with
distinction from Yale College in 1837, in a class which included Hon.
William M. Evarts, Edwards Pierrepont, and Prof. Benjamin Silliman, Jr.,
and began the study of law in his father's office. He finished his
studies, preparatory to admission to the bar of Ohio, in the office of
Samuel M. Young, in Maumee City, in that state, and, on his admission,
formed a partnership with Mr. Young. In 1840 the firm removed to Toledo,
and there continued their law-partnership until Mr. Waite's youngest
brother, Richard, who graduated at Yale College in 1853, was admitted to
the bar, when the brothers formed a new partnership, which existed until
the senior partner received his present appointment. He was married
Sept. 21, 1840, to Miss Amelia C. Warner, a resident of his native town.
He received the degree of LL.D. from Yale College in 1872, and, a year
prior to his appointment as chief justice, was admitted to the bar of
the United States Supreme Court, on motion of Hon. Caleb Cushing, whose
name was subsequently spoken of in connection with the office of chief
justice. It was not until 1849 that Judge Waite, as he was called by
courtesy, occupied a public position. He was then elected a member of
the Ohio House of Representatives for the sessions of 1849 and 1850.
Although frequently urged to allow the use of his name as a candidate
for Congress, and other positions, he subsequently declined to hold
office. On two or three occasions, he was offered a position on the
supreme bench of his adopted state, offers which he also declined. The
esteem in which he was held by the citizens of Ohio is marked by the
fact that he was unanimously chosen as the representative from Toledo
in the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1874, of which body he was made
president.

In 1871, as is generally known, Mr. Waite was appointed one of the
counsel in the matter of the Alabama claims, to prepare the case of the
United States and present the same before the Court of Arbitration at
Geneva. While the most prominent part was assigned to the senior
counsel, Mr. Cushing, it is the opinion of those familiar with the
arguments, including Mr. J. C. Bancroft Davis, that Mr. Waite
contributed in a very large degree to the success of the case of the
United States, and thus to the peaceful settlement of long standing and
bitterly contested questions of the gravest national concern. A writer
in the Boston Evening _Transcript_, date of Dec. 6, 1874,--Mr. A. H.