John J. Townsend

Physical disability prevented John Joseph Townsend from achieving the place in the law which might have been his if full health had been his lot in the period of active life. He had served in the District Attorney’s office in the nineties, where his rapid yet careful work made him very useful in subordinate positions. Even when he returned to practice after long retirement, he made his impression as referee in bankruptcy.

He was a man of the world of quite the old-fashioned type. The two distinct sides of his personality were that of the participator in unconventional life, of the refined and tender individuality, religious without a creed, a lover of various out-of-the-way things in French literature, a conservative, a great believer in the value of convention. His lack of health and fastidiousness of taste prevented him from taking an active part in social life; but his interesting mixture of caustic, wise and sympathetic traits, with a great kindness of heart, drew him closely to those who knew him best.

Alexander Dana Noyes
1925 Century Association Yearbook