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5 U.S. Monthly L. Mag. 507 (1852)
Hon. Nathan Weston, LL.D.

handle is hein.journals/usmlwm5 and id is 519 raw text is: Nathan Weston, LL.D., of Maine. 507 men of wit and genius, or those who could appreciate such qualities in others, looking over the surviving bar, exclaimed with a sigh- The blaze of wit, the flash of bright intelligence, The beam of social eloquence, Sunk with Is sun. HON. NATHAN WESTON, LL.D., CHIEF-JUSTICE OF MAINE. THE subject of this memoir was born in that part of Hallowell which now constitutes the city of Augusta, in July, 1782. He was the fourth in descent from Johm Weston, who emigrated from Buckinghamshire, in England, twenty years after the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at Plymouth, and finally setled at Reading, Massachusetts,,about twelve miles from Boston. The family were distinguished for their piety, and somewhat remarkable for longevity. His father was an enterprising, active man, of varied experience through a long life. After a campaign or two, in the old French war, prior to the capture of Quebec, he emigrated to Maine, which then con- tained a small and scattered population. Before the Revolution he was the owner of Abicadassit Point, on Kennebec River, where he resi- ded, engaging principally in commerce, and sometimes obtaining masts for the king's ships, from the fine timber then to he found on Eastern River, a branch of the Kennebec. Near the close of the Revolutionary War he removed to what is now Augusta. He was, at one period, a public man, and in successive years a member of the House, Senate, and Council of Massachusetts. In 1781 he married the mother of the chief-justice. She was the daughter of Samuel Bancroft, Esq., of Read- ing, and sister of the late Dr. Bancroft. With her, although his third wife, he lived fifty years. She had previously married Mr. Cheever, of Salem, where she lived eight years, until his decease. Two children of this marriage survived, one of whom was the father of Dr. Cheever, of New-York. Of her first husband she was accustomed to relate an anecdote, which it may not be improper to introduce for its historical interest. Prior to the battle of Lexington, Gov. Gage had sent a small force to seize certain military stores which had been collected at Salem. The citizens were apprised of the movement, and determined to resist it. While they were removing a plank'from a bridge, over which the detachment had to pass, Mr. Cheever received a slight wound from the' bayonet of a British soldier, who was at once thrown into the stream by the citi. zens. The force having no orders, probably, to proceed to extremities, retreated, without effecting their object. There is little doubt that the first blood shed in the drama of the Revolution flowed from the veins of Mr. Cheever. Judge Weston's mother had a strong and cultivated mind; her father was the leading man in his town, which he represented many years in the General Court during the stirring scenes which preceded

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