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��COL. JOHN HATCH GEORGE.
��Dartmouth college in 1S40, without having any special profession in future view, and deported himself with credit while there. When his father died, some three years afterward, he had to resign his college course, but his grad- uating degree, and that of Master of Arts, was subsequently conferred on him by the Faculty of Dartmouth.
It was fortunate for him, and largely also due to the promising character of young George, at this most important period of his life, that his family en- joyed the friendship of Ex-President Franklin Pierce. All who were privi- leged with the personal acquaintance of that eminent man knew the peculiar skill he had in the discovery of latent merit among the youth whom he hon- ored with his friendship, and the more than kindly interest he took in many, who, only for his encouragement, would have lacked the spirit to aspire. Without previous consultation concern- ing his inclination towards the study of law, Gen. Pierce invited young George to enter his office and prepare for ad- mission to the bar. That the youth had what is called "a legal mind" had been a quiet discovery made by his friend and patron, who was then at the head of the law-firm, in Concord, of Pierce & Fowler. Here, for three years, Col. George applied himself diligently to his studies, passed a reputable ex- amination, and was admitted to the bar in 1 846, and at once entered into part- nership with Gen. Peaslee, and on the practice of law under the firm-name* of Peaslee and George, which united in- terest continued until 1851, when he formed a copartnership with Sidney Webster, Esq.
Prior to his majority Col. George had been hovering round the verge of politics, and, at every circuit of the whirlpool he was drawn nearer to its vortex. For many years, and with but few interruptions, the Democracy had guided the politics of New Hampshire up to 1847, when the Colonel held his first public office as clerk of the State Senate. This office he filled in 1848, and again in 1850. In 1849 he was appointed Solicitor for the county o(
��Merrimack, re-appointed in 1854, and removed by address, solely for political reasons, in 1856.
The same year in which he was made Solicitor for Merrimack county he was married to Miss Susan Ann Brigham, daughter of Levi Brigham, Esq., of Boston. Mrs. George died in 1863, leaving five children — three sons and two daughters. In 1865 he was again married to Miss Salvadora Meade Graham, daughter of Col. James D. Graham, of the United States Engi- neers. He has had one daughter by this marriage. His eldest son, John Paul, graduated last year at Dartmouth college, and is now studying at Har- vard Law School. His eldest daugh- ter, Jane Pierce, is married to Mr. H. E. Bacon, of Portland, Maine, and his second son, Charles Peaslee, is at the United States Naval School at Annapo- lis, Md. A son and daughter — Benja- min Pierce and Ann Brigham — are at home.
Famous as the bar of New Hamp- shire has been for its eminent men, few of their number gained, so early in their legal career as did Col. George, such reputation for skill and devotion to the interests of clients. His success was remarkable, and yet it was simply the meet reward of the most devoted study and perseverance in professional duty. Gifted with a powerful physical organization he accomplished miracles of labor in the legal and political fields. He was fortunate in the sympathy and aid he received in both relations from his partners, Gen. Peaslee and Sidney Webster, Esq., and until the latter gen- tleman, in 1852, became the private Secretary of President Franklin Pierce, when the brief copartnery was dis- solved. In 1853 he formed another partnership with Judge William L. Fos- ter, with which Hon. Charles P. San- born, ex-Speaker of the New Hamp- shire House of Representatives, subse- quently became associate. The firms thus severally constituted held high reputation in the locality and state, and managed, with admirable skill, and great success, many of the prominent civil and criminal cases in Merrimack,
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