fairly entitled to rank among the best contemporary expositions of legal principles.
Somewhat jealous of the dignity of the courtroom and of the bench, somewhat jealous also at times of his own personal dignity, he seldom gave way to hasty words, and never lost the abiding confidence, esteem and affection of the bar. To say that in his official and private life he was a man of the strictest integrity, is but the ordinary commendation of a Massachusetts judge. He was social, genial, quite inclined to anecdote, not averse to spending a part of his time either in telling or hearing some new thing, an omnivorous reader of newspapers, novels and general literature, as well as of all modern law, and familiar alike with the opinion of State Street and the judgments of jurists on questions involving the application of legal rules to important commercial or public interests.
When he felt compelled, by the apprehension of physical infirmities, to retire from the bench in mid-life, as it were, before any failure in the discharge of his duties could be observed, it was felt that he had well maintained the character of our judiciary. No stain had come upon it through him. He himself remarked, with touching emotion, on the occasion of the death of one of his associates, Mr. Justice Dewey: "Happy will it be for us, if, when our successors shall contemplate the scenes of duty through which our steps shall have trodden, no spot or shade shall be found to dim the lustre which those who have gone before us have shed on the jurisprudence of Massachusetts."
"That consolation, that joy, that triumph was afforded him." He lived long enough to enjoy the universal recognition of his judicial merits. He died leaving behind him a memory which a grateful profession will not willingly suffer to be obscured.
Resolved, That the Attorney General be requested to present these resolutions to the Supreme Judicial Court, with the request that they may be entered upon its records; and that the secretary transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased.
CHIEF JUSTICE GRAY responded as follows:
Brethren of the Bar: The death of George Tyler Bigelow forcibly recalls the feelings of disappointment and of loss with which, ten years ago, we received the news of his determination to resign the office of Chief Justice. The gradual decline of his health and strength since then may lead us to believe that he knew better than we how much they had been undermined by his long and constant devotion to his public duties. Now that he rests from his labors, it is fit that the court and the bar should join in recording some brief outlines of the traits that won for him the entire respect and warm regard of the profession and the trust and support of the people of the Commonwealth.
Of a peculiarly genial, social and pleasure-loving temperament, and urged by no spur of necessity, he yet spared no labor, and omitted no opportunity, to fit himself for the work that he had chosen. As a counsellor, as an advocate, as a legislator, and as a judge, be put his whole strength into everything he had to do. By a natural consequence, he was constantly growing in mental stature, and, impressing all men with his capacity to fill one post, he was found equally capable when advanced to a higher one.
He had that clearness of statement which was the result of clearness of apprehension, and which made the matter under discussion plain to every hearer -- so plain, indeed, that one did not always appreciate the extent of one's obligation to him. This quality, with his readiness, his tact, his insight into motives, his practical sense, and his mastery of the law of evidence, made him a most efficient nisi prius judge. His administrative ability was even more apparent in the arrangement and despatch of the business of the full court, greater after his accession to the chief-justiceship than at any former period.
In private intercourse with members of the bar he was cordial and friendly. He understood and sympathized and familiarly conversed with his fellow citizens in every walk of life. Few men could more justly have said, Humani nihil a me alienum puto.
With all his quickness of perception, he did not allow his first impressions to lead him to hasty decisions, but kept his mind open until he had thoroughly tested and carefully weighed every consideration presented by counsel in argument, or by his associates in the consultation room; and he embodied the final results in opinions which reproduced all that was best worth preserving in a most felicitous and convincing form.
Before his appointment to the bench he would hardly have been called an accomplished scholar or a very learned lawyer. But the opinions prepared by him in important causes show such a fulness of reasoning and illustration and so clear an elucidation of the authorities, expressed in so admirable a judicial style, that, like the best judgments of Redesdale and of Story, they almost supersede the necessity of referring to the earlier cases on the subjects of which they treat, and they have established his reputation as a worthy successor of the eminent judges who have made the jurisprudence of Massachusetts honored wherever the common law is administered.
In accordance with the request of the bar, it is ordered that their resolutions, together with a memorandum of these proceedings, be entered upon the records of the court.
