Maxwell Evarts (November 15, 1862October 7, 1913) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Early life and education

Maxwell Evarts was born on November 15, 1862, in New York City, the youngest of the twelve children of Helen Minerva (Wardner) and

William M. Evarts William Maxwell Evarts (February 6, 1818February 28, 1901) was an American lawyer and statesman from New York who served as U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator from New York. He was renowned for his skills as a litiga ...

. He attended St. Paul's School,

Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...

. He graduated from

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

, 1884, where he was a member of Skull and Bones. After graduation, he studied for two years at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, 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 The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

and

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

, along with co-general counsel Robert Scott Lovett, and for E. H. Harriman. In 1904 he was elected a director of the Southern Pacific Railroad, for several years was an attorney of the Harriman system, and in October 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 Wong may refer to: Name * Wong (surname), a Chinese surname Places * Wong Chuk Hang, an area to the east of Aberdeen on Hong Kong Island * Wong Chuk Hang Estate, a public housing estate in Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong * Wong Chuk Hang Road, a majo ...

in his lawsuit to gain recognition as a U.S. citizen. The Supreme Court sided with Evarts, establishing birthright citizenship as a right. He was an organizer of the State National Bank of Windsor, which included

Vermont State Treasurer The State Treasurer's Office is responsible for several administrative and service duties, in accordance with Vermont Statutes. These include: investing state funds; issuing state bonds; serving as the central bank for state agencies; managing the ...

John L. Bacon John L. Bacon (November 3, 1878 – April 25, 1961) was an American civil engineer and Republican politician from California. Bacon was born in 1878 in Illinois. By 1914, he was in San Diego, when he was on a Panama-California Exposition ...

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 The Vermont House of Representatives is the lower house of the Vermont General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Vermont. The House comprises 150 members, with each member representing around 4,100 citizens. Representatives ar ...

in 1906.

Personal life

Evarts – on April 23, 1891, in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York – married Margaret Allen Stetson (1866–1937), daughter of Charles Augustus Stetson and Josephine Brick. They had four daughters and a son. He was the son of

, the grandson of Jeremiah Evarts and

Allen Wardner Allen Wardner (December 13, 1786 – August 29, 1877) was a Vermont banker, businessman and politician who served as State Treasurer. He was also the father-in-law of Attorney General, Secretary of State and United States Senator William M. ...

, and the great-grandson of

Roger Sherman Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an American statesman, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign four of the great state papers of the United States related to the founding: the Cont ...

. Evarts died on October 7, 1913, in Windsor, Vermont.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evarts, Maxwell 1862 births 1913 deaths Yale College alumni Harvard Law School alumni People from Windsor, Vermont St. Paul's School (New Hampshire) alumni 19th-century American lawyers