Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Clifford, John Henry

CLIFFORD, John Henry, governor of Massachusetts, b. in Providence, R. I., 16 Jan., 1809; d. in New Bedford, Mass., 2 Jan., 1876. He was graduated at Brown in 1827, studied law, and settled in New Bedford, and soon acquired an extensive practice. In 1835 he became a member of the Massachusetts legislature, and in 1862 was president of the senate. From 1849 till 1858 he was attorney-general of the state, except during the years 1853-'4, when he filled the office of governor. Among the prominent cases in which he acted for the state was the prosecution of Prof. John W. Webster, of Harvard, for the murder of Dr. George Parkman in 1850. In 1867 he retired from the legal profession and became president of the Boston and Providence railroad company. He received the degree of LL. D. from Brown in 1849, Amherst in 1853, and Harvard in 1853. For several years he was president of the board of overseers of Harvard.