Judge Law lived in an eventful period of his country, and of the world; and the many and various important offices which he held and honorably sustained through the course of a long life, better bespeak, than language can express, the character, the worth, and merits of the man.
REV. NAPHTALI SHAW OF BRADFORD, VT.
Naphtali Shaw was born at Bridgewater, Ms., June 20, 1764, and was the fourth son of his parents. His father, who was by occupation a tanner and shoemaker, was William Shaw, who lived in Bridgewater, and married Hannah, daughter of Samuel West, who was a Deacon of the Congregational Church in that place, and lived to be more than eighty years of age. He had five sons and six daughters. At the age of fifteen the subject of this Memoir enlisted as a soldier in the Revolutionary army, and went with others to take Rhode Island, which was in 1779 in possession of the British, but he did not continue long in the service, the object being accomplished. He prepared for college under the instructions of Dr. Crane, a physician of Titicut Parish, and the Rev. Dr. Reed of West Bridgewater. In 1786, he entered the Freshman Class of Dartmouth College, and graduated there in 1790. After receiving his bachelor's degree, he taught school at Easton, Ms., and at Boston, as an assistant of Mr. Caleb Bingham, an instructor of much celebrity. His theological course of study was pursued under the direction of the Rev. Dr. Sanger of Bridgewater, who was in the habit of educating young men for the ministry. He was approbated to preach the gospel, as it was then called, by the Plymouth Association of Ministers, Aug. 1, 1792. Jan. 30, 1793, he was ordained Pastor of the church in Kensington, N. H., where he remained till Jan. 13, 1813, when he was dismissed on account of ill health. His ministry was pacific and useful; peace and harmony were restored, and the cause of education, morals, and religion promoted. His health was such, that upon resignation, he retired from the ministry, and devoted himself to agricultural pursuits, having purchased a farm in the town of Bradford, Vt., where he still lives in the enjoyment of his bodily and mental powers, to a good degree, at the age of 84 years.
Mr. Shaw married, June 10, 1798, Mary Crafts, daughter of Dr. John Staples Crafts of Bridgewater, who was to him a great blessing. "The greatest blessing," said Martin Luther, "with which a man can be favored is a pious and amiable wife, who fears God and loves her family, with whom he may live in peace, and in whom he may repose confidence." The wife of Mr. Shaw died Jan. 14, 1840. Their children were four;—Thomas Crafts, living in Bradford, Vt., a farmer, and a deacon of the church in that place, who married Sarah Jenkins, by whom he has two daughters, Sarah Jane and Mary Ann; Eliza Park, who married Dea. Randell H. Wild of West Fairlee, who died in Bradford, Dec. 22, 1841, leaving two daughters, Elisabeth and Emily; Samuel West, who married Jerusha Bliss of Fairlee, and died March 12, 1832, leaving no child; Mary Ann, who died July 12, 1808, in childhood.
HON. NAHUM MITCHELL OF PLYMOUTH.
Nahum Mitchell was born in East Bridgewater, Feb. 12, 1769. His father was Cushing Mitchell, son of Col. Edward, grandson of Edward, and great-grandson of Experience, who was one of the Pilgrim forefathers, and arrived at Plymouth in the third ship, the Ann, in 1623. They all lived and died in East Bridgewater, on the spot which their descendants now occupy. His mother was Jennet, daughter of the Hon. Hugh Orr, from Lochwinioch, County of Renfrew, Scotland, who married Mary, daughter of Capt. Jonathan Bass of East Bridgewater, whose father was Dea. Samuel Bass of Braintree, whose father was John, who married Ruth, daughter of the Hon. John Alden, the Pilgrim; and John's father was Dea. Samuel Bass of Braintree, (now Quincy.) Capt. Jonathan Bass's wife was Susanna, daughter of Nicholas Byram of East Bridgewater, whose wife was Mary, daughter of Dea. Samuel Edson of West Bridgewater, and whose father, Nicholas Byram, married Susanna, daughter of Abraham Shaw of Dedham.
Cushing Mitchell's mother was Elisabeth, daughter of Elisha Cushing of Hingham, a descendant from Matthew Cushing, one of the first settlers in Hingham, and ancestor of all of the name in this part of the country, and whose father was Peter Cushing of Hingham in England. Matthew's wife was Nazareth, daughter of Henry Pitcher. Matthew's son Daniel married Lydia, daughter of Edward Gilman, ancestor of all the Gilmans in New England. Daniel's son Daniel, father of Elisha, married Elisabeth, daughter of Capt. John Thaxter of Hingham, son of Thomas, the ancestor of all the Thaxters in this vicinity. Capt. John Thaxter's wife was Elisabeth, daughter of Nicholas Jacob, or Jacobs, of Hingham.
Col. Edward Mitchell's mother was Alice, daughter of Maj. John Bradford of Kingston, son of William, Deputy-Governor, and grandson of William Bradford, the Governor. The Governor's wife was widow Alice Southworth, her maiden name Carpenter. William the Deputy's wife was Alice, daughter of Thomas Richards of Weymouth. Maj. John's wife was Mercy, daughter of Joseph Warren, son of Richard Warren, and his wife Elisabeth, from London. Joseph's wife was Priscilla, daughter of John, and sister of Eld. Thomas Faunce of Plymouth. Col. Edward Mitchell's mother, after the death of his father, married Dea. Joshua Hersey of Hingham.
The subject of this Memoir prepared for college with the Hon. Beza Hayward, in Bridgewater, and entered Harvard College, July, 1785, where he graduated in 1789. He kept school at Weston, while in college, and a few times after graduating, in Bridgewater and Plymouth; and was engaged in instructing part of the time while attending to his professional studies. He read law with the Hon. John Davis, Judge of the District Court of Massachusetts, lately deceased in Boston, but then living in Plymouth, his native place. He was admitted to the bar, Nov. 24, 1792, and settled in the practice of the law in East Bridgewater, his native place.