impartial. He had no friends to reward, and no enemies to punish, and the blind goddess herself could not hold the scales of justice more impartially. The law and the evidence were the only factors he regarded in reaching his conclusions, which, in the main, were just and correct.

So far as my experience has extended, he was kind and courteous to the younger members of the profession, and willingly opened to them the storehouse of his mind. Delighting always in the discussion of doubtful points of law, his suggestions furnished valuable guides in research.

For twelve years from 1872, he was editor of the Northern Sentinel, a newspaper published at Colebrook, and it was conceded that he wielded the ablest pen of any editor in northern New Hampshire. But in this field he was true to his own peculiar convictions, from which he never swerved on account of policy, interest, or friendship. This fact did not enlarge the circle of his patrons, and his paper did not bring him financial success.

In 1884 he resumed the practice of law and continued it until his death in. April, 1895. And, although he may have wanted some of the elements of success, some of the flexibility or tact necessary for securing and holding desirable clients, so far as loyalty to his profession and to the science of law is concerned, the jealous mistress must be fully appeased as she contemplates his life work. If the fleeting years, the whitening locks, and lengthening shadows failed to lift wholly from his life that

"portion of the weight of care

That crushes into dumb despair,
One half the human race,"

his zeal in the study of his profession did not in the least abate. He continued his researches in legal works with almost the enthusiasm of youth, to his latest days. In fact, the greatest enjoyment life brought him seemed to be derived from his continued, unremitting explorations in the storehouses of the law. He ever dwelt in the shadow

of its great temples. He admired the structure, he reverenced the work, he venerated the relics, and he explored its winding labyrinths and deepest recesses. He delved

eagerly in its rich mines, he descended into its deep wells, and drank at its fountains. He lingered long and devotedly around, within, and about, the courts of the inner temple. He brought the choicest offerings life had given him to its shrines, and there paid his deepest devotions. He was a faithful devotee to the principles of the law, and a glad 'participator in all the ministrations around its altars.

He was a prominent Odd Fellow, and in the Mystic Order of Masonry he stood among the highest in his section, and had occupied all its positions of trust and responsibility. He was enthusiastic in its rites and ceremonies, devoted to its creed and teachings, constant in his attendance, zealous in the welfare of the order, and loyal to all its tenets and principles. In a word, he was true and faithful to the end to his chosen standards and ideals, and such a life cannot be regarded as unsuccessful.

GEORGE A. COSSITT.

BY HON. C. B. JORDAN.

In the year 1690 René Cossitt was born in Place Vendome, in Paris. He was the ancestor of all who bear the name of Cossitt in the United States. By repute he was a man of no mean extraction. He was educated at the University of Paris. He left France to look after family possessions near Three Rivers, Canada. Afterwards he visited the British colonies here, and while at New Haven, Conn., became acquainted with Miss Ruth Porter, from whom he obtained a promise of marriage upon condition that he should return to live no more in his native France.

Most favorable representations of him have come down to the present time, from reliable sources; and the testimony of those who knew him best is that he was a man of marked character, ability, and enterprise. About 1716 he married Miss Porter. She, too, was finely educated for those times. They settled in Simsbury, now Granby, Conn. Here he bought real estate, in 1725, and made for himself and his own a valuable home, which for generations was kept in the family. Although educated a Romanist himself, his family early united with the Protestant Episcopal church.

He had a son, René Cossitt, born at Granby, September 3, 1722. This son became eminent as a preacher and teacher, and I might say here that the history of the whole Cossitt family shows them to have had great aptitude in preaching and teaching, in founding schools, colleges, and

churches. Among the members are found graduates from Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale, and other colleges. Their labors extended into the South, the West, and the Provinces. They were a hardy, abstemious people, and lived to a great age,many and many of them passing the ninety-year milestone before they were called home. They were a dignified, courtly race, graceful and suave in manner, and they imparted information as easily as they absorbed it.

This René, 2d, married Phoebe Hilliar, and to them was born, December 29, 1744, another René Cossitt, jr., who became distinguished as a preacher and organizer. He went to London for his orders, and took them from the Bishop of London in 1773. In 1774 he officiated at St. Andrews parish in Simsbury, Conn. About that time we find him registered in the official list as incumbent of Haverhill parish, N. H., and soon he came to Claremont with an appointment from London for the propagation of the gospel here. Very likely he came here through the influence of Mr. Samuel Cole, whose two daughters had already married two brothers of the preacher, and were then residing in Claremont. He was a Royalist, and for that reason was at once the object of suspicion, and later, of no little abuse. He would not take sides with either party in the conflict then beginning between the colonies and the mother country. The committee of safety for some time forbade his preaching, performing marriage ceremony, or taking part in any public speaking or exercises in the United States. He would neither take up arms against the king, nor against those striving for independence. He desired to live at peace with both the new and the old government. After the war he took up his residence in Nova Scotia, where he died. The Claremont people and records to-day pay tribute to his exalted character, his sublime Christian faith, and to his great work for the church. Two of his cousins, sons of Francois Cossitt, died in the Revolutionary War.

His brother, Ambrose Cossitt, was born September 17,

1749, married Anne Catherine Cole, daughter of Rev. Samuel Cole of Claremont, in 1776. He was a man of influence as a citizen, lawyer, judge, and a gentleman of the old school. He died July 9, 1809. He had a son, Ambrose, born August 28, 1785, who married Martha Walker, September 29, 1805. He, too, lived to a ripe age, dying at 81. Like his honored father, he was influential as a lawyer, a judge, and for many years was president of the bank at Claremont.

His oldest son was George Ambrose Cossitt, the fifth generation in unbroken line from the first René Cossitt, and first ancestor in this country. This George A. is the man of whom we speak to-day. He was born in Claremont, May 31, 1807. He had all the advantages of the schools of his town, of that day, and took a course in a Catholic institution then in existence in Claremont. He had the run of his father's law office, and was something of a lawyer ere he was hardly aware of it. He also derived much benefit from his father's stock of knowledge and experience in banking, so that we find the subject of our sketch more than ordinarily equipped for the business of those times.

When Lafayette paid his last visit to the country he had done so much to save, his route lay through Claremont. Judge Ambrose Cossitt was of the committee to make suitable arrangements for welcoming the old hero. George A., who was then man grown, was presented to the general, and to his son, who was accompanying him. Not long since Mr. Cossitt gave me an interesting and vivid account of the meeting; how the general looked, acted, spoke, and many incidents of the day so proud to a boy of seventeen, as well as to many older ones.

Mr. Cossitt came to Whitefield in 1834, where his sister Lucy, who had married Morris Clark in 1830, was then living; and to Lancaster in 1836. In 1849, he married Susan Slade Moray, a lovely woman, who died June 15, 1860. Their only child, Charlotte, is the wife of Dr. O. H. Kimball of