The court then adjourned.
1 See 98 Mass. 600.
In December 1867, the intention of Chief Justice BIGELOW to resign the office of Chief Justice at the close of the year having been informally announced, a letter signed by three hundred members of the bar of the Commonwealth was addressed to him in these words:
"Sir: We, the undersigned, have heard with regret that you contemplate resigning the Chief Justiceship of the Commonwealth. Knowing how ably and acceptably you have filled that high position, and feeling that your retirement at this time would be a loss to the bench which the profession and the public could ill bear, we hope that this expression of our earnest wish that you should continue in office may have some influence on your determination."
To which the Chief Justice returned the following reply: Boston, December 30, 1867.
To the Honorable Benjamin F. Thomas:
My Dear
Sir:
In retiring from the office of Chief Justice of the
Supreme Judicial Court, I feel that some reply is due to the request of the
members of the bar, communicated to me several weeks ago, that I would reconsider
my determination of relinquishing the duties of the office. I can think
of no more appropriate mode of making such reply than by addressing it to
you, whose name stands at the head of the list of signatures.
For the expressions of confidence and regard which
are implied by the terms of the request from my professional brethren,
I beg to express my most grateful acknowledgments. If the step which I
propose to take were prompted by considerations of ease and personal comfort,
I should certainly have felt it to be my duty to surrender any wish of my
own for retirement and repose to the opinions of the members of the bar
that my continuance on the bench would be advantageous to the public interest.
But after twenty years of judicial life, seventeen of which have been passed
on the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court, I find that a radical change,
by which I can obtain permanent relaxation from constant and arduous labor,
has become necessary. I am admonished by my physicians that I cannot look
forward with any degree of certainty to a condition of health adequate
to the discharge of my official duties, if I continue to undergo the confinement
and incessant mental effort which are essential to their due performance.
Impelled by considerations of this nature, which seem to me to be paramount
over all others, I have been reluctantly forced to the conclusion that
I ought to relinquish the duties of the bench for those of a less constant
and exacting character.
I cannot forbear to add, that I am fully sensible how
much I am indebted, for any measure of success which may have attended
my judicial services, to the learning, ability and conscientious fidelity
to duty, which distinguish the members of the bar of Massachusetts; and
that I shall carry with me through life an abiding sense of gratitude for
the kindness and considerate forbearance which has uniformly characterized
their intercourse with me.
I am, with sincere respect and regard, Faithfully your
friend,
GEORGE T. BIGELOW
44 Bigelow Street
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Charles Miller inherited the large 86,000 square foot property on Miller
Stile Road, which included the location of the present 44 Bigelow Street,
from his father, the Reverend Ebenezer Miller, first Rector of what is
now Christ Church, in 1763. From Charles Miller the property descended
to Edward Miller, who built the c.1822 building at 36 Miller Stile Road,
then to Edward's nephew, George T. Bigelow, in 1873. For a short time,
Dr. William Everett, the headmaster of Adams Academy, owned the property
but then it reverted back to the Bigelow estate. In 1912 Henry Munroe Faxon,
president of the National Mount Wol1aston Bank and son of the successful
real estate entrepreneur Henry Hardwick Faxon, purchased the property.
Faxon decided restore to the Miller-Everett house at 36 Miller Stile
Road as The Miller Stile Inn and commissioned Boston architects Frank B
and Albert H. Wright and landscape architect H. J. Keliaway to design a
development plan. This plan eventually included seven cottages, of which
44 Bigelow Street and 30 Miller Stile Road are the remaining two, on the
land surrounding the Inn.
The cottages were built with no kitchen facilities, the understanding
being that the tenants would take their meals in the main house. This practice
ceased with the advent of World War II and five cottages were sold and the
old mansion became a rooming house. In 1960 the South Shore Chamber of Commerce
purchased the entire property from the Faxon Trust and renovated the old
Miller-Everett residence for their offices.
BIBLIOGRAPHY and/or REFERENCES
Assessors Records.
Baxter, Sylvester. "The Miller Stile Inn, Quincy, Mass.". Architectural
Record, July 20, 1920.
"Dedication of the Robert Morrison Faxon Conference Room at the South
Shore Chamber of Commerce, Inc." December 19, 1979.
H. Hobart Holly, Quincy Historical Society.
Historical Sketch of the City of Quincy: Illustrated Souvenir. Issued
by Quincy Lodge of Elks No. 943, 1924.
ARCHITECTURAL SIGNIFICANCE:
This fine Colonial Revival house was built by Henry Munroe Faon as part
of a real estate development which included the main house at 36 Miller Stile
Road, an elegant Federal residence, as an inn and seven "cottages" of which
44 Bigelow Street was one. It was not its size that labeled it as a "cottage"
but rather the fact that it was kitchenless, for the tenants were meant
to take their meals at the inn. An article in the "Architectural Record"
of July 1920 describing the development wrote of the difficulty of maintaining
large estates for "domestic service" personnel was difficult to come by,
hence the concept of "cottages" which would provide some service amenities
and still retain the pleasures of suburban living. This was meant to replace
the other alternative, cramped apartment living, which was perceived to not
be appropriate for children. The author, Sylvester Baner, wrote "The results
were quite in keeping with the historic dignity and residential attractiveness
of the property and its environment in a typical old New England town."
Designed by Albert H. Wright, 44 Bigelow Street is a simple Colonial Revival
house, with a square configuration, a hip roof, a granite foundation, a
symmetrical facade of three bays and a fine columned pedimented portico.
The fenestration is regular, composed of sash windows which are shuttered,
with the exception of the second floor center window which is double It
is a pleasant traditional house set in attractive suburban surroundings,
a reminder of one of Quincy's early "development plan."
correspondence with descendant:
tdberry3401@email.msn.com
My name is Dana Barton Berry and I am married to Thomas Bigelow
Berry. Bigelow is my mother-in-law's family. I have been researching the
Bigelow family on the Internet and have been most gratified to find tons
of information via the Bigelow Society page and other family trees published
there. I have traced the line from John Biglo (Bigelow) and his ancestors
down to our children: John Bigelow. (1), Joshua Bigelow. (2), Daniel
Bigelow. (3), David Bigelow. (4), Tyler Bigelow.(5), George Tyler Bigelow.
(6), George Tyler Bigelow. Jr. (7), George Tyler Bigelow. III (8) Eunice
Miller (Bigelow) Berry (9), Thomas Bigelow Berry (10), Thomas Barton Berry
(11).
George Tyler Bigelow was Chief Justice of the State of Massachusetts 1860-1868
and was highly regarded by his peers and the bar. He married Anna
Smith Miller on Nov. 5, 1839. We don't know where, but suspect it was
Boston, MA. While there is a lot of information we have collected about him,
there is nothing to be found about her, not even her parents. Aside from
the
remote possibility that we could locate the family Bible, I am at a
standstill. Do you have any suggestions on where I should look next?
The information we have on Justice Bigelow's career was recently obtained
from the Supreme Judicial Court Historical Society of the State of Massachusetts.
The curator was most kind to include a photocopy of Justice Bigelow from
the Joseph A. Willard Photograph Collection. The career synopsis
is somewhat lengthy but I would be happy to share it with you if
you are interested.
Thanks for all of the family information you and the Bigelow Society have
published on the Internet. You have helped our research tremendously! Sincerely,
Dana Berry
Note2:
Subject: Hon. Tyler Bigelow
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2000 10:16:49 -0500
From: Rich Eastman & Pam Parker < portunus@midcoast.com
Hi, Rod! Saw your Bigelow family page today and was quite excited. My
wife descends through John-Joshua-Daniel-David-Tyler-George Tyler-Clara
Dabney-Caroline Parker-Augustin Parker Jr. Her mother has an original oil
painting of Hon. Tyler at about age 70 hanging in her living room. Many
things were passed down in the family, some we haven't identified yet. We're
trying to trace the source of a block-front desk made by Benjamin Frothingham
about 1780 that was handed down in the family. Have you done any research
into the wills of Tyler Bigelow or his son George? We thought
a will might indicate where this desk came from and suspect it to be
a Bigelow piece. Pam's mother also has a portrait of Charles Miller Esq.,
Anna Smith Miller's grandfather. He was a merchant in Boston. Please let
me know if you have anything further on this family. Thanks so much,
Rich Eastman & Pam Parker
More:
The portrait is a full painting, measuring roughly 3' by 4'. My mother-in-law
never knew who it was until we saw your portrait posted. She always referred
to him as "The Old Bastard" because he has a gruff expression, but at
his age around 1850 maybe there wasn't much to be happy about. He is much
older than your portrait, having white hair and less of it but striking
a very stern pose.
