Maxwell Evarts
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Maxwell Evarts (November 15, 1862 – October 7, 1913) was an American lawyer and politician.
Early life and education
Maxwell Evarts was born on November 15, 1862, in New York City,[1] the youngest of the twelve children of Helen Minerva (Wardner) and William M. Evarts. He attended St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire. He graduated from Yale College, 1884,[2] where he was a member of Skull and Bones.[3]: 165 After graduation, he studied for two years at Harvard Law School, and was then in the law office of Seward, DaCosta & Guthrie until summer 1889.
Career
In 1890 he was appointed an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. He held this office two years, after which he entered the law department of the Southern Pacific Railroad Co. He was counsel to the Southern Pacific Railroad, Union Pacific Railroad, and affiliated lines of the E.H. Harriman System, along with with co-general counsel Robert Scott Lovett. In 1904 he was elected a director of the Southern Pacific Railroad, for several years was an attorney of the Harriman system, and in 1910 he was made general counsel of the Oregon Short Line and the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Co. Upon the separation of the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific Railroads he became general counsel of the Southern Pacific Co. He was also a director of the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. and the Union Pacific Land Co. He represented Wong Kim Ark in his lawsuit to gain recognition as a U.S. citizen.[citation needed] The Supreme Court sided with Evarts, establishing birthright citizenship as a right.
His home (Juniper Hill Farm) was in Windsor, Vermont, a manor overlooking Lake Runnemede and his family's compound.
He was an organizer of the State National Bank of Windsor, which included Vermont State Treasurer John L. Bacon as cashier. He was also vice-president of the Windsor Machine Co., half owner of the Amsden (Vt.) Lime Co., president of the Vermont State Fair Association, a governor of the Morgan Horse Club, and president of the Vermont Fish and Game League. He was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives in 1906.[4]
Personal life
He married in New York City, April 23, 1891, Margaret Allen Stetson, daughter of Charles Augustus and Josephine (Brick) Stetson, and they had four daughters and a son.[citation needed]
He was the son of William M. Evarts, the grandson of Jeremiah Evarts and Allen Wardner, and the great-grandson of Roger Sherman.[citation needed]
Evarts died on October 7, 1913, in Windsor, Vermont.[1][5]
References
- ^ a b "Death of Maxwell Evarts". Morrisville News and Citizen. October 8, 1913. p. 4 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Obituary Record of Yale Graduates, 1913-1914, p. 629-30.
- ^ Robbins, Alexandra (2002). Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-72091-7.
- ^ House, Vermont General Assembly (1907). Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Vermont: Biennial Session ... Montpelier, Vermont: Vermont General Assembly. p. 9. Retrieved 4 December 2021.
- ^ "Maxwell Evarts Dies in East". Chicago Tribune. October 8, 1913. p. 4 – via newspapers.com.