William M. Evarts
| William Maxwell Evarts | |
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| In office March 12, 1877 – March 7, 1881 |
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| President | Rutherford B. Hayes |
| Preceded by | Hamilton Fish |
| Succeeded by | James G. Blaine |
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| In office July 17, 1868 – March 4, 1869 |
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| President | Andrew Johnson |
| Preceded by | Henry Stanberry |
| Succeeded by | Ebenezer R. Hoar |
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| In office March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1891 |
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| Preceded by | Elbridge G. Lapham |
| Succeeded by | David B. Hill |
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| Born | February 6, 1818 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Died | February 28, 1901 (aged 83) New York City, New York |
| Resting place | Ascutney Cemetery, Windsor, Vermont |
| Political party | Whig Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Helen Minerva Bingham Wardner |
| Alma mater | Yale College Harvard Law School |
| Profession | Law |
William Maxwell Evarts (February 6, 1818 – February 28, 1901) was an American lawyer and statesman who served as U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator from New York. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of author, editor, and Indian removal opponent Jeremiah Evarts, and the grandson of Declaration of Independence signer Roger Sherman.
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[edit] School, family, and early career
William attended Boston Latin School, graduated from Yale College in 1837 and then attended Harvard Law School. While at Yale he became a member of the secret society Skull and Bones, but later in life spoke out against such societies at the 1873 Yale commencement alumni meeting, claiming they bred snobbishness.[1][2]
He was admitted to the bar in New York in 1841, and soon took high rank in his profession. He married Helen Minerva Bingham Wardner in 1843. They had 12 children between 1845 and 1862, all born in New York City.
[edit] Political career
A Whig Party supporter before joining the fledgling Republican Party, Evarts was appointed an assistant United States district attorney and served from 1849-1853. In 1860 he was chairman of the New York delegation to the Republican National Convention where he placed Senator William H. Seward's name in nomination for President. In 1861 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate from New York. He was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1867-1868.
He was chief counsel for President Andrew Johnson during the impeachment trial, and from July 1868 until March 1869 he was Johnson's Attorney General. In 1872 he was counsel for the United States before the tribunal of arbitration on the Alabama claims at Geneva, Switzerland. Evarts was also a founding member of the New York City Bar Association, and served as its first president from 1870 to 1879, by far the longest tenure of any president since.
Evarts served as counsel for President-elect Rutherford B. Hayes, on behalf of the Republican Party, before the Electoral Commission in the disputed presidential election of 1876. During President Hayes's administration he was Secretary of State. He was a delegate to the International Monetary Conference at Paris 1881.
From 1885 to 1891 he was a U.S. Senator from New York]. While in Congress (49th, 50th and 51st Congresses), he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Library from 1887 to 1891. As an orator Senator Evarts stood in the foremost rank, and some of his best speeches were published.
He led the American fund-raising effort for the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty and spoke at its unveiling on October 28, 1886.
[edit] Retirement
Senator Evarts retired from public life due to ill health in 1891. He was also part of a law practice in New York City called Evarts, Southmoyd and Choate.
He owned a large number of properties in Windsor, Vermont including Evarts Pond and a group of historic homes often referred to as Evarts Estate. The homes included 26 Main St. in Windsor, Vermont. The home was purchased from John Skinner in the 1820s for $5,000 by William M. Evarts and was passed down to his daughter, Elizabeth Hoar Evarts Perkins, who left the home to family members, including her son Maxwell Perkins. The home stayed in the family until 2005. 26 Main Street in Windsor, Vermont was recently restored and reopened as Snapdragon Inn. Snapdragon Inn is open to the public and features a library that displays and collects items related to the history of William M. Evarts and his extended family.
He died in New York City and was buried at Ascutney Cemetery in Windsor, Vermont.
[edit] Extended family
William was a descendant of the English emigrant John Evarts, who settled in Northwestern Connecticut in the 17th century.
William was a member of the extended Baldwin, Hoar & Sherman family, which had many members in American politics.
Ebenezer R. Hoar, a first cousin of Evarts, was a U.S. Attorney General, Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and representative in Congress. The two were best friends, and shared similar professional pursuits and political beliefs. Each served, in succession, as United States Attorney General. Some of Evarts's other first cousins include U.S. Senator & Governor of the State of Connecticut, Roger Sherman Baldwin; U.S. Senator for Massachusetts (brother of Ebenezer R.) George F. Hoar; and California state senator and founding trustee of the University of California, Sherman Day.
Son Maxwell Evarts graduated from Yale College in 1884, where he was also a member of Skull and Bones. He served as a New York City District attorney, and then later as General Counsel for E. H. Harriman, which later became the Union Pacific Railroad, president of two (2) Windsor, VT banks, and the chief financial backer of the Gridley Automatic Lathe (manufactured by the Windsor Machine Co.). In politics, Maxwell served as a representative in the Vermont state legislature and was a Vermont State Fair Commissioner.
Allen Wardner Evarts, another son, graduated from Yale College in 1869. He supported the founding of Wolf's Head Society, and was first president of its alumni association and held the position for 20 years over two separate terms. He was a law partner, corporate president, and trustee of Vassar College.
Grandson Maxwell E. Perkins was the famed Charles Scribner's Sons editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and James Jones.
Great nephew Evarts Boutell Greene was the famed American historian appointed Columbia University's first De Witt Clinton Professor of History 1923, Department Chairman from 1926 to 1939. Chairman of the Columbia Institute of Japanese Studies, 1936–39. He was a noted authority on the American Colonial and Revolutionary War periods. Another relative, Henry Sherman Boutell, was a member of the Illinois state house of representatives, 1884; member of the U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1897 to 1911 (6th District 1897-1903, 9th District 1903-11); delegate, Republican National Convention from Illinois, 1908; U.S. Minister, Switzerland, 1911-13.
Great great nephew Roger Sherman Greene II, the son of Daniel Crosby Greene and Mary Jane (Forbes) Greene; was the U.S. Vice Consul in Rio de Janeiro, 1903–04; Nagasaki, 1904–05; Kobe, 1905; U.S. Consul in Vladivostok, 1907; Harbin, 1909–11; U.S. Consul General in Hankow, 1911-14.
Great great nephew Jerome Davis Greene (1874–1959): President, Lee, Higginson & Company from 1917 to 1932; Secretary, Harvard University Corporation from 1905 to 1910 & 1934-1943; General Manager of the Rockefeller Institute 1910-1012, assistant and secretary to John D. Rockefeller Jr. as Trustee, Rockefeller Institute; Trustee, Rockefeller Foundation; Trustee, Rockefeller General Education Board from 1910 to 1939. executive secretary, American Section - Allied Maritime Transport Council, 1918 Joint Secretary of the Reparations, Paris Peace Conference, 1919; Chairman, American Council Institute of Pacific Relations, 1929–32; Trustee, Brookings Institution of Washington from 1928 to 1945; and a founding member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Great-grandson Archibald Cox served as a U.S. Solicitor General and special prosecutor during President Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal, whereas Evarts defended a U.S. President Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial. In a sense, they both successfully argued their cases, which represent two of the three U.S. Presidential impeachment efforts. An impeachment trial was never held in Nixon's case, due to the president's resignation.
[edit] Sources
"Evarts, William Maxwell". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- William M. Evarts at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Sherman Evarts (editor/introduction), Arguments and Speeches of William Maxwell Evarts. In Three Volumes. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1919.
[edit] Popular culture
William M. Evarts was a running gag in the Jack Benny radio episode of 53-04-05 Easter Parade.
[edit] References
- ^ Alexandra Robbins, Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power, Little, Brown and Company, 2002, Robbins, page 131, 199.
- ^ Chester Leonard Barrows, William M. Evarts, Lawyer, Diplomat, Statesman, University of North Carolina press, 1941, page 12
[edit] External links
- Family tree of William Maxwell Evarts
- EVARTS, William Maxwell at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- William Maxwell Evarts Find A Grave
- The Ebenezer Hoar Papers
- Evarts, William Maxwell from 1818 to 1901. Papers from 1849 to 1887 Harvard Law School Library
- Eulogy on Chief-Justice Chase by William Maxwell Evarts at Project Gutenberg Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase
- Sherman Genealogy Including Families of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, England By Thomas Townsend Sherman
- Hoar-Baldwin-Foster-Sherman family of Massachusetts at Political Graveyard
Works related to William M. Evarts at Wikisource- Snapdragon Inn, Former home of William M. Evarts in Windsor, Vermont
| Legal offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Henry Stanberry |
United States Attorney General Served under: Andrew Johnson 1868–1869 |
Succeeded by Ebenezer R. Hoar |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Hamilton Fish |
United States Secretary of State Served under: Rutherford B. Hayes March 12, 1877–March 7, 1881 |
Succeeded by James G. Blaine |
| United States Senate | ||
| Preceded by Elbridge G. Lapham |
United States Senator (Class 3) from New York 1885–1891 Served alongside: Warner Miller, Frank Hiscock |
Succeeded by David B. Hill |
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