The picture of George Tyler Bigelow that we have is actually a copy
of a painting and is too large for the scanner. It is hanging in our daughter's
home. I will try to get it copied and scanned to a disk at the local copy
store and see if I can e-mail it to you. The picture is the same one that
was on the State of Massachusetts Bar Historical Society website. It was
the picture popping up on the Internet that got me interested in continuing
the reseach on our family trees. I now have nearly 4200 individuals in
our combined trees. Here is the information about GTB's descendants as
it relates to my husband's family:
Generation No. 1
1. GEORGE TYLER BIGELOW was born October 06, 1810 in Watertown,
MA, and died April 12, 1878 in Boston, MA. He married ANNA SMITH
MILLER November 05, 1839 in Boston, MA, daughter of EDWARD MILLER and CAROLINE
NICHOLSON. She was born February 27, 1818 in Quincy, MA, and died January
06, 1910 in Boston, MA.
Notes for GEORGE TYLER BIGELOW:
Hon. George Tyler Bigelow (1810-1868) Chief Justice 1860-1868
Copyright ©1996, Supreme Judicial Court Historical Society. All
rights reserved.
When George Tyler Bigelow graduated from Harvard
at age 19, he was deemed too young to begin a career in law and so was
sent to Maryland to gain a broader knowledge of the world through teaching.
Upon his return to Massachusetts, he read law in his father's office and
was admitted to the bar in 1835. Bigelow served in both chambers of the
state legislature and as
a common pleas judge, and was later appointed as Associate Justice of
the Supreme Judicial Court, where he eventually succeeded Lemuel Shaw as
Chief Justice.
George Tyler Bigelow's roommate in college
was Oliver Wendell Holmes. A chair that was in their college room is still
in the family and currently July, 1999) belongs to Eunice Bigelow Berry,
his great-granddaughter, age 87.
The family still has a set of china, white
with a wide pink band broken by the initials AGB entwined together, bordered
in gold. The china won a gold medal for its design in 1867 and is marked
"C.H. Pillivuyt & Cie. Paris Exp.1867 Medaille D'Or" on the back of each
piece. As of this writing, the china is divided between the eldest son (Tom)
and the second son (George) of Tom and Eunice Bigelow Berry. It is believed
that more of the pieces reside with the daughters of Richard and Mary Bigelow
Carhart.
His residence was in Boston, MA. He and wife Anna Smith Miller, had
4 children.
From the Dictionary of American Biography, page 537 (provided by Stephen
C. O'Neill, Senior Writer and Curator of the Supreme Judicial Court Historical
Society, 1200 Court House, Pemberton Square, Boston, Massachusetts 02108-1792,
(617) 742-6090), in response to an inquiry from Carole J. Berry,
George Tyler Bigelow's:
" Bigelow, George Tyler, jurist, was born at Watertown, Middlesex County, Mass. Oct. 6, 1810, nephew of Timothy Bigelow, the noted lawyer, and descendant of John Bigelow, of Watertown, 1632. He was destined for the bar, but upon his graduation at Harvard in 1829 was deemed too young to begin it, and in order that he might gain a broader knowledge of men and things, and the mental discipline acquired by teaching, was sent to Maryland, where for a year he was principal of the Brookville Academy and for another year, tutor in the home of Henry Vernon Somerville, whose home, Bloomsbury, was near Catonsville. Returning to Massachussetts, he read law in his father's office, in 1835 was admitted to practice, and opened an office in Boston. In 1844, he was sent to the lower house of the state legislature, and served for four years; in 1847-48 was a member of the upper house. He became common pleas judge in 1849; associate justice of the supreme court in 1850; succeeded Lemuel Shaw as chief justice in 1860 and held his seat until 1868 when he resigned, and until January, 1878, was actuary of the Massachussetts Hospital Life Insurance Co. In 1868 he was elected an overseer of Harvard, and in 1873 was appointed a commissioner for the revision of the city charter of Boston. During his early years in Boston he was connected with the militia as colonel of an infantry regiment, and in 1844 he was an aid to Gov. Briggs. Judge Bigelow died in Boston, Mass., April 12, 1878."
