Alonzo Philetus Carpenter (1829 - 1898)
Born at Waterford (VT); died at Concord (NH).
Lawyer, jurist.
Portrait by Alfred E. Smith, 1899
Presented to the State, date unknown.

Carpenter prepared for college at St. Johnsbury (VT) and graduated from Williams College (MA), Class of 1849. He read law with Andrew S. Woods and the law firm of I. & S.H. Goodall, beginning in 1850, and was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1853.

Carpenter practiced law at Bath (NH) between 1853 - 1881, first in the firm of Goodall & Carpenter (1853/6), then on his own and, in later years, with his son. He served as Solicitor for Grafton County (1863/73).

In 1881 Carpenter was appointed to the State Supreme Court and moved to Concord (NH). In 1896 he became Chief Justice, succeeding Charles A. Doe, who served on the state's highest court for thirty-five years - a record which will probably never be broken. Doe had not hesitated to extend the law into new areas, where Carpenter was more of a strict constructionist, according to the writers of the memorials listed below.

References: A.S. Batchellor, "Alonzo Philetus Carpenter, LL.D."; and Fletcher Ladd, "Alonzo Philetus Carpenter"; in Proceedings of the Bar Association of...New Hampshire vol. 1 (1900 - 1903). Concord: 1901 - 1903. "Necrology", Granite Monthly vol. XXIV no. 6 (June 1898).