Biography of Judge Loyed Ellis Chamberlain

Conspicuous on the roll of representative lawyers and justices of Southeastern Massachusetts is the name of Judge Loyed Ellis Chamberlain, of Brockton. Judge Chamberlain is descended on both paternal and maternal sides from old New England ancestry. His father, born in Maine, came of Massachusetts antecedents, and his mother was a native of Plympton, Massachusetts. Through the families of Wright (surname of his mother’s house), Cooper and Sampson, he is descended from forebears who came to the Colonies in the “Mayflower” and the “Fortune.” William Wright, progenitor of the Wright family in America, was aboard the latter vessel, the date of his landing having been 1621. His son Richard married a daughter of Francis Cooke, who came aboard the “Mayflower”; and Richard Wright’s son Adam married a daughter of John Soule, of Duxbury. Abraham Sampson, who was a passenger from England about 1629, was a brother of Henry Sampson of the “Mayflower’s” company, and John Cooper, of Scituate, 1634, married in that year Priscilla Wright, widow of William Wright, daughter of Alexander Carpenter and sister of Alice, second wife of Governor Bradford. The Chamberlain line to Judge Chamberlain of Brockton is as follows:

(I) Joseph Chamberlain, of Dracut, Massachusetts, married one of the given name Lydia. Their children were three, among them, the youngest, Joseph (2). Joseph Chamberlain died January 31, 1759.

(II) Joseph Chamberlain (2) was born November 17, 1722. He married Priscilla Colburn, of Dracut, daughter of William and Tabitha Colburn, and it is recorded that they had no fewer than two children, of whom the son was Silas. Joseph Chamberlain (2) died January 9, 1759 or 1760.

(III) Silas Chamberlain was born June 20, 1760, at Dracut, and removed to Minot, now Auburn, Maine, where he died, October 23, 1813, having married Susanna Jones, and left seven children, of whom one was Aaron.

(IV) Aaron Chamberlain was born March 8, 1793, at Minot, now Auburn, Maine, there spent his life at farming, and died, August 17, 1869, having wed Janette M. Dunham, daughter of Jonathan and Hannah Dunham, of Brunswick, Maine. Of this union were born nine children, one of them:

(V) Robert Manlius Chamberlain, born January 27, 1824, at Minot, now Auburn, Maine. He followed the trade of carpenter and cabinetmaker through life. Coming to North Bridgewater in 1858, he was employed for a number of years by Marston and Chandler, manufacturers of cabinet organs, and in later years was engaged as carpenter by John A. Jackson. In early life he was an old-line Whig, but in time allied himself with the Republicans. Robert Manlius Chamberlain married, April 27, 1848, Eliza A. Wright, who was born April 22, 1825, a daughter of Barzillai Wright, of Plympton. Mr. Chamberlain died in Brockton, August 20, 1892; Mrs. Chamberlain, in May, 1898. They were the parents of the following children: 1. Priscilla W., born October 24, 1849; married (first) Henry Otis Wright, and (second) Augustine A. Delano. 2. Eveline J., born November 21, 1853, was a graduate of the State Normal School at Bridgewater, and engaged in teaching in Brockton, where she died. 3. Judge Loyed Ellis, of whom follows. 4. Leslie R., who died in infancy. 5. Minnietta H., born March 29, 1860; married V. Harry Fairey, of Brockton. 6. Carrie L., born May 22, 1862; married Charles C. Case, of Raynham, Massachusetts; mother of a daughter, Annie L. Case.

(VI) Of the sixth generation from Joseph Chamberlain, third child and eldest son of Robert Manlius and Eliza A. (Wright) Chamberlain, Judge Loyed Ellis Chamberlain was born January 30, 1856, at Plympton, and was but eighteen months old when his parents came to North Bridgewater, now Brockton. Here he graduated from high school, in 1875, and took up the study of law, in the office of White and Suntner. Also, for two years, he pursued general studies beyond high school, while with the law firm, and later took the Chautauqua four years’ course in Brockton. In 1877 he was admitted to the bar of Plymouth County; in 1880 began practice; in 1882 formed a partnership with Eliot L. Packard, with whom he continued two years; in 1884 resumed in dependent practice, and in 1896 went into partnership with Elmer H. Fletcher, forming the law firm of Chamberlain and Fletcher, which endured many years, until 1907, with Judge Chamberlain as senior.

Judge Chamberlain has been chosen repeatedly to high official positions. He was appointed Judge of the Brockton Police Court upon its establishment in 1885, and retained the position until 1897, when he resigned, having been elected to the State Senate from the Second Plymouth District. In the Upper House he served four consecutive terms, during which time he w r as a member of several important commit tees. In 1891 he was chosen Brockton City Solicitor, and served in that post until 1895, when he resigned it due to ill health. In the fall of 1907 he was appointed Judge of the Probate Court of Plymouth County, to succeed the late Benjamin W. Harris, and has continued to preside as justice of this court through the more than twenty years succeeding. A Republican, he has fully performed the duties of a good citizen, and has been particularly interested in municipal affairs. For years he has been a member of the Plymouth County Club, a Republican and social organization, having served several terms as secretary. Formerly, for an extensive period, he was president of the Young Men’s Republican Club. Before prohibition he was a strict advocate of temperance, served four years as treasurer of the Good Templars’ Association, which he represented in Canada and in Scotland at international meetings, the latter having taken place in 1891, at Edinburgh. He was also active in the No-License League of Brockton, of which organization he was president for ten years, until 1908; formerly president of the Brockton Industrial Association, served on the School Committee, and for several years was president of the Brockton High School Alumni Association. For ten years he was president of the Brockton Board of Trade, and for a period was president of the Massachusetts State Board of Trade. In 1906-7 he was a delegate to the peace conference held at Lake Mohonk, and in the former year was delegate to the Seventeenth Annual Peace Congress held at Milan, Italy, and again, 1908, to the Nineteenth Annual Peace Congress, at London, England. Judge Chamberlain has taken a deep and earnest interest in the inland waterways, and was vice-president of the Rivers and Waters Congress, holding similar office in the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association. He is a fluent, eloquent and learned speaker, and is frequently invited to address gatherings of various kinds.

Judge Chamberlain is prominent fraternally in the Free and Accepted Masons. He is Past Senior Warden of Paul Revere Lodge; member of Satucket Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; Brockton Council, Royal and Select Masters, and Bay State Commandery, Knights Templar, of Brockton. Socially, he is a member and president of the Brockton Rotary Club, and a member of the Commercial Club, of which he was formerly vice-president. He is identified with the Young Men’s Christian Association, and for a number of years was a trustee of the State Insane Asylum at Taunton. Financially, his interests are rather extensive. He was one of the incorporators of the Peoples Savings Bank, of Brockton, and remains connected with the institution, now being a member of its board of trustees. He attends the Porter Congregational Church.

Judge Chamberlain married, August 26, 1890, Mina C. Miller, daughter of Alden and Caroline (Cushing) Miller, of Camden, Maine; and of this union were born two sons: 1. Leslie C., born July 11, 1891, graduate of Brockton High School. 2. Frederick L.. born July 2, 1899. The family residence is at No. 143 Highland Street, Brockton.