Taken from the Massachussetts Reports, the official publication of the courts, the following two entries:
" In December 1867, the intention of Chief Justice Bigelow to resign the
office of Chief Justice at the close of the year having been informally
announced, a letter signed by three hundred members of the bar of the Commonwealth
was addressed to him in these words:
"Sir: We, the undersigned, have heard with regret that you contemlate
resigning the Chief Justiceship of the Commonwealth. Knowing how
ably and acceptably you have filled that high position, and feeling
that your retirement at this time would be a loss to the bench which the
profession and the public could ill bear, we hope that this expression
of our earnest wish that you should continue in office may have some
influence on your determination."
To which the Chief Justice returned the following reply, dated Boston, December 30, 1867:
To the Honorable Benjamin F. Thomas:
My Dear Sir: In retiring from the office of
Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, I feel that some reply is due
to the request of the members of the bar, communicated to me several weeks
ago, that I would reconsider my determination of reliquishing the duties of
the office. I can think of no more appropriate mode of making such reply than
by addressing it to you,
whose name stands at the head of the list of signatures.
For the expressions of confidence and regard
which are implied by the terms of the request from my profesional brethren,
I beg to express my most grateful acknowledgements. If the step which I
propose to take were prompted by considerations of ease and personal comfort,
I should certainly have felt it to be my duty to surrender any wish of my
own for retirement and repose to the opinions of the members of the bar that
my continuance on the bench would be advantageous to the public interest.
But after twenty years of judicial life, seventeen of which have been passed
on the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court, I find that a radical change,
by which I can obrain permanent relaxation from constant and arduous labor,
has become necessary. I am admonished by my physicians that I cannot look
forward with any degree of certainty to a condition of health adequate to
the discharge of my official duties, if I continue to undergo the confinement
and incessanct mental effort which are
essential to their due performance. Impelled by considerations of this
nature, which seem to me to be paramount over all others, I have been reluctantly
forced to the conclusion that I ought to relinquish the duties of the
bench for those of a less constant and exacting character.
I cannot forbear to add, that I am fully sensible
how much I am indebted, for any measure of success which may have attended
my judicial services, to the learning, ability and conscientious fidelity
to duty, which distunguish the member of the bar of Massachusetts; and
that I shall carry with me through life and abiding sense of gratitude for
the kindness and considerate
forbearance which has uniformly characterized their intercourse with
me.
I am, with sincere respect and regard,
Faithfully your friend,
George T. Bigelow."
Obituary from #124 Mass. P 598:
"The Honorable George Tyler Bigelow, a justice of this court from the twenty-first day of November, 1850 to the seventh day of September, 1860, and from that time until the thirty-first day of December, 1867, the Chief Justice thereof, died at his residence in Boston, on the twelfth day of April, 1878. A meeting of the members of the bar of Suffolk county was held in Boston on the eighteenth day of April, at which resolutions were passed, which were presented by the Attorney General to the full court on the third day of May. Before presenting them the Attorney General addressed the court as follows"
"May it please your Honors, ---- We have assembled this morning by your kind permission to present to hour honors and place upon the records of the court, our tribute of respect and regard for the memory of the Honorable George Tyler Bigelow, late Chief Justice of this court, with our appreciation of his character and the usefulness of his life. This has been done in resolutions which I am about to offer to the court, and so well done that I deem it superfluous to preface the resolutions with any remarks of my own, lest I should injure the effect and mar the beauty of the portraiture.
The Attorney General then presented the following resolutions:
RESOLVED, That the members of the bar, met together in a common
grief at the death of George Tyler Bigelow, lately Chief Justice of the Supreme
Judicial Court, would place upon record some formal expression of our appreciation
of his judicial services and personal character. We are admonished by this
event, and the fresh remembrance of his presence in this room as presiding
justice, now ten years since, how rapidly those have passed away, who in
former years have been accustomed to sit in these seats of judgment. The
faces of Chief Justice Chapman, Justices Metcalf, Merick, Dewey and Wells,
have all been familiarly known, and their memories mourned, by those who have
been at the bar less than fifteen years. Of those on the
bench when Judge Bigelow became Chief Justice, in 1860, not one now
remains in office, and but one survives.
Appointed to the Supreme Court to succeed Mr.
Justice Wilde, who, by his voluntary retirement in 1850, closed the longest
period of judicial service known in our history; advanced to the position
of Chief Justice in 1860, upon the resignation of Chief Justice Shaw,
that eminent magistrate, who in this Commonwealth can never cease to be
honored with a peculiar veneration, ---- Chief Justice Bigelow entered upon
the different stages of his judicial career, with the necessity resting upon
him to vindicate before the bar and public his title to fill such high positions.
How well he succeeded in satisfying the expectations of those who expected
the most from him is shown by the general regret which was felt at his resignation,
and the formal appeal made by three hundred members of the bar that he would
postpone his contemplated withdrawal from the bench.
In the discharge of his judicial duties he
showed quickness of apprehension, combined, nevertheless, with a good degree
of patience in listening to evidence and arguments; rare judgment in weighing
of testimony; excellent capacity in arranging the facts of a case in order,
giving to each a just proportion and significance; a great clearness of
statement in charging the jury. Adding to these qualities promptness a thoroughness
in the dispatch of the business of the court, he early gained a high reputation
for all that pertains to the practical administration of justice, as a nisi
prius judge.
His more enduring monument, however is to be
found in his published opinions, covering all branches of the law that
come up for determination in our state courts. Rarely exploring exhaustively
the black letter volumes, or the remote sources of our system of jurisprudence,
her presented the law of our own time with such accuracy and precision,
such amplitude and felicity
of illustration, such cogency of reasoning, and such wise foresight
and careful precaution against dangerous generalities, as to make many
of his opinions fairly entitled to rank among the best contemporary expositions
of legal principles.
Somewhat jealous of the dignity of the court-room
and of the bench, somewhat jealous also at times of his own personal dignity,
be seldom gave way to hasty words, and never lost the abiding confidence,
esteem and affection of the bar. To say that in his official and private
life he was a man of the strictest integrity, is but the ordinary commendation
of a Massachusetts judge. He was social genial, quite inclined to anecdote,
not averse to spending a part of his time either in telling or hearing
some new
thing, an omnivorous reader of newspapers, novels and general literature,
as well as of all modern law, and familiar alike with the opinion of State
Street and the judgments of jurists on questions involving the application
of legal rules to important commercial or public interests.
When he felt compelled, by the apprehension
of physical infirmities, to retire from the bench in mid-life, as it were,
before any failure in the discharge of his duties could be observed, it
was felt that he had well maintained the character of our judiciary.
No stain had come upon it through him. He himself remarked, with touching
emotion, on the occasion of the death of one of his associates, Mr. Justice
Dewey: "Happy will it be for us, if, when our successors shall contemplate
the scenes of duty through which our steps shall have trodden, no spot
or shade shall be found to dim the lustre which those who have gone before
us have shed on the jurisprudence of Massachusetts."
"That consolation, that joy, that triumph was
afforded him." He lived long enough to enjoy the universal recognition of
his judicial merits. He died leaving behind him a memory which a
grateful profession will not willingly suffer to be obscured.
Resolved, That the Attorney General be requested
to present these resolutions to the Supreme Judicial Court, with the request
that they may be entered upon its records; and that the secretary transmit
a copy thereof to the family of the deceased.
