Nathaniel Ropes
Nathaniel Ropes (c. 1726 – March 18, 1774) was a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court from 1772 to 1774. He was appointed by Governor Thomas Hutchinson.
Ropes graduated Harvard University in 1745 with a degree in law and started out as a lawyer. He was a representative of Salem in the colonial legislature in 1760 and 1761[1], and served on the Governor’s Council from 1762 to 1768.[2] He was also a judge on the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and a judge of probate until 1772, when he was appointed as a justice on the Superior Court of Judicature.[2] Ropes was soon brought into controversy over how judges were paid at the time. Although he was acquainted with patriots such as John Adams, an issue remained where he still held loyalist views.[2] Just before or during the Revolutionary War a mob is said to have raged outside of the house to protest his loyalist ties.[3] In one of the traditional narratives, this event takes place in March 1774 when Ropes was on his deathbed with smallpox. The mob was supposedly a contributing factor as he died the following day.[2]
The Nathaniel Ropes Mansion in Central Salem is named for him.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ A. C. Goodell, "A Biographical Notice of the Officers of Probate for Essex County, from the Commencement of the Colony to the Present Time", in Historical Collections of the Essex Institute, Volume 3 (1861), p. 148-49.
- ^ a b c d Derek Strahan (February 3, 2019). "Lost New England". lostnewengland.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2023. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ "Ropes, Nathaniel House". Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (downloadable PDF). Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ "Historic Building Detail: SAL.1540; Ropes, Nathaniel House". Retrieved March 8, 2024.
External links
[edit]- The Death of Nathaniel Ropes, Boston 1775
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- 1720s births
- 1774 deaths
- Lawyers from Salem, Massachusetts
- Harvard Law School alumni
- Members of the colonial Massachusetts House of Representatives
- Members of the colonial Massachusetts Governor's Council
- Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
- Deaths from smallpox
- Massachusetts state court judge stubs