History of Wilbraham, (Hampden County) Massachusetts United States of America

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Biographies:

Marcus Perrin Knowlton, jurist, was born in Wilbraham, Mass., Feb. 3, 1839; son of Merrick and Fatima (Perrin) Knowlton; grandson of Amasa and Margaret (Toplift) Knowlton; and a descendant of William Knowlton, whose father, Capt. William Knowlton, sailed from London, England, for Nova Scotia, in 1633, and died on the voyage; and his widow with three sons, John, William and Thomas, after remaining awhile in Nova Scotia, removed to Ipswich, Mass. Marcus Perrin Knowlton prepared for college at Monson academy, Mass., and was graduated from Yale, A.B., 1860. He was admitted to the bar at Springfield, Mass., in 1869; was a representative in the general court of Massachusetts in 1878, and a state senator, 1880-81. In August, 1881, he was appointed a justice of the superior court of Massachusetts, and in September, 1887, was made a justice of the supreme judicial court of the state. He was twice married: first, July 18, 1867, to Sophia Ritchie, who died, Feb. 18, 1886, leaving no children; and secondly, May 21, 1891, to Rose Mary Ladd, of Portland, Maine. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Yale university in 1895, and from Harvard university in 1900.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Joseph Frank McGregory, educator, was born in Wilbraham, Mass., April 11, 1855; son of Joseph and Emeline (Fuller) McGregory, and grandson of Joseph and Ruth (Billings) McGregory and of Henry Clinton and Dorothy (Clark) Fuller, and a descendant of Gov. William Bradford, and of Dr. Silas Fuller, a Pilgrim father. He attended the common schools at Wilbraham and prepared for college at Wesleyan academy, Wilbraham, Mass. He was graduated from Amherst college, A.B., 1880, A.M., 1883, and did graduate work at the Universities of G?ttingen and Heidelberg, Germany, 1880-81, 1883-84 and 1890-96. He was instructor in chemistry at Amherst college, 1881-83, and was elected professor of chemistry and mineralogy at Colgate university in 1883. He was married, July 12, 1883, to Emma E. J. Hodgkins. He was elected a member of the German Chemical society in 1883, the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1886, the American Chemical society in 1893 and the London Chemical society in 1893. He is the author of: Lecture Notes on General Chemistry (1894); Qualitative Analysis (1899), and published a number of short papers on various subjects in different journals.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Edwin Thomas Merrick, jurist, was born in Wilbraham, Mass., July 9, 1809; son of Thomas and Anna (Brewer) Merrick; grandson of Lieut. Jonathan Merrick, and a descendant of Thomas and Elizabeth (Tilley) Merrick. Thomas Merrick, a native of Wales, came to America in 1630, and settled in Springfield, Mass., in 1638. His father, a farmer, died when he was a boy, and he was sent to Springfield, N.Y., and brought up in the family of his mother's brother, Samuel Brewer. He pursued a classical course at Wilbraham academy, 1828-32, removed to New Lisbon, Ohio, in 1832, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. He practised in Carrollton, Ohio, 1833-34; took charge of the practice of his uncle, Col. A. L. Brewer, New Lisbon, Ohio, 1834-39; and practised in Clinton, La., 1839-54. He was elected judge of the 7th judicial district of Louisiana in 1854, removed to New Orleans in 1856, and was chief justice of the supreme court of Louisiana, 1855-71. He rendered the decision which first gave the Myra Clark Gaines case a standing in the U.S. courts. He opposed secession, but when the state seceded, joined the Confederacy. In a decision rendered in 1863, he held that so long as any part of the state was not in the hands of the U.S. troops, state authority could he maintained. He was a delegate from Louisiana to Marshall, Texas, to confer concerning the affairs of the trans-Mississippi department, and on his return to New Orleans in 1865, he was debarred from practising in the Federal courts of the United States, because he refused to take the "lawyer's test oath" on the ground that it was unconstitutional. He was elected a trustee of Centenary college at Jackson, La., in 1845, and received the degree of LL.D. from there some years afterward. He was president of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences, and a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was married, in 1840, to Caroline Elizabeth Thomas , daughter of Capt. David Thomas, of East Feliciana, La. Judge Merrick's cases are included in the Louisiana Annual Reports, volumes X-XVI. He died in New Orleans, La., Jan. 12, 1897.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor