Biographies of Hillsborough County, NH citizens

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Biography of Charles Gordon Atherton

ATHERTON, Charles Gordon (1804—1853)
Senate Years of Service: 1843-1849; 1853-1853
Party: Democrat

ATHERTON, Charles Gordon, (son of Charles Humphrey Atherton), a Representative and a Senator from New Hampshire; born in Amherst, Hillsborough County, N.H., July 4, 1804; graduated from Harvard University in 1822; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1825 and commenced practice in Dunstable (now Nashua), N.H.; member of the State house of representatives 1830 and 1833-1835, serving as speaker 1833-1835; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-fifth and the two succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1837-March 3, 1843); did not seek reelection in 1842, having become a candidate for Senator; elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat in 1843, and served from March 4, 1843, to March 3, 1849; chairman, Committee on Printing (Twenty-ninth Congress), Committee on Roads and Canals (Twenty-ninth Congress), Committee on Finance (Thirtieth Congress); resumed the practice of law in Nashua; again elected to the United States Senate in 1852 for the term beginning March 4, 1853, took the oath of office on March 4, 1853, and served until his death in Manchester, N.H., November 15, 1853; interment in Nashua Cemetery, Nashua, N.H.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
Submitted by A. Newell

ATHERTON, Charles Humphrey
(1773—1853)

ATHERTON, Charles Humphrey, (father of Charles Gordon Atherton), a Representative from New Hampshire; born in Amherst, Hillsborough County, N.H., August 14, 1773; attended the common schools and was graduated from Harvard University in 1794; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1797 and commenced practice in Amherst; register of probate 1798-1807; elected as a Federalist to the Fourteenth Congress (March 4, 1815-March 3, 1817); declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1816; member of the State house of representatives 1823-1839; resumed the practice of law; died in Amherst, N.H., January 8, 1853; interment in the Old Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present
Contributed by A. Newell

NATHANIEL HOLMES.
Nathaniel Holmes was born in Peterboro, New Hampshire, in 1814. In 1825, he began the study of Latin at Chester Academy, and a few years later, he returned to Peterboro, where he attended school. He next was sent by his parents to the Academy at New Ipswich, New Hampshire, from which he graduated in 1830. We next find him at Philips Exeter, from 1830 to 1833, and then at Harvard College. In 1837 he graduated at Harvard, and the same year went south and was employed as a private tutor in Maryland. He then returned to Cambridge and spent a year in the Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar in Boston, in 1839.
Removing to St. Louis, he opened a law office in that city in 1841, continuing in practice until 1865. In June of that year, he was appointed one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State of Missouri. He held this position until 1868, when he resigned to accept a professor ship in the Harvard Law School. In 1871, he returned to St. Louis, where he resumed the practice of law. Early in the eighties, he re moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he lived quietly, spending the time mostly in reading and study. Later on, he removed to Boston, where he died on February 27th, 1901. His remains have since been interred at Peterboro, New Hampshire, the place of his birth.
Judge Holmes was one of the founders of the St. Louis Academy of Science in 1856 (an institution which is still flourishing an honor and a credit to St. Louis), and during a number of years from 1870 until the day of his death - was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He published three works : " The Authorship of Shakespeare s Plays", in two volumes (New York, 1866), in which, following in the footsteps of Delia Bacon, he undertook to prove that Lord Bacon wrote the plays that are credited to Shakespeare. The theory was not a new one, but Judge Holmes arguments are far more logical and plausible than those advanced by any other supporter of Lord Bacon s claim, even to this day. While Ignatius Donnelly, Doctor Orville W. Owen and others ran sacked the Shakespeare folios for hidden ciphers, internal evidences, etc., Judge Holmes (true to his legal training) argues the question and seeks to produce only such evidence as is in favor of his client. * The Authorship of Shakespeare" is by far the most intellectual work in the Shakespeare-Bacon controversial literature. Its appearance created quite a literary sensation in the East and in England.
He next published, "Realistic Idealism in Philosophy Itself", in two volumes (Boston, 1888). I have heard him insist that this is his best work. His last contribution to literature was a large volume on " The Philosophy of the Universe ". A tall, silent, gloomy man, he, was a brave young lawyer, indeed, who could stand up before him in court and argue his case without trepidation and fear !
[Submitted by Janice Rice]