CHIEF JUSTICE GRAY responded as follows:
Brethren of the Bar: The death of George Tyler Bigelow
forcibly recalls the feelings of disappointment and of loss with which,
ten years ago, we received the news of his determination to resign the office
of Chief Justice. The gradual decline of his health and strength since
then may lead us to believe tha he knew better than we how much they had
been undermined by his long and constant devotion to his public duties.
Now that he rests from his labors, it is fit that the court and the bar should
join in recording some brief outlines of the traits that won for him the entire
respect and warm regard of the profession and the trust and support of the
people of the Commonwealth.
Of a peculiarly genial, social and pleasure-loving temperament,
and urged by no spur of necessity, he yet spared no labor, and omitted
no opportunity, to fit himself for the work that he had chosen. As
a counsellor, as an advocate, as a legislator, and as a judge, he put his
whole strength into everything he had to do. By a natural consequence,
he was constantly growing in mental stature, and impressing all men with
his capacity to fill one post, he was found equally capable when advanced
to a higher one.
He had that clearness of statement which was the result
of clearness of apprehension, and which made the matter under discussion
plain to every hearer – so plain, indeed, that one did not always appreciate
the extent of one’s obligation to him. This quality, with his readiness,
this tact, his insight into motives, his practical sense, and his mastery
of the law of evidence, made him a most efficient nisi prius judge.
His administrative ability was even more apparent in the arrangement and
dispatch of business of the full court, greater after his accession to the
chief-justiceship than at any former period.
In private intercourse with members of the bar, he was
cordial and friendly. He understood and sympathized and familiarly
conversed with his fellow-citizens in every walk of life. Few men
could more justly have said, Humani nihil a me alienum puto.
With all his quickness of perception, he did not allow
his first impressions to lead him to hasty decisions, but kept his mind
open until he had thoroughly tested and carefully weighed every consideration
presented by counsel in argument, or by his associates in the consultation
room; and he embodied the final results in opinions which reproduced all
that was best worth preserving in a most felicitous and convincing form.
Before his appointment to the bench he would hardly have
been called an accomplished scholar or a very learned lawyer. But the opinions
prepared by him in important causes show such a fulness of reasoning and
illustration and so clear an elucidation of the authorities, expressed
in so admirable a judicial style, that, llike the best judgments of Redesdale
and of Story, they almost supersede the necessity of referring to the earlier
cases on the subjects of which they treat, and they have established his
reputation as a worthy successor of the eminent judges who have made the
jurisprudence of Massachusetts honored wherever the common law is administered.
In accordance with the request of the bar, it is ordered
that their resolutions, together with a memorandum of these proceedings,
be entered upon the records of the court.
The court then adjourned. "
2. iii. CLARA BIGELOW, b. January 07, 1843, Boston, Suffolk Co., MA.
3. iv. GEORGE TYLER BIGELOW II, b. December 16, 1845, Boston, MA; d. July 12, 1907, Boston, MA.
4. v. MARION CLYDE BIGELOW, b. April 23, 1850; d. Bef. April 1942, Essex,
MA.
2. CLARA BIGELOW was born January 07, 1843 in Boston, Suffolk Co., MA. She married LEWIS STACKPOLE DABNEY April 15, 1867, son of FRED DABNEY and ROXANA. He was born December 1840, and died May 15, 1908.
Children of CLARA BIGELOW and LEWIS DABNEY are:
i. GEORGE B. DABNEY.
ii. FREDERICK DABNEY.
iii. CAROLINE DABNEY.
3. GEORGE TYLER BIGELOW II was born December 16, 1845 in Boston, MA, and died July 12, 1907 in Boston, MA. He married ELIZABETH VINAL WATERS December 16, 1879. She was born August 08, 1854, and died August 23, 1931.
Notes for GEORGE TYLER BIGELOW II:
Little is known at this point (6-3-99) by the researcher about George
II -- It is possible he was overshadowed by his father, the Chief Justice
of Massachusetts.
Child of GEORGE BIGELOW and ELIZABETH WATERS is:
6. i. GEORGE TYLER BIGELOW III, b. February 19, 1882; d. July 02, 1943, Riverside, CA.
