William G. Barrows
William Griswell Barrows (January 12, 1821 – April 6, 1886),[1][2] of Brunswick, Maine, was a justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court from March 27, 1863, to March 24, 1884.[3][4]
Early life, education, and career[edit]
Born at Yarmouth, Maine, Barrows graduated from Bowdoin College in 1839 and read law in Portland with General Samuel Fessenden, a relative, and afterwards with Judge Tenney in Norridgewock, to gain admission to the bar in 1842.[1][2][5] He commenced the practice of law in Brunswick, Maine, which remained his home for the rest of his life.[2] From 1853 to 1855 he edited the Brunswick Telegraph.[2]
Judicial service and later life[edit]
He served eight years as Judge of Probate for Cumberland County, Maine, being appointed about 1854,[1] and then elected in 1856 and reelected in 1860.[2] During his career on the bench, he "sentenced the famous Bowdoinham bank robbers to 17 years imprisonment and passed the death sentence upon Wagner, the Isle of Shoals murderer".[1]
On March 27, 1863, Governor Abner Coburn appointed Barrows to a seat on the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine vacated by the resignation of Judge Edward Fox.[1][2] Barrows was reappointed at the end of each successive term, on March 24, 1870, and March 24, 1877.[3][5] He declined reappointment in 1884, serving until March 24, 1884.[1][5]
Following his service on the court, he was one of the founders of the Brunswick Public Library, to which he donated a large number of volumes from his extensive personal library at the time of its construction.[1]
In politics, Barrows was a Republican, though "he never was a strong partisan".[2]
Personal life and death[edit]
His first wife was Hulda M. Whitemore of Brunswick, niece of General J. C. Humphreys. Hulda died in 1866. Barrows's second wife, who survived him, was Mary P. Fessenden, a relative of the judge and cousin of William Pitt Fessenden. Barrows left no surviving children.[1]
Barrows died at his home in Brunswick at the age of 65, having been in ill health for over a year, and having been unconscious for the week before his death.[1][2][5]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "An Eminent Jurist Gone", Kennebec Journal (April 7, 1886), p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Judge William G. Barrows", The Portland Daily Press (April 7, 1886), p. 2.
- ^ a b "Maine Supreme Court Chief and Associate Justices". Maine State Legislature. Retrieved December 24, 2019.
- ^ "The Supreme Judicial Court of the State of Maine, 1820 to 2009". Nathan & Henry B. Cleaves Law Library. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
- ^ a b c d Maine Genealogy Archives, Maine Supreme Judicial Court Justices, 1820-1920.