Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 05.djvu/36

 HALE

HALE

1810, which contains a stained glass window as a memorial. He was twice married: first to Pliebe, daughter of David and Phebe (Spoflford) Adams, who (180'J-15) became the mother of eleven children, including Mark, Thomas and Henry Hale; and secondlj' to Lucinda, daughter of Ephriam and Mary (Satford) Eddy, wlio bore him seven chil- dren, including 8a f- ford, Eddy, Robert Satford, William

Bainbridge and Mat- thew. Matthew was prepared for college at Bradford academy and was graduated with honors at the University of Ver- mont in 1851. He ^ ^ /- /? studied law in the

/7lp^0^//zLa^ office of Kellogg & Hale, Elizabethtown, N.Y. He was admitted to the bar in 1835 and practised in Pouglikeepsie, N.Y., 1835-55, in partnership with his brother Henry, who re- moved to St. Paul. Minn., in 1855 and with Gen. A. B. Smith. 1855-59. He removed to New York city in 1859 where he was a partner with Lot C. Clark, 1859-63. In 1863 he removed to Elizabeth- town, N.Y., and became a partner with the Hon. A. C. Hand, his father-in-law, and Richard L. Hand, as Hand & Hale. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of June, 1867, at Albany, N.Y., and was a member of the judi- cial committee of that body. He was state sena- tor. 1868-IJ9, and removed to Albany in 1868 where he l>ecame a partner in the law firm of Hand, Hale & Swartz. He represented the interests of Presi- dent Ram.sey in his suit with Fisk & Gould for the control of the Albany & Susquehanna railroad; the English stockholders of the Erie railway in their contest with Fisk & Gould, and the people in the canal suits instituted by Governor Tilden, and in the trial of John F. Smji;h before the state senate in 1878. He was also coimsel for the Central national bank of Boston; the General Burt estate ; the Delaware & Hud.son canal com- pany ; the New York, Lake Erie & Western rail- way; the Western Union telegraph company, and various other corporations. He was the Republican candidate for ju.stice of the supreme court in 1883; was a commissioner of appraise- ment of the Niagara Falls reservation in 1884; a commissioner to report upon the most humane method of capital punisliment in 1887; president of the state bar a.ssociation. 1890-91, and a charter member of the organization, and president of the New York state civil service reform league in

1893. He was a member of the leading clubs of Albany, and of New York city, including the Commonwealth, Reform and University. He was married in 1856 to Ellen S., daughter of Augustus C. Hand, and secondly in December, 1877, to Mary, daughter of Col. Francis L. Lee of Boston, Mass. He received the degree of LL. D. from the Universit}' of Vermont in 1883. He died in Albany, N.Y.. March 25, 1897.

HALE, Nathan, patriot spy, was born in Coventry, Conn., June 6, 1755; son of Deacon Richard and Elizabeth (Strong) Hale; grandson of Samuel and Apphia (Moody) Hale: great-grand- son of the Rev. John (Harvard, 1757) and Sarah (Noyes) Hale; and great ^ grandson of Deacon Robert Hale, who came to Massachusetts from Hertfordshire, England, in 1633, was among those who set off from the first church in Boston to form the first church in Charlestown in 1632; and was appointed sur- veyor of new plantations by the general court, serving until his death in 1659. Nathan Hale was educated for the min- istry, but after grad- uating from Yale in 1773 and teaching for two years, while con- tinuing liis studies, the news of tlie battle of Lex- ington fired his patriotic spirit and he addressed a public meeting called to gain a knowledge of

public sentiment, and in the course of his remarks he said : ' ' Let us march immediately and never lay down our arms until we have gained our independence." When the speak- ing was over he was among the first to enroll as a vohmteer in the cause of America. He was soon promoted lieutenant in the regiment of Col. Charles Webb, marched to Boston, and was an active participant in the siege of that city. He was promoted captain by brevet for gallantry in January, 1776. He restored order in hLs company by dividing among them his pay in order to secure their service for a month longer, was apix)inted to the 19th Continental regiment of foot, and wlien Boston was evacuated, March 17, 1776, he accompanied Washington's army to New York and took part in the battle of Long Island. While there, with a boafs crew of picked men, he defied the British man-of-war Asia, boarded a sloop under her guns, loaded with

!■ NATHAN HALE