4. MARION CLYDE BIGELOW was born April 23, 1850, and died Bef. April 1942 in Essex, MA. She married (1) PHILLIP V.R. ELY. She married (2) HENRY K. HORTON November 25, 1873.
Child of MARION BIGELOW and HENRY HORTON is:
i. EDWARD MILLER HORTON, m. ELIZABETH GERTRUDE UNKNOWN.
5. CAROLINE DABNEY married AUGUSTIN PARKER.
Child of CAROLINE DABNEY and AUGUSTIN PARKER
is:
i. AUGUSTIN PARKER.
6. GEORGE TYLER BIGELOW III was born February 19, 1882, and
died July 02, 1943 in Riverside, CA. He married ADA MARY WELSH February
27, 1908, daughter of GEORGE WELSH and MARY CARPENTER. She was born
July 11, 1882, and died November 1961 in Laguna Beach, CA.
Children of GEORGE BIGELOW and ADA WELSH are:
7. i. MARY ELIZABETH BIGELOW, b. November 22, 1910; d. May 01, 1996, Irvine, California.
8. ii. EUNICE MILLER BIGELOW, b. June 07,
1912, Riverside, California.
7. MARY ELIZABETH BIGELOW
was born November 22, 1910, and died May 01, 1996 in Irvine, California.
She married RICHARD RAYMOND CARHART July 26, 1943. He was born April 17,
1917, and died December 09, 1956.
Children of MARY BIGELOW and RICHARD CARHART
are:
i. MARGARET ANN CARHART, b. October 12, 1945.
9. ii. ELIZABETH ADA CARHART, b. June 02, 1947.
8. EUNICE MILLER BIGELOW
was born June 07, 1912 in Riverside, California. She married THOMAS BERRY,
JR. September 07, 1935 in Claremont, California, son of THOMAS BERRY and
FLORENCE MOREHOUSE. He was born August 25, 1910 in Long Beach, California,
and died October 23, 1998 in Irvine, Orange County, California.
Notes for EUNICE MILLER BIGELOW: Eunice Bigelow is the
second of two daughters born to Ada and George Bigelow
in Riverside, CA. The family lived on Mt. Rubidoux.
Children of EUNICE BIGELOW and THOMAS
BERRY are:
i. THOMAS BIGELOW BERRY, b. December 27, 1937, Seattle, Washington.
ii. JAMES BIGELOW BERRY, b. September 08, 1948; m. CHLOE CLARK, October
1975.
iii. GEORGE MOREHOUSE BERRY, b. May 28, 1941, Portland, OR; m. (1) DIANE
OBERG, February 1963, Santa Barbara, CA; m. (2) CAROL, Aft. 1970; m. (3)
MONICA, Aft. 1972; m. (4) MARIANNE, Aft. 1990.
9. ELIZABETH ADA CARHART was born June 02, 1947.
Child of ELIZABETH
ADA CARHART is:
i. SPEED.
10. THOMAS BIGELOW BERRY was born December 27, 1937 in Seattle,
Washington. He married DANA KAY BARTON June 23, 1963 in Whittier, California,
daughter of RICHARD BARTON and LOUISE VANDENBERGH. She was born September
27, 1939 in Schenectady, New York.
Children of THOMAS BERRY and DANA BARTON are:
i. THOMAS BARTON BERRY, b. May 10, 1964, Whittier, California; m. DONNA
MARIE ANDERSON, July 05, 1997, San Francisco, California; b. August 08,
1970, Upland, California.
Notes for DONNA MARIE ANDERSON: Married previously;
no issue.
ii. CAROLE JEAN BERRY, b. December 06, 1966, Scottsdale, AZ.
I hope this will add new information to the Bigelow family site. Also,
I have been in contact with Rich and Pam and am hoping to receive their
information about Anna Smith Miller soon. Evidently it is quite extensive
and traces Anna's line back to the Mayflower by way of her grandmother Hannah
(Otis) Nicolson. The Mayflower pilgrims were William Bradford, Richard Warren
& William Brewster.
Regards, Dana
Rod Bigelow
Box 13 Chazy Lake 
rodbigelow@netzero.net 
