Mount Auburn’s Notable Jurists
Mount Auburn’s Notable Jurists “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the Supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.” - Constitution of the United Staes, Article VI. Sec. 2 “It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. . . . If two laws conflict with each other, the courts must decide on the operation of each. . . .This is the very essence of judicial duty.” - Marbury v. Madison, 1803
Mount Auburn Cemetery is the final resting place of some notable jurists who had a hand in the creation of the laws and policies that shaped Massachusetts and the nation at large. One jurist, Joseph Story, helped found Mount Auburn in 1831, and gave the Cemetery’s consecration address on September 24 that year. Soon after he served as the Cemetery’s first president, all while teaching at Harvard Law School and serving as an associate justice on the United States Supreme Court. On September 22, 2009, the U.S. Postal Service commemorated the contributions of four U.S. Supreme Court associate justices when it issued stamps featuring Story, Felix Frankfurter, Louis D. Brandeis, and William J. Brennan, Jr. Today we honor Story, Frankfurter, and other justices now buried at Mount Auburn.
United States Supreme Court Justices 1. Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965) U.S. Supreme Court 1939-1962 Story Chapel Columbarium, Alcove E For three decades prior to his 1939 appointment his politics were openly progressive yet once on the Supreme Court he became known for his brand of judicial restraint. As one of the most controversial justices of his time he hired the Court’s first African-American law clerk in 1948. From 1914 to 1939 he taught at Harvard Law School and influenced many former students to pursue careers in public service. 2. Joseph Story (1779-1845) U.S. Supreme Court 1811-1845 Narcissus Path, Lot #313 Appointed in 1811 at age 32 he remains the youngest Supreme Court appointee in its history. His most important opinion, Martin v. Hunter’s Lessee, (1816) established the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court over the state courts. Story wrote 300 opinions including United States v. The Amistad (1841) thereby ensuring freedom for a group of Africans sold into slavery. In 1829 he became the first Dane Professor of Law at Harvard College. He was also one of the founders of Mount Auburn Cemetery in 1831 and served as its first president.
3. Horace Gray (1828-1902) U.S. Supreme Court 1882-1902; Massachusetts Supreme Court 1864-1873, Chief Justice 1873-1881 Hemlock Path, Lot #1087 Gray studied law at Harvard and in 1864 became the youngest person ever appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Court. Nine years later he became its Chief Justice. He is best known for his opinion in United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) which stated that a person born in the United States to foreign parents was a citizen and could not be barred from returning to the country. 4. Benjamin Robbins Curtis (1809-1874) U.S. Supreme Court 1851-1857 Olive Path, Lot #532 After serving in Congress, Curtis was appointed to the Court in 1851. His most notable opinion was his dissent in the case of Scott v. Sandiford, (1857). He argued in this Dred Scott case that AfricanAmericans could not be denied citizenship because they had voted in several states, northern and southern at the founding of the United States. The rancor of fellow justices over this dissent led to his decision to resign and return to private practice, the first Supreme Court Justice to do so. He later served as the lead defense counsel in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson.
Massachusetts Supreme Court Justices 5. Charles Jackson (1775-1855) Massachusetts Supreme Court 1813-1824 Lime Avenue, Lot #2147 Jackson graduated from Harvard in 1793 and studied law with Theophilus Parsons (#10). He helped defeat a measure that would have made church attendance mandatory by law. In 1832 he led a state commission to make the first general revisions of the Statutes of Massachusetts. One of his grandchildren was U. S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841-1935). 6. Richard Fletcher (1788-1869) Massachuetts Supreme Court 1848-1853 Arethusa Path, Lot #2629 Fletcher studied law under Daniel Webster (1782-1852) in New Hampshire and joined the bar in Boston in 1819. He successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court against Harvard College’s exclusive franchise on bridging the Charles River between Charlestown and Boston. Elected to Congress in 1837, he was shocked by the immorality of some of his colleagues and refused reelection. 7. Charles Devens (1820-1891) Massachusetts Supreme Court 1873-1877 & 1881-1891 Tulip Path, Lot #1594 Devens was a state senator before he became a U.S. Marshal of Massachusetts in 1849. In this capacity he was required, despite his antislavery views, to supervise the return of escaped slave Thomas Sims to the south in 1851. In 1855 he attempted to buy Sims’s freedom. Devens served as a brigadier general during the Civil War and after his return in to Boston in 1865 later served as a Superior Court judge. In 1873 he was appointed to the Massachusetts Supreme Court and served for the rest of his life – excluding the time he served as U.S. Attorney General during the President Hayes administration. While he was Attorney General, Devens secured a government position for Sims, who was freed during the war.
8. Lemuel Shaw (1781-1861) Massachusetts Supreme Court 1830-1860 Harebell Path, Lot #3108 Everyone’s choice for one of the most influential state judges, Shaw was admitted to the bar in 1804 and practiced in Boston. He authored the Charter of the City of Boston, dated March 4, 1822. He served in Congress and the state senate before he was appointed Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1830. He wrote the unanimous opinion in Commonwealth v. Aves (1836) stating that “slavery was contrary to natural right”, and that a slave brought to Massachusetts could not be forcibly detained or removed. In Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) he authored the decision exempting labor unions from the criminal conspiracy law. He ruled on the Commonwealth v. Webster (1850) case in which Harvard Professor John Webster was tried for the murder of Dr. George Parkman. In that case Shaw historically defined “reasonable doubt.” 9. Isaac Parker (1768-1830) Massachusetts Supreme Court 1806-1830, Chief Justice 1814-1830 Snowdrop Path, Lot #1506 Parker graduated from Harvard in 1786 and moved to Maine to practice law. After serving one term in Congress, he became U.S. Marshal of Maine in 1797. In 1806 he was appointed Associate Justice to the Massachusetts Supreme court. He was promoted to Chief Justice in 1814 and served until his death. He was the first Royall Professor of Law at Harvard in 1816 and in the following year he presented a plan to Harvard to create a separate Law school. He continued to lecture at Harvard until he retired in 1827. 10. Theophilus Parsons (1750-1813) Massachusetts Supreme Court Chief Justice 1806-1813 Greenbrier Path, Lot #608 After Harvard, Parsons learned law while teaching school in Maine. He was involved in shaping and ratifying the 1788 Massachusetts Constitution. In 1806 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court and he held that position until his death. He began compiling judicial reports for the state allowing the establishment of precedents for later cases.
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Visit the graves of some or all of these notable figures!
Friends of
We invite you to participate in the programs of the Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery. Membership information is available at the Visitors Center, the Gatehouse information rack and the Office.
Since its founding in 1831, Mount Auburn Cemetery has retained its original purpose of being a natural setting for the commemoration of the dead and for the comfort and inspiration of the bereaved and the general public. Its grounds offer a place for reflection and for oSbservation of nature — trees, shrubs, flowering plants, ponds, gentle hills, and birds both resident and migrant. Visitors come to study our national heritage by visiting the graves of noted Americans and enjoying the great variety of monuments and memorials. Mount Auburn Cemetery began the “rural” cemetery movement out of which grew America’s public parks. Its beauty and historic associations make it an internationally reowned landscape. Designated a National Historic Landmark, Mount Auburn remains an active, nonsectarian cemetery offering a wide variety of interment and memorialization options.
t: 617-547-7105 | f: 617-876-4405 www.mountanuburn.org
friends@mountauburn.org The Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery is a nonprofit charitable trust promoting the appreciation and preservation of the cultural, historic and natural resources of America’s first landscaped cemetery, founded in 1831.
©Friends of Mount Auburn Cemetery, 2009
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