Theron Metcalf

Theron Metcalf
Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
In office
1848–1865
Appointed byGeorge N. Briggs
Preceded byVacant
Succeeded byJames Colt
Personal details
Born(1784-10-16)October 16, 1784
Franklin, Massachusetts, U.S.
DiedNovember 12, 1875(1875-11-12) (aged 91)
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
SpouseJulia Tracy Metcalf
RelationsUriah Tracy
Children3
Alma mater
Profession

Theron Metcalf (October 16, 1784 – November 12, 1875) was an American attorney and politician from Massachusetts. He was a New England jurist and served as an associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

Personal life

Metcalf was born in Franklin, Massachusetts, the son of Hanan Metcalf and Mary (Allen) Metcalf.[1] He graduated from Brown University in 1805, and studied law at the Litchfield Law School after graduation.

On November 5, 1809, he married Julia Tracy, daughter of United States Congressman Uriah Tracy.[2] Metcalf and his wife had three children: George Tracy Metcalf, William Pitt Metcalf and Julia Metcalf.[3][4] Metcalf died in Boston, Massachusetts on November 12, 1875.[5]

Career

Drawing of Theron Metcalf

Metcalf edited the Dedham Gazette from 1813 to 1819.[6][7] The editor was Jabez Chickering.[7]

He opened a law school in Dedham in 1828 where he gave lectures.[8] He was appointed Reporter of the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1839, and sat on the bench of that court from February 24, 1848, until his resignation on August 31, 1865.[9] His annotations were considered valuable for their philosophical investigation and discriminating analysis.

He was admitted to the bar in Massachusetts in 1807, and moved to Dedham, Massachusetts in 1809 to practice law.[10] He served as Norfolk County Attorney for twelve years, until the position was eliminated.[11]

Metcalf defended the arsonist who admitted to burning down the Phoenix Hotel.[12] In the case of Baker v. Fales, he served alongside Samuel Haven in representing a group of church members who objected to the hiring of a minister at the First Church and Parish in Dedham.[13]

Political

In 1815, he was appointed Reporter of Contested Elections for that year.[14] In 1831, 1833 and 1834, he served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, and was chairman of the Judiciary Committee.[15]

Honors

Brown gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1844, and Harvard University did the same in 1848.[9] He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1844.[16]

In 1832 and 1847, he was elected a fellow of Brown University.[8] He delivered an address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Brown in 1832,[10] and in 1840 delivered the Fourth of July oration at Dedham.[17] Metcalf donated a set of fifty volumes of ordination sermons that he had collected to Brown University.[18]

Published works

His publications include:

  • A Digest of the Cases decided in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts from 1816 to 1823, including the Five last Volumes of Tyng's and the first of Octavius Pickering's Reports (Boston, 1825)
  • An address to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Brown University: Delivered 5th September, 1832
  • Reports from 1840 till 1849 (13 vols., 1840–51)
  • the first volume of Digest of Decisions of Courts of Common Law and Admiralty in the United States (1840)
  • a Supplement to the Revised Statutes of Massachusetts till 1844, with Luther S. Cushing (1844)
  • articles to The American Jurist on the "Law of Contracts."

Edited works

His edited works include:

  • Asahel Stearns and Lemuel Shaw, The General Laws of Massachusetts till 1822 (2 vols., 1823)
  • George Maule and William Selwyn's Reports
  • Russell on Crimes
  • Starkie on Evidence
  • Yelverton's Reports

References

  1. ^ "Theron Metcalf". Ancestry.com. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  2. ^ Godey, Louis Antoine and Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell (1876). Godey's Magazine, Volume 93. Godey Company. p. 566.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Julia Metcalf". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  4. ^ "Theron Metcalf". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  5. ^ Herringshaw, Thomas William (1914). Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography: Contains Thirty-five Thousand Biographies of the Acknowledged Leaders of Life and Thought of the United States; Illustrated with Three Thousand Vignette Portraits. American Publishers' Association. p. 166.
  6. ^ "Theron Metcalf". Litchfield Historical Society. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  7. ^ a b Austin, Walter (1912). Tale of a Dedham Tavern: History of the Norfolk Hotel, Dedham, Massachusetts. Priv. print. at the Riverside Press. p. 21. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  8. ^ a b Blake, Mortimer (1879). A History of the Town of Franklin, Mass: From Its Settlement to the Completion of Its First Century, 2d March, 1878; with Genealogical Notices of Its Earliest Families, Sketches of Its Professional Men, and a Report of the Centennial Celebration. Committee of the Town. p. 173.
  9. ^ a b Davis, William Thomas (1900). History of the Judiciary of Massachusetts: Including the Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies, the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, and the Commonwealth. Boston Book Company. p. 191.
  10. ^ a b New England Historic Genealogical Society (1907). New England Historic Genealogical Society. The Society. p. 185.
  11. ^ "Theron Metcalf". The Official Website of the Massachusetts Judicial branch. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  12. ^ Hanson 1976, p. 224.
  13. ^ Smith 1936, p. 83.
  14. ^ Massachusetts. General Court. House of Representativesa and, Metcalf, Thomas (1816). Reports of Contested Elections, in the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the Year 1815. Abel D. Alleyne, printer. p. 3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "Theron Metcalf". The Official Website of the Massachusetts Judicial branch. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
  16. ^ American Antiquarian Society Members Directory
  17. ^ Wilson, James Grant and Fiske, John (1888). Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 4. D. Appleton. p. 311.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ U.S. Government Printing Office (1850). Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 57.

Works cited

Legal offices
Vacant
Title last held by
Marcus Morton 		Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
1848–1865 		Succeeded by