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day of January, 1800. Military and other honors were Daid to his memory; and universal regret was expressed at his departure.

ROGER SHERMAN.

ROGER SHERMAN was born in Newton, Massachusetts, on the 19th of April, 1721. He was early apprenticed to a shoemaker, and followed the business of one for some time after he was twenty-two years of age. The father of Roger Sherman died in 1741, leaving his family, which was quite numerous, dependent upon his son for support. He entered upon the task with great cheerfulness. Towards his mother, whose life was protracted to a great age, he always manifested the tenderest affection, and assisted two of his younger brothers to qualify themselves for clergymen.

An elder brother had established himself in New Milford, Connecticut. In 1743, the family of Mr. Sherman removed to that place, and he again commenced business as a shoemaker; but, not long after, he entered into partnership with his brother, whose occupation was that of a country merchant. The mind of Roger Sherman was invincibly bent upon the acquisition of knowledge. The variety and extent of his attainments, even at this time, were almost incredible. He soon became known in the county of Litchfield, where he resided, as a man of superior talents, and of unusual skill in the science of mathematics. At the early age of twenty-four, he was appointed to the office of county surveyor. At this time, he had also made no trifling advances in the science of astronomy. As early as 1748, he supplied the astronomical calculations for an almanac, published in New York, and continued to furnish them for several succeeding years.

In 1749, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Hartwell, of Stoughton, in Massachusetts. After her decease, in 1760, he married Miss Rebecca Prescott, of Danvers, in the same State. By these wives he had fifteen children.

In 1754, Mr. Sherman was admitted as an attorney to he bar. The circumstance which led to his study of the profession was merely accidental, and an accident which,

in a mind less decided and persevering than that of Sher. man, would have passed away without improvement. He became rapidly distinguished as a counsellor, and, the year following his admission to the bar, was appointed a Justice of the Peace for New Milford, which town he also represented in the Colonial Assembly. In 1759, he was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Litchfield, which office he held for two years. At the expiration of that time, he became a resident of New Haven, of which town he was soon after appointed a Justice of the Peace, and often represented it in the Colonial Assembly. In 1765, he was made a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and about the same time was appointed treasurer of Yale College, which institution bestowed upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts.

In 1766, Mr. Sherman was elected a member of the Upper House, in the General Assembly of Connecticut; and during the same year he was appointed a Judge of the Superior Court. He continued a member of the Upper House for nineteen years, until 1785, when, the two offices which he held being considered incompatible, he relinquished his seat at the council-board, preferring his station as a Judge. The latter office he continued to exercise until 1789, when he resigned it on being chosen to Congress, under the Federal Constitution.

Mr. Sherman was a delegate to the celebrated Congress of 1774, and continued uninterruptedly a member of that body, until his death in 1793. His services during his congressional career were many and important. He was employed on numerous committees, and was indefatigable in the investigation of complicated and difficult subjects. In 1776, he received the most flattering testimony of the high respect in which he was held, in being associated with Adams, Je.fer on, Franklin, and Livingston, in the responsible duty of preparing the Deelaration of Independence. In the State where he resided, Mr. Sherman continued to receive repeated demonstrations of the esteem with which his fellow-citizens regarded bim.

Under the new Constitution, Mr. Sherman was elected

a representative to Congress from the State of Connecti cut. At the expiration of two years, a vacancy occurring in the Senate, he was elevated to a seat in that body. In this office he died on the 23d of July, 1793, in the seventy-third year of his age.

A predominant trait in the character of Roger Sherman was his practical wisdom. Although inferior to many in rapidity of genius, he was surpassed by none in clearness of apprehension, energy of mind, or honesty of action. A reinark of Jefferson bears testimony to the strength and soundness of his intellect. "That is Sherman," said he to a friend, to whom he was pointing out the most remarkable men of Congress, "a man who never said a foolish thing in his life." Not less honorable to the integrity of his character, is the remark of Fisher Ames, who was wont to say: "If I am absent during the discussion of a subject, and consequently know not on which side to vote, I always look at Roger Sherman, for I am sure if I vote with him I shall vote right."

