William M. Evarts

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27th United States Secretary of State
William Maxwell Evarts

30th United States Attorney General
In office July 17, 1868 – March 4, 1869
Preceded by	Henry Stanberry
Succeeded by	Ebenezer R. Hoar
In office March 12, 1877 – March 7, 1881
Preceded by	Hamilton Fish
Succeeded by	James G. Blaine

Born	February 6, 1818 Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Died	February 28, 1901 (aged 83) New York City, New York, USA
Political party	Whig, Republican
Spouse	Helen Minerva Bingham Wardner
Profession	Lawyer, Statesman, Politician

William Maxwell Evarts (February 6, 1818 – February 28, 1901) was an American lawyer and statesman. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of author, editor, and Indian removal opponent Jeremiah Evarts, and the grandson of Declaration of Independence signer Roger Sherman.

1 School, family, and early career
2 Political career
3 Retirement
4 Extended family
5 Sources
6 External links

[edit] School, family, and early career

William attended Boston Latin School, graduated from Yale College in 1837 -- where he was a member of Skull and Bones -- and then attended Harvard Law School. He was admitted to the bar in New York in 1841, and soon took high rank in his profession. He married Helen Minerva Bingham Wardner in 1843. They had 12 children between 1845 and 1862, all born in New York City.

[edit] Political career

A Whig Party supporter before joining the fledgling Republican Party , Evarts was appointed an assistant United States district attorney and served from 1849-1853. In 1860 he was chairman of the New York delegation to the Republican National Convention. In 1861 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate from New York. He was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1867-1868.

He was chief counsel for President Andrew Johnson during the impeachment trial, and from July 1868 until March 1869 he was Johnson's Attorney General of the United States. In 1872 he was counsel for the United States before the tribunal of arbitration on the Alabama claims at Geneva, Switzerland.

Evarts served as counsel for President-elect Rutherford B. Hayes, on behalf of the Republican Party, before the Electoral Commission in the disputed U.S. presidential election of 1876. During President Rutherford B. Hayes's administration he was United States Secretary of State. He was a delegate to the International Monetary Conference at Paris 1881.

From 1885 to 1891 he was a U.S. Senator from New York. While in Congress (49th, 50th and 51st Congresses), he served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Library from 1887 to 1891. As an orator Senator Evarts stood in the foremost rank, and some of his best speeches were published.

He led the American fund-raising effort for the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty and spoke at its unveiling on October 28, 1886.

[edit] Retirement

Senator Evarts retired from public life due to ill health in 1891. He was also part of a law practice in New York City called Evarts, Southmoyd and Choate. He died in New York City and was buried at Ascutney Cemetery in Windsor, Vermont.

Portrait of William M. Evarts

[edit] Extended family

William was a member of the extended Baldwin, Hoar & Sherman family, which had many members in American politics.

U.S. Attorney General, Associate Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and U.S. House of Representatives member Ebenezer R. Hoar and Evarts were best friends, owing it to being first cousins, having similar professional pursuits and political beliefs. Each served, in succession, as United States Attorney General. Some of his other first cousins include U.S. Senator & Governor of the State of Connecticut, Roger Sherman Baldwin; U.S. Senator for Massachusetts (brother of Ebenezer R.) George F. Hoar; and California state senator and founding trustee of the University of California, Sherman Day.

Son Maxwell Evarts graduated from Yale College in 1884, where he was also a member of Skull and Bones. He served as a New York City District attorney, and then later as General Counsel for E. H. Harriman, which later became the Union Pacific Railroad, president of two (2) Windsor, VT banks, and the chief financial backer of the Gridley Automatic Lathe (manufactured by the Windsor Machine Co.). In politics, Maxwell served as a representative in the Vermont state legislature and was a Vermont State Fair Commissioner.

Allen Wardner Evarts, another son, graduated from Yale College in 1869. He supported the founding of Wolf's Head Society, and was first president of its alumni association and held the position for 20 years over two separate terms. He was a law partner, corporate president, trustee of Vassar College, and a New York clubman.

Grandson Maxwell E. Perkins was the famed Charles Scribner's Sons editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Thomas Wolfe, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and James Jones.

Great nephew Evarts Boutell Greene was the famed American historian appointed Columbia University's first De Witt Clinton Professor of History 1923, Department Chairman, 1926-1939. Chairman of the Columbia Institute of Japanese Studies, 1936–39. He was a noted authority on the American Colonial and Revolutionary War periods. Another relative, Henry Sherman Boutell, was a member of the Illinois state house of representatives, 1884; member, U.S. Representative from Illinois, 1897-1911 (6th District 1897-1903, 9th District 1903-11); delegate, Republican National Convention from Illinois, 1908; U.S. Minister, Switzerland, 1911-13.

Great great nephew Roger Sherman Greene II, the son of Daniel Crosby Greene and Mary Jane (Forbes) Greene; was the U.S. Vice Consul in Rio de Janeiro, 1903-04; Nagasaki, 1904-05; Kobe, 1905; U.S. Consul in Vladivostok, 1907; Harbin, 1909-11; U.S. Consul General in Hankow, 1911-14.

Great great nephew Jerome Davis Greene (1874-1959): President, Lee, Higginson & Company, 1917-1932; Secretary, Harvard University Corporation, 1905-1910 & 1934-1943; General Manager of the Rockefeller Institute 1910-1012, assistant and secretary to John D. Rockefeller Jr. as Trustee, Rockefeller Institute; Trustee, Rockefeller Foundation; Trustee, Rockefeller General Education Board, 1910-1939. executive secretary, American Section - Allied Maritime Transport Council, 1918 Joint Secretary of the Reparations, Paris Peace Conference, 1919; Chairman, American Council Institute of Pacific Relations, 1929-32; Trustee, Brookings Institution of Washington, 1928-1945; and a founding member, Council on Foreign Relations.

Great-grandson Archibald Cox served as a U.S. Solicitor General and special prosecutor during President Richard Nixon's Watergate Scandal, whereas Evarts defended a president in his impeachment trial. In a sense, they both successfully argued their cases, which represent two of the three U.S. Presidential impeachment efforts. An impeachment trial was never held in Nixon's case, due to the president's resignation.

[edit] Sources

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

[edit] External links

Family tree of William Maxwell Evarts
his congressional biography
William Maxwell Evarts Find A Grave
The Ebenezer Hoar Papers
Evarts, William Maxwell, 1818-1901. Papers, 1849-1887
Baldwin family of Connecticut Political Graveyard
Hoar family of Massachusetts Political Graveyard

Preceded by Henry Stanberry	United States Attorney General 1868–1869	Succeeded by Ebenezer R. Hoar
Preceded by Hamilton Fish	United States Secretary of State March 12, 1877–March 7, 1881	Succeeded by James G. Blaine
Preceded by Elbridge G. Lapham	United States Senator (Class 3) from New York 1885–1891 Served alongside: Warner Miller, Frank Hiscock	Succeeded by David B. Hill