Elvington Palmer Spinney

• General Notes
  • Excerpt from Maine Biographies, Volume 1, Records, Page 153:
    
    Honerable Elvington Palmer Spinney, of North Berwick, Maine, was born in Georgetown, Maine, June 30, 1868, son of Palmer Oliver Spinney and Mary Jane (Todd) Spinney. His parents were Sturdy New England Stock and natives of Georgetown. His father in early life was a sea captain; Later he engaged in trade in Lewiston, Maine, and in 1875 the family moved from Lewsiton to Brunswick, Maine, where they made their home until their deaths, the father at the age of eighty-two years, the mother at the age of eighty-four years.
    Most of the Spinney ancestors were sea-faring people. One, for his bravery on the high seas, in defense of his native land, during the War of the Roses, received knighthood at the hands of an English Knight. The Spinney crest hangs in Westminster Abbey.
    Elington P. Spinney received his early education in the public schools of Lewiston and Brunswick. He graduated from Bowdoin College, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree, in the class of 1890. After leaving college he devoted his energies to teaching for three years; one year as science teacher in Hillside Seminary in Wisconsin; one years as principal of Paris Hill Academy, Paris, Maine; and one year as principal of Alfred Academy, Alfred, Maine. During his teaching he employed all his spare moments in studying law. He read law in the offices of Barrett Potter of Brunswick and with Samuel M. Come of Alfred. He was admitted to the York County bar in 1895, and to the United States Courts in 1898. As soon as he was admitted to practice law in 1895, he opened an office in North Berwick, where he is still in active practice. His practice is widely extended, often to remote parts of the State of Maine, as well as in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Besides his general law practice, he is counsel for banks, Industrial corporations, four towns and two village corporations. From 1911 to 1919 two terms, he was judge of the Yorkshire Municipal Court.
    Judge Spinney is a member of the York County Bar Association, The Maine State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association. He is a member of and past Nobel Grand of Ealel Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, member of and the past Chief Patriarch of Columbian Encampment, a member of and past Sachem of Negutaquit Lodge of Improved Order of Red Men, he is a member of the Canton, the Grange, the Rebekah Lodge, of the Pocahontus, he is a member of the Baneg Beg County Club, of the Sanford Town Club, is a Congregationalist and chairman of the board of trustees of the Congregational Church, and a member of the Alpha Delta Phi Fraternaty. During the World War he was a member of the Legal Advisor Board, the draft board, and the Four-Minute Men.
    Being an Independent in Politics, he never sought public office, but he has served his town for several years as selectman, and has held other town offices. He is interested in all civic, educational and philanthropic movements in his home town.
    On October 30, 1895, Judge Spinney married Grace E. Burbank of Alfred, Maine. They have two children 1. Dorothy S. Gillette of Los Angeles, California; a graduate of Wellesley College in 1923. Married in 1923 Waldo A. Gillette, a graduate of Harvard in 1922. 2. A son Leon L. Spinney of Berwick; a graduate of Bowdoin College in 1926 and now is a student in Boston University Law School.