Albert Scripture Wait (1821 - 1906)
Born at Chester (VT); died at Newport (NH).
Lawyer.
Retouched photograph by unknown artist.
Presented to the State.

Albert Wait's father, General David Wait (mother Cynthia Read Wait), had been an ensign during the War of 1812 and was active in the Vermont militia. As a boy Albert read law with Hon. Daniel Kellogg, a well-respected lawyer at Saxtons River (VT); he was admitted to the Vermont Bar in April 1846.

Wait began his legal practice at Alstead (NH); at his death he had been practicing law for sixty years. Wait practiced law at Alstead for ten years (1846/56); then he moved to Newport (NH), where he practiced law with Hon. Edmund Burke for ten years (1857/67). After that Wait was in solo practice for another four decades.

Wait was respected for his knowledge of and love of the law. His principal memorial is written by Hosea Parker (see Reference, below); Parker writes in part:

Few men connected with the New Hampshire Bar have been Mr. Wait's equal in legal learning. He studied and practiced the law as a science, and entered into all of its departments with great enthusiasm and interest. He loved his profession and always treated the court and his brethren with great consideration.....He was especially kind and courteous to the young lawyers and to the students in his office.....

Everything that Mr. Wait undertook...was well done. He was painstaking and thorough in every department of his work. He was a devoted husband, a worthy and influential citizen, a gentleman of the old school, and a lawyer of high rank, loved and respected by his brethren.....

Reference: Hosea W. Parker, "Albert Scripture Wait", Proceedings of the New Hampshire Bar Association, 1907 (1907).