Aiken, David, son of Phinehas and Elisabeth (Patterson) Aiken, was born at Bedford, Hillsborough County, N. H., June 7, 1804. His early education was obtained in a common district school and at Pembroke Academy, under Mr. John Vose, and at Phillips Academy, Andover, under Mr. John Adams. He entered Dartmouth College, where he was graduated in 1830. He then studied law with Wells & Alvord at Greenfield, Mass., and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1833; was judge of the court of common pleas from 1856 to ’59.
He has been the law partner of Henry Chapman, George Grennell, Davis & Allen, Chester C. Conant, and W. S. B. Hopkins, afterwards with Charles E. Forbes of Northampton. He is now partner with his son, John A. Aiken, but retired from active practice when the State sold its interest in the Troy & Greenfield and Hoosac Tunnel Railroad—he having acted as legal adviser to its manager up to that time, in behalf of the Commonwealth. He was senator from Franklin County in 1874. From the promotion of Judge Wells in 1844 to the present day, with the exception of the period he himself was on the bench, Judge Aiken has been the acknowledged leader of the county bar.
He was married in October 1844, to Lydia W., daughter of Col. Spencer and Lydia (Bardwell) Root, who died in November, 1846, without issue. His second wife was Mary Elizabeth, daughter of John S. and Mary Hawley Adams, of Amherst, to whom he was married in November 1848, and who died October 28, 1855. His surviving children are: John Adams, Elizabeth P. and Harriet L. Aiken. Two younger sons Edward and David, deceased.