THE SUPREME COURT OF MAINE.
II.
By Charles Hamlin.
Ether Shepley, the fourth Chief-Justice was a native of Groton, Mass., where he was born Nov. 2, 1789. He was the second son of John Shepley and Mary Gibson Thurlow. On his mother's side he was the grandson of Captain Thurlow of the Revolutionary Army.
The Shepleys came from Yorkshire, England, and their earliest representative appears at Salem, Mass., about 1637. In 1700 the name of John Sheple is found at Groton. Ether was his lineal descendant in the sixth degree. The race was sturdy and vigorous, and the family one of the best from which New England derives all that it reveres for character and ability. For many years the Shepleys were prominent in public affairs. Mr. Willis in his "Lawyers of Maine" says Ether's father was an orderly sergeant in a company in the Revolution, held several town offices, was a farmer, fond of reading and a man of general information.
Ether Shepley was fitted for college at Groton Academy under Caleb Butler, and having entered Dartmouth was graduated in 1811. Daniel Poor, the missionary, Professor Park of the Harvard Law School, and Amos Kendall, Postmaster-General, were among his classmates. For two years he read law in the office of Dudley Hubbard, at South Berwick, assisting that gentleman in his large collection business. Later he pursued his studies with Zabdiel B. Adams in Worcester county, and Solomon Strong in Hampshire. He began to practice at Saco in 18 14, after his admission to the bar. He soon took the lead among the young practitioners and easily retained that position by his industry, close application and practical ability, all which served to givehim a high social standing in the community. In 18 19 he became interested in politics, the prominent question being that of the separation, and was chosen to represent Saco in the General Court, and member of the convention that drafted the Constitution of Maine. In February, 1821, he was appointed U. S. District Attorney and served with ability for twelve years, through Munroe's second term, the whole of Adams's, and the first four years of Jackson's administration.
In 1833, he was elected to the U.S. Senate as the successor of John Holmes, and proved to be an able representative, distinguishing himself as a supporter of President Jackson. The Democratic leaders in the Senate felt themselves unequal in debate to Clay and his followers who were allied with Calhoun; they welcomed the advent of a speaker like Mr. Shepley. Early as January, 1834, he made a three days' speech sustaining the President's removal of deposits, the all-exciting event of the time. " In the new senator," writes Gov. I. Washburn, Jr., " they found a Democrat of the strictest sect, a man who believed in the uses and functions of party, and of the merit that attached to an intelligent allegiance to party, and who was prepared to do manful battle for it." . . . "But he never permitted his action to be controlled by his party ties in opposition to his real convictions." . . . " His clear and logical mind would be satisfied only with the orderly marshalling of facts, and the sober and severe processes of dialectics. He participated but seldom in the general debates, and spoke only at considerable length on important and pressing questions."
His most cogent and thoroughly convincing-
