American jurist, born in Scituate, MA, on the 1st of March 1732. He studied law; was made attorney-general of Massachusetts; judge of probate of Lincoln County, ME, in 1768; judge of the superior court of Massachusetts in 1772, and chief justice in 1777. In 1789 he was appointed associate justice of the United States, and in 1796 declined the chief justiceship. Before the Revolution he was almost alone among the superior officers in supporting the cause of independence. He was one of the founders of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He died at Scituate on the 13th of September 1810.
