ENDICOTT, William Crowninshield, secretary of war, born in Salem, Massachusetts, 19 November 1827. He is a direct descendant of Governor John Endicott, and is a grandson of Jacob Crowninshield, noticed elsewhere. He was graduated at Harvard in 1847, and, after studying in the Law School and with Nathanael J. Lord, was admitted to the bar in 1850. He was elected a member of the Salem common council in 1852, and five years later became City solicitor. He retired from this office in 1864, and resumed practice, but in 1873 Governor William B. Washburn appointed him to the bench of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. This office he held for ten years, when he resigned on account of ill health. He was originally a Whig, but joined the Democrats when the Whig party was broken up, and in November 1884, was the unsuccessful candidate for governor of Massachusetts. In 1885 he became secretary of war.