HON. WILLIAM CRANCH OF WASHINGTON, D. C.
Judge Cranch was born at the house of his mother's father, the Rev. William Smith, of Weymouth, Ms., July 17, 1769; and was baptized by him the Sabbath following, as appears by the church records.[31] He had no brother, but two sisters, and these were older than himself. The elder sister, Elizabeth, married the Rev. Jacob Norton, who succeeded Mr. Smith in the pastoral office. The other sister married Mr. John Greenleaf, who resides at Quincy, Ms. Mrs. Greenleaf died Feb. 18, 1846.
His father, Richard Cranch, was born in Kingsbridge, near Exeter in Devonshire, England, in November, 1726, and was the son of John, the son of Andrew, the son of Richard, all of Devonshire. He was one of six sons, and was bound as an apprentice to a maker of wool-cards; but, at the age of 20, purchased the remainder of his time, and came to this country in 1746, with General Joseph Palmer, who had married his sister. Being fond of books, he became a learned man, received an honorary degree of M. A. from Harvard University, was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, sustained several important public offices, and was for many years a member of the Legislature and a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He died in 1811, in his 85th year.
His mother was Mary, the eldest daughter of the Rev. William Smith of Weymouth, and granddaughter of Col. John Quincy of Mount Wollaston, in that part of Braintree since incorporated by the name of Quincy, in honor of his memory. There is now no lineal descendant from him of the name of Quincy. The next daughter of Mr. Smith was Abigail, who became the wife of the late President John Adams; and the other daughter was Elizabeth, who married the Rev. John Shaw of Haverhill, Ms., and after his death, the Rev. Stephen Peabody of Atkinson, N. H. She died April 9, 1815, aged 65. She had three children by her first husband, William Smith, Elizabeth Quincy, and Abigail Adams. The son was the principal founder of the Boston Athenæum. He was born Aug. 12, 1778, graduated H. C. 1798, and died 1826. The first daughter was born May 26, 1780, and died Sept. 4, 1798, aged 18. The last daughter is the wife of Rev. Joseph B. Felt of this city.
The great-grandmother of the subject of this sketch, the wife of Col. John Quincy, who died July 13, 1767, was Mary Norton, the daughter of the Rev. John Norton of Hingham, whose genealogy is distinctly traced back to the time of William the Conqueror.
We cannot trace the ancestors of Judge Cranch's father back further than his grandfather's grandfather. They all appear to have been Dissenters, firm republicans, and honest men, but in humble life. His grandfather, John Cranch, was a farmer and a freeholder; the others seem to have been manufacturers of woollens. John Cranch, the naturalist, who was, at the recommendation of Sir Joseph Banks, sent out in the expedition to Egypt, where he died, was his second cousin. His father's mother was Elizabeth Pearse, daughter of Christopher Pearse and Margery Triste.
In April, 1775, his father removed from Boston to that part of Braintree now called Quincy, where he resided until his death. He died on the 16th, and his wife on the 17th, of October, 1811, and both were buried on the same day, the 19th. A sermon was delivered on the occasion by the Rev. Peter Whitney, which was printed.
Judge Cranch prepared for college under the instruction of his uncle, the Rev. John Shaw of Haverhill, and entered the Freshman class, six months in advance, in February, 1784. Having graduated at Harvard College, he, July, 1787, entered the office of Judge Dawes of Boston, who was then a practitioner in the courts of Massachusetts, where he read law three years, and in July, 1790, was admitted to practice in the Court of Common Pleas. He opened an office in Braintree, now Quincy, but at the close of the first year, upon the death of his relative, John Thaxter, Esq., who had been in the practice of the law at Haverhill, Ms., he was induced by his friends to remove to that place, and take his office, and complete his unfinished business; which, with the confidence reposed in him by the Hon. Nathaniel Peaslee Sergeant, then one of the Justices of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, who appointed him sole executor of his will, introduced him into practice, and enabled him to support himself and pay all demands held against him. For three years, he attended the courts in Essex county in Massachusetts and Rockingham county in New Hampshire, and was admitted to practice in the Supreme Judicial Court in July, 1793.
In September, 1794, he was employed to superintend the affairs of Morris, Nicholson, and Greenleaf, under their great contracts in the City of Washington, to which place he removed in October of that year, and has continued to reside in that place until the present time.
In April, 1795, he was connected in marriage with Nancy Greenleaf, daughter of the late William Greenleaf of Boston, and moved his wife to Washington, in May.
They have been the parents of 13 children, 3 of whom died in infancy. The names of the other ten were 1. William Greenleaf; 2. Richard; 3. Ann Allen; 4. Mary; 5. Elizabeth Eliot; 6. John; 7. Edward Pope; 8. Christopher Pearse; 9. Abby Adams; 10. Margaret Dawes. Richard was drowned in Lake Erie, while in the discharge of his duty as an assistant-engineer, surveying the harbor, in his 29th year, unmarried. Ann Allen died in April, 1821, of consumption, aged 22, also unmarried. Mary married Richard Cranch Norton, and died when her first child was one week old, in July, 1821, aged 20. Her husband died in October of the same year.
The other 7 children are still living. Elizabeth married Rufus Dawes, a son of the late Judge Dawes of Boston. Abby Adams married the Rev. William G. Eliot of St. Louis, Missouri, where they reside and have a number of children. William has been a clerk in the Patent Office. He was two years at Harvard University; but his delicate health and feeble constitution obliged him to leave his studies in his Junior year. The other sons were educated at the Columbian College in the District of Columbia. John spent three or four years in Italy, in drawing and painting, to perfect his knowledge of these branches, and now resides in Boston, where he pursues the employment of drawing and painting. Edward Pope is settled in Cincinnati as a lawyer. Christopher Pearse has been a preacher of the Gospel, but has lately turned his attention to portrait painting, and is now in Italy. Mrs. Cranch deceased Sept. 17, 1843.
In the year 1800, Judge Cranch was appointed one of the Commissioners of the City of Washington, which office he resigned in 1801, when he was, by President Adams, appointed the junior assistant Judge of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, under the act of Congress of Feb. 27, 1801; the late Governor Thomas Johnson of Maryland, who had been one of the Commissioners of the City of Washington, having been appointed Chief Judge; and Mr. James Marshall, brother of the late Chief Justice Marshall, having been appointed elder assistant Judge. Gov. Johnson refused to accept the office; and Mr. Jefferson appointed William Kitty, Esq., Chief Judge. Mr. Marshall resigned in 1803, and Nicholas Fitzhugh, Esq., of Virginia, was appointed in his place.
In 1805, Mr. Kitty having been appointed Chancellor of Maryland, Judge Cranch was appointed by Mr. Jefferson to the office of Chief Justice, which office he now holds; and by virtue of that office is sole Judge of the District Court of the United States, for the District of Columbia, which has the same jurisdiction as the other District Courts of the United States have.
He has published nine volumes of Reports of cases in the Supreme Court of the United States, a Memoir of the life, character, and writings of President John Adams, (70 pages,) read before the Columbian Institute, March 16, 1827, and an Address upon the subject of Temperance, in 1831, a small pamphlet.
Judge Cranch is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the American Antiquarian Society. He has received also the degree of Doctor of Laws from Harvard College.