Pliny T. Merrick (1794 - 1867) Attorney and Judge of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts 1953 - 1864.
Early History
editPliny T. Merrick (1794 - 1867,) son of Hon. Pliny Merrick and Ruth Cutler Merrick[1] was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts August 2, 1794. He was married May 23, 1821 to Rebecca Thomas, daughter of Isaiah Thomas, Jr. of Worcester; she died June 17, 1859. They had no children.[2]
Judicial Career
editAfter graduation from Harvard University in 1814, Pliny T. Merrick was admitted to the Worcester bar in 1817. He practiced law in Worcester, Charlton, Swansea and Taunton until June, 1824, when he returned to Worcester. He served as Worcester County's district attorney from 1824 through 1843. In 1844 he was Judge of the Municipal Court. In 1843 he was named a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He resigned this appointment in 1848, and was reappointed in 1851. In 1949-50 he was senior defense counsel (co-counsel with Edward Dexter Sohier) in the trial of Harvard University Professor John White Webster, accused of murdering of Harvard patron Dr. George Parkman. The prosecutors for the trial were John H. Clifford, then Massachusetts Attorney-General and the prosecutor of all capital murder cases, and George Bemis, Esq, and independent attorney. In 1853 Judge Merrick was promoted to the bench of the Supreme Judicial Court by the same John H. Clifford, now Governor of Massachusetts (served 1853-1854.) He received the degree of LL.D. from Harvard in 1853. He served on the bench of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court until 1864. [3] .[4]
He was a representative of Worcester County in both branches of the state legislature. He was an Overseer of Harvard University from 1852-1856.He also served for two years as president of the Worcester and Nashua Railroad. In 1855 Judge Merrick moved to Boston and lived there until his death 1867. [5] [6]
John White Webster Trial
editIn 1849-50 Judge Merrick was senior defense counsel in the Parkman-Webster murder case The gruesome murder drew national attention and although Judge Merrick lost the case, he received much notoriety for the case.
The Boston Globe reported Merrick's response, that upon the verdict, "In a moment or two, his senior counsel, Judge MERRICK, to the dock, and addressed a few words to the prisoner, to which, so far as we could judge, he replied.— Judge Merrick was deeply affected, and so agitated that he could hardly stand."[7]
Anti-Masonic Movement
editJudge Merrick was an active promoter of the Anti-Masonic Party. The party developed in the early nineteenth century, opposing political leaders who were members of secretive Masonic/Masonary brotherhoods. Masonic members held political views on the role of the government and how the country should expand. The Anti-Masonic Party opposed those views as moving away from the original founding fathers intent. Judge Merrick renounced Free Masonry in 1832.[8] The party was the precursor to the Whig Party/Whig Party (United States) from 1833-1856.[9]
Death
edit
Judge Merrick died of paralysis in Boston on January 31, 1867, in his 73rd year. His obituary in the New York Times (2/4/1867) stated: "In 1864 an attack of paralysis obliged him to resign his seat on the Bench. His mind, however, had remained unclouded until a second and fatal attack a few days later..."[10] He bequeathed a fund for the establishment of schools of high grade in Worcester.[11]
References
edit- ^ [Merrick, George B. Genealogy of the Merrick-Mirick-Myrick Family 1636 - 1902, Tracy, Gibbs & Company, Madison, Wis.1902. pg 301.]
- ^ [ History of Worchester County, Massachusetts, Comprehensive History of the County from its First Settlement to the Present Time, C. F. Jewett and Company, Boston, 1879, Volume II, Chapter XII, pgs 633-4.]
- ^ [Merrick, George B. Genealogy of the Merrick-Mirick-Myrick Family 1636 - 1902, Tracy, Gibbs & Company, Madison, Wis.1902. pg 301.]
- ^ [ History of Worchester County, Massachusetts, Comprehensive History of the County from its First Settlement to the Present Time, C. F. Jewett and Company, Boston, 1879, Volume II, Chapter XII, pgs 633-4.]
- ^ [Merrick, George B. Genealogy of the Merrick-Mirick-Myrick Family 1636 - 1902, Tracy, Gibbs & Company, Madison, Wis.1902. pg 301.]
- ^ [ History of Worchester County, Massachusetts, Comprehensive History of the County from its First Settlement to the Present Time, C. F. Jewett and Company, Boston, 1879, Volume II, Chapter XII, pgs 633-4.]
- ^ [The Trial of Prof. John W. Webster Indicted for the Murder of Dr. George Parkman, Reported for the Boston Journal, Redding & Company, Boston, MA 1850, pg.55.]
- ^ [Merrick, Pliny T. Renunciation of Free Masonry, Worcester, MA 1871.]
- ^ [Holt, Michael F. "The Antimasonic and Know Nothing Parties," in History of U.S. Political Parties, ed. Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (1999), p. 231.]
- ^ [Obituary, New York Times, February 4, 1867.]
- ^ [www.famousamericans.net/plinymerrick/]
Other Sources
editMacoy, Robert. "A Dictionary of Freemasonry" Mercy Books, NY. 2000.
www.biblebelievers.org.au/masons.htm
Image Judge Pliny T. Merrick from "The Disappearance of Dr. Parkman" Robert Sullivan, Little, Brown and Company, Boston 1971, pg. 58
{{Lifetime|1794|1867|Merrick, Pliny T.}} Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Massachusetts lawyers Category:Know Nothing