Subject: William Crosby b. at Billerica June 3, 1770 - of Billerica, Groton & Belfast, Maine Source: p.298 Vol III Groton Historical Series, Dr. Samuel A Green 1893 William Crosby was the 3rd child of Hezekiah and Lucy (Kittredge) Crosby and b. at Billerica on June 3, 1770. He was a younger brother of the wife of Major James LEWIS of Groton. At the early age of seven years, while playing about a cider mill in operation, his right arm was caught in the machinery and so crushed as to cripple it for life. This accident disqualified him for manuel labor, and he was obliged ever after to write with his left hand but it turned his attention toward a liberal education. He graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1794 and soon after leaving Cambridge as a law student he entered the office of William Gordon, Esq of Amherst, NH but finished his studies in the office of the Hon. Samuel Dana of Groton. he was admitted to the Middlesex bar in 1798 and at once opened an office at Billerica where he remained for 3 yrs. During the summer of 1801 he made a tour of observation thru various towns in the District of Maine and finally selected Belfast as the most desirable place for a young lawyer. Here he settled on Jan 3, 1802, when there were less than a dozen framed houses in the village, besides a few log cabins, and not more than three hundred inhabitants in the whole township. He was the pioneer lawyer of a large tract of country, now dotted with flourishing towns. Soon afterward he was made County Attorney, a position which he held until Oct 8, 1811 when he received the apptmt of Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the Third Eastern Circuit, at that time comprising the counties of Hancock and Washington and after- ward including the county of Penobscot. This office he filled until the year 1822 when the courts were reorganized in consequence of the admission of the District of Maine as one of the States of the Union. While acting as Judge, on Nov 12, 1812 he was chosen a Presidential Elector when the vote of the Commonwealth was thrown in favor of DeWitt Clinton, the unsuccessful competitor of Madison for the Presidency. On April 3, 1815 he was elected a member of the Mass. Senate where he served for one year. He died of paralysis at Belfast on March 31, 1852 aged 81 years. On Oct 12, 1804 Mr. Crosby m. Sally dau of Benjamin and Mary (Mann) Davis of Billerica. His wife survived him and died on Nov 1, 1877 at the advanced age of 94 yrs. The late William George Crosby, Governor of Maine in 1853 - 1854 was their eldest child ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Transcribed by Janice Farnsworth