1 68 DEAN. DEAN. The career of the senior senator of Mas- sachusetts cannot adequately be described within the limits imposed in this sketch. He has been long and honorably identified with the growth of the State, has held a high and responsible position in the national administration of the government ; has enjoyed confidential relations with the leaders of his own and rival parties ; has been the personal friend of every occupant of the executive mansion during his ex- tended residence at the capital ; has per- formed patriotic and efficient service as one of the leaders of the House during the critical period of the war ; and through all his varied career has so lived in public and private life that not a stain has come upon the escutcheon of the State which has so often honored, and been in turn honored by this her illustrious son. DEAN, BENJAMIN, son of Benjamin and Alice Dean, was born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, August 14, 1824. He was one of a family of ten children, five boys and five girls, all of whom lived to pass the meridian of life. The subject of this sketch, when five years of age, came to this country with his parents, who settled in Lowell, Mass. There he received his early education, graduating from the Lowell high school in 1840. He then entered Dartmouth Col- lege, remaining through the freshman year. He began the study of law with Judge Thomas Hopkinson of Lowell, and in 1845 was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Lowell, where he remained until 1852. He then removed to Boston and became a partner of Henry W. Fuller. Mr. Fuller dying soon after the partnership, the busi- ness fell to Mr. Dean, who carried it on alone. In 1862 and '63, and again in 1869, Mr. Dean was member of the state Senate. He served on the committee of probate and chancery, was chairman of the joint committee on prisons, and of the joint special committee on the serving of processes on volunteers, of that on the eligibility of members of Congress, and of that on proceedings for the restraint of the insane. In 1S69, when Francis A. Dewey was elevated to the judiciary of the superior court, Mr. Dean, although a Democrat, was made chairman of the committee on the judiciary. He was also chairman of the joint standing committee on the library, and a member of the special committee on the license law. He was member of the common council of Boston in 1S65, '66, '72 and '73, where he continuously held the chairmanship of committee on ordinances. Mr. Dean served his congressional dis- trict (the 3d Massachusetts) in the 45th Congress. His seat was contested, but he was declared elected. Since 1S54 Mr. Dean has been a very prominent member and officer in the order of Free Masonry. He is deputy for the State of Massachusetts, of the Supreme Council of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite for the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States. Of the Grand Commandery for the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, he was grand commander from 1S7 1 BENJAMIN DEAN to '73, and from 18S0 to '83 he was grand master of the Grand Encampment of the Knights Templar of the United States of America. He has been one of the directors for the public institutions of Boston, a trustee of the South Boston Savings Bank, and a director of the South Boston R. R. Cor- poration. He is president of the South Boston Gas Company, and chairman of the board of park commissioners of Boston. Mr. Dean is an expert yachtsman, and was for several years commodore of the Boston Yacht Club. He married, in Lowell, in 1848, Mary A., daughter of J. B. French. The children