JAMES SMITH.

JAMES SMITH was born in Ireland, but at what period has not been ascertained. His father was a respectable farmer, who removed to America with a numerous family, and settled on the west side of the Susquehanna river.

After being qualified for the profession of the law, Mr. Smith took up his residence as a lawyer and surveyor, near the present town of Shippensburg; but he subse quently removed to the flourishing village of York, where he continued the practice of his profession during the remainder of his life. On the commencement of the difficulties with the mother country, he resolutely enlisted himself on the patriotic side and became an uncompromising opposer of the insulting aggressions of the British government. He was chosen a delegate to all the patriotic meetings of the province, and was always in favor of the most vigorous and decided measures. He was the first one who raised a volunteer corps in Pennsylvania, in opposition to the armies of Great Britain; and was elected captain, and afterwards colonel of a regiment. Iu

January, 1775, he was a delegate to the Convention for the Province of Pennsylvania, and concurred in the spirited declarations of that Assembly.

In the month of July, a Convention was held in Phil adelphia, for the purpose of forming a new Constitution for Pennsylvania. Of this body, Mr. Smith was a member, and by it he was chosen a delegate to Congress. He continued to represent his constituents for several years in the great national assembly, and was always active and efficient in the discharge of his duties. On withdrawing from Congress, in November, 1788, he resumed his professional pursuits, which he continued to exercise until the year 1800, when he withdrew from the bar, having practised the law for about sixty years. He died in the year 1806.

RICHARD STOCKTON.

RICHARD STOCKTON was born near Princeton, New Jersey, on the first day of October, 1730, and received his education at the college in his native State, where he graduated at the age of eighteen.

On leaving college, Mr. Stockton commenced the study of the law, and on his admission to the bar, rose quickly to an enviable distinction. About the year 1767, he relinquished his professional business for the purpose of visiting Great Britain. During his tour through the united countries, he was received with great attention On visiting Edinburgh, he was complimented with a public dinner, by the authorities of that city, the freedom of which was unanimously conferred upon him. During his stay in Scotland, he was so fortunate as to induce the Reverend Dr. Witherspoon, of Paisley, to remove to Ameria, and accept the presidency of New Jersey College.

On his return to this country, Mr. Stockton stood high in the royal favor, and was appointed one of the Royal Judges of the Province, and a member of the Executive Council. But on the commencement of the aggravating system of oppression by which the mother country hoped to humiliate the colonists, he separated himself from the

Royal Council, and joyfully concurred in all the liberal measures of the day. On the 21st of June, 1776, he was elected a delegate to the General Congress, then sitting in Philadelphia. Here he discharged, with fidelity and energy, a the duties assigned him; and on the agitation of the great question of independence, he addressed the house in its behalf.

On the 30th of November, Mr. Stockton was unfortunately taken prisoner by a party of refugee royalists. He was dragged from his bed at night, and carried to New York. Here he was treated with the utmost rigor and indignity. Congress remonstrated with General Howe in his behalf, and he was finally released from his captivity; but the iron had entered his soul. His constitution had experienced an irreparable shock, and his ample fortune. was completely reduced. He continued to languish for several years, and at length died, at his residence in Princeton, on the 28th of February, 1781, in the fiftythird year of his age. His character was in every respect estimable. He possessed a cultivated taste for literature and was a polished and eloquent speaker.

THOMAS STONE.

THOMAS STONE was born in Charles county, Maryland in 1743. He was a descendant of William Stone, who was Governor of Maryland during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell.

After acquiring a tolerable acquaintance with the learned languages, he entered upon the study of the law. Having obtained a competent knowledge of the profession, he commenced practice in Fredericktown, Mary land. After residing at this place two years, he removed to Charles county, in the same State. At the age of twenty-eight, he received, by marriage, the sum of one thousand pounds sterling; and with it purchased a farm near the village of Port Tobacco, upon which he continued to reside during the revolutionary struggle. A though his business was by no means lucrative, nor his fortune considerable, his well known honesty and ability caused him to be sent a delegate to the Congress of 1